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Published: July 11th 2005
So tomorrow didn't quite come and I'm now updating at 11:06pm on Monday, July 11. I meant to add entries yesterday, but I was more exhausted than I thought. Didn't find the time.
OK I'm lying...it was Kelly's roommate's birthday and we stayed drunk. I'm only slightly ashamed, so quit shaking your head. And yes I admit I've had half a bottle in the last hour...grrr, damn this country and their grape nectar!!!
While I'm on the subject though, I did find out some good news today. Sara and I were under the impression that we could only bring back 6 bottles of wine. According to the US customs website, travellers are allowed to bring back as much alcohol as they like besides absinthe, the only kink being that the first bottle is the only one duty free (tax exempt). I think I pay 36 cents a liter, or something. Sara was a bit heart broken when I read the line concerning the 21 year-old age restriction. Believe it or not, it hadn't even crossed our minds since we'd gotten used to the 18 limit here. I'll have to help her finish off the bottles she bought before we leave I suppose. Such a burden...
Also, I had planned on buying a few Cuban cigars to bring back as gifts for friends, but apparently you can only do so if they were purchased in Cuba. I'm really wondering how customs could tell that the tobacco came from Cuba.
On second thought...how would my friends know that the tobacco WASN'T from Cuba? hmm...
So anyways, I plan on bringing back at least a case (12 bottles). I've already decided on 5 of the bottles. I chose two of them yesterday in a wine store. I was looking for a specific type called Cloudy Bay that I'd read about, when the girl running the store suggested one called Comadaro that would be similar. Turns out, it was her family's wine. I bought it, and I left thinking that I'd been suckered. As it turns out, it was REEALLY good so I'm going back to get more. We're touring the famous Marlborough wine region tomorrow, so hopefully I'll find the other 7 for my case then :-)
Because of the birthday hangover, most of us slept in today only to get very little done in the afternoon. I did, however, manage to plan most of our 6 day route for the south island. We leave tomorrow morning at 7:45 and have absolutely packed days until the 18th when we return here, to Wellington. I'll meet my friend Casey then and split from Kelly and Sara, and we'll tramp and whatnot until my flight in Auckland on the 26th.
So, on to the rest of our North Island trip.
We left Wellington on the morning of the 5th and headed towards a town called Napier. The first real segment of road outside of Wellington was through a beautiful series of mountains called Lower Hutt. Kelly's driving was atrocious at first. I swear to bob our car practically made love to the guardrail at least 5 times in the first hour. I knew someone would get laid on this trip but I didn't think it would be the Ford.
Apparently driving on the opposite side makes you naturally allergic to the center line, so Americans tend to crowd the outside of the lane. She eventually got used to it though and we continued on without much adieu.
I fell asleep in the backseat and woke up at our first stop, the Tui Brewery. Tui (pronounced: Two-eee) is New Zealand's top beer. About equivalent to Budweiser in the US in terms of popularity. They have a huge advertising campaign. It consists of billboards describing some inconvenient or awkward situations, ending in the phrase, "Yeah, right.". Some of the best ones include:
"I can't, I'm working tomorrow."
"It's OK, workmates do this sort of thing all the time."
"I'm going to study really hard this year."
"Relax, I've done this sort of thing before."
or one of their more controversial...
"Last one, really...I've got to drive."
We arrived in Napier that night and made our way to a restaurant located on the coast called the Thirsty Whale. Another huge Rugby test was on TV between the Lions and some other team so it was packed. It was here that I tried my first leg of Lamb. It was served over mashed potatoes and was absolutely delicious. The next morning we went horseback riding on the beach. This was my first time on a horse, and not to be vulgar, but I saw all my future children flash before my eyes. I've never hated a beast so much in my life...the mofo apparently awoke to disco playing in his head because all he wanted to do was gallop.
The scenery was beautiful, anyways. I can't wait to get the pictures back.
Quick side note: We've taken well over 250 pictures by now. I plan to scan and upload the best ones once developed, but that won't be until after the 1st of August when I actually get the time. I'll post them here.
After the horseback riding we moved on to a segment of wine tasting. Napier is a town included in the Hawks Bay region, which is one of NZ's biggest wine tasting areas. We only made it to about 5 vineyards because we got lost so often, but it was still a really great experience. I admit, I was originally in it to get drunk for free. It's not a hard goal to accomplish since each vineyard makes at least 5 different wines and lets you sample them all (about a shot to each sample) in hope that you'll make a purchase. Esk Valley was the first winery we explored, and actually the only one I found worthy of purchase. It really was delicious, even their red wine. NZ is really only considered competent in white wines, but Esk Valley had a Merlot that was outstanding. I know very little of wine, but I could tell that this was superb. I bought a bottle of Merlot and 2 bottles of riesling (white wine). I have a wine tasting class at DePaul this coming fall, so hopefully I'll move up from ignorant wine-O, to snobby drunk by the end. Kidding.
On Wednesday, we drove from Napier to a town called Taupo. It's quite famous for its skydiving, and has the lowest skydiving rates of anywhere in New Zealand. We attempted to book ourselves, but we were rained out and the weather wasn't going to improve until Sunday so we gave it up. Instead, we decided to do a high-ropes course we'd read about. It actually turned out to be an absolute blast. We walked wires and ran over logs suspended 40ft or so in the air. It was scary as hell, but really really fun. One of the worst obstacles was a trapeze jump. The instructor makes you climb a wooden pole that is about 2x as high as your normal telephone pole, and about as big a round. You then have to attempt to stand on top of it. Then, ahead of you about 5ft is a trapeze bar that you're supposed to jump towards and grab, hanging on until they lower you down. Garbage. We realized later that no one is supposed to make it to the trapeze. They didn't admit that, but of course not...it's just a scheme to scare the shit out of you when you jump from a 4 story telephone pole into nothing. Bastards...anyways, it was worth it. We all had a blast.
We picked up another traveler at this point, named Christina. She was the only other person with us on the high ropes coarse, and happened to plan the same attractions as us for the rest of the day. She was actually going to bus and walk to the other locations, but we sped up her trip by offering the open seat in our car. After lunch at the high ropes cafe, we headed to the Taupo Honey Hives. This was just a simple beehive colony. The had their hives there on site, and they made various products from the collected honey. I got a few pictures of the bees and we got out of there.
We then headed to Huka Falls, which is a natural waterfall created by immense water pressure. It's still being formed rapidly today. I forget the details, but somehow the river changes from an 100 meter wide stream to 10 meters wide in an instant, making the water INCREDIBLY violent. The sheer force was unbelievable...I can't imagine anyone trying to go through it in a raft or anything. Probably impossible. We got some good photos and moved on.
From here we went to a park area called Craters of the Moon. This was an absolute marvel. It's a completely natural landscape, but looks exactly like a scene from Jurassic Park. As soon as you pull in you see what appears to be clouds or fog rising out of everything. It's a huge thermal region, and there are massive craters everywhere that are spewing out steam like a lumber fact's chimney. If you touched your hand to the ground almost anywhere, you couldn't keep it there long, as everything was to hot to tolerate. Surprisingly there was still quite a lot of vegetation growing in most places. It's apparently taken them hundreds of years to adapt to the sulfur and acidic properties of the soil. Once again, the pictures should be amazing...
OK...once again I hate to do this but I've been writing for entirely too long. I have to wake up un less than 6 hours to depart for the south island and have a lonnngggg day ahead of me. I've still only covered 2 days of our north island trip so I still have so much more to add. I probably won't make a new entry, for the sake of annoyance, and just simply edit this entry to append the rest. We'll see.
Anyways, what exactly is a twinkie...? This was a serious question posed to me last night at Mave's (Kelly's flatmate) birthday dinner last night. I explained that it was spunge cake filled with whip cream. Those were the only terms they understood. When I asked if they'd tried a HoHo they thought I was suggesting twin prostitutes.
Don't ask what they thought a Hostess DingDong was...
Hamish, in his frustration with the food names, had the quote of the night with, "Ahh...I love that American food titles have nothing to do with reality whatsoever."
Until next time,
Sammy Joe
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Abby
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Jealous in Kentucky...
Sammy Joe your trip sounds way better than just amazing! I'm so jealous of all your travels, but not sure if I would actually have the courage or the energy to do so many things in so little time. Your journals sound like something off of MTV Road Rules! Seriously! I can't wait to see all the amazing pictures and I look forward to your next entry- which has proved to be an amazingly entertaining time-passer at my office! =) STAY SAFE and have fun - it sounds like you don't need any encouraging on the fun front!