Eat. Drink. Love. Dream. Discover

Cusco, Peru- Week 1

capecodkiwi — Thu, 4 Sep 2014 02:24:00 GMT

After 1 year in New Zealand, 9 months in Australia, and 3 months in Europe, I decided that it was time to finally do something meaningful on this world trip instead of screwing around. I researched volunteer programs in Peru and came across a program called International Volunteers Headquarters, IVHQ. I chose Peru, specifically Cusco, because Iwanted to visit Macchu Picchu and Cusco is the prime location in order to do so. I booked my flight out of Milan, and 5 connections later ( Milan--Frankfurt--Puerto Rico--Panama--Lima--Cusco) I arrived in Cusco on August 31. Cusco is located at an elevation of 3300m and I immediately felt the altitude difference when I got off the plane. because the air is thinner and oxygen levels lower, i felt like i was going to pass out but after 3 days of headaches, i acclimated to the elevation and was alble to walk up stairs without feeling winded. I am here in cusco for 4 weeks staying with a host family. Its been difficult communicating with them because they only speak Spanish. I've tried throwing out every french and italian word that I know in hopes it will be similar but I have failed every time. I signed up for spanish classes and with 1 week in, im making progress. The program that I have been assigned to is a girls orphanage. The ages range from 4 to 17. These girls either dont have families or come from families of abuse. The first day we arrived at the orphanage, one of the girls ran over to me and gave me a giant hug. They are so happy to see us and latch on to our sides for the full 3 hours. One little girl, named Lizeth, has become my favorite. She asked me if I remembered her name and when I said no she responded "well if we are going to be friends you need to rememeber my name". Now I'll never forget it. These girls all come from different backgrounds yet despite their history, they always have a smile on their faces. Their happiness is infectious and I just want to take them home with me, after 1 week I am already attached. Its going to be tough saying goodbye after 4 weeks.

Photos: Brisbane, Australia

capecodkiwi — Tue, 3 Sep 2013 17:49:00 GMT

Photos: Vanuatu

capecodkiwi — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 15:39:00 GMT

Vanuatu

Thailand-Elephant Nature Park

capecodkiwi — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:05:00 GMT

Day 1 and 2- travel day/orientation

I have been looking forward to this day since I booked the trip back in february. today I am off to thailand to volunteer at an elephant conservation project. the flight to Bangkok from Auckland is 12 hours and then another hour flight to Chang Mai. It seems like every flight I take from NZ never leaves on time. So of course with the 40min delay I found myself in a panic to make my connecting flight. This isnt the first time on my travels that I have had to run through the airport nor is it thefirst time I've heard my name being called on the speaker. It certainky doesnt help that I had 3 different airport workers send me in 3 different directions. Needless to say, I made the flight and was the asshole holding up the plane. I arrived in Chang Mai at 11pm and once I got to my hotel, I went to bed. check in at the ENP office was at 8am so I wanted plenty of rest. The next morning I walked to the office in town to register. To be honest, I was a bit nervous because I didnt know what to expect from this project and I didnt know how many people would be volunteering with me. Luckily, the office was filled with 50 other volunteers from all over the world so my nerves subsided. After registration, we were taken to the park, which was an hour north of the city center. While on the ride, we watched a short documentary about elephants in thailand and the goals of the ENP. Most of these elephants have been rescued from illegal logging and extreme abuse while working for touristy type venues. Once we got closer to the park we drove past a tour of trekking elephants with tourists riding on their backs. At first glance I was like "oh cool. I want to ride an elephant " but then I saw the mahout, or handler, cartying a bullhook. They use these hooks to stab the back of the elephants head to direct them or punish them if they do anything wrong. How could any tourist condone that? After we settled in at the park, we were given a tour of the grounds, fed the elephants and bathed them. We were assigned our rooms, which were multi share and lucky for me I was bunking with 2 women from NZ...Robyn and Kim. While at orientation, I also made friends with Carrie from south Africa and tiph from france. the 5 of us did everything together all week.

Day 3

since our work day starts at 8am, I hit the breakfast line the moment its brought out, at 7am. Breakfast is served buffet style with toast, bananas, and fresh fruit with yogurt. I realzed that this is the only healthy meal served for us. Lunch is nothing but noodles, rice, curries, and stir fried everything. I love thai food but can definitely live without it for a while. After breakfast, we meet our volunteer coordinators to find out what our jobs will be. The 50 volunteers are split up into 4 groups A, B, C, and D. I am in group D with robyn and kim. Today, our morning job is to collect flat rocks by the river bank so later in the week we can build stone walls. These stone walls prevent the elephants from roaming into areas they are not allowed to. Lunch time is 11:30-1:30. I personally think 2 hours for lunch is excessive but it is 100 degree heat so I understand them not wanting to overwork us. After lunch, we go to the home of the newborn baby elephant and its mom. We need to shovel fresh sand ontop of the wet mud to prevent mosquitos. This took us until 4pm so we all took showers (cold water only) and prepared for dinner. Tonight we had a blessing ceremony and then a thai cultural lesson from our VCs where we learned about the royal family, monks, and thai language. Cha rhak khun means I love you.

Day 4- corn fields

Working in the corn fields is the Toughest job of them all. The field is an hour truck ride from the park. Since the corn stalks are so rough and we are using a machete to cut them, we are required to wear sneakers, long pants, long sleeve shirt and a hat.....in 100 degree heat. I have never sweat so much NOT working in my life. So of course once we started the work, it was worse. Every face was beet red by the endof the day. The job required us to cut the corn stalks as close to the ground as possible and we had to have 300 bundles. This will feed all the elephants for 1 day. Once we compketed 300 bundles, we then had to carry the bundles to the truck. Not the easiest thing to do either. But we managed to complete it all by 2pm. On the ride back we passed another group of trekking elephants. Just as the truck got close to them the mahout took its bullhook and smashed the elephant on the back of the head...for no reason. The mahouts know what the ENP is teaching us about the abuse these elephants endure in these tourist camps that he hit the elephant just to get a rise out of us. I will never forget the sound it made when the hook bashed the head. It makes me so sad to think about this abuse that I am glad I am supporting the park to end it.

Day 5

Today is poop day. I wasnt looking forward to this day at all but surprisingly elephant poop is rather clean. It doesnt smell and it is solid. We finished the poop scooping early so we grabbed a bundle of bananas and got to walk around the park feeding some of the elephants. Our afternoon job was to collect bananas. Around 4pm we bathed the elephants and watched the baby elephant play in the water. Every night a group of women from the local town come to the park to domassages. So I decided I would get an hour thai nody massage. 200 baht was about $7 NZD. So cheap!

Day 6

Today we helped out in the elephant kitchen. Even though all the produce come from organic farms, they dont want to risk the elephants eating pumpkins and fruit that have pesticides on it. So we have to wash all the pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers before we cut them up. We need about 30 buckets full of food. After the washing, we have to peel 3 buckets of bananas, mash them up, add corn, tamarins and rice flour. Then we roll them into balls. These banana balls are for the elderly elephants that no longer have teeth to chew the harder food. After the kitchen, we fed the elephants again. Right now, thailand is in the rainy season which means sporadic monsoons. We got to experience this in the afternoon so our job or bulding stone walls was postponed. Instead we sat in the kitchen and peeled tamarins. Not fun. Its like peeling a seed out of a case covered with caramel and toffee. Super sticky and messy.

Day 7 and 8

Today and tomorrow we get to choose between working in the elephant kitchen or picking up poop. I actually chose to pick up poop both days. I want to be outside in the warm weather as long as possible because I will be returning to winter in NZ. Plus, I get to see the baby elephant. These are our last working days so the mood was a bit relaxed. We took a big group picture and also played in the mud. We had to make a mud pit for the elephants so naturally in turned into a big mud fight. In the afternoon, we went across the riverbank to pick lychees. A thai fruit that is very delicious. Since we are leaving the park the next day, I treated myself to another massage :)

Day 9

My flight back to NZ was a great one. The plane did not have a lot of people flying and since it was a red eye, I was able to have 3 seats to myself to lay down on and sleep. I slept for 8 hours and felt refreshed once I landed. I learned a lot from this trip and I am going to pass on my knowledge to those in my life. In 1900 there were 100,000 elephants in the wild in thailand. Today, there are 1600 domesticated elephants and only 500 in the wild. I will never go to a circus again nor will I take my children to a circus. I hope that I can continue to support the goals of the ENP from wherever I am in this world by spreading awareness of the abuse these beautiful animals are enduring.

Elephants in Thailand

capecodkiwi — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:17:00 GMT

Before I write about my volunteer duties at the Elephant Nature Park, I'd like to explain the history behind the park and how these elephants came to be here. ENP is a safe haven for elephants who have been rescued from a lifetime of hard labor ( illegal logging) and or excessive abuse. Lek Chailert grew up around elephants and developed a strong bond with them that she created the park to not only rescue abused elephants but to also raise awareness of the cruelty that goes on with these beautiful creatures all around the world.

Elephants are wild animals, just like lions, and can be equally as dangerous to humans. So how do you domesticate a wild animal and make it obey a human? The answer is the Phajaan Process. It follows the belief that one can seperate the spirit from the body , driving out its willful wild spirit thus leaving it under the control of its handler, or Mahout. this seperation of spirit is really code for torturing the elephant until it is so fearful of humans that it will do anything to not feel fear and pain anymore. before any elehant can be trained, it must be abused to the point whre it will listen to its mahout and follow commands.

"Phajaan process starts with the seperation of a nursing baby elephant from it's mother, a highly traumatic experience which straight away instills fear in to the baby. The baby is then locked into a crush pen where they are unable to move, sit or lay down, and it's here that the true torture begins...Chained over the next 3-7 days the elephant is deprived of it's basic needs of food, water and sleep. Mahouts and groups of villagers take it in turns to systematically beat the elephant, often using primitive instruments such as bamboo sticks with metal nails embedded in the ends. Knives, hot irons and bull hooks - wooden sticks with curved, sharp metal blades - are used to slice, burn and stab the baby elephant, ripping at it's ears, face and torso until it is a bloodied mess and in a state of constant pain and terror. The most sensitive parts of the body are targeting with the intended result to be the creation of as much pain as possible. The Phajaan process only ends once they consider the elephant's spirit to be successfully banished.Many baby elephants die during this process.. After the initial Phajaan process, elephants can then begin their 'training', being taught tricks to perform through intimidation and reinforcement through abuse. The carrying of bull hooks by mahouts is solely to remind these highly intelligent creatures that pain is just a short step away should they misbehave."

All elephants in tourist camps and travelling circuses have gone through some version of the Phajaan. How else do you think these elephants dance and perform for you?

My favorite elephant at the park was an elephant named Mae Jokia. She was a working elephant in the logging industry. While working, she miscarried and her baby fell down the side of the cliff. Unable to check to see if her baby was dead or alive, she underwent a deep depression and stopped working. Her mahout did not like this so he continually stabbed her in both or her eyes to force her to work. This resulted her to be blind in one eye and she lost the other eye. Lek found out about this blind elephant and rescued her from future abuse. Jokia was the second elephant to be rescued and sent to live at the park.

The last thing I want to convey in this message is this: DO NOT BRING YOUR KIDS TO THE CIRCUS! All elephants in these travelling circuses have been abused in order for them to obey their handlers. Ringling brothers circus is included in this. they use bullhooks with their elephants.. If you go, you are condoning and supporting this animal abuse.

Photos: Chang Mai, Thailand

capecodkiwi — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:30:00 GMT

Elephant Nature Park

Photos: Wellington/ waitomo glow worm cave

capecodkiwi — Sun, 3 Mar 2013 15:51:00 GMT

living like a kiwi in the capital

Levin-Farm Life, Dec 2012

capecodkiwi — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:32:00 GMT

one of the things i wanted to try here in NZ was WWOOF'ing....Willing Workers On Organic Farms. as a worker, the hosts would give me accomodation and food in exchange of 4-5 hours of work a day. even though i would not be getting paid, the time that i stayed on the farm would allow me to save money by not staying in backpackers and buying my own food. So I found a listing on the wwoof website for help on a blueberry orchard in Levin. Levin is a small town about 90 minutes north of Wellington. I knew that living on a farm in the middle of nowhere would take some getting use to and it is way outside of my comfort zone but i am all about trying new things while travelling so i kept an open mind. Josef and Maggie are an older German Couple that moved to NZ 7 years ago with their daughter. They bought the run down blueberry farm, some alpacas and sheep and after 2 years of maintenance, they were able to start harvesting blueberries. i would like to say that these berries are grown 100% organically. they dont use any weed killers or pesticides in the harvesting of the berries and this is one of the reasons why i wanted to work on this farm. i wanted to live an organic vegetarian life. when i arrived on the farm, i was the only wwoofer that they had to help them out. upon my arrival, we agreed that i would stay Nov 23-Dec 23, work 6 hours a day around the farm and would help Josef out at the underground market on Saturdays and Sundays. Maggie is a milliner and makes unique 1920's style hats from the sheep and alpaca wool. saturday morning, jo and i would leave at 4:30am to head to wellington, set up our stall and sell the hats from 10am-4pm. then we would drive back to Levin, just to return Sunday morning. the weekend shifts consisted of 12 hours of work so in return, i was allowed 2 days off during the week to myself. the first day of farm work was exhausting. there are approx 1000 blueberry trees/bushes and my job was to start weeding around them. if the grass seeds got on the blueberries, they would not be able to sell them. so it was my job to make sure that the ground around the bushes were clear. i scooted along from tree to tree weeding and pulling a wheel barrel behind me. a few times a day, the golden retriever farm dog Tess would visit me for her daily lovings and sometimes she sat with me as i worked. The summer season was fast approaching and i could feel it in the increasing temperatures. every day i listened to my ipod while i worked and one day i decided to listen to xmas music since the holidays were only a few weeks away. listening to "let it snow" in 75 degree sunshine just didnt feel right and the xmas music quickly turned into Beatles for the remainder of my time. one day the weather was rainy and the ground was wet so naturally i was miserable crawling along in the soaked grass. i tried to change my mood but every tiime my head hit the branches above me, water fell on my head and got me even more wet and even more miserable. but half way through the row, i found a birds nest with 3 baby birds snuggled together waiting for their mother. this instantly put a smile on my face aand warmed my heart. all it took was this little bundle of cuteness to make my rainy day full of sunshine! it took me 5 days to complete the 1000 bushes and with my body being shattered and bruised, i embraced the weekend market away from the farm. working the market was fun. i got to interact with customers and try on hats all day long. jo and i would take turns with breaks and we made a great selling team. since wellington is where i would like to end up in the longer term, i told jo i would still help him out a few hours on the market so he could take a lunch break and walk around.

a few things that i have learned while being here: alpaca are very shy animals and sheep are very dumb. but i still couldnt help being nervous everytime i walked through their pasture and all of their eyes were on me as if they were planning to stampede! quite a few times i got to help move the sheep into new pastures and that was fun. i also got to shear a sheep! that was a little nerve racking but really cool. one day we had to seperate the 3 males from the rest and i noticed that they were keeping 4 baby lambs seperated as well. when i asked why they werent with the mothers, jo told me they sold the babies and they were being sent to the slaughterhouse. hearing the baby lambs cry out to their mothers on the other side of the fence broke my heart. even though jo and maggie are vegetarians, they still need to make money when the blueberry season is over so as a result, they sell the baby lambs. i have decided that since i have been living vegetarian for the past 4 weeks, i am going to try to keep up with it. i know it is going to be hard, especially since the smell of bacon is absolutely heavenly, but this is one change in my life that i would like to continue for health purposes.

another thing i learned here on the farm is that when alpaca poo, they do so in the same spot every time, thus creating a "toilet". my job one day was to find all the alpaca toilets and clean them. yup! THATS RIGHT! I took a shovel and the wheel barrel and scooped it all up and chucked it into the compost. alpaca poo is very good fertilizer.

i thought farm life would be difficult and even though i am not planning on going from a city girl to a country bumpkin, i actually enjoyed my time here. josef and maggie are wonderful people and i am so pleased to have met them. i have learned alot from them and i hope to stay in contact even after i leave. all this hard work was a great experience and getting my hands dirty was fun. but i am here on holiday after all, and with the holidays approaching, I am ready to hang up my working clothes and have a little fun. all work and no play makes for a dull holiday so bring on New Years!

Photos: Levin-Farm Life

capecodkiwi — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:20:00 GMT

WWOOF-Blueberry farm

Taupo and Tongariro Crossing

capecodkiwi — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:35:00 GMT

My reason for coming to Taupo was to complete the Tongariro Crossing; A 19km (11.8mile), 6-8 hour crossing up the side of an active volcano, Mount Tongariro. For anyone who is a Lord of the rings fan, this is the mountain "Mount Doom" filmed in the movies. This volcano is also the one that my lovely cousin April pointed out to me that erupted the begginning of August 2012, right before I departed ;) Anyways, This type of hike requires a certain level of fitness, something that I do not have....or at least I tought. I have never done something like this before and the day the days leading up to it had my stomach in knots. am I fit enough? will i cramp up half way? I met a german girl, Katia, at my hostel and she and I decided to do the track together. I knew if i had someone with me to talk to the hike wouldnt be so bad. The shuttle bus picked us up at 6am and we arrived at the Tongariro National park ay 7:30am. Dressed in 4 layers because of the high altitude level and the current snow conditions, we were off. the first hour was easy. it was a straight walk along a boardwalk leading up to the base of the mountain. once at the mountain, the second hour, lead us up "devils staircase". a full hour climbing up stairs and hiking up uneven dirt and gravel paths. I had to stop a few times to catch my breath but surprisingly it only took a minute for my breathing to return to normal. this is a huge accomplishment from when i first arrived. At the top of the staircase and the hill, we now were between the 2 mountains (volcanoes). up ahead it is a straight walk but the ground is snowy and icy. i have great boots so im thinking "piece of cake". wrong!! every step in the snow, my leg went deeper and deeper down. my boots were filled with ice and my legs were burning. the snowy trail seemed to never get any better and seemed to never end. and when we got to the end, we had to climb up the side of the mountain that was still covered with ice and snow. there was mud everywhere! The higher we got up the mountain, the colder the temperatures got. the wind whipped across the peaks bringing with is the cold temps from the newly fallen snow. The wind was so strong that it took all of my strength to not fall over. Not only did the wind pick up, the temps drop, but the oxygen levels decreased. With every breath, i could feel my lungs burning. not to mention my legs!! we continued in this way for another 90 mins. once we reached the top, it was like i was on top of the world! the most beautiful panorama i have ever seen. we sat and ate lunch for 15 mins and continued down to the other side. going down was just as difficult as going up. it was nothing but sand...we slid down the entire way, falling left and right. an absolute disaster! but the journey still doesnt end there. up ahead, there was another long open path covered in snow. once again, we fell through knee deep snow the entire way! boy, did that take alot of my energy. and to make it worse, we had to climb up the side of another icy snowy muddy mountain. BUT we did it! after we reasched the top of that, it was a steady downhill decent for 2 hours. that killed my legs more than going up hill. the pressure on my joints, knees and hips were excruciating. but we muttled through. when we finished, 6 hours later, i was filled with so much emotion! I DID IT! I am so proud of myself that I completed such a difficult track and felt great after! my legs stiffened up a bit but i think i am in better shape than i give myself credit for. When i saw the car park, i teared up a bit. I have accomplished so much on my trip here and I am experiencing so many things i never thought i would in life. I knw this trip is going to change me for the better...I can already feel it happening. My motto has been : Go Big or Go Home! iI am not going to shy away from something because i am scared..obviously i am in NZ travelling alone. I am a nomad..i have no place to call my home. AND right now, I am OK with that :)

Photos: Taupo and Tongariro Crossing

capecodkiwi — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:10:00 GMT

Rotorua

capecodkiwi — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:00:00 GMT

After a week of R&R In aukland at Mel's house, I ocntinued on my journey to Rotorua, "the sulfur city". It is named so because the city lies on top of the most violent segment of the Taupo Volcanic Zone and the air smells of rotten eggs. in many parrts of this area the earth bubbles, boils, spits and oozes and the smell of hydrogen sulfide hangs in the air. The smell at first was unbearable and i cant say that i completely got use to it but by the end of my stay, it wasnt as strong as first arrival. on my first day, i went to the Waiotapu and Waimangu scenic parks. At Waiotapu, i saw LADY knox geyser, which erupts every day at 10:15am. I have never seen a geyser before and i was really excited about it until i found out that the park rangers pour stuff down the hole to make it erupt. it does erupt on its own but the timing is unpredictable and can be anywhere between 12 and 72 hours. afer the eruption, i was also disappointed with the height and how long it lasted; maybe about 1 min. the waiotapu park was interesting. all around were mud pools bubbling, and thermal lakes and rivers bubbling with tiny beads of carbon dioxide. Waimangu park consisted of about the same thing. When Mt. Tarawera erupted in 1886 it formed a volcanic valley. this is considered the worlds newest thermal activity areas with bubbling springs, an inferno crater and steaming cliffs. both parks were interesting but im not 100% happy i spent the money to go. great experience but wouldnt do it again. and i think if i was asked by another tourist i would not recommend it. On my second day, i took a skyline cable car ride, also not worth the money. the views were mediocre and the hiking trails were nothing great to look at. instead of taking the bus ride back to the center, i decided to walk the 5km. I went straight t the polynesian spa to relax. this is a naturally heated spa and is consdered the worlds best spas of its kind. there are mineral baths good for exfoliation and muscle ten sion. the pools range between 37-42 degrees C. I soaked for 90 mins and headed back to my hostel. I am headed to Taupo tomorrow to do an 11km 6 hour hike on the Tongariro crossing. Im hoping i will survive.

Photos: Rotorua

capecodkiwi — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:56:00 GMT

Doubtful Sound

capecodkiwi — Tue, 9 Oct 2012 14:17:00 GMT

The last leg of my South Island tour ends with an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. Located in the heart of the Fiordland National Park, it is the second largest of the 14 fiords found here. The taxi picked me up at my hostel at 8:30am. I then had to take a 2 hour bus ride to the area known as Fiordland. There, we hopped on a water taxi for an hour boat ride to the National Park. Once we arrived in the national park, it was then another 45 minute bus ride through the rain forest before I could hop on the overnight vessel, The Fiordland Navigator. The boat embarked on its journey around 2:30pm. Once on the boat, we were instantly greeted with warm muffins and hot tea/coffee/cocoa. The boat ride down the sound was a pleasant one, although when taking pictures from the outside deck, the wind at times was unbearable. On either side of the vessel were massive waterfalls and a diversity of wildlife. At the end of the sound ( or the entrance that connects the sound to the Tasman Sea) was a seal colony, where we saw pups playing all along the rocks. We then turned back around into the sound so that we may start our water activities. This included kayaking or a small boat ride exploring the nature around. I chose to Kayak. The only time i have ever kayaked was when i went to Australia and it was a 2 person kayak. This one, I was on my own. I had no idea what I was doing. The wind was so strong that the guide had to attach my kayak to his and tow me to the meeting point where the other kayakers were. I just couldnt win with the wind..my hands kept dunking in the water, the water fell off the paddles all over me to the point where my pants were soaked! Just as i thought i was getting the hang of it, i lost my mojo and started to veer off in the wrong direction. I have to say though that i was not dragging on the end of the line.. I was paddling along somewhere in the middle of everyone. We stayed along the coastline to avoid the wind but it was inevitable...I had to kayak to open water to return to the boat. I paddled, and paddled and that damn boat never got any bigger! I felt like a sitting duck. I wasnt moving. I was so frustrated and with my upper body burning I wished i never got in that damn kayak. BUT I made it! Still not the last one. Of course after I was safe and warm on the boat, I did not regret the decision to kayak but i certainly was glad to be out of my wet clothes. when we got on the boat, we had warm soup and rolls waiting for us. I sat down with 2 older women who were on a girls weekend away. we played trivial pursuit for a few hours and then dinner was served. The gourmet buffet was delicious! It had carved roast beef, pork, salmon, mussels, 4 types of salad, roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes and heeps of other yummy things. AND of course the dessert was out of this world. I tried a bit of everything! Everyone on the boat went to bed around 10:30 and I certainly was glad that I did. The engine turned on at 6:30am and there was no sleeping through that noise! Granted, I was sleeping down on the bottom floor where when I looked out my window I was eye level with the water. So naturally it would be louder down there but breakfast was being served at 7 so I needed to get up regardless. Another gourmet breakfast before we headed back to the dock. Along the way, 2 juvenile bottle nosed dolphins swam along side our boat, jumping and playing in our wake. It was amazing!! My favoite part of this trip was not the dolphin encounter, however. It was the "Sound of Silence." The captain brough the boat into a cove where he shut off the engine and asked us all to sit in silence for 5 minutes so that we could truly appreciate nature. I found a seat at the front of the boat, I closed my eyes, i closed my mind, and I listened. All around me I heard waterfalls...I heard birds singing....I heard the trees blowing in the wind. When I opened my eyes, I saw the sun rise over the mountains, illuminating every color green that the rainforest could offer. Pictures alone could never capture the wonders that I experienced in that very moment. As the motors turned on and the boat turned around, all i could think about was how i was not ready to end the journey. But all journeys must come to an end. Sofie and I parted ways right before I left for Doubtful Sound. She was headed up to another Fiord, Milford Sound, and I am heading to the North Island. I was sad to see my travel partner leave but it was inevitable. She is only in NZ for another 2 weeks before sehe returns to Belgium. We exchanged contact information and I hope we can stay in touch. As for me, I am ready to travel northward....first stop: Aukland.

Photos: Doubtful Sound

capecodkiwi — Tue, 9 Oct 2012 14:11:00 GMT

Overnight cruise and Kayaking on Doubtful Sound

Nelson and the Fox Glacier

capecodkiwi — Sat, 6 Oct 2012 08:48:00 GMT

Sofie and I left Picton early Sunday morning to go to Nelson. We realized that our journeys were going in the same direction so we decided to travel a bit together. When we arrived in Nelson, we checked into our hostel early afternoon and walked around town. The last few towns that i had been to were rather small and did not have much going on. Nelson was the opposite. There were tons of shops and restaurants and bars all around our hostel. so we decided to stay for 3 nights instead of 2. The first thing we wanted to do was go on another hike through Abel Tasman National Park. After our 10.5km walked on the Queen Charlotte Track, we decided to up the distance to 12km on the Abel Tasman. So far, we have lucked out with the weather for our hikes. Once again, the weather was sunny and warm and beautiful. It was an hour bus ride to the water taxi and then another 30 min water taxi ride to the start of the track. The taxi dropped us off on a beach with crystal clear water and golden sand. The beach bum in me wanted to just sit my ass down and sunbathe for the 6 hours BUT i did not travel around the world to sunbathe. so we started walking. the track wasnt very difficult and was more carved out than the Queen Charlotte. You could tell more visitors walk this track than the other. Even though the beach was gorgeous, my only complaint was that there was not many lookout points to stop and take pictures. we wrre in the rainforest and undercover for most of the walk. one part of the track that opens up onto the beach was Torrent Bay. We sat here for 30 mins to eat our lunch. Torrent Bay has an inter4esting history. The Abel Tasman became a national park in 1942. before that, it was open land that the government owned. the government surveyed the land and didnt think it had much worth so it sold off some property for dirt cheap money. locals bought the land and built houses on it. there are only approx 20 houses on this beach. when the government turned the Abel Tasman into a national park, they stopped all building rights so no more homes could be built. Today, the smallest house on that beach, probably a 1 BR hut, it worth over $1 million dollars. Now, there are even bigger homes on this beach so i could not imagine what they would be worth today! Can you imagine...builing a house 60 years ago for little to no money and finding out that your home today is worth $1 million +...that is crazy!! there are obviously no roads and no supermarkets here so any one that does live on this island has to take a boat ride into the local town to get groceries. however, most of these homes today are just holiday homes. Anyways, it took Sofie and I 5 hours to walk the 12km so with a little over an hour to spare, we layed in the sand and took a nap. My feet were bladly blistered after this walk and werent completely healed from the Queen Charlotte track but to say I hiked some of the most beautiful tracks in the world, the blisters were worth it.

The next day, we were off to the town of Franz Josef so we could take a Glacier Hike. Franz Josef is located about mid way down the western coast of NZ. The bus ride was a long 8 hours but we stopped a few times along the way to get breakfast and lunch. once we arrived at our hostel, it was pouring rain and the temperatures were about 20 degrees colder than in the north. We found out that the next day was the only day it wasnt going to rain so we immediately booked our glacier hike. That night, we sat in the common room with a group of girls from Canada and watched Lord of the Rings. One of our flat mates, Kevin, was taking the glacier hike as well and offered to drive us to the pick up point, saving us the $30 shuttle ride. The 3 of us were a team and walked the glacier together, taking pictures and laughing the entire time. I wore 4 layers of clothing and 2 layers of socks expecting the atmosphere at the glacier to be cold and i sweated the entire time. the sun was out once again and the glacier was beautiful! we walked to it and on it for 2 hours, exploring caves and even drinking glacial water. this trip was amazing and by far my favorite thing i have done so far while being here. this half day trip had us back in our hostel in time for free homemade vegetable sou. our last night in Franz Josef, we decided to finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the common room and went to bed. Our bus the next morning left at 7am to Queenstown, another 8 hour bus ride south.

Photos: Nelson and Fox Glacier

capecodkiwi — Sat, 6 Oct 2012 08:46:00 GMT

Kaikoura and Picton

capecodkiwi — Mon, 1 Oct 2012 12:42:00 GMT

I arrived in Kaikoura, a small coastal town north of Christchurch, early in the afternoon. It was too late to go on the Sperm whale Whale watch so i decided to take a hike around the peninsula. It was suppose to take 3.5 hours but I got lost somehow and it took me 4.5...not to mention it started raining. I was tired and pissed but after finding the main road I was able to make it back to my hostel. On the next day i had booked a whale watch to see a sperm whale. yes, all whale watches are pretty much the same but i have never seen a sperm whale before so I paid the heavy fare to do it. It wasnt worth the money..the sperm whale, only 1, just sat on top of the water for 10 mins, dove for 20 mins, then sat again. It was quite boring. But at least it was a nice day to be on the water.

The next day I left for Picton. I arrived at a very cute backpackers that not only served us breakfast in the morning but also served us homemade chocolate pudding and cake every night. Yum!! 2 of my flat mates were from the U.S...one from texas and the other from Cali. With me being from Boston, we practically covered the American country. I met a very nice girl from Belgium, Sofie, while eating pudding. we were talking about walking the queen charlotte track. This track is one of the most famous hikes in all of new zealand and it takes a 2 hour boat ride just to get to the island. The entire track is 71km long (~41 miles). we decided to do the first part which was 10.5 km (6miles). I am really glad that we took the hike together because there were not many people on the track and it would have been lonely doing it by myself. It was a beautiful day for a hike, not too warm and not too cold. AND the sun was shining. The area was gorgeous. After the hike, we sat in the common room, ate some dinner and prepared for our trip to Nelson. She also was headed to Nelson so we traveled together and got a hostel together. We are planning on doing another 6 mile hike along Abel Tasmen National Park.

Photos: Kaikoura and Picton

capecodkiwi — Mon, 1 Oct 2012 12:01:00 GMT

Photos: Christchurch and Akaroa

capecodkiwi — Mon, 1 Oct 2012 12:01:00 GMT