So today I paddled the Kaituna River in a Salto. Lets see what to say about th eriver its considered a III-IV run but is definitely harder than the Ocoee. Its a very short run, it took us only about an hour even with my screwing up. The drop pool. But big and fast water... not really any eddies to scout from either. There are a couple of bad weirs and holes that are not so great to get into... I didn't find any. The biggest rapid is a water fall -- Okere Falls. Its a 2.5meter fall, not bad. And [View Full Entry]

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So what have I been doing in NZ? Well let me see last we left I was off to party with the Irish. I think this was just a warm up festival for next weekend actually. Then I ran into Robin and her son Luke on the roof of the hostel, and tagged along with them to the outdoor production of “A Comedy of Errors.” Shakespeare with a Kiwi Twist. I learned about gum boots… fisherman boots to us, and sheep and rugby and other little funny bits of Kiwi culture. At the bar that night I ran into a guy [View Full Entry]

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I just bought my vehicle today. It took all of about 1 hour. Actually it was the only one I drove. I now have buyers remorse and am worried that I got taken. I paid $2000 NZD for a 1986 Toyota Hiace camper van. But it had racks and there were only 2 vans on the lot that had racks. I forget what they wanted for the other one but I think they were asking around 4000. So we'll see as long as it holds up for 2 months. So now I'll really be living in a "Van down by the [View Full Entry]

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There really is no point to this blog. But I wanted to share this sort of funny story. I was looking up the weather in Sydney and Auckland for the next week. Just to see what temps I was getting into. Well, I used weather.com because its what I know. The temps were in Fareheit. I had to think really hard what the numbers meant and actually converted them to Celsius so I would have a local reference. Felt kind of stupid. Ok now for some music trivia or knowledge. Here is a list of the most popular songs I've heard [View Full Entry]

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So I went to Cadbury Chocolate factory yesterday. The tour was interesting and smelled damn good. I really felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory….though I didn’t see any Oompa Loompas. I was tempted to dance and sing and steal candy but I didn’t. Last night I went out and had Kangaroo steak…a lot like venison. Today I went to a wildlife park and saw Kangaroo’s and Tasmanian Devils.. I had lots of pictures but as I mentioned those pictures seemed to just disappear from the XD media. Bullocks is all I say to that. I’m ready for NZ, I go [View Full Entry]

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Thanks to lawyers I felt my first real pangs of homesickness this last weekend. I don’t tell you this because its bad or really sad. Its just a matter of fact. I’m sure it won’t be the last time. But as Count Rugen (the man with 6 fingers on his right hand) said, “this is for posterity so be honest.” So the story: I went to Freycinet National Park with all intentions of some real alone time. I was going to rent a sea kayak and kayak down to the sound end of the peninsula and camp there by myself. Well [View Full Entry]

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So I've spent the last 2 days in Hobart. I have to say I really like this town. Its a port city of about 200,000 people... I think. There is fish everywhere... usually fried but its still good. I ate all you could eat sushi last night for $15. Spent the first night I was here in an Irish bar talking to two pilots and contemplating girls and the hair flip, or tucking their hair behind their ears. Ok I was just people watching. Last night I went out for 1 beer.... we all know that is not a good think. [View Full Entry]

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I have come to believe that I must just be destined for bad feet whenever I decide to go on an extended backpacking trip. In the Wind Rivers it was silver dollar size blisters, in Chile it was all kinds of blisters and just general bad feet. Well in Tasmania on the Great Overland Trek, I had feet problems again. The trip started with a bruise or something on the ball of my foot. That was fixed nicely by Super Feet and Tracy (thanks sis… yes I can give shout outs if I want). The first day of hiking was actually [View Full Entry]

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I just completed my first long distance train ride. I left Perth on Wednesday afternoon at 2PM Melbourne time and arrived in Melbourne Friday night at 10PM. What a wiped out trip. Because I'm cheap I didn't get a sleeper car, but just bought a reclining seat. (Its >$600 for the bed and only $180 for the seat). So needless to say sleep was not all the common or comfortable. The seats are nicer than airplane seats but not by alot. It was nice to be able to get up and wander around, buy beer, wine, crappy food and meet people. [View Full Entry]

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Well I've been in Australia for a week now and don't feel like I've done Jack. I took a look around Perth for a couple of days, went biking around Rottnest Island. Then I decided to take a blitzkrieg tour around the Southwest. It was a 3 day bus tour, not really my style but I needed to do something and was getting short on time. We went down to Margarat River, home to wineries and surfing. Went to the most south west point in OZ and saw where the Indian Ocean and Great Southern Ocean meet. We then went and [View Full Entry]

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