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exumenius

170 Blog Entries
2 Trips
477 Photos

Trips:

Down Under trip Preparation
Kiwis and Kangaroos

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South Island Planning - Night 74

Wellington, New Zealand

Not much of any significance occurred today. After a quick run to town to pick up some vitals, I spent most of the afternoon trying to plan my month on the south island. Most of the multi-day hikes on the south island require booking campsites or huts along the way. Since January is the busiest month, this is often nothing short of a monumental task getting all the huts on the right nights, etc. My plans for the Queen Charlotte hike have been squashed as both places to stay on night 2 are booked solid. Either I must buy a tent and related equipment or change plans to another hike. This is the one thing I was worried about…the sheer number of people on the island in January.

What I Learned Today: Putting salsa and mushrooms in a grilled cheese sandwich is delicious.


The Lower Hutt Jungle

permalink written by  exumenius on December 23, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Night on the Town - Night 73

Wellington, New Zealand

Like nearly all weekends here at Kowhai House, I began the day with a hike to Belmont Park. The sheer size of the park has allowed me the luxury of taking a different trail each and every time I have been there. I finished weeding the garden and took a well deserved nap in the afternoon.

At 8:30 the entire house left for a night out in


Full Moon over the Harbour
Wellington. We met Ben and a number of his friends at Mac’s Brewery on the waterfront. Mac’s Sassy Red is my favorite Kiwi beer to date so heading to its very home was a pleasure for me. Upon arriving I see some guy wearing a Seahawks Jersey. It turns out Ken is from Federal Way and was at the bar because his friend, also from Seattle (Covington), was bartending. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough to get us any drink specials. Mac’s died around 10:30, with only a smattering of old people remaining. Near the 11 o’clock hour we headed to a karaoke place across the street. The music selections of these people was nearly as bad

In the Cab with the British Girls
as the singing itself and on top of it all, there wasn’t a decent looking girl in the entire joint. Ben and I coped with this disaster by hiding away in the billiards room. Another one of those “What the fuck am I doing here?” moments. Surprising they all seem to happen in shitty karaoke bars.


At the Karaoke Bar

What I Learned Today: In English rules pool, a scratch allows the opponents two free shots.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 22, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Nga Manu, Take Two - Night 72

Wellington, New Zealand


Trimming the Flax
Once again the old red van made its way up to Nga Manu. The sun was finally shining today, the first time in over a week, making the already scenic drive all that much more enjoyable. This morning we caught the feeding of the Kiwi birds. The emblematic, flightless bird feeds only at night so we were herded into a dark building to watch them eat behind the glass enclosure. Not exactly exciting. Kiwis, which once covered the islands, are also very rare now due to introduced predators.

We continued on were we left of yesterday


Nga Manu Jungle
and were finished around 2:30. After work we raced to the Keep New Zealand Beautiful (KNZB) head office in Waikanae to purchase some T-shirts. Last weekend both Kathi and I scoured downtown Wellington looking for the famous retro KNZB t-shirts that you see from time to time. Having no luck, we were resigned to buy them online until we found that the head office was located in Waikanae, just minutes from Nga Manu. We arrived at 2:50 and though they claim to be open until 3, the door was locked. After a bit of pounding, an old man emerged from the back and let us in, provided we would buy something. The old man was Barry, one of the executives of KNZB. Here was a man who could talk the ear off of a horse. We had to literally pry ourselves away from him once we wanted to leave. However, we made it worth his while to open up, purchasing nine shirts and signing GVN up as a sponsor organization.

Returning to town, we embarked on our Christmas grocery shopping tour. The girls have made elaborate plans for Christmas dinner, so the trip to Pak n’ Save took nearly two hours. Having no opinion over what flavor pudding or type of ham to make, I quickly hid myself in the alcoholic beverage section of the store. It is not that I don’t like holidays or special meals; it is just that I generally like any and all food and when given the preference will opt for the path of least resistance when cooking. I suppose one could say I’ve mastered the Tao of food.

What I Learned Today: Try as I might to be calm, there are times when gross inefficiency drives me completely insane.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 21, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Nga Manu, Take One - Night 71

Wellington, New Zealand

Today’s destination was the Nga Manu, a bird

Kapiti Island
sanctuary/nature reserve just outside of Waikanae. The hour long drive took us over the Tararua Range, through Paraparaumu and up the scenic west coast. As I was riding shotgun, the DJ duties fell on my shoulders. Believe it or not, this was the first time in my life I had to operate an Ipod. They are surprisingly intuitive, though I still don’t think I’ll buy one.


Nga Manu
We arrived around 10 and didn’t get going until well after 10:30. The employees at Nga Manu are a relaxed bit, to say the least. Once we got moving, Rees gave us a twenty minute demonstration/talk on the Tuatara, one of the last (maybe the last) remaining dinosaur still alive today. Once we finally got to work, we spent the remainder of the day cleaning and clearing the main walking track through the reserve. Trimming encroaching plants, picking up dead ferns, cutting down massive vines; the work was easy and enjoyable, though could have been accomplished with a group of four, not seven.

Jake, Lauren and I had been convinced by some of the office interns to participate in one of their fundraising events tonight. Called Socializing with a Soul, it was a simple random dinner get together with a bunch of unknown people from Wellington who were also will to donate $15 to a fund currently going towards a Vietnamese orphanage. The location was Monsoon Poon, a classy Indo-Thai fusion restaurant in trendy Courtney Place. We were expecting 10 or 11, only 6 showed up, three of them being us volunteers. Despite the low turnout, the food was excellent and evening enjoyable. One of the girls who came, Sarah, is originally from Couer d’Alene, Idaho and went to school in Moscow, ID. She was quite surprised to find that I had actually lived in Moscow. Just another example of how small the world is.

What I Learned Today: Endemic to New Zealand, Tuataras are only found on 60 or so off-shore islands around the country. The likely once covered the mainland as well, but introduced predators such as weasels and dogs have killed them off. Small creatures with amazing slow metabolisms, the oldest living tuatara is near 100 years old and since they were only discovered in the early 1900s, no one knows how old they can actually live. They lay eggs that take years to hatch, are known to be cannabilistic, and have little to no endurance. Being cold blooded, as Rees held one its temperature slowly warmed up and you could see it starting to become more active, finally to the point where he had to put it back or it would have escaped. Nga Manu is lucky enough to have a dozen or so Tuataras, which have all been implanted with radio microchips. Given their rarity, the black market value is very high and in recent years many people have unsuccessfully (and likely some successfully) tried to flee the country with some of the creatures.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 20, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Rain Out - Night 70

Wellington, New Zealand

Yesterday’s slow, consistent rain continued on
through the night and was eager awaiting us this morning. Our plans were to head up north for some weeding and plant watering (which was no longer necessary) but around 9am our contact called and cancelled the project for the day, much to our relief. The only thing worse than weeding is weeding in the rain.

An entire day on our hands, we first stopped in at the head office for morning tea and a look around. The GVN staff occupy the second floor of a very modern building on the south end of High Street in Lower Hutt. The over spacious kitchen has an average view of the river and an almost new ping-pong table. After some discussion and a bite to eat (as I don’t ‘take’ tea) we settled on a bowling excursion. Just down the road in Petone is Strike, a nearly new bowling/laser tag facility complete with bar and kitchen.


Bowling Action
Bowling, being the dying sport that it is in the States, I can’t recall ever having been to a new bowling alley. This place was nice. Imagine a brand new sports bar, complete with flat screens showing sports highlights (except here it was cricket, which I don’t consider a sport…anything you can play in white dress pants and a sweater vest is not a sport). The place was crawling with elderly couples; apparently we happened to show up during a retiree’s league of some sorts. Makes sense though, who else bowls on a Wednesday morning at 11 am?

After bowling we played a few fierce games of laser tag. Our team of three was soundly defeated by the opposing team of four both times. Either I am the world’s worst laser tag play or the scoring mechanism on my gun was faulty, as I registered paltry scores of 130 each time.

We spent the afternoon lounging around the house and watching the Lord of the Rings movies…Jamie had never seen them before. The rain continued throughout the day, so no one felt all too guilty about being lazy homebodies.

What I Learned Today: Kiwis (New Zealanders) have small thumbs. Both Ben and I looked through nearly half of the bowling balls at Strike and still could not find one that we could comfortably stick our thumbs into.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 19, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Rain in Ngaio - Night 69

Wellington, New Zealand

We began a completely new project today, one which has yet to see the helping hand of GVN. Our task: weed out a revegatation plot at Ngaio Gorge Park, divide it into 10 plots and do a full native plant survey. The morning weeding session was going along wonderfully as our progress was swift and visual, the sort of positive feedback that is lacking in many volunteer situations. But then the rain came. It hasn’t really rained since I arrived on the Island November 24th, so today’s downpour was more than welcomed. Just too bad it happened on the one day in which everyone seemed to be having the most fun.

Nonetheless, we salvaged the afternoon by making a drive out to Seatoun to visit the soon closing Chocolate Fish Café. Just blocks from the home of Peter Jackson (the LOTR director), the Chocolate Fish was the primary hangout for the cast and crew during the years of filming. However, the much famed café is set to close December 31 of this year, so it was a last hurrah for all of us. Upon arrival we noticed an inordinate number of police vehicles on the dead end, beachfront street, too many to suggest even a donut eating convention. We also noticed a few cars pulling up and taking photographs with expensive looking cameras and few men in what appeared to be Hazmat suits. While we were leaving, Ray flagged down one of the Paparazzi and found out that this morning they had found a dead body in one of the apartment upstairs from the café. Foul play or a hapless death we never did find out, but in a ritzy area such as Seatoun it is hard to believe that anything devious was amiss.

What I Learned Today: Celebrity gossip is sports talk for women. While listening to it still makes me sick, I’ve begun to let it pass as a mere annoyance. Just as men are supposed to know how Tom Brady performed last weekend or what college Rasheed Wallace played for, women simply must be informed as to what Paris is wearing or who Sarah Jessica Parker is sleeping with. Don’t get me wrong, I vehemently maintain the primacy of sports over gossip ( fandom creates community and social interaction) and will continue to follow my teams (The Pack IS Back!)…but the real question remains: What is missing from our lives that we need to supplement it with the exploits of other, unknown people?


permalink written by  exumenius on December 18, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Pauahatanui Again - Night 68

Wellington, New Zealand

We returned to Pauahatanui today to help the elderly volunteers revegetate their wetland. Rather than weeding, our chores this time leaned toward man’s more brutish nature - digging ditches and shoveling stones. Another windy, cloudy day without rain, the weather, the company and the surrounds have given our Pauahatanui trips less than desirable appeal and I will be glad not to return here again during my work with GVN.

On a different note, we gained a volunteer today,


Our Tree
Ben. From the Outer Hebrides, islands west of Scotland, Ben is in New Zealand through the BUNAC company and is staying in a different house with some fellow BUNACers from the UK. Thus he and his thick Scottish accent will only be working with us during the day, not enjoying the festive merriment of 111 Normandale Road during the evening hours.

What I Learned Today: Some rather normal looking people have amazing stories to tell. One of the old men at Pauahatanui got married straight of high school and then he and his wife went on a seven-year westward tour of the world, working their way from place to place, eventually landing in India, buying a motorcycle (with sidecar) and driving all the way back to England. Once they returned home (in 1961) they decided they didn’t like it much in England anymore and agreed to move to their favorite place from their travels, New Zealand. They’ve been here ever since.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 17, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Catching up on Life - Night 67

Wellington, New Zealand


The Hills of Belmont
In accordance with my Sunday Wellington tradition, I took a hike through Belmont Park in the morning. Up old Coach Road and straight through to the airstrip and the old weaponry magazines, my path wound through numerous farm fields and I spent most of the time dodging cow pies and curious sheep. Interestingly, during the second World War, the area was used as an ammunition storage area, the magazines are spread rather haphazardly over the hill, designed to look like randomly placed sheep sheds from the air. At the top of the saddle, one could see all the way to Kapiti Island and the west coast. Wellington is known for its fierce winds and today was the worst I’ve experienced yet. At the top of the park it was blowing

Tasman Sea in the Background
off the Tasman Sea so hard that you literally couldn’t look to the west without your eyes immediately tearing up. Exactly like sticking your head out of a vehicle cruising down the highway.

I returned to the house around 1pm and spent the rest of my day mired in domestic chores; washing clothes, cleaning my room, weeding the garden, returning emails and helping Lauren do the grocery shopping. This is another benefit of being on such a lengthy trip, as I don’t feel the least bit bad for ‘wasting’ a day doing mundane, real life things.

What I Learned Today: The Pak n Save supermarket has a self scan shopping system like none other I’ve ever seen. If you like, when entering the store you can grab a hand held barcode scanner gun to take with your while you shop. You simply scan the items you place in your cart and when you get to the end the clerk just reads off your amount from the gun and that is what you owe. In essence, they trust that you’ve scanned everything in your cart. As an anti-shop lifting method you might be subject to a random rescan of all your items. To use this service you must first sign up for a special account and they track your record of honesty. If you fail (and by fail I mean forget to scan an item) a few times you are more likely to be rescanned than if you have a perfect record. This is a great service for those of us purchasing huge amounts of food on a set budget as you can monitor your total along the way.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 16, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Back to Welly - Night 66

Wellington, New Zealand

Playing tourist again, I finished off the top

Botanical Gardens
three floors of the gargantuan Te Papa museum today and then wandered to Cuba Street for lunch and shopping. For those of you keeping score (Paolo, this is you), Cuba Street Kebabs has the largest, though not the best tasting, kebab I’ve experienced yet on my trip. If you can’t tell, I’m a bit of a Kebab connoisseur if ever a thing did such exist. On a traveler’s budget, I found a few nice second hand clothing stores that they’ve tried to glamorize by referring to themselves as ‘Retro’ clothing boutiques. Serious, just admit that you are nothing more than a glorified rummage sale, you are not fooling anyone.

On the way back to the bus stop, I made the steep climb up to the botanical gardens. This being the fourth or fifth (maybe sixth) botanical gardens that I’ve been too in the last two months I was utterly unimpressed. I think I’ve now visited my fair share of such gardens and should be exempt from ever seeing another one in the future. I feel the same way about parades, costume parties and college graduations.


Parliament Building
Walking home from the Lower Hutt station, I ran into Lauren and Nikos cruising town in the van looking for a Christmas tree. Our original plan was to cut one down during our volunteer outings, but with eight people we never came across a tree that was good enough for everyone. The hour getting late, we finally broke down and agreed to pay for one. As luck would have it, we saw numerous road side vendors during the week, but now that we were actively looking for them none were to be found. After quite a bit of driving around we settled on a slightly crooked, long needle from a small lot at a gas station in Moera.

What I Learned Today: While searching the Hutt Valley for a Christmas tree today we made a few wrong turns and ended up in what would pass for the wrong side of the tracks. Run down houses, litter, and a biker-gang’s picnic all comfortably sitting the shadow of an Exxon-Mobil oil refinery/distribution center. Make no mistake, this was not Compton or Cabrini Green, but nor was it a place you’d really want to be at 2 am on a Saturday morning. I feel that in most of our travels we are constantly exposed to the best and most beautiful areas that a place has to offer and generally come away from the experience feeling that in some way where ever we visited (with the exclusion of third world countries) is vastly superior to our own country. Thus, peering into the underbelly of the Kiwi society has somehow made the feeling of being here all the more real. Of all the good things to come from my two volunteer sessions, it has been this, the chance to see things – good or bad – off of the regular tourist path.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 15, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Census of the Seals - Night 65

Wellington, New Zealand


Group Photo at Cape Palliser
And then there were 6. We lost two volunteers this morning, Melissa and Kathleen. Melissa, had just spent a semester at Western Australia University in Perth and was headed home to Chicago for Christmas. Kathleen has been at GVN for the past two and a half months and now too was headed home to New Hampshire.


Cape Palliser

The clouds hung freakishly low this morning,


Seal on the Rocks
the perfect weather for a seal count. For our duties, we drove out to Cape Palliser, the far southeast corner of the North Island of New Zealand. Out along the coast, the weather was even more dour. Cloud after cloud rolled in off the sea, battering the mountains that rose from the water. In order to get to the seal colony, we had to park at the end of the pavement and walk a few miles over an easement through private land. The property, a sheep farm, commanded a beautiful, braided river valley between two sets of mountains. The grass and vegetation was strangely brown and though only a 40 minute drive from Wellington, it looked like a completely different world. I’ve never been to Scotland, but it reminded me of what I think Scotland should be like….sheep running all over, low gray sky, wind, wind, and more wind.

The count itself wasn’t all that successful. We only found three ancient males beached on the rocks and one solo crab left in a small tidal pool. The hike, however, was well worth it. Rock hopping amongst the giant boulders, letting the ocean spray fall just feet away, unperturbed by modern civilization. A grand day on the coast.

What I Learned Today: Some places are just meant to be gray and in fact look better that way. Cape Palliser is one of those places. The gunmetal sky and rocks perfectly compliment the violent surf pounding away on the rocks, lending a sense of absolute rawness to the place. Bleak, desolate, nothing between us and Antarctica but miles and miles of ocean. A bright, sunny day would have taken away from the experience somehow.


permalink written by  exumenius on December 14, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos
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