Adventures in Flying by the Seat of my Pants

The End is Nigh

lprovorny — Sat, 28 May 2011 13:23:00 GMT

So I just realized it's been almost a million years since I've written anything. Last time I sat down to type out a post I was WWOOFing at a backpackers in Franz Josef trying to figure out where all my money went and how I could possibly generate more. Well... since then, I spent quite a while back in Invercargill. I was supposed to stay for only a short while, but then considered, quite seriously, the possibility of staying there - not only until my flight, but changing my ticket and staying there until my visa expired, and possibly even longer.

A short adventure through the Catlins was ordered to try and clear my senses and decide what the best possible outcome would be: for me to go back north and then home to the States? Or back to Invercargill, getting a job, staying in the country and skipping grad school. The *sensible* decision was to go back home, and that home is in America (at least for the time being), and so now I'm traveling north along the East Coast, trying to fit in as many stops along my way back to Auckland, but not really seeing anything because a big part of me is sure that I'm making a mistake.

There are a few places I've intentionally chosen not to visit, partially because I think they'd be better seen with someone else and partially because it means I'll just have to come back to New Zealand again.

Photos: Franz Josef

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:33:00 GMT

Photos: Haast

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:27:00 GMT

Photos: Wanaka

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:24:00 GMT

Photos: Milford Sound

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 12:09:00 GMT

Photos: Queenstown

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 10:16:00 GMT

Photos: Catlins

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 09:58:00 GMT

Photos: Dunedin

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 09:44:00 GMT

Photos: Otago Penninsula

lprovorny — Mon, 2 May 2011 09:23:00 GMT

To the Glaciers!

lprovorny — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:14:00 GMT

Well, my visit to Stewart Island was a bit of a bust; it was cold, rainy and grey and barely anyone left the hostel. Several movies were viewed and books read, and only a bit of walking done. The hostel only had a bed available for two nights, so really I didn't give Stewart Island a fair chance, but because of everything I was expecting and hoping to see, it was obviously a bit disappointing. I really, really wanted to see a kiwi in the wild and the Aurora Australius, but I didn't see either. Overall, it was a bit of an expensive detour. Oh well, on the other hand, I managed to get a ride from a Couch Surfing host from Invercargill to Queenstown. So while Stewart Island was a letdown, I was able to get further along in my travels pretty effortlessly.

So... a ride to Queenstown, which has beautiful scenery, fantastic mountain views, and oddly, lots of roses and sequoias. I ended up sticking around for a few days, one of those days I went to Milford Sound, a trip I almost missed by a seven minutes.

My bus was scheduled to pick me up right outside the hostel at 7:20am and I rolled over to look at my watch at 7:27am, the same instance I bolted out of bed, trying to grab as much as I possibly could and sprinted barefoot out the door and across the gravel and lawn to the bus stop. I forgot my jeans, I might have had only one boot in hand, and I didn't have my keys. So I ran back, tried to get more, ran back, got dressed to the best of my ability on the footpath and asked the woman standing over me if she had seen a bus pass by in the time she had been waiting for her own ride. Luckily, she was actually waiting for the same bus, had been standing there since about 7:10am, and the bus was running late. Phew, close call and I think I didn't drop too many things in between the stop and the hostel. That was actually the most exciting thing about the day, I mean, the road to Milford is stunning, and it only gets more beautiful with rain, but Milford Sound itself? Well, I didn't really know what to expect, but I had been told that it is the most beautiful place in the world, and I think that there were stops along the road that were far more beautiful than the Sound. But whatevs, to each their own.

From Queenstown I worked my way north along the West Coast to Franz Josef, one of the two famous glaciers. I've been here for a week, working two hours a day in exchange for free accommodations, which has been pretty great - not the working so much as the free bed and beautiful surroundings. It costs a billiondy dollars to actually walk on the glaciers, but there are some fantastic walks around and to the terminal moraine that are well worth the walk uphill.

The plan from here is to travel around for almost two weeks, then head back down to Invercargill where I may be getting a job with GreenPeace and then figure out if I'm still departing New Zealand on June 7th or changing my ticket to a later date. If I do change it, then I might also be changing it for a longer stay in Fiji before returning to the States. As usual, everything is undecided.

Life in the Roaring 40's

lprovorny — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:14:00 GMT

So the South Island has been a weather roller coaster; my arrival in Dunedin was a greeting of gloomy grey skies, unpredictable rain showers and chilling winds. Felt a bit like begin back in Chicago except for all the Edwardian architecture and mercilessly steep hills.

One thing I had been warned about, but hadn't actually processed, was that home in Dunedin - specifically student homes - are pretty much just walls with ceilings. High ceilings, huge rooms, but zero insulation. It ends up being colder inside than out and the best spot in any home is right in front of the fire. I slept with several layers, in my sleeping bag, with a blanket on top in front of the fire, and I was still freezing.

Luckily, the Otago Peninsula is pretty close by and other than by car, is easy to get to with a wee bit of ingenuity. It is also probably one of the most beautiful places I've seen so far. There's an albatross sanctuary at the point of the peninsula, which is their only mainland breeding ground and you can see these massive adults soaring overhead and the winds start to pick up and become more like gales. Over the side of the cliff, you see the deep, rich blue green Pacific crashing onto the rocks and immense seaweed clinging to the rocks and dancing in the current. It's amazing.

Other than the coastline and the albatrosses, the peninsula is also home to the endangered yellow-eyed penguins and a small town called Portabella. I love the fact that there's a place sharing a name with a delicious mushroom. And the adult penguins were mostly at the end of the moulting season, so most of them were just hanging out near their territory, for easy viewing from a good distance. The seals sharing the land with the penguins didn't seem to care whether there were humans around or not, and continued their sunbathing unperturbed by us.

Upon leaving Dunedin, I headed south through the Catlins, a rural, scenic area known for it's unusual landscape and marine life. If you're ever passing through the Catlins (and you should), one reason to visit Owaka (other than it's one of the few places to refuel and pick up groceries) is to admire the bizarre that is TEAPOTLAND. An entire lot covered in teapots of varying sizes, styles and colors to create a very strange landscape and attraction. Don't worry, I took plenty of photos, and once I can connect my computer to the internet, I will post them all!

I decided to stay a bit longer than planned in Porpoise/Curio Bay, which is stunning, also has yellow-eyed penguins, a variety of seal species and hector dolphins. At low tide, the world's oldest petrified forest is revealed from beneath the Pacific waves as are small pools in the rocks which have some of the strangest ecosystems I've ever seen. Humongous seaweed that's so thick that it feels like it's made out of leather. Pink seaweed that look like a cross between sea urchins and carnations. Gastropods out the wazzoo and other things that I hope are visible in my photos.

As of yesterday morning I've been staying in Ivercargill, which really has nothing to offer other than it's proximity to the Catlins and Stewart Island, which is where I'm heading to tomorrow. After that... I think it's the West Coast with Milford Sound and the glaciers.

Photos: Wellington

lprovorny — Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:49:00 GMT

Photos: Hastings

lprovorny — Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:31:00 GMT

Well... I never really got into Hastings very often, but the vineyard I stayed on was quite beautiful.

North Island highlights

lprovorny — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:15:00 GMT

Well, I've been in New Zealand for about a month and a half now and I'm sitting in Wellington's 'Wild at Heart' airport waiting for my flight to Dunedin. Winter may be approaching, but I'm ready to take this adventure to the South Island. As I look back on my time in the North, I thought it would be a good time to reminisce on some of my personal highlights that might not have made it to the blog posts:

- Eating at three exclusively vegan restaurants, the first of which I discovered is run by the Supreme Master cult.

- Hanging out with the hens while doing weeding and felling bamboo in Hamilton

- Checking out the Riff Raff statue in Hamilton

- Seeing an exhibition about Dr. Seuss and original prints from the Lorax in Hamilton!

- Finding out there's a vegan "milk" chocolate bar available in Australia and NZ.

- While trying to locate the first Mormon temple in the South Pacific, stumbling upon a vegan buffet in downtown Hamilton!

- The canoe races at the Ngurawahia marae where it was confirmed that two out of three* pre-teens stated that they believed I was 16yrs. old. (*The third believed I was 15yrs. old)

- Being approached by a kea at a kiwi house to be petted.

- Watching an amazing amount of monarch butterflies go through their chrysalis at a vegetarian/vegan vineyard outside of Hastings.

- Hanging out with the best dog in the world who may or may not be named after Emile Zola.

- Seeing Saturn at the Carter observatory in Wellington and learning how to spot the Southern Cross to figure out where cardinal south is.

- Domestic air travel in New Zealand: soooo unbelievably easy it makes me weep for the flights I'll have to take in the States when I get back.

Photos: Waitomo and other Touristy spots

lprovorny — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:07:00 GMT

Photos: Waikato Region

lprovorny — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:29:00 GMT

This includes Hamilton, Raglan and Ngaruawhia

Leaving Roto Vegas

lprovorny — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:53:00 GMT

Okeh, so yesterday I was really frustrated; I felt like I was visiting a place that was so geared towards nothing but tourism, is aptly compared to Las Vegas and there isn't much opportunity to do anything authentic without driving miles and miles outside of the city. Rotorua isn't bright, loud or particularly glitzy in the way Las Vegas is, but it is littered with gift shops - not just on every corner, but sometimes three or four to a block - it takes ages to walk anywhere outside of the immediate downtown area and along those roads, the scenery changes from gift shops to motels and hotels. Walking down the main street to try and see the Whaka felt just like wandering around Vegas only instead of it being hot and gross out and in search of vegan donuts, it was rain and gross and I was in search of a cultural experience that had long since been stripped of it's authenticity. I turned around, walked the 2kms back to my hostel in wet shoes to sulk. I ended up talking to another guest who told me that when they went to the Whaka, they felt like it was nothing more than a performance for tourists. While this reassured me that I had missed out in a rare peek into real Maori culture, there was still the question of what could I do with the rest of my time. I didn't think sitting around the hostel all day sounded very appealing or well spent, so after the rain cleared up my plan was to find something interesting and possibly free. I wandered over to the west side of town, past the lake (which is much more appealing when it isn't about to rain) and over to a geothermal park. The mud pools had been diluted because of the rain, but they were still churning and bubbling like culdrons and the steam coming off the was pretty intense; I think all of my photos look like I was in the middle of clouds or visiting the surface of another planet. But th best thing, the absolutely best thing after all the tremendously awesome steamy, bubbly pools was the jungle gym on the playground. I don't normally travel places in order to visit playgrounds or wax poetically about their features, but this was truely amazing and auhenically Kiwi. It was a simple structure of two tall poles and a series of crisscrossing cables secured to the ground forming the shape of a large tent, but with a climbable interior. I really, really wanted to spend all day climbing it, but as I was not in the company of a child, I thought some of the children's parents might be weirded out by some strange adult hanging around their kids. I hung out in a small corner of it for a little while, as far away from he kids as I thought would make me look less like a weirdo, but eventually I decided to move on, leaving most of the gym unclimbed. If I ever pass through here again, I'm going to make to the top of the tallest pole on that jungle gym!

What happens in Roto Vegas stays here

lprovorny — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:13:00 GMT

So I've made a mid-year resolution: I am giving up all tourist attractions and tourist traps. When I went to Waitomo Cave, I felt that that yes, it's beautiful, but very expensive, contrived and the experience is limited. It's all geared towards the gift shop and, that's really somehing I have mo interest in. In passing through Rotorua, I had hoped that the local Maori culture and geothermal activity would somehow feel authentic even if there are tons of tourists and is pricey. Instead, it all feels very phoney and boring and I really can't wait to leave.

Photos: Northland

lprovorny — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:33:00 GMT

Once more with feeling

lprovorny — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:41:00 GMT

Okeh, so my last update was a bit hectic and to be honest, I have no idea what I wrote. I could go back and read it, but frankly, I'm lazy and it would be much easier to do one big update, even if it means repeating myself a little bit.

So... I arrived in Auckland two weeks ago. It's nothing exciting, just another city, loud, crowded, touristy and very, very pricey. My first hostel was horrendous - the rooms were windowless, the air was stale, the staff was rude and it projected the feeling far too similar to living in a freshman dorm. Or maybe a bit more like a frat house, I can't be sure as I never lived in a frat house, but it was really a miserable start to New Zealand. I spent one night there and then found another hostel around the corner that had rooms with windows. The first hostel refused to refund me for the other nights I had booked saying that it was too short notice and that I must have knowingly booked such a terrible hostel despite their online reviews.

After making arrangements to get out of Auckland (which really should be done as quickly as one possibly can), I stayed for another two nights and then headed north up to Kaitia, the largest city in the Northland region. From there, I went to Gentle World to WWOOF for a few days. It was really nice to be such a drastically different area than Auckland, and to have someone make fresh, raw chocolate for you, you know, as a learning experience. It was pretty rainy while I was there, but the first night, I did step out of my caravan in the middle of the night and got to check out the night sky. It was by far, the most stars I have ever seen in my life. Hands down. And, it was only a small section of the sky that was visible due to the clouds. Still, it was spectacular.

My caravan-mate and I decided to leave the WWOOF after a couple of days because they needed to make space for a family coming to WWOOF shortly after our departure. We went up to Cape Reinga, then headed back down south through Paihia where we stayed for two nights so that we could do the only really interesting thing Paihia has to offer: skydiving. The company we went with does the highest drop in the country (16,000 ft), and it was pretty unbelievable. I had refused to let myself thing about it until I was up in the plane for fear of talking myself out of it. Luckily, it was so freezing up in the atmosphere, I could remain thoroughly distracted during the ascent.

But when the door to this teeny-tiny airplane swung open, my instructor and I wiggled over to the opening and set up for the fall, that is the point at which I started thinking about what I was doing. I looked down and saw absolutely nothing between us and the ground thousands of feet below. That's when shit gets real. You don't have a chance to change your mind, the instructor just thrusts you both out and...

After Paihia, I went back down to Auckland for the night to try to figure out which direction to head in next; it seems like once you enter Auckland, nothing goes according to plan and it's nearly impossible to leave. Everything I thought I had set up in advance fell through and since getting internet access was so difficult and expensive, it was frustrating to contact WWOOF hosts only to be told that they don't have space available. I finally heard back from someone south of Auckland who had space and was able to take two WWOOFers. We've been working on her immense backyard garden, equipped with five free range chickens, two outdoor cats (one of whom looks like she could have been Nutmeg's littermate) and tiny, hidden glow worms.

Since last Thursday, I've been weeding an invasive Australian vine from the neighbor's yard, felling and trimming bamboo and hanging out with the hens and cats. Yesterday we took a day off and went west to Raglan, a surfer town on the coast. There was a bi-monthly crafts/farmers market going on near the beach, and we walked along the shore out to the bay where the Tasman Sea water is cool, but the air is hot and the sand is black. Our initial plan for the day was to then head north to a lesser known glow worm cave near the coast, but apparently no one in Raglan had heard of it or knew how to get there. It seems there are some places that are only accessible if you have your own car, which means that I might rent a car one day to get to all these little nooks that inaccessible by bus.