Coming Back

It took me a long time to write this post, but I think I am ready to do it. We have been back to Chicago for a over 4 months now and objectively things are going really well. Both Mike and I have gotten our jobs back, we got our house back, and I even bought a new car. I got my job back in the middle of November, and technically that was the point that we could relax a little bit since we would be able to afford the house and not hemorrhage money like we did when we originally moved back. I am trying to keep everything in perspective because at times it was really hard for me to do that. To me, this wasn't an easy time even though we were never in any serious trouble. I say that because I know that my version of how everything shook out has a lot to do with my personality.

The Bad

The Renters
When we first came back to the states we immediately had to deal with an issue of our wonderful renters cutting down all of the little branches of a tree in our front yard. The issue was that the tree belonged to the city of Niles, and therefore wasn't ours or theirs to modify in any way. Even if we step back from the question of what kind of asshole decides to chop off all of the branches on a beautiful weeping mulberry tree when they are going to move out of the house in a couple of months, and what makes a renter feel that this is their job in the first place, it was still horrible. We had to go to court and argue in front of a judge. We tried to convince the court that the tree can be saved (we did this not just to avoid a hefty fine, but also because I loved that tree and I didn't want to see it replaced with a plain old non berry tree) It ultimately came down to the fact that it was cheaper for Niles to cut down the remaining tree and put in a new one than to nurse the existing one back to life, and since it's their property we had no say in the matter. On the positive side of things Mike argued them down from a fine of $2300 dollars to $1667. At the time we thought that this would be OK because our security deposit was 1900 so at least we would not be out that money.

Our issues with the renters didn't stop there. On top of everything they did not pay us for their last month of staying in our house. Our contract stated that they would rent it through November 1st, but we got a call from them saying that they were gone around September 20th or so. They just left. They didn't pay us, and they didn't exactly leave the house intact. Now that we have been back for a little while I feel like I have a complete list of all of the broken things in our home:
- Wall mounted garage door opener panel was smashed in
- a shelf went missing from one of our cabinets
- the deli drawer lid was ripped out of the refrigerator so that a new one is impossible to install.
- There were a couple of holes in the walls. I don't mean left over tiny pin holes from nails, I mean holes about a 1/4 inch in diameter.
- Our downstairs bathroom shelf was removed from under the bathroom mirror and rehung
- the mirror that was attached to our wardrobe upstairs was removed and screwed into the wall in the basement
- Finally, we found our bed and mattress wet and covered with dirt and black mold. The bed frame was completely broken and the mattress was disgusting.

This last portion made me upset in many many ways. First of all, what kind of idiot puts a bed and mattress outside? More importantly, who would put it back on the second floor. No one in their right mind would keep a moldy broken

bed frame and mattress. It just created more work for us. It was so stupid. While we were in the middle of carrying this nasty monstrosity down the stairs the renter showed up because he forgot to leave one of the garage door openers. We asked him about the bed and about the

rent and he replied that the fact that he didn't pay us rent for the last month was our fault for not writing us a recommendation, he did us a favor by chopping down the tree branches because the tree was sick, and he is "sorry" about the bed. If I had a gun, I would shoot him on the spot.

We ended up speckling and repainting our whole downstairs area and washing all of our curtains and cushion covers to get rid of the stench of those nasty horrible people. On the positive side, it helped us reclaim our house and make it nicer looking than it was before. We also ended up getting a nicer bed with storage and a bigger mattress. There are all sorts of positives, but at the time between the extra money that we ended up having to spend, and the incredibly rude attitude, I was beyond upset.

The Jobs
It didn't take me a long time to get a job if you think about it logically, but I obviously didn't. Since we were dealing with our crazy renters and spending money we didn't account on, I wanted at least one of us to get a job ASAP. I had interviews in 3 places in the first 3 weeks of being back, but then everything quieted down. I was also working against the clock, where going back to my old job was concerned, because if I came back within a year I could keep my original start date and my benefits which would be absolutely huge. I started panicking in early October as I couldn't agree on salary with one of the companies, and the other never contacted me after my final round of interviews. As soon as we came back to the states we became uninsured which means that I was also really stressing out about the possibility of us getting bankrupt by any sort of medical emergency that could occur at any moment. My old employer looked promising, but weeks kept passing by with no word. At the end of this whole mess it was a very close call. The anniversary of me leaving was November 21st, I got an official offer from the company on November 10th and my first day back was November 17th. I wish that I could have taken more time between getting a job, and actually going to it. I wanted to just be able to enjoy knowing that everything was going to be OK and maybe being a tourist in my own city, but that could not happen.

Mike didn't really start looking for a job until sometime in October when I started freaking out, and he stepped back again once I had an offer. We needed him to move us in, repaint, and do little things around the house. It also happens that appliances in my condo started breaking down, so it was convenient having him available to go there and fix things. Those days are numbered now, as Mike received an offer from his previous employer this week. Unfortunately for him, he also can't take any time to bask in the knowledge of employment because he doesn't get any vacation days for the first 30 days of employment and we have a vacation scheduled for the first week of March. (that's right, a vacation). I was so stressed out about the jobs and the house, and the condo for so long, that I can't even enjoy the fact that everything is now set. I just need to slowly get used to the fact that we are fine, completely fine, with a place to live we are not going to lose, and we don't have to limit how much we go out (although we will still eat at home more than we used to before we left), and there is no more uncertainty about what's going to happen.

Psychology
It was really hard to come back home. I anticipated some of the hurdles, and was blind sighted by

others. I expected freaking out about work and the fact that I couldn't just wave a magic wand and have everything back to how I like it. Expecting it didn't make it any easier. Basically I was scared before we went on our trip, I panicked when we first arrived because it became real, but I was also terrified when we came back. This was made both harder and easier by the fact that Mike is a completely different person than I am in regards to worrying. He never does it. He just assumes that everything will be fine. In fact, sometimes I ban him from saying "everything will be fine" because that is how he tends to respond to most worries that I present to him. His attitude makes it easier because only one of us is completely stressed out, but it makes it harder because he completely doesn't understand where I'm coming from so I feel alone and scared some of the time.

I completely didn't expect to feel a burden when reuniting with my family and friends. I missed them all so much that I completely forgot about the fact that relationships are always a double edged sword and when you are in a relationship with people there are obligations and things that you have to do, even though you don't really want to. I am probably not stating this well, and I anticipate a lot of you getting angry with me, but our time in never really our own when we live in the same city as our loved ones. There are events, and favors, and schedules. Mike and I can no longer decide what we want to do on any particular day because chances are there is something on the books slotted for this period of time. Everyone is over-scheduled and if you want to see them you have to put something on the books. It can be exhausting and limiting. I knew that this was an issue even before I left, but having tasted real freedom (mixed with loneliness and homesickness) I could really see just how entwined our lives are with the lives of others. Love has a price, so I guess the Beatles had it wrong, the best things in life aren't free either :)

I also didn't expect to feel such fatigue from living in a constant state of uncertainty. Only this week are things finally the way they were before we left. I still can't believe that it's real. I'm tired of being stressed and scared. In my mind, coming back was synonymous with the end of our adventure, but that was not the case. I think more than anything, it was my own expectations that made me miserable. By the time we left Australia, I was ready to resume my life, and when that didn't happen immediately upon our return I freaked out.

The other thing I didn't expect is the difficulty of living my old life. I am a different person now and my old life is a little tight. The stress in  NZ and Australia is nothing like the everyday regular life stress of living my old life. Everything is planned out on a calendar, everyone is busy, work - although not objectively stressful, is difficult when you think about the fact that my only other teammate was my husband for the last 12 months and we work very well together and have pretty good communication. I suspect that another part of the difficulty is that a goal that we have had for several years is now complete, and this created a vacuum in our lives (or at least in mine). My father has a saying "a soldier needs to task" and my task is complete. This soldier is a little moored at the moment.

The Good

Physical Comfort
I love living in an enclosed space with heat and running water. I love my kitchen and all of the appliances that are in it. I love taking a hot shower without shower shoes and being able to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night without lacing up my sneakers and putting on a jacket. I love having a bed that I can sleep on and a mattress that is more than two inches thick. I love being able to control my thermostat. I love not having to cook every meal outside, regardless of weather (although I definitely want to incororate more outside eating when it's nice and warm and dry outside). Most importantly of all, I love love love not having to be cold all the time with no where to hide as has happened for several weeks in Australia.

People

I missed my friends and family so much. I love being able to see them whenever I want, I love being able to hug and kiss them, and to have conversations about nothing at all. I love planning vacations with them and their physical presence. I love being there when things happen so that I don't have to hear about them afterwards. I love seeing my parents and grandparents, and my wonderful cat. I didn't even realize how much I missed everyone. I love celebrating events such as birthdays, weddings, baby showers, etc with ALL of the people that I love. People's lives are always changing and it's important not to miss things. Mike and I missed the births of two babies while we were away! That is incredible.

Psychology
Now that the dust settles I can see my trip and the effects more clearly. This trip was an amazing adventure and I am not sorry I went. I learned so much about myself and about life that I didn't realize before. I have to say that by far the most important lesson I learned is that anyone can do anything if they want it badly enough and make it a priority. There are a million excuses for not doing any particular thing, but none of them really matter - if you are using those excuses it means that something else was more important. I also learned to believe in myself a lot more. I will go ahead and call myself a true blue certified BADASS!!! I have climbed glaciers and forged knives and hiked for miles and miles in the rain, and capsized in a kayak during a storm. I have made salad in a van, and showered with a deadly spider and swam with sharks and petted hedgehogs and fed wallabies. I have been threatened with being fork-lifted off a property and yelled at by disgruntled camp ground workers. I really lived! There were times when I was scared, and angry, and miserable, but I am so happy that I got to do it all, and that I got to do it with a wonderful partner who knows me so well and is so different from me and makes we jump out of my comfort zone and grab life by the balls. What an adventure I have had, and I just can't wait to see what else life has in store for me (provided I get a little time to rest and be boring so that I get store up my moxie for his next crazy plan.

The End (of this adventure)

We'll miss you Kiwis (the people, the birds, the fruit)

I'm a little sad that this is my last NZ post. I waited a little before writing it because we have been having internet dificulties for a while, so I apologize if this is disjointed, but here goes:

Wellington

We decided that we needed a break from all of the camping and got a room share in Wellington for about the same price. Once we got to the house and checked out the room I realized that I have been changed a little by the trip. Our room had two twin beds pushed together, but it was not te cleanest. We also had the use of a gross refrigirator and microwave.  I loved sleeping in a bed, but overall I prefer to sleep in a tent, but cook and shower in facilities that are cleaned daily. I never thought that I would feel that way, but bed does not trump cleanliness. (and its not as if the place was filthy, imagine college living 'clean'). As a separate bonus Mike was able to renegotiate our rate for an additional night, and we suspect that the owner stole one of our spoons as payback! I'm not even joking about this, the spoon was on the counter and 2 hours later it wasn't. 

Wellington gave me a proper dose of the city, which I needed badly! It has a completely SF vibe to it. Even the look of the city is very SF. Houses are built in an older style, and painted different colors, they have a trolley, and there is a more bohemian vibe to everything. Mike and I just happened to arrive during the "New Zealand" festival and walk into a performance art section that was on the water and housed in shipping containers (Kiwis love to use shipping containers for things). The coolest thing in the art shipping containers was a 2 story installation. The second story houses a bathtub on display. People strip down to their underwear and sit in the warm water. The tub is overfilled so that it would leak through the foorboards down to the first story level. There are clear ponchos available and you cn put them on and stand in th "rain" created by the tub. 

There were other installations there, some were light and some were sound. There was an exhibit where people would be measured for "joy". It all gave off a BM vibe and apparently one of the light installations was from kiwi burn (but it was not as cool as some of the other ones). There was also a stage made out of a shipping container and there was live music by local bands and singers there. Walking around that area really grounded me a little. It was such a cool scene. I was told and one of the pubs there there was also an exhibit which was part flash mob, part silent disco. Random people are given headphones and have to follow instructions that no one else can hear. It seemed that the people with the headphones were instructed to move in the same way, so they became a silent instant flash mob, but Mike and I didn't see it.

One of the other days that we were in the city we had a nice brunch and then did what they call the hidden art tour. Basically you download a google map of locations and go into public buildings to see anything from bronze sculptures, to grafitti, to an underground ship that became moored and incorporated into the city as the warf was extended out. (+olga shafran very similar to the streeterville story). My favorite thing that we saw was had to be the exhibit of doctor tools from the early 1900s. They were on display at a bar called GP (general practiioner). I talked to the bartender, and he basically gave me the story of the building from a time it was a dctors office to when it was a "cathouse" to it's current state. I will admit that I thought that a cathouse was like a kennel for cats, which really embarassed the bartender, and which Mike found to be absolutely hilarious.

My last story about Wellington is about the homeless. There are a lot of them in the city. It's just one more way that it reminds me of SF. Most of the homelss are pretty crazy, but the ones that aren't are very nice and helpful. Our first night strolling the streets we saw a homeless man talking to a foreign backpacker girl, and I suspected that he was bothering her. It turned out that he was giving her a tour of the city and even showing her the art displays I mentioned earlier. Another time, Mike and I were looking at a wall of graffiti and a couple of homeless guys suggested that we go around to the other side to see more. I mentally placed the odds at 50/50 that their friends will be there to mug and beat us, but nope, just the awesome graffiti that was promised to us. I guess I'm a little jaded....

We had a final night of camping in NZ on our way up to Auckland at a campground that had a contraption named "The Flying Fox" which was basically a zipline for kids. I love all of the BM reminders  that we keep running into. In a way, it makes me feel more connected with all of my friends. 

Auckland

On our way to Auckland we had a very important stop, a repeat of our first hike three months before. The first time around I wanted to throw myself off the path and die multiple times. I needed to take brakes pretty often, and both Mike and I realized that we were in need of some training. The hike took us 3 hours and I was pretty exhausted when it was done. This time around we finished it in 2 hours! Not only that, but I have done much harder hikes recently. What a birthday present to realize how much more fit I am! As an added bonus, the hike let me break in my new hiking boots (a b-day present from Mike) and they were perfect! As we were driving back to the city, we saw waves of sheep running on sides of hills chased by sheepdogs. I know it's stupid, but I thought it was the coolest thing. We just fullled over to the side of the road and watched the dogs work. 

When we finally got into town we saw Steve and Olichka's new home. It is absolutely beautiful, and well worth the 5 month search. They have a view of a sunset over Auckland and the ocean from their bedroom window, which is amazing. It didn't really hit me that we were leaving until I got to the city. On one hand, I was really excited to finally go to Australia and get to the place we have been working towards for so long, but I was very sad to leave New Zealand. NZ is a very beautiful country, and I am going to miss it. We have had so many adventures there and made so many wonderful memories, that it will always have a special place in my heart.

I also wanted to say a few words about Olichka and Steve. They were unbelievable hosts! They put so much thought into hosting us and made our lives so much easier that I can't even begin to describe. They drove us to and from the airport at ridiculous times, they bought us phone cards before our arrival, they lent us guidebooks and set us up with places to live. They spent their hard earned vacation time hanging out with us, and Olichka let us borrow her car for 3 whole months, among other very very kind thoughtful and generouos acts. I only hope that one day we will be able to recipricate the huge favor. Part of why NZ will always be special to me, is because they live there. 

We spent our last couple of days catching up with friends and making OZ plan during the day and hanging with Steve and Olichka at night. Olichka surprised us with a "pump" class one of the days, so that we could really feel the burn. I was really scared to go, but found that it was a lot of fun altough I was sore for 4 days afterward. Neither Mike or I slept our last night on NZ soil, but the night couldn't last forever, and so the first leg of our journey was completed.

Final Personal Thoughts

I learned a lot in the last three months, and I'm still processing some of it. Recently I have been struggling a little because in my regular life I'm a leader at work, so I have been comfortable not always being on at home. I was used to knowing what the right thing in any situation is, and not needing anyone in order to act. At this point in the trip, with us spending so much time in nature, and with me not working, I feel a little out of balance. I am often wrong, or don't know how to proceed with something. I have learned that I am an experienced tourist, but not always a knowledgeable traveller. I have learned that there are times when I won't know what to do, and I am trying to be OK in that role. I find that I am trying to compete with Mike physically (in our exersice regimen) which is stupid, but I have no one else to compete with, and apparently I need that. I feel that the experince has been humbling, but I don't think its a bad thing for me to be taken down a notch or two by life. I will try to remember this feeling when I am again in the role of a teacher or a mentor. I will try to be more compasionate and patient. I don't promise miracles, but maybe I can keep some of this inside and change my perspective a little.

I also learned that travelling as a couple can be lonely. Mke and I don't really talk to many people. We don't really fit in with the backpackers, or the families. Since we are camping, we don't stay in hostels and meet new people. Sometimes we are too much for each other, but when we have separate days we spend them alone. I think he is more OK with it than I am. I need alone time, but I also need people besides Mike in my life. I think that this is a good thing, but it makes travel harder for me. It makes me miss all of my friends and family more than I tought I did.

I have become less "girly". I dont wear dresses or skirts unless I'm in a city now. I have only worn makeup twice since we have started our travels. I don't blowdry my hair. Some people would find that to be a release, but more and more I miss these routines. It is one of the reasons that I feel a little out of balance in my own skin. It's a weird feeling, I can no longer predict how I will feel about something. It's a little unnerving. 

I have embraced activity and the outdoors. I jog and I hike and I walk. I have not really watched TV for months. I tried one day in Auckland, and just could not stomach it. I spend most of my time outdoors. I  also don't have a space that is entirely my own. I am without a cave or retreat. I can't run away to recharge anymore. Life is completely different for me now. In some ways its liberating, and in some binding. Since Mike and I travel together, no decision is enirely our own. We have to plan routes, shop for food, even make bathroom stops together. No research that I have done has prepared me for this. On one hand its a deeper form of  intimacy, but on the other it can be frusterating. 

I will finish by saying that none of this is bad. I am not making judgements for the most part. I am just trying to document how I feel. I like the challange of the unfamiiar road. I think all of these thoughts are very good for me. I hope that as a result, I will become a deeper, more interesting, and a more compassionate person (even a little bit)

Goodbye South Island!

Now that I have gotten the social issues blog out of the way, I really want to tell you guys about our final adventures on the south island. There have been lots of activity and not a lot of downtime, so I will get started immediately. I apologize for the length in advance :)

MTB

Mike has been wanting to go mountain biking for a while now, and Queenstown just happens to have a course with a gondola that takes you up to the top so that you only have to worry about going down. MTB has never really appealed to me because I think the pain that every fall would be very very painful, and for me the end doesn't justify the means, but Mike wanted to go, and he promised me that we would just do the easy track, and we would only go as fast as I was comfortable with.

I should have listened to the guy that we were renting our gear from. He asked if I had ever mountain biked, and I said no. At that point he seemed concerned, but I basically told him that I would be OK. We got all of our gear and rode the gondola up. I think that they need a bunny trail. Once I saw what the easy trail looked like I became nervous. It wasn't the end of the world, because at the worst case I could just walk the bike down the hill, but I knew that I was not going to be enjoying the day. We stopped about 50 feet from the very top, mainly for me to get my bearings, and when I tried getting on the bike (privately renamed "the undertaker" by yours truly) my shorts got caught on the seat and I fell twisting my ankle in the process.

I was very upset because this injury occurred in the very beginning, and I knew how much Mike was looking forward to the day. I was also upset because I wanted to still be able to hike another of the "Great Walks", but I would be lying if I didn't admit that a part of me was relieved that I would not be spending the day trying to conquer my fear. It took us a while to get down, and I actually convinced Mike to continue riding while I sat in a park by the bike rental and Skype'd with my friends. This was my Valentine's day to plan for Mike, and at that point I considered it a fail, but I think it was rescued by a nice dinner, on top of which Mike did enjoy his MTB experience, so we will round that up to success.

The first successful bike ride and hike prep

After staying off my ankle for 48 hours, we decided to do a bike riding test. Riding a bike is the perfect activity since you are not putting on as much pressure on it, and I needed to get back on the horse anyway. (well this was more like the pony version). Mike and I rented some bikes and ended up going for an off-road bike ride. I think more than anything this ride proved to him how unprepared I must have been for MTB. Even on the easy track that we chose, I found some parts to be challenging. We ended up riding 15 miles, with frequent stops to allow mike to pick wild plums, blackberries, apples, etc from the trees and bushes lining the path. He was in heaven! Overall, I think the day was very enjoyable and I felt that I was ready to proceed to walking. My favorite part of the whole thing was my cute basket :)

The next day we moved on to walking long distances. We went down the same track for the same 15 miles and timed ourselves. Our walk took 4.5 hours and would have been more of a success if I didn't wear my running shoes instead of my hiking shoes. My running shoes have open screens in the sole (for breathability) which let dust in when you are walking on an unpaved path. I ended up blistering my feet in a pretty severe way, but we decided that I was ready for our Routeburn multi-day hike and booked it. 

Due to the fact that transportation from the end of the track to the beginning is very very expensive, and only one of the two campsites that we needed was available, our plan for Routeburn was as follows:

day 1 - 15 mile round trip day hike from The Divide to Lake McKenzie Hut and back. Drive to Milford.

day 2 - kayak trip around Milford and potentially walk around

day 3 - 5 mile one way hike from Routeburn Shelter to Routeburn Flats campsite

day 4 - 15 mile round trip hike to Lake McKenzie Hut (from the other side)

day 5 - 5 mile one way hike back from the campsite to the shelter

It sounds intense, but we have been kicking ass and taking names, so that's what we decided to do. We left Queenstown the next day after doing some very laid back paddle-boarding. We have gotten significantly better at it and this time no one fell. 

The Routeburn day hike

I taped up and stabilized my feet and we started on the hike. I think the rain started falling as soon as we got onto the track, but we were in good spirits, and how long can a rain really fall? I was a little worried about the fact that we only started at non, but armed with the fact that we can walk the distance in 4.5 hours I thought that we would be safe..... dum dum dum

The trail took us through the most mossy forest I have ever been to. It looked like everything was covered in a saggy green carpet! There was round moss, and tree moss, moss on rocks, green moss, white moss, and even red moss (feel free to make the Forrest Gump shrimp parallel here). The rain made everything in the forest look extra bright and the fog lent it an alien planet quality. It was really pretty, but I wished that if wasn't so foggy because I knew that we were missing epic mountain views. There was a summit possibility as a side trip option pretty close to the beginning of the hike, but I nixed it due to the rain, wind, fog, and most importantly - because I wasn't completely sure that I could hike with the ankle and monster blisters for even the 15 miles, not to mention and additional side trip. The two highlights of the hike for me were:

- The insane waterfall we walked by (174 meters tall) - it sprayed mist all over us, but it didn't really matter at that point because we were soaked through our shoes and rain jackets anyway.

- a portion of the trail called "The Orchard" where gnarled trees covered by hanging moss stood in the fog. There was a very calm and surreal quality about the whole place. 

The trip turned on me a little when we were about 45 minutes from McKenzie Hut. The rain was getting heavier and my feet were getting really wet. I was fantasizing about getting to the hut, warming up, having some lunch and a little rest out of the rain before having to turn around. That did not happen for several reasons. First of all campers and day hikers are not allowed to use the hut facilities at all. The best that Mike and I got was to sit on a bench by the hut so that we would be covered from the rain while we ate. Not only was there not a dry stitch of clothing on us, but our day backpack was completely soaked as well, so we had no dry clothes to change into. The other problem was that the 8 mile one way trip took us 4 hours! We simply did  not have time to rest and enjoy our lunch. I started going back before Mike was even done eating since I was getting cold standing still.

On our way back to the Divide, we were beyond soaked. I would make fists every ten minutes or so to wring water out of my gloves. Every step I took produced a squish sound in my shoes, and I was getting tired, but we still had adventures ahead. On our way in we crossed several small streams carefully stepping on rocks. On our way back the water level and current had increased significantly so that a lot f the rocks we had used before were now submerged. Several times Mike had to find some big rocks on the trail and throw them into streams as stepping stones. 

We made it back to the parking lot cod and wet, but in good spirits and before dark!!! The 16 miles took us 8 hours. There was a changing room at the shelter so I got to put on dry clothes!!! I had to change everything including my underwear - there was not a dry stitch on me. As it was still raining Mike opted to stay wet because he would have to set up the tent in the rain :( His sacrifice turned out to be for nothing because the rain only got harder and we opted to actually get a cabin for the night. I would have normally enjoyed it, but I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. It was a tough, good day.

Kayaking at Milford

We could not believe that our tour did not get cancelled because though the rain had stopped by morning, it was cold, windy and foggy, but the show must go on I guess. Our guide waited to get a final all clear on the kayaking and then we all drove over to the dock. We were given all of the gear which included thermals, wetsuit vests, fleeces, windbreakers and spray skirts, we we were no longer worried about being too cold. The wind had also died down by then so we were excited to get started. Once we had all of our gear on we went outside for a quick safety briefing and finally got into the kayaks and away from the evil sand flies that were feasting on us.

We found out some interesting things on the tour. The town of Milford has no cell service, which I guess is not that strange, but they also don't have electricity run to them. They use one of the waterfalls to power the entire town. We also saw a baby seal playing by the shore. Our guide said that the reason the seal was alone is that some male seals get kicked out of the colony when they are young. They stay in Milford Sound eating and getting stronger until they turn 3, at which point they try to fight their way back in. Apparently there are too many male seals, and this is how the colony handles this problem. I guess it's good to be a female seal :)

We were also told that Milford is actually a fjord, not a sound. A fjord is a valley carved by a glacier and hen flooded by the sea or the ocean, a sound is a valley carved by a river and then flooded by the sea or ocean. When Cook saw Milford he named it a sound because there are no fjords in England and he didn't know the difference. Rather than renaming all of the "sounds" in the area the kiwis just left the names as is and named the whole region FIORDLAND. (No I didn't spell that incorrectly, they did)

We had another treat on our tour, because the wind and waves had picked up we rafted the kayaks together and sailed back to shore. When I say sailed what it means is that everyone holds on to everyone else's kayak and the kayak passengers on the sides either hold a rope attached to a sail (if they are in the front position) or tie the rope to their oar and hold the oar up (if they are in the back position). The sailing was a lot of fun, but I got stuck holding the rope and at one point my kayak got separated from the on next to me, I let go of the sail, our kayak went perpendicular to the wave and we turned over. 

Thankfully, Mike and I had kayaked in lake Superior before and their safety briefing wasn't a 5 minute speech on what to do. In the good old U.S. of A they actually made us turn over into the freezing water and practice getting the spray skirt off the kayak and getting to the surface from under the boat. I will always be grateful to them for that safety demonstration because when you  hit frozen water your mind just goes into shock along with your body, but both Mike and I did exactly what we had to do and we were calm about it. Our guide helped us flip the kayak over and we both managed to get in again. The problem was that our boat was still perpendicular to the waves and water would roll into the kayak faster than we could pump out with the little hand pump that we had. 

I guide from a different tour company saw that we were in trouble and also came to help. With his  assistance we got parallel with the waves, and closer to the shore so there was less wind. I pumped until muscle failure in both arms, and then the tour guides also took turns pumping water out of my section of the kayak. I think Mike pumped past muscle failure by pumping with his whole entire body, but finally we could float reasonably well and were able to catch up to the rest of our group. 

This was going to be the time we would beach at an island and have lunch and hot drinks, and let me tell you, those hot drinks were very welcome. The tour was basically over at this point and all we had to do was just cross the sound again and get back to the dock. Once we did both Mike and I ripped off all of the wet clothes and changed into some wonderful warm and dry clothing. Final pronouncement - kayak trip with a side of adventure = great success. Our guide was more shaken up by our capsize than we were because we were his first sea kayak rescue. Hopefully his next ones will be better :) We were both dead tired so we just headed back to Queenstown for the night.

Routeburn multi-day hiking

DAY 1:Our first day of Routeburn was a cakewalk. Even with backpacks on we can walk the 5 miles in our sleep. It was finally a beautiful day and we took our time looking and the turquoise river rapids and walking  over swing bridges. It was a nice easy day and we were happy and relaxed by the time we made it to camp. 

The temperature at night dropped to about 5C and it was probably the coldest I have ever been n my life. This is what I wore to bed: t-shirt, ski thermal, fleece, jacket, 2 pairs of thermal tights, sweatpants, 2 pairs of socks, a hat, and some gloves. Just so you don't think it was just me, Mike wore: 2 thermal long sleaves, 2 sweatshirts, windbreaker, thermal tights, sweatpants, 2 pairs of socks, a hat and gloves. Until he went to bed, I thought that I was going to go insane from the cold. We both also covered ourselves completely with the sleeping bag. What made matters worse was that we both had to run to pee several times a night. It as so annoying that I even looked up why we pee more when we are cold. 

Apparently the capillaries in our skin constrict from the cold. This makes our blood pressure go up. Our body's way of lowering this heightened blood pressure is to get rid of the excess water through urination. Now you know :)

DAY 2: The day of our big hike was miserable. It was cold, and rainy and there was basically complete cloud coverage. We started hiking, but I was limping pretty badly and only hiked about a half mile before realizing that it was pointless. My blisters were hurting too much and there was no point suffering through such pain. I came back to camp, and told Mike that he could go without me - which he did. The bad ass hiked a hard 19 miles in 8 hours!!!! I was so proud of him. Unfortunately, the weather didn't let up the whole time he was hiking and he came back just as wet as he was on our day hike a couple of days before. I was really mad that my feet and the weather were not cooperating, but what could I do? I decided that I will just play it by ear the next morning (my feet were much better by the time mike came back). Our night was a little warmer this time around, so I felt downright rejuvenated when I woke up to a cloudless day and a much better feeling foot.

DAY 3: I think the weather of the day was every hiker's wild dream. It was a high in the lower 60s, a cloudless sky,and plenty of sunshine. Mike and I decided that we would climb up to Harris Saddle (the highest point of the whole track and then see how I feel. We could go around the side and look down on Lake McKenzie or do a more technical climb to Conical Hill which opens up amazing views of the area.

Mike warned me that the hike would be "interesting". I realize now, that what he means when he says "interesting" is very steep grade, and a path where you climb rocks, sometimes very steep ones. The hike up to the saddle was HARD. I'm glad that we saved this hike for last, because by the time all was said and done I was really tired. I can't believe that the climb up to the saddle was only 2.5 hours because it sure felt like 4. Thankfully, due to the weather we had some great views, especially in places where hiking was the toughest. At a point a vista of a deep blue lake surrounded by mountains opens up to the side of you. Just picture cloudless skies, sunshine, a very very deep, blue mountain lake, and mountains all around. 

We took a break at the saddle and had a quick snack to get more strength for the climb up to Conical Hill. It's a good thing that we ate, because that climb couldn't be very far, but took us an hour. The grade was very steep and I honestly could not imagine a view that would make it worth while. I am very  glad to report that I was very very wrong. As you finally make it up to the top a view that is nothing short of miraculous opens up to you. I saw snow covered peaks standing against a clear blue sky, valleys   flooded by the deep blue waters o mountain lakes, and off in the distance so far that you almost cant see it, a faint line of the ocean. We sat in silence at the highest point looking out at the view and just taking in that calm, peaceful beauty...

...Until a couple of Israeli guys came along, let out a victory battle cry and turned on music.... But we still had our moment :)

I think the climb down must have taken us about as long as the climb up, because it was relatively technical. Mike was trying to teach me where to place my feet so that I wouldn't slide down or fall, and he said I picked it up pretty quickly. We made it back to camp at around 7, but we still had to pack up and get out of there, so we got to work immediately. 

Before we left we spoke to the hut warden, who was the coolest warden we have met in all of the parks yet. He told us of a place we could camp on the way back (technically illegal) and wished us all the best. We had chatted with him in the past and he told Mike a bunch of interesting things. Apparently there is a place on the south island called gemstone beach where lots of gold, jade, and gemstones wash up. There are farmers in the area who go digging there to supplement their income in the winter by 20-30 grand. I wish we had time to visit it (although I doubt we would find anything more than a trinket, if that)

Our final descent to the car park was pretty quick, but it bordered on"death march" for me. Even tough Mike took almost everything out of my pack, I was tired and toward the end there, in the dusk, with the pebble road was close to hallucinating. We must have been back to the car a little after 9 with a total of 15 miles hiked that day in roughly 9 hours (if you take an hour out for all breaks). I was happy that we had some easy days ahead of us. We celebrated our hike completion with burgers and beers, and passed out.

Christchurch

It must have been a very beautiful city before the earthquake of 2011. We got in to town pretty late so we didn't get to explore until the following day, but even Mike thinks that one day was enough. Nothing has been rebuilt, but everything is fenced and structurally supported so it has become a city of scaffolding in my mind. I did not see a single historic building that was whole. There are whole city blocks where the buildings are ruined and abandoned. 

Since we were only staying for one day, Mike and I picked a river walk that started at the Botanic Gardens were e actually made me stop and smell the roses (in the rose garden). The rose garden was surrounded by dahlias which I also found very beautiful, although not particularly beautiful smelling. Outside of the Garden, my favorite part of the walk was Cathedral Square where there were pant and flower sculptures of different animals. 

The other part of the walk that was really cool was re:START. Basically since a lot f businesses lost their permanent locations in the earthquake, there was a project where shipping containers were brought in and modified with glass outer panels and painted in bright colors to serve as the new boutique locations. This spans a city block and looks very cool.

I was walking by a lingerie store and saw one of the mannequins in a sexy bra supposedly breastfeeding. Apparently there is a line of underwear that looks very sexy that makes maternity and nursing lingerie.  I was even more surprised that the website is a .com not a .co.nz but there are only 2 locations in the US here the product is sold outside of amazon... The company is called Hotmilk, and I have a question to all of my friend who are moms, is it a problem finding cute stuff when you are nursing? Why are there physical stores in Canada, NZ, Australia, and the UK, but not really the US?

I will leave you guys to ponder this. We have now made it back to the north island and are in Wellington. The plan is to stay a couple of days and then to start making our way up north to Auckland. Goodbye south island!

Social Issues in NZ

Note: I started this blog on the 17th, so I'm backdating it. I will have another one out shortly on our adventures since then, and there have been lots :)

We have been in Queenstown this week, partially due to me not feeling well so our adventures were pretty minimal, however I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss NZ social aspects including racism, drugs and alcohol, and health care.

Racism
I am going to start with the racism which has a completely different flavor here than it does in the states. I feel that in the states, racism is more hidden now. People are not as free with racial slurs and overall try to hide their personal views from the rest of society. I don't think it works that way here. The racism is directed at Maori, Pacific Islanders, and other Asian people. I first noticed it by the way that people are talking about the Maori.

It is very common to refer to laziness, obesity, and alcoholism of the Maori. There are also some bad feelings about the whole land lease thing that I discussed in one of the earlier blogs, and sometimes even outrage at the fact that Maori will charge a fee for the use of their land. I was wondering how true the stereotypes are so I looked it up:

It looks like NZ has the second highest obesity rate in the Anglo sphere (US leads the pack) but obesity is a lot more prevalent with the Maori population. I have a theory that this is directly related to how expensive the food is here. Fruit and vegetables are waaaaay more expensive here, while junk food is almost the same price as it is in the US. Basically, what that means is if you are poor here, your chances of being obese skyrocket. I compared minority stats between US and NZ blows them out of the water, it's just that white kiwis have such a low rate of obesity that US overall has a higher percentage. I found an article that stated "In a 2010 study, almost half of low-income households regularly ran out of food through lack of money."

In terms of alcoholism, I looked through several articles and found that Maori and non-Maori  average daily alcohol consumption was equal, however Maori showed a different pattern, more Maori do not drink, and the ones that do drink, don't drink as often as non-Maori kiwis, but when they drink, they binge drink more often. I found that Europeans introduced the Maori to alcohol, and at that time the tribes petitioned the Europeans to not sell alcohol to the Maori people. the government complied, and up until the mid 20th century sanctions were in place to prevent the sale of alcohol to the Maori people. After WWII the bans were lifted and Maori drinking came to be more accepted.

In terms of "lazy", the racism here is so high that not everyone employs Maori. I stumbled on the following survey online. Look at the choices presented to the people to vote on. Are you kidding me???? Look at the racist comments below the survey. I can't believe that people here are so ridiculous. The more I looked into this the angrier I got. It's just so overt here. Maybe, just maybe more Maori are unemployed because people wont hire them... because they are racists.

Drugs and Alcohol:
It looks like NZ is fighting alcoholism. There is a new law that came into effect since we have been here that

basically states that you can't buy alcohol here after 11pm unless you are at a bar. In the bar, they will not serve you if you look intoxicated. All bars have to provide free water, and sell non alcoholic drinks and food. They also have to provide information on safe transport home. The reason for this, is that 10% of Kiwis are qualified as alcoholics. I have also seen signs in bars stating that they will not sell patrons more than 2 drinks and signs in public places banning the consumption of alcohol.

Compare that to the fact that synthetic marijuana is legal here. After doing a little research, (with a nudge in the right direction by friends) I found that synthetic marijuana, unlike the real kind, has been reported to be highly addictive, and causing psychosis. I don't understand why alcohol is so highly monitored, marijuana is illegal, but a drug that can give you seizures, cause permanent psychosis, and is highly addictive is perfectly OK.

Health Care:
Finally I'm going to say some good things :). A couple of days ago I tried mountain biking and ended up twisting my ankle. As I plan to be pretty active for the next year, I thought I would have it checked out by a doctor. The good news: in NZ all accidents are covered by ACC - Accident Compensation Corporation. It doesn't matter if you are a citizen, a resident, or a visitor; if you have been in an accident, you are covered. Armed with only this knowledge we went to the Queenstown Medial Centre and were told that a doctor visit would cost $168 dollars because they are a private and it's the weekend. On a weekday it would have cost us $118 to be seen. I asked about the free accident coverage and was told that I should go to the hospital for the free care. Done!

Twenty minutes later we walked into the hospital. There we found out that if we were citizens, we would pay only 20 dollars for the visit at the private clinic, but since we are not, they wanted to charge us more. We spoke to the receptionist a little bit. Officially the hospital can't turn us away, but since my issue was not an

emergency, I would always be prioritized last so I should be ready to wait. If I was a local, I would probably go ahead and pay the 20 dollars to be seen ASAP, but since I'm a tourist I decided to wait. One of the weird things I saw hanging in the waiting room was a poster advertising that the hospital uses the "Toyota Way". I am including an image that I saw on the poster. Mike also noticed that the poster bragged that the hospital is six sigma certified!

We thought that the wait would be long, so Mike went for a jog while I got comfortable and started reading my book. They did see two people ahead of me, a guy with potentially broken ribs and a girl with a gash on her head that was bleeding all over the room, but I didn't mind. I was still seen by a nurse, got an x-ray of my foot, spoke to a doctor, and was was walking out when Mike came back from his jog. No one asked for my height, no one weighed me, no one took my temperature or blood pressure. They talked to me, asked me questions and believed me. When I went for an x-ray, they asked if I was pregnant and I said no. They did not feel the need to also give me a pregnancy test. There was no bureaucracy, there was just a conversation between adults where the medical professional believes they patient and is not afraid that the patient will sue them. The reason for this, is once you use ACC you revoke your right to sue. That includes accidents that are the cause of malpractice. People are left just doing their job. I was not asked for any payment information, I wasn't even asked for an ID to prove that I was who I said I was. I filled out a form that would allow me to get more care for the same issue at a later date if that was needed. My discharge instructions did not have all of the information about me that I already know, like my name, address, weight, etc. It was just all very simple. As a patient, who was scared of what the sprained ankle would mean to me, I was made to feel at ease and I think that's really my favorite part. If other people don't seem up an arms, prodding and poking me, then I too will be more relaxed.

Fun part of the form: ethnicity! Here were my choices:

• NZ European
• Maori
• Samoan
• Cook Island Maori
• Tongan
• Niuean
• Chinese
• Indian
• non-NZ European
• Other

I was going to put "other" because I'm American, not European, but the receptionist said that I was non-NZ European. I will guess that European means caucasian here. Notice any differences between this and the ethnicity forms that we fill out in the states? Notice anyone missing? Talk among yourselves :)

When I got back to camp, I of course did more research and the ACC system is pretty interesting. This is how it's funded:

Account	Covers	Income sources
Work	Work-related injuries	Levies collected from employers. The amount payable as of April 2012 is on average 1.15% of the business's total payroll, but the exact percentage varies between 0.11% and 6.46% depending on the risks associated with each business's industry.
Earners	Non-work injuries by income earners	Levies collected in conjunction with tax deductions on income. Paid via the Inland Revenue Department. As of April 2012, the earners levy is 1.70% of non-exempt taxable income up to $113,768 per annum.
Non-earners	Non-work injuries by non-income earners (e.g. children, elderly, unemployed, visitors)	Government contribution from the general taxation pool.
Motor Vehicle	Injuries relating to motor vehicles on public roads	Levies included in the price of petrol (not diesel or LPG), and through motor vehicle license fees. Levies average $334.52 per year as of April 2012, with motorcycles and heavy vehicles paying more than average due to the increased likelihood of injury associated with these modes of transport.
Treatment Injury	Injuries as a result of medical treatment	Funded from the Earners and Non-Earners accounts, depending on the claimants' employment statuses.

Also there were some funding issues around 2008 and 2009, but the system was modified and is no longer showing a loss. Basically, people were taking advantage of the free PT to get massages :) What a novel idea: taking the pulse of something often, and correcting while the problem is still small!. Wikipedia, where I got a lot of this info along with the official ACC page has a lot more info, but I didn't want to bore you guys unnecessarily. Basically, I like it!

Help! I've got a cramp...on!!

Well hello again my friends, it's been an exciting week and I can't wait to tell you all about it. There was Ice, there were sculptures, there was water, and most importantly there were knives. I have had quite a week, so I'm even skipping the kiwi vocab this time (and also because I don't have any new words for you)

Monday - This was mostly a drive day for us. We made a lot of stops due to the fact that the scenery here is absolutely amazing. We ended up driving down the west coast and watching the waves hit the jagged rocks on the shore. There is just one problem - sand flies. These little bastards are vicious and bloodthirsty. They suck your blood for 2 minutes and they attack immediately. We have been covered in DEET this whole week and we are still covered in bites. We got out of the car at one point because we found a secluded beach with the aforementioned jagged rocks, and got destroyed immediately. Basically if you stand still and you are not fully covered, you are dead. Our only scheduled stop of the day was Punikaike which  has a trail to pancake rocks and blowholes. Even a crappy cell phone photographer such as myself could capture the amazing nature here.

Scientists are not exactly sure why the pancake rocks form which makes visiting the site even cooler. Also imagine the waves hitting the blowholes (like the top picture on the left hand side) with a loud bang and seeing the water surge in through all of the nooks and crannies. It was pretty damn incredible. The one thing that spoils this particular attraction for me was the insane amount of tourists here. The loop around is very accessible, and the walk is short, so everyone is basically on top of each other at all the lookout points. I might be spoiled by now, but I really prefer my sites to be secluded :)

Tuesday - we got to make knives!!! This was a recommendation from the Canadian couple that we met while hiking in Abel Tasman and boy oh boy was it cool. You start with a piece of steel that you heat and hammer out, cool, sand, and make the handle for. I got to be all sorts of handyman with power tools. It's a departure from what I am normally like, but this is a year of exploration and I will go with it. I will be totally honest here, and say that we had a lot of help from the man leading this class, and that we probably did more harm than good, and he just fixed our mistakes and did it the correct way. The coolest part for me, was that you could design your own knife, and so our knives looked completely different. Mike went for the utilitarian kitchen knife, mine is supposed to have the sharpest edge (and it looks like I'm about to rob you and take your horse and buggy) and Olichka's looks the coolest (it has a middle eastern bandit feel to it). The knives are not stainless steel, so there is a lot of care involved, but I still want to use mine when I get back! As a bonus the couple teaching the class had ninja stars and axes that you could throw, the tallest swing I have ever seen, and ponies! I know that ponies are usually assholes, but these were pretty cool and let us pet them without biting us, which I can't say for the parrot that was also on the premises. I know I'm no longer 12, but I really really want to own a pony now!

Wednesday - We had a very chill day in the little town of Hokitika. It's a really cute place which has a lot of jade shops where you can see people carving necklaces and such, and it still has some gold mines so there are some jewelry stores that make for good window shopping. I saw a cool cafe on my morning run which was a combo of the following things:

• jade gallery/store
• second hand clothing store
• coffee shop

It had a really sweet back courtyard area and Olichka and I sat and relaxed there for a while after a hard day of window shopping. While we were there one of the owners told us that the Hokitika Driftwood and Sand festival had completed a week or so ago, so we should still be able to see some of the art on the beach (things that have not been destroyed by the weather yet) and it was pretty damn cool. My favorites are a sculpture of a woman playing the harp (made out of driftwood, with a found flip flop on one foot, and a kite string for the harp strings) and a sculpture of a motorcycle made entirely of driftwood with the "Gnarly Davidson" logo. I'm just sad that we missed the sand sculptures, they were washed away by the time that we got to Hokitika. The festival had such a burning man feel to it, especially because in front of the entrance to the beach there stood several chalkboard signs with the works "Before I die I want to:..." and some chalk for people to write in. This kind of stuff kinda melts my usually cynical heart. I also really like the funny responses, so I do get some of my jaded cool back :)

Thursday - There are two glacier walks to choose from in this part of the country: Franz Joseph and Fox, even though the name had nothing to do with our final decision, it seems a little poetic that we climbed Fox Glacier - The BM parallels continue! We booked a full day tour, and were really happy that we did. The glacier was incredible! I have always wanted to be cool enough to need crampons for my walks and now I have finally made it! We got to explore deep crevasses and look into moulins! Crevasses are large fissures in the ice due to different speed at which surface ice moves as opposed to the ice on the inside. You can straddle a crevasse and look down 30-40 meters and see the beautiful deep blue of the harder more compacted ice below the surface. In case you are wondering about the spelling here, crevice and crevasse are two different words. The word crevice refers to small cracks not large fissures, and yes I did look that up after the tour.A moulin is a hole made in the ice by the melting water on the surface, they can also be really deep and also have that amazing turquoise color. I actually almost fell into a big moulin as I was trying to see deeper in and gave Mike a small heart attack, but I managed to regain my balance and remain upright. My favorite part came at the very end of our tour when we got to walk through an ice tunnel. I took a really cool picture of Mike from the inside, but all of you dirty people just commented that it looks like a vagina, and maybe it does, but it's the most beautiful blue vagina that I have ever seen! As we were almost off the ice, we saw a giant boulder roll off the mountain and fall onto the glacier leaving a cloud of dust behind. This happens as the rocks are left by the receding glacier and the elements eventually erode the ground around the boulders. We were really lucky to see it in action!Our original plan was to drive to Wanaka after we came back from the glacier tour, but the only road that goes there closes between 6pm and 7am so we got stuck in the village of Haast for the night, had a couple of beers, and called it a night. 

Friday - This was our last full day with Olichka, and we spent it in a pretty relaxing fashion. We wanted to spend the night in Queenstown, so that we don't have to hurry to the airport on Saturday, and we were going to stop by Wanaka on the way. Wanaka was another tourist recommendation from the Canadian couple - there is a beautiful lake there and a movie theater with big comfy couches that has an intermission and has fresh backed cookies, and a cafe to dine in. Kind of like some of the fancier movie theaters that started popping up around Chicago in recent times, but the laid back Kiwi version. In the morning we stopped on the road to check out the "Blue Pools". As the water from the glacier melts and flows down, most of the rock dust settles on the bottom, but some minerals, that are blue in color stay in the water, giving it the same deep turquoise color as the deep ice of the glacier (but for a completely different reason). We only spent about 40 minutes at the pools, since we didn't have time for a full on hike and then went back to the car. The weird thing about the pools was that leading up to them was a bridge with a max capacity of 10 people, but there were easily 20 on the bridge when we got to it. Since we do not take unnecessary risks, we let the crowd pass before proceeding to the bridge which shook with every step that we took, not for the faint of heart. It turned out that no good movies were playing in Wanaka, so we ate lunch by the lake and then paddle-boarded for a little while. I must have looked a little tense on my board because Olichka decided to help me correct my stance. "Imagine, that you are a man with the biggest penis in the world, and you want to show it off!", she advised me. I moved my hips forward and immediately fell in the water to the great enjoyment of both Mike and Olichka. Both of them also fell at some point, so I didn't feel too badly, on top of which, once I had already fallen off once, I relaxed and got a lot better, so I guess the advise was sound after all. As we left town we got to go through some portion of the Southern Alps and caught an amazing sunset which added the perfect ending to our day. 

Today has been a utilitarian day. We took Olichka to the airport, caught up with parents and grandparents, did laundry and shopping and just caught up with our individual selves. We are planning to be in NZ for a couple more weeks, doing at least one more multi-day hike (maybe 2) and then we will go off to the land of OZ. I will write again when I have more adventures to tell about.