After 3 1/2 days of tramping through the Marlborough Sounds, I am now sitting at Hopewell, a gorgeous little hostel on the banks of Kenepuru Sound. The sounds in general are absolutely stunning, and the weather has been amazing.

The Queen Charlotte Track was well worth the blisters and exhaustion that came with it. We were all treated to nearly cloudless skies on the first two days, which made it quite hot but also made the sounds sparkle. They are such a brilliant blue, with turquoise around the rocky beaches. The panoramas made every long uphill worth it–and believe me, there were quite a few! Right out of Ship Cove, which is a historic site where Captain Cook first landed on the South Island, the track climbs pretty steeply for 30 minutes; the next major climb takes place on the third day, which is a 7- to 8-hour marathon of uphills and downhills. The worst definitely had to be the 4th day, which I only did half of, but I had to carry my full pack (on the other days, the water taxi that took me to the beginning delivered my pack to my stopping point for the night). I quickly realized on the 45-minute climb out of the campsite that I need to lose about 10 pounds from my pack. Either that, or it will eventually get thrown off a cliff like I was seriously contemplating doing yesterday.

The accommodation on the Queen Charlotte is quite different from other tracks. Instead of Department of Conservation huts, there’s private hostels and resorts at every stop, along with a few campsites. The first night I stayed in a normal dorm room with a few over the sound (and a great hammock just outside), the second night I ended up staying in a caravan at the wonderful Mahana Lodge (since the campsite at Camp Bay looked like it might not have any other people in it for the night and I didn’t really want to be alone!) and the third I camped at Cowshed Bay, which was good once I figured out how to pitch my tent (with the help of 3 other people)!I met some really great people on the track as well. You get to know the people that started the track on your day pretty well since you either end up walking with them or passing them many times during the day–and then the best part is having a cold drink and hot dinner at the end with them! I know people were worried about me hiking into the wilderness for 5 days on my own, but I definitely wasn’t. All in all, a great experience, and I’ll definitely be doing other tracks, starting with the Abel Tasman that I’ll probably get to some time next week (if it’s not all booked up)!

I’m about to go kayaking on the sound (I know, hard life). I really love this place and I’m glad I chose to spend a couple days resting up here. Unfortunately, I can’t post many pictures yet, since there’s only a dial-up connection here, but I’ve managed to upload one of the Queen Charlotte so you can see how beautiful it is!

Today’s been a bit of a quiet day. I left Kaikoura around 10 on the Intercity bus, driven by someone who seemed like he had never seen a stick-shift before. Every time he changed gears, we heard fun grinding noises and got jolted back and forth in our seats. Oftentimes he would just stop in the middle of an uphill climb, and we were treated many symphonies of angry car horns. Fortunately, they provide seatbelts, and I definitely made good use of mine!

When we arrived in Picton, I ran into two girls that I met in the Adelphi Lodge in Kaikoura; they’re staying in the same hotel as me tonight as well. They went off to do the “Snout Track,” which is a 4-hour round trip from central Picton. They asked me if I wanted to go, but I decided against it since I am setting off on a 4-day tramp tomorrow morning, so I didn’t want to wear myself out beforehand. Plus, I am desperately in need of clean clothes, so I decided it might be a good idea to do laundry/go grocery shopping before tomorrow as well. Instead, I did a shorter walk to “Bob’s Bay,” which is a small bay about a 30 minute walk from Picton. It was a decent walk that wasn’t too strenuous, so it was really a nice stretch of the legs for tomorrow. I got lucky too–it didn’t start spitting rain until after I finished the walk and went grocery shopping, so I didn’t get soaked.

I won’t be updating for the next few days, since I will be on the Queen Charlotte Track. I’m staying in a hostel for my first night, and then camping the 2 nights after that. On the last day, I’m taking a bit of a detour and going to Hopewell, which is supposed to be an awesome backpackers that sits right on Kenepuru Sound. I’ll be there for 3 nights and will hopefully be able to update you then!

The dolphin swim this morning was brilliant.

Yes, I know you’re amazed that I actually managed to wake up and get to the Dolphin Encounter office by 5.20am. I am too, although the bar across the street from my hostel helped to ensure I’d be awake by having loud patrons and a live band until the wee hours of the morning, meaning I only got about 1 1/2 hours sleep total. Even though we didn’t see the sunrise–it was very cloudy–the guide told us that 5.30 is the best time to do the dolphin swim because a) the seas are much calmer and b) the dolphins are just coming in from a night of feeding out in the ocean, so they are feeling rather full and sociable as they come back towards shore, so they are a bit more playful than at other times of day.

The sea was really dead calm as we left the Kaikoura peninsula. Not only did I manage to not get seasick (the 2 Dramamines I took worked surprisingly well even though we were in the smallest boat in the Dolphin Encounter fleet and the guide joked at the beginning that they pick the healthiest and hardiest looking to go on it), but I got to swim in a pod that was estimated to be 500 dolphins strong.

Dolphins are just majestic. There’s really no other way to describe the creatures. It’s such a brilliant feeling to be sharing the water with them, and believe me, it gets no less amazing on the second try. We had a great time out on the water, and got to swim with them 5 different times. This is because they drop us out at the head of the pack, wait until the dolphins have swum by, and then pick us up and drop us at the front of the pack again. I can’t even estimate how long we spent in the water, but it was well over half an hour. At one point I got so carried away with following the dolphins that I ended up a good 5 minute swim from the boat when they blew the whistle–boy was I puffed when I finally made it back!

The best part of the whole swim was just before I got out of the water on the second to last swim. The whistle had already blown to come back into the boat, and I was swimming back to it when a dolphin swam up to me and began circling me. I paddled in circles as fast as I could. He kept up his circling for over 2 minutes before I got dizzy/my mask started filling up with water, so I had to surface and he was gone. I’ve posted the video that I got of a few seconds of circling below–sorry about the ending being a bit disorientating, but I’ll get it edited at some point when I have more time! And yes, that is me squealing in the background. We were told that making any sorts of noises attracts the dolphins, and it seemed to work!

Also, check out my pictures of the dolphins here. Unfortunately, I’m still behind on pictures, so the loads I have of Christchurch and the beautiful harbour at Akaroa still aren’t there. I just thought you guys would be more interested in dolphins!This afternoon–after a short nap–I walked around the Kaikoura peninsula. This is about a 3-hour walk that goes from Kaikoura town to the seal colony at the tip of the peninsula and then around the clifftops. I did the walk in about 4 hours because I spent a lot of time at the seal colony watching birds and 2 lazy seals that barely had the energy to open their eyes (about how I feel now). It was a great warmup walk for the Queen Charlotte Track, which I will be starting on Monday, and the scenery was great, especially since the clouds finally lifted and revealed the blue sky.

After the walk, I fell asleep in my bed and woke up at 6.20; I then realized that I was missing the free soup being served downstairs. Unfortunately, when I got downstairs and was ladling out some soup for myself, something startled me and made me pour some of the scalding hot soup on the hand holding the bowl; that startled me even more and I managed to pour half of the bowl onto my hand. Surprisingly, in dropping the bowl, yelling swear words, and bringing the entire kitchen to silence, I didn’t break the bowl or spill any soup on myself. But anyway, Mom, Dad, Nanna, Poppa–don’t worry, I immediately put it under cool running water for at least 10 minutes and kept it submerged in a cold bowl of water while I ate the offending soup. It hasn’t blistered–it’s just red and tingly–so it looks like it’s just a first-degree burn. Score another one for Kristin the klutz.

By the way, happy Australia Day to all. I was probably the most un-Australian possible today, given that I spent the day in NZ, but happy Australia Day anyway.

Akaroa was great. Sailing on the Fox II was a lot of fun, especially since dolphins swam alongside the boat for at least 1 of the 3 hours we were out on the water. We also saw quite a few seals that live in a seal colony on the opposite side of the bay from Akaroa, and there was the occasional albatross that swooped past our boat as well.

The dolphins that live in the bays of the Banks Peninsula are Hector’s dolphins, which are the rarest species of dolphin in the world and only live in the Akaroa area. They have really distinctive markings and seemed to be quite small for dolphins, but they were no less playful! And to answer Poppa’s question, according to Wikipedia, the Hector’s dolphin is named after “Hector’s dolphin was named after Sir James Hector (1834-1907). He was the curator of the Colonial Museum in Wellington (now the Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa). He examined the first specimen found of the dolphin.”

As I only have 7 minutes remaining before this computer boots me off the internet, I’ll talk more about Akaroa another time. Today I took a couple bus rides and am now sitting in Kaikoura, which is home to a huge array of wildlife. All of the tours that leave from here focus on one of three animals–the dusky dolphins, the whales, or the seals. I am doing a sunrise dolphin swim (which means I have to be at the Dolphin Encounter centre at 5.20am–ack!) tomorrow, and I’m really excited. Unfortunately, my roommate at the hostel went out on a dolphin swim today and said that only 5 people got in the water because it was so rough, and that everyone (including the swimmers) got seasick. So, it looks like I’ll be swimming and then huddling over a bucket for the rest of the trip, but it’ll still be worth it. Hey, I got seasick last time and it was still one of the highlights of my trip! I can also hope that the storm clouds, which were thoroughly covering the mountains when I arrived earlier in the afternoon, will go away and stop churning up the seas. They look really ethereal right now, with bits of mountains sticking out of the thick coat of mist surrounding them.

Now I have to go get all of my stuff for the morning ready and make sure I have plenty of seasick pills. Cross your fingers that we go out and the seas magically calm down!

I’m now in Akaroa, which is on the Banks Peninsula to the southeast of Christchurch. I spent less than a day in Christchurch because I figured I’ll end up there for at least a couple days at the end of my trip. Still, I think that Christchurch is a fun little city. It might not have been noticeable on the night I arrived–when the streets were deserted and it was spitting with rain–but it’s a cool place that I wouldn’t mind living if the weather wasn’t so British.

Also, I wasn’t aware that there was a “World Buskers Festival” until I arrived in Christchurch. Apparently Christchurch hosts it every year for 10 days near the end of January. All of the buskers–street performers from around the world–are given plane tickets to NZ but are otherwise not paid for their 10 days of performances. It’s up to the crowds to pay them. In the hours before my 2pm departure for Akaroa, I saw 3 or 4 acts performing in locations around the city. There were children’s shows near the Peacock fountain in the Botanic Gardens, the Mighty Dave rode a unicycle while tossing plates & saucers with his foot and catching them on his head in Victoria Square, and Mr. Bunk from Montreal did a hilarious Mr. Bean-esque show in Cathedral Square, All in all, quite unexpected but quite good entertainment!

Before the busking started (which was at 11…and I woke up at 6.15…so that’s plenty of time), I did my own short walking tour of the city. My hostel, Coachman Backpackers, was really well located–on the street behind Cathedral Square, which is in the centre of Christchurch–so I was within a 5 or 10 minute walk of most of the major sights. I had seen many of them on my previous trip to Christchurch, but it was nice to see them again since our previous trip was a bit rushed.

So as I said, I’m now in Akaroa. It’s a beautiful seaside town with a French flavour, since it was originally a French settlement back in the 1840s. All of the street names begin with “Rue” and I’m looking out the window at a restaurant called “Ma Maison.” Yesterday was a stunning day–funny, since it was overcast and generally gray in Christchurch, which is only 70kms away. I was really tired when I arrived in town at about 3.30, but I completely passed on the idea of a nap when I saw the sun sparkling off the aquamarine waters of the bay.

This afternoon I’m going out on a ketch called the Fox II. We’ll be sailing around the harbour and out into the ocean surrounding the Banks Penuinsula, and hopefully we’ll get to see the native Hector dolphins and some little penguins!

Just a quick update to let everyone know I made it to Christchurch safely. I’ve checked into the hostel and am just using the internet quickly on the way to find some takeout and then go to bed. I’ll be lucky if I make it until 8!

Anyway, all of the flights were relatively uneventful, although I got next to no sleep due to terrible turbulence all the way from LA to Fiji. I wrote some about Fiji on the plane that I will post when I can keep my eyes open!

Off to Akaroa tomorrow afternoon after I do some backpack reorganization and grocery shopping. Hopefully I’ll be doing some mountain biking and sailing there, although the weather’s pretty dismal at the moment–which is fitting, since Christchurch is supposedly the city in NZ that is most like a British town. I’m just hoping these remnants of a cyclone go away soon!

So the big day has arrived. I’ve managed to be fairly productive this morning and have crossed most of the items off of my to do list. Hopefully the rest will get done before I leave; if not, I’ll live, since the essentials (packing bag, printing boarding pass) are done.

In about 6 hours, I will (hopefully) be in the first leg of my trip, heading towards LA. I can’t say I’m looking forward to the flight (who does?), but I’m excited about the vacation that waits for me at the end of it. Plus, how can it not be exciting to say “next time I update, I’ll be in New Zealand”?

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated (isn’t that how my blog posts always start?) and a huge number of changes have happened since then. In early December, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be making my trip to New Zealand at all because of a job offer with an Australian firm in Houston, who told me that I might be able to transfer to Oz within a year or two of commencing employment with them. However, my start date was going to be the middle of January.

Then I got a phone call from Schlumberger, who I interned with for the latter half of 2007, offering me a job at their office in Perth. The offer was really good and I knew that Schlumberger was a company that would treat me well…and plus, it didn’t hurt that the offer was in Australia! Although I’ve never been to Perth and it’s a 5 hour flight from Brisbane (it’s roughly the equivalent distance from NY-LA), I’ve only heard good things about it. So, I eventually took the offer and have spent a good portion of the last month rounding up documents for my visa (from birth certificates to sending my fingerprints to the FBI to prove I’m not a criminal), going to doctors to prove I am physically fit (and having to get 6 shots in the process), and frantically packing.

An added bonus of the job at Schlumberger is that my start date is within 4 weeks of my visa getting approved. Apparently the Australian Immigration Department is taking about 8-12 weeks to approve some applications, so while I’m waiting for the grant, I’m going to New Zealand! It was great to find out that the trip I’d given up for dead was still possible.

I’ve managed to squeeze a fair amount of family time in amongst all the chaos of moving, which is good, since James came over from Australia for Christmas and New Year’s and my grandparents came in from England for the latter. It really was a fun Christmas break, and James & I managed to get a fair amount of traveling in (we went to San Antonio, then Austin for New Year’s, then to Galveston twice to go to Moody Gardens and the new Schlitterbahn). To top it all off, we took a short trip up to Rice. As a backstory, When freshman matriculate at Rice, they walk in the Sallyport (big archway in a building at the front of Rice), and it is said to be bad luck if you walk back out before you graduate. Since I’m not going to be here to walk, I ran through the Sallyport with my family watching to celebrate being finally finished for good!

So I have 5 days left until the big trip begins. My backpack is fully packed (minus toiletries) and currently weighs about 28lbs (including tent and sleeping bag but minus the stuff in my small carryon, like my NZ Lonely Planets, my journal, and my camera), so it should weigh maybe 35 pounds when all the food and everything is stuffed in there when I arrive. I’ve put it on and it’s not too bad…while I’m walking slowly around the house. It might be a completely different story when I’m 3/4 of the way through an 80-mile hike!

It’s hard to believe that it’s starting so soon. All of my friends have gone back to university, law school, med school, and the like, and I’m strapping on hiking boots and heading for hobbit land. That said, I’m thrilled about going and can’t wait to finally land in the Garden City of Christchurch. I started writing a travel journal today but haven’t gotten very far because I keep distracting myself with NZ websites. It’s fortunate that I’m not actually in school anymore, because Cristina, Megan, and I all did the same thing when planning our original foray into the land of the long white cloud in 2005…but it was a couple weeks before finals! Needless to say, our grades did not approve.

I’m trying not to overplan, since a lot of the fun is taken out of traveling if you book everything ahead of time and don’t leave time for those things you see/hear about doing when you arrive. However, I have a basic itinerary that takes me in a clockwise circle around the South Island, starting in Christchurch. I might not stick to it, but I’ve just roughly sketched out what I’d like to do and how long it will take. So far, the only part of my itinerary that’s set in stone is the first few days, since there were a couple activities that required pre-booking that I didn’t want to miss out on. I’ll be going to:

Christchurch: the biggest city on the South Island and the one I found to be most like a small British town (full of gardens and Cathedrals); I’ll mainly be catching up on sleep here.
Akaroa: an originally French settlement on the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch; staying 2 days, hopefully doing some sailing and mountain biking.
Kaikoura: a small coastal town at the base of the Kaikoura ranges (which we didn’t see last time because of fog) that is an absolute wildlife paradise. Dolphins and whales abound just off the coast, and I’ll be doing a sunrise dolphin swim.
Picton: the South Island port for the Interislander ferry and my starting base for the Queen Charlotte Track, a 4-day hike along the Queen Charlotte Sound that Picton sits at the base of.

Well, that’s about all for now, but I do promise to keep this updated while I’m going along. It probably won’t be anything near as long as this post (for which most of you, if you’ve even made it this far, are sighing a big sigh of relief), but I’ll try to at least post a few photos and anecdotes!