As my last post ended... first stop in this next leg of the journey was Nelson. Nelson is not a very big place, but it is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and is surrounded by various wineries, so we naturally spent a few days here. On the new bus we randomly met up with someone we met in Australia while we were on Kangaroo Island, it was a good surprise! So the first full day we were there we decided to do a 4 and a half hour hike through the park, which was beautiful, and a 2 and a half hour kayak back to Nelson. It was quite cold and Megan looked like she was going to ball up into the fetal position at any point and rock back and forth until she either warmed up or passed out. The next day Kerry, our friend from Roo Island, rented a car to go wine tasting and took Megan, Laura, Sam, and Chris with her (I woke up with a headache and figured drinking a lot of wine would most likely be counterproductive). One of the nights the Nelson basketball team won their league championship and we happened to go to the same club they did to celebrate. So that night I got to shake hands with the starting lineup, hug the MVP and say congratulations, and kiss the trophy for good luck!
We left Nelson and headed to Westport with Sam and Chris, Kerry stayed to drink more vino. The weather wasn't very nice in Westport so we were not able to do all to much., Sam and I wanted to go quad-biking, but that didn't happen. We may have lost friends we made on our first bus, but we picked two new ones up pretty quickly... the joys of traveling.
From Westport we headed to Lake Mahinapua to a little hostel attached to a pub in between the lake and the sea on the west coast. The pub is owned by an 84 year old man named Les, who has the distinction of being the oldest pub owner in all of New Zealand. At the pub, the Kiwi bus has a party, since the Kiwi bus is the only visitors to Les' establishment. The party is themed, and the them of ours was a "P"-Party, we all had to be dressed up as something that started with the letter "P". Laura dressed up as Pink (and bore a remarkable resemblence), Megan was a Post-It (she covered her jean skirt with psot-its, wore a yellow t-shirt, and let everybody write notes on her), and I was a putting green (I didn't win the competition, but I got honorable mention and a free jug of beer, so I couldn't be any happier).
From the lake we made our way to the Franz Josef glacier, which is the fastest moving glacier in the world. We had a free day there too so we did a full day glacier hike which covered about 9kms up, down, and around in all directions. It was amazing up on the ice! Its considered a wet/warm glacier because it is nestled in amongst the rain forest, so the contrast between the blue ice and the greenery in the back ground made for an amazing day.
We left Franz Josef and headed to Wanaka, which is a small, quiet town with a population of around 6000 people. It's a ski town in winter and a great fishing spot in the summer (I was told). Plus it is only about an hours drive from Queenstown so many people stay here to avoid the crowds. Though it is usually a quiet place not know for its nightlife, we got in on the Fourth of July, and even though we were traveling with about 10 Brits, we managed to find a club having a 4th party and joined into the festivities!
We are now in Queenstown, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in in my life. I know I might throw that around a lot, but in the case here, I mean it! Its a ski village with little shops and cafes with a backdrop of snow-covered mountains and beautiful blue lakes. This would be enough to get me to move here for a year or two, but what puts the icing on the cake is the nightlife. At four in the morning it might as well be a Saturday afternoon in a Texan Walmart. Megan and Laura are on the slopes today and I figured it would be a prefect day to catch up with this here blog.
We leave for Christchurch in the morning, will be there for two nights and head to Sydney on the 12th for the final leg of this adventure. I will see you all soon and make you sit through thousands of pictures!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
It's Monday, July 9, and even though it's the first day of the work week, I am already totally bored. Therefore, it was such a nice surprise to log onto your blog and find that you've posted an update. I think I will have to drink about 12 cups of strong coffee so that I will be able to stay awake and look at all of the photos you have taken! I can't wait to see them all and get a blow-by-blow descrption. In any event, it sounds like the three of you are having the most fantastic time on your trip! We will definitely have to have a photo party when you get back. Is there a way you can set up your photos so that we can see them on our TV screen? When you say that such a place is the most beautiful place in the world, it is more beautiful than Switzerland?
Tim re-planted the citus trees down below in the ivy yesterday. He came up all bloodied because he said he was attacked by the thorns on the trees. He even had dried blood down the side of his face. Ebony is still trying to go after the huge dogs that walk by our house every day. And she's only waking Tim up two times a night. Buster comes around every day thinking I'm going to let him come into the house. NOT!!! Tim feeds Buster on top of the garbage bins because if he doesn't, Ebony will push Buster away and eat his food.
I baked 12 loaves of banana bread yesterday. I wish you were here so that I can give you a loaf or two!
I have an order of 120 Thomas the Train chocolate suckers for Friday. I wish you were home so you can help me dip the suckers!
Tell Megan and Laura that I said "hi". It's countdown time and you guys will be home in no time at all -- 10 more days of adventure!
Love,
Oooka
Well so good to hear from the traveler, and I do not mean the USC horse. All I can say, is please review the pictures, we can only handle so much beauty. KC got back from Costa Rica, he has over 1200 pictures, I suggested he whittle it down to two good shots and a short narration.
did Megan and Laura do the bungee jump after the wine tasting?? Do you remember the time at the Ventura county fair? I hope that scene was not repeated.
Keep on having fun, see you July 20
My, my, my what a serious adventure you have had and I am delighted to see you have learned how to enjoy a good glass of wine now and then. I am certain your travels Down Under will positively inform the rest of your lives. I am happy for each of you that you got to experience it together.
If Oooka can take up so much space I guess I will have to do the same with a humanitarian message to all:
On second thought, there are things better sent at a time and place when one is not in the middle of a peak life experience, so I will send this to your individual emails for review upon your return to the real world and hope I can count on your substantial social skills to forward same to the many people you know.
Continue having an excellent adventure.
Love,
Sylvia
Having fun?
Report: Lakers, Fisher agree to 3-year, $14 million deal
The Lakers have gone to their past in hopes that it will help solidify their immediate future in the backcourt.
Point guard Derek Fisher, who played an integral role on the Lakers' three-peat team earlier this decade, has agreed in principle to a three-year contract, the Los Angeles Times reports. The deal is worth roughly $14 million.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak was non-committal about Fisher's return to the team.
"That position has been something that we identified as an area where we felt we needed to improve," Kupchak told the Times. "Not a slight to Jordan [Farmar] and our drafted rookie [Javaris Crittenton], who's just 19 years old, but at 19 and 20 years old with limited NBA experience, we're not going to think that they're going to be the ones that can lead the team next year.
"Having said that, without naming players that are out there, when we have additional information and we have an announcement, we'll make that announcement. Right now, we're not in that position, but we're getting close."
Fisher was drafted by the Lakers with the 24th pick in 1996, the same draft in which the team acquired Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets in a draft-day trade. He played the first eight seasons of his career in Los Angeles before signing a six-year, $37-million free-agent contract with Golden State. After two seasons with the Warriors, Fisher was traded to the Utah Jazz, where he played last season.
He played a key role in the Jazz's run to the Western Conference finals last season, but he asked out of his contract with Utah two weeks ago. He was seeking to move to a city with more appropriate medical care for his 1-year-old daughter, Tatum, who has a rare form of eye cancer.
Fisher, 32, must clear waivers after the Jazz files paperwork to terminate his contract, a process that likely won't be completed until next week.
Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president of basketball operations, was positive about Fisher's departure.
"We wish him the best, and I hope four games a year he doesn't play well against us," O'Connor told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The Times reports that the first year of Fisher's proposed deal with the Lakers would pay him a little more than $4 million. That leaves Los Angeles with a little more than $1 million left from their $5.3 million mid-level exception to sign another free agent. The Lakers still have the veterans' exception of $1.3 million.
Fisher is keenly familiar with the Lakers' triangle offense and will likely step into the starting lineup, the newspaper reports. He'll also be expected to help Farmar, Crittenton and the rest of the team's young guards develop.
Finally, Fisher could help ease the sometimes tense relationship between Bryant and coach Phil Jackson. Bryant has fumed this offseason about the team's direction and at one point demanded a trade. Bryant did not tell the newspaper if Fisher's return would guarantee his own return to L.A. next season.
"I'm not getting into my situation," Bryant said Wednesday at a Nike promotional event. "I'm just not going to go there."
Lakers ink Walton to new deal
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) - The Los Angeles Lakers re-signed Luke Walton to a multiyear contract Thursday.
The 27-year-old Walton, who has played all of his four NBA seasons with the Lakers, had become an unrestricted free agent and received a six-year deal, reportedly worth $30 million, to remain with the team.
That would more than triple the $1.4 million salary he received last season.
The 6-foot-8 Walton averaged career highs of 11.4 points, five rebounds and 4.3 assists in 60 games last season, all starts. He played 33 minutes a game, led the team in scoring twice, five times in rebounds and 18 times in assists.
He scored 20 or more points four times, including a career-high 25 on Dec. 8 against Atlanta, when he went 10-of-18 from the floor.
"This is where I wanted to be when the whole free agency started, and the fact that we could agree on a six-year, long-term deal is very exciting to me," Walton said Thursday at a news conference at the Lakers' training facility.
"I'm looking forward to helping this team and getting back to the playoffs and eventually bringing some more championships back to Los Angeles, where the trophies belong."
Walton, the son of NBA Hall of Fame member Bill Walton, was taken out of the University of Arizona by the Lakers with the third selection in the second round (32nd overall) in the 2003 NBA draft. He has averaged 10.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 73 career starts with the Lakers.
Overall, he has averaged 5.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 262 career games.
Since you have updates on the Lakers, what more is there to say, except, IT IS ALMOST TIME TO COME HOME!!!!
ok sorry for the reality check, enjoy every minute, every second, you guys will have some incredible stories to tell, to your friends, to us, it will be the mundane, oh yes we went to a museum, to a library, but to your friends, I can hear Megan and Laura saying, those Aussie guys, wow, and Ben what will you be saying?? After all you were Escort of the Year??
all is well here, or should I say getting better each day. See you all July 20
Ben
It is always so good to hear your voice. Dad let me use your computer to add my three cents. It was either use your computer or crawl down the stairs. It was tough, but dad said it was OK to use your computer. And I did not break it. Keep having fun and it was fun to review all the postings,for updates but I noted a missing link. Uncle Skip must be on vacation. Hope to see his posts soon.
Love to all of you from
Mom and Auntie Mary
Post a Comment