Thanksgiving Feast

Seth: Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated it with pizzas (half-price pizza day!) in the grass next to the parking lot we’ve been staying in for the last couple of nights. It’s right on the beach, where a lot of travelers stay while working in the orchards nearby to fund the next leg of the trip.

We know we’re way behind on blog posts. In about two weeks we’re going to be in Wellington for a little bit staying with some friends. While they’re at work during the weekdays earning the money they’ll need to buy us drinks/dinner each night (just kidding Andrew/Nuala! Sorta!) we’ll completely catch up.

Hope everyone is feasting and enjoying the Cowboys’ 34-3 victory.

What Should We Name Our Van?

Seth: We have a dire problem. Our van remains unnamed, and therefore soulless. We thought a name would simply appear, as if heaven-sent, after a few weeks. No such luck. So we need your help naming it. We’ve come up with the following ideas:

• Dingy (pronounced ding-ee)
• Drippy (one night I woke up to cold drops on my face, hasn’t happened again, yet)
• Jean-Claude Van Damme
• The Brown Bomber
• Mazowrati
• Mohrsche
• Luxurotron 9000
• The Chateau
• Awesomesaurus Tex
• Vandango
• A good chunk of our trip budget, which we damn well better recoup

We can’t seem to settle on any of these names. Let us know if you have any votes or new ideas either via the comments (preferred) or telepathy.

Tea Time

Seth: After my birthday skydive, Erin took me out for ice cream and then we scouted out suitable birthday dinner restaurants.

Of course, I had to get my semi annual haircut (birthdays and half-birthdays). I usually try to find one of my friends/cousins to don the clippers. In the past, this practice has not been without mistakes, but the amusement factor far outweighs anyhygenic or fashion pitfalls. So I had to pay $20 at a proper barbershop, but I think it looks nice. Erin says it accentuates my neck-beard, which is always a plus. It still feels weird when I turn my head quickly and feel a rush of air in my scalp, like I’m more aerodynamic or something.

Next I found a casino and I decided to try my birthday luck. I guess I must’ve used up all my luck surviving a 15,000 ft skydive because I quickly lost $100 and came back to the van with my tail between my legs.

After that, the night turned weird. Firstly, I never got even a buzz despite drinking copious amounts of alcohol, including a teapot full of long island iced tea. Secondly, it was weird to be among the oldest people in the bars. They were full of 19 year olds who were perfectly content to get destroyed, hook up, and stumble around. Turning 27 hadn’t made me feed particularly old, but being with all these kids certainly did.

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Erin: We’re currently in Queenstown, the adventure sports capital of New Zealand. Therefore, seeing as how Seth is turning the big 27, we couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate his birthday in this fine town than by jumping out of an airplane from 15,000 feet (see Mom, I kept my promise that I wouldn’t tell you until I was safe on the ground!). Seth was pondering going bungy jumping, but decided that what he really wanted to do was go skydiving. I’ve wanted to go for many years now, so it didn’t take any convincing on my part. We got out of bed, booked a jump for early afternoon, grabbed a quick bite to eat and soon we were zooming along in the van on the way to the takeoff/landing area. Only in New Zealand does a skydiving operation share space with a field of sheep!

We were told we’d be in the first group to go up, so we didn’t even really have a chance to get nervous waiting around. Our tandem masters greeted us and got us suited up, then before we knew it we were squeezed into a little plane and taking in some spectacular views as we climbed higher and higher. The weather was absolutely perfect and you could see forever. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, we’re really high already” but then my tandem master showed me his altimeter and we were only at 1,000 feet! I thought my nerves would have started kicking in by this point, but I really felt really at peace and was enjoying the ride up. I did get a few butterflies in my stomach when the first girl and her tandem master jumped out of the plane at 9,000 feet, but that was about it. Once we reached 13,000 feet we had to put on oxygen masks for the remainder of the plane flight because we were so high. Overall, it took about 15 minutes to reach our final elevation.

Seth was the first to jump. Before he and his tandem master scooted to the door, he gave my hand a little kiss and a squeeze, which I thought was very sweet. And then, in a flash, he was gone. My tandem master Cris and I scooted into the doorway, I put my legs out the door of the plane, looped my hands into my harness, leaned my head back against his shoulder, and then we rocked right out of the plane and into freefall!

I remember screaming right as we fell out of the plane and it felt like we were on a rollercoaster for maybe two or three seconds, but then we stopped accelerating and it almost felt like we were weightless for the 60 seconds of freefall (10,000 feet!). I kept cycling through thoughts like “How crazy is it that I’m falling through the air right now!” and “Wow, these views are incredible!” and “Ha! I can feel my cheeks flapping in the wind. I hope I don’t eat a bug!”

Cris pulled our parachute and then everything got very quiet as we slowed down and made some gentle turns and then fast spirals down toward the landing field. My main fear that has held me back from skydiving for so long is that we would crash land and I’d end up never being able to walk or dance again, so I was a little nervous about the landing. I listened to his instructions as we got nearer to the ground and we had a perfectly smooth landing.

It was a totally incredible experience. My only regret is that I almost wish I had been more nervous, because it would have heightened the thrill. I probably got to enjoy the jump a lot more than I otherwise would have though, since I was able to take everything in and not just be freaking out the whole time.

Disaster Averted

Erin: On our way back from Milford Sound we stopped at a rest area for Seth to take a hike and for me to take a nap. I had to turn our lights on as we went through a really long tunnel, but unfortunately I forgot to turn the lights off when we parked the car.

When we tried to start the van, it didn’t make a sound. I had managed to completely drain the battery during the nap/hike. Luckily, we had jumper cables in the car so we tried to locate the battery and flagged down some fellow travelers in the parking lot to ask for a jump. It turned out that it was much harder to find the battery than we thought it would be. There is no hood in our van; the engine is located under the passenger seat so we looked there first. No luck. We then looked under the driver’s seat and pulled apart some other panels. Strike two. By this point, we were starting to get a little worried. Where else could the battery be? Luckily, there was a tour guide who had come back from his group hike early and he helped us find the battery, which was located in its own compartment under the carpet floor about a third of the way back from the driver’s seat under our bed (Of course…why didn’t we look there??). We connected the jumper cables and tried to start the van, but nothing happened.

The tour guide said he thought the other car didn’t have a powerful enough battery to jump our van, so he said he would bring his huge bus over and try to give us a jump himself. He warned us that because his battery was so much more powerful, there was a chance that it would fry our battery. At this point, we didn’t have many other options so we took the chance. Unfortunately, because our cables weren’t very long and his battery was located inside the floor of his bus, he couldn’t close the bus door and therefore his engine would only idle, failing to give us enough juice to start the van. We talked with him about our other options, and he said that we might have to call a tow truck from the closest town, which would probably cost around $400 because the closest town was not so very close.

We thanked him for all his help and went to talk to a guy in a construction truck who had just pulled into the parking lot. Turns out that he had some heavy duty jumper cables and was able to get our van started on the first try! We cheered and jumped around, thankful that we weren’t going to have to pay dearly for my mistake. Now, I triple check to make sure that the lights are off.

Milford Sound

Erin: Wish we had some photos to share with you here, but unfortunately the memory card reader at the internet cafe just ate all of our pictures from this part of the trip. *Sigh* Here are some other people’s photos of Milford Sound, courtesy of Flickr.

One of the lessons we learned from our trip to India is that when you’re traveling for a long time it’s helpful to build in regular mini-vacations that give you a chance to relax and/or do something special that would normally be a bit beyond your regular budget. When we were in India I would often reach my limit and need to just get away from the intensity of the place for a day or two. This often coincided with Seth and I getting into some sort of fight, and then we didn’t enjoy the nicer accomodations/meal/whatever as much because the damage was already done. This time around, we’re trying to be more proactive about these mini-vacations so we are still on speaking terms when we take them.

As we’ve made our way through the country, pretty much everyone we talked to who was traveling in the opposite direction said that they thought Milford Sound (which is apparently a fiord, not a sound) had the most spectacular scenery of the whole trip. We also heard that the best way to see Milford is by taking an overnight cruise because you miss the commotion of all the day tour boats and pretty much have the whole fiord to yourself in the evening and early morning. We decided this would be our mini-vacation and signed up.

When we arrived on the boat, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that although we had booked quad share accommodation (4 people per cabin in bunk beds) we had the cabin to ourselves. The boat made its way through the fiord and moored in a calm bay where we did some sea kayaking. One of the nature guides took us over to a spot where there is a Fiordland Crested Penguin nesting area (think of Lovelace from the movie Happy Feet), and we saw three penguins right up close. Seth took some great photos and video of the penguins, but alas, those are some of the files that disappeared.

We headed back to the boat for a really lovely dinner, chatted with some of the other passengers for a while, and then called it a night. In the morning we had breakfast while the boat did another tour of the fiord and we saw more penguins, some New Zealand Fur Seals, and a spectacular waterfall. Although it was a bit expensive, we thought it was money very well spent and would highly recommend it if you’re ever in this part of the world.

Temptation

Seth: When you pressed the switch, a jet of water squirted you from out of the mouth of a clay mask near the door. Tee hee!

Lost Gypsy Gallery

Seth: One of the coolest things we’ve seen was The Lost Gypsy gallery in the Catlins. This guy lives in a bus that is filled with gadgets and gizmos. Everything is wind or solar powered and made out of junk or recycled items. We spent hours winding everything up, playing with the toys, and deciphering all the hidden jokes.

Clambering

Seth: We crawled on lines, climbed ropes, conquered swings, balanced our way across obstacle courses and swingy things. We felt like explorers finding long-forgotten ruins, and spent a few hours clambering around and scaring ourselves.

Ropes Course Release Form

Seth: We drove down the east coast, and then around the south coast through an area known as the Catlins. It’s a quiet region without a lot of people but with lots of native wildlife.

One of the highlights was a ropes course set in the middle of the forest. This sign was the only warning or attempt at risk mitigation that we found. No fences, release forms or lawyers swinging from the trees.

Windy

Seth: It’s been very windy here. Up until the last week or so, the wind has been knocking us (and our poor van) this way and that. Luckily, the sun has started coming out recently, and trees have started looking a little more normal.

Crap!

Seth: I just had over 300 photos unintentionally deleted. And videos. Of Fiordland, Milford Sound, penguins and more of the most beautiful places and things that I have ever seen. I have no idea how/why.

Sometimes I hate computers. You get so dependent on them and then bad things happen and you start playing the what-if game. As in, what if I had not cancelled my upload yesterday, or what if I blogged a little more often than once every two weeks.