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And home again home again, jiggedy jig!

Last Few Days

I only have 3 more nights in beautiful New Zealand before I am off on my epic flight home. I am in the city of Christchurch on the east coast of the south island and its the first big city I have seen in a month! It really beautiful and little bit less touristy than Queenstown, the city I was last in. At the center of town is an old cathedral from which the rest of the town radiates outwards. This city feels like a mix of a small European city and Auckland.
I am staying in a womens hostel called Frauenreisenhaus; and yes, there are a lot of german girls here. One thing I am looking forward to at home is waking up of my own accord. This morning I had one of the most torturous wake up calls yet. The girl below woke up at 6 am packed for a while and went back to sleep. Then woke up at 7 am and proceded to pack every piece of clothing into a plastic meticulously before slowing placing it in her bag. This continued for roughly 1.5 hours and then I left before I exploded. Screw water torture, try bag crinkly early morning torture. Ok, so Im being a little melodramatic, but seriously!
Moving on, I will be home on Saturday night at some late-ish time, so I will see you all hopefully this Sunday. How crazy does that sound! Peace,

Alex

Awesome last couple days!

So recently I travelled onwards to Franz Josef Glacier which is right by the Fox Glacier. These are two of three glaciers in the world that extend down into rainforest! I did a full day hike up the Franz Josef and had an absolutely amazing time. The blue color of the ice is absolutely stunning and I do not think that any picture could capture it accurately. The scariest part is walking through tight crevasses where your body barely sneaks through and the floor below you could fall out should the crevass open wider...
Moving on, I continued down through the Mt Aspiring National Park (which is spectacular) and made it into Queenstown. Today I did my first ever bungee jump and to say the least, Im hooked! It was so much fun! I may do another should there be enough funds and time available towards the end of my trip!
Tomorrow I am off to Te Anau and then I begin the Kepler track the day after that. I cant wait to see you all!

On the Road Again

I just finished the Heaphy Track yesterday and spent the night in Karamea at a place called Rongo's Backpackers. The Heaphy track is an absolutely incredible walk and way less busy than any of the other great walks. Each day you are met with a different type of scenery; from sub-tropical rainforest, to huge yellow tussock fields, to rocky coastline. The five days passed quickly and Aleah and I hardly ran into other people until the last day.
The backpackers we stayed in is a the most carbon neutral place I have been to yet. Rain water for showers, solar heaters for the water, organic garden in the backyard, etc, etc. It was really nice but Aleah and I quickly realized that we were the only people who werent volunteering there and it suddenly felt like we had stumbled into somebody elses house.
Right now, I am in Westport attempting to catch up with the Stray bus which is proving more difficult that I previously would have thought. If I can catch it today, then I will have a few extra days in Queenstown which would be nice.
Though this is a little late, happy thanksgiving to all the Americans who read this! I hope your food was delicious and everything went well.
Again, no pictures, but thanks for reading it anyways!

Abel Tasman to Takaka

I left Nelson a little less than one week ago and I am now in the town of Collingwood, the most northern town on the South Island. I just did a four day tramp across the Abel Tasman Track which, should you ever have the chance, you must do! It is the most beautiful tramp that I have done and probably ever will do. It is just perfect endless beaches and gorgeous bush with relatively few people around. I also saw a manta ray and a fur seal off the coast of one of the beaches; you can see dolphins if you are lucky!
Then I moved on to Takaka which is the coolest little town I have ever been to. I wish I had a couple of weeks to spend in the region! Takaka is a town that is mostly made up of earth friendly sort of folks and a few dairy farmers from the country creating an awesome mix. The Village Theatre plays newish releases from all different countries (especially France!) and they have giant cushions to lay of the floor and watch the movie whilst sipping a mug of coffee from the concessions. Also, in Takaka is an awesome bike shop called The Quiet Revolution. Its been open for about 10 years and is in a building from the late 1800s. The owner is a bike commuter and generally an awesome guy to talk to. I wonder if I could get a job there if I hung around in Takaka long enough...
At any rate, now I am in Collingwood and getting ready to start the Heaphy track tomorrow with my friend Aleah from Auckland. This track goes out to the west coast and has a tendancy to get lots of rain, but Im home the good weather I have had so far will hold out for the next five days.
And now, some photos to convince you that need to do the Abel Tasman track. Oh no! the stupid mac wont let me upload photos! It just uploads code! grrrrrrrr.... well youll all have to come over and look at photos in December I guess. This is lame!

Derby and Nelson

So its been a little while since the last update and actually quite a lot has happened. I have finished my semester, I had my last roller derby game, and I am not on the Southern Island of New Zealand. The last roller derby game was Mascara Massacre versus the Blackheart Bruisers and it was going to be a tough game. I got to be jammer every fourth jam and was also blocker 3. It was a ridiculously tight game in the beginning but Mascara Massacre ended up winning! The whole bout was incredibly messy with lots of elbows and fouls, but we still won and thats all that matters in the end.
Two days after that I took a flight to Nelson and had the strangest flying experience of my life. I never showed any ID, I never walked through a metal detector, I never even had my carry on luggage scanned... It was like walking onto a bus basically. We ended up flying mostly over the ocean which was absolutely gorgeous. Nelson is a smallest town with about 64,000 people and tons of cyclists! Yesterday, I borrowed an old Bianchi Avenue from the hostel I am staying at (which is called The Bug and I would highly recommend to anyone in the area!) and went for a 2 hour cruise around the area.
Pictures say more than my words, so here ya go!

Mascara!

The car that picks you up from the airport!

Tahunanui Beach

Old Bridge on a pipeline.

Mascara Massacres!

This weekend was the debut bout for the Mascara Massacres who I was playing for. We were playing up against Dead Wreckoning and Im pretty sure most people thought that they were absolutely going to destroy us. To be honest, in the first period, they kinda did. But after that, we scored 24 points in the second period and then actually beat them in the third period! We just kept getting better and better whilst wearing their players out! I got to play quite a bit as a doubled as a jammer and blocker throughout the bout. I dont think there is anything else in the world that is like an arena full of fans cheering at the top of your lungs for you... its an insane rush! I ended up getting 3 major penalties (meaning 3 times in the penalty box...) but also managed to score a few points for our team when I was out jamming.
Our next bout is on November 10th and its Mascara Massacres versus the Blackheart Bruisers which should be an insanely intense game! The Bruisers lost to Dead Wreckoning by more than we did so I think we have a chance to win....
Im in the middle of finals week here so everyday is marked mostly by 5-8 hours of independent study as I prep for my four finals. Today I managed to go outside to study and my friend from Cali convinced me to study in my swimsuit since it was so hot out! Definitely not something I would ever do in MN but it seems ok here!
Derby pics...

In the dressing room.

Bunch a girly girls! Gotta love our uniforms, eh?