It's Over

I'm back. I had a great time in New Zealand. 

If I think of anything interesting to post now that I'm back, I'll post it. 

Thanks everyone.

Walking Among Mere Mortals

My bike broke.

After four months of riding my bike up and down the steep hills of Auckland, my spray-painted, left-wing minded bicycle broke. It wasn't anything that a quick welding job can't fix, but right now it's completely unrideable.

In a total twist of irony, it broke just a few days before I was planning on selling back to the shop where I purchased it. I was a little nervous because I had no idea how the bike shop owner would react. I was attempting to sell him a totally useless bike that wasn't in terrific shape to begin with. Fortunately the owner was fair and decided to buy it back at the amount we had agreed upon when I first bought it.

The premature departure of my main mode of transportation has left me a little uncomfortable though. I've been riding a bicycle everywhere for a couple of years now, so you can imagine that I'm a little rusty on this whole walking thing. I feel a little like an alien walking places where I have never walked before. I have a totally new perspective on what parts of the city look like now that they aren't whizzing by me.

I also discovered that my bike gave me a bit of a superiority complex. I feel so inferior now, walking with people instead of blazing by them on my brilliantly efficient mode of transportation. When I see bicyclists on the road I now feel inferior and I consider ways to let them know that I ride too, my bike's just in the shop. 

I never really noticed how poorly I tied my shoes before either. Some days, I have to stop walking, bend down and retie my show. That never happens with a bike. 

The only upside to my lack of a bike is that I get to wear hats again. Now that I don't constantly have a helmet on my head, I can wear my waxed cap for rain, my baseball cap for sun and my knit beanie for cold. I just wish I had a hat that let people know I'm usually on a bike and I'm ashamed to be walking.

Final Exams

Initially, I didn't think that final exams at the University of Auckland would be worthy of an entire blog entry. Little did I know, New Zealand takes exams seriously, very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that there is an entire department at the university dedicated to exams: The Office of Examinations.

During one informal review session with the TA of one of my classes, a student asked, "why are all of the proctors so old?" Being accustomed to having the professor who taught the course present at the final exam, I was a little surprised to hear that proctors were used. I assumed that the comment about the age was based on some general observation that the proctors were all adults instead of the younger PhD, MD and MBA candidates that we are used to seeing around campus.

When it came time for my first exam, I laughed out loud when two women who appeared to be in their 70's ushered us into the exam room. Later on I learned that aged proctors is not a generalization at all. During the exam period at universities all over New Zealand, the average age of people on campus probably increases by at least twenty years. Dozens, maybe hundreds of septuagenarians hurry around the campus with boxes of exams and pitchers of water.

Upon arriving at the exam room, I was informed that I had committed one of the worst exam sins possible. Thou Shalt Bring Thy Student ID. I hadn't known about this little rule and was surprised to learn that my driver's license was insufficient proof of identity. I was old-manhandled out of line and told that I would be able to take the exam but I would be escorted to the Office of Examinations for Identity Verification after the exam. The nice woman at the Office of Examinations acknowledged my foreign ignorance but proceeded to ask me four or five specific questions about my life and academic career in order to confirm that I was, in fact, me.

Other interesting final exam rules:
-No cell phones or ipods are allowed in the exam room.
-If you do bring in a phone and it makes a noise during the exam, you automatically fail the exam.
-Exam room assignments are not posted until the morning of the exam.
-Professors must submit final exams to the Office of Examinations more than a month prior to the actual exam.
-During the exam, proctors will not respond to students unless they use one of three hand signals: "T" sign for toilet, drinking motion for water, nose-tap for tissue.

The Collapse of Western Society Starts in New Zealand

I've been doing a lot of reading about the peak oil/ global warming/ food shortage/ recession crises lately. So much so that I am considering a career in sustainable development. It seems like our society is going to have to start to change in a big way in order for our population to survive. There must be some demand for people that will go to businesses and help them figure out how to produce and distribute goods and services in a more sustainable and responsible way. I might want to be one of those people.

The actual trigger for my recent career consideration wasn't some article I read or some film I watched. It was an empty peanut butter shelf in a grocery store down the road from my flat. I have noticed that the folks at this (and other) grocery stores haven't been restocking peanut butter. Every week, there are fewer and fewer varieties left to choose from (a tragedy, I know) and now there are only a few small jars left. New Zealand is running out of peanut butter.

A few aisles down, there is a sign in the rice section indicating that particular varieties of rice on the shelf will not be sold anymore. They've run out.

Something is seriously wrong when a modern, post-industrial country like New Zealand runs out of "basic" goods. Fortunately I am getting the hell out of this peanut-butterless wasteland in a couple of weeks so I won't have to know what it is like to live without peanut butter. This little legume scare has made me realize that the US and the rest of the world can't be too far behind. I'm not saying that I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to ensuring every citizen has equal access to a plentiful supply of peanut and rice products. I just think it might be helpful for people my age to start thinking about careers that serve the good of the community or society rather than the good of the industry or the individual.

Northland Lighthouses

While walking along the coast last week, I occasionally got the feeling that I was actually walking along the coast of some little town in Maine. 

I think it was the lighthouses that threw me off. I've only ever seen Maine lighthouses before I came to New Zealand. I guess all lighthouses probably look similar. The original lighthouses in New Zealand seemed pretty standard with your white base, glass cage and domed roof. 

Unfortunately, in New Zealand, most of the original lighthouses have been replaced with new squatty looking, fiberglass "lightstumps" as I like to call them. They are ten feet tall and have a little electronic light that is controlled by some computer in Wellington (which is a long ways away). You could easily climb on top of a "lightstump" but they are so dull and disappointing that it doesn't even seem worth it to climb up the thing. 

This photo show a young lightstump sitting next to a full-grown lighthouse. Interesting fact: it takes over 50 years for a lighthouse to become fully mature.

My last night in Northland I stayed at a hut that was converted from an old lightkeeper's house. It took about six hours of hiking to get to this hut, but it was worth it. The views were pretty amazing the hike itself gave me some much needed exercise. The hut:

Northland

I just got back from a week of hiking and camping in the Northland region of New Zealand. The views along the northernmost part of the country were pretty amazing. Miles and miles of isolated and empty beaches. It's winter here, so not many people are out hiking which leaves campsites, huts and trails almost empty. 

Not surprisingly, I saw a lot of beaches while walking along the coast. I also saw a lot of sunsets over the ocean and a lot of lighthouses. All typical coastal scenery, but it was still very impressive. 

The route started off with a bunch of sand dunes. I don't know a lot about dune environments, but there was a lot of sand piled up in big hills and a lot of wind blowing the sand around. I assume those two factors are important in sustaining a dune. 

The weather was nice for most of the trip, but there were a lot of cloudy times. I guess the Northland region of New Zealand sees weather unlike the rest of the country. It was unusually warm and dry which is probably why they call Northland the "Winterless North." 

While walking over some rocks this bright blue thing caught my eye. It was a beached Portuguese Man o' War. This thing is actually a venomous colony of distinct organism that combine to form a floating jellyfish-like animal. It moves around by filling up the air sac segment with carbon dioxide and then uses that as a sail. How cool is that?

There were a lot of lighthouses (lightheese?) but I will write about them later. 

One night I was sort of forced to camp on someone's lawn. It's a long story, but here is a picture of her grandson. He was your standard cute toddler with curly hair, overalls and red cheeks. 

There were some red toilet brush flowers outside of the hut that I stayed in on the last night. 

You can see all of the photos that I took in Northland here: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/TrevorCBraun/Northland

It's Different Here: Part 9

At restaurants, appetizers are called "entrees" and entrees are called "mains." There are also "starters" but I don't know what those are. 

Dessert is still dessert. 

It's Different Here: Part 8

Most homes have ceramic tiles instead of shingles on the roof. I have no idea why. 

It's Different Here: Part 7

Prescription bottles are different. First of all, they are really small compared to most US prescription bottles. Second, prescription bottles here generally don't have a child safety cap. The cap just unscrews. This was a little unsettling for me, so when I went to the pharmacy to have my prescription refilled, I asked for a child safety cap. It turns out you have to pay extra for those bottles!

Normally I would have been bothered by this, but it turns out that prescription medications are subsidized by the government so I only had to pay $2 for the pills in the first place. 

Together, the tiny size and child un-safe cap make the whole bottle look like a toy prescription bottle. Something that might come along with a pharmacist doll. 

It's Different Here: Part 6

Cheerios are expensive. I know food prices are going up everywhere, but for some reason, Cheerios seem to be the most expensive cereal around. $8 USD for a normal sized box. 

On the other hand, honey and jam is surprisingly inexpensive. And I don't know how this factors in, but Skittles are a lot cheaper than M&M's. 

Up North

For the next 6 days I will be traveling around the northernmost tip of New Zealand. Apparently there is a hiking trail that extends around the northern coast. I will also be heading out to Cape Brett, a little peninsula that sticks out of the northeast coast. At the end of Cape Brett there is a lighthouse with a lightkeeper's cabin nearby. The Department of Conservation has converted this cabin into a hut where hikers can spend the night.

At first it seemed like a really cool idea to stay in a lightkeeper's house, but now that I think of it, I'm not so sure. Given all that I know about movies, TV and Stephen King novels, there are bound to be grisly stories of death and murder attached to this lighthouse. 

While I'm gone, I have another series of: It's Different Here posts. 

I'll be back in a week... hopefully.

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day happened last month, but I forgot to write about it so I'm writing about it now.

ANZAC Day is equivalent to the US Memorial Day. For the week leading up to the holiday, businesses sell paper poppies that are to be worn on ANZAC Day and then placed on some sort of monument or statue in remembrance of New Zealand and Australian soldiers who fought in WWI.

On the morning of ANZAC Day, pre-dawn ceremonies are held at major cities and towns across New Zealand and Australia. The ceremony at the Auckland War Memorial Museum started around 6:30. It was kind of erie walking with hundreds of people up to this museum in the pitch black.

The ceremony itself was pretty short and focused. It seemed like it was an event that had been practiced dozens of times, but there was still meaning in every speech and exercise. The timing of the event made the biggest impression on me. Standing in the dark with thousands of people may be erie, but standing with such a large group in total darkness and silence for two minutes is completely sobering.

Personally, I much prefer the ANZAC Day ceremonies to Memorial Day ceremonies. Sometimes, memorial day speeches and ceremonies can get bogged down in making sure the attendees remember how much our soldiers gave to ensure peace and freedom. We are asked to remember the sacrifices that were made. ANZAC Day focuses more on the soldiers, not the sacrifices. People don't walk away feeling guilty or ashamed. I think a big reason the speeches are so short is because everyone has already made the gesture of waking up at 5:30. The thousands of adults, kids, college students, teenagers, grandparents that show up wouldn't wake themselves up that early if ANZAC Day didn't mean anything to them.

Mt. Wellington - It's Not Where You Think it is

I took a trip over to Mount Wellington last weekend. Despite its name, Mount Wellington is actually in Auckland (though technically it is in the town of Mount Wellington). Mount Wellington is one of the dozens of volcanoes in the Auckland volcano field. It's one of the bigger ones, so I decided it would be worth checking out.

The most interesting part of Mount Wellington is the playing field that has been carved into the side of it. All volcanoes in New Zealand are considered spiritual places to the Māori people. In fact, all land in New Zealand technically belongs to the Māori people, but over the years, they have been kind enough to sell or donate land back to the government. Volcanoes are different though. Volcanoes are very special and important natural features for the Māori culture. And what did the government do to this very spiritual and important place? They carved out a soccer field and put in a parking lot and a road going up to it. 

The second most interesting part of Mount Wellington is the scoria deposits. The entire cone is actually made out of scoria (that's why it is classified as a scoria cone volcano) and the government and industries have been mining this scoria for decades. On the side of one of the craters, there is an exposed section where scoria rocks just sort of ooze out. They ooze in a non-fluid, rocky way. 

The Tallest Building in the Southern Hemisphere

I visited the Sky Tower the other day. I live about ten minutes away from the Sky Tower so it would have been a little silly for me to not take a trip to see it while I'm here in New Zealand. The only thing that had been holding me back was the cost. Prior to visiting the Sky Tower, I considered the attraction to just be an $18 elevator ride (they don't let people use the stairs). But when I finally got to the top and was able to see the shape and size of Auckland city, I was glad I made the trip.You can really see all of Auckland from that thing. We were just so high up, it was like being in a hot air balloon or a plane or like standing in the southern hemisphere's tallest building. 

Being as tall as it is, you'd think jumping off the top of it would be exciting, but the way they have it set up, it doesn't look very exciting at all. The "jumpers" just sort of step off of a platform and gently slide down a cable until they touch down on a little target on the ground. I'm pretty sure they never get to terminal velocity and I think the winch that lets out the cable actually slows the fall down. To make things more exciting, I think they should have a little staged fight on the platform and then the jumper should get pushed off in the heat of the moment. Either that or a trap door.

The views were great though. I got to see all of the little volcanos that I had been hiking around. I also got a good view of Auckland University with its "Clocktower" building and the enormous brand new business school building. The number of boats in the marina was also pretty impressive. I guess it's not much of a surprise that a country consisting of two islands would have a lot of sailing enthusiasts.

The elevators that run inside of the tower have glass floors that enable you to see exactly how fast you are moving. I think glass bottomed elevators are a good idea. In fact, I think all elevators should have a little window in the bottom or top of the car. Just imagine how much more interesting elevator rides would be.

This last photo is a picture of the highest sink in the southern hemisphere inside of the highest bathroom in the southern hemisphere.

Where Have I Been?

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog. I've been a little busy finishing up school stuff here in Auckland. Classes are pretty much over with and I have a month before final exams start. The long gap between the end of classes and final exams is called the "study period." Because I am so smart, I don't need to study and plan use the "study period" to do some hiking and camping around the northern tip of the country.

Actually I'm a little relieved that I didn't force myself to update this blog over the past month or so. I wasn't really doing much worth writing about and I've never liked the idea of sharing boring personal stuff like the interesting patterns that show up in my leg hair or my views on leaf-blowers.

I do have a couple of little trips to share though. And since school is done, I'll have more time to travel, explore and share.

Wintergarden

Last week I visited a place called Wintergarden in the Auckland Domain that is right next to my flat. I'm still not sure if I should be referring to this place as, "The Wintergarden" or just, "Wintergarden." Has anyone else heard of the term Wintergarden? Are there other wintergardens out there? For now I think I will just say, "the Wintergarden."

The Wintergarden is a set of three greenhouses (actually, two greenhouses and a fernery) that are in the middle of the Auckland Domain. "Greenhouse," really doesn't do the Wintergarden justice. The large glass and brick structures are as impressive to look at as the plants inside of them. The three structures are connected by a little garden in the middle with fountains and statues. 

The first building was filled primarily with eggplant plants. At least ten different varieties of eggplant were mixed with the typical variety of flowers that you would find in a normal cool climate greenhouse. In addition to the unusual eggplant display, there were five or six varieties of pepper plant. Most of the peppers were really small and looked a little fake because of the bright purple, yellow and orange colors. The fact that vegetables were on display in a government owned public greenhouse was interesting to me, but far more interesting was that it was just a eggplant and pepper display (excluding the one lonely citroen plant). 

The second greenhouse wasn't quite as interesting. The orchids and water lilies were great, but they didn't have the same grade school teacher at a monster truck show exoticism that the eggplants had. 

The Fernery wasn't that interesting either. Filled with ferns, it lived up to it's name and made no effort to achieve anything else. Ferns, just ferns.

Pictures of "The Wintergarden": http://picasaweb.google.com/TrevorCBraun/Wintergarden

Some Quick Stories from the Field

Dead Sheep Pass

Most of the territory that we were studying was farmland. This meant walking through lost of cow and sheep pastures. The first couple of days, we tried to avoid stepping in the huge amounts of cow and sheep dung. But by the end of the week, we were covered in it. At one point, I was lying on my pack on top of a pile of cow dung simultaneously trying to take measurements from a limestone bed and spit out whatever sort of animal excrement had made it into my mouth. 

There were also dozens and dozens of dead sheep. I don't know what was killing them all, but after watching their behavior, I wouldn't be surprised if they were dying from lack of intelligence. Decomposing sheep smell bad, so you can imagine how unlucky we all were to have to walk through one in order to get to a certain rock formation. Those of us with sufficient balance and shoe tread managed to get away with only some rotting sheep carcass and maggots on our hands. Those less fortunate ended up with a mixture maggots, wool and three week old rotting flesh all over their front or back. 

Doctor Warwick Prebble

Doctor Prebble, or Warwick as he prefers to be called, has been studying geology for over fifty years and has been a lecturer on this field trip for 28 years. I can't begin to fathom how deep this man's knowledge is in all things related to field geology. Warwick blends both the new high tech gear with the old low tech gear. He caries with him a GPS unit as well as some sort of clinometer that looks as if it was stolen from Marco Polo. While out in the field with us, Warwick seemingly wore the same combination of cotton cargo shorts and a light blue button down shirt. This left me wondering if his cabin had a closet filled with seven cartoonishly similar sets of shirts and shorts for the week or if some holy/geological force keeps him completely dry and clean, regardless of the conditions. 

This year was bittersweet as it was Warwick's last year of coming on the Port Waikato trip. After 28 years, Warwick is retiring and looking to do, "other things." I know when retirees say that, they usually mean that they just want to sit around and relax, but for some reason I keep picturing Warwick hiking around Greenland or Patagonia in his cotton shorts and blue shirt. 

That Was Awesome

Seven full days of running around the New Zealand countryside with a clipboard, a hammer and a compass. It doesn't get much better than that. Actually it was better than that because along with all of the geology students, there were five very smart and enthusiastic geology professors with bigger and better hammers running around with us. A typical day went something like this:

6:00: wake up, shower, get breakfast, make lunch

8:00: get on the bus to go to field location

8:30-5:00: geology stuff

5:00: back to camp, shower, unpack field gear

6:00: dinner

8:00: evening lectures

The weather was pretty good at first, but then it got really, really bad. After an hour and a half of hiking on the fourth day, we climbed down a cliff to study some amazing formations in a secluded cove. It was raining most of the morning, but by mid-day the skies had opened up and the rain was so heavy that you could barely see fifteen feet in-front of yourself. We backed away from the cliff because big boulders of basalt and limestone were falling off onto the beach. The lecturers gave up trying to teach anything because nobody could hear anything they were saying over the rain. 

We had to take a couple of detours on the way back because our path had been flooded or the rivers we crossed were dangerously high. It was amazing. 

Unfortunately, this same storm cause flash flooding of a nearby river where some high school students were canyoning. Seven of the students and a teacher were killed when the river to quickly for them to get to higher ground. Our field trip was organized and run by professors with over a hundred years of field experience with them. At no point did I fear for my own personal safety. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been a part of that canyoning group. Even those who survived are left with the awful experience of watching their classmates swept away by a freak flood. 

It's Different Here: Part 5

This is a double post.

1. They really don't use hotdog buns here. In fact, hotdogs aren't that common. Sausages are much more common. And they put the sausages in a slice of bread. 

2. Outlets are different. I knew the shape of the plug would be different, but outlets here also have switches. For every outlet, there is a switch right next to it. Switches are different here. Up is off and down is on. They are also rounder and much flatter. I like it.

It's Different Here: Part 4

Paper here is different. It's bigger, (A4 sized) and it usually feels a little thicker. Sometimes the extra long page is nice, but it means that everything else has to be bigger: binders, folders, drawers, basically everything paper related. 

The really weird part about the paper story is that they use two-hole punches instead of three. This seems silly because the giant A4 sized page is left hanging on two holes that are pretty close together. What if one rips? I'm not sure what the benefit of the two hole punch is yet, but it makes me wonder if people from other countries wonder why Americans insist on that extra third hole.

It's Different Here: Part 3

Police officers don't carry guns in New Zealand. I guess they don't in England either. I'm not sure exactly what to think of that. It seems like a good thing, but I think they can get away with it because they have such a super low crime rate. All police officers wear a stab proof and sometimes bullet proof vest all the time though. 

It's Different Here: Part 2

There really isn't stick deodorant here in New Zealand. I've always been on the fence about the use of deodorant and I generally don't use it if I don't have to. When I found myself in a position where I needed to use deodorant, I went to the pharmacy to buy some. To my surprise, they only have the roll-on kind. While I've heard of roll-on deodorant, I had never actually seen it until I was in this New Zealand pharmacy. 

When I commented on this to my New Zealand flatmates, they were surprised that I had never seen the roll-on kind and they themselves had never seen or heard of stick deodorant. Crazy. 

It's Different Here: Part 1

There is no such thing as a yellow traffic light. They call yellow traffic lights "orange" here. 

I checked to make sure the color yellow actually exists and it's not just considered a light orange or something. It does exist. 

DINOSAURS!!!

Next week I will be staying at the lovely Port Waikato School Camp with the rest of my field geology class. I get to spend seven days wandering around the New Zealand countryside with a compass and a hammer as I "learn" important field geology skills. I'm just kidding about the quotes around "learn", I'm sure I will actually learn quite a bit. 

This field geology course is worth as many credits as any other course, but it only meets once for the week long trip. We do have to pay $150 for transportation and food which is kind of steep for me, but it turns out that the school hires a professional chef to do all of the catering. She is even going to use lactose free milk for my meals. Isn't that nice?

I am most excited about the days where we will be mapping the landscape by identifying biostratigraphic markers from the Jurassic period. That means dinosaur bones. Well, not actual dinosaur bones, more like coral and bivalves and things like that, but they were around when dinosaurs were around. 

While I'm gone, my blog will automatically post a entry that I have written in advance. I'm calling the series: It's Different Here.

Dinosaurs, how cool is that?

Blue Lake - The Journey to Blue Lake

Half-way through my stay in Tongariro National Park, I spent the night at Waihohonu Hut. Waihohonu Hut is the closest hut to the summit of Mount Tongariro and is located a couple of hours away from Blue Lake. Blue Lake is really just a large puddle or small pond that sits in the saddle between Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. Having arrived at the hut a few hours earlier than I expected, I decided to make the trip to Blue Lake. The weather wasn't looking great, but it had been cloudy all day, so I figured the rain would have already started if it was going to rain at all. 

On my way to the lake, I took my time looking at the interesting rock formations that were a result of explosive volcanic activity some decades ago. People kept commenting on how these formations make you feel like you are walking on the moon. None of these people had been to the moon which I'm sure looked nothing like those rocks, so I don't know why they weren't satisfied with just saying the rock formations were really interesting and impressive. 

An hour into the two hour trip, it started to sprinkle. It was almost a mist and I had my rain gear, so I wasn't concerned at all. I even took the time to take this picture of myself. 

As I started to make the final steep ascent to Blue Lake, the rain started to pick up and the wind was becoming an issue. I climbed up the trail using both arms and both legs as the weather grew increasingly worse. I considered turning back several times as I crouched behind a big rock to wait for a large gust of wind and rain to pass over.  I was determined to see the famous Blue Lake though, so I kept hiking upward. 

Finally, I arrived at the smallest lake I have ever seen. It was probably no more than two feet deep and maybe twenty feet across. The wind was blowing so hard that I struggled to stand up straight as I took out my camera. The rain wasn't too heavy, but it hurt as it was propelled by the strong, "alpine" gusts. I made it though and I'm glad I did. 

I was happy to have made the trip, but the most frustrating part is how nice the picture looks. It doesn't look like great weather, but it still looks like a relatively calm day. You don't see any of the rain that was stinging my face or the strong wind that was actually moving little scoria stones around on the ground. I really like my camera, but my next one will definitely have a "crappy weather" setting that shows all of the rain and maybe puts in a little digital windsock to show how strong the wind is. 

Cricket is Kind of Creepy

I took this photo of the Auckland Museum a few weeks ago. The museum is set inside a really pretty park that covers an old volcano. There are a bunch of sports fields surrounding the museum and on weekends, there are usually a bunch of cricket games. 

I've never seen cricket played in real life before so it's a little weird to see men dressed up in really white clothes playing some ball game. But beyond my unfamiliarity with the game, the whole scene was a little unsettling for me. There were dozens of these guys in white walking around this field. With all of them wearing the same crisp white uniform, it made me think that they all had the exact same intention like some sort of cricket cult. They might all want to play cricket, or they might all want to do something more sinister, like kill. 

The Big Volcano

I just got back from 8 days in Tongariro National Park. It was a great trip but being 8 days and all, I think I might just relate a couple of stories that are most memorable to me. 

The first day was probably the biggest. I got up early and made an ascent of Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand's largest active volcano. I didn't really climb much of the mountain, I hitched a ride up to a ski resort and from there, I rode the chairlift up about 25 minutes. Without knowing much about the mountain, I took the "marked route" to the top. The long, steep trail to the peak was marked, but as I climbed up, I started to get the impression that I wasn't on the path of least resistance.  When I did reach the peak I realized that I was a few hours away from the place I wanted to be. A quick 3-hour walk across the top and I was at my destination, Crater Lake. It was really cool to see, but it's name pretty much describes what it is. 

On my way back down the mountain, I found myself a little lost and a little alone. In the distance I saw a little trail marker so I made my way down into the valley toward the white marker. The footing was pretty tricky and little rockslides kept rushing down below me, but I finally made it to the marker. Unfortunately, the marker was actually just some white pole that someone had thrown down into the valley. I started to feel a little anxious about how late it was and how alone I was and all of the sudden the boulder I was standing on tilted forward sending me head first into another rock. 

Having been in several bike accidents I am accustomed to having my head in a helmet when I slam it against something hard. Because of this, I initially thought to myself, "thank God I was wearing my helmet." Then a wave of pain shot through my head and I realized I wasn't wearing my helmet. I'm okay though. I got up  and worked my way down the mountain, arriving at the hut just before nightfall.

ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET

My Run-in with the Law

Anyone who knows me will agree that, aside from my curtailing of traffic laws when on my bike, I am generally a law abiding citizen. I am especially cautious when I'm in an area where I am unfamiliar with local laws and regulations. So you can imagine how I felt when I made a mistake that landed me in the back of a New Zealand police car yesterday morning.

It all started last week when I arranged for a shuttle company to pick me up from a trail-head at 8:00am on the 29th so I could get back into town to catch my bus back to Auckland. Feeling confident about the arrangement with the shuttle company, I woke up at 5:30 and hiked down from the hut to the car park, arriving a little before 8:00. When 8:30 rolled around, I realized that I had made a mistake in not calling to double check the reservation the day before. Not wanting to wait around any longer, I headed out to the main road to hitch a ride back into town. It was still early in the morning and this was a rural road, so not many cars were passing through.

After several minutes of walking, I noticed what looked like a white sedan with some sort of roof-rack coming down the road. I stuck out my thumb and started to slowly walk backwards. As the car came closer, I noticed that the roof-rack was, in fact, police lights on a sedan version of the Go-Go Gadget Mobile that I've mentioned before. As soon as I noticed it was a police car, I immediately dropped my arm and started walking forward. I cringed as the car came closer and started to slow down next to me.

"Can I give you a ride somewhere?" the officer called out the window.
I stammered for a moment, wondering what sort of a sting operation this could be. Although I knew hitchhiking was common in New Zealand, I was not certain of the exact legalities surrounding the practice.
"Um, yeah, sure," I replied and jogged across the road. The police officer didn't bother to pull off to the side and was in fact parked right on top of the centerline, blocking both lanes of traffic. This, in addition to some innate instinct, caused me to rush and throw my pack in the back seat and then quickly sit down next to it. This put me sitting directly behind the officer instead of the more logical position in the passenger seat next to the driver. It wasn't until we were driving along that I realized how awkward my sitting in the back seat was for both myself and the officer.

While Officer "Joe" drove 35 minutes out of his way to drop me off in Turangi, we talked about the interesting agricultural history of the area and then about American politics. Officer Joe, along with many, many other New Zealanders believes in the 9/11 conspiracy; a conspiracy in which the American government planned and implemented the September 11th "terrorist" attacks itself and used the opportunity to wage war against pre-planned enemies as well as restrict civil liberties. I never know how to respond to this argument. It's just so far-fetched and in a lot of ways, disrespectful, that I can't even come up with a sound reasoning against it. So I politely listened to the officer and then did my best to assure him that, to my knowledge, the conspiracy was untrue.

When we arrived in Turangi, Officer Joe was kind enough to pull into a busy gas station to let me out. This gave me the opportunity to step out of the car with my pack and call back, "thanks for the ride, officer," loud enough for everyone to in the vicinity to hear.

I'm Off to Ruapehu

I'll be tramping around in the Tongariro National Park for eight days starting tomorrow. I think I've mentioned my excitement about seeing active volcanoes in previous posts. I won't be updating for a while but in the meantime, I recommend keeping up to date with international news at the BBC. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

You should also check out this website about honey bees. You can make your own bee there. This is a picture of the bee I made. 

http://helpthehoneybees.com/

Not Much of a Choice

I was helping my flatmate install the Firefox web browser on her computer the other day when I came across a situation that is really emblematic of the position that New Zealanders often find themselves in. 

Somehow the website "knew" that we were in New Zealand and decided to give us an option for which version of Firefox we wanted to install. The two choices were:

 -Firefox English (US)

 -Firefox English (British)

I looked at the page for a second, trying to understand what it was asking and finally I said to my flatmate, "wow, it looks like you have to choose. Do you want the American version or the British version." She looked up at me and in a somewhat defeated voice complained, "but I don't want either." I looked at the page again and responded apologetically with, "I'm really sorry, but it doesn't look like you have a choice." 

My flatmate thought for a minute and finally said, "I really don't want the American version, but I think it will be a lot better than the British version, so I guess I'll go with America." We clicked on the "Firefox English (US)" button and as we waited for it to download, we Googled how many McDonalds restaurants there were in the world. 32,000. 

Look Both Ways or Die

New Zealanders are generally very friendly and courteous. They do have their qualms with Americans, but who doesn't. When driving or walking around the city, you rarely hear cars honking or people yelling at each other. But behind this cheery and courteous disposition, there is a bloodthirsty maniac just waiting to kill an innocent pedestrian.

It turns out that in New Zealand, pedestrians don't have the right-of-way when crossing a street or road. You wouldn't think it a big deal at first, but trust me, it's a big deal. Unless you are at an intersection with a pedestrian signal (which are not very common in Auckland), you put your life in your hands when you cross the street. Cars just don't stop for pedestrians. 

There is a pretty busy street that runs through the center of the University campus. For most of the day, there is a steady stream of cars driving through at about 40mph. Every once in a while, there will be a couple seconds of gap when the traffic lights are timed just right. With something like 50 thousand students at the University, you can imagine that there would be a lot of people trying to cross the street between classes. The end result is lines of students standing on the centerline of the road with speeding cars shooting in front of and behind them. There are four lanes of traffic to deal with so it's almost impossible to make it all the way across without getting stuck between lanes. 

Because I am on my bike, I rarely have to deal with this issue, but it's still terrifying to watch a single file line of 20 or 30 students standing in the center of the road with cars whizzing by them. Sometimes I cringe when I see two buses moving in opposite directions sandwich people at the centerline or when a car mirror clips a backpack. 

Remember how I said that New Zealanders don't use their horns? Well that just makes things worse for pedestrians. In Boston or New York City, if someone is walking in the street, they will get honked at, but the car will still stop. Here, the cars will come out of nowhere with no warning. They won't honk so you can't tell if they can see you or not. 

If I die in New Zealand, this is how it will happen. No falls from steep mountain cliffs, no bike accidents, no volcano related tragedies, none of that. I'm going to get hit by a bus while I'm on my way to class. 

TOXIC GASES MAY BUILD UP IN THE CRATER AT THE TOP

Toxic gases! 

I'm planning a week long trip to the Tongariro National Park during the Easter holiday. One of the side trips will take me up to the crater of Mount Ngauruhoe, an active volcano. The New Zealand Department of Conservation website warns trampers to watch out for a build up of toxic gases in the crater. 

Isn't that awesome? I'm sure it's safe, otherwise they would probably block off the trail. It's still a risk though- the coolest risk ever. 

A cooler risk that I have heard about is the risk of being attacked by a bear while stuck in a bear cage. Someone told me a story about some guy that worked with bears somewhere in Canada who got stuck in a bear cage with a tranquilized bear that was supposed to be tagged and released. I guess the guy was alone and the only way he managed to survive was by cutting the bear's jugular with a pair of nail clippers. 

Impressive, but let's see him do that while inhaling toxic gases from an active volcano. 

VOLCANO!!!

I know I mentioned before that my flat sits on the side of an extinct volcano and that I have to walk over it every day to get to classes, but to be honest, unless I read that it was once an active volcano, I never would have know. 

Mount Eden, on the other hand, is a real volcano-shaped, volcano-looking mountain. For the past couple of weeks, I have been attending the weekly, "Movies in the Park" series. Once a week, there is a free movie shown in the Mount Eden domain which is about 10 minutes from my flat. A few hundred people show up and watch some New Zealand themed film on a giant inflatable screen. The movie is shown at the base of a little extinct volcano and every week I wonder what the view is like from the top.

Last weekend, I finally took a couple of hours and hiked up to the summit. It was pretty impressive. From a viewpoint three quarters of the way up, you can see all of Auckland and then some. I finally understand how sprawling the city is and how close it is to water. 

At the top, I was in for a pleasant surprise. As I approached to top of the mountain, the terrain started to level out and I noticed the edge of what looked to be some sort of indentation. The closer I got to the edge, the larger the indentation became. Finally, I was standing right at the edge looking down into a huge, deep volcanic crater. There were tons of tourists around, looking at the gaping dent with somewhat passive expressions, but I guess these people had seen real volcanos, or real extinct volcanos before. I hadn't, so I was amazed. I wanted badly to run down into the middle, but it probably would have been pretty tough to get out and signs were posted saying that the area was sacred and people weren't supposed to go into the crater. 

It was pretty cool. 

My Bike

One of the first things that I did when I arrived in Auckland last month was look into buying a bike. I am by no means an avid cyclist, but while living in Boston for three years, I got into the habit of riding my bike everywhere. I rode so much that just walking down the street for ten minutes would make me want to whine about how much my feet hurt and how sore my knees were. 

With campus a good 25 minute walk away from my flat, I knew that I had to find a bike and find one fast. Luckily, a quick google.co.nz search told me that the city's best used bike shop was directly across the road from me. I suffered the five minute walk to the shop and set to work putting together my bike.

The shop was tiny. It looked like it was supposed to be an unattached garage, but it didn't look quite big enough for a car. I soon found out, however, that the shop owner stores dozens of bikes and bike parts under porches and in basements of nearby houses. This is where I found the frame for my bike. It was the only frame that looked like it might fit me. It had some wear and an odd pain job, but it seemed sturdy enough. A couple of days later, I had assembled all of the parts and pieces and with some help, I put the bike together. It's a single-speed, but it seems to be working well given the steep, volcanic hills that I have to climb up and down every day. 

The best part of the bike is it's attitude. It looked a little funky with the paint and the chopped handlebars, but it also has a political message. The previous owner was not a fan of President George Bush and chose to indicate this with a "ckuf Bush" sticker on the front fork. I agree with the sentiment, but probably would not have made my views so public of my own accord. It's nice though, letting my bike do my talking for me. It's as if my bike is my teenaged kid who expresses himself in ways I probably wouldn't. 

My Helmet

After looking at that picture of my helmet, I know what you're asking yourself. Does the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars have some sort of X-Wing fighter training school in New Zealand?

The answer is, no, this badass helmet doesn't belong to the Rebel Alliance. It comes from the next best thing; the Italian cycling industry. I don't know how or when it ended up here in New Zealand, but I'm glad it did. 

I also got this cool cycling hat that looks awesome with the brim flipped down or up. 

**Update: Some guy at the physical therapy office complimented my hat today. At least I think he did, he talked really fast, pointed at my hat and gave me a thumbs up sign. 

So alone...

*** UPDATE

I found one. I'll stay in New Zealand. 

They don't have hardcover grid-paper notebooks here. That's what I like to use when I am working on little projects that involve diagrams and calculations. I also like to use grid-paper notebooks for geology lab notes. I have a geology lab course (or "paper" as they call them here) that actually requires me to hand in my lab book, so the notebook was essential. 

I had a tiny pseudo panic-attack today when I went into several shops and wasn't able to find this particular type of notebook. I don't know why this is so disturbing to me, but it is. It wasn't until one shop manager told me that he'd never heard of such a thing and didn't think they existed that I really realized that I am on an island. A cold, gridpaper notebookless island, with no means of escape. 

I guess I'll have to come home... or I could get a 7mm ruled hardcover notebook. 

I'd better start looking at plane tickets. 

Photos Now Online

All of the good pictures that I have taken/will take are now here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TrevorCBraun/SouthIslandNewZealand

I'll continue to post stories and pictures here though, so keep coming back.

Trevor

The Blunt Kiwi Truth

After 10 days of pain in my knee, I decided to stop by the university physiosomething office. This office deals with all sports injuries and most are treated for free under New Zealand's public healthcare system. Like most doctors or people who have to touch my hands or feet, the physiotherapist was a little put off by my very wet feet and hands. He didn't seem satisfied with my explanation of hyperhidrosis (a condition that I'm sure sounds made up) but continued to examine my knee nonetheless. 

I have dealt with several sports doctors back home and have had generally pleasant experiences. They usually examine the injured area, have me do a few stretches and then explain what the problem is. The explanation is usually some sort of torn this or inflamed that, maybe a stress fracture. Following the diagnosis, I am given stretches to do or some sort of brace or maybe a series of "e-stim" treatments. 

My physiotherapy appointment in New Zealand started out the same way, but when it came time for a diagnosis, I was in for a major blow to my self-esteem. It turns out that the intense pain that I had been feeling in my knee was not a result of bursitis, or a damaged meniscus, but rather a more chronic condition: general weakness. Other names for the condition are: scrawnyness, skinnyness, feebleness, little girl syndrome, frailness,  Trevor Braun. 

After pointing out that that my knee problem was caused by the lack of muscle around the joint, the physiotherapist poked at other parts of my leg explaining that I really didn't have much muscle anywhere on my legs. It was only until he squeezed my upper arm and said, "not much here either," that I responded with, "yes, okay, okay, I know." 

The treatment is equally straightforward. I have to get less skinny. We'll see how that goes. 

It's a Rental

I am normally a very conservative spender and try to find the best value in everything that I buy and do. I only buy the basic necessities and of these basic necessities, I buy the most basic form. If there were such a thing as ACME brand corn flakes, I would buy that cereal. I would buy the largest box of that cereal and store it in an airtight tub next to my airtight tub of ACME brand sugar.

So when I decided to travel around the South Island for two weeks, I took a risk and decided to rent a car instead of relying on buses everywhere I went. I justified the expense (about $300 USD + another $150 for petrol) with the following reasons:
-I could sleep in the car and avoid paying for hostels
-I could go anywhere, anytime I wanted
-having to catch a scheduled bus or plane makes me anxious
-I only had 11 days to travel
-I would be able to see more of the country

I ended up spending half a day looking for the best deal on a rental car and when I did, I spent another 30 minutes deciding what insurance to get. My first thought was to not get any extra insurance. I eventually decided that the best value would be to get the $8 a day insurance. Unfortunately, when I got to the rental agency, the agent quickly convinced me to spend four more dollars a day on the highest level of insurance. The second I walked out of the rental place I regretted spending that extra money. The big selling point was that they have to replace a lot of windshields and that costs a lot. If there were a number of chips, the whole things would get replace.

The first day driving I was still a little upset about being duped into the extra insurance. The second day, I wound up driving along a road that had "cattle stops." Cattle stops are big metal grates that stop cows from walking down the road in certain spots. After I went through the first cattle stop and realized how rough the ride was, I thought it best to slow down to minimize damage to the car. Then I remembered:
It's a rental.

For the rest of the trip I was driving full speed through cattle stops, I forded streams about 8inches deep, I drove through potholes, down rocky terrain that was "Not Suitable for Passenger Vehicles," I even drove straight into a muddy puddle that could have been a foot deep for all I knew.
By the end of the drive, I hadn't done any severe damage to the car, but the dents and dings and nine chips in the windshield probably would have cost me quite a bit - if I hadn't gotten the extra insurance.

The Saddle - Part 3

The first part of the hike up was not too hard, but still pretty steep. It was pretty cool because it was early and we were still hiking through the forest. Mid-day, we emerged from the trees. The view was amazing, really, really amazing. Peaks and valleys unlike anything I have ever seen before. The sky was a mix of blue and clouds which made big shadows that glided through the valley below us. A little further up, we came to a lookout that stuck out from the side of the mountain. From there we saw that the hut we came from looked like a small white speck. 

We continued on and each time we stopped to rest we saw even more spectacular views. Eventually, we got to a sort of peak which gave us a view of both sides of the mountain. This is where the four of us not continuing on over the mountain thought we would stop and turn around. We sat and had tea and granola for a while and then the two guys moving on asked the rest of us if we wanted to join them to the base of the saddle. It would mean another three hours hiking, but we eventually decided that we would join them. The short hike was easy and mostly downhill, but the path followed the clearest, coldest water I have ever seen. We had spread out quite a bit and I ended up being the last person in line, so I was the last to reach the clearing at the base of the saddle. We had all been chatting throughout most of the hike but as I got closer to rest of the group, I noticed that everyone in the clearing was quiet and Axel was squatting with his hands on his head. I joined the rest of the silent group and looked out in the direction they were looking. My fingers when numb and I gave a little involuntary sigh. I wasn't sighing because I was tired, it was a sigh that I now know happens when one's breath is, "taken away."

I think the photos that I posted from that peak are pretty impressive, but they only show a fraction of what it felt like to be up there after that hike. I know that there are better views from higher mountains out there, but this was, by far the most astounding view I have ever seen. I never imagined I would see anything like this in my life. 

The Crew - Part 2

I lied, it looks like it's going to be a three parter.

I arrived at the hut a little tired from rushing back to beat the dark. I wasn't really sure how far away the hut was and I didn't want to take any chances so I sort of jogged/galloped most of the way. There were five other people in the hut when I got there which left the place feeling pretty empty, but still cozy. I started a conversation with a bald man with interesting eyebrows who had just arrived from the same parking lot that I came from earlier that morning. The conversation died away quickly and I sat by myself while we ate dinner. Conversations started to pick up a little later while the six of us cleaned up and I learned that the interesting eyebrow guy's name was Frank. Frank from Berlin.

(At the age of 45, Frank recently quit his job and sold everything he owned so he could travel around the world, but that's not important to the story. Worth telling, but not important to the story. )

Of the six of us, there was myself, Frank, another American also studying in Auckland, an Israeli, an Australian and another German named Axel. We got to talking about where we were going an where we had been. I told my story of accidentally ending up in the park while looking for a place to sleep at which point Frank interjected, "Oh, they told me that I booked the last bed at the hostel where stayed last night, but because I stayed there, I didn't arrive here until late this afternoon." There were hundreds of beds in eight or nine hostels in Wanaka, but as soon as he said he got the, "last bed," I knew that Frank was the reason that I ended up in Mount Aspiring National Park for the night. I asked him the name of the hostel and he confirmed that it was the same one. How about that.

We continued talking about our plans and it looked like two people were headed over a place called, "Cascade Saddle," and continuing on to another town on the other side of the mountain. Some of the others were considering going up halfway to the saddle and turning around, a 9 hour hike. I didn't think I would do that because I had the three hour hike back to my car and I still had to drive another three hours that night. I went to sleep expecting to just wake up the next day and work my way back out of the park, but at 6:00am, when Frank noticed that he had woken me up, he asked if I was going to join him and the rest of the group going up to the Saddle and back. I started to say, "ummmm," while I thought of a nice way to say, "no," but by the time I thought of something, I had been saying, "ummmm," for way too long and I felt I had to say, "sure." So I said, "sure," and I got my stuff together.

No Exit - Part 1

A little story about how Frank changed my life. Three days ago, I pulled into a little town called Wanaka looking for a bed for the night. When I called the only place in town that would possibly have a bed open, I got a busy signal. I tried again a minute later and it turned out that the phone was busy because they were booking the last bed. I can usually sleep just about anywhere, so sleeping in the car was no big deal. I wanted to find some out of the way place to park for the night, so I headed out of town down a random little road. A few minutes into the drive, I passed a sign that read, "No Exit." I figured I could park and sleep at the end of this road, wherever that was. One hour later I pulled into the most beautiful place I had ever seen.
The next morning, I found a sign that pointed to a couple of day hikes down in the valley. The surrounding views kept getting better and better as I made my way into the valley. In two hours, I reached a decent sized "hut" that had 38 bunks. It was only 11:00, so I set out on a hike that was supposed to take 2.5 hours but at the end of that trail, I came to a sign that pointed to another hut that was another two hours away. I was a little worried about the time it would take me to get back, so I decided to turn around after an hour. An hour in, I sensed that I was close to the hut, so I set my pack down and started to speed climb/ run up the trail. It was sort of a stupid decision because it was starting to rain and there was a chance I would get stuck in the dark without a light or shelter on the way back. Continuing up the trail ended up being the best stupid decision I have ever made. The views from the top were absolutely amazing. I left my camera in my pack, so none of you will ever know just how amazing, but trust me, they were amazing. The rain let up and I made it back to the hut before dark, so there was really no harm done.
This is part one of a two part description of my past few days. Part two is even better.

Christchurch

Everything seems to be going well so far. I was a little anxious about taking this trip to the South Island without really planning everything out, but it seems that my worrying was for nothing. I am in Christchurch now, which is on the west coast of the South Island. I posted a map and a link to the map on the right. Christchurch reminds me a little of Montreal with all of the old buildings and people that speak with an accent. There is also a cute little trolly that is filled with cute little old people. I am staying at a "backpackers" tonight. It's actually quite a bit nicer than I expected for $20 a night. Some guys just came in and gave everyone in the room free shots of a "fruity mixed drink," and it's only 4:30.

There is a mix of people staying at the backpackers. Most of the guests are college aged people from all over the place. I'm not sure exactly where they are all going, but most of them wear flip-flops and have gel in their hair, so I don't think they are hiking. I have also seen a few middle aged people walking around. White shoes and visors are

 common attire for this group of people. I don't know where they go either. 

I posted pictures of the big cathedral (Christ's Church?) in the center of the city and a war memorial. The war memorial looks pretty dramatic, doesn't it?

I pick up my rental car tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about driving in a foreign country on a foreign side of the road. I didn't opt for the extra $12 a day insurance. I guess I should just hope for the best and remember to GIVE WAY (it's what they say here instead of YIELD.)

Go-Go-Gadget CFC's

Quick update: I found all of the CFC's that went missing from the U.S. They ended up here above New Zealand. I have SPF 45 sunblock, but I'm still worried that my skin is going to burst into flames every time I step outside. 

I also found Inspector Gadget's car. 

Muffin Break

I'm in New Zealand now. It's nice. It's pretty warm here today. 75 degrees (that's 24 celsius). It is kind of rainy, and everyone is a little upset that the great weather streak is over. Someone made a joke that I brought the bad weather with me. It's probably true. People are very nice here. Every time I ask a stranger for directions, they stop what they are doing and work with me for 5 or ten minutes to figure out the best solution to my problem. Everyone seems to assume that I am from Canada and I don't know why. I guess I can't blame them because people in Boston also assume I am Canadian.

I was able to check into my flat early, it feels good to have a home base that I can always fall back on. I'll probably start traveling Tuesday. I'm not sure what my itinerary will be, but I'm sure I will be able to find something to do.

By the way, on my way to my flat I came across a sign that reassured me that I will be just fine while I am in New Zealand. It's as if they knew I was coming.

Gaunt in Santa Monica

During my nine hour layover in LA, it was suggested that I take a trip to Santa Monica. So here I am in Santa Monica. I'll give a brief synopsis of my time in California.

-Arrive at LAX: Notice right away that everyone is dressed up and looking good. Lots of tans. English is not the only language being spoken. Baggage attendants not willing to "promise" that my bags will be transferred to my later flight to Auckland.

-Take bus to Santa Monica: More tanned people. Very tan and very good looking. I'm very pale and very hot in my two layers of wool. Despite the 68 degree temperature, I am not the only one in winter clothes. Californians have on large furry boots and thick down parkas. Apparently it's "cold" today.

-The walking path next to the beach: People on stilts with hula hoops. People lifting weights. People on rollerblades, bikes and skateboards. Some totally ripped guy that was lifting weights at "Muscle Beach" let me take a picture of his huge bicep.

-The beach: Tan people and ocean.

-The promenade: Vomiting dinosaurs.

-Back at the airport: Baggage people still unwilling to promise.

Before I left, someone commented that my face looked gaunt. I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by it at the time, but then I noticed the word, "GAUNT," scratch or spraypainted all over the place in LA and Santa Monica. I think it some sort of gang lingo.