random thoughts

things you learn after doing some tramping
- the more you eat the lighter the bag
- one can never pack enough bread when one is hiking alone
- eating two candy bars a day + supplementary chocolate is not very exciting after two weeks [high fructose corn syrup is shitty, rather than the shit]
- taping your feet in the dark
- removing the tape before you go to bed is just as important as taping the feet in the first place
- the socks are much more important than the shoes [you really gotta splurge on thick woolen socks; my best pair was marked at ~$40 [thank god for easter sales]; the second best was $20; no point getting cheap thin socks. you should always buy thicker socks than you think you need]

things you appreciate when you travel with a car after two months of traveling on the bus
- not having to book your hostels in advance
- being able to shop for food every couple of days rather than every other day [:")]
- having a food box instead of a food tote bag
- having a box with all the extra stuff it was too expensive to send home at the back of the car rather than in your backpack

things you appreciate after three months of traveling
- staying for more than one night at the same place
- not having to wear jandals to the shower
- not having to hang your toiletries in the shower
- having a real towel to shower with
- having your own shower, in general
- cheap singaporean food :")

and my extra sad discovery - you lose a lot of muscle mass when you travel for three months.

frankfurt

the time does not pass here. the light is consistent from 6am till 8:30pm.
there is no time here, it is The Twilight Zone [Written in the Death font from Discworld, of course. you gotta imagine it yourself, though].

anyway, it seems the world is shining a little brighter after you leave the cinema. it has to do with either pirates or sitting in the darkness for two hours. i think it has to do with the pirates.

frankfurt

the flight from singapore to frankfurt was tweleve and a half hours. luckily, i spend most of those hours unconcious, sleeping it off. there was a lot to sleep off after three days or running around singapore.

on our last day we spend four hours exploring the zoo, where orang utans run freely in the trees above your heads, they have white tigers, lot of exotic monkeys and even komodo dragons [which are not intimidating when viewed from a distance]. we went downtown - one last really cheap lunch, got a pair of adidas on the really cheap and we were on the way airport [on the way we took a shower, had dinner and re packed our bags. you could say we had a small detour on the way].

this flight was very uneventful [i.e. - i didn't throw up]. my dad picked us and our excess luggage up - after singapore we were up to a big backpack, a daypack and a seperate sleeping bag each. and i was carrying a box of shoes.

i was and still am amazed by the amount of "unneccessary crap" i have in my big pack. clothes were a pretty minor item. besides the fact the i spent the last two months living inside my icebreaker sweater and in one pair of shorts, anything made out of cotton did not even make it back from singapore. just one t shirt. the rest was thrown out after three months of constant washings, stains and wear and tear. come to that, my rain jacket was too stained and smelly to wear, but i actually washed it up.

so, my backpack was weighing in at 12 kilos, with only one pair of jeans inside. the rest was cookware, survive-ware, first aid, really first aid, mabe half a kilo of sunscreen, bug block and apre bite stuff, all sort of other assorted sanitary staff. lots of cables abd adapters as well.

luckily, most of this junk only accumulated to this proportions just before renting a car. i only spent a couple of days lugging this [and my kitchen. you have to carry around your kitchen bag] around new zealand in busses.

i have left some stuff here before i left. i definetly remember i did. it was all waiting for me. but i think the amount of stuff doubled itself over the past two months. you learn to appriacte having less - less to carry, less to lose, less mess.

the least useful item i had with me was my fleece. i don't know how fleece became this popular, but someone in advertising and the whole travel gear industry is making a lot of money. really, it has lots of static electricity. mine was not even hot. it's very bulky and heavy in comparison to merino wool. and if i were to go to bulky synthetic - there's a wonderfull not too expensive material called technocore. Mammut does amazing stuff with it - shirts which keep you toasted when a fleece hardly keeps you warm. no reason to use fleece. medicore results for not too cheap of a price. i could not ship mine home, too heavy and expensive, so i was stuck with lugging it around new zealand. damn them indeed.

civilazation

so, singapore is just one big disneyland really. they do not have a lot of wild nature. they have lotsa malls. lots and lots of malls. the malls are very big. the shops are very shiny. they have weird shit in the supermarket:

















we started the day with some light browsing, about three hours in a book shop.

we then checked out a hotel straight out of a james bond film:


we went to a bar. we had a $20 drink. it as pink and sweet. you got to peel your own peanuts and throw the shells on the floor.

next on the list was the local disney park . they called it sentosa island. it was, in fact, disneyland. a disneyland where you pay seperately for each ride. everything was synthetic. especially the nature.

the beach was out of a Caribbean resort ad.


to finish the day off we spent about two hours exploring yet another mall. they had all sorts of israeli brands. what the hell? and a really big croc shop.

on the way back home we checked out the night life area. we were offered to eat eels, shark fins, crabs [and really big ones, too], prawns and all sorts of stuff which should really stay in seaworld. we got to watch the seconds Pirates movie on a big screen in the middle of the street for free [the third one is coming out here tomorrow, just before we get on the plane to frankfurt]. they really like Depp here. on the way home we saw the local Hooters. only problem is, asian chicks are pretty flat all over.

i should really upload some photos of the room we're staying in [a really thin futon in a room hardly bigger than the futon]. and the bathroom doors which you need to fold in three different directions to open and close. i guess i have to photograph it first.

singapore kicks ass!
i [heart] singapore!

singapore

so, i'm skipping about five weeks ahead of my journaling, and here i am, 5:56 am, sitting in singapore opposite an out-of-focus computing screen, sweating a bit in the 80% humidity and 20-something degrees and ruining the work of the past three months.

i had the second worst flight in my life yesterday.
the first intresting thing that happened to me when i got to singapore was to bump my upper lip against a trash can.
the second was throwing up three times into said trash can. horizontally.

it was the best thing that happened to me yesterday, as i could hardly walk more than fifty meters before the date with said trash can.

after going to the toilets and some diet coke [i will seriously miss Coke Zero, the upgraded diet coke they have in NZ] we got into a cab and out of the airport with a driver who does not know where our hostel is. so awesome! brand new highways, rainforest, malls and people queuing up in fast food shacks. out hostel is japanese style, which means we're sleeping on the floor. i just got into our compartment [i wouldn't exactly call it a room because there's not a lot of room in there] and slept everything off. the toilets' doors fold in three different directions.

i can't wait to go out there.

taupo

not much to tell about taupo. met a really cool girl from boulder, colorado. i was expecting to wait for good weather on the tongariro crossing, but as usual, i sset out earlier than i thought i would. i almost always feel shocked if i'm setting out before i expect it.

i went to Craters of the Moon. the craters were kinda small. not very intresting at most. pretty landscape though. not connection what-so-ever with the moon, as fas as i know there's no atmoshpere or vegetation up there [unless, of course, Luna City is real and hidden from us]. i saw the Hukka falls and spent a couple of hours lazing around in the sun in a free thermal stream running in the park near taupo, with the rest of the backpackers. people were walking around on the bridge above us, looking at the weird bunch of people lying on the rocks in swimming suits. next to the thermal stream was a very cold river. when it got too hot i took a swim to the river. some crazy japanese people were doing tandem bunjy jumps in a pretty awesome gorge. some crazy shit. they were bouncing up almost as high as the platform they jumped from.

they ended with me running around between the supermarkets trying to find a Square Meal for the tongariro northern circuit. they were hidden way up. i had to go to bed early, the bus was leaving at 5:45am the next day.

Abel Tasman

the abel tasman was overrated. seriously over rated and over exposed.
nonetheless i managed to have lotsa fun on the track, thanks to two couples of americans and some shellfish.

day i
the first day i walked a lot. probably another 25km day. it should have been an easy 5 hours 20 km day but i took a detour via a high tide route and a 20 minutes of walking turned into an hour and a half. nothing intresting happened in the hut that night. there were some awesome beaches on the way, but they were a. far b. few and c. there's not much to do on the beach when the water is too cold to get in and you have another 15km to walk that day.

day ii
it was a really wasy day. maybe 11k's. i ran into an english couple i met some month earlier on an atomic shuttle out of arthur's pass. they were finishing to walk all of the great walks. we walked for a bit together. i was amazed of the system they had going - working for a year and a half, then travelling for six months. saving enough money to have their own house. tramp a lot in the UK. they walk in diffenent paces, so each one walks alone.

i reached the hut early that day, wanted to continue walking. but since huts are booked in advance, i had to laze around all of the afternoon, watching the late arrivals from the last hut. i met a couple of americans who live in alaska in a tiny house out of a village. the guide heli skiers for a living. some talk regarding the high cost of helicpoters followed. another couple of americans were just nice. and cooked mussles. then i went to bed.

day iii
i had to wait until 1pm to get across the tidal crossing. i set on the porch of the hut in the sun and proceeded to lighten up my bag [eat all of my food]. i also dug some mussles from the crossing, threw them in my pan and cooked the hell of them. i wasn't sure if i were going to be brave enough to eat them. they looked like snot. they were chewy. i ate some. the americans ate the rest.

1pm came and went and i had a bus to catch. i proceeded to pack my bag and ge tmyself to the bus. after donating my stove fuel to the good of mankind [ i had a flight the next day] i hopped on the bus to meet the british couple again. after much mucking about inside the shuttle and wobbling from one side to the other for a few hours we got back to nelson and the free internet connection in the backpackers. and a warm shower. and some food which was not nutella on tortillas.

The Heaphy Track

the heaphy track was the most succesfull and fun of all of my hikes. although it did not have the views of the milford track or the rob roy and it was long [82 kms vs. the 58 of the milford track over four days] it was the pleasant one of them all.

i was prepared for pain and suffering [i had a 27km days just a couple of days before the heaphy track], blisters, sandflies and boring scenery. instead i had lovely weather, clear sky and no sandflies for the first three days.

day i

i had to wake up at 5am to catch a Southern Link crappy shuttle to the track head. after changing three shuttles, freezing my ass of and not being able to sleep i reached the trailhead at ten o’clock. i was worried – i had 25kms to go. 17 uphill. and only 8 hours before dark. i was surprised by the gradual slope of the track. i met some people going the other way and they confirmed that the track does not get any steeper all the way to the top. i was relieved to hear that, and with a little less haste i continued walking. on the way i met the people who caused me to walk 25kms to a stove-less hut – turns out a big group of kiwi families booked up the entire first hut a year in advance. their hut was nice and warm. the couple of wardens who live there keep the fire going 24/7. i had to walk another 8kms to the next hut, leaving the boring bush behind me and ascending into open downs [where you can spot the hut from a distance :”) ] . as i reached the hut i was in for a disappointment – no fire! no warmth! we only had one room with cooking bench, the sitting benches, eight bunks a fire place. i strategically chose the bunk opposite the fire place and prepared dinner. the rules of hiking are – breakfast is when you get out of your sleeping bag, lunch is two hours after you start walking and dinner is when you get to the hut [my dietician would support the dinner timing – the sooner you eat, the quicker your body recovers.]

the only other tourist on the track was a japanese guy. other than the two of us it was pure kiwis. a father who took his three daughters to the track. the poor kids had to walk 25kms.

as night set and it became cold, i realized why they say that the gouland flats hut is a jut with lots of atmosphere. half of the smoke from the fireplace was going into the hut. i woke up around midnight, choking on the smoke and asked the japanese guy who was tending the fire to open the door. a couple of hours later i woke up again, soaked in sweat. and in the morning everything i brought with me, especially my bag and sleeping bag, had a “nice” smoky aroma which holds on up till now.

day ii

after breakfast an “easy” day on 19kms followed. i walked along flats, open downs and shoe trees to the next hut. there were two wobbly wire bridges, they type they make out of garden wire fence. there was some australia like landscape. and since the internet costs money but word does not i cannot go back to my pictures and remember what else happened on the second day of the walk. it was almost a month ago. i just remember the open downs and flats, walking along the bush on gravel trail and reaching a hut full of two hyper active sugar loaded kids. lucky for them, some guy was snoring during the night and i had to use my earplugs, otherwise the mayhem they did the next morning would tempt me to roast one of them for breakfast.

so, basically, not a lot of peace and quite the second day. i again met the weird habit of kiwis to jump into the coldest water they can find for a “swim” or a “dip”, when they’re perfectly nice and dry.

the hut warden in the hut was an ex social worker and she spent some time with us. i made a few remarks about the lack of washing machine and speculated that they do not wash their clothes too often. the hut warden responded that she, unlike some other people *ahem*, had her shower that day. i chose to remain stinky, but dry and warm.

day iii

you could see the location of my third hut, the heaphy hut, [there are lots of huts and a few of possibilities to hike the heaphy] from the second hut. it looked far away. i did not believe i was acvtually going to walk all the way to the west coast. but i had my hut pass, my blisters were doing pretty well, and a 21km pursued, with a stopover at Lewis Hut to watch crazy kiwis ford a river with their kid when a perfectly good bridge is no more than two minutes away. wet boots and wet feet are a hiking nightmare, and bare feet also mean sandfly bait, and we got to meet lots of sandflies in the hut. the secret of the sandflies is that as long as you’re moving [in theory] they don’t bite [although the amount of bites i have on my legs might indicate otherwise]. they go to bed when it gets dark. and you’re ok if you cover up.

well, i covered up real well when i got to the hut for the night. on the way i walked under some rainforesty cliffs, by river deltas, crossed a couple of big and safer [note the safer. i do not believe they’re safe] swing bridges and reached a hut standing on a patch of green grass. one hundred meters from the hut was a sandy beach and a lagoon which was salty on high tide and fresh on low tide. a really nice place for a hut.

the initial cover up did not work. they can bite you through the poly-something thermals they make here. you have to deet yourself first, then put of your thermals. i hate deet. after the first 6 or 7 bites i just stayed inside. and much fun it was – the hyperactive kids went the other way, but some nice kiwi families were hiking the same hike and the day was spent away chatting.

i could not get to sleep that night. i was starving. as usual, i did not carry enough bread and i was reading LOTR. merry and pippin were escaping from the orcs and eating their lambas. i had a snickers bar. it was the best snickers bar i had in my life, but it was tomorrow’s ration. i knew the last day will be tough.

day iv – or how i discovered modern day lambas

well, hazy with hunger i got some breakfast down. not even a couple of hours into my hike for the day i ate my lunch. i was out of chocolate, trail mix, chocolate bars, tortillas, cheese. i only had my stove, pasta and another 10kms to walk before the shuttle pick up point.

the last days had quite a lot of uphill and downhill. not very steep, but unexpected. and 16kms are a lot of walking after walking 66kms in 3 days. nonetheless, i managed to enjoy the last day. i did feel triumph when i reached the parking lot and the heaphy track sign – 135km of walking in eight days were quite an achievement for me. i then proceeded to start cooking the pasta. the kiwi family offered me a One Square Meal. they are basically two heavy duty granola bars, with no sugar, some protein powder and three of these a day, in theory, supply all of your nutrition. well, OSM only come in apricot flavour. but after three and a half days of being hungry i was ready to eat anything while waiting for my 20-minutes-pasta to cook.

i think that you need to starve for three and a half days [ok, not starve. be peckish] to like OSM. but once it’s in your system you’re theirs forever. OSM are now integral part of my hiking diet [can you really call something which is 25% chocolate a diet?]. you can live on them, they keep you going, help your spirits and they keep you fed. just like lambas [maybe, just maybe, i should not have picked up the Fellowship of the Ring in that book exchange. on the other hand, i’m not going to join the Tolkien community when i come back. some hazy talk has done no one no harm]. and $12 a day for food is cheap. i wonder if i could really just live on them.

a shuttle showed out of the horizon and took us to another expensive resort to reach tourists. i got a towel and shampoo, had a shower and re-wore my stinky tramping gear and felt sorry for myself. i was all alone in the backpackers’ section, another cold and draughty room and i was not very clean. i had to sleep in my stinky sleeping bag. i went to the bar, where it was nice and warm, and the kiwi family invited me over to dinner. the cook put beets in my burger. beets?? what the hell? that’s even weirder than fresh cucumbers. the beets had to go. i entertained them with stories, got a free meal and a good night’s sleep before spending about nine hours on different Southern Link busses the next day.

nothing good can happen on a day you spend nine hours on busses, and this one was no exception. you could it was even worse than usual. it was about 2pm, the second bus for the day, after i got on the first one at 7:45 in the morning. there were about seven of us on a thrifty Southern Link bus. the bus was only, falling apart and extremely uncomfortable. it was the second time i was driving to nelson via the buller gorge and it was not as exciting as the first time. we had a lunch stop in some beat down cafe in a beat up town just outside the gorge. i looked at my watch, figured out i had enough time and went to the toilets. i got out of the toilets, looked at the watch, realized it was very late [no, i did not spend that much in the toilets. my brain was not working the first time i looked at the watch] and no one else was around. i ran outside. there was no bus. my backpack was somewhere on the way to nelson. i ran back inside. no one was there. i ran outside again and made sure the bus was not hiding anywhere. nope. it was gone. some people were pulling out of the parking lot, but they were going the other way.

well.

the cafe ladies called the bus company who radioed the bus driver to come back and get me. she was not surprised she had left me behind at all. there were only seven of us on the bus. i think she could count very well. after waiting for nerve wrecking 15 minutes the bus pulled over. “you were late”, she said. “everyone else got back here on time”. i mumbled i was sorry. i sat at the back of the bus [some asshole took over my seat] and was very very quite for half an hour.

she knew she left me behind. she wanted to teach me a lesson. i thought that after a month and a half of being on time for busses she could give me a break. she wasted half an hour for eight people and had to do extra driving. but i got a good story out of it.

i’m approaching the end of the south island travels back logging – only the abel tasman left to write about. i have a tale of bravery and selflessness to tell before i can unfold my north island travels [in short, i got on a 14 seats place the size of a minivan to fly from wellington to taupo] which so far encompass taupo, tongariro AKA mt doom, rotorua and my free trip to the bay of islands. it’s 1 am, way past my bed time [10pm on a good day, i’m on hiking sleep cycles] and i just wrote three and a half pages on the heaphy track, which contain a lot of LOTR musings. and i did not even watch the movies.

Queen Charlotte Track

an old lady was shouting at me to shut up cause she could not talk to two people at once. i merely wanted her to ask the lady on the phone if they connect with the bus back from the track. that was the start of the best two weeks of my trip so far.

after some more shouting, a few nasty looks and mumbles about israelis and generally pushing my nerves to the limit – my ferry was about to leave in en minutes – i had all of my track transport booked and i legged it to the boat to the q. charlotte track.

there was not much to tell about the track itself. although it is labelled as an easy walk track it was extremely steep at times. when you got off the boat you just walked straight uphill. it was a deceiving track – things look really close, just on the other side of the water, 300 meters away, until you look around the edge of the bluff and realize the inlet is about 5kms long.

i stayed the first night in the backpackers’ section of an expensive resort. i only did it twice during my trip and it was a pretty bad experience. this one was an awful one – it was just me and a dutch guy staying in an old farm house [a croft]. it was cold and windy. hot showers were extra. everyone else had nice rooms which looked nice and warm. we had crappy bunk beds and we were cold and drafty. i did have a great cup of hot cocoa at the bar [a luxury in the middle of a hike] but i would love to have a DOC hut instead.

the next day’s morning started bad. i hoped those rich resort people would help me change my bookings for the track. they just pointed a finger at the payphone and told me to pay $2 for 10 minutes of internet just to get a hostel number back in nelson. i spend a hour on the phone moving around my booking – cutting a day and 20kms off the charlotte track – to have a rest day between it and the heaphy.

after that bad start the tramp was lovely and uneventful until i reached the place for the night. it was half an hour off the track [ i thought it was half a hour i would not have to walk the next day, not extra walking] a small homestead at some really old lady’s house. for some reason or other she hated me. i was blamed for messing up the compost and the rubbish bins and leaving the kitchen in a mess [i forgot to wash one pot]. another guy who was staying there for the night caught up with me the next day and told me she complained about me, and loudly, the next morning.

the last day was a big one – 25kms of walking, plus extra half an hour, plus another couple of kms to get some ice cream before taking the boat back to picton. i spend in the company of said guy. ice cream was consumed and i slept on the ferry back to picton. i then had an encounter with the worst transport company in the south island – Southern Link K Bus. it took us 3.5 hours to get back to nelson, a trip which lasts less than two hours on an intercity coach.

Picton

picton was a stopover on the way to the Queen Charlotte track. i was drunk most of the time i spent in picton – for some reason i only understood there is nothing to do in the towns in new zealand after leaving the south island. as soon as i got to picton i realized that A. there’s nothing here B. i want to go on the heaphy track and C. i don’t have a bag liner and my bag is going to spend a lot of time thrown on a wharf somewhere along the track.

i had a couple of hours to book the heaphy track in an internet cafe, book the transport to and fro the heaphy track [400 kms of driving, three different bus companies and four busses] and look for a bag liner before going on a wine tour. these were probably the busiest hours of my time in zealand. luckily i had a nice woman in the i site to help me, unlike the nasty worker they had in the DOC office. but time was running short and we did not complete booking all of the busses. i thought i could use intercity, so we booked the rest of the transport. i was then picked up for the wine tour.

you probably do not want to drive yourself on a wine tour. we met some people touring on bikes and their ride was pretty wobbly. there was a weird american couple, two older couples and another lady in her thirties. they were a lovely bunch. half of them spend the morning drinking wine, a pretty good head start. nonetheless, being small and compact my drunkenness levels caught up with theirs pretty fast. we went to four wineries, had about a glass to a glass and a half of wine in each. i got a really nice bottle of ice wine [drunk it on my own on the Charlote track] and pretended i was drinking elf draughts. [i was reading LOTR at the time. i read them all by now, and i'm reading the third one for the second time, for lack of better reading material. i am planinng to get a pipe and some tobbaco and smoke a pipe on one my next tramps. i already feel like a hobbit when i'm tramping anyway - heavy rucksack, usually not enough food and lotsa mountains to climb, not to mention i did go to mt doom]

by the time we got back i called intercity and found out i had no transport, no liner, no hostel after the heaphy track and i had a boat out to the charlotte track at 9am the next morning. oh, and i was supposed to go to the heaphy track the morning after i got back from the heaphy.

Nelson

i got to nelson pretty late, after a tough bus ride. i was pretty worried about that bus ride, but Intercity knows where they get their money from and the bus did a stopover in Punakiki, where there are famous pancake rocks. the rocks are not exciting but the rest of the west coast is. [after travelling on the north island for a week and a half i can definitely say that the companies and the DOC know where the money is coming from. you do not see that kind of stuff on the south island].

the hostel owner picked me up from the bus and brought me to the best hostel that i’ve stayed in. the hostel is fifteen minutes out of town, the kitchen was a bit too small and crowded and three showers for 20-something people is not enough, but everything was clean. the highlight, though, were two new computers with internet access, burners and memory card readers. they were free. they were always on. they are the reason i have so many photos in my flickr account. i really liked those two computers.

on my first day i met an american jewish girl. i got to hear her family history, which took quite a while. stuff you only hear about in talk shows. she had a really weird backpack [the second weirdest i’ve seen so far. the first is those weird Osprey or something backpacks. they have firm plastic backs, weird hoods, pockets all over the place. they’re transformers as well and can change their shape. you can use them to carry heavy loads comfortably. apparently they weigh about 3kgs, twice as much as the average bag. if they were lighter, you might not need such a heavy suspension system :”)] [i’m not into backpacks that much, but these are some really _weird_ packs] we took bikes from the hostel [after spending ca. 2 hours in the i site trying to book stuff] and went to the beach. the beach was far away. we were almost run over a few times and i felt like one of those game deer they have here each time we had to cross the road. by the time we got back from the beach the bottom of my back end was in a lot of pain. it turns out crocs are not ideal biking shoes, too. there was quite a lot of beach and not a lot of water – you can wade out for 70-80 meters and only be waist deep in water. the sand was more pleasant than the sand we have back home.

then, suddenly, Guy showed up. Guy is a israeli guy i keep running into in here. i met him for the first time in Wanaka. he showed up again in Franz Josef. he made another appearance in Nelson. later, we met on the Tongariro Northern Circuit and in Taupo. we went grocery shopping and i got to enjoy once again the pleasure of the New World [supermarket chain] self checkout. it was quite a lot of fun the first couple of times, then it grew old and annoying. someone else made an appearance that night as well – Nati. Nati is another israeli who took an interest in me, a single female traveller in a country full of israeli herds [everyone complains/ comment here that israelis travel in large groups. i only met another single israeli female and i heard about the legendary Dafna Gur. that makes about three of us] back in Franz Josef. [and just yesterday i ran into his trail up in the Bay of Islands]. he worked in africa for the UN. an intresting guy. he made some sushi which i refued to try.

the next day i got on my last intercity ride for a while and went up to picton.

Arthur’s Pass

I got to Arthur’s pass after way too much time on the bus. I had to take a bus out of Franz Josef glacier and get an Atomic Shuttle from Greymouth to the Pass. Greymouth is a grey city at the mouth of the Grey river. It was nice and sunny. I entered a bookstore hoping to find a guide book. Instead I found the Croc saver from the Copland valley track. They said the weather is going to be awful. with normal yeara confidence I got on my bus and went to Arthur’s pass. i rained when i got there and it continued raining when i hung my laundry under the balcony. it also rained when i realized that there are gaps between the balcony boards and my laundry is getting wet. arthur’s pass did not have any people living in it – it has a population of 50 people and maybe 500 keas [space... err... mountain parrots. nasty little things. they eat the wipers off your car and rip your tent apart to pieces. not my tent, though – i don’t have one]. that was one of cosiest hostel i stayed at, other than the expensive internet rate [and sucky computer] and the lack of TV [you really need one of these sometimes, to turn off your brain, especially when it’s raining and you’re in a 50 people village]

the next day i woke up. the sun was shining [through a thick layer of clouds], it did not rain and there was no need. i walked up the path to Avalanche peak. you walk a kilometre up over 2 kilometres. you climb. it was not a great walk. after getting out of the bush line and walking over a few ridges it was clear i should not bothered – although i could see all the way to the sea down the valley, the important bits [the glaciers around Avalanche peak] were covered with fog and clouds. the peak itself was covered too. at this point, the german guy i met on the way up and i made a tactical decision to turn around rather than stick and wait for one of those 60kph wind bursts to get us.

i don’t remember what i did the rest of my time in arthur’s pass. not much would sum it up pretty well. i met an Israeli guy who was travelling around the south island on bikes. i met a couple of guys which i first met in Milford sound, then in queenstown and later in franz josef. i got a couple of german girls a ride to greymouth with the german guy. i slept a lot, and ate leftovers from the hikes – they do not have a supermarket in a 50 people town.

copland valley track

i walked 5.5 hours each way. i had to ford five big creeks and walk over a very scary one-man-only swing bridge. made of lawn fence. it was a bush walk. i didn't see much of the river. i lost one of my crocs the first day [a guy i met on the routeburn found it and left it on the trailhead for me]. i got lost once, two meters off the trail. i panicked at some other point, but calmed down quickly. i was scared of getting my shoes wet [blisters, blisters]. i then reached the hut. the toilet did not have running water. i went to the thermal pools during the day time and was eaten alive by the sand flies.

but then! everything changed! two germans and a brit showed up at the -nearly-empty-so-far hut. one of them had his birthday. they were going to walk to the thermal pools at night. i joined them. there were no sandflies about. the water was hot. there was much mud about, but after we turned off our torches we could not see how gross it was. we did get to see Mt Cook, ca 20-30km away, covered with snow. we got to see the entire mountain ridge. the moon rising. the milky way. we did satellite spotting. we sat in the warm muddy waters until it was too hot and moved to the body-temperature pool. after about two hours i went to bed, muddy and gross but happy.

the next day i had a 5 hour bush walk. i had to ford five big creeks and walk over a very scary one-man-only swing bridge. made of lawn fence. it was a bush walk. i didn't see much of the river. i smelled bad - a mixture of DEET, sweat and sulfur from the pools. at the end of the track i found my missing croc. i caught an atomic shuttle which ripped me off to Franz Josef.
but the fords were much easier on the way back. i knew the way. i saw where i got lost. i knew i did not have much more to go and civilization was around the corner. and more important - even though the track was not as scenic as i had expected, i got to soak in thermal pools in the middle of the night and see mt cook.

franz josef

it took six hours for the bus to reach frank josef.
i was tired.

after checking into the hostel, i went into town. on the way, some weird lady with ever weirder teeth started talking to me about glacier tours. i told her i was doing one tomorrow. she said they had a 2 for 1 special tonight. it was about 5.30pm and i had no idea what she was talking about. after much questioning and misunderstandings we finally understood each other - there was a 2 for 1 special for the indoor ice wall climbing center.

after much debate with my wallet ["quick? where do i sign up"] i paid half price for a ice wall climbing session. [the normal price is a serious rip off at $90 dollars for 90 minutes, almost 270 NIS]. i put on my fleece and came back 45 minutes later. i got a harness, plastic shoes and a helmet. i did not get a full face helmet, or a ice hockey helmet. just some construction worker's helmet. looking back, it was not much of a help.

we learned the basics of ice wall climbing ["you hit the wall with your axe as high as you can and kick with your shoes like *this*"] i was hooked to the belay and made my way up the easy ice wall. no probies at all. after the practice at Wanaka i was not even afraid of the height [mere ten meters in comparison to Wanaka's 15]. i belayed the only other guy in my session [they had to clip me to the floor with an ice screw because he was too heavy :")]. we moved to a corner climb - again, no probies. [did i mention they put on some cool music? well, they did] the next climb was called "stairway to heaven". it was a serious of steps in a corner and overhangs on the sides. what fun. when it was my turn, i climbed up about five meters. then, as i tried to get stick my axe into the ice hitting it rapidly an ice chunk the size of my fist hit me in the face. i started bleeding from my lip and was in a bit of a shock. i was brought down, got some tissue paper and waited for the bleeding to stop. bloody ice walls are out of style. it was my turn on the last climb - three overhangs. you have to climb diagonally between them. i fell off the wall after 1.5 meters. i tried again and managed to get onto the second overhang. as i was climbing onto the third, i could not get my axe into the ice. was too tired. exhausted. another 2-3 hits with my axe. no grip. i asked them to get me down and the ice climbing session was over. it had the best fun / time ratio i did in so far. i had some war wounds. i had a lot of bruises on my knees. happily i dragged myself back to the hostel and went to bed.

woke up early the next day, to go on a glacier tour. i haven't got much to tell about my glacier tour - the photos do a better job. the first two hours we climbed through dirty and rocky ice. we slid through one Ice-Age-like crevasse. i jumped over three scary ice cracks. we climbed over ridges. we walked on walls with a few meter drop between our feet. it was scary but fun. we walked through another crevasse, but not as pretty or as "ice age" as the first one.

i did expect more crevasses for my money [why would i walk on a glacier, if not for the crevasses? they have them in Ice Age and Ice Age 2. i want more crevasses], but it was awesome.

Wanaka

I arrived in Wanaka early in the morning, after quite an amusing ride on a Newman's coach. the driver told us about Shrek, the amazing sheep, and did not mind sharing with us his political views. the hostel had an amazing view out of the late. i did not want to waste time. i put on my [still stinky from the routeburn] tramping clothes and set out to try and hitch hike to Diamond lake and rocky mountains track. after one and a half hours i was only 6kms closer to the track, which was 20km out of town. i hitch hiked back into town [now, THAT took about 5 minutes] and started my rest day. first, i walked to puzzling world, which was 2km out of town. the place has some famous optical illusions rooms, some of which i even saw in the past on TV. i was expecting more optical illusions, but for $7 i got my money worth.

my rest day continued by walking another 2km or so to a rock climbing center,
just out of town.
on the other side of town.
i got there and watched the local kids climb on the 15 meter wall + 3-4 meter overhang like.. monkeys? cats? pretty easily. i went into the beginners corner and proceeded to exhaust my hand muscles for a hour. after a hour i was feeling comfortable enough with the height, but my hands gave up on trying to hold me up. went back to the hostel and met two israelis who described to me at lengths how they murdered their travel partner.

the next day i caught a ride with them to the heart of Mt Aspiring National Park - Matutuki [or something similar] valley. two hours each way - and on the end you get to see Rob Roy glacier [after climbing on big rocks for ten minutes]. it's "pretty" big, there are some huge waterfalls coming out of it and it was just under the sun so the photos turned out bad. i think this was the best hike in terms of scenery / money ratio and scenery / time ratio i did in new zealand. drove out with a poor german guy. i "gave him some fuel money" - bought him a beer. it was quite a ride - over 30kms of unsealed road and many creeks to ford with a 20 year old car.

that evening i got an email from a couple i met on the Kepler reminding me to eat the Famous cookies of the Paradiso cinema in Wanaka. off i set on my task, to eat a cookie. the cookie was bigger than my hand. it was crunchy on the outside. it was warm and soft on the inside. it was a Famous cookie for a reason.

some crazy people suggested that i should do the Roy's peak track - a 2 hour climb to the top of the mountain [after the routeburn, the "rest day" and then the rob roy track]. i chose to catch the bus to franz josef glacier.

routeburn

day i

i woke up sick. i made wrong tactical desicion #1 that day - i got out of bed. i dressed up. i took my backpack and went to the kitchen where i nearly threw up to the smell of frying ham & eggs. telling myself that i would get a refund or get on the bus i dragged my whiny ass to the Track & Info center, where they rip off tourists who want to get to track heads in really old uncomfortable buses.

for some reason i told myself i was feeling better and if i felt bad i will drive back with bus, and got on. took a photo in the Million dollar view spot. manage to get some breakfast down halfway to the track. taped my feet, DEETed myself and dragged myself onto the track, passing two hard working DOC officers.

after a hour of walking it was apparent i was feeling really bad. i went on. i got to the first hut - routeburn flat. i sat down, scared two israelis who were there and rested before dragging myself uphill for two hours to the hut where i was supposed to overnight. it was the worst climb ever - it took me 2.5 hours to climb a DOC 2 hour climb [which usually means about 1.5 hours]/ i had to stop every few minutes to rest and then drag my sorry and whiny ass up the hill. after 2.5 hours i got to the hut, went to bed, and kept myself hydrated.

day ii

i actually woke up feeling much better. i woke up every two hours during the night to drink & pee, and i managed to re-hydrate myself. i guess that celebrating St Patrick's Day in Queenstown and then only drinking Coke Zero for two days flushed all of the water out of my system.

anyway, the weather re hydrated itself too and it was raining [although not too bad] and windy all day. had to walk over the ridge line and around cliffs with bursts of wind of maybe 50-60 kph. kinda scary next to a 200 meter almost vertical slope.

we didn't get a lot of views on the routeburn [like most of my hikes so far], but we did get to look into the last valley of the second day - the Mackenzie valley and lake [i think. it was about two weeks ago]. it was worth it.


day iii

i walked out that day and i was desperate to get to civilization and fast. i walked really fast for the first three hours until my foot had some other ideas - like growing corned skin just below the ankle. i could hardly walk for the last hour of the trek which began with 15 minutes of steep uphill.

i got to the Divide, the end of the track on the milford road [which by now i truly loathe. i do not know why, but i'm sick of it] in time for the early bus. me and about six-seven other people. only - we were all booked on the late bus. and when no one is booked on the early bus it does not come. hopeless i was not - me and a British guy tried to each a hike to civilization. i was hoping to get to Te Anua early enough to grab some food before getting on the bus to Queenstown.

trying to hitch hike on the milford road was almost as hopeless as trying to hitch to Mt Aspiring National Park [this sad but true story will appear later in my blog]. lotsa old rich tourists in rentals who did not want two stinky, young and poor trampers in their car. but behold! after 1.5 hours a local guy in a big shiny 4wd stopped. he was going all the way to Queenstown. he just got back from hunting deer in the bush. a couple of his hunter friends were driving in the other car with their dead deer. he bought me pie and entertained me with his stories about working on an oil rig in britain, surfing around Spain and east asia, as well as his businesses and family. i got to Queenstown at 4.30pm, when i was accepting to arrive at 8pm. felt like it was my lucky day. ate a Fergburger to celebrate the happy event.

in short, the routeburn track was over and so were my feet.

photos!

ca. 70 new photos in my flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/109822596/

[i'm finally in a backpackers with free internet]

trapped

i'm in queenstown.

i've finally figured out why bungy is so expensive - nobody is actually jumping. if you see enough ads for AH Jackett you could believe that there are long and crazy lines before each jump. well, being a wimp [and spending my money on a backpacking budget [way better value for money after the milford experience]] i caught a ride with two german girls to the Kawaruira bridge [or something] to see people jump. we were there for half an hour, saw three people jump and left as soon as we realized no one else is going to be jumping soon. so, they have about 20-30 people jump everyday, five people working every shift - no wonder it's so freaking expensive. i also happened to visit one of queenstown biggest rip offs - skyline gondola and luge. the view is amazing, but $20 is too much for a gondola ride. the luge was lame. i did way better luge ride is east germany last summer.

there are only three good value things here:
1. $10 fergburgers + $4 for 1/2 kg of some pretty awesome fries
2. Kathmandu Easter sale
3. $3 / hour internet

and there's only one more queenstown pro - the outdoor shops. i didn't expect to see so many, considering queenstown is a party town.
i did get a rain jacket. it has two major cons - (1) it's north face - which means i stick out as a israeli and (2) it's bright red - last jacket size Small. it has some pros as well - (1) it looks better than the Marmot jacket, (2) it has pit zips [i always wanted pit zips] (3) if i ever die or get lost they won't have hard time finding me.

i wanted some duct tape but it was $30 dollars and very heavy. i had to do with medical tape at $10 to fix up my legs. i'm going to lose the nail on my little toe and i'm too grossed out to actually cut it out myself.

yesterday i drove out with Richard, an american who writes for a travel guide, to Arrotown - more Disneyland than Disneyland itself. in Disneyland you know everything is fake, but in Arrotown they're trying to create the impression that everything is genuine. looks like the Disney World's Frontierland. although frontierland does not have ruins of the chinese settlement [they must have been really small people].
there was one awesome thing about Arrotown - a movie theatre straight out of gilmore girls. upholstered ceiling, sofas, posh armchairs and a bar. to bad there was nothing on at the time.

tomorrow i'm going on the routeburn. the guy in the camping shop said i should go in my trainers to avoid getting blisters. i don't want to go in my trainers - i want to roam in waterproof boots. but i do want to be blister free. i will switch to trainers on the queen charlotte / abel tasman tramps.
he did say that ankle support comes from the sole of the shoe. i'm not gonna get lotsa support from my brooks. we'll see how things turn out and if the tape is going to be any help.

new zealand is awesome. but my time here is running out.

milford - take two

the finest walk on earth.

day i
set out with a lighter pack - previous gear minus a few uncalled for items such as a towel. got some extra thermals, a cup, soup and some tea. the only thing i could leave at home next time is a book, but i might go crazy.

took a bus, then a cruise. met up with a group of three israelis who i had spent the previous day with. we walked for 1.5 hours, got to a hut. walked to catch the view but it started raining. later that day the hut warden gave us a wetland tour. we saw dead stoats. much fun was about.

day ii
woke up early. too early. got some breakfast and set off towards the next hut. between me and the hut were 16km of bush, snow and rain. i started walking in the bush, the future unknown. after 45 minutes you could see the mountains around clinton valley. they were covered with snow. it was totally awesome. as i continued walking some of the bush around me was covered in frost, which slowly turned into bush covered in snow. i reached the first avalanche zone. avalanche zone are under avalnche paths, where avalanches from the mountains around the valley reach terminal velocity and explode upon reaching the ground, causing much mess and resulting in tree free zones. my gear started failing - i was freezing inside my raincoat, my hand were very cold inside my damp gloves and i was two miles from the nearest shelter where i could put on my fleece. these were some very long two miles, which i spent mainly freezing my ass off. i reached a shelter, and after some struggle [try zipping up with frozed hands] i managed to get my fleece and coat back on.] tried eating but i was too0 cold to remain in the shelter. on i put my pack and off i went, munching on philadelphia tortillas.

the last two miles of the day were covered with snow. a lot of trees were blocking the path, laden with snow. i had to crawl through or jump over.

i caught up with the americans who set off before me and we reached the next hut together. it was empty and cold and i proceeded to change into my dry clothes and get warmed up. it did not really work. i crawled into my sleeping bag to get warm, slept a few hours, and ate some dinner.

day iii
walked up a mountain in up to a foot of snow. got lots of icy water inside my shoe. lost the sensation in both of my feet. i was sure i was going to lose them to forst bites, but after going over the pass we decended into amazingly beatiful and warm rainforest. there were two waterfalls with the bluest water surrounded by trees.

the track led to a 520-something meters high waterfall. quite a nice shower i got there, trying to go behind the waterfall. the wind and the chill of the water set me off my path and i returned to safe land, drenched but happy.

got to the last hut. saw a dead possum. was bored to death by the hut warden and off to bed i went.

i cannot really describe how fucking amazingly beautiful that day was.

day iv
set off late. had to walk fast for 6 miles. got to a stunningly beautiful waterfall. blue water, bush, pretty big leap. walked another 5 miles to sandfly point along the shore of a river. that last 5 miles were amazing - the river beside me, foggy mountains above, reflections in the water etc... etc... i was not very happy to finish the tramp. it was the best thing i have done in new zealand so far. but soon [although not too soon. i had to drag myself the last couple of miles. walked li ke a zombie] i got to sandfly point and had to wait for the boat which was almost an hour late.

today i went to queenstown. it was awesome to see so much people and civilazation after 12 days in te anua. my hostel stinks. i thought not doing any of the expensive stuff in queenstown is going to be hand, but i cannot see most of it so it's not a challenge.

i have to admit, i've finally got a pair of crocs today - i have blisters all over my feet from walking in wet boots for three days. my little toes are all swollen and pink. even my runners won't do. i suck :")

random thoughts - i am too young to go to new zealand. this place is breathtaking. where else can i go after new zealand? maybe canada.

Kepler - "todot" post trek

After four long days my first tramp is over, and it was enjoyable enough because some people insisted i'd get some things i did not want.

shay dinur - the hydration bladder was a life saver. climbed 4 hours in rain and wind. would have dehydrated.
the scary girl in the doc office - thank you for scaring the shit out of me, thus causing me to hire rain gear.
nadav - thanks for insisting on getting high shoes for the trek. i would have broken a leg. or got some really wet feet.
that guy from the trekking shop - thanks for telling me to get a -7 sleeping bag. it did its job on the first night of the tramp.
that sales girl who gave me another thermal shirt - after tramping all day in the rain i was lucky to have a dry shirt to change into.

tramping is fun enough. you carry a 15kg backpack uphill for two days. then you carry it downhill for another two days. if you're lucky you get some views. if you're even luckier there's no wind when you walk for two hours on a ridge line, with 300-400 meter drop on each of your sides.

what amazed me most about the tramp is
a. the amount of food i ate
b. that i've found my chocolate threshold
c. i actually lost some weight after eating all of that crap

the food i ate over the four days included:
- 5 pitas [1200 cals]
- 2 apples [120]
- 2 tomatoes [50]
- 350g of breakfast museli [1000]
- 4 granola bars [400]
- 1 chocolate bar [300]
- 1 pack of oreos [160g] [700]
- 200g nutella [900]
- 1 backcountry meal [500]
- 1 instant pasta meal [400]
- 1.5 protein bars [600]
- 7 slices of cheese [700]

ca. 7000 calories and counting.

first day:
we climbed for four hours through rain and wind in the bush. sat down to eat lunch and froze off. we finally reached the hut, got inside but it was cold!

second day:
walked on the ridge line. saw lotsa fog. later that day we saw the views. walked through some very nice bush on the way down. after reaching a nice and warm hut we walked to the waterfall. i put on my swimsuit and went dipping with the other hikers. slept well. reached my chocolate threshold.

third day:
walked as fast as we could through bush near some rivers. 16 kms in four hours. stayed almost alone in the hut, just five people in a forty bunkroom.

fourth day:
walked for 50 minutes. reached a swingbridge. was sure i missed the sign for rainbow reach, but walked some more and got to the real swingbridge. was picked up by a shuttle at 10. supermarket, some stuff in the city and then walked to the backapckers.

summary: met some nice people, walked way too much, saw lotsa woods and bush, as well as three keas. i don't want to go on the milford trek in threee days but i do not have a choice :")

off the (beaten) track

so, after posting my most amusing post, i took off with two british guys - chris and chris. chris wanted to do a brewery tour [which i had already done] but had to drive later, so we went on the chocolate tour. much chocolate was then not eaten. the factory was not really working - it was the weekend. we got very little chocolate. but we did get to see one tonne of chocolate free falling through the roof. in the dark. on thin floor. was toally worth it. we then set off to the otagu peninsula, to see penguines, seals, albatros and the only castle in new zealand. well, the otagu pensisula is a total tourist trap rip off. seeing the penguines and the albastros was 30 dollars each. seals as well. castle was 20. we did visit the castle gardens, which was not as expensive. we then set off to the albatros colony [before knowing how much it costs] and on the way there we saw a neat little sign saying Seal Point Road. after a democratic vote we decided to go down there. we got to a car park, a headed down a trail. chris and i had mountain boots, the other chris had vans [this will be relevant later on]. we went down a sand trail and we reached some awesome sand dune. we jumped-run down it, about 50-70 meters of altitude over 300-400 meters. it was awesome fun. we got down, looked up and realized we'd have to climb it back up soon. damn!

the sign said 40 minutes hike to the penguine hide. we did not believe it, but we then walked for about 40 minutes on the most awesome bach i've been to. the sea was angry, lotsa waves and foam. the beach was full of seaweed which looked like dead squid. we then passed 5 meters from two seals. they were just huge lumps which blended in with the beach, lying in the sun. we got really up close before noticing these were animals. going past them was scary. it was pretty easy to imagine them waking up and kicking our asses. we did get to the hide, saw a penguine, saw another seal on the rocks and started the hike back. getting up the dune was a bitch [beach] [especially in those boots mentioned earlier. chris took his vans off and hopped his way up wasily], but totally worth it.

we then proceeded to the tourist attractions mentioned above and turned around when the prices were qouted. the penguine 'colony' only had about 5-6 penguines. paying $5 a penguine was too much after seeing them for free. we got some good views of the albatros outside the observatory.

today i set off to Baldwin street, the steepest street in the world. [official guiness record and stuff]. it did not look too far on the map and i figured i'd go to the museum on the way back. well, tourist maps are drawn out of proportion and with no scale. i walked for over an hour to get there. climbing the street was a piece of cake in comparison. as i got to the top, feeling triumphant and knowing that there's a citibus in a few, the british guys came driving up the street in their huge 4x4. i got a ride back to the city, [i had actually walked past "to highway / to city center" sign] went to see the antartica exhibition in the museum. there was an atratica expo on as well, and some dinosaurs. i went through the uni on the way the museum and i can totally imagine studying here. it rocks!

i got a cellphone and i am available at 00-64-21-266-1676. mind you, there's 11 hours difference.

i'm off to te anua tomorrow, to go tramping and probably do some biking or kayaking or something.

[looks like uploading photos is a real bitch. i cannot bother to do so]

recap

recap of the last three days:
- went to Akoara, a tourist french town on a peninsula outside christchurch. amazingly beautiful there, i should have stayed.
- went on a dolphin cruise. thought we would only do fin-spotting but we got to see the dolphins as well. and peguines. and some albastros and seals. the seals were much smaller than on TV, but cutes as well.
- i actually enjoyed tyhe cruise. i was very cynic to begin with, but it was a lot of fun and the dolphins were entertaining.
- drove from christchurch to dunedin on the coach [bus, really. a doube decker]. it's really a guided bus ride. got to hear some colorful stories about some guy doing polygemy in the late 18th century. this part of new zealand looks like the wild west, just right out of a movie.
- got to dunedin, met tones of the israelis at the hostel. went on a brewery tour and got to pour my own beer. tastes lots of beer, got back to the hostel and fell asleep on the couch.

some observations:
- israelis are the worst travellers. they travel like dogs. they eat the cheapest food in the supermarket while others are having barbecues, try to save the most on accomodations [sleeping in vans and cars] and are the most obssessed about money and costs. also, a lot of us really stick out here. while other people travel the world in normal city clothes, us israelis travel the world in Lametayel's latest fasion. the brits i met up to now all travel with huge backpacks with a selection of footware, day clothes, club clothes and some active clothes. we travel with The North Face and a sleeping bag. i had yet to use my sleeping bag. i actually gave up today and bought a sweater to blend in. nothing i can do about my trekking shoes - i cannot carry three pairs of shoes, but i wish i could have my adidas. my next backpacker trip i'm not even bringing a sleeping bag. or trekking shoes.

- the roads in new zealand really suck. it was a six hour bumpy ride. thank god i do not have to drive here alone. we were driving on highway 1. most of the highway has only one lane in each direction. not your ayalon freewa, really.

- the bacpackers i stayed in christchurch sucks ass. i'm in a charming backapckers in the middle of dunedin and it looks way better than my own appartment. excellent kitchen as well.

greetings from abroad

after 26 hours of nightmarish flight i can say - there’s starbucks in new zealand.
it’s 2pm here, 2am frankfurt time and i did not sleep for two days for more than two hours. my backapck made it through, against all belief.
everyone is wearing shorts and flip flops. luckly i have shiny pink flip flops and i fit in.
flight was long, miserable and lonely. no sleep or leg rests, very little food and i felt sick for 3-4 hours. other than that, i watched a night at the museum, most of the history boys, 10 minutes of house and babel. why is it called babel anyway? made me feel lonely and wonder why the fuck i’m flying 26 hours to the other end of the world.
singapore looks like vietnam from full metal jacket or apocalypse now. the food in the airport was too scary. there was a 7-11 though so i managed to avoid dehydration on the second leg of my flight. no food there too, and i was afraid of eating a burger. but there’s a coffeee bean in singapore. no starbucks.
christchurch is very nice but nothing exciting has happened yet [other than locating the nearest starbucks].
btw, nadav, i hold you responsible for the respritory torture i suffered during the flights. nice of you to give me a cold before flying!
soon, photos of the free massage machines in the singapore airport.

starving in new zealand.

i did not eat much for the past few days. partly because of jet lag, partly because the lack of nourishing food in new zealand. i do not know how the kiwis survive. veggies and fruits are at the very least 20 NIS a kilo, some are around 30. berries are 20 NIS per 100g. cream cheese is 11 dollars. the bread is horrible. going to the supermarket you realize how far away new zealand is - there are only 2-3 kinds of cream cheese, very little selection of frozed food and cosmetics and the prices make AMPM a bargain.

yesterday and today i saw some real kiwis. cute balls of fur running around on little feet. i'd like to take one home. i also saw a UFO in the botanic gardens and Star Wars t-shirts. i discovered the goth part of Christchurch - little kiwis have to wear school uniform - knee high socks, button down shirts, sweaters, girls wear skirts and guys wear shorts. it's very nice and all, a might be a turn on for some, but i guess it makes them rebel - almost all of them are either surfers, punks or goths, what's with their school uniform they only need to change to a black shirt to be punk-rock. there's a goth shop here to envy.

side notes and observation: nadav, KFC is selling pop chicken here. i cannot find any 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner. i forgot the rest because my post was erased with yet another system failure and i moved to blogger.
i gotta go eat.