(Another caveat: Some ppl can't take any photos at all, so this is the non-photo attachment one)
(Sorry if you receive this several times: Most ppl's email wouldn't let me send as many photos as I would like, so I've been culling them down to try and send one at least...)
I think I must secretly be a vacuum... why? Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and I think the same applies to me... I'm not entirely sure why, but so far since I've been here, I've sustained (with the caveat that I -know- I'm very klutzy): several bonks on the head (by trees, branches, one by a bird hide - hard enough to make me fall down!), one fall into a pond of mud, a bumble bee sting, one twisted, bunged up knee, one gash over my chin and neck, falling into streams... it's gotten to the point where the rest of my team with the environmental volunteering look at me with a little bit of concern every time we leave in the morning... they're concerned I may fall off a cliff or fall into a volcano or something... I think I need to take up tai chi or something...
I think this may have something to do with the fact that I'm in an organized program.. I didn't hurt myself at all until I got here to 'help out the planet'... I'm half wondering if it doesn't really want my help in the first place... :P Doing all the other stuff I was doing before I got here seemed to be OK... it's making me a bit paranoid... tomorrow we're going on a sailing trip to identify dolphins and seals, and I think they're packing an extra life jacket for me, so I can have two... :P
That being said, this weekend was a holiday weekend in Wellington. (Each major city has a "City Day", ie Wellington Day, during the summer time, so each region gets a long weekend for free during the summer, neat, eh? Next weekend is Auckland Day, but I'm not in Auckland, so it doesn't count for me.... it kind of spreads out all the long weekend chaos to certain regions of the country only)
At any rate, because it was the long weekend, I decided to go back to conquer previous mountain that I had mentioned before (Postcard II) since the weather's been nicer.
However, as mentioned, I had twisted my knee two days prior to when I was gonna do it. At any rate, stubborn ass that I am, I went anyways, bought a tensor bandage and some medication, and had a walking stick lent to me. Did the Tongariro Crossing ("the finest one day walk in all of New Zealand"), which basically climbs between Mt. Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe (ie. Mt. Doom) and then back down again. Perfectly fascinating. And I did it in a little bit over average time, despite my bum knee (although I must say, there was a little old Japanese man that kept on overtaking me on the trail). God is good. And the weather was completely gorgeous. Highly recommended walk. Also note: I didn't fall into a crater. I didn't fall off a cliff. I didn't roll down a mountain. I didn't burn myself with lava. Heck, I didn't even get a sunburn. My knees, of course, regret it today, but I suppose that's part of the price to pay for ultimate beauty.
Enclosed, you will find several pictures from the hike, courtesy of Caitlin, one of the girls that I went with.
Love you all!
julia
Monday, January 24, 2005
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Postcards from Middle Earth IV
To clarify: I haven't seen my sister for about three weeks now. I was blessed with only having to walk with her for about three days, and then I was allowed to go at my own pace :) :) I will be joining up with her later, but more about those adventures (I'm sure my feet are already pre-regretting it :) )
I have now been with my volunteering job with an environmental organization. I must say, this time around, I've been learning a bit about ecology, volcanoes and their effect on land formation, animal adaptation and NZ nature in general. It's quite fascinating, actually. New Zealand is actually quite strict with what kind of biological material you can take in and out of the country. They actually have a place in their airports where you have to declare your shoes and sleeping bags, etc, in case they have any foreign soil or seeds that could contaminate New Zealand. The fruit I was carrying in my bag was confiscated at the airport when I arrived, due to the presence of seeds. One of the people on my team is from France, and her parents are cheesemakers, and they confiscated her parents' cheese that she had brought to eat!
At any rate, I am living in the volunteer hourse of the Nga Kaitiaki (Friends of the Earth) just outside of Wellington (which is why many of you have seen me online quite a bit). I have just returned from a three day camping trip out in the New Zealand countryside. Not very many mozzies (mosquitoes), but on the other hand, I got stung by a bumblebee!!! My tricep now has a lump the size of a kiwi! At any rate, I've been busy removing and killing introduced plant species, such as many very pretty flowers, mainly because they are non-native and they 'squeeze out' the native flora. I've also been busy planting native trees and plants in various wetlands and parks. It's also been neat because I've been watching for various birds, introduced and native species. Next week, we're supposed to go looking for seals and dolphins. It's really quite neat, and I'm glad that I'm able to help out, even though a lot of the plants I've been killing have actually been quite attractive... interesting that some things can be so beautiful and yet be so damaging....
julia
I have now been with my volunteering job with an environmental organization. I must say, this time around, I've been learning a bit about ecology, volcanoes and their effect on land formation, animal adaptation and NZ nature in general. It's quite fascinating, actually. New Zealand is actually quite strict with what kind of biological material you can take in and out of the country. They actually have a place in their airports where you have to declare your shoes and sleeping bags, etc, in case they have any foreign soil or seeds that could contaminate New Zealand. The fruit I was carrying in my bag was confiscated at the airport when I arrived, due to the presence of seeds. One of the people on my team is from France, and her parents are cheesemakers, and they confiscated her parents' cheese that she had brought to eat!
At any rate, I am living in the volunteer hourse of the Nga Kaitiaki (Friends of the Earth) just outside of Wellington (which is why many of you have seen me online quite a bit). I have just returned from a three day camping trip out in the New Zealand countryside. Not very many mozzies (mosquitoes), but on the other hand, I got stung by a bumblebee!!! My tricep now has a lump the size of a kiwi! At any rate, I've been busy removing and killing introduced plant species, such as many very pretty flowers, mainly because they are non-native and they 'squeeze out' the native flora. I've also been busy planting native trees and plants in various wetlands and parks. It's also been neat because I've been watching for various birds, introduced and native species. Next week, we're supposed to go looking for seals and dolphins. It's really quite neat, and I'm glad that I'm able to help out, even though a lot of the plants I've been killing have actually been quite attractive... interesting that some things can be so beautiful and yet be so damaging....
julia
Friday, January 14, 2005
Postcards from Middle Earth III
I've noticed that a lot of Kiwis walk around barefoot: on the streets, in the supermarkets, basically everywhere. Very strange... but then again, very hobbit-like.
That being said, I have also been struck by the general goodwill of Kiwis. So help me if I ever get the strange notion of hitch-hiking or accepting a ride from a stranger in Canada, but for some reason, it's OK to do that here. I'm not sure why... I've already taken rides from little old ladies, to big strapping young guys, to families going in the same direction as I anyways, and I'm not dead yet... very strange... It kind of comforts me that there are still nice people in the world who aren't going to strangle you and steal all your stuff....
The weather has cleared up quite a bit here in the last few days, and now it finally feels like summer. On the last of the rainy rainy, gray and gloomy days, I went on a winery tour... at first, I could actually tell the difference between a Chardonnay vs a Sauvignon Blanc vs a Reisling, though I must admit, as the day went on, honestly, it just all tastes like wine at the end of the day...
why do I bring this up? I must say, travelling through this country, I'm meeting some of the most interesting travel stories... in this winery thing, I met a very nice older couple who had had it with the rat race and were taking a four year sabbatical to travel around the world (now even I think that's a bit too long....)... there have been various travellers who had come from the devastation in Thailand and Indonesia that I had met, who, for various providential reasons, did not get injured... the 70 year old man from California who was here for a fishing trip, waiting for his wife to arrive in New Zealand after she had left for a two month trip on an Antarctic ice breaker... interesting stories all, I must say... various people have asked me about backpacking through Canada, and it's making me curious about our own country, and how to explore it better...
julia
That being said, I have also been struck by the general goodwill of Kiwis. So help me if I ever get the strange notion of hitch-hiking or accepting a ride from a stranger in Canada, but for some reason, it's OK to do that here. I'm not sure why... I've already taken rides from little old ladies, to big strapping young guys, to families going in the same direction as I anyways, and I'm not dead yet... very strange... It kind of comforts me that there are still nice people in the world who aren't going to strangle you and steal all your stuff....
The weather has cleared up quite a bit here in the last few days, and now it finally feels like summer. On the last of the rainy rainy, gray and gloomy days, I went on a winery tour... at first, I could actually tell the difference between a Chardonnay vs a Sauvignon Blanc vs a Reisling, though I must admit, as the day went on, honestly, it just all tastes like wine at the end of the day...
why do I bring this up? I must say, travelling through this country, I'm meeting some of the most interesting travel stories... in this winery thing, I met a very nice older couple who had had it with the rat race and were taking a four year sabbatical to travel around the world (now even I think that's a bit too long....)... there have been various travellers who had come from the devastation in Thailand and Indonesia that I had met, who, for various providential reasons, did not get injured... the 70 year old man from California who was here for a fishing trip, waiting for his wife to arrive in New Zealand after she had left for a two month trip on an Antarctic ice breaker... interesting stories all, I must say... various people have asked me about backpacking through Canada, and it's making me curious about our own country, and how to explore it better...
julia
Monday, January 10, 2005
Postcards from Middle Earth II
It's amazing: New Zealand has this reputation of being this adventure-seeking nation, or, at the very least, able to help you push your limits. But I think my 'pushing limits' is b/c of my sister; she's a bit of a sadomasochistic dictator :) . A -small- part of it lies with the fact that I over-estimated just how much I could really do, but I think most of it is b/c of Mussolini existing right in my own household.
I like the idea of walks. Really, I do. However, the idea of doing a 13 km walk, one way, with three mountains and several hills intervening in what would normally be a very nice walk, is verging on a little bit of a tortuous idea for someone who hasn't been walking in long long distances for a while, especially in new shoes (ie. myself). HOWEVER, for my sister, her feet could be cut up and bleeding, with a toe hanging off her foot, and gangrene setting in, and she would yell, "Onwards, Christian soldiers!". For some reason, it is still FUN at that point. Anyways, not having walked for a very long while, for a very long time, in new shoes, led to soreness, to say the least, on the first day after arriving in New Zealand. Auckland is a city made up of a lot of old volcanoes, so it is quite hilly and actually has a few small mountains interspersed in the city. This makes it hilly, like San Francisco (but worse), so a bit hard to walk around easily. At any rate, I was very very sore after the first day out. To compound matters, we decided to take a ferry out to another island the very next day and climb ANOTHER extinct volcano which was about, I think 300-400 m above sea level, and then come back down. I've never had arthritis in my knees before, but I think I've had a foretaste of the future... and I don't really like it...
On the other hand, I think I've been blessed, a bit... it's started raining today, and I was planning on tackling a mountainous 20k hike in a few days time (like, really mountainous.... this would be the mountain range amongst which Peter Jackson chose one to play Mount Doom), but it's looking like the weather won't co-operate in making the hike safe (ie muddy, very windy, poor visibility, ice formation and snow in the mountains)... it's a bit disappointing, but on the other hand, I think God is intervening and setting limits for me that perhaps I'm not quite ready for... (although I'm sure I could do it if I steeled myself for it... I know if I had my Urukhai-type sister along, I would definitely get it done... :) )
That being said, however, I have been (kind of) pushing my limits. I've already been rock climbing (!), rappeling down caves (!!), caving through small crevices in wetsuits (!!!!), and doing stuff I wouldn't normally think would be stuff I'd do. However, I refuse to pay these silly tourist sums to bungy jump, despite the fact that this is the birth place of bungy jumping and the like. Others have suggested Zorbing, which is basically putting yourself in a gerbil-like clear plastic ball, which they put cold water in, and you roll down the hill at 50-60 km/hr, while getting a good wash.... There's also this other sport where you put on this special suit and then they put you over this really strong fan/vent, and then you fly over this vent about a metre in the air... I don't really understand some of the offerings that I've hard about... maybe I'll go find somewhere to shear a sheep... now THAT's extreme sporting....
julia
I like the idea of walks. Really, I do. However, the idea of doing a 13 km walk, one way, with three mountains and several hills intervening in what would normally be a very nice walk, is verging on a little bit of a tortuous idea for someone who hasn't been walking in long long distances for a while, especially in new shoes (ie. myself). HOWEVER, for my sister, her feet could be cut up and bleeding, with a toe hanging off her foot, and gangrene setting in, and she would yell, "Onwards, Christian soldiers!". For some reason, it is still FUN at that point. Anyways, not having walked for a very long while, for a very long time, in new shoes, led to soreness, to say the least, on the first day after arriving in New Zealand. Auckland is a city made up of a lot of old volcanoes, so it is quite hilly and actually has a few small mountains interspersed in the city. This makes it hilly, like San Francisco (but worse), so a bit hard to walk around easily. At any rate, I was very very sore after the first day out. To compound matters, we decided to take a ferry out to another island the very next day and climb ANOTHER extinct volcano which was about, I think 300-400 m above sea level, and then come back down. I've never had arthritis in my knees before, but I think I've had a foretaste of the future... and I don't really like it...
On the other hand, I think I've been blessed, a bit... it's started raining today, and I was planning on tackling a mountainous 20k hike in a few days time (like, really mountainous.... this would be the mountain range amongst which Peter Jackson chose one to play Mount Doom), but it's looking like the weather won't co-operate in making the hike safe (ie muddy, very windy, poor visibility, ice formation and snow in the mountains)... it's a bit disappointing, but on the other hand, I think God is intervening and setting limits for me that perhaps I'm not quite ready for... (although I'm sure I could do it if I steeled myself for it... I know if I had my Urukhai-type sister along, I would definitely get it done... :) )
That being said, however, I have been (kind of) pushing my limits. I've already been rock climbing (!), rappeling down caves (!!), caving through small crevices in wetsuits (!!!!), and doing stuff I wouldn't normally think would be stuff I'd do. However, I refuse to pay these silly tourist sums to bungy jump, despite the fact that this is the birth place of bungy jumping and the like. Others have suggested Zorbing, which is basically putting yourself in a gerbil-like clear plastic ball, which they put cold water in, and you roll down the hill at 50-60 km/hr, while getting a good wash.... There's also this other sport where you put on this special suit and then they put you over this really strong fan/vent, and then you fly over this vent about a metre in the air... I don't really understand some of the offerings that I've hard about... maybe I'll go find somewhere to shear a sheep... now THAT's extreme sporting....
julia
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Postcards from Middle Earth I
Welcome to the 10th anniversary edition of the PFTE! Whoo hoo (fireworks, etc)!
Congratulations to those who have stuck through every single edition! I wish I still had all the old ones from wayyyy back...
After a long and harrowing journey of 38 hrs + to get here, I'm finally in New Zealand. It's really quite nice here, but, being in a big city initially, I'm not sure what I think of the whole thing yet. Looks much like San Francisco, if that helps anyone...
This will totally not be very entertaining right now, as I only have a few minutes left on my time, however, I'm here safely, and there's ppl from all over the English speaking world! Brits, Scots, Aussies, Yanks, etc etc... I haven't actually heard anyone speak Kiwi English yet...
Congratulations to those who have stuck through every single edition! I wish I still had all the old ones from wayyyy back...
After a long and harrowing journey of 38 hrs + to get here, I'm finally in New Zealand. It's really quite nice here, but, being in a big city initially, I'm not sure what I think of the whole thing yet. Looks much like San Francisco, if that helps anyone...
This will totally not be very entertaining right now, as I only have a few minutes left on my time, however, I'm here safely, and there's ppl from all over the English speaking world! Brits, Scots, Aussies, Yanks, etc etc... I haven't actually heard anyone speak Kiwi English yet...
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