The Journey There...

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Dec. 27, 2010 - And so it begins...
At approx 5:00 I first began to feel it. A slight, but definitely there, tension in my chest. Finally... the pre-trip jitters had arrived. I take a moment to feel them, and silently acknowledge that I'm a little bit terrified. Then I dismiss, and banish such thoughts. When I do, I find another emotion there. It's excitement. As I sit here at my parent's house waiting to leave, the anticipation is killing me. I'm ready. At 7:15 I shut the cell phone off for the next three months. At 8:30 we leave Parker, Colorado. Bound for L.A.! Bound for New Zealand! And so it starts...

Dec. 28, 2010 - Let's kick this pig!
Well, today started off with a bang, or should I say "thud"? In the dead of night, in the middle of Utah, we had a very close encounter with a very large elk. At the time, Andrew was illegally driving the rental car (he's not old enough or insured to drive the vehicle). It's 3:30am and we're all very tired. Andrew rounds a corner and suddenly I spy a blockade of brown in the road.
This turns out to be seven or eight elk. We fly towards the herd at nearly 75mph. The good news: Andrew saw them, and began breaking. The bad news: one was almost, but not quite out of the way. Andrew swerved, but still clipped the back of the elk. Incredibly, despite the loud "thud", the elk and more importantly us (and the car) were unharmed. I don't know how, but Andrew certainly ninja'd those elk, and voided killing us or destroying the rental car (the later being Chad's top priority). We were, however, now all now VERY wide awake. That was my first and hopefully last close encounter with an elk and a car.
Undaunted, we press on and get to L.A. without further incident. Now it's 5:00pm L.A. time and I'm through security at LAX. In four hours we depart. We board the aircraft (a big 777) at 9:00, and at 10:25 we're in the air. As I say before any flight, "let's kick this pig!"

Dec. 29, 2010 - The day that wasn't there
The flight from LAX to Melbourne went by surprisingly fast. Strange to describe a 14 and a half hour flight as fast, but there it is. I had two meals, dinner and later breakfast. I watched one movie, read a novel, and managed to sleep the rest of the time. Due to the time change, we skipped Dec. 29th altogether. After a brief layover in Australia, we board yet another plane, bound for Christchurch, New Zealand. Almost there!

Dec. 30, 2010 - Here at last!
At 3:25, local New Zealand time, we arrive in Christchurch. Customs is a breeze, and a short taxi later we get to Jim and Helen's place. Chad met them on his first visit to the country. They are awesome people. Introductions all around, a shower for myself (very much needed after 48 hours of straight travelling) and now after a lovely dinner I'm finally just relaxing. We'll get our food supplies in a bit and then tomorrow morning the first tramp begins. It's hard to describe how it feels to finally be here at last. I'm very glad and can't wait to see the country. More to come!

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Comments

[Mel]

Sounds like a great start Nick....here is to a most happy, adventure filled 2011. Happy New Year.

[Jonathan]

Congratulations!
Off to a great start! Have fun, dude, as all the RMFF will be checking up on you. Jonathan

[Dani]

kick the shit out of the pig
Now in long car rides you can say 'lets kick the elk.' I must say the elk, the car, and more important the three of you were very lucky in your brief incounter. I'm glad the flight went fast.