This time I dove into everyday life basically instantly - returned to the office next morning. Transition was not very smooth, but weekend was close and that really helped. I have been back for 20 days already and the pace has still now slowed down - probably never will :) Making a note of giving myself more time in the future to get back into my daily doings. And no, it is not a very good idea to postpone things with adding a note of "will do once I'm back" - bad idea right there!
Now, but I came here to give a bit of a summary and to look back at the trip from my everyday life. Well, all in all - it was one of the greatest experiences, the places I visited were wonderful and I got a glimpse of a world I always dreamed of visiting. While being there I saw and heard of all those amazing things I didn't have time to do this time around. Even before I left New Zealand I already had plans forming in my head of all the things I should do once I return :) So yes, I have a plan to go back to Australia and to New Zealand at some point (just to visit of course). It is a must to include some tropical islands like Fiji or Samoa that time as well :) I'd like to see southern part of south island in NZ as well as Wellington. Many areas to discover in Australia of course - like northern coast. So yes, I liked both countries and I will return someday.
My friend asked what did Australia remind me of. Well, to me it is a big country similar in it's ways to US (I know Aussies hate me for saying that) having English traditions and customs. For me, that is a very strange mixture :) And for NZ I'd say it is exactly as wonderful as everybody has told it would be - the only problem here is that the surprise is stolen from you in that case. And the people, yes they were wonderful, mostly. Actually the most memorable ones were foreigners who had moved there. Bumped into couple of rude ones and those were all locals - just my luck I guess. I'm an optimist and I want to believe that people are mostly nice and friendly so I won't complain about the few rude ones, they can be found everywhere (except in Thailand probably).
Australia is this wonderful big mystery island at the bottom of the world that no one seems to get enough of. Now New Zealand can offer you much much more that one could expect from such a distant tiny country by the edge of the world. If I could choose only one place from Australia and New Zealand I could go back to - it would be Sydney. I can't say that I liked Australia best, but I can definitely say that during my travels I enjoyed the time in Australia a bit more. Next time I will find the same connection with NZ as well - just to make peace with the expectations :)
Now I have been totally ignoring my time in US - it was most wonderful to spend time with Jen and Kris, I have missed you! Thank you for taking the time for going on a road trip, I enjoyed it tremendously! Come and visit me soon!
California is wonderful, the ocean, the woods, the hills and mountains, the wines, the history, the cities, the fame, the technology - it's got everything. I'd go back there at any time.
About next travels - there will be trips sooner rather than later. I don't know how I will manage them with my strictly budgeted lifestyle in the next few months - but I will find a way like I always have. Traveling is an addiction and I have been infected all the way to the bottom of my heart with this one. It is an addiction I never want to recover from.
Thank you for listening and good night :)
Cheers mates!
Showing posts with label new-zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new-zealand. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Last day in Auckland - 27.9
I have been on the road for 28 days and far as I can remember this is the first morning yet when I did not have to set a wake up alarm! It felt so darn good to just sleep and not have to wake up to the beeping watch. But on the other hand I could not sleep in peace either as I'm sharing my room with at least 3 other people. Well there are 8 beds here, but I have no clue how many of them are occupied :) I could recognize at least 2 other people in the room and one bed being occupied over the night.
This dormitory style living has become such a natural thing already that nothing surprises me anymore. People entering the room at 3am and turning all the lights on, somebody waking you up in the middle of the night to ask if I've seen a black rain-jacket, people you have never met before starting to talk to you without any introduction just like they are your best childhood friends and so on and so on. At least nobody touches anybody else's things as far as travel bag or clothes left on the bed go - that is a real no-no. Privacy as far as bags/things and food goes is pretty safe around here. There are probably around, oh, I don't know, hundreds (?) of rooms being occupied with backpackers each keeping their little box or bag of food in common kitchen and nothing is ever touched that is not theirs. Pretty amazing, but I guess you do to others what you want to be done to you - everybody basically understands that they want their things to be left untouched and it would be nice if their food would be in the same place the next day as well.
Although I'm getting a bit tired of the dormitory life already - I'm waiting forward to my 3 nights in a hotel in San Jose. Later will probably camp over at my friends place. Staying in hotel has at least one negative aspect as well - total lack of social life and meeting people. I guess if I would be traveling for a long periods of time then the ratio would be about 1 to 10, meaning that for every 10 nights in hostels I could use 1 night in a hotel. In reality, that is pretty much what I have been doing here as well.
Allright but today I had real cultural day. Managed to get myself going by 11:30 and right after breakfast I managed to find myself in front of Auckland Art Gallery. Main exhibition showed works by Rita Angus. Friendly guy at reception explained me that she is a very famous NZ artist, but quite unknown outside the country. Spent probably around an hour there and got a quite good understanding of this lady's life. It was good to see all the paintings of places I've already been to :)
Plan for the day was to make my way over to Auckland Museum. Oh-uh, getting there was quite a hassle - I could not figure out how to get across those criss-crossing motorways that ran right next to each other. Looking at the map I had two options and both of those meant considerable walking. Picked one of them and ended up going up and down the stairs and getting stuck in little quads that did not have an exit on the other side. Finally found the correct bridge to cross, with a help of one local, and made my way towards Auckland Domain. From there it was just a short walk over the hill to the museum.
I had gotten a hint from UK-Canadian couple about getting the sonic music tour while I'm there. Well, this was the best thing ever! You get a little device where you get to choose tracks when you enter the room and of course there are headphones involved. Those headphones were wonderful, all the other noise was left out, all you had was music. So I was not able to hear all the screaming kids and loudly speaking Asian tourists (why oh why do they have to speak so loud all the time!). That was wonderful, thank you for the hint! Museum itself was very nice as well. It had 3 levels and I spent probably about an hour on each one of them. Last level was a bit depressing with covering WWI and WWII, but I guess you can't get over not around it in any proper museum.
History looks so different from this part of the world though. I'm used to much different way of presenting WW than what I saw today. Whole Europe just seems so tiny and in a way pointless when looking at it though the eyes of NZ (which is small itself as well of course). I guess it is just so remote and small compared to all the other big and much more influential countries around here (starting with Australia and continuing with Japan and rest of Asia). Once again it got my thoughts moving in totally different direction yet again. Traveling does wonders.
So I highly suggest Auckland Museum when visiting City of Sails :) By the time I had made my way back to City Tower around 6pm I was dead tired and spent the rest of the evening behind my computer and watching bit of TV. This is my last night in Auckland. I do have half a day tomorrow as well, but I'll probably spend it sleeping in in the morning (well sleeping till 9 is pretty good already, checkout time is 10 around here), packing once again and then just chilling and figuring out a way to get to the airport in time. My plane leaves at 15:05 tomorrow towards California, first to LA and then to San Jose. I'll arrive in destination tomorrow morning at 7am :) Bizarre huh :D Moving back in time - wohooo!!!!
This dormitory style living has become such a natural thing already that nothing surprises me anymore. People entering the room at 3am and turning all the lights on, somebody waking you up in the middle of the night to ask if I've seen a black rain-jacket, people you have never met before starting to talk to you without any introduction just like they are your best childhood friends and so on and so on. At least nobody touches anybody else's things as far as travel bag or clothes left on the bed go - that is a real no-no. Privacy as far as bags/things and food goes is pretty safe around here. There are probably around, oh, I don't know, hundreds (?) of rooms being occupied with backpackers each keeping their little box or bag of food in common kitchen and nothing is ever touched that is not theirs. Pretty amazing, but I guess you do to others what you want to be done to you - everybody basically understands that they want their things to be left untouched and it would be nice if their food would be in the same place the next day as well.
Although I'm getting a bit tired of the dormitory life already - I'm waiting forward to my 3 nights in a hotel in San Jose. Later will probably camp over at my friends place. Staying in hotel has at least one negative aspect as well - total lack of social life and meeting people. I guess if I would be traveling for a long periods of time then the ratio would be about 1 to 10, meaning that for every 10 nights in hostels I could use 1 night in a hotel. In reality, that is pretty much what I have been doing here as well.
Allright but today I had real cultural day. Managed to get myself going by 11:30 and right after breakfast I managed to find myself in front of Auckland Art Gallery. Main exhibition showed works by Rita Angus. Friendly guy at reception explained me that she is a very famous NZ artist, but quite unknown outside the country. Spent probably around an hour there and got a quite good understanding of this lady's life. It was good to see all the paintings of places I've already been to :)
Plan for the day was to make my way over to Auckland Museum. Oh-uh, getting there was quite a hassle - I could not figure out how to get across those criss-crossing motorways that ran right next to each other. Looking at the map I had two options and both of those meant considerable walking. Picked one of them and ended up going up and down the stairs and getting stuck in little quads that did not have an exit on the other side. Finally found the correct bridge to cross, with a help of one local, and made my way towards Auckland Domain. From there it was just a short walk over the hill to the museum.
I had gotten a hint from UK-Canadian couple about getting the sonic music tour while I'm there. Well, this was the best thing ever! You get a little device where you get to choose tracks when you enter the room and of course there are headphones involved. Those headphones were wonderful, all the other noise was left out, all you had was music. So I was not able to hear all the screaming kids and loudly speaking Asian tourists (why oh why do they have to speak so loud all the time!). That was wonderful, thank you for the hint! Museum itself was very nice as well. It had 3 levels and I spent probably about an hour on each one of them. Last level was a bit depressing with covering WWI and WWII, but I guess you can't get over not around it in any proper museum.
History looks so different from this part of the world though. I'm used to much different way of presenting WW than what I saw today. Whole Europe just seems so tiny and in a way pointless when looking at it though the eyes of NZ (which is small itself as well of course). I guess it is just so remote and small compared to all the other big and much more influential countries around here (starting with Australia and continuing with Japan and rest of Asia). Once again it got my thoughts moving in totally different direction yet again. Traveling does wonders.
So I highly suggest Auckland Museum when visiting City of Sails :) By the time I had made my way back to City Tower around 6pm I was dead tired and spent the rest of the evening behind my computer and watching bit of TV. This is my last night in Auckland. I do have half a day tomorrow as well, but I'll probably spend it sleeping in in the morning (well sleeping till 9 is pretty good already, checkout time is 10 around here), packing once again and then just chilling and figuring out a way to get to the airport in time. My plane leaves at 15:05 tomorrow towards California, first to LA and then to San Jose. I'll arrive in destination tomorrow morning at 7am :) Bizarre huh :D Moving back in time - wohooo!!!!
Back to Auckland - 26.9
Today's goal is to get back to Auckland. I have bus tickets for tomorrow, but as I got my share of caving done already yesterday then I'd like to get back to Auckland now please :) The plan is to talk to the bus driver to let me on board with tomorrow's ticket (it is not possible to change the ticket).
North island time planning was a bit poor on my part :( If I would have planned it a bit better I would have made it to Raglan for 2 days as well. One of my current roommates was telling wonderful stories of this wonderful little town. I'm sad that I never got to see this great place. One more reason to come back here :D
In the morning I had about 3 hours to kill. Besides the regular every morning routine of packing my bag once again (I'm a real bro in that by now, do they hold any competitions in it anywhere :) ? ), I managed to have a wonderful banana-pancake and hot chocolate breakfast :) Bit of time in the wonders of world wide web and then to the visitor center to familiarize myself with caves in the local caves museum. Besides caves, it covered a whole lot about glowworms - I feel like a glowworm specialist now :)
Time for catching the bus got closer :) As I mentioned yesterday, I had an arrangement with a couple from UK-Canada who would give me a ride to Auckland at 2pm if I get stranded here. Then I would have another 2 hours to kill though, but that is better in any case than to spend another night here. Finally the bus arrived and bus driver did not even hesitate on taking me on board :) To Auckland I go :)
I was complaining previously that there is nothing to do in Auckland. Well, I gotta take my words back. Since the city is just spread out over a huuuuge area, it takes a while to get to the fun places around here. Now I'm finding all kinds of things to do, but most of them are not doable in 2h time :( or even not doable with less than 12h notice :((( For an example here one can go Canyoning! Found out about it through a couple from US. Also I was a bit suspicious about going to a museum here, couple from UK really praised it and suggested to take the music tour. So will try to get to that tomorrow.
Got to town at 5pm, again the check-in and then headed to town. With my few hours I managed to walk all the way up to Albert park and take a look at Auckland University campus. Next followed a random road to the port and went looking for -5C bar.
-5C bar is something Ave suggested me to go and check out :) Found that around the corner, right next to Lenin bar :) Lady at the counter gave me a discount (the prices increase at 6pm and I got there just 5 min past), entry includes one free drink and whole wardrobe to keep you warm in there. Wardrobe would be jacket, pants, boots and gloves. I just went for gloves and jacket. Come on, it is just -5 ;) Drink was served in a glass made entirely out of ice, the whole bar counter was made of ice as were the walls. Bar itself was quite tiny, I imagined it to be a bit bigger than that. There were couple of "couches" covered with animal skins and whole lot of ice sculptures. It was quite nice. I happened to be there with a group of NZ ladies who had come to town for the weekend to see a musical. They were all about to fall over when they heard that I'm traveling alone and coming from such far away country. Just like everybody else I meet, they were no exception in saying the famous sentence "you are the first person I meet from Estonia" :) So that is what it feels like to be a celebrity :D juust kidding!
My evening ended with coffee place that offers the best hot chocolate ever! They also offer 1h free internet usage with any purchase. I got 2h :) , because the guy who took my order forgot my blueberry scone in the microwave for 25 minutes, finally when I went to ask for it he was apologizing for 2 minutes in a row.
I've been anting to go to movies for the longest time already so decided to use my Xday (whatever they day is at any given time) evening for a movie. Movies selection is surprisingly poor for such a big city :( Managed to find one though - Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Inglorious Basterds". Very Tarantino as was expected, people die here and there throughout the movie - even main characters just die without warning, typical Tarantino. Great camera work and good setup of the story. Mr. Pitt is getting old though :) And his character was a bit too typical for him - would have liked to see something more original than that. But oh well, all in all it was good one.
North island time planning was a bit poor on my part :( If I would have planned it a bit better I would have made it to Raglan for 2 days as well. One of my current roommates was telling wonderful stories of this wonderful little town. I'm sad that I never got to see this great place. One more reason to come back here :D
In the morning I had about 3 hours to kill. Besides the regular every morning routine of packing my bag once again (I'm a real bro in that by now, do they hold any competitions in it anywhere :) ? ), I managed to have a wonderful banana-pancake and hot chocolate breakfast :) Bit of time in the wonders of world wide web and then to the visitor center to familiarize myself with caves in the local caves museum. Besides caves, it covered a whole lot about glowworms - I feel like a glowworm specialist now :)
Time for catching the bus got closer :) As I mentioned yesterday, I had an arrangement with a couple from UK-Canada who would give me a ride to Auckland at 2pm if I get stranded here. Then I would have another 2 hours to kill though, but that is better in any case than to spend another night here. Finally the bus arrived and bus driver did not even hesitate on taking me on board :) To Auckland I go :)
I was complaining previously that there is nothing to do in Auckland. Well, I gotta take my words back. Since the city is just spread out over a huuuuge area, it takes a while to get to the fun places around here. Now I'm finding all kinds of things to do, but most of them are not doable in 2h time :( or even not doable with less than 12h notice :((( For an example here one can go Canyoning! Found out about it through a couple from US. Also I was a bit suspicious about going to a museum here, couple from UK really praised it and suggested to take the music tour. So will try to get to that tomorrow.
Got to town at 5pm, again the check-in and then headed to town. With my few hours I managed to walk all the way up to Albert park and take a look at Auckland University campus. Next followed a random road to the port and went looking for -5C bar.
-5C bar is something Ave suggested me to go and check out :) Found that around the corner, right next to Lenin bar :) Lady at the counter gave me a discount (the prices increase at 6pm and I got there just 5 min past), entry includes one free drink and whole wardrobe to keep you warm in there. Wardrobe would be jacket, pants, boots and gloves. I just went for gloves and jacket. Come on, it is just -5 ;) Drink was served in a glass made entirely out of ice, the whole bar counter was made of ice as were the walls. Bar itself was quite tiny, I imagined it to be a bit bigger than that. There were couple of "couches" covered with animal skins and whole lot of ice sculptures. It was quite nice. I happened to be there with a group of NZ ladies who had come to town for the weekend to see a musical. They were all about to fall over when they heard that I'm traveling alone and coming from such far away country. Just like everybody else I meet, they were no exception in saying the famous sentence "you are the first person I meet from Estonia" :) So that is what it feels like to be a celebrity :D juust kidding!
My evening ended with coffee place that offers the best hot chocolate ever! They also offer 1h free internet usage with any purchase. I got 2h :) , because the guy who took my order forgot my blueberry scone in the microwave for 25 minutes, finally when I went to ask for it he was apologizing for 2 minutes in a row.
I've been anting to go to movies for the longest time already so decided to use my Xday (whatever they day is at any given time) evening for a movie. Movies selection is surprisingly poor for such a big city :( Managed to find one though - Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Inglorious Basterds". Very Tarantino as was expected, people die here and there throughout the movie - even main characters just die without warning, typical Tarantino. Great camera work and good setup of the story. Mr. Pitt is getting old though :) And his character was a bit too typical for him - would have liked to see something more original than that. But oh well, all in all it was good one.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Waitomo - 25.9
I've been hearing all those stories about the caves and all the fun things you can do in there, all the climbing and rafting and glowworms and so on. Everybody says this is the coolest thing in whole New Zealand and in the whole wide world in general. So I was getting all excited! Have gone through all the options, read about this and that, I've been thinking if I should do the half day or a full day trip and should I go to see the glowworms separately or not.
So, I get to Waitomo at 11:30. I get dropped off by the only booking office in this little village. I walk in and before I can really even say anything the lady behind the counter informs me that due to the rain in the past few days all the caves are flooded and trips have been cancelled. WHOOOTTT?!?!?! CANCELLED?!?!?!?! Argh. But she so pleasantly says that it all depends on the weather and perhaps I should come back in the afternoon to check the situation. There is nothing they can say about tomorrow as it depends on the weather. As I try to ask what time would the trips leave in the morning she keeps repeating the fact that the caves are flooded. Oh great. Finally I get the information out of her that the tours would not leave before 9am anyways.
Right, so I go and check-in to the hostel, I find the internet being nice and fast so I spend an hour or so behind the computer updating my travel log and photos. Trying to pass time, no going outside as it just keeps raining. Have started on putting the trip summary slides together already :( - sad face is because I'm realizing that at some point this trip will be ending :((( So finally the clock ticks closer to 2pm and I make my way to the booking office again.
I walk up to the same lady to acquire about water level situation - nope no change she says. Then she looks at me and goes, what were you interested in doing anyways? Oh so now you ask!?! This lady was not being very nice to me this whole time. So I tell her about my confusion about all those different trips and they all seem like the best thing since sliced bread. Then she goes and explains me how there are hundreds of caves (if I understood it correctly) and how there are many tour operators and they are mostly the same anyways. Lot of operators are doing combos, like all great X in one: 100m abseil (declining on a rope), climbing, walking, seeing glowworms etc. Advertising all sorts of different lengths of tours ranging from 45 minutes to 7h, lunch included or not, dry or wet - you choose and so on. VERY CONFUSING. So as it comes out not all of them include black water rafting and as it turns out, not all of the caves are flooded afterall!
After few calls to some operators she asks if I'm up to 3pm black water rafting trip :) Understanding that it is still raining outside I give thumbs up. 42 minutes later I've got my swimsuit and towel and I'm ready to go :) Group is only 4 people this time - which is so incredibly nice. We are given wetsuits, boots, belts and helmets. We get changed and head over to the caves by a minivan. Now getting to the caves is funny :) Minivan stops by this random field, we get off, open a gate and hike across a field full of cows (who try to attack us on our journey) making our way towards a hole in the ground - welcome to the cave :) 5 minute introduction and training follows and on we go. We are handed tubes (inner tires for floatation) and off we are :)
Now this thing is great! We go down the steps and enter the cave. Our guide gives us time to adjust to different light, he introduces the cave and gives bit of facts on history. We were down there for 1.5 hours and it went by in a snap! We get to jump off the edges and high rocks (he makes us do it back first), we are swimming in a 10m deep stream towards a slide, we slide down a 7m fall, he forms sorta train of us (you sit in a tube and a person in front holds on to your legs and you hold on to the legs of a person behind you) and we get to slide down the stream as he guides us in the dark, we see glowworms throughout the whole journey, we walk, we look at rock formations and bones. It is great. The whole thing is quite narrow so we bump off the walls as we straddle along. Water is also pretty cold - around 11C I'd say. And there are thousands and thousands of glowworms the whole way through. Apparently this is the longest stream there is in all the caves around here for black water rafting :) Anyways, it was pretty amazing :)
I have decided that I have had a pretty good chance to see the cave and do the rafting, I'm guessing the water level will not get much better tomorrow, so rest of the caving experiences need to wait till next time :) and most likely I'm heading back to Auckland tomorrow. Gotta see if I can convince the bus driver to take me on :D
If the bus driver won't let me go a day earlier then I can catch a ride with a couple from UK who moved to Canada a week ago :) They figured to take a 5 week trip while all their furniture is being shipped over by boat :), apparently it takes some weeks by boat. Met them in the evening after me and one of my roommates (who I met just the same evening) had finished dinner in the only pub in town :D There is nowhere else to go in this small place so all the locals and tourists were gathered there for dinner and drinks - so were we :) Later another guy from UK joined our discussion and the party continued :D Fun times!
So, I get to Waitomo at 11:30. I get dropped off by the only booking office in this little village. I walk in and before I can really even say anything the lady behind the counter informs me that due to the rain in the past few days all the caves are flooded and trips have been cancelled. WHOOOTTT?!?!?! CANCELLED?!?!?!?! Argh. But she so pleasantly says that it all depends on the weather and perhaps I should come back in the afternoon to check the situation. There is nothing they can say about tomorrow as it depends on the weather. As I try to ask what time would the trips leave in the morning she keeps repeating the fact that the caves are flooded. Oh great. Finally I get the information out of her that the tours would not leave before 9am anyways.
Right, so I go and check-in to the hostel, I find the internet being nice and fast so I spend an hour or so behind the computer updating my travel log and photos. Trying to pass time, no going outside as it just keeps raining. Have started on putting the trip summary slides together already :( - sad face is because I'm realizing that at some point this trip will be ending :((( So finally the clock ticks closer to 2pm and I make my way to the booking office again.
I walk up to the same lady to acquire about water level situation - nope no change she says. Then she looks at me and goes, what were you interested in doing anyways? Oh so now you ask!?! This lady was not being very nice to me this whole time. So I tell her about my confusion about all those different trips and they all seem like the best thing since sliced bread. Then she goes and explains me how there are hundreds of caves (if I understood it correctly) and how there are many tour operators and they are mostly the same anyways. Lot of operators are doing combos, like all great X in one: 100m abseil (declining on a rope), climbing, walking, seeing glowworms etc. Advertising all sorts of different lengths of tours ranging from 45 minutes to 7h, lunch included or not, dry or wet - you choose and so on. VERY CONFUSING. So as it comes out not all of them include black water rafting and as it turns out, not all of the caves are flooded afterall!
After few calls to some operators she asks if I'm up to 3pm black water rafting trip :) Understanding that it is still raining outside I give thumbs up. 42 minutes later I've got my swimsuit and towel and I'm ready to go :) Group is only 4 people this time - which is so incredibly nice. We are given wetsuits, boots, belts and helmets. We get changed and head over to the caves by a minivan. Now getting to the caves is funny :) Minivan stops by this random field, we get off, open a gate and hike across a field full of cows (who try to attack us on our journey) making our way towards a hole in the ground - welcome to the cave :) 5 minute introduction and training follows and on we go. We are handed tubes (inner tires for floatation) and off we are :)
Now this thing is great! We go down the steps and enter the cave. Our guide gives us time to adjust to different light, he introduces the cave and gives bit of facts on history. We were down there for 1.5 hours and it went by in a snap! We get to jump off the edges and high rocks (he makes us do it back first), we are swimming in a 10m deep stream towards a slide, we slide down a 7m fall, he forms sorta train of us (you sit in a tube and a person in front holds on to your legs and you hold on to the legs of a person behind you) and we get to slide down the stream as he guides us in the dark, we see glowworms throughout the whole journey, we walk, we look at rock formations and bones. It is great. The whole thing is quite narrow so we bump off the walls as we straddle along. Water is also pretty cold - around 11C I'd say. And there are thousands and thousands of glowworms the whole way through. Apparently this is the longest stream there is in all the caves around here for black water rafting :) Anyways, it was pretty amazing :)
I have decided that I have had a pretty good chance to see the cave and do the rafting, I'm guessing the water level will not get much better tomorrow, so rest of the caving experiences need to wait till next time :) and most likely I'm heading back to Auckland tomorrow. Gotta see if I can convince the bus driver to take me on :D
If the bus driver won't let me go a day earlier then I can catch a ride with a couple from UK who moved to Canada a week ago :) They figured to take a 5 week trip while all their furniture is being shipped over by boat :), apparently it takes some weeks by boat. Met them in the evening after me and one of my roommates (who I met just the same evening) had finished dinner in the only pub in town :D There is nowhere else to go in this small place so all the locals and tourists were gathered there for dinner and drinks - so were we :) Later another guy from UK joined our discussion and the party continued :D Fun times!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Rotorua - 23 & 24.9
Yesterday (the 23rd) I did not do much. The usual routine of packing and check-out in the morning. Used the internet for a bit to upload photos and then headed to town to catch the bus to Rotorua. It is raining - good day to sit in a bus :) Bus ride was 4 hours and there were few stops on the way. Arrived in Rotorua at 5 and I had Maori concert scheduled for 6.
Tamaki Maori village was the location we were taken. We got to see the local Maori village, their songs and dances, there was a huge dinner made on hot rocks just as it was during old times. The show was a bit too commercial just as the village setup and all the rest. But I guess that is what it takes as the culture is being preserved only commercially nowadays. Food was good and it was still interesting to hear the stories told during the show.
Also got to meet the people on our bus and it was good to hear about their experiences of what they have done and how has their trip been. As I said before, that is my favourite part :) There was a lady from Canada who came over with her daughter, for now they are traveling for couple of weeks and then the daughter will be working for a year on south island - at a chocolate factory!!! That would be fun!
So for today I had 2 plans: Te Puia and Hells Gate :) First a bit of introduction about Rotorua (as I love doing ya know) :D
Rotorua is New Zealand's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. City smells like eggs :) Due to the sulphur from the thermal areas. Apparently this is one of the most visited locations in the whole northern island! It is also important to note that today 35% of the population is Maori.
Now Te Puia is one of the most famous geyser parks in Rotorua, it is located a bit out of the city though. It has wonderful walks and main attractions being 500+ springs, most famous being Pohutu which erupts up to 20 times a day and as high as 30 meters. This location is also home of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. I also visited kiwi house here and got to see that peculiar shy bird running around during it's morning exercise :)
Second activity for the day was Tikitere & Wai Ora Spa, known as Hell's Gate :) There I took the walking tour and saw the largest hot water fall in Southern Hemisphere, mud volcano, geothermal mud and sulphur lake. Why I went there was to enjoy the much spoken about mud baths. It was good of course, but when they say SPA, I get totally different expectations of what it is going to be like. It was very very basic and there was no SPA feeling whatsoever. Water and mud was all natural and very nice of course, especially considering the cold rain that was coming down mercilessly the whole day.
So ok, in the mud bath we were allowed to be only for 20 minutes due to the exfoliating effect, then icy cold shower followed :) Then we got to spend however long we wanted in Sulphur Spa, this consisted of 2 basic pools with muddy water, one was 39C and the other 41C. I spend probably about 1.5h total in there.
On my way back I met a couple who were on their honeymoon, the trip had been organized by their families - the trick was that they found out on their wedding day that they will be traveling for the next 3 weeks, departing the next day :) And the itinerary was not told, now they are opening a golden envelope every day to find out what they will be doing the next day :D How cool is that? I'd like a present like that one day :D :D
Getting back to the hostel I tried to do everything in my power to get rid of the eggy smell of my skin - to no result :) I guess it just has to wear off with time :)
As it is absolutely pouring outside I'll fill my time with watching some movies and keeping hot tea close by at all times :) Tomorrow morning I'll take a bus to Waitomo!
Tamaki Maori village was the location we were taken. We got to see the local Maori village, their songs and dances, there was a huge dinner made on hot rocks just as it was during old times. The show was a bit too commercial just as the village setup and all the rest. But I guess that is what it takes as the culture is being preserved only commercially nowadays. Food was good and it was still interesting to hear the stories told during the show.
Also got to meet the people on our bus and it was good to hear about their experiences of what they have done and how has their trip been. As I said before, that is my favourite part :) There was a lady from Canada who came over with her daughter, for now they are traveling for couple of weeks and then the daughter will be working for a year on south island - at a chocolate factory!!! That would be fun!
So for today I had 2 plans: Te Puia and Hells Gate :) First a bit of introduction about Rotorua (as I love doing ya know) :D
Rotorua is New Zealand's most dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. City smells like eggs :) Due to the sulphur from the thermal areas. Apparently this is one of the most visited locations in the whole northern island! It is also important to note that today 35% of the population is Maori.
Now Te Puia is one of the most famous geyser parks in Rotorua, it is located a bit out of the city though. It has wonderful walks and main attractions being 500+ springs, most famous being Pohutu which erupts up to 20 times a day and as high as 30 meters. This location is also home of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. I also visited kiwi house here and got to see that peculiar shy bird running around during it's morning exercise :)
Second activity for the day was Tikitere & Wai Ora Spa, known as Hell's Gate :) There I took the walking tour and saw the largest hot water fall in Southern Hemisphere, mud volcano, geothermal mud and sulphur lake. Why I went there was to enjoy the much spoken about mud baths. It was good of course, but when they say SPA, I get totally different expectations of what it is going to be like. It was very very basic and there was no SPA feeling whatsoever. Water and mud was all natural and very nice of course, especially considering the cold rain that was coming down mercilessly the whole day.
So ok, in the mud bath we were allowed to be only for 20 minutes due to the exfoliating effect, then icy cold shower followed :) Then we got to spend however long we wanted in Sulphur Spa, this consisted of 2 basic pools with muddy water, one was 39C and the other 41C. I spend probably about 1.5h total in there.
On my way back I met a couple who were on their honeymoon, the trip had been organized by their families - the trick was that they found out on their wedding day that they will be traveling for the next 3 weeks, departing the next day :) And the itinerary was not told, now they are opening a golden envelope every day to find out what they will be doing the next day :D How cool is that? I'd like a present like that one day :D :D
Getting back to the hostel I tried to do everything in my power to get rid of the eggy smell of my skin - to no result :) I guess it just has to wear off with time :)
As it is absolutely pouring outside I'll fill my time with watching some movies and keeping hot tea close by at all times :) Tomorrow morning I'll take a bus to Waitomo!
Auckland: Waiheke Island - 22.9
Arrived in Auckland late last night. Got the hostel booked already in Christchurch times ago, but forgot to ask for the exact address. Luckily I got the travel guide - or so I thought :) Well I do have the travel guide and I managed to navigate to the address where the hostel is supposed to be, well surprise surprise, it is not there anymore. Helpful people guided me to the correct location - it had moved a year ago :) Anyhoo, got all checked in and to bed by 11:30 so all good!
I hadn't done really any research on what is there to do in Auckland. But I did know I wanted to head out of town for Rotorua and Waitomo - so got all that set up with help of locals. About an hour of sorting and booking and checking and set it was. Now I had a day to look around in Auckland. Figured that it should be easy - pick up couple of booklets, grab a map and head to town. Wrong :). All the booklets tell you are the museums and islands. Oh well, so I picked one of the islands. At least the ferry ride should be nice.
Ferry took about 40 minutes to get to Waiheke island. It was a beautiful little place. Great views, nicely marked hikes and beautiful beaches. Did about 3h walk covering Ocean View Road, Oneroa Bay, Beach Parade, seaside walk up to Newton Road, walk through the streets to the opposite shore, The Esplanade and way back through Oneroa to Matiatia Bay. It was great. Apparently the millionaires are quarreling over the best pieces of land here - I can see why, the place has wonderful views and nature.
Once back from the island walked around in town. There is not much to do in Auckland it seems to me, other than visiting the museums as it looks like. As I have another half a day there before I fly to California I did quite a bit of asking around of what is there in Auckland. 75% of people said that they could not find much to do either :) So my conclusion is that this really is a dump as described by people in south island ;) One of them actually gave me a question in this format: "why you going to Auckland? It is a dump. And there is nothing to do in north island - you should spend the time here instead!" :D :D :D Funny people! As I see then Australians really don't like New Zealanders, then again south island people in NZ don't really like north islanders. Now the question is who the north islanders despise :)
I hadn't done really any research on what is there to do in Auckland. But I did know I wanted to head out of town for Rotorua and Waitomo - so got all that set up with help of locals. About an hour of sorting and booking and checking and set it was. Now I had a day to look around in Auckland. Figured that it should be easy - pick up couple of booklets, grab a map and head to town. Wrong :). All the booklets tell you are the museums and islands. Oh well, so I picked one of the islands. At least the ferry ride should be nice.
Ferry took about 40 minutes to get to Waiheke island. It was a beautiful little place. Great views, nicely marked hikes and beautiful beaches. Did about 3h walk covering Ocean View Road, Oneroa Bay, Beach Parade, seaside walk up to Newton Road, walk through the streets to the opposite shore, The Esplanade and way back through Oneroa to Matiatia Bay. It was great. Apparently the millionaires are quarreling over the best pieces of land here - I can see why, the place has wonderful views and nature.
Once back from the island walked around in town. There is not much to do in Auckland it seems to me, other than visiting the museums as it looks like. As I have another half a day there before I fly to California I did quite a bit of asking around of what is there in Auckland. 75% of people said that they could not find much to do either :) So my conclusion is that this really is a dump as described by people in south island ;) One of them actually gave me a question in this format: "why you going to Auckland? It is a dump. And there is nothing to do in north island - you should spend the time here instead!" :D :D :D Funny people! As I see then Australians really don't like New Zealanders, then again south island people in NZ don't really like north islanders. Now the question is who the north islanders despise :)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
International Antarctic Center - 21.9
In the morning I just looked around in Christchurch, covered most of the city within 2 hours :) Before heading to the airport I stopped at the International Antarctic Center located right next to the airport. It has been suggest by all the sources and now I see why - because it was absolutely awesome! I read all the information leaflets and writings on the walls, it was so interesting. I watched all the movies shown, most of them even twice, just so that I could grasp all of it :)
At the Antarctic center I got to ride Hagglund - vehicle that is used to get around in Antarctica, it can go up and down on steep angles (also sideways), it can go over quite big cracks, if it falls through ice it can move in water for about 2 hours. Got to experience an arctic storm with winds up to 40km/h and see feeding of Little Blue penguins. Additionally I read up on the climate, ice forming, plants, animals, base stations, research, communication and much much more connected to this least known and coldest continent on earth.
Now you are gonna get whole lotta facts about Antarctica :)
Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand once formed a giant southern continent called Gondwana. Over the last 200 million years Gondwana broke up and the continents moved to where they are today.
Antarctica is the driest and coldest continent on earth. The coldest temperature on earth -89.2C was recorded in Antarctica - so cold that if you went outside in everyday clothes you would die in less than a minute.
The highest wind speed recorded in Antarctica peaked at over 320km/h, blowing as hard as a violent tornado or cyclone. At these wind speeds all unsecured buildings, machinery and people are simply blown away.
Antarctica is almost entirely covered with a sheet of ice. The ice has been built up slowly over tens of thousands of years from snow falling on Antarctica. The ice covers 14 million square kilometers with an average depth of 2.3 km and contains 90% of the world's fresh water. Much of Antarctica's ice eventually grinds its way through the mountains and rocks, flowing downhill much the same way as liquid water, until it eventually reaches the sea. These rivers of ice are called glaciers. When it slides into the sea it forms giant floating glaciers called ice shelves, such as the Ross Ice Shelf.
Ice sheet is a broad, thick sheet of ice covering an extensive area of LAND for a long period of time. Ice sheets are also referred to as continental glaciers. Ice shelf is ice that is attached to land but projects out and floats in the SEA. Ice shelves form where ice sheet reaches sea level and extends across the water. Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. Because oceans consist of saltwater it occurs at about -1.8C
Antarctic fish's body temperature is the same as the water, minus 1.9C. Normally blood freezes at minus 1.1C, but antarctic fish have an antifreeze chemical called glycoprotein in their blood and their kidneys are adapted to conserve the antifreeze.
Lights in the sky, or aurora, are called Aurora Borealis in the Arctic and Aurora Australis in the Antarctic. I never knew there is a difference :)
The Antarctic Treaty is a unique legal agreement that ensures the use of Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes through international cooperation. It bans all military activities and promotes the freedom of scientific research on the continent. Treaty was first signed by 12 nations in 1959 and it has been ratified by over 40 nations since then. Estonia signed the treaty in 2001 :)
Many many countries have bases in Antarctica, few are year round ones and the rest are operated only during summer time. Almost all activity in Antarctica relates to science. There are over sixty research stations operated by scientists from twenty-four nations.
Winter means 6 months of darkness and summer 6 months of daylight. Scientists wintering over survive months without sunlight. They must be psychologically and medically fit to cope. In Antarctica body hair grows twice as fast, the body lays down more fat and during winter skin loses pigmentation.
At the Antarctic center I got to ride Hagglund - vehicle that is used to get around in Antarctica, it can go up and down on steep angles (also sideways), it can go over quite big cracks, if it falls through ice it can move in water for about 2 hours. Got to experience an arctic storm with winds up to 40km/h and see feeding of Little Blue penguins. Additionally I read up on the climate, ice forming, plants, animals, base stations, research, communication and much much more connected to this least known and coldest continent on earth.
Now you are gonna get whole lotta facts about Antarctica :)
Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand once formed a giant southern continent called Gondwana. Over the last 200 million years Gondwana broke up and the continents moved to where they are today.
Antarctica is the driest and coldest continent on earth. The coldest temperature on earth -89.2C was recorded in Antarctica - so cold that if you went outside in everyday clothes you would die in less than a minute.
The highest wind speed recorded in Antarctica peaked at over 320km/h, blowing as hard as a violent tornado or cyclone. At these wind speeds all unsecured buildings, machinery and people are simply blown away.
Antarctica is almost entirely covered with a sheet of ice. The ice has been built up slowly over tens of thousands of years from snow falling on Antarctica. The ice covers 14 million square kilometers with an average depth of 2.3 km and contains 90% of the world's fresh water. Much of Antarctica's ice eventually grinds its way through the mountains and rocks, flowing downhill much the same way as liquid water, until it eventually reaches the sea. These rivers of ice are called glaciers. When it slides into the sea it forms giant floating glaciers called ice shelves, such as the Ross Ice Shelf.
Ice sheet is a broad, thick sheet of ice covering an extensive area of LAND for a long period of time. Ice sheets are also referred to as continental glaciers. Ice shelf is ice that is attached to land but projects out and floats in the SEA. Ice shelves form where ice sheet reaches sea level and extends across the water. Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. Because oceans consist of saltwater it occurs at about -1.8C
Antarctic fish's body temperature is the same as the water, minus 1.9C. Normally blood freezes at minus 1.1C, but antarctic fish have an antifreeze chemical called glycoprotein in their blood and their kidneys are adapted to conserve the antifreeze.
Lights in the sky, or aurora, are called Aurora Borealis in the Arctic and Aurora Australis in the Antarctic. I never knew there is a difference :)
The Antarctic Treaty is a unique legal agreement that ensures the use of Antarctica for peaceful and scientific purposes through international cooperation. It bans all military activities and promotes the freedom of scientific research on the continent. Treaty was first signed by 12 nations in 1959 and it has been ratified by over 40 nations since then. Estonia signed the treaty in 2001 :)
Many many countries have bases in Antarctica, few are year round ones and the rest are operated only during summer time. Almost all activity in Antarctica relates to science. There are over sixty research stations operated by scientists from twenty-four nations.
Winter means 6 months of darkness and summer 6 months of daylight. Scientists wintering over survive months without sunlight. They must be psychologically and medically fit to cope. In Antarctica body hair grows twice as fast, the body lays down more fat and during winter skin loses pigmentation.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Akaroa - 20.9
Strange city-tour shuttle left Christchurch at 8:30. I say weird as it seemed just like a regular shuttle taking people from point A to point B, but at some point the driver started talking about houses all around us and giving out facts like population of Christchurch and so on :) It was strange, getting out of town we also switched vans and then we got one very talkative lady for the driver :) Anyhoo, as time passed and more facts followed I took it I had entered a tour taking me from Christchurch to Akaroa - this was completely fine with me.
Views were beautiful as always. As Lonelyplanet tourguide informs me, Akaroa is situated on the Banks Peninsula and its hills were formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. Historic town of Akaroa is the highlight of the peninsula, the name means 'Long Harbour' in Maori and is the sight of the country's first French settlement. Everything in the town is trying to re-create the feel of a French provincial village, with it's street names, houses and eateries - in my mind it was doing a splendid job at that, it was full of doll-houses located on pretty street names :)
On this weird shuttle-city-tour bus I met a group of 3 from Minnesota :), they had booked a trip to go swimming with dolphins. I headed to Akaroa to see the dolphins as well, but was not very keen on getting in the water at all (as it is cold here). After their talk about dry-suits and all the fun I figured to go and check it out from the tour providers. So as I found out there was still just one spot left on the tour, they were all out of dry-suits but wet suits would be fine as well they assured me. Apparently the water only gets up to 1 degrees around here even during the warmest time, at the moment water is fine with being 9 degrees :D Oh-uh :) Asking about other options to go out on the sea they still highly recommended swimming with dolphins as the best option - oh well, I guess I'm in then :)
The fuzz about the dolphins here is the fact that the smallest and rarest Hector's dolphins live at the waters around Akaroa, this is the only place in the world they are found at.
Had an hour to look around in this pretty town and then the show started! We were all given our suits, 3 people were doing the wetsuits thingie and others had dry-suits. Dry-suits looked so odd :) they were like astronauts :D Wetsuits were nice and thick, we also got boots + gloves + hoods + snorkels. Once I managed to put all the clothing on I looked like a Martian myself :) Few photos, safety talk and off we went. Long story short: we were chasing the things for 2 hours on very very stormy waters and in cold wind, we got to see the dolphins, but not swim with them. I'm kinda glad that we were not made to get in this freezing water. All looked fine in the shop, but once you are on the boat that almost tips over twice in 5 minutes with all those rough waves and the strong wind wants to blow your ears away - you really loose the interest in jumping in for a swim :)
We did get to see dolphins from the boat quite many times. They are little cute animals. We also saw a seal swimming and few tiny penguins. Tourguides took us over to see seals colony in one of the bays and we drove by a cathedral formulation by the cliffs. In the end I got to see everything promised on the other tours, only thing I did not get to do was swimming with dolphins in a 9 degree water :) For that we got refunded as promised, got hot-chocolate and a nice warm shower. I was happy in every sense :)
On our way back to Christchurch we got to visit the last cheese factory in the area, got to taste different cheeses and hear about cheese making. Rest of the way I slept - naturally :-P It is vacation after all ya'know :)
Tomorrow evening I'm flying on to Auckland. Check-out is at 10, will try to finally take a look at Christchurch itself as well and have a look at the ever so famous Antarctic Center.
Views were beautiful as always. As Lonelyplanet tourguide informs me, Akaroa is situated on the Banks Peninsula and its hills were formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. Historic town of Akaroa is the highlight of the peninsula, the name means 'Long Harbour' in Maori and is the sight of the country's first French settlement. Everything in the town is trying to re-create the feel of a French provincial village, with it's street names, houses and eateries - in my mind it was doing a splendid job at that, it was full of doll-houses located on pretty street names :)
On this weird shuttle-city-tour bus I met a group of 3 from Minnesota :), they had booked a trip to go swimming with dolphins. I headed to Akaroa to see the dolphins as well, but was not very keen on getting in the water at all (as it is cold here). After their talk about dry-suits and all the fun I figured to go and check it out from the tour providers. So as I found out there was still just one spot left on the tour, they were all out of dry-suits but wet suits would be fine as well they assured me. Apparently the water only gets up to 1 degrees around here even during the warmest time, at the moment water is fine with being 9 degrees :D Oh-uh :) Asking about other options to go out on the sea they still highly recommended swimming with dolphins as the best option - oh well, I guess I'm in then :)
The fuzz about the dolphins here is the fact that the smallest and rarest Hector's dolphins live at the waters around Akaroa, this is the only place in the world they are found at.
Had an hour to look around in this pretty town and then the show started! We were all given our suits, 3 people were doing the wetsuits thingie and others had dry-suits. Dry-suits looked so odd :) they were like astronauts :D Wetsuits were nice and thick, we also got boots + gloves + hoods + snorkels. Once I managed to put all the clothing on I looked like a Martian myself :) Few photos, safety talk and off we went. Long story short: we were chasing the things for 2 hours on very very stormy waters and in cold wind, we got to see the dolphins, but not swim with them. I'm kinda glad that we were not made to get in this freezing water. All looked fine in the shop, but once you are on the boat that almost tips over twice in 5 minutes with all those rough waves and the strong wind wants to blow your ears away - you really loose the interest in jumping in for a swim :)
We did get to see dolphins from the boat quite many times. They are little cute animals. We also saw a seal swimming and few tiny penguins. Tourguides took us over to see seals colony in one of the bays and we drove by a cathedral formulation by the cliffs. In the end I got to see everything promised on the other tours, only thing I did not get to do was swimming with dolphins in a 9 degree water :) For that we got refunded as promised, got hot-chocolate and a nice warm shower. I was happy in every sense :)
On our way back to Christchurch we got to visit the last cheese factory in the area, got to taste different cheeses and hear about cheese making. Rest of the way I slept - naturally :-P It is vacation after all ya'know :)
Tomorrow evening I'm flying on to Auckland. Check-out is at 10, will try to finally take a look at Christchurch itself as well and have a look at the ever so famous Antarctic Center.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Franz Josef Glacier - 18.9
When I got up at 7am it was raining. Got over to the tour center by 7:45 and as I was guessing they have canceled the climb because of bad weather. Apparently there is lots of standing around and doing it in rain is just no fun, it also seemed that there were too few people registered for this one as well. So I got an option to choose any other tour - I went for the full day one.
At the tour center we were all given a coat, trousers, boots, crampons (kassid) socks, gloves and a hat. All this clothing was much needed once on ice - as I learned in a little bit :) So we packed ourselves in and headed to the bus that took us to the parking lot by the glacier. From the parking lot it was 2.5km walk to the ice line.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are one of the kind in the world as nowhere else at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the ocean. The glaciers development is due to all the moist air building up over the ocean and heading towards the island where the high mountains catch it. So at the mountains it falls down as snow and all this snow building up forms glacier that is constantly falling downward like a waterfall, melting at the bottom in the rainforest. The fall is quite deep, speed that the glacier is moving at is about 1.5m a day!
At the ice line we got to put on our crampons and off we went. Within 30 minutes on the ice we were all wet from head to toe. One helping factor was us getting stuck between two walls of ice. There were 8 of us in a group, the guide went first and then we followed in a single file. So there is this narrow passage way between two high walls we need to pass through. The walls are not even by any means, passage way is curvy and the bottom is rough - so it is difficult to walk. At the end of the passage way you needed to take few big steps up to make your way out of it. So there we are, the guide made his way up, but first girl was not able to pull herself up the steps. There was nothing to hold on to either and the walls were all slick. So there we stood all packed up. Passage way was quite narrow - you had to turn sideways to fit though, and hence walk sideways throughout to be able to keep going. Passageway was about 30m I'd say. But there we stood then. Our guide yells down at us that he will go and get the rope attached and throw it down so the first girl can grab on to it and keep moving.
As we stand there we are tightly packed between the walls. As it is raining there is water everywhere, it is coming down from both sides on the wall, standing there it is worse than in the shower :), water flows right down your neck and sides directly of the wall. Of course, this is not the most comfortable situation for a claustrophobic one like me :) Yeah, it was pretty tricky to stay calm there. But we made it out and after this incident I stayed well up front as I can get though tough spots, I can deal with anything as long as we are moving :)
I just can't believe they let us do some of the stuff on the track without any security ropes. I had hard time getting up and keeping my balance quite many times. "Don't look down" and "keep your body weight close to the ice" took you to places over here. Even if you wanted to use your hands you could not as your fingers were frozen and you could not feel your hands. We were given little axes though, those were great help, could at least lean on them and use them for balance.
There were 3 groups of us. 1st group was the fastest and went first, we were 2nd group and there was also 3rd group behind us. The fastest group was led by senior guide who also chose the track. At some point our guide just looks up and seems a bit lost. He turns to us and goes "I don't understand why he chose this track, nobody has been here for months" :) Oh goodie good :)
Another great moment arrived when we had just passed a tunnel and we see the next tunnel right in front of us, but between is a huge puddle of water. We see the track going on at the second tunnel, but the puddle is chest deep! Our guide was quite puzzled, he kept looking all over the place for an alternate route, finally we ended up finding one and just went around. But he figured that first group had passed it about 20 minutes ago and then the puddle was perhaps up to knees. Didn't realize that the rain is so heavy, saw many puddles later on as well, I guess they just fill up in no time.
The way up was about 2.5h. We did the whole trip a lot quicker than usual as we skipped many breaks (including our lunch break!), whenever we did take breaks they were very short as we were all wet and got cold quickly. Once we started our trip down I just looked at my feet and tried to remember what it felt like having toes :)
Way down was a lot quicker and it got warmer with every step. We were all just so indifferent, going through water up till half a leg nobody even bothered to lift the legs, just dragged ourselves through it. Once back at the tour center it was such a relief getting all those soaked things off :) Now everything was soaked. I was only dry from my hips to my chest I think - everything else was wet and cold. Now also all my documents got soaked. I wasn't smart enough and left the documents bag in the back bag - so all my documents were dripping wet once I took them out of the bag :( So if you know of a quick way how to dry off my passport quickly - please do let me know!
At first I was really bummed out that I did not get to do the ice-climbing, but at the end of the day I'm glad I got to go at all. It was absolutely awesome to be hiking on the glacier! Even besides the cold and rain - it was really something different and quite extreme!
Now I'm heading over to the local SPA - apparently this consists of some hot pools where water is from 36 to 40C - can't wait! 2 hours later my fingers are still not functioning quite well :)
At the tour center we were all given a coat, trousers, boots, crampons (kassid) socks, gloves and a hat. All this clothing was much needed once on ice - as I learned in a little bit :) So we packed ourselves in and headed to the bus that took us to the parking lot by the glacier. From the parking lot it was 2.5km walk to the ice line.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are one of the kind in the world as nowhere else at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the ocean. The glaciers development is due to all the moist air building up over the ocean and heading towards the island where the high mountains catch it. So at the mountains it falls down as snow and all this snow building up forms glacier that is constantly falling downward like a waterfall, melting at the bottom in the rainforest. The fall is quite deep, speed that the glacier is moving at is about 1.5m a day!
At the ice line we got to put on our crampons and off we went. Within 30 minutes on the ice we were all wet from head to toe. One helping factor was us getting stuck between two walls of ice. There were 8 of us in a group, the guide went first and then we followed in a single file. So there is this narrow passage way between two high walls we need to pass through. The walls are not even by any means, passage way is curvy and the bottom is rough - so it is difficult to walk. At the end of the passage way you needed to take few big steps up to make your way out of it. So there we are, the guide made his way up, but first girl was not able to pull herself up the steps. There was nothing to hold on to either and the walls were all slick. So there we stood all packed up. Passage way was quite narrow - you had to turn sideways to fit though, and hence walk sideways throughout to be able to keep going. Passageway was about 30m I'd say. But there we stood then. Our guide yells down at us that he will go and get the rope attached and throw it down so the first girl can grab on to it and keep moving.
As we stand there we are tightly packed between the walls. As it is raining there is water everywhere, it is coming down from both sides on the wall, standing there it is worse than in the shower :), water flows right down your neck and sides directly of the wall. Of course, this is not the most comfortable situation for a claustrophobic one like me :) Yeah, it was pretty tricky to stay calm there. But we made it out and after this incident I stayed well up front as I can get though tough spots, I can deal with anything as long as we are moving :)
I just can't believe they let us do some of the stuff on the track without any security ropes. I had hard time getting up and keeping my balance quite many times. "Don't look down" and "keep your body weight close to the ice" took you to places over here. Even if you wanted to use your hands you could not as your fingers were frozen and you could not feel your hands. We were given little axes though, those were great help, could at least lean on them and use them for balance.
There were 3 groups of us. 1st group was the fastest and went first, we were 2nd group and there was also 3rd group behind us. The fastest group was led by senior guide who also chose the track. At some point our guide just looks up and seems a bit lost. He turns to us and goes "I don't understand why he chose this track, nobody has been here for months" :) Oh goodie good :)
Another great moment arrived when we had just passed a tunnel and we see the next tunnel right in front of us, but between is a huge puddle of water. We see the track going on at the second tunnel, but the puddle is chest deep! Our guide was quite puzzled, he kept looking all over the place for an alternate route, finally we ended up finding one and just went around. But he figured that first group had passed it about 20 minutes ago and then the puddle was perhaps up to knees. Didn't realize that the rain is so heavy, saw many puddles later on as well, I guess they just fill up in no time.
The way up was about 2.5h. We did the whole trip a lot quicker than usual as we skipped many breaks (including our lunch break!), whenever we did take breaks they were very short as we were all wet and got cold quickly. Once we started our trip down I just looked at my feet and tried to remember what it felt like having toes :)
Way down was a lot quicker and it got warmer with every step. We were all just so indifferent, going through water up till half a leg nobody even bothered to lift the legs, just dragged ourselves through it. Once back at the tour center it was such a relief getting all those soaked things off :) Now everything was soaked. I was only dry from my hips to my chest I think - everything else was wet and cold. Now also all my documents got soaked. I wasn't smart enough and left the documents bag in the back bag - so all my documents were dripping wet once I took them out of the bag :( So if you know of a quick way how to dry off my passport quickly - please do let me know!
At first I was really bummed out that I did not get to do the ice-climbing, but at the end of the day I'm glad I got to go at all. It was absolutely awesome to be hiking on the glacier! Even besides the cold and rain - it was really something different and quite extreme!
Now I'm heading over to the local SPA - apparently this consists of some hot pools where water is from 36 to 40C - can't wait! 2 hours later my fingers are still not functioning quite well :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Exactly a month till packing needs to be finished :)
I need to have everything packed by the evening of 28th of August :) and no I'm not overplanning. The deal is the same as last year: I will be organizing a triathlon event that starts 6am on 29th of August and ends around 3am on the 30th of August. I have to be at the airport bit before noon on the 30th, which gives me couple of hours to get some sleep and that is it :)
The progress so far is:
- plane tickets bought and initial dates for all flights fixed
- travel, health and luggage insurance done
- Australian visa gotten
- training in San Jose arranged and U2 concert tickets purchased
Nothing else needed really :) Easy trip this time huh? Maybe I'm just a bit more spontaneous, maybe it is just the nature of the countries I'm going to - I don't know, but besides few accommodation arrangements (San Jose and Atlanta) there is nothing more to do :) I have decided that I won't arrange any local trips up front, I have looked up what I'd like to do and I'm betting on walking into organizers office the same day to take the trip. Same with car rental. So I just need to pack my bag at some point and that is it :)
It all seems so far away though, I'm not even thinking about it yet, no excitement, nothing. Must be the current busy schedule? Very strange.
The progress so far is:
- plane tickets bought and initial dates for all flights fixed
- travel, health and luggage insurance done
- Australian visa gotten
- training in San Jose arranged and U2 concert tickets purchased
Nothing else needed really :) Easy trip this time huh? Maybe I'm just a bit more spontaneous, maybe it is just the nature of the countries I'm going to - I don't know, but besides few accommodation arrangements (San Jose and Atlanta) there is nothing more to do :) I have decided that I won't arrange any local trips up front, I have looked up what I'd like to do and I'm betting on walking into organizers office the same day to take the trip. Same with car rental. So I just need to pack my bag at some point and that is it :)
It all seems so far away though, I'm not even thinking about it yet, no excitement, nothing. Must be the current busy schedule? Very strange.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Curious about the land down under
I've always wondered about what is there in down under, what is it like to walk upside down that is :D No need to wonder any longer as this is where my travels during fall vacation take me. Somehow I've always explained of why I have chosen a certain area for the next destination so here it comes again: my friend Ave moved to the down under land this year :) Her initial plan is to stay there for a bit, so I figured to go and visit her.
As usual, I got limited time for my travels and as usual I'm going to try to take most out of those few weeks I've got. Planned routes and destinations:
1. Cairns, AU - good 3.5 days
Will arrive there through Stockholm, London and Hong-Kong (please make it so that there are no tropical storms in the area this time, although I will be in Hong Kong airport almost to the date a year later!). Activities should definitely include some adrenalin kick, for an example bit of whitewater rafting? Definitely some ocean activities on a boat to study the Great Barrier Reef and water animals.
2. Brisbane, AU - for about 5 days
Noosa and Rainbow beach here I come with my surfing gear to have the best pancakes in the world :-P ! Hopefully some animal parks will be open during my stay, will check out some sand hills in the ocean (islands made entirely of sand!), the city and the beaches and spend time with my friend, and night clubs and all that this area has to offer.
3. Sydney, AU - 3 days
Of course the city, perhaps some cultural events. Oh and close to Sydney there are mountains called blue ;) and something about a tramway, will see what i can manage there.
4. Tasmania, AU - 3 days
Everything that this little island can offer in 3 days, will be in Hobart area, driving around by bikes and cars like a maniac :-P
5. Christchurch, NZ - 6 days
The city and the most beautiful train ride in the world plus ice climbing on glacier and ocean life with itsy-bitsy dolphins and couple of museums and animal parks hopefully, perhaps even some activities full of adrenalin rush.
6. Auckland, NZ - 6 days
The caves and more Maori culture and Rotorua and Rongitoto and all kinds of fun.
7. San Jose, US - 3 days
Short training course, work related, will try to snap out of the vacation mode and be down to earth for just 2 days.
8. Santa Cruz, US - 4 days
"surf city" is the nickname of this wonderful town in California, so I'll be just surfing.
9. Atlanta, US - 1.5 days
Just to attend U2 concert on the 6th of October in Georgia Dome :)
As of today I will be traveling mostly alone, I got one potential travel companion, but this is to be confirmed still. I'm particularly happy about the U2 concert on the last evening of the trip, tickets to the event are purchased :)
As usual, I got limited time for my travels and as usual I'm going to try to take most out of those few weeks I've got. Planned routes and destinations:
1. Cairns, AU - good 3.5 days
Will arrive there through Stockholm, London and Hong-Kong (please make it so that there are no tropical storms in the area this time, although I will be in Hong Kong airport almost to the date a year later!). Activities should definitely include some adrenalin kick, for an example bit of whitewater rafting? Definitely some ocean activities on a boat to study the Great Barrier Reef and water animals.
2. Brisbane, AU - for about 5 days
Noosa and Rainbow beach here I come with my surfing gear to have the best pancakes in the world :-P ! Hopefully some animal parks will be open during my stay, will check out some sand hills in the ocean (islands made entirely of sand!), the city and the beaches and spend time with my friend, and night clubs and all that this area has to offer.
3. Sydney, AU - 3 days
Of course the city, perhaps some cultural events. Oh and close to Sydney there are mountains called blue ;) and something about a tramway, will see what i can manage there.
4. Tasmania, AU - 3 days
Everything that this little island can offer in 3 days, will be in Hobart area, driving around by bikes and cars like a maniac :-P
5. Christchurch, NZ - 6 days
The city and the most beautiful train ride in the world plus ice climbing on glacier and ocean life with itsy-bitsy dolphins and couple of museums and animal parks hopefully, perhaps even some activities full of adrenalin rush.
6. Auckland, NZ - 6 days
The caves and more Maori culture and Rotorua and Rongitoto and all kinds of fun.
7. San Jose, US - 3 days
Short training course, work related, will try to snap out of the vacation mode and be down to earth for just 2 days.
8. Santa Cruz, US - 4 days
"surf city" is the nickname of this wonderful town in California, so I'll be just surfing.
9. Atlanta, US - 1.5 days
Just to attend U2 concert on the 6th of October in Georgia Dome :)
As of today I will be traveling mostly alone, I got one potential travel companion, but this is to be confirmed still. I'm particularly happy about the U2 concert on the last evening of the trip, tickets to the event are purchased :)
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