While we’re on the subject of writing, I’ve noticed that I haven’t mentioned IgoUgo in a while. This is probably because I took an extended break from writing because of the end of uni/Christmas break/my trip to New Zealand. Anyway, I’m back to writing and have started trying to make a dent on the 20+ journals I have piled up from NZ, plus 2 or 3 from Perth. The two I’ve written so far are Christchurch: The Gateway to the South Island and
New Zealand Essentials (which is still missing a few entries).

Also, while I was in New Zealand, I was chosen to be in the IgoUgo Hall of Fame. I was really excited about receiving this honor, since only the top contributors to the site are chosen.

IgoUgo also writes its own travel blog (and I made the list of their “Go-To Blogs”…yay!). In their weekly site update on Friday, they noted that my journal Stonehenge: Wiltshire’s Most Famous Pile of Rocks is now one of IgoUgo’s top 10 most-read journals.

Anyway, just about a month ago, I flew across the country to Brisbane for James’ mother’s birthday, his sister’s 18th birthday, and Mother’s Day. I planned this trip pretty much as soon as I arrived in Perth because I wanted to be there with his family on a special weekend; I thought it would be good just to see friendly faces after a month in Perth, even though it meant having to see James as well. However, about a week before I boarded the Qantas plane heading east, prospects for the weekend started looking much better when James apologized and asked if we could get back together. Again, I’m not going into full detail, but essentially, I said yes and it certainly made the weekend much less awkward!

We didn’t spend a lot of time in Brisbane itself. I landed at about midnight (since I took off right after work at 5.30), so we spent the night there and then drove up to the Sunshine Coast early the next morning. Much of the day was devoted to either being lazy (napping) or getting ready for the barbeque that night. The only interesting events were 1) Kate (James’ sister) and I went to the beach with David (their brother) but didn’t swim (I’d forgotten my swimsuit). It was a beautiful day and great for just sitting, talking, and watching the waves…and 2) we took Kate to the bottle shop so she could legally buy alcohol for the first time..and she didn’t even get IDed! I didn’t get IDed on my 21st either, so I understood her anger

Kate’s BBQ was good fun, as was going out afterwards. I’d never actually been to any clubs on the Sunshine Coast, and I quickly realized why when we were charged $5 at the Wharf Tavern just to get into the bar downstairs…and then another $8 to get upstairs. We didn’t even go downstairs (except to get into the upstairs club) so it seemed a bit of a rip-off for them to charge us for both! Upstairs, it was pretty much a normal club–lots of dancing and hit music–except for the alcohol prices, which seemed more excessive than normal. James and I got a Bundy Draught each–just pre-mixed Bundy and Coke–and they didn’t give us any change out of the $20 I gave them! We knew that the government had just massively increased taxes on pre-mixed drinks (claiming they want to curb binge-drinking) but it was a bit much. We still paid for drinks, since we were there, but it hurt!

Of course, it was just my luck to be on the dance floor when a guy danced up to us and asked “So, where all y’all from?” I knew that he had to be from at least somewhere near Texas because he knew the proper plural for “y’all,” so I wasn’t surprised at all that when I told him I was from Texas, he said, “Oh wow! Me too! I’m from San Antonio!” Turns out that he also worked in oil & gas. I thought this coincidence was really funny at the time, but after having been in Perth for longer, I find that it’s not a coincidence at all. It seems like this town is absolutely swarming with Texans or people that have lived in Houston, since pretty much every company here has a big base there.

We stayed at the club until about 1.30, when Kate’s friend Hazel decided her feet had had enough and was ready to go home. James and I jumped at the chance to go with her and left David to watch Kate and make sure she made it home okay…needless to say, he was very happy with us and looked like a zombie the next morning (although this turned out to be because he was coming down with a bad cold rather than being from a hangover). He missed going to coffee in Mooloolaba for Mother’s Day, where all of the rest of the ”kids” just stared like zombies trying to stay awake!

Overall, I really enjoyed my weekend there and it was great to see faces that I know so well. I’m settling in well to Perth but I still don’t have any people here that I’ve known as long as those on the East Coast. I’ll be heading back over there in a couple weeks, although I won’t be seeing James’ family. Instead, James is picking me up and driving us down to Byron Bay–in New South Wales and about a 2-hour drive south of Brisbane–so I can see Chelsea, one of my best friends from Rice and the only other girl comp sci in our year, who is currently on a month-long graduation trip to Australia. I’m looking forward to it, especially since I’ll get a long weekend so I won’t feel quite so much like I’m hopping off a plane only to get back on another one.

 The first week that I was here was for getting myself sorted out. I went into the office each day, but only for a token period of time after the first day (when I signed contracts, etc). I spent the rest of my time trying to get a feel for the city of 1.5 million so I could begin the house hunt, which promised to be long and quite possibly thankless. There were plenty of small chores to do as well, like finding the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and applying for my Western Australia driver’s license.

 The apartment that Schlumberger provided me with was amazing. 3 bedrooms, huge kitchen, lounge area, 2 balconies, one with city views….wow! It was located on Mount Street, which is just across the freeway from my office–it was literally a 5-minute walk for me in the mornings. It was also just down the hill from Kings Park, which is Perth’s best (and quite possibly biggest) park. I spent a number of afternoons strolling in the park, which overlooks the Swan River and Perth’s CBD. Perth is definitely what I would call a pretty city, even though the CBD’s skyline is dominated by massive cranes that are trying to expand the infrastructure of the rapidly growing city. The city’s skyscrapers aren’t ugly–the BankWest building is pretty cool-looking–and most importantly, the Swan River is actually a beautiful, deep blue color! I know this is unheard of for Australian rivers–Melbourne’s Yarra and the toxic Brisbane River come to mind–but I think the picture backs up my claim. I saw the river from the 20th floor of a nearby office building while on a client visit and it looks like the ocean (which makes sense, since it’s really an estuary filled with seawater!).

 On top of the nice views, Kings Park is expansive and I could have walked around in it for hours. As it is, I think I’ve only seen about 5% of the place. I love Fraser Avenue, which is lined with giant white gum trees, and the area around the Anzac Memorial and eternal flame. I saw that memorial in a whole different light (literally) when I went to the Anzac Day dawn service, which starts at 4.30am and runs until about 6.30am on the morning of April 25, the day that the Anzac soldiers landed at Gallipoli in 1915. I was lucky that I didn’t have to take any form of transport (besides walking) to the event because it seemed like nearly half of Perth was streaming down Fraser Avenue at around 5.30, when I finally stumbled out of bed. My entire street was completely impassable, since cars had parked on the road, on the grass, and down the sidewalks. I’d never seen anything like it in my life!

 As I walked into the park, big screens were showing scenes from World War II and later wars. As 6am approached, the screens flipped to a live feed of the services, which most people in the park couldn’t see because of the sheer numbers around them. I could just see the Anzac Memorial but I even had to stand on tiptoes for that. The silence was eerie; no one except the little girl next to me begging her dad for breakfast said a word. There was no commentating or anything–we just had to hope we could follow the people marching on screen and figure out what was going on. I wish I could have known more of what was going on, but I enjoyed the moment, watching the memorial from afar as the sun slowly rose behind it. Once the ceremonies completed, there was an inspiring speech and a flyover by about 7 warbirds, which marked the end of the official services. I’m very glad I went, since the Australians seem to remember & appreciate the Anzacs much more than Americans do their veterans.

As for the house search…I couldn’t stay in the Schlumberger-provided apartment permanently (since it costs $850 … per week!). I launched into the house search immediately upon arrival in Perth (thanks to the already-set-up broadband connection in my apartment) and started trying to whittle down a list of suburbs I’d like to live in and any apartments that looked even remotely affordable in those areas. The house market in Perth is quite absurd at the moment, since business here is booming and people can’t move here fast enough. Even the tiniest 1 bedroom fetches at least $200 a week, and you won’t get that in any of the sought-after suburbs. All I wanted was a place that was a relatively quick & easy commute from work, within my price range, and allowed pets. I soon took pets out of the equation because possibly only 1 rental property in the entirety of Perth allows them.

 I got to see quite a lot of Perth just by traveling via public transport to all of the open houses. I visited at least 10 properties in the north, west, and south of the city over the span of two weekends, but all of them had little niggles about them, like only having a tiny bar fridge and dryer in the unit but no washer in the entire complex, or being a 20-minute walk, 15-minute train ride, 25-minute bus ride, and then another 10-minute walk away from the office. The latter was in Scarborough, one of Perth’s beaches. I would have loved to live near the beach, but it was just a bit too out of the way for me, and quite a few people related stories of it being dodgy at night, so I stayed away. I did get to go to the beach after visiting a few homes there, and it was just as nice as the beaches on the east coast–plus it was novel because I’d never seen the Indian Ocean before! Unfortunately it’s getting into winter now (and it’s bloody chilly in Perth today) so I might not actually get in the water for a while, but it’s good to know it’s there!

 Another new and completely different part of Perth that I got to see a couple weekends ago was the area called “the hills.” The hills border Perth to the east and are quite a contrast from the beach and the Perth city area in general. The dirt was significantly redder than here in town, the trees were all gums, and kangaroos were hopping between the BBQs (you can’t have a proper recreation area in Oz without BBQs!). It was a fantastic day with barely a cloud in sight, yet not too hot–our group from work really couldn’t have planned it better. We had a ball wandering around, attempting to find the signed waterfalls (there were none, due to the fact that the rivers were bone-dry), eating BBQed & marinated lamb chops, and feeding leftover sausages to the brightly-colored twenty-eights (birds that looks somewhat like lorikeets) only to have them stolen by big & angry kookaburras. If only I had a car, I’d now have a great place to take people for a BBQ and nature walk when they came to visit me in Perth!

Anyway, I digress. Back to the house search. I was lucky enough to find a share house on the weekend before Anzac Day. It’s in a very good location–even in peak hour traffic, the bus straight into town only takes about 25 minutes–and I liked the apartment at first sight. It’s not the newest, but it’s very well kept up and quite big for a townhouse. Even better, it came fully furnished–my room already had a queen-size bed and everything–and was significantly cheaper than living in my own one-bedroom place. To top it all off, since I’d have flatmates (and my flatmate’s parrot Ambika, who has a huge personality of her own), I didn’t have to worry about getting a pet to keep me company! Seemed like a great deal to me, so I applied and moved in on the afternoon of Anzac Day. I get along with both of my flatmates well and it’s definitely nice to have someone to talk to when I get home in the evenings–and even better to have someone to play MarioKart Wii with!

There will be plenty more about Perth soon!

I know you guys might have been hoping for a conclusion to my previous post. It is in the works, but I thought I’d get these photos up while I was at the internet cafe.

Without further ado, here’s the list of what’s been added/updated (denoted by a ***):

New Zealand
***Queenstown: more from Deer Park Heights & the Remarkables.
***The Milford Track: from days 3 & 4 of the track (with plenty from going over Mackinnon Pass).
Milford Sound from Land: from around Milford Sound township.
Milford Overnight Cruise: from my overnight on the Milford Wanderer in the beautiful fiord of Milford.
The Kepler Track: from my overnight trek onto the Kepler Track, up to Mt. Luxmore & Luxmore Hut and back.
Kayaking Doubtful Sound: from my 5 hours on remote Doubtful Sound and the long (but stunning) trip to/from the sound.
Warbirds over Wanaka: from the biennial warbirds airshow held at Wanaka airfield.
The West Coast Road: from my day-long bus trip between Wanaka and Franz Josef Glacier.
***Franz Ice Climbing & Quad Biking: plenty more shots of me looking stupid trying to climb ice walls and from the Waiho river valley where I went quad biking the next day.
Drive Across Arthur’s Pass: from my day-long bus trip between Franz Josef Glacier and Christchurch.

Australia
Queensland Sunsets: sunset shots from a few different days in Queensland.
Queensland Flowers: currently only shots of some pink hibiscus in James’ mother’s garden, but I’m hoping to add more when I go back sometime.
Queensland Animals: shots of kookaburras and blue-tongued lizards.
My Australian Family: some of my favorite shots from some photos James’ family and I took while I was up the Sunshine Coast.
Apartments in Perth: pictures from my (very fancy) temporary accommodation. None of my current apartment, and those will probably only be available to “friends” on Flickr once I do add them.
Kings Park: the beautiful Kings Park, which was just up the hill from my temporary accommodation. Also, shots of the ANZAC Day dawn service held at the war memorial there.
Scarborough Beach: my first glimpse of the Indian Ocean!
General Perth: where I’ll chuck all my pictures that don’t fit into other sets from Perth. Right now, it’s just fireworks pictures from a display I was lucky enough to see a couple weeks ago.
John Forrest National Park: the “Australian” pictures everyone is waiting to see. These are from a fun BBQ I went to yesterday up in the hills near Perth. Plenty of red dirt, gum trees, kookaburras, and kangaroos!

So, over a month ago, I stepped off the Air New Zealand flight onto Australian soil, where I plan to stay at least semi-permanently (my visa is valid for 4 years). I was thrilled to see James at the airport, since it had been quite a while and a lot had happened since I saw him off at Intercontinental in January. We went up to his parents’ on the Sunshine Coast for the weekend, and I was thrilled to see them as well. I feel like I am part of the family after knowing them for nearly three years, and it was great to get a little taste of home after traveling from hostel to hostel for ten weeks in New Zealand. Because of the Mooloolaba triathlon, we ended up going to Maroochydore for our Sunday morning coffee instead; even so, it felt normal and good to be in a routine again (even if it was someone else’s!). James and I went down to the beach at Mooloolaba later on that evening and got to see a beautiful sunset. I was experiencing quite a few emotions then; staring out across the ocean, I was missing New Zealand and the carefree life I led there, since I knew I was going to have to settle down now that I was starting work, but I was so happy just to be back in the country I love with the man I love.

The week in Brisbane was relatively calm. James made a few comments about me wanting to go out and rush around seeing things, but I really didn’t need to; besides the fact that I’ve managed to rush around and see the majority of sites within public transport distance of James’ place, I was tired and just wanted a week of relaxation. I went out and did a few things, like buying a new suitcase so I could get all the junk I sent to James over to Perth and getting my visa label stuck in my passport. The most interesting thing I did was going out with Michelle twice. The first time we met up, we went back to UQ, where I have so many happy memories of studying abroad. We had an afternoon of pizza, cosmopolitans, kookaburras, and talking, and it was great. A few days later, we tried to go eat yum cha at our usual hangout (okay, we’d only been there once, but it felt like our usual hangout at least!) only to find that it was closed…but not to worry, Michelle had a backup plan and we still got to stuff ourselves silly on dim sims and pork buns!

However, on Saturday, everything started crashing down around me. This is my personal blog, I know, but I’m not going to go into a lot of personal details, especially since I refuse to air grievances on such a public forum. Let’s just say that James broke up with me–a week after I arrived in the country that I moved to for him–and it absolutely broke my heart. I felt betrayed and more lonely than I’ve ever been in my life. Needless to say, this isn’t what I needed at all to start my new life in Australia, and it’s made the ensuing weeks incredibly difficult. I’ve been lucky to have amazing support–from my family, my awesome friends, and from James’ family, who have still made me feel like I belong in it despite James’ actions–or else I really don’t know how I’d still be here, since it’s hard not to question why I’m in a place that is nearly 10,000 miles from my family when I moved here for the one person that I trusted in enough to pick up and move across the world for…when he doesn’t want to be with me anyway.

The days following the breakup were rough, but James’ family was amazing and took great care of me. I got to see his mother and father (along with Michelle, who took me in, fed me dinner, and watched So You Think You Can Dance?  with me) on Sunday and his mother again on Monday. On Tuesday, his mother, father, and sister all came to the airport to see me off, so quite a few tears ensued. Stepping onto that plane is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, especially since more than a couple people told me that they wanted me to go to Perth but I could always get back on the plane to the US if I really wanted to. I got on the plane after giving everyone multiple hugs, bawling like I always seem to do when I get on planes in Australia. Within a few hours, my problems had been put in perspective. The man next to me was really friendly and talked to me for quite a while, trying to convince me that everything was going to be okay while giving me lots of advice on how to handle the situation; a few times, he said things that set me off and I ended up in tears once again. Then, I walked to the back of the plane only to see him talking to the flight attendants and visibly upset. He had apparently just been diagnosed with cancer yet he had sat there trying to help me solve my little problems for the first three hours of the flight. He was a really nice guy with a big cloud hanging over his head…so I spent the next few hours telling him how my father had beaten cancer and how he could beat it too. I won’t use your real name, but if you’re out there, I hope you’re fighting and you’ve had some great news. You’ll live to see your children for some time yet!

Well, my lunch break is over and I need to get back to my training. Since I don’t have internet at my new apartment, I might not get the rest of this story posted this weekend (although I’ll probably go to an internet cafe when I go shopping in the city tomorrow). If not, I’ll get it written this weekend and then post it on Monday morning. I am slowly settling in, and I do like the city of Perth, which I’ll elaborate on (and hopefully provide pictures of) soon.

Anyway, this blog has pretty much been about me running around like a beheaded chook trying to do everything I possibly can while in New Zealand. I finally decided that, after over 2 months of running myself ragged, that it might be good to have a day of relaxation (especially since I don’t want to turn up at training in Perth absolutely knackered!). So, instead of sticking around in Christchurch for my last day in NZ, I caught the “Hanmer Connection” bus into Hanmer Springs, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive towards Lewis Pass, which crosses the Southern Alps that divide the island into east and west coasts. This also meant that I made good on my vow, made after the Copland Track, that the next hot springs I was going to go to were going to be some that I could ride a bus to rather than walking 17kms!

The hot springs were housed in a complex that cost $15 for a return ticket, meaning I could leave and come back in once. I paid the extra $5 for unlimited access to the waterslides as well just for kicks. The pools themselves were very much like warm swimming pools, in that they were concrete-bottomed and surrounded by sidewalks; it was not at all like the natural springs at Welcome Flat, but at least I didn’t get my swimsuit covered in mud the day before I flew! There were plenty of choices of what to swim in–I could go in the freshwater, chlorinated pool, the various heated swimming pools, the rock pools that used filtered natural hot spring water, or the hot pools that had 40 degree C unfiltered, fully natural and very sulfurous, water. My friend that I met on the bus and I went in the unnatural hot pools, followed by the very hot pools (which we couldn’t sit in for more than 5 minutes without breaking out into a heavy sweat), followed by the rock pools. All of them were quite nice to just sit and relax in, although I suppose I was a bit disappointed in the scenery–I thought there were going to be mountains all around, and while I could see a few, the complex blocked most of the views. There were quite a few nice redwoods around, but I suppose the 17km walk on the Copland Track was worth it, because it was absolutely nothing compared to that. The waterslides were pretty fun too, but there were only a couple pretty small ones; they were a nice change after sitting around for a couple hours though!

After I showered and changed into dry clothes, I had lunch in town and then headed for Liz Ryan Massage, where I treated myself to a 45-minute massage. It was really quite good, since my back and neck muscles had really tightened up over the course of the six overnight walks that I did in NZ. Plus, I’d never had a professional massage before. I left feeling calmer and with a slightly less wound-up neck & back. From there, I had a wander down the main street before heading back into the hot pools for the rest of the afternoon, where I talked to a couple for a while before leaning back and literally nearly dozing off and missing my bus.

I thought this was a really good way to end my trip–mellowed out with nothing to worry about, just trying to get my body ready for the daily grind that I’ll be starting in a couple weeks. However, the next morning somewhat shattered that calm that I had created with my trip to Hanmer when I arrived at the airport at 4am only to find out that all of the flights out–all to Australia at that time of the morning–had been put on hold after a phone call from Auckland grounded all Airbus A330s (I think–I know it was an Airbus, just not sure what type). The AirNZ flights to Melbourne and Sydney got cleared pretty quickly, but unfortunately the Brisbane plane failed the test, so we were removed from the line and handed $6 vouchers to buy food in the airport (sound familiar, Megan and Cristina?). This will buy exactly 1 bacon & egg McMuffin imitation, so they weren’t exactly being generous; plus I was annoyed that I was the second person lined up for Brisbane and they were making me give up my precious spot in the queue, which now stretched nearly to the door of the terminal.

After eating my tasty meal, I lined up at the departure tax counter to try to pay my $25 fee for leaving the country, but when I reached the counter they told me that all of the people going to Brisbane had been rerouted through Auckland and that I should check before paying, as they would not refund me and I would have to pay again in Auckland since the airports are owned by different private corporations. I feel like I was understandably frustrated when I went to the counter and asked about this new development; they told me that yes, the flight had been cancelled and that I could get the last seat on the plane to Auckland. Why had they not announced this to the general public? I don’t know. Perhaps it was a test that only the most insistent people could pass. I nearly killed the guy at the counter when it took him forever to check me in. He didn’t want to let me on the plane because I didn’t have a return ticket from Australia, and it didn’t seem to make sense to him that I had a 4-year-long visa. He finally decided to actually read the documents I handed to him and issued me the tickets, but it sure took him a while and I certainly wasn’t going to buy a return ticket (like Jetstar made someone I met do at the gate when she tried to come over to NZ) because my visa didn’t require that.

I finally made it to the gate and was trying to calm myself down for the flight when a friendly couple from Noosa sat down next to me. We got to chatting; they were also flying to Brisbane and were also slightly perturbed because they had a shuttle booked that they were now going to miss. They sat in a different place on the plane than me, but we ran into each other again in the massive queue of Brisbane-bound people waiting for the inter-terminal bus in Auckland and then again after we cleared security. At this point, even though I was running 3 hours behind schedule, the extra detour to Auckland started to seem okay; this was mainly because the duty-free store had a 20% off special for anyone buying alcohol and going to Australia. I ended up getting the requisite 2 bottles of Bundaberg Rum for $46NZ–cheaper than it’s sold in Brisbane’s duty free, which is crazy since it’s made only a couple hours from here!

The gate area for the Brisbane flight was absolutely packed, and I hadn’t realized that we were flying on a 747 across the Tasman Sea. Even more shocking was that, after talking to the couple from Noosa and a few other people, I found out that everyone flying from Christchurch had actually been upgraded! The only thing about this that angered me a little was that I had been upgraded to premium economy while many of the other passengers had been upgraded to business class–something I would have gotten if they hadn’t made me leave the line and then not announced any further developments! I couldn’t complain too much though, because I had an extra 6 inches of leg room, a footrest, a cabinet in which to put my carryon so it didn’t get in the way of my feet, only 1 seat next to me (I was on the aisle) as opposed to 2, a dedicated flight attendant for our 4 rows that brought us any food or drinks we needed, a thicker blanket, and a better TV screen. Not too bad, considering I paid a normal economy fare!

Even better was the fact that the couple I knew were upgraded to business class, as well as a couple from Rockhampton that I’d talked to in the airport. They told me that I had to come up and visit them, which I did after having lunch. Everyone in business class had had a 3-course lunch with plenty of free alcohol, so they were all feeling rather happy. When I arrived, they let me sit down and ordered me a glass of champagne and then took pictures to document it, given that I will probably not be in business class again anytime soon! It was fortunate that I’d bought a nice work outfit a couple days before I left because I actually looked like I fit too. Good lord though, the things they are given in business class are insane; they got a chair that reclined and flattened into a bed that joined up with their ottoman, all the magazines they wanted, privacy in the small walls between each seat, which was only one to each side of the aisle, free champagne and good food, etc, etc, etc. The ottomans even have seatbelts on them so people can wander around and chat with one another, as I was clearly doing. I really enjoyed myself, and since I sat there until the seatbelt sign came on for landing, I was even given one of the express passes through immigration and customs since the flight attendant didn’t realize I didn’t belong in business!

The only downer after getting off the plane was that my photo album was taken off me; I had bought it especially for New Zealand prints and it had a nice kiwi design on the front plus a few leaves pressed into it. Unfortunately, the binding was partially made of banana leaves, which were apparently impossible to remove or treat. I was given the option of either sending it home at a cost of over $50 and lots of time or just throwing it away. I chose to chuck it so it wouldn’t become even more of an exercise in wasting money than it already was, but it was very sad since I didn’t buy a huge number of souvenirs for myself.

Overall though, it was a good last few days and it ended with what was possibly the best flight I’d ever had…and then I got to see James at the airport! And for those that are keeping track, he did reach his goal of raising $1000 for leukemia. He shaved his head a few weeks ago, but since he just reached that marker, we got to wax his legs this weekend. It was quite amusing, although disturbing to see the amount of hair that came off and how much he liked his smooth legs afterwards!

I didn’t do a whole lot else in Franz yesterday besides eating free Chateau Franz soup and taking a long dip in the free spa. Today hasn’t been too exciting a day either, since I spent the vast majority of it on a bus and the rest of it wandering around Christchurch, enjoying the good weather I didn’t have the last time I was here. I’m glad I didn’t try to change my buses/accommodation to leave Franz a day earlier and stay in Arthur’s Pass last night, since it was raining with very low clouds when we arrived this afternoon. Arthur’s Pass is essentially just a small village with lots of tramping tracks around it–many of which are dangerous in wet weather, including Avalanche Peak, which is the one I wanted to climb. It’s probably best I didn’t anyway, with my iffy ankle and the stories I’ve heard about people having to crawl to the top while cheeky keas peck at their packs.

Well, that’s all I have to say for now. Also, I’ve uploaded more shots from my helicopter ride in my Franz Josef album, even more pictures in my Milford Track album, and the first few shots I took of Milford Sound. Enjoy!

The day started very early at 7.45am, since they like getting the climbers geared up and onto the glacier before the hoardes of day walkers appear. We were introduced to our three guides for the day and given most of the appropriate gear: backpacks, harnesses, hard shell boots, woolen socks, and raincoats. Once we traversed the 4km access road to the glacier, the guides gave us the rest of the necessary kit, namely helmets, ice axes, and crampons. The crampons were definitely real ones, as opposed to the gimpy ones provided at Fox that only have a couple spikes in the arch of your foot. These had 11 spikes, 4 of which stick out of the front which we used in our ice climbing.

 The walk to Franz Josef is probably only half the length of the walk to Fox because of the completely different directions of attack that the two guiding companies have. To get onto Fox, you have to take a path through the rainforest and up 600 steps before arriving at the side of the glacier, which you hop onto without too much trouble. On Franz, you walk up the river valley for about half an hour until you reach the terminal face, which has stairs cut into it that everyone has to climb up after strapping on their crampons. This makes it quite a lot more taxing than Fox Glacier, which is definitely the flatter of the two. I agree with Astrid (one of the guides) who said that Franz has the much more dynamic landscape; she also noted that Franz is the steepest guided glacier in the world. Pretty cool!

It didn’t take us all that long on the ice to find our first ice wall. This was the “learner wall,” but it was a lot taller than I thought it would be! While Neville and Lee set up the ropes for the three climbs up various sections of the wall, Astrid took us to “ice climbing school.” This was essentially a very quick instructional on how to position yourself on the ice, how to dig your crampons into the ice the right way, and how to balance yourself (not by holding on to your axes, but rather, distributing your weight so you are leaning into the wall and putting all of your weight onto your feet). I was still struggling with trusting my crampons on solid ground, so I was a bit worried about trying the ice climb even after I managed to do a bit of a mini-climb on a smaller wall nearby.

Since there were 11 of us and only three guides/ropes, we had a fair amount of waiting time between climbs. After waiting for a few people to go, I finally got myself psyched up and got onto Astrid’s section of the wall. Now I’m an awkward enough person as it is, but apparently me attempting to ice climb magnifies this by about 100x. I couldn’t get my weight distributed correctly and ended up hanging off of the ice axes because I didn’t trust the spikes on my feet to hold my entire weight. Because of this, I ended up too far away from the ice with my butt sticking out. I’m sure it was thoroughly amusing for everyone on the ground, and Astrid certainly got a voice workout yelling at me telling me to get my butt in. Somehow I managed to get to the top of the wall (even though I accidentally smacked the rope with the ice axe–not a good idea, since the rope is essentially your lifeline and ice axes are very sharp) and then abseiled back to the bottom…and it only took me probably double the time that most everyone else took. Luckily, my climbing technique really improved over the next two climbs through lots of coaching from the other two guides, and I made it to the top of those walls without too many dramas, albeit a bit slowly (although as Neville said, “It’s not a race!”).

A totally random thing happened between my second and third climbs. As I was waiting for someone to finish his climb, some of the halfday walks came through, and I looked up and recognized one of the guys on the climb. This isn’t too odd, since that’s happened to me since about the second week of my trip, as evidenced with (British) James that I ran into at least 6 or 7 times in the span of the same number of weeks. However, once I realized where I knew him from, it was a bit strange…since he’s a couple years below me at Rice! To top it off, he was studying in London for the semester but over in NZ to visit his girlfriend. Talk about a small world.

We were all a bit on the freezing side by the time all the climbs were finished, since the wind had whipped up to a reasonable speed and we were in a pretty exposed spot of the glacier. So, instead of eating lunch there, we moved to our second spot of the day with more difficult climbing walls. The walk to these walls was downhill with some pretty steep stairs cut into the ice, and I got yelled at because I misunderstood the instructions and held onto the handrope with my hand in the wrong direction. I was a bit frustrated with this, since I got comments lobbed at me like “you don’t have to follow my instructions if you don’t want to, but it is for your own safety” before I was moved to the front of the group, just behind the guide (Lee) who I guess wanted to keep a closer eye on me. I know I wasn’t the quickest person on crampons there, but I didn’t feel that I needed to be watched like a 5-year-old. That was the only time that I was unhappy for the whole day, despite not being particularly good at ice climbing.

After lunch, we got to have a crack at the more difficult walls. While the walls couldn’t get much steeper than the previous ones, they did have more varied terrain–lots of biggish holes and overhangs–and some of the ice was much harder, as evidenced by its much more blue color. I tried Astrid’s wall first and managed to get about halfway up before I realized my boot was way too loose. Whenever I tried to put my weight down on my left foot, I could feel the boot slipping further than I wanted it to go, which made me much more unstable than I would have liked. So, Astrid lowered me down and let me fix my shoes before I had a second go. This time I made it pretty far up the wall before I got in a position where my feet weren’t quite the anchor I’d hoped for, and one boot, then another slipped out from under me. I wasn’t scared because Astrid was anchoring the rope and I knew I couldn’t drop more than a foot or so; I was more worried that I’d lose my grip on the axes and not be able to get back up to them. I did hold on, and after a bit of swearing managed to get myself back on the wall again, but I came down pretty quickly after that. I made the little indentation in the wall before the very top but not quite the top, but I was still happy with the climb, especially after Astrid told me that it was a much, much better climb than the first one I’d done with her.

My next climb was with Lee, who I don’t think had any confidence in me at all because he told me I could go as far as I liked and just yell when I wanted to come down. Hopefully he was surprised when I actually managed to follow his instructions this time around and got within “3 steps of the top.” The ice on this wall was much harder than on the others and it gave my ankle a bit of mischief when I tried to kick the ice and dig in my spikes, so I decided I needed to come down once I realized that my ankle might not hold me for a few more steps. It’s probably good that I did because when I took my boot off, the skin around my ankle was discolored and there’s a strange lump right above it…

My climb with Neville went about the same. I didn’t quite make the overhang on top, but I still made it a fair distance up the wall, which I was pretty pleased with given the fact that, after seeing Astrid demonstrate at the beginning of the day, I wasn’t sure if I’d make it up any of the walls at all. I really had a lot of fun and it was something completely different that I’d never tried before (and possibly won’t get to again, given the lack of glaciers in Australia in general). Plus, it’s good to push yourself and try to do things you didn’t think possible–although I feel like I’ve done plenty of that on this trip already!

So, what have I been keeping myself busy with? Well, on Friday I headed back to Queenstown from Te Anau at the refreshing time of 7.30am. I did get to see a great sunrise over the hills around Te Anau, which slightly made up for having to walk to the bus stop in the dark. I didn’t do a whole lot in Queenstown besides eat another Fergburger (the Southern Swine–massive burger with bacon and avocado on top. Yummm…) and sort out the rest of my itinerary. Things didn’t quite go according to plan due to hostels being completely booked up, so I’m currently on Plan B, which has worked out just fine!

I spent the weekend in Wanaka and met up with James, the British guy that I seem to have run into in every city in New Zealand. He had backtracked to do a big canyoning trip for his birthday while I had gone back there for the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow. Saturday was pretty lazy, consisting mostly of us eating lots of food and wandering around the general Wanaka area. On Sunday we both went to the airshow, which I thought was quite good. There were planes in the air all day with no breaks in between, so we got to watch one trick after another until our eyes started blurring from staring into the sun too much. They even raced a Formula 3000 car against an aerobatic plane–the plane won the first time but the car got a better start the second time and won by a landslide. I felt like I was watching an episode of Top Gear! The Australians sent over some of their planes as well, one of which was the most impressive of the airshow–the F111 jet from Amberley in Brisbane. The commentators were pretty funny for the whole show, but I loved what they had to say about the Australian cargo jet–”This is used for delivering troops, munitions, and cans of XXXX worldwide.” The show ended with a great display of old warbirds doing a pretend dogfight to defend the airfield. Lots of low flyovers and lots of pyrotechnics, so I was happy. I’ve got some pictures of that, but haven’t had the time to resize them yet for uploading.

Totally random event that happened: James and I walked to the end of the field and then stood in the crowd watching some of the acrobatics when the person in front of me turned around and said, “Kristin?” It turned out that Tash and Luke–two of the people I met on the Copland Track–were standing right in front of us! It was pretty crazy considering there were probably 30,000 people at the airshow and we happened to walk up right behind them. It turns out they broke down on the way home from the Copland Track, which further adds to the hilarity/drama of the entire weekend (which you can read about in an earlier entry from the end of Feb). It was really good to see them though.

After the airshow, James and I went out to Treble Cone, the local ski area, to try to get some good views, but unfortunately it was closed for the weekend. We ended up driving the whole 50kms down the Matukituki valley–where Johanna and I went the last time I was in Wanaka–to see if we could get some good views of Mt. Aspiring and the park around it. We didn’t really, but it was still a great day and an enjoyable drive. Plus, we were treated to the vision of an older man standing naked in the river bathing himself. That was pleasant.

Today I took the long trip back up the West Coast, since Mt. Cook and its surrounds were completely booked up for the week. I’m in Franz Josef, which is where the photos in this entry are from (and by the way, I’ve managed to fix the annoying quirk that pushed all my pictures to the righthand side, so hopefully it looks slightly better formatted now). When I arrived in town around 4, there were still clouds pretty low over the glacier and mountain areas. However, after I watched the film “Flowing West,” which is a movie with helicopter footage of the west coast and the Southern Alps shown on an IMAX-style screen, I came out and there were only a few scattered clouds hanging onto the mountains; otherwise, it had completely cleared.

It was a beautiful day rarely seen on the West Coast, where it rains over 200 days a year, so I decided to make the most of it. Since I’m leaving New Zealand earlier than I expected, I had previously made the decision that I could splurge on one big activity that I wouldn’t have otherwise done…so I went on a 40 minute helicopter ride around Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers and Mount Cook/Aoraki, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Even though it was the quickest I’ve spent a lot of money since I’ve been here, it was completely worth it. I don’t think you can get a better day for a helicopter flight–there were a few clouds around for effect, but otherwise it was all mountains, glaciers, and snow. We zoomed low over both glaciers and got incredibly close to the mountains–closer than I’ll ever be again to Mt. Cook, I’m sure, since I’m certainly not planning to climb it! Once we flew around Franz, Mt. Cook, and Mt. Tasman, we landed on Fox Glacier’s neve. I wasn’t completely prepared for the trip, since I booked it 5 minutes before the helicopter took off, so my toes got a bit cold in my flipflops when I stepped out onto the snow! I didn’t mind the cold, since we were only on the glacier for a bit less than 10 minutes, since I got to stand in a completely different part of the glacier than I did on my full day hike on Fox back in February. It was snowy with little ripples here and there and a couple large-ish looking crevasses, rather than large ice walls. It was white instead of the glacier’s characteristic blue color, since the ice was so buried, and it was easy to walk around without crampons on. The views were just amazing, especially since the sun was getting closer to the Tasman Sea so it was reflecting and generally just creating some cool lighting. Snow stretched as far as the eye could see, only broken by the chocolate brown mountains containing the glacier. I’ve again run out of adjectives to describe just how amazing the experience was; I think Eileen, a British lady on my flight, described it best when she said, “I’ll be dreaming about that wondering if I really did do it!” After we took off from Fox, we flew low and fast over the neve and then dipped down between the mountains and flew directly past the terminal face and river and then over the township of Fox and the mountains separating Fox & Franz before finally landing back at the helipad. If it wasn’t so expensive, I would have stayed on the copter and asked for another go-around!

It’s time for me to cook dinner and get ready for another early start in the morning, so enjoy the pictures and I’ll try to update again soon!

• The Milford Track: as I’ve mentioned before, awe-inspiring and just amazing, even if it was very tiring. 33.5 miles of walking along the first track ever found into Milford Sound.
• Overnight cruise in Milford Sound: What an experience. Milford Sound is the most spectacular of the 14 fiords in Fiordland, and I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon, night, and morning on a small cruiser out in the midst of it all. We went all the way through the fiord, past the mighty Mitre Peak, to the Tasman Sea and then got to kayak in a bay near the mouth before being fed amazing food and watching the sunset. Watched the sunrise the next morning too. Stunning.
• The Kepler Track: After the ride home from Milford, which is an experience in itself as you go through the various valleys and still more beautiful scenery, I sorted my backpack and went directly onto the Kepler Track, a loop track in the Kepler Mountains outside Te Anau. I feel like I’m a broken record, but once again, I’ll talk about scenery. once I left the treeline, it was amazing. Panoramic views full of lakes, valleys, mountains, and alpine tussock. We went caving at the Luxmore Caves next to the hut that night and then I climbed Mt. Luxmore the next morning before returning the way I came (didn’t have time for the whole track).
• Kayaking on Doubtful Sound: Today, I went for a kayak on the only other (relatively) accessible fiord, Doubtful Sound. To get there, we had to go in a bus to the wharf, on a 45 minute boat ride across Lake Manapouri, and on a 45 minute bus ride across Wilmot Pass–so it’s quite a commitment! Well worth it though–the sound was so much more isolated and quiet than Milford, which is apparently visited by 3000-6000 people per day. We could put down our paddles and literally just listen to the complete silence, broken only by the calls of birds. Even though the fiord doesn’t have massive mountains rising out of the sea like Milford, it’s still quite a sight to see. The walls of the fiord don’t look too high until you see a tiny boat anchored at their base! Just like everything else I’ve done in Fiordland in the last few weeks, I left feeling wowed. I loved it.

I wish I could write more, but I have to make some phone calls and take care of some other business, since my Australian visa has been approved. It was actually approved while I was on the Milford Track, but the first email from my company didn’t go through and I’ve just now gotten in touch with them. This explains the title of the entry; the end of my trip in New Zealand is looming because I have to go back to work and real life. Sad, but I’ve had such a fantastic time in New Zealand that I really can’t complain. All told, once I depart the country, I will have been here nearly 10 weeks and will have done as much as I humanly could in that time. Plus, this means that I can see James again on my way across Australia! Can’t complain about that one bit