Queenstown

Once we left Makorora that same day we headed for Queenstown, the adventure capital. Before we got to Makorora, though, Gollum stopped at some great lookout points along the way. This area was sooo beautiful it was impossible to capture it in a picture. This is Lake Wanaka and it was absolutly stunning! I just stood there with my mouth open because I had never seen such a site.

A while down the road we came to Lake Hawea which also had crystal clear water and snow caped mountains in the background. Everybody agreed we felt like we were walking on a film set with a painted backdrop behind us.

We arrived in Queenstown late in the evening so after dinner Lisa and I just took a walk around town. This was the view from our hostel's kitchen area:
The next day we woke up early so Lisa could do the AJ Hacket Bungy Jump! It was the first bungy in New Zealand. She jumped off a 40 meter bridge into a river below. I was able to watch from a platform on the side ... and I got queesy just watching! She told them she just wanted a hand dip, but they made her dip in the river all the way to her chest. She screamed the loudest out of all the people who jumped!
Later that day we decided to walk around the town some more. There is only one main street in Queenstown and some side streets going off of it which make up the town. The houses are all built on a hillside and on the other side of town is the lake with the mountains in the background.

We walked up to the harbor area and around Queenstown Gardens. This gave us a really pretty view from the other side:

Queenstown Gardens:

Skydive Lake Wanaka!

I was planning on skydiving in Abel Tasman but decided to wait and do a hike instead. The next place to jump was Franz Josef but the weather was so horrible that no planes were going up. So Wanaka was the next stop for skydiving. It was October 30th. My instructor (the guy attached to my back) was from Quebec. He was pretty cool and kept joking around with me. The first thing he says while he's getting me into the harness was, "don't worry at all, I've done this 4 times already." Later on he says, "I need to tell you that a few weeks ago I got a concussion and sometimes my memory blacks out. So incase I can't remember, to open the parachute just pull this yellow handle." Another instructor was standing next to him listening and he says, "wait, then what's that yellow handle for?" And pointed to the other side of his backpack. It was funny... but not the very best time to mess with someone. For some reason though I wasn't too scared (yet). I don't think it had hit me that I was about to jump 12,000 feet out of a plane!
So once everything was together and I knew everything I had to do we walked to the plane. The airport was in the middle of the valley and the plane itself was absolutely tiny! Here is a picture of us taking off: The cabin just barely fit four skydivers and their instructors and another guy who was jumping by himself at 4,000 feet. Once the door slid open for him to jump out and I saw how far just 4,000 feet was... I started to get a little nervous! We were sitting by a tiny window and my instructor was pointing out different things in our view. Two groups jumped out at 9,000 feet and I knew the plane was going to keep ascending and it was my turn next. I got scared. My instructor was serious in the plane and said he wants to reach the ground alive just as much as I do so not to worry. Then the door slid open and my turn was here. We scooted over to the door and he was sitting at the edge while I just dangled off the plane. This was the scarriest moment. Then I had to smile for the camera on the wing: After that I put my hands on my harness and my feet and head back like we had practiced on the ground and then I closed my eyes. I couldn't help it! I just waited for him to lean forward and let us drop. We went head first and I could just feel us drop off the plane. I screamed!! I never scream and I wailed! I opened my eyes then and just looked down, then I screamed some more. He took his feet and made us spin around and around. After a few seconds he tapped my shoulder and I let go of my harness and let my arms fly by my head. Then I looked up and saw the view around us. We could see Lake Wanaka, another lake, a big river, the Southern Alps and Mt. Aspiring. My freefall was for 45 seconds. After that he remembered what handle opened the parachute and we had a slight jerk upwards. We didn't really go up but it felt like that. Then we glided around for a while and were able to talk. The first thing I said to him was "you have got the BEST job!" He pointed out what all the land marks were and then let me control the parachute. There were handles on both sides and you had to pull on the right one to go right and left to go left. When he took the handles back he made us spin around in circles. It made me kind of sick, but it was fun. Lisa was at the bottom taking pictures of us as we came down.
We made our landing and my feet touched the ground safe and sound. I wanted to get down and kiss the ground but trying to maintain my cool, I didn't. The adrenaline rush lasted just about the whole rest of the day. I would do it again in a second, only next time I'd pay more for 15,000 feet!

Makarora

On the 29th we left for Makarora. We made a few stops along the way, one being at Haast paas. We got off the bus to view a beach and again to do a short hike to a waterfall. Once we reached Makarora there was absolutely nothing for us to do. There was a pub at the hostel so we ate dinner and sat by a fire. They also had karaoke so of course we had to do that as well.
The next morning was beautiful so I took some pictures of the huts we stayed in and the scenery around us:

Franz Josef Glacier

We left Barrytown late (at 10am) on the 28th and drove to Franz Josef. On the way we stopped at a small town called Hokitika which is known for their greenstone. The town of Franz Josef is inbetween the Tasman Sea and the Franz Josef Glacier. We stayed at a lodge in the middle of the rainforest. And rain it did!! It didn't stop for a second. The lodge had a hot tub outside and we got to relax in it for a bit with the rain pouring down. The next morning, still raining, we decided to do a 3/4 day hike up the glacier. It was me, Lisa, Steffi, Megan, and others from Stray. Once we reached the valley the glacier pours into our guide stopped us and told us it was another hour's walk to reach the glacier. It was so enormous that by standing there in the huge valley, the optical allusion was that it seemed only 5 minutes away.

Well, it seemed 5 minutes away for the next hour we walked. We were fully equipped with Gortex jackets and pants, wool hats and gloves and boots. You could tell if the glacier was growing or receding by it's angle. Because this glacier had a steep angle it was growing. You could look at the cliff beside it and tell that it had melted away at one point because all of the foliage on the side was gone and just now growing back. Finally when we reached the glacier we put on our talons and divided ourselves into 2 groups. Group 1 was more physically fit and confident in their ability and Group 2 was less fit. Lisa and I went to Group 1 (because we're pros) and Megan and Steffi went to Group 2 with a different guide. Megan has bad asthma and wasn't even too sure she should do the hike at all. Through the pouring rain and wind we started our climb. The guide had an ice ax and would have to stop every few meters to chop the path that had been covered over. We hiked up, around and back down the glacier for about 4 hours. We walked through tight crevices, up steep inclines, down ledges and into a cave. The cave was by far the coolest! We had to go feet first and take our packs off to fit through and there was a drop of about 2 meters where we had to climb down with a rope.

Once we reached the bottom with the rope there wasa 90 degree turn in the cave and then we had to scoot feet first the rest of the way through a even smaller hole.

On both sides of the glacier were giant cliffs with waterfalls. Once you looked back to the valley behind you could tell how far away it was and how huge the glacier was. Here I am in a crevice we walked through:

Because our guide let us go through this cave we were a bit late on our climb back down. Group 1 started to go and Group 2 took their time behind us. We were making pretty good time and then our guide called the guide from Group 2 on his walky talky to see where they were. It must have just happened a few moments before this because the Group 2 guide told him that someone of their group fell 8 meters (about 20 feet). Our guide told us it only takes a 2 meter fall on ice to die. There was a spot a while back that we had to climb down that was just a straight wall. There were little steps chopped into the side so we had to go down sideways moving our left foot behind our right to step down. This is where she fell. Our guide was talking as softly as he could and tried to step away from the group, but there was really no where for him to go. I could tell by the look of his face he was really worried, but he tried to stay calm. Then he had to call the office and have them call a helicopter to fly the girl out and he told them to have a neck brace along. Then they must have asked how old she was because his answer was 23. Lisa and I looked at each other right then because we knew who it was: Megan. The guide wouldn't tell us her name so we had to just keep walking down. There obviously wasn't anything we could do. The helicopter took less than 5 minutes to get there. When we got back to the office we found out that was Megan, they flew her to the closest emergency room and that she would be okay. Once the rest of Group 2 got back we heard the story first hand from them. She did fall 8 meters, but then slid around a bend after that. Nobody knew what was on the other side of that bend, if it was a drop off or what. They said everybody just froze. Then Megan kept fainting and Steffi was slapping her to stay awake. Megan was released later that day and her and Steffi were able to catch the next bus and caught up with us in Queenstown the day after. She had really bad bruises on her butt, hip and side but that was it. Her neck and head were fine. She was extremely lucky.

The Exciting Town of Barrytown

On the 27th we left Abel Tasman and headed for Barrytown. On the way we made through Punakaiki to see the Pancake rocks. These are limestone rocks along the beach which started forming 30 million years ago. Lime-rich fragments of dead marine creatures were overlaid by layers of mud and clay. The sea, wind and rain have etched out the layers to make the rocks look like pancakes stacked on top of one another. On the way to Barrytown we were informed by our temporary driver, Nemo, that the owner thought today was Halloween so she was planning a costume party that night in her pub. We made a stop at the Warehouse (which is NZ's Wal-Mart) to find cheap costumes. Halloween is growing but is nowhere near as popular as in the States. Limited on ideas, money and costumes, Lisa and I both decided to be pirates. It was a good thing this lady screwed up her dates because there is absolutely nothing in Barrytown except for this pub. If you look hard in this picture I have a big stick attached to my right leg. It was my peg leg. Later on that night one of the locals brought their dog in. Her name was Paris and she was some sort of boxer and was so cute! Then, Paris realized there was a stick in her vicinity and she grabbed it and drug me around the room shaking it in her mouth. I needed my peg leg though so Paris, in the end, was left empty handed.Aaron was a fireman, Steffi was a rugby player and Megan was a nerd. Two guys dressed up as women, one as Superman and another as a witch. There was a really dorky German guy, Sebastian, who dressed as a snorkeler attacked by a shark. He had red face paint and asked Aaron to write "swim between the flags" on his back. Bad idea Sebastian, bad idea. Obviously, being 19, Aaron did not write what he asked of him. What he wrote and the picture of what he wrote is not appropriate for some viewers. This is Sebastian on the left and Aaron on the right:The best costume of all was Gollum! He dressed up as Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) and it was absolutely hilarious, I almost peed my pants. He even would walk around humped over like Gollum and move his head and eyes all freaky like. The first thing he said as he came across a corner and we saw him and started cracking up was, "and ladies, this is why I am still single." Then he scurried off into the pub. I'll post better pictures of Gollum in his costume later (because, yes, he gets back into it), but here is one of Nemo as Spiderman on the left, Gollum in the middle and a local Barryman man on the right (he actually wasn't in costume). At the very end of the night they chose 5 random people to hold a dance off on top of the bar. The winner would get a free bungy jump in Queenstown. Lisa was one of the ones chosen, but she was eliminated and it was Sebastian and a Brazilian girl who were competing for the victory. The Brazilian won.

Abel Tasman National Park

From Picton we drove to Abel Tasman and were there from Oct 25-27th. We had another group dinner and just hung out this night since we would have the whole day to do whatever we wanted the next day. We stayed at a place called Old MacDonalds Farm (e-i-e-i-oh!). And on this farm they had some lamas and some cows and some horses and some ... you guessed it: sheep! We all slept in little huts that looked out onto hillsides and the animals with weeping willow trees! I thought it was so cool. And the weather was absolutely perfect! Everybody slept in little huts which were on a field next to the animals with the hills in the background. When I woke up the first morning I had to take a picture of my view when I opened my eyes. This is what I saw when I walked outside our hut.









On our full day Lisa and I decided to take a boat up to the middle of the coastal walk (to Barks Bay) which is one of New Zealand's Great Walks and then walk the rest of the way down to our camp ground. The whole walk is suggested in 5 days. So we put a 3 day walk into one day which took us about 8 hours! Megan and Steffi took the ferry to the first leg of the walk. We all rode on a tractor to the beach were the boat would pick us up. The boat ride itself was absolutely gorgeous! The water was crystal clear and on one side was the National Park and on the other was snow capped mountains. While looking over the edge on the top deck I saw a blue penguin pop up and then dive back down. It was only for about 2 seconds, but it was so cool to see one in the wild! It was too shallow for the boat to make it to shore so everybody had to ride a little motor boat (driven by a cute kiwi, might I add). The scenery on this hike was awesome! It was so beautiful and I know none of these pictures will capture what it really looked like.

About an hour in the hike we came across the swing bridge: This was a bridge connecting two ledges and, hence the name, it swung back and forth when you walked across it or made any movements on it. It was scary, but one of the coolest parts of the whole hike!
As we made our way along the coast line we decided to take a detour to reach a waterfall. This detour took us an extra hour and a half to complete, but it was worth it! The falls were so pretty and had moss growing all along the bottom and along the stream which made it have a bright green color all around (and extremely slippery). Before the last leg of the trip we came to a beach called Anchorage. This was a really pretty beach with perfectly smooth sand and clear turquoise water. The best part about this beach and most of the hike was that we hardly came across any other hikers. Lisa and I almost had this beach to ourselves! It was a tiring hike, but also calming because of the awesome scenery.

Wellington & the Start of the South!

Just as a side note we left Auckland on Thursday, Oct 19th.
Here is a map of our route:

Coromandel Bay: Oct 19th
Raglan: Oct 20th
Rotorura: Oct 21st
Taupo: Oct 22nd
Tongariro: Oct 23rd
Wellington: Oct 24th
...we're moving fast so I'll continue with dates from here on out.

When we reached Wellington Gollum told us all the ferrys to reach the south island were closed the next day because of the horrible weather. Although we were having to rush through the trip, we allowed ourselves an extra day incase something went wrong like this. Plus, I figured we'd get to spend an extra day in Wellington which wouldn't be a bad thing. It was extremely windy and pouring rain so Lisa and I pretty much hung out in the hostel for the rest of the afternoon expecting to explore the city the following day. That night Craig told us he was able to get a ticket for the ferry the next morning so they actually were running. We got tickets as well which meant we didn't get to see barely anything of the city. On our way back up to Auckland we'll have an other day there, so hopefully the weather will be better and I'll get to see what is supposidly one of the coolest cities in New Zealand.
That night we went out at the Base hostel's bar. Me, Aaron and Craig played exotic photo hunt. For those of you who don't know what this game is ... too bad for you. There were drink specials, couches, a fussball table and a dance floor 2 Brazilian girls created. It was a good night. On my way back up to my room a French guy, Nicolas, on our bus told me the ferry that came in that night from Picton (the port in the south island) took 10 hours instead of the expected 3 because of the weather and people were coming in the hostel still sea sick and throwing up!
On the ferry the next morning the water had calmed down and the day had cleared up. Our ride was slightly more rough than normal, but nothing like the night before. There were tvs on the ferry playing the news and they kept talking about how horrible it was that the ferry went the night before even though the water was that bad. They said people were getting thrown around, chairs and luggage were falling and that it did take 10 hours for the ferry to cross! I'm just glad that wasn't us!!
The ferry was absolutly huge though! I was expecting this tiny little thing, but it looked like a cruise ship. We found chairs that reclined with a big screen tv and there were cafes and big decks to walk out on. This is a shot from the back of the ferry as we were about to pull in to Picton:
This is from Lisa's camera and shows the Picton harbor:

Tongariro National Park

From Rotorura we drove to Tongariro National Park. The famous activity to do here is the Tongariro Crossing which is argued as one of the best tramps in the world. You hike 13km over volcanoes (one still being active), cross lakes (which are actually craters), see boiling mud pools and all that boring stuff. Well, the weather was shitty when we reached the National Park so it was too dangerous for anybody to do the Crossing and it was closed. It sounded stupid anyways though. Riight...
Anyways, through the pouring rain and mud, Lisa and I decide to do a hike anyways through the Eura Forest. At first it was fun tromping through all the mud, and we tried to walk on the edge of the path to not get our shoes so muddy. Half way through the 5 hour hike it didn't matter any more. There was no walking around the mud because it was everywhere. I was soaking wet and not very happy in this picture.My feet were submerged constantly in thick mud making slurping noises when I would pull them out. This picture is of my trail runners just 2 hours into the hike. Double the amount of mud on them all you'll have my shoes at the end. Here is the picture of the path we walked on the whole way.
In the end it was a good hike (though could have been cut in half) with cool trees and pretty foliage.
This was part of the common area in our hostel that we got to relax in that night:

Lake Taupo

We arrived at Lake Taupo pretty late in the day and it was extremely overcast so me, Lisa and Craig decided to just walk around. We went down to the lake and found a hole-in-one challenge. It was a block of land floating out in the lake and if you got the golf ball in the hole you won $20,000. Craig wanted to give it a shot and convinced us to try it too.
He and Lisa did pretty well ... I did horribly. I would shame the Hagan name for sure. I even missed the ball on my first swing (as you can see in the picture)! I can't believe I just admitted that to everybody.
Anyways, that night was a pretty fun night. Bernard had been traveling as well with the Intercity bus line and met us in Taupo. Me, Lisa, Bernard, Craig, Aaron a Canadian girl Megan and a German girl Steffi all went out to some pub down the road and closed it down. Supposedly I was a pretty good dancer. We played a drinking game in the hostel for a while before we left called Shit Head. I guess it must be huge in Europe because everybody plays it here. It's a pretty fun game though, too. It's kind of like Jack Ass. This picture is of us playing it. It was off Lisa's camera so it's really dark, but you have Aaron's head on the far left, then Craig, me and Bernard.Here is a picture of the other side of the table. It is Lisa, Aaron and Megan. That's all Lake Taupo was for us: a night out. It was too overcast to make doing a hike/tramp worthwhile and jet boating or other lake activities were out of our budget. But the night was fun!

Rotorua

The next morning we left Raglan and headed for Rotorua. On the way we stopped at a rabbit shearing shed. This was extremely ridiculous and pretty damn funny. First they placed the most massive rabbit I've ever seen on a box stand:

Then they took another rabbit and placed it on a table, took its hind legs and tied them up then stretched out its front legs and tied them up. Once it was on the stand the woman could turn the handle and the rabbit would turn upside down. They stretch the rabbit so when they shave it they don't cut its skin. Just incase there was a line on the floor that you weren't supposed to cross incase they did cut the rabbit and blood squirted. (I feel ridiculous just writing about this)
Half way through Lisa started cracking up so much that she was crying and had to excuse herself from the room. The lady thought she was actually crying for the rabbit. But really, it was all very humane. They've been shearing these rabbits for hundreds of years and they have to do it 4 times a year or else the rabbit would overheat, or something like that. The first couple times they do it to a rabbit is all in privacy, but these rabbits are so used to it they didn't even squirm. Once they were totally shaved they didn't even look like the same rabbit!

The funniest moment was when we got back on the bus Gollum says, "Did you guys get your free rabbit soup?" Okay so I don't know what the others thought, but I actually believed they served rabbit soup. Not from these kinds of rabbits but the normal rabbits you find in forests and your back yard and stuff. Gullible, I know. So a couple of us jump off the bus to go get our free food and this kid Benny asks the lady for it. Totally appalled, her jaw dropped and she told him to get out of her store! Benny says, "But, our bus driver told us there was rabbit soup!" So then she realized it was a joke and steps outside to laugh at our driver. Then everyone cracked up. It was great.

So now we've reached Rotorua. This is a small city which has hot springs all over the place and a large population of Maori. People have hot springs in their back yards even, they were everywhere. Lisa and I decided to take a tour of a Maori village, called Tehokowhitu-a-tu, which lives off of the hot springs. All over they had holes like this one which was named Korotiotio. The water is boiling at over 150 degrees Celsius. The people of the village have bath areas which looked like the ones the Romans had. They can even cook their food in these boxes built under ground in the springs. It is the steam that cooks the food and they can bring their food out in the morning, cover it in the box and then come back in the evening and their food is all cooked and ready to eat. Nothing will burn in the steam boxes. We were able to cook sweet corn and sausages to eat for ourselves.

Once we walked around a bit the people put on a Maori dance for us. This was really great to watch. There were mostly children in the show, but also ones from 20-50ish. Their dances and songs were really cool but obviously it was just a representation. There was a little boy who was maybe 4 years old or something dancing in the show too. He was so cute and kept doing the Haka, which is when the males stick out their tongue to scare away their enemies ... or something like that.

Here is Lisa and me posing with two of the people after the show.

During the night our hostel had a backpackers bar attached to it so all of the Stray people went to hang out. There were two Rugby games going on. Rugby Union between Wellington and Hamilton or some city, I can't really remember and Rugby League between NZ and Australia. I learned all about the rules from Craig. I learned that Rugby Union and Rugby League are two different sports (who knew?) and that they can't just throw the ball up field, that they have to pass it backwards or level at all times. I like it much better than American football!

Raglan

The next morning we left the Coromandel Bay and headed to Raglan. Raglan is on the west coast of the North Island, just about an hour from Hamilton. It is the huge surfing community of NZ. The beach was beautiful! I couldn't get over the coast line there and there were NO houses or highrise hotels or anything. I feel like in the US every bit of pretty coast line, especially the biggest surfing beach in the country, is filled with expensive houses but this had nothing! Like it was some secret, remote place. You can't really tell from the picture, but it was actually a really sunny and pretty day. Our hostel was totally sweet! It was all up in the forest and it had a sauna, a zipline and an outside kitchen! This doesn't really capture it, but here's a picture: So of course I wanted to try surfing again. My first and only time doing it was in San Diego last spring and it wasn't easy by any means but I was able to stand up a few times at least. I didn't want to pay for surfing lessons so I just rented a board and wetsuit. It was just me and Craig surfing and Lisa rented a boogie board along with this other English guy, Aaron, we were hanging out with. The waves were HUGE!! I couldn't even get past where they were breaking because they were so big and there was one after another after another. My feet had sand burn from digging them in so hard trying to not be pushed back closer to shore. I was able to stand a few times, but only for a few seconds. But after an hour we were all so exhausted we had to leave. That night was Friday and the hotel in town was having a concert of some funk band. Most of the people on Stray decided to go along with probably everybody else in town. The band was really good and it was fun to watch all the hippy and surfing dudes dance to the band.

Rugby League and Mt. Eden

During our last week in Auckland we found out the All Blacks (NZ Rugby League team) were playing Australia (their big rival). Of course we went! There were 4 other girls in our room who wanted to go as well, and of course Bernard. Two of the girls we had been hanging out with some: Tam, from Michigan and Bea from Sweden. This picture is a girl from Quebec on the left and then Tam and Bea:We had to take the train to get there and I didn't understand any of the rules ... but it was worth it! This picture shows the All Blacks doing the haka (a Maori dance/chant) which they do before each international game:
We got lawn seats on the hill because they were the cheapest. This picture shows the whole stadium:
In the end the All Blacks sadly lost to Australia 18-30.

On our last free day in Auckland me, Lisa, Bernard and Marcello decided to go to Mt. Eden. For those who don't know Mt. Eden is a volcano in Auckland. There is also an area around the volcano called Mt. Eden where there are shops and people live. We took the Link bus and walked the rest of the way. It was quite a hike up the volcano and the boys wanted to cut the roads which wound around and just climb right up. Here is Lisa resting after we climbed that hill:
Bernard decided to walk down the crater, which you're actually not supposed to do because it is sacred to the Maoris ... and it's a huge climb back up! On the top we just took some funny pictures and then walked back down to make our way to good ol' Burger King on Queen St.

Coromandel Bay

Our first stop was the Coromandel Bay which is on a peninsula just east of Auckland. Our last night in Auckland both Lisa and I went out with people from each of our jobs. Lisa had a little too much fun, though, and the bus ride was a rough one for her, to say the least! We had to take an hour detour to the bay though because a truck carrying cows crashed on the road and there were dead cows everywhere so the road was shut all day. It reminded me of when my aunt and uncle hit a cow on the highway on their way home from Perryville.

Anyways, our hostel was just little shacks next to each other. I changed right away because I decided to go kayaking this day. It was such a cool trip! We went all along the cliffs on the ocean and into caves and through crevices. One of the caves we went in led to a blow hole. So we all put our kayaks together and the cliff was just like a cylinder around us and went up about 10 stories. We had a break from our rough adventure and the guide pulled out a box of cookies and apple juice with plastic wine glasses for everybody.

looking at some of a cliff and caves we went through

sitting in the blow hole looking up

me when we just came out of the one with the blow hole

Lisa didn't want to go so I rode in a kayak with a guy Craig who was from the northern part of England and was virtually impossible to understand! He actually ended up being a really cool guy and a lot of fun (when we decipher his accent) so until he left the bus in Wellington, Lisa and I hung out with him most of the time.
That night we all pitched in and had a big group BBQ to get to know everybody. I saw a hedgehog in the grass and about freaked out cause it was the first time I've ever seen one in the wild. Lisa went to bed early though because she was still sick from the night before! And actually she was still sick the next day....

From Beaches to Glaciers and Back

Lisa and I are traveling with a bus line called Stray. There are 3 main bus lines for backpackers, we chose this one because I can take the loop as many times as I want in the year I'm here. Our bus driver's name is Gollum because he played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. Not really, but he got the nickname because he used to have long hair and one night he was with his other bus driver friends and they shaved it into a mullet and pushed him into a lake. When he claimed out he was glaring at them and he must have looked like Gollum. So now that's his name. Our trip is going all through the North and South islands. I'll try to post as much as I can throughout, but we're constantly moving so finding time for the Internet is tough. Here is a map of NZ so you can see where each spot is as I write about them.

The People We Meet

Here are a few pictures and stories of the people I've met so far in the hostel:

Bernard. He is from Dublin Ireland and who Lisa and I hang out with the most. We met him in the hostel. He has two year visas for both New Zealand and Australia. Not in the way he looks, but the way he dresses and acts, he reminds me a lot of my cousin Jordan. He will be in Australia the same time Lisa and I will be so we'll be able to hang out with him over there as well.

Nicole. She is from Boston, went to college in the states and moved to Germany right after. She lived in Hamburg (the city Lisa is from) for one year and Berlin for two. I met her at the IEP office, but she was staying in our same hostel as well. She will stay in New Zealand for 7 months and then wants to move to San Francisco. Recently she left Auckland for seasonal work in Kerikeri, which is a small town on the ocean in the northern region of NZ. We've exchanged cell phone numbers and email addresses and may meet up with each other later on.
Patrick. He is a chef from Switzerland who we also met in the hostel. He has been our comedian on this trip. He hasn't worked in NZ at all but just left for Australia to find a job and work there. He and Bernard will be in Melbourne for Christmas and New Years so I'm thinking about changing my flight to stay longer and be with them before I go back to NZ myself.
Arthur. He is the cyclist from Brazil. He is cycling around the entire world for three years. He's doing it for education in Bazil and is being sponsored by different organizations to do so. He packs about 50kg on the back of his mountain bike and heads from town to town.
Marcelo. He is from Brazil and is a chef as well. He would always cook dinners and have tons of leftovers for everybody else. Usually they were pretty crazy meals and I'm such a picky eater but it was the closest thing I'd have to a home cooked meal ... so I'd eat it. This is a picture of Marcelo (on the left) and Author (on the right).
Bea. She is from Sweden and was in our room pretty much the whole 4 weeks we lived in the hostel. She went with us to a Rugby league game of New Zealand vs. Australia.
Tam. She is from Michigan and had a visa for Australia before she arrived in New Zealand. She also went to the Rugby game with us.

Reuben. He is the first Kiwi I met here. We met in a bar and hung out for the night until Lisa and I wandered home. He's in school some place in the middle of NZ, I didn't recognize the name.