DISASTER!

So this isn't a good day for me. Last night I got back to my car after a beer to find that it had been ransacked! My passports and gadgets have been stolen. Gadgets are replaceable but the passport is a bigger issue. I've contacted the UK embassy but I can't get hold of the US embassy until Tuesday due to it being Easter holiday on Monday.

Anyway, I'm taking stock of things. Have cancelled all credit cards and my cell phone. What a pain in the arse! Livid doesn't describe how I feel. I'm currently thinking of cancelling this trip and buying a ticket back to the states once my passport has been re-issued. Now it's time for paperwork.

What's annoying is that I've planned the next few days to do a hike of Abel Tassman NP. Fortunately I still have my backpack and a lot of my hiking gear.

... Will update later ...

Nelson - South Island

So I'm just finding my way around at the mo'. I'm in a place called Nelson and it's good Friday (so everything's shut!). I made a b-line down to the south island and it's been quite hard work. Basically I've been driving for a long time with the occasional stops. The scenery is spectacular! I arrived in Picton yesterday after catching the ferry from Wellington. We came into the Marlborough sound which is amazing. I can't find words to describe it but it's basically a lot of green hills with lots of waterways (similar to Norway from what I've heard). Basically the land is like a load of branches from the mainland and you can find yourself in nooks and crannies all to yourself. I've only driven over the sounds at the moment since I wanted to get to Able Tassman NP to chill out and plan my next few days.

Time seems to be going really quickly. I can't believe I've been here a week already and I haven't even done anything yet!!

I've met up with quite a few people but being transitory means that you don't make friends for long. A bit of a bummer since I'd like to hang out with someone and do some sight seeing. The place seems to cater for couples or traveling companions more than it does for single people. Hopefully I'll hook up with some people when I do some of the activities.

So how do I describe this place ? Firstly it's bloody expensive. $40US for a T-Shirt. Jeans are $55 US for a no name brand of crappy Chinese made jeans (which is what I'm wearing). The flares are a bit long so I'm ankle dragging them!! What a bozo! :-) The place also seems to be set up for tourism mainly. Everything is a tourist attraction!! Maybe so but I'm going to have to pick an choose since they all cost! Typically $100NZ for most activities. What I've got on my mind at the moment is to do some Kayaking and tramping in Abel Tassman NP for the next week. I'm guessing Nelson is going to be my base for a time (it's the nearest town). I also need to get a tent since I didn't bring mine. Big mistake. Tents are really expensive - My buddy told me they were cheap. Hmmm. Anyway since it's low season I'm going to try and get a second hand one and do the repairs if it needs it (I have my tent repair stuff with me so I might get a good deal).

The route I've taken so far is from Roturua down to the outskirts of Wellington (3/19/08). I stayed in a trailer/camping park - really it was a trailer park but they had a space for 1or maybe 2 tents (so I parked there). I met up with a few of the locals and they offered me a beer! I must admit the Kiwis are the most friendly people I've met. They all like to have a joke and not take things too seriously. Very refreshing. It's a cultural thing as well. I went into a dive shop outside Rototua to fill up my LPG gas cylinder for the gas stove and I asked the guy if he could fill it up. He said, "what with, we can put water, or anything you like in it!". Anyway, I had a few jokes back so we all had a good laugh. I commented about the petrol stations not wanting to fill up this small bottle and he said that they just can't be arsed to fit the correct adapters!

After Roturua I went on an little scenic tour down to see some bubbling pits and geysers. It was a fairly long walk down hill where the bus brings you back up. It was hotter than hell walking down as well. The trail wound around the hot pools and bubbling springs. It was pretty spectacular. I put my hand in the water (or finger) and it was too hot to keep in there. It must have been about 40C. The smell was incredible as well. I'm guessing I was inhaling sulphuric acid steam. Great. I could definitely feel it on my chest! When I first arrived I knew there was high sulphur content as I was starting to wheeze!

From the springs I went exploring to find somewhere quiet. I actually stayed by a small lake in a park where there was a fishing competition going on. I assumed that they were all staying but at around 7:00pm they all packed up and left. There were 3 of us left and it was really quiet. One of the guys was a relief teacher and he stays in his RV the night before he has to go to teach the next day. He claims all the expenses back! Smart man! The other guys were retired and were there just to hang out with the other fishermen. Really peaceful place. I've been sleeping very well. It's a bit weird since I sleep form about 9:30pm to 7:00am the next day. Must be the driving and the adjustment of lifestyle!

Last night (3/20/08) I stayed in a small town in a campsite and met up with a Dutch couple who are at the end of their holidays. We went out to dinner and tried the green lipped muscles which are cultivated in the bay. We were all uncertain if we would like them so instead of all of us taking a risk we decided to get the sampler plate between us. Good idea! They were OK but not something I would like to eat very often. "Fishy & chewy" is the best description! We all had about 4 each and that was enough. Anyway as compensation we all decided on the Chocolate Mud Pie for desert. Now that was worth it! :-)

Going to roam around later. Might even come back to this internet cafe and upload a few photos.

OK so I'm back. Wow is it painful to upload photos and blog them. Anyway here you go..

The Hippie van!! Hey that's my home man! Don't criticize it!




Entering the Marlborough Sounds and heading into Picton (after a 3 hour crossing on the ferry)

New Zealand - day 3

Such a lot has happened since I arrived. I've basically met a load of people (some real weirdos!) and other guys who are just traveling or bumming around. Definitely a myriad of people from all walks of life.

I've bought a car/camper van which is an old hippie charabanc! It's got yellow flowers on the side and a Kiwi bird! Quite strange indeed. I slept in it for the first time last night and it was really comfortable. I parked by the lake last night in a regular parking spot (=$0 parking and nightly fees). Got talking to a load of other guys.

One thing I've noticed is that NZ is very expensive. I wanted to get a tent but they cost in the region of $900NZ compared to the US $180. So I'm staying clear of them for now. Shame really as I want to go up into the mountains. Hopefully I'll find something cheaper in Christ Church. I really don't want to blow my budget too quickly and having a Van to sleep in will help on that.

I'm in Rotorua today which is a highly volcanic area. I've had to fix a few electrical things on the car and now I'm ready to get going! I'm going to head out to some hot springs and hopefully see some geysers. The smell is incredible!! I then plan to head out to the coast for a couple of days. Going to look for a good book to read!.

Rotorua is a very touristy town and it's set up like a typical tourist trap. Still it is very unique.

Scenery is amazing. It's like California, Wales and Hawaii all rolled into one! There's very stark changes and you turn the corner and it's like being in a different world.

I plan on going to the East coast today after the thermal springs and then I have the ferry crossing on Thursday to the South Island. My first point of interest is Able Tasman NP. I've heard so many things about it that I really want to go there.


The hot springs near Rotorua (Damn I haven't got my Lonely Planet guide to remind me of the place)!!



The view of the lake at Rotorua (near the parking lot I slept in):

Landed!

So I've just landed and thought I'd make a quick entry from the internet terminal at Auckland Airport.I'm going to get a coffee with another backpacker and then work my way to the Backpacker/Hostel. Since I've got to wait until 10:00am (it's now 5:45am) I've got a bit of time to kill and hopefully the jet-lag won't affect me too much. I'm hoping to catch up on some of my reading!!

Auckland - the Harbour:

Cell phone test - blogging from my Blackberry

This is a test to see if I can enter a blog from my Blackberry 8830 cell phone. Albeit fairly hard work on this little keypad it seems to work!! I'm using OPERA as the mobile web browser in the 'compact view mode'.

Got to admit, I'm pretty impressed that the technology works this well. It looks like this full browser allows me to continue with my text blogging at least. I don't think I'll be doing photo uploads though!

Street View - Google's Orwellian Society

I was looking at Street View after seeing an online advert the other day and thought about the issues this is going to cause. There have been many complaints in the UK about privacy due to all the Street Cameras watching people. Now it looks like this is happening in California and the USA.

Apparently in California it is illegal to publicly record someone and broadcast it without their consent (I would like reference to this). I know it is illegal to record someone's voice over the telephone without their permission.

Anyway Big Brother Google is watching....

Map editing

Man oh Man, today has been spent setting up the little Google map thingy. Pretty painful and has taken me most of the day. I'm using a Java Script which was obtained from http://n01se.net/gmapez/. Unfortunately it doesn't work very well with the Blogosphere since it expects all the keys to be passed down as parameters. As a result I've had to edit the Java Script and save it with a specific key for this site.

Since I've got it working though it's a really nice tool. I just update a list of GPS co-ordinates in my blog and you'll be able to see where I am (or was!).

Anyway thanks to the guy who wrote this script in the first place. Please visit him here. I'll make my stuff available to him so that everyone else can use his great mapping tool. Also thanks to Google for having such an awesome map tool. Really Cool.