I decided to take a trip to New Zeland and I am finally here. I decided that I was going to write diary entries and post them here for all to read. Hope you enjoy them!
I am finally in the air in the first leg of the journey to New Zeland. The trip so far has not started out with to much promise. I left work at about 4:50pm and made it home in 15 minutes. I was surprised considering it was rush hour. I got every thing together long before the taxi was to arrive. 5:45 came and went and no taxi was there. After waiting 15 minutes, I called the cab company to ask where my cab was. The guy checked and after a couple of minutes said it'd be another 10 to 15 minutes. So, another fifteen minutes went by and no cab yet. I called again and it arrived a minute later. I rushed out the door to make sure I'd get to the airport quickly.
The cab ride was quick and friendly. I still had plenty of time. Checking in took a while and I didn't even get a seat on the flight to Auckland. The wait to boared didn't take long, but the control tower messed up our departure and we sat on the runway for over 15 minutes before we finally took off. We have just started to descend so we must be getting close to LA.
I have decided that I will try to keep up my web page with this public journal so my friends and family can see how things are going. The first thing I am going to do in LA is to get a descent pen. Then I'm going to see about posting this to my page. Of course, that is after I get my seat on the flight to Auckland.
The take-off worried me a bit. This is my first time on a 747-400 and didn't realize just how long it takes to get up to speend and enough lift to get the plane off the ground. Smaller jets only take 10 seconds or so to get up to speed, but this plan took close to a half minute. I didn't time it but it definately took twice as long as a 727 or 737 does. The plane was fullly loaded too, which probably added to it.
I was able to get a new pen in LA but it isn't that much better. The kiosk for Inet was down (both) so I was unable to post my first part of the diary.
I did change some money to the NZ dollar but I haven't taken a close look at the money, but it is definately different than the American dollar. Taking a closer look at the money reveals that the clear portions of the bill have the amount, and that the bills are different sizes. The larger the value, the larger the bill. In some ways that's usefull when you have the money folded over, but can also be anoying.
I'm running out of space on this paper, and need to get some sleep.
Has today ever turned into a beautiful day. When I first got into Auckland it was muggy and overcast. At around 1 or 2pm the clouds broke and now the sun is shining down very warmly. The sun is very bright and I need to find a pair of sunglasses before I squint to death.
Karen was not at the airport when I arrived. The plane was a bit late arriving and it took awhile to get my bagage from the bagage claim. I waited for a bit and decided to take the bus into Auckland.
Once I got into Auckland and started carring my bags arround, I realized that I needed a place to put my bags. I checked into a hostel so that I could put my clothes and sleeping bag down and not carry them with me.
I walked around for a bit, went to the pire where the Meritime Museum was and saw America One sitting in it's berth. I walked around and saw the other ships and decided it was time for lunch.
I went to the Auckland museum, after I finished lunch, and walked through Albert Park to get to the Auckland Domain where the Auckland museum is located.
I can't believe how much sunlight I get because it is summer. This morning on the plane it was daylight at around 6am, and I still have plenty of hours left. The sun is only about half way down.
Oh well, onto more exploring!
I just finished transcribing my entries into the computer, now I can write and entry for what I did last night.
After walking around a bit trying to find the way to Mt. Eden I got to hungry, so I headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready to go out for dinner. The two people who I was sharing the room with were up, and we started talking. Their names are Fredric and Hendric (going to have to confirm spelling on these). After a bit, they invited me to go out w/ them tonight, but I needed to grab dinner first (I need to get lunch soon). So I went out to dinner and had a beer with dinner. When I got back, they had a 24 pack, and I had three of those, maybe four, I wasn't keeping track.
Then we went to this place that they know the bartender at, and had free jugs of beer. So, I was given this jug of beer which is either a liter or a liter and a half. And in addition, they free shots of tequila w/ a jug of beer. I did manage to just about finish the jug, but by that time I was pretty drunk. We ended up crusing around to a few more bars, but things were starting to slow down as it was already like 2am.
Near the end of the wandering, there were these two girls singing pop songs. Karina started to dance a bit, so I started to dance. It was quite fun, there was this guy w/ a camcorder that recorded me and other people dancing. We finally headed off to check out this other place before heading home, but it was closed. On the way back, one of the guys that saw me danced thanked me for my dancing. It was kinda wierd, guess you had to be there for it to make sense.
Well, I'm about to faint from lack of food, and I still have a head ache from all the alcohol last night. Just to send a message to my friends telling them about this, and then I'm off!
I decided to take it easy last night. I just had a beer w/ my dinner. The dinner was VERY good. I ate at Tony's Steak and Seafood on Lorne St. The New Zeland crumbed scallops were excellent. I would definately recommend tring them.
The email access has been more convient than I thought. I have been consistantly using Stages Timeout because for a low end computer, it's only NZ$5/hr. The place is more of a arcade than a cyber cafe. They do have a machine that you can get mochas and other coffee products, but it's probably not like human made coffee. Another place just around the corner charges NZ$10/hr.
Yesterday afternoon I made a trip up to the top of Mt. Eden. You can look down into the cone that it left when it erupted. It also provides an excelent view of Auckland. Unlike the SkyTower, you get to see the suburbs of Auckland also. The hike up there was nice too. You can drive to the top, but I bused to the base of the mountain and hiked the way to the sumit which is 196m above mean sea level. It has a nice map that describes what you can see from the top, but it wasn't a relief map like back on Mt Pisca near Eugene, OR USA. The map was done in the early 20th century which is probably why.
Once I got back from visiting Mt. Eden, I went to the SkyTower to take a look around. The view from the SkyTower was exceptional, it was a beautiful day and just a few clouds on the horizon. On the main obervation deck, they had clear floors so you could look directly down at the people below you. I went up to the top observation deck which it at floor 60 which provides a slightly better view than the main observation deck on floor 51. They also had an outdoor one on 53. It's nice to be looking over the city w/ the fresh air. They had glass around the deck, so you couldn't stick your arms out. The Empire State building in NYC, NY USA has one of their decks completely open so you feel the wind blowing on your face which is very refreshing.
I'm surprised at how few Americans backpack through New Zeland. I have yet to meet another American at the hostel I'm staying at, and the people I've spoken with say something similar. The people I have spoken with recommend a visit to Sydney, Australia. It's a shame that I'm hear for such a short period of time, but it's still good.
I think I'll play a game of pinball before I head off and find out more information about the free Jazz concert in the Auckland Domain.
Today I rented a car in Auckland and drove down to Hamilton to try and meet my friend. The drive was not to bad. It went by really quickly.
I wandered around downtown Hamilton for a bit looking for a cyber cafe to check my email and update my journal. I didn't find one, but I did manage to find a camera shop that has a 50mm f1.2 Pentax K Mount lense which I'm going to buy. I don't have a nice medium lens for my camera, and at f1.2, it's really fast. I'll drop by with my camera tomorrow and take a look at it. It looks great.
I then checked the phone book for Internet access sites and found this site on 381 Grey St, Hamilton East. I found out where it was and headed over there. It turns out that the building is up for lease (like many of the buildings around Hamilton.) I see a computer store just a bit farther down the way, so I decide to see if they would know where a good location to surf the net was. It turns out that they offer inet access, so I'm using their connection. It turns out that they are using a radio link so it's faster than what it was, but the inet access is slow. In Auckland I managed to get around a half second, but here in Hamilton, I'm getting around a second RTT. I can work with such a slow connection, but considering that I use telnet to write email, it's really hard.
Now is really wish that I had finished the web mail that I was working on. The only problem with Web based email is that you can't use vi to edit your message.
Yesterday was pretty relaxing. I took a look at the Maritime Museum which was cool to see a replica of the America's Cup, along w/ some very old boats. It included a nice display on navigation insturments, but didn't talk indepth on how they were used exactly which I was hoping for.
After that, I went to a free Jazz Concert in the Auckland Domain. I only caught the last 20 minutes or so of the show, but it was still nice to hear it. Some other people in the hostel went also, but I didn't see them. They went a bit earlier, and caught most of the show from the sounds of it.
This morning Fredric and I went swiming at 6am in the morning. I only managed to swim about 350m, but I haven't been swiming receintly. It felt really good to get that exercise in. I hope that I can keep that up, and I'll have to find a pool in San Jose that I can use.
I know I haven't written in a while, but while I was in Hamilton, I didn't get much time to be on-line as they don't have as many cyber cafes as Auckland did. I'm in Dunedin right now, but I'll go over what I've done the past few days.
I did manage to hook up with Karen monday night. We got a big confused where we were suppose to meet, and she was driving so she couldn't answer her cell phone when I was calling which made it more dificult. She finally did answer a call as I was leaving so we did hook up. We just went out and head a couple drinks and talked. It was nice to finally see her face to face.
She was busy with classes, so she wasn't able to take me around Hamilton at all which was kinda disappointing, but it ok. Instead Fredric and I drive to Rotoura to check out the thermal pools and so I could go Zorbing.
If you haven't heard about Zorbing, it's kinda basic. They put you in this big dual layered, air filled plastic ball. It's roomy enough that you can stand up in it. Then they take you to the top of the hill, and you roll down the hill while inside the ball. There are two ways to ride down, wet or dry. If you do it dry, they strap you to one of the inside walls and roll you down the hill. The ball isn't balanced because you are off center. This causes the ball to start bouncing and change velocity as you roll down. If you do it wet, you are loose, and they throw a couple buckets of water in with you so you don't get stuck to the walls or anything. Then you can do whatever you want as you come down.
I decided to go wet so that I could hop around in the ball while it was rolling. It was fun as you could do acrobatics w/o worry of getting injured. Fredric had my cammera and took a few pictures as I was rolling down the hill, and on also right after I got out of the ball. The ride lasted a bit longer than I expected, but you could immediately tell when you hit the bottom as you slowed considerably.
After that we drove into Rotorua so we could have a late lunch, and then on the way out of town we dropped by the thermal pools. They stunk of sulfer of course, and had plenty of places were water was boiling, and mud w/ air bubbles surfacing. They also had this big pool that had steam coming off of it. It looks like they have shaped it some one to make it safe for people to walk around there, because there were cemented rocks enclosing the pools.
When we got back to the hostel, I talked with Karen (a different one than above, she is from Alaska) for a bit before I went off to meet Karen for dinner. Dinner was exceptionally good, and then we went out for drinks afterward.
I think the bartenders in New Zeland get asked to make drasticly different drinks than American bartenders. I ordered both a comikasy and a medorie sour, and I believe that the bartender had to look up both of the drinks. He misuderstood me on the medorie sour and made me a blended one which was actually quite good. They also have different shakers in New Zeland than in America. It might be the bar, but they had this plastic cover with holes in it. With the cover on, they just pour the drink out, but it's slow and downdoesn't work as nicely as a wire straner that most bars in America uses.
The next day (Wednesday) I drove back to Auckland to return the car and catch the flight down to Dunedin. I only had about NZ$20 in my pocket, so I really couldn't afford a taxi to catch the shuttle to the airport. So I had to walk from the rental place down to the shuttle with both my backpacks on. That was quite a bit of work, and just as I got there, a shuttle was arriving heading back to the airport. I made it to the airport in plenty of time and was surprised that on domestic New Zeland flights, you don't have to go through any security to bored a flight. You go check your bags, and then head up to the gates, no metal detectors or X-ray machines.
I had a jet heading down to Christchurch, but then the prop plane to take me to Dunedin was delayed abount an hour. This turned out for the best as it allowed Rebecca to pick me up from the airport instead of trying to get a shuttle to her place. I also didn't have much cash on me as I had spent the last of my cash on lunch in Auckland, and the shuttle to get to the Auckland airport.
Once I got there, Rebecca (also known as Red) was there waiting for me, and the luggage didn't take long to come off the plane, so we headed back to her place for dinner and just hung out for the rest of the night. We watched the movie, Twin's Town, which was pretty good, but we didn't watch it that closely as we were talking durning the movie.
This morning we headed up to Signal Hill so that I could take a look at Dunedin and the harbor. The day has been pretty overcast, but the cloud level was high enough that I could see all that was needed.
The south island is much mor rugged and hilly than the north island. This is of course from a small sample of New Zeland, but the south island is much more senic. I'm excited to see more of the south island. I definately want to come back and bike around New Zeland. I want to bike from the top of the north island, all the way to the southern most part of the south island. I figure about 3 months would give me enough time to do that and still party in the various cities and see all the mountains and major landmarks that exist.
I'm having a problem writing this entry, I'll compose it on paper, and type it in once I'm in the proper mind set.