The Final Countdown

I'd link to a video of GOB on Arrested Development, but apparently it's been deleted. I'm actually shocked that I didn't use that as the title for this post - it would probably have made more sense to switch titles. It's funny how much someone changes the music they listen to over time - back in the middle of June, I was obsessed with the Traveling Wilburys. The last couple months though, I've listened to a lot of reggae, and most recently, OK Go, The Strokes and Nirvana.

Anyway, this will be my last post from New Zealand. I take off roughly 12 hours from now, and my packing's pretty much all set, thankfully. The flat inspection went off without a hitch (and damn well should have, compared to the state some others are in), leaving me home free. I couldn't possibly begin to wrap up my feelings and thoughts about leaving here and now - I may try to think about that on the plane from Auckland or later - because trying summarize now would be too short-sighted.

Here are two things that I know I'm going to miss. First off, jazz night on Thursdays at the Robert Burns Pub down on George St. Every Thursday, me and some friends converge on 'the Burns,' or 'the Robbie,' as it's called, to enjoy a nice pint of Monteith's Black or Emerson's Pilsner (one of NZ's best beers) and some conversation. The Pub is full of Dunedin's history - mostly from the list of owners dating back to the mid-1800s etched in the mirror above the bar, and the presence of poems written by Robbie Burns, Scottish poet, on the walls. The Quartet is fantastic, particularly the drummer, who'll make you do a double take when you see that old white guy sing just like Louis Armstrong.

The other thing? The culture of hospitality surrounding Pat, Rob and Xander's flat. I'd mentioned it before in passing, and really, it became an institution. A sunny blue sky was our Bat Signal for barbecues, and every Monday was Poker Night, where 8-16 of us got together to play some Texas Hold 'Em. Their end-of-finals barbecue was the perfect send off for the semester.

Alright, that's it for me, for now. Next up on my plate is a 5 days in paradise - also known as Pomona College. I'll try to check in from there if I can manage it between the laying around and doing nothing and the running around catching up with friends.

The Glaciers and Wanaka (Part 2)

[Note: This is part 2 of 2. Go here for part 1.]

Franz Josef glacier was just awesome. There's nothing else to say about it. What was also really awesome, though, was the valley the glacier was in - it had a ton of places to climb on, over and in. We saw glacial striations on the rocks - marks that are gouged into the rock by the moving glacier - and even two excellent outcrops (here and here) of a small fault (waterfalls/streams are great candidates for finding faults). We walked right up to the glacier itself; there were stairs going up it for the guided (read: paid) tours. After checking out the sweet river coming out from the bottom of the glacier - it struck me as something coming out of the depths of hell, albeit an icy hell - we were forced to head back by the inevitable rain.

Just a half hour drive south, we saw Fox Glacier. Once again, very, very cool. Andrew, Mary and I made the short walk out to a good lookout - no need to go right up to it, once you've seen one glacier, you've seen 'em all, right? Ha! In the picture, you can sort of make out the layers of snow and dirt going across the glacier, especially dipping in the middle where the river comes out. Nice.

That day, we drove 4 hours back to Wanaka, both because we didn't want to drive 8 hours home to Dunedin in one day, and also because it was Andrew's 21st birthday, so we wanted to be somewhere a little more amenable to fun, namely a BBQ. The drive, like all of the drives on this trip, was stunning, particularly Lake Wanaka, with its turquoise blue water. Shadowfax - Carrie's trusty steed of a Toyota Corona - was really in her element here. The hostel we had was right in town and had a grill, so we were all set. Sausages, portobellos, peppers and cucumbers - a veritable birthday feast!

The last day, Monday, we woke up to more gorgeous weather, and in Wanaka that can mean only one thing: Puzzling World! We were quite ready to be a-MAZED, so we made haste. This wonderland has two main attractions: a series of 'illusion rooms' and a huge outdoor maze, which can take up to 2 hours to finish if you try the hardest method. The illusion rooms were great - highlights included a room of scowling faces like Ghandi, Churchill, Lincoln, etc. which appear to follow you as you walk around with one eye closed, an Ames room, which makes you look alternately huge and tiny, and a tilted room where balls and water moved uphill, and you can stand 'askew,' as it were. NUTS. And yes, we did the maze (albeit with some cheating).

So, all in all, it was a magnificent trip. We drove about 1,400 km - 870 miles. The oil-guzzling, WOF-free Shadowfax handled it like a champ, and we saw some incredible stuff. Best to go out on top, I say.

Kepler and the Glaciers (Part 1)

[Note: This is part 1 of 2. Just trying to keep it readable. Find part 2 here.]

This post is long-delayed for a myriad of reasons, among them my last final (it went as expected, which is to say it was easy and stupid), post-finals celebrations, and now packing to get ready to leave in a ridiculously short 36 hours. But I'll save my thoughts on that for another post...

Anyway, the road trip I took was, without a doubt, one of the most incredible things I did in my time here, and certainly ranks near the top of my list of favorite experiences ever (right up there with - among other things - getting on TV at a Red Sox game, speaking at my middle school graduation, Thanksgivings at Zin's, and spring break '07 at Lake Tahoe).

We started early on Friday morning, and with a healthy breakfast of a mince pie and V, we were off. Our first real stop was on the Clinton-Gore Presidential Highway - no joke. The sign is located, not surprisingly, on the road between the small towns of Clinton and Gore. No, NZ doesn't have presidents, and yes, these town have been around for a long time. Surprisingly, there's not much information online about this, but one plausible explanation says that it was named this in 1999 in when Clinton came to NZ for a meeting, and that a replica lives in the presidential library in Little Rock. Who knows?

We started the Kepler track in the early afternoon, and took down the first section (14 km, ~9 mi) in four hours, which is pretty good considering the 3,200 ft vertical on that part of the trail. Like I mentioned before, the extreme alpine conditions beyond Luxmore wouldn't let us go on, but it was still spectacular. Luxmore Hut was really nice, particularly the mattresses in the bunks, and even better, the sweet cave and views 10 minutes from the hut. Good times.

The next day, we hiked back out (after probably sleeping later than anyone ever has at that hut) and let me tell you, there is not great feeling than taking your boots off after a solid hike. From there, we drove a solid 513 km, which is only 320 miles, but on country roads that are often windy, it can take some time. It was a great drive (I got to get behind the wheel - see me in the zone above) and driving along Lake Wakatipu and then the Crown Range to Wanaka was something I won't soon forget.

We got to Franz Josef that night, and pretty much immediately crashed (having survived the trip on potato salad, cheesy poofs and potato chips). The next day, Sunday, I woke up a while before everyone else, so while I was entertaining myself on the hostel's porch swing, all of a sudden Nick, a student from Bowdoin in my geology class, walks outside! Turns out he was traveling around alone, so after my genius idea of making eggs and bacon (Kiwis eat all kinds of weird bacon, so for future reference, look for 'streaky' bacon in Commonwealth countries), we all drove out to Franz Josef glacier.

Epicness

Well, I've been itching to post something about the trip to Kepler Track, the glaciers and Wanaka, but I don't have all the photos yet (I need to get some from friends), so I'll just post a few samples of what we saw now, and follow with a full post (probably) tomorrow. Also, check out the full album of what I already have to the right (or here); I also put my pictures from the trip to Qtown with Andrew into the Queenstown album.

Walking to the terminal face of Franz Josef glacier. We're about a 20 minute walk from the wall of ice, to give an idea of size.

Throwing caution to the wind.

On the drive from the West Coast to Wanaka.

Our BBQ feast for Andrew's 21st bday. I pierced the sausages too early, clearly.


And finally, us enjoying the optical illusions at Puzzling World in Wanaka. If I were smarter, I would've recorded this with my camera parallel to the floor, and not truly level. Oh well.

The Game Plan

So about a month ago, Andrew, Carrie and I decided that during finals we should do a tramp on one of NZ's Great Walks. Since I've never explained them before, briefly, they're a set of tramping tracks on the North and South Islands, managed by the Department of Conservation. Each track has well-maintained tracks and huts spaced about a day's walk from each other, meaning it actually costs quite a bit, usually $40 per hut. They have a booking system, too, to keep pressure on the tracks to a minimum, so really popular tracks like the Milford and Routeburn fill up fast. This brings us to the tramp we planned on: the Kepler Track. It was actually built in the mountains near Te Anau to alleviate pressure on the Milford and Routeburn, and is really nice - particularly the second day of the tramp, which is almost exclusively walking along alpine ridges.

Unfortunately, it's that ridge line that's caused us problems. We were going to do the track this weekend, but because of some late-season snow, crampons and ice axes are required, which is something we can't really muster right now. So briefly, the outline of our fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants plan:

• Go to Kepler, and hike the first (passable) section, and stay at Luxmore Hut Friday night.
• On Saturday, hike out and make an epic, beautiful drive to Haast and the West Coast, and stay in a hostel.
• Sunday, we'll go to the glaciers at Franz Josef and/or Fox, which are the most accessible glaciers in the world. At the same time, we should get a great view of Mount Cook across Lake Matheson. Maybe camp out Sunday night, and head back to Dunners Monday.

Cool, eh? It's gonna be great. Cheers.

Qtown Redux

Sorry for the delay, but I couldn't post this without pictures. Queenstown was fantastic, as to be expected. A few notes:

• We stayed in an incredible condo with views overlooking Lake Wakatipu. Many thanks to Andrew's parents for putting me up, of course. Amenities abounded, including a fireplace, heated tile floors and towel racks in the bathroom, bathrobes, and most importantly at the time of our arrival in the afternoon: satellite television, which meant, of course, I could watch a little of the Red Sox owning the Rockies in Game 1. That made me happy, particularly since Andrew and his parents put up with my excited delirium at the Sox doing so well.
  
• My second trip up the Skyline Gondola on the hill/mtn. above Queenstown was really nice, once again. The weather was picture perfect.
• There's nothing better than waking up in the morning and sitting outside in the sun with a cup of tea and a good book, with the expansive Lake Wakatipu and Remarkables towering in front of you you.

Easily the highlight of the trip was going to dinner at a smaller restaurant on the (relative) outskirts of town, recommended by a local. It's called Vknow Restaurant (a well-deserved name) and if there were ever a restaurant I would recommend to someone visiting NZ, it's this one. It's owned and operated by a husband and wife - he serves and handles wine, she's the chef. Even though the husband handled a full restaurant of about 30 people by himself, the service was exceptional and attentive. Throughout the several courses of our meals, he would come by with a different wine that best goes with the particular course - I can easily say I've never enjoyed or appreciated wine as much as I did that night. The wine list was clever, too, organized into sensible categories by quality. For those may know NZ wine, we had Quartz Reef Pinot Gris, Ngatarawa Silks Chardonnay, Akarua Rose, some Bollinger NV with desert, and I believe there was one other wine...maybe a Cabernet Sauvignon? I'm not sure. Regardless, a great night with some delicious food and fine wine.