3 January, 2008 - End of one road, beginning of another ...

Hi all,

Well, this will be my last “Note from the Road”, now that I’m NOT on the road anymore.

I moved into my permanent flat on Monday, so I’ve officially landed in Bristol. After spending just shy of two weeks in temporary housing, it was nice to get into my own space. Dorm living was amusing while I was on the road, but not for the long term. And this wasn’t much fun, as I was in a single dorm room – I actually missed the hustle and bustle of a hostel! The house was for international students, and this is a funky thing. You find an eclectic mix of people here –this is either cool or weird. I saw a bit of both, though a bit more of the latter. But people were very friendly, and it was an easy, convenient place to drop my pack for a bit.

That said, I’m happy to be in a flat, my flat, with my stuff, once again. The movers came Monday – what a treat to have someone to set up furniture and unpack boxes for you! Granted, the entire contents of my bedroom ended up ON my bed, but it’s still better than having to figure out later what to do with all of those boxes and wrapping materials. I’m relieved to see that everything actually fits in the flat, given that I hadn’t seen some of it in 3+ years, and had no idea what was in some of the boxes. I think the flat should be ready for public viewing in a few weeks – I’ve had to buy a few pieces of furniture, and they haven’t arrived yet.

Aside from the flat stuff, I’m pretty close to creating my existence herein Bristol – it always takes longer than you think. Banking, utilities, postal stuff, student card, sports pass. Oh, and the financial stuff with the university and UCB isn’t sorted out yet (read: my stipend isn’t in place yet), but I’m assured that this is happening, and there’s at least a flurry of emails.

Since arriving in Bristol, I’ve been out with the lab crew a few times, which has been nice. In fact, there was a post-viva celebration (PhD defense) on my first full day in Bristol, and I ended up going out to the pub for a few. Well, a few turned into a few more (as it does), and I was out ‘til 5am. Nothing like embracing the student life from day one! Another fun night was last Friday, when we ended up at a local club called The Tube. A few of you have been out in Bristol and may know about this, but the rest of you should know that you can’t really say that you’ve been out in Bristol until you’ve gotten down with DJ Derek. It’s not just that he spins really good reggae –he’s also in his 70s! There’s this chilled out, grey-haired, tie and vest-wearing, bespectacled guy mixing music, drinking pints of beer, singing along, and generally getting down with his bad self. If only I had a camera!

Thanks for reading all of my posts (or at least skimming some of the lengthier ones). The past 6 months has been the best, most amazing, wonderful, revelatory, FUN time of my life. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to find new parts of the world, see and do amazing things, and meet some truly special people. It’s funny how the world has become much bigger and much smaller at the same time – there’s so much more to see than I even knew of before I left. But now, having been around the world, nowhere seems as far away as it once did. And that’s a great thing.

On a personal level, this has been such a rewarding experience. I remember the day I left London ; I was literally shaking from the nerves. Excited, but terrified. And now, I just see an endless list of future destinations as possibilities, without the fear. I mean, I did everything I wanted to do, and more. I climbed a caldera on Santorini in the Greek Isles, went to India and survived Delhi belly, rode an elephant and pet a tiger in Thailand, saw the amazing temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, walked on the Great Wall of China and saw the Terracotta Army, watched dancing Elvises in Tokyo and karaoked ‘til dawn in Kyoto, hit the backpacker trail in Australia and dove the Great Barrier Reef, bungy jumped and walked on a glacier in New Zealand, and slurped down endless blue cocktails on a beach in Fiji. What made it all even more special was that I did it alone – being solely responsible for what I was doing, where I was going, was so terrific.

Before I left, I had hoped that some friends might be able to join me for pieces of my trip, but I’m actually glad that it didn’t work out. Turns out that I LOVE travelling alone – you meet more people, and you get to choose what you want to do, when you want to do it, and for how long you want to do it. What a revelation. Amusingly, you’d have to really work to convince me now to travel with other people in the future – that’s how much I loved doing it by myself. It’s so empowering, liberating, and just plain fun!

Plus, it turns out that I’m actually kinda good at travelling. And that it suits me (not hard – wandering the globe without the responsibilities of a job would suit a lot of people, I think ...). I’d have kept going if there had been time and money; I wasn’t finished, not by a long shot. But that’s the way of things, and I’m still so glad (what an unerstatement) to have done what I did. I wonder where I’ll go travelling after my PhD ... do you see a trend starting here? :)

Okay, I’ll stop here. I’ve decided to take a stab at blogging, so I’ve posted this note, as well as all the previous ones (for people who didn’t start from the beginning with me), on my blog. I’ll start populating it with photos soon, and will see how blogging appeals. Read if you like, don’t if you don’t.

I hope you’re all well, and look forward to hearing from and seeing some of you soon! Remember, there’s room in my flat for visitors; just bring an umbrella (I’ve been in Bristol for 14 days, and it’s rained, you guessed it, for 14 days). We’ll drink cider and do what the locals do (whatever that is) – and get down with DJ Derek. :)

Oh, and to my mates back at Cambridge UCB - I hope you're all well, and I'm thinking of you. Hang in there.

Best,

Dina

9 January, 2007 - back in the UK!

Hi all,

I thought I'd drop a quick note - from the UK!

Finally. A few desperate faxes and a few pointed phone conversations with the British embassy, and poof - visa. It arrived at 10 am yesterday, and I left for the airport at 2 pm. How's that for cutting it close? :)

So here I sit in Bristol, in temporary university housing - ahh, the joys of dorm life. I have two flat viewings tomorrow, and another for early next week. I'm sure something will work out; my plan is to be moved in and settled by the end of January. I'm also working through university paperwork (slowly ...).

I hope you're all well - thanks for your notes of commiseration during the last few weeks. I had fewer minor breakdowns because of your emails of support (though there were, admittedly, a few crying fits while I was not-so-patiently waiting).

When I have an abode and contact information, I'll send out my last set of notes. As interesting as my life in Bristol will surely be, I can't imagine you lot would want to hear about it on an ongoing play-by-play basis. No bungy jumping or elephant riding scheduled for the future ... )

I hope 2008 is treating you all well, and I look forward to seeing some of you in Bristol in the near future!

Best,
Dina

2 January, 2008 - Fiji and America

Hi all,

Well, this was suppposed to be my last installment about my trip, and my first installment after I got back to the UK. Alas, I'm still in Boston. Stuck in America. No UK student visa. No passport. No timeline of when said passport containing a student visa will arrive. And man, oh man, I'm not happy about it. More on that later.

So, where was I? I finished my last email at my departure from New Zealand. I was really sad to go - it had been such a wonderful 6 weeks. I saw some of the most heart-breakingly beautiful scenery of my life, met some truly great people, and found that I'm a little stronger and a little braver than I thought I was when I arrived. And so it's natural that I was sad to leave, though probably for the best, I guess. I mean, my bank account was pretty heavily bruised by then.

Beyond that, I think I've adequately fed my newfound need for adrenaline and new experiences. I'm sure I would have found something new and stupid to do if I'd stayed longer, and I think it's best to leave on a high note, like my second skydive on my last full day in NZ. I mean, I double/triple-flipped out of the plane, went into a flat spin during the freefall, and was arcing so much during the parachute ride that my body was nearly parallel to the ground. Surely, THAT'S enough! So it's okay that I had to leave NZ the next day.

After a tearful goodbye to Seet and Pete, the last two left of our 'gang', I hopped a very early flight to Nadi, Fiji. I'd gotten a good tip from Pete, who is going around the world in the opposite direction, about where to stay on Fiji, so I'd sorted out my lodging before I arrived. It's a funny thing, round the world travel. There are TONS of people doing it, going in both directions. The majority of people I've met are going east, in the same direction I'm going, but I've met some doing it the other way. Those people have been great resources for me, as they've often been where I'm headed. And it's backpacker tradition to pass along information to other people who might benefit from it. Karma and all that, y'know.

Anyway, I arrived in Fiji around 9:30, got to the travel agent's office, sorted my travel out, and was on the noon ferry to Malolo Island - not bad, eh?! I went to a cute little place called Walu Beach. The hostel thing doesn't happen so much in Fiji, but the resorts cater to backpackers as well as more luxury-minded travellers. Walu Beach, not surprisingly, was a bit of a backpacker place, but a bit more mellow than some of the real party destinations (no toga parties or limbo competitions). After the craziness of my trip, I wanted to lie in a deck chair and order blue drinks and read mindless fiction. Walu Beach was perfect for that.

I won't run you through a day-by-day of this - although it was blissful for me, you might find it a bit boring. :) I met a few terrific people there as well, skinny-dipped in the ocean with a gaggle of other people (briefly, though, as there are horrid little crabs that come out swimming and night and latch on to your skin - especially risky in the buff!), swam with the fishes, drank several blue drinks, and read some mindless fiction. Along the way, I met an American sailor, Joe, who's been running charters around the South Pacific for about 15 years. He, a Kiwi named Mike, and I spent a day on his boat - we ran over to Smuggler's Cove, on the next island over, met a few locals, and drank away the afternoon on dark Fijian rum, which is REALLY scary stuff.

Most of these resorts have entertainment programs to occupy tired beach-goers. Walu is amusingly low-key. Evening fun included frog races, hermit crab races, pictionary, and, of course, a night of cava drinking. For those of you who don't know, cava is a drink made from root crop (dunno what that is, assort roots of some sort I suspect). The root is ground into a flour, then put in cheesecloth and seeped in water. What you get is this tan colored cloudy liquid that you drink using specific rituals (clapping, the things you say, the order in which you drink, etc). Fijians drink it to get drunk. I dunno - I got numb lips, a numb tongue, and tingling fingers, but the amount of it you'd have to drink to get tipsy would be rough. It's like drinking tree bark, and the woody heaviness of it (and the sheer volume of water) would have made me really sick to my stomach before anything fun might have happened. So I sat and drank cava for about 45 minutes, then called it a night. Other days were filled with coconut husking lessons (and coconut tree climbing), snorkeling or kayaking in the bay, table tennis tournaments, and a particularly nasty game of water basketball (put 12 women and a basketball in the pool, and see how competitive we get - scary).

The only downside about Fiji was that I didn't get a chance to dive, and it's my own stupid fault. I've embraced the backpacker mentality wholeheartedly, and can't really tell you at any given moment what time, date, or day of the week it is (I haven't worn a watch since October). I had miscounted the number of days I spent at Walu Beach, and didn't figure it out until a few days before I was due to leave. A large group of Aussie med students were at the resort at the time, and we'd organized a group of people to go diving on a Wednesday. I was sure I was leaving on Thursday, but had my dates wrong, and was actually flying out late Wednesday evening. Although I was phyiscally capable of diving, you shouldn't dive and fly on the same day due to the excess nitrogen in the body from diving. Although I probably would have been okay, it wasn't worth the risk. Oh well. And it sounded like it was pretty good diving. The worst thing that happened, I guess, was that I had to lie by the pool for another morning ... ahh, the sacrifice.

After six nights on Fiji, I headed to the US for the last leg of my trip. My overnight flight to the US was uneventful, though my flight was delayed, and I was stuck in LAX for a few hours. My father's family lives in Napa Valley, north of San Francisco, and I spent five days with them. It was great and relaxing to see them. And luxurious - a room of my own with an ensuite bathroom! It's actually sort of refreshing to be so excited about a room of my own. Travelling has been a fun way to discover how little I actually need to get by. And a nice side-effect of that is that when I stay in nice places, it's a HUGE treat.

When I was in California, I got to spend time with my uncle Dick and aunt Pam, as well as my cousins, Josh and Ashley. They'd done something really touching - they postponed their Thanksgiving feast until I arrived, so we all had turkey and the works while I was there. I went to Josh's resturant for lunch one day, where he's the executive sous chef - yummy, and it's good to know the chef. :) I also went to a party with Ashley at a house full of Napa wine people, which was great fun. And I was able to meet my mother's sister, in Petaluma for lunch - I hadn't seen Jean in several years, so it was nice to catch up.

On my last day, we went to the Hog Island Oyster Company for lunch, where I honed my oyster shucking skills, and slurped down a healthy serving of raw oysters. It's always great to spend time with my family there, and it was especially fun since I was 'in' on pre-anniversary surprise that my cousins planned for my aunt and uncle.

After California, I flew to Atlanta, where I grew up. I spent a few days there with Joy, a dear old friend from high school, and her family, and was also able to see Heather and Laura, also from high school. I had a lovely dinner with Joy and her family, and caught up with her parents as well, whom I haven't seen in quite some time. It would have been nice to have some time to see a few sights, but I'd already squeezed my US portion so much that I couldn't spare any more days.

From Atlanta, I flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I was born and where much of my mother's family lives. I spent three nights there, and got some good one-on-one time with each of my relatives there. I spent a night with my cousin Kim and her family - husband, Bryan, and children, Eliza and Hunter. The next day I bought a laptop (SO much cheaper than in the UK!) and had a big family dinner at my uncle Tom and and Marianne's house. The next day was occupied with sorting out visa issues (more on that later) and then an evening with my aunt Nancy. On my last day, I wandered the backroads of Raleigh to find a nice little cafe with Tom and Marianne before my flight to DC. It isn't often that I get to Raleigh, so it was especially nice that I got to see all of them together and separately.

In DC, I spent my first night with Tricia and her husband, Brian - Tricia and I go back to my Wellesley years. It was so lovely to spend an evening with them, and Brian fixed my computer for me (yes, less than a week old and already broken - Microsoft Vista is an awful thing). The next afternoon, I went to stay with my friend Emily; she and I go back to my junior year in high school, so I've known her for ages. I spent two days with her and Moe, her dog - I had a nice walk, did some shopping, and relaxed a lot and figured out my bus plans for the next day.

One note about bus travel in the US. Greyhound is terrific - I've done quite a bit of bus travel on my trip, so the extra time compared to train travel doesn't bother me, and it's a lot cheaper. In addition to being a funky way to travel the US, you also come across a lot of funky people. My favorite was the well-dressed pimp on the bus to Philadelphia. :) You're not likely to see THAT on a train. And I calculated that I made it from DC to Boston for $80, which is about half the cost of a train ticket just from NYC to Boston at this time of year, so I'm quite pleased with myself.

The next day, I hopped a Greyhound bus to Philadelphia, where I was met by my friend Kristen, who lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, and is on the faculty at Lafayette College. She and I started an a cappella singing ground together back in Pittsburgh a zillion years ago, and it was great to see her and spend some time with her, her husband Bill, and her kids (who I've heard lots about but never met). It was wonderful to catch up with Kristen - we've seen every few years, but it's often been a lunch here or dinner there. We had a really nice block of time to spend together before she dropped me at the bus station the next morning for my next leg.

I caught a bus to Newark, NJ, from there, then made my way via train/bus (I'm a whiz at public transport by now!) to Maplewood, where my friend Dave lives with his family. Dave and I met during my last year at Wellesley, and have logged hundreds of dollars on long-distance phone calls for our famous philosophical discussions over the years. It was terrific to spend some time with him and family - his wife Elizabeth and I took the train into the city (NYC) the next morning together and had a lovely chat as well.

My next leg (are you exhausted? I was by this time) was a night in the city with my friend Kendall - he and Kristen and I sang together in Pittsburgh, and he lives in Manhattan. After dropping my bags at his office, I played tourist for a bit. I walked through Time Square, then went up to Rockefeller Center to watch the ice skaters, and finally went up to the top of the Empire State Building. Then Kendall and I went out for some fantastic sushi - he's a real raw fish buff and took me to a great place he knows down in Soho (I think). We finished the night off with a great martini in a cool bar. The English, wonderful tho they are, don't do very good fish, especially the raw kind, or cocktails. I'm reminded of a night back in Cambridge when Berkley, my UCB boss, ordered a martini in a pub and got a glass of martini. :) With that in mind, I've been drinking martinis whenever possible here in the States.

The next morning, I hopped a bus to Boston. I had considered spending another night in NYC, and it would have been great to see more of Kendall, but I was frankly exhausted after all my east coast travel and wanted to stop moving and put my pack down. My sister and her family there, and my mother is in Providence, less than an hour away. My mother didn't know I was arriving in Boston that day, so it was a nice surprise for her to show up at my sister's house, where I stay when I'm here, and find me there.

The next several days were the run-up to Christmas, and I spent some time at my mother's house in addition to being with my sister's family. I have two nephews here - Mason, 7, and Griffin, 4, so it's a big deal for them. Having been travelling through the fall, I'd avoided the radio stations playing Christmas songs and the shopping malls drenched in red, green, and gold, and the advertisements telling me how many more 'shopping days' I had left. And frankly, I didn't really miss it. I mean, I like Christmas, but it was kinda nice to be released from it until right when it arrived, if that makes any sense. Or does it sound to Bah-hum-bug? :)

We had a nice Christmas day, with the requisite ripping and tearing of wrapping papaer, mimosas for the adults, a nice meal, and the occasional childhood fight over the sharing of new toys - all in a day's work!

After Christmas, I started seeing some friends in Boston. I got to spend some time with Bethany, who I'd worked with at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals after music school. She has two kids as well, and her husband Jim generously took them out for the afternoon so she and I could have some uninterrupted time. We talked for 3 1/2 hours, which was such a treat for both of us - that's a hard block of time to get when you're a parent, I'm sure.

I've also been able to see Seema, a friend from my UCB Boston days. She's finishing a masters in nursing now, and came down from New Hampshire so we could have lunch and a wander in Harvard Square. That night, I met up with my UCB boss Berkley and his family for dinner. It was great and surreal to see them back in Boston, since we'd all been together in the UK for 2 1/2 years. It's great to see that they've settled back into life in the US, and I'll probably see Berkley again in the next few days at his new job, since I'm still in the US (read below for THAT story ...).

New year's eve was meant to be spent in the UK, but I didn't get out of the country, so I had plans to spend it with Seema. Unfortunately, I caught some kind of flu/cold bug that day, and was asleep by 10:30 that night. Some party girl I am, eh? Well, New Year's Eve is often a let-down, so I circumvented the disappointment by sleeping through the entire thing!

So here I sit, in Boston, well past the date of my flight back to the UK. What happened? Well, it's a bit of a snafu. I applied online for my UK student visa back in November, and put the required documents together when I got to California. In the past, you could apply in person for a visa, but heigtened security measures at the British embassy mean that now I can only apply via post or courier service (the courier walks your application into the embassy for you).

Thinking it would be safer and faster, I used a courier service, so I sent my documents to a courier in New York (the British embassy is in New York). They were with the British embassy on December 12th. On the morning of the 13th, I checked my email to find an email from sister asking me to call the embassy ASAP. When I did, I got a voicemail stating that the visa agent I'd called was out of the office for the rest of the week. Uh oh. So I called the courier, who promised to go to the embassy and check on it for me. A few hours later, while sitting at lunch in Atlanta with old high school friends, I got the call that the visa had been DENIED. And the reason is absurd.

UK visa rules stipulate that you must be physically present in the country in which you apply for a visa. When I entered the US on December 5th at LAX, my favorite people at US passport control neglected to stamp my passport, so the British embassy couldn't find a record of my having entered the US. The contact numbers I'd entered in my application were my sister's home phone (and she's at work during the day) and my UK mobile number. The visa agent tried calling my sister's house, didn't call my phone, and, not having heard back from me by the end of that day, summarily refused my application.

After some freaking out, a few tears, and a conversation with a US immigration officer who suggested I either file a Freedom of Information Act request to release verification that I'd entered the country (this takes MONTHS) or a visit to Canada (yes, Canada) to get a stamp, I found that there was an appeals process. Great!

While in Raleigh, I had the documents Fedexed back to me from New York, filled out the appeal, had an affidavit notarized stating that I was, in fact, in the country, and sent everything back to New York, directly to the embassy this time. This appeal has been with the Visa department in New York since December 17th. The Thursday before Christmas, I spoke with the gentleman who'd denied my application in the first place, and he told me they were opening the post received on the 17th that day. And here I sit. No news. No visa. The courier has been nice and checked for me, but it's lost in some void in New York, and I'm not really sure when it'll be back.

Wanna hear something great? If I'd applied by post and not courier, the simple postage stamp or Fedex airbill from a US address would have been enough for them to grant the visa. And if the original visa officer had only waited until the next morning, I could have phoned him back and sorted everything out. And on the day they were opening my appeal, I was IN NEW YORK. Needless to say, this has been a royal pain.

And when I had to rebook my flight back to the UK, the first date they had available was January 8th. Great. I'm supposed to be in the lab in Bristol on the 7th. Hmm. At this point, all I can do is hope the visa is granted soon, and then throw myself on the mercy of the airlines. If I have to change my routing to London (I'm not flying direct, and there are multiple ways to get there, but it counts as a routing change to go through DC or Toronto instead of Frankfurt), it'll cost me $150 or so, but it'll be worth it. I'll keep you posted.

Well, I SWEAR this'll be the last email from the States. I WILL get back to the UK soon. I hope you've all had a festive holiday season and offer all of my best wishes for 2008.

Best,
Dina

Fiji - Walu Beach Resort
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34850&l=36cf7&id=620235943

17 December, 2007 - FINAL New Zealand

Hi all,

Well, it’s been a while since I emailed last, and I’m getting way behind in my updates. This’ll probably be the last one before I’m back in the UK (I’m in the US now, visiting friends and family on my way to Boston for Christmas), so I’ll try to get everything caught up here. Set some coffee, go to the loo, and settle in - I haven't been known for my brevity in previous emails, so why start now?

My last email finished with the end of the South Island of New Zealand, I think. I spent 4 weeks travelling that island, and had two weeks left. At this point, I’d been travelling with a group of people for quite a while, including Seet and Carly from London (a Brit and an American), Graham from England, Scott from Canada, and Pete from England – Seet, Carly, Graham and I were together from the beginning, and we picked up Pete and Scott on Steward Island.

After leaving Kaikoura, where I’d had the chance to swim with New Zealand fur seals and play a few stunning games of pool in the local bar (if I do say so myself!), we headed off to the ferry the next morning.

I’ve been really lucky in New Zealand to have pretty good weather, in a place that supposedly gets TONS of rain. Well, it was a pretty gross day on the ferry. After a few short minutes out on deck to snap a few photos in the gusty winds, a few of us took refuge in the cinema. The ferry is huge, and there are TWO choices for movies.

So we passed the time with “The Bourne Ultimatum”. It’s a bit odd to watch a film in the belly of a big ship – you feel yourself rocking, but the screen is rocking as well, so your sense of balance goes a bit wonky. I’m glad that the ship was quite stable; it wouldn’t have been a fun cinematic experience on a rolling ship!

After arriving in Wellington and experiencing Noddie, the new bus driver (this was thankfully brief – he isn’t one of my favorites), we got settled in the hostel and spent three nights here. Wellington is the capital city of NZ, and has a cool kind of vibe to it. We spent a few days wandering – after the relative isolation of much of the South Island, it was a bit of culture shock to be in a city again!

While in Wellington, I spent some time in the Te Papa Museum, New Zealand’s national museum. It’s a neat place, with lots of interactive stuff; I haven’t done much traditional art museum stuff on my trip, so it was the right sort of place to go. We wandered around and pushed buttons and touched stuff and were generally silly for a few hours. That night, we all got a bit silly (drunk) in the hostel bar, danced on the tables, and took silly photos of each other late into the night.

My last day in Wellington, I spent time with Seet and Carly, who I’d met on the bus my first day out of Christchurch 4 weeks earlier. We’d become quite close, and I’m glad that at least Seet will be in London after her travels (Carly’s moving to San Francisco). I’ve met some amazing people on the road, some of whom I’ll always know. That night, we went bowling and had our last night out at the pub, which was good fun. I'm a crap bowler, and have chronic wrist problems, so I won't embarrass myself with my score ...

The next day, we all headed towards Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city – the Stray bus starts its loop of the North Island from there. Pete and I were the only ones left when we got there, as the rest of the gang split off at Taupo (more on that town later).

After a night in Auckland, we got on the bus the next morning. Pete was running on a similar schedule to mine, and we planned to travel together the rest of the way and meet up with the rest of the gang in the Bay of Islands (north of Auckland) after he and I did the North Island. It was such fun to have these great people to travel with, and I never felt alone.

Our first stop was Hahei, on the Coramundel Peninsula. This is some beautiful coastline on the east coast, and we did a really nice walk that afternoon to Cathedral Cove. This is a cool beach with huge rock formations (carved by the ocean, I guess) that you can walk through – hence the Cathedral part. Pete and I were without the rest of our South Island “crew”, so this was a good chance to meet the new people on the bus. That night was a BBQ at the hostel cooked by Cathy, our bus driver, with help from us. I contributed the mashed potatoes; some of you may know of my love affair with the potato, so I took my job very seriously.

After dinner, we went to Hot Water Beach, one of my favorite places in New Zealand. Due to all the geothermal activity in New Zealand, there’s a specific place on a particular beach (100 feet wide, maybe) where you can dig a hole in the sand at low tide and find scalding hot water. So we did – well, we actually just poached a hole dug by some other people and continued to dig when necessary. It was cool – we sat in hot water on a cold beach, drank cold beer, and scalded our bums from the heat of the water. Such a fun experience.

The next day we headed across the North Island to Raglan; the island is small, so it wasn’t too far. Raglan’s a weird little town, and the only thing people do there is surf. Apparently, it’s one of the best surf beaches in the world. I had a go at surfing back in Australia, you might recall. I suck at it, so I didn’t feel the need to try it again. The hostel was really terrific, and we went down to the beach for the afternoon; it was warm enough for a bit of sunbathing, though the water was frigid. That night was a gourmet pizza at the hostel, then off to bed.

The next day was a big day, and an early one. The one tough thing about the Stray bus is the morning departure times. They aim to get you to your daily destination early enough to enjoy the day, so we’re often on the road by 8:00 or 8:30. This day, we headed to Waitomo Caves. The North Island is rich in limestone, which means caves. These caves have gloworms in them – cool, eh? After my stunts on the South Island, I opted for the Haggas Honking Holes caving trip, with a “Rambo” rating of 8/10.

I abseiled (Kiwi-speak for repel) down into the cave over three different drops – one dry abseil, followed by two more down waterfalls. The total descent was about 80 metres. We then caved around for a while (crawling through holes and underground streams), and looked at the gloworms. These are cool little worms with bioluminescence (like fireflies), and they live on the roofs of the caves. It was such a fun experience to stand in a cave in absolute darkness and look up at the stars! Then we had to climb out. After getting stuck in a crack in the ice on a glacier a few weeks earlier, I was a bit nervous about the whole caving thing. Luckily, there weren’t any really tight squeezes. I didn’t look very glamorous in my wetsuit, helmet and white Wellies, and some of the climbs weren’t pretty, but I managed to haul myself back up out of the caves. Only in New Zealand!

From there, we raced across the island so a few of us could Zorb (http://www.zorb.com/). Now this, this was just pure, silly fun. Imagine a plastic hamster ball with an inner compartment and a bit of water. Put 1-3 people in it, and roll it down a big hill. After falling on my butt as soon as the thing started rolling I laughed all the way down, , and was still laughing when I got out. It cost $44 per ride, and the ride was only about 45 seconds (you do the math), but it was just such fun that I loved it.

From there, we went to Maketu, which is a cultural stop on the tour. We stayed in a Marai, whichi s a Maori meeting house, ate a traditional Maori meal called a hangi, and had an evening of the Haka (Maori war challenge) and Poi (women twirling pom-poms – you might have seen people doing it with fire). Some of it was cool, some of it was a bit contrived and touristy, but it was interesting and fun anyway. Then we had a bit of a sleepover; there were 25 or so people on the bus and we all slept on the floor in the same room. Surprisingly, it was a great night’s sleep!

The next day, we went white-water rafting on the Kaituna River (Grade 5, for those of you who know what that means). You know me, adventure girl; I rafted down the largest commercially rafted waterfall in the world at 7 meters/21 feet. It was quite a rush, and I hadn’t been rafting in a really long time.

After rafting, we stopped in Rotorua, known for its geothermal activity. It stinks. I mean, the town stinks, literally. Like rotten eggs. There are boiling mud pits and everything. My God, who thought up this crazy country?! Then we were on our way to Taupo, where half of all visitors skydive (it’s the cheapest place in NZ to do it). I held off, amazingly enough. We all went to dinner that night at a local pub for a pub quiz. There are several buses that can take you around NZ, and each caters to a different clientele.

The Stray bus is the most diverse, age-wise, and tends to be a more mature crowd (I know, I know, what the hell am I doing on the bus, then ...). The other bus tours were in the pub that night, and we got a good look at them. When the quizmaster offered a free beer to the first boy in a bra and girl in men’s underwear, we saw the mad rush, and were glad to be on the Stray bus. :) We didn’t win the quiz, and most of us went to bed at a reasonable hour, as the next day was a big one. A few stayed out late and suffered for it - read on to find out what was ahead of us.

The next morning, we headed off to Mount Tongariro to do the Tongariro Crossing, listed as New Zealand’s best one-day hike, and one of the best day hikes in the world. Mount Tongariro is right next to Mount Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings), so you can imagine the scenery. It was an 11.5mile walk including ½ mile worth of vertical climb up and ¾ mile of climb down. I did it in 6h20min, including a good stop for lunch and a small crying fit as I fell a few times coming down the loose volcanic rubble (if you ever go to NZ, YOU MUST DO THIS WALK, just don’t do it running shoes). This was the most stunning scenery I’d seen so far, and probably my very best day in New Zealand. I wouldn’t have though I was capable of this before my trip, but not only did I do it, but I didn’t even suffer all that much (well, my knees were tired after all that downhill, but that’s to be expected). What an amazing, amazing walk it was.

As a bonus to the day, the hostel we stayed at after the walk was THE best hostel we stayed at in New Zealand, complete with a Jacuzzi for tired walkers. Pete and I both had the time to spare, so we stopped here for 3 nights (they were running a 3 nights for the price of 2 special). After the walk, my feet were understandably sore, and it was great just to stop for a few days. There’s nothing to report about those days, as they were spent watching DVDs, playing pool at the pub down the street, and playing table tennis in the hostel. We met up on the second day with a few guys we’d seen in Taupo, so it was fun to hang out with them.

After 3 relaxing days, we went back to Auckland, just for the night (I spent three nights in Auckland, but never really saw the city). The next morning, we headed north to Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. This is the far north of the North Island, and it’s just stunning. There are Kauri forests, which are amazing old forests of pine-like trees that are 600 years old and 8-10 feet across. And the coastline is just amazing.

We got up to Paihia, and met up with our mates – together again! We went to the pub that night for pizza and beer, and stumbled across a gold mine. The pub was giving away stuff, and we raked it in. Seet won a 2-4-1 speedboat ride, Scott won another similar voucher, and Pete was the big winner with a bungy voucher AND a 2-4-1 skydive voucher. What’s that? Skydive? Again? Hmm.

The next day, four of us took a tour up to the very top of the North Island, Cape Reinga. It was a great drive up the coast, and we went up to the very tip (so now I’ve been from the very bottom to the very top of New Zealand, which is cool). We saw where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, and I’m sure I could see them swirling together.

After that, we went sandboarding (boogie boards on giant sand dunes), which was cool, except the part where you have to climb UP the dune you want to board down. Afterwards, we stopped for fish and chips at best chippie in NZ, according to some poll. It was pretty good stuff. We had a really lovely day, then relaxed back at the hostel and watched some TV.

The next day, Seet and I went off to do our jetboat ride, which turned out to FREE! It was a fun ride on a fast boat, and we had some really great views of the islands in the bay. We had them drop us at Russell, another cute little town in the bay, and we had some lunch and a wander before catching a water taxi back to town and doing a bit of shopping. That afternoon, Carly and Scott left, and our gang began to shrink. The four of us who were left had a BBQ at the hostel, and relaxed for the evening.

The next day was a fun one, because Pete offered to share his 2-4-1 skydive voucher with me, and I got to skydive in NZ for the second time! The Bay of Islands is beautiful, and was stunning from the air. This was a very small operation, and we took off in a teeny little plane in a grass field. This time, it was 12,000 feet, and you’ll love this. My financial logic has been so warped in NZ that I figured I should get ANOTHER skydive DVD, since I was only spending half as much on the sky dive. Yeah, that makes sense. I wasn’t at all nervous this time, and really enjoyed it, especially since I asked my instructor to really have some fun. We triple-flipped out of the plane, went into a hard spin during the free fall (from the DVD, I count that we went around 8 times), and went nearly upside down after the chute opened. Whee!

That afternoon, Seet, Pete, and I went back to Auckland, and spent my last night there. I was pretty sad to say goodbye to them, and to have it end. Seet and I had gotten along so well from the beginning, a real soulmate kind of connection, and I knew I’d really miss her.

As you’ve probably guessed, New Zealand has been one of my favourite places, scenically, socially, and sheer fun-wise. I’d live here if I could. I’ll keep this in mind when I get to the end of my PhD. It’s a special place, and it calls to me. I had the time of my life and found strengths and abilities in me that I never knew I had. What an amazing gift to have spent 6 weeks here!

Okay, I said I’d get caught up, but I’ll stop again. I’m sure you all have to pee, get coffee, live your lives, and these novellas must be exhausting for you. I’ll write about Fiji, the US, and my ongoing UK student visa saga (not yet solved, but it should be by Tuesday) in a few days. I hope you’re all well, and if I don’t get around to my next email until I’m back in the UK, I wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons.

Best,
Dina

New Zealand 15 - Christchurch and Kaikoura (again)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32444&l=ad769&id=620235943

New Zealand 16 - Wellington
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32445&l=a59d0&id=620235943

New Zealand 17 - Auckland, Cathedral Cove, and Hot Water Beach
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32448&l=95d4d&id=620235943

New Zealand 18 - Raglan, Maketu, Rotorua, and Taupo
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32464&l=f9cf3&id=620235943

New Zealand 18.5 - Caving and White Water Rafting
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35097&l=27e26&id=620235943

New Zealand 19 - The Tongariro Crossing
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32468&l=6b2df&id=620235943

New Zealand 20 - Bay of Islands set 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32470&l=f2cd2&id=620235943

27 November, 2007 - STILL New Zealand!

Hi again folks,

Hmm, where was I? As you can tell, I've been up to a lot in NZ, so I'll try to get caught up here before I fall further behind!

When I finished my last email, I was in the little town of Makarora, in the Haast Pass. After Makarora, we left for Queenstown - my cold was in full swing now (I think I might FINALLY be getting over it - I've heard of people who've caught it on the wet/west coast and had it for a month!), and we made our way towards Queenstown, adventure capitol of the world. En route, we stopped in Wanaka, which is a lovely town on a lake (Lake Wanaka, interestingly enough).

I would like to have stayed a bit longer in Wanaka, but was having such a good time with the people on the bus that I didn't want to break my journey with them. We did, however, spend a few hours at Puzzleworld! Imagine letting 20 giddy, probably hungover backpackers loose in a 2-story labyrinthe. We were all very amused. :)

After Wanaka, we rolled on towards Queenstown. En route, we stopped the AJ Hackett bridge, where two crazy Kiwis invented the bungy jump. There was an opportunity for people to bungy from the original bridge. I'd thought about doing the bridge, but wanted to have a bit more mental preparation time than that, so I passed. At this point, 4 of my travelmates signed up for the Nevis bungy, 134 metres, and the world's 3rd highest. Impulsively, I threw my credit card at the desk (it's taken a real beating in NZ, but worth every penny) and signed on to do it the next day.

For the rest of the day, I was full of nervous energy - I knew I'd jump, given that I'd already paid for it. But bungy is half brave, half stupid, y'know? It's not normal to want to hurl yourself off a stable platform with nothing but a fortified rubber band/elastic tied around your feet ...

When we got to Queenstown, I immediately understand why it came about. It's in a really stunning location, and the ski fields must be quite something in the winter. And everywhere you look, you'll find some company that's trying to sell you a new experience that's higher/faster/scarier/more extreme than the next guy. There is ALWAYS something more that you can do, something better to spend your money on. And when you're done, you can go out on the town and celebrate your successes with a drink or two or ten. :) It was an interesting experience to arrive in Queenstown, the first proper TOWN we'd come across since we left Christchurch.

And this is the thing about NZ - there's just so much of it that's out of the way, off the beaten path. You don't have to go very far to find a place where there's nobody else. So to arrive in a town with a supermarket, multiple internet cafes, a pharmacy, a cinema, a McDonald's, and several bars was almost overwhelming. You'll be glad to know that we survived the culture shock by having a few (ha!) drinks in the bar. it sounds like I've just been drinking my way around the South Island, doesn't it? Well, that's partly true, but I have good excuses!

First, a group of about 20-25 of us were basically together all the way down the west coast, where there's not a whole lot to do. Second, we'd all become pretty close, especially after the glacier, where we bonded. Third, there were birthdays scattered around to celebrate. And on top of that, it's what you DO on holiday. :) And, as you can tell, I've done TONS of other stuff that didn't involve drinking. We're just cutting loose a lot here, and having a great time at it.

Anyway, after another VERY late night (4:30?), I got a little sleep. The next morning, I woke up thinking about how long 8.5 seconds is, because that was the length of the free fall for my bungy. I won't rehash it again (can you tell how proud I am of myself for having accomplished it?), but I'll say that it was a pretty big single accomplishment on this trip. I've cured my fear of heights, it seems. And I got a t-shirt for my troubles. I was terrified, though - I rang my sister and brother-in-law before I jumped for a bit of moral support. And rang them after to let them know that the bungy didn't break. :)

What did I do that night? You guessed it - I celebrated! Plus, it was Halloween, and there's no better place in New Zealand than Queenstown for Halloween festivities. We had some male french maids (one pretty, one not-so-pretty), a bunny, Minnie Mouse (me), some bungy jumpers that didn't survive (only in New Zealand!), a few nerds, and a herd of pirates. It was a fun night, though we had to leave EARLY the next morning (6:30am), so I only had about 2 hours of sleep.

The next day was the start of the southern loop. We had a long sleep-filled bus ride to Milford Sound, which is a stunning fiord (erroneously named as a sounds). I can't really say much about it, except that it's one of the most stunning places I've ever seen - I'll get photos up when I can. We took a 2hour cruise of the Sound, out to the mouth at the ocean. En route were some fur seals and a rare penguin (yellow-crested? I forget ...), very cute.

After our cruise, we headed off to our stop for the night, a little town (it's definitely a town, since there's a general store and a pub, but that's about it) called Tuatapere. On our way there, we went to tour a sheep farm. Y'know, you haven't lived until you've sheared a sheep! :) We saw a working sheep farm, complete with amazingly skilled sheep dogs, new lambs (less than 12 hours new), a chance to bottle-feed young lambs, sheep sorting, and each had a go at shearing a sheep. This was followed by dinner (lamb sausages, big surprise) in the kitchen of Ray, the owner of the sheep farm. Okay, so it's a little bit touristy, but it was so much fun I don't care. And I got a job offer to work a sheep farm - never know when it might come in handy ... :)

The next day, we left for Stewart Island, the southern-most tip of the south island. Since some mates and I had extra time, we stayed here three nights. It was so lovely! There are only 27km of paved road on the whole island, and about 300 inhabitants (in the summer), so it's a quiet but quirky place. After we checked out the town, Oban, on the first day (this took about 10 minutes at a slow pace), we sat in the pub and chatted to locals. That night, our bus driver, Ricky, whipped up a delicious fish fry for dinner.

The next few days were lovely and quiet (four of us stayed for three nights and had the hostel to ourselves), with a few nice walks, a driving tour around the island, and a movie night. The last night was quiz night in the pub, and that was a real hoot! Full of locals, who weren't terribly happy that our three teams placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (my team won!). It was a good opportunity to chat with the locals and make some new friends.

We left the next day for Dunedin, on the southeast coast of the South Island. The weather was pretty rough en route, so we didn't stop off much (the Stray bus stops along the way pretty often to take short walks or look at waterfalls/rivers/rocks/etc). Dunedin was ... cold, actually. We didn't see too much of it, but it's a university town, so it has that sort of flavor. What we DID do, however, was tour the Speight's brewery - this is one of the beer that's found everywhere in NZ. Nothing beats a few beers and a good curry - then we hit the town. Again. :)

We headed back to Queenstown the next day, finishing the south loop. My return to Queenstown was a bit quieter than my first trip, thankfully. We played a little bingo (as you do) and won free cinema tickets, so a few of us went to see Resident Evil (3?). Quite a gore-fest, but amusing nonetheless. And free, magic to a backpacker's ear! We also did a bit of street luge, which is a fun 3-wheeled vehicle that you race down a hill and try to smash into your mates. Which, of course, we did, though no major bruises or skin loss for anyone.

My next stop was really one of my favorites. On the way back to Christchurch from Queenstown, I decided to hop off the bus at Twizel and go to Mt. Cook. Pete, a Scouser I'd met on Steward Island, came along with me. For the non-English, Scouser = someone from Liverpool, complete with a funky accent. We were blessed with brilliant weather, and went out to Mt. Cook Village. Not really a town - the biggest general store is behind the counter at the youth hostel where we stayed. :)

On the way, we saw our first post-glacial lake, Lake Pukake, which is the most stunning aqua color. We booked onto a glacier boat tour for the afternoon (can you actually hear the money draining from my bank account? scary, but worth every penny), which was one of the coolest things I've EVER done. We hiked out to the edge of the Mueller Glacier, where a lake is formed by the glacier moving and melting. These things are HUNDREDS of meters deep! So we took a boat ride out onto the lake, where there were icebergs floating in the water.

We got to step out onto one of the bergs, which was so interesting. And we went up to the terminal face of the glacier. It was amazing to see this awesome sight, and tragic to see how much of the glacier has been lost in recent years (and my president STILL isn't convinced of global warming ...). The glacier has receded 1400 meters in the past YEAR - it's a sobering, stunning thing to see.

The weather was so stunning that we decided to stay a second day at Mt. Cook. Two sunny days in a row there is just unheard of, so we changed travel plans, and added another day. The next day, we took a great 5-hour walk to the Hooker Valley (at the foot of the Hooker Glacier), with perfect views of Mt. Cook. Again, NZ is a place of such stunning beauty that I'm at a loss for words. I'm so glad I stayed longer and had that walk. What a gift!

From there, I headed back to Christchurch. I was lucky to spend a day and night with Richard and Leanne Slater, who I'd seen my first time round in Christchurch. Leanne and I worked together at UCB in the UK. While we were friendly before, this was actually an opportunity to really get to know each other, which we did. It was really terrific to spend a night with them. And it was great to behave like a "normal" person. I slept in a room with noone else in it. I stayed in a flat/apartment, not a hostel common room. There were only the three of us there, not the average 30 in a hostel. It was, in a word, bliss.

After a lovely Thai meal, I had a gorgeous sleep on a double mattress in a room with no other snoring backpackers. The next morning, Richard and Leanne took me on a driving tour around Christchurch. Just like in Sydney, this is the only way to REALLY see what a city is about. We went out into the hills around Christchurch and did a brief abseil (repelling down a rock face). They're both climbers, and I had told them I'd like to try abseiling. So, being the terrific hosts they were, they threw some climbing gear into the van, and we found a rock with anchor bolts already installed in a handy rock. Et voila, I did my first abseil (12 meters, I think?). Such fun.

After a hike up to some great views of the city, we went for lunch at a really lovely cafe. Again, I can't overemphasize the normal factor here. I'm so used to backpacker menus (noodles, beans on toast, spaghetti, etc.) that it was a huge treat to eat a nice meal with linen napkins and something with goat's cheese in it. :)

That night, we met up with my Stray bus mates and I showed Richard and Leanne how the backpackers do it. :) A sports bar pizza and beer deal for $12! Actually, it was great pizza, so I was able to give Leanne and Richard a new place to take their "normal" friends.

We all took off for Kaikoura the next day, on our way to the north island. I'd been there before, you might recall, and did whale watching. While I'd planned to do nothing and save some money, I ended up swimming with NZ fur seals instead (the draw of this and the need to spend money on crazy activities is unbelievable ...). While there weren't a huge number of seals, we had a few who were VERY inquisitive, as seals are, and were swimming in and around us, withing a foot of my face. Seals are fun creatures, and have an obvoius sense of play, particularly the young ones. It was a real treat to be in the water with them for over an hour - fear not, because although the water temp is only 14degrees C, we were well-armed with wet suits.

That night was a bit of an impromptu pool tournament at the bar (one of TWO bars in all of Kaikoura), and I did pretty well - apparently, hard cider makes pool better for me!

The next day, we hopped the ferry to the North Island, from Picton. The ferry is an easy crossing - there was even a cinema down in the bowels of the ship, and a few of us watched The Bourne Ultimatum to pass the time. A bit surreal, but fun nonetheless.

I'll stop here (again!), and start another email for my adventures on the North Island. I'm currently in Paihia, north of Auckland, and I fly to Fiji to lie on a beautiful beach on Thursday (it's Tuesday, I think). I'll finish the next email soon, hopefully, though it might not get done before Fiji, and I hear that the internet is sketchy there.

I hope you're all well. Here are some of my photos from New Zealand; I think they go as far as Queenstown. Again, I'll do my best to upload more as soon as I can. I have over 1000 photos in NZ alone(!), so it might take a while...

For those of you I'm hoping to see in the US, don't worry - I'll be in touch very soon! I'm landing in California on the 5th of December (about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks behind schedule, but oh well), and then making my way across the US before heading back to the UK on the 29th of December. I can't wait to see some of you!

Best,
Dina

Ooh! I'm hoping to skydive again tomorrow! One of our crew, Pete from Liverpool, won a 2-4-1 deal here in the Bay of Islands and offered me the other spot - cross your fingers for good weather. It'll be a fun way to exit NZ, so to speak. :)

Oh, and a belated Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. I was in the Tongariro National Park on the day, and not a turkey to be found. Fortunately, my family in California is holding Thanksgiving for me, so I'll have some turkey in a few weeks - I'm SO excited for this!

New Zealand 8 - Queenstown 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29367&l=b3b15&id=620235943

New Zealand 9 - Queenstown 2 - Halloween
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29369&l=3e9eb&id=620235943

New Zealand 10 - Milford Sound
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32433&l=9fdad&id=620235943

New Zealand 11 - Sheep Shearing and Steward Island
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32438&l=d6bd6&id=620235943

New Zealand 12 - Dunedin and Queenstown again
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32439&l=eeaf4&id=620235943

New Zealand 13 - Mount Cook set 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32440&l=1868c&id=620235943

New Zealand 14 - Mount Cook set 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32441&l=1f313&id=620235943

New Zealand 15 - Christchurch and Kaikoura (again)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32444&l=ad769&id=620235943

9 November, 2007 - Still New Zealand

Hi all,

First, I survived my bungy jump! It was really amazing, and as soon as I can get the photos downloaded from teh company's website, I'll send them around. 134 metres (440ft) is a LONG way down - I went from absolutely petrified to utterly elated in 2 seconds. Would I do it again? Not that one, but maybe another one. Two reasons. First, it was just that much fun. :) Second, it's really empowering to know that I have the guts to face my fear and hurl myself off a perfectly sturdy platform. I'm pretty impressed with myself. :) (of course, there are those who would call bungy stupid, and I completely understand that attitude ...)

Greetings from New Zealand! I'm currently at Mount Cook on the South Island - it's the highest mountain in NZ. Wow, I don't even know where to start. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since my last email and SO much has happened. This'll be the longest email yet, so settle in.

First, New Zealand is stunning. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Every five minutes on the road, the scenery changes and becomes something new and beautiful. Scenically, it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I could spend months here. I'll definitely be extending my time here, by at least a week. I promise you - I WILL come back and I WILL get to the US on my way back, though it'll be for a shorter period of time. It's just that this place is so special that it would be a real shame to shortchange it. Anyway, on with the story.

When I last wrote, I was about to leave New Zealand on the Stray bus, which I did the next morning. And I was so lucky to get on the bus with a great group of people. These hop-on/hop-off buses are luck of the draw, but a group of about 6 of us started at the same time, and hit it off immediately.

Our first stop was Kaikoura, headed up the east coast from Christchurch. We were so lucky, as there had been snow there recently, so we had snowcapped mountains in our background all day. Kaikoura is famous for whales, primarily, where a group of sperm whales reside there. The continental shelf sits just off the coast there, and the sperm whales like the depths. I went whale watching, and saw two males surface twice (four sightings in total), along with a group of dusky dolphins. Whales are such beautiful, majestic creatures, and it was a really special way to start the trip. We also saw several albatross, which are even bigger than I thought they'd be. That night, we went out on the town. You should remember that there are only 4 million people in ALL of New Zealand, so town is a word I use loosely. The town was ONE pub. :) Still, it was a good night out, and those of us who'd hit it off so well bonded with each other and some locals.

We left the next day for Picton, which is the point at which you catch the ferry to Wellington and the north island. I'm doing teh south island first, so we stayed in Picton for a night. It's a charming little town, and our hostel was one of the nicest I've ever stayed in (after sleeping in dorms for almost 4 months, the value of this can NOT be understated). A group of us went on a nice long (8km?) walk, then cooked a nice meal. I've done a lot of communal cooking in NZ, which has been fun, tasty, adn money-saving. A nice touch that night was free apple crumble for dessert - again, backpackers LOVE this sort of thing!

The next day was on to Abel Tasman National Park via Nelson, on the north tip of the south island. This is a beautiful place, and a group of us decided to spend 4 days there, including a trip up to Golden Bay, a more remote part of the Park. Our first evening, we had a BBQ at Old McDonald's Farm, our hostel (complete with farm animals and teh occasional peacock).

One of the nice things about Stray is that the drivers get really involved with the passengers (too involved occasionally - you can imagine the cheeky stories that go around about romances between passengers and drivers). DC, our driver, put together a good spread, and we all chipped in. Again, it's nice to eat a "real" meal on the road - NZ has been really different from the other places I've been. That night, we had a bonfire and some yummy food.

A group of six of us left the next morning for Golden Bay, to do a tour called "The Kerry With Cheese", started by a one-time Stray bus driver named, you guessed it, Kerry. I'll explain it someday - it'd take too long here. The drive there was really beautiful, through some gorgeous rolling hills. I'd try to describe it, but it's not possible. The photos are uploading as we speak, and I'll get them out ASAP. En route, we stopped at Pu Pu Springs, and national spring, where you can see the water coming up in the center of the pond. Then we went to Bencarri animal reserve, where I was able to feed sheep, goats, alpacas, llamas, donkeys, and eels. Yes, eels. Slimy little things. And actually, not so little. We stayed at a nice hostel in Golden Bay and had the opportunity to sleep in the grass for a bit, which was quite a nice little bit of decadence. After a nice pub meal, we all hit the hay early - travelling is exhausting work. :)

The next morning, the hostel had set up a nice little trip for us. We went up to one of the coolest beaches I'd ever seen - Wharariki Beach. It's an amazing grey sand beach - really windy, rugged, bit rocks, dunes. Stunning. Then we went to Cape Farewell, the northernmost tip of the south island. New Zealand is beautiful. Did I already say that? I'm truly in awe.

Our trip back to Old McDonald's was a fun one. We took a water taxi that went over some fantastic chop (almost like a jet boat), then saw a good section of coastline, which is one of the most stunning parts of Abel Tasman. That night was a bit of a party, as the next Stray bus (they run roughly every day or every other day, making it easy to hop off and hop back on) pulled into town. It was fun to meet a brand new set of people.

The next morning, we left to start our journey down the stunning west coast of the south island. But first, I went SKYDIVING! I had known that I would do it in NZ, but didn't know where. The weather was perfect, so I went for it, along with three other people on the bus. I did a tandem jump from 13,000ft, strapped to a very competent instructor named Tomas, who had 2500 jumps under his belt. Wow, what a great experience - I was so excited that I didn't even have time to be scared. Nervous, yes, but not truly scared. We back-flipped out of the plane. I had closed my eyes, but luckily opened them in time to see us backflip away from the plane. Beautiful views - I could see bits of Kaikoura and the north island. I have a DVD from the day, which is full of me being silly and overly excited. I actually pounded my feet and hands on the ground when we landed, just from the sheer joy of it. If you can get past the fear, skydiving is an incredible experience, and I urge you all to try it.

That day, we had a stunning drive down the west coast, one of the wildest pieces of coastline I've ever seen. We stopped several times to do short walks and take photos. One memorable stop was the Pancake Rocks (Panaikaiki?), some amazing rock formations with ginormous blowholes. Really stunning. That night, we stopped in Barrytown, and I again use the word town loosely. Barrytown is a pub with a hostel attached to it (and a crap hostel, at that), and that's about it. We stayed 2 nights - maybe it's coincidence that the owners of Stray have part ownership in the pub ... hmm. Still, it was a good time.

I did two bone carving necklaces, which are very common in NZ, along with greenstone (jade) carvings. The second night, we had a fancy dress party. Well, primarily, it was the boys dressing like girls and the girls putting makeup on the boys. Silly as hell, but amusing. The photos are uploading as I type this, so I'll send them round soon.

After the second VERY late night in Barrytown, we headed for Franz Josef Glacier, which is just stunning. There are a number of glaciers on the west coast, Franz and the Fox glacier being the most well-known. While Franz has been receeding over the longhaul, it's grown 700 metres in the past 4 years. I had been concerned that the glacier wouldn't be stunning enough, but wow.

We all did a full-day guided walk in the glacier, complete with crampons and ice axes (30 of us). We walked through blue ice, and into crevasses, and up steps cut into the ice and down rope ladders. SO COOL. Well, so cool until about 2pm, when we were about to head back down. The guides thought they'd found a new path, and were trying very hard to cut through for us. Sadly, they couldn't get through, and we'd gone through a truly awful crevasse before we realized that we had to go back. And by awful, I mean that we had to climb down some pretty dodgy terrain to get into the crevasse (15 feet down, I think). Then, a few of us fell into a waist-high puddle down in the crevasse. THEN, a few of us got really stuck, including me. So stuck that as I was standing sideways, my feet had to face forward because there wasn't room to put them sideways. We had to pull each other through, literally. It was pretty scary, and I was none too thrilled to find that we had to go BACK through. Where I got stuck again, and developed a new-found claustrophobia. I actually had a bit of a breakdown there, stuck in a crack between two big slabs of ice. But, obviously, I got myself unstuck. At any rate, we were cold and miserable by the time we got through it, but I still rate Franz as one of my absolute highlights. How often to do you get to walk on a glacier, y'know?

That night was a fun one - we'd all bonded on the ice, and it was the birthday of one of the girls on the bus. Travelling like this brings people closer together quite quickly - I think because we're all backpacking, we have a more immediate understanding of each other than if we just met on the street. It sounds a bit corny, but there are things that people I've just met will understand about me more quickly than if we'd known each other for a long time, just because we're in the same mindset of travel. So somehow, we manage to leapfrog a lot of the initial pleasantries and bond more quickly. I've met some amazing people on my travels, but NZ has been the best for this, because we're all travellign together.

Our next destination was Makarora, in the Haast pass - this is one of the 4 passes that runs through the Southern Alps from the West Coast to the East Coast. It was such a stunning trip - the West Coast is fantastically beautiful, with the rocky coastline on one side of the road and the mountains on the other. To drive through the mountains was just terrific. Makarora is another teeny little town, this time in Mt. Aspiring National Park.

A group of us went for a jetboat ride on the Wanaka River. It was a neat experience, aside from the captain grounding the boat on the rocks. The guys had to carry the girls over to the shore, then get in the water and unground the boat (sounds sexist, but I wasn't complaining, as I got a piggy-back ride rather than stick my feet in the water). That night was spent at the pub singing karaoke and playing pool.

For me, it was a rough evening, because I came down with a nasty cold (which I still have the remnants of - I hear it's a west coast special). So I wasn't much up for singing or pool. Oh, fun pool rule in NZ - if someone runs the table on you, you have to drop your pants in the bar. I learned this the hard way (it was a bad pool night for me), but got out of dropping trow because I didn't know the rule before we started playing. Phew!

Okay, I'd go on, but this is getting ridiculous - I've been writing for a few days, and I'm still nowhere near caught up! I'll stop here for now, and try to write the rest of it (Queenstown and the southern part of the south island) in the next day or two.

I hope you're all well, and think of you often. Hope you're all well!

Best,
Dina

New Zealand 1 - Christchurch
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27498&l=7f809&id=620235943

New Zealand 2 - Kaikoura and Picton
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27500&l=26e5b&id=620235943

New Zealand 2 - Abel Tasman National Park 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27504&l=d3111&id=620235943

New Zealand 3 - Abel Tasman National Park 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28288&l=bf693&id=620235943

New Zealand 4 - Barrytown
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29283&l=864df&id=620235943

New Zealand 5 - Barrytown 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29289&l=c1a2b&id=620235943

New Zealand 6 - Franz Josef Glacier
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29291&l=0dfff&id=620235943

New Zealand 7 - Makarora
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29295&l=29d2d&id=620235943

30 October, 2007 - New Zealand

Hi all,

I'll send out another trip update soon, probably tomorrow. Briefly, New Zealand is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I'm in awe of this place. If I have to, I'll stay a bit longer here to make sure I see everything without rushing - NZ is too special a place to rush through. I'll know in a week or two how things are going and will let you guys in the US know when I'll be there. And yes, I WILL be there, contrary to those of you who were certain I'd never come back. :)

To give you a little idea of the kind of stuff I'm up to, I'm bungy jumping tomorrow - yikes! If you're curious, check out this link (http://www.bungy.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/127). If I survive it, I'll email tomorrow about how it went.

Best,
Dina