So, today we realized the glory of Coni's hitch... because, yes, we can tow whatever we want... what with our V6 and all. The combination of a bench seat, a 3.8 cylinder liter engine, and a tow ball means we can cart six people and a trailer with six mountain bikes up to the Rotorua Mountain Bike Park (it's pretty legit.. they fully shuttle you up the mount and there's 'routes' marked out. like a ski mountain).
And thus began Megan and I's first mountain biking experience... ever. (Lauren is a seasoned vet; she went to mountain biking camp when she was 12) We didn't really take pictures because... well... my eyes were closed most of the time, anyway, and we barely had time to think. If I could sum up the afternoon in a few words it would probably mainly consist of 'aaah... eeehhhh... AAAHHHHHHHHHH' and then uncontrollable laughter.
At one point, Lauren yelled back at me, 'I wish we were surfing!' But I think it was good, really... i mean, i feel bad for the tree i hit, but it's okay. We decided we'd do it again someday, but feel that somehow rock climbing/surfing/basically any other extreme sport is WAY easier AND safer than mountain biking.
End result: a much, much deeper respect for any and all mountain bikers. way to go. props.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hi all. We left Napier and headed up to Gisborne, allegedly one of the sunniest places in New Zealand. It poured the day we got there, which put a serious damper on our camping ambitions. The sun did find its way to us eventually, and Christopher, a Scottish friend we met on top of a rock in Dunedin and ran into again in Kaikoura, also found his way to us. The four of us drove through rain, hail, and slippery NZ roads and ended up here, at the Flying Nun hostel.
The Nun ended up playing a leading role in our adventures in Gizzy. We stayed just one night, along with the rest of South America. We never thought we would hear so much Spanish in New Zealand. The next day when the sun came out, we went north to camp, waving goodbye to a hostel with a very strange room keeper and the only free wireless in town. If we thought we were driving away for good, we were oh so mistaken. Half a day later, Lauren realized that she left her BACKPACK under the bed. Back we went. Day and a half later, Danielle realized she had left her booties there. Back again. The best part of it all was that every time we would go back, we'd sit on the front porch and try to steal the free internet. Good thing these girls have me around.
Camping makes us feel happy. We made another amazing dinner in Connie's kitchen and had ravioli, veggies, and wine before going to bed at 7:30. We had to go to bed early if we were going to be the first people in the world to see the sun on Thursday morning. Look it up. Google it. Gisborne.
Ha. So. For the last few weeks, we haven't been able to figure out how to put the back seat up in our car. Not that we wouldn't want to be riding around three in the front, but with Christy coming in a week, we decided we should figure it out. The first night we slept in it, we simultaneously layed down and heard a distinct click. We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and went to sleep. The obvious solution now was to go to a Holden dealership and have them show us whatever trick we needed to know to get it back in position. We pulled up, unpacked the whole car, and sure enough, seat's fixed now.
Scotland sold me his guitar after 12 hours of serious bartering, and now we've left Gizzy for Tauranga. I'm typing on the couch of a house where we are "dog sitting" for the weekend while the family is away. This involves feeding the dog once a day and staying in their beautiful home. Lauren just made a couple batches of her famous oatmeal cookies and some peppermint tea, and we are watching The Devil Wears Prada projected on a giant screen in the living room. We have a personal hot tub, a kiwi and avocado orchard, and a tennis court. We also are sleeping in separate rooms for the first time since September 30th.
The Nun ended up playing a leading role in our adventures in Gizzy. We stayed just one night, along with the rest of South America. We never thought we would hear so much Spanish in New Zealand. The next day when the sun came out, we went north to camp, waving goodbye to a hostel with a very strange room keeper and the only free wireless in town. If we thought we were driving away for good, we were oh so mistaken. Half a day later, Lauren realized that she left her BACKPACK under the bed. Back we went. Day and a half later, Danielle realized she had left her booties there. Back again. The best part of it all was that every time we would go back, we'd sit on the front porch and try to steal the free internet. Good thing these girls have me around.
Camping makes us feel happy. We made another amazing dinner in Connie's kitchen and had ravioli, veggies, and wine before going to bed at 7:30. We had to go to bed early if we were going to be the first people in the world to see the sun on Thursday morning. Look it up. Google it. Gisborne.
Ha. So. For the last few weeks, we haven't been able to figure out how to put the back seat up in our car. Not that we wouldn't want to be riding around three in the front, but with Christy coming in a week, we decided we should figure it out. The first night we slept in it, we simultaneously layed down and heard a distinct click. We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and went to sleep. The obvious solution now was to go to a Holden dealership and have them show us whatever trick we needed to know to get it back in position. We pulled up, unpacked the whole car, and sure enough, seat's fixed now.
Scotland sold me his guitar after 12 hours of serious bartering, and now we've left Gizzy for Tauranga. I'm typing on the couch of a house where we are "dog sitting" for the weekend while the family is away. This involves feeding the dog once a day and staying in their beautiful home. Lauren just made a couple batches of her famous oatmeal cookies and some peppermint tea, and we are watching The Devil Wears Prada projected on a giant screen in the living room. We have a personal hot tub, a kiwi and avocado orchard, and a tennis court. We also are sleeping in separate rooms for the first time since September 30th.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sun Kicks and Trail Mix
Dearest Friends and Fam,
I write you from sunny Napier, a little town in Hawkes Bay on the North Island known for its wine country and art deco architecture.
On Thursday we took a three hour ferry ride from sunny happy Picton to rainy dreary Wellington, the capital of this here kiwi land. Danielle drove us off the ferry into the heart of the city. It was a bit overwhelming, the sort of feeling that San Francisco has on people who don’t know where they are going, Megan and I maps in hand, Danielly trying to follow our directions, one way streets, streets that aren’t labeled, round-abouts, staying on the left side of road, no parking, etc…
But we navigated our way to the downtown natural foods store, Commonsense Organics (thank you Lonely Planet). It was so exciting to go to a good grocery store. As most of you probably already know, I have a soft spot in my heart for grocery stores with good ethics. This one, small and simple as it was, made me smile. We filled up on oats, honey from Kaikoura, cheddar cheese, free range eggs, curry spices, coconut milk, black beans and veges--the essentials--and jumped back in the Comm in search of a hostel for the night.
All the Welly hostels were pretty packed for the night, so we had to split up into different dorms. We then squeezed ourselves into the kitchen lineup and managed to sautee our white onions and mushrooms, scramble our eggs, and make breakfast burritos for dinner, no salsa though, and a far cry from Linnaea’s.
I don’t know if we’ve written about this yet, but food is darn expensive here. The grocery store is doable, but going out is a big deal. So, what ends up happening is that we’re never full. We make great breakfasts with our jam-packed oatmeal goodness; we eat a pretty sad lunch usually consisting of apples, cheese, maybe peanut butter, maybe bread; and then around eight we make something like mini burritos--always yummy but always small. All to say, is that we dream of Trader Joe’s care packages, and if you come and visit (which you should!!!), you should bring some raw trail mix, raw almonds, salsa, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and anything else you can think of--but if we could ask for anything it would be endless bags of trail mix and dried fruit--these are the things we dream of at night. (As I write this, across the table Danielle is discussing how her jeans are getting too big for her…we’re dwindling away!!! Just kidding..but seriously, bring the trail mix).
Okay, so, back to Wellington. Basically we arrived in a rainstorm. That night we could be spotted in our rain shells and rolled up jeans running from awning to awning. We found shelter in an Irish Pub before doing the same routine back to our humble accommodation.
The next morning Wellington looked the same, rivers for roads and cloudy skies. This, plus the fact that none of the streets connect and parking is horrid, driving Connie was real stressful. We had heard from our friend Sandra from Guerilla Café, Berkeley CA, that Wellington was awesome. She had lived there for a year and was super excited that we were going to her beloved town. So, we had high hopes for this city and the rain and the smelly hostel were really cramping our style. Therefore, after searching FOREVER for parking we decided to do what any Californian would do, and that is follow the sun, and get out of town. Wellington will be there for us to explore with Christy a month from now when we head back to the South. So, we canceled our next hostel reservation, grabbed a bagel and a couple of lattes, pulled out three maps, and headed out of town.
So here we are, in lovely Napier. She is a sunny 22 degrees Celsius ( a far cry from the 1 degree in Dunedin). We have traded our baselayer-under-the-jeans fad for tank tops and cut offs, and we are happy.
The owner of Groove Kitchen Espresso (a hip little café that has two turntables built into the counter to the left of the expresso machine) clued us into a free campground on the beach only fifteen minutes south of town.
After spending the afternoon looking for non existent swell, a rock climbing wall, the local pool, eating at an Indian food festival, and sipping a Chimay at a swanky tapas bar on the harbor, we cruised down the beach in search of our home for the night. It was easy to find. Our first spot turned out to be a giant mud puddle, which Megan found out the hard way for us. After rinsing off in the ocean, Megan hopped back in the car and we found a dryer spot. We pulled the boards out of the back of good ole Connie, unrolled our sleeping bags and thermarests, and slept like babes.
This morning we woke up and transformed our sleeping quarters into a regular gourmet kitchen. We used our handy dandy camp stove for the first time, French pressed some coffee, and made some LEGIT oatmeal, all of which we leisurely sipped and ate on the pebbly beach.
So good.
Now, our tentative plan for the day is to head to the local pool (which is incredible, heated, salt water, and right on the beach), catch up on some internet (check), and stay the night at a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of Danielle’s.
Tomorrow, D is off to meeting with our hosts, and Megan and I are headed to the renowned Hastings’ farmers market to stock up on some fresh veges for the camping trips planned for the next week. And then on our way back to Napier we are stopping at my brother Jubal’s old friends Sarah and Steve‘s house, and we are having tea with them and their three kiddos, should be good fun.
This week we should be camping at a couple of spots a little north of here and eventually making our way to the Mahia Penninsula. Our New Zealand surf guide describes it like this: “if you could design the perfect geographic set up for a surf area it would closely resemble the Mahia Penninsula.” Pretty exciting… (thanks Jub for the tips and the book, as Danielle reads it religiously).
Whew! That was long! But needed, since internet for us is few and far between these days.
Lots of love and more to come!!!
I write you from sunny Napier, a little town in Hawkes Bay on the North Island known for its wine country and art deco architecture.
On Thursday we took a three hour ferry ride from sunny happy Picton to rainy dreary Wellington, the capital of this here kiwi land. Danielle drove us off the ferry into the heart of the city. It was a bit overwhelming, the sort of feeling that San Francisco has on people who don’t know where they are going, Megan and I maps in hand, Danielly trying to follow our directions, one way streets, streets that aren’t labeled, round-abouts, staying on the left side of road, no parking, etc…
But we navigated our way to the downtown natural foods store, Commonsense Organics (thank you Lonely Planet). It was so exciting to go to a good grocery store. As most of you probably already know, I have a soft spot in my heart for grocery stores with good ethics. This one, small and simple as it was, made me smile. We filled up on oats, honey from Kaikoura, cheddar cheese, free range eggs, curry spices, coconut milk, black beans and veges--the essentials--and jumped back in the Comm in search of a hostel for the night.
All the Welly hostels were pretty packed for the night, so we had to split up into different dorms. We then squeezed ourselves into the kitchen lineup and managed to sautee our white onions and mushrooms, scramble our eggs, and make breakfast burritos for dinner, no salsa though, and a far cry from Linnaea’s.
I don’t know if we’ve written about this yet, but food is darn expensive here. The grocery store is doable, but going out is a big deal. So, what ends up happening is that we’re never full. We make great breakfasts with our jam-packed oatmeal goodness; we eat a pretty sad lunch usually consisting of apples, cheese, maybe peanut butter, maybe bread; and then around eight we make something like mini burritos--always yummy but always small. All to say, is that we dream of Trader Joe’s care packages, and if you come and visit (which you should!!!), you should bring some raw trail mix, raw almonds, salsa, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and anything else you can think of--but if we could ask for anything it would be endless bags of trail mix and dried fruit--these are the things we dream of at night. (As I write this, across the table Danielle is discussing how her jeans are getting too big for her…we’re dwindling away!!! Just kidding..but seriously, bring the trail mix).
Okay, so, back to Wellington. Basically we arrived in a rainstorm. That night we could be spotted in our rain shells and rolled up jeans running from awning to awning. We found shelter in an Irish Pub before doing the same routine back to our humble accommodation.
The next morning Wellington looked the same, rivers for roads and cloudy skies. This, plus the fact that none of the streets connect and parking is horrid, driving Connie was real stressful. We had heard from our friend Sandra from Guerilla Café, Berkeley CA, that Wellington was awesome. She had lived there for a year and was super excited that we were going to her beloved town. So, we had high hopes for this city and the rain and the smelly hostel were really cramping our style. Therefore, after searching FOREVER for parking we decided to do what any Californian would do, and that is follow the sun, and get out of town. Wellington will be there for us to explore with Christy a month from now when we head back to the South. So, we canceled our next hostel reservation, grabbed a bagel and a couple of lattes, pulled out three maps, and headed out of town.
So here we are, in lovely Napier. She is a sunny 22 degrees Celsius ( a far cry from the 1 degree in Dunedin). We have traded our baselayer-under-the-jeans fad for tank tops and cut offs, and we are happy.
The owner of Groove Kitchen Espresso (a hip little café that has two turntables built into the counter to the left of the expresso machine) clued us into a free campground on the beach only fifteen minutes south of town.
After spending the afternoon looking for non existent swell, a rock climbing wall, the local pool, eating at an Indian food festival, and sipping a Chimay at a swanky tapas bar on the harbor, we cruised down the beach in search of our home for the night. It was easy to find. Our first spot turned out to be a giant mud puddle, which Megan found out the hard way for us. After rinsing off in the ocean, Megan hopped back in the car and we found a dryer spot. We pulled the boards out of the back of good ole Connie, unrolled our sleeping bags and thermarests, and slept like babes.
This morning we woke up and transformed our sleeping quarters into a regular gourmet kitchen. We used our handy dandy camp stove for the first time, French pressed some coffee, and made some LEGIT oatmeal, all of which we leisurely sipped and ate on the pebbly beach.
So good.
Now, our tentative plan for the day is to head to the local pool (which is incredible, heated, salt water, and right on the beach), catch up on some internet (check), and stay the night at a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of Danielle’s.
Tomorrow, D is off to meeting with our hosts, and Megan and I are headed to the renowned Hastings’ farmers market to stock up on some fresh veges for the camping trips planned for the next week. And then on our way back to Napier we are stopping at my brother Jubal’s old friends Sarah and Steve‘s house, and we are having tea with them and their three kiddos, should be good fun.
This week we should be camping at a couple of spots a little north of here and eventually making our way to the Mahia Penninsula. Our New Zealand surf guide describes it like this: “if you could design the perfect geographic set up for a surf area it would closely resemble the Mahia Penninsula.” Pretty exciting… (thanks Jub for the tips and the book, as Danielle reads it religiously).
Whew! That was long! But needed, since internet for us is few and far between these days.
Lots of love and more to come!!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
wanderin' with waves
So, because we only have my wee lil’ Netbook and can’t upload Lauren’s massive picture files, I would recommend google image searching Kaikoura and then Mangamaunu before reading on. Kaikoura happens to be the convenient combination of Big Sur, the Canadian Rockies, Napa Valley, and the Hawaiian coast. I honestly believe it is one of the most magical places I have ever been, let alone surfed.
The second google image search that you should have already done is of a magnificently peeling completely empty powerful right-hander off the Kaikoura coast. The first day, Lauren and I surfed a shoulder/head high swell with a 14 second plus period with the snow-capped mountains as our backdrop… totally alone. The area is casually referred to as ‘Meatworks’ because underneath the waves and our surfboards are boulders that never rest. When the waves roll in, so do the boulders and an eerie, rumbling, thunder-like sound can be heard. Before surfers wore booties, the rocks were known to cut up their feet… Hence, ‘Meatworks.’ Lauren and I happily donned our booties and carefully timed our paddle out between the waves and boulders.
Our next surf stop is the Mahia Peninsula... The favorite area of Lauren's older brother. Planning on spending a week wandering about. A sentence we've heard over and over: 'I mean, the drive is great... it's so beautiful... and then the WAVES. Wow.' NZ is a bit of a mecca for our types and it just keeps getting better.
In other news, heard that Mr. Obama won the Peace prize... props, dude. We are all super curious to know how home is feeling about it all. Comments/Concerns?
The second google image search that you should have already done is of a magnificently peeling completely empty powerful right-hander off the Kaikoura coast. The first day, Lauren and I surfed a shoulder/head high swell with a 14 second plus period with the snow-capped mountains as our backdrop… totally alone. The area is casually referred to as ‘Meatworks’ because underneath the waves and our surfboards are boulders that never rest. When the waves roll in, so do the boulders and an eerie, rumbling, thunder-like sound can be heard. Before surfers wore booties, the rocks were known to cut up their feet… Hence, ‘Meatworks.’ Lauren and I happily donned our booties and carefully timed our paddle out between the waves and boulders.
Our next surf stop is the Mahia Peninsula... The favorite area of Lauren's older brother. Planning on spending a week wandering about. A sentence we've heard over and over: 'I mean, the drive is great... it's so beautiful... and then the WAVES. Wow.' NZ is a bit of a mecca for our types and it just keeps getting better.
In other news, heard that Mr. Obama won the Peace prize... props, dude. We are all super curious to know how home is feeling about it all. Comments/Concerns?
Left Kaikoura on Thursday, after a glorious few days in Christchurch. We had only planned on staying overnight and continuing on our way, but four days later we said our goodbyes and (granted we don’t fall in love with EVERY city we go to) would consider making a home there come January. We stayed on a chicken farm called Chickadee while we were there with the wonderful Addington family. Peter, the father, is a total nutter. He is fascinated with America and can’t stay on one topic for more than 30 seconds before he is distractedly on to the next. Lois, the mother, loved having girls around who talk about life and their feelings (she has four boys). James, the youngest, flirts with us ALL the time. He’s 17 and a horrific driver. Myles can’t stop laughing at nothing. And Julian patiently taught us about lead climbing. As soon as we can figure out how to put pictures up from Lauren’s camera we’ll provide excellent photo documentation of this.
Here are some pictures from our last days in Dunedin. Lauren’s little sisters Grace and Georgia were real serious about Uno.
Sol square in Christchurch was one of our favorite spots. Bikes bolted to concrete walls.. bars with couches and armchairs in the alleys.. and a jazz club called Fat Eddy’s that blew any other bar I’ve been to out of the water.
Made Myles go canoeing with us down the river that goes through the city centre.
We sprung for a fancy dinner and amazing dark beer instead of paying for a hostel, later finding a nice spot on the beach where we cozied up and slept in the back of the car. Constance Connie the Commodore Commie has been perfect. Just three American girls in the bench seat up front cruising around middle earth. 
Here are some pictures from our last days in Dunedin. Lauren’s little sisters Grace and Georgia were real serious about Uno.
Sol square in Christchurch was one of our favorite spots. Bikes bolted to concrete walls.. bars with couches and armchairs in the alleys.. and a jazz club called Fat Eddy’s that blew any other bar I’ve been to out of the water.
Made Myles go canoeing with us down the river that goes through the city centre.
We sprung for a fancy dinner and amazing dark beer instead of paying for a hostel, later finding a nice spot on the beach where we cozied up and slept in the back of the car. Constance Connie the Commodore Commie has been perfect. Just three American girls in the bench seat up front cruising around middle earth.
Friday, October 9, 2009
New developments:
-Bought our car today. 1991 Holden Commodore Executive. She's very classy. Name is still to be determined.
-Discovered continuing education summer school at Otago University and want to take way more classes than we can afford. Also discovered the tramping club and the radio station. Exciting.
-At the pool downtown there is a hot tub.... and waterslides.
Monday, October 5, 2009
this is the view from where we type. lauren's dad's house is beautiful. you can probably zoom in on sheep.
sunrise on the way to the beach... it was 1 degree C.
got a flat on our way to parakanui, the north coast of dunedin. good lessons learned from steve that may help us in the near future when we venture off on our own.
let's introduce steve and his son, ruben. ruben is 7 years old and has already been surfing for four years. i think he got the longest rides of anyone.
danielle, steve, and ruben surfed here. it's a right that breaks off the end of the island.
meanwhile, megan and lauren had a wee jogger on this lovely beach.
we have found a couple cafes in town that seem like NZ's version of linnaeas and steynberg, and are feeling excited about getting our own flat in a couple months. we are also REALLY excited to get on the road north, where hopefully it won't be snowing. leggings under jeans is getting old, and somehow we can never put on enough layers to keep us warm. getting closer to buying our dream van.. pictures of "the one" will be up soon.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
so many sheeeep
Highlights of our first day in Dunedin, New Zealand:
1. Our plane landed on top of sheep. And cows. Because this whole country happens to be either a picturesque farm, a snow-covered mountain range, or beautiful blue waves. And you usually can see all three of those things simultaneously.
2. Lauren drove on the left side of the road.
3. I think we found our van: $2600 NZ dollars, only three seats (all of which are in the front) a bed in the back, an 'akunamatata' sticker on the driver door, and a kitchen. It also 'comes with camping supplies,' which are a pot and a pan.
Way too good. That's kind of all I have to say. oh yeah..
4. The coffee served on the plane came directly from a french press.
1. Our plane landed on top of sheep. And cows. Because this whole country happens to be either a picturesque farm, a snow-covered mountain range, or beautiful blue waves. And you usually can see all three of those things simultaneously.
2. Lauren drove on the left side of the road.
3. I think we found our van: $2600 NZ dollars, only three seats (all of which are in the front) a bed in the back, an 'akunamatata' sticker on the driver door, and a kitchen. It also 'comes with camping supplies,' which are a pot and a pan.
Way too good. That's kind of all I have to say. oh yeah..
4. The coffee served on the plane came directly from a french press.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
