Right place, wrong time! or maybe it is the right time...

So like I said I'm back in Wellington. I liked this city the first time around but it was New Year time so everything was a bit hectic here. Stores were running erratic trading hours or not at all, the streets were crowded, the pubs were even more packed and it was tough to find a bunk at a hostel. On top of that the International Unicycle Conference (UniCon) was on here, so the streets were bustling with one-wheel-masters battling the wind.
Well, the holidays are over so I planned a couple days back here in the capitol city before trekking into the north island...only I didn't realize this is Sevens weekend! Which is, I have come to learn, the rugby world series! Haha, so the bagel joint I'm sitting in is out of bagels b/c of all the people ordering party platters for tonight, last night people were out and rowdy until long past the time I fell asleep and it looks to be even bigger tonight.
It is common practice to wear costumes for Sevens and so far I've seen an american football team (confused much?), a group of belly dancers and genies complete with large foam lamps round their waists, a couple Egyptian pharaohs at the grocery store this morning, and a hoard of Palestinians in the lobby of the hostel yesterday afternoon. The costume shops didn't even blink about Halloween while I was in Auckland, but in Wellington they're running ads and promotions like mad for Sevens.
So now I'm really liking Wellington. It seems that when the city isn't being blown sideways by the wind off the Cook Strait, they've got loads of stuff going on all the time. In a week's time marks the beginning of the Wellington Fringe festival which looks to be quite interesting. I could wish I were going to be here for that. But there are things to see and places to be so happily I push on!
Tomorrow morning I'll catch a ride on the Overlander service, which is one of the few passenger trains left in NZ. (FYI- The Americans who bought the NZ railway system are responsible for stripping out all the passenger services excepting the tourist routes) This one runs daily from Wellington to Auckland and back again. I'm only going as far as National Park village which is not much more than a pit stop in the countryside. It is a tiny wee town near Tongariro National Park, NZs first national park and the fourth worldwide. The park has 2 other mountains along with Tongariro, these being Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. You'll probably know Tongariro better as Modor, though. lol

A little bit of deja vu

I'm back in Wellington now after about a month on the south island. I'm in the same hostel I was in just before I left Wellington and last night I was in the same hostel I stayed at in Picton when I had first arrived on the south island. Since then I've put in hours and hour on buses, been to Picton, Nelson, Fox Glacier, Queenstown, Stuart Island, Invercargill, Dunedin, Otago Peninsula, Banks Peninsula and Christchurch. I've been to the north the south the east and the west of the south island; saw the Tasman sea, the Pacific Ocean (on the wrong shore), Foveaux Strait and Cook Strait. Saw mountains, beaches, rain forests, plains and glaciers...and I'm not done yet folks.
I'm planning to spend the rest of my time in the north island. What I've been told is that it is a little less wild and far more populated. We'll see what it actually is like...
I haven't got a really clear plan yet, so I'm going to spend a bit of time pricing out places and transportation before i decide were I'm going and what I'm doing there. I'll try to keep you all posted when I figure it out.

Fox Glacier

The bus left Nelson at 7:15 am and arrived in Fox Glacier at 6:40. I was exhausted by the time we got there in spite of the many rest stops we made at cafes along the way. I only planned 2 nights in Fox Glacier which gave me one full day to explore the area. There is another glacier called Franz Josef just a short distance away, but figured Fox would be a bit quieter. I thought if I only get this one chance to see Fox Glacier, I better do it right. So I woke up at 5am, dressed in the dark and had a quick breakfast and hit the highway in the dark. The glacier and the snow capped mountains behind it were to the east of the hiking trail and therefore the sun would rise directly behind them.
Now would be the time to reveal my amazing National-Geographic-eat-your-heart-out photo of the stunning sunrise, only...I hiked the 2k from town to the trail head before 6am, sunrise was at 6:15 so I didn't have a minute to spare to hike the other 2k to the lookout. When I got there, the sign at the trail said Fox Glacier Viewing Area: 4k....oh craaap. I picked up the pace, sweating and cursing my poor planning. I was exactly half of the way there when I saw the sky above me light up in a gorgeous jewel blue with pink highlights along the east side of the clouds. There goes my one shot. I pointed the camera up and got a few shots of my proof of disappointment and slowed down. Sweat was dripping down my neck and my right leg beginning to ache from its rude awakening to a morning of exercise I apparently failed to inform it of. I was at that moment though that I realized that I was 4k deep from the nearest sign of civilization (cursory as even that was) in the beautifully lush and green NZ rain forest. Disappointment over the missed sunrise ebbing, I started hearing the birds around me and hiked on in the wee peaceful hours of the morning. I can't remember a time I felt more completely serene than at that moment. I turned off from my original route to Chalet Lookout in favor of the trail to the swing bridge over Fox River. In the end I hiked for 2 and a half hours before seeing a single person. It was marvelous. For those few hours the glacier and the forest were entirely mine. I hiked back out the access road which was opened to traffic at 8am, so the first tour bus passed me on the road taking a load of visitors to the parking lot near the terminal face of the glacier. They would only have to walk about 30 minutes to see the glacier up close, something I never did do in the end, but they would have the helicopter tours circling overhead every 10 minutes and dozens of other tourists jockeying for their snap shot in front of the ice. And for those of you wondering, I did get a good view of the glacier from a different lookout than the one I was originally aiming for and it is a huge chunk of ice laying on the valley floor. It is even pretty dirty, at that. Just looks like a bad day to go skiing to me. But an excellent day for a hike in the rain forest.
I did get a few shots along the way:



Before the sunrise







Swing bridge over Fox River







Trail through the rain forest






My camera kept throwing the white balance way out because it wouldn't believe there could be this much green in one place.

Truckin' Right Along

As some of you may know, since leaving Wellington I took a ferry to Picton (a 3 hour trip from Wellington to Picton- not the one Gilligan was on) where I stayed in Tombstone Backpacker's for 3 nights. It is named for the graveyard across the street so the hostel comes complete with a coffin shaped door and a little metal skull key chain on the room key. The linens are appropriately black and white but the common rooms are painted in a painful orange-and-yellow-with-teal-trim scheme. Aside from that there is a gorgeous patio overlooking the harbor, town and the hills behind. The patio, thankfully, is walled in on 3 sides with glass to block the strong wind coming off the Cook Strait. They've got a spa for visitors use and chairs to sit out in the yard on a sunny day. There's not much to the town aside from a library, grocery store, video rental, a few cafes and more souvenir shops. The town exists mostly because of the ferry landing. There are some nice hikes out of town, but they were a bit crowded for my taste. So I took a stroll along the waterfront which was quiet an lovely and nearly disastrous. It was after I'd hiked a good kilometer down the narrow, narrow beach before the tides occurred to me! I realized while I was sitting on a rock reading that while there was still plenty of space where I was , I didn't really know how high tide gets there and I didn't know what time high tide was. So I packed it in and it was a good thing too because on my way back there were stretches of beach that had been tricky to maneuver on land on my way out but on my way back in I was forced to wade out into the water. No harm done and worst come to worst, I could have swam back easily however I had my camera with me which would have been the end of that.

Then I took the bus to Nelson, the sunshine capital of NZ. It lost the title last year to Blenheim, breaking Nelson's 20-some-odd year reign, but they won it back this year. Of course, I was there for 2 and a half days and 2 of them were rainy. Only on the first day when I decided to walk the 2km from town to the hostel with all my gear on my back, did the sun decide to shine. However, the town of Nelson is exceedingly adorable and while I would have enjoyed the weather to go to the beach, I ended up getting to see the cathedral over the city and spent one afternoon reading in the House of Ales watching the rain fall outside. The hostel there named "The Bug" was a really friendly place to stay and festooned with WV bugs in paintings, tins, miniature cars, even the rooms were named things like "Travel Bug" or "Love Bug" instead off having numbers. I took an early bus from Nelson to Fox Glacier on my third day which took most of the day.

Nelson on the sea

Took the bus this afternoon from Picton to Nelson. The driver was a middle aged kiwi named Frank. A couple approached the bus and Frank opened the door, "well, hello there folks. Where are you headed today?" They replied, "We'd like to go to Nelson." Frank smiled and replied, "Well I don't! I've already been there!" Ok, it was funnier at the time. We chatted a bit about nothing consequential while I chucked my backpack under the bus. He told me it was going to be a nearly empty bus today. Apparently the 2 earlier runs today were packed, but this one only had about a dozen people spread throughout 40-some-odd seats. So the ride was quiet and the scenery was beautiful. Though I could have done without some of the sights down the huge mountain side next to the road as we approached Nelson.
Well I arrived in Nelson to The Bug backpackers. It is a cute place with tile floors and VW Bug knickknacks everywhere. I'm in another 8 person dorm room which, far from ideal, is at least cheap. The backpackers lodge is about 2 km from the bus stop in town so they offer pick-up and drop-off service to visitors. Of course the last place I was staying in Picton did the same thing and they turned out to be about 2 blocks from the ferry terminal. It was a little embarrassing to get into the van only to find out the hostel was within sight from where they picked me up. This time I decided to tough up and walk it. It was actually a nice walk, packs notwithstanding. I was a little extra sweaty when I arrived, but not uncomfortable. The town of Nelson looks to be an adorable little village with shopping galore and loads of cafes and restaurants. The hostel is within walking distance of the beach, so if all goes as planned I will head out for the beach in the morning for a bit.

Wellington

Arrived in Wellington last night about 6 and was harassed into a shuttle by a guy in a suit with a mullet down to his waist. It, along with his massive mustache, were flaxen blond. His shuttle, a monstrosity in gold that almost matched his hair, would have been passably sane had it been driven by anyone else. Inside was decorated with cheap plastic x-mas decorations of flying reindeer in the windows and the ceiling was lined with a string of LED light balls, shifting color every few seconds. Not to be out done though at the front of the van was a similarly shifting color cube shaped alarm clock rubber banded to the rear view mirror and an 18 inch tall, glass, illuminated figurine of the Eiffel Tower sitting on the floor. Now I remember a time when I thought of Le Tour Eiffel as a singularly unique symbol of the chicest city in the world. Of course having been there and climbed it myself, I remember it fondly now as the eyesore of an otherwise classy and thoroughly understated city. Appropriate symbolism in this particular shuttle. Last night I walked down past Cuba st and down a bit further in search of dinner. I found little was open except 2 Subway sandwich joints, 3 McDonald's and 2 Burger King's. There were a few asian restaurants open, but was not in the mood to sit in a dimly lit dining room as the only patron alone with my meal and the full attention of the wait staff. Been there, done that, found it wholly unpleasant. So I ended up in the mall of all places. Easy to blend in and look inconspicuous while I shamefacedly devour my McChicken meal replete with a coke and fries. I thought to maybe see the new Sherlock Holmes flick with Robert Downey Jr. but when it was my turn at the front of the queue, the high school student behind the register informed me that the only seats remaining were in the front row. (In case you’ve never seen this, some movie theaters assign seats, a practice I first encountered in Belgium. I think it is nice, unless, of course that is, I’m the last in line buying a ticket.) So I scraped the plan and hoofed it back to the hostel. I could have inquired about the next showing an hour later, but as it was I was already having trepidations about walking around in a strange city on my own at the hour when an 8:30 showing ends, let alone an hour later.

This hostel, by the way, is worth telling about. I arrived about 7:30 pm and checked in where I was promptly informed by the British woman behind the desk, only a few years older than myself, that I was NOT to use her kitchen after 10pm when she would be cleaning. She turns the gas off to the cooker promptly at 10 so I had better be out of her way. After she finishes cleaning I am welcome to use the microwave and hot water geyser for any late night needs I might have. Also, free internet access is available 30 minutes a day if I sign up in the morning for a time slot. Or I can purchase wireless access for $20 a day or $10 for 6 hours, but the internet is shut off at 9pm anyway. It is a clean hostel, but one that doesn’t encourage it’s visitors to hang out during the day. I woke up early, ate a quick breakfast showered and left. I didn’t realize it was only 9am until I was half of the way down the hill. I think that is earliest I have ever left a hostel of my own volition while on holiday. So I suppose the relative unfriendliness of the place is for the better.
So now I am sitting at the top of the botanical gardens inside the herb garden having finally found the time and inclination to write for the first time in months. Thank you, brusque British lady.

I am staying in the Rosemere hostel tonight again and then I’m moving down the hill to the Trinity Hotel for New Year’s Eve and Day. It will be a welcome holiday from my holiday to not share my room with 5 strangers and to not shower in my shoes. I say the end of this year will bring with it a lot of thoughts about what I’ve done in the past year. Not that any one thing was singularly spectacular, but all of it together makes for quite an exciting year. I think it would take me a full week to recount only the most interesting points.

Now the afternoon is is getting old. I think I will make my way down from the botanical gardens soon in search of lunch.

Pocus, my friend and cat of 23 years, was euthanized this evening. He's been having seizures since late last week as a result of renal failure. The kidney failure was bound to be terminal and the seizures were causing brain damage and stress for him. So my mum took him to the vet and they put him down before he was in too bad of shape from him rapidly declining health.

I wish I could have been there, but there wasn't anything to be done about it. I'm a wreck today, I miss him terribly and feel bad that my mum had to do this on her own. He and I grew up together, I don't even remember a time when he wasn't around. I knew he was getting old when I left home for college, so I said my goodbyes each time I went home for a weekend visit, just in case. Of course, after 6 years of bracing for his death, I think part of me started to feel like he'd always be around. I haven't seen him since I left the US over a year ago.