Monday, March 28, 2011
Hunter Valley and a change of plans
After going out in Richmond and seeing Pixie the fiddler play, we went out to the wakeboarding cable park followed by the white water park. I went wakeboarding and paid for the “pro board” which just classified as a normal board. It was super fun! The first time getting out on the cable I totally biffed it; you are standing on this turf thing and then are pulled out by a handle and you just stay standing. Nevertheless, after that one mishap, I was fine. The corners were super fun to take wide, but every time I tried to hit a jump I just did not land anything. After an hour of riding, we went to the whitewater park where David rented a kayak and we watched him go down the rapids. Then, Eric, Kim and I started our drive up to the Hunter Valley where we stopped in Singleton for groceries before setting up camp. We camped in the evening right off the road in Broke in a park, played cards in the tent, and started off early the following morning to go wine tasting in the Pokolbin areas. We started off at a smaller winery, Glandore Estate Wines, where I had a tempranillo for the first time that I thoroughly enjoyed. The woman was great because she opened up tasting early for us! Next, we went to a much larger and longstanding winery, Tyrell's Vineyards, established in 1858, where we got to taste a number of wines, all side by side, with the gentlemen testing and quizzing us on the differences. This was by far my favorite winery and I picked up a bottle of the Hunter Valley Brokenback Shiraz. Since the Hunter is known for its Semillons, an acidic white wine that ages quite well, we made a point to try them at every place. Eric was great and only tasted whites as he was our driver around the valley. We just continued along a single road and made it to seven wineries! We popped over to David Hook's where I had my first Barbera, which again, I thoroughly enjoyed. We then went to Tempus Two, Kevin Sorbel, Tower, and Hungerford. We also managed to pick up a couple of Cleanskins for dinner at the Lasts where David, Steph and Jordan made a taco bar for Steph's parents, Jackie and Tony. We were also greeted by Dave and Nikki which was a wonderful surprise! I was then convinced to go to Fiji. Jordan and Kim were planning on it (for three weeks) and David just changed his flight to go for two. We have all been getting along so great, and it doesn't seem right to leave them just yet, so I looked at flights, and it was reasonable enough that I bough a flight within minutes to get to Fiji for 10 days. We rearranged the canyon and climbing to do afterwards. THEN, I'll get a job? Hopefully I'll get scuba certified in Fiji as well with David!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Post PC, Sydney, Kurrajong
Post Pacific Challenge in the Sydney area
We stayed the first night in the Manly Apartments with the other group and then got another apartment a couple blocks away for the next two nights. We hanged around Manly again, surfed, chilled, went out for Dash’s birthday (had Mexican!), etc. We went into Sydney to stay in King’s Cross and celebrated Dash’s birthday (again) with sushi and karaoke. We were escorted by Tommy’s family friend Danielle to breakfast in the morning, said our goodbyes, and napped in the international lounge at the University of Sydney while Steph was in class. I met up with Eric, someone who I went to highschool with, got a new phone, went to Bondi to meet up with Jay, Tommy’s friend from highschool, and then bussed and trained it up north to Richmond. I was so proud I coordinated that ending transport myself as I left Steph and David when I went to Bondi :)
Kurrajong
Steph’s family lives an 75minute train north of Sydney and are nice enough to let us stay. They are also a great halfway point between the city and mountains. The following day her dad, Tony, took us to do Sheep Dip, a beginning level canyon, with three pool jumps. It was awesome! I really hadn’t done anything like it. You were walking through a canyon, with your feet pretty much always in water, sometimes submerged to your waist, only completely under water when you made 8-15ft jumps into a pool where you made a quick swim to the ledge. It was awesome. We are going to do another one next week! We went out to a pub and had dinner with Dave and a few other people that stayed behind. Tony is a longtime climber who has lived in Chamonix, Yosemite, the Alps, etc, and he and Dave offered to take me into the mountains in the upcoming weeks before I go to Byron (which I am pushing back when I will actually go because I’d love to get some climbing in around here and they have the gear!!) The following day we made it into Sydney to meet up with Danielle for lunch.
We stayed the first night in the Manly Apartments with the other group and then got another apartment a couple blocks away for the next two nights. We hanged around Manly again, surfed, chilled, went out for Dash’s birthday (had Mexican!), etc. We went into Sydney to stay in King’s Cross and celebrated Dash’s birthday (again) with sushi and karaoke. We were escorted by Tommy’s family friend Danielle to breakfast in the morning, said our goodbyes, and napped in the international lounge at the University of Sydney while Steph was in class. I met up with Eric, someone who I went to highschool with, got a new phone, went to Bondi to meet up with Jay, Tommy’s friend from highschool, and then bussed and trained it up north to Richmond. I was so proud I coordinated that ending transport myself as I left Steph and David when I went to Bondi :)
Kurrajong
Steph’s family lives an 75minute train north of Sydney and are nice enough to let us stay. They are also a great halfway point between the city and mountains. The following day her dad, Tony, took us to do Sheep Dip, a beginning level canyon, with three pool jumps. It was awesome! I really hadn’t done anything like it. You were walking through a canyon, with your feet pretty much always in water, sometimes submerged to your waist, only completely under water when you made 8-15ft jumps into a pool where you made a quick swim to the ledge. It was awesome. We are going to do another one next week! We went out to a pub and had dinner with Dave and a few other people that stayed behind. Tony is a longtime climber who has lived in Chamonix, Yosemite, the Alps, etc, and he and Dave offered to take me into the mountains in the upcoming weeks before I go to Byron (which I am pushing back when I will actually go because I’d love to get some climbing in around here and they have the gear!!) The following day we made it into Sydney to meet up with Danielle for lunch.
Friday, March 18, 2011
End of time with Pacific Challengers
Byron Bay
Upon arriving, we settled into our awesome bungalow accommodations and went into town for dinner. Ashley and I found somewhere to sign up for skydiving and got everything sorted for ourselves and Cody. I may want to find myself back up here post Pacific Challenge. After going out to see what the town had to offer in the evening, we went and had a quick lesson for scuba diving in a pool. We then jetted out about 15minutes to Julian Rocks and went scuba diving! SO AWESOME. There were so many different kinds of fish, we saw a few sharks amongst the coral; in short, it was amazing. I plan to get certified as time allows. I’d love to do that more often! Coming back to Tallows (the name of the place we are staying) we made dinner and then hit the town for Friday night. The following day we were picked up by a limo to go skydiving at 7am. Two groups jumped before us and then clouds rolled in. We ended up watching skydiving videos for four hours and went out to lunch with the divers. Afterwards, the weather cleared and we jumped from 14,000feet and did multiple flips upon jumping out of the four person plane. It was even better than the first jump and I am officially addicted. I looked into the certification course here in Byron where I’d learn with people who have over 7,000 and 14,000 jumps. We also learned of a legal base jumping spot in Idaho that we are going to hit up when we’re back! I found some plugs since I’ve lost pairs while surfing and scuba diving. I got online, figured out about meeting up with people I know from the States that are down here and Sydney and booked a hostel with people from the program for after everyone leaves. We hit the town again, lost each other, and all found one another to catch a cab back after kebabs. Byron Bay was spectacular. I talked to a bunch of people for their opinions about moving and getting settled in here and I might do it in a couple of weeks!
Noosa and the Zoo
We drove into Noosa and camped to shorten the drive to the Australia Zoo, formerly owned by the infamous Steve Irwin, just outside of Brisbane. I finally had a freshly made juice there which was delicious (made from beetroot, apple, carrot, and ginger)—soo good! In our afternoon at the zoo, we saw a show in the Crocoseum where, as a group of Americans, we won a magazine for being the loudest in representing where we were from. We then walked around and got to pet koalas and kangaroos, again, so awesome! We also saw dingos, wombats, emus, a number of native snakes, birds, and crocodiles, among other ‘exotic’ species such as elephants, red pandas, a tiger. We then drove back to Byron Bay, this time to camp.
Sydney and surrounding area
So another long drive took us back to Sydney where we staying in the suburb of Manly, one of the Northern Beaches. The following day we took a ferry into the city where we saw the opera house, Luna Park, a few parks, the Botanical gardens, Darling Harbour, etc. It was also St. Patrick’s Day and all the Irish Pubs were giving out hats and glasses and many, free green beers on entry. After spending the afternoon downtown, we jumped on a ferry back again to celebrate Ed’s 21st birthday in Manly. Time was winding down with the group. Sarah’s mom came into town, as they will be travelling for a few weeks, and we met up for lunch. That evening, we presented our “Secret Kiwi” gifts (we were all given someone and made a gift for them in order to help them remember the trip). I made Tommy a slideshow of pictures from the trip put to Chamillionare’s “Good Morning.” One of our group leaders, Bree, was mine and she made me this awesome collaged spiral notebook with everything we did on the trip. I LOVE IT! The following morning everyone left bright and early and since a number of us (Tommy, Cody, Dash, and David) were staying after, we helped clean up the rooms as the other group will be coming to stay where we are today. It’s so crazy that everyone is nearly gone! We wandered Manly, went to the Warringah Mall. The group arrived, we bribed them with brownies to let us stay the night, and we anticipate getting a hostel for the following days. I need to look into climbing the Three Sisters and a flight up to Balline so I can start living in Byron Bay!
Upon arriving, we settled into our awesome bungalow accommodations and went into town for dinner. Ashley and I found somewhere to sign up for skydiving and got everything sorted for ourselves and Cody. I may want to find myself back up here post Pacific Challenge. After going out to see what the town had to offer in the evening, we went and had a quick lesson for scuba diving in a pool. We then jetted out about 15minutes to Julian Rocks and went scuba diving! SO AWESOME. There were so many different kinds of fish, we saw a few sharks amongst the coral; in short, it was amazing. I plan to get certified as time allows. I’d love to do that more often! Coming back to Tallows (the name of the place we are staying) we made dinner and then hit the town for Friday night. The following day we were picked up by a limo to go skydiving at 7am. Two groups jumped before us and then clouds rolled in. We ended up watching skydiving videos for four hours and went out to lunch with the divers. Afterwards, the weather cleared and we jumped from 14,000feet and did multiple flips upon jumping out of the four person plane. It was even better than the first jump and I am officially addicted. I looked into the certification course here in Byron where I’d learn with people who have over 7,000 and 14,000 jumps. We also learned of a legal base jumping spot in Idaho that we are going to hit up when we’re back! I found some plugs since I’ve lost pairs while surfing and scuba diving. I got online, figured out about meeting up with people I know from the States that are down here and Sydney and booked a hostel with people from the program for after everyone leaves. We hit the town again, lost each other, and all found one another to catch a cab back after kebabs. Byron Bay was spectacular. I talked to a bunch of people for their opinions about moving and getting settled in here and I might do it in a couple of weeks!
Noosa and the Zoo
We drove into Noosa and camped to shorten the drive to the Australia Zoo, formerly owned by the infamous Steve Irwin, just outside of Brisbane. I finally had a freshly made juice there which was delicious (made from beetroot, apple, carrot, and ginger)—soo good! In our afternoon at the zoo, we saw a show in the Crocoseum where, as a group of Americans, we won a magazine for being the loudest in representing where we were from. We then walked around and got to pet koalas and kangaroos, again, so awesome! We also saw dingos, wombats, emus, a number of native snakes, birds, and crocodiles, among other ‘exotic’ species such as elephants, red pandas, a tiger. We then drove back to Byron Bay, this time to camp.
Sydney and surrounding area
So another long drive took us back to Sydney where we staying in the suburb of Manly, one of the Northern Beaches. The following day we took a ferry into the city where we saw the opera house, Luna Park, a few parks, the Botanical gardens, Darling Harbour, etc. It was also St. Patrick’s Day and all the Irish Pubs were giving out hats and glasses and many, free green beers on entry. After spending the afternoon downtown, we jumped on a ferry back again to celebrate Ed’s 21st birthday in Manly. Time was winding down with the group. Sarah’s mom came into town, as they will be travelling for a few weeks, and we met up for lunch. That evening, we presented our “Secret Kiwi” gifts (we were all given someone and made a gift for them in order to help them remember the trip). I made Tommy a slideshow of pictures from the trip put to Chamillionare’s “Good Morning.” One of our group leaders, Bree, was mine and she made me this awesome collaged spiral notebook with everything we did on the trip. I LOVE IT! The following morning everyone left bright and early and since a number of us (Tommy, Cody, Dash, and David) were staying after, we helped clean up the rooms as the other group will be coming to stay where we are today. It’s so crazy that everyone is nearly gone! We wandered Manly, went to the Warringah Mall. The group arrived, we bribed them with brownies to let us stay the night, and we anticipate getting a hostel for the following days. I need to look into climbing the Three Sisters and a flight up to Balline so I can start living in Byron Bay!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Mountains, Rainforests, and Beaches
Blue Mountains
The three and half hour drive or so was broken up by a stop at a cable park where people knee or wakeboarded. There was also a sweet trampoline that reminded me of a tumble track and I did some tumble passes on it! Getting to the lodge where we were staying, we headed out for dinner and then also some of us went out to see Hall Pass- so funny! The following morning we had classes with Dave and then headed out to the mountains for some climbing after stopping in town for lunch and internet. There were a few pitch climbs, all relatively easy, although I did do a bit of an overhang/arête that proved a little difficult because I haven’t climbed at all recently. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant that specialized in homemade pies and then went back, made a fire and went to bed.
Warrumbungles
A six hour drive took us to a small town where we had lunch and picked up groceries for our night of camping. Once we arrived, there wasn’t much to do but a few of us went on a bush walk in search of a koala as kangaroos and cockatoos had already been quite numerous. After dinner, we had lamington as dessert for Jordan’s birthday and watched Dark Night, although missed the last half an hour because the two computers we had to use to watch it, died.
Cascade
A seven or so hour drive took us to an environmental education center in Cascade, where I had my first experience with a land leech attaching itself to my ankle. We ate dinner and watched Ferngully, a movie that I remember loving as a child. The following morning we had Geoffrey take us on a walk through the rainforest after a brief introduction to the flora, fauna, and history of the area to an area known as Platypus Falls, unfortunately it was midday and they were not visable. We had a “contest” to see who had the most, and the biggest leech by the end. I somehow managed to win the category for the largest leech. It was the most disgusting thing, particularly when we took it off, and then it exploded with blood. Uck! The following day, we had a low key day of studying, and a walk to Platypus Flats. There was also a rather dodgy rope swing we played on as well as swimming across the river.
Coff Harbour
En route the Byron Bay, we stopped along the coast for surf lessons and to do some raft surfing. It was a blast! I am not the greatest and getting myself set up quick enough for a wave I spot, but I’m definitely getting the hang of it. I love it! A few people from the group are planning in staying in Sydney a bit after the trip and the plan is to be surf bums, so I’m sure I’ll improve a bunch. I was easily standing up, got pulled aside and given a personal tutorial on turning. RADICAL!
The three and half hour drive or so was broken up by a stop at a cable park where people knee or wakeboarded. There was also a sweet trampoline that reminded me of a tumble track and I did some tumble passes on it! Getting to the lodge where we were staying, we headed out for dinner and then also some of us went out to see Hall Pass- so funny! The following morning we had classes with Dave and then headed out to the mountains for some climbing after stopping in town for lunch and internet. There were a few pitch climbs, all relatively easy, although I did do a bit of an overhang/arête that proved a little difficult because I haven’t climbed at all recently. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant that specialized in homemade pies and then went back, made a fire and went to bed.
Warrumbungles
A six hour drive took us to a small town where we had lunch and picked up groceries for our night of camping. Once we arrived, there wasn’t much to do but a few of us went on a bush walk in search of a koala as kangaroos and cockatoos had already been quite numerous. After dinner, we had lamington as dessert for Jordan’s birthday and watched Dark Night, although missed the last half an hour because the two computers we had to use to watch it, died.
Cascade
A seven or so hour drive took us to an environmental education center in Cascade, where I had my first experience with a land leech attaching itself to my ankle. We ate dinner and watched Ferngully, a movie that I remember loving as a child. The following morning we had Geoffrey take us on a walk through the rainforest after a brief introduction to the flora, fauna, and history of the area to an area known as Platypus Falls, unfortunately it was midday and they were not visable. We had a “contest” to see who had the most, and the biggest leech by the end. I somehow managed to win the category for the largest leech. It was the most disgusting thing, particularly when we took it off, and then it exploded with blood. Uck! The following day, we had a low key day of studying, and a walk to Platypus Flats. There was also a rather dodgy rope swing we played on as well as swimming across the river.
Coff Harbour
En route the Byron Bay, we stopped along the coast for surf lessons and to do some raft surfing. It was a blast! I am not the greatest and getting myself set up quick enough for a wave I spot, but I’m definitely getting the hang of it. I love it! A few people from the group are planning in staying in Sydney a bit after the trip and the plan is to be surf bums, so I’m sure I’ll improve a bunch. I was easily standing up, got pulled aside and given a personal tutorial on turning. RADICAL!
Friday, March 4, 2011
AUSTRALIA!!!
Arriving in Sydney, I exchanged some money, bought a SIM card (0404575863 if anyone wants to call!), and caught a shuttle into the city where Doug, our trip leader, was staying at Dave’s, the program leader’s, apartment in Manly, a suburb in the northern beaches of Sydney. The group wasn’t arriving until 4:30 so we picked up the 22 seater bus we will be headed to an outdoor mall to grab some lunch; the food is so much better here than in NZ! I had a pumpkin, garbanzo bean salad and a chicken, avocado wrap. We then went grocery shopping, dropped off our gear at the surf club we were staying at. We then went driving around and saw beaches at Cooggee, Bondi, and Manly. We then also went to a lookout, which would have been beautiful but it was a bit cloudy. We then went and hung at McDonalds outside of the airport until the group got in. It was a successful pickup! We headed back to the surf club to make dinner and enjoy a laid back evening. The following day was characterized by waking up for sunrise and watching the beach fill up with surfers, going on a run, playing in the waves, going into Manly for shopping, going on a Harley Davidson ride, coming back to make dinner and then going out to a 3story club in the evening. We had class in the morning with Dave.
Last Days in NZ
Franz Josef
We drove through the Southern Alps to arrive on the other side of Mt. Cook at Franz Josef. This was a pretty low key time for me because I finally came down with the cold that has been moving through the group. The only real notable thing I did was go to the glacier hot pools, as I was too tired to ice climb with the few that went. Stayed around the hostel and had a movie day.
Christchurch
As the city is closed, we ended up camping on the outskirts at a holiday park near the airport. There was not much to do here and again we watched “heaps” of tv. We did go a bit near the city and saw some wreckage and a woman staying where we were was a relief worker who has been working every day since the quake. Apparently, another earthquake is anticipated in the upcoming months. I ended up on a different flight than everyone else and got through security at the airport by 5am and leave at 6:35. Everyone else is on an afternoon flight! I am still congested but hopefully getting over this cold I’ve been battling for the last few days!
We drove through the Southern Alps to arrive on the other side of Mt. Cook at Franz Josef. This was a pretty low key time for me because I finally came down with the cold that has been moving through the group. The only real notable thing I did was go to the glacier hot pools, as I was too tired to ice climb with the few that went. Stayed around the hostel and had a movie day.
Christchurch
As the city is closed, we ended up camping on the outskirts at a holiday park near the airport. There was not much to do here and again we watched “heaps” of tv. We did go a bit near the city and saw some wreckage and a woman staying where we were was a relief worker who has been working every day since the quake. Apparently, another earthquake is anticipated in the upcoming months. I ended up on a different flight than everyone else and got through security at the airport by 5am and leave at 6:35. Everyone else is on an afternoon flight! I am still congested but hopefully getting over this cold I’ve been battling for the last few days!
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