Vacations Aren't Supposed To Be Cold...
Hey people! I'm writing you from a warm, cozy internet cafe in Taupo, on the north island of NZ. It's rather cold outside, though I must admit, I've just gotten used to the warm weather. I've been wussified. Despite the cold weather, I am enjoying NZ immensely! It reminds me a lot of Scotland actually, with it's deep green rolling hills, barely comprehensible accents, and the fact that there are tenfold more sheep and cows in NZ than people. That, and it rains a lot. I'm on the Kiwi Experience bus, which is basically just a tour bus for young people, which stops at budget hostels all over the country. I left Auckland a few days ago, and got some great views of the city, which is quite nice. With a population of 1.4 million, it's the 5th biggest city in the world as far as area goes - which means people have their own space, and are pretty laid back, especially for a big city.
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Basically, I'm using the Kiwi bus to blitz NZ and see as much as I can before I go home. I'm running low on money though, which means I miss out on a lot of the activities - including drinking! At the end of the day, I'd rather do cool things like hike up mountains and do bone carvings and stuff than drink myself out of money, so I've decided to see a sober New Zealand - I'm sure my family would approve, especially given recent events (like my birthday...). Our first stop on the bus was to a spot called Hot Water Beach, which is named as such since there's... Hot water... At the beach. Not very inventive, but at least they can't be blamed for false advertising. Basically, you get to the beach, dig a hole, and freaking hot water comes up through the sand and burns you. Then, you realize that mixing sea water with the uber hot water would be a good idea, so you dig a hole and freeze your butt off for a bit, until the hot water permeates the sea water, and then it's absolutely fantastic. I suppose this would be the first natural hot tub in the world, and it's free, yay!
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http://www.geocities.com/spiker43943/P5250011.JPG A very wonderful place. Next we went to Whitianga, where there was nothing to do but sit in the hot tub, which I was glad to do, and the next day we were off to Rotorua. Rotorua, translated from Maori into English, means "Evil Smelling Place". The name did not disappoint. Like Hot Water Beach, Rotorua sits atop a massive geothermal pocket, where magma heats water to boiling and it rises up through the crust to create cool things like steam baths, natural hot springs and geysers.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43943/P5260039.JPG It brings with it, however, the pungent smell of sulfur, which at times was pretty overwhelming. Rotorua also happens to be the Maori cultural capital of NZ, so we took the time to visit a Maori village to take in some of their culture. It all started with a bus driver who, upon learning that I was Canadian, added "EH!?" to the end of every single thing he said to me. He proclaimed that he was the best looking bus driver in the universe. I told him he was certainly the cheekiest. He drove us to the entrance, where our "chief" went out and met the Maori warrior that came out and offered us a token of peace. Of course, before he offered the peace token, he made all kinds of crazy sounds and gestures with his spear thingy. He was wearing a tiny grass skirt, and nothing else. It would have been funny, except he was much bigger than me, and he was pretty scary looking. The bus driver told us that if we laughed or smiled, the warrior would take this as an offence and an act of war. Basically, this means he would kick our asses with his big stick. No one really believed this but, then again, no one smiled either. Once invited into the village, we got to see a lot of their traditional games and songs - the Maori are
excellent musicians, playing everything from bone flutes that you play from your nose, to acoustic guitars, and hitting three and four part harmonies. It was already an awesome show, when they announced that they would be doing one of their traditional war dances - the Haka. Basically, I came to this village to see the Haka. If you've ever watched the All Blacks (The New Zealand national rugby squad - top three in the world) play a game, you'll know what I'm talking about. Basically, they all drop their spears (which should be relieving), and all make very aggressive actions and sounds together. It may have been the coolest thing I have ever seen. They get so into it that their eyes roll back in their heads and they flick their tongues out at you... It was very, very scary. If I were to encounter Maori on a battlefield, and they did the Haka, I would definitely run like a little girl. As I said soon after the performance "Even my shit was scared". Don't believe me? Imagine 25 of these guys doing crazy gestures and slapping themselves in unison. Be afraid.... Be very afraid...
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43944/P5260057.JPG Not one to bring home to mom, hey ladies? The second best thing I did in the village was the all you can eat buffet... WOW it was good. They cook their food in underground barbecue type pits, and it comes out with a nice smoky taste and a beautiful texture. I had starved myself all day in anticipation. I ate until I hurt. I slept very well that night :) From Rotorua, we went on to see many natural wonders, including waterfalls
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http://www.geocities.com/spiker43944/P5280083.JPG I also got to do one of the coolest things I've ever even heard of - underground tubing. Basically, you get into a really thick wetsuit, which looks absolutely goofy, strap your helmet on, get in an inner tube and go tubing in an underground river. Once you get into the fridgid water, you are very happy to be wearing the goofy thick wetsuit. Once inside the caves, we all shut our lights off and looked up, surprised to see about 1000 tiny green lights glowing on the ceiling. They're called glow-worms, but they're not actually worms... They're maggots. The green glow actually comes from these long tails attached to the maggots, and it's fuelled by... Their poo. They eat insects that have been unfortunate enough to venture into the cave, who fly into the maggot tails for the same reason moths always buzz around lightbulbs - because insects are incredibly stupid. Even though the glow-worms are actually poo-fuelled maggots, they were still amazing to look at. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the caves, since my camera would have been obliterated in the process. Here's the group I've been traveling with for the past few days - I've made friends with everyone, and I've enjoyed their company a ton!
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43944/P5270060.JPG They've certainly enjoyed my company as well - last night I got everyone to pitch in a few dollars and I cooked up a storm. I made some fettuccini alfredo from scratch, with mushrooms and chicken, and some mussels wrapped in bacon, fried with butter. It was a pretty awesome meal, and I will probably do it again before my trip is done - I actually made about 5 bucks, and I got to cook myself a great meal that just wouldn't have been economical without everyone else. Plus I got to keep the extra milk and pasta! SCORE! I can't wait to see the rest of New Zealand, and it'll be coming at me fast and furious as I travel to a new place almost every single day. I have to miss out on many of the adrenaline adventures, such as skydiving and bungie jumping, but I can do those things in Canada - I definitely can't go underground tubing in Canada. New Zealand has been even more enjoyable than Australia thus far, and I've great expectations for the remainder of my trip! Exactly four weeks until I'm back in Canada... Now that's a scary thought. I hope everyone is enjoying the warming weather as much as I'm enjoying the cold stuff :) Talk to you all soon! Spiker
New Zealand
Hey Y'all! Well, I've arrived safe and sound in New Zealand. To my horror, it's much colder here than I was expecting, so I'll have to buy some warmer clothes - I don't think my tiny Thai t-shirts will do in negative degrees Celsius. But, other than the climate (which really hasn't been so bad - I'm just a spoiled brat after being in OZ and Asia), I've already grown quite fond of New Zealand. The people are, once again, quite friendly, and it's really easy to get around the country, which itself is serenely beautiful. I've yet to leave Auckland, and I've already seen two volcanoes (One of which is still active...), beautiful landscape and scenery, and some great wildlife. Actually, the fauna here in New Zealand is quite odd - there are no land animals other than mice, possums, and other small helpless creatures. No large predators, in fact, no predators of almost any kind, unless of course you venture into the ocean. Quite a change from Australia, where just looking at certain insects causes coma and death. Before the Europeans killed them all off, however, there were a few larger land animals that lived here - one of which was called something I'll not even attempt to pronounce/type/spell, a very large bird - VERY large, we're talking 4 meters tall - that was unable to fly, much like an ostrich. This thing would have made big bird from Sesame Street look like a pigeon. Of course, the only thing that was able to eat these massive birds were even BIGGER birds of prey. The largest one of these massive Eagles ever recorded had a 14 meter wingspan. 14 meters... You know the bird that rescues Gandalf in the lord of the rings movies? The bird that lived in Australia would have been even bigger than that. Now that's a huge freakin bird. I've learned some about Maori culture (The Maoris were, and are, the indigenous people of New Zealand), including the fact that they used to eat each other on a regular basis, probably just for fun. Tomorrow I hop on a Kiwi Experience tour bus, and I go out into the wild parts of New Zealand, to meet these same Maori people and learn about their culture and whatnot. I'll make a point of not showering so that I smell less appealing than the other passengers. I'll soon have pictures and such for you all, but until then, stay safe, don't eat yellow snow, look both ways before crossing, and don't get eaten by indigenous tribes. I'll try to do the same. Cheers! Spiker
Farewell, Australia
G'day mates! How's everyone goin'? I'm leaving Sydney tomorrow, embarking on the last leg of my trip - New Zealand. I'm used to the backpacking now - just hopping from place to place, going wherever the wind takes me - but I'll definitely miss Australia. This country is a place of many faces - a place where everything can kill you (From the spiders that could drop a horse, to 8 meter crocodiles, to the 50 degree summer heat in the outback), but where usually, nothing does. A place with some of the finest beaches in the world, with ski hills two hours away. A place with the most interesting assortment of people I have yet encountered in my travels. Especially Sydney. I've never seen/met/ran from/laughed at so many odd people in my life. From the time I got on the bus in Byron Bay up until now, I've met very interesting - and some freaking weird - people. In fact, as I write this post, there is a strange man singing at the top of his lungs into a microphone he made out of a styrofoam cup, in the middle of the sidewalk, just outside. Like I said, some freaking weird people. On the bus ride down, I sat next to a large Irish man who felt he needed about as much room as an African elephant, squishing my poor body into the aisle, making it difficult for anyone to get by without having to kick me a few times. I was glad to get off that bus, 13 hours later, and I walked into the bus terminal in Sydney and called my hostel for a pickup. The lady on the other was completely loony. "Allo." "Umm yeah, is this the ambassador Hostel?" "Yep." "Yeah I heard you guys do pickups from the bus station?" "Yep." :Well I just got in from Byron and I have a booking at the hostel..." "Right then. Rooms all ready, anytime ya want!" "Awesome.... Awesome.... Right, so could I get picked up from the station?" "What station? Get off the bleedin computaahh!!!! Sorry, not you, the other one. What were ye sayin'?" "Oh, the bus station please" "Uhhh, yep. Be there in 10 minutes!" I turned around, a little bewildered, and sat down with my ipod for a bit. I looked up to see a strange squinting man looking at me and mouthing something. I couldn't hear him, because of my music. I took my headphones off, and he said clearly "So, what kinda nurse are ya?" Blank stare. "Ummm... Sorry, what?" "WHAT KINDA NURSE ARE YA" He bellowed with a smile, enunciating every syllable. "Uhh, what kind of nurse? What... huh? I don't follow ... What?" He then pulled out a bag of small prescription bottles and thrust them at me "I was wond'rin if you could help me with me eye drops mate! Can't put em in meself!" "Oh... uhhh.. yeah, what the hell. Sure." And so I helped a random man who called me a nurse to put eyedrops in his eye. I didn't really talk to him after that, I was happy enough just moving along to where I was about to be picked up by the crazy lady on the phone. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later a large woman in a mumu with wiry black hair screeched to a halt in a van in front of me. She threw my stuff in the back and off we went. We had a wonderful discussion about how her roof looked much better than the other roofs that were next to hers. She had been up some tower the day before, and she was so happy with her roof that she wanted to shout it... Well, from the rooftops.
Her rooftop, I guess. We got there and I settled in, my room didn't smell great but it didn't smell that bad either - at least it was cheap. That night I went out for some McDonald's, to sample what Australia has to offer as far as McDonald's specials go. The only Australian thing on the menu was called the McOz. It looked okay but not great, like everything else in McDonald's, so I tired it. I was sorely disappointed. It's just a cheeseburger with a bloody beet on it. A BEET. Why? There is no need for a beet on a burger. I should have complained... Maybe I would have, had I not been so distracted by yet another absolutely insane individual. I looked up to find a man dressed in black leather cowboy boots, black leather pants, a black leather biker jacket and a black leather cowboy hat, dancing in the middle of McDonald's to whatever music happened to be playing at the time. I really wish I could remember what song was playing, just for context, but you can still get the picture. The McDonald's management paid no attention to him whatsoever, which lead me to believe he was as frequent there as happy meals. On his way by my table, he noticed I'd finished eating (I was mostly just staring at him, unable to look away - it was like watching a train wreck), and he kindly took my tray for me. When he returned he tried to get a random guy to roll a joint for him, and seeing I would likely be next, I took my cue and left. Most of the people in the hostel are also quite odd, though I can't say any of them sang into a styrofoam sup, or asked me to put their eyedrops in for them... I guess I should count myself lucky? Of course, the sightseeing didn't stop at strange and interesting people - Sydney has more sights to see than I could even fit into my four days here. Vanessa and I (Vanessa has joined me for these last few days of Australia, having been to Melbourne and back) walked past all the strip joints and hourly hotels (We're in the not-so-posh part of Sydney... Like I said, at least it's cheap!), through some gorgeous parks and fields, and made it to the opera house, probably Australia's most famous landmark of all (other than the kangaroo, I suppose). Here's come pictures of the place, and some pictures of the Harbor bridge, which is just a bigass bridge I took pictures of. Apparently it took them something like 12 years to build, which was ok because it was going to be the biggest bridge in it's category in the world. But when they opened it, they found out it was 12 inches shorter than one that was opened about 3 months earlier, somewhere the States. TWELVE INCHES. BURN. I mean that is a monumentally massive heinous roast of a burn. Still, it makes for a nice picture!
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http://www.geocities.com/spiker43942/P5210120.JPG As you can see we walked up onto the bridge, which offered a very nice view of things. Of course we didn't actually walk
over the bridge, like these people.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43942/P5210116.JPG Apparently it costs about 200 bucks, but I guess it would be worth it for the view. When we came down from the bridge, we explored a little region of Sydney called The Rocks. It's sorta like Eau Claire in Calgary, except the shops are much more expensive, and there were about 37 weddings going on at once, in various settings. We walked by one of them, and then by a Rolls Royce, and ended up in a shop that had no price tags, presumably because they would have to use too much paper to actually advertise a price so large. I felt thoroughly out of place with my "No Money No Honey" shirt and my backpack on. After quickly exiting the shop before security was called, we found a small but useful map, and after looking at this map we discovered with happiness that we were a mere four blocks from the Canadian Consulate! I decided that I wanted to spend a few minutes on Canadian soil, so we walked over to the building. I was hoping maybe they'd greet me with a warm smile and say "Ah, a fellow Canadian eh?! Well it's just great to see ya, we've got some KD on in the back, and some reruns of old NHL games playing on the foyer! Just pop yourself on the chesterfield and grab a Kokanee!" These dreams soon crumbled to dust. When we got there, to my dismay, the Consulate was closed.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43942/P5210125.JPG That's probably because it's Saturday... I guess I didn't really think this one out very well. After recovering from my sadness, we went to a few markets, one of which was actually very good - I ended up buying some sandals, since my last ones were stolen (Who steals 10 dollar sandals... Seriously...), and I got some warmer wear for New Zealand, which is going to be colder than I was hoping for. We also saw about 39213 Japanese tourist busses driving around, unloading and loading passengers in tight groups. I call them pods. I got a picture of one such pod.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43942/P5210123.JPG What you see is many Asian people right after a picture was taken of them (They all gave the peace sign. Every single one of them. Even the 90 year old lady), by an Asian man, who was himself being filmed
and photographed by an Asian woman, who's not in the Asian man's picture. I guess Australians aren't the only weird people in the world. Besides, Australians have the trump card of all trump cards - they created one of the most amazing things the world has ever seen (though most of the world is unaware of their existence).
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43941/P5210105.JPG Ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about Tim Tams. If you don't know what a Tim Tam is, you should probably go book a flight to Australia. They're that good. And they don't sell them anywhere else in the world. Not that I know of, anyway... I tried to get some in Canada, but I couldn't find any anywhere. But here in Australia, the Tim Tams are bountiful and fresh sealed for your convenience. They're basically a two little chocolate biscuits with a bit of creamy stuff in the middle, all wrapped up in sweet milk chocolate. Sounds a lot like some other chocolate bars, right? WRONG. Tim Tams are like nothing you have ever tried. What you do is, you bite off opposite corners of the Tim Tam, put one end of it into coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and you suck the liquid through the Tim Tam. Heaven. And then, while the Tim Tam is just starting to melt from the warm goodness of whatever you're drinking, you pop it into your mouth and just let it dissolve (I believe the Tim Tam then bypasses your stomach and goes directly to that part of your brain that makes you happy, stays there for about 30 seconds, and then turns to pure fat and settles on your belly/hips/cheeks/arse). Wow. If I can find these things in New Zealand, I'm bringing some home. If I bought some now, they would definitely NOT make it through Australia without being eaten. By me. Maybe I'll just make an offer on the company... But enough silly talk. Tomorrow I leave for New Zealand, and I'm sure I will miss Australia, the country that's been my home for the last two months. The accent, the surfing, the beautiful beaches, the great (though sometimes crazy) people - this country is worth visiting. I'm sure I've said this before, but it reminds me a lot of Canada, and I love Canada! New Zealand will be amazing, and as the last leg of my trip, I'm sure it will absolutely FLY by. As of yesterday, the countdown is at 5 weeks. Only 5 weeks left until I return to Canada. It feels like I've only been gone for a month! Then again, I can hear Kraft Dinner calling my name... And I'm missing my family and friends more every day. Maybe home won't be such a bad thing when it finally comes :) But for now... New Zealand, here I come! Spiker
Byron Bay
Hey people! I don't have much to say at the moment, but I thought I should post anyway, since it's been a week, at least. I'm almost through with Australia, and I've loved it! My only complaint would be that it's so similar to Canada, it's almost like
being in Canada. Except with different accents and more things that can kill you. I'm finally out of Noosa now, I made my way to Byron Bay last night. Byron Bay is pretty much the same as Noosa, especially the weather - rain, rain and a 10000% chance of more rain. I swear it's been raining for the last 3 weeks straight... What is this, Vancouver? Luckily surfing in the rain is just as fun as surfing in the sunshine, although slightly colder. My tan is fading a bit but I can't complain - the fact that I ever
had a tan is amazing enough. I'm really looking forward to New Zealand now, to seeing some new exciting things, though I think New Zealand will be getting pretty cold this time of year... I might have to invest in some warmer clothing when I arrive. Still, it's not going to be like Calgary in the winter... More like Vancouver Island in the winter, something like that. I leave Byron Bay today (if I can get my bus booked in time) and head off down to Sydney, where I've got about 4 days before I get on yet another plane, headed for Auckland. I'll make one last post before I go, if I can find the time, and I'll surely have some nice pictures of Sydney to show everyone :) With less than 6 weeks left in my entire trip, I'm starting to miss home a bit more, anticipating my return I think. I've got University to come back to, and my best friend Dan is moving back to Calgary! Saaaweeeet! I never thought I'd be wanting to come back home, but being here in Australia is like being in Canada, just without all my favorite people :) Speaking of my favorite people, my parents just got news that the government of India has approved their journey there, and they'll likely be there for a year! In an act of misguided, foolish trust, they've let my brother and I stay in the house while they're gone... I wonder if they'll have anything to come back to? :D Incidentally, this means that I'm looking for one roommate, to live with my brother and I (A tall order, really) for the coming year. If anyone's interested, just drop me an email or somethin. Sydney, here I come! Spiker
The Board, The Birds, The Pooey Mess.
Greetings, readers! It's been a while since I've posted, which is again due to the lack of cool new things I'm doing/seeing/experiencing/ingesting. Over the last week, however, a few interesting things did happen. I'm still loving the job, still surfing most every day, and still enjoying Noosa very much. I leave one week from today (Monday in Australia, Sunday for most of you), to go down to Byron Bay and Sydney, and finally New Zealand. I'm getting excited to go somewhere new now, not because I don't like Australia, but because it's almost exactly the same as Canada. Again, don't get me wrong - I love Canada to bits, but I don't think any of you would pay thousands of dollars to fly to Banff or Vancouver Island, if you get what I'm saying. New Zealand promises to be exciting and new, and should be an excellent, albeit expensive end to my trip. But of course, Australia still has many things that Canada, and especially Calgary lack, one of which is surfing! I am absolutely loving it - I get to surf every day for free and I'm actually getting half decent! I may have some pictures for you guys by the end of my stay in Noosa, but I can't promise anything - it rains most days here, making it fairly stupid to bring my camera to the beach with me. I also do some boogeyboarding, which is basically just bodysurfing with a piece of plastic under you - it's fricken awesome! I went out three days ago and the surf was massive - the waves were getting as big as 9 feet that day. But I was not intimidated! I took my wee boogeyboard out there on the waves and I got my ass kicked! It was brilliant fun, just getting tossed here and there by massive waves, and occasionally riding one all the way to the shore. One exceptionally large wave decided to break before I thought it was going to, thereby tossing me like so little salad onto the ocean floor, and turning me over a few times for good measure. I slammed my side into the sand, bruised my shoulder and hip and felt somewhat like potatoes must feel after being mashed. I finally reached the surface of the water and I took in some air and thought... "THAT WAS FRICKEN AWESOME!" I pulled on the leash of my boogeyboard, which seemed oddly light... And along came the boogeyboard skipping across the water. Well, some of it anyway. As it turns out the wave not only rolled me like a sock in a dryer, it snapped the boogeyboard in half. To this moment, I've no idea where the other half went, but it was definitely not attached to the plastic backing. Take a look at the end result.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43940/P5050045.JPG Luckily the staff took mercy upon me and didn't make me pay for the board, since it was one of the old ones and was going anyway. But surfing isn't the only cool thing about Australia, there's tons more, including all the colorful birds here. There are a bunch of them living in the trees next to the hostel, with a Koala, who come every morning and eat pretty much everything they can find, with a distinct preference for jam. In fact, just about the only thing they won't eat is the Vegemite. Most of you probably don't know what Vegemite is. This is a good thing. It's yeast germ extract. And it tastes just like it sounds like it should taste. Basically, take the sludge at the bottom of a brewery's beer fermentation tank, and put it in a jar. Welcome to Vegemite. Anyway, these birds will even eat out of your hand if you've got some jam! They're called Rainbow Lorikeets, and they're cute little buggers - if they weren't cute, I think they'd just be annoying. Reminds me of children... Here are some pictures of said birds, and me feeding said birds.
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I quite like the one where the bird is nearly transparent - it started to fly away halfway through the exposure. It looks like it was digitally placed there. Another lucky picture, what can I say! As I've said, it's been raining quite a lot lately, so we've been forced to entertain ourselves by any means possible, which on one sad night meant playing dressup. You see, there's this closet in the flat I'm staying in, where everything you could ever imagine exists. An old dartboard, a cowboy hat, a computer, hoolahoops, an actual kitchen sink, a large metal crucifix... The list goes on. The girls decided to dress me up as a cowboy fairy thing and take pictures of me... Warning - shocking pictures to follow, may cause blindness and nausea, or in severe cases coma and death.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43940/P5060050.JPG alright so it wasn't my shining moment... Then again, it was much better than what happened last night. I have no pictures of what I'm going to tell you about, and you'll see why once I'm done. So, Chris is sitting on a stool by the bar, chatting up a couple of Swedish supermodels, when Chris gets a tap on the shoulder. It's the receptionist, Becky. Becky whispers to Chris that there is a "Situation" in the washroom in the second building. Naive and innocent, Chris asks what this trouble could possibly be, on such a wonderful night full of Swedish supermodels. Becky calmly replies that someone has had an accident in the shower. Accident? Someone slipped and fell and can't get up? No Becky says. Someone
let one slip... And didn't
pick it up. Chris wonders aloud who in the universe would shit in a shower, and ponders that it must have been some drunken idiot, acting on a dare. Chris entertains the notion that it could have been a powerful unanticipated sneeze. Chris notes that only a man could be capable of something so stupid. Becky goes a brighter shade of red and clarifies the coordinates of the mess - it happens to exist in the
GIRL'S shower. And now, Chris finds himself cleaning up someone else's poo. In the girl's shower. Not a night to remember, and now you understand why there are no pictures of this significantly disgusting event. Well, I'm trying to put that one behind me, though I did get a free slice of cheesecake for my job. But the cheesecake just didn't taste quite as good after cleaning up poo. Apologies for the tastelessness (and stinkiness...) of this story, but it just had to be told :) I hope everyone back home is enjoying spring and early summer, and I hope no one else has had to clean up someone else's feces in the last week! Only 7 weeks to go, and I'll be back in Canada. See you all then! Spiker
