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BACK ON THE ROAD - Sam's Entry
I write this on a ridiculous high, still pumped full of adrenaline from completing the Nevis highwire bungee at midday today. 134 metres above a massive ravine in a glass-bottomed cablecar suspended on wire ropes... 8 second freefall, 100kmph speed hurtling towards the ground. I felt like I was about to kill myself when they counted me down, and when I jumped I was moving too fast to breathe or scream. I just put my hands behind my back and let the wind smash into my face all the way down, like a human bullet - it was immense.
I left off just before my birthday. I had a great night out on the Friday, drinking myself silly with all of my new friends, and then on Sunday night before Dave and Sue went to Stewart island we had a little midnight birthday for me - I got a beautiful Maori jadestone from Dave; a handmade origami mobile of 100 cranes from Nozomi; a shot of Kirsch brandy, a funny picture of me asleep at the dinner table after a hard shift at work and a cool NZ t-shirt from Sue and Dave. That's not mentioning all the vital money I got from my family - thank you thank you!!! I had a great day - I worked the 9 to 5 shift at Esprit, shared a bottle of bubbles with my boss then went to Craft for a hearty steak dinner surrounded by a load of cool people. Later on Alana and her friend Brooke treated me to a few alcohol teapots, and I went home merry. Not every year you can spend your birthday on the other side of the world!
I'm really glad to have left my jobs and to be 'living the dream' again, but I have really fond memories of Dunedin. More funny stories that I can't forget - being persued by a deranged stalker girl in a giant puffa jacket who kept staring at me with her mouth open on the dancefloor, and who asked me for about 14 glasses of water before telling the bouncer (?!) she really fancied me, number pre-prepared in her hand. Somehow I didn't think it was meant to be, but I respect her effort for sporting an insulating coat on a sweaty, raging dancefloor all night. Also - the national NZ boss from Esprit came down to give us all a good telling off, and halfway through her lecturing me on how to fold clothes I suffered a massive, unstoppable nosebleed all over my clothes and face.
I learned to make some really cool shots, and also some nasty ones involving tabasco for people who were rude to me. And I hardly broke anything - neither did I get any permenant scars, which is a first. Maybe my chronic clumsiness and humourous life-failing are slowly creeping away with adulthood, who knows?
Leaving work went down well, and I didn't leave on bad terms with anyone even when I was being cheeky and slacking off in the last couple of days. It's been nice to make friends and settle here - I'd love to come back one day and see how it's all changed, if people remember me! but the long hours and the tiredness made me start to miss home - I really miss my family sometimes, and it's sad knowing whenever I'm free to talk, everyone at home is fast asleep. Things have improved tenfold now me and Dave are travelling, having a laugh and spending quality time doing what we want.
What was harder than leaving work was leaving home - ie. 39 Ascot Street, where Sue and Dave have generously put up with me, my messy trail in the house and my nocturnal banging around in the early hours of the morning. I owe you a great deal - and let me put it in writing, I owe you a pint! (or a glass of Scotch and a Pinot Gris). Dave's family are all super, I find it really easy to get on and have a laugh with his cousins and the days I had off when we went exploring were really important for me to breathe some fresh air and see my first bits of New Zealand. Thank you so much! I think I'll miss Nozomi too - her English improved so much, and our last talk made me realise I think of her as a friend, and I made it past the language barrier to find how kind, caring and selfless she is. Kampai!
My last week in Dunedin included dressing up as a geek with a shirt, bow tie and silly glasses and going to the Craft work dress up party... I won the best dressed male which infuriated everybody from Harry Potter to Evil Homeless Guy. I didn't really deserve it because I spent $7 on a costume and did a ridiculous combover which should have earned everyone the right to slap me rather than pat me on the back. Oh well. I also did some shopping, got myself a beanie, some fingerless hobo gloves and a very retro knitted woolly jumper. I don't mind that I look like a homeless, unwashed Quasi Modo in the back of the van, because I am exceedingly warm. Dave's begun the epic task of driving us all over New Zealand, but because it's so much smaller than the Outback we get to stop and see things all the time and still make good ground.
We drove to Te Anau first, a town perched on a beautiful and calm lake. We booked up a glowworm cave boating experience then Dave took me to his favourite Lake, Manapouri, which to be honest is now my favourite lake too. It really took me by surprise in the foggy, misty twilight - the lake is big enough to have a pickup length for waves, which seem to come from the snow-capped mountains in the horizon. It's beautiful out here. Every day we drive past beautiful stuff, and the landscape changes every day. Pine-forest clad mountains in Queenstown; harsh, scrubby desert in central Otago; sheer cliff-faces and crystal lakes in Fjordland. We're spoilt. Love it!
Seeing the glowworm caves was excellent, and I was impressed that Dave took some sneaky, naughty shots inside the caves which are absolutely stunning. The water underneath our walkway was savagely powerful, ripping away at the limestone to create all sorts of crazy rock shapes. One of the best caves ever! The next day we tried to drive up to Milford Sound but torrential floods had destroyed the road so we only managed to get to Mirror Lakes which was a great point at which to take optical illusion photos where neither of us could remember which side was the lake and which was the mountains.
Aside from seeing awesome scenery, we've had a laugh on the more domestic level of cooking. We've attempted to cook steaks, Gurnard fish and potatoes, and we usually do a pretty bad job due to time constraints / severe lack of prowess (you have to boil potatoes? what a stupid idea, let's just pan-fry them and eat the outsides, like men). Fast food proved too alluring recently, especially today when only a Zinger burger could steady my post-bungee shakes. Also, our sleeping arrangements - we're trying to sleep in the back of Herbie but there seems to be a massive hatred of campers in the majority of places we've been to, so we often see signs aggressively telling us to go away or risk a $500 fine. Where we havn't been able to find somewhere sneaky to bunk down, we've had to pay up for a camper site, ie. a strange old lady's field where German couples like to go into the shower together and spiele mit die Seife... it's still (hopefully) a saving on paying for hostels every night.
From the Milford road we stopped off to see Queenstown and Arrowtown for the day. Arrowtown is pretty, with a beautiful little stream and a superb sweet shop where I got Dandelion and Burdock boiled sweets and dragged Dave up the river bank to find a Lord of the Rings location. (The Ford of Bruinen, where Arwen rides away from the Ringwraiths with a stabbed Frodo - aaaaah.) I'll be climbing Mt. Doom in a few weeks!
We got down to Alexandra, where Dave and Sue have a house, on Friday afternoon. It was great to see everyone again, get some quality food and try super-expensive BBQ crayfish tails with a bottle of Radler. We moaned about how they don't have Galaxy or Ben & Jerry's... trekked up to the famous Alexandra clock (like the Hollywood sign in the USA except with a practical purpose)... had a picnic in the hills and went on a wine tasting tour of central Otago... me and Nozomi made sushi and we all had a fantastic, massive dinner with apple crumble for afters. Alexandra was fun and relaxing, and there were a few tears shed when we said goodbye the next morning!
Our current leg of the journey involves the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown. Queenstown is unlike normal New Zealand towns; the scenery is pretty unique in that it's surrounded in pine forest. It's also one big high street full of shops and designer boutiques, so we're getting everything we can out of it in 2 days then leaving before I catch Dave 'donating' his bank balance to Canterbury. Interesting things about Queenstown - 4 bungee jumps, 2 massive backpacker hostels and a street full of bars. Our time here has been extreme in every sense. We arrived, parked up, checked in, drink a 15-pack of Speight's, hit the bars.... woke up 5 hours later, text my brother to send my love to my parents if I died, then threw myself off a ravine. Dave's booked his skydive too for Wanaka, an hour or so to the North. I've got my bungee photos in my bag, I'll have to wait until I'm home to scan them and show them off though. Because of the riskiness of using public computers and their ability to wipe and break memory cards (like the horrific events of Thailand) we're going to wait until home before any more pictures and videos go up, unfortunately. It'll be worth the wait - Dave's SLR photos are stunning and New Zealand is beautiful! You're also missing out on seeing us looking rough, greasy and grizzled from living in the back of a van. Dave's just unravelled his master plan not to shower for 8 days as a test of endurance - my only option is to combat this with my own unwashed aroma. People in the supermarket view us with a cautious mix of fear and amusement as we rummage around looking for the cheapest cereal possible.
It's only about 8 weeks before we're home. I can't believe that it's been 5 months, and I can't believe that we're close to the end. I almost feel nostalgia for the present - sometimes it's extremely hard and frustrating being out here but it's balanced out by the best experiences of my life. Me and Dave talk about our future plans a lot, and I think we'll travel again (although if Dave is to ever be put through my company again, I need to learn to drive...)
Can't wait to see the North Island (& Mount Doom!)... South America... Macchu Picchu... HOME! Staying with Dave's family has made me keenly aware of my own; how I've been brought up, the things I love and miss, and the ways in which it's clear I've been lazy or unappreciative. Prospective parents; send your children on a gap year if you want to teach them how to wash up and make their bed.
In Kiwi - Sweet as, bro.
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Hello Family & Friends,
Once again time seems to have rushed by and it's coming up to a month now since the last time we updated you all. We have been in New Zealand for almost 2 months now, away from home coming up 5 months and still very much enjoying the journey. It's hard not too when you have great company and great things to acheive. I hope that the spring is finding you all well and happy and content that summer is on it's way around again.
Sam and I are back on the road again after our long and very happy stay in Dunedin with my family. I know that Auntie Sue and Uncle Dave are going to be reading this and on behalf of Sam and I, we would like to say a huge thankyou for all your kindness and generosity throughout our stay. We had such a good time and it was all possible because of you guys. Since the last time I blogged I have been quite a busy chap. We enjoyed our last few weeks in Dunedin with Sam persevering with the rat race while I filled my days with relaxing dog walks on the beach, slightly less relaxing bike rides and hilariously bizzare family cutlery quizzes spurred on by our lack of culinary wisdom.
The time scale/order on this blog is going to be slightly odd, mainly because I'm struggling to remember precisely when I did certain things - this might have something to do with the alcohol consumed last night, early suspicions of a raging hangover can now be confirmed at 11.28am in a small internet cafe.
Much of the last few weeks in Dunedin was spent just enjoying quality family time, we did a variety of things together including kayaking out on the Taieri River Mouth, trips up to Alexandra for rail trail prep and days and nights spent enjoying the company of one another. Going through old family slides was a personal highlight of mine with Aunt, Uncle, Alana, Nozomi, Sam and I all huddled around with hot drinks and enjoying the days of yesteryear.
Aunt & I went down to Stewart Island, courtesy of her being on a work trip and that was absolutely sublime. The island is home to around 400 people and is as close to true wilderness as I have probably ever experienced. On our flight over the water was covered under a blanket of low lying cloud, so the only thing evident were the peaks of Stewart Island and as we descended we could see down to the forest and wild below. Jurassic Park basically. So much of the island is uninhabited and with the various predator removal schemes going on it's like stepping back in time, not just in the pub I mean but also in the surrounding bush. The weather not being too fine couldn't even hamper the trip for me as i braved through wet feet to trek around the local bays and forests, marvelling at the colours and bird life within. I think the real highlight of the trip had to be the day trip out to Ulva Island, an island off the mainland as such which is totally 100% predator free and it has made such an impressive impact. The birds and the forest have reverted back to something that seemed to me how New Zealand's lands must have been prior to the influence of man. It was incredible, with the birds being extremely inquisitive and rather friendly as they have no natural predators to fear they seem to have lost the inhabitions of species elsewhere. We were on the island for 4 and a half hours, circling around a 45 minute track, how in 45 minutes people are supposed to fully appreciate the island's charms is beyond me but I was certainly glad that we spent the hours we did there. A real lasting memory of the island has to be the very rare saddleback and white chested robin we saw there, the saddleback, working away hard on the tree to get the bugs out from underneath was being closely followed by a tiny wee Robin who was picking up the falling scraps, this was before the saddleback decided he wasn't all too pleased with this arrangement and ushered the robin away. The birdlife ranging from the local Weta's that come right up to you in a desperate plea for food, the friendly robins that bob along beside you and the companionship of the flitting fantail was something I have never seen the likes of before. A few of the other things I did while on the island was tuck into a famous Sandy Bbq including Venison and the like, take a prolonged walk out to the Ackers Point Lighthouse, visit the sacred maori place known as "The Neck" and last but certainly not least go on a tiki tour with the one and only, the original, mother tucker of Stewart Island, Terri. Terri was a lovely Maori lady who guided me around the island in her little yellow tuk tuk giving me vast amounts of information about the history of Stewart Island and providing endless laughs in between. The whole trip was great fun, even being co pilot in our 10 seater plane was good fun, despite worrying for the whole duration of the 17 minute flight that my foot would slip onto something it shouldn't, causing chaos and malfunction and leaving us all hurtling down towards the Ocean and to a watery fate. The newspaper headlines were circulating in my head, so touching down on firm land was a relief on both occasions, a safely negotiated flight has never been such a novelty before.
When I got back from Stewart Island more relaxing and family time was in order, the only problem hampering this was that I had managed to lose my debit card, in a Subway, 50km's out of Dunedin it turned out, so I had to race up there late one afternoon and make it back to Dunedin for a family graduation meal with Uncle Dave's, Brother's, Daughter. I was really just enjoying the days in Dunedin, knowing that soon enough it would be time to head back out on the open road. I think it was really good for both Sam and I to be settled in one place and have familiarity again for a while, the way we have been travelling, trying to do everything in short spaces of time certainly has it's benefits in terms of being able to experience and see so much but every now and then it's nice to settle for a while and recharge the batteries. More than that for me as well it was lovely to be with family and establish bonds that I hope will last a lifetime with the people I am so fond of here.
It was 2 weekends ago now that I completed the Otago central rail trail, the 3 day, 150 km ride through the wonderfull scenery of Central Otago. The Bike ride was at times challenging, physically, espescially during the periods cycling straight into heavy headwinds, clocking up speeds of around 2km an hour for these brief sessions really tested the desire to keep on pedalling but you do, because that's all part of it, the hard work that goes in during those quiet moments, when no one else is looking, there the ones that define us. The ride took us all the way from the start in Clyde, through to Lauder for the first night, onto Ranfurly for the second and then finally finishing in Middlemarch. The group comprised of Aunt, Sam (cousin Sam), his girlfriend Amber, myself and a collection of Aunt and Uncle's friends from Dunedin. We all had a great time, celebrating the birthday of lead support crew member Uncle Dave in good spirit on the first night in Lauder. Despite the pubbie and catering staff doing their best to destroy all Aunt's best laid plans about getting Uncle a cake made it all came together nicely in the end as the pulled their socks up and produced the goods in the form of a delicious chocloate cake. Sam, Amber and I seemed to be in the same small group for much of the bike ride (Probably due to ages of other respective members) and this was a really good chance for me to get to know Sam better, it's funny how comfortable it was with him despite it being so many years since I last saw him. It's the same with Alana too, it doesn't feel at all strange to say that I feel close to my cousins here because we get on so well together. Along the rail trail we passed through some spectacular places, through rocky gorges, long valleys, huge viaducts and old bridges and a few dark tunnels along the way too. Despite the elders deeming it neccesary to stop off at nigh on all the public houses along the way for refreshment purposes, the younger members of the group, the three of us, set about exploring the various detours on offer such as the old gold working and the historic little town of Ophir. Many of the towns that the trail led us to were small and historic, always seeming to contain at least one very old still operating building. The rail trail was such good fun, mainly because of the company I had throughout, and it was a really special thing to do for me because Central Otago is a place I hold paticularly dear, the family roots and history in the area will always draw me back, and I'm delighted that I have been able to spend so much time in Central over the past 2 months.
Since we got back from the rail trail time has sped away and I now find myself in Queenstown, looking back wondering how 2 months have passed here already. We stayed In Dunedin until wednesday last week, when we left along with Sam and Amber who were heading back up to Blenheim, we took a different direction and headed acrosss the country over to Te Anau and the Milford road instead. The Tuesday prior to our departure was spent exploring Dunedin's local hidden gems with the cousins, Amber and Sam (friend). We tredged down to the old abandoned war tunnels, chilled out with ice creams on the harbours edge and after Dave's birthday dinner headed out up to the Signal hill lookout and the glowworm ampitheatre of Dunedin. It was excellent to spend the day all together and enjoying the beautiful weather on offer, a day capped off by a good family meal and an evening full of laughs.
The Milford road was closed unfortunatly due to storms in the region so we only got partway into the Fiordland National park area which despite being rather disapointing was good fun anyway. The scenery was spectacular but for me nothing topped Lake Manapouri which we visited early in the morning, with beautiful blue waters, snow capped mountain peaks all around and a rainbow set in right over the lake it is going to take some beating in terms of pure beauty. Te Anau is the more famous lake due to the township being the gateway to Milford but Manapouri certainly has more charm for me. We did spend time in Te Anau though, visiting the excellent glowworm caves just off the lake there. Being in a pitch black cave, looking up at hundreds of tiny sparkling lights shining back down at you is a very cool experience, It's something I did the last time I was here but was more than happy to visit again.
We were happy to arrive in Alexandra for the weekend, revelling in the power of a hob again after having our gas burner destroyed in productivity by the power of wind. The real reason I was happy though was to be seeing the family again as they had come up for the weekend and we had said we would all meet up again prior to us leaving on our road trip for real as such. I was so pleased to have this time with the family, in many ways it's fitting that we said Goodbye in Alexandra. The weekend had been spent eating delicious food, taking virtual wine tours and 4 wheel driving over the hills. It wouldn't have really mattered what we did, the most important thing was that we were all together but we had great fun in those couple of days.
Saying goodbye to family is hard, it was the hardest part of coming away and here it has been the hardest part of being away. It's all the more hard when you don't know when you will see the people so dear to you again. I think though that over the past 2 months, I have managed to create bonds and relationships with family here that will last a lifetime, regardless of the future we face we will always remember the time we have spent together fondly and in good spirit. As I said to Aunt, I love New Zealand, because home isn't just about people or places but both. Home is the people we love and the places that give us peace. I have that in two places in the world and they happen to be about as far away from each other as it is possible to be. That's not important though, because bonds stretch across all the miles we can imagine and can ever have between us, the bonds that quietly stay with us and draw us back to the people and places we love, the ties of our past, the love of our present and the hope for our future.
I have spent 2 hours writing this blog this morning and all of it apart from real honesty feels difficult to write, because being honest all I want to write about is how much this time with my family has meant to me, the things we have done along the way together have been fantastic but as I mentioned earlier, there is something more important, far more important than the things we do with our days, it's the coming together of our branches on our tree. For me, over the past 2 months, I have found everything I needed and wanted from my travels. I have found peace, peace with myself and a peace with the world and the way it works. The people that mean the most to me will read this and understand and everyone else doesn't matter, sometimes you have to be honest and you have to have the courage to speak your feelings while you can.
I wasn't sure not so long ago that I would ever really be at peace with myself, I wasn't sure that it existed, that it was possible. Something always to be worked towards but never to be found, like chasing a rainbow. Now I know, it is possible, it does exist, and all of us have the capacity to find it and enjoy it. Your past is the foundation of your character, that took me a long time to accept. Often when I look back on much of my past I do not do so fondly, much of it is difficult for me but I have found something there, something good, that I can go to, and that will persevere and overcome the rest. I have found it now after many years of searching.
I don't believe anyone who says never look back, you have too, you cannot run from your past, when you face it, you conquer it, you begin to shape your future. Live for the moment though, every moment, every single moment, because soon enough your moments pass, and they too become your past, something that by living fully in the moment, we will look back fondly on in the days yet to come.
"One faces the future with one's past".
Dave
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