I really wasn't sure to expect going to NZ. I had attempted and failed to study abroad there a few years back and was extremely excited about the opportunity to get there. In the end it lived up to the expectations but there were some unexpected bumps along the way.
The thing about NZ is that, simply put, it puts nearly all other countries to shame in terms of beauty. It has beaches that would make Thailand envious, mountains as pretty as any I'd seen outside of Nepal, rainforest, volcanoes, glaciers, and nearly every other type terrain that one could desire (aside from maybe red rock canyons). The country is truly majestic and densely packed with beauty.
My means of traveling came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was both a blessing and a curse. I ended up being handed $400 to a Kiwi Experience ticket, which is one of the many tour buses that go around the country. It is a hop-on, hop-off service that follows specific routes meaning that you get on the bus, stay at their compulsorary stops and hop-off as you please for as long as you please. In theory it is phenomenol. The drivers are very knowledgeable about the area and can tell you cool places to hop-off to explore the area and they even stop at scenic overlooks along the way. If it weren't for Kiwi there is no way I would have ever found the baby seal colony just north of Kaikoura on my own. So in that sense, the Kiwi Experience was an absolute blessing. Unfortunately, it did have a dark side, and what makes it worse is that the dark side were the people that used the bus service. 95% were from the UK, primarily England, which wouldn't have bothered me if it weren't for the fact that 90% of them were robots. When you meet people along the road you often ask the same questions, where are you from, where are you going, what do you do, etc etc. I could answer that question for nearly all of them before it was ever asked. They were from England, either 18 or 23 years old (before or after college), traveling to Australia, NZ, Fiji, the USA, then back home (occasionally they stopped over in SE Asia) and every country they went to they hopped on tourist buses similar to the Kiwi Experience. This still wasn't my problem with them because aside from the route, I basically fit this description. It was the attitude of most of these people. They came to NZ for usually 6-8 weeks, same as me, but they never, and I mean never, did anything other than what Kiwi told them to do. They did all the activities that Kiwi said to do, stayed where Kiwi said, and never hopped-off the bus to actually see the country. When we came to one of the scenic walks that I just wrote about you heard more complaints and "do we have to" then awesome, baby seal colonies, cool waterfalls, mirror lakes overlooking the mountains this is why I came to NZ. The people hopped on the bus and followed it around the country in pursuit of getting to Queenstown ASAP, because as several of them said, "it's all about Queenstown". Reason, the partying. It is endless in Queenstown. When I finally got there after taking my time on the gorgeous west coast of the South Island I saw someone that I had started on the Kiwi bus with in Christchurch 3 weeks before. Asked how he was doing and how long he had been there, 10 days already, then he asked where I had been. I told him I took my time along the coast and hopped off pretty much everywhere, the response....."why would you do that?". Why would I hop off the bus, maybe to see the country, I mean, I thought that is what traveling was about. I think that epitomized the Kiwi Experience for me, these people had nothing on their mind but partying and when they were conviently presented the opportunity to see some amazing scenery they might take advantage of it. It was really a shame that they typically wouldn't get out of bed before 2pm because they were too hung over to do anything else. In the end I'm not sure that I would ever recommend or go back to use Kiwi Experience again.
This was only a minor problem with my travels though and it really didn't affect me from seeing the stuff that I wanted to do. The coolest people that I met in NZ were the ones that I met when I hopped off the bus to more or less do the hiking tracks that I wanted, which were everywhere.
The activities in NZ were simply world class. Dolphin swimming, walking and climbing on glaciers, bungy jumping, jet boating, black water rafting, and endless hiking.....all amazing. I felt so fortunate to get to do all of this, particularly getting to spend some time up in the NZ wilderness. The great thing about NZ is that they truly care about their country and make all the efforts in the world to conserve it, so the National Parks and very well maintained and have an extensive system of trails to any type of scenery your heart could desire, all of which was truly majestic. The only downfall was the time of year that I went because some of the high mountain trails that passed above treeline were essentially closed from my use. I was unable to complete things like the Milford or Routeburn tracks, but I have all the reason in the world to go back to NZ to see them. I mean, they are the 2 tracks that get all the attention in NZ when the rest of the country is some of the most scenic land that I have ever seen.
In the end, aside from the hiking, the things that will forever stick out in my mind were the dolphin swim in Kaikoura, bungy jumps in Queenstown, the trip to the Milford Sound, and the blackwater rafting in Waitomo. These activities are more or less unique to NZ and far exceeded every expectation I ever had, they really made my trip unforgettable. Swimming with wild dolphins was unreal. Seeing a dozen or so racing circles around you, bumping into you, and looking you directly in the eye is an experience not soon to be forgotten in my mind. Over coming the fear of jumping over 400 feet into a canyon with latex attached to your feet is out of this world. My first thought after having jumped and safely gotten back up was, "I never realized anything could be so fun". Words can't describe the feeling of plummiting face first at nearly 100mph at the ground. The Milford Sound, and I don't say this lightly, was quite possibly the most beautiful place that I have ever been. The tranquility fo the area was unreal. Waveless water surrounded by thousand meter peaks blanketed in forest and snow presents a sight that is impossible to capture with picture or words, all that is left to do was soak it all in and enjoy. And finally, the blackwater rafting. Not necessarily something that took my breath away and I'm not even sure that something like this couldn't be replicated elsewhere in the world, but it was just pure fun. The guides for the trip were probably the best guides for any activity that I've ever had and the experience of floating through glow-worm filled caves and crawling around tunnels where I feared for my life the entire time was just plain awesome.
Bottom line, NZ has been hands down my favorite country that I've visited, and I can't imagine that changing anytime soon, or ever. Beauty beyond words and countless adventures at your fingertips around every corner. The country was a thing of beauty and I cannot wait for the day when I can return.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
The end of the world
Paihia is located about half-way between Auckland and the very northern tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga, so I decided to take a day trip up there with Awesome Adventures, I really like that name.
Heading north we first stopped off at an ancient Kauri forest. The trees here are roughly 4,000 years old and used to cover the entire region and much of NZ until England decided that the trees would make lovely boats, houses, etc. and decided to cut them all down leaving 2-3% of the original population remaining. Hooray imperialism! The forest was pretty cool, but in the end they were just really big trees to look at...I prefer mountains.
Further north we left all signs of society behind and made it to the furthest northern point in NZ. Here the Tasman Sea meets up with the Pacific Ocean to create big waves and a lot of wind. At the point at Cape Reinga is a light house surrounded by large forested hills. I don't know what it was about the area, but it felt to me like the end of the world, that I was looking out into vast ocean where there was complete nothingness. It was an odd feeling because I've sat on oceans and beaches and looked out to see nothing before, but the area felt extremely desolute, void of life outside of the forest and at world's end. This was despite the fact that we drove here on an unpaved road and I knew exactly how far from civilization we were, about 100 miles. But it had an odd, yet awesome, feeling to it.
After the lighthouse came the highlight of the trip.....sand boarding. Essentially the same thing as sledding but on sand. You grab a sand board, climb a sand dune, sit on top and push off then go wizzing down. The first run was a bit nerve racking, the dunes after all are big and you do pick up a lot of speed. If done properly in the best conditions you can hit 60mph on the dune we were heading down, at first we were probably only going about 30mph down it. At the end of the sand dune is obviously the steepest part that then goes to a completely flat area that is covered with a thin layer of water, essentially a really wide stream, that you slide out onto. Well, my first go didn't go well. I made it to the flat part just fine, then hit it, got knocked around a bit, my sand board stopped but I didn't. It was pretty much the coolest slip n' slide I'd ever been on as I went sliding out like superman across the ground. It was pretty awesome, minus my pants sliding off and me mooning the people on top of the dune.
The next few runs were a bit more intense. Instead of sitting down on top and pushing off we got the courage for a running and jumping start. It started off slow, just a step then jump, then gradually progressed to an all out sprint and huge leap over the lip of the dune. After the first run I even managed to stay on the board when I hit stream below and went out really far across the water...until the last run. I knew it was the last run of the day so I really went for it, ran, jumped and started going down. I was flying, I don't know how fast it was but I'm guessing somewhere around 50mph. When I got to the steep part at the end instead of smoothly going down it, I got some air. Upon landing my face slammed into the sand board, it stopped and I get sliding. I don't exactly know what happened or what it looked like but it felt like I took an upper-cut to the face and somehow managed to mangle my wrist so that it didn't like being twisted for the rest of the day. It was awesome though.
From the dunes we drove down New Zealands oldest and newest highway, 90 mile beach (the highway is literally on the beach). It is the oldest highway in NZ and probably the world because the beach has been there for thousands of years, but it is also the newest because it gets re "paved" everyday when the tide comes in and then goes out leaving a new layer of sand. The beach is named 90 mile beach for pretty much no reason, it is not 90 miles from anything nor is it 90 miles wrong, the founders of the beach just named it wrong. The drive down the beach was relaxing and gorgeous. We stopped off a few times to play some touch rugby and eat some shellfish before heading back down the coast to Paihia.
Heading north we first stopped off at an ancient Kauri forest. The trees here are roughly 4,000 years old and used to cover the entire region and much of NZ until England decided that the trees would make lovely boats, houses, etc. and decided to cut them all down leaving 2-3% of the original population remaining. Hooray imperialism! The forest was pretty cool, but in the end they were just really big trees to look at...I prefer mountains.
Further north we left all signs of society behind and made it to the furthest northern point in NZ. Here the Tasman Sea meets up with the Pacific Ocean to create big waves and a lot of wind. At the point at Cape Reinga is a light house surrounded by large forested hills. I don't know what it was about the area, but it felt to me like the end of the world, that I was looking out into vast ocean where there was complete nothingness. It was an odd feeling because I've sat on oceans and beaches and looked out to see nothing before, but the area felt extremely desolute, void of life outside of the forest and at world's end. This was despite the fact that we drove here on an unpaved road and I knew exactly how far from civilization we were, about 100 miles. But it had an odd, yet awesome, feeling to it.
After the lighthouse came the highlight of the trip.....sand boarding. Essentially the same thing as sledding but on sand. You grab a sand board, climb a sand dune, sit on top and push off then go wizzing down. The first run was a bit nerve racking, the dunes after all are big and you do pick up a lot of speed. If done properly in the best conditions you can hit 60mph on the dune we were heading down, at first we were probably only going about 30mph down it. At the end of the sand dune is obviously the steepest part that then goes to a completely flat area that is covered with a thin layer of water, essentially a really wide stream, that you slide out onto. Well, my first go didn't go well. I made it to the flat part just fine, then hit it, got knocked around a bit, my sand board stopped but I didn't. It was pretty much the coolest slip n' slide I'd ever been on as I went sliding out like superman across the ground. It was pretty awesome, minus my pants sliding off and me mooning the people on top of the dune.
The next few runs were a bit more intense. Instead of sitting down on top and pushing off we got the courage for a running and jumping start. It started off slow, just a step then jump, then gradually progressed to an all out sprint and huge leap over the lip of the dune. After the first run I even managed to stay on the board when I hit stream below and went out really far across the water...until the last run. I knew it was the last run of the day so I really went for it, ran, jumped and started going down. I was flying, I don't know how fast it was but I'm guessing somewhere around 50mph. When I got to the steep part at the end instead of smoothly going down it, I got some air. Upon landing my face slammed into the sand board, it stopped and I get sliding. I don't exactly know what happened or what it looked like but it felt like I took an upper-cut to the face and somehow managed to mangle my wrist so that it didn't like being twisted for the rest of the day. It was awesome though.
From the dunes we drove down New Zealands oldest and newest highway, 90 mile beach (the highway is literally on the beach). It is the oldest highway in NZ and probably the world because the beach has been there for thousands of years, but it is also the newest because it gets re "paved" everyday when the tide comes in and then goes out leaving a new layer of sand. The beach is named 90 mile beach for pretty much no reason, it is not 90 miles from anything nor is it 90 miles wrong, the founders of the beach just named it wrong. The drive down the beach was relaxing and gorgeous. We stopped off a few times to play some touch rugby and eat some shellfish before heading back down the coast to Paihia.
The endless summer
In the very northern part of NZ is a long peninsula containing what is known as the Bay of Islands. There are immaculate beaches and pristine coastline contained in this area and it is described by many as the endless summer. Relatively speaking it was quite warm up here but I wouldn't exactly describe it as summer conditions.
I was staying in a town called Paihia which is home to the Bay itself. The town is situated on the waterfront and is quite adorable. The golden sand beaches overlook the blueish/green tropical water and the weather was quite nice upon our arrival. My first day was spent soaking in some sun on the beach and braving the frigid cold waters of the bay much to the delight of the onlookers. I figured I wouldn't have many chances to swim in the Pacific down here so I might as well right?
The rest of my day was spent sorting out some activities for the next few days. The area is home to one of the top 10 dive sites in the world according to Jacque Cousteau so I was looking forward to taking a crack at that. Sorry, the "endless" summer apparently ends in the winter months when the dive trips don't really run. Well, I haven't sky dived either might as well try that out and heck, I'll even do that on the 4th of July because I doubt that I'll be seeing any fireworks down here. Sorry, plane is broken.
Guess that all I was left with were the gorgeous views of the area...I live such a hard life. I did end up taking a boat cruise around the Bay to visit the 144 islands there and got to see some tropical paradise that has remained largely untouched. The "highlight" of the tour according to the boat operator is the "Hole-in-the-Rock" which is a massive cave cutting through one of the islands in the Bay. It was cool, but the best part was hoping off the boat to walk around the largest of the islands. I hiked up to the highest point on the island to get some rather breathtaking views of the area. The island itself had some gorgeous terrain, partly blanketed in forests while some of it remained open grass land for the sheep. On top, the views of the Bay itself was awe inspiring. Crystal clear tropical water surrounded the islands with secluded golden sand beaches everywhere. Not since Abel Tasman had I seen terrain like this and I found this area to be more appealing. The nature of the islands dotted throughout the water was more beautiful to me then the coastline of Abel Tasman, in the end both are gorgeous and I felt lucky to be there on such a nice day.
I was staying in a town called Paihia which is home to the Bay itself. The town is situated on the waterfront and is quite adorable. The golden sand beaches overlook the blueish/green tropical water and the weather was quite nice upon our arrival. My first day was spent soaking in some sun on the beach and braving the frigid cold waters of the bay much to the delight of the onlookers. I figured I wouldn't have many chances to swim in the Pacific down here so I might as well right?
The rest of my day was spent sorting out some activities for the next few days. The area is home to one of the top 10 dive sites in the world according to Jacque Cousteau so I was looking forward to taking a crack at that. Sorry, the "endless" summer apparently ends in the winter months when the dive trips don't really run. Well, I haven't sky dived either might as well try that out and heck, I'll even do that on the 4th of July because I doubt that I'll be seeing any fireworks down here. Sorry, plane is broken.
Guess that all I was left with were the gorgeous views of the area...I live such a hard life. I did end up taking a boat cruise around the Bay to visit the 144 islands there and got to see some tropical paradise that has remained largely untouched. The "highlight" of the tour according to the boat operator is the "Hole-in-the-Rock" which is a massive cave cutting through one of the islands in the Bay. It was cool, but the best part was hoping off the boat to walk around the largest of the islands. I hiked up to the highest point on the island to get some rather breathtaking views of the area. The island itself had some gorgeous terrain, partly blanketed in forests while some of it remained open grass land for the sheep. On top, the views of the Bay itself was awe inspiring. Crystal clear tropical water surrounded the islands with secluded golden sand beaches everywhere. Not since Abel Tasman had I seen terrain like this and I found this area to be more appealing. The nature of the islands dotted throughout the water was more beautiful to me then the coastline of Abel Tasman, in the end both are gorgeous and I felt lucky to be there on such a nice day.
Jafa
JAFA - Just another flippin' Aucklander
Auckland is home to more than a quarter of the New Zealand population and is by far the largest city in the country. If you ask New Zealanders about a rivalry between the north and south islands, they will say that one exists but the real rivalry is between Auckland and the rest of New Zealand because most Kiwis don't like the concrete jungle known as Auckland and the jafa's living there.
Well, it was my turn to go check out all that Auckland had to offer. And as soon as I got there I wanted to leave. To be fair, it was an actual city which was a nice change of pace but there is really nothing at all to do there. It really just isn't fun so I didn't end up spending much time here. The biggest attraction, literally and figuratively, is the Sky Tower that looms high above the city. It is better viewed from a distance so I strolled over to the university to see what I missed out on (I was suppose to study abroad here until a registraring snafu screwed that all up) and to get some views of the city. Once that was done and I walked around the city museum for a bit I had pretty much done everything I wanted to do there, and got out of town ASAP.
Auckland is home to more than a quarter of the New Zealand population and is by far the largest city in the country. If you ask New Zealanders about a rivalry between the north and south islands, they will say that one exists but the real rivalry is between Auckland and the rest of New Zealand because most Kiwis don't like the concrete jungle known as Auckland and the jafa's living there.
Well, it was my turn to go check out all that Auckland had to offer. And as soon as I got there I wanted to leave. To be fair, it was an actual city which was a nice change of pace but there is really nothing at all to do there. It really just isn't fun so I didn't end up spending much time here. The biggest attraction, literally and figuratively, is the Sky Tower that looms high above the city. It is better viewed from a distance so I strolled over to the university to see what I missed out on (I was suppose to study abroad here until a registraring snafu screwed that all up) and to get some views of the city. Once that was done and I walked around the city museum for a bit I had pretty much done everything I wanted to do there, and got out of town ASAP.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Starry night sky
One of the more popular activities on the north island is called black water rafting. It's quite simple really. There are these caves in Waitomo with water running through them, so they plop you in an inner tube and float you through them and thus black water rafting was created.
There are 2 different trips you can do, one that only does the rafting bit, the other is bit longer and more adventurous. I choose the latter. It starts off with a 120 foot abseil down a tomo (tunnel) to get into the cave. The abseil (the way you go down a vertical wall attached to a rope) was through an extremely narrow opening that opened up after the first 30 feet of squeezing your way through. Once we all got down into the pitch black cave we turned our headlamps on and started off on our neck adventure, a long zip-line dropping further into the cave.
Side note. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but one of the reasons that the caves of Waitomo are famous are for the glowworms that are there. Glowworms are worms whose butt glows to attract flies that they then eat. They glow a neon blue/green color and the first ones I saw in Franz Josef weren't that impressive, in fact I thought they were stupid. This trip changed my mind.
You were attached to the zip-line and swung out over the cave opening, how deep? who knows. The guide shuts off his lamp, the only one so that you are now in the pitch black and releases you. You accelerate around a corner in the cave into a rather large opening and the ceiling is littered with thousands of glowworms. It is almost like you are zipping through a neon light show because there are so many. By the time you feel like you might be getting out of control you hit the end of the line thus finishing your zip-line. After the all the tough work it was time for tea and biscuits atop a ledge about 20 feet above some water below.
Once the guide thought the tea and cookies were done he took the lead and much to our surprised jumped off the ledge with a inner tube around him and smacked down in the river below. We really weren't sure how deep or cold it was at this point but we were soon instructed to follow. You had to jump so that the inner tube went around your butt and you landed on the water flat and made a heck of a loud noise with the inner tube smacking the water. About half the group flipped out of their tube upon landing which was hilarious, but even funnier was everyones reaction to the ice cold water. A chilly 55 degrees (we did have wet suits though).
From there you head upstream first by pulling yourself along a rope. Once at the end the guide tells you all about the glowworms but now its time to see them, apparently the thousand or so above the zip-line weren't enough. So we latched together and headed back down the river as a long chain, this time with our lights off and we were given the most beautiful "nights" sky that I had ever seen. There were glowworms everywhere that lit up the ceiling of the cave perfectly. I was expecting to see shooting stars or something like that but the guides were just playing games and messing with us the entire time as we enjoyed the amazing views.
We kept going passed the ledge we jumped off at and started bobbing through some small rapids, at the end of which we ditched the tubes and started walking a bit further down the cave. The currents picked up at one point and instead of walking we all started floating down (wet suits are very buoyant). Glow worms above, mysterious cave walls popping out all the time, and freezing cold water below made for an amazing journey.
Then we got to the really adventurous part. We turned off from the main pathway to a small side tunnel that kept getting smaller and smaller. At times the water was so high that the cave ceiling was literally 3 inches from the water surface and you had to be pushed through lying on your back. For a solid 15 minutes you were neck deep in water with the cave wall sitting right on your head. If you were scared of small spaces you would have been terrified through these sections. I kept thinking it would take much for this to flood and us to drown but I had faith in the guides. The river below was much rougher than before and the current was extremely strong. We continued to follow through these miniature caves and came to a series of 3 waterfalls. You could only see one at a time. The waterfalls were rough. They weren't too high, but the amount of water running over their crests was impressive and we were climbing up them. It was extremely tough going battling the currents coming down but once we were down we had climbed out of the cave and the journey was over. As we found out later, all of the rain they have been having in the last week has raised water levels to the highest that the company will run tours at, and they weren't suppose to go up the waterfalls because the flows were too strong. Fortunately the guides didn't follow all the rules and let us do it anyway.
This was hands down the best activity I have down in New Zealand, simply out of this world.
There are 2 different trips you can do, one that only does the rafting bit, the other is bit longer and more adventurous. I choose the latter. It starts off with a 120 foot abseil down a tomo (tunnel) to get into the cave. The abseil (the way you go down a vertical wall attached to a rope) was through an extremely narrow opening that opened up after the first 30 feet of squeezing your way through. Once we all got down into the pitch black cave we turned our headlamps on and started off on our neck adventure, a long zip-line dropping further into the cave.
Side note. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but one of the reasons that the caves of Waitomo are famous are for the glowworms that are there. Glowworms are worms whose butt glows to attract flies that they then eat. They glow a neon blue/green color and the first ones I saw in Franz Josef weren't that impressive, in fact I thought they were stupid. This trip changed my mind.
You were attached to the zip-line and swung out over the cave opening, how deep? who knows. The guide shuts off his lamp, the only one so that you are now in the pitch black and releases you. You accelerate around a corner in the cave into a rather large opening and the ceiling is littered with thousands of glowworms. It is almost like you are zipping through a neon light show because there are so many. By the time you feel like you might be getting out of control you hit the end of the line thus finishing your zip-line. After the all the tough work it was time for tea and biscuits atop a ledge about 20 feet above some water below.
Once the guide thought the tea and cookies were done he took the lead and much to our surprised jumped off the ledge with a inner tube around him and smacked down in the river below. We really weren't sure how deep or cold it was at this point but we were soon instructed to follow. You had to jump so that the inner tube went around your butt and you landed on the water flat and made a heck of a loud noise with the inner tube smacking the water. About half the group flipped out of their tube upon landing which was hilarious, but even funnier was everyones reaction to the ice cold water. A chilly 55 degrees (we did have wet suits though).
From there you head upstream first by pulling yourself along a rope. Once at the end the guide tells you all about the glowworms but now its time to see them, apparently the thousand or so above the zip-line weren't enough. So we latched together and headed back down the river as a long chain, this time with our lights off and we were given the most beautiful "nights" sky that I had ever seen. There were glowworms everywhere that lit up the ceiling of the cave perfectly. I was expecting to see shooting stars or something like that but the guides were just playing games and messing with us the entire time as we enjoyed the amazing views.
We kept going passed the ledge we jumped off at and started bobbing through some small rapids, at the end of which we ditched the tubes and started walking a bit further down the cave. The currents picked up at one point and instead of walking we all started floating down (wet suits are very buoyant). Glow worms above, mysterious cave walls popping out all the time, and freezing cold water below made for an amazing journey.
Then we got to the really adventurous part. We turned off from the main pathway to a small side tunnel that kept getting smaller and smaller. At times the water was so high that the cave ceiling was literally 3 inches from the water surface and you had to be pushed through lying on your back. For a solid 15 minutes you were neck deep in water with the cave wall sitting right on your head. If you were scared of small spaces you would have been terrified through these sections. I kept thinking it would take much for this to flood and us to drown but I had faith in the guides. The river below was much rougher than before and the current was extremely strong. We continued to follow through these miniature caves and came to a series of 3 waterfalls. You could only see one at a time. The waterfalls were rough. They weren't too high, but the amount of water running over their crests was impressive and we were climbing up them. It was extremely tough going battling the currents coming down but once we were down we had climbed out of the cave and the journey was over. As we found out later, all of the rain they have been having in the last week has raised water levels to the highest that the company will run tours at, and they weren't suppose to go up the waterfalls because the flows were too strong. Fortunately the guides didn't follow all the rules and let us do it anyway.
This was hands down the best activity I have down in New Zealand, simply out of this world.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The smell of rotten eggs
From Taupo it was a quick hour long trip to Rotorua, the geo-thermal and cultural center of NZ...and finally found what I was looking for. Looking back on it, Rotorua has been one of, if not my favorite, stop in NZ. It was amazing and I had an amazing time there.
The town sits directly on top of the "Ring of Fire" (the volcanic circle that goes completely around the pacific....including the California faults, the Andes in South America, etc.) and is very active thermally. If you know anything about hot springs, etc. you know that they are heated from the center of the earth, more specifically by hydrogen sulphide. Unfortunately sulfur smells like rotten eggs. So every now and then you walk around town and get an awful wiff of air, but you also walk around town and can see the ground literally steaming in certain places.
I spent my first day there walking around the town thermal park to look at these bubbling pools and steaming grounds. It was cool but was nothing compared to what was to come at Wai O Tapu, the "Thermal Wonderland". It's about 20km out of town and one of the largest thermally active areas in the country. It is filled with craters, geysers, and sinters (flat grounds next to craters/geysers/etc.) formed from minerals/elements deep within the earth, meaning they are brightly colored from what we typically see. One of the overlooks there is called the "Artists Palette" because it is a myriad of colors ranging from white, red, blue, green and all shades in between. The first stop there was to the Lady Know Geyser to watch its eruption. It was kind of lame because it is set off by a person (it would be unsafe otherwise) but it shot steaming water about 20 feet into the air...hooray!! From there we went to the boiling mud pools, which were awesome. Mud that is bubbling might not sound too appealing but the sound it makes (like a witches cauldron) and the shapes that the mud takes after it "pops" were amazing to see. You then follow a 2 mile walk way around the park to various colorful sites to and of course smells.
Highlights were the Champagne Pool and Devil's Basin. The Champagne blue is brilliantly bright blue pool with reddish sides (the color of bright rust). The pool is constantly steaming because it is about 180 degrees on the surface. The pool goes extremely deep into the ground, hence the reason for its heat. The shades of color there are breathtaking, and the overflow from the pool create most of the park, including the silica sinters that get covered in bright green moss. The Devil's Basin looked more like kool-aid than actual water. It is a former crater filled with neon green water....it was seriously out of this world and didn't smell too bad which was great.
After Wai O Tapu I went to the "world's newest thermal" area, Waimangu which was formed from an eruption in 1886. The park was filled with many craters, which frankly looked like deep valleys in the forest, and the largest hot spring in the world, which of course was steaming and bubbling everywhere. Most of it was not as visually impressive as Wai O Tapu except for the Inferno Crater, the highlight of the park. Like the Devil's Basin it too was a brilliant shade of color, except this time it was bright blue with white side walls. It was almost a carolina blue color in shade and was definitely the bluest water I had ever seen. I wanted to take a dip, but I'd rather not be boiled, the pool average temperature is between 120-180 degrees.
These thermal areas were far different than what I expected and anything that I'd seen so far which made them all the better for me to visit.
And I still had the Black Water Rafting to look forward to.
The town sits directly on top of the "Ring of Fire" (the volcanic circle that goes completely around the pacific....including the California faults, the Andes in South America, etc.) and is very active thermally. If you know anything about hot springs, etc. you know that they are heated from the center of the earth, more specifically by hydrogen sulphide. Unfortunately sulfur smells like rotten eggs. So every now and then you walk around town and get an awful wiff of air, but you also walk around town and can see the ground literally steaming in certain places.
I spent my first day there walking around the town thermal park to look at these bubbling pools and steaming grounds. It was cool but was nothing compared to what was to come at Wai O Tapu, the "Thermal Wonderland". It's about 20km out of town and one of the largest thermally active areas in the country. It is filled with craters, geysers, and sinters (flat grounds next to craters/geysers/etc.) formed from minerals/elements deep within the earth, meaning they are brightly colored from what we typically see. One of the overlooks there is called the "Artists Palette" because it is a myriad of colors ranging from white, red, blue, green and all shades in between. The first stop there was to the Lady Know Geyser to watch its eruption. It was kind of lame because it is set off by a person (it would be unsafe otherwise) but it shot steaming water about 20 feet into the air...hooray!! From there we went to the boiling mud pools, which were awesome. Mud that is bubbling might not sound too appealing but the sound it makes (like a witches cauldron) and the shapes that the mud takes after it "pops" were amazing to see. You then follow a 2 mile walk way around the park to various colorful sites to and of course smells.
Highlights were the Champagne Pool and Devil's Basin. The Champagne blue is brilliantly bright blue pool with reddish sides (the color of bright rust). The pool is constantly steaming because it is about 180 degrees on the surface. The pool goes extremely deep into the ground, hence the reason for its heat. The shades of color there are breathtaking, and the overflow from the pool create most of the park, including the silica sinters that get covered in bright green moss. The Devil's Basin looked more like kool-aid than actual water. It is a former crater filled with neon green water....it was seriously out of this world and didn't smell too bad which was great.
After Wai O Tapu I went to the "world's newest thermal" area, Waimangu which was formed from an eruption in 1886. The park was filled with many craters, which frankly looked like deep valleys in the forest, and the largest hot spring in the world, which of course was steaming and bubbling everywhere. Most of it was not as visually impressive as Wai O Tapu except for the Inferno Crater, the highlight of the park. Like the Devil's Basin it too was a brilliant shade of color, except this time it was bright blue with white side walls. It was almost a carolina blue color in shade and was definitely the bluest water I had ever seen. I wanted to take a dip, but I'd rather not be boiled, the pool average temperature is between 120-180 degrees.
These thermal areas were far different than what I expected and anything that I'd seen so far which made them all the better for me to visit.
And I still had the Black Water Rafting to look forward to.
The North Island....aka the wet island
Unfortunately all good things come to an end as did my time on the south island of NZ. It is widely regarded to be the more beautiful of the 2 islands in NZ but there were some things on the North Island that I've been looking forward to for quite some time so it was about that time to head up there.
One thing I was not looking for was rain and bad weather, I think the karma Buddha gave me in Thailand may have come to an end because it rained for the first 8 days I was on the North Island. NZ is somewhat famous for its rain, particularly the west coast of the South Island, but I miraculously escaped from all of that. After comparing stories with fellow travelers it turns out that I luckily had pretty much the best weather possible in pretty much every location while in the South. I guess it rained a bit in Wanaka, but if that is all that I can say that I am extremely lucky since I had virtually perfect weather everywhere else.
Anyway, after crossing the sound between the islands that all changed. Wellington, NZ's capital, was covered in rain. The city itself was quite pleasant though as most of the things I wanted to see were indoors. Like a doctor, apparently I got an ear and sinus infection in Queenstown (all better now) and the National Museum. Which was not only free, but cool of interesting exhibits to occupy my nerdy self for nearly an entire day. I also got to stroll around the government buildings, one of which is shaped like a giant beehive......if only our presidents lived in a beehive. Do to the weather, and me being a bit under the weather I spent a lot of time reading and sleeping in Wellington.
From there is was north to Taupo, which I had heard great things about, but was by far the biggest disappointment I've had in NZ. It was evident that the beauty that is everywhere on the South island was no gone but I was hoping for a bit more. Taupo was suppose to provide that with lakes and mountains but they were less than spectacular at first sight. There is a much more residential feel on the north island than on the south which has been good to see to a certain extent, and there has certainly been a much more diverse atmosphere with Maori people scattered all over as well but Taupo was missing something. Fun. Well, to be fair, it is there if the weather cooperates. The Tongariro Crossing, something I've been wanting to do for months now, was closed due to strong winds and blizzards, the sky diving (cheapest place in NZ) was also canceled for 3 straight days due to high winds. All that there was to do was see the Huka Falls...pretty cool water fall...or walk/run around the lake there, which is the largest in NZ. It was pretty I guess, but I was expecting more after the south island.
At least the kumara are still incredible, I'm trying to devise a plan to bring them home since they are like 12,000 times better than regular potatoes.
One thing I was not looking for was rain and bad weather, I think the karma Buddha gave me in Thailand may have come to an end because it rained for the first 8 days I was on the North Island. NZ is somewhat famous for its rain, particularly the west coast of the South Island, but I miraculously escaped from all of that. After comparing stories with fellow travelers it turns out that I luckily had pretty much the best weather possible in pretty much every location while in the South. I guess it rained a bit in Wanaka, but if that is all that I can say that I am extremely lucky since I had virtually perfect weather everywhere else.
Anyway, after crossing the sound between the islands that all changed. Wellington, NZ's capital, was covered in rain. The city itself was quite pleasant though as most of the things I wanted to see were indoors. Like a doctor, apparently I got an ear and sinus infection in Queenstown (all better now) and the National Museum. Which was not only free, but cool of interesting exhibits to occupy my nerdy self for nearly an entire day. I also got to stroll around the government buildings, one of which is shaped like a giant beehive......if only our presidents lived in a beehive. Do to the weather, and me being a bit under the weather I spent a lot of time reading and sleeping in Wellington.
From there is was north to Taupo, which I had heard great things about, but was by far the biggest disappointment I've had in NZ. It was evident that the beauty that is everywhere on the South island was no gone but I was hoping for a bit more. Taupo was suppose to provide that with lakes and mountains but they were less than spectacular at first sight. There is a much more residential feel on the north island than on the south which has been good to see to a certain extent, and there has certainly been a much more diverse atmosphere with Maori people scattered all over as well but Taupo was missing something. Fun. Well, to be fair, it is there if the weather cooperates. The Tongariro Crossing, something I've been wanting to do for months now, was closed due to strong winds and blizzards, the sky diving (cheapest place in NZ) was also canceled for 3 straight days due to high winds. All that there was to do was see the Huka Falls...pretty cool water fall...or walk/run around the lake there, which is the largest in NZ. It was pretty I guess, but I was expecting more after the south island.
At least the kumara are still incredible, I'm trying to devise a plan to bring them home since they are like 12,000 times better than regular potatoes.
Ka mate! Ka mate!
Actually....ka ora ka ora, but that isn't how the All Blacks haka goes. From party town NZ I headed back to the place I started here, Christchurch. It was somewhat sad leaving Queenstown and the beauty of the southern Alps behind, I made sure to get up early to watch the sunrise over the Remarkable mountain range one more time, to head back to the "city" of Christchurch. It's really not a city, NZ doesn't really have real cities.
I was hoping to stop at Mt Cook on the way up to Christchurch but much of the village at the mountain is closed down from winter conditions so instead I headed straight through so that I could catch the All Blacks game. For those that don't know, the All Blacks are New Zealand's international rugby team and are usually ranked as the best team in the world. Rugby isn't necessarily watched all that much back at home, and it took a few games before I even started to get the general gist of things, but it, particularly the All Blacks, is as closely watched here as the NFL is back in the States.
The All Blacks were playing England who is on their summer tour....to the winter season in NZ. They had played the previous weeks and it didn't go well for England, I was hoping for more of the same because I was going to the game with a bus full of Brits whom I wanted to laugh because they find it fun to make fun of the States. Really in all of my travels they have been the only nationality to make ignorant comments about other countries, besides them just about everyone I have met has been super friendly and accepting. Thats not to say all of them are bad, in fact some have been my favorite people I have met, but they have tended to be the most ignorant at times. So that, in addition to poking fun at some of the British friends along the way, and the fact that I was in NZ made me support the All Blacks by painting my face black and wearing....all black.
The game was pretty much over when it started. New Zealand ended up winning 44-12 despite pulling 2 of their best players due to injuries in the first half. The real highlight of the game ended up happening before the game started. The New Zealand Maori, similar to the Native Americans back at home, have a war cry that they chant when welcoming guests, before fighting, etc. This was primarily used back in the day. It is in the Maori language so I don't really understand it and is coupled with the men of the tribe (or rugby team) slapping their arms, chests, and legs while their eyes bulge and with their tongues sticking out. As I later found out it is meant to intimidate and psyche the tribe/team up for big events.
This war cry is called the haka and was made famous by the All Blacks, because after the national anthems of the 2 teams are played, the team performs the haka in front of the other team. Needless to say its intimidating as hell. Rugby players are huge and are rather fearsome to begin with, to see them yelling and batting their chests with eyes bulging and tongues out was really really impressive.
Here is a youtube video of what it looks like....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zvs4T4RU30
Pretty awesome if you ask me.
I was hoping to stop at Mt Cook on the way up to Christchurch but much of the village at the mountain is closed down from winter conditions so instead I headed straight through so that I could catch the All Blacks game. For those that don't know, the All Blacks are New Zealand's international rugby team and are usually ranked as the best team in the world. Rugby isn't necessarily watched all that much back at home, and it took a few games before I even started to get the general gist of things, but it, particularly the All Blacks, is as closely watched here as the NFL is back in the States.
The All Blacks were playing England who is on their summer tour....to the winter season in NZ. They had played the previous weeks and it didn't go well for England, I was hoping for more of the same because I was going to the game with a bus full of Brits whom I wanted to laugh because they find it fun to make fun of the States. Really in all of my travels they have been the only nationality to make ignorant comments about other countries, besides them just about everyone I have met has been super friendly and accepting. Thats not to say all of them are bad, in fact some have been my favorite people I have met, but they have tended to be the most ignorant at times. So that, in addition to poking fun at some of the British friends along the way, and the fact that I was in NZ made me support the All Blacks by painting my face black and wearing....all black.
The game was pretty much over when it started. New Zealand ended up winning 44-12 despite pulling 2 of their best players due to injuries in the first half. The real highlight of the game ended up happening before the game started. The New Zealand Maori, similar to the Native Americans back at home, have a war cry that they chant when welcoming guests, before fighting, etc. This was primarily used back in the day. It is in the Maori language so I don't really understand it and is coupled with the men of the tribe (or rugby team) slapping their arms, chests, and legs while their eyes bulge and with their tongues sticking out. As I later found out it is meant to intimidate and psyche the tribe/team up for big events.
This war cry is called the haka and was made famous by the All Blacks, because after the national anthems of the 2 teams are played, the team performs the haka in front of the other team. Needless to say its intimidating as hell. Rugby players are huge and are rather fearsome to begin with, to see them yelling and batting their chests with eyes bulging and tongues out was really really impressive.
Here is a youtube video of what it looks like....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zvs4T4RU30
Pretty awesome if you ask me.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
3, 2, 1 BUNGY!!!!
Some myths about bungy jumping.
First, it doesn't hurt at all. Even if you watch someone go down somewhat awkwardly and they snap forward when the bungy catches them it actually feels quite comfy when you are actually doing it. It doesn't stretch you at all and the recoil is a lot of fun and zero discomfort, except for the water going up your noise. If you hang around New Zealand you will hear from every backpacker about how last week a girl in was jumping got scared and turned and grabbed her boyfriend who then fell to his death because he obviously wasn't attached to a bungy. Funny thing is this even always happened last week and is always in a different place in the world, South Africa/South America/New Zealand/anywhere else. The story is either a phony or a lot of people die bungy jumping and it is kept a secret, because the company in NZ tell you that no one has ever been seriously injured from a commercial bungy site. Rest assure I felt a heck of a lot safer bungy jumping than I have with most activities in the area.
I'll briefly try to explain the jumps.
The cord is made entirely of latex and has about 150 thin filaments tied up in bundles and there are 4 different sizes cords depending on your weight, which they tatoo on your hand for everyone to see. They fasten it to your feet and waist using a climbing harness with nylon webbing and caribiners. The nylon is tied into a slip knot which means it tightens when it is pulled at making it a fail-safe. They wrap a regular towel around your ankles for comfort so that it doesn't hurt and tighten everything up on you. You actually feel very safe with the equipment when its on you because it is so tight and looks strong enough to hold you. You then have to waddle out to the platform, by far the hardest part of jumping, and put your toes over the edge. You don't want to but of course you look down, then get your terrified picture taken before a comforting word from your jump master before you hear....3, 2, 1.....and you can't be that person to freak out on the platform so you just jump. Swan dive out, feel the rush of free fall consume your body and then plunge toward the river below.
The Kawarau Bridge was small enough that by the time you really felt like you were going fast you felt the cord pull at your feet and before you knew it you were dunked in the river below and recoiling back up. It's the classic bungy jump and I'm really really glad that I did it even though most consider it a waste because the other bungy in town is 3 times as high. The rush of the bungy and the feeling of the recoiling is very difficult to describe. The feeling of water up your noise from the splashdown a bit easier to grasp. But the experience as a whole is incredible and witnessed by my entire Kiwi Experience bus. I was most surprised at how accurately they can control your jump height. I told them waist deep in the water and they got it perfectly, which, knowing the basics physics of it all is quite impressive. After the jump they lower you down to the river level so you can hop in a yellow boat to take you back to land (see pictures below)
Having done the "small" jump I felt very ready for the big one. You don't jump from a bridge at Nevis, but are brought out to a pod over a canyon that you jump from which is 134m above the canyon floor. It's a similar procedure to the bridge but they attach a few more ropes and safety measure to you for this one. I kept telling myself, and actually believed it at one point, that the river looked just as far from the Kawarau bridge bungy despite the fact that it's 3 times as far away. This helped settle my nerves. What didn't help settle my nerves was when part of the bungy got frayed on the jump before mine and they were cutting bits off of it and tying new pieces on.....what the hell are you doing??? I asked and they said making it faster...at least they had a sense of humor. I still felt safe though and knew they wouldn't let me jump if it was actually a problem, after the jump they told me it happens all of the time and some of the latex strands that help stabilize the vibrations in the cord pop out when they are doing there job....thankfully my engineering brain knew what they were saying and the fact that they popped out means they were in fact doing their job.....but its not fun to see a bungy cord tied to your feet and scissors in anyones hands. I waddled out to the platform and realized that this was in fact much higher than the bridge but didn't dare let myself be the wimp that didn't jump after they did the countdown, so off I went. Here is a timeline of what went through my head.
Seconds 0-1: What the hell did I just do accompanied with the usual feeling of gravity pulling you downwards.
Seconds 1-2: This is amazing. Smile on my face, loving my life
Seconds 2-3: Ok, I'm starting to go really really fast, like close to 100mph at this point and the ground is coming at me really really fast now and I still haven't felt the cord.
Seconds 3-4: A slight tug....the BUNGY!!! It actually works. On my video my arms were paralyzed until I felt the bungy which kind of jolts you forward. That little jolt scared me a bit apparently because I started flapping my arms at this point.
Seconds 4-5: Again, this is amazing
Seconds 5-8: Laughing with joy and the fact that I was still alive.
Second 8.5: Yeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, recoiling back up 300 or so feet.
Once the jump was over I was trembling with excitement. Dangling by my waist at this point, you can release the harness from your feet so you aren't hanging upside down, I waited for the rope to come down to pull me all the way back up to the cable car. The entire jump lasted for about 15 seconds, the pull back up maybe a minute, but it has to rank as one of the best things I have ever done. Part of the great feeling from it all is the fact that you had the guts to actually do it, the company will NOT push you off. Overcoming that fear in you is simply amazing and something I'm actually quite proud of and the jump itself is an adrenalin rush like no other. You could have performed minor surgery on me after the jump and I probably wouldn't have felt it because I was so high on adrenalin.
If you can, bungy, it is something you will never forget and you will love every second of it....after you get over the initial terror of jumping.
View from the platform of the Kawarau Bridge (140 foot free fall)
Side view of Kawarau bridge
Side view of the Nevis bungy jump
Platform view from Nevis, terrifyingly high
First, it doesn't hurt at all. Even if you watch someone go down somewhat awkwardly and they snap forward when the bungy catches them it actually feels quite comfy when you are actually doing it. It doesn't stretch you at all and the recoil is a lot of fun and zero discomfort, except for the water going up your noise. If you hang around New Zealand you will hear from every backpacker about how last week a girl in was jumping got scared and turned and grabbed her boyfriend who then fell to his death because he obviously wasn't attached to a bungy. Funny thing is this even always happened last week and is always in a different place in the world, South Africa/South America/New Zealand/anywhere else. The story is either a phony or a lot of people die bungy jumping and it is kept a secret, because the company in NZ tell you that no one has ever been seriously injured from a commercial bungy site. Rest assure I felt a heck of a lot safer bungy jumping than I have with most activities in the area.
I'll briefly try to explain the jumps.
The cord is made entirely of latex and has about 150 thin filaments tied up in bundles and there are 4 different sizes cords depending on your weight, which they tatoo on your hand for everyone to see. They fasten it to your feet and waist using a climbing harness with nylon webbing and caribiners. The nylon is tied into a slip knot which means it tightens when it is pulled at making it a fail-safe. They wrap a regular towel around your ankles for comfort so that it doesn't hurt and tighten everything up on you. You actually feel very safe with the equipment when its on you because it is so tight and looks strong enough to hold you. You then have to waddle out to the platform, by far the hardest part of jumping, and put your toes over the edge. You don't want to but of course you look down, then get your terrified picture taken before a comforting word from your jump master before you hear....3, 2, 1.....and you can't be that person to freak out on the platform so you just jump. Swan dive out, feel the rush of free fall consume your body and then plunge toward the river below.
The Kawarau Bridge was small enough that by the time you really felt like you were going fast you felt the cord pull at your feet and before you knew it you were dunked in the river below and recoiling back up. It's the classic bungy jump and I'm really really glad that I did it even though most consider it a waste because the other bungy in town is 3 times as high. The rush of the bungy and the feeling of the recoiling is very difficult to describe. The feeling of water up your noise from the splashdown a bit easier to grasp. But the experience as a whole is incredible and witnessed by my entire Kiwi Experience bus. I was most surprised at how accurately they can control your jump height. I told them waist deep in the water and they got it perfectly, which, knowing the basics physics of it all is quite impressive. After the jump they lower you down to the river level so you can hop in a yellow boat to take you back to land (see pictures below)
Having done the "small" jump I felt very ready for the big one. You don't jump from a bridge at Nevis, but are brought out to a pod over a canyon that you jump from which is 134m above the canyon floor. It's a similar procedure to the bridge but they attach a few more ropes and safety measure to you for this one. I kept telling myself, and actually believed it at one point, that the river looked just as far from the Kawarau bridge bungy despite the fact that it's 3 times as far away. This helped settle my nerves. What didn't help settle my nerves was when part of the bungy got frayed on the jump before mine and they were cutting bits off of it and tying new pieces on.....what the hell are you doing??? I asked and they said making it faster...at least they had a sense of humor. I still felt safe though and knew they wouldn't let me jump if it was actually a problem, after the jump they told me it happens all of the time and some of the latex strands that help stabilize the vibrations in the cord pop out when they are doing there job....thankfully my engineering brain knew what they were saying and the fact that they popped out means they were in fact doing their job.....but its not fun to see a bungy cord tied to your feet and scissors in anyones hands. I waddled out to the platform and realized that this was in fact much higher than the bridge but didn't dare let myself be the wimp that didn't jump after they did the countdown, so off I went. Here is a timeline of what went through my head.
Seconds 0-1: What the hell did I just do accompanied with the usual feeling of gravity pulling you downwards.
Seconds 1-2: This is amazing. Smile on my face, loving my life
Seconds 2-3: Ok, I'm starting to go really really fast, like close to 100mph at this point and the ground is coming at me really really fast now and I still haven't felt the cord.
Seconds 3-4: A slight tug....the BUNGY!!! It actually works. On my video my arms were paralyzed until I felt the bungy which kind of jolts you forward. That little jolt scared me a bit apparently because I started flapping my arms at this point.
Seconds 4-5: Again, this is amazing
Seconds 5-8: Laughing with joy and the fact that I was still alive.
Second 8.5: Yeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, recoiling back up 300 or so feet.
Once the jump was over I was trembling with excitement. Dangling by my waist at this point, you can release the harness from your feet so you aren't hanging upside down, I waited for the rope to come down to pull me all the way back up to the cable car. The entire jump lasted for about 15 seconds, the pull back up maybe a minute, but it has to rank as one of the best things I have ever done. Part of the great feeling from it all is the fact that you had the guts to actually do it, the company will NOT push you off. Overcoming that fear in you is simply amazing and something I'm actually quite proud of and the jump itself is an adrenalin rush like no other. You could have performed minor surgery on me after the jump and I probably wouldn't have felt it because I was so high on adrenalin.
If you can, bungy, it is something you will never forget and you will love every second of it....after you get over the initial terror of jumping.
View from the platform of the Kawarau Bridge (140 foot free fall)
Side view of Kawarau bridge
Side view of the Nevis bungy jump
Platform view from Nevis, terrifyingly high
The Adventure Capital of the World
Queenstown, New Zealand. Oh, Queenstown.
Everyone talks about Queenstown when you are in New Zealand and how much fun it is. It was hyped up a ton and frankly, it lives up to the hype. Every night here is like a Saturday night and is probably the best "party" city I've been to outside of Vegas. The home of bungy jumping has to have a serious nightlife right?
On the way into Queenstown from Wanaka we first stopped at Puzzling World which is just a giant puzzle. Slanted rooms, crazy mirrors, and all sorts of tricks to make you feel really dizzy. They have an Ames room there, which is a distorted room that makes people appear to be giants or tiny, if you've seen Lord of the Rings it is the technique they used to make the hobbits seem tiny. When you look at the room it looks perfectly normal, but the people inside look to be dramatically different in size, they do this by changing the ceiling height and angling the walls to make the perspective change......or something like that, I'm not really sure but it was cool to see.
About an hour down the road we got to the historic Kawarau Bridge, the home of bungy jumping. It was the first commercial site in the world and opened in 1988. The jump is over a river and you can do the classic "water" touch into the river below. We watched a movie on the "secrets" of bungy and they showed us how the latex cords are made. Of the 50 people on the buss, only 2 decided to jump....I was one of them. The bridge isn't the highest bungy in New Zealand, it is only 43m (or 145ft) but it was an intense and a lot of fun. I jumped without a shirt for the ladies and to keep my clothes dry for the water touch. I got a DVD of it and pictures that I'll post in a later post dedicated solely to the jumps.
Upon arriving in Queenstown your Kiwi bus takes a group photo over the lake with the Remarkables (mountain range) in the background. The Remarkables are aptly named as they are rather remarkable. The entire town of Queenstown is screaming with beauty to be honest.
From Queenstown I took a tour of the Milford Sound which is a 4 hour drive out of town. I've seen a lot of beautiful things in the past couple years.....the Rockies, Sierras, National parks of Utah, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Himalayas, etc.....and can honestly say that the Milford Sound tops them all. It was breathtaking in scale and beauty and we went on a day when there wasn't a single cloud in the sky....that happens about a dozen times a year we were told. I have often said that pictures don't do scenery justice, but I actually mean it about this place. 2,000m peaks shoot up out of the ocean in all directions with immaculate waterfalls cascading down their slopes. A trip to New Zealand without going here would be like a trip to Egypt without going to the pyramids, I can't begin to describe how amazing it was. It was so nice I went twice actually.
Then came the mountain biking, a disaster waiting to happen. I can't confirm if the water spins the other way in toilets because the toilets flush with water shooting everywhere here, but I can tell you that the brakes on bikes are backwards here. Left brake is the rear, right is the front. Great.....that made me flip at least twice, the other crash, well I can blame it on the brakes but I kinda just lost it and flipped over backwards going up this rock/stump thing. It was great fun though and I ended up covered in mud by the end of it, obviously it was amazing.
The next day I rented a car and braved driving on the wrong side of the road and from the wrong side of the car. This country is backwards. Drove up to do a day walk on the Routeburn Track which is one of the most Great Walks in NZ. I went up to Conical Hill for some panoramic shots of the southern Alps and the hike, although it took 8 hours, was insanely nice.
But you can't come to the adventure capital of the world and home of bungy without going big, so I signed up for the Nevis High Wire, the 2nd highest bungy jump in the world. Falling out of a cable car suspended over a canyon is amazing. It was a 134m or 440foot drop. You are falling for a total of 8.5 seconds. Think about that for a second. Sing the intro the Beatles song "Help".....Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! you know I need someone. Helpppp! That is 8 seconds long and you are falling for the entire time. I thought the bridge was a little scary, but the freefall on this one is 3 times higher and you pick up a LOT of speed. My first thought after the jump...shit, what did I just do, the next thought, this is AWESOME. Then reality started to hit me that the ground was coming at my face awfully quickly before feeling the cord gradually slow me down. I have a DVD of my jump but if you'd care to see what it look like watch this youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIzZJSvKPqw
In all honestly it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. The feeling is impossible to describe but I never had imagined something could possibly be so much fun.
Everyone talks about Queenstown when you are in New Zealand and how much fun it is. It was hyped up a ton and frankly, it lives up to the hype. Every night here is like a Saturday night and is probably the best "party" city I've been to outside of Vegas. The home of bungy jumping has to have a serious nightlife right?
On the way into Queenstown from Wanaka we first stopped at Puzzling World which is just a giant puzzle. Slanted rooms, crazy mirrors, and all sorts of tricks to make you feel really dizzy. They have an Ames room there, which is a distorted room that makes people appear to be giants or tiny, if you've seen Lord of the Rings it is the technique they used to make the hobbits seem tiny. When you look at the room it looks perfectly normal, but the people inside look to be dramatically different in size, they do this by changing the ceiling height and angling the walls to make the perspective change......or something like that, I'm not really sure but it was cool to see.
About an hour down the road we got to the historic Kawarau Bridge, the home of bungy jumping. It was the first commercial site in the world and opened in 1988. The jump is over a river and you can do the classic "water" touch into the river below. We watched a movie on the "secrets" of bungy and they showed us how the latex cords are made. Of the 50 people on the buss, only 2 decided to jump....I was one of them. The bridge isn't the highest bungy in New Zealand, it is only 43m (or 145ft) but it was an intense and a lot of fun. I jumped without a shirt for the ladies and to keep my clothes dry for the water touch. I got a DVD of it and pictures that I'll post in a later post dedicated solely to the jumps.
Upon arriving in Queenstown your Kiwi bus takes a group photo over the lake with the Remarkables (mountain range) in the background. The Remarkables are aptly named as they are rather remarkable. The entire town of Queenstown is screaming with beauty to be honest.
From Queenstown I took a tour of the Milford Sound which is a 4 hour drive out of town. I've seen a lot of beautiful things in the past couple years.....the Rockies, Sierras, National parks of Utah, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Himalayas, etc.....and can honestly say that the Milford Sound tops them all. It was breathtaking in scale and beauty and we went on a day when there wasn't a single cloud in the sky....that happens about a dozen times a year we were told. I have often said that pictures don't do scenery justice, but I actually mean it about this place. 2,000m peaks shoot up out of the ocean in all directions with immaculate waterfalls cascading down their slopes. A trip to New Zealand without going here would be like a trip to Egypt without going to the pyramids, I can't begin to describe how amazing it was. It was so nice I went twice actually.
Then came the mountain biking, a disaster waiting to happen. I can't confirm if the water spins the other way in toilets because the toilets flush with water shooting everywhere here, but I can tell you that the brakes on bikes are backwards here. Left brake is the rear, right is the front. Great.....that made me flip at least twice, the other crash, well I can blame it on the brakes but I kinda just lost it and flipped over backwards going up this rock/stump thing. It was great fun though and I ended up covered in mud by the end of it, obviously it was amazing.
The next day I rented a car and braved driving on the wrong side of the road and from the wrong side of the car. This country is backwards. Drove up to do a day walk on the Routeburn Track which is one of the most Great Walks in NZ. I went up to Conical Hill for some panoramic shots of the southern Alps and the hike, although it took 8 hours, was insanely nice.
But you can't come to the adventure capital of the world and home of bungy without going big, so I signed up for the Nevis High Wire, the 2nd highest bungy jump in the world. Falling out of a cable car suspended over a canyon is amazing. It was a 134m or 440foot drop. You are falling for a total of 8.5 seconds. Think about that for a second. Sing the intro the Beatles song "Help".....Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! you know I need someone. Helpppp! That is 8 seconds long and you are falling for the entire time. I thought the bridge was a little scary, but the freefall on this one is 3 times higher and you pick up a LOT of speed. My first thought after the jump...shit, what did I just do, the next thought, this is AWESOME. Then reality started to hit me that the ground was coming at my face awfully quickly before feeling the cord gradually slow me down. I have a DVD of my jump but if you'd care to see what it look like watch this youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIzZJSvKPqw
In all honestly it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. The feeling is impossible to describe but I never had imagined something could possibly be so much fun.
An inspiring national park
The name of the national park in Wanaka is Mt Aspiring National Park, but I found it to be rather inspiring so I changed the name in my head. Before heading into the park I did a walk through a Tartare Tunnel which was a man-made gold mining tunnel built at the turn of the 20th century, the entire west coast of NZ had the largest gold rush in the southern hemisphere so there are several of these tunnels around the area. This one just happens to be a longer one, and in the end the tunnel produced virtually no gold and was converted to a hydro-electric power plant. It was somewhat creepy in there and I got my first view of the famous New Zealand glow-worms, which were less than spectacular....oh well, at least something in New Zealand didn't live up to the hype. Lightning bugs are much cooler.
Going into Wanaka from the glaciers requires that you cross over the southern Alps to their eastern (dry) side. The terrain was remarkable different as soon as you crossed the divide. The west coast is filled with subtropical rainforest due to the amount of rain they get, but the eastern side only gets a tenth of the rain that the west coast gets so its a much dryer environment. The forecast was nice, so I hitched a ride to the trail-head in the Matukituki Valley....talk about an awesome name for a valley....and hiked up to the Rob Roy Glacier. Despite the fact that I didn't care too much for the name of the glacier, reminds me of Roy Rogers for some reason, the glacier was beautiful. There wasn't really a terminal face to it as the end of it extended out over a cliff, which makes for some dramatic (and loud) avalanches of falling ice. The ice was perfectly clean and was the perfect example of the famous blue glacier ice. From the viewing point you are somewhat far away from it but crevices and ice fall of the glacier looked menacing, not somewhere that would be safe to walk on.
The walk through the valley itself was breathtaking and really made you feel tiny. The valley was about 2 miles wide with mile high peaks on both sides. The walls are very rugged and cut at extremely steep angles because they were originally carved by glaciers during the ice age. The mountains on the left side of the valley were a masterpiece. New Zealand is at the merging point of 2 of the earths tectonic plates. One is going under the other which causes the uplift for the southern Alps. The mountains in this valley made this force remarkably clear. One side of the slope was a continuous rise upwards (the plate on top) while the other was a series of sharp ridges (bottom plate) that dropped nearly vertical from the valley floor, I'll have to find a picture to better show this, but take my word for it that it was really cool to see.
The valley was also covered with cows and thus lots of cow poo which raises the very interesting question, which animal poops more the yaks in Nepal or the New Zealand cows? I'll have to look into that. The valley walls were littered with hundreds of small to large water falls that made for a spectacular hike. I stayed overnight in Aspiring Hut in the park with a few other guests. The next morning I climbed to the top of Cascade Saddle which is the start of the Rees-Dart Track that goes down into Fiordlands National Park. It was a bit cloudy on top so the views weren't unbelievable but the hike itself was nice and exhausting.
Once I finished the walk I hitched a ride back to town and went to the famous movie theater there. I mean, a theater that has couches for you to sit on and has intermission to give everyone freshly baked cookies and homemade ice cream has to be famous right?
Wanaka has certainly been a highlight of New Zealand
Going into Wanaka from the glaciers requires that you cross over the southern Alps to their eastern (dry) side. The terrain was remarkable different as soon as you crossed the divide. The west coast is filled with subtropical rainforest due to the amount of rain they get, but the eastern side only gets a tenth of the rain that the west coast gets so its a much dryer environment. The forecast was nice, so I hitched a ride to the trail-head in the Matukituki Valley....talk about an awesome name for a valley....and hiked up to the Rob Roy Glacier. Despite the fact that I didn't care too much for the name of the glacier, reminds me of Roy Rogers for some reason, the glacier was beautiful. There wasn't really a terminal face to it as the end of it extended out over a cliff, which makes for some dramatic (and loud) avalanches of falling ice. The ice was perfectly clean and was the perfect example of the famous blue glacier ice. From the viewing point you are somewhat far away from it but crevices and ice fall of the glacier looked menacing, not somewhere that would be safe to walk on.
The walk through the valley itself was breathtaking and really made you feel tiny. The valley was about 2 miles wide with mile high peaks on both sides. The walls are very rugged and cut at extremely steep angles because they were originally carved by glaciers during the ice age. The mountains on the left side of the valley were a masterpiece. New Zealand is at the merging point of 2 of the earths tectonic plates. One is going under the other which causes the uplift for the southern Alps. The mountains in this valley made this force remarkably clear. One side of the slope was a continuous rise upwards (the plate on top) while the other was a series of sharp ridges (bottom plate) that dropped nearly vertical from the valley floor, I'll have to find a picture to better show this, but take my word for it that it was really cool to see.
The valley was also covered with cows and thus lots of cow poo which raises the very interesting question, which animal poops more the yaks in Nepal or the New Zealand cows? I'll have to look into that. The valley walls were littered with hundreds of small to large water falls that made for a spectacular hike. I stayed overnight in Aspiring Hut in the park with a few other guests. The next morning I climbed to the top of Cascade Saddle which is the start of the Rees-Dart Track that goes down into Fiordlands National Park. It was a bit cloudy on top so the views weren't unbelievable but the hike itself was nice and exhausting.
Once I finished the walk I hitched a ride back to town and went to the famous movie theater there. I mean, a theater that has couches for you to sit on and has intermission to give everyone freshly baked cookies and homemade ice cream has to be famous right?
Wanaka has certainly been a highlight of New Zealand
Walking on ice
The west coast of NZ gets pummeled with rain every year. I can't remember the exact amount of rainfall but its a lot because the mountains block the clouds and it all drops on the west coast. In higher elevations it obviously falls as snow and in certain sections of the mountain glaciers form. Someone told me there are 4,000 glaciers in NZ and it seems like all of the valleys and most lakes were formed by glaciers during the ice age.
Anyway, there are 2 extremely famous glaciers on the west coast that have developed tourist towns around them, the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The Fox glacier is slightly longer but less steep so the Franz Josef Glacier tends to get more attention because it is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. A glacier forms when a lot of snow becomes compacted and turns into ice, the steepness of the terrain then makes the ice slide down the mountain in an "ice river" essentially. This is what carves out the valleys and lakes of the area. It might not sound too exciting, but the Franz Josef glacier moves at about 4-5 feet per day. This might not seem like a lot, but in terms of glacial movement that is nearly light speed.
The glacier is a spectacular sight to see. It's enormous, 12km long and half a mile deep in some points of pure ice. To walk on it you need special boots and crampons (spikes) to grip the ice. Most people opted to go on a glacier walk for the day but I decided to go ice climbing on it instead. The walk up the glacier was beautiful. Once you get above the terminal face of the glacier where all of the debris is spit back out you get to perfectly clean blue ice with ice caves, tunnels and deep crevices. There were some crystal clear glacial water pools with delicious water.
When we got to the wall we were going to climb we fixed up our harnesses and ice axes and went at it. Ice climbing is very different from rock climbing, more technical compared to the brute strength required to scale a rock wall. It is also very exhausting and puts a tremendous strain on your calf muscles that burned for days. We were climbing a 30-50 foot wall that ranged from an extremely steep slope, to vertical, and even invert in some spots. It was tough going but I had a ton of fun, I mean, how often do you get to play with razor sharp ice axes?
Anyway, there are 2 extremely famous glaciers on the west coast that have developed tourist towns around them, the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The Fox glacier is slightly longer but less steep so the Franz Josef Glacier tends to get more attention because it is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. A glacier forms when a lot of snow becomes compacted and turns into ice, the steepness of the terrain then makes the ice slide down the mountain in an "ice river" essentially. This is what carves out the valleys and lakes of the area. It might not sound too exciting, but the Franz Josef glacier moves at about 4-5 feet per day. This might not seem like a lot, but in terms of glacial movement that is nearly light speed.
The glacier is a spectacular sight to see. It's enormous, 12km long and half a mile deep in some points of pure ice. To walk on it you need special boots and crampons (spikes) to grip the ice. Most people opted to go on a glacier walk for the day but I decided to go ice climbing on it instead. The walk up the glacier was beautiful. Once you get above the terminal face of the glacier where all of the debris is spit back out you get to perfectly clean blue ice with ice caves, tunnels and deep crevices. There were some crystal clear glacial water pools with delicious water.
When we got to the wall we were going to climb we fixed up our harnesses and ice axes and went at it. Ice climbing is very different from rock climbing, more technical compared to the brute strength required to scale a rock wall. It is also very exhausting and puts a tremendous strain on your calf muscles that burned for days. We were climbing a 30-50 foot wall that ranged from an extremely steep slope, to vertical, and even invert in some spots. It was tough going but I had a ton of fun, I mean, how often do you get to play with razor sharp ice axes?
Monday, June 16, 2008
Cold starry nights and pancake rocks
We left Nelson on route to the west coast of the south island which everyone seems to rave about, eventhough it gets 10 times more rain than the east coast of the south island. On the way there we stopped over at Nelson Lakes National Park which primarily consists of 2 very picturesque glacier lakes with mountains in the backdrop. Unfortunately its unseasonably warm for this time of year (winter in NZ) so there wasn't any snow on the peaks off in the distance but the lake itself was gorgeous. I decided to hop off the bus for a night in a hut on the side of the lake. It was a peaceful and quiet night as there were only 4 of us that stayed there for the night. Without propane and hardly any food we had amazing cold dinners on the lake shore under a beautiful starry nights sky. The weather cooperated for at least one night for us and we were given amazing views of the milky way. It was cold though as the lakes are at elevation so we slept in pretty much all of our clothes for the night.
The next day another Kiwi bus pulled around to pick us up and head to Westport. It's a small mining town, and much to the dismay of the girls on the bus the local theater was not showing the Sex in the City movie....bummer I know, I was just dying to see it. The town was tiny with not much more than a few bars, which of course just about everyone went to at night. On the way into town you head through the Buller Gorge which was a beautiful valley cut by the Buller River. We stopped for a bunch of people to get off to go jet boating on the river and at the companies office just outside of town a former customs dog came on the bus to search for illegal drugs. They found some people with pot, but the dog was really just to scare everyone and they had a good laugh as the guys that were caught were scared out of their minds.
Only stayed in Wesport for one night before jumping off the bus again in Punakaiki, home of the Paparoa National Park. This wasn't an official stop for Kiwi which meant that I was the only one to get off the bus, a nice break from the craziness of Kiwi (half the travelers are 18 year olds on gap year from England and they get annoying very quickly). Punakaiki is famous for pancake rocks and blowholes out over the ocean. The town sits on the west coast as well and the Tasman Sea is quite turbulent in this area. It was worn away at the limestone rock in such a way that it creates these layers that the locals claim look like pancakes. Maybe our pancakes are different but they didn't look like pancakes to me. Don't get me wrong, they looked awesome but pancakes, I think not. The best part of the area was the blowholes. During high tide the waves crush these rocks and shot water everywhere. There are 3 spots with blow holes. One that looks like a chimney, the other that is more of a pool where water just splashes 30-50 feet in the air after the crashing waves, and the final is this giant hole in the ground. Water doesn't shoot out of this one, mist does sometimes, but everytime a wave crashes the hole, named Sudden Sound, lets off a roar that sounds like thunder or a train coming. It was really really cool to hear and quite impressive since the hole itself is about 10 feet in diameter and sits about 80 feet from the surface of the ocean.
I spent a couple days hiking around the national park and got to some hot springs up in the moutains there. After this it was off to the glaciers of the west coast, which I've already posted pictures from and I'll write more about later.
The next day another Kiwi bus pulled around to pick us up and head to Westport. It's a small mining town, and much to the dismay of the girls on the bus the local theater was not showing the Sex in the City movie....bummer I know, I was just dying to see it. The town was tiny with not much more than a few bars, which of course just about everyone went to at night. On the way into town you head through the Buller Gorge which was a beautiful valley cut by the Buller River. We stopped for a bunch of people to get off to go jet boating on the river and at the companies office just outside of town a former customs dog came on the bus to search for illegal drugs. They found some people with pot, but the dog was really just to scare everyone and they had a good laugh as the guys that were caught were scared out of their minds.
Only stayed in Wesport for one night before jumping off the bus again in Punakaiki, home of the Paparoa National Park. This wasn't an official stop for Kiwi which meant that I was the only one to get off the bus, a nice break from the craziness of Kiwi (half the travelers are 18 year olds on gap year from England and they get annoying very quickly). Punakaiki is famous for pancake rocks and blowholes out over the ocean. The town sits on the west coast as well and the Tasman Sea is quite turbulent in this area. It was worn away at the limestone rock in such a way that it creates these layers that the locals claim look like pancakes. Maybe our pancakes are different but they didn't look like pancakes to me. Don't get me wrong, they looked awesome but pancakes, I think not. The best part of the area was the blowholes. During high tide the waves crush these rocks and shot water everywhere. There are 3 spots with blow holes. One that looks like a chimney, the other that is more of a pool where water just splashes 30-50 feet in the air after the crashing waves, and the final is this giant hole in the ground. Water doesn't shoot out of this one, mist does sometimes, but everytime a wave crashes the hole, named Sudden Sound, lets off a roar that sounds like thunder or a train coming. It was really really cool to hear and quite impressive since the hole itself is about 10 feet in diameter and sits about 80 feet from the surface of the ocean.
I spent a couple days hiking around the national park and got to some hot springs up in the moutains there. After this it was off to the glaciers of the west coast, which I've already posted pictures from and I'll write more about later.
Some pics from New Zealand
Mirror lake in Fjordlands National Park
I'm pretty much the next Ansel Adams, canyon on the way to Milford Sound
Milford Sound, this picture doesn't do it justice at all, probably the prettiest place I've ever been which is saying a lot after Nepal and New Zealand. This area has 190 rainy days and gets more rain than anywhere in New Zealand.....but there were absolutely no clouds the day I went, I'm kinda lucky these days
More of the Milford Sound
Ice tunnel on Franz Josef glacier
Ice climbing Franz Josef glacier
Lake Matheson (mirror lake) outside of Fox Glacier, if the clouds cooperated you'd be looking at Mt Cook, New Zealand's highest peak
Mt Aspiring National Park
Kawarau bridge bungy jump
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
making thailand jealous
Next stop after Kaikoura was Nelson, NZ on the north coast of the South Island. On the way there we stopped at a baby seal colony where there were 60 pups that came out of the water to see what we are and smell us just like a dog would. It was unbelievable to see this tiny seal pups pop out all because of us, they were very interested in us. We probably blinded them with our flashes but I got some priceless photos of them. They were simply adorable and made me miss Simba a bit. Watching them "walk" out of the water on slippery rocks with their fins was beyond adorable and having them sniff you was even better.
From there we headed up to wine country for some free samples at a local winery before getting to our final destination of Nelson. Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, the most popular NP in New Zealand. It is a coastal park and is filled with hundreds of bays, coves, and dense forest. One of the 9 "great walks" of New Zealand is here, the Abel Tasman Track, and I decided to walk its length (40 miles) on a 4 day trip. It was great to be out hiking again, slightly more annoying than Nepal because you had to carry your food, but the scenery was very diverse and all of it was breathtaking. You would climb from empty, beautiful golden beaches with crystal clear tropical waters through various layers of the forest that changed with the elevation. Around every corner was a new island/bay/overlook that took your breath away. The weather was perfect the entire walk, no clouds what so ever and the sunrises and sunsets were out of this world.
The only thing that I could think when I was sitting on the golden sands overlooking a pristine cove filled with seals and dolphins was that Thailand would be jealous of this place. Virtually untouched beaches and estuaries with limestone rocks, tunnels, and forests surrounding the coast. I met up with a few American students studying abroad for the semseter in Dunedin to do the track with and had a great time all around. Learned about a few of the constellations in the southern hemisphere and got to meet up with a trekking club there that told me about all sorts of great walks on the west coast.
From there we headed up to wine country for some free samples at a local winery before getting to our final destination of Nelson. Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, the most popular NP in New Zealand. It is a coastal park and is filled with hundreds of bays, coves, and dense forest. One of the 9 "great walks" of New Zealand is here, the Abel Tasman Track, and I decided to walk its length (40 miles) on a 4 day trip. It was great to be out hiking again, slightly more annoying than Nepal because you had to carry your food, but the scenery was very diverse and all of it was breathtaking. You would climb from empty, beautiful golden beaches with crystal clear tropical waters through various layers of the forest that changed with the elevation. Around every corner was a new island/bay/overlook that took your breath away. The weather was perfect the entire walk, no clouds what so ever and the sunrises and sunsets were out of this world.
The only thing that I could think when I was sitting on the golden sands overlooking a pristine cove filled with seals and dolphins was that Thailand would be jealous of this place. Virtually untouched beaches and estuaries with limestone rocks, tunnels, and forests surrounding the coast. I met up with a few American students studying abroad for the semseter in Dunedin to do the track with and had a great time all around. Learned about a few of the constellations in the southern hemisphere and got to meet up with a trekking club there that told me about all sorts of great walks on the west coast.
swimming with the fish
First stop on the Kiwi bus is Kaikoura, famous for its marine wild-life. Kaikoura is this gorgeous pennisula jutting out into the pacific ocean. There are 2 deep ocean currents that converge here which push up lots of yummy food for fish so there is a lot of aquatic life here....whales, seals, dolphins and tons of fish. The pennisula that the town sits on is surrounded by the southern alps and it was the first time I saw snow capped mountains since leaving Nepal.....I was in heaven. It was seriously beautiful. The pennisula has a ocean/cliff walk similar to those in New England actually which was breathtaking. It was really the only place I'd ever been where you can look out to pristine ocean and turn around to be confronted with towering snow capped peaks. And the water here is beautifully clear. It is not the blueish/green shade of tropical water but more of an artic blue shade that is quite a sight to see.
When we were approaching town the driver passed around the activity sheet for the day. Most people signed up for whale watching, which I'd done in Boston before, so I decided to go for the dolphin swim instead. The water was a balmy 13C (or 55F) so we had to wear super thick wet suits for the swim. The guides told us that if we want to be entertained by the dolphins that it was our job to entertain them since they are curious animals just like humans and like a good show I suppose. So you are suppose to sing into your snorkel, spin, and dive to draw there attention to you. Diving was the best bet.
To be specific we saw the dusky dolphins. The ones that are famous for jumping out of the water. The shop showed us a video of some of them flipping out of the water and I figured that was a rare occurence that we probably wouldn't see. Boy was I wrong. Dolphins swim in pods...the pod we went to was a solid 400 dolphins and jump ALL of the time. From the simple jump out of water, to 360 degree spins, to multiple flips where they jump 5-10 feet out of the water. They get extremely active when they are excited, by things like whales (which we saw) and boats (which we were on). So they would chase the wake of the boat and get a "free" ride from the boat. Just like in Titanic the dolphins do race out in front of the boat and jump all the time right in front of you. It was amazing.
The swim itself blew all of this away. My singing wasn't drawing them in, but thanks to my diving experience, I just plunged under the water and instantly the dolphins raced to circle me. The like to swim around you in circles and you are suppose to swim with you....good luck trying to keep up with a dolphin when they get going though. But diving down would easily get a dozen dolphins interested in you and you alone. They brushed up against me, looked me in the eye, and hung out for a good while. When you surfaced from the "dive" you came up fast do to the buoyancy of the wet-suit and popped out of the water, some dolphins jumped out with you when you did this, but if they didn't you were given immaculate views of the mountains back on land. With no clouds in the sky it made for one of the most memorable experiences I've had thus far in my travels.
When we were approaching town the driver passed around the activity sheet for the day. Most people signed up for whale watching, which I'd done in Boston before, so I decided to go for the dolphin swim instead. The water was a balmy 13C (or 55F) so we had to wear super thick wet suits for the swim. The guides told us that if we want to be entertained by the dolphins that it was our job to entertain them since they are curious animals just like humans and like a good show I suppose. So you are suppose to sing into your snorkel, spin, and dive to draw there attention to you. Diving was the best bet.
To be specific we saw the dusky dolphins. The ones that are famous for jumping out of the water. The shop showed us a video of some of them flipping out of the water and I figured that was a rare occurence that we probably wouldn't see. Boy was I wrong. Dolphins swim in pods...the pod we went to was a solid 400 dolphins and jump ALL of the time. From the simple jump out of water, to 360 degree spins, to multiple flips where they jump 5-10 feet out of the water. They get extremely active when they are excited, by things like whales (which we saw) and boats (which we were on). So they would chase the wake of the boat and get a "free" ride from the boat. Just like in Titanic the dolphins do race out in front of the boat and jump all the time right in front of you. It was amazing.
The swim itself blew all of this away. My singing wasn't drawing them in, but thanks to my diving experience, I just plunged under the water and instantly the dolphins raced to circle me. The like to swim around you in circles and you are suppose to swim with you....good luck trying to keep up with a dolphin when they get going though. But diving down would easily get a dozen dolphins interested in you and you alone. They brushed up against me, looked me in the eye, and hung out for a good while. When you surfaced from the "dive" you came up fast do to the buoyancy of the wet-suit and popped out of the water, some dolphins jumped out with you when you did this, but if they didn't you were given immaculate views of the mountains back on land. With no clouds in the sky it made for one of the most memorable experiences I've had thus far in my travels.
Welcome to NZ
Upon deciding to head south to New Zealand for a 6 week trip here the reality that it is there winter hit when I landed. It's really cold here, and apparently my wardrobe consisting mainly of shorts and t-shirts wouldn't do the job of keeping me warm. Fortunately in came Sarah Robb. My first familiar face since traveling who I met up with in Christchurch. She'd been studying abroad here for the semester and pretty much made my life my introducing me to the "wooly"....an 80's wool top that is warm, and obviously looks awesome. She also told me about the kumera. It's a red sweet potatoe that puts all over potatoes to shame, and as it turns out if you want to live cheaply in New Zealand you have to cook for yourself, so I'll be sure to be eating those just about every day.
We went around the city of Christchurch, checked out some botanical gardens and ate pb&j for lunch.....another staple of mine these days. The city is weird, almost superficially done and didn't appear to be a "New Zealand" city. Some piece of the puzzle was just missing with this place. No worries though because I wasn't staying too long (and as it would turn out the rest of the NZ is insanely nice).
That night I went to happy hour at the bar in the hostel we were at and there was a rock, paper, scissors tournament that someone ended up winning and selling the prize to me. The prize, a $550 bus ticket....my price $100. So I basically was given $450 worth of a bus ticket. I was planning on spending something like that for travel anyway so I was in 7th heaven when I got the ticket for dirt cheap. The ticket was with Kiwi Experience, which is a hop-on hop-off service. It has a fixed route and goes through certain towns that you can get off at and stay as long as you want then get on whichever bus comes through the town next (the buses run 5 of 7 days of the week). The ticket is good for a year but you can't back-track, so once you move on you have to keep going. It's in theory a great way to travel, the drivers are guides and stop at all of the cool highlights along the route that you would probably miss otherwise and you they do all of your bookings for housing and activities which is huge since there are so many tourists in New Zealand. For instance, the dolphin swim that I did (more on that later) has 16 spots on the boat, 6 of them are permanently reserved for Kiwi. So in theory its amazing. The people on it are another story, but I'll save that rant for another day.
We went around the city of Christchurch, checked out some botanical gardens and ate pb&j for lunch.....another staple of mine these days. The city is weird, almost superficially done and didn't appear to be a "New Zealand" city. Some piece of the puzzle was just missing with this place. No worries though because I wasn't staying too long (and as it would turn out the rest of the NZ is insanely nice).
That night I went to happy hour at the bar in the hostel we were at and there was a rock, paper, scissors tournament that someone ended up winning and selling the prize to me. The prize, a $550 bus ticket....my price $100. So I basically was given $450 worth of a bus ticket. I was planning on spending something like that for travel anyway so I was in 7th heaven when I got the ticket for dirt cheap. The ticket was with Kiwi Experience, which is a hop-on hop-off service. It has a fixed route and goes through certain towns that you can get off at and stay as long as you want then get on whichever bus comes through the town next (the buses run 5 of 7 days of the week). The ticket is good for a year but you can't back-track, so once you move on you have to keep going. It's in theory a great way to travel, the drivers are guides and stop at all of the cool highlights along the route that you would probably miss otherwise and you they do all of your bookings for housing and activities which is huge since there are so many tourists in New Zealand. For instance, the dolphin swim that I did (more on that later) has 16 spots on the boat, 6 of them are permanently reserved for Kiwi. So in theory its amazing. The people on it are another story, but I'll save that rant for another day.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Bangkok pictures
Grand Palace
My attempt at an "artsy" shot of the golden Stupa
The "Lazy" or Reclining Buddha
Khao San Road
Food stall at the weekend market
Wat of the Emerald Buddha (Grand Palace)
Golden Stupa
Statue at the Grand Palace
City of Angels
I'm probably making this up but I think Bangkok is the "City of Angels" if not I apologize. I hoped from one capital to another, this time in Thailand to its "ultra-modern" capital. Bangkok is huge and fairly well developed (more on this later) and houses one of the most well known backpackers spots on the globe....the infamous Khao San Road where anything is possible. During the day there are shops and stalls, at night this place lights up like Vegas and is a raging party, all night long. Sex tourism is a huge thing in Thailand, especially Khao San Rd area (though its worse in other parts of town), I think its disgusting, but its quite amusing to see these nasty old guys courting around these skinny little young Thai girls. And if you every want cheesy tourist gifts they are all over the place, particular the women trying to sell you these blocks that look like frogs that have make frog noises....or if you are in the market for suits there are probably a dozen or so places in this quarter mile strip to fulfill your needs. And 7-11's are everywhere, there are literally 2 stores across the street from each other on Khao San Rd. It's a fun place to watch life go by if you ask me.
I fortunately came to Bangkok on a weekend which meant the weekend market was open. It has 15,000 stalls there and sees about a quarter million people everyday its open. It was mostly clothing and accessory shops, not my forte, but it was neat to see. To get there I got to ride on the Sky Train, basically a super fancy above ground metro. Its air-conditioned which is heavenly as its about 100F everyday here with nasty humidity and its super clean. On the way back from the market I stopped by Siam Paragon which just so happened to be the nicest mall in the history of the world I'm sure. It was ridiculously well maintained and had lots of fancy stores. The only reason I stayed for more than 5 minutes was because of the AC. The place was commercialism at its best and there were teenagers running around updating their wardrobes I suppose. I must note that I don't quite understand SE Asian teenage culture, I think they dress funny...and I'm sure they would say the same about me, but "trendy" clothing to them is quite hysterical looking I think.
I also got to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. And wow...they were impressive. The Grand Palace isn't all that great, but in the complex is Wat Phra Kaew, definitely the coolest modern Wat that I've seen on this trip. The place was elaborately decorated beyond belief. I've probably said that a bunch to describe the stuff I've seen but this one is the hands down winner for over the top detail and beauty. It houses an Emerald Buddha that has a crazy history, but I thought looked ehh....not that impressive in my opinion. It was the outside of all the buildings that captured my eye. The detail, most of it in gold, of the outside of these buildings was immaculate. There was a golden stupa (I think they call them chedis here), statues of religious figures all over, and really cool landscaping.
Wat Pho houses what I like to call the "Lazy Buddha", most people call it the reclining Buddha because my good pal Mr. Buddha is lying down in it. There are 13 (I might be making that up) poses of Buddha each representing a different thing, like Buddha dispelling evil, or Buddha cleansing the earth. The reclining Buddha represents Buddha entering his final nirvana. There are reclining Buddha statues all over the place, but this one is famous because its roughly 50 feet high and 150 feet long. Its core is made of 80,000 bricks covered in plaster and then gold. The eyes and bottom of the feet are made of mother of pearl. The Lazy Buddha is really cool, my favorite Buddha statue. The size of it was just amazing, standing at either the head or the feet and looking down its length is quite impressive.
Bangkok certainly takes the cake for going over the top with its religious displays, I suppose its deserving that its called the Vatican of Buddhism.
I fortunately came to Bangkok on a weekend which meant the weekend market was open. It has 15,000 stalls there and sees about a quarter million people everyday its open. It was mostly clothing and accessory shops, not my forte, but it was neat to see. To get there I got to ride on the Sky Train, basically a super fancy above ground metro. Its air-conditioned which is heavenly as its about 100F everyday here with nasty humidity and its super clean. On the way back from the market I stopped by Siam Paragon which just so happened to be the nicest mall in the history of the world I'm sure. It was ridiculously well maintained and had lots of fancy stores. The only reason I stayed for more than 5 minutes was because of the AC. The place was commercialism at its best and there were teenagers running around updating their wardrobes I suppose. I must note that I don't quite understand SE Asian teenage culture, I think they dress funny...and I'm sure they would say the same about me, but "trendy" clothing to them is quite hysterical looking I think.
I also got to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. And wow...they were impressive. The Grand Palace isn't all that great, but in the complex is Wat Phra Kaew, definitely the coolest modern Wat that I've seen on this trip. The place was elaborately decorated beyond belief. I've probably said that a bunch to describe the stuff I've seen but this one is the hands down winner for over the top detail and beauty. It houses an Emerald Buddha that has a crazy history, but I thought looked ehh....not that impressive in my opinion. It was the outside of all the buildings that captured my eye. The detail, most of it in gold, of the outside of these buildings was immaculate. There was a golden stupa (I think they call them chedis here), statues of religious figures all over, and really cool landscaping.
Wat Pho houses what I like to call the "Lazy Buddha", most people call it the reclining Buddha because my good pal Mr. Buddha is lying down in it. There are 13 (I might be making that up) poses of Buddha each representing a different thing, like Buddha dispelling evil, or Buddha cleansing the earth. The reclining Buddha represents Buddha entering his final nirvana. There are reclining Buddha statues all over the place, but this one is famous because its roughly 50 feet high and 150 feet long. Its core is made of 80,000 bricks covered in plaster and then gold. The eyes and bottom of the feet are made of mother of pearl. The Lazy Buddha is really cool, my favorite Buddha statue. The size of it was just amazing, standing at either the head or the feet and looking down its length is quite impressive.
Bangkok certainly takes the cake for going over the top with its religious displays, I suppose its deserving that its called the Vatican of Buddhism.
Fun and horror
I arrived in Phnom Penh (Cambodia's capital) on a mini-bus service that claimed to not use blare loud Cambodian music, like most buses, instead they just blared U2 the entire time and I still ended up getting off the bus with a splitting headache. At the bus station where they drop you off are hoards and hoards of tuk-tuk (the local taxi) drivers literally fighting for your services. I wasn't sure if I was suppose to be impressed that I was getting so much attention (4 of them were banging at my window the second the bus stopped), scared that I was about to be mauled (there are more drivers than people on the bus so they were literally fighting for position), or upset at the poor economic state that these drivers must be in for having to fight for a $2 ride. If you think government employees aren't payed that well in the States then go to Cambodia, where local police get a whole $35 per month! The drivers must have been upset with me because I opted to walk the mile or so to lake where a lot of the budget guesthouses are.
I found a decent place near the lake but didn't stay there long as I went off to visit the Royal Palace and National Museum. Again, opting to not get a ride there but instead walk proved to be an excellent decision because I got to see a whole lot more of the city than I otherwise would have. In between the various rows of touristy streets are the typical city streets of Cambodia, dimly lit, dirty, and altogether not looking like a place I'd want to go alone. I have heard some horror stories about backpackers being beaten and in two cases killed (though these were probably exaggerations) over their belongings. Stealing a camera and selling it on the streets might only be a $30-50 profit for them, but thats probably a month's wage so the risk is worth it to people I suppose. I had zero problems in the city but was told by a few people to be careful where you take your camera out. Fortunately the Royal Palace was a place to take it out because it was beautiful there. The architecture screamed "Asian" to me, and I mean that in a good way. It was extremely beautiful and elaborately decorated with beautiful tiled roofs (see the pictures in a previous post). The Royal Palace houses the Silver Pagoda, which is aptly named due to the 5,000 silver tiles covering the floor (you do walk on carpets to hopefully not ruin them). The Pagoda also contains a near life size golden Buddha dressed with over 9,500 diamonds, a crystal Buddha, and an emerald Buddha as well....quite impressive. The grounds were very well kept and made for a pleasant afternoon.
That night I think I met up with every British backpacker in Cambodia and stayed up until 4am watching the European Champions League final between 2 British teams, Chelsea and Manchester United. It was the first all British final ever I think and the game was quite entertaining to watch with a group of rather drunk Brits. There was a line drawn down the middle of the bar for the Chelsea and Manchester supporter to separately themselves, and in the middle they put the Americans and Canadians because we were more or less neutral. Manchester won in penalty kicks by the way.
The next morning started far too early. It was a day that I had long looked forward too but was queasy about nonetheless as I was planning to visit the museums regarding the recent tragic history of the country. The first stop was to Tuol Sleng, commonly known as S-21. Tuol Sleng was at one point a school, and the buildings by and large very representative of a typical school....except for the barbed wire surrounding just about everything. In 1975 when Pol Pet's forces took over the city to start their "revolution" they transformed the former school to a security office, S-21. Thousands upon thousands of prisoners were held, interrogated, and tortured here before they were shipped off to the Killing Fields just outside of town for execution. All-in-all there were only 7 survivors from this place. Cambodians, those supporting the revolution and common people who were accused, by and large without evidence, of being against the revolution were brought here to be interrogated. They submitted thousands of pages of documentation about evidence linking themselves to the CIA or Vietnamese forces before being executed. When they refused to talk or had no information to give they were tortured by being whipped, hung, and generally beaten until they talked. The museum now shows several pictures and the rooms that the people were inhumanely kept in and is an extremely overwhelming experience at times. The Khmer Rouge had no regard to the age of its victims and showed no mercy. They were trying to return Cambodia to its rural roots and not allow for education of any kind. Doctors, teachers, engineers were among those especially targeted by the forces. All of this happened just a few decades ago and it certainly has not left the minds of many Cambodians. It still haunts them to this day for various reasons, adding to this is their belief that your body becomes a ghost without a proper burial, which none those at S-21 received, meaning the country is still haunted by their past. A truly remarkable sight to see.
After S-21 I headed over to the Killing Fields themselves which were odd. They were in a former park and today it basically looks like a park again with a school just outside its borders where children were playing and screaming like any other school day. At the Killing Fields people were brought, kneeled over a mass grave, and were hit in the back of the head with farming tools (bullets were too expensive for the Khmer Rouge to waste on these people) before their throats were slit to finish the execution. That is the basic history of it. Some 130 or so mass graves exist and you are allowed to walk around some that have been dug up and excavated, but there isn't really much there anymore besides ditches in the ground and signs saying things like "This is the tree that the babies were hit against"..."This is where the killing tools were stored"...etc. Not too much to see, but the history of it all is still remarkable and made for one of the most moving sights I've ever seen.
I found a decent place near the lake but didn't stay there long as I went off to visit the Royal Palace and National Museum. Again, opting to not get a ride there but instead walk proved to be an excellent decision because I got to see a whole lot more of the city than I otherwise would have. In between the various rows of touristy streets are the typical city streets of Cambodia, dimly lit, dirty, and altogether not looking like a place I'd want to go alone. I have heard some horror stories about backpackers being beaten and in two cases killed (though these were probably exaggerations) over their belongings. Stealing a camera and selling it on the streets might only be a $30-50 profit for them, but thats probably a month's wage so the risk is worth it to people I suppose. I had zero problems in the city but was told by a few people to be careful where you take your camera out. Fortunately the Royal Palace was a place to take it out because it was beautiful there. The architecture screamed "Asian" to me, and I mean that in a good way. It was extremely beautiful and elaborately decorated with beautiful tiled roofs (see the pictures in a previous post). The Royal Palace houses the Silver Pagoda, which is aptly named due to the 5,000 silver tiles covering the floor (you do walk on carpets to hopefully not ruin them). The Pagoda also contains a near life size golden Buddha dressed with over 9,500 diamonds, a crystal Buddha, and an emerald Buddha as well....quite impressive. The grounds were very well kept and made for a pleasant afternoon.
That night I think I met up with every British backpacker in Cambodia and stayed up until 4am watching the European Champions League final between 2 British teams, Chelsea and Manchester United. It was the first all British final ever I think and the game was quite entertaining to watch with a group of rather drunk Brits. There was a line drawn down the middle of the bar for the Chelsea and Manchester supporter to separately themselves, and in the middle they put the Americans and Canadians because we were more or less neutral. Manchester won in penalty kicks by the way.
The next morning started far too early. It was a day that I had long looked forward too but was queasy about nonetheless as I was planning to visit the museums regarding the recent tragic history of the country. The first stop was to Tuol Sleng, commonly known as S-21. Tuol Sleng was at one point a school, and the buildings by and large very representative of a typical school....except for the barbed wire surrounding just about everything. In 1975 when Pol Pet's forces took over the city to start their "revolution" they transformed the former school to a security office, S-21. Thousands upon thousands of prisoners were held, interrogated, and tortured here before they were shipped off to the Killing Fields just outside of town for execution. All-in-all there were only 7 survivors from this place. Cambodians, those supporting the revolution and common people who were accused, by and large without evidence, of being against the revolution were brought here to be interrogated. They submitted thousands of pages of documentation about evidence linking themselves to the CIA or Vietnamese forces before being executed. When they refused to talk or had no information to give they were tortured by being whipped, hung, and generally beaten until they talked. The museum now shows several pictures and the rooms that the people were inhumanely kept in and is an extremely overwhelming experience at times. The Khmer Rouge had no regard to the age of its victims and showed no mercy. They were trying to return Cambodia to its rural roots and not allow for education of any kind. Doctors, teachers, engineers were among those especially targeted by the forces. All of this happened just a few decades ago and it certainly has not left the minds of many Cambodians. It still haunts them to this day for various reasons, adding to this is their belief that your body becomes a ghost without a proper burial, which none those at S-21 received, meaning the country is still haunted by their past. A truly remarkable sight to see.
After S-21 I headed over to the Killing Fields themselves which were odd. They were in a former park and today it basically looks like a park again with a school just outside its borders where children were playing and screaming like any other school day. At the Killing Fields people were brought, kneeled over a mass grave, and were hit in the back of the head with farming tools (bullets were too expensive for the Khmer Rouge to waste on these people) before their throats were slit to finish the execution. That is the basic history of it. Some 130 or so mass graves exist and you are allowed to walk around some that have been dug up and excavated, but there isn't really much there anymore besides ditches in the ground and signs saying things like "This is the tree that the babies were hit against"..."This is where the killing tools were stored"...etc. Not too much to see, but the history of it all is still remarkable and made for one of the most moving sights I've ever seen.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Some pictures from the last month
Staircase at the abandoned casino at Bokor Hill Station 
Creepy catholic church at Bokor Hill Station
Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sunset at Koh Tao with longtail boat and dive boat in the water
One of the many faces at the Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom (part of the Angkor Wat complex) 
Angkor Wat from further away
Closer view of Angkor Wat...and one of the lovely tourists that I shared it with
Angled shot of Angkor Wat with reflection in the pond
Sunset at Otres Beach - Sihanokville, Cambodia
Tuk-tuk ride to Angkor Wat
Tree busting through a wall at Ta Prohm, the Jungle Temple (my favorite, part of the temples of Angkor))
Tree busting through the East entrance of Ta Som (Angkor complex)
Longtail boat at Railay Beach - Krabi, Thailand (thats the water I was diving in)
Monday, May 19, 2008
If we die, we die together
Finally made it to rural Cambodia. My first two stops in the country were in much more touristy areas, but I'm here now in Kampot (southern Cambodia). It's home to durian fruit and black pepper plantations. I think durian fruit is jack fruit in the States (not sure though), regardless the stuff stinks. I ate some the other day because I felt the need to at least try it, but my senses were overwhelmed with the rotten smell of it. Its actually not allowed in some of the nicer hotels around the area because it really does stink. But the black pepper here, although very strong, is delicious.
The town itself is quite small, takes about 10-15 minutes to walk around the entire thing but quite nice, for once I actually feel like I'm in Cambodia. School children running around, a smaller market in town, and there arén't restaurants and guesthouses everywhere, that is sure to change as they are building a deep-water port here and currently building 5 star resorts, which other tourists complained about but I think our guesthouse owner (British) is right when he says the country deserves it since it has essentially been raped by itself and others for the past 3 decades with all of the fighting that has happened here. My favorite part of being here are the daily boat races at sunset on the river. Granted the boats are longboats and cruise at about 3mph so its like watching paint dry, but there is an announcer and crowds of kids gather to wave at the "racers". It's a short race and I guess the keep points throughout the year and crown a winner at the end of the wet season when the river turns from fresh water to salt water as the ocean water comes back up it. The boat races add a nice hometown feel.
The reason tourist come here is for Bokor National Park and the Bokor Hill Station. Which I got to tour yesterday. The hill station is a former French resort with a casino, hotel, church, and a few other buildings. It was abandoned back in the 60s right before the Vietnam War and now is a ghost town of sorts. The drive up there is up a dirt road on a mountain. Good thing its only the start of the monsoon season so the mud on the road was only a few inches deep. I mean we only go stuck and had to be pushed out once so thats a good thing right? To get up there you ride in the back of a pickup truck on benches and it was pouring rain the entire way up. We got a little wet, and at elevation the temperature actually dropped a bit so it was chilly for once in SE Asia. Once on top the rain slowed and eventually stopped, thank god, one of the tour groups that came up actually went down without seeing anything because they were too cold....thankfully our group was amazing and we had a great time singing "Here comes the sun" and other tunes with the word sun in it....only one knew "sun, sun, mr golden sun, please shine down on me" so I had to teach them. It was a fun international sing around, we even tried it in French for a bit....that ended poorly.
The Hill Station was spooky, real spooky, like something out of a horror movie. The sun never came out despite our singing and the abandoned buildings were covered in a misty fog which only added to the effect. It was an amazing site though, the buildings were fading to orange due to the material used in construction and were being over run by moss and plants. You could look down long dark corridors to single side window where the line shined in to illuminate the mist that was all around and it looked like we were in a horror movie. This was the casino/hotel which had 38 rooms to explore. The church was somewhat boring on the inside but the outside of it had a very strange feel with its steeple and cross (Catholic church) barely visible in the fog. There was also a cliff up there, the most popular place to commit suicide back in the day apparently that had very strong gusts of wind blowing up. Leaning over the edge almost felt like flying because the wind was so strong.
After the Hill Station we trekked 2 hours through the jungle up there, where we saw a cobra, to a massive waterfall. It was the largest I'd ever seen, granted Í have only see a few proper waterfalls in my day so that may not be saying much, but I was really really impressed. It had 3 tiers, though only 2 were big, and dropped about 100 feet in total. There was a huge volume of water coming over which made the bottom of the falls be covered in mist. It was pretty cool if you ask me. On the way back we ate some berries off this bush, they were kind of like soft acorns that you had to peel the shell from before eating. All the tourists looked at each other before we ate them before our guide, Viet (amazing by the way, probably the best guide I've had for anything yet) ate his and said well at least if we die we die together...cheers Viet.
We survived the bumpy and muddy journey back to town for a slow boat cruise back into town as the sun was setting. All in all a great day. Cambodia has thus far been 3 for 3 with awesome stops, one more to go in Phnom Penh before New Zealand, how did that happen?
The town itself is quite small, takes about 10-15 minutes to walk around the entire thing but quite nice, for once I actually feel like I'm in Cambodia. School children running around, a smaller market in town, and there arén't restaurants and guesthouses everywhere, that is sure to change as they are building a deep-water port here and currently building 5 star resorts, which other tourists complained about but I think our guesthouse owner (British) is right when he says the country deserves it since it has essentially been raped by itself and others for the past 3 decades with all of the fighting that has happened here. My favorite part of being here are the daily boat races at sunset on the river. Granted the boats are longboats and cruise at about 3mph so its like watching paint dry, but there is an announcer and crowds of kids gather to wave at the "racers". It's a short race and I guess the keep points throughout the year and crown a winner at the end of the wet season when the river turns from fresh water to salt water as the ocean water comes back up it. The boat races add a nice hometown feel.
The reason tourist come here is for Bokor National Park and the Bokor Hill Station. Which I got to tour yesterday. The hill station is a former French resort with a casino, hotel, church, and a few other buildings. It was abandoned back in the 60s right before the Vietnam War and now is a ghost town of sorts. The drive up there is up a dirt road on a mountain. Good thing its only the start of the monsoon season so the mud on the road was only a few inches deep. I mean we only go stuck and had to be pushed out once so thats a good thing right? To get up there you ride in the back of a pickup truck on benches and it was pouring rain the entire way up. We got a little wet, and at elevation the temperature actually dropped a bit so it was chilly for once in SE Asia. Once on top the rain slowed and eventually stopped, thank god, one of the tour groups that came up actually went down without seeing anything because they were too cold....thankfully our group was amazing and we had a great time singing "Here comes the sun" and other tunes with the word sun in it....only one knew "sun, sun, mr golden sun, please shine down on me" so I had to teach them. It was a fun international sing around, we even tried it in French for a bit....that ended poorly.
The Hill Station was spooky, real spooky, like something out of a horror movie. The sun never came out despite our singing and the abandoned buildings were covered in a misty fog which only added to the effect. It was an amazing site though, the buildings were fading to orange due to the material used in construction and were being over run by moss and plants. You could look down long dark corridors to single side window where the line shined in to illuminate the mist that was all around and it looked like we were in a horror movie. This was the casino/hotel which had 38 rooms to explore. The church was somewhat boring on the inside but the outside of it had a very strange feel with its steeple and cross (Catholic church) barely visible in the fog. There was also a cliff up there, the most popular place to commit suicide back in the day apparently that had very strong gusts of wind blowing up. Leaning over the edge almost felt like flying because the wind was so strong.
After the Hill Station we trekked 2 hours through the jungle up there, where we saw a cobra, to a massive waterfall. It was the largest I'd ever seen, granted Í have only see a few proper waterfalls in my day so that may not be saying much, but I was really really impressed. It had 3 tiers, though only 2 were big, and dropped about 100 feet in total. There was a huge volume of water coming over which made the bottom of the falls be covered in mist. It was pretty cool if you ask me. On the way back we ate some berries off this bush, they were kind of like soft acorns that you had to peel the shell from before eating. All the tourists looked at each other before we ate them before our guide, Viet (amazing by the way, probably the best guide I've had for anything yet) ate his and said well at least if we die we die together...cheers Viet.
We survived the bumpy and muddy journey back to town for a slow boat cruise back into town as the sun was setting. All in all a great day. Cambodia has thus far been 3 for 3 with awesome stops, one more to go in Phnom Penh before New Zealand, how did that happen?
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