It's IN the computer...!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NENE!  This blog post is dedicated to my sis, because today is her birthday.  The title is simply because we like to watch Zoolander together on occasion and has nothing to do with New Zealand.  Have an awesome B-day!  Miss you!

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So it has come to an end.  I'm back in Wellington, sitting in my flat as I write this post.  It's nice to be settled into one place again (and have unlimited internet time again).  After moving around so much you really learn to appreciate having somewhere to go back to, even if it does mean facing the bitter reality of projects and papers due in upcoming days.  But before I lock the trip into the Vault of Good Memories forever, let's lay it all out on the table.  Examine its final days, its twists, turns, and passages.  So come on!  Let's go relive it all together, and maybe learn something about ourselves along the way!!!1

Part I

Remembering

Forgive me while I go back and recollect where I left off...

Part II

Receiving

Sometimes people are mean.  They curse you as they pull out in front of you, ignore you when you try to talk, or steal something that rightfully belonged to you.  This can be true, and yes, these things do indeed happen.  But I say "sometimes" because I really mean it.  Most of the time, at least in my experience, people aren't mean.  In our minds we occasionally allow the mean ones to stand out, ruining humanity's reputation for everyone.  I don't want to get into the whole "do you think people are naturally good or naturally bad" argument.  I just think people are people.  I think people are sometimes mean and most of the time nice.  And then some of the time ridiculously over generous and ecstatically hospitable.

After leaving Greymouth we drove the four or so hours to Nelson on the North Coast.  We met up with Gray's family friends who had offered to put us up for the night and give us some dinner.  I really wish I knew how to spell their name, but I believe it's Mark and Elane Murra, and I'll use that for the rest of the post (I'll come back and change it if Gray tells me it's wrong).

the Pancake Rocks on the road to Nelson

The Murras went well beyond the call of duty for rooming six backpackers (if there even is such a call).  After sleeping in hostels night after night and eating McDonald's and pasta, we didn't even know what to do with the amazing amounts of food and drink that were being offered us.  Filet mignon, sweet beans, baked potato, slaw salad, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn on the cob and red wine.  Even as we walked in the door they were offering us champagne with raspberries dropped in accompanied by brie and crackers.  

the Murra's house

their view

We all ate heartily and swapped good stories and just generally had a great time.  It was quite the experience after being on the road for two weeks and I hope that some day I'll be in a position to offer some weary travelers the same hospitality.

Part III

Retracing

After sleeping off the massive amounts of food that was consumed we awoke to eat another generously prepared meal of oatmeal, banana bread, muffins, and hard boiled eggs.  They really spoiled us and I'm glad our visit to them was at the end of the trip and not the beginning, or every other meal may have dulled in comparison.  

The plan had been to visit Abel Tasman National Park that day, a large area of land to the north of Nelson, and Mr. Murra told us of a really nice walk on the northern, less visited area of the park.  So, after going out and getting the Murras a thank you present (it wasn't much and may have looked a bit silly coming from a caravan of backpackers, but we gifted them with a bottle of their favorite wine), we set off north for Takaka.  Little did we know...

The drive ended up being far longer and farther windier (again, like the snake, not the beach) than anticipated, the latter complimenting the former nicely.  By the time we finally made it to the camping area that was tucked away on the other side of a high and narrow dirt road, car #2 was pooped and not wanting to hike, so Carolyn, Allison, and Kate headed back to Takaka to chill out and window shop.

Our car, however, decided it was way too long of a haul through the mountains to not see any of the park, so we put on our shoes and sand fly lotion and set out.  It it was well worth it.  We found some beautiful coves and beaches and trekked through some crazy rain forest areas.  This also proved to be the best unicycling tracks I've come across yet, so I spent a fair amount of time aboard Tahi (named for the one-legged kiwi bird at the Wellington Zoo... have I already written that?) cruising through the trees.  I even managed to take some video whilst riding along.

i thought this sort of looked like a man's profile

We had stopped for pictures and rock climbing and beach walking along the way, so after about an hour and a half of walking we were nowhere near our goal of making it to Separation Point and back before the sun went down, so we turned around and tramped on back to the car.  It was a great walk though, and some excellent closure to our South Island trip.

Since we were now further away from our ending point of Picton (and the ferry) than when we started off that day, we then drove the two hours back to Nelson and made the decision to go the other two hours on to Picton.  So we ended up driving about four and a half hours for a two and half hour hike, then another two hours to Picton.  But hey, not everything about a road trip is practical.  And we had a great time out there exploring the wilderness of the path.

Part IV

Returning

So, not much else to this story.  Slept in Picton, got up and ate some breakfast at Seabreeze, and then caught the 1 10 ferry back across to Wellington and the North Island, the island of our home that we now know so much less about than the one we left behind to the south.  But that will all be taken care of in due time.  June will come eventually.  Until then, I need to plow through school and finish strong here at Vic.  And all of you will just have to make do with posts about the real life of Wellington, New Zealand.

But, like I said before, it really is nice to be back in one place.  To have more than one pair of jeans and four shirts.  To have my own bed to sleep in and no one complaining about my snoring.  To have internet.  Maybe I'm just too dependent on modern life commodities.  I always saw myself as the kind of guy who could do just fine living off of rice and beans and water in a hut on a river in the middle of nowhere, traveling from village to village.  And that hasn't really changed.  Now I just know that I would prefer to live in a city, have a home base at all times in the middle of things.  I'll get my traveling fix every now and again, but it's good to have that anchor.

Anyway, that was a bit of a ramble.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about my travels as much as I have enjoyed writing about them.  Like I said, I'll keep at it, but don't expect glacier climbing and jungle raiding too much in the near future.  It'll be the glacier of projects and the jungle of Wellington City for awhile.  But I look forward to it.  In a way I think I'm just trying to get myself ready for stationary school activity for the next six weeks by rationalizing it to you.  Maybe by convincing you to keep reading my blog I'll convince myself that my normal life is still exciting enough to write about.  Who knows.

Epilogue

Another really long post.  Now that I have internet consistently that shouldn't happen (as much) anymore.  The pictures make it longer, but I think they're a nice break from all the reading so I add them just the same.  Actually it's not letting me upload them at all right now, hopefully later.  If anyone has any particular interest in something let me  know and I'll try to tell you about it in a post, assuming it has something to do with life here in Wellington or New Zealand.  I need to go flip my laundry over and take a shower.  Goodnight everyone!