South Island Adventures

After a much needed (well, maybe just for me) rest day in Picton on the South Island, we headed just south into the Mt. Richmond Range for a four day wilderness trip that took us over countless (only because we weren't counting) peaks and connecting ridges. We didn't really have much information on the route, because our original plan was foiled due to "impassable" trails. However, good map in hand, we set out hoping to do the route in 3-4 days, with enough food for 5 or 6. After the first day, we realized that "tramping route" definitely did not mean TRAIL, so we thoroughly enjoyed the solitude of not seeing another soul for 4 days. Although there wasn't always a definte trail, the route was indeed well marked and route finding was never a problem. The un-anticipated challange for us was that the going over wet, slippery, rooty, rocky, terrain with frequent down trees was a little slower than we're used to hiking. This didn't create any problems, but seriously altered our actual vs projected hiking times based on looking at the distances and elevation on the map.

The very next day after getting off the trek, we hired two single kayaks out of Marahau, on the border of Abel Tasman National Park, and headed up the coast for two days of paddling in the Tasman Sea. Before the trip began, we had a 60 minute kayaking "lesson" from Mitch, the Independent Guides owner, who wanted to make sure we were spot on before sending us off into the great wide open. While very informative and usefull, for for safety and our paddling form, it sometimes felt a bit like being barked at by a drill instructor. Natalie (Netty, as Mitch called her) seems to take the brunt of the barking. The weather held well for us, with only a little rain the first day, along with some decently sized swells. We paddled among drippingly green islands with sandsone bluffs and caves, past seal colonies, and over glowing blue jellyfish floating in emereld green water. The second day the tides were in our favor on the way back, and we were able to explore way up an estuary at high tide.

After a night camped next to gypsy wagons headed for the Marikou gypsy fair, we continued south and west to the coastal city of Westport from where we'll try to embark on another trek if the weather decides to change its mind....

Sam

So, I got a new car for my birthday- we traded our troubling old one for a newer and safer subaru station wagon- and headed to South of Aukland to Waitomo caves. Opting only for free and independent experiences, Sam and I had a long, relaxed dinner well paired with New Zealand wines, as we waited for night to fall so the area's famous glow worms could illuminate our trail. That short night hike alone was incredible- a maze of a trail, along a serpantine creek, through forest and rock tunnels that sparkled with the tiny lights of glow worms, living among the rock walls. Prior to the hike, we got directions from some other travelers to find some uncommercialized caves right off of the same trail. The following morning was spent in these underground caverns, usually wading knee-deep in water, and scrambing over, under and through unique rock formations, which sparkled with glow worms, water droplets, or minerals. That everning we headed to Turangi, gave ourselves a day of relaxation, day hiking, pizza making, and our first night back in the tent since Chile. After sleeping in the back of a station wagon every night, we were like little kids on Christmas about getting to sleep in the tent again- and slept better than either of us had since Chile. Yesterday, we made the famous Tongaririo Crossing (Mordor), over twenty-five km, if you include the 2200m volcano (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) and the 1900m mountain we climbed as side trips. The trail itself traveles through very interesting volcanic scenery, including lava fields, colored craters and thermal pools, which is why it is said it be New Zealand's most popular trail, which is also why, on a regualar Wednesday when school is in session here, we hiked it with about five hundred other people. Seriously. Without any real plans following the trek and with an renewed eagerness to escape the masses, we changed our ferry ticket to last night, and crossed over to the South Island early this morning. We are very excited for increasinly impressive scenery and already hard at work trying to figure out how to cram it all in to the month we have left. Cheers!

...still in Auckland?

We haven't posted in the last week or so because, well, not much has happened. At least not much compared to our constantly changing adventures in South America. Its not that we haven't been doing ANYTHING, but just that things are moving a bit slower. The big news is that we bought a car! A little scary for penny-few travelers, plus a large committment for only 7 weeks, but we'll hopefully get most of the money back, plus save a boatload by being able to camp every night. Or at least sleep in the back of the station wagon. And thus far we have. On Monday we drove north of Auckland and visited Sam, one of Joel's buddies from Tahoe. It was a great re-start to our NZ adventure, staying up talking about past and future adventures and getting a welcoming home to spend the night! Sam gave us some fantastic recommendations for places to go, which we used to explore further north, visiting a giant Kauri forest and Bay of Islands. We'll probably be around Auckland for another few days before quickly making our way south towards the south island. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NATALIE TOMORROW!

Sam

Back in the land of soap, toilet paper, and drinkable water!

Just arrived in NZ early this morning and are quite frazzled still from a long travel bit. Its amazing how much I appreciate simple things like being able to wash my hands after using a public restroom, not having to pay for it in the first place, and being able to drink the tap water!

Not much for now, we're going to relax in Auckland for a few days before meeting up with a friend who lives north of town for maybe a few days before moving on. Our traveling went well, although was almost problematic when our flight from Miami to LA was cancelled. Luckily, we were able to get the last two seats on a sooner flight, which was also overbooked and running late, so were able to make our connection in LA.

Dazed and jet lagged,
Sam

Adios Sud America

This is the last blog to be posted from my new favorite continent. Yesterday, we completed the ultimate bussing marathon- fifty hours! We both still have very chubby ankles from that one. That bussing marathon followed our visit to Viña del Mar, a popular beach city in Chile, which was a bit overcrowded for our tastes, but had two unique highlights: a nude beach and the Super Completo, a customary Chilean treat that Sam had looked forward to, which is a hot dog with mayo, tomatoes, and guacamole. Our real grande finale place in Chile was Ancud, a small town at the edge of the large island of Chiloe. Ancud is a colorful, quaint, fishing town, where we had a beautiful camp site on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and made clams in wine sauce for lunch and dinner because it was so affordable and delicious. We spent a day going to visit a penguin colony, where we shared mate on the beach with a nice Argentinian traveler. Friendly people, beautiful scenery and sunshine! We are currently about to leave Nazca, Peru, which feels surprizingly comfortable after having been here three months ago. Funny to think back to how busy, confusing, foreign and desertous it seemed then, and now we see it as a lovely, fashionable little town perfect for travelers´ rest. I took a small plane tour to see the famous Nazca Lines, which was extremely interesting. There are a dozen or so figures that are very prominent (and enormous), including a monkey and hummingbird, which are not found near this area, but also numerable figures that are difficult to make out, and straight lines criss crossing and stretching out for miles. It is unknown why or how exactly these line came to be, and that mystery certainly adds to their astonishing appeal. Oh, dear! Time to get on the final South American bus. I don´t doubt that we will both return to this amazing place. That is all I can say to not get sentimental about closing this chapter of the adventure. On to New Zealand!