Ow, my butt hurts

We are back in Wanaka, but this time we are on bikes!  We rode about 35 miles from Queenstown to Cromwell yesterday.  Riding loaded bikes was a new experience for us all and I think we all nearly took a spill doing routine things.  Skyler almost ate it trying to stand up and pedal, I almost fell trying to maneuver from the sidewalk to the street, and Lucas fell into a parked car.  Overall, it was a good start. 

 Satisfied with my pack job

 Skyler trying to pick up some ladies

"Beat it kid!" Lucas scoweled, as some poor child asked us where we were going.

We heard there was some rain coming in the evening and into the next day but all we got was just a fabulous sunset.  We just stopped at a rest area to camp with what seemed like 20 camper vans (I think you are allowed to camp anywhere there is a public toilet).  As we layed down in our tent to rest our aching legs, our close neighbors decided it was a good idea to blast their German rap music--which coincidentally had the same melody as Jingle Bells.  We tried to make some passive aggressive comments like "Gosh I enjoy camping in silence" and "man I am tired and ready to sleep!" 

Super Size for epic Sunset!


We were initially stoked when the wind picked up and drove everyone inside their cars, but it turned out the wind was louder than their music.  The rest of the night we layed in half sleep, waking up whenever the wind would collapse the right side of the tent on Skyler.  If he didn't push the tent back out into it's normal position the rain fly would make a sound that accurately replicated a WWII warplane starting its engine.

So with sore butts and droopy eyes we started our day towards Wanaka.  The first hour or so we had to battle a mighty head wind.  On this trip I haven't encountered anything as demoralizing as having to struggle to pedal downhill.  I found myself cursing and taunting the wind "Oh is that it?! Well good I needed a work out anyway!"  I looked on with disgust as some slick roadbikers flew by with their carbon fiber bikes and tailwind.  Finally the wind died down and about 10km outside of Wanaka it started to pour.  I welcomed the change surprisingly.  Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I found it motivated me to bike faster so I could stay warm.  Thoroughly exhausted we are all trying to stay awake for dinner. 

We decided to treat ourselves to a hostel for warm showers and to keep everything dry for tonight's rain.  The next several days we will probably be camping.

As promised here is the first of many of spandex photos! Haha

Just a routine water break on the side of the highway

More Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/

Sore Feet

IMG_1317
Originally uploaded by bricedahlmeier

After about 14 days of tramping, it seems we are heading into our last leg of our journey... the bike tour. Our feet are tired so now we're going to give our butts a go. We just finished two tramps--the Gillespie Pass and the Cascade Saddle to the Rhees track. Both hikes were incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately my camera battery ran out so I don't have many pictures to share, but thankfully Skyler and Lucas stepped up to the plate and took some great photos. You can check them out here...

Lucas: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57181626@N08/

Skyler: http://theadventuresofskyler.blogspot.com/

Skyler wrote a nice post about our trip and I'm feeling lazy so I recommend reading his blog, but here is a little blurb.

Gillespie pass was a very scenic hike. It is also a very well maintained trail and therefore crowded. The huts (which were basically hostels, with pristine toilets, running water, cooking areas and covered patios) have bunks for twenty people. When we talked with the warden he said that the hut we were headed to had nearly 50 people sleeping there the previous night! Luckily we were sleeping in our tent.

The mountains here are absolutely awe inspiring. It continually amazes me how up close and personal they are. You can be casually walking through a grassy meadow and just a few hundred meters to your left and right are sheer exposed walls of rock. They are so close you can't fit the thing in the frame of your camera. They are incredible.

The cascade saddle was the hardest climb we've done on the trip (I think it was around 1200 meters). The first hour sucked because you can't stop thinking "shit I have to do this for like 4 hours." After that though you start to feel like you're making progress. We found a great camping spot on top of the saddle where we had a frigid waterfall to "shower" in. Luckily the weather was gorgeous so we had some incredible vistas of Mt. Aspiring and a few different glaciers. The next day we got to hike alongside a glacier and stand right at the base of it. I was imagining pristine glacial melt--something you would see on the label of a overpriced water bottle--but it was incredibly muddy, nasty water.

At the end of the hike we got a ride into Glenorchy by a nice oil painter where I finally got to air out my feet. I am hoping that my biking shoes don't keep rubbing on my blisters that have been hanging around for about two weeks now. It seems as soon as they start healing up I open them up by hiking all day with wet feet.

The weather forecast is looking bleak for the next few days, so we will most likely have a rough start to our bike ride. As soon as it is sunny though, be ready for some sweet pictures of bike spandex and beards/chest hair!

Swimming on the Dusky

We got off of the Dusky track about two days ago.  We ended up cutting out a two day section of the hike so that we wouldn't get stuck on the track (and everyone said that this part was the least spectacular of the whole trail anyways). 

The night before we left it rained four inches in Te Anua.  We decided to go because it seemed it was impossible to avoid heavy rain.  As we got to the lake the next day, the wind was whipping at probably around 40 mph or so.  It was frigid and we were getting on this little fishing boat to get to the trailhead.  The skipper told us to hold on as it was going to be rough.  He wasn't kidding.  As we charged through oncoming wind-waves, water would spray well over our heads and then change direction as the wind caught it.  When I wasn't thinking "what am I doing here" there were some incredible vistas of waterfalls and ribbons of rain falling against a dramatic backdrop of mountains.  I would've took pictures but my hands were glued to my seat.

Everyone we talked to about the Dusky told us to prepare for mud so I bought trash bags to fashion some gaters for my trail running shoes.  Within five minutes I realized what a silly idea that was as we were literally hiking up a creek.  Before we got on the trail Skyler and Lucas were bagging on the hut system in New Zealand--all of the major tracks have huts that you stay in, some are mandatory and cost money.  After our first day of hiking it was obvious that the huts were necessary.  Every bit of flat land was covered in water.  It did make the tramp a different experience since we were sharing the huts with the same 3-6 people everynight, but luckily everyone was friendly and in good spirits.

Our second night in I hardly got any sleep because the rain was so incredibly loud on the plexi-glass roofing(or some similar material).  There was lightning and thunder but you could hardly hear it because it was raining so hard.  The next day hike is the one that is in danger of flooding but we thought "hey the fifty year old women are going for it... it can't be that bad."  After a gorgeous day of hiking through lakes and soggy grass we climbed down tree roots for a couple hours.  We could see from above that the Loch Maree was in fact flooded, but we didn't see the older women in the emergency shelter so we figured they got across alright.  We had been told that we might have to wade up to our waist to get to the walkwire bridge to cross the river.  I was in back trying to take pictures when I heard Lucas yell "I'm swimming!"  I didn't really believe him but I figured I should put my camera away anyways.  As I came around the corner I saw Skyler swimming for the walkwire.  As I watched Skyler climb the ladder to the walkwire bridge I noticed a strange log floating against the current towards me.  I then realized it had eyes.  Here was a three foot eel swimming directly towards me.  As I squealed "There's an &*^$!ing eel!" my first thought was, 'I hope this isn't an electric eel' as it rubbed against my leg very near my special parts.  I remembered that there wasn't anything that can kill you in NZ but I wasn't taking any chances as I dove into the water with my fully loaded pack on my back.  It was a slow yet very intense struggle.  The current was pushing me inch by inch away from the ladder as I moved inch by inch with my power doggy paddle.  What relief it was to grasp the ladder with my outstretched arm.  The last thing I wanted was to be that stupid foreigner who tried to swim across Loch Maree and drowned.  I could picture the locals reading the paper "Didn't anyone tell him about the man-eating eels? ... tis a shame, truly... no sense about these foreigners"

We arrived to a nearly full hut as all of the trails out of Loch maree were flooded.  We met a new German friend who had already spent 9 days on the track, and had to swim 7 times to get to Loch maree from the leg that we decided to skip. 

We listened to the weather that night to hear that more heavy rain was coming in two days, so everyone that had swam that day decided to get off the track ASAP.  Sure enough after two more days of mud-walking and climbing tree roots torrential rains pummeled the last hut we stayed in.  The skipper of the boat the next day said it rained "the better part of twelve inches in the last 24 hours."  Good decision us!

So we are back in Queenstown with about 12 days left until we pick up our bikes for our tour up the west coast.  We are going to try to do a couple 3-4 day tramps to kill the time and save some money. 

I didn't upload many pictures this time because it takes foreeever but still some good ones:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/

From Queenstown...

We've covered some serious ground since leaving Motueka.  We drove South through Hamner Springs where we went for a soak in a strange hot springs/water park thing.  Then we were off to Christchurch where we stayed with Denise, one of Margaret's friends.  We saw some pretty hilarious prop comics perform in the Busker's Festival--a collection of street performers and variety acts that lasts ten days.  It was nice for us poor travelers to get some free entertainment. 

After our one night stint in Christchurch we charged over to Lake Tekapo to meet our friend Tyson.  We spent the day swimming, throwing rocks and basking in the sun.  We slept right on the lake shore under the extraordinary southern hemisphere stars.  After packing up our slightly moist sleeping bags we set off to Mt. Cook National Park.  We hiked in for an overnight stay up to Ball hut.  The hike was easy so we had some time to just sit in the sun above a crackling glacier.  There was a fancy radio set up in the outhouse next to the hut we slept in.  We got to here the Ranger talk to all of the people staying in the huts around the park.  We got to listen in on a hillarious conversation about a very full outhouse somehwere deep in the park.  We all giggled when the Ranger instructed the campers to use the 'poo stick' to try and wiggle out some extra room. 

We climbed a somewhat sketchy rockslide to get a better view of Mt. Cook, which was covered in glaciers and ice.  The park is a big mountaineering hotspot (or should I say cold spot har har har), and most of the hikes through the park are precarious to say the least.  As we hiked out it rained on us and we got to test out our new rain gear.

We parted ways with Tyson, he was headed East in search of surf and we headed off to Milford Sound.  When we settled on a campground it was pouring rain.  There were about 10 campervans and then us in our three person tent.  We set up our stove in the rain and made some veggie soup with some TSP (textured soy protein mmmmm).  I think we were the entertainment for the night for all the people snuggled up in their vans.  In the morning we drove the rest of the way to Milford Sound for a cruise through the fjord.  The rain had stopped and all of the rainforest-covered mountains looked magical with the sun shining through the misty peaks.  It rains on average over 7 meters in fiordland.  It helps explain why even the sheerest peaks coming out of the water are covered in green.  The skipper told us that even though we were on the sea there is layer of fresh water that usually stays around 3 meters thick.We decided to spend another day at our campsite because it was so epic. 

We are now in Queenstown  preparing for a 8-9 day tramp through the Dusky Track--also apart of Fiordland national Park.  It will definitely be really wet and muddy.  We decided to hire a mountain radio to get weather reports and to communicate if we get stranded and need help.  We went to Stu's upholstery (?) to rent what we thought was going to be a little hand held thing, but instead got thorough instructions on how to set up our 'simple' aerial for our radio...  frist we have to climb a tree to get the transmitter 4 meters in the air, then run wires to the ground 20 feet away then hook it into a clunky box.  If we do get stranded, hopefully we can set it up before we run out of food. 

More Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/

Burger King in NZ still sucks (and is expensive)

We arrived in New Zealand without any hiccups.  All of the hostels were full so we checked into a 'hotel' in Auckland.  Apparently spontanaeity isn't the best strategy to find shelter in the heat of the school holidays.  After setting our  bags down, we decided Burger King was our best option for food for reasons that still escape me.  As we sat and enjoyed our ten dollar BK meals we absently gazed at the muted TV to see four hairy men thrusting their hips at us.  Next they were silhoutted by the setting sun, under an outdoor shower rubbing themselves (look up bearforce one if you want to see the video for yourself).  We were all puzzled why this was playing in BK.

The next day we caught an early bus to Hamilton and then a connector out to Ragland where we met a friend who is working in a hostel there.  We camped in a holiday park.  Basically, that meant our three person tent was squished between two caravans and a road.  We had a beer with some locals at the dive bar.  They played an odd assortment of Nsync, Madonna, Cindy Lauper, among other gems from the 90s.

Our next stop was Taupo.  We got up at 5 in the morning to get to the great walk in Tongoriro.  It was about 20km hike plus a 700m climb up Mt. Doom.  This side hike was rather treacherous.  The mountain seemed to be entirely made of small pebbles that swallowed your feet.  While it took us about an hour to scramble up the volcanoe it was a quick 15 minute run/ski/almost-eat-shit-skid down the face.

At the top of Mt. Doom.  Skyler pushing a boulder onto some orcs

Bollywood production.  What you can't see are the minicoopers to the left of the wheelchair gang.

Wellington

Wellington city center

Outside our hostel window.  Two cyclones converging = lots of rain

Margaret and I on the beaches of Abel Tasman

We returned to Taupo exhausted and decided to stay in the hostel for the shower and bed.  We all woke up at about 2 to some seeerious rain.  Glad we weren't free camping.

We decided that most of the things we are excited about are on the South Island so we set our sights on Nelson.  We made it to Wellington, a very neat town that is smushed between a ring of hills and right on the water.  It feels small and intimate but is still a vibrant city.  The walking signal to cross the street reminded me of the warning sound you might hear if there was a breech in your spaceship or submarine.  I found it made my crossing brisk and with purpose. 

After getting settled we went for a walk on the docks where we saw a man come into harbor that had just finished sailing his multi-million dollar boat from South Africa to Wellington by himself.  He was the third place finisher for that leg in a solo sailing race around the world.  We then walked further down and ran into a bollywood film production.  It involved a group of people in wheelchairs, three mini coopers and a gang of motorcyclists.  The minicoopers squeezed by the wheelchairs by driving up on the side of the dock while the pursuing motorcyclists got cut off by the chaotic wheelchairs.  It seemed to be some bizarre adaptation of the Italian Job.

In the morning we took the ferry to the south island and then bussed into Nelson.  We are spending a few days with my Aunt in Motueka, before we strip down our packs and head out for the wilderness. 

On the Tongoriro hike... I think this is where Frodo destroyed the ring

That's it for now!  Probably won't be able to post for another week or two.

Road trip and now a Change of Plans

We had a blast on our road trip down to Melbourne.  The weather was pretty gloomy on our way down.  We ended up camping in the rain the first night but had some great weather after that.  We finally saw some kangaroos on our last day of the trip. You can see more pictures on my flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/

Tuesday we packed up shop at Lucas' aunt's house getting ready for our bussing adventure up North.  Wednesday I lugged everything into the city and met up with yet another Santa Cruzan, Leah, for a beer at the Opera house.  When I met up with Lucas and Skyler they had bad news... our bus to Byron Bay was cancelled.  For those of you who do not keep up with the news, Northern NSW and Queensland are experience biblical floods.  Yesterday on the news I saw a flash flood torrent tossing trucks and SUVs like bouncing twigs down a creek.  I'm a bit dissapointed we won't get to see the great barrier reef or the whitsunday islands or any of the tropical rain forest, but were not going to let it slow us down.

Our bus pass was supposed to be valid to go all the way up to Cairns and we could hop on and hop off at any of the stops along the way.  Since our mini traveller pass is now the most expensive one-way bus ticket to Coff's Harbour, we are canceling our bus ticket and are heading to New Zealand early.  We leave for Auckland tomorrow and will hopefully have better weather over there.

So, farewell Australia.  

If you are craving more pictures and stories check out Lucas' and Skyler's blog and flickr:

Lucas Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57181626@N08/

Skyler's Blog:

http://theadventuresofskyler.blogspot.com/

Catching Up

Since the last post, much has happened.  I'm going to try fit in the highlights, so I apologize if it doesn't all flow together.  Lucas and I got second in the beach volleyball tourney in Brighton.  We profitted $80 woo!  That almost pays for our entry into the next tourney.  It was pretty similar to a tournament in Santa Cruz, except they play thumping techno beats instead of reggae, the courts are pristinely flat instead of bowled out, and the afternoon wind is something fierce.  We were exhausted by the finals (our 9th and 10th game), and as soon as the game ended it started raining with 30mph gusts (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/5311388879/lightbox/).

We've been doing some yard work for Jalleh, Lucas' aunt, as a present for her hospitality.  Luckily we haven't ran into any redbacks or anything else that will kill us.  The other day I was hanging up my clothes in the back yard and when I turned around to see this vicious looking lizard ready to attack.  Luckily nobody was around to here me squeal.  As it aggressively walked up the steps toward me I realized it was going for the strawberry patch.  I later learned it was harmless, but those strawberries could've easily been my pinky toes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIlQ9cc-zAM

During the rainstorm that came in after the brighton tournament, Kayvan and Jalleh took us up North along the coast a bit to see some great views of Palm Beach.

Since the last post Lucas and I have been spending much of our time with his family. I feel so fortunate to have been apart of their Christmas celebration. I've been spoiled with so much good Persian food, I'm not going to know what to do with myself when we hit the road. Christmas felt  like a good ol'e American Fourth of July.  The main differences were people were wearing Santa hats and kids were playing wiffle cricket and rugby, rather than baseball and football.  We spent the day at the beach snorkeling and playing some mean smashball.

A few days later our friend and travel companion, Skyler arrived.  We took the ferry across the bay into Sydney, where we walked around the Opera house and explored the botanical gardens.  We saw some incredible flying foxes, some nice roses, a sweet succulent garden and some cool statues.  

Yesterday we got to Mrs Macquerie Point at 10 in the morning to get a spot to watch the Sydney fireworks show.  We were stoked on the way over because the park looked empty when we were crossing the bridge into sydney.  When we arrived we realized we were about 6000 people back in the cue.  By about one we had a spot inside.  Garrett, Chloe, and Shelby, our other friends from Aptos, met us there later.  After several hours of dice games, some napping and lots of water and sunscreen we got to see the fantastic show.  We didn't get to see all of the fireworks but we got to see the ones that shot off of the bridge very well.  Here is some footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vju3h2XtzZw

Today we rented a rather compact car.  The roads are narrower and you drive on the left side here, but Lucas did very well getting out of the Sydney.  We only hit one curb and turned onto the right side of the road just once.  Tomorrow we begin a road trip down the coast to Melbourne and will be coming back on the 7th in time to play in the New South Wales Open beach volleyball tournament on the 8th.  

Here are some Pictures from the last few weeks.  Too many to put on the blog, but they're here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/?saved=1