I had the amazing opportunity to hear Joel Salatin talk (one of the best birthday presents ever!!!!)He's the owner of Polyface, Inc. (the farm of many faces) in Virginia. He's such a wonderful-charismatic-funny man with a beautiful southern accent (which I have greatly missed). I listened to what he had to say. I learned many things. These were the most profound for me:
- Organic farming can be very profitable! He spoke a lot about his theory/practices (animal/crop roations, forage-only feeding, etc), but mostly about how the way that he looks at the overall picture of his farm (sustainable lumber harvest, compost generation, etc) to actually generate money for him. I think this is the only way to make organic farming appealling to the masses....show them the money!
- The pigness of the pig; This simple idea is how he makes his decisions about how to raise animals for human consumption. He respects the nature of the animal {i.e. how would this animal reside naturally?} and tries to mimic that as closely as possible on his farm.
You can check out his website here: http://www.polyfacefarms.com/default.aspx Now that's what I call transparency - detailed descriptions of his farming techniques, complete with photographs!!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Hippocrates' Hipocrisy (say that fast three times)
my mind in a ball of uninspired mess, while applying for dietetic schools. I turned to find some inspiration, a little fuel for the most awful process of uni applications. I found myself browsing google reader (this is what you do, folks, when you don't own a tv and are exhausted from mindless facebook page clicking).
What I found was an article about growing food allergies to the additives in our foods, which contained a little blurb about Hippocrates, who said "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food." So this prompted me to investigate this guy Hippocrates, who it seems I have some ideology in common with.
He founded the Hippocratic School of Medicine, which established medicine as a distictly seperate from other fields of study (such as philosophy). He also advanced clinical practices of medicine and formed ethical guidelines for practitioners, amoung many other things. So, modern medicine's roots were planted and it grew up and away. So, we all knew he was the father of modern medicine, but I had never put one and two together that he also had such lovely ideals about natural medicines. So the hypocrisy I found is that though he had lovely ideals about natural foods being our medicines, he always laid the ground work for modern western medicine, which has all but forgotten that food IS indeed part of the overall equation of human health.
My time-out to learn a blurb about the speaker of the above truth, gave me a boost. So, what do we do to bring that ideal of food = medicine back into our world. For me, I eat. I eat and cook and feed my family good foods to nourish us. I also attempt to attend nutrition school to become a dietician, so that hopefully I can get paid to teach others how to feed themselves and their families according to Hippocrates' ideals (and hopefully someday our modern communities too!)
What I found was an article about growing food allergies to the additives in our foods, which contained a little blurb about Hippocrates, who said "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food." So this prompted me to investigate this guy Hippocrates, who it seems I have some ideology in common with.
He founded the Hippocratic School of Medicine, which established medicine as a distictly seperate from other fields of study (such as philosophy). He also advanced clinical practices of medicine and formed ethical guidelines for practitioners, amoung many other things. So, modern medicine's roots were planted and it grew up and away. So, we all knew he was the father of modern medicine, but I had never put one and two together that he also had such lovely ideals about natural medicines. So the hypocrisy I found is that though he had lovely ideals about natural foods being our medicines, he always laid the ground work for modern western medicine, which has all but forgotten that food IS indeed part of the overall equation of human health.
My time-out to learn a blurb about the speaker of the above truth, gave me a boost. So, what do we do to bring that ideal of food = medicine back into our world. For me, I eat. I eat and cook and feed my family good foods to nourish us. I also attempt to attend nutrition school to become a dietician, so that hopefully I can get paid to teach others how to feed themselves and their families according to Hippocrates' ideals (and hopefully someday our modern communities too!)
geographically challenged
My plate seems smaller than his or at least infinitely tettering on the pedestal I have placed it on. I find myself back to that place, that worrying place, where life becomes somewhat uncertain. But we've been here before (why does it always come back to food).
We've been in Sydney for over one year. We spent six months or more of our time in Orlando, planning - desperate - to get here, to get away, to open up time and space and eliminate their expectations of us. to breathe. We made it here. Sigh. We spent time here. We spent a lot of time together. The "time lovers get to spend together" bar as been drastically raised and I fear few other times in our lives will live up to this, especially in terms of physical hang out time. I relaxed. I drank. I read. I learned more the power of choice and exercised the freedom to do "whatever I feel like" on endless occassions. It felt great to be a grown-up and order take out and drink more than one bottle of wine a day if we wanted. It felt really good to be HERE and to not be saving so much for the future. Most-important-of-all...we traveled! finally!!! this is the most anticipated part of our change and it was miraculous. We saw parts of the world that we knew, without seeing them, some piece of our inner puzzles would remain missing (i.e. Australia, New Zealand and INDONESIA!) We learned the absolute beauty of a lazy morning followed by a glorious outdoor cafe breakfast and a walk by the beach.
I prioritized. I learned a heck of a great deal about balance and expectations. I found the few and precious things that I want to focus my time/attention on (especially the following, but never limited to): My love, our future family, our relatives, food/health/nutriton, yoga, reading/writing, travel. Last but not least: beauty, knowledge, and pleasure seeking at all times. Oh and inner peace is squeezed somewhere in between.
Where do we go from here? We are geographically challenged and ususally happily so. He's destined to find an amazing job and I'm desperate to be accepted to a dietetics program, where within the restrictions of formal education I can submerge myself into the study of what I love - FOOD and get some useful information to hopefully form a career out of instructing others of their best eating habits. Is it possible for all stars to align and for us to achieve these two great goals, while not lowering our lover hang out time bar or losing sight of the ocean or our lazy Sundays? Can we possibly have any good fortune left?
We've been in Sydney for over one year. We spent six months or more of our time in Orlando, planning - desperate - to get here, to get away, to open up time and space and eliminate their expectations of us. to breathe. We made it here. Sigh. We spent time here. We spent a lot of time together. The "time lovers get to spend together" bar as been drastically raised and I fear few other times in our lives will live up to this, especially in terms of physical hang out time. I relaxed. I drank. I read. I learned more the power of choice and exercised the freedom to do "whatever I feel like" on endless occassions. It felt great to be a grown-up and order take out and drink more than one bottle of wine a day if we wanted. It felt really good to be HERE and to not be saving so much for the future. Most-important-of-all...we traveled! finally!!! this is the most anticipated part of our change and it was miraculous. We saw parts of the world that we knew, without seeing them, some piece of our inner puzzles would remain missing (i.e. Australia, New Zealand and INDONESIA!) We learned the absolute beauty of a lazy morning followed by a glorious outdoor cafe breakfast and a walk by the beach.
I prioritized. I learned a heck of a great deal about balance and expectations. I found the few and precious things that I want to focus my time/attention on (especially the following, but never limited to): My love, our future family, our relatives, food/health/nutriton, yoga, reading/writing, travel. Last but not least: beauty, knowledge, and pleasure seeking at all times. Oh and inner peace is squeezed somewhere in between.
Where do we go from here? We are geographically challenged and ususally happily so. He's destined to find an amazing job and I'm desperate to be accepted to a dietetics program, where within the restrictions of formal education I can submerge myself into the study of what I love - FOOD and get some useful information to hopefully form a career out of instructing others of their best eating habits. Is it possible for all stars to align and for us to achieve these two great goals, while not lowering our lover hang out time bar or losing sight of the ocean or our lazy Sundays? Can we possibly have any good fortune left?
Monday, September 13, 2010
back to life. back to reality?
We returned from paradise in Indonesia and found a pretty great consolation prize..Sydney in the springtime!!!! I nearly forgot what it was like. Springtime is absolutely perfectection here. The weather is turning warmer (I've already worn my swimsuit twice. okay, it was briefly and just in the backyard. I think I'm willing summer to arrive) and the tourists have not arrived! My spring is really shaping up nicely........ . . . . . . . . . . . .
My dear friend Jocelyn heard the beach calling fom the inner west and moved just ten minutes away to Clovelly! I smell dinner parties and beach walks and coffees and wine and card games galore.
Chunky has arrived and loves every single thing about his new life: swimming in the ocean, bbq's at the beach, the dog park just two minutes down the road, the bats he wants to eat, the birds who dive bomb him at the park, house parties and lounging around the house with his family. It's really great to have him here and I don't think Warren has stopped smiling yet. ;)
Warren is busy busy with school (he finishes in early November) and seems to find a grand new opportunity at every door he passes (nothing new there) ;). My life is overflowing with fruit and veggies and thoughts about my next steps in life, my next travel destinations, and our future geographical whereabouts.
This Sydney spring, we are planning a wedding. in our way. at our pace. for Louisiana's next spring. This includes afternoons in the city looking for studly suits for Warren, evenings with wine-itunes-private dance parties while we make up a rockin' play list, and many skype conversations with mommas back home.
I guess Sydney will do. ;)
My dear friend Jocelyn heard the beach calling fom the inner west and moved just ten minutes away to Clovelly! I smell dinner parties and beach walks and coffees and wine and card games galore.
Chunky has arrived and loves every single thing about his new life: swimming in the ocean, bbq's at the beach, the dog park just two minutes down the road, the bats he wants to eat, the birds who dive bomb him at the park, house parties and lounging around the house with his family. It's really great to have him here and I don't think Warren has stopped smiling yet. ;)
Warren is busy busy with school (he finishes in early November) and seems to find a grand new opportunity at every door he passes (nothing new there) ;). My life is overflowing with fruit and veggies and thoughts about my next steps in life, my next travel destinations, and our future geographical whereabouts.
This Sydney spring, we are planning a wedding. in our way. at our pace. for Louisiana's next spring. This includes afternoons in the city looking for studly suits for Warren, evenings with wine-itunes-private dance parties while we make up a rockin' play list, and many skype conversations with mommas back home.
I guess Sydney will do. ;)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
winter to summer; summer to springtime
I finally learned the definition of "holiday." It is actually quite a new idea for me. My concept of travel previously would have mostly fit into the category "living out of a vehicle/tent and touring around on a dime." Which is all very good fun and I've seen some of the most amazing parts of the world, with the most amazing partners in crime, by travelling this way. But there is something to be said about taking a "holiday." Note: This is to be differentiated from a "vacation." For me the term vacation means action-packed, itinerary done in under two weeks (due to the horribly inconvenient maximum alotted American "vacation days").
So we went to Indonesia and it was a proper holiday. These are the things that I now associate with the beautiful term "holiday": escaping the worst few weeks of winter to sun bathe on a remote island, bottomless cocktails, massages, exotic animals (monkeys!!!!!), delicious and exotic foods, unique culture, mo-peds, and boundless beauty.
We left Sydney at the heart of winter and headed to a tropical hideout, when we returned to sydney, it was nearly springtime. perfect. timing.
The food: simple, amazing, delicious. There was so much to love in this category, starting with the fact that the average meal might set you back $2-3 dollars. This "average" meal consisted of a plate full of fried rice (nasi goreng) or fried noodles, with some vegetables and almost always a fried egg on top. This could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The meals got more and more lavish from here, but hardly more expensive. My favorite was usually the vegetarian nasi campur. This consists of a large plate, with white rice in the center, surrounded by a variety of different/interesting little bits of food, including veggies, tofu, peanut satay, some sort of corn fritter, etc. Each restaurant had a little variation of this - yum. Also, extremely popular (for some odd reason) is brick-oven pizza. Most little restaurants with seats just a meter or two from the ocean offered pizza. They were all somehow different from any pizza I'd had before with flaky crusts and sweeter sauces - an unexpected pleasure. One of the best meals we had (well two of the best meals we had, we had it twice cause it was so darn good) was a sunset tuna kebab. After a long, exhausting day of relaxing lazily by the beach or diving (rough life) we would shower off our sunscreen and make our way over to a nearby restaurant on Gili Air. [Gili air is a tiny droplet of sand about two hours on a speed boat away from Bali. You can walk all around this little paradise in just under one hour or you can stop a few times along the way to grab some fried rice, a frozen tropical treat, a dip in the ocean and a nap and that may take you about three hours. I would recommend the latter.] You can choose from a selection fresh fish on display (caught that afternoon, not even on ice). While waiting for the tuna to be grilled we sipped on two for one gin and tonics (happy hour makes it's way to even the most remote of islands) and watch the sunset. I know what you're thinking, but this place really does exist. I wouldn't have believed it either.
The islands: We landed first in Denpasar, Bali. We headed straight for the hills to Ubud. I LOVED Ubud!!!! This is a little rice paddy haven in the hills. This was our first taste of Bali and I fell in love straight away. We spent three days here checking out the Sacred Monkey Forest (where some cheeky monkeys tried to steal Warren's camera bag and sneak a peak up my skirt), watched a traditional Balinese dance (graceful yet rigid), visited a palace, hiked through the rice paddies, and experienced our first couple of cheap massages. We then went over to the west coast to Kuta/Legion. Bali has been ruined here - overcrowded, way touristy, and MAD!!! We stayed a short 15 hours or so and headed for the east coast to hop on a dinky boat and make our way slowly to heaven - Nusa Lembongan. This is a small seaweed farming island (with a mo-ped you can explore it's entirety in about one hour). When the tide is out, all the villagers come to farm their little patch of seaweed. The crop is all neat in rows and then when the tide comes in, it's time to rest. There is no beach for sunbathing, but the sunrise/sunset over the waxing and waning seaweed farm was spectacular! There is a great surfbreak offshore about a ten minute boat ride, that Warren frequented. I frequented the toilet during our week at Lembongan because I got a case of traveller's sickness..blah. After some disguisting sign language and pointing to words in my dictionary, I finally was able to convey my little "problem" to the local medicine lady. After a couple of mystery pills I was all better. I tried and tried to remember exactly what it felt like to be on that island with my man because it was such a perfect feeling. There's a good chance, that if I'm ever missing that you could find me there.
Island hopping continues. Next were the Gili Islands. The guide books describe these as three little droplets of sand in the ocean, and they were not wrong. We landed on Gili Trawangan and then took a little shuttle boat to Gili Air (the quietest and most remote of the three). There are no motorized vehicles on the islands, only horse and carriage - yes! Warren found us a room WITH A/C, an outdoor shower, and a porch only a few meters from the ocean's edge. We got a horse and carriage ride there and posted up. Our most difficult decisions to make over the next 5 days were which cute little beach hut to sit on for dinner, which dive operator to choose, whether we should have our pancakes by the beach or on the porch - it was super rough. There was one small hiccup when I managed to step on a sea urchin. I got about fifty itsy bitsy spins stuck on the bottom of my foot. With Warren and I's combined urine and the coral that Warren used to beat the bottom of my foot until it bled, I was much better the next day. (Isn't the accident prone/stupid injury stuff supposed to happen to Warren?!?) The diving here was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I'd dare even say it was better than the Great Barrier Reef or at least a tie. We saw a smallish shark, several sea turtles, moray eels, a pigmy seahorse, and loads of tropical fish. We were Bali-bound again to head up to Munduk and really take in the gorgeous mountains of northern Bali. We hired a mo-ped for a couple of days and drove a couple hours to the northern beaches, hot springs, coffee plantations. Our trip ended in Ubud with a precious few more days to eat that yummy indonesian food and explore the countryside.
The people: Indonesians are such a beautiful and peaceful people. They are down-right HAPPY. I've never seen more warm and friendly smiles collectively. There lives are much more simple than ours - for better and worse. I personally found myself envying the simplicity. They worked to feed themselves and their children and when the work was done they played and rested. They seemed less busy overall. Also, refreshingly, the men made physical contact with one another. It was not unusual for a man to have his arm on another mans back or shoulder the entire time they were talking. I saw a grown son sitting and massaging his father for about half an hour. It was beautiful.
The time: Indonesia was something like a time warp for me. I've never experienced this brilliant phenomenon before where time just goes on and on and on......Every couple of days felt like forever and when I thought about the time we had left, it always felt like eternity. It's strange, I know, but without phones and TV and often motorized anything, time takes a different shape and can last a lot longer. Things that make you go hhhhmmmmm......
So we went to Indonesia and it was a proper holiday. These are the things that I now associate with the beautiful term "holiday": escaping the worst few weeks of winter to sun bathe on a remote island, bottomless cocktails, massages, exotic animals (monkeys!!!!!), delicious and exotic foods, unique culture, mo-peds, and boundless beauty.
We left Sydney at the heart of winter and headed to a tropical hideout, when we returned to sydney, it was nearly springtime. perfect. timing.
The food: simple, amazing, delicious. There was so much to love in this category, starting with the fact that the average meal might set you back $2-3 dollars. This "average" meal consisted of a plate full of fried rice (nasi goreng) or fried noodles, with some vegetables and almost always a fried egg on top. This could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The meals got more and more lavish from here, but hardly more expensive. My favorite was usually the vegetarian nasi campur. This consists of a large plate, with white rice in the center, surrounded by a variety of different/interesting little bits of food, including veggies, tofu, peanut satay, some sort of corn fritter, etc. Each restaurant had a little variation of this - yum. Also, extremely popular (for some odd reason) is brick-oven pizza. Most little restaurants with seats just a meter or two from the ocean offered pizza. They were all somehow different from any pizza I'd had before with flaky crusts and sweeter sauces - an unexpected pleasure. One of the best meals we had (well two of the best meals we had, we had it twice cause it was so darn good) was a sunset tuna kebab. After a long, exhausting day of relaxing lazily by the beach or diving (rough life) we would shower off our sunscreen and make our way over to a nearby restaurant on Gili Air. [Gili air is a tiny droplet of sand about two hours on a speed boat away from Bali. You can walk all around this little paradise in just under one hour or you can stop a few times along the way to grab some fried rice, a frozen tropical treat, a dip in the ocean and a nap and that may take you about three hours. I would recommend the latter.] You can choose from a selection fresh fish on display (caught that afternoon, not even on ice). While waiting for the tuna to be grilled we sipped on two for one gin and tonics (happy hour makes it's way to even the most remote of islands) and watch the sunset. I know what you're thinking, but this place really does exist. I wouldn't have believed it either.
The islands: We landed first in Denpasar, Bali. We headed straight for the hills to Ubud. I LOVED Ubud!!!! This is a little rice paddy haven in the hills. This was our first taste of Bali and I fell in love straight away. We spent three days here checking out the Sacred Monkey Forest (where some cheeky monkeys tried to steal Warren's camera bag and sneak a peak up my skirt), watched a traditional Balinese dance (graceful yet rigid), visited a palace, hiked through the rice paddies, and experienced our first couple of cheap massages. We then went over to the west coast to Kuta/Legion. Bali has been ruined here - overcrowded, way touristy, and MAD!!! We stayed a short 15 hours or so and headed for the east coast to hop on a dinky boat and make our way slowly to heaven - Nusa Lembongan. This is a small seaweed farming island (with a mo-ped you can explore it's entirety in about one hour). When the tide is out, all the villagers come to farm their little patch of seaweed. The crop is all neat in rows and then when the tide comes in, it's time to rest. There is no beach for sunbathing, but the sunrise/sunset over the waxing and waning seaweed farm was spectacular! There is a great surfbreak offshore about a ten minute boat ride, that Warren frequented. I frequented the toilet during our week at Lembongan because I got a case of traveller's sickness..blah. After some disguisting sign language and pointing to words in my dictionary, I finally was able to convey my little "problem" to the local medicine lady. After a couple of mystery pills I was all better. I tried and tried to remember exactly what it felt like to be on that island with my man because it was such a perfect feeling. There's a good chance, that if I'm ever missing that you could find me there.
Island hopping continues. Next were the Gili Islands. The guide books describe these as three little droplets of sand in the ocean, and they were not wrong. We landed on Gili Trawangan and then took a little shuttle boat to Gili Air (the quietest and most remote of the three). There are no motorized vehicles on the islands, only horse and carriage - yes! Warren found us a room WITH A/C, an outdoor shower, and a porch only a few meters from the ocean's edge. We got a horse and carriage ride there and posted up. Our most difficult decisions to make over the next 5 days were which cute little beach hut to sit on for dinner, which dive operator to choose, whether we should have our pancakes by the beach or on the porch - it was super rough. There was one small hiccup when I managed to step on a sea urchin. I got about fifty itsy bitsy spins stuck on the bottom of my foot. With Warren and I's combined urine and the coral that Warren used to beat the bottom of my foot until it bled, I was much better the next day. (Isn't the accident prone/stupid injury stuff supposed to happen to Warren?!?) The diving here was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I'd dare even say it was better than the Great Barrier Reef or at least a tie. We saw a smallish shark, several sea turtles, moray eels, a pigmy seahorse, and loads of tropical fish. We were Bali-bound again to head up to Munduk and really take in the gorgeous mountains of northern Bali. We hired a mo-ped for a couple of days and drove a couple hours to the northern beaches, hot springs, coffee plantations. Our trip ended in Ubud with a precious few more days to eat that yummy indonesian food and explore the countryside.
The people: Indonesians are such a beautiful and peaceful people. They are down-right HAPPY. I've never seen more warm and friendly smiles collectively. There lives are much more simple than ours - for better and worse. I personally found myself envying the simplicity. They worked to feed themselves and their children and when the work was done they played and rested. They seemed less busy overall. Also, refreshingly, the men made physical contact with one another. It was not unusual for a man to have his arm on another mans back or shoulder the entire time they were talking. I saw a grown son sitting and massaging his father for about half an hour. It was beautiful.
The time: Indonesia was something like a time warp for me. I've never experienced this brilliant phenomenon before where time just goes on and on and on......Every couple of days felt like forever and when I thought about the time we had left, it always felt like eternity. It's strange, I know, but without phones and TV and often motorized anything, time takes a different shape and can last a lot longer. Things that make you go hhhhmmmmm......
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
doing regina from behind
that necessary, cheesy photo pre-show
the opera house on fire I happened to find out that Regina Spektor was coming to the Sydney Opera House. I've been dying to see her and I've been meaning to see something awesome at the opera house - so it was basically destined. I hop online to purchase, only to find out that the only available seats are BEHIND the stage. What the heck does that mean? There is no picture to judge whether this will be worth it or not, but I went with my gut, entered my cc number and security code, and within a week - there we were. We sat less than 10 meters away from that meek and lovely lady with frizzy curls, red lipstick, and red nail polish. Since her piano faced sideways, we actually had a much better view than those dopes sitting in the "front" rows - suckers!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
feaster for two
our first proper holiday meal. with no mums or future mums-in-law to cook for us, we were forced to improvise. plus, cooking is one of my great pastimes of late.our feaster menu:
whole free range chicken - stuffed
with homemade bread crumbs,
mushrooms, onions (shallot and
otherwise) and heaps of rosemary
asparagus - pan-fried to perfection with a little tasty cheese on top (what else is there?)
deviled eggs - we actually own a cook book entirely dedicated to these beauties (thanks
to Jared's mom); two styles made an appearance at our dinner - one with tabasco,
spicy mustard seeds, mayo and the other with dill and tasty cheese. (in case you were
wondering, "tasty" can be roughly translated as "sharp" in Australia; for instance you can
have regular "tasty" cheese or "extra tasty" cheese - i find this amusing. always.)
baked sweet potatos - with a little brown sugar of course
pumpkin pie - two of these actually, this is quite possibly the reason that warren is marrying me.
sparkling shiraz - a wonderful marriage of bubbly and red. perfect for holidays or any days.
it was satisfying, in that i-ate-too-much-i-want-to-vomit way.
Monday, March 29, 2010
waiting for my real life to begin
Colin Hay. Oxford Art Factory. Amazing.
colin hay came into my life (though I didn't know it was him at the time) when his Garden State song (I just don't think I'll ever get over you), ripped my heart out repeatedly during a brief but devestating break up. I found pleasure in torturing myself, listening to it over and over. He came back into my life when I moved to Australia, Men at Work - Land Down Under, duh! and recently a friend of mine requested that I check out his other solo stuff, which is really wonderful. He and his gypsy, air-flute playing, eccentric dancing side-kick came to a theatre near us, so we bought tickets of course. It was better than I ever thought it could be. He played all the goodies and towards the end of the show he played "I just don't think I'll ever get over you." I was swept with all sorts of weird nostalgia and happy feelings. I was finally in Australia (the place we talked for ages about going), holding hands with that boy (the one that I was pining after when I first heard the song). it was so much fun. i want to do it all over again.
here is a glimpse of his classic diddy and that magical air flute:
colin hay came into my life (though I didn't know it was him at the time) when his Garden State song (I just don't think I'll ever get over you), ripped my heart out repeatedly during a brief but devestating break up. I found pleasure in torturing myself, listening to it over and over. He came back into my life when I moved to Australia, Men at Work - Land Down Under, duh! and recently a friend of mine requested that I check out his other solo stuff, which is really wonderful. He and his gypsy, air-flute playing, eccentric dancing side-kick came to a theatre near us, so we bought tickets of course. It was better than I ever thought it could be. He played all the goodies and towards the end of the show he played "I just don't think I'll ever get over you." I was swept with all sorts of weird nostalgia and happy feelings. I was finally in Australia (the place we talked for ages about going), holding hands with that boy (the one that I was pining after when I first heard the song). it was so much fun. i want to do it all over again.
here is a glimpse of his classic diddy and that magical air flute:
Thursday, March 18, 2010
a stye in my eye
So in the past two weeks, I have managed to get two awful, random infections of the face/head.
To start off the fun, I developed a stye. Now, I have had styes before. Small, infections on either lower eye lid, which created a small reddish bump. This time, my stye incarnated on my upper eye lid making it very large and red and swollen.
Stye home remedies:
1. Wet tea bag with hot water and place over your eye once it cools off a bit or don't wait if you're a masochist like me. Keep this on your eye with tape for several hours or if you want to add an extra sexy touch, you can use a chic headband with a flower - use the large flower portion sort of like a pirate patch and the headband will hold it in place.
2. Mix lots of salt into warm water, wait until if cools off (I waited this time) and wash your eye ball with this. Having a partner for this one really helps.
3. Homemade Pumpkin Pie
Within three days of these wonderful remedies, my stye went away. Went away? or maybe this little infection decided to mosey on down to my throat. Within a couple of days of the disappearing stye, I had a sore throat from hell. This time home remedies were not in order (or so I thought) and I made my way to the local doctor. For a painful $64, he informed me that home remedies WERE in order and that my infection didn't look severe enough for antibiotics. Well, I did beg to differ. I went to the chemist and stocked up on my doctor-recommended-home-remedy solutions.
SEVERE sore throat home remedies:
1. Put two or three asprin in a half a glass of water until it completely dissolves. Once it dissolves, gargle each sip before swallowing. This helps to coat the throat with the drug and also quickly absorbs it into blood stream.
2. Betadine gargle solution - for 30 seconds
3. Extra strong lozenges
4. Movies, veggie soup, and raw fruit/veggie juice stuff
5. If all else fails (or even if it all works), vodka and cranberry juice
Right now, as I'm finishing off my drink, it seems these infections have gone off to find someone else to bother (possibly my roommate). In my future, I can see vitamin C pills, extra fruits/veggies, and soap-free antibacteril gel at my side.
To start off the fun, I developed a stye. Now, I have had styes before. Small, infections on either lower eye lid, which created a small reddish bump. This time, my stye incarnated on my upper eye lid making it very large and red and swollen.
Stye home remedies:
1. Wet tea bag with hot water and place over your eye once it cools off a bit or don't wait if you're a masochist like me. Keep this on your eye with tape for several hours or if you want to add an extra sexy touch, you can use a chic headband with a flower - use the large flower portion sort of like a pirate patch and the headband will hold it in place.
2. Mix lots of salt into warm water, wait until if cools off (I waited this time) and wash your eye ball with this. Having a partner for this one really helps.
3. Homemade Pumpkin Pie
Within three days of these wonderful remedies, my stye went away. Went away? or maybe this little infection decided to mosey on down to my throat. Within a couple of days of the disappearing stye, I had a sore throat from hell. This time home remedies were not in order (or so I thought) and I made my way to the local doctor. For a painful $64, he informed me that home remedies WERE in order and that my infection didn't look severe enough for antibiotics. Well, I did beg to differ. I went to the chemist and stocked up on my doctor-recommended-home-remedy solutions.
SEVERE sore throat home remedies:
1. Put two or three asprin in a half a glass of water until it completely dissolves. Once it dissolves, gargle each sip before swallowing. This helps to coat the throat with the drug and also quickly absorbs it into blood stream.
2. Betadine gargle solution - for 30 seconds
3. Extra strong lozenges
4. Movies, veggie soup, and raw fruit/veggie juice stuff
5. If all else fails (or even if it all works), vodka and cranberry juice
Right now, as I'm finishing off my drink, it seems these infections have gone off to find someone else to bother (possibly my roommate). In my future, I can see vitamin C pills, extra fruits/veggies, and soap-free antibacteril gel at my side.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
East Coast Adventures
It was a trip destined to be magical. My bestie (who flew in with me on a flight from San Francisco), a wonderful newish friend who already holds the dearest place in my heart, and my lifetime lover - loaded into a four person camper van fully equipped for two weeks of fun. Basically anything could have happened after that and I'd probably be raving about it anyway, but honestly it was amazing.
The journey started out in Sydney and it ended in Cairns (at the northern region of the Great Barrier Reef). The two weeks in between were filled with waterfalls, rainforest, breathtaking beaches, cheesy tuna mac, wine tasting, sun burns, Poseidon sightings, didgeridoo playing contests, white label wines, diving, snorkeling, boogie boarding, 4 wheel driving, and sweating (of course, it was summer). During those two weeks, I really fell in love with Australia and confirmed a couple of things that I was suspected were quite true.
Australians are really laid back and friendly people - TRUE
Here's the evidence:
1. Carl the Creeper. We met Carl our first night on the road at Macca's (aka McDonald's). Carl is a middle-aged man with a cute dog. This healthy doggie is fortunate enough to get his own Macca's burger meals all to himself. Carl was incredibly friendly, possibly because he had a crush on Jo, but nonetheless, very friendly. He told us of a really nice spot that we could free camp for the night (Smith Lake) and also recommended that we visit Seal Rocks the next day. He even had us follow him about an hour or so from the Maccas to show us the way to our campsite, stopping along the way to get gas and buy Mentos for his new love interest.
His recommendations were both great and Seal Rocks was probably my favorite beach of the trip. Thanks, Carl.
2. Steve (or was it Kevin?) the Winemaker. So alittle further down the road, I'm driving and Paige is my Navigay and we manage to take a wrong turn towards our destiny. We happen upon a little winery on our way to Barrington Tops National Park. Well, I wouldn't be me and P wouldn't be P, if we didn't turn off and do some wine tasting, so we did. There we met Steve, who offered us tastings of the wine he makes himself. After a little friendly swirly, sipping, and chatting, Steve offers us to help him finish off the two bottles he opened for us to taste. So there we are, sitting on Steve's gorgeous property, drinking his delicious wines with him, chatting nonchalantly about this person or that acquaintance that was killed by something deadly in Australia, and snacking on the grapes that he let us pull off his vines. I was basically in heaven.
3. The Po Po. This may have been the turning point when I realized these Australian peoples are really quite a different breed. We pulled our campervan over one night in a spot near Airlie Beach where there was a NO camping sign. At some point in the night I heard a car pull up and then leave. At about 5:45 am another car shows up and knocks on the window of our van. It's the police (gasp). They politely told us that they had come earlier in the evening and saw us parked illegally, but didn't want to wake us in the middle of the night!!! They had returned just prior to the National Park officials coming onsite. They wanted to make sure that we got out of there before we were surely to get a ticket from the National Park. WHAT?!?!? Who are these people? I know what you are thinking, maybe this is a freak accident of police kindness? Nope. A similar such encounter happened a week or so earlier at Byron Bay. We were parked (illegally) overlooking a beach just south of Byron. A cop politely tapped on our window right about sunrise to let us know that we couldn't sleep there overnight (well, the night was over) and he also informed us of various free parking spots that even had showers. It's confirmed. These people are different.
4. Art Village. We saw a random turnoff for an art village with a cafe sign, why not? Our last flat whites were almost completely out of our systems and some/all of us were needing a refill. It turns out to be a gorgeous property full of artist work spaces, art galleries, a cafe, and even a little chapel. We have a round of flat whites and end of up meeting the owners and couple of their friends. The lady gave us some leftover veggie sandwiches, carrot cake, and plenty of friendly conversation for free. Her husband built a beautiful rustic, wooden chapel on the property for his daughter's wedding several years ago. Their daughter's artwork is displayed in one of the art galleries on the property.
5. Hostel Hippie. The owner of this hostel didn't do anything necessarily directly nice to us, but I think his hostel operation and overall persona are worth noting here. I'm not sure of his name, but he's a stout, strong man with very long curly hair (which he wore in a sexy low ponytail). This man owns a hostel in Cairns, which was our final destination. It is the take-off point for all things Great Barrier Reef and to explore even further north Australia. We had a lovely private room for the night and for an extra $12 each, we attended an Australian BBQ at the hostel. This taste of Australia was complete with Emu, Croc, Kangaroo, and Dory (a fish) as well as some delicious salads. After the meal, there was a didgeridoo playing contest (which Paige participated in). This guy has photos of himself and his family travelling all over the world. When they are not travelling, they are just there in Cairns, hosting bbq's and didgeridoo contests for friendly travelers from all over the world - no big deal.
Australian animals are really bizarre and often deadly - TRUE
Evidence:
1. Dingos - Frazer Island is a lush, tropical island just off the eastern coast of Australia (45 minute or so ferry ride). There are no paved roads on the island, which makes for the 4WD adventure (or misadventure in the case of the vehicle piled with europeans backpackers who dinged our rental truck) of a lifetime. We loaded into our rented Hilux and began bouncing and skidding our way all across that island. We stopped at the gorgeous Lake Mackenzie with its crystal clear, warm waters. It was beautiful, but rainy. Beware of Dingo signs could be found all around Frazer Island. We saw a couple of dingos, but we only really got to know one - Donny. Donny came by our campsite and hung out for a while. Once it was dark, we took a stroll to chase crabs and such. Once we were a while down the beach, we happened to turn around and Donny had been following us. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that a few years ago a couple of dingos ate an 8 year old - yikes!
2. Crocodiles - I'm familiar with alligators and have developed a slight resistance to fear of them (that is perhaps a bit unhealthy) due to overexposure throughout my life, but crocodiles are an entirely different monster. We visited a crocodile farm and got up close and personal with a few of these guys. They can get up to 6 meters (18 feet) long! They can hide just below the water and you will never see them! Just north of Brisbane, you begin to see signs that warn against swimming in the water for numerous reasons such as sharks, rip currents, jellies, oh AND crocodiles. It's amazing how great of a stretch of gorgeous coastline is completely unswimmable except for the completely insane few.
3. The Cassowary - This is a large, flightless bird similar to an emu, except for the fact that they have been known to attack humans and with it's supersized claw it could easily disembowel you.
4. Irukandji and Box Jellyfish - The former is less severe than the latter. The Box jellyfish will bring you to your death within minutes of a sting, while the irakanji will not likely kill you (only 2 recorded deaths), but will cause you excruciating pain after the Irukandji syndrome sets in (30 minutes after the sting) and likely several weeks in a hospital. But, no big deal, you just hop right out into the water out by the reef with a quite comfortable, highly sexual stinger suit. This outfits covers you head to toe, including booties and mittens. Your mask covers most of your face, so only the most unfortunate person would be stung on their lips.
5. Giant clams - The most spectacular part of diving/snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef were the larger-than-life clams. These beauties ranged in size from reasonable to gigantic. They were all spectacularly colored and many had very intricate patterns. You could swim right by and just graze the lip of one and they would close up their shell. This never got old.
6. Cane toads - We only saw one of these dead on the side of the road. But the story goes, that the cane toad secretes a poison out of it's skin, which is toxic to it's predators or any innocent bystanders. One local told us that the cane toads cause problems because they secrete their toxens into the waterways that they live in and unintentionally kill other wildlife.
7. Koalas - North of Port Macquarie, there is a wonderful little koala hospital that you can visit for donations only and you can see koalas in a semi-natural habitat (this is worth while because koalas are extremely difficult to see in the wild). As it turns out, most of the koalas at the hospital were admitted because they have what is known as "wet bottom." This is koala chlamidiya and it does actually produce a rusty-colored wet bottom. Other koalas are there because they were hit by a car or bite by a dog, but the vast majority suffer from "wet bottom." Koalas were always quite intriguing to me (as are Kangaroos) because of the whole "partially developed fetus clawing it's way into a pouch to continue development" thing, but throw a common STD problem in the mix and they are even more bizarre!
This place is really freakin' weird and I couldn't love it more! ;)
The journey started out in Sydney and it ended in Cairns (at the northern region of the Great Barrier Reef). The two weeks in between were filled with waterfalls, rainforest, breathtaking beaches, cheesy tuna mac, wine tasting, sun burns, Poseidon sightings, didgeridoo playing contests, white label wines, diving, snorkeling, boogie boarding, 4 wheel driving, and sweating (of course, it was summer). During those two weeks, I really fell in love with Australia and confirmed a couple of things that I was suspected were quite true.
Australians are really laid back and friendly people - TRUE
Here's the evidence:
1. Carl the Creeper. We met Carl our first night on the road at Macca's (aka McDonald's). Carl is a middle-aged man with a cute dog. This healthy doggie is fortunate enough to get his own Macca's burger meals all to himself. Carl was incredibly friendly, possibly because he had a crush on Jo, but nonetheless, very friendly. He told us of a really nice spot that we could free camp for the night (Smith Lake) and also recommended that we visit Seal Rocks the next day. He even had us follow him about an hour or so from the Maccas to show us the way to our campsite, stopping along the way to get gas and buy Mentos for his new love interest.
His recommendations were both great and Seal Rocks was probably my favorite beach of the trip. Thanks, Carl.
2. Steve (or was it Kevin?) the Winemaker. So alittle further down the road, I'm driving and Paige is my Navigay and we manage to take a wrong turn towards our destiny. We happen upon a little winery on our way to Barrington Tops National Park. Well, I wouldn't be me and P wouldn't be P, if we didn't turn off and do some wine tasting, so we did. There we met Steve, who offered us tastings of the wine he makes himself. After a little friendly swirly, sipping, and chatting, Steve offers us to help him finish off the two bottles he opened for us to taste. So there we are, sitting on Steve's gorgeous property, drinking his delicious wines with him, chatting nonchalantly about this person or that acquaintance that was killed by something deadly in Australia, and snacking on the grapes that he let us pull off his vines. I was basically in heaven.
3. The Po Po. This may have been the turning point when I realized these Australian peoples are really quite a different breed. We pulled our campervan over one night in a spot near Airlie Beach where there was a NO camping sign. At some point in the night I heard a car pull up and then leave. At about 5:45 am another car shows up and knocks on the window of our van. It's the police (gasp). They politely told us that they had come earlier in the evening and saw us parked illegally, but didn't want to wake us in the middle of the night!!! They had returned just prior to the National Park officials coming onsite. They wanted to make sure that we got out of there before we were surely to get a ticket from the National Park. WHAT?!?!? Who are these people? I know what you are thinking, maybe this is a freak accident of police kindness? Nope. A similar such encounter happened a week or so earlier at Byron Bay. We were parked (illegally) overlooking a beach just south of Byron. A cop politely tapped on our window right about sunrise to let us know that we couldn't sleep there overnight (well, the night was over) and he also informed us of various free parking spots that even had showers. It's confirmed. These people are different.
4. Art Village. We saw a random turnoff for an art village with a cafe sign, why not? Our last flat whites were almost completely out of our systems and some/all of us were needing a refill. It turns out to be a gorgeous property full of artist work spaces, art galleries, a cafe, and even a little chapel. We have a round of flat whites and end of up meeting the owners and couple of their friends. The lady gave us some leftover veggie sandwiches, carrot cake, and plenty of friendly conversation for free. Her husband built a beautiful rustic, wooden chapel on the property for his daughter's wedding several years ago. Their daughter's artwork is displayed in one of the art galleries on the property.
5. Hostel Hippie. The owner of this hostel didn't do anything necessarily directly nice to us, but I think his hostel operation and overall persona are worth noting here. I'm not sure of his name, but he's a stout, strong man with very long curly hair (which he wore in a sexy low ponytail). This man owns a hostel in Cairns, which was our final destination. It is the take-off point for all things Great Barrier Reef and to explore even further north Australia. We had a lovely private room for the night and for an extra $12 each, we attended an Australian BBQ at the hostel. This taste of Australia was complete with Emu, Croc, Kangaroo, and Dory (a fish) as well as some delicious salads. After the meal, there was a didgeridoo playing contest (which Paige participated in). This guy has photos of himself and his family travelling all over the world. When they are not travelling, they are just there in Cairns, hosting bbq's and didgeridoo contests for friendly travelers from all over the world - no big deal.
Australian animals are really bizarre and often deadly - TRUE
Evidence:
1. Dingos - Frazer Island is a lush, tropical island just off the eastern coast of Australia (45 minute or so ferry ride). There are no paved roads on the island, which makes for the 4WD adventure (or misadventure in the case of the vehicle piled with europeans backpackers who dinged our rental truck) of a lifetime. We loaded into our rented Hilux and began bouncing and skidding our way all across that island. We stopped at the gorgeous Lake Mackenzie with its crystal clear, warm waters. It was beautiful, but rainy. Beware of Dingo signs could be found all around Frazer Island. We saw a couple of dingos, but we only really got to know one - Donny. Donny came by our campsite and hung out for a while. Once it was dark, we took a stroll to chase crabs and such. Once we were a while down the beach, we happened to turn around and Donny had been following us. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that a few years ago a couple of dingos ate an 8 year old - yikes!
2. Crocodiles - I'm familiar with alligators and have developed a slight resistance to fear of them (that is perhaps a bit unhealthy) due to overexposure throughout my life, but crocodiles are an entirely different monster. We visited a crocodile farm and got up close and personal with a few of these guys. They can get up to 6 meters (18 feet) long! They can hide just below the water and you will never see them! Just north of Brisbane, you begin to see signs that warn against swimming in the water for numerous reasons such as sharks, rip currents, jellies, oh AND crocodiles. It's amazing how great of a stretch of gorgeous coastline is completely unswimmable except for the completely insane few.
3. The Cassowary - This is a large, flightless bird similar to an emu, except for the fact that they have been known to attack humans and with it's supersized claw it could easily disembowel you.
4. Irukandji and Box Jellyfish - The former is less severe than the latter. The Box jellyfish will bring you to your death within minutes of a sting, while the irakanji will not likely kill you (only 2 recorded deaths), but will cause you excruciating pain after the Irukandji syndrome sets in (30 minutes after the sting) and likely several weeks in a hospital. But, no big deal, you just hop right out into the water out by the reef with a quite comfortable, highly sexual stinger suit. This outfits covers you head to toe, including booties and mittens. Your mask covers most of your face, so only the most unfortunate person would be stung on their lips.
5. Giant clams - The most spectacular part of diving/snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef were the larger-than-life clams. These beauties ranged in size from reasonable to gigantic. They were all spectacularly colored and many had very intricate patterns. You could swim right by and just graze the lip of one and they would close up their shell. This never got old.
6. Cane toads - We only saw one of these dead on the side of the road. But the story goes, that the cane toad secretes a poison out of it's skin, which is toxic to it's predators or any innocent bystanders. One local told us that the cane toads cause problems because they secrete their toxens into the waterways that they live in and unintentionally kill other wildlife.
7. Koalas - North of Port Macquarie, there is a wonderful little koala hospital that you can visit for donations only and you can see koalas in a semi-natural habitat (this is worth while because koalas are extremely difficult to see in the wild). As it turns out, most of the koalas at the hospital were admitted because they have what is known as "wet bottom." This is koala chlamidiya and it does actually produce a rusty-colored wet bottom. Other koalas are there because they were hit by a car or bite by a dog, but the vast majority suffer from "wet bottom." Koalas were always quite intriguing to me (as are Kangaroos) because of the whole "partially developed fetus clawing it's way into a pouch to continue development" thing, but throw a common STD problem in the mix and they are even more bizarre!
This place is really freakin' weird and I couldn't love it more! ;)
Monday, January 4, 2010
the rest of the story
The rest of the New Zealand story, while it's still moderately fresh.
We left Wellington and went inland (east) to do a back country hike. After a slight detour (well, we got a little lost), we ended up staying the night at Cone Hut. There is a huge network of primitive huts in the back country for deer hunters to stay in. Sometime in the 40's, I believe, there was a deer population explosion, so these huts were built by hunters to accommodate their efforts to help with population control (the venison meat was worth a pretty penny). Now, these huts are used recreationally for people such as myself to stop for the night out of the rain. It's brilliant! These huts are conveniently 5-8 hours apart from each other, so you can basically get to one each night without needed a tent at all. They are either free or about $5 per night. We stayed at Cone Hut after a rainy hike in. There was one other person there, but it was a cozy little hut and the perfect shelter from the rain.
A couple days later, we took the Interislander ferry across to the south island. This is about a 2.5 hour ride and is something like a mini-cruise. You can watch movies and grab breakfast and a cup of coffee. You can also step out of the top deck to check out the scenery which is amazing. You travel through "sounds" out of Wellington (on the north island) and into Picton (on the south island). Picton is just a small port town with nothing to see. We headed north to do a small hike to a neat gorge called sawcut gorge. It looks like someone just carved through a rock with the intention of making intricate curves and stunning views. Plus we saw an eel. cool.
The next couple days were surreal. We met up with Wellington friends, Brendon and his partner, Julie. They took us to Nelson, where we had delicious ice cream and bought some essentials for our upcoming caving expedition. We camped out next to Harwoods Hole - we knew so little. The next morning we woke up, got all of Brendon's gear sorted and hiked to the beautiful and daunting top of the hole. This is where it hit me what was about to occur. So picture this, a 600 ft hole in the ground, which I'm guessing is about 75 ft. wide and you can't even see the bottom from the top. We get a quick lesson on belaying with this unfamiliar gear, we muster up our chi or whatever we each call it, I let go a few quick tears and down we go. It takes 20 minutes per person to get down. The line up was Julie, then me, then warren, with Brendon last. The first few seconds of free hanging on the rope over this magnificent hole were the worst, but miraculously after a minute or so, the fear was gone and it was just heavenly. There is nothing else I could compare it to. It was a meet your maker sort of experience and I'm so glad I did it. At the bottom of the hole is a cave that takes 4-5 hours to hike through and it is complete with an underground river, underground waterfall, stalagtites and stalagmites, impressive cathedral-like chambers, and glow worms. We make it through the cave and finally see the light again, then there is a several hour hike back to the car. We make it back to the car around midnight only to devour burritos and crash.
The next day is equal in awesomeness, but is the complete opposite. lazy day. It's rainy, so we drive to the Mussel Inn and spend the day by a fire with pub brewed beers and cider and play a rock stacking game called Ruk Shuk for hours. This bar is a scene out of a fairy tale. You walk into this place, time stops, and worries disappear. It's cheesy, but true.
Warren and I manage to ignore all the advice we were given about keeping at least a half tank of petrol at all times on the south island (petrol stations are quite sparse). We find ourselves completely empty and a good 20 kilometers from the nearest town. The first passing vehicle picks us up and brings us safely into town. We then purchase a small can of petrol and the first passing vehicle outside the petrol station picks us up again. Easy. These guys were genuine do-gooders, with a little extra motivation. It turns out they were headed to pick mussels at a nearby beach. The limit is 50 mussels per person per day (only 100 with the two of them), but with us in tow that makes 200 mussels! So they score 100 extra mussels and Warren and I get a lesson in mussel scavaging. Everyone wins! We test our skills the next night and manage to get ourselves about 50 in total (not too bad for rookies) and make a delicious dinner of them.
A couple of days later, we find ourselves at the foot of Fox Glacier. I have to keep pinching myself that all these places ARE real and DO exist on such a small island. We take a tour onto the glacier. We put on pounds of clothes and rain gear as well as the very necessary cramp-ons (spikes which attach to the bottom on your hiking boots to allow for somewhat graceful ice walking). This moment stands as one of my most bizarre. There is ice as far as you can see in one direction and in the other there is a river with large blocks of chipped glacier flowing down it. The glacier is making lots of creeking and cracking noises and there we are dressed like eskimos hiking all around. After checking out lots of cool crevaces and even putting some therapeutic glacier mud on our faces, we head back down from the glacier and back into civilization. bummer.
The next big ticket item: one of New Zealand's Great Walks - the Kepler Track. These great walks are just that and can be quite popular for a reason. They are moderately strenuous hikes with breathtaking views at EVERY corner. We stay at the Luxmore Hut the first night. This hut can accommodate about 60 people and is a lot more dolled up than the other primitive huts. The next day consists of hiking up to the peak of Mt. Luxmore (about 1,300 meters) in the snow and then hiking down to Iris Burn to camp out by the river with thousands of sandflies. There only one thing that can satisfy three day hike hunger - vanilla thickshakes. no added vanilla syrup. not too thick.
The last week of our trip was spent diving down in the dark waters of Milford Sound, checking out petrified forests and waterfalls through the Catlins, meeting some yellow faced penquins near the beach, and then driving up to Akaroa to celebrate a birthday. Banks peninsula (Akaroa) offered some nice surfing, Hector dolphin (the world's most rare) spotting, and elegant french dinners - perfect for the new 28 year old. We spent Christmas in Christchurch eating a buffet dinner and watching The Sound of Music.
It was time well spent. really well spent.
We left Wellington and went inland (east) to do a back country hike. After a slight detour (well, we got a little lost), we ended up staying the night at Cone Hut. There is a huge network of primitive huts in the back country for deer hunters to stay in. Sometime in the 40's, I believe, there was a deer population explosion, so these huts were built by hunters to accommodate their efforts to help with population control (the venison meat was worth a pretty penny). Now, these huts are used recreationally for people such as myself to stop for the night out of the rain. It's brilliant! These huts are conveniently 5-8 hours apart from each other, so you can basically get to one each night without needed a tent at all. They are either free or about $5 per night. We stayed at Cone Hut after a rainy hike in. There was one other person there, but it was a cozy little hut and the perfect shelter from the rain.
A couple days later, we took the Interislander ferry across to the south island. This is about a 2.5 hour ride and is something like a mini-cruise. You can watch movies and grab breakfast and a cup of coffee. You can also step out of the top deck to check out the scenery which is amazing. You travel through "sounds" out of Wellington (on the north island) and into Picton (on the south island). Picton is just a small port town with nothing to see. We headed north to do a small hike to a neat gorge called sawcut gorge. It looks like someone just carved through a rock with the intention of making intricate curves and stunning views. Plus we saw an eel. cool.
The next couple days were surreal. We met up with Wellington friends, Brendon and his partner, Julie. They took us to Nelson, where we had delicious ice cream and bought some essentials for our upcoming caving expedition. We camped out next to Harwoods Hole - we knew so little. The next morning we woke up, got all of Brendon's gear sorted and hiked to the beautiful and daunting top of the hole. This is where it hit me what was about to occur. So picture this, a 600 ft hole in the ground, which I'm guessing is about 75 ft. wide and you can't even see the bottom from the top. We get a quick lesson on belaying with this unfamiliar gear, we muster up our chi or whatever we each call it, I let go a few quick tears and down we go. It takes 20 minutes per person to get down. The line up was Julie, then me, then warren, with Brendon last. The first few seconds of free hanging on the rope over this magnificent hole were the worst, but miraculously after a minute or so, the fear was gone and it was just heavenly. There is nothing else I could compare it to. It was a meet your maker sort of experience and I'm so glad I did it. At the bottom of the hole is a cave that takes 4-5 hours to hike through and it is complete with an underground river, underground waterfall, stalagtites and stalagmites, impressive cathedral-like chambers, and glow worms. We make it through the cave and finally see the light again, then there is a several hour hike back to the car. We make it back to the car around midnight only to devour burritos and crash.
The next day is equal in awesomeness, but is the complete opposite. lazy day. It's rainy, so we drive to the Mussel Inn and spend the day by a fire with pub brewed beers and cider and play a rock stacking game called Ruk Shuk for hours. This bar is a scene out of a fairy tale. You walk into this place, time stops, and worries disappear. It's cheesy, but true.
Warren and I manage to ignore all the advice we were given about keeping at least a half tank of petrol at all times on the south island (petrol stations are quite sparse). We find ourselves completely empty and a good 20 kilometers from the nearest town. The first passing vehicle picks us up and brings us safely into town. We then purchase a small can of petrol and the first passing vehicle outside the petrol station picks us up again. Easy. These guys were genuine do-gooders, with a little extra motivation. It turns out they were headed to pick mussels at a nearby beach. The limit is 50 mussels per person per day (only 100 with the two of them), but with us in tow that makes 200 mussels! So they score 100 extra mussels and Warren and I get a lesson in mussel scavaging. Everyone wins! We test our skills the next night and manage to get ourselves about 50 in total (not too bad for rookies) and make a delicious dinner of them.
A couple of days later, we find ourselves at the foot of Fox Glacier. I have to keep pinching myself that all these places ARE real and DO exist on such a small island. We take a tour onto the glacier. We put on pounds of clothes and rain gear as well as the very necessary cramp-ons (spikes which attach to the bottom on your hiking boots to allow for somewhat graceful ice walking). This moment stands as one of my most bizarre. There is ice as far as you can see in one direction and in the other there is a river with large blocks of chipped glacier flowing down it. The glacier is making lots of creeking and cracking noises and there we are dressed like eskimos hiking all around. After checking out lots of cool crevaces and even putting some therapeutic glacier mud on our faces, we head back down from the glacier and back into civilization. bummer.
The next big ticket item: one of New Zealand's Great Walks - the Kepler Track. These great walks are just that and can be quite popular for a reason. They are moderately strenuous hikes with breathtaking views at EVERY corner. We stay at the Luxmore Hut the first night. This hut can accommodate about 60 people and is a lot more dolled up than the other primitive huts. The next day consists of hiking up to the peak of Mt. Luxmore (about 1,300 meters) in the snow and then hiking down to Iris Burn to camp out by the river with thousands of sandflies. There only one thing that can satisfy three day hike hunger - vanilla thickshakes. no added vanilla syrup. not too thick.
The last week of our trip was spent diving down in the dark waters of Milford Sound, checking out petrified forests and waterfalls through the Catlins, meeting some yellow faced penquins near the beach, and then driving up to Akaroa to celebrate a birthday. Banks peninsula (Akaroa) offered some nice surfing, Hector dolphin (the world's most rare) spotting, and elegant french dinners - perfect for the new 28 year old. We spent Christmas in Christchurch eating a buffet dinner and watching The Sound of Music.
It was time well spent. really well spent.
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