Wow! We are behind!

We're going to start losing faithful readers if we update the blog at this rate. Please accept our apologies! We're so so sorry! Lots has happened in the past couple weeks, but I can probably sum it up pretty quickly. I don't want any of you taking too much time out of your precious day jobs to read up.

After we walked all over the glacier we took a short stop in Hokitika. Th is is the place were everybody and their mother goes to buy a piece of carved jade. So, we went to look at all the carved jade and of course ended up buying some. But we didn't buy just any piece. We stayed at Just Jade Backpackers and participated in the Just Jade Experience. The Just Jade Experience involves flipping through some books of all sorts of carving designs and tearing your hair out to figure out exactly what you want. I think we took about 2 hours just in the decision making process. After we each settled on the piece we wanted carved Gordon, the master jade worker who's been at it for 26 years, took us out to the workshop and set off to work. We had Gordon modify our designs as our little hearts desired and watched him as he went through the process of cutting the jade, drilling out holes, rounding the corners, smoothing the top and making into a piece of art. For both of our pieces this took about 3 hours. 3 hours of Gordon making lots of jokes and making jade carving look like a piece of cake. This was followed by Jen and I sitting at the kitchen table of t he hostel and polishing the peice of jade with 5 different grades of sandpaper for about 4 hours. Our fingers weren't so happy with us, but our jade slowly got shinier and shinier. Now we both have pretty necklaces with lots of meaning. I'm sure we'll post the pictures when we get around to it.

After Hokitika we headed towards Arthurs Pass to day a 2 day tramp. When we got there we learned that the tramp had multiple river crossings and the weather forecast was for heavy rain and possible snow. So, we left.

The most exciting thing that has happened since then was a 4 day kayak trip along the Abal Tasman National Park. I thought for sure that I wouldn't have any arms by the time we finished, but here I am typing this blog. The kayak trip had a bit of everything. It had sunshine, rain, back aches, camping, spaghetti, seals, dolphins, more spaghetti, freezing cold, 2 meter swells and loads of fun. Kayaking rules. It was great to kayak out to little islands and go around them checking out their nooks and crannies. It was also great camping at places where only kayakers could get to. We spent our first night at Observation Beach with only me, Jen and Matthias (our new German travel partner and experienced kayaker). It was beautiful and peaceful and I recommend it to everyone.

Tomorrow Jen and I will set off on some different activities. I will be WWOOFing in Takaka, a bohemian town in the north of the South Island and Jen will be heading out for a 5 day tramp with Matthias. Perhaps we should all recall how Jen thought we were absolutely crazy for doing a 3 day tramp for our first tramp. We should also recall that on more than one occassion at least one of us wanted to die during the aforementioned tramp. Now, you may be asking yourself why the hell she would be taking off on a 5 day tramp now as her second tramp. I'm asking that too. I think she's asking it too, but distracting herself so she forgets before she can answer. Jen, all I can say is good luck and good on ya!

Fancy a walk on the ice?

We've just left the lovely little town of Fox Glacier. It was so lovely that our hostel felt more like a cozy coffee shop, and so little that there was no ATM. And, suprise, suprise, there was a huge glacier!!! I don't know about anybody else, but I don't think I've ever seen a glacier other than in pictures. So, I'll tell you what they look like in real life. We're mid-spring here in New Zealand, and there wasn't any fresh snow on the glacier. It wasn't nearly as pretty and blinding white as I expected. It did have massive amounts rock that have been pulled up from the valley floor as the glacier expands forward. It also had amazingly blue crevaces and small caves. Quite stunning. I can only hope our pictures (not yet posted) will do justice. I can't even count how many times our guide said very simply, "Don't fall in." Fortunately, nobody did fall in. We did get to walk all over the glacier for about 6 hours as our guide chipped away at the ice making steps for us and leading us to places where we couldn't fall off or in. Good guide.

PICTURES!!!

We just posted over 100 new pictures. You should check them out. They might give the motivation to quit your day job.

tooth, what tooth!

little did i know that my tooth would be the least of our problems. we just got back from our tramp and are totally exhausted. we ended up doing the walk in 3 days instead of 4, for the main reason we didnt have the medical supplies to last the last day. so we just walked on until we reached the end. our main problem during this walk was our feet. we had been working in our boots for the last couple of months and thought that they were broken in but damn were we wrong. a couple hours into the walk sam had taken her boots off to check out the blisters she had on the back of her feet. good thing we brought blister stuff and good thing it came right off as soon as she put her boot back on. lets just say that we didnt really know what we were getting into before the hike and lets just say we were a little unprepared.

the 1st day of the hike was hiking up to the top of the mountain, which was really hard. but it was absolutely beautiful. the walk was in the trees with crazy ferns and moss all over the place. every now and then the trees would brake and we would see our progress up the mountain, for the small town of te anau that we were staying in was getting smaller by the hour.

now because this track is one of the great walks in new zealand, it is well marked. what makes this so great is when we come upon a sign it will give you the time it should take to reach the next point. now on the 1st day we were on point. we were even getting to places in less time than the signs were saying. we thought this was great, our feet hurt but we were making great time and this walk should be as bad as i was expecting. this was before day 2 happened.

like i said before, we made it to our 1st hut with time to spare. it was about 3 in the afternoon and some other people had already been there. we chatted with them for a while, had some dinner and went to bed. it was the only night we had in a hut for this whole trip because everywhere else we had reserved camp sites, so it was nice to have a gas stove with a sink to wash our dishes and a mat to sleep on inside a building. that night it was really cold for the fact that we were 1084 meters up.

i woke the next morning around 6 am to the most beautiful site a had ever seen. the hut we were at was above the cloud line and it looked as if i could walk out the door onto the bed of clouds that were in front of me. the other thing was that the sun was coming up so the light hitting the surrounding mountains and the clouds were amazing. i sat there for the next hour and a half watching the sunrise and waiting for everyone else to wake up.

9:07am we left for day 2. now i said earlier that day 2 wasnt the best. we stared out with a 400 meter climb to the top of the mountain. getting to the top was amazing but our feet had allready started slowing us down. it was going to one of the most demanding days and we were already onto hour 3 and had gone thru half of our water and werent even close to being half way thru day 2. after reaching the top we spent the next 3 hours crossing over the ridge system of the mountains. it was a beautiful clear day and it was getting really hot out. well maybe it wasnt that hot but 75 degree weather with 25 pound pack equals im sweating a lot.

after the ridge system the track got really hard. we had been accustomed to going up hills and not so much going down so lets just say that the blisters that had formed earlier in the walk meant nothing because the ones that formed on the way down were far worse. it said that it would take about an hour and a half to get down the rest of the mountain to the next hut, but because it was so steep and our feet hurt so much it took more like 3 hours. i thought i was going to die. the pain was so bad i swore off doing anymore tramps and i didnt care how much money we just spent buying everything we needed. what were we thinking doing a 4 day walk on our 1st try at doing any of these walks. i could have died right there and been ok with it. well we made it to the 2nd hut, which we were camping at and set up for the night. the sand flies were like nothing sam or i have ever seen. these little bastards stick on you then start sucking your blood. the only thing that hurts is the stuff they are putting into your skin to make it not congeal so they can get more blood. thank god we got some bug spray that had p535, which keeps the sand flies away and it had 30% deet, to keep the mosquitoes away. i love eating deet, its makes me feel really warm and fuzzy inside.

at about 6pm that night we were inside our tent and were asleep by 8pm. we had decided that night that we had to make it out by the next day because we didnt have enough dressing for our feet if we stayed 1 more night. that just meant the next day could be even worse than the day before.

i thought the last day went really well. we pushed our selves and made it thru. the last couple of hours nearly killed both of us but we did and now that a couple of days have passed and my feet are healing i can say im glad i did it. and i cant wait to do it again. although this next time it will be a much shorter walk.

here we go again, 1 more time.

after buying everything we needed and doing all the research we were ready to go on this crazy 4 day hike. except for the fact that i was flossing my teeth the night before we were supposed to go and a quarter of my tooth fell out of my mouth. you know it really wouldnt be us if something didnt happen. the good news is that it doesnt hurt. it just feels really unsteady and we thought it would be a good idea to have someone look at it. but here is the funny thing about new zealand and the area we are in. there is no dental care on the weekends and thank god its saturday. so i called some nurse hotline and she said that it was up to me if i still wanted to do this walk and to take some pain killers if i do. well because of sams unfortunate mouth problem last month we still have some codeine pills left. sufficed to say we are leaving tomorrow without anyone looking at my mouth and when we come back we will be seeing a dentist. everyone wish me good luck.

well keep you updated.

Women's Hostels and Sheepies

I've never stayed at an all women's hostel until Christchurch. Let me tell you, it is an experience. One popular meal that we saw a many hostels (both sexes) in Australia was baked beans on white bread. Now, the meals in a women's hostel are a whole different story. In our 2 1/2 days there I saw freshly baked bread, souffles, casseroles, omelettes and toastie sandwiches. These girls are serious about their food on the road. And the woman who ran the hostel were all about providing the appliances needed for all of their cooking needs. The other thing about an all womens hostel is everybody is walking around really confused about who is straight and who is not. Nobody can tell, and most don't want to ask. In the end, I think it's about 50/50. But I could be way off. Oh, and there was a lot of pink.

Our time in Christchurch was greatly spent trying to get good deals for the rest of our time in New Zealand. I got a little practice in my math when adding up the different costs for taking buses on different fares and passes. They promote all these passes here to the travellers, but you can actually get a better deal if you just buy tickets individually a lot of the time. At least if you're not going to stop in every podunk town up the country. This was probably took one half day. The rest of the time we spent looking for gear for our upcoming 4 day tramp. That's right. You read correctly. We're going on a 4 day tramp, Kepler Track. It's one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, and we're very excited. We're also becoming very poor because of it. We had to get some more clothing layers, a little stove, some emergency stuff, food and who knows what else. But we are now prepared. And in order to make the expenditures worth while, we will hiking like crazy people for our two months in NZ.

Yesterday we took the most amazing 10 hour busride ever from Christchurch to Te Anau. It was on a double decker bus. We got the tip off that we should get to the bus early and snag the front seats on the second story. Waiting for the bus to show up I felt like I was a Macy's shopper at 6:00 am the day after Thanksgiving. I think I was ready to throw some elbows and trip some people to get those seats. Fortunately nobody got hurt, and we got the good seats. And it was worth it. There were rolling green hills, mountain views, ocean views, cows and more sheep than I've ever seen in my life. New Zealand is crazy. Apparently, in 1999 the sheep:human ratio in New Zealand was 15.2:1. That is a lot of sheep. And now we're in Te Anau waiting eagerly to leave for our tramp.

here we go again.

after a great time in australia and a wonderful stay in melbourne it was time to move on to the next country, new zealand. we got to the airport at 7:45 am and got to the ticket counter by 8:30 am. this is where it get sticky so everyone pay attention. we decided to take our chances and not get a ticket out of NZ, like our US travel visas say we need to do. so we are at the counter and the lady says, "sorry guys you need a ticket out of nz and so you came book with me right now or try a different counter. you need to be back to me by 9 am the latest." by the way, the plane takes off at 9:30am. right, off to the races. quantas airline to freedom air to singapore airline and then to air new zealand. air new zealand had the best deal and could get us out of the country. time check, 8:55am. hey sam you want to go to fiji, hey jen fiji sounds great. booked the ticket and now the time is 9:05am. by the way the people at air new zealand said that the ticket should be fine to get into and out of the country. running back to the 1st counter we were at, we showed the lady our onward ticket to fiji. guess what, that wasnt good enough. for some reason she also needed proof that we were getting out of fiji. times ticking. 9:10. what do we do. well the lady said that we could book a ticket from fiji back to melbourne for $1,000. what, at this point sam lost it. this lady is telling us we have to spend 2 months worth of savings to get out of a country that has nothing to do with new zealand. if im confusing people at this point, its ok because we are still confused. but we had to get to new zealand, so we trusted this lady and got the tickets. right, running thru security to the gate it looks like our plane was delayed about 45 minutes so much for running around.

k, so we are off the plane and going through customs and the lady could have cared less about our ticket out of fiji, she just wanted to see the ticket that said we were getting out of her country. getting out of her country. right now we are pissed but there is nothing we can do. we made it to our hostel and found an internet cafe where sam then checked her email and bank statement. some how the conversion rate was off. for the ticket we didnt need it showed up as only half of what it was supposed to. long story short, the damn lady at the ticket counter didnt tell us that the ticket was in fiji money. now if you were telling someone something they didnt want to hear and they were crying about it wouldnt you try to make them fell better by telling them that you really werent spending $1,000 you were only spending $500. fucking people.

on a better note, we are going to fiji on new years day.