Jackpot

It's 11pm and I have a dolphin your to be up for at 7am. I couldn't be happier because:

Susan picked me up from the airport (smallest airport ever). She is a 60-year old brit who moved here with her husband (Ladislav from the Czech Republic) in 1977. Susan is exactly what you'd expect: a kind lady with a sense of humor. Great to talk to. We have a glass of wine in their back yard once we arrive, and talk about many things. It's quiet here in Opua, about a 5-minute drive from Paihia. They live on a fairly rural street and are surrounded by woods.

Later her husband comes to join. We talk about how their son set them up with Netflix over Christmas, the "medical report" of bad knees and such, and how Ladislav watches tv on mute... All are things that my parents do. The other house guests are a young couple who live in wellington. The guy is from Scotland, the girl from Texas. They share craft beer they bought in Coromandel Peninsula, and Ladislav makes us drink some whiskey he created (and tells us why he doesn't like vodka - because when the communist party kicked him out and sent him to the coal mines, he would only drink vodka and got sick of it).

I'm currently listening to the sounds of a female kiwi bird in the bush behind the house. Yes, there are still kiwis and a very few live in the wild. I can't believe my luck that I'm listening to them right now.

Tonight, I'm feeling very lucky.

A few cultural observations

- New Zealanders love 80's music. It's everywhere, and (I kid you not) might get more airplay than co temporary music.
- There are heaps (to use a kiwi/Australian term) of Mexican restaurants here.
- Since NZ is an outdoors-focused society, I thought there would be lots of beards here, but there aren't.
- I had forgotten what a burden American airport security is. In NZ you don't have to take off shoes or belts and they don't care if you bring liquids onboard. The consequence of this is short lines and only needing to show up about 30 minutes prior to departure. It's really, really nice.

Leaving Wellington

This post is asynchronous with others.

Also, Bruno Mars kills it.

I'm on a flight from Wellington to Kerikeri (Bay of Islands) via Auckland. On our left I can see the South Island (specifically the Marlborough Sound) and north island, separated by the Cook Strait.

After a couple mostly relaxed days in the capital. Two days ago I went on a run, took a nap, spent a few hours at the excellent Te Papa museum, ate Malaysian food (laksa) and walked around Cuba Street to orient myself.

Yesterday Shweth and I went our separate ways. I was still feeling exhausted, so had a long workout at a gym on the waterfront and sweated in their sauna for a while, which helped. Feeling back to normal, I walked around the city toward Massey University, then over toward the cable car (the similarities with SF continue) which took me to the top of some peak. With rainy weather threatening (but not coming just yet), I looked out on the harbor before meandering down the hill through some very nice botanical gardens. There was lots to explore, and I really enjoyed the time to myself. I ended up by Parliament, then emptied onto the waterfront.

I'm obsessed with large container ships, and was lucky enough to see one turn on a dime and pull into port. It then started to pour down rain (in addition to some seriously huge wind), so I found a restaurant with a covered outdoor area go grab a beer. Drinking beer on a porch in a rainstorm is one of my favorite feelings, so I made it happen.

That evening Shweth and I went out (for New Years). We had to figure out our travel arrangements first. We screwed up and didn't book a rental car in Rotorua, and by the time we tried to book, everything was taken. Our second option would have been to rent a car in Bay of Islands and drive south, but all cars were booked there as well. We ended up changing our flights from Bay of Islands to Rotorua to go to Auckland, where we will get a rental car and then drive to Tongariro. It's a convoluted and expensive way of traveling, but it's our best option given the circumstances.

Anyway, we went out and had fun for New Years. Wellington isn't a hot spot for partying, but we had a good time.



I'm a bit tired from travel at the moment. We've been on the road for two weeks now, and I'm almost ready to come home. The next few days should be good:
- in Bay of Islands tomorrow I'll go on a dolphin cruise, where we might get to swim with the Dolphins. I booked a room through Airbnb and I'm really looking forward to meeting my hosts. They look like very welcoming people, and I need a slice of home right now. I'm doing this solo whole Shweth goes to a different location in the Bay of Islands for the entire two days there.
- Next we will hike the Tongariro Crossing. It's supposed to be one of the best one-day treks in the world, and traverses volcanos and craters.
- Finally on my last day (Shweth leaves the day after) we'll do an adventure caving thing in the Waitimo Caves, which are famous because they have a bunch of glowworms in them.

I have a pass to the Air New Zealand lounge and fully intend on using it before my flight back to the states. I'm ready to be in my own bed!

Photos:
-cable car
-botanical gardens
-ship
-my view during the Wellington rain storm
-an airplane engine in the Te Papa museum. Reminded me of Grandpa, who worked at Pratt and Whitney working on jet engines his whole life.

First impressions of Wellington

I've been in Wellington for 24 hours, and I really like this city. Despite being the capital, it's a bit funky. The downtown is very compact and walkable, and it feels like a small-ish city. The topography (hills cupping a bay), architecture (many Edwardian houses), and weather (today is drizzly and very windy) all remind me of San Francisco. I immediately feel at home here.

Many people we spoke with in NZ questioned (to say the least) our decision to come to Wellington, but I have no doubts - I'm really glad we came here. There is no bungee or skydive, and for that, I'm thankful.

Thus far I've visited the Te Papa museum (a great free museum on New Zealand history and culture), gone on a long run around the bay, and walked around Cuba Street. I ended yesterday by watching the last bit of Hot Tub Time Machine, a ridiculous and awesome movie. (Two nights ago I watched a bit of Terminator 2)

Photos below are:
- panorama of the bay during my run
- skate park near Te Papa
- lobby of our hotel, the Amora.
- mural of Biggie. His legacy looms large
- Edwardian architecture

A favorite thing...

When I travel is reading the local newspaper. I'm sitting at Sweet Mother's Kitchen's outdoor section on a drizzly, windy morning in Wellington. I bought the Wellington paper and am reading about how an 86-year old "pensioner" complained about her bus ride - the kind of story you'd read about in a small town newspaper.

My cafe latte is waking me up after a solid night's sleep, but I'm still not recovered from a huge sleep deficit accumulated over the past week.

Extra blog posts

I just realized that some of my posts were cut off. Here is the entire text from the "road not taken" post:

It's Christmas today, and I felt like spending it with Mother Nature. So, after a potluck lunch with all the folks in our hostel, I drove to Glenorchy, which is about an hour from Queenstown. An Air Force guy recommended that I go past Glenorchy toward the Routeburn trail, hike through sheep-filled pastures, up some switchbacks, and sit and admire the panoramic view. 

I reached the step ladder...

And continued on what I thought was the path, which led straight to a large creek. Feeling brave in my hiking boots, I crossed it, got my feet soaked, picked up the trail again, then promptly lost it. I looked around for a few minutes and couldn't find the trail for the life of me. Given that there were sheep all around me (who ran away when I approached, then stared me down while chewing on grass - much like the water buffalo stare down) and therefore I was on someone's property, I decided to head back to Glenorchy to find another trail. I found one, but it was short and not as remote as the first one. 

Should I have tried harder to pick up the first trail? Should I have tried to find another trail near Routeburn? I was quite inspired by the remoteness of that area. Very few people, a handful of sheep, lots of green grass, a valley, mountains, and lots of wind. I would have preferred to have stayed. The area gave me a wonderfully alone feeling that one only gets when there are very few people around. 

A couple years ago I would have beat myself up over not pursuing that trail. But now I'm better equipped to move on. I can be at peace with a missed opportunity. But it doesn't mean I won't think about what could have been. I will never know. I need to be at peace that there will be things in life that I don't or can't do. But it's ok to regret, as well.

SF

On the bus ride from the Wellington airport to downtown Wellington I was talking to a guy from the Northland. He had traveled in the US. The conversation went like this:

Him: "I love the US, especially the fast food and Las Vegas. But we didn't make it to some city in California.
Me: "Which city?"
Him: "Can't remember. The one with all the homeless people."
Me: "San Francisco?"
Him: "Yea that's the one!"

Day 8

Day 8 was tough. I did the Nevis bungee and swing in the morning, but Shweth had his skydive canceled because of weather. The plan was to drive 4 hours from Queenstown to Milford Sound so we could get sleep before our 6:30am kayak.

About a third of the way there, we came upon a horrific car accident. We arrived about 5-10 minutes after the accident had happened, and neither firemen nor paramedics were present. We saw one small SUV that was demolished, and a large RV that whose front-right was crumpled, but was otherwise in good condition. We saw one female lying on her side on the side of the road with nobody tending to her; she was not moving. Another female was about 30 feet away and a couple people were around her. A few other people were calling the paramedics. We parked our car to see if we could help. It's in these situations that I wish I had some sort of medical training. Shweth and I largely felt helpless to do anything. We had a picnic blanket, orange juice, and snacks to offer, but not much else.

We first walked to the girl with people around her. The driver of the RV was a 45-ish year old European - probably Dutch - and had his family with him. He was crying and inconsolable, and it was clear he knew he was at fault. He and his sons were pacing back and forth. The female (she was Asian, as were her travel companions) had a blanket over her, her face was bleeding in a few places, and she looked out of it. But, she looked like she would live.

The driver asked us if everyone was out of the other car. We thought "yes" because we had seen the other girl on the ground, but when we started walking over to her, we saw a male still in the crumpled car (drivers side) with his head against the steering wheel. By that time a couple people were tending to him, and a couple firemen had arrived. We then walked over to the second female, and she was in bad shape. Her right leg was badly burned. She was breathing and making a moaning sound with every breath. She was unresponsive and clearly in an unimaginable amount of pain. Some people were pouring water on her leg, and firemen were tending to her. Shweth and i shuttled water back and forth from a nearby cafe, and then held a blanket up to keep the wind out while firemen cared for the woman. I couldn't see what they were doing for her, but I had a clear view of the mangled car. All I could see was a man's hair, as his head was against the steering wheel.

Eventually firemen arrived with the jaws of life. It took them about 90 minutes to pry the man out of the car, and once they got him on a stretcher the man moved his leg, giving everyone some some hope. Two rescue helicopters arrived (we were at least an hour's drive from Queenstown) along with an American doctor. They started IVs for the man in the car (prior to getting him out of the car) and the burnt woman, and started putting gauze on the woman's wounds.

As others gave testimony to the police, I learned what happened. The RV was making a turn too fast from the left lane (New Zealanders drive on the left side) and had to cross the oncoming lane's traffic. The other car was coming in the opposite direction and they crashed almost head on. The driver of the RV tried to remove the people in the other car but couldn't. I think he saw they were burning and got a fire extinguisher and used it (I'm unclear on whether this happened before or after the female were removed from the car). A local man broke the rear window after many tries (he broke it either with the extinguisher or with his hands), and pulled the girl in the back seat out (easily, indicating she was not wearing her seatbelt) and put her on the side of the road (this was the burnt girl). He was also able to get the other girl (passenger seat) out ok.

Shweth and I stayed about two hours until we could be of no more use. We found out a couple days later that the burnt girl died and the driver was still in critical condition. We also learned that the guilty driver would be charged, have his passport taken, and sent to trial. The most likely outcome is that he will pay a punitive amount to the family of the deceased, but not face jail time (beyond the couple weeks he'll stay in NZ before the trial, presumably in jail but I'm not sure).

Accidents involving tourists, especially during the high tourist season, are common in NZ. The combination of left-side driving, powerful rental cars, and generally bad driving are the causes. A police officer told us that prior to 2007, if you were Chinese and had a drivers license, you most likely bribed an official and didn't take a driving test. So many Chinese get into accidents.

Before the accident we had been listening to a podcast called the Art of Char featuring a couple of douchebags (sorry to use that language, mom, but it's the most apt descriptor). Afterward we obviously couldn't listen to it. We felt very small and petty for worrying about life's little things.

We continued to Milford, which I'll pick up in my next blog post.

A few random photos:

Jenny, you'll recognize my mess. I've gotten slightly better at keeping things organized since Mexico, but not much. This photo is post-cleaning up.

Days 5, 6, 7

Day 5 started well - I got a good night's sleep for the first time during the trip (thanks, new pillow). In late-morning we took a 5-minute helicopter ride to Franz Josef glacier. Our guide Tom took us on a three-hour, easy hike on the glacier. We walked through a few crevasses, which appear and disappear on a weekly basis... The glacier is constantly changing, and quickly. The hike was nice - not mind blowing, but nice. My favorite part was the helicopter ride.

In the afternoon I left Shweth to drive over to a serene lake, from which I could see Mt. Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. I swam laps from the shore, out, and back again. The water was a lot warmer than I expected. After swimming I soaked up some sun on the shore. For the rest of the evening, we worked out a a local hole-in-the-wall gym, saw a short Maori performance (apparently hakas, the famous Maori chants, aren't war songs - they're warm ups. So from now on I'm going to do a haka before my presentations), and had a beer.

Franz Josef is a small tourist town, but not obnoxiously so. Our hostel was quite good and we actually had space for our large suitcases (which, admittedly, are a bit much).

Day 6 started with a fun 30-minute trial of trying to pry our gas tank open. The drive to Queenstown is supposed to be 5 hours, but we took 10. We're learning that every drive takes twice as long as you think it will because there are amazing sights around every bend. The drive starts off in the rainforest near Fox Glacier, curves through mountains and valleys, splits two massive lakes (we stopped to swim in one), passes through Wanaka (an upper-class resort town), and ends with a spectacular descent to Queenstown.

That evening (Christmas Eve), we met up with five current Fuqua students who we met at Abel Tasman. In typical Fuqua fashion, we met up at a cheesy bar called "5 Below," which is one of two "ice bars" in Queenstown. The concept it quite dumb: take a small room, lower the temperature to 20-ish degrees, charge 35 bucks for entry (but impose a time limit of 45 minutes). I cringe at paying for such a dumb experience, but we wanted to meet up with the Fuquans so sucked it up. They were all nice people (funny how Shweth and I could plug right in - the year change but the nature of Fuqua students remains the same), and we drank a bit at their hotel after the ice bar.

Queenstown is a cross between Gatlinburg, TN (for its super-touristy shops and overall vibe) and Interlaken, Switzerland (for the preponderance of adventure sports). Only 8000 people live in Queenstown, the vast majority serving the tourism industry. It's also in the middle of some great scenery - a deep blue lake borders the city, and it's surrounded by mountains.

Superlatives are the only way to describe New Zealand, so I rate "great" as a 3 on a 5 point scale of New Zealand scenery; thus far my ratings are:

5: Lake Marian (near Milford Sound), the drive to Milford Sound

4: Milford Sound itself (but maybe this should be a 5??), the drive from Queenstown to Wanaka, Glenorchy

3: Abel Tasman, Queenstown

2: Nelson

1: Auckland (although it's still quite pretty)


Day 7 was Christmas, and no stores were open. We slept late. Folks staying at the hostel were already up cooking their native dishes for a hostel potluck. We didn't know about the potluck so didn't bring anything, but there was more than enough food so we ate and talked with other travelers (I talked with a father/son from Chile, a US Air Force guy in med school, and a Brit who runs street soccer camps in the US). Shweth stayed at the hostel to just chill out and do laundry, but I wanted to get out... Too beautiful of a day to be indoors. This was the day I went to Glenorchy (see previous post). Afterward, Shweth and I went on a long run, which I sorely needed.

That evening we had dinner with two of the most interesting people we've met thus far: a German couple (both 19 years old) on their second gap year. They were wise beyond their years, and I have to think their travels (which they are funding themselves) have helped them to be so.

Side note: of all the people I've met while traveling, Germans have struck me as some of the most intelligent and confident, but also the most anti- American, specifically regarding our consumerism, education system, and healthcare system. Most Germans I've will directly tell you they want no part of these things. On the other hand, our Franz Josef guide, Tom, wants to live in the US quite badly BECAUSE of our consumer culture. Do the Germans know something we don't? Or is it some sort of player hating? Or is it sour grapes for the first half of the 20th century? I haven't been to Germany and don't have many data points, but I think it's a combination of all three.

The drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka

I know...

I've been misspelling bungee (or bungy, as they spell it in NZ) as bungie. It annoys me too.