Interrail 2006

Two dudes.
Six countries.
Two short weeks...

The stage is set for Interrail Spectaculaire, the awesome adventures of Dru und Nacho, the comedy duo that brough to you such great hits as "Tossered Tuesday" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Bexley'eath", the next couple of weeks should be, to say the least, interesting.


In fact the actual reason for this trip is pretty random. Originally we were going to drive down to Spain from England for the purpose of lugging all my crap, built up to considerate porportions after five years in the U.K.. to madrid.
In the end tho, it looks as though I'll stick around enlgland a wee bit longer, so there was no need for the road trip... apart from the fact that it seemed pretty good fun.

So we're doing it anyways, by train.

Why?

... well, why not?

Lo bueno, si breve

...dos veces bueno

Good ol' Garcian, a reknown spanish poet, must have just come back from Auckland when he mused over the effect of brevity on good times. Indeed, what is good, when brief, is twice as good. And that pretty much sums it all.

I am now safely back in London, no terrorist threats, despite what the politicians would have us beleive. Just had my final exam yesterday and it actually went well, which is surprinsing considering that I arrived only the day before.


In a way, it is good to be back home, got me a jamon sandwhich curtesy of Dani, and been catching up with my old friends, in a way Auckland seems like a dream. And like a really good dream, it leaves one with the bittersweet feeling that you get the moment you wake up, because it was good, yet you know that it is over and you've got a great new day ahead of you.

So now I find myself picking up the threads of my life in the old continent, planning my next steps and definately my future travels!

...but at the same time, it seems inevitable to have a look back.

I mean, it's been four months. When you look back at your life four months often seem a pretty insignificant length of time. Either they fly by when you're an adult working away at your desk or they drag like when you were six and four months stood between now and Christmas.

Only seldom I have found that four months can actually change a person. And I do believe that that's actually what just happened to me. The New Zealand experience was defiately something else. So rarely do you get a combination of being in an awesome place and surrounded a an even more spectacular group of people.

From the first person I have met to the last, it seems like everyone's made an impression. I guess anyone willing to travel to the other side of the world must have a pretty cool personality. And if you alredy live at the other side of the world... well, you're already someone else

I won't go through the good times (I believe I've accounted for most of them throughout these posts) or the good people, to whom it would be impossible to do justice. The only thing I can say really is thanks. Never has a final year project been so great.

You all truly made work feel like a holiday.

Piha Beach

Now, the overseas people may not know this, but Piha beach is practically a pilgrimage that all visitors to New Zealand must find their way to.



So we went there after our marlborough trip, thanks to the fact that the car hire was ridiculously cheap :)

and thank goodness too, cos otherwise id have missed it! it was pretty awesome, some wicked views and decent waves (and these were small for piha, its pretty much the surfing cathedral of the auckland neibourhood!)




And i think this will actually be my final trip! Boooo! But since i am actually leaving tomorrow... itll be hard to fit anything else in... speacking of which, i better get packing!



haka-licious!!

Marlborough Country

Whilst all good things must come to an end, it’s always better to go out with a bang.


With this philosophy in mind we headed over to the Marlborough Sounds for some kayaking action as a final trip that was to be the mother of the lot. And so it was.



A team of five hardcore kayakers headed over to the north of the south island for a four day kayaking expedition around the sounds. We covered a total of one squillion kilometres and fought against wild marine life, perilous tides and gipsy witches.


Now, ill admit that this may be a slight embellishment of our actual trip, it isn’t as far from reality as you may be tempted to think. Lisa, Frankie, Halli, Math and I did actually cover a fair distance, the actual number of ks unknown (for now) and we did kayak amongst seals, dolphins, penguin skeletons and other forms of marine life! We did join a tarot reader for dinner and fire in one of our campsites and she did educate us into the world of the occult.


We also played a fair amount of Kayak ball, built up a strong smell of sausage (except Lisa, who only smelt like roses) and generally were extremely hardcore in everything that we did.


The weather was beautiful, and the sea was easy. All in all an excellent trip, so much that I’ve properly caught the kayaking bug, definitely going to take it up more seriously and try to sort out some expeditions!

With just over a week to go...

9 days to be precise, and ill be leacing the land of sheep, bungy and general mayhem.
It´s been a good deal of good times the last couple of weeks!
What´s surprising is that Ive been in Auckland for the past coupld of weeks, generally becuase of the small trifle that is finishing up a master´s project (shudder), but i´ve got to say that it wasnt as bad as i though it would be

in fact, its all been good fun, all work and all play, leaving little time for sleeping , but hey, that´s something i can catch up on later, right? perhaps my liver disagrees...

Anyhow, so the last couple of weeks, life in Auckland has been all about:

Work--> Sadly i did have to do some

Salsa --> The friday nights at the mexican cafe are always good fun



Ping Pong--> for those idle moments at the railway


Mass Movements--> it´s been great how everyone is up for everything! what a cool crowd!

The Strand--> The Ol´wednesday night classic, im surprised to say that i will miss the place. Mary Rocks!!

Tapas Thusday--> Quickly becoming the classic, turn up with a dish, a bottle of wine and the rest is just laughs


Jazz--> last night, in fact, loving old men playing jazz

Crepes--> A little tradition imported from the first semester kids


Comedy--> jokes are funnier when in kiwi accents

And general random nights, it´s become dangerous to go for dinner, since you never know what will happen to you!



And now, a bit of detox coming my way, since Im gong kayaking in the marlborough sounds! I leave tomorrow, should be good, have to wake up at 5 in the morning tho, which shouldnt be too much of a problem , as long as i skip dinner...

Note: I have become significanlty more lazy with my pictures, so all the ones from this post are all curtesy of good ol´ halli! cheers dude!

Nacho, the free dude...

...for now at least!

It's been a hectic couple of weeks of much work and many parties, and now it's all coming slowly to an end, what a shame!

I have basically been sleeping very little and have managed to succesffuly finish all my work, so that I can now head over to the Marlborough Sounds, in the South island for some kayaking action! Can't wait!

Interestingly, I also seem to have been having a great time! The new kids in the railway campus are respectably cool ;) so it's been pretty much non stop. All in good fun and never climbig to the roof of the railway campus... nononono...

Oh my Lord

Here it is folks, the moment no one's been waiting for!
You though you were safe, but you will not be spared!

In a moment of absolute creeativity, and too much spare time, John, Mike and me created this epic photoseries that will have you begging for more!

Give it up for: The lordude of the Rings

Kiwi Huntin'

>I hears they taste like chicken

Mt Ruapehu

The deadline for my project is looming, i can totally feel the pressure building up (if such a thing is possible in New Zealand) so I did the only logical thing I could have done: I went snowboarding this weekend, in hopes of breaking an arm to avoid the deadline! The oportunity of snowboarding in a volcano also sounded like a cool thing to do!

We went to Whakapapa, on the north-western slopes of Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand’s largest developed ski area. We stayed in this hut that belongs to the uni of Auckland and which is right on the snow side, awesome!

I have to say that things started pretty well and I was actually snowboarding, not just falling on my ass, but then I got a bit cocky and headed up to higher places:




needless to say, it was a painful way down, and though my writeup has not been compromised, sitting down for long periods of time has definately become more painful!

Work is fun

... as fun as getting hit in the face with a five day old tuna fish, that is.

D-day for my thesis is rapidly approaching, (or looming as I prefer to say since it reflects better the sense of doom and gloom)so I'm having to work my little ass off!

These two pretty much sum up how I'm feeling at the moment!



By John Campbell, whose site is worth a check!

http://goodbyefoom.stereotypist.com/

South Island Extravaganza

My hands are knackered to the point where it almost hurts me to write these words, yet all I can think is that it was absolutely worth it. The damage is clear, small cuts and knuckle bruises, insect bites and some odd stains that I can only blame on a fateful chilli meal that wont wash off. All result from the great fun that the past couple of weeks have been on our tour of the south island driving our (slightly battered) camper van.


Only this morning I bid John and Mike farewell back at Christchurch. But I’m back in Auckland now, which is slowly starting to feel oddly like home and after a massive washing session and general toiletry I can finally catch up on both my blog and memories.

Part 1- Due south

We decided to go on holiday on the coldest, rainiest and generally nastiest day I’ve seen in NZ so far. And it’s been pretty bad before.
Being our usual hardcore, John, Mike and I were pretty tempted to stay in bed, yet somehow we got our assets in gear and headed down south. Originally we planned on sending a couple of days in the north, but since the weather was crappy we decided to pelt it down to Wellington.

We did manage to stop off at Rotorua, a well-known Geothermal centre and national park, where we had a nice bath in a naturally warmed river… sweet! It was great, the water is warmed by the thermal activity and results in a sort of natural Jacuzzi. You gotta care not to dunk your head or risk meningitis (those pesky bacteria love the warmth as much as we do!) .


Also worthy of mention was the “thermal wonderland”, which I am embarrased enough to admit to going, but I must say that it was worth it. Crazy coulours due to mineral deposits in the landscape and the lakes!


We eventually made it to Wellington and Jumped on the Interisland Ferry that takes us to Picton! This was an amzingly scenic ride, tho the sea was uber choppy and the winds were absolutely insane! The combination was awesome

Part 2- North of the South

Picton is a picturesque coastal town that serves as the ferry gateway to the south island. Our initial destination was to head over to Motueka, the nearest town to the Abel Tasman national park, host to some of the best known walks and one of new zealands to tramps (hehehe- I still find that funny).


We checked out the park and it was pretty awesome how incredibly variable it is. Some of the hillsides reminded me a lot of La Perdiza near Madrid, being quite rocky shrublands. These were intermingled with temperate rainforests, white sand beaches and awesome mountain ranges. All within minutes of driving! I understand why they claim that new zealand is so diverse… it damn well is! We scrambled down some rocky beaches and collected our dinner’s share of Pipis, some real tasty clams, which we promptly cooked up. Very tasty in a rissotto with a hint of wine.



We did a bit of kayaking on the east coast of the park. We hired out kayaks for the day. We were given clear instructions on where we were advised to go and were helpfully indicated not to go past a certain bend in the coastline. So obviously, we went past the point of no return, then around the corner, stayed for lunch, then took our long way back. Sweet.




In fact the weirdest thing was how on the way back, we approached this island looking suspiciously like King Kong’s home. I was in the midst of pointing this out to my buddies, when we hear this weird- as distant roar! Needless to say, we paddled on quite happily!

Part 3- Westport, Punakaiki and The Forging of the Fellowship

We headed down the west coast towards Westport, where we successfully managed to get dangerously stuck in mud and out again! We spent the night there near the beach and caught some pretty nice views



We had planned to go surfing, but the town was hiving none of that, so instead we headed further south to Punakaiki to check out the pancake rocks, a sea whethered limestone deposit which over time has become a stand-in for an american home on Sunday morning. The sea was absolutely nuts, and some pretty awesome blowholes did pretty good geiser impressions too.


We met up with Morgane and Fran at Greymouth. They are a couple of friends of mine from Auckland that were brave enough to join us in the van! We headed over to Hokitika, further down the coastline. This place is located near the Hokitika river (what were the chances!) which washes down the west coast mountains and Jade deposits. This means that one can find lumps of jade just walking around the beach, and Hokitika has become a busy Jade carving town.

After some jewlery shopping we headed over to the Hokitika Gorge, a brilliand blue lake for lunch. The water is bright blue in evidence of its glacial formation. As the glacier scraped the bottom of the limestone base it pulverised the bottom of what is now the lake. The particles suspended in the water now diffract light in such a way that the blue light is reflected. Or something like that anyhow, I’m no geologist!

Part 4- Walking on thick ice

The next morning we woke up uber early to catch the sunrise at Lake Matheson, further south, near the mountains. Totally worth it, the lake was so relfective and the was the light shone on the lake was a proper kodak moment.



We then ventured onto Fox glacier. Maori legends speak of the Avalanche girl, who was a fervient rock climber. Then this guy (insert hardcore maori name here) fell in love with her, and to prove himself worthy, the fool decided to climb the Fox Mountain to prove himslef worth. Needless to say, he slipped and fell onto the abyss. Dumbass.
Anyhow, the Avalanche girl, cried a lot, and her tears became the west coast glaciers. The tears from her left eye became the Franz Joseph glacer and those of her left became the Fox, which we quite happlily explored.
Armed with a set of Clampons (sic) we hiked around pretty high. It was pretty awesome, and sruprisingly warm! The ice was brilliant blue or grey depending on whether the glacier was ploughing through the land or not. And the views were so sweet.