Snow Day, for real this time

Hello,

I checked into my hostel right after the last post and the lady said, "the weather is going to be real nice tomorrow," and i heard, "go snowboarding." So all day yesterday i was snowboarding at the cardrona ski park. I left the hostel at 8 in the morning and it took me until 1 pm to realize that i was snowboarding in new zealand (one of those moments that you just can't help but smile). It had snowed the day before so there was a good amount of powder left on some of the harder runs. A great day for snowboarding! All around were mountains that look just like the paramount pictures mountain. Two things i will not forget: I hit a lady so hard that it broke her ski boot. I felt so bad and after she simmered down she was nice too. I thought it was completely my fault, but later on i saw a sign that said the downhill skier has the right of way, which was me, so i feel less bad about it now. And the other memory was going straight through the middle of a SLOW sign. I completely took it out. It was in a really steep area and i was trying to do an all stop. It made me jump more than stop and went right through the sign. Now this probably makes me sound like i was completely out of control out there, but i swear those were two isolated occourances. I was able to do some difficult runs, had no bad tumbles, and kept my clothes dry the whole day (i didn't want to hire the waterproof clothes because it was just to much money with everything else).

Last night we went to the raddest movie theater i've ever seen. It was called cinema paridiso. The picture size wasn't great, the sound wasn't great, but the character of the place was awesome. It was small and all of the seats were different couches and comfy chairs. My seat (i think the best seat of the house) was in an old Morris Minor, a cool new zealand car. It so neat to be sitting in a theater in this old car.

the sweetest movie theatre of all time. i sat in the car the whole movie. my feet were in the glove compartment for a footrest. comfy.

Today is Puzzle World, which is some weird place with mazes and goofy things, and i'll probably hike up to some peak nearby. Its been great hanging out with Pauline, Hayley, Laura and friends (their friend group just keeps growing). Pauline, Laura and i may hire a car tomorrow and go to mt. cook. Its probably the cheapest way to see it and should be a good day trip. Next stop is Queenstown and i might bungy jump with Hayley off of the Nevis. Its some gondola obscenely high up. We'll see if I can get there early enough, Hayley is on a tight schedule and can only do it on sat.

I hope everyone is well. have a good day

your friend
chad

Fox glacier

Hello,

Its so good how things work out sometimes. Yesterday i was going to go to fox glacier with pauline, hayley, and some dutch and brits. However, with my plan of not planning, the place to reserve the shuttle ride opened at the exact moment that the shuttle was leaving, which means i missed it. It was raining nicely so i thought it would be a good time to give hitching a go (fox is only about 45 minutes away from franz joseph). I was hoping pity would be high in the drivers. As I was packing up to go, i was talking to adrian and luis who were also leaving, and were going in my direction. 15 minutes later was riding in the back of their civic in a pile of backpacks heading to fox glacier (and i was dry). I must hitch once while i'm here, but it will have to wait if things keep going as they have.

Fox glacier was...very similar to franz joseph. There were little things different but you can't get on the glaciers without a guide, and i wasn't ready to do two glacier walks in two days. So maybe there were differences on the ice, but i couldn't really see them from the bottom. One part that was neat was the drastic change of environment. I rode a bike there and i saw this really cool bridge over the glacier water river. It was in the middle of a rain forest (with jurasic parkish waterfalls and all), 15 min. on bike later everything was rocky and barren, a 15 min. walk later and your at the edge of the glacier.

So, for the next few nights i'm in Wanaka. Its a small ski/lake town. I hear its cheaper to go snowboarding here than in queenstown, so thats got me interested. Pauline, Hayley, and crew are coming tomorrow afternoon, so maybe i'll wait till then. We're thinking about going to mt. cook. Its just a really tall mountain in new zealand, and for some reason it feels like we would be missing out if we didn't see it.

have a good day
your friend

chad

Snow day...more like ice day

Hello,

They say glacier differently here. Maybe i've been getting it wrong. i've always said glay-sure but here its glay-see-er. If you look at the word, i think they may be on to something. Anyway the glacier walk at franz joseph glacier was one of the best things i have done in new zealand so far. The ice is this strange shining blue and when you are squeezing through two walls of it, it is a different experience. One rather large man got stuck for quite awhile, so we just had to stand behind him in between two walls of ice about 30 feet tall on both sides. I wish i could post pictures because when i say squeeze through, i mean forcing yourself through a hole that you think a full grown human would never make.
the large man that got stuck in front of me.

One of the cool parts is that it moves and changes everday, so it isn't the same glacier that it was two days ago. This means that we would have to go back occasionally because a route that was fine yesterday was completely blocked today. After we had lunch on the glacier you could have a go at sliding through an ice cave. Our group was the only ones who tried it, but i think the other groups may have been a bit smarter than ours. It wasn't a very long slide, but in that short time, it felt like two or three people beat me with heavy sticks on all sides. It didn't feel good at all, but i would still recommend it. When else would you have a chance to slide down an ice cave on a glacier? You have to take those when they come, even if they do feel like a good beating.
sliding down the ice tunnel of doom.

Well, i'm completely exhausted and i've got to go get the free soup. I've got a feeling like the soup is going to mean so much more to me today than yesterday.

have a good day
chad

Great guy and hopefully great ice

Hello,

I think i have met the coolest guy ever. My great uncle dan, my grandma's brother, is such a neat guy. He is good to the core of his being. I stayed three nights at his house and i wish i could have stayed another week. He told me stories about moving to new zealand when he was 18 (he's almost 80 now, so thats a good deal of new zealand history), about how he was a dozer driver (it was great, we went to some lakes with his neighbors and as we were coming back, he said "i made that...and that too" when we were making sharp corners through mountains), but the best part by far was stories about when he was in the british army during wwII. Yeah, there were stories about fighting and shooting kind of things, but the good ones were ones like how he shot a deer for food and had to hide it under his bed during an inspection (he would have gotten in a lot of trouble for using amunition). He just really enjoys life.

I have to thank my stomach for being way stronger than i have ever seen it. For the people that really know me, i've got problems in cars sometimes, but the worst is a bus. But for some reason today, i was able to handle a 9 hour bus ride...while people were number 3ing all around me. Good work, stomach, good work.

Today i'm at franz joseph glacier, tomorrow is a full day hike on the ice; ice boots and all. There are some cool people from the UK here, pauline and hayley. Hopefully i'll meet up with them tonight. But for now, its free soup (hostels here are the best)

have a good day,

chad

South is great

The last three days (maybe four days, i don't know, i lose track) have been so great. The ferry from wellington to picton went pretty smooth from talking to others. I spent half the time at the back of the boat talking with two people from the UK and an older couple from california. The last hour i stood at the front of the boat, leaned back on a wall and just took in the scenery on both sides of the boat. There's definitely something different about the south island. When I arrived in Nelson, there was Thomas, a guy from munich, in my room that i had met in rotorua and lake taupo. So it was like having a good friend already there.

The next day I met up with Katja, a german girl that i also met in rotorua. We did a walk to the "centre of New Zealand." Word on the street is that it isn't the real center of new zealand and that its really 50km away on some mountain, but it works for me. That night we went to a pub with some cool people from her hostel. It was one of those locals only type of places and it was great because they were having a going away party for someone so there were all these snacks and sandwiches on the covered pool table.

The next morning Katja and i took the dang early bus to the abel tasman national park. We didn't really know what we were going to do there, but it ended up a perfect two days of abel tasman. Once again, Thomas the german guy was at the hostel (the fourth time to run into him) The first day we took a boat a good distance into the park. We got dropped off at a beach, walked for a few hours through bush/forrest, had lunch on another beach, and walked for a few more hours to yet another beach. Best part of the day walk was a suspension bridge over a river and a 30 minute rest laying on a rock in the sun at the beach where we were to be picked up. That night we knitted a llama. Yeah, weird, but its what we did.

katja and me in front of the "split apple rock".

The next day we hired a two person kayak and went all over the place. At the end of it, it felt like my shoulders were going to come apart at the joints; but its one of those things that you only remember the great parts (when the pain goes away). The water was a turquose/jade color and the beaches were actually gold color because of the rock in the area.

It was great traveling with Katja, but she left today to go back to germany. I'm in Nelson today, sunburned and exhausted. Its beautiful out there, so there's a hammock out there with my name on it. Today is rest, read, and write day. Tomorrow I'm hoping to meet my great uncle dan, who i hear is a rad guy.

Have a good day,

chad

Leaving Wellington

I don't have much time because i have to catch my boat soon. Wellington has been so neat, and it sucks to leave on such a nice day.

Yesterday was pouring rain for most of the afternoon. I met Lin for the last time and since it was such crap weather we saw catwoman at the movies. Not the best movie i've seen; it was actually pretty slow and boring. We had an early dinner and for dessert she made something that was a traditional chinese dessert. It was some kind of white squishy ball with black liquid inside, all in sugar water. It was good, but a very different taste than i am used to. it was a bit difficult to finish.

I'm bummed to leave the hostel here. All the chill music, chess games, and good real conversations. I may meet Jurgen, an english guy, in london when i'm there. but you have to move on i guess, and i may meet Katja, a cool german girl, in nelson today or tomorrow. Its a strange feeling to never really know what is going to happen. One interesting thing that came out of staying at this hostel: every country i go to now, i'm going to send a postcard to a prisoner in florida. Its weird how things work out, but the hostel manager here has a prison pen pal. He's interested in geography so i'll be sending him postcards that have different information about the places i go. I think its kind of cool to be sending mail to a bank robber.

I've got to go catch my boat now. Have a good day.

your friend,

chad

parliament procedures

i'm not sure if i remember how the government runs back home. at least from taking a quick glance on cspan, my impression is that it is slow and boring. it seems a lot more interesting here. today i watched a whole session of debates in new zealand parliament. its great how its set up. the government that is in power sits on one side while the opposition sits on the other. this session they fought over everything from giving money to convicts, to hospital health care, to the concern of low wages of foreign workers on ships in new zealand waters. i don't know how they get anything done because it didn't seem like any of them were listening to each other. i guess they figure it out somehow. my favorite part was at the end where they are allowed to make a short parting speech on just about anything (this usually includes comments on how the other side is a bunch of weenies).

i've really enjoyed the new hostel that i moved to on monday. i think it may be hard to leave because all of the people there mix so well. I've booked my ticket on the ferry to the south island for this friday. that means i've got two days left in wellington. i'll be coming back here sometime. its a good place.

have a good day
chad

no crap weather today

i've got a feeling in wellington that when its really good weather, you have to do something outside or else you just feel bad. it is beautiful weather today; warm, (windy, but what can you do?) sunny and the water in the bay is looking good. I went down a road by my hostel and ended up climbing mt. victoria; it led me right to it, so i had to go. there are so many hidden paths and cool discoveries all around wellington. i took a side path off of a trail that was heading to oriental bay and found this bench all by itself overlooking the city and the bay. I sat there for about three hours listening to music, reading, writing, drawing, and thinking. from the street, you can't even see it; it just looks like trees.

its still sunny outside, so i can't waste that. have to go, or i'll start feeling bad.

another museum

i went with Lin to the maritime museum on the harbor today. it was a smaller one, but i thought it was really interesting. it felt really personal and there was this short movie with this 3d actors portrayed on a stage with all of these antique items. hard to explain but very cool.

cap'n chad

i moved hostels to a different part of town this morning because i hadn't connected with the other one. it wasn't a bad one, but so far i like this one a lot better.

weathers crap but at least it isn't cold. its hard to walk because whichever way you turn, the wind blows the rain into your face. i don't know why but i think i could really enjoy living here.

Finally some Rugby!!

i thought last night was going to be a rest night, but it didn't turn out that way. At 6:30 the guy at the hostel gave me the tv guide so i could pick what i wanted to watch. I saw that at 7:30 there was a live rugby match on one of the sports channels: auckland vs. wellington...at wellington. an hour later i was 8 rows backs, right at one of the goal lines clapping on the wellington lions (i'm still a bit sick so i was light on the cheering). it was great; one of the trys scored was right in front of me. very random, but a great time, and they won. so, a good night all around.

the rugby game. they aren't like european football matches. during the game its usually really quiet, and only gets crazy when something happens (like a try).

i'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures on this site. when i do, they'll be up. right now i'm meeting Lin at the museum. She's the girl from singapore that the german girl Sina (pronounced Zena, like the warrior princess) and i traveled with in coramandel. she's studying at the university here. It will be nice to talk to someone and not have to meet them from start.

take it easy

chad

Let's see if this works

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is going to work, but if it does, it think it will be of higher quality than the emails. If you're interested, then you can check; if not, you will be at peace with less emails.

Right now i'm sick in wellington. I'm a little bummed because its finally getting to be spring here now and the only thing that i really want to do is sleep. It turned out to be a great time to get sick for a few reasons: one, i just left my family that was in napier, who turned out to be filled with doctors. this leaves me to be properly medicated and on my way to being healthy a lot faster. two, i am "stuck" in wellington until i get my passport back from the chinese embassy. they need it for a week so they can process my visa for when i visit there in december. and three, i really like wellington. Its a place that i would want to live. the buildings have different extreme paint jobs and it feels like there is culture here.

so lets see if this blog thing works....

chad