Kiwi Conspiracies

I guess you know it's REALLY raining when the Seattle-ites say so. After visiting beautiful Raglan (known for something something... really famous surf spot... long wave, something something... I'm not sure, ask Danielle) and staying in Solscape, a hostel that allows WWOOFers (a program called Willing Workers On Organic Farms- free stay and food in exchange for four hours of unpaid work a day) and backpackers alike to stay in camping spots or converted cabooses (cabeese?) we really got poured on. We were all happy to have sprung the extra 8 bucks each for the caboose instead of camping. I think my little trusty tent- you know, the one I mentioned earlier that 8 years ago cost us around $50, has one almost broken tent pole and no stakes- probably wouldn't have survived. For those of our friends and family who know the story of the Jalama camping trip, there was talk of this being a worse storm.

Unfortunately, even though we had a dry place to sleep, we still had to deal with getting from our dry caboose to the car which was a far enough distance to completely soak all of us. After much squealing, and Megan stepping in a puddle (again. I think this is the fourth time of the trip) we had successfully brought in enough water to keep the car fogged up and real swampy for the 3 hour drive we had in front of us. Awesome.

We arrived at our destination, Taranaki (The 'naki) with the sun shining, which allowed us to see the beautiful view of Mount Taranaki which goes from about sea level to 8200 feet. As a reference point, Shasta is 10,000 feet above its surrounding terrain. Thank you Wikipedia. We all agree that if this town were on the South Island there would be a good chance that we would strongly consider living here. It's next to great surf, tons of climbing and hiking, the town is pretty cool and bike-able (key because we're only going to have one car between the five of us). We all like the downtown area a lot and it's nice that there aren't many tourists that come into these parts.

It's interesting to me to see the difference between the timeline we were originally planning and how things have panned out here. I'm fairly certain that in my mind we were going to travel around for a week and a half or so after I got here then move on to WWOOFing and then settle in a town on the South Island before our parents/families came to visit. I've been here 3 weeks and we're still on the North Island with a plan of 2 more months on the road. I think the only thing we can count on is that our plans WILL change.

People would laugh if they saw how crammed into our little Commodore we are. We can pack everything tightly enough to be able to see out of the back of the car, but to do that we need to take up 2/3 of the backseat. This leaves one lonely person crammed in the back and three people sitting in the bench seat up front. We travel around with a bag of provisions, mostly fruits, veggies, oatmeal, cheese, eggs, peanut butter, bread, honey, and supplies for baking cookies and cake. It's a good thing that all of us are pretty good about eating the SAME foods over and over again. My standards for refridgerating food have dissappeared completely along with the presence of frozen food items.

Our bird watching is still in full swing, with us shouting out bird names as we drive by them in the country. Megan and I thought we saw a kiwi bird in the middle of the road one night. Danielle and Lauren swore they saw four legs, Megs and I were convinced the front legs were actually a beak. After Megan got out of the car to investigate she came back saying that the mystery creature behaved and looked like a hedgehog, but still could have been a kiwi. We probably would have dropped the subject had not our bird book later told us that kiwis "snuffle along at night like a hedgehog." That little bit of information (or glimmmer of hope, as we saw it) was enough to send Megan and I back down the road with the intentions of finding that bird. I suppose we eventually had to admit that it probably wasn't a kiwi, especially after another guy staying at our hostel said he had a hedgehog come into his room that same night. But secretly we both think that it just might have been a kiwi after all. Maybe.

So from here on out, our rough schedule is: more time in Taranaki, then off to Wellington, the capital, then cross down to the South Island to spend time in Nelson (a potential future home) and Hang Dog camp (a climbing spot). After that we're off to Christchurch for a guest appearance by our dear friend from SLO, Julian Zielonka, who has been working a dream job Bali, and then on December 3rd we're joined by our fifth girl, the lovely Melanie. Y'all can look forward to her future posts.

Lucky Girls

This past weekend, while Danielle went on a lovely little camping trip up to Waipu, Megan, Christy and I hiked to The Pinnacles in the Kauaeranga Valley on the beloved Coromandel Peninsula . We camped on the bottom the night before in our little Connie, woke up to mosquitoes in our ears, and got out of there before we had to pay for our campsite.
Waiting outside the visitors center to pay for our little hut and start our trek, we were quite the sight...making breakfast out of our little stove with all our stuff strewn around the car, eating oatmeal in the parking lot...

When we went to go pay for the hut, the ranger almost laughed at us, as the hut with 80 beds was totally booked--TILL JANUARY--but to our relief, only a few minutes earlier a group of three had canceled their reservation...(This, I feel like, is the story of our lives over here. Having no plans, but everything always working out for us. It could be that because we don't have any plans, ever, anything that happens is great and so it seems that everything just works out, or maybe we're just lucky...it's probably a little bit of both).

The hike was great, lots and lots of stairs and entirely uphill. We were so impressed by the kiwis of ALL ages cruisin up the mount. After three hours of INCLINE Meg, Christy and I arrived at our first kiwi hut. The Pinnacles Hut, come to find out, is the flashest hut in the whole country, consisting of 80 beds, running water, gas stoves, and a shower. It felt like a hostel on the top of a mountain (a little trippy actually and not exactly an intense nature experience). The night before all three of us squeezed into our car and slept on therm-a-rests, but on our backpacking trip we slept on a mattress...what? I know, it's confusing. But we had a good time up there with the other 77 people.

The whole experience has got me thinking though...I mean, how wonderful is it that they make backpacking so accessible to everyone. You don't need a bunch of gear or patagucci to go on these long walks, and it gets people who normally wouldn't backpack outside moving their butts and engaging the landscape... something about that sounds right.

All to say, we had a wonderful time. We hiked back down this morning and arrived at Conn just as it started to rain. We drove to Sola Cafe in Thames, a nearby township; after enjoying a vege sandwich and a warm cup of coffee, we walked back out to find that Connie had a super duper FLAT tire. And, did you know that AAA works here? Well, it most definitely does, so after making a few phone calls, we played a few card games back in our little cafe, hung out with the nice road side service man and were back on the road to meet Danielle back in Auckland. So here we are, staying one last night at the house on Hamlin Rd with the lovely boys who have hosted us so many nights.

We are camping out on the living room floor. As I write, Danielle and our new lovely friend Kate Anstis are reading, all snuggled up on the couch. Christy is uploading photos on to her computer, and Megan is reading The Dharma Bums.

Tomorrow, we think should hold an adventure to a famous Auckland chocolate shop, some rock climbing, and perhaps some kite surfing...who knows...

We just spent six days in the Bay of Islands after planning on being there for two. Pretty typical. We stayed in a little cottage on the water that belonged to a Dutch couple, Yon and Berl. We guess that they're in their 80's, but they sure have heaps of spunk left in them. We loved hearing Berl's stories about rowing out to rescue entrapped dolphins and watching Yon ride up and down the hill on his motorbike. We made them lots of cookies in exchange for the free lodging, and I think everyone felt they got the better deal. At least we hope..

Day two we went swimming with dolphins for two hours at Elliot's Bay. The local surfers who were there said they had only seen dolphins a handfull of times at that spot, and they had never seen them stay and play for more than a couple minutes. The dolphins must have an affinity for nice American girls. They probably would have let us ride them if we weren't so scared.

Day three we went to opening night at our friends' swanky restaurant. We helped paste the menus together the night before and celebrated our first Guy Fawkes day with fireworks on the beach. The next day we discovered how much we enjoy row boats and ping pong, and I don't think we did much else. We made up for it yesterday, though, when we went fishing all day for snapper. We went out in the morning and caught our lunch, then went out in the afternoon and caught our dinner. Learned how to fillet (pronounced fill-it). Dad will be proud. We caught 10 keepers and countless undersized survivors and one 20 pound monster.

Now we're back in Whangarei (pronounced Fangarei) with the Olsen family, and it felt a little like coming home as we pulled up to the house. Eastern rosellas greeted us on the drive up the gravel road --

as well as Louis, who later in the night donned a bright green skirt and dress jacket for dinner. We proceeded to make a feast of enchiladas SLO style. We got to see our dear friend Yammy, the Olsen's (temporary) pet they have named after his two best qualities: being a lamb and being yummy. Their last two lambs were Yoda and Lambington, but as the kids confidently explained to us in the car one day, they have a good life on the farm now. Poor Yammy. One day he too will be on that farm.

The other morning a text woke me up with the message: "Good morning! Wondering if you would like to go fishing and diving around noon? We can take the sailboat out after lunch... let me know."

Um, yeah, sure, I guess that would be okay... I mean, I'm not too busy or anything. Actually, I have no plans at all for the day (or the week. or the year. or, wait, my whole life...). You should have seen my smile. I mean, what?!? It was like he was worried we wouldn't want to go... little did he know Megan is obsessed with fishing and I can't get enough of sailing.. but then he threw in the spear fishing element... and i just started laughing, kind of wondering if i was still dreaming.

thus embarked our sail/snorkel/spearfish adventure with our skipper, Rich, and our two new mates, Aimee and Josh. sunny skies and perfect wind set us racing out of the harbour resulting in one of the best sails i've had in a while. we anchored off of Leisure Island and josh gave us a 30 second spear fish lesson. literally. 'here's the safety, when you want to shoot a fish, take it off.' The end. And off we went! It was actually the first time Lauren, Meg, and I had ever free dove... so even the weight belts took an adjustment, let alone having a gun in hand... but we caught on and i ended up shooting at anything that resembled a fish. it was an unfruitful mission; however, i'm convinced we can do it. my goal is to catch a fish by the end of the nz adventure.



Josh, our spear fishing coach and our cooking partner for two amazing dinners... taught him how to make spaghetti with meat AND vegetables, instead of just 2123 pounds of beef. He was pretty excited about it and we were secretly excited for the excuse to put 'mince' in our sauce.

We anchored the boat off of Leisure Island, started diving in the sunshine and got out of the water in pouring down rain and thunder... typical NZ weather.

This was definitely the winning picture of the day. :)

Christy's first post

I should probably point out that as I type this I am overlooking one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. I think there will probably be descriptions of it coming. I can tell already that this trip is going to be a good one.

I arrived in Auckland at 5-something on Halloween morning, fumbled my way through customs... forgot to declare my tent, they saw it on the x-ray, pulled me aside and asked if I was aware that it was a 200 dollar fine to not declare something they so clearly (they did) spelled out as one of the must-declare items... I had to wait an hour past all the other passengers to get it figured out. All for a tent that my dad couldn't believe I was taking the effort to bring because it cost (10 years ago when we bought it) something near 50 bucks. We'll keep our loyal blog followers updated on whether or not our little tent proves itself as worthy in the coming months. In the end, I wasn't charged the lying fee and the girls were late to the airport anyway so everything worked out.

We left the airport with me very confused about which side of the road we were driving on. I understand the basic left side of the road while you're driving stuff, but where it get's tricky is intersections, roundabouts, or (the worst of them all) u-turns. Basically every reflex I've been programmed to drive with is backwards. I haven't driven yet. We'll also keep our followers updated on that topic.

We are currently staying in Whangarei with friends of Lauren's older brother. Their house is a marvel. Within minutes of getting here Danielle and I were walking our laptops around the house showing our mothers the view(s) via Skype video chatting. Danielle (timidly pronounced Dani-ell now that we're in a place that is nationally confused by the name) also gave her mom, an interior designer, a tour of the beautiful house. Surprisingly I skipped it for my real estate agent mother... sorry Mom, another time. For what it's worth, we could be staying in a dungeon and still be happy with this family, Suzanne, Paul, Emily (12) and Louis (9). They have been very welcoming and have handled the daunting task of playing host for four girls to an impressive degree. They have been very patient in letting us get our game fix by playing cards with us. I taught Emily the only card trick I know, which she in turn wonderfully showcased at our dinner last night. I'm really pulling for breaking the Bananagrams out today, Emily is fighting for Monopoly, but between our hiking, slacklining, and surf lession plans (Danielle teaching Louis) I'm not sure when we're going to have the time. Tough life.

We got to meet their American neighbors,Vic and Trisha, who sailed to New Zealand 20 years ago after previously living in Morro Bay (12 miles from San Luis Obispo) and Port Townsend (home base for my mom's side of the family), and somewhere close to where Danielle and Megan are from in Washington. We were pretty excited about those connections. Trisha and Suzanne showed us how to weave flax, maybe comprable to reeds used to weave baskets, and we've become so good that I'm sure everyone can expect flax laundry hampers from us as Christmas gifts. Vic and Trisha came to dinner last night with their sons, Simon and Justin. We had a FEAST of freshly caught something-or-other fish that I didn't quite catch the Maori name for but I think it loosely translates to deep sea bass. Paul made ceviche, a favorite of ours from past travel experiences in Latin America. We've been working out caving plans with the boys for tomorrow (I'm telling you, it's a tough life here) and made sure to get contact information for as many future connections as possible from Vic and Trisha. We also had some very inspiring converstaions with them about possible future plans (working on a boat, anyone?)

mountain biking?

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.

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.