Lost World

Recycle

2 weeks traveling En Zed, my how time flies.

It's an interesting part of life when someone decides to pack a few essentials in a bag and go away for an extended period of time to travel the world. Well, falling into that category I am guilty. It defnitely did not start off the best way (my break that is) as I booked a bus ticket to Taupo via Auckland with a company called naked bus (har har yeah funny name). I was at the airport pick up site but never saw any sign of the bus, unfortunately their lack of customer service did not help my mood as the driver claimed he was there at the site waiting for 10 minutes. Maybe I was at the wrong airport? Oh wait there's only one Auckland Airport, oh well, needless to say I won't be booking with them again anytime soon, or ever again.

Fuel Burger and Fries and BurgerFuel in Taupo

After catching an Intercity bus to Taupo and arriving at 2am I figure the trip would get better from there. 3 days later I hadn't accomplished much. I wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing but it never worked out; it's rated one of the best (if not the best) day hikes in NZ but unfortunately the weather did not permit people from doing the crossing. I also tried to go Snowboarding but that did not work out b/c of harsh winds so the mountain was closed to all skiiers/snowboarders. After doing an ok hike and catching up on emails I booked a ticket to Wanganui. The night before leaving I had 3 new roommates. One a Belgian guy named Yannick was 3 months into his 8 month around the world tour. He'd already been to Thailand, Cambodia and Oz; his next stops are the US and Mexico. We chatted about life and how we were young so we had to take advantage of this time to travel and see the world, things are never guaranteed. It was great talking to a like-minded person who was into traveling, the outdoors and meeting new people.
Mini Geothermal Vent I found on the side of the road in Taupo on a hike

Remember these?

The other two people in the room were from Hong Kong; they'd both done a stint in Oz on a working-holiday visa and were visiting NZ before heading back to HK to go back to work. It was nice to test my Cantonese out as I hadn't really had the chance on the last project to talk to the one student who did speak fluently. The next morning they were nice enough to offer me some Chinese porridge (which I hadn't had in a long time and I was craving some Chinese food). After getting everyone's emails and wishing them safe journey's I took off to Wanganui.

Why Wanganui? Well I signed up for Wwoofing (www.wwoof.org) and had gotten in contact with someone there who had some work to do and it especially interested me b/c he mentioned a bike program. I walked to the Environment/Sustainability Center in the city and ended up talking to a bike mechanic working on a Green Bikes Program (sound familiar?) His name was Jonah and the program took donated bikes and fixed them up so the public can purchase them for $25! This was similar to the bike-sharing program I'd been working on at UC San Diego (Triton Bikes) . Small world? Everything happens for a reason so I'm sure this was why I was supposed to stop in that city while I made my way to Wellington.

Green Bikes at the Sustainability Center in Wanganui

Working on the second bike (Shimano)

First Bike I ever Fixed completely, BMX!

First susnet in Wanganui from Drurie Hill

I ended up helping Jonah fix some bikes, he taught me a lot about bicycles and what to do when inspecting/repairing them. I fixed my first bike that day, a orange bmx bike haha. It was great though to be able to work on bikes and learn from an experience bike mechanic. Also got to have a really good veggie stew (both days I was there) that Jonah cooked up (he's a vegetarian). Later in the day I met with Hadi, the guy who I was staying with and we eventually agreed that I would just work in the bike shop as my form of wwoofing (so it's not a real wwoof but it was still awesome). Hadi was from the UK and he was really into growing organically (he even has two bee hives that he gets honey from, which btw is really good fresh). We chatted about environmental issues and different ways we can improve sustainability in cities over dinner; I stayed at his house b/c his kids were away for the week so I was lucky enough to get a bed.

Second Sunset of Wanganui from Drurie Hill

Jonah and his trailer he let me borrow to carry my stuff to a hitchhike point

Getting ready for a fun journey down to Wellington

After two days there I was off to make my way to Wellington. Instead of going on a bus though I got some really helpful tips from Jonah and friends. He even let me borrow a bike to ride out to the best spot to catch rides, he rode alongside me and then took the bike back in the trailer he built for his bike. At first I didn't think I'd get a ride after having cars passby for about 20-30 minutes. But all of a sudden I heard honking and a guy stopped, backing up to where I was standing. He asked where I was going and I said Wellington, he was going there too so he said to hop on in. I know what you're thinking, yeah it might have sketchy, and yes I had some doubts at first but after checking the situation I said I'd go along with it and see how it went for a bit.

Hitchhikers Guide

Turns out we just kept talking all the way to Wellington. His name was Ismael and he was originally from Turkey and now had a few restaurants in NZ. He was on his way to a meeting luckily. We chatted about life, politics, and a lot of other things. He said he's refused to pick people up before after stopping to talk to them b/c of the way they handled themselves or looked up close. He also did say he likes to help people and if giving them a ride helps them then that's all good. It was interesting how similar our mindsets were at times; he and I agreed on the way we live our lives and that having a good heart is key. It's a small world he said so I'm sure I'll be going to one of his restaurants one day. After dropping me off near Parliament in Wellington (he said Thank you in Mandarin after I told him thank you, not bad) I wished him the best of luck in everything and walked to Parliament to meet a friend.

The Beehive aka Parliament

Who would have thought I would be hanging out with the Green Party that day, I got to meet one fo their MPs and a lot of the staff that worked in the party. I also took a tour of Parliament and got to learn about the history of the place. After eating at Burger Wisconsin (an ode to the supposed founder of the first burger), which was pretty good, I bumped into some of the participants in my last group and caught up on things. They took over some bars that night but I called it in pretty early as there was a long day ahead of preparing for my first All Blacks Rugby match.

Supporting the All Blacks with Ferns in Welly

Had to make sure the ticket was real

Fast foward through a day of walking around Wellington, seeing a lot of French Supports to counter the All Blacks fans and bam we were at Westpac Stadium for the match. It was a great atmosphere, even though the temperature had dropped very low people showed up in force. It's interesting to compare stadiums in the US to ones here, Westpac Stadium, one of their largest holds 45,000 people. College Stadiums in the US can hold 100,000+, crazy huh? After hearing the national anthems and seeing the pride and spirit in both the teams fans we got to see the HAKA!!!! That was intensE! with a capital E! Some fans through some roosters painted in French Colors onto the field, not sure how they snuck that in but pretty funny. Security chased them down; also one fan who ran onto the field got tackled by a security officer (full on tackle, probably the best hit of the game haha).

The All Blacks Warming Up

French Supporter?

National Anthems

the HAKA!

All Blacks won that night 14-10 but they lost the series cup to France who won the previous game by 6 points so the All Blacks needed more points to fully win. Either way though people were in good moods and a win got everyone hitting the bars that night.

Fighting for Position
Scrumming it up

All Blacks 14, France 10

Chilling in Welly the next day I visited the national Museum Te Papa and saw the colossal squid they had caught in Antartica and studied. It was decaying slowly but still pretty insane to think that was a relatively small one (though they've never caught a bigger one alive before). I also enjoyed their Blood, Earth, Fire exhibit that demonstrated the impact of humans on the land of NZ; one video documented 7 people and the special places they love and cherish in NZ, illustrating their connection with the Environment and passion to preserve it.

Colossal Squid in Te Papa Museam

After Welly I was off to New Plymouth, unfortunately I couldn't hike Mt. Taranaki or any of the coastal walks as I was only staying a night.
Mt. Taranaki

Road Side Stop

From there I went to Waitomo and signed up for an intense Caving Adventure called the Lost World. The Rambo Rating was 10/10. The first thing I did was abseil (repel) 100 meters into a giant cave entrance.

Now I'm back to work and need to update you again but finding time to get to an internet cafe is kind of hard. Hope to chat with you all soon,

Cheers

P.S.