kawakawa bay

The best weekend I've had so far in New Zealand was spent climbing rocks, sleeping under an overhang and roasting marshmallows with some of the coolest people around. Unfortunately I'm as far as I could possibly get from that place at the moment, but that is a whole other story that deserves a whole other entry.

To get to Kawakawa you have to walk/slight hike from Kinloch for a couple of hours (or if you're Dan, run it in one). Alex picked me up at 6pm and we got to Kinloch shortly after that. We didn't really get around to hiking until 8.30 pm, as we were too distracted eating chips, drinking beer and packing our bags. The night walk was quite nice despite the fact that I ran into two (or seven) trees along the way. For food and beverage along the walk, Alex prepared delicious chocolate and alcoholic concoctions that got us to our camp site safe and sound. After starting a fire and chatting for a bit, it was time for sleep.

Waking up was quite an experience as several unrequested birds served as alarm clocks at around 7 am. It's nice to arrive at a place at night and be surprised by its gorgeousness first thing in the morning. We were sleeping under a rock about ten meters from the lake and as I made my way to wash my face and fully wake up I saw the mist covering the water and the first rays of sun and it was just bliss.

For the rest of the weekend we climbed rocks, met other climbers, ate trail mix, enjoyed the view, collected firewood, cooked pasta, fell on rocks, and just overall had an amazing time. I thank the boys and Jess for showing me around and welcoming me with open arms. I hope to make my way back to the North Island and climb with them again.

Check out more pics at
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.855138783133.2384806.27209052&l=a6fc0606ac

tan tararán!

it's time to introduce the newest members of the traveling zoo.

Now, as you all should know, I have a herd of animals that I take with me everywhere. The pack leader and original member being Gori; he's been with me since 2004 and for years animals have come and gone, but since Thailand, I've begun to collect a pretty tight herd of awesomeness. The second member of the herd is Moose. As I've said before, he's not really a moose...he's supposed to be a water buffalo, but considering I never encountered a water buffalo with a cylindrical body or head, I decided it was a moose.

The rest of the animals you can see in the picture at the end, but since I've added three new members, I thought they deserved a special introduction. These two below are kiwis. For those of you who don't know, kiwis are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand and generally described by New Zealanders as "useless". I, however, find them awesome. I haven't seen one up close yet, but the idea of birds that can't fly makes me happy. They can't freak me out with the uncontrollable flapping of their wings, therefore, just like penguins, I automatically love them. These two creature were a gift and they have fitted right in with the rest.The third newbie is my latest find. I bought him yesterday at a gypsy market for 50 cents and I can't believe my luck. The day was coming to an end, the market was closing, people were packing away the unsold (note: unwanted) items and I was tired from a morning of avoiding odd lawn ornaments and tarot card readers. I was out of water and hungry. The smell of the venison burger stand was making me nauseous. I was working out the shortest way to the car through the crowd of gypsies and hippies, when my eyes wandered off-course. There he was, next to a hand-painted (note: hideous) miniature teapot, and a tiny glass bell (those I assume were used back in the day to ring the butler from the dinner table, and ask him to please bring more pot roast...and a bottle of red). There he was, stoically waiting to be shoved in a plastic box, to await for the next Saturday when he would again be displayed and unappreciated by the masses. Thanks to my wandering eye, I was able to change his fate and have him join the rest of the cast. Meet the camel:He's lovely, and along with the two kiwis, he's fitting right in. Here is a picture of the whole lot:
Now on behalf of Gori, Moose, Camel, Elephant, Goat, Kiwi, Cat, Turtle, Kiwi II and myself, I bid adieu.

Go eat a chocolate egg!

jump!

I have a list of "things to do" and last Sunday I crossed one of them off. I went and jumped off a platform, 47 meters above the Waikato river, and it was amazing!

Here are a few pics from last weeekend's adventure:
-smile before the dive :)-
-there i go, head first-
-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-
-free falling...such an amazing feeling-
-bungee jumping...check-

shave for a cure

I saw this ad on TV and just couldn't help joining the cause.

If you haven't, please check out the website and help out if you can.

DONATE NOW!
No donation is too small. Every cent goes toward supporting those living with a blood cancer and their families in New Zealand.

Needless to say, I chose to show solidarity with everyone around the world battling cancer and shaved my head. Below are my before and after pics. Enjoy :)

BEFORE


AFTER

farm life

Although my job is looking after kids, this past week it changed to looking after animals. The girls were off to their grandma's house, the parents were off on a hunting trip, and I was here, holding down the fort. As I mentioned on a previous post, there are some animals that surround me, not lots, but some.

DOGS: I was supposed to look after three (Pixie, Faye and Ariel) of the four dogs (Jag was put in a kennel for the week)....but he was promptly returned by a lady about 16 hours later. She informed me that in all those hours he never once shut up. He hauled from the moment he got there until the moment he left. I guess all he wanted was to come back to his buddies, because once here, he completely behaved. The dogs (all dogs in general) are, in my opinion, high maintenance. Now I don't really mind this, because I love dogs, but...1. it rained a lot this week, 2. these dogs play in dirt all day, 3. these dogs (Scottish deerhounds) like to chase and lick you and lean and jump on you...in conclusion, I was covered in mud for most of the week. These dogs eat meat, and for daily feedings I just had to power through and not think about the slice of cow I was handling, because if I thought about it too much, the dogs would've gone hungry all week.

CHICKENS/HENS/ROOSTERS: The yet-to-be-counted amount of chickens/hens/roosters were my least favorite. This is because if you know me at all, you know that I hate creatures that flap their wings uncontrollably. These guys love to flap their wings uncontrollably. It's like they do it just for me. Daily I'd go visit them and give them maize and pellets of some sort and refill their water, and daily they'd chase me all around and freak me out just for their amusement. I got no instructions on egg-collecting, but thought I should probably do it. Now I know nothing about eggs and how long they take to turn into feathery things, but I have this irrational fear that one day I'll crack an egg and a chick will land on my pan. After researching a bit (what was life before internet, google and wikipedia?)I learned it takes about 4 weeks (5?) for an egg to hatch....so no worries there. From that day on I collected eggs everyday and got chased and screamed at by the respective mother. In total I probably collected around 40, and I only dropped two...which is pretty impressive considering I always forgot to take cartons and was always running for my life.

GOLDFISH: These guys are pretty chill. There's four of them that live in a murky pond down by the entrance. All they needed was flakes to eat every day. They supposedly have no names, but I've decided they are Paul, John, George and Ringo. There's really no way to tell them apart so they just take turns wearing their Beatle names. Now, there used to be five fishies, but a while ago one of the dogs (or was it a cat?) got a hold of one and that was the end of her. It's a she because I named her Yoko. A lot of the times the dogs would come with me to feed the animals and most of the times they'd get in the pond and drink some of the water, and every single time I was certain I would be losing one of my Beatles. Is it wrong that I was more worried about deciding which Beatle would be killed off than about the actual fish? Thankfully, no fish were harmed under my care and the Fab Four continue to swim around and live their seemingly dull lives.

GUINEA PIG: This guy's name is Coffee and he's usually hiding whenever I went to visit, so I rarely see him. Coffee lives in a chicken coop and has a PVC pipe to hide in. The coop doesn't have a bottom so he can eat the grass. If he had eaten all the grass, I'd just move the coop to a new spot. He also has pellets he never eats and water he never drinks. He does like apples, so every other day I'd take one down for him. Again no instructions were given on the amount of apples I could give him, but I figured he's pretty fat already so it'd be fine. Actually he's a big ball with lots of hair, so he might not really be that fat, but I think it doesn't really matter.

CATS: Cinda and Chrissy...have no idea where they are. Chrissy set off on a "hunting trip" about three weeks ago and hasn't been spotted since. And Cinda has been MIA for about a week. Apparently they do this all the time, but it's a bit odd for me. Feeding them was a nonissue.

And that is that.

Peace out.

PS: Needless to say, no animals were harmed/starved/died on my watch.

mt. tauhara

Because I enjoy making videos of anything really...

taupo

ohh...it's been such a while. I've been MIA all this time without a good reason, so I won't spend anytime making one up.

I am now in Taupo, right in the middle of New Zealand's north island. I live on a farm with 12 horses, four dogs (3 scottish deerhounds and 1 greyhound) and a yet-to-be-counted amount of chickens/hens/roosters. I live about fifteen minutes from town, 20 minutes from the lake (which is massive and gorgeous); and being in a volcanic area, I'm surrounded by countless mountains which I plan on hiking once it stops pouring rain :)

Driving here is quite an adventure, and I have to constantly repeat to myself "keep left" in order to actually...well, keep left. Straight, busy streets are easy. Roundabouts and country roads are not. Shifting with my left hand sucks. Reversing while looking over my left shoulder also sucks. Turning on the windshield wipers when I want to turn left, again, sucks. But other than that it's not so bad. I have yet to turn onto uncoming traffic and well, I consider that a success.

Yesterday the town hosted New Zealand's Ironman, which means that for the past week, we were graced with the presence of head-to-toe, tight-clad men walking around the streets. The event started at 7am (with lots and lots of rain), and the course closed at midnight (with lots and lots and lots more rain). Kiwi Cameron Brown won for the 10th time (good for him) and it took him 8 1/2 hours to swim 3.8km, bike 180km and run a full marathon. I went out last night, and well past the 15-hour mark, people were still running and fighting the rain. As much as I admire all these people (I really do), I find them all slightly insane.

Living on a farm where it rains constantly forced me to get some rubber boots, or as Kiwis call them: gumboots. Most know that I have mocked girls that wear gumboots for as long as they've been "fashionable", and this is because there is really no good reason to wear gumboots in sunny cities...unless you want your toes to be super sweaty...so me getting gumboots was kind of a big deal. But just because I was getting them for functional purposes didn't mean I had to get industrial/dull looking ones, so I went out and got pretty black ones with purple and green spirals on them. I'm quite a fan of my new gumboots and if I ever find a way to download my pictures on this computer, you will see them and become a fan too.

It wasn't raining when I woke up this morning, but I just looked out the window and guess what? It's raining. I'm looking at Katana (one of the horses) and she doesn't seem to be at all pleased that the rain has started once again. She's looks quite funny trying to hide under a walnut tree. Marcus, the biggest snob of them all, is walking around like he's too good to be getting wet and looking at me as if asking: "will you please hire 10 or 12 tall men to hold umbrellas over me?" Even though he's the drama queen of the ranch, Marcus is my favorite. Again, one day I'll load up pictures and you'll be able to appreciate just how beautiful this horse is.

I say goodbye for now. I'll be back when more stories come to mind.

Much love.