A Visit from the Aussies and Running the Routeburn!

I'm now almost two months behind schedule, and I have no excuses. I think I left off about mid April, right after G & G Lerner visited me.

The weekend after they left, Josh and Pierre's friends, who were studying abroad in Australia, came to visit. Brian and Sam came on Friday, and Tyler came on Saturday. It was crummy weather all weekend, and they all had plans to explore the South Island the following week, so we decided to hang around Dunedin and show them the sights. We went to the farmer's market and ate some crepes and went to the Cadbury factory with the intentions of doing the tour, but it looked lame, so we just bought some chocolate from the gift shop instead. Then we went to the Otago Museum for a while, which was awesome. The highlight was a butterfly exhibit where we entered a greenhouse-like room filled with plants and thousands of butterflies!

The next day, Pierre took his friends to the Otago peninsula to see some sights for the afternoon while I did some studying (yep). That night, Pierre, Brian, Sam, and I (I forget what Josh and Tyler were doing) went to an Indian restaurant for dinner before heading to the Speights Brewery for a brewery tour. It was a lot of fun - especially the end, when they gave us free reign on the taps of all their different beers. Special thanks to Sherry for chauffeuring!

On Sunday, Brian and Sam left for Queenstown to bungee jump and mountain bike and whatnot, while Tyler decided to tag along with us (fortunately, he's an experienced Settler). Unfortunately, I didn't take many/any pictures this weekend...

Anways, on Thursday, Pierre, Josh, Tyler, and I left for Queenstown. It was ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) day - like our Memorial Day- on Thursday, so classes were cancelled (count it). We got Fergburger, obviously, met up with Brian and Sam again, and enjoyed Scrumpy on the beach. Then we bid farewell to Brian and Sam that night as they were leaving us the next morning. The next morning, Pierre, Josh, Tyler, and I hung out in Queenstown a bit more and enjoyed the nice weather. We rented some frisbee golf clubs (they're just small frisbees) and ended up playing 36 holes! For those of you less familiar with frisbee golf, it's just like regular golf, but you throw a frisbee instead, and the hole is like... I can't describe it actually. It looks like this. The course was on a beautiful peninsula, too, so it was a blast. I'm not going to say who won, but the fact that I'm even writing "I'm not going to say who won" should probably give you an idea. And you call yourself a frisbee player, Josh.

That afternoon, we drove near Te Anu, not far from Milford Sound, and a found a beautiful campsite on a lake. We got there after dark, but we enjoyed a full moon rise over the mountains.

Note: Tyler is big into photography, so he documented this weekend... hopefully he puts his pictures on facebook soon so I can steal them. Otherwise, I apologize for the lack of pictures this post... there are a ton more to come in future posts, I promise.

Anyways, the next morning, Josh and Tyler dropped off Pierre and I at the Divide, the trailhead to the Routeburn Track. We decided it would be fun to turn the 32 km (20 mile) Great Walk into a Great Run! We started the run with our backpacks, running shoes, smoked chicken salad, and an awful weather forecast. I didn't bring my camera because the weather looked so crummy, so these were the only pictures of us this weekend:

Hour and a half? Ha! Took us 45 minutes to get to the Howden Hut.

Our goals for the day: Pierre: finishing in under six hours; Me: finishing with four healthy ankles. Just after 9 am, we were off! We kept a decent pace, and were happy to find that we could cut down the estimated times by over 50%. It started raining pretty early on and didn't stop. When we got to Howden Hut, we checked the forecast again: snow and 100+ km/hr winds at the Saddle at 1 pm. It was 9:45 am, and the sign said four hours to the Saddle: challenge accepted. The next two hours we ran mostly along a ridge line with craaaazy winds (not 100 km/hr, but we estimated around 80) and freezing rain. We got a lot of strange looks as we jogged by people wearing shorts, but we kept warm just by running. We got to the Saddle (just past the halfway point) before noon, fortunately, and not long after, we passed our friends Jay and Joe running the opposite direction as us. We had originally planned to run with these guys, but they had some car trouble on the way to Queenstown which messed up the plans. It was great to see them, though; it definitely lifted the spirits and whatnot. After the Saddle, the rain and wind let up a bit, and we cruised to the Routeburn Falls Hut, under 10k from the end. The last 8k or so was the easiest part - a flat, extremely well-maintained 'sidewalk'- and we were on pace to break five and a quarter hours, complete with four healthy ankles.

Then after the 25k of wet, rocky, mountainous, elevation-packed terrain, I rolled my ankle pretty badly on the flat ground and had to walk the last 7k, thus putting our finishing time just over six hours. So that kind of sucked.

Regardless, the shelter at the Queenstown end of the Routeburn was a very welcomed site, and besides my ankle, we were feeling great. I guess our feet had seen better days, too. We hitched a ride to Queenstown on a coach bus with a school group from China and their American teacher, a nice fellow about our age. We found a hostel, and after day dreaming about a hot tub throughout the run, we discovered that our hostel had one. No words can describe how awesome that hot tub was.

We treated ourselves to deep-dish pizza and a beer in Queenstown before we passed out for the night. On a side note, we recently read in the news that Fat Badgers, the pizza place, started the largest fire in Queenstown in the last six years and burned almost completely to the ground. The next morning, we walked to Frankton, which ended up being further than we thought (~5 miles) and began hitchhiking. After about an hour, we got picked up by a nice middle-aged woman we drove us for about an hour to Alexandra. She worked as an apricot and cherry farmer. We actually picked up three more hitchhikers before she dropped us off ("I have an empty mini van, why shouldn't I fill it?"). Our next driver was a really nice man in his 60's or 70's, an ex-apricot and cherry farmer (apparently this area is full of them), who was now a big biker. He took us on a detour to show us some sights around Roxburgh, including part of his 50km bike trail that his volunteer group had made. It was a long wait until our next ride picked us up, a young guy who cut hedges as a living. He drove us for another hour or so. Our last ride was with a forty or so year old guy who worked as a consultant or something. He used to be an agent for one of the New Zealand All Blacks! He seemed very wealthy, and he told us that he now only does accepts job offers that he would normally do even if they didn't pay. He has a lot of time off of work. He also plays a lot of golf. He had some very interesting philosophies, and he drove us to Mosgiel, just outside of Dunedin, where Josh and Tyler picked us up. They had done a cruise on the Milford Sound.

The next weekend was Pierre's 21st birthday, so we had a barbecue, and hung out in Dunedin for the weekend. We also went to a bar to watch the Highlanders game with Josh, Stu, and Sherry, and the Highlanders won for the first time all year! Too little, too late, unfortunately. As of now their record is 2-11.

Okay, the next four weekends are packed full of photos and promise to come in a timely fashion.
Thanks for reading, and get ready for another post soon (maybe even later today...)!

Milford Sound with Grandma and Grandpa Lerner!

Yeah, I've been slacking on the blog again, I know. They'll come eventually though, I promise.

This one is especially exciting, because I was lucky enough to have my grandparents visit and escort me to the Milford Sound!

After a busy week of school work (for real this time, two papers and an exam), G & G drove in on Friday afternoon, and, after checking out my flat and getting settled into a motel, we walked downtown to the Octagon and found a delicious steakhouse for dinner. Realistically, I could write an entire post about how well we ate, but for the sake of your jealousy, I'll spare you (most) of the details. Needless to say, G & G know how to spoil their grandson. Grandpa and I did our best to help Dad out by collecting new beer bottle caps, too. And, of course, we ended all of our meals with a delicious dessert.

The next morning, we met for breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, Capers, where Grandpa and I shared their famous blueberry pancakes. Then we went to the Dunedin Visitors Center to plan our weekend, and we were off!

We arrived in Te Anu in the late afternoon, checked into a motel, and explore the fun little city. We checked out a few shops and finally made our way to the movie theatre to see the highly anticipated Fjordland on Film (watch the trailer, do it), an awesome 30 minute movie of helicopter footage of Fjordland National Park. Then we found a delicious seafood restaurant, complete with salmon, great beer, homemade sorbet, and a hot fudge sundae (for Grandpa, obviously).

Our tour bus picked us up early the next morning for the two and a half hour drive to the Sound. We stopped at all of the cool sites along the way, including the Mirror Lakes (where one bird detracted slightly from the mirror-like effects) and the Homer Tunnel. We got to the Sound just in time to board our boat, and well, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

Our boat for the afternoon! 

Nope, not a postcard.

Seals! 

Some perspective...

More seals!

We got within a meter of the wall, not bad for a boat that big.

Perfect timing! This weather was following us our way back to the dock.

Not bad, huh?! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, and I taught G & G some basic rugby rules during a game on TV. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner, where Grandpa and I shared some pizzas (including a seafood pizza that was a step-up from the legendary seafood pizza at Coop's we ordered in Hayward ~ten years ago), and Grandma and I were able to convince him to pass on dessert for the first time all trip.

The next morning we went for a 11k hike to the campsite I had previously stayed at on the Milford Track. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike! I was entertained (not just on this hike, but the whole weekend) by hearing stories of Grandma and Grandpa's travels, medical school, and Grandma's mom, Kitty!

We drove back to Dunedin that afternoon just in time to meet Josh, Claire, and Sherry for dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant. The next morning, we took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens, saw the parrots and other birds, and grabbed a cup of coffee while loosely planning out the next few days of their trip. We were both very sad to part ways (me for their company and the good food, them for my driving assistance and carrying their big suitcase up the stairs to their motel room), but it was such a blast to have them visit for a long weekend.

As you can see, it was incredible - the cruise had probably the most beautiful views I've seen in NZ. And to have Grandma and Grandpa there made it even better!

Mid-Semester Break!

Hello again! My apologies, it's been a few weeks since my last post, but it's finally here. Okay, so where was I? That's only half rhetorical, because I really don't remember what my last post was about.

Kepler! Alright, the weekend after we did Kepler, we had a short week of school, and we got an early start on mid-semester break by leaving Thursday afternoon (March 28th). Sherry, Claire, Josh, Pierre, and I crammed into The Nug (short for Golden Nugget - Sherry and Claire's car) and left for Queenstown. We got there around 5:30pm which was just in time to beat the rush at our favorite restaurant, Fergberger. There was also a professional bike competition going on, so we watched some bikers do some cool tricks on a pretty intense course. We hung out on the beach and climbed some trees for the rest of the evening before driving the short distance to Wye Creek where we stayed the night. We weren't "technically" allowed to camp there, but we figured we were safe enough, and we took our chances. 

View from our campsite

The Nug with its attached tarpitecture

Friday: We were up by 8am, and after our standard breakfast of muesli and powdered milk (so good), we packed our backpacks and hiked 45 minutes or so up the valley to a waterfall and our climbing area.

The first climb that Josh and Pierre set was a 5.8 (pretty easy), but it was high, about 30 meters to be exact. Josh, Pierre, Claire, and I cruised up to the top and enjoyed a fantastic view of the lake and mountains. Sherry wasn't in the climbing mood, so she watered the plants around where we were climbing. What a gal.

Josh nearing the top

Pierre belaying Claire

On my way up...

At the top!

Our next climb was a pretty gnarly 5.10d (a few notches above my skill level) roof that finished with an easy 5.7 climb. Pierre completed it first, and Josh followed by flashing it (making it up his first try without coming off of the wall). They both made it look pretty easy. Claire and I tried it after but didn't have much luck. Although we both got in a few moves and worked our way up the roof before we had to come own. 

Pierre getting ready - how cool is that rock?

Pierre on the crux with a casual mountain and lake background

Josh working on the roof

A pretty cool shot of Josh climbing via Claire

I only made it a little bit farther than this - thanks for the pic, Josh.

Sherry straight chillin

Not enough selfies

We ate lunch, read, enjoyed the beautiful weather, chatted for much of the afternoon, and Josh climbed one more route before we decided to head back. We walked across the road and Josh and Claire swam while Sherry went for a run and I relaxed in my Crazy Creek. Sherry and Claire cooked a carrot, lentil, onion, and tomato stew (with cheese)for dinner on our new grill ($14 at K Mart, score), and it was great. It was a beautiful night, so we slept under the stars.

Saturday: We were up by 6:30am, because we had to drive Josh into town to get a ride back to Dunedin with our program director, Jane, who is one of the greatest people ever. Josh decided that he'd rather spend his break kayaking with his "other friends" instead of joining our road trip. We were ecstatic to see him go; we felt like our break had finally begun! Just kidding, he was missed greatly throughout break.

We got breakfast at a bakery in Queenstown and drove about an hour north to Wanaka. We played a game of Settlers on a picnic table on a gorgeous lake - it was, to no surprise, another beautiful, sunny day. We then planned to continue further north, but signs for Puzzling World! We decided against the pricey tour, but there were plenty of optical illusions and (fairly frustrating) puzzles that we could enjoy for free. At some point, we realized that we had been sitting in silence trying to complete our respective puzzles for over an hour. We left with headaches (seriously).

We then drove about three hours to Fox Glacier and enjoyed it from afar. It was pretty cool, but we didn't have the time to explore it very closely, because we had more driving to do. Two hours later we arrived in Hakatika for groceries and camping. I prepared a luxurious, complicated dinner of pasta with red sauce, peppers, and onions. We played Hearts in the tent before Pierre and I slept under the tarp during a rainy night. His excellent tarpitecture kept us dry!

Sunday: Lots of rain today, which was probably good for the NZ drought. Thankfully, it was a day of mostly driving again. It was six hours to our Motueka, and we continued to Takaka where we stopped at a petting zoo kind of place (lama, sheep, emu, donkey) right near our campsite. We camped at a place called Canaan Downs, and we found out they shot some scenes from The Hobbit there. It was a pretty cool area. Sheep were roaming freely all around us! We played Settlers under Pierre's tarpitecture and drank wine for our Easter celebration! Dinner was quinoia with tomatoes, chic peas, corn, and spices, and hot cocoa for dessert! Early to bed, and fortunately the rain stopped, too!

Monday: Our 6 am wake up was cooooold. Like, really cold. We drove to Mahau in Abel Tasman National Park and got to our kayak rental place just in time for probably the most beautiful sunrise of my life. 

No editing, promise!

Another awesome pic from Claire

We packed up our kayaks and we were on the water by 10:30am or so. We had two double kayaks, so we decided guys vs. girls was the best option. We saw some seals, and we even paddled past my flatmate, Matt, and my neighbor, Connor. Small country. 

Probably the happiest you'll ever see Pierre

I didn't bring my new camera on the kayak - my point and shoot is slightly lower quality...

We ate lunch on a nice beach and dropped our gear off at our campsite. Then Pierre and I decided to explore the shore line of our bay and found an awesome bouldering problem. It was high tide, so our 'landing pad' was about eight feet of water. Sherry and Claire joined us in bouldering for a while, but the barnacle infested rocks were killers on our bare hands and feet. We left pretty cut up, but it was totally worth it.

We decided it was probably a V2 or V3. The water creates some awesome jugs.

Then we paddled around for a while longer, saw some more baby seals, and picked a whole kayak full of mussels. We had an awesome spread for dinner that night: freshly steamed mussels, beans, peppers, onions, cheese, salsa, tomatoes, curry, and garlic salt tacos! Chocolate for dessert to top off a fantastic day.

We have SO much fun cooking together, right Pierre?!

Mussels on mussels on mussels

Sherry and Claire are vegetarian, but something about mussels not having souls or something makes them okay to eat. You can tell how upset she is.

Tuesday: The sunrise on our bay was beautiful this morning, and we ate our normal breakfast of muesli and powdered milk. We read for a while, I explored the coastline some more during low tide,  and we were all packed up and ready to go by 10am or so. We paddled all afternoon and picked some more mussels before we had to paddle a few hours back to the beach where we started.

I've really been working on my tan - Chaco tan, that is.

We have SO much fun paddling together, right Pierre?! Oh, that's right, he doesn't show emotion.

Nelson is only an hour's drive, so we were there in time to find an awesome backpackers (hostel) called Accents on the Park and get Thai food. Showering for the first time in a week was pretty nice, too. The room we stayed in had three triple-bunk beds, but fortunately Pierre didn't fall off the very top. 

Wednesday: We decided to spend a full day in Nelson, and it proved to be a very wet day. I walked around the town in the morning (because we can't stay up past 10:30pm or wake up past 8am), and then all four of us went to the grocery store and checked out the Nelson Farmer's Market. We took over the hostel kitchen and made eggs (hard boiled and scrambled), and Claire kind of made some chocolate chip pancakes/pancake scramble, but the combination of no oil, old pans, and cheap pancake mix resulted in more frustration than food. We played lots of chess and settled a few times on the balcony while it rained. Coincidentally, Kemper and some of his friends were staying at the same backpackers, and he and Pierre went climbing at the climbing gym in town while Sherry, Claire, and I played chess and explored Nelson a bit more. For dinner, Pierre and I made steak tikka masala and the girls made a tasty veggie stir fry. The hostel had free freshly baked bread, too! Then we decided to hit the town: Kemper and one of his friends joined us in heading to a bar, where we tried some local beer and played pool. We foolishly decided to put Sherry and me on a team, and Pierre and Claire smoked everyone.

We played five or six games of round robin, and by that time, we were exhausted. We were asleep by 10:15pm...

Thursday: We left the backpackers at 10am in order to make it to Blenheim by 11am. Some of Claire's friends and fellow camp counselors, Robbie and Hannah, are working there at a vineyard, and we caught them just before bed time! They work the night shift at their vineyards, so their shift begins at 10pm and they don't finish until 10am. They work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for six weeks - not even one day off, including Easter! They showed us to their house and were nice enough to stay up until noon with us before finally heading to bed. We got kabobs in Blenheim and drove to a nearby beach called White's Point. It was a chilly, overcast day, but we had a lot of fun climbing on the rocks around the beach for a few hours. Then we found a cafe in Blenheim and relaxed until it was time to get Dominos Pizza (lame, I know, but it's only $5 a pizza, and we're broke!) and we woke up Robbie and Hannah to eat dinner/breakfast: pizza and oatmeal. Claire drove them to work around 9:30pm while Pierre, Sherry, and I played Settlers and Hearts, and we stayed up until 11:30pm, woa! It was really fun to meet Robbie and Hannah, and we were very thankful to sleep with a roof over our heads for another night.

Friday: We woke up this morning and decided that our beds in Dunedin sounded pretty nice. We only made a few pitstops and got back to Dunedin in eight hours or so. More showers and early bed times.

I spent the rest of the weekend working (I know, right?), because I had two essays, an exam, and another assignment the upcoming week. I had to finish all of this so I could be obligation-free for when Grandma and Grandpa Lerner arrived the next weekend! Another post should be up soon with all of our adventures.

Thanks for reading! If only the Wild could win, life would be pretty good here.