The next day, after dragging myself out of bed and saying goodbye to the Abel Tasmen crew as well as everyone else, I headed out. I followed the road down the east coast, through some really amazing wine country near Blenheim and then finally to the ocean. I decided to push through to Christchurch instead of stopping in Kaikoura as although it is gorgious, I had been on the beach for a long time and I was getting anxious about selling the van.

I pulled into Christchurch, found a hostel that had off-street parking and went to bed. The next morning I woke up and spent the morning putting up flyers in various hostels and internet cafes. After I had hit most of the message boards, I made my way down to the car market and signed up to be there.

The deal at the market is you pay $65 for three days of parking, then sit near your vehicle and wait for people to come by and look at it. There is always an interesting group of people selling there and the place has its own customs and culture, ie. if you sell you are then required to bring in a case of beer for everyone else to enjoy. When I got there, there was two British girls and a couple from Germany. Everyone was really cool and the first couple days past pretty quick. pretty soon both sold and were replaced by others, we had a couple from France with a van similar to mine who immediately began to use nasty tactics to sell theirs over mine. I walked by one morning during their sales pitch to someone that was interested in mine and heard them tell them how terrible diesel was and how they didnt want that. This of course was really annoying as the car market is stressful enough without having to deal with crap like that, soon enough they sold and in the meantime didnt make any friends with the other sellers. By this time I had been there about 5 days with no end in sight and with no money I was getting pretty worried. Luckily Jenny (one of the germans) returned and helped me scrub out the van so it was in mint condition, she also brought me cookies so to cheer me up from the depressing wait for buyers.

As I arrived at the market I was expecting to sell right away without having to wait, this optimism lasted until about the 6th day. By this time I started believing the stories on the wall, the place is full of stories drawn on the wall about disasters and lost money. At this point I was getting really frustrated and hated the whole thing as well as being in Christchurch. I had no choice but to keep going everyday, being as upbeat as possible to potential buyers and hoping that the day would come. I became the old timer pretty quick, everyone except me sold so all the new people came to me with questions and problems about selling. Again it was a good crowd so the days werent too bad, it was only when the market shut at night that I got frustrated because another day had passed without a sale. Soon enough I was at nine days, really frustrated but there wasnt anything I could do. I chatted with everyone in the morning and then went for a quick walk. When I arrived back, the guy selling a car beside my van was standing beside mine talking to someone. As I walked up he introduced me to "Julien" from France, who was interested in the van. Everyone was rooting for me to sell so they were all positive as I took him through the van before moving back and letting him poke around and ask questions. He asked if we could go for a ride which was great as it was my first test drive, we also talked about some problems (like the brake pads that need replacing) but there wasnt anything big at all. By the time we finished out test drive he turned to me and asked if I would take $2800 instead of $3000 because of the brake pads that needed replacing. At this point I had been at the market for WAY too long so I woulda taken almost anything over $2000 so I quickly agreed.

I originally bought Waka Tui for $2400 in Auckland, then proceeded to sink around $1200 into making sure it ran well by the time I was finished with it. This all seemed to pay off because although I lost $800 on it, that is a small price to pay for a van for 6 months. Needless to say I was ecstatic about selling, I had been eating out of the free food bin at the hostel for a week and was ready for a good meal. I treated myself to an amazing lamb pizza and a big pint of Guinness, and then met some people back at the hostel to go out. After a night of much needed celebration I sit here feeling a little under the weather but quite happy. I spent the morning wandering the Botanic Gardens and watching a marching band in Cathedral square. I am going to fly up to Auckland on monday, spend a day up there and then jump back on the plane bound for Fiji. I dont know if I will update before I leave. So unless something worth writing about happens, I will hopefully be back on in about a week filling you all in on the wonders of life on the beach.

Cheers,
-Jesse

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After I updated last time, I got to work getting everything ready to go on my trip. It was really fun to plan out everything, I havent had a chance to do that in awhile and I really enjoyed trying to think of all the things I needed to remember. I bought a bunch of food (I am truly my parents son... from good salami to a wheel of bree and some good chocolate, my pack was quite a bit heavier then it needed to be) and made sure I had all my gear togethor. I garbage bagged everything, lined my pack and basicly made sure everything was going to be water proof. After everything was packed I went down to the local DOC office and booked my huts and water taxi, the DOC officer was really helpful and pointed out a few places that I shouldnt miss when I was out there.

With all my things ready to go I headed back to the hostel and met up with a few people I had been hanging out with the night before. There was a group of American girls down here for the year, as well as another American guy who after hearing about what I was doing the next day, decided that they really wanted to come. I said it was no problem thinking that there was no way they would get ready and go for a four day hike with absolutly no notice or preparation. To my suprise they immediately got off the couch and got everything sorted and packed for the next day. I was unsure as to what I wanted because I had planned it as a solo trip, but I decided it would probably be fun to have some company on the trail. With everyone all ready to go I went to bed early and got excited about the trip.

Day One - 7 Km
I woke up in the hostel, got all my stuff into the van and then headed to the kitchen for breakfast. I alot took all my ski gear (which I have yet to send home or decide what to do with...) and put it in the hostels storage room, just in case the van was broken into at the trailhead. After breakfast, Two of the girls and I headed out in the van towards Abel Tasmen. We got their water taxis worked out, parked and started out from the trailhead.
The First section of the trail is a long section of boardwalk over an amazing coastal wetland. There were a tonne of day hikers out and we felt a little weird puffing away with our big packs on while hiking along past families out for the day. After the wetland, the trail snakes its way up through the rainforest and along the coastline. You work your way along, seeing viewpoints of incredible blue water and golden sandy beaches down below. It started to rain lightly and after a little blister work for one of the girls, we got into Anchorage bay which was the first stop for the trip.
Anchorage bay is another of the gorgious bays, Golden beaches with incredible limestone formations in the rocks, surrounded by lush rianforest. The entire park is similar to this, so it is hard to describe everything, I will do my best and attach some pictures at the end so bare with me. We quickly dropped our packs and headed out to another little trail heading up into the forest. We followed it for an hour and came to a little creek and pool called "cleopatra's pool". It was a really cool waterfall and creek, and just as we got there, the sun came out for the first time all day so I decided to go swimming. After we were done at Cleopatras pool, We hiked back to Anchorage, met the others and then continued on to "Te Pokatea Bay". The bay was just over the hill from Anchorage but there was absolutly nobody there so we just lay in the sand, crawled around on the rocks and just enjoyed it for awhile before going back to the hut to make dinner.
The other thing that blew me away about Anchorage, was that it was my first look at the NZ hut system. I had a nice hut pictured like those in Canada but had no idea what to imagine. To my suprise, all the huts down here have flush toilets and RUNNING water in the outhouses. Not only that but all the huts along the Abel Tasmen trek have filtered water supplied, so this was turning out to be not really the most backcountry of trips. The other thing, is Anchorage hut is the first hut on the trip so it is full of people just going out for a single night before returning to Marahau. Unlike the diverse spread of outdoors people regularly found in huts back home, this hut was full of, well... punters. There was even the group of obese middle aged kiwis who got their luggage water taxied everyday to the next hut. These hard core group of locals brought ten full sized coolers, as well as 5 big duffle bags full of stuff. Every morning the water taxi would pick it up and drop it off at their next hut (they took 4 days to cover the same distance it took us to do in 2... and I thought we were wandering through). I cant complain too much as after they found out it was my birthday, they spent the whole night handing me another beer and supplying me with lots of tasty treats from their various cheese plates (sounds like the robsons go to Lake O'hara? minus the overweight kiwis of course).

Day Two - 21 Km
I woke up nice and early, made a great breakfast of porridge and fruit and then packed up all my gear. Spent a little time down on the beach around sunrise and then went to see how my fellow travelers were. They were all still semi asleep, and a long ways away from being ready to go. It was going to be the longest day of the trip adn I wanted to have enough time to see everything so I decided that instead of getting annoying adn trying to get everyone outta bed, I just said "cya tonight" and headed off solo. It turned out to be a wonderful day, hiking alone proved to be an awsome experience giving me time to see absolutly everything and take lots of pictures.
The day started with a long tidal crossing across Torrent bay. There are a few crossings on the trek that you have to do at low tide because you cross large tidal estuaries and cant get across if the tide is in. I had lunch at the next hut on the trek at Bark Bay and then continued on. I came to my second tidal crossing at around 2... the next low tide wasnt until 6 and the crossing wasnt too big, there was also some weather coming in and my sun wasnt going to last forever so I decided to once again go swimming. I took off my boots and put my pack on my shoulder and waded across, it was only about 40 feet across and only about waist deep so i dropped my pack on the other end and went for a quick dip before continuing up the trail. After the crossing I moved up into the rainforest and over a small saddle before winding my way down into Awaroa bay. The weather was looking worse and worse, there was a storm coming in from the northwest and it looked like it was going to hit pretty soon so I hustled down the hill. The rain started once I hit the beach and luckily I got into the hut before it really started to come down. I dropped all my stuff, lit a fire in the stove (this hut was less crowded and alot cooler vibe). I then watched as a bunch of bedragled looking trampers walked down the beach and into the hut. My crew of Americans finally got in with two of them suffering from blisters on their feet. Everyone was soaked so we all stoked the fire and the place heated up nicely. I had dinner with a really interesting guy from South Africa (I have met a bunch of "SAFIS" and it is quickly becoming another destination that I want to go to) and then we all spent the night playing cards and drinking coffee with a good shot of Jimmy Bean. There was another tidal crossing over Awaroa estuary the next morning and with low tide at 8am we went to bed early, listening to the storm drumming on the roof.

Day Three - 13 Km
I again woke up early and had a nice long breakfast, the storm showed no sign of slowing down and it was absolutly pouring outside, with the palms swaying in the wind. I got the Americans up and reminded them about the crossing this morning. I watched from the hut as some other trampers crossed and it turns out that the river that runs into the estuary was flooding from all the rain over night, instead of being really shallow at low tide, it was over waist height for most of the crossing with a decent current. I decided that I better go right away instead of waiting as the tide came back in. Just as I left the warden ran in and warned everyone that if they were gonna cross they had to do it RIGHT NOW. This got everyone into high gear and they all set about packing up as I left the hut. I pushed through the storm over to the edge of the water and then in. I was pretty shocked to learn that unlike all the water I had been swimming in, this was FREEZING and in the driving rain and wind of the storm, it wasnt the most pleasant swim of the trip. It took me around half an hour to make it across the water, it was almost the width of the crossing and the majority of it was just above my waist and with enough current to keep you on your toes the whole way. I finally got across and put on my dry socks and boots. I walked on through the rain, up through the rainforest and back to another beach before getting into Totoranui where I had lunch and waited for the others. Totaranui is the pull out for most trampers and there was a few people out (not many due to the weather) getting picked up by the water taxis in the surf.
After lunch we pushed on back up the trail. When I planned my trip after talking to the DOC officer, I decided to go up to Wharawharangi (pronounced Fair-a-fair-angi)instead of just to Totoranui. The reason behind this was that everyone just does the standard Marahau to Totoranui trip and the area up by WharaWharangi was supposed to be amazing. It turned out to be a great plan with the trail becoming more of a trail then a road and weaving up through some of the more amazing forests that we had seen. The storm finally blew through about an hour after we got to the hut and we had the evening alone (we were the only people at the hut). The hut itself was actually an old farmhouse from when the area was used for farming (I cant imagine trying to clear this area.... it has only been regenerating since 1976 and it is complete jungle... everything grows SO fast here) which was really cool.

Day Four - 7.5 Km
For the last day, we had all day to make 7.5 km so it was nice to able to just relax. I went on alone and checked out Seperation point, it is a seal colony as well as a shag colony (birds) and you can go and climb through the rocks right with the seals. There are hundreds of seals lounging around on the rocks and I found one and started snapping pictures of him, he was really lazy and just watched my for awhile but then decided he'd had enough paparazzi treatment and turned and started barking.... I got a great picture of that and then quickly retreated away leaving him in peace.
After Seperation point I poked around some of the beaches, got eaten alive by the sandflys and the sat down for lunch on my own private beach. I was joined by a Kiwi guy who turned out to work in a few of the environmentalist organizations in ChristChurch, it was interesting to hear about all the different plant forms around Abel Tasmen and we compared pictures before heading seperate ways. I continued along until finally returning to Totaranui where I met up with the Americans and we waited for our Water Taxi. Mine came a little early (for some reason we booked the same time, from the same place and I got a different boat), it was a really cool Maori guy who after asking if anyone on the boat got sea sick (none of the three of us did), smiled and threw down the throttle. I was really suprised how fast the boat could go as we absolutly CAINED it across the water. After picking up one more group at Bark Bay hut we went over and checked some seals out at an island and took some pictures before returning to Marahau. It was really cool to see the whole park from the water, it took us an hour of flying through the surf to get back to the car and it was neat to see all the beaches I had been hiking down over the past couple days. When we arrived back to Marahau, instead of unloading at a dock, they load the boat onto a trailer and pull it back to the parking lot by tractor.... right down the main street of Marahau. It is the first time I have ever ridden in a boat down the street, it was definitly a cool way to get back to the taxi office.

We loaded all our gear in the van and drove back to Nelson. Booked a night at the same hostel and everyone put in some money to make a great dinner. We had huge burgers, a great salad and some homefries, everything tasted amazing and it was a great thing to do after 4 days on the trail.

I am spending some time around Nelson today just updating and doing laundry and tomorow I am going to head south towards Christchurch where I am going to sell the van. I only have 15 days left in New Zealand before heading off to Fiji and it seems like I only just got here. I think I might stop in Kaikoura for the night on the way down as I have heard alot of great things and then hopefully get a hostel downtown ChCh so I can explore the city as well as sell the van.
Hope everyone is doing great, keep sending the awsome emails and Happy Halloween.
cheers,
-Jesse

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When I got home the boys all wanted to go riding, so we pulled a bunch of stuff out of my van, through the bikes in and drove to the local trails. We got a few runs in down the DH track... mostly just rocks and steep sections but a few fun drops, it was just nice to be back on a bike. After riding, we were starved and got back to an awsome roast lamb one of the guys had done, he is from a farm so it was one of his from home.

The next morning, with all the boys off to study, I headed north. I drove up to Mt. Cook, which is the highest mountain in NZ and spent the night. I got a really cool day hike in before bed, basicly ran up the trail so I would get back before the sun went down. It was up past a bunch of lakes and finally to the lake at the base of Mt. Cook looking up at the glacier. Walking back I watched the sun set over the mountains before having a quick dinner.

The next day I drove up through to the Lewis pass, it looks very similar to the Banff area and even had some really nice hotsprings to stop at. I spent some time soaking in the pools and Japanese spa before finding a small campground by a river to stop for the night. I woke up pretty early in the morning and couldnt get back to sleep so I finished driving into Nelson where I am now. I spent the day with one of my mates from Wanaka, Hamish, we just spent the day wandering the beach, throwing a football (YES, a football... not even a rugby ball) and checking out the girls (because its what you do at the beach right? and for some reason there is more girls here then in sleepy little wanaka... heh, gotta love ski towns).

I am staying at the same hostel I stayed in when I was in Nelson the first time. It is the best hostel I have ever seen and definitly worth the second pass. Complete with pool, hot-tub, hammocks and beach volleyball.... as well as free breakfast and dinner. I figured that after the last couple days in the van except for Dunedin, that for my birthday I would treat myself and stay here. After tomorow night I move up for my other birthday treat care of my wonderful parents. I am going to do the Abel Tasmen trek, a 4 day, coastal walk through some gorgious golden sand beaches. I will update after I get back and I will definitly have a tonne of pictures to show.

Hope everything is wonderful back home. Keep emailing (or start if you havent already) its always great to get news from home.
cheers,
-Jesse

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I decided to stay the night in a place called Colac Bay, just before the town of Riverton. It is a nice open bay about 8-10 km long, with a few houses spread along through the hills, but mostly (as most of this part of NZ is...) sheep padocks. I took a back road that winded its way down to the beach and soon found a place that looked absolutly great. The beach is all little stones that are smalled then pebbles but not quite sand, there was also a bunch of tracks from trucks all along the beach. After a quick walk out onto the sand to check it out, I decided that in my expert opinion the sand was nice and stable, and I could drive out onto the first dune so to have the optimum location to camp beside the sea. I jumped back into the van, drove down the path onto the beach, and made it about 10 feet out of the planned 20 before I realised that I could very well be fooling myself. I opened the door, looked back and realized that my expert opinion had landed me with both rear wheels dug straight down to the axles into the beach. Now, you can picture me: after a day of adventuring into the fiords, losing a great long winded account of said adventures and then driving all the way down to the south coast... I was a little tired at this point and not in the sort of "digging your van out of the sand" type mood.

By this time it was about 9 pm, the sun was setting and I realized that the storm that brought all the high winds and waves in Milford was definitly headed my way. As the wind and waves grew stronger and larger I wondered if maybe my van was indeed not in the most ideal spot to be stuck at this point in time. The more I pondered this the more I decided that it might be a good time to start trying to unstick the van from its present location by the sea. I got my trusty avi shovel (I knew there was a reason I brought that down to NZ) and started digging... I dug two deep holes, and then got a bunch of logs and built a ramp so that I would have purchase as I drove backwards out onto firm land. I jumped back in, started it up and..... no, my wonderful rear wheel drive van stuck it self mercilessly deeper into the sand. I tried again,.... and again, but still to no avail. I finally resigned to the fact that I alone was not going to remove the van from its present location.

Now imagine this, its about 10pm by this time... dark, oh, and there is a wonderful storm blowing in from the tasmanian sea to the west. I decided that it was time to swallow my pride and ask for help. I looked around and decided the nearest light on top of the hill was my best bet and I started walking.

It took me another 20 minutes to walk all the way up the road to the nearest farmhouse, and upon getting there, I was presented by a "beware, dogs running free on property" sign. I called a few times and finally decided to try my luck. I walked up to the farmhouse, and rang the doorbell. It was answered by a small older lady who looked, well, curious at the site of a sopping wet young man at her doorstep, in the middle of the country, in the middle of the storm. I immediatly appoligised for bothering her so late and told her of my problem. She then smiled, and invited me in. First thing she did was make a big pot of tea for me and then called the neighbours to see if they could help as her husband was out of town and their truck was broken. Finally she found someone who could help and after thanking her very much I walked back down to my van.

Sure enough about 15 minutes later I saw a light coming down the road. Around the corner rumbled a tractor and perched ontop was definitly my stereotypical view of the classic kiwi farmer. Complete with flannel jacket and cap, he rolled up and jumped down off the tractor. I again appoligised for being so stupid, he just replied "no worries mate, happens all the time". Quickly attached a rope to the back of the van, and after putting it reverse, popped it neatly out of the sand and back onto solid ground. I thanked him and asked him if I could atleast buy him a beer tomorow, he declined, jumped back up onto the tractor and bumped off into the night.

I then decided that I would not move the van, crawl into bed and call it a night before I became any more wet. The night turned into quite the storm and the van rocked in the wind all night. Even the next morning, the wind was still blowing quite hard with the occasional spattering of rain.

I got out of bed, got behind the wheel and hoped the day would bring a little better weather. I drove down through Riverton and Invercargil, skipping the latter as it is notorious around NZ for being home of the "bogen". It took me awhile to figure out what a bogen was, everyone just told me they were white trash.... basicly a bogen is the Kiwi equivalant to a redneck. The drive around in oldy cars or big pickups (atleast big in kiwi standards), rock obscene mullets etc.

As soon as you get past Invercargil, you enter what is officially known as the Catlins. Basicly it is the far souther tip of the South Island, and is full of rolling sheep fields, amazing coastal rainforests and incredible coastlines. I spent the day cruising up and down dirt sideroads checking out absolutly everything I could find. There were lighthouses, beaches and tonnes and tonnes of wildlife. I saw Sea lions seemingly everywhere, and more birds then I could find names for. I went to Slope point: the southern most piece of the south island. I also went to Colac bay, which is said to be one of the best preserved petrified forests in the world. upon first glance it doesnt seem like much, but the more time spent picking through the rocks and tidepools on the beach, the more I started picking out. There were literally remnants of logs, and even stumps with rings still intact. Once I found out how to look for them there were fossils absolutly everywhere apperently dating back to the jurassic period.

After checking out beaches all day, I decided to check out Parakanui Falls. I almost didnt check them out because after the waterfall overload of the last few days, I figured it wouldnt be that interesting. I am happy I did take the time though, unlike the raging cascades of Milford, Parakanui was calm and tranquil and even the incredible green walk down through the rainforest was fasinating. As I got back to the car, I realized it would be soon time to be looking for a campsite, turns out Parakanui Bay was just up the road and I decided to give it a go. After another jaunt up another crazy dirt backroad, I pulled into what is probably one of the most amazing bays I have ever seen. Bordered on one side by huge fiordlike bluffs, and on all others by either amazing coastal rainforest or pounding surf. An awsome golden sandy beach with tonnes of different rocks to be explored, and even a nice flat spot of grass, close (but not too close) to the beach to park my van. Best thing of all was I had the whole place to myself, not another soul around.... this in mind, I unpacked and became pretty happy at my own piece of paradise.

This was not to be however.

I might have skipped Invercargil, but I had not escaped from the notorious BOGENS.

They arrived one or two cars at a time, but slowly an armada of bogens took up camp on the other side of the beach from me. They brought all the things that make rednecks happy: beer, music, gas and dirtbikes, plus some surfboards. At first it was ok, they just ran out an surfed but the second they brought out the dirtbikes I started packing my stuff. I almost left apart from the fact that it was going to be a bit of a haul to find a new campsite and it was already time to make dinner. The night was thankfully saved by three cars not filled with drunken Bogens. The first two where three students down from Dunedin, and the last with two girls from Ohio who had obviously never been camping in their lives before. We all ended up sitting around the fire, talking and listening to our neighbours across the beach go about their drunken antics. At obut ne point it looked as if they lit a car on fire but I think someone must have just thrown some diesel on the fire or something. The girls were a little nervous to be camped close to them, but we all decided that they were harmless. They even calmed down by about 11 and I didnt wake up at all through the night. In the morning, with all the neighbours safely hungover in bed, I did some beachcombing before saying goodbye to everyone and getting back to the road.

Today was pretty mellow, I checked out Nugget point, which is a lighthouse on the Dunedin Side of the Catlins, but it was packed with tourists (unlike the solitude of the rest of the catlins). I took a quick look around and then kept driving. I got into Dunedin at about 2 and met up with my friend Tom. I skied with Tom a bunch through the season and I decided to take him up on his offer to crash at his place in Dunedin for a bit. Turns out he lives in the classic student digs: a gigantic old house, with 6 other guys and the place always has a cool vibe. Its must be an old mansion because its absolutly huge but he says they dont pay too much rent so its all good.

I think I am going to stay tomorow night as well before making my way northward. I am still undecided weather to stay in Christchurch and try to send all my ski stuff home, or to skip that and carry through Arthurs pass and up to Nelson and Abel Tasmen. After 4 days alone, camping in my van, staying in a rowdy house has been a real eye opener and I dont know if I want to carry on back into the city.

Anyway, Thats it for adventures for now, I am going to upload some pictures of Milford Sound as well as the Catlins. I hope everyones enjoying my new updates... send emails, they are always muchly appreciated.
cheers,
-Jesse

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So here I am, on the road again in search of adventure and experience on the South Island of New Zealand. After spending two days saying goodbye to everyone I had come to know in Wanaka, I was finally on the road. It was a fitting departure from Wanaka, after a week of variable weather between rain and wind to sun, I left on a day of calm with the sun shinning bright over the lake.

I made my way over the Crown Range to Queenstown where I stocked up on provisions and diesel for Waka Tui. I then headed south through the iconic green rolling hills of NZ, filled with sheep. I cruised south until Te Anau where I got on the Milford road and headed towards the darkening horizon. Soon I was into a driving rainstorm and a lush canopy of rainforest. The road to milford winds its way up a glacial valley, filled with misty viewpoints, thousands of streams and tonnes of gorgious pocket lakes. I made my way up until the last campground before the pass and decided that was where I would spend the night. At the head of a small lake named Lake Gunn, I made dinner looking up through the vail of rain to the ghostly silouettes of the mountains towering above.

I awoke early this morning to more rain drumming on the roof. After a quick breaky, I returned to the road up the pass. As it winds upwards, the lush misty rainforest gives way to an incredible alpine valley. During the winter, this stretch of highway is one of the most avalanche prone sections of road in the road. The average is about one slide a day, and a full time clearing crew keeps it clear as much as they can. This section of the road has a striking resemblance to Rogers Pass back in Canada, with a windy road hewn out of rock into an area that looks almost impassable. The only difference between the two is that the Milford pass has vertical rock walls stretching into the mist, and at the top, these walls converge to create a solid and impenatrable wall. The road seems to wind straight towards this wall until right at the top, when the road crests and flattens out. At this point you plunge into the darkness that is the Homer Tunnel.

The Homer Tunnel was "completed" in the 30's, but still doesnt have any lights inside and has a strange cave-like feeling due to its rough, dripping walls. Thankfully I drove through at an early hour, because the tunnel is barely wide enough to pass a car going the next direction (not to mention the hundreds of tour buses that ply the road everyday from Queenstown and Te Anau). Finally after over a kilometer underground, the tunnel imerges back into the daylight on the other side of the pass. Again, the road winds down through an incredible valley towards a lush rainforest and with the rain pouring down there was more water then I have ever seen before. The rock walls were covered in thousands of waterfalls ranging from little trickles to huge torrents, everywhere I looked there was another cascade. There are also hundreds of streams and rivers that crisscross the valley and the road crosses too many bridges to count, and everyone goes over another torrent of white water.

The only time I have ever seen this much water, was the great storm that flooded southern Alberta last year. Every turn down the road brought another bout of deja vu from driving home in that storm. At every point there was water somewhere and alot of the time streams flowed beside, under and even OVER the highway.

Finally after pushing through the rainforest and the constant downpour I finally found myself looking into Milford Sound. I threw on my rainjacket, grabbed my camera and ran to the cruise center. At first I was a little timid about taking a cruise, at $65 a cruise, it takes a pretty big bite out of my budget, where $700 nz is supposed to see me all the way until I leave NZ in a month. I talked myself over these worries because this could be the only time I see Milford Sound and I have heard time and time again how impressive it is out on the water. I chose my specific cruise out of the 5-6 different companies plying their trade because it seemed not only the best value but the most interesting trip.

Soon we boarded our boat, an 8m aluminium craft that although wasnt as flash as some of the big cats the other companies were using, looked alot more ocean going. My choice of cruise was validated almost right away, our crew of two (including captain) was extremely knowledgable as well as excited to show us around. They also had a very nice policy that you could go where ever you wished on the boat, and as a result I spent alot of time up in the pilothouse with the captian learning not only about the workings of the ship, but about the various geology, flora and fauna of the fiords. I also spent alot of time getting thoroughly soaked by the rain standing out on the deck of the boat trying in vain to take pictures of everything. Our captain was incredible, bringing us in close to the vertical walls of the sound, once no more then a foot away from the cliffs. We were so close that everyone thought the surf would smash us to pieces on the rocks, but the captain held us steady and gave us an amazing look at the rock formations as well as an up close and personal look at a small family of fur seals.

I cannot properly describe Milford sound. It is similar to other areas in Canada such as the Queen Charlotte Islands and Lake O'hara in that it has to be personally seen to truly comprehend the immense beauty. The vertical rock walls tower up to 1500 meters straight above the raging surf, with the rain these walls become covered in thousands of cascading waterfalls. When the sun is shining there are only 4 permanent waterfalls in Milford Sound, after a rainfall however (oh, and by the way it is one of the rainiest places on earth, it rains an average of 200 days a year and deposits almost 8M of rain per year!) the water seems to come from everywhere, creating almost one big waterfall for kilometers.

We couldnt venture out to the lighthouse on the Tasman sea due to rough weather conditions, but we did have a chance to see some fur seals, as well as a Fiordland Yellow Crested Penguin (the first penguin I have seen in the wild). The worst thing about Milford sound, including the road to it, is that it is utterly impossible to take enough pictures. I took literally hundreds of pictures and didnt begin to document what I saw. Luckily I burned all my pictures on my camera to CD before I left Wanaka, I had a full memory card and used almost all of it in two days of traveling.

I am now back in Te Anau, from here I am going to venture further south into the Catlins Forest Park. This is the souther tip of the south island, there isnt too many people this far south and I think I will spend the next 2 days camping, taking pictures and exploring on my way along the coast. I have heard alot about the scenery as well as abundant wildlife along the coast, so get ready for more inspired journalism of the voyage. I am glad to be back on the road, and it will be interesting as this time I am traveling alone with a very small budget, so unfortunatly there wont be as many adrenilen filled adventures. I love hearing from everyone at home, hopefully you will all enjoy once again living vicariously through my travels.
cheers,
-Jesse

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I moved out of Bullock Creek a week ago and have been living with a girl from work since then. It made me appreciate how much fun Bullock Creek was to live at, plus the 20 min walk to town (yes I walk it instead of drive...) can get a little annoying. That said, there is something to having my own room for the first time in 5 months!

Thats pretty much it on this end, there is always too much to write but I try. Spring is in full force in NZ, Wanaka was 25' the other day, there is a tonne of Ducklings everywhere and flowers overflowing out of gardens and trees. It is nice to get some sun, I am trying to get a tan before Fiji (10 months of winter is tough on the tan.
Anyways, keep posted here, with my travels I am going to try and get back into the same routine as before with updating this and letting everyone know what is going on.
Bon Voyage,
-Jesse

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Thats pretty much on the Ski front... pretty much all I do these days is work and ski. Last weekend was the big Base party, which was a great time (well sunday wasnt such a great time... but thats to be expected). Right now I am just trying to iron out plans for the rest of my journeys. Right now my plan is to go to Australia for 2 weeks, hit Fiji for a few weeks and then get back home to Calgary for December. After spending christmas at home and taking some time to see my friends I have decided to try to make the move to Whistler, after hearing where everyone is going this year, I think it makes the most sense if I want to have a great year riding with friends. These plans totally rely on how much money I have left at the end of the season, but I think if I try hard, then they should work.

Anyway, I think thats it for now... I will try (key word try) to update more often, especially once the season here is over and I start to travel again. I really appreciate everyones emails and please keep them up as its great to hear what is happening back home.
cheers,
-Jesse

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This morning Joel and I woke up, packed our gear and had some breaky in the kitchen, then came back to the room and kicked (literally, as well as many other things to wake them up) our British comrades out of their deep and apperently comfortable slumber. We then packed the van (no easy task with 5 guys and all our gear, including ski stuff for Jay and I) and then bump started Wakatui, which although better after her checkup, still has some trouble getting going in the morning when shes cold. We then headed to the ferry terminal and lined up, right away we were told that there was a storm in the Cook Straight so we would be a little late. So after finally boarding the ferry, and getting underway we headed up to the top deck to watch Wellington slip away. Almost right away the captain was on the intercom warning people about the weather, reminding us that we could get seasickness tablets if needed and where the sickbags are, we were excited but figured it would be alot of nothing like it probably would be back home had something like that happened. We talked to one of the girls at the info desk, and learned that the highest sea that the ferry is allowed to sail is 6m, and today, the seas were anywhere from 4.5m-6m and would be pretty big when we were out in the straight. With this knowledge we wandered out to the deck to watch as we went through the narrows, and watch as the seas grew larger the further we went out. We saw various beaches on the outside of Wellington harbour getting slammed with surf, and then when we turned into Cook Straight, the show really started. We were standing on the 7th deck so we were about 100 feet off the water, and as we were sitting in front of the windows closest to the bow (no walkways on the front of the ship) we watched as the seas crashed over the bow of the boat, and sprayed our windows. The boys were all having a great time as we wandered around the rolling boat, were we were seemingly the only ones who werent grey with motion sickness, we grabbed some food from the cafe on board and watched the show, you could even sit on the deck in the back of the boat and get soaked with the spray coming off the bow, I have never seen anything like it before. The boat washed all over the place and as it would ride up a large wave, it would slam into the trough of the next, jarring the boat and causing a huge spray, to the continuing sorrow of those bot feeling so great, yet to the joy and cheers of those lucky few of us who were having a great time. After 2 hrs of adventure and the continuing jokes about pirates "ARRRRRR ye big a great brew of a storm, where be my rum drinks?" and such, we finally made it into the narrows approaching Picton, an idilic little coastal town where after a quick lunch of fish and chips (actually, it was probably the worst fish and chips i had ever had, total crap especially becuase the last one i had was amazing from fishermans warf in victoria) we headed out to Nelson, where we found an absolutly incredible hostel, where I am now. We found our hostel randomly through a tourbook, and it turns out it is by far the best we have seen yet, $20 which is a great price, and you get free soup and bread for dinner, free breakfast, a pool,hot tub, sauna and even hammocks and a beach volleyball court under palm trees. It is gonna be pretty tough to leave, but we are gonna cruise down on our way to Wanaka early tomorow morning.
Again hope all is well at home and please send emails... especially if you havent done so yet all ready, its hard to keep writing these sometimes pretty long updates and I dont even know who is actually reading them. anyway, take it easy... have fun,
-Jesse

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After letting us enjoy our awsome cookies, and chat about the various things we had done, the guides gathered the group and got us all tubes. Again, I got nominated to go first (the guide had some crazy idea that I wanted to do all the scary things first, I wonder where she got that?), So I got put on this edge, were its about a 15 foot drop into the water, even though you cant really see it. Your told to jump, and land ass first on your innertube in the black water below, course I didnt need any convincing, and landed with a satisfying bang as my innertube hit the water. After which, everyone pulls themselves along ropes, and otherwise paddles a ways upstream, its really hard to tell distance of course because its so dark, but after awhile, the duie joins us all up as a train, and pulls us downstream through the river, all you need to do is relax and look at thousands, and thousands of glowworms. It is really hard to describe what a glowworm cave is like, they look like stars, but some are really close, and your moving through the cave so you come into these huge chambers that have literally thousands of them.

Time is a strange thing underground, just when I thought I had just gotten in, I checked my watch and it had already been 2 hours. The float under the glowworms was absolutly amazing, so it was kinda sad when we had to get off the tubes for the next section of our tour. Although that said, as cool as the tour was, I was just excited for the rest. This time we left the tubes behind, jumped off a small waterfall (only 4 feet) and started floating along the river (just like back home down the elbow, except in a cave, and in wetsuits). Similar to the tubing, except you float on your back, with your feet in front, and you go through some pretty small passages... some with only about a foot of room above the water for your head, all the while being pushed along by a nice current. One of the Japanese girls had trouble with small spaces, and this section was starting to get her nervous, so she started asking lots of questions. Which also included "are there any fish in here?" to which the guide replyed "do you want to know now, or after we are out?", he said this because there is a very large amount of cave eels down there, we knew this because we had checked out the info center the day before, but I didnt realize they could get up to 2m long!.... that said they are perfectly harmless, even if they decided to bite, their teeth are only 2mm long, and our wetsuits were 5mm, although lemme tell you guys, it felt VERY strange when one swam past or brushed against you.... I had to tell myself a few times that the suckers wouldnt do anything.

Anyway, back to the caving part, we finished our float, and had another little break as Hop explained the Maori importances of the cave that we were in, they even buried a chief in one of the chambers years and years ago. After we were done that, and our little snack of hot juice and chocolate, we started up what became my clear favourite portion of our trip, the CLIMB. We started up another small chamber (too small to walk, you had to crouch and sometimes crawl) with a tonne of water coming through.... the guides said this was one of the most fun times to go through because of the huge stream. At one point Louisa the guide turns to me and asks my favorite question "you want to do the normal route, or that challenging one?" which truly, isnt really a question. After this, I can say I am definitly not scared of tight places... the challanging route was through a passage where there was literally about 2 inches of room between the roof, and the water, and the whole passage was a little over a foot high, the idea is that you lay on your back, with your face out of the water and pull yourself along the roof. The whole thing lasts for about 10m, and then its back to the same passage as everyone else took, there were about 4 of us who did the "challenging" section, and all were very excited about it. After this, the guides told everyone that the next section was, "full on" (a very kiwi thing to say), meaning that because of the amount of water coming through, it was kinda sketchy, and anyone who didnt want to do it, no worries, there was another, easier, route out. The "Full on" route, consisted of two waterfalls, the first being straight up a chimney, that you had to climb up, then crawl along another passageway until you came out in a nice little room where you could sit and wait for the group. Finally we emerged out of the last waterfall into the stream above.

When we got out of the cave, it was already dark out, so we walked out of this incredible rainforest valley at night with our headlamps, and watching the stars.... it was definitly a fitting end to an AWSOME day of exploring these amazing caves. If anyone reading this decides to go to NZ and doesnt mind small spaces... do yourself a favour and get our caving, because it is WELL worth it.

We all jumped into the van after we had showered and had our fill of free soup and bagels.(Im thinking about naming her angie, although i still have yet to hear any suggestions from you guys.... toyota lite-ace thats silver... come on guys!) and hit the road for Rotorua, where I am writing from right now. The city is pretty cool, its built on a huge network of hotsprings, which means that our hostel has a hotsprings pool, and that there are tonnes of amazing gardens in the town, but it also means that the whole town reeks of sulpher... it smells almost like they were setting of fireworks for days on end. Today we are going to check out the street luge down a local mtn, and over the next two days we are going whitewater sledging (swimming down a class 5+ river with a glorified flutterboard) and then whitewater rafting (I wasnt going to go whitewater rafting, because of how cheap i can do it back home, but Mike told me about this place... the famous Kaituna river... it has the highest commercially rafted vertical drop in the world (a 7m waterfall!).

Again, please keep sending your awsome emails, and everyone keep thinking about a suitable name for my awsome van.
Hope all is well back home...
-Jesse

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So now we are just hanging out in Waitomo, waiting for the waters to lower, we have actually been in the sun most of the day with just scattered showers, and the raft center said we should be on for tomorow. Waitomo is totally what I would expect for the interior of the North Island in NZ, rolling hills, filled with sheep, and super windy roads. If I can get this stupid computer to read my card, I will update some pictures, it really is gorgious.
hope everyone is well,
keep sending your great emails, and dont forget we still need a van name.
cya,
-Jesse

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After negotiating downtown traffic back to the ACB, I found Mark and we all packed our stuff, booked various crazy and awsome activities (I wont spoil it now, you can stay tuned to find out what they are... i just promise you wont be disappointed), and then said our goodbyes to people around the hostel. After having some pizza, finding the requisite car kit so we could listen to music on our bumpin stereo (for 20 yrs old... it works wonders), and relaxing by our van with John laughing at it and us... "Now Jesse, when you turn left up that road there.... remember, your on the LEFT" and "well, I guess we will cya tomorow.... pushing your van up queen st." bloody brits.... but after all this, it was kinda hard to leave the ACB, it really is a cool place, with some cool people (I would like to say international people, but 95% of them are brits). Even with that though, it was nice to get on the road.... with Johnny Cash blaring (I thought it was suitable) we hit the open highway, in search for adventure, and everything that came our way.

So this leaves me in Paihia, We had hoped to camp, but it was dark when we got in so we stayed at another backpackers hostel. This morning is kinda crappy weather, rainy and supposed to be high-winds later today, and similar tomorow, so my plans of sitting on a sunny beach seemed to be postponed. Although that said, it really is a pretty little town, nice waterfront walkway by the pounding surf, with palm trees and everything. Im even sitting in a nice little cafe, sipping on strong European coffee, listening to the surf as I write this.... I have decided that Im not having fun at all

So there we go, I hope you have enjoyed my update, I will try to update again with pictures of my van. Please keep sending emails, it is always nice to hear what is going on back home with everyone. I also have a challenge for you all, I need a name for her... Its a Toyota, and like any worthy transport, it must be a girls name.

Cya,
-Jesse

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Anyway, speaking of brits, Im entirly convinced that this country is full of them... I have met one canadian, zero kiwis and a TONNES of brits, my room mates in the hostel (totally awsome, downtown, on the 6th floor, and we have a balcony bar literally 50 feet from our room.... dont worry mom, its not a crazy place, but I cant complain with a nice beer, and FREE smokeys every night for dinner) are all brits, two of them are really cool to hang out with... two hours in the country and I was sitting on the waterfront having a free beer at johns bar where he works as a bartender.

aright, Im gonna go chill in my room for a bit... its only about 7:00 pm here, but I havent slept in close to 30 hrs.... so im kinda tired. I will try to update this tomorow with more stories and adventures.
-Jesse

ps. In Auckland, crosswalks are totally different, a buzzer goes off and EVERYONE goes, and completely fills the intersection because you can walk where you want to go, even if its a diagonal.... VERY weird the first time you do it, but still a cool system.

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Other then the fear of getting nailed in both Vancouver, and Fiji with charges for overweight baggage, I think Im actually ready to go. If my amount of sleep (or lack there of) has anything to account for, I think I have finally realized that I am leaving tomorow and that I have one more night in Canada.

Stay tuned for more, Ill try to update when I get into Auckland and I will be able to fill everyone in on how sweet talking the nice checkin people goes to allow me to get away with weighting down the aircraft (I figure it cant be any harder then the FutureShop warrenty people right? )

So long for now, have a good May Long weekend,
-Jesse

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