Welcome to Jurassic Park!

...err, Fiordland, NZ.

Had an excellent week in New Zealand's fiords, and because I haven't been doing a good job laying out exactly what it is I've been DOING in this space, I'm just going to lay out my itinerary since Friday, April 17th.

Fri 4/17: Arrive in Te Anau, check out the town, the Lakeside walk, the Bird park (containing rare birds like the kea, kaka, and takahe - but no kiwi, sadly), and Ivon Wilson park. Realize that birds have the potential to be cooler than I previously thought, and that takahe, with their rusty door-like tweet, are actually kind of adorable. Watch silent movie in Fiordland cinema, which is a nice little collection of footage of Fiordland.

Sat. 4/18-Sun 4/19: Go on overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound. This entails a ferry ride through Lake Manapouri, which is totally sweet looking with its bit of mist, a bus ride from the Manapouri Hydro Power Station (which provides a large chunk of the South Island's power - take that oil dependence!), and the cruise itself through one of New Zealand's largest fiords, Doubtful Sound. Doubtful Sound - named such because Captain Cook was a little doubtful that the winds would carry his ship back out if he tried to sail in - is prehistorically delicious. All evidence of humanity's existence on earth (if you discount the boat I was on) is completely absent. In fact, if it weren't for the stoats and other mammals that people brought back in the late 1800s, mammals would be basically nonexistent here. Anyhoo, the cruise was nice, though very misty (and rainy on the second day), with good food, good kayaking, and good sights of Dusky dolphins, sea lions, and Fiordland crested penguins. And since it was the offseason, I saved NZ$100! Triple Word Score!

Mon. 4/20 - A decidedly un-chill day, as I decide to walk part of the Kepler Track two days before I hike the Milford Track. I walk from town to one of the huts, and back. This ends up being well over 30 km (20 miles). Views are pretty good, though a little cloudy up at the top. I end up feeling silly when I realize I could have saved two hours of walking by parking in a different spot. Go to sleep in soreness and pain.

Tues. 4/21 - Do absolutely nothing, and it's everything I ever hoped it could be.

Wed. 4/22 - First day of the Milford Track! Nice clear weather. Catch the bus at 1:00 PM, cruise up Lake Te Anau, and start the track around 3:30. Nice little walk through the bush along the riverside, end up arriving at hut about an hour later. Hut ranger gives a long winded but entertaining talk about blue ducks, the track that lies ahead for the 40 of us, and blue ducks. And also, blue ducks. He has some stuffed stoats for us to play with, too. Ah, New Zealand. Then we go out and observe a stump with some glowworms (like fireflies, but stationary).

Thurs. 4/23 - Second day of the Milford Track - cold night in the hut, but still totally clear out. In fact, did not rain at all while I was hiking, which is very unusual. Occasionally, people have done the hike while waist deep in water due to flooding on the track - you can request a helicopter rescue in some cases, but not always. We walk through the river valley with dramatic hills on either side, and end the day starting to climb up the hill to Mackinnon Pass. End up at Mintaro Hut. Start to notice smelliness about. Try to look for kiwi in the dark, but unsuccessful.

Fri. 4/24 - Third day of the Milford Track - Best. Single Day Walk. Ever. Encounter multiple keas monkeying about as I wake up to go to the bathroom, and as I start my hike. Climb up to Mackinnon Pass for about 1.5 hours, see a river valley on either side at the top. It's only about 3000 ft up here, but it feels like much, much higher. Climb down a very rocky and windy path through an avalanche-prone ravine, then walk down a staircase alongside a beautiful raging stream adorned with moss and crazy trees. Reach the bottom of the hill, have lunch as the sandflies begin their assault, and take a short 1.5 hour return walk to Sutherland Falls, NZ's tallest waterfall. On return, make it to Dumpling Hut (unfortunately, no dumplings were to be served there).

Sat. 4/25 - Final day of the Milford Track - pretty much a flat hike to Sandfly Point on Milford Sound, some fun things like a weka who seemed to be begging for my lunch. Wekas are pretty cute, and the closest thing to a kiwi I'll probably see in the wild. End up missing the early boat at Sandfly Point by about 2 minutes, meaning I miss out on saying goodbye to most of the people I met on the track, but next boat comes 20 minutes later so I don't have to get eaten by sandflies for long. Milford Sound itself is pretty sweet, but after the past week I don't think I have as much appreciation for it as I might if I hadn't been inundated with continually gorgeous scenery. Return to Rosie's backpacker homestay (the best, most welcoming hostel I've EVER stayed at - seriously, if you're ever in Te Anau, book ahead at this place. Rosie and Allister kick ass) and am rewarded with a beer for my efforts. Sleep the sleep of the just.

Sun. 4/26 - Leave Te Anau, head up the West Coast into a wall of rain. Sleep in Haast, the first populated area on the coast I reach.

Mon. 4/27. More rain. Drive up the coast to Hotitika, pay $14 to see live kiwi (since I'm tired of missing out). Drive up further to Greymouth, then to Blackball, the birthplace of the NZ labor movement. Stay at a place called Formerly the Blackball Hilton (they used to be the Blackball Hilton, then someone got pissy, hence the hilarious name change). Hang out with genuine west coasters for a bit, then go to bed. Crazy hotel.

Today - return to Greymouth. Still raining. See why they call it the Grey Valley. Working at a hostel in town for a week. Hopefully it won't be raining forever :)

That's all for now!

Glenorchy

(slain orcs off-screen)

Not much to report here - had a few quiet days in Glenorchy and Kinloch, which was a good antidote to the adrenaline/alcohol fueled week which was my week in Queenstown. The horse trek was nice - saw the place where the Uruk-Hai chased around Boromir right before he died, one of the scenes from Lothlorien (apparently someone pasted a bunch of golden leaves to the trees there, so it wasn't really a golden forest), and the place where Isengard/Orthanc was set (sadly, the CGI tower was not present for my trek - if only they could have had a giant projector set up...)

This will probably be my last post before I hike the Milford Track five days from now, unless something super exciting comes up. See you on the flip side!

The Marvels, Oil and Spoon

To balance out my bitchiness about Queenstown, I thought I'd share this little parable from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist (the most relevant book I've read on my trip since The Grapes of Wrath while working on my first farm at the beginning of March):

"A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.

"Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention.

"The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours.

"'Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something," said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. 'As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill.'

"The boy begain climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.

"'Well,' asked the wise man, 'did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?'

"The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

"'Then go back and observer the marvels of my world,' said the wise man. 'You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house.'

"Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.

"'But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?' asked the wise man.

"Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.

"'Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you,' said the wisest of wise men. 'The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.'"

Queenstown Days and Nights

Ah, Queenstown. Today's Day 6 of my stay in this city, and boy oh boy. I will say it's set in probably the most visually stunning scenery I've ever been amongst, and the daytime activities I have partaken in - canyon swinging, rafting, scaling snowy peaks - have been excellent and worth the visit. I would definitely recommend swinging by if you are ever in New Zealand, even if you don't partake in the high-adrenaline, high-priced, high-altitude activities - it's just a gorgeous place, and the town is a compactly laid out place with loads of excellent places to eat and cheap things to do (if you look hard enough). Lots of Lord of the Rings scenes to be found in the area too, if you're into that (and I am, by Gandalf's beard!) But, enough about Queenstown in the daytime!

Queenstown at night is everything I hate about alcohol and what it does to people. I've detested Jagermeister since two shots of it destroyed me for an entire weekend junior year of college, and the drink of choice in Queenstown seems to be the Jagerbomb. The bars are meat markets filled with drunk dudes who will bump into you, spilling your drink unapologetically, drunk girls making scenes with poles involved. Every bar seems to be like this. Now, I'm OK with going to a bar like this once in awhile, but it sorta gets old after 20 minutes, and isn't enjoyable to me when sober. As my wise friend J. Pollack once eloquently described Doc Hollidays' in the East Village, "It's a place you end up, not a place you go to." I'd say the same for pretty much every bar I've encountered here. The annoying thing is that even when you resolve to personally boycott the bar scene and just read or watch TV in the hostel, some representatives from a bar or pub crawl organization having special deals that night will come into the hostel lounge and give you the hard sell. Nuts to all of that!

So yeah, I've had some good times here, and some good reminders that I'm not 18 years old anymore and may not enjoy hanging out with 18 year olds, but I'll be ready to get out in approximately 36 hours. I'll consider it a cautionary tale against booking a stay somewhere on the rest of my trip for more than a few days...

My next two stops - Glenorchy, about 45 minutes west of Queenstown, where I'll be doing a couple of day hikes and a LOTR-themed horse trek (overcoming my irrational fear of horses in the process), and Te Anau, from where I'll be doing a fjord cruise and my 4-day hike to Milford Sound (yet another fjord). After that, on April 26th, I'll be heading up the West Coast of the south island, and bouncing around the south island and north island a bit until I meet Tadhog in Wellington exactly one month later on May 26th.

Wanaka

Spent the last week or so in Wanaka, in the midst of the southern alps. For those of you familiar with northern NH, it's sort of like the Bartlett to Queenstown's Conway. Very pretty surroundings, not too built up yet, though it seems to be starting down that direction.

Here's my week in review (today's Monday the 6th): last Sunday, arrived in Dunedin for the Fringe Festival and hanging out with various peeps. The festival was a bit of a disappointment except for an event or two, but I had fun anyways. Tuesday I drove up to Wanaka via the Otago heartland, where much of NZ's fruit is grown. Arrived in Wanaka around 5 in the evening, saw most of what the downtown had to offer in an hour or so, and hung out at the hostel.
The next morning, drove about 15 minutes to my next WWOOFing location. As I pulled into the driveway, this woman in her late 50s looked rather bewildered to be seeing a car pulling in. Got out of the car, held out my hand:

"Hi, I'm Tim!"
"...Am I supposed to know you?"
(this after I'd emailed her (Ruth) several times and called her two nights previously - found out later something similar had happened to the other WWOOFing guests)

After we'd worked it out that I had indeed called and that she had a spare bed, she showed me to the first task, where Anselm, an 18 year old French guy was working pretty diligently. She was micromanaging him something fierce and muttering at me about him, knowing that his English wasn't all that good. I ended up staying despite my instincts telling me to run.

In addition to Anselm, I met Mick and Sharon, an English couple from Birmingham. Ended up going on a few hikes and having a few beers with them, not to mention going along with them to the movie theater/cafe (something which really needs to exist in NYC) to see Benjamin Button. Enjoyed hanging out with all of them, and made the WWOOFing experience much better than it would have otherwise been - for on top of the various complaints I had about Ruth, she ended up "needing my bed" a few days earlier than I'd planned on leaving. Good thing my trip plans are flexible :)

This week has kind of put a lot of thoughts in my head as to what I want out of life, where my priorities should be, and all that - which is exactly what I'd hoped for when I started out on this journey. What kind of importance do I want to place on my career? Do I have any desire to settle down somewhere, whether in NYC or elsewhere, or do I want to travel around as much, working in various places when money gets low? Not sure, but I've had a quote from Esther Dyson bouncing around in my head in the past week: "Always make new mistakes." - which is exactly what I'm hoping I'm going to be doing in the next few days, months, and years (and I hope the same for all of you, dear readers!)