days eleven, twelve & thirteen (i think!)

• i'm totally losing track of time here - i think that's a good thing, so long as i don't miss my bus to the next town.
• so tuesday - day eleven - eilidh and i went to te papa, the national museum in wellington. they have exhibits on new zealand geology, wildlife, and natural distasters/events, including a simulated earthquake in a model house. my favorite parts were the exhibits on the maori people and also the more recent immigrants to the country. the maori exhibit is really cool - all kinds of things on the history of the maori in new zealand complete with canoes, an assortment of tools, and displays showing the routes through the pacific that these first settlers likely used. the section on more recent immigrants told a number of moving stories about all the reasons people have come to new zealand, among them chinese gold miners who left their families to try to work their way out of poverty and european jews fleeing the holocaust. i wish we'd had a couple of days to look around the museum - we only saw maybe a third of the exhibits, and i could have spent more time at most of what i did see.
• wednesday - day twelve - eilidh and i headed to town again so i could catch the ferry to picton (on the south island). the ferry hauls everything you can think of - trucks, cars, buses, even train cars - i've been on some big ferries in the seattle area, but i think this one has those ones beat. the trip is a little over three hours, most of which i spent out on the observation decks taking in the cook strait and marlborough sound. the last hour or so - through marlborough sound - was the best part. the sound is pretty narrow in places, with smaller green islands dotted all around and coves and bays tucked here and there - beautiful, like a little slice of paradise. we left wellington in the sun, but it was overcast and rainy by the time we reached the sound - the weather and the views reminded me of ferry trips in the san juan islands. of course, walking to my hostel in the rain wasn't ideal, but it wasn't too far, and if i'd been thinking, i could have called to have them pick me up . . .
• today, thursday - day thirteen - i've been taking it easy. i slept in a little, did some laundry, booked the next few legs of my trip, and walked around town for a while. picton is pretty cute, and as usual, the people are friendly and helpful. tonight i'm going to make some soup for dinner (there's cooking gear in the hostel kitchen) and repack my bags.
• tomorrow i'm planning to get up a little earlier and take a long walk around the outskirts of town before my bus ride to nelson. i hear this is the best way to find out about the heaphy track, which was my dad's favorite place in new zealand when he was here back in the seventies. i don't have time to walk it - five days! - but i'd like to see the trailhead, at least. maybe when i come back to new zealand, i'll make sure i have the time and equipment for that trek. yeah, i'm already thinking about how to get back here; there's so much to see and do that i just can't imagine feeling like i've finished with the place after three and a half weeks. i can see why people move here.

what, no comments, people?

hi again - will fill you in later as i'm running out of internet time just now and need to hang up my laundry. short version: have been enjoying myself immensely, wish i could extend my stay in nz several months longer.

days nine & ten!

sunday - day nine, first day in wellington! here's a shot of the city from the ferry terminal - i took this as i was leaving. that evening, we went to karori wildlife reserve, not far from where david & eilidh live. the reserve is a heavily protected area where conservationists are working to increase the populations of nz's endangered native birds and lizards. it's surrounded on all sides by a two meter, tightly-woven mesh fence to keep out predators - new zealand has no native mammals, so many of the ones that have arrived in the last two or three hundred years are unwanted pests: mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, possums, cats . . . even cats! people have cats for pets and they seem to run wild in many areas, but they're dangerous for the native birds, and the conservationists do what they can to keep them OUT of the wildlife reserve. we spent a lovely evening listening and watching for birds: tui (an excellent mimic), shag (cormorant), ducks, and kaka (a noisy kind of parrot) among others. the reserve has kiwis also, but you don't get to see them generally because they only come out after dark and they're very shy.

• yesterday (monday, day ten) david went to work, and eilidh and dorothy (their black lab/saint bernard mix) and i did the city-to-sea walk around wellington: a six-hour scenic trek all over the place. we went by the botanic gardens, through forested areas, along streams, in and out of more urban areas, around a golf course, through a maori reserve area, and down to the beach at last . . . and it did take us just about six hours for the official trek, though we walked almost ten hours altogether: it took a good 45 minutes to get to the starting point and almost three hours to walk home again! let's just say my feet are still swollen more than twelve hours after we got home and after a good long night's sleep - dorothy, on the other hand, appears to be fully recovered and antsy for a run.

• the walk was beautiful - i felt like i got a great view of wellington city and harbor. we hiked over numerous hills, each of which provided a different vantage point. i'd wanted to do some hiking here in nz, and i certainly got my wish! today the plan is to take it easy. i want to go to the te papa museum, and i've already decided to sit in front of all the exhibits!

days six, seven & eight!

• have you been missing me? i've been busy these last few days! on thursday (day six) i went on an all-day whirlwind tour of the northernmost part of the north island - saw a small stand of kauri trees, visited cape reinga where the tasman sea meets the pacific ocean, went for a short swim on a white sandy pacific beach, tried sandboarding on the dunes, drove down ninety-mile beach (more like ninety km beach) and had fish and chips for dinner - all in one day. needless to say i was too tired to blog after all that. here i am on the beach just before my swim . . .

• we had a clear sunny day for most of it - got drizzled on in the kauri forest and again a the beach (a few pansies went back to the bus rather than swim in the rain - go figure). sandboarding was pretty awesome - after a steep trek up the dune, you go hurtling down face-first on a sort of body-board thing. the first time down i let go somehow and caught my arm underneath - got a bit of a sandburn - but i went a couple more times anyway. actually i would have kept going, but everyone else was all tired out and heading for the bus. it was good fun - like sledding, but warm!
• i've been wearing sunscreen pretty religiously since i got here, but i must have missed the backs of my hands, because i've got a pretty bad case of sun allergy bumps. i forget about my sun allergy every year, and every year after my first long day out, it takes me by surprise - this is the first year i've had it as early as the first week of march! luckily i brought some hydrocortisone cream with me - i was thinking i'd need it for bug bites, but no, i'm using it all up on what looks like foot-and-mouth disease on the backs of my hands. gross. at least i had my arms covered most of the first couple days.
• and - here i am in a cave! muddy up to my neck (and this was before crawling through what they call the "pig wallow")! friday (day seven) i got back on the nakedbus, passed through auckland, and stopped in hamilton to spend the evening with lydia and seth (i'd met them earlier in the week - they took me to hobbiton). they plied me with new zealand candy - lollies is what they call it - and then we went caving. i don't think i'd ever been in a cave before. it was pretty intense. we wore nasty old clothes (i borrowed some off lydia's younger brother dan) under what looked like mechanics' overalls, and we had helmets with lights on the front - i felt like a miner. the caves were pretty sweet - limestone formations everywhere, mud and cold water and glow worms and tight places to squeeze through. all that yoga i've been doing came in handy - strength and flexibility helped me brace myself between walls and swing my leg up to the next foothold, which sometimes was up near my shoulders! turns out i'm not as claustrophobic as i'd thought, and even though it seemed like i could see my breath in the light of my lamp, i didn't feel too cold - until we got home and i was waiting for the shower! i slept like a rock that night and woke up stiff and covered with bruises. caving is hard work, but i really enjoyed it. lydia said i did great for my first time. she should know - she's been leading caving groups for years.
• yesterday (saturday, day eight) i took the overlander train from hamilton to wellington. it's a long trip - something like ten hours - but it's a great way to see a slice of the north island. the train passes gorgeous snow covered mountains, hillsides full of sheep, sleepy little towns . . . i was exhausted and slept a few hours here and there, but every time i woke up there was something beautiful to look at. the train also features an outdoor viewing platform, a kind of tiny balcony between the baggage car and the first passenger car. i can't imagine this being allowed on an american train - seems very unsafe - but i loved feeling the wind and sun in my face while we zipped along between hills and over rivers. the scenery was worth the length of the trip.
• when i arrived in wellington, david and eilidh (friends of my sister from college) met me at the station and we went up to their house - a good half hour walk, at least, through beautiful hilly wellington. some people compare wellington to san francisco because of the steep hills and the lovely views of the harbor. the train driver also mentioned that wellington has more clubs, bars and restaurants per capita than new york city! pretty amazing. here in wellington, i'm hoping to visit te papa, new zealand's national museum, and do some walking - eilidh has a walk marked out that she's been meaning to do, so i'm hoping to accompany her.
• well - that's all for now. i'll fill you in on today's adventures tomorrow night! for now i'll just tell you new zealand seems like a great place to live.

day five!

• big fun today - i went on a dolphin-viewing boat ride around the bay. we were out on the water for most of a beatiful sunny afternoon and saw two separate pods of dolphins. we couldn't swim with either one because they had babies along - cute, if you can use the word cute about a baby that's four feet long and weighs hundreds of pounds. the dolphins swam right up to and all around the boat, sprayed in our faces, and played jumping and chasing games. i've never seen anything like it - several times, they were so close, if i'd stuck my leg out a bit i'd have kicked a dolphin in the fins. the boat operators knew many of the individual dolphins by name and pointed out some they'd seen grow up in their 10 or so years on the bay. the ride wasn't exactly cheap, but i'd do it again if i was going to be in paihia even one more day - it was that great. i almost booked again for tomorrow, anyway, but i decided to see cape reinga instead - where the pacific ocean and the tasman sea crash into each other.
• josiah, if you're reading this, another thing i forgot was my zit cream - but don't bother bringing any along on your trip to america. even with the exchange rate in my favor, it cost me twice as much here as it would in chicago.
• i'm staying at a different place tonight and tomorrow night - just as clean, much cheaper, and with three friendly roommates: one from ireland, one from scotland, and one from england. we compared notes on what we've seen so far in new zealand, and we all agreed it's a great place. the irish woman is travelling alone like me and the other two are together. it's been fun to meet people from all over.
• ok, the cafe is closing, so i'm off to sleep now - tomorrow's another big day.