Week 5, The End of the Road Trip

K, so I'll pick up where I left off, right around Kristen's birthday in Takaka. After our couple days in sunny Takaka and Abel Tasman park we drove along the coast through Marlburough Sound, Karakau, up to Hamner Springs and down to Christchurch where we dropped the girls off for their flight. Personally, the highlight during the couple days between Takaka and Hamner was the driving. There were massive mudslides on sketchy roads and I even got to use the saw function on my swiss army knife to cut through a tree that was blocking traffic. No kidding, the swiss army knife saw kicked ass.  Before Hamner we didn't do much else besides take pictures, hike and explore nature.

True to it's reputation Hamner Springs was a life of luxury- relatively speaking. We got in around dinner time on the 12th, found a spot at a Holiday park (the only night we ever paid for a place to stay) and spent the night drinking beer and conducting a type of relay in which we took nice, long, hot showers one after another until we were more fresh and clean than we could have ever imagined. After some debating as to what we should do, the night basically became a beacon of remiss as we all decided to catch up on a bit of R&R and enjoy one of our last nights together.

The next day The Girls and I went for a 3 hour hike in the morning and then wiled away the rest of the day in the town's famous hot pools. It was pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered; we got to relax and recover from an intensive 2 weeks of traveling while also having the opportunity to reminisce about the stories. We also managed to talk the chill lifeguard into letting us snag a  couple of free rides on the giant water slide before the park closed, allowing us to get the excitement fix we'd become accustomed to. 

After Hamner, spent 2 nights and a day around Christchurch, getting prepared for the next chapters of New Zealand and wrapping up our adventures with Fey. The very last night we camped about 45 k out of town along one of the world's largest sand spits and got some of the coolest lighting we've ever seen. Rainbows, rain, and a fantastic pebble beach was enveloped under a sunset that looked like it must have been photo shopped. The whole thing was just unreal and we spent the evening playing around, taking pictures, and, eventually, jumping into the freezing ocean before grubbing.

We all said our tearful goodbyes to the Kristen Raey and Mindy Service on September 15, 2010. We  pray that they are doing well in the land of Mexican food, sun and double pained windows. Their presence is truly missed... naughhhht!

Later that day, after a few phone calls and some finagling, Timbo and Maggie ended up dropping me and my stuff off at the Salvation Army in Christchurch before they continued South to do some rock climbing and return the car. I've spent the last couple days volunteering at the food distribution center in one of the areas most effected by the earthquake. It's been pretty rewarding and I've been working with a lot of good people from a few different organizations. The plan is to keep doing this for a few more days and then hitch out to meet up with Mike and some of the Coronet Peak kids to do some skiing up at the club fields. Until next time, adieu

p.s. I apologize for the lack of pictures, Blogspot is being weird.

Week 4, Road Trip Week 2,

During a West Coast pit-stop, I tried some experimenting with shutter speeds.

Since the last post we've traveled west clear across the country and then north up the coast to Takaka. We ended up fast-tracking the West Coast route because the weather was junk and route to Hospital Flats (the place with those oh-so-warm hot springs) was closed due to floods. The highlights of this two day driving marathon had to be Jack's blowhole, wind so strong that it's gusts could hold you up at a 60 degree angle to the ground, and a very, very generous free brewery tour.

The North, as opposed to the squalid West, is delightful. Takaka gets more hours of sun than any other city or town in all of N-Zed, North Island or South Island. The town has a super cool vibe because of its fun folk, hippie art shops, boutique cafes and picturesque beaches.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday in the Abel Tasman National Park, doing part of one of New Zealand's famed Great Walks (Link). The trek to the huts was a relatively mild 12 kilometers along white sand beaches and rain forests that look like advertisements for romantic get-aways.

The Oo-La-La Beach

At one such beach, Mindy, Kristen and I made a mad dash down the the shore, stripped down to our swim suits or underwear and broke into hysterical laughter as we started taking our first showers of the trip. Shortly thereafter we realized we weren't alone on the beach. Individually we ceased our hysterics as 40 or so 3rd or 4rth grade kids were slowly shepherded along the beach, between us an d our clothes. The most bold tyke decided to shout, "Ohh-La-La", and the entire gaggle burst into laughter at our expense. The next minute or so was spent oscillating between awkwardly bathing ourselves and rejoicing in the fact that we were finally clean. I'm sure every kid there thought we were either dirty, dirty hippies or clinically insane.

One of Cleopatra's Pools

We spent the next day skinny-dipping in the arctic cold of Cleopatra's Pools, a cascade of waterfalls and startlingly green pools located a couple miles from the huts. After that we proceeded back to Fey and over to Takaka again.

Yesterday, we celebrated Kristen's birthday by breaking our usual asceticism and buying breakfast at a cafe that was aptly named Cafe. It may e a case of hunger being the greatest spice, but we thought the food was so good that we ended up taking dozens of pictures of recipes from their $60 cook book so that we could recreate the ambrosial dishes at home.

Sunrise from Abel Tasman

Now we're getting ready to head out to Marburough Sound, Down to Hamner Springs and over to Christchurch where we'll drop off the girls. The trip is winding down, but we should have a few more days of good weather and fun times.

Road Trip Delicacies

So our road trip is in full swing and there are some definite trends. Timbo and Maggie have revealed themselves as the real mountain people (or masochists depending on how you look at it) because they sleep outside every night while the girls and I snuggle up in the warm belly of Fey. We’ve started honking at herds of sheep just to see them panic. Its way more fun than it sounds. We’ve also started cooking wayyyyyy better.

The early meals weren’t exactly bad, but they were, shall we say, plain. We tolerated rice and beans for a few days before we began experimenting with our various items. Here’s a few of our more creative concoctions:

Sausage O Delish
• Lamb Sausages (cause their cheap in N-Zed) cooked to tender perfection and then sliced open, covered in cheese, doused with a cajun seasoning and topped with a drizzle of Sriracha. The sausage is then placed on top of budget brand bread roles that have been slathered with simmering garlic butter and slightly salted. Picture a Cajun chilly cheese dog on garlic bread, but better and all for a price under 2 New Zealand dollars each.

Fettuccine Al-beano
• Delicious fettuccine pasta topped with a can of baked beans and baked bean liquid (whatever that is), and a Budget brand can of tomato sauce. The dish is scrumptious as is, but with the optional additions of cajun seasoning, black pepper, and Sriracha it is to die for. It is a melting pot of international cuisine. Italian pasta meets the explosive Thai spiciness of Sriracha and the zesty flavors of the bayou, while at the same time the whole piece is grounded by the calming flavor of good old North American beans.

Tuna A Yuck
• Canned Tuna or Canned Salmon with anything and pasta. We’ve tried hard, but no combination of Sriracha, Cajun salt, beans, pasta sauce and pepper can go well together. Its simply impossible and we all secretly dread it when the we have to use fish for dinner.

Peanut Butter and, Well, Anything
• Due to the fantastic cheapness of peanut butter and its extremely high calorie count we’ve started combining it with pretty much everything in an attempt to stretch our money. Peanut butter and granny smith apples is stellar. Peanut butter and Musslie is great. Peanut butter and a spoon is also delicious. I actually store a spoon in my Costco sized jar of peanut butter at all times.

The JAP
• This was actually created in the dog days of ski season, but it’s brilliance should be mentioned. It is a combination of Jelly/ Jam, Apple and Peanut butter, thus JAP. It not sound that special, but it actually combines perfectly the fruitiness of jelly, the tanginess of a Granny Smith apple and the saltiness of peanut butter, while turning your regular PB&J snack into a full fledged meal. Once you go JAP, you won’t go back.

In many ways we were painters with only a couple colors; some nights we managed to painted rainbows, other nights we had stick figures with uneven arms and one eye. Obviously we were limited to basic cheap ingredients and a few spices, but necessity catalyzed creativity and creativity gave us a few eats. So if you’re ever strapped for cash, learn from our experimentations (i.e. Tuna A Yuck) and give these cheap gourmet dishes a shot.

Week 3, Road Trip Week 1

 We're few days into the road trip and here's some basic stats:

Amazing Sunrises (that we've woken up for):3

Amazing Sunsets: 2

Kilometers traveled: Roughly 500

Times our car has gotten stuck: 2

Hail storms the size of Marbles: 1

Amount we've gone over budget: roughly 750 New Zealand Dollars

Lamb Placentas: 1

Times Mindy and Kristen have said the phrase "Oh my god! baby lambs!": 5,012,371

Ok, now that the stats are out there, here's the context. The road trip started out relatively to plan for a group of 21-22 year old kids. We only left 3-4 hours late and only got shafted with a surprise 750 dollar mandatory insurance policy that more than doubled our entire budget for the trip. Despite the ridiculousness of entire intercourse (I'll once again spare unneeded details), we soon overcame indignation and shock and loving dubbed our slightly-more-expensive-than-anticipated van “Fey”. A night of long driving later, we ended up at a lake close to Te Anu in Fiordland, made rice and beans, and decided to call it a night. Per usual, Maggie and Timbo Braved the elements- in this case rain and wind- outside, while the girls and I settled down to a scintillating night of pillow talk. The next morning- before getting Fey stuck for the first time- we were greeted with the first of what has turned out to be many spectacular waterside sunrises.

Fey plowing through a delicious baby lambs.

We spent the ensuing day working our way south through back country roads, exploring a cool condemned bridge and stopping at  a couple of lakes, all while forcing our way through giant herds of sheep that clogged the roads much like Cholesterol in Bill Swerski's arteries (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXhEPxXyhW0&feature=related). 

How low can you go!

We eventually ended up landing at a place called Monkey Island that had the most ridiculously high winds. We took turns leaning off of rocks and seeing how far we could lean over with the wind holding us up [Addendum: I would include pictures, but their are better ones at a later time]. After that we all grabbed our cameras and orchestrated a sunset photo session with Monkey Island. 

The next morning we decided to ignore the fact that we were about as far south as you could go without being in Antartica and sprint through the waves to Monkey Island. Once there Mother Nature decided to express her disaproval by pelting us with a flash hail storm. Hail the size of marbles forced us to take cover and we sat laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation while shivering our asses off.

Our tracks out of Bluff, the 2nd most Southern City in the world. I loved that dog.

We drove along the coastline for a while, eating lunch in Bluff, before setting up camp in Curio Bay. The highlights of Curio Bay occurred the next morning as we spent sunrise scoping out the penguins and petrified forests. 

Over the next couple days we made our way up the coast to Dunedin, keeping the driving pretty minimal and making tons of pit stops.  The most memorable of which was Mindy's first attempt to befriend a newborn lamb. Since it's becoming spring, pregnant sheep are popping babies out left and right and Kristen and Mindy were going gaga for what they lovingly called "baby lambs". After being couped up in the car for a couple hours and watching all of these adorable creatures testing out their new legs, we decided to ford a water ditch and find a lamb for Mindy to pet. After hopping the barbed wire fence, Mindy took off running into a herd of lambs and their mothers. She disappeared in the bushes for a couple seconds before coming back screaming because she realized the lamb she was chasing had literally just been born. It was bloody, still had an umbilical cord attached and, as we shortly realized, we were standing right next to its placenta. After we calmed our stomachs, we coaxed Mindy into leaving the lambs alone- for a while- and went back to Fey.

Mindy, finally finding a baby lamb who likes her.

The rest of our time has been filled with visits to hippie art galleries and scenic Lighthouses, buying home made relish from an 85 year old kiwi couple named Wilma and Clive, and taking a cool hike during which Mindy finally got to touch her first "baby lamb".

Right now I'm enjoying the relative comfort of a Dunedin Starbucks while catching up on internet and preparing this post. We're about to cross back through the country up through Wanaka and to the west coast. Once there, we'll hit up some glaciers, soak up some warmer weather and do a 2 day hike up to Hospital Flats were we can lounge in some toasty hot springs.

Sunrise Sessions

 Original Date: August 31, 2010

Kristen and I went for a sunset walk by the lake last night- check my EHarmony profile, I enjoy such things- and the whole time I was thinking, “god damn, this would make a cool picture”. I realized the lighting would be perfect at dawn and decided that it was imperative that I snag a few sunrise shots before we left Wanaka the next day. As such, I decided to start working off my hangover around 6:30, commandeering Mindy’s bike and taking off towards the lake. 45 minutes of shooting and some fun Bridge sessions inside FEY, our campervan, and I ended up with a few keen pics. 

Week 2

Some god rays breaking through the clouds at Treble Cone

The week started out with a couple of great ski days. Monday was solid up at Treble Cone and Tuesday the girls and I met up with Mike at the Remarks. The day at The Remarks was especially great and we all agreed that it was easily the best day of the season. We spent most of the day lapping an epic run that was sandwiched by a pretty grueling 15 minute boot pack hike straight up the face of the mountain and a hitchiking ride back to the main lodge. It was all worth it, however, as the extra effort scared everyone else away and we were the only ones who ended up laying tracks in a super long run full of playful wind lips and little cliff drops.

The hike at The Remarks

A pitt-stop on the way to Gunns Camp

After skiing we there was a big going away party for one of Mikes friends, but I'll spare everyone -especially mom and dad- the details. The next day Mike and I hitched a ride with Tucker and her friend Nicole to Gunns Camp where we met up with a couple other buddies and spent the night in a quaint little cabin. The majority of the night was occupied nursing alcoholic beverages and making fun of Nicole's awesome/ridiculous swiss accent. Most of the night's games were tailored to include some comedic version of an English saying that she had somehow butchered, but the trip itself didn't revolve around cabin shenagins. We saw a couple of cool lakes, a sunset on the Milford Sound, some glow worms and took a cruise through the Fiords.

One of the aforementioned fun features on the hike

Sunset at Milford Sound

We got back to town on Thursday and I immediately caught the bus back to Wanaka so I could get my board and catch what was supposed to be over a meter of powder by the next day. Friday, Ben, Kristen, Melinda and I got up at the crack of dawn (8:30) and hit the slopes by 10. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day and we got to ski TC's best terrain in knee deep pow for most of the morning. One of the highlights to the day had to be watching two pros throw a backflip and then a front flip off of a 30-35 foot cliff. Ben and I attempted to follow that act with a couple of drops on slightly less sketch lines. I would also be remiss if I didnt mention us trying to throw our own back flips. The snow was the definition of hero snow, deep enough to make you feel you can attempt anything. Neither Ben nor I were successful, and I'm pretty sure that I shrunk a couple inches after getting 3/4 of the way around and landing primarily on my head/ upper back. Hell, you only live once.

Ben skiing in the hero snow at Treble Cone

The last couple days have been a little less eventful because the weather has been pretty bad. We've woken up every morning to check TC's webcam, but we've stayed in town cause its been pure white out from summit to lodge. Right now we're starting to get ready to move out of 190 Stone Street while  planning and packing for the road trip. Everyone is getting awfully stoked as the trip becomes more imminent and the plans solidify. As of now, we're going south by Te Anu and Fiordland before tracing the coast line accross what is known as the Southern Scenic Route. After that we'll cut through Wanaka and head up the West coast along the glaciers and eventually circle around the northern end of the South Island before ending up in Christchurch on the 15th. The plans are hardly set in stone, but hey, that's half the fun. I'll try and keep you guys posted as that goes along, but odds are that we'll hardly have internet so don't hold your breath. Until then, keep on keeping on and just have a little faith that we're all alive and well.

Note

Dear followers of my blog (all 3 of you),

I apologize for my lack of posts over the last couple weeks. I’ve been living out of a camper van without electricity, much the less internet. I would be lying to you if I said I was really worried about keeping you updated as I was typically more concerned with frolicking in marble sized artic hale storms, stalking penguins, slaughtering sand flies (http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-really-REALLY-hate-Sandflies/105155732858190#!/group.php?gid=15431603774&ref=search), or simply getting a shower. Fortunately, I’ve had a pen and paper so I’ve been able to stockpile a few updates while on the road. I’ll post these individually and date them roughly accordingly before I try and do a blanket post to patch up whatever holes are left in the story.

Sincerely,

Alex Schmalz