So last night a bunch of us decided to head to the Sky Tower in Auckland here for some dinner. As the defining icon in Auckland’s skyline it stands at 328m (1,076ft). It’s known as the highest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

We rode up to the observation level on possibly the fastest elevator (‘lift’ is what they call them here) I’ve ever ridden. I had to pop my ears at least 5 times on the journey up.

We looked out over Auckland and the harbor as the sun was setting, then made our way up another level to “Orbit” for our 5:30 reservations. We quickly realized why it was called “Orbit” beside it being a snazzy, hip name for a restaurant. The restaurant in fact did orbit around the center of the tower, meaning it MOVED…very slowly. So luckily we got a constantly changing views of the night city scape as we ate.

The restaurant was also pretty classy. Way to classy for a bunch of cheap and poor college kids. The minimum amount to spend for dinner was $30. Way more than I ever would. But there was justification. To go up the Sky Tower just to look out is $18. So I might as well pay the extra $12 for a really nice dinner, as I was planning to go up the tower at some point before I left NZ.
So once we spent our minimum (which pretty much included the main dish and a beverage) and ate dinner we descended back to earth. Certainly an experience to dine so high up, but with a price tag of $30, it’ll be awhile before I do that again.

Well, my week of misery has passed and I’m done with my paper and presentation. As a new resolution, I decided I’m going to be more diligent in my posting. However, with little over a month left here in New Zealand, my funds for big trips to write about are beginning to run dry.

So what I think I’ll try to do is post my day’s events. This might include interesting articles I’ve read or other strange occurrences. It most also might be a post on how nothing very exciting happened at all. Believe it or not, those do days do occasionally occur in New Zealand. I’ve got a few ideas on my mind. So if There and Back Again starts become more of a personal journal, don’t freak out.

Continuing on, you may be wondering why I’m apologizing to my mom. Well if you look at the photo below, I think you’ll figure it out.What led to this was an interesting psychological debate I had with myself over whether I should go through with it or not. I had toyed with the idea of getting an earring for a long time. And if I remember it had more to do with boredom than anything, as if one day I looked in the mirror and said “that might be fun.” Well at one point I think it was brought up somehow over dinner that I was going to get an earring in NZ. I got a nice gasp from my Mom and an estranged look from my Dad. After explaining my thought process, I got a laugh from both. I don’t know if this was because they thought I was being absurd or they didn’t think I was going to go through with it. Probably both.

Admittedly, as I’ve been here my desire to get an earring kind of fell off, although I kept in on my list of things to do. What I think what really made me do it was this: my brothers more or less said they would make fun of me if I got one. They also said they’d make fun of me if I said I’d get one, then didn’t. I figured it be best I get one and not go back on my word, rather than the other. And in the 12 hours I’ve had it I’ve received both flak and compliments on it, so I think I can handle anything my family throws at me. I mean, deep down they love me anyway, right?

It’ll be interesting to see what they think about the tattoo I got.

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

View From My Room

I feel like I find myself saying this a lot, but I’ll say it again: I’m sorry I’m not fulfilling your There and Back Again appetite. I know I do have (a few) regular blog checkers, and I’m not doing the best at the moment.

The truth is however, I had a nice long essay due last week, and another due this week along with a class presentation. So as much as I’d love to blow them all off and say whooop-deeeee-dooooo, I’m thinking that’s probably not the best idea.

So, at the end off this week I should be able to get back to being more reliable in my blogging. These are the last assignments until finals, which don’t occur until mid-june. So I’ll have plenty of time.

Also to keep you occupied don’t forget to check out a few different things:

1. Ed’s Blog – He’s genuinely funny, a great writers, and usually gives a….different perspective on our similar adventures. It’s listed under my links.

2. Listen to the “Mix Tape”. I won’t deny some of its kinda weird, but if you listen through it you might find something you like. It’s got a good variety. I’ll make a new one later this week. So last chance to hear this one. Feel free to make you own and post the links in “Comments”, I’d love to know what everyone’s listening to!

3. I’ve been struggling to think a of a new poll to make…so if you have ideas leave a comment. Anything will work.

4. If you haven’t already, (in a shamless plug) you can try listening to my music (under links or the player on the right). If you don’t like it that’s fine…just keep it to yourself.

5. Check out Smitty and my photo blog, Pinhole Adventures. A collection of our favorite pictures, this was started before New Zealand, so feel free to skim through the old ones. We try to update it somewhat regualarly, though have been slightly slacking lately. We’ll try to fix that.

6. Have a fatastic day and don’t forget to SMILE

Alright, sorry for the unecessary delay in this post. Let’s finish this up, sh’all we?

We had stayed in a camper park in Dunedin and took advantage of the hot showers and electricity. We woke relatively early because we had to be at somewhere at 10:00. The place we had to be was Speight’s Brewery for their guided tour.
This was my first tour inside a brewery and it turned out to be pretty cool. Our guide was Keith, an older retired gentleman that had the voice and looks of Michael Cane. I believe he said he had worked there for 30 years. And he likes beer. A lot. Which makes complete sense.

And while I wish I could remember all cool stuff he showed us, I can remember a few neat tidbits. New Zealand apparently has the best hops in the world, and he wasn’t just saying this. Brewers from around the world import New Zealand hops, including Guinness, Budweiser, and a bunch of other I couldn’t remember. The Speight’s brewery also use what are called fermenting gyles. They’re essentially giant open wooden tanks that are lined with cooling pipes used to frement the beer. There are only two breweries in the world to have them and Speight’s is the only one to be currently operating them (for special brews). So I guess in the world of brewing, they’re extremly well known and many major film crews and publications have been in to do stories on them.
The brewery is also known as a gravity brewery. So all the ingredients are taken to the top floor and slowly go throught the breweing process toward the bottom floor. This was used in early breweries as to assist the transfer of ingredient from one stage to the next. It’s argued that this is the best was to brew, but really it doesn’t matter that much. So we continued on through the tour checking out the big copper tanks, the water room, and mixing rooms etc.
We had rumor that at the end of the tour you get to taste al of the different brews in a 20 minute free for all in which you get to grab a small tasting glass and operate the taps at your own leisure (or ambition). Rumor confirmed. There were six different flavors to choose from. My particular favorite was the porter- specially brewed in the gyles, a dark brew with flavors of roasted coffee and burnt chocolate. Another favorite was a seasonal summer brew, an apricot wheat beer. While maybe not considered a “Man’s Beer” it sure tasted good. Like candy.
While I was modest in my tasting since I’d be driving later on, some of my RV mates were in heaven. They made sure to get their $15 dollar tour fee’s worth of beer…and then some…and then some more. In fact, instead of the 20 minutes or so that a regular group would get, we ended up hangning around for 45 minutes chatting with Keith our guide. He was actually just filling in for the 10:00 tour for someone, so he had nowhere to go. We chatted about politics, famous NZ people, jokes, and got him to sing the New Zealand national anthem for us. (Check out the Video)

We finally left and decided we’d walk around for a few hours to grab some lunch and allow me a bit of time before jumping behind the wheel. Downtown Dunedin was nice, although admitedly nothing to rave about. It was nice to see Dunedinites have a sense of humor though, where someone had placed an empty beer bottle in the hand of this famous poet’s statue. (picture below).

When we did finally get on the road again we made a quick stop at Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records). Kevin and I walked to the top, and it was steep. You couldn’t really appreciate its steepness though until you saw some ambitious car make the attempt. Engines revving and speeding toward the upstart, the car would hit it like a brick wall and was forced to drop it into first gear as it impishly crawled to the summit. The RV would have never made it- good thing I didn’t try.
The rest of the day was mainly commited to driving back north toward Christchurch with a quick stop in Omaru. It was there where we walked on some trails and caught a quick glimpse of the tiny Blue Penguins. Normally we would have had to pay something outrageuos, like $20, to sit in the viewing are to see them, but somehow we made our way along the coast on a trail and ended up on the opposite side of the viewing area. Ooops. After they came out of the water and waddled to their little house, some guys from the viewing area came over to kindly escort us out. Apparently it was a private trail that closes at dusk, but it happens a lot that people end up there by accident. So we got to see them for free. Take that eco-exploitation. Weak.
We drove a little further and parked along the side of the road for our last night in the RV. The next day we got up and finished our drive our final and original place, Christchurch. We didn’t do much besides clean the RV, grab some lunch downtown, then head to the airport. Our flight was canceled after it was suppose to have already boarded, luckily we were put on flight back to Auckland; not everyone on the original flight were wuite so lucky. But due to its relative uneventfulness, Day 8 isn’t going to warrant a po
st. Sorry.
So that was my adventure around the South Islands. Glaciers. Mountains. Narrow winding roads. Fjiords. Sounds. Beaches. Penguins. And seven friends cramped in a six person RV for 8 days. Good times. Let’s go back. (Cue End Credits)

So we drove out of Fiorland shortly after we got back from our kayaking the day before. After about two hours of back tracking to get out of the park, we got to go another two hours to Invacargill and then the Catlins National Park. Another night spent of on the side of the road and in the morning we were practically there.

Now to keep this post short (mostly because I’m still recovering from my 21st birthday weekend and don’t feel like writing) I’ll briefly tell you where we went, and then lots of pictures.

So we got up in the morning and went to Slope Point, which is the Southern Islands most southern point. If you read wayyy back, you’ll remember I had been to Cape Reigna, the North Island’s (and NZ’s) most northern point. So this made it feel like we had done it all, although its not New Zealand’s most southern point, because there is actually a third smaller island more south. Here some of us climbed down and played on the rocks cause the tide was out enough.

Then we headed down some more gravel roads (which I guess we weren’t suppose to have the RV on) and stopped at a petrified forest. This was my first time to a petrified forest and needless to say, there were no actual trees. Just fossils of them. The tide luckily was far enough out that we could go down and check them out.


The we drove down the road just a little to a beach called Porpoise Bay. While there weren’t any dolphins that swam up to us (apparently the do sometimes there) we did come across a seal. So of course we set up our towels etc. close by so we could hang with it and have it teach us how to be so lazy. After being there a little while we grabbed ice cream and had ourselves a little jam sesh with the guitar and bongo.



We then went north along the coast to Nugget Point where we checked out some yellow eyed penguins from afar. Apparently they are the rarest species of penguins in the world. We were in a little shack above the beach looking down on them from afar, so my photos didn’t work out the best, but if you look close you can spot them.


We then continued north another couple hours to Dunedin.

So we got up nice and early for our kayaking tour of Milford Sound, signed some waiver forms (like we have to do for everything), and were taken to a boat launch where we’d go out into the sound. We the proceeded to get decked out in yellow and purple gear that would keep us from getting cold and wet. I’m pretty sure those colors went out of style in 1994, but I wasn’t about to say anything.

Either way, we got in our two person kayaks and started to paddle out on the sound. I was actually paired up with a girl who was from Vermont (i think) who had here sister and her (the sister’s) boyfriend visiting. This happened because there were seven of us and I ended up being the odd man out. Good thing this girl and her guests were cool, other wise the trip would’ve consisted of awkward silences and forced conversation.



Also, I mentioned in my previous post that this place was located in Fiordland National Park. Well after some research I found a fiord is more or less giant mountain rising high above the ocean water that is at their base. I guess you can find some in Sweden too.




This place was stunning and the photos don’t give it an ounce of justice. But I’ll let them try. I took up our guides offer to go swimming and my partner decided to follow suit after she saw how awesome it was. Apparently people don’t swim in the sound often, so I figured I better. Everyone else decided to stay warm and dry. It was totally worth it though, if not just to say I did it.

So the night before we decided to pull of on the side of the road to sleep just outside of Queenstown. They next morning we were all so gratefully awaken by a city council member telling us we were prohibited to “freedom” camp within 10km of any residential areas in Queenstown. Apparently he didn’t recognize we were from America and invented freedom.

After a good scorning he then handed me a brochure of all the place we could camp and told us if we were found again we could get fine. Lucky for us we blowing this popsicle stand and making for Fiordland. It was kinda funny though, because there were tons of campers on the side of the road the night before. So this guys just must drive around a 8:00 in the morning everyday yelling at campers and handing out these brochures. The brochures (I wish I had kept it) went something like this: “STOP! YOU CANNOT CAMP HERE! … If you’re not camping, then have a nice day.” I would’ve told him we weren’t camping, but I answered the doors in my pajamas, and it would’ve been a hard fib to sell. So I simply replied “We were tired?” Only to realize what I said was blatantly obvious.

A quick breakfast by the lake and we were cruising. The drive went smoothly, as I popped in one of the four mix cd’s I made for the trip. I’d listened to all of them at least ten times each by now and was still able to sing along with relatively good enthusiasm.

We entered into Fiordland national park a little after 1:00 and began our 2 hour drive to Milford Sound. Along the way, however, we pulled off at different areas to run through valleys, walk though forests, and play in streams. At one area all the boys began to build a dam in one of the creeks- some things you never get to old for. Dana, the only girl with us, stood and watched as the boys played with their rocks.

The drive through the park was pretty treacherous, like the roads often are. We did get to drive though a single lane tunnel that went straight through a mountain. It was built during the depression, so I was hoping it would hold up as we made our way through, and it did.


We got to the sound pretty late in the evening and weren’t really able to do anything. We found a hostel/camper park to stay for the night. We had booked our activity for the next morning: Sea kayaking out on the sound.