Fiji Time

After surviving the blizzard, we caught an early morning bus straight up to Auckland and flew out for Fiji. I love islands, but you must develop a Zen like patience very quickly. Everything moves slower. People walk slower, service is slower, buses are generally behind schedule. IT'S GREAT!!!! There is not much to do and nothing to hurry around for. It was exactly what I was looking for after 4 months of not stop moving around. We spent the first week cruising around the Yasawa islands. These islands are off the northwestern side of the main island and are where the great beaches abound(there are few good beaches to be found on the mainland). We soaked up as much sun as possible and found creative wasy to pass the time otherwise...

Jonny's Rock!!!!!!!

After two days in Rotorua, we had a decision to make. we could either heasd to Waitomo and go through some crazy caves or we could backtrack to Taupo and try to do the Tongariro Crossing. This was important because the Tongariro crossing is where Mt. Doom resides. Mt. Doom from the movie Lord of the Rings was filmed here. We decided against the caves because of "Descent" a movie Nini saw that made her scared of caves. Back to Taupo. Once there, we got a weather report saying there was going to be a break in bad weather for one day and we could hike the Tongariro crossing. I was stoked. See, before the trip my friend Jonny was the only one who asked me to get him something. He wanted a rock from Mt. Doom. After our first attempt, I thought it was over, but with the break in the weather, I took another shot. We headed toward the crossing at 6:00 in the morning and were on the trail by 8:00. Mt. doom was completely covered in snow. I wouldn't be hiking to the top, but the pass was still clear. We had warm clothes and boots and were on the trail. When we came to the "Devil's staircase", the hike did not look as fun. Dark clouds had moved in overhead, but we continued up the steep incline of jagged volcano rocks. About half way up, the snow started coming down. About 5 minutes later, the winds came. We were off trail and moving ahead slowly. By the time we reached the top of the Devil's staircase it was snowing really hard and winds had reached about 60 kmph. Not quite what we signed up for. We talked to to guys who had been up there a few days. They said that without ice climbing gear, the other side would be really tough. Nini and I decided to head back. BUT!!!!! Not before I grabbed a rock at the base of Mt. Doom. It was small as most of the rocks were frozen into the ground. JONNY, I GOT YOUR ROCK!. Nini and I were the only 2 out of 40 to turn around b/c of danger. We were kind of bumbed until we reached the end to find that the entire group had gotten turned around about 30 minutes after us. The next day, we found out that one guy broke his ankle and two people were airlifted to the hospital with Hypothermia. Yeah, it did get that bad that quickly up there. It was an experience to remember. The pictures above are before the snow and afterwards, about 90 minutes apart. Jonny's Rock

Rotorua!

After Napier, we headed to Taupo. Our plans were to hike the Tongariro crossing and skydive. Unfortunately, we got blasted with bad weather for three days, and all we got to do was bathe in some natural hot pools. We headed on to Rotorua in the hopes we might be able to come back to Taupo in some better weather. Rotorua was really cool. It is the most thermal active region of NZ. This means there is lots of sulfur bubbling up from the ground. Literally, the entire city smells like rotten eggs all the time. It takes some getting used to. However, there is quite a bit to do here. We went zorbing. You are thrust into a huge inflatable ball and rolled down a hill. We also visited a Maori tibe sight, which was really interesting. They served us traditional dinner(cooked underground), showed us the grounds, and performed traditional tribal rituals for us. It was great.
More Zorbing

Napier

After Wellingotn, we headed north to Napier and a great wine tasting region known as Hawke's Bay. We did a great wine tour with a great group of people. I drank way too much as usual and proceeded to pass out for about three hours after we were finished. It was a lot of fun.More Photos

Nini's Arrival!

After touring Golden Bay for a few days, I made my way over to Wellington, where I met my sweetheart. She arrived in Welligton early on friday morning. We wpent some time at the Te Papa museum. It has the biggest exhibits on Maori culture in all of NZ. Maori are the tribal people that first inhabited the islands. It also had some funky art exhibits including the one seen in the photo above.In the evening we went out to Kai, a Maori fusion restaurant. Delicious.

Mussel Inn (Beer Tasting)

After my hang gliding adventure, I continued North into Golden Bay and the small town of Takaka. I had started testing out the local brews once I got to Nelson, and the highlight of the tastings ended about 17 km North of Takaka at a place called the Mussel Inn. I stuck my thumb out to hitch a ride and ended up in a VW van with the brewmaster himself(unfortunately, I did not find this out until I was in the bar). The Mussel Inn is a small tavern that brews all of its own beers and there are a lot of them. I tried 4 of them. There was the Captain cooker, Dark Horse Ale, Monkey Puzzle, and the Weka Ale. All of them were good. The Weka was my favorite tasting, but the Monkey puzzle was a really good Belgium brew and it was 10% alc. which was great. This place was a real treat. After about 2 hours of tasting, I hitched back to Takaka.
I got a ride with an old hippie from the states named Ro. He no resides permanently in the Nelson area. He was really cool. Through out my travels in the Nelson area, I tried beers from Founders, Harringtons, Mac's, Townsend, and Bennet's. Trust me, the Nelson area has some great beers on tap. If ytou ever get there, amke sure to try a Harrington's Wobbly Boot or a Townsend No. 9. You won't be disappointed. More Beer

HANG GLIDING!

I went Hang gliding. It was fricken fantastic. You stand on top of this large hill, clip into a glider and then run down the hill to your doom. Suddenly, you are lifted into the air, you are thousands of feet off the ground, and there is nothing between you and the ground. It was really nerve racking, but so much fun as well. It is the closest thing I could imagine to flying.