The Real Stories

A lot of the postings are from emails that got sent out to random people over the past few weeks. They don't get to read this blog so here are some things that did not make it into the emails.

ALSO, I am trying to upload photos to the photobucket.com website that is on the southisland post down below but it may be awhile until I can get them up. Anyways, be sure to check them out when I do get them up because they are great.

The Email:

If you are my cousin or family member or something of the sort, there is a reason why you get these emails and your parents don't!!

Bangkok never sleeps, and neither did I! I was getting delusional on day three and thought I had malaria or something before I realized that you need the same amount of sleep in Thailand as you do in the rest of the world.

Thai women are beautiful but hard to approach. However, 42 year old Dutch women are much easier to talk to ;).

Diving really was amazing, but the bars and parties in Koh Tao are some of the best places on earth to "chill." Drugs are a huge no no in Thailand, and you can spend time in jail for a joint. However, they are sold at the bar for 100 baht.

The Red Bull here has speed in it, the whiskey has something in it, and a "bucket" has both Red Bull AND whiskey in it!

Diving is a wonderful cure for a hangover, as long as you eat a good breakfast and you can handle the boat ride.

It was in my plans to go to Burma, but what really happened was that I drank too many buckets with some friends and decided to get on a boat with them. I woke up and realized that I was about to go to Burma, so it worked out perfectly.

There is always risk involved in climbing (or any sport) and in Thailand they don't anchor into anything when they belay, and there are no helmets. Helmet or no helmet, there were a few times today that I was one sweaty hand slip away from going splat. This is normal for climbing and I climbed within my limits...so no splat. I saw one guy (without a helmet) get nailed in the head by a falling cellphone from some dumb ass tourist. He had to get stitched up, and could have been killed.

Christmas on Kho Phangan

So, I have not really had any bad things happen to me yet on my trip. Well, not until Christmas. This is an email that I sent out, but I had no space bar. I am not going to type it again, so here is what I did for Christmas.

I.went.back.to.koh.tao....where.i.was.diving......then.to.koh.phangan.
for.the"full.moon.party."
this.is.a.HUGE.world.famous.beach.partyrave.that.draws.about.
60,000.people....
i.met.cam.and.nate.there.and.had.about.5.friends.that.i.was.supposed.
to.meet.at.the.party
nice.to.have.friends.on.christmas.. .

the.full.moon.party.was.crazy...way.to.many.drugs.and.idiots.there....
i.saw.a.guy.who.had.been.stabbed.....i.think.he.died......so.many.girls.
were.wasted.out.of.
their.minds.that.cam..ended.up.going.around.handing.out.water.and.
keeping.girls.from.passing.
out.and.getting.raped.....we.were.separated.at.this.point.but.i.did.the.
same.thing.for.a.few.girls.who.
were.unconcious.and.left.for.dead.on.the.beach.

i.decided.pretty.quickly.that.i.was.not.going.to.drink.to.much.because.
it.would.not.have.been.safe
i.took.off.my.sandals.the.good.ones.that.i.got.just.for.this.trip)..to.go.
do.a.giant.jump.rope.on.the.
beach.and.it.took.about.30.seconds.for.them.to.get.stolen......
i.searched.peoples.feet.and.found.the.guy.who.took.them.and.got.in.
a.bit.of.a.fight.with.him.
but.his.friends.jumped.in.and.by.the.time.i.was.done.defending.
myself.the.guy.had.run.off.with.my.
sandals.and.along.with.some.advice.from.chris.i.decided.it.wasn't.
worth.my.safety......

so.the.sandals.combined.with.the.feeling.that.we.were.all.going.
straight.to.hell.for.being.at.a.
place.like.that.kind.of.ruined.my.christmas.eve .but.the.sunrise.
on.the.beach.was.amazing.

we.took.an.early.boat.back.to.koh.tao.where.we.had.christmas.
dinner.together.
the.party.was.a.bad.idea.and.i.regret.leaving.the.place.where.i.was.
climbing.but it.was.cool.to.spend.christmas.with.cam.and.nate.and.
they.were.happy.to.see.me.

christmas.day.and.night.on.koh.tao.were.really.cool....
they.make.these.mini.hot.air.balloons.with.white.cloth.and.fire.and.
release.them.into.the.sky.
so.it.looks.like.there.are.bunches.of.orange.stars.that.are.floating.
around.in.the.sky.over.the.
ocean....really.pretty....

now.that.i.think.about.it.having.my.sandals.stolen.is.probably.the.
worst.thing.that.has.
happened.to.me.so.i.guess.that.means.my.trip.has.been.pretty.
successful.and.safe.so.far!!
people.are.trying.to.get.me.to.go.back.to.koh.phangan.for.the.new.
years.party.
but.i.will.never.go.to.that.place.again.for.the.first.time.in.my.life.
i.was.in.a.place.that.
was.too.crazy.for.me

DEEP WATER SOLO

Definitely look this one up on you tube. There are some pretty crazy videos. Basically, you climb a crag that is over the ocean...deep water. Solo climbing is to climb with out a rope. Get it...Deep Water Solo!

So I have jumped off of some pretty high stuff before, but notice how I said jumped. When you climb, you usually fall. Falling from 20 meters is not good, even if you fall into water the wrong way you can break bones and stuff. So basically, you climb until you think you can't go any more then jump.

Chris and I decided that this would be a great way to end our climbing experience down in Tonsai, so we hoped on a boat and headed for the beach to find a place to stay. The next day we went to Wees Climbing Shop, and along with about 8 other guys we jumped in the longtail boat and went to find some rock to climb. Most of the climbers were REALLY good, but afraid to go to high.

I ended up doing about 5 climbs that day, and I think the highest I got was somewhere between 14 and 18 meters above the water. It was a LONG WAY DOWN, but It was awsome! Defiitely some of the coolest climbing I have ever done.

On the whole, climbing in this part of the world has been amazing. Everywhere there is just dripping limestone cliffs with stalagtites all over the place. You can really just pick one and climb it. I loved it down there and was sad to leave.

KRABI - Climbing

I'm in Krabi doing some rock climbing. This was one of the main reasons I left NZ early, to climb. I miss it so much. Krabi is the name of a town that is a jump off point for many of the islands on the west coast of Thailand. I was actually climbing at two beaches: Railay Beach and Tonsai Beach. Krabi, however, is where I stayed for a few days and it is a really cool town. They have a great night market where you can get cheap beer and wonderful food. Basically it is just a huge slab of concrete where a bunch of food stalls set up for the night. Think the NC State fair without the rides and rednecks, and much better food. Oh yea, and beer! I had a small group of friends that I met in Krabi, some I travelled other places with and some I will meet again in other countries.

Chris: an English rock star type guy who has enough athletic ability to be a good climber. Picture a shaggy haired British guy walking down the street, backpack on, cigarette in mouth, and playing the guitar all at the same time.

Haley: cool, hilarious guy from Colorado that I climbed with one day...would have loved to chill with him more but he took off.

Trevor and his g/f from Canada eh. I climbed with Trevor a few times, really chill guy who I also hung out with a lot after climbing.

The hurricane: don't remember their names but there were these two girls, well one was too old to be called a girl. The younger one from Slovenia and the elder one from Northern Cal. Really loud and crazy, but good for a laugh now and then.

Lots of other random aquaintences but I can't list them all.

Climbing started with some easy stuff but got challenging pretty quickly. I was climbing with a Thai guy named Yon who was really pushing me, and on the first day down there I did one of the toughest climbs I've ever done, and it was my first day climbing in a LONG TIME! It was about 85 feet high, and it was right on an awesome beach so when I got to the top the view was amazing. We were at a really popular place to climb, and I was doing the tallest climb on that particular crag and there were a lot of people around. The "crux" of a climb is the hardest part of that particular route, and usually involves 3 or 4 quick moves that take lots of speed and power because the holds are so small, hard to hold onto, and so far apart. I fell a few times at the crux, and didn't realize how many people were watching me from below until I finally got past it, and heard everyone yell and cheer. It was really cool and I had about 50 feet of climbing left to do at this point, and I was really tired, so it was nice to get some support from the ground. Later I asked Chris and Haley and they said that they were the only ones cheering, but it sounded loud from the top!

A WEEK LATER

Wow...climbing! I think I said that Diving was the highlight of my time away and I could say that about many things but the climbing here is amazing. I climbed in total about 6 days and it was great...I have decided to plan the rest of my trip with not only diving, but climbing in mind. I spent the second half of the week leading tough climbs, which I have never done before. You probably don't know what that means so go on google and type in "top rope climbing" and then "lead climbing." Basically, lead climbing is more challenging because if you fall, you fall a long ways...possibly ALL the way. However, I have been climbing with a great Thai guy named Yon that knows the area really well, and has taken me to PERFECT routes for my skill level. He has really been pushing me, but within reason. Also, we have been to some local secrets. We climbed through a cave to get to an amazing crag with the best views and epic climbs.

I also did my first "multi-pitch climb," witch involves leading a climb until you get close to the end of the rope, building an anchor on the rock, and going up some more from that anchor. A "pitch" is a rope leangth, hence the name multi-pitch.

This translates into finishing the climb in a little cave about a hundred feet above the ground. I was expecting to go higher, but for my first time it was cool and I will definitely do a bigger one soon.

VISA RUN TO BURMA, then to KRABI - CLIMBING

From Koh Tao I got the night boat to Chumporn. 11pm to 5am on a boat. there was a few blankets and a pillow for me on the floor, it wasn't bad at all. Even a few fans. Then I got a minibus to Rangon for a few hours, and a boat into Burma (another country). I was there for about 10 minutes to look around, but mainly to get out of Thailand and go back in because you can only stay in Thailand for 30 days at a time, and my time was running out. Doing this is called a "visa run." Kind of weird being in another country for only a few minutes. This "visa run" is also a drug run, as soon as we got back on the boat to go back to Thailand, everyone pulled out the drugs that they had bought in Burma. When i got back to Rangon (Thailand) my minibus guy insisted that I get back on the bus to go back north toward the boat back to Koh Tao. I told him that I was going to Krabi, and that I needed him to take me to the bus station which was only 10 km away. He wouldn't, and so I had to hitchhike to the station. When I got there I asked "when is the next but to Krabi" and was told..."one minute." I jumped on, and later found out that this was a 6 hour bus ride! Oh well, I was on my way to the climbing mecca of southeast Asia!! I had a bit of a moral dilemma here, because the "Union of Myanmar" is the ruling power in Burma, and the "government" is probably the worst violator of human rights in the world right now. Not that there are wars going on, but there are "conflicts" and the government has been using what are basically slaves to build up infrastructure to boost the tourism industry. The government sees all the profit while the peasants who built the roads and guesthouses starve. For this reason many people boycott the country all together. By doing a visa run, I gave this government 10 bucks. I could have gone to Malaysia or Cambodia but it just didn't work out because of where I am in Thailand. also, it would have cost much more. Anyways, I am having a blast and am trying not to get stuck in Thailand because I have a lot more places to see, but it is SO easy to travel here and everyone is so laid back and nice.

KOH TAO - SCUBA

I took a night bus, then mini bus, then boat to an island called Koh Tao, where I did my scuba diving. The bus took about 7 hours and dropped us off at a bus station at 3am, where i rolled out my sleeping pad, strapped my backpack to myself, and passed out until 6am. This is when I got the minibus to the pier, and got on a 3 hour boat. This all cost about US$ 13. I arrived on the island at 10am, it was a 16 hour trip in all. I was a little dazed when I got to the island, and didn't feel like bargaining for a cheaper price on the taxi to the place where i had been told to go diving, so i just paid 100 baht (3 bucks). Apparently when you don't bargain, the driver gives you a beer as thanks, even at 10am. actually he gave me half of the beer that he was drinking (750ml, which is standard for a large beer in Thailand. 12 oz is about 330 ml).

I had been told about the Scuba Shack and went there to check out the diving courses. I was immediately told to sit down next to this crazy looking dutch guy named Merlyn. He was to be my dive instructor. We had a few beers and he told me the first thing to remember about diving. When you jump in the water, press the blue button!!! When you make your ascent after a dive, press the black button!!! Apparently he had a few students who got this mixed up...he was not happy about it.

At the Scuba Shack, I did my open water course, which allows me to dive to 18 meters, anywhere in the world. i loved it so much that i immediately followed it with my advanced course, which is a must if you want to do great diving. basically it means that you can go deeper (30m) which is where all the big fish are. In total, i did 10 dives, one night dive, and saw sea turtles, 8 foot sharks (one swam right at me, kinda scary but apparently they don't attack humans), GIANT 6 foot grouper, huge schools of big barracuda, trigger fish (which do attack humans, they are like the gangsters of the island) moray eels, many different kinds of rays, and much much more. Diving is probably my highlight of the entire time away from the states so far. Not only because it was so much fun, but my certifications will last for life, and it is a skill that i can use anywhere in the world. For once in my life I have found, and liked a sport where there is absolutely no competition. Anyone can dive! Also, the island is beautiful, and I met so many amazing people there, including my instructors who were the coolest people ever. I think I will probably go back to Koh Tao for the holidays, as there are many westerners there who will celebrate Christmas, and they are mostly young travelers and not "tourists." I also have a group of dive friends there that really make me feel at home.

Bangkok

BANGKOK wow, it only took twelve hours and i am i a completely different part of the world. i went from saying cheers and 'sweet as mate' to saying sa wat dee (hello) and khaawp khoon (thank you). Also, chai means yes, mai means no, and khaaw thoht means excuse me or i'm sorry. this place is not like fiji where everyone speaks english, but i am smiling a lot and trying to learn, and thai people really appreciate this. however, just like fiji, the computers are sub par, so i have a poorly functioning shift key, hence the lowercase. i arrived to the bangkok airport at 10 pm, which is 10 am your time. it was about a 12 hour flight but the service and food was the best i have ever had. a tv in the back of every seat, dozens of movies and tv shows to watch, and really nice (and beautiful) flight attendants. since i was alone, i found the first person i saw with a backpack and started a conversation. lina has been in new zealand working for a year and is originally from germany. we did some research and got a bus to the infamous backpacker ghetto; kohsan road. even at midnight, this place was buzzing with markets and street vendors selling everything from swords to cheap food. we found a place to crash for the night, and have since found a cheaper, more backpacker friendly place called the wild orchid, where we will stay for a few nights. we have been splitting a 'standard double' which is basically a closet with a double bed in it. since we split the cost, it is about 4 us dollars per night to stay at the wild orchid. we spent today eating amazing food (strawberry smoothie and spicy pork friend rice for about 1.50 us dollars) and checking out the markets. everything is so amazingly cheap here. the markets have everything that you could possibly imagine, and there is always room to bargain. i got a nice backpack today for about 7 bucks. when i exchanged 100 usd at the airport, i was given 3300 thai baht, so when if i wanted to i could easily become a millionaire! bangkok is dirty and noisy, but not as dirty and noisy as i expected. everyone is pretty nice, even though they haggle you to buy their goods the second you look at something. i now understand why there is so much hype in the backpacker world about bangkok. you can buy and do ANYTHING here. sounds sickening, but you don't find the bad stuff unless you go looking for it, so it is not uncomfortable or disheartening in any way. one thing i enjoy watching is the cars, motorbikes, and tuk tuk taxis. they drive down any road or ally that they can fit on. there doesn't seem to be traffic laws, and it is easy to get in the way. it is time to go searching for some more great food. i have eaten two meals so far, and the smoothie i drank had ice in it, and i have not gotten sick yet. the food is spicy enough to get your stomach hurting and that is why everyone tells you to be careful what you eat; but i like spicy stuff and i guess i have a tough stomach because water here (or the ice in a smoothie) is supposed to make you sick and i downed that smoothie pretty fast with no problems.

The South Island

Photos: http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc311/rtwilli4/

So Wellington was pretty crazy. I met some wonderful friends that I will never forget and plan to see again in the future. People from NZ, Virginia, Montana, Maine, Czech Republic, Ireland, England, Wales, Aussie, Chile and so many more.

I met Scott at the backpackers in Wellington. At this point I was not sure what my plans were. Cameron and Nate had already left for the South Island and I was trying to figure out where I was going to go. I thought about Fiji again, or maybe another Pacific Island. I thought about Aussie as well. Since I already had a ticket to Thailand, this would end up being the end result but I wasn't sure what I was going to do before Thailand.

Scott had planned a trip in the South Island in a rental car. We had already become great friends at this point and so I decided to go with him. Wow, I'm am glad I did. The South Island is probably the most beautiful place that I have ever been. Not a single thing I did or place that I went was even worth trying to describe. Pictures will show you but this is another one of those things that not even pictures can do justice.

We drove down the west coast, which at the time I thought was the best drive in NZ...until I got down even farther, then I realized that the south part is probably the best drive in the world. The first half is on the coast, with rocky ocean and sandy beaches on your right, and huge bushy hills and mountains on your left. We made it to Fox Glacier, which is in the one percent of all glaciers in the world that are actually getting bigger. We did a 7 hour hike on the glacier, which was like being on another planet. Huge walls of ice everywhere. I felt like the Bear Grills from "Man vs. Wild" and did feel the need to speak like him a few times. The glacier is advancing quickly, because of the heavy, wet snow that the top of the mountains get. At the very top of the glacier, it snows up to 40 meters per year. Yes, that is over 120 feet, and over 1500 inches. For comparison, the best ski resorts in Colorado and Utah get between 400 and 600 inches during a GREAT season.

On the glacier, we met Simon, Nina, and Anja; a group of German travellers that we would hang out with in Queenstown and Milford Sound. This is probably my favorite part of traveling...meeting random people and traveling with them, learning about their lives and cultures.

From the glacier, we drove down into the Southern Alps of NZ. The sun was out, and very hot for the first time all spring. It was melting all of the snow and there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE. I think I saw 250 waterfalls in the course of a week.

We passed a few mountain lakes that were so clear and blue that it seemed fake. There were giant snowcapped mountains rising out of these lakes, straight up into the sky. I think we stopped the car every thirty minutes pretty much any time we drove anywhere. I couldn't stop staring at the scenery. And it changes so much. I saw Northern Louisiana, then the west coast of California, then the mountains of North Carolina, then the vastness of Montana, then the sharp peaks of the Rockies....all in a few days.

Every place we stoped was beautiful. We got to a town called Wanaka that overlooked a lake with Mt. Aspiring in the background. I almost told Scott to leave me there so I could find a job and live there. When I do come back to New Zealand (as I plan to do next June...maybe for a WHILE), Wanaka will be one of the three towns I will try to find work in. Wellington and Queenstown are the others.

Queenstown...reminds me of a small ski town out west. I fell in love immediately, as it mostly reminded me of Steamboat Springs, CO, where I spent the winter a few years ago. It is on the only flat spot for miles and miles...completely surrounded my mountains. Beautiful, but not the reason to go there. This is the town for adrenaline junkies. From the largest swing in the world, to a concrete luge type thing, to waterfall riding to the third largest bungy jump in the world, there are dozens of ways to kill yourself in this place, and that is how they make their money.

I picked the bungy jump. I have been dreaming of this forever, and it was finally time to do it. The Nevis Highwire is 134 (440) meters of free fall for the average person doing a swan dive off the top (see video to the right). You jump from a cable car type thing that is suspended by wires in the middle of this canyon. Just watch the video. It was the biggest rush I think I have ever had. Jumping off cliffs on a snowboard, jumping out of a plane, going 160 in a Vette...whatever you can think of, it does not compare to the bungy jump.

They strap you in, take your picture, and then you wobble to the edge like a penguin because your feet are tied together. I wondered, what if i trip and fall. It would still be a bungy jump, just a more scary version. You get to the edge...ONE, TWO, THREE, BUNGY! HUGE swan dive off the platform. Ground coming at you faster than you can even perceive, then you come to a slow stop, and fly back toward the sky. It is not jerky at all as long as you jump right. It is very smooth and comfortable. The problem is...you don't really remember it and it is over before it begins. This is why...I DID IT TWICE!

When they brought me back up to the cable car, the guy asked me if I had been doing drugs because I was on such an adrenaline kick. I told him it was better than drugs and that I could do it all day. He immediately said, "OK but only if you do it bullet style." "Hell yea!" I say, and get back in line.

Bullet style is a bit different, as you can imagine. With the swan dive, you jump out, toward the horizon, with your arms out. This is a natural skydiving position that causes your body to stabilize in the air and slowly go into a nosedive as the bungy cord starts to get tension on it. With the bullet, you put your hands behind your back, and instead of jumping out, you fall forward as far as you can, keeping your feet on the platform, and jump directly at the ground at the last second. The idea is that you sill start of in a nose dive, with no arms to create resistance. You are actually a bullet, heading straight for the ground. You fall MUCH faster, and get MUCH closer to the ground. A few people told me that they have never seen anyone get any closer to the ground as I did. The guy who explained the bullet to me told me it was perfect, and now I'm addicted. There is a bungy that is almost twice as high in China...I will certainly be there before the end of this trip.

Next was the famous Milford Sound. There is a hike that is so popular that it must be books months in advance. It is very regulated, and pretty much full of tourists. I'm sure it is amazing, but not worth having to book it so far in advance. I never even know where I'll be 2 days in advance, much less 2 months. The drive from Q town to Milford Sound is the greatest drive I have ever done. We had amazing weather, as we did for the entire South Island. This is very uncharacteristic, especially for this time of year. It is supposed to rain all the time and according to the locals we were very very lucky. The entire drive is through giant canyons with dozens of waterfalls trickling down the rock. My neck actually began to hurt. Again, you will have to look at the pictures to understand.

The actual sound was even more amazing. We took a boat ride through the sound, out into the Tasman Sea. The sound is actually a Fiord, which is Swedish for a huge gorge carved out by ice. The fiords that line the southern west coast of NZ were all created by fiords, and are breathtaking. There are stone walls rising straight up out of the ocean and many peaks reach over 5000 feet above the sea. The mountains have no topsoil, but many treas and vegetation have created a blanket of roots, using cracks in the rock to anchor themselves. They grow very aggressively, because of the 7 - 10 meters of rain that Milford Sound gets each year. The wettest parts of Washington state get about 2.5 meters of rain per year (Seattle gets less than 1 meter of rain per year and is not even in the top ten wettest cities in the US). Sometimes during huge storms, a tree will lose its grip on the rock and cause a huge "tree avalanche" that leaves a bare spot on the rock for up to 70 years after the slide. The wind in Milford Sound is also crazy. The more intense the sun gets, the more the mainland heats up. The hot air rises, and sucks air through the fiord like a funnel.

Finally, Lake Pukaki and Mt. Cook. This is the craziest lake I have ever seen. It is hard to see in the pictures but the water is a bright aqua blue. It does a wonderful job of reflecting the image of the mountains behind the lake, which are the tallest in NZ. Mt. Cook is named for Capt. James Cook, the explorer who found, and charted most of New Zealand. Scott and I actually stopped for a view of the lake, got back in the car and drove for a few km's, and turned around for another look.

OK, so I said finally, but I have one more place to talk about. We drove down the West Coast, so we decided to drive up the East Coast. More great coast line, not so many mountains, and very intense sun. The hole in the o-zone that you always hear about is actually right over NZ, as it is very close to Antarctica. The sun is about 4 times as dangerous down here. I am pretty sure I will get cancer on my arm just from the time it hung out the window while I was driving.

We stopped in Kaikoura, which is a peninsula with beautiful, clear water, and an abundance of wildlife that is hard to see anywhere else in the world. Scott went whale watching and saw three sperm whales and hundreds of dolphins. I went kayaking and chased dolphins and seals, and watched birds dive under the boat to catch fish. The water was so clear that you could see down to about 7 meters. The scenery was amazing; paddling in ultra clean water while looking up at snow capped mountains is not something you can do in the US. However, I was blown away by the wildlife. We had seals pop up out of the ocean to look at us...so close I could have touched them. We chased the dusky dolphin, and were surrounded by birds that dove under our boats for fish. The coolest thing I saw was a gamet, which is a bird that tucks its wings and dives from about 30 feet in the air into the ocean to look for fish. It was like watching a kamikaze. Apparently they have reinforced skulls. Dumb people used to nail fish to pieces of wood and bait the birds into diving onto the block of wood. I never found out if this was a way to hunt the bird, or jsut have a good laugh.

The South Island. Probably the most diverse, amazing place that I have ever been. I have so much more to tell you about it but I can't type forever and I know you can't read forever. If you ever get a chance to go anywhere, go there!

Murdoch James Estate, Vineyard

Photos >>> http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc311/rtwilli4/

New Zealand is quite famous for its wines. Cameron has a friend of the family that owns a vineyard in the southern part of the North Island near a town called Martinboro. We decided to check out the vineyard and see if they had any work for us to do. Mr. Frazier is the man that owns the vineyard and was happy to put us to work, as well as put us up in a very nice cottage for free.

We worked almost 30 hours while we were there. The whole time we were "bud rubbing." Grapes grow on vines, and the top of the vines produce the best fruit. The buds, or flowers, on the bottom part of the plant do not produce good fruit, and if left on the plant, they will use nutrients that could be going to the buds at the top of the plant. So instead of letting these small buds use nutrients, they are just chopped off.

So that's what we did, chopped off all of the small buds. Between the three of us, we pruned almost 10,000 plants. Easy work, great weather, average pay, and a great place to stay at a beautiful vineyard.

We also got a tour of the winery, where they actually make the wine. We learned all about how it is made and aged, from start to finish. Red is much different that white, different machines and methods are used depending on the type of grape you have and how much you want to sell the wine for. A winery needs to produce more affordable, average wine just like they need to produce expensive, top notch wine. This is all achieved by different methods when making the wine.

We had a great time at the vineyard, relaxing and working a bit. Definitely a must do if you come to NZ. We also got a free bottle and a few bottles worth of tastings...even an education on how to taste/drink wine.

Bob goes to Jail

Pictures: http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc311/rtwilli4/


So, if you don't know who Bob is, you need to read the post titled "Auckland slash Rum Night" from about a month ago.

Bob is a member of our traveling group that is just completely irresponsible and usually drunk. The alcoholic is a fun guy to watch but he causes problems and will not stop following us around.

So, on a day we have off from the vineyard, we decide to go to the bar and see if we can catch some cool sports of TV. Well, Bob has his own plan. He wants to take the van down to the beach and come pick us up from the bar after a few hours. We think that sounds fine. We inform Bob of how much gas is in the van (so we don't have another epic day searching for petrol), and tell him to be careful, and that we'll see him around 6pm.

So we hang out in the bar, meet some of the locals, tell stories, that sort of thing. The bar was surprisingly busy even though it was a Sunday afternoon. I think some of the people had just left church actually. It was a fun crowd, and everyone was betting on a horse race that was on TV, which was cool to see.

So 6pm comes and goes, no Bob. 7pm, 8pm, no Bob. The bar closes at 8:30, and we decide that we need to find a way back to the cottage at the vineyard. We ask an old guy who we have been playing pool with and he says "sure, I'll get you a ride."

The two of us walk outside to have a cigarette when a drunk old lady stumbles out of the door and mumbles, "oh, I haven't been drinking." We think "yea right, be careful grandma." Next thing we know, she is backing her car up to us, telling us to get in if we want a ride. This was the ride that the old man has found for us.

Martinboro is small, and empty, as is the road to the vineyard. We figure it is ok, and jump in. We make it home safely...I hope the old lady did as well because when she left us I was not completely sure that she would be ok.

So we go to bed, get up the next morning...NO BOB! Where the hell is this guy. We check the online version of the newspaper and see nothing that would lead us to believe that anything happened to him. We worked all day, and still didn't hear anything about Bob or our van, which had all of our belongings in it. Just when we were thinking that he may have driven off a cliff, Bob comes walking up the driveway with a smirk on his face. Keep in mind that he is now 24 hours late.

"Bob, where have you been?! Where is the van!?"

"Oh, the van is at the police station in Masterton and I spent the night in jail."

Bob had decided to get a 6pack to take to the beach with him while the rest of us were at the bar. Not sure what the thinking was here, but he had to drive an hour just to get to the beach and an hour back to the bar. This gave him about an hour on the beach, in which he decided to chug six beers. Not a great idea, especially when you are driving a shitty van in a foreign country with curvy mountain roads.

So the van overheats, as it likes to do, and Bob pulls over to let it cool down and put some water in it. Before the van cools off, a police officer sees Bob on the side of the road and pulls over to see if there is a problem. He immediately smells the alcohol on Bob, and gives him a breath test. Needless to say, Bob fails and spends a night in jail.

To make things worse, the jail is an hour away and another cop drives the van all the way there without putting any more coolant in it. This was not ideal, and probably hurt the van's chances of making back to Auckland in one piece.

Consequences:
-one night in jail, with breakfast!
-$1000 New Zealand dollar fine (about $800 USD)
-Extremely bad day for the engine in the van
-Bus trip back up to Masterton (1 hour) to get the van
-one damn funny story, thank goodness Bob was in jail and not off the side of a mountain!

"Into the Fires of Mount DOOM!!"

Pictures soon!

The Lord of the Rings sites are certainly not the reason that I came to New Zealand, but some of them are so beautiful and awe inspiring that it just makes sense to quote the movie when looking at them.

The "Tongariro Crossing" is said to be the greatest one day hike in the world. It is the northern part of the "Tongariro Circuit," and is an alpine pass between Mt. Tongariro and the north face of Mt. Ngauruhoe (the volcano used for Mt. Doom). Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we were unable to do the crossing. Instead, we did the southern part of the circuit, which is slightly lower in elevation, but still amazing. The hike we did is called the "Waihohonu Traverse" and is a pass between the south face of Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt Ruapehu (the north islands tallest mountain, also a volcano which erupted right before we got to NZ). I can't believe that the northern route is any more amazing than the southern route...one of the coolest hikes that I have ever done. The only thing I can think of that rivals this hike was the Highland Bowl in Aspen, CO....plus in Aspen you get to snowboard down after you hike up!

ANYWAYS, the hike starts with a walk through some bush, then a forest. You come out of the forest thinking that this is just going to be another hike. Then you see it, Mt. DOOM!! The volcano is a perfect cone shape and covered in snow for almost the entire year. We hiked during early early spring, so there was snow everywhere. For most of the day you are walking next to the two volcanoes; it is hard not to trip while staring up at the summits.

Even though this hike is extremely popular, it is not hard to completely isolate yourself from other hikers. I let Nate and Cam go ahead of me, and kept a good pace to avoid being passed by other hikers. I was alone for most of the day. At one point i hadn't seen or heard anyone for almost 2 hrs, and I decide to stop and look up at Mt. Ngaugruhoe when I hear it. "Froto, you must cast the ring into the fires of Mount Doooooom!" This crazy guy was walking over a hill behind me and quoting the movie. He was actually really good and hilarious. For the rest of the day I couldn't help but laugh when I thought about it.

Near the end of the hike there is a side trail that leads up to the Tama Lakes. These are two mountain lakes, the higher one is at about 1400 meters (almost 5000 ft) above sea level. The views from the top of this side trail is amazing. I will just let you look at the pictures, and will try and post a video.

The hike was great, the weather was great, and it was pretty cool to be walking around in "Mordor."

Wellington...

Been having a CRAZY time in wellington partying w/ some new friends. The guy who is arm wrestling is Boz, a Kiwi bar tender at the backmpackers we stayed at in Wellington. Made great friends with this guy, he is like my family now. The girl he is hurting so badly is Aude, a French girl we met at the backpackers, and the other girl is her friend Marie. I think we scared them a little bit with our drinking habits and the fact that we ever get to bed before 5am, but we all had great times together.

Finally, the man between the pints of beer is my boy Scott. He is an American that we also met at the backpackers, and another great friend that will be in many of my future posts. Between Boz, Scoot and I, and the random groups of people that we managed to recruit to go out with us every night, we had many epic nights in Wellington.

I will add more pictures and commentary when I get to a computer that i can upload on, but for now I'll just say this:

-9 out of 10 nights I was up until at least 4am.
-We usually started partying at the Bar (Boz worked there but could drink w/ us and get cheap alcohol) around 4 or 5pm, and then went out to town around 12 or 1 am.
-I became pretty damn good at Giant Jenga, which is made out of 2x4's instead of little wooden blocks.
-The latest I stayed out was 9am.
-Spent a considerable amount of time jumping in the Wellington harbor as the sun was coming up (some times naked). This was fun, "totally legal," and a great way to prevent a hangover the next day.

THE DOCTOR!!

I usually save My stories until I have time to reflect on them for a little while before I actually write them...But this one is the kind That i have to get down on paper immediately.

The Wellington Jazz Festival is going on right now. We went to see a jazz Quartet play...they were pretty damn amazing. The pianist was damn good, and since I grew up w/ the piano it was great to listen to her play. The guy on brass did a great job. He played the baritone? and the trombone, and did a phenominal job. The drummer was extremely talented and the leader of the group, but he was a little cocky and kind of overwhelming.

The guy on base (or cello...we couldn't decide what it was) was amasing. He was in complete control of the show. We will call him...THE DOCTOR! Think, the guy from that board game, operation. He looked like the guy who was laying down on that operating table, without the smile. Short grey beard, stone face expression, never smiled. The final piece to the puzzle..he had an extremely bald, shiny head. I mean it reflected the light so much that I wanted my sun glasses.

The DOCTOR went on on this bass slash cello instrument. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, it was a giant violin looking thing that he picked like a guitar. He stood there the whole show and dominated. THE DOCTOR!!! I wish i had a picture of him.

ANy ways, I have a totally new appreciation for Jazz now and i had a great time. It is actually my birthday, so I am already pertty hammered and about to go get totally bliteratied. The hostel we stay at hs a bar...they are excited to learn american drinking games and celebrate my birthday. P

Peace to you all...ahve fun and be safe!!!

Running out of Gas

Once we finally got out of Auckland, we drove down to Taupo/Taurangi to see about doing the Tongariro Crossing, which is an alpine pass that is said to be the best one day hike in the country. When we got to Taurangi, we checked the weather and reallized that there would be about a week of bad weather, and one good day to do the crossing after this week of bad weather. We decided to drive to Whirinaki Forest and do a 4 day hike there, then make it back to Taurangi to do the crossing in the good weather.


We drive down to where we are supposed to get off the highway and make our way to the trail head. We have about a 30 kilometer drive on old, dirt logging roads before we get to the trail head. Frankly, we had no clue where we were going.


The drive up was kind of an adventure in itself and a lot of fun. We had grabbed some beer on the way out of town that day and seeing as we were on some old logging roads and there was no chance of seeing any cops, we couldn't help but crack open a few bottles on the way up. I know what your thinking. Beer, old dirt roads at night w/ no signs and 3 dudes that had no idea where they were going. The beer had nothing to do w/ us getting lost...I promise.

Well, it gets dark, the map we have has no road names (which didn't really matter since the dirt roads had no names), and the signs to the trail head were pretty hard to spot in the dark. I took a pretty funny, ridiculous video while we were driving (I will post it ASAP). We were pretty lost, hadn't eaten dinner, and over half way through the case of beer that we had bought. It just so happened that I turned the camera on right before we found the road we were looking for.

Well, after we found the road, finished our beer, and thought everything was OK...we got lost again. I'm telling you we were WAY out there on roads that NEVER get used. We apparently missed another sign and drove around some more before we found where we were going and stopped for the night. At this point, we had wasted a lot of gas and had about 2 liters (half a gallon) left. We were about 60 km (about 35 miles) away from the nearest petrol station so we knew we were in trouble.

The next morning, we decide that we will start out on the hike and figure out the gas situation later. The trail was a loop, and we were at the very southern tip of it. About 7 km (4 miles) north of the top of the loop was a little logging town called Minginui. We hiked for about 3 hours, enjoying the dense forest and huge trees before we got to one of the many back country huts that the Department of Conservation (DOC) has in most of the parks in NZ. We were hoping that when we got to this hut there would be someone (maybe even a DOC official) there that could give us some advice on where to get gas, but the hut was empty.

After some arguing and figuring out what the hell we were going to do, we made a decision. If we did the hike as planned, then we would end up back at the van with no food and no gas. Moreover, once we did run the van dry, we would be forced to hike out to the highway (could have been like 15 miles), hitchhike to the nearest gas station (25 more miles), then hitchhike back to the dirt road and hike back to the van. These dirt roads were hard to navigate because they all looked the same and had no signs. We would have been hiking, w/ no food, on roads that we knew were hard to follow and were completely empty of any humans. That is not ideal.

It was Monday afternoon. We decided that Cam and I would make the trip up north to Minginui find gas, and hike back to camp all in one day. Then we would hike out on Wednesday, back to the van (hopefully w/ some gas). Cam and I knew that we'd have to hitch rides, which is impossible to do w/ three people. Also, we needed someone to stay at the Van in case Cam and I never came back.

This was the best option because Minginui was the closest town, even though it was on the other side of a huge forest. Also, if we got gas on Tuesday, then we would still be able to get back to the Tongariro crossing in time to hike it in good weather.

So, Tuesday morning Nate hiked back to the van and Cam and started north. We took our tents and food w/ us and set up camp about 2 hours hike north of the hut. We were each carrying 30 lb. packs, and there was a vicious ascent on this hike to the camping spot that we had picket out. Both of our legs were burning like hell and we had only begun our journey to Minginui.

We set up camp, had a quick lunch, and kept heading north. Now we had a camp to leave our packs at, which was a few miles closer to Minginui than the hut was. We would hopefully sleep there for the night, but that was a long way off.

After lunch, we kept heading north. We even jogged a few times, trying to make good time so that we would get to Minginui early enough to find a petrol station or someone who could give us a ride to one. We also did not want to have to hike back in the dark.

We made it to the north end of the loop by 2pm. The guide and the signs on the hiking track said that it would take about 5 hours to go from the hut to the north end of the trail...we did it in about 4 hrs, including the hour it took to set up camp and eat lunck. We were making great time but were already tired as hell and weren't even half way done w/ our trip yet.

We rested for a while, then set off on the road to Minginui. We walked about 4 miles (for a total of 10 for the day) up to town, and caught a ride from a dude on a 4 wheeler for the last quarter mile into town.

Once we got into town, we saw a guy named Willy, who was trying to catch a wild horse (yes this was in the middle of "town"). I could see that he was busy, but didn't think, or care, about the horse. I was tired and needed some petrol.

Willy was a super nice Maori man who had 9 cildren. He was a logger, and had been living in Minginui for a long time. He told us a lot about the town, and the history of logging in NZ.
He drove us around town looking for gas, but no one had any and there was some kind of safety mechanism on his van that wouldn't allow us to syphon any out of it. One place that we went looking for gas was apparently a friend of his because they struck up a fairly long conversation. Cam and I were sitting in his van, waiting for him. The van was running and I came really close to jumping in the driver seat and stealing the thing so we could drive up to the closest gas station and get some gas, but I figured that would be bad karma. We finally convinced Willy to take us up to Murapura, where the closest petrol station was. This was about 35 km away from Minginui, so it was kind of a drive.

Willy was a crazy driver....i thought we were going to die a few times. Also, he had this habit of stopping in the middle of the road, right around blind turns! He kept seeing friends of his sitting on the side of the road drinking after they had just got off work, and he kept stopping and talking to them w/o even pulling off the road. If a truck had come around one of those turns, we would have been toast.

Anyways, we got 8 liters of petrol, and got back to Willy's house. We had to stop at his house and pour the gas from his red gas tank into a 6 liter water container that we had found at the hut, and a 2 liter milk jug that willy had. This would make it a little easier to carry, and they wouldn't let us fill up anything but a red gas tank at the petrol station. Also, we had to switch vehicles because Willy's wife did not want him taking her minivan down the dirt road back to the trail head.

Cam and I, Willy and his wife, and their 4 kids all jumped into an old 4 runner and headed down the dirt road back to the trail. We hung out there for a little while and talked. Then cam and I started hiking back south to camp. We got back and ate dinner before night fall.

By days end, we had hiked 20 miles, rode .25 miles on a 4 wheeler, about 45 miles in a minivan, and another 4 in a 4 runner. Most of the 20 miles of the hike we were carrying tents, food, petrol, or all of the above. It was a long day but I kept thinking back to my cross country days, and the fact that my parents had done marathons before. If they could do 26 miles then I could do 20, even if it was carrying lots of shit and hiking up and down hills in the woods.

We made it back to the van the next day (Wednesday). Man, that was the worst part of the whole ordeal. The last few miles of hiking back to the van were all up hill and we were carrying our packs, tents, and the petrol. Also, it was dumping rain. It sucked!!!

We got to the van, got in and just started laughing. Mission accomplished. We had gotten enough petrol to at least get back to some form of civilization. We went to sleep and hoped the next day would be sunny.

It was a beautiful day on Thursday...we layed out all our gear in the sun so that it could dry off from the storm that we hiked in the day before. We ate breakfast, and drove back to the highway, straight to the bar!! We thought that we deserved a celebration!!

Thanks to Willy and his family...Amazing people with huge hearts. Without you guys, we would probably still be in that damn forest somewhere, or dead on the side of an old dirt road up in the hills of Whirinaki! Thank you!

Sean Ryan and Jess

I am chillin at these dudes house...place in wellington. THey are 19, 20, and 17 and they all have their own place here. Its about 8 am on a sunday morning...I ran into these dudes about an hour ago after we all had a long night of drinking. Ryan and Jess are brother and sister and Sean is Jess's GF. they are all really chill...i'm pretty tired right now and i think I am going to go climb in bed w/ their hot roomate...good night!

The Van

So I'm sure by now you are all wondering how in the world we are traveling around NZ. Maybe you're not, but this is how:

We researched the situation and decided before we left home that buying a car would be the best way to see NZ. We planned on buying a beater in Auckland, travel the country, and return to Auckland in December and sell the car. December is the time of year when NZ gets a huge influx of tourists and travelers, and they all fly into Auckland. So we figured it would be a good time to sell; we may even make some money.

After checking out the car markets in town, we found a place that we might be able to get a car or van, but for much more than we were planning. This was not a huge concern though, because if we kept it in good shape we would be able to sell it. We decided to find a hostel close to the car market so we could get there early every morning until we found our vehicle. This hostel ended up being Conner's (see previous post). The man who owns the hostel told us while we were checking in that he had a van that he was trying to sell. It was a 1989 Isuzu WFR, all wheel drive, 4 cylinder, long wheelbase. It had a mattress in the back instead of seats and plenty of room for all of our stuff. This is exactly what we were looking for. A van that we could comfortably sleep in and basically live out of. It was Japanese, so we trusted the motor, and in NZ, a Warrant of Fitness generally means that the vehicle is good for about 10,000 kilometers which is enough to see the country.

So we staying in Auckland at the hostel while the owner fixed up the van and got an updated Warrant. Great deal we thought! We were wrong.

We drove the van around enough to be satisfied with it...it was in fairly good condition and sounded/drove great. We bought it, thinking we got a good deal. However, the day after we left Auckland, it began to overheat...badly. We were lucky enough to be close to a town on a Saturday morning, so we hit a few mechanics before they closed. The first one told us that the motor was in horrible shape, it overheated, blowing the seal on the radiator cap. The engine probably had a blown head gasket or a cracked cylinder head (both fatal) and that we needed a new motor to the tune of $1200. Needless to say, we got a second opinion.

The second guy we went to was really nice, and spent all day on the van and let us look over his shoulder the whole time. I know a little about cars so appreciated being able to watch him work. Turns out, the previous owner had neglected to put a thermostat in the engine. The T-stat is designed to slow the flow of coolant in the motor so that it only flows when it is needed, and the rest of the time the coolant is in the radiator, cooling off so that it can continue to do its job. Without a t-stat, the coolant constantly runs through the motor and never stays in the radiator long enough to cool off.

Fortunately, he diagnosed the problem pretty quickly, and gave us a pretty thorough tune up. I was a little embarrassed about bringing a van in that was over heating to find out that it had no thermostat, but then again I have not tools and no way of working on it myself.

So we get the motor running much better that it was, but not as good as we'd like it to. Either way we take off, and do our traveling. It has done well over the last month. We have been sleeping in it and driving the hell out of it. The but is getting worse. There are a few stories to tell in between then and now (which you will get to read later) but at the moment the van can't go very far w/o us having to pull over and put coolant in it. In the words of one police officer "that's why you don't buy vans."

Broken or not, the van has been a great investment. We have seen a lot already, and have done it very freely w/o having to ride buses and be at the mercy of tour guides. We have also saved a lot of money by sleeping it it, very comfortably I might add. This is definitely the way to see NZ.

More van stories to come!

Auckland slash Rum Night

PLEASE READ TO THE END! PICS COME LATER!

First things first:

- I have been informed by many of the people that I have met that when people ask us where we are from we should say "The United States" and not "America." Reason being, America consists of three countries in North America and many more in Central and South America. So Iknow say that I am from the United States. In my posts I will not use the term "American" but "United States-er" or "USer." The term USer is ironically a pretty good description seeing as the USA seems to USe the rest of the world fairly often.

As some of you may know, Auckland is the largest city (but not the Capital) in New Zealand. It has about 1.4 million people spread out over an area that is not too much larger than Raleigh. It is an expensive city, but everywhere seems to be expensive in NZ. We worked on a house in "the cheapest suburb in Auckland" that was one story, 4 bedroom if I remember correctly, and we were told that it would rent for over $2500 a month and sell for almost NZ $400,000. US $1 equals about NZ $.76. This house could not have been anymore than 2500 square feet and was about a 30 min drive from the city centre. $400,000 seems a bit much for me.

Anyways, we stayed in Auckland for about two weeks. On the day we arrived, we left the airport, heading toward an address of a hostel that had been recommended to us by a USer that we met in Fiji. When we got to the address at about 9pm, we payed our driver who was in a pretty big hurry to leave, and went to where the hostel was supposed to be; only to realize that it no longer existed. The lady who was living in the house said we could stay there for $20 each but we ran into a German guy who was also looking for the hostel, so we teamed up w/ him and tried to find a place to stay. We ended up getting a room for the 4 of us at a Bed and Breakfast (really nice) for $26. It would have been about $45 per person but they kind of felt sorry for us because there were no dorm rooms available, which is what we were looking for. A dorm room (kind of like summer camp bunks w/ a shared bathroom down the hall) is usually about $20 here in NZ.

For those who have never stayed in a hostel before, the dorms usually have between 6 and 10 beds in them, co-ed. There is a kitchen w/ cookware, a bathroom or two w/ 2 to 4 showers a piece, and sometimes a lounge/library/tv room. Most of the hostels here are pretty clean and full of travelers. GREAT FUN!

We ended up at "Conner's Top Floor Hostel" in the center of Auckland. It was on the top floor of a really nice hotel (that we were not allowed in). We ended up doing some work for the owner, and eventually buying a van from him (which you'll hear more about later). We weren't planning on staying in the city for 2 weeks but the van needed some work and we thought it would be worth it as it was a good price.

We made a lot of friends at Conner's, some of which were very sad to see us go. I think at one point there were 9 or 10 different nationalities sitting out on the porch passing joints and bottles of rum or whiskey around. We went out w/ people a few different times and had a lot of fun at the bars in the city.

Auckland is a huge mix of cultures. It has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world, and also has a large population of Asian immigrants. A walk up Queen Street takes you from the waterfront (more expensive bars), through the city center, where strangely you can stand in one All Blacks Rugby store and look across the street into another.

Side Note: The All Blacks are the national rugby team in NZ, the number one ranked team in the world, and the most important thing in the entire country. The Rugby World Cup just ended, the All Blacks were upset by the French, and the country went into a depression. The ENTIRE HOUR of news the next day was about the Rugby Union, and what they were going to do in response to the upset. There is nothing really to compare this to in the US...they care more about Rugby here that we do about all sports combined. It is 100 times more important than ACC B-Ball.

So, pass the All Blacks stores and see Victoria Park. On the weekends it is full of vendors selling clothes, jewelry, all kinds of stuff. Pretty cool to see this in the middle of a large city. This is also the spot where all the punk kids hang out. Seems to be an area where skaters congregate as well. I THINK it is legal to skate in the city in NZ. Wellington, the capital, seems to be a skater mecca, but more on that later.

Past the part, you walk up hill, past some apt. buildings, past a small Chinatown slash Koreatown slash anything Asian town, and get to K Road. K Road has the nick name "gay road" because of the adult stores and alternative people that seem to gravitate there but it was my favorite area of Auckland. Cheap sushi, cheap(er) bars, and lots of second hand shops dominate the street. There was even a cool hooka bar that I checked out. This is where you will see the real population of Auckland. The cultures all mix to form....K Road. BTW, the real name is Kxxxxxxxxxx but no one can pronounce it so it is dubbed K Road.

We had a lot of fun in Auckland. Saw a rugby game, went to the top of a tall building to get a great view of the city, and partied at our hostel a lot. Partying at the hostel....RUM NIGHT!

So we bought a bottle of Fijian rum at the duty free (airport) which is called Bounty. Actually we bought two bottles; this story concerns the second, which was opened at about midnight after everyone had already been drinking. Bounty is 116 proof, or 58% alcohol, and will make you breathe fire! I would rather drink 151 than Bountry...truly a horrible rum.

One night, everything was winding down at the hostel, when one of us (nate, cam and I) decided to go and get the bottle of Bounty. For the purpose of this story, I will not say which one of us felt the wrath of the Bounty, but I'm sure you will find out in time. The bottle made it to the kitchen, which is next to the deck, where we usually party. Very quickly, a circle formed around the table and the bottle was being passed around. Keep in mind that this is a liter, or 1000 mL, compared to a fifth at home which is 750mL.

So imagine, it is a Frenchman's birthday (Fransuoa), and he is already hammered. Two Chilean sisters (Scarlet and Victoria) who are determined to prove to the Europeans and USers that they can drink. I think they were also competing w/ each other. An off duty manager at the hostel (Garith) who is basicaly from NZ, a French girl (Dalphine) who works at the hostel and was quite fond of one of the USers, and a Brazillian (Phillip) who no one can even understand (not because he can't speak English, but because he is CRAZY!) also joined us. A random group, but we are all friends by this point in our stay at Conner's. Oh yea, an Indian guy named Moe who thinks he is a drug dealer in NYC was also with us.

As the bottle goes around, it gets emptier and emptier, and you begin to hear all of these different languages going on all at once. When people get drunk, they tend to speak their native language. Cam, Nate and I were doing the same things, speaking a sort of drunken, southern English that no one can really understand. By the time all of the babbling had finished, Phillip had passed out in the TV room, even though he had to work like 2 hours later. Scarlet and Victoria had gulped down enough rum to send them somewhere (I don't think it was the bathroom but they were obviously ready to explore the hostel), Garith was probablay following the Chilean girls around, Moe was telling someone how cool NYC was, and two of the USers were chilling outside on the deck. Where was the third USer you ask? We will call him BOB. He was passed out on the kitchen table, trying to claim that he was not drunk at all! Dalphine was sort of making fun slash taking care ofBOB, but it was impossible. He was OBLITERATED! From the table to the bathroom (about 10 meters) there were a few hard falls. Not the usual drunken fall forward, but a randomly hilarious fall backwards, onto his ass! BOB gets left in the bathroom to do his business while the other two go to find the super hot Chileans...but this peace doesn't last for long. BOB has some problems in the toilet and is found sitting on the ground in the bathroom, pants wet, staring off into space. When told that he needs to change clothes and go to bed, he denies that he is wasted and will not move. Imagine drunken rambling from a 23 year old guy, sitting on a bathroom floor of a New Zealand hostel. 30 minutes, 3 HARD falls, and a loud 4am run down the hallway later, BOB is in his bed. End of the night? Haha, I think not!

The next morning, the two other USer discover that the mattress of BOB has been tragically damaged. I will not say what the damage was (it wasn't shit) but is was pretty Fuckin hilarious!

All of the Americans, especially BOB, have learned a great lesson from RUM NIGHT. Bounty, or any Fijian rum for that matter, is not to be toyed with. We later learned that many a sailor has fallen overboard because of Bounty, and we can all thank The Lord that Bounty has not made its way to the States...yet!

NEW ZEALAND!!!

Well, it has been a while since many of you have heard from me...I'm sure you haven't really noticed but maybe you have? Anyways, we arrived in Auckland, NZ on September 23 and have been here for just over a month.

New Zealand is a wonderful, beautiful place. Everyone seems to be much more relaxed here than at home. There are only 4 million peope here and I don't remember exactly but I think either England or Great Britain (prolly england) is about the same size and has over 30 million people. Basically, new zealand is empty.

The scenery here is beautiful...this place is incredibly green and there is really no place that is completely flat. Cam, Nate and I have bought a van that we travel in and sleep in. It is comfortable for us all to sleep in as there is a matress in the back and space on the floor for a third person on a sleeping pad. The fan is by all definition a piece of shit but we sleep in it about 50% of the nights since we got it and it saves us money on travel and accomodation. Also, it allows us to carry more clothes and things of that nature. We can hit the markets, cook our own food, and save money that way as well.

In my oppinion, the coolest thing about this country is that of the 4 million people, probably 10 or 15 percent of them are traveling over seas, and they are replaced by long term travellers who are here, working year round. I think at one point, we were sharing a bottle of Fijian Rum (I have a great story about this rum, stay tuned for the next few posts) with a French guy, his Brazillian g/f, two Chilean sisters, a guy who was born in Austrailia but grew up in NZ, a girl from France, a girl from Italy, a guy from Brazil...I could go on an on. The point is, this place is so well travelled by so many people from around the world that just spendingthe two weeks in a hostel in Auckland was like visiting several different countries. We stayed for so long becuase we were looking for a van to buy, but we also made some great friends and had a lot of fun.

I could write for ever about the 5 weeks in NZ, but instead I will make short posts about wonderful, hilarious stories that I have for you all. Over the next two weeks, expect to get a new post every few days telling about something that we have done or something that has happened to us...many of them will crack you up! For now, enjoy the Fiji post which now has pictures and also the pictures in this post.

Stories to come:

-Rum Night!
-Auckland
-Wellington
-15 year old NZ kids
-Mt. Doom!
-Wine
-The Van
-Running out of gas

Kadavu, Fiji

the connection is too slow for pictures...i will add them later because kadavu is amazing!!

Cameron and I have just gotten back to Suva, which is the capital city of Fiji and is on the mail island which is called Viti Levu. We spend a week on an island south of here called Kadavu. Our fried Dillon lives on Kadavu in a village called Vacalea (Va-tha-lay-a). We stayed with her friends family for 3 nights and camped for four nights. Kadavu is a very unspoiled island with barely any roads, cars, no electricity, or running water. The population is about 15,000 but this varries as many people spend time in Suva to work and school.

We left Lautoka (pop. 45,000, not 5,000 like I said in the last email) last Tuesday and arrived in Suva in the afternoon to do some things before we got on the ferry to Kadavu which left at midnight. While in Suva we met some friends of Dillon that were also going to ride the ferry to Kadavu that night. Poni, Va, and Iukimi immediately warmed up to us when they reallized that we were going to see Dillon, and we hung out with them until the boat ride. Cam and I had planned on hitting the computer as it was my dad's bday, and we wanted to walk around a little. Instead, Poni and Va got us really drunk and we almost missed the boat!

It is weird how we can travel a third of the way around the planet and run into people who know the only person we know in Fiji. I guess Dillon sticks out as one of the only Americans on her island.

Poni and Va took us to their family's house in Suva where we prayed together and ate dinner. I noticed a large picture of a very pretty girl on the wall that I had seen in the city and it did not strike me as something that a family would have hanging in their living room. Then Cam and I reallized that we were eating dinner with the girl from the photo. There is a Hibiscus festival going on with beauty padgents and Sophie, the girl in the picture, had won two of them. The family made us take pictures with her and she got embarrassed but we were excited to be with the Princess of Suva.

We rode the ferry all night until we reached Kadavu, where we were to meet Dillon and her friend Gus. They sent Gus's uncle to pick us up in his boat and take us to the village, Vacalea. His name was Tom. We helped him load his boat, which was about 23 ft long and 5 ft wide. He ran a shop in Vacalea and had to pick up a lot of supplies to sell in the village.

The waves were rough and it was raining. Tom looked like he knew what he was doing so we weren't worried, but this boat was basically a fiberglass shell and we were in some choppy seas. At one point, a cardboard box broke open, spilling 24 cases of butter. While Cameron and I tried to clead up the butter, Tom told us where to put it as he drove the hand held outboard motor from the back of the boat. All of the sudden, the man in front, Rafi, started yelling. Cam and I were facing the rear of the boat and before we could turn around to see what Rafi was yelling about, we crashed into a huge patch of mangrove trees! We were going pretty fast, almost full speed, and we hit the trees dead on! Tom had looked down at the butter and forgot to watch the trees. Cam flew into the cases of butter, I flew onto a bunch of other boxes, and somehow Tom and Rafi held on and manages to stay in the boat. Once we reallized what had happened we started to scramble to find toe plugs for the back of the boat so that we wouldn't sink. We did not sink, and we all started to laugh.

I must say that this is the worst crash that I have ever been in, and my leg is still sore from it a week later. Hoever, everyone was ok, the boat was ok, and Tom sold all of the butter! We all laughed about it all week, especially when we would pass by the huge hole that we created in the patch of trees. Tom felt bad, but Cam and I thought it was hilarious and all of us will certainly remember it forever.

We met Dillon at the village and she introduced us to everyone. Vacalea has about 100 people. They all farm and fish. We stayed with Tom and his family for two days. This is where Dillon has been staying as well.

Everyone in Vacalea was SO NICE to us...we ate very well. Common foods are casava and taro which are roots, noodles, bread, rice, dow (peas) spinach, and lots of fish. There are many different ways to cook everything, and it is all very very fresh. Also, "fijan ice cream" which is a budi (fat banana) cooked in warm milk.

After a few days Cam and I, Gus and Dillon took a boat ride (no cars, go everywhere by boat) to a piece of land that they have cleared and are planning to build a bure (traditional grass hut). We camped there for 4 nights and during the day we kayaked, hiked and snorkelled. It is probably the most remote place that I have ever been and I loved every minute of it.

Kadavu is like going back a few centuries. Everyone works together to maintain the village, and it works amazingly well. Vacalea has a meeting every month to designate responsibilities to all of the villagers. When we arrived, Tom and his wife Rini were staying at the school every night, acting as parents for all of the boarding students. Students stay at school for weeks at a time without their parents from the age of 5, since there are not schools in every village. It is amazing how educated the children are...all of them speak english by the age 8 or 9. Everyone in Fiji is bi-lingual. The island is also very peaceful. no one is in a hurry. FIJI TIME!!

I really love the way people live on Kadavu. Fiji is a Christian nation and every 5 or 10 minutes i find myself thinking "this is how God intended us to treat one another." There is no drinking in the villages...people only drink Kava. It is a traditional drink that is made from the root of the ava plant, and it ground into powder. It takes about 5-8 years to grow a high quality root, and brings lots of money. Kava is a narcotic and makes you kind of dumb when you drink it. Kadavu has the best kava in Fiji, and Cam and I got to drink it with the villagers. It is traditional, and everyone sits around and spends time with family and friends as they drink from the Kava bowl. It makes you kind of numb, but does not alter your mind. It did, however, alter my stomach one night as I am not used to drinking like the locals do.

We arrived back in Suva late last night where we are staying with Tom's sister and her husband. We have family here in Fiji now, and it is a wonderful feeling to know that people here care about us and look foward to seeing us again. It's hard to leave such a wonderful place but as I told Cameron as Kadavu dissapeared on our way back to Suva, if we feel like this about half of the places we go on this trip, we will have an amazing time.

Well it is time to stop writing even though I have so much to write about. We love Fiji and will be back soon! Next time you hear from me I will be in New Zealand, we fly there on sunday the 23rd! Love you all!

some Words I will teach americans:
Bula - welcome
vinaka - thank you
chilo - excuse me
laco - let's go
relax - FIJI TIME!!
mhm means NO, not yes
uhuh is yes, not no

see if you can figure out what this is: dua, rua, toro, va, lima, ono, vitu, waru, (i forgot this one) teni

times i got sick from something we don't have in the states: 1
times i was uncomfortable with how nice everyone was: once an hour!

fiji

hello to everyone from Fiji!

we arrived in fiji at about 530am on september 8th, which is 1230pm, september 7th in NC. it is now sunday afternoon here in lautoka, which is the second largest city in fiji with a population of 5000. the shift key on the computer i'm on doesn't work very well so please excuse the lowercase.

we were greeted at the airport by a band of island singers with mandolin looking instruments. once we got through customs we were bombarded wiht locals trying to give us cab rides and convince us to come to their resorts. after getting some information we decided to walk (or hitchhike or catch a bus) toward the town of lautoka which is about 24 km north of the airport. nadi is only about 4 km south of the airport but is a tourist trap. once we got on the main road a man named peter stopped and offered a ride in his taxi. we bargained him down to 15 fijian dollars which is about 9 us dollars.

once in lautoka we got some food (chicken stir fry at about 7am) and went and found a hotel with a courtyard and a pool on the ocean. we hung out there for a while until the cheaper dorm style hotel down the street was ready for us to check in. While at the nicer hotel, a priest and about 5 people went to the pool and we were able to witness 3 people get baptized.

yesterday around lunch time we ran into a guy named pana on the street. he took us into the electrical/hardware store where he worked and gave us all our first taste of cava. this is a local drink that is made from the root of a plant. i don't really know how it's made but it is basically muddy water that has spent some amount of time under ground. it is suposed to make you hallucinate it just made our mouths numb and caused us to walk aimlessly around town for about an hour. pana invited us to go outside of town and go swimming in the woods but we declined. the first thing he told us about himself was that he had just gotten out of prison and he was clearly not all there. also, a man who has lived in the states before told us not to trust him.

last night we went out drinking with some kids that nate met on the street. when i say last night i mean 4pm and when i say kids i mean that the youngest was 13 and the oldest 20. the 20 year old was a police officer. we went into a dark, cave like club with music and lights that you would expect to see in america...only it was 4pm. after a few fiji beers i walked outside for a reality check and also to wake my self up a little. we hadn't really slept in 36 hours. robert, the police officer, followed me to 'protect me' and offered to show me his police station. we went in and i found a young boy with hand cuffs and a radio. fiji is under martial law so i am not sure what the police situation is but these were just kids.

anyways, we danced with some fijian girls and walked around with them and all of the kids that we had befriended...went to the sea wall and got told to leave by the cops. it was hard to drink with them because i knew that they were nice and wanted to protect us from criminals that could attack tourists but i also knew that they wanted us to buy them alcohol. it was a great first night and we learned alot from the locals.

it is now sunday afternoon, and cameron and i just left a methodist church where we sat and prayed in the empty sanctuary. we may attend the night service there but i do not expect that they will speak much enlgish, even though everyone here speaks english. everything is closed on sundays as it is a day for family and god.

the weather is nice, but hot and humid. it is about 80 or 85 degrees with a nice breeze near the coast. we haven't seen a beach yet but cameron and i are heading south to another island called kadavu to see our friend dillon. we will be on amazing beaches for about a week. nate is heading to a small island north of us where he has payed membreship dues to go and stay on the island. it is a self sustaining island with people working to create a 'zero carbon footprint island.' check out http://www.tribewanted.com/ for more info on that.

well even though it only costs 1dollar an hour to use the computer i do not want to spend all of my time inside. i will be away from email for a few weeks so until next time please take care of yourselves and if you get stressed by the grind of life in the states just think of ryan sitting on a white sandy beach in fiji! :)

love you all,

ryan

women that have told me they love me: 1

women that i have tatooed with my permanent marker: 1

times i have been afraid of getting arrested: 2

words i have learned (probably mis-spelled):

welcome - bula
thank you vinaka
beautiful - raranaka (or something like that...with the rolling r sound that i can't do)
dance - danacia

And it begins....

It has been a lot of work and a little planning (hopefully not too much) but it is almost time to leave. I have hung out w/ many of you one last time before I trek the globe. Tomorrow I am going out to a family dinner, then drinking w/ some friends; then Nate, Cameron and I are flying to LA to stay w/ Patrick for a few days before we leave for FIJI!

My pack weighs 45 lbs and contains 2 pair of pants, 4 pair of shorts, 7 shirts, 4 pair of socks, 7 boxers, some long johns, a fleece, and a rain coat. Also in the most important backpack I'll ever wear is some camping gear, a water purifier, first aid kit, some bathroom stuff, and few bottles of meds. I'll be carrying a tent, sleeping pad, and a sleeping bag as well. Oh yea, I'll be wearing one pair of shoes and carrying a pair of sandals.

We still haven't made one single reservation at any hostels or hotels yet. We are, however, planning on chilling in FIJI w/ our friend Dillon in her grass hut on the beach. Also, Cam has set up some work for us on a vineyard in New Zealand in exchange for a free place to stay and hopefully some good (free) food. Other than that we are roaming the earth with nothing more to do than have fun and stay out of harms way.

I have my cell phone for one more day 919 920 6751 and will be drinking in Raleigh Monday night so if you wanna come party w/ us give me a call. Also, while I'm gone you an leave me a free voicemail that I can listen to in my email:

To leave me a message while I'm away:
Dial this access number 1-888-579-0208
Press 2
Enter my account number 2109209085
Press # and leave me a message.

Until next time...be happy and don't do anything I wouldn't do!!

Fun at the Health Department

So my future posts will not be this boring but I'm on the computer and felt like writing something.

I got my immunizations this morning:

Typhoid, Yellow Fever, meningococcal, tetanus, polio, and Hep A. I also got some anti-Malarial drugs (side affects include hair loss, hallucinations, and psychosis), a few Z-packs, some sinus medicine, and some stomach meds. 5 shots...my arms are sore as hell but I feel like I'm invincible!!! Now watch me break a finger in Laos and get some kind of weird infection (touch wood).

Anyways, I am leaving in 21 days!!!

Chicago

I guess I failed to mention that I quit my job a few weeks ago and will be traveling the country before I travel the world. We just got back from Chicago and it was amazing! I recommend this city to anyone who is trying to see one of America's large cities on a budget. Don't get me wrong...we did drop some money. However, transportation is easy on the train, which is cheap, and a lot of the food and alcohol was priced about the same as it is in Raleigh.

Kara and Ryan (two of my best friends in the world) and, Zach, Brianna and I spent 3 nights in a downtown hotel. On Friday, we checked out downtown. The city was surprisingly empty compared to the other huge cities I have been to. I was never overwhelmed by crowds of people. There were huge buildings everywhere but for some reason the city seemed to feel smaller that it actually is. It was very clean, and the people were polite and weren't moving as fast as they do in NYC. I think the architecture was the most amazing thing about the city. All of the buildings seem to complement each other very well. The Sears Tower was amazing and the view from the top is indescribable. There was a lot of public art throughout the city as well.

On Saturday we went to Wrigley Field and...well if you are a baseball fan all you need to know is that we saw a game at Wrigley. If you're not then just know this...it's the second oldest stadium in the US and it the best place to see a game. From the relatively cheap beer (Old Style is the official beer of the Cubs) to the fans climbing up the fences to get a better view, Wrigley is the perfect picture of old school baseball. There is room everywhere to stand and talk to the locals, and of course, there is the ivy that covers the outfield fence, and the amazing Chicago skyline behind one of the only hand operated score boards in the world. and THE CUBS WON!

On Sunday we went to Day 3 of Lollapalooza. Pearl Jam headlined the show and this was the finale and highlight of the trip. The show was at Grant Park, in downtown Chicago, on the shore of Lake Michigan. The park is beautiful and is a great place to see all of the music of Lollapalooza. We saw Amy Winehouse, Blue October, The Wailers, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, My Morning Jacket, and Pearl Jam. The night ended with Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper and the rest of Pearl Jam performing Rockin' In the Free World while about 40 fellow performers and celebrities dancing on stage. At one point Eddie was atop Dennis Rodman's shoulders.

The trip was amazing...a great way to spend time with four of my favorite people right before I leave them all for a while. Some pictures are on here...the rest are on my Facebook page.