New Zealand ( Day 0 - 3)

G'day Mate,
   
         (Day 0, Monday) After surf camp it was hurry home pack up another bag and head off to New Zealand! The beginning of the trip was spent 3 of my house mates, Austin, Ryan and Pete. We took the 2.5 hour train ride into Sydney to catch our 19:45 flight to Christchurch.  the train that takes you to the terminal mad expensive so we all split a cab. Along the way we learned that our cab driver was had visited New York City during September 11th. He was actually up in the towers on the 10th, less than 24 hours before the attack. It was interesting to hear about his first hand experience.
          At the airport everything went peachy! Sitting waiting for the airplane was a great feeling, we had no plans, and no reservations of any sort  for the first 3 days in NZ and I couldn't wait to see where we ended up. On the plane I got to talking to the lady sitting next to me. She was working on cataloging all the plants of NZ and she suggested we head to Arthurs Pass. We got in at 1am and after dealing with a few minor hick ups at customs we were able to try and find a place to sleep in the airport . To our delight there was an area with about 50 other people                                                              
sleeping all over the place in some very very interesting positions. We had a lovely spot
 in the middle of room. Sleeping was hit and miss with all the activity going on but
 it was a great experience.
         (Day 1, Tuesday) At 5am Employees came around to wake us up so the airport wouldn't appear like a homeless shelter to the newly arriving passengers. This was good though it gave us a good jump on the day. We worked the phonebooks calling all around town trying to find the cheapest car rental, Apex Car Rental was the winner. We got picked up from the airport and got ourselves a dashing little white Nissan car named Sunny.  The car rental lady, named Steph, was nice enough to give us a map and show us where to exchange money and stock up on food, then..... we were off to the Mountains! 
         The first 45 mins of the drive were west from Christchurch across the very flat Canterbury Plains, the largest in NZ.  Driving throughout this area we saw hundreds of thousands if not millions of sheep.....everywhere! Slowly we entered into the foot hills and then broke through the clouds into some spectacular Mountains. We found an amazing lake and ventured on a stone road around it to a nice spot  for some lunch. You guessed it... lunch was PB&J!

                        (Top 10 spots I've eaten lunch)

        From here we drove for another 40 mins down the road a found a place called Castle Hill. We stopped for a hike and climbed around on the rocks giving us great views from every direction. Then it was back in the car for another hour or so. As the mountains became bigger we passed more lakes and ski fields. Eventually we made into Arthurs Pass and started to look for a place to sleep. We came across a sign that said "Klondike Corner (free camping)" We took that road and kept going until we came across a huge river bed that was more than a mile wide spanning between two mountain ranges.  Dinner was some cold meat pies and a side of PB&J. We headed down the road about 2 mins to a bar in the Bealey Hotel for a drink and to play some pool. The Bealey hotel was the only building for about 20 mins in either direction. The hotel got started back in 1865 as a river crossing. The owners family would load up customers cars onto a wagon and have the horses pull them across the flowing Waimakariri River (which served as our bed for that night). We talked with the bartender and planned out a hike to do the fallowing day. We headed back to   camp and decided to sleep out under the stars in the dry river bed. The river bed was very rocky and a little windy so we made some stone walls and cleared some spots just rocky enough to sleep on. I was really hoping to see some amazing stars but instead we were blessed with a full moon lighting up the mountains and valley perfectly! No flash lights were needed that light at all. Without any tents, warm cloths, or even sleeping bags it was no surprise we only lasted about 3 hours before having to go sleep in Sunny. Lets just say i've had more comfortable sleeping arrangements than sharing a small car with 4 guys.

                         (View from the Bar)                                       ( My bed/ rock wall for the night)


        (Day 2, Wednesday)  We had breakfast and headed out for our hike. We picked up a short cut on the side of the road the bartender told us about to save some time.  It was very steep with no traversing, it was a tuff climb but we gained a good amount of vertical very quickly. The summit we hiked to is actually in the picture above on the right.  On our way up we met a nice German girl who told us about a cave on our way back into Christchurch that we had to check out. The climb was very cool, we would hike through various landscapes changing very quickly. There were thick forests, desert like areas, tall grass lands, marshes, and just bare rock. The view from here was very cool overlooking the river bed, campsite, and the view of glaciers off in the distance.

          We had dinner (more of the same) and then ventured deeper into Arthurs Pass to take a look around town. It was a very small town indeed there wasn't even a gas station just a single gas pump, standing alone. We found a pub and decided to go have a drink and play some more pool to pass the night. To our delight it was trivia night at the pub! All benefits went to benefit the most famous local bird the Kiwi!!! There was a good amount of local trivia involved so needless to say we got our American rear ends handed to us. We were also the youngest team by a few decades so that didnt help much. We had a great time mingling with the locals of a small town nestled in the mountain of New Zealand, that was for sure! Then it was back in the car for some sleep. This night we took sunny up on one of the banks of the river and slept there, not one of us were willing to try sleeping outside again.
      (Day 3, Thursday)   Today we headed back into Christchurch but not before stopping at the cave suggested to us by the German. We had no idea what we were getting into and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip! It was a short hike down a ravine to the creek that lead to the cave.  The water was incredibly cold as all the water comes from glacial melt! We entered into the cave and proceeded into water up to our chest. I began to question spending over 30 mins in a dark cave chest high in freezing cold water, but to my delight we rose up out of the deep water into about knee high for the rest of the trek. Our lights were pretty poor but the caverns were still spectacular. I particularly like having to climb up mini waterfalls along the way and the smooth lime stone walls and floor. Getting out of the cave was pretty neat. There was about a 4 meter high waterfall we had to navigate to get out then squeeze between about a 2 foot gap between the floor and celling. Exiting the cave we were greeted by a stunning view of mountains in every directions. Then it was back to the car and back to Christchurch. We returned the car and walked to the hostel that our tour would be picking us up at for the next 10 days.
       These three days were very fun and some of the best of the trip. There is something incredibly enjoyable about heading somewhere with no plan; taking any turn you want and just having a blast every moment.
       - Evan






           

Surf Camp!

Good day!  (click on any photo in any post to see in full size!)

     For spring break I was fortunate enough to take 17 days off of class and do some activities in Australia and New Zealand!
     Spring break started out with a 3 day stay at a surf camp up north near Queensland. We caught a 4 hour bus ride (longer than expected) up to the camp and got in around 1am. Upon arrival a few of us were wide awake so we attempted to find the beach. It proved to be quite the adventure trying to find it in the pitch dark. We finally found the beach after a good 45 mins. In the morning we discovered that there was a beach under 5 mins away we just took a wrong turn.  The camp was very cool, pretty rugged and something you would see right out of the movies. My sleeping accommodations for the 2 nights was a Teepee! I was pretty pumped about this. Others in the group felt differently about this and resulted in some crying..... After some breakfast we hit the waves and never stopped! We were supposed to have 1 lesson in the am and 1 in the pm but with a little smooth talking and being in the right places in the right time I got to join about 4 lesson and spend about 6 hours surfing that day alone. In the pm there were some great waves! I was able to catch one and turn onto an angle for the first time giving me my
longest ride yet! It was great being out there with a bunch of friends all cheering each other on.

      After a long day in the water it was time for some dinner and a nap in a hammock. What better way to close out a day of surfing than with a party on the beach. It was amazing hang out on a totally seclude beach with music, a bon fire, lighting storms all around, and friends old and new alike. The night even included the ever cliche skinny dipping and cloths stealing.  Around the campfire I got to meet some of the instructors, mainly two blokes from the surf academy, Flow and Casper. They are both studying surfing and come from Denmark and Germany.  They actually study the theory of surfing in a classroom as well as physically going surfing.
      During the trip we met a very interesting fellow by the name of Johnny. Johnny was one of the coolest/most interesting people I have ever met.  He come from the land of Alberta, Canada and is spending 5 months traveling all around Australia. He only had a small school backpack, a didgeridoo, and a flute with him. It was good to meet Johnny, I hope his travels are going well.
      After another day of surfing it was time to pack up and head 4 hours back home. This was probably one of the best bus rides I have ever had. The windows on the bus were huge and opened up 100% basically leaving you feeling like you could fall out. My self and my friend Austin spent those 4 hours hanging our bodies out the windows taking in the wind and changing scenery.
      Oh and the surf camp had birds with a very cool call it was a high pitch single note screech, followed by a pause and a cool water droplet sound.
     The surf trip was awesome and furthered my love for the sport.  After getting back home we had less than 18 hours before we headed out for 2 weeks in New Zealand!

Cheers,
  Evan

Wine tasting / Sydney

Hola!
      So this past week has proven to be just as fun as the previous ones! Last weekend we went to the horse races here in Newcastle. I have never been to a horse race before so it was very neat. I lost $15 dollars on horses but with free admission and a few free drinks i think I went home on top. There were a lot of Hen and Buck Parties (like bachelor parties) at the races and they loved us americans. It was nice getting to talk to a bunch of local Australians.


       This past Friday our landlord drove a bunch of us to go wine tasting. It was about an hour away and was a pretty scenic drive out. We visited 3 wineries and a cheese place. The first winery was very cool, we got to walk around the grounds and see the whole process. But by far my favorite part of the day was seeing a WILD KANGAROO! It was my first Kangaroo siting and it was perfect, the little bugger was up on the hill just next to all the vines hopping along.  We learned the right way to taste wine and some techniques as well. My favorite wine of the day was White Port which is wine fortified with brandy or whiskey I forget which one. It tasted very much like honey and pineapple but not too sweet.

  Then on saturday me and some blokes woke up early and caught a train into Sydney for St.Patricks day. For only $5 you can take the 2.5 Hr. trip into Sydney, pretty good deal I must say. We stopped and got food for the weekend (PB&J) and then found our hostel. It was a lovely little place. We spent the day seeing the sights and man were they cool!!! The Royal Botanical Gardens were just around the corner from us so we started there. There were plenty of nice palm trees, flowers, fountains, and big spiders!!! From there we walked along the coast of the harbor and turned the corner to find the Sydney Opera House! It was soooo cool to see that in real life, its a phenomenal structure, and very big.    I stopped inside to see how much the cheapest ticket to the cheapest show would be. I was assuming it would be some where in the $80 range or even more, to my surprise it was only $22 for students! Ill definitely make my way back for a show. We sat out at the Opera Bar and had a nice cold beer over looking the opera house, harbor, and bridge.  From there we found our way up to the bridge and got a birds eye view of the city. It was a great sunny day and it couldnt have gone better. We found our way back to the hostel and got some much needed rest. We had some dinner (PB&J)  and some desert (PB&J with extra J)  and then headed out on the town for the night. It was very busy and a great time was had by everyone!

           In the morning we got up and it was time for the St. Patties Day parade. We found our way to the main corner in front of city hall and all the Irish Dancers. We ran into some friends and enjoyed the pre parade festivities! At some point just at the beginning of the parade I got the idea in my head that I just really wanted to try and see if I could get in the parade. We got a group of 4 of us together and made our way to the start where there were no barriers. Even with there being no barriers it was still clear who was in the parade and who wasn't so it was a little tuff. We lined up 4 across on the side walk and on the count of 3 we just went for it and swung out into the parade all in a line shoulder to shoulder. We were right in the middle of two groups and decided to follow up close to the group holding a big sign in front of us. Once it got under way and we were in an area with barriers we drifted back and become our own little group! It was awesome walking in front of thousands of people, knowing that we were not supposed to be there at all. We walked past a few of our friends in the crowed and they were quite surprised to say the least! It is very had to put into words just how amazing those 24 hours were that I spent in Sydney.

           Ive seen some pretty cool wild life down here so far, and all if it has been wild! One day down on the beach this really weird hang glider come over head, then it flapped its wings and we realized it was a bird. It literally had a 12 foot wing span and after looking it up online we believe it was an Albatross. One morning trying to find a spot to go surfing I saw about 7 dolphins playing in the waves and jump in the air. That was veryyy cool to watch. Something less cool was the fact that we found a Redback spider just out side our door, its one of the more venomous spiders in Australia although no one has died from it since the 1960's as there is a widely available antivenom.

Coming up

      Today I head out with some of the house mates to a surf camp for a few days. Then Im home for 1 night then off to New Zealand for 2 weeks! I just booked a flight to Tasmania next month and am working on planning out some details. I met a kid in Sydney who will be down there the same time as me, we plan on renting a van with a few other people and road tripping around the island for a week. 

      I hope everything is going well with everyone! 

 Cheers,

   Evan