Fun days around Queenstown

I spent Monday and Tuesday snowboarding with Josh, Beth, and some of their friends. I was making good progress. I either bruised my rib pretty badly or fractured it. Not much I can do about that, though.


Today Josh and I went bungy jumping at the first bungy site in the world. It was exciting and there was a second standing here that I definitely thought it was a bad idea! The first second falling was definitely not the best feeling ever.

I made it!

I got into Queenstown last night, and Josh and Beth were waiting for me there. It was might exciting! They helped me carry my luggage which was nice for a change :P. I'm quickly finding things that I meant to pack are not in my pack and things that I should have packed are back at my apartment. Who knows, maybe I'll have another bag coming back!

We dropped off my bags at the apartment after a short ride in their van. Then we went out to watch the final game of the rugby Tri-Nation Tournament. It was New Zealand's All Blacks vs Australia's team. The first half was pretty good (NZ12 AUS9) but NZ ended up winning something like 25-12. I tried some local beer and it was alright. I met some of Josh and Beth's friends there. Then Josh, Beth and I went to a nice restaurant called Beefeaters where Josh and I each had a 21-day chiller aged steak and Beth had a mighty fine pepper steak.

Josh and Beth are out snowboarding now, and I'm catching you all up. I got my pictures off loaded from my camera, so I'll give you a brief phototour of my last few days. Sorry for the quality; it seems the pictures got downgraded during upload as they're nicer looking on the HD than the photoserver. Also, you might notice the blog has been reformatted to accommodate the girth of the pictures.

This was part of the Auckland ferry building across from my bus stop:


My next stop for more than a couple minutes was in Rotorua. Instead of shuffleboard, old people play balls/bowling. It sounds a bit like curling on grass. This is a balls court:


I stayed in Wellington and took the ferry over to Picton. This is on the ferry with Wellington in the background:


I bussed down to CHCH and stayed at Base Backpackers on Cathedral Square opposite this cathedral:


This is about all I saw for three days:


We were bussing down past Lake Tekapo and I snapped this:
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There's some window glare - my circular polarizer can only do so much. That black spot isn't a good; in the full size picture you can see it's a bird soaring over the waters. I'm not sure what the building is, but we stopped and I got out and took some more pictures of it.


Driving through the mountains to Queenstown was rather cold - still is actually. It was weird driving *through* clouds:


NZ is home to a lot of wineries and good wine, and I think the area around Queenstown has a large concentration of them. I plan to do some sampling while I'm here:

Chillin in CHCH

Early morning again, but I managed to sleep in until 5am. Showered and remembered I didn't have any soap and realized I forgot to pack a towel. Also, the hostel I was in didn't seem to have central heating, so I was quite chill.

Made the ferry safe and sound. It was much larger and much nicer than I thought. I hung out on deck a fair amount and sampled the Benson Block Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc which was nice to sip while I covered some space in my personal log. No, it's not a diary :P. After landing in Picton, I stopped at the Picton Village Bakkerijj (sp?) and had some sort of Hawaiian pizzabread - long flatbread with pineapple, ham and cheese, as well as some sort of doughnut - a light roll split lengthwise on top and filled with a pastry cream. They had some sort of sweet named after Boston, but I have a sneaking suspision the name was the only link with the town.

Made the bus to Christchurch just fine and had just a couple minute walk to my hostel. The room is a bit more cramped, but it has plenty of heat and amenities to be nice. I'm a little hungry so I may find something to eat. Got a few pictures, but I don't know if I can put them on here any way easily. I suppose you'll have to wait until tomorrow when I get down to Queenstown with Josh.

I'm sure there's more to say, but I'm tired and I've only 3 minutes left. Enjoy yourselves America. This is Brock Hutchinson, signing off.

Overnight in Wellington

I got into Wellington roundabout 8PM and have a ferry out at 8AM. I was let off at the train station and my hostel of choice told me they were a lot further away than I had thought. The second hostel I walked to, but they didn't have any dorms left and I wasn't about to pay $60NZ for a room. I walked around and with my new phone card made a couple calls and ended up in Rowena's, a hostel more towards the southern end of town. They've a free shuttle to the Interislander ferry which will be nice, even if I have to be up at 7 for it.

I suppose I'll back up a bit since I couldn't give much of an update beforehand - not that there's all that much to say. I noticed there is no seat "I" on 747s. Where I sat, I had enough room to stretch my legs out all the way, so it was actually rather comfortable as far as planes go. I managed about a full night's sleep, but woke up at 3am Auckland time - quite the early morning. They had a little entertainment center that I didn't look at till late in my flight. Unfortunate as it had a number of movies I've been meaning to see! I did get some good alone time with my camera manual and a book on my camera.

I landed in Auckland around 5, I think, and got my bags and out of customs by around 6. It was weird to skip the 18th entirely. It still takes me a minute to figure out the date and the time difference. I left my camera on home time, though, so that makes it a little easier. I grabbed a quick bite (raspberry muffin and caramel chai latte) at a cafe across the street from the bus stop and made it back to meet a girl, Janette. She was making her way down to Wellington as well in order to visit family, so she showed me around Rotorua (where I updated last). I managed to grab a ham and cheese sandwich before I had to hop on the bus.

Next place that I got to stop off for more than a minute was Palmerston North (I think). I went into the mall there and their food court. They had an Indian place, Saffron, a kebob place and a Burger King. Saffron didn't look too appetizing and the kebob place looked like it might take a mite too long, so I begrudgingly stopped at BK. Justifying it, I reminded myself that I didn't go to BK in the States, so I really was going somewhere new to me :P. I grabbed a Sweet Ride burger which was quite good - bacon, cheddar burger with aioli (garlic mayo), avacado and... mango I think - as good as bad fast food gets. Perhaps the worst part of the city was seeing the Golded Wok restaraunt which used my font - Papyrus. I can't get away from it anywhere now.

The bus then dropped me off in Wellington at the train station where I said goodbye to my single-serving friend, Janette.

That brings me back to now - and the room closes in 5 minutes, so I'd best wrap up. I've about 8 hours of sleep before I need to wake up for my shuttle to the ferry. Love you all!

I'm alive

I have 10 minutes left before the bus leaves, and I have yet to grab food, but thought I'd update you to let you know I'm alive.

Perhaps the best news I have is that the Tigers are percentage points ahead of Boston for the best record in MLB.

Other than that, it's the usual here, I'm alive and travelling relatively alone. I got into Auckland around 6 (out of the airport, that is). Got to the city at 7ish, and grabbed a snack and chai latte in a cafe. Hopped on a bus and met a girl from Auckland travelling to Wellington to visit family. She showed me a wee bit of Rotorua where I am now. They have "balls" courts. Old people play it and it sounds kindof similar in strategy to curling, but on grass.

I should go, grab food and get on my bus. I love you all.