Revisiting the Past

Okay, so I never got to finish my blogging of my entire trip. I missed big chunks of my travel down to Wellington, our 6-day kayak trip, and especially the second half of my tour of New Zealand. This will have to be another summer project of mine. Hopefully I'll stick to it. Not now, though.

Even if no one still reads this and I'm writing to myself, this is for my own memories and records. Let's hope I finish this to the end, eh?

It's So Surreal..

Yes, I'm home. =]

So Much Traveling..

Almost too much, I'm thinking.

Going into Australia wasn't so bad, although we did spend the night at the airport, since our flight was at 6:30am. But after that, there were days just full of traveling. The worst was coming back to Auckland from Sydney. Eddie drove us to the airport, the flight was about 4 hours, and the shuttle into the city was more than an hour. But with the delays and everything in between, it really was a full day of traveling. We woke up at 6:00am, and we settled into the backpacker here at 6:00pm (technically it's two hours less because of the time change, but seriously, it was a long day, and it was already getting dark by the time we were done). Crazy.

I know I'm making it sound like our travels in OZ were horrible, but all that put aside, Sam and I had a great time in Sydney and Melbourne, so I shouldn't be complaining.

One more day of traveling left, but I'm so ready to go back home. Seriously. I think in the end, I'm just a homebody. Someone already told me this before I left, but now I can see that he was probably right. Sam can travel the world for a couple years, and not really miss home, but me, I don't think I could bear it.

Can't wait!!

The Land of OZ

Sam and I are in Australia!

We've been doing a lot of sightseeing, thanks to our great tour guide, Eddie Bang. He's been taking us to all the scenic spots around Sydney, and telling us most of what he knows about the different areas and people and culture. It's been great hanging out with him, meeting his wife (who is really sweet, by the way), and just chatting it up. I'm not going to bother writing it all down, because I'm tired. Maybe later (with pictures included). Ebanger himself is taking a nap right now.

But this weekend, Sam and I want to go watch the first Red Bull Flugtag in Australia, which fortunately happens to be in Sydney tomorrow! If you don't know what this Flugtag is, just go on YouTube to find out. I'm sure most of you have seen this before, just didn't know what it was called or what it was for.

We're having a great time, and we can't wait to go home to Chicago. Hope you're all doing well!!

|| edit ||

Crap. It turns out that the Flugtag is actually on Sunday.

Kaikoura Coast

Flying Kiwi: Tuesday 22.01.08

So on our first full day in the South Island, we drove along the east coast (no longer in our awesome ol' reliable blue bus called "Lola," but some sad excuse for a coach bus that leaked - yes, leaked inside because of the bad A/C system). But besides that, it was a nice day, drying and warming up under the sun after a night of heavy rain, as we traveled along the Kaikoura Coast. We stopped at some point to look at a seal colony. The smell ain't so nice, and they move very clumsily on the rocks - they looked like lumbering blobs - but they swim very gracefully, and there must have been at least 20 of them.

Along the drive we also passed through several towns with greenstone (jade) factories, and I got my necklace at one of those stores, but I can't remember the name of the town or the store, unfortunately. And according to Maori, it's considered horribly taboo or unlucky, almost sacrilegious even (Maori say "tapu"), to buy a greenstone or bone carving for yourself, so Sam bought mine for me. The Maori word for greenstone is "pounamu."

Later on that day, there was supposed to be a whale-watching activity available, but during this time, a massive storm had moved all throughout New Zealand, starting up north and was just in the process of passing through Kaikoura. Setting up tents that night was incredibly interesting. Because of the storm, the winds were intense, taking me at least 30 minutes, maybe a full hour, to do what should have only taken me 10 minutes max.

Oh, and by the way, Kaikoura literally means "to eat crayfish."
     kai = to eat
     koura = crayfish
So as you would guess, Kaikoura is known for having great seafood. And no, Sam and I didn't get to try any, sorry.

To recap:
     pounamu = greenstone/jade
     tapu = forbidden
     kai = to eat
     koura = crayfish

Hope you liked your Maori lesson.

(This is where I got my necklace. And yes, I just realized the name of the store is in the picture. Silly me. Also interesting: there's a USA flag flying in the corner; I wonder why.)

I just loved the Kaikoura Coast. Absolutely beautiful.