Canadian Kiwi

AUSSIE LAND!!!

2008-04-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

I made it, my first trip to Australia, 6 days is defiantly not enough time to visit a country the size of Australia, but I am so glad I went! I almost missed my flight, but this time it was not my fault! I guess the computer systems were down in Sydney and they had no way of checking very ones visas, so there was a few of us that were a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to get on the flight! But as luck had it, it all went through and I was the last person to board the plane! I had to pay a lot of money for my access baggage but, I didn’t have time to bat the eyes and work the sweet talk as I was a bit pressed for time, and when the people helping you don’t understand English it kind of was cramping my style! So I arrived into Sydney and my aunt and uncle totally went out of their way to make my whole trip AMAZING!!! The first huge thing was I had a place to store my luggage which was huge as I pretty much have my life in two bags….(well and a shed full maybe 2 back on the farm..but we won’t count that!!) so it made traveling up the coast nice and easy cuz I only had one bag to worry about!

I had the whole day in Sydney before I had a to catch another plane up to the Gold Coast . The only thing I wanted to do was have a beer, biggest Beef Burger ever, and speak to people in complete English sentences!!! A shower would have been ideal, but I would have to wait for that!! So I was walking around Sydney smelling Chinese still….but I have come to the conclusion when you smell….you don’t know you stink when that is all you know….so I now feel for all the smelly people out there…..they really have no idea they stink! So here I was ready to take a sip of my first Australian beer and I had to capture the moment on photo….which led to my first opportunity to meet someone….Amazing the people you meet on a trip! Turns out the guy was kiwi, living in Hong Kong as a pilot and learning how to speak Mandarin, so I gave my few lines that I know and he had a good laugh at my POOR mandarin skills! So I had my beer, burger and lunch buddy! It was ideal.
I walked around Darling Harbour, went and checked out Sea world and then it was time to get out to the airport, caught my flight and I was off to the Gold coast! I stayed at the same place my aunt and uncle stayed when they were there. So it was AWESOME…….I had a meat pie and a cold beer waiting for me…..can’t ask for anything more!!! It was GREAT!!! The weather on the gold coast was not the best, lots of rain in the morning..(making it easy to sleep in) but then it would dry up and just be over cast, which is a good thing cuz I am sure I would have burnt to a crisp!! I was stubborn though, I was at the beach no matter what….sure it looked funny when it would start raining and I was the only one out there though…HAHHA joking I didn’t take it to that extreme!

First day I wondered around, and in the evening I went to this production called the Australian Outback, and it was great dinner theatre with lots of horses, dogs, sheep, singing and more horses!! It was GREAT! I felt like the youngest person there but it was still lots of fun, I was hanging out with all these older ladies and we had a blast!! It was all you can drink beer…and by the end of the show I was almost gunned!! Feel like I am turning into an alcoholic traveling on my own….drinking by myself in the condo and then getting half cut at a dinner theatre by myself! The next day I was off to Surfer paradise to hang out on the beach, before I left got a book from a little book exchange store…”Stuck between a rock and a hard place” GREAT read! About the guy who cut his arm off after being tramped by a rock in Utah…it was such a good read, I read it all DAY! Couldn’t put it down. After about 5 hours of reading I thought I better walk around a bit, so I hung out around the boardwalk, and met with some people playing foot bag! They were amazing, turns out they were the World champions at foot bag, so no wonder they were good!!! I did not participate, only was a spectator! Went back to the beach to continue with the good read, Minding my own business…HONESTLY and this guy comes up to me so we strike up a conversation and have a great chat! He then asks if I want to go fishing….I said sure I love fishing….But it was getting dark so I said right now???? And he said no, at 9:30 tonight….didn’t really think anything about it, and said sure sounds great! So he drove me back to where I was staying, it was one of those oh shit, should I really be getting in his car kind of moments, had this moment before…..But I got in! all good he took me back to where I was staying and I said he would be back at 9:30…..so I said perfect! Went up, showered and started to eat…then I was thinking humm maybe I will take this knife just in case this guy isn’t for real!! Thought this was taking wise safety precautions….then I thought I should buy my own alcohol with a cap so he can’t slip me anything……..WAIT a second…. when these thoughts were going through my head, I was like what am I doing and WHO goes fishing at 9:30 at night…..hummm maybe a psychotic Greek tourist killer….It started to pour rain and then I got reading the book again…and well I didn’t make it down to meet him! Good decision eh mom! Hahaha sorry had to share the story…no worries I still have some sense, need to stop getting into strangers cars though! So finished the book that night! And it was off to Brisbane to see Kangaroos and Koalas in the AM…which turned more into a PM kind of affair!

I went to kangaroo and Koala sanctuary…and it was great! Got to pet my kangaroo and cuddle a Koloa…..Which I am sure is the equivalent of cuddling a gopher for foreigners who come to Saskatchewan! (not that I actually cuddled a gopher, could be hard to catch) Well I met a bunch of people here as well, hung out with a bunch of Danish girls for the most of it and then at the end there was a bunch of us all waiting for the bus to pick us up….so might as make friends with the whole lot of them! Well it turns out the other group of girls were all from Ithaca, the same city I went to school in at Cornell….so it was CRAZY!!! Small world! So we had this massive connection and I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night! Took the train back and had my last night in the condo, up bright and early for a flight back to Sydney for my last day in Aussie land!
Hung out in Sydney took in the Opera house, took a tiki tour around the harbor, huge Greek festival, worried I was going to see my Greek friend…but no worries! Just crazy amount of people…had my baklava and I took in a 3D Imax show….Met a fun Swiss family and it was back to the hotel for me!

Next morning it was off to NZ…..but this time I was not going to pay the ridiculous Baggage charges! So I layered…A lot of layers!! And wore my snowboard boots! I showed up at the little stand Sweating!! So I was going from paying $200 to paying nothing!! The lady was awesome, and she bent the rules a bit so I could have extra baggage without the charges….so with the good news I asked if I could put more stuff in the bags….and she said sure! Well then she had quite the laugh as I was layering down…..and taking off my snowboard boots! HAHAHAH too funny!! But really you turn up for a flight and there is always the token LARGE person or 5 of them at that…and they are allowed the same amount of baggage as you, and that doesn’t include all the baggage they are personally carrying around AKA FAT!!! So I think, and I think my argument is legit because….why should it be fair for someone who is bigger be allowed the same baggage allowance when they weigh as much as your baggage allowance! I was going to pull out this argument if I was going to get charged!

But all is good….until I got to customs!!! Jesus, I think I am a magnet here in NZ, well I got pulled a side and interrogated for the first hour an half. They searched everything and swobbed a bunch of my stuff….I guess I was a red flag cuz of being in China then Australia then off to NZ in such a short time span! Oh well…..I made it and I am now back in New Zealand….so good to be back, had my traditional Starbucks with my NZ Mom and it has been a great start to the next new adventure!!

LOVE you ALL,
Jenel

China Adventure....

2008-04-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Nee How! She She! tui poo shi, Ta tsi tsi is my extended vocabulary after trying to fit in as a chinaman…..I had the size down, but the blindly pasty white skin, blonde hair and lack of the language were my down falls! Nee how---Hello----Nee how Ma-----Hello how are you? She She----Thank you, Tui poo shi ta tsi tsi-----Sorry small boobs. The cab drivers loved that line, it is amazing how well you can speak a language after you have had a few….or maybe it is more you think you can speak it better!!! HAHAH

Where to start………It was hard leaving Calgary once again! But I guess that is a good thing, if it wasn’t hard to leave, one wouldn’t come back. Its always hard for a reason, Canada is home. But the adventures continue and not sure for how long this time, see where the wind blows ya I guess!

So to get everyone caught up with what is up with me….I am overseas once again doing the transient lost soul thing again….hahah well with a little more direction this time! I was just in China for the past 12 days, hanging out in Beijing and Harbin, sight seeing and playing hockey against the Chinese National team. The Edmonton chimos put a team together and few of us ‘non’ chimos jumped on board as well….we made a whole trip out of it, with a great mix of sightseeing and playing hockey. The Chinese have been training hard all season in preparation for the world Championship which they are hosting in April, so the idea was to come over and give them a few good games so they can stay in contention for the Olympics in 2010.

The long flight over to China was uneventful, which is a good thing when you are on a plane! I did not fly with the team, but there was 3 of us that were all on the same flight, so it was fun flying with someone you know. The team met us at the airport and the trip began! We stayed at a really nice hotel in Beijing, it is where they house the Olympic athletes so it was all fenced in and security guards were everywhere! The traffic is absolutely crazy, there are lanes, but they don’t really use them! People just drive and honk when they want in! I think the only rule that I could see was that if you were a bigger you had the right away! So being in a bus we were fine!!! BIKES, everywhere….I now know why the Chinese are so little…cuz on a diet of rice and biking everywhere there is no time to get big….maybe malnutrition could also be a factor! But seriously, there really were bikes everywhere, and the most run down bikes you have ever seen, they hauled everything with their bikes, huge loads that you couldn’t even fathom! Crossing the street is an adventure as well, because of the lack of traffic rules people just walk when ever….and are so calm about it, in the middle of an intersection with cars/bikes/trucks zippin ever which way and direction. Then there is a group of little white people….hahaha well it was funny watching us cross I am sure…..NOT CALM at all……sort of like a twisted version of chicken. The trick was to find a Chinese person and walk in unison with them. The other cultural different thing is the toliets, for the most part they have the squat pots….where you just plop a squat!! By the end of the trip it was no big deal using them….but it was quite funny the first couple of times….The fun stopped when the realization that you would have to actually perform a number 2 on them…..I was fortunate in this only happened to me once during the trip! The rest of the time I had perfect number 2 timing and was able to find a normal toilet.

The first night it was early to bed for everyone! But the next morning we were up and ready to face the markets!!! Or were we??? WOW, talk about shopping, puts any US shopping spree to shame. CHEAP as borche as a good Ukraine would say! Truly a Bode paradise because the bartering is the name of the game! But not Mexican bartering…..a whole new EXTREME!!! But it is defiantly a confidence boost going into the market, sexy lady you need shirt? Pretty girl how bout some jeans? Special price? Looky Looky? Oh it was an adventure that is for sure!!! I am sure we got taken the first couple of shops, but by the end of the day we were all pros at the game! Most of the goods are knock off name brands but it was all fun and games!! We visited two markets the first day. We ate as a team in the hotel and the first couple of meals were all traditional Chinese meals…luckly I am a Bode cuz I had to just try everything!! Lots of deep fried food, tons of vegetables and fruit though! AND the staple RICE…..really missing the pasta after this trip! We had a tour guide while we were in Beijing his name was Thomas! Great guy, full of stories! Oh ya that is the other thing….I feel that I have lost some of my English, you get used to shorting your sentences for easier translation and by the end of the trip we would catch each other speaking in short phrase sentences, sometimes not even making sense!

The next day we went to one of the 7 wonders of the world! The Great Wall of China….WOW, it was amazing, very daunting it was so huge! We hiked a good portion of the wall, meaning we walked for 2 hrs and really didn’t get very far at all since there is only like 6,700 kms to walk…the photos don’t really do it justice, but you truly do feel small in retrospect. There were a whole lot of stairs and we were all feeling it the next day! We ended our day going to an area with huge lake, with lots of fun little bars! I went on a rickshaw ride through the back streets of the area! It was fun, we bought a huge bottle of beer for less than a dollar. Piss warm but when you by it from a guy peddling a bike you can’t be picky!!

The following day we attempted to go to Tiananmen square, however there was something going on, so we could only see it from a far. But we did go to the forbidden city. Basically a city within a city, it is where the Chin dynasty resided. The Chinese have a very long and interesting history, I was mostly interested in the information about the concubines! Thomas was very informative but the weather this day was absolutely awful! The air (or should I say lack there of) was so thick! Dust everywhere, crazy wind….but we were true Canadians wearing sandals, capris or shorts! The one girl on our team was wearing short shorts….and well lets just say it was hilarious because everyone who passed us would stop and STARE at her, then our group…it was crazy! It was an interesting feeling being the minority.
The Next day we did more shopping at different markets, but we had to be back to pack up and get ready for our train ride to Harbin. It was about a 9 hr trip but it was through the night so we knew we could all sleep! Well, it was a character building experience that is for sure, first of all we were pushing it for time, so we were racing through this VERY crowded station with hockey bags, sticks, luggage bags and a huge group of people! Felt like mission impossible, because we had to lug our stuff FAR!!! We finally made it, we were all under the impression that we would be all together on this train. HAHAHAH Nope! We were mixed in with all the other Chinese people…we were packed in like pickles!!! (or sardines) IT was hilarious, really laughter was the only means of sanity. We not only were packed in, but we had to figure out how to get all our massive amounts of luggage on board, it was at this point I was glad not to speak Chinese cuz it was better to just not understand what they were saying…tone however is a universal language and we basically had train full of pissed off Chinese people!! This is where I learned tui poo tsi ( I am sorry) It wasn’t all that bad, we each had bunks that where 5 stacked, on both sides but we were all on bottom bunks. So that was nice! We all slept to wake up to a new city in the AM!

Harbin, well lets just say it looks a lot more run down then Beijing, more dirty and still people everywhere!!! We once again stayed at a very nice hotel that the Chinese National team footed the bill for as well as all our food while we were in Harbin. We also had the most helpful part of the whole trip and that was Richard, he was the Chinese National team Manager/interpreter so he was stuck with us!!! BUT what a blessing!!! We had a our first team skate, and it felt great to get on the ice, met up with some of the girls on the Chinese National team (2 of them played with our regular season team in Calgary) So it was great seeing Jinny and Snow again! We played our first game that night against them! We lost but it was loads of fun!!! The remainder of our time in Harbin was basically morning skate, afternoon wondering around then playing in the evening. The coach organized a bunch of massages for all of us, it was a total of $15 Canadian for whole body 1 hour massage!! CRAZY! Had that two days in a row! Was not relaxing at all, lots of aches and pains from carrying luggage to walking gazillion stairs at the great wall…but they were quick to work the kinks out!

One of our days off we went to a tiger sanctuary, or you could call it a breeding ground/ puppy mill for tigers! It was sad in some spots, but then there were areas where there was lots of space for them to run around! It was very amazing to go though, we were basically in a big bus driving around taking pictures of the tigers…true tourist style! You could buy a chicken, sheep, or cow to feed to the tigers and lions! Couple of the girls bought some chickens….it was CRAZY!! You have to check out the pictures on this! Basically this truck that is all grated drives in to where the bus is and throws a chicken on top of the roof of the SUV (not sure I want to know what the chicken is thinking at this point..oh shit!! Would be a good guess) but in two seconds this giant tiger leaps on top of the SUV and snatches it up!!! CRAZY!!! I am so glad no one bought a sheep, not sure I could watch that! Chicken was my limit! We also saw black panthers, lions, white tigers and a liger (cross between lion and tiger) only 10 in the world. Lots of cubs as well…which were all very cute.

We had one crazy night out in Harbin, where the coaches scouted out a good dance bar to go to! It was a hit, we had loads of fun!! Danced the night way, drank beer and tried to communicate with the locals…..charades becomes the means of communication in most cases! Using the squat pots while under the influence is another adventure!
We continued to practice in the AM and played in the PM and we continued to lose to the Chinese….They were all great games, we just couldn’t put the puck in the net. But they were all fun games! We ended up taking a flight back to Beijing which was a huge relief for everyone! We spent our last day in Beijing shopping the markets that we scoped out before. We all went out for a much tamer night as our last night out in China. We had plans of heading to Tiananmen square for the changing of the guards and flag raising. This occurs at sunrise, so it was up at 5:00 AM for us, to get there on time!!! The rest of the day was spent eating, having a nap and then packing up to leave!

We all left for the airport together, it was a little sketchy for me as the Australian system was down for what ever reason and they couldn’t issue any one tickets because they couldn’t approve the visas. So it was a long wait, to just see if I would actually get on the flight! Well…..as luck had it, I was the last person to board and now I sit on a plane on route to Australia….they really should ban people taking their shoes off on planes, cuz the guy beside me has the worst foot smell ever!!
I am in Australia for 5 days then off to NZ once again! I start work April 1st working as the ice hockey coordinator/ coaching for the organization and the Dunedin Thunder. I know this was a long one…..but I am sure once I get back to NZ there won’t be as many crazy stories to share…..but I can see what I can do about that!

LOVE you all!!
Jenel

Life in Dunedin

2007-08-29T03:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone….it has been awhile!! I apologize for being the missing lynx…but the lynx has been found….I am almost a cougar now(year older, and I hope a little more wiser). I moved from Christchurch, where I was previously living since I arrived in NZ, further south to a city called Dunedin. It may be further south, but it sure isn’t warmer! I will complain about this later.

Dunedin is a cute little city, smaller than Christchurch but a happening little city because of the university. It reminds me a lot of Ithaca with all the student housing and student antics around town (AKA drunk university students….EVERWHERE!!!) and I thought these days were over for me…Just joking I have been pretty tame and have not participated in these endeavors (much). The biggest reason on moving to Dunedin was because I was offered an ice hockey coaching position. I am the skills development coach for all age categories within the club. All the way from 5 year olds up to 50 year olds. It is great!!! I am really enjoying my time on the ice with the kids and they have all made major improvements in a short time period. When I first arrived I put on a real short notice ice hockey camp, and I was able to get 25 kids for a week of development. For being such short notice, the camp turned out great and the kids learned a lot.

I also was offered a teaching job by one of the local high schools, the opportunity just kind of fell in my lap. The school offered to pay for my registration fee and my qualification assessment, which is quite costly and grueling process, this made it an easy decision to take the job. It is only one grade 11 biology class 4 times a week, which is a perfect stepping stone for a beginner teacher. I have also been doing quite a bit of relief teaching (substitute teaching) so this has been quite interesting. It is an all boys school and lets just say, they like to test the limits! I now wish I was much nicer to my substitute teachers, what comes around goes around! There are some great beginner teacher stories coming out of this year, that is for sure!!!

I was very fortunate when I first moved to Dunedin, for I lived with a very nice family for the first 5 weeks while I was looking for a flat to live in, but then it was my luck that another lady in the club was leaving for 5 weeks to visit her son in London, so I had a new home for a bit. It has just been recently that I have had to bite the bullet and for the first time living in NZ, I now have to pay rent!! I live with 3 other flatmates (not called roommates here) and so far they seem really nice. I have been very fortunate, because the rink has given me the kiwi skate car to get around town with. So I have been driving a purple penguin mobile…it is great!!! The free petrol has defiantly been appreciated!

So the weather….well, lets just say the first couple of weeks of ‘winter’ I was a little worried….my new best friend that I slept with every night was a ‘hottie’, on real cold nights I would even have two ‘hotties’….not your typical ‘Hottie’…it is a rubber hot water bottle…wrapped in a towel or pillow case so you don’t burn yourself! It was the only way to get the chill off. It wasn’t that it was that cold outside, it was the houses were and are FREEZING….no insulation at all! Seeing your breathe when you wake up is normal. This has taken awhile to get used too..but I think I have beat the cold houses…it is called an electric blanket and a heater….as soon as I get home I turn on the blanket and turn on the heater. My little shoe box of a room is warmed up in no time and it is quite pleasant, until you have to go to the bathroom.

My tramping days (hiking days) have come to a halt as I am now a working girl! But I have managed to stay quite busy with working both jobs as well as playing hockey on the weekends. I have also been coaching the premier team, which is the best guys in Dunedin and we are hoping to be accepted into the super league next year (which is basically NZ major competitive league for ice hockey..kind of like their NHL) It is challenging at times, but the guys are learning a lot and have made major improvements so far. It hasn’t been all work with no play, that is not my style! There are plenty of good little hikes in the area, and I am really excited to get into rock climbing as one of the teachers I work with, is really into it! There is this really neat place called ‘long beach’ yes the kiwis say it as it is…..its a really long beach! But the cool thing about this beach is that there are these caves… people have huge bonfires in the caves and party the night away. I will let you know when this happens! There is this other place called tunnel beach, which is a cool little place. There is a tunnel carved out of the rock, which leads you down to the beach area. When the tide is out, you are able to walk around and explore, I have yet to plan it right and be out there when the tide is out! A short drive down the peninsula and you will arrive at an Albatross colony, it is quite the tourist attraction. An Albatross is basically an over sized seagull! They are massive with a really long wing span. I have yet to actually pay to see the colony, but my hopes are if I go up there enough eventually I will see one flying over head. I am excited to explore more little areas around the city.

I took a trip up to the North island with my friend, Deanna, whom happens to be from Edmonton…(we randomly met through a mutual kiwi friend. Pretty crazy half way around the world and meet someone 3 hours away from you back home! Turns out we have some mutual friends as well….small world that is for sure!)Anyways we played in a roller hockey tournament. It was a really neat experience, met some great people and played in a pretty competitive inline tournament. I spent my birthday in Wellington and then had a great birthday dinner with all my Christchurch friends as we were passing through to go back to Dunedin.

I also decided to take up snowboarding, I bought all second hand gear and hit the slopes as soon as the hills were opened! It was quite the experience. First of all, the kiwis freak out as soon as there is even a bit of frost on the roads. Granted so, they have a lot of hills , do not have much for snow removal, and do not believe in salting the roads so they gravel them……but still, they freak if there is even a little snow! They even shut down schools if there is snow in the hills or have late starts if the roads are frosty….crazy!! So the plan to go snowboarding almost was cancelled due to the road conditions…but these are kiwi standards….not Canadian…so away I went with the fellow Canadian friend Deanna and we took on the extreme caution road conditions! There were cars in the ditches and along the road side…it was quite humorous! I am sure the road conditions were bad, but they weren’t while we were on them! We made it into Queenstown, which reminds me a lot of Banff, we toured around the city for a bit and then spent the night in B3….where to begin….B3 stands for the name of the random car I kind of acquired through a lady up in Wellington. Her name is Beater Buckin Barbara (the car not the lady in Wellington) …hence B3…basically she is a beaut of a car! But she has four wheels and a whole lot of character…you never know if she is going to break down on you! So….exciting! On with the snowboarding adventure!

So to begin, you have to actually drive up the mountain to get to the ski lifts, I had my first experience with putting chains on a vehicle. Okay I played the damsel in distress, and a nice man helped us out, but I was still there and got my hands dirty!! Every sort of vehicle makes this trip up the mountain, from your basic 4x4 vehicle to your average car…it is quite funny! The ski field itself, is BARE…no trees…so good thing for me, makes learning to snowboard that much easier! The first half of the day was me trying to figure out which way I ride….goofy or regular (what foot is first basically)! I have only tried snowboarding a handful of times. But after this season I will be a snowboarding machine….well at least be able to get down the mountain without falling!

My Christchurch friends made the trip down to Dunedin to hang out for a weekend, it was a lot of fun, we did some of the touristy things in the area. We did the Cadbury tour which is the chocolate factory here in town as well as the Speight’s tour (type of locally brewed beer) The Speight’s tour was really informative, but the real reason for going on any alcohol tour is the tasting at the end! We were the last tour of the day, so we were allowed to stay in the tasting area a bit longer than usual. At first we were all being sophisticated and actually tasting all the different kinds of beer…but then the Canadian kicked in….and we started doing shots of our favorite brew….lets just say the night continued from there and we didn’t get home until the wee hours of the morning!

I took a trip up to Christchurch with my friend Megan from here, because we had tickets to see the All Blacks, which is NZ national team for rugby. A must see and do while you are in NZ. I met with some friends and we went to Mount Hutt to take in a day of snow boarding before the game. The day was absolutely beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and great snow conditions. Just like my previous experience, we had to drive up the mountain to get to the snowfield. Although this time, one of my friends is a mechanic, so she knew exactly what she was doing with the chains and had them on the tires in record time! I am quickly getting the idea behind snowboarding, I can now make it down the mountain without falling, I now know what it means to carve, and I even tried a few jumps and landed some…..the ones I didn’t land so well, I am still feeling today!

After a whole day of boarding my legs were quite sore, but what a better way to ease your pain but a few beers and a rugby match! So off we went to the game, it was a rush to get there on time, but I made it just in time to see the Haka…which is a type of war dance that all men national players do before a major competition. It was really neat to see it live, it brought shivers up your spine! They basically stand in the middle of the field facing the other team….and perform this ritual in the Moari language (NZ native), and the other team just stand there and take it! The whole stadium is silent while the haka is happening and it is quite the spectacle to see. The All Blacks ended up beating the South Africans by 20 some points and walked away with a win.

Erewhon Cup

Outdoor ice hockey tournament….need I say more!!! WOW what a weekend…..it was brilliant as they say here. Basically it is a fine line of how much you can drink and still play……the line was tested for the first game, and I scored a hat trick…so maybe I should play this way more often!!! It was another teammates 18th birthday, she was way over the line, and was having trouble standing up…so the refs actually benched her!! It was great!! But all in all, the tournament was a lot of fun! It took place in a mountain paradise called Tekapo, the whole facility was placed by Lake Tekapo and surrounded by mountains, it was a pretty special place. There was a nice wood burning fire place inside to warm up by! It was a pretty small town, so all the teams would go down to the local bar and hang out. On the final night the bar had a mechanical bull, so that made for some fun laughs, and I managed to track down a pair of Chaps.. so I felt like a real professional! There was a lot of laughs and lots of beers drank by everyone!

To top off a great weekend, we were told by a local that there were some frozen ponds down the way, so all 15 of us or so headed out to these ponds…we drove for quite awhile but the scenery was amazing….we finally got to the ponds, and we were in luck cuz they were frozen! Some of the guys that were there, never played pond hockey in their lives, so it was a neat experience for everyone! We spent about 2 hours playing shirts against skins….it was great fun, and no one fell in, except for a few lost pucks!

On Tuesday nights we started up a best of 7 series or the Toonie Keg cup…..yes that is right…..one of the guys designed a cup out of an old keg, a paint can with a wok on top. Doesn’t sound all that flash (oh check out that kiwi lingo) But it looks AMAZING….quite like the Stanley cup. He even had it chromed so it looks all shiny and silver! It is called the ‘Toonie’ Keg cup, because a toonie was placed in the middle of the ice when the friendship games were hosted in Dunedin. The Canadian team that came down for the tournament, placed the toonie in the ice. It has been there since March, however, a kid in public session decided to chip the toonie out of the ice, luckily Hans, one of the rink managers, caught the little brat and now the toonie is going to be placed on the cup! Well the best of 7 didn’t quite turn into 7 games….my team got swept. But the games were in tense, we had two fights in the first game. So the boys got a talking too as it is an in-house competition and the last thing we need is fights between players! But things went better the following week, but for some reason we just couldn’t buy a win! Much like Ottawa this year!! There ended up being blood in the last two games as well….the one called for 9 stitches in the eye, but no permanent damage. So all in all good fun, the boys got to hold the cup up high and have drinks out of it!

I had my first experience with taking school kids on away trip. I was the teacher chaperon for the John McGlashans hockey team, which worked out great, because I became their honorary coach for the weekend! It was great fun, we got beat in every game but it still was a lot of fun…

I have managed to get out to another ski field with my Christchurch friends, we all met up in Queenstown, and stayed in a rented house all together. It was quite the international affair, for we had a handful of Irish, English, Canadians, Americans and one Kiwi managed to slip in! We went to a field called Cardrona, it was the same story with driving up the field to ski, no chains this time so that is exciting! It was a great day of boarding with blue skies! Sylvie, one of my friends from Christchurch is leaving soon to do a bit of traveling on her own, so it was sad to say good-bye to her!

I will be playing in the National tournament this weekend for Ice Hockey so I will have to write again for an update on that! Hopefully we will come away with Gold!!

Again I apologize for the long delay….but that pretty much sums up a bit of what is going on down here with me! I have made some minor decisions in that, I have decided to come home beginning of October. Playing and watching all this hockey down here as given me the bug to play at least one more year with the Strathmore Rockies, which were fully accepted into the league this year! So I am very excited to come home and play as well as catch up with family and friends. I will see everyone SOON!!!

Stewart Island

2007-03-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

The adventure begins with a ferry ride across the Foveaux Strait, which is supposedly the 3rd worse strait to cross in the world. But we were lucky for the waters weren’t to rough, however I heard of stories where almost everyone was sick on the boat because of the waves. The ferry left from Bluff, which is the southern most town on the south island of NZ. Stewart Island was about an hour ferry ride away from the main island. We arrived at Horseshoe bay (Oban) which is the only town on Stewart Island. There are about 600 people that live on the island, which makes it the most sparsely populated island in the world and only has 20 kms of road. BUT miles and miles of tracks!!!

We met up with Liz, who owns a kayak company on the island. We chilled out infront of the hotel (which her mom owns) with her dog Pip and a couple of her other friends. We made plans to get a kayak dropped off for us along the track we were hiking so we could kayak back instead of hiking back. It was really random that we were all chilling in front of the hotel….it was great….everyone was on island time, there was no rushing around or hurrying of any kind! I love it! The longer we sat there the more info she told us about good spots to fish, where to find the good muscles and then she even told us where her key was for their family cabin that happened to be on this little island (Bravo island) that was amongst the other random islands in Paterson inlet. So we were thrilled because this would mean not having to take the tent.

We made arrangements to get a water taxi to drop us off along the track to avoid part of the track which is one of the great walks (you have to pay extra to use there huts and book the track) So we kind of did it the lazy way in, by boat!! HAHAH, all was good so we made it too the first hut in about 2 hours from our drop off point. It was at this hut that I tried to make a woven basket out of Flax leaves…Tried is the key word!! It kind of looks like a basket…but can only fit something the size an egg in it! And it basically looks like a tangled mess!

The next morning we woke up nice and early and headed out on the track. I was lucky to see my first real kiwi (which is another NZ flightless bird that has a really long beak that it sticks in the mud to get grubs and bugs, it actually has nostrils on its beak and smells out its food!) The track was well marked, and there were sections of mud, but nothing that was too crazy! There was magnificent views from the tops and it was actually a really fun track….until the downhill part! I have found that I have a 6 hour limit, after 6 hours I get tired! So the last hour and a bit was tiresome…..especially cuz it was straight down…..my knees were aching! But we made it too doughboy bay, which was a beautiful beach that also contained a hut. We arrived to the hut to meet two other kiwi folk, the plan was to stay an extra day at doughboy, and it turned out the kiwi folk were doing the same.

So Ken, Dave, Steve and I spent the whole next day here on this beautiful beach. It was a cooler day, but didn’t stop us from exploring the beach and finding all sorts of rubbish (garbage) that has been washed up on shore. We also found some quick sand, which was pretty neat and a HUGE sea lion! So if I thought I was scared of some little seals that tired to eat me out of a cave….thank GOD it wasn’t this that came out of the cave, cuz I probably would have really made a mess in my pants for real! He was massive….we were able to get pretty close to him, he didn’t seem to mind to much, he made one grunt and move towards us at one point when we were pushing our luck….but we were pretty respective of the grunt and gave him more space. They are truly amazing animals….I could have sat there all day watching him(I don’t even know if it was a him….didn’t get that close I guess!) but close enough to see his big teeth and hear him delicately scratch his eyes and sides with his flipper!! They are sooo cute! Then he made the move to get back in the water…and that was a site to see. It amazed me how he was able to get all that weight on his four flippers and move into the water!!

The next morning we all got up early and started making our way to the next hut. We left separately, but we ended up meeting up on the track and hiking it together. So it was fun, tramping with other people. We made it down to the beach and decided to take a side trip to a little homestead that use to be in full operation in the 1900’s it was a cute little cabin just off the ocean. We then made our way down the beach to the next hut, it was a long hike across the sand to get to the next hut, but we finally made it! I had my traditional nude dip in the closest river to the hut…it is always the best feeling after a long tramp to just have a nice cold dip and there is nothing better than being one with nature in the nude! It is defiantly not the most flattering exercise for the water is usually freezing but just as you get all your clothes off the sand flies decide to have a feast on you…so it usually consists of a lot of naked running around and then once you get enough nerve to get your whole body in the water….you take the plunge usually by violently moving all your parts as fast as you can while letting out a few cold screams….so as you can see it is quite the process! But well worth it!!! The mason bay hut is a rather big hut and there was quite a few people in the hut. But it is always interesting hearing every ones stories and adventures! Steve was in charge of making dinner this night as I was busy chatting with all the people. Steve then asked me to come over to where he was cooking…and he asked me to smell what was in the pot! It smelled very fruity with a touch of lavender, kind of the same smell as the massage oil that Steve keeps in his toilet bag. Well it turned out that the two bottles the cooking oil bottle and the massage oil bottle look exactly the same. And there seemed to be a little mix up between the two bottles! Opps!! Don’t worry we didn’t eat it…..but our cous cous was lacking flavor as the flavor sachet and dehydrated beef were doused with massage oil!

The next morning we got up and made our way to the next hut which was a super easy walk, but it was located in a really cool spot. It was called Freshwater landing and it had a neat little dock on a river.....so we chilled out and visited with all the people! We had the whole next day at this spot while we waited for our kayak to arrive by water taxi. We awoke in the morning to a beautiful blue sky day, it would have been great to have the kayak earlier but it was also nice to enjoy the weather. I decided to take a day trip and run up a mountain, it was fun not to have a heavy pack weighing you down, and it was nice to have a change of pace. Steve’s foot was bothering him, so I made the trip on my own, it was nice to have some time to myself. I made it too the top and it was amazing panoramic views…I spent close to 4 hours up there….just hanging out on a rock being ‘one’ with nature! I made my way back down to the hut, and met a bunch of new people that just arrived. Steve lucked out, for one of the people that came by was a physiotherapist and he took a look at Steve’s foot and gave him his assessment. It wasn’t long after and our kayak arrived and we were off on our next adventure.

It was getting dark so we had to get a move on, we paddled down this really curvy river that eventually made it’s way into the sea. We paddled our way to the next hut, called Fred’s camp where we stayed the night. We got there right at night fall and made it in just in time! The hut was placed in a really cool place, and I could have spend longer at this hut. The next morning we loaded up the kayak and started exploring all the little islands with in Patterson’s Inlet. We saw a yellow eyed penguin hanging out in the water and we were lucky to catch a few blue cod for supper! We made our way to Ulva island which is a bird sanctuary because it is suppose to be a predatory free zone. It was a neat little place and there really was quite a few birds on the island. Steve took a snorkel in the marine reserve I chickened out for the weather wasn’t the best and the water was freezing! Steve had a really good wetsuit with a hood and gloves he was able to stand the cold… I hung out on the island and walked around listening to birds and then I decided to take a nap in the shelter that was near by. We then made our way to Bravo island where we were excited to see what this cabin looked liked. The key was exactly where Liz explained and it was the cutest little batch ever! It was a little piece of paradise after being all wet and cold from being in a kayak all day. We had a great fire, had a feed of fresh blue cod and enjoyed a nice evening of reading random magazines. The weather really started to turn and it was blowing crazy winds as well as raining a lot. So we were very grateful to be in a warm cabin!

The wind and weather were persistent all night and I woke up to rain blowing in through the windows (they were shut…but obviously not withholding the weather). We tried waiting it out, but it just got worse…so we had to call for a water taxi to get us back to the main land rather than kayak back….knowing Steve and I’s attitude…this was a hard decision…we both wanted to take on the challenge…but I think we made a good choice…for it would have turned into an epic day I am sure of it!!! We made it back to Oban where we set up camp and ate at a really cool fish and chips place….We crossed in the morning by Ferry and our Stewart island adventure came to an end….but we were excited to take on the Dusky track and that was the next adventure!

Dusky track

2007-03-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

Our next adventure takes us deep into the Fiordlands to one of the most remote and difficult tracks NZ has to offer……this is the trip Steve and I have been preparing for all summer…the adventure was about to begin.

But first we had to hitch hike to our pick up point Tuatapere which was about 70 some kms away. We headed to the road and stuck out our thumbs….after a series of short rides further up the road and 4 hours later we were lucky to be picked up by a gentleman who actually owned the backpackers in Tuatapere and took us directly there. While hitchhiking we met up with Chi (a Japanese girl we met on another tramp) who was heading the same way to complete the Dusky with us. When we arrived at the backpackers we also met up with Markus (a Swiss guy we met at on Stewart island) we told him we were doing the dusky and so he decided to meet up with us and make a trip out of it!

We were picked up the next day and bused out to our drop off point where we were taking the water taxi across Lake Hauroko (deepest lake in NZ). The water taxi took us to the trail head of the dusky track…and the adventure began!

The first day was pretty easy, it took us 3 hrs to reach the first hut, where we spent the night…Steve was a mad mouse trapper and was on a mission the whole trip to catch as many mice as possible…by his eco-friendly, not so humane mouse trap….needed supplies: 1 glass bottle, dirty sock (dirty is not a requirement…but usually socks left in the hut are not the cleanest), piece of bait(chocolate or bread), bucket of water….. mouse climbs up the bottle with the sock….wonders out to the end for the goodie…slips on the bottle and falls into the bucket of water….tries to swim to stay alive…eventually tires out and drowns(this is the inhumane part of trap)…..but it works…and Steve would have been able to make a nice hat out of his mouse catches…(at least the fur would have been freshly washed). The next day we headed out…the track was a bit muddy in areas and one had to be careful when attempting to cross mud bogs..when in doubt let someone else go first…if they fall in take a different route! We went up and over a mountain pass, but the weather was over cast so we didn’t see much…we made it to the next hut in good timing so we decided to move on to the next hut….good idea at the time…but turned into a really long day for myself……when we hit the 9 hour mark, my legs and feet were telling me to stop! The worse part was the downhill bit…because it was STRAIGHT down…at times you had to turn backwards and work your way down by holding on to roots and sometimes there was a chain attached that you could climb down making it a bit easier….the weather was good, in that it wasn’t raining which met we could make the final river crossing (walk wires…there were 22 of them on this track…CRAZY) to the lock Maree hut. I think this was the most my body has ever been so physically fatigued in a long time….my legs were defiantly feeling the 9 hours of ups and downs..and I was extremely excited to catch some ZZZZZ’s!

The next morning we work up to BLUE skies…..and we were doing a side trip to supper cove, which is a little cove off the ocean. The plan was to stay here for a day off and spend two nights at the hut. It was a pretty easy walk to the hut, with no real crazy parts…there was a ladder at one spot..that was neat and I must say unexpected. We made it too the cove and decided to try and walk across as the tide was going out. We didn’t really know where the hut was…and I don’t think the tide was fully out…for we started to walk across and it wasn’t long before Steve was up and over his chest in water..with pack floating behind him!!! Needless to say we got a bit wet but it was all in the fun! We made it too the hut by finding the track again and it was situated in a really neat place! I am so glad we skipped a hut the other day, for it allowed us this extra day at supper cove and it was sooo worth it!! There were plenty of fishing lines left in the hut and we put them to good use…we caught plenty of fish (Steve was the fisherman out of the group, or he had horseshoes up his butt…one of the two) the first night we were there….as we were fishing off the rocks….a bunch of blue sharks decided to turn up(6 of them)! They were eerie to watch for they just lurked around the rocks and they were about 5 feet long. We tried catching some shark but they were not interested in the fish heads dangling in front of them!(I think they were smarter than we thought!). So that evening we had a fish fry and learned how to play a Swiss card game…which became our staple evening activity for the rest of the trip…it was a partner game and the Japanese/Swiss combo were defiantly the winners over all! The next day, we were all excited to sleep in but at 7:00 am the Keas (mountain parrot) decided to give us a tap dance show on the tin roof of the hut! And then at 7;15 AM a huge fishing boat came into the cove and we thought we were going to be invaded by hunters….but then over the mountain tops came 2 helicopters…it was like grand central station…..there was a major transfer of goods and people from both chopper and boat. We think the boat dropped off a bunch of hunters who were then choppered up to the high country to hunt. We were all up to watch the excitement and then all back in bed by 9:00 am for a nap! We spent the day playing cards and in the evening Markus dove for a feed of muscles and Steve was determined to get us all another fish feed. He was overly successful and caught the biggest cods of this life! So with four huge blue cods to eat and over 25 muscles…we were Spoiled!! It also helped that Markus happened to be the son of a chef…and it was obvious that his dad’s work rubbed off on him..for we had the best fish feed and muscles I have ever had!! Ohhh the hard life of a tramper…..the next day we made our way back to Lock Maree.

The next morning we awoke to rain….which was frustrating because the next part of the track led us up to the tops again. The track became much more muddier and roots became more slippery making the track a bit more of a challenge but nothing that wasn’t doable! There were a couple of points where we were slopping through water up to our hips…but we didn’t have to swim…so all is good! We made it to the hut all looking like drowned rats. It was nice to warm up by the fire and attempt to dry out our clothing…our boots were hopeless….for you have to accept the fact that you will always have wet feet! This was our last night on the dusky track for the next day we were on our way out!
It was just our luck for the next day was a BLUE sky day….I suggested going back up to the tops to check out the sites but the others weren’t so keen…..it would have been nice…but I was also looking forward to the trip out…plus we had a boat to catch! We made it too the end of the track…and were all very satisfied that we conquered the dusky. We all found the track not as hard as everyone was saying, but then again we had good weather. I could only imagine the track with 8 days of rain straight…would have been hip deep in water and mud all day long! The worse part of the whole trip was at the end of the track there is a 45 min. walk down a gravel road to where the Ferry terminal was! But all was good and we made it out safe and sound!

Markus invited all of us to Queenstown where he wanted to treat us to a hotel and a seafood dinner……Steve, Chi and I were then royally spoiled by Markus’s invitation for we stayed at a really nice hotel and ate at probably ‘the best’ seafood place in Queenstown. We drank way to much wine…and ate more then our bellies could handle! Now that is how you end a tramping trip………….

Abel Tasmen---Christmas trip

2007-02-17T03:09:00.000-08:00

Christmas Trip----Abel Tasmen---

We started the trip out right: 3 girls, 3 bikes and plenty of vineyards to choose from! The journey began on Dec. 22nd when Sylvie, Jen and I drove up the coast to Blenheim where we stayed the night at a campground. The next morning we rented or as they call it ‘hired’ 3 bikes to tour the Marlborough vineyards, which are really popular wineries in New Zealand. It was a great and I thought quite a unique way to visit the different vineyards. We tried acting all posh and sophisticated as we daintily drank our tastings….but that wore off quick….really who were we trying to fool…the more you tasted the more fun it was on the bikes! We were determined to get as most out of the trip as possible and we just made it too the last winery before it closed for our final tasting, however this made us rather late for the return of the bike rentals….opps! We received some grief from the owner but all was well…I mean what were they to expect….three drunk girls on bikes….there is no way we would be on time plus we ‘mis-placed’ the map! We headed into town where we waited for the boys to arrive. Once they arrived our group was complete all 7 of us: 6 Canadians and 1 Irish. (Canada plus 1) I was happy to be along on the Christmas Journey for I really didn’t know anyone other than Paul, who I use to live with in Calgary, so the others were taking a chance on me....mawahhhh! (the total group was: Sylvie (Paul’s girlfriend), Jen (Sylvie works with), Dave (Jen’s Husband), Forbes (friend of Dave and Jen’s from Nova Scotia) and James (random Irishman…..joking, Dave, Jen and Forbes roommate!) so that was the group…just to keep everyone straight!) We then continued up the coast and arrived quite late into our next camping spot. Which was called ‘The Barn’ it was a really cool spot! I stayed in a Teepee with Paul and Sylvie it was very comfy, outfitted with bedding and mattresses, it was great!

The next morning, Dec. 24, we drove to Kaiteriteri where we hired sea kayaks for our Abel Tasmen adventure! The Abel Tasmen is a coast line with a series of really great beaches, the Abel Tasmen is also known as one of ‘the great walks’ in New Zealand (there are a number of ‘great walks’ in NZ, these tracks have to be booked in advance and take special hut passes). We headed out to a beach called Te Pukatea which became ‘our beach’ for we spent the next 2 nights here and was where we spent our Christmas! We pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves, it was paradise! So for those of you, who felt bad cuz it was my first Christmas away from home……after you see the pictures and stories you will no longer feel this way! It was a very beautiful! Although with that said, Christmas to me is all about family and friends and I was definitely missing out this year by not being with the family. I was very thankful that I was able to get a hold of all of them just as they were about to sit down for Christmas dinner! So it was very nice to hear every ones voice in the background, and just for the record I did have a tear or two in my eye. Okay enough with the sappy stuff, on with the adventure… So the next two days we spent hanging out on this beach… Santa came to visit every ones tent and I was surprised to see a delicious reeces peanut butter cups awaiting me! Sylvie and Paul bought everyone beach toys for Christmas so we had plenty of toys to play with and of course us girls picked up some sleazy romance novels, cuz really what is a beach day with out a romance novel! We lazed around, fished from the kayaks (I even caught one…but I think it was too small to keep, so we tossed it back in), and played with all our toys. You know you are relaxing when your only worry in the day is: if the beer is still cold, and moving up the beach as the tide comes in, so your towel doesn’t get wet!

On Dec. 25th Christmas day, we had an amazing Christmas dinner….Kayaked in a whole ham, fresh broccoli and asparagus with cheese sauce along with sweet potatoes (which they call kumar here) fresh buns and plenty of wine for everyone! DELICIOUS!!! All I was missing out on was the perogies! Dave, Jen and Forbes got everyone team tee-shirts, so we couldn’t get lost! At the last minute before I left I wrapped up Canadian chocolate coins and they were a perfect dessert after our great meal! With full bellies and lots of wine and beer to drink we hit the beach for an amazing evening of star gazing! Jealous yet? The next day we kayaked to the most northern point that we could go to stay at our final beach before we had to start making our way back. On the way to this beach, Onetahuti Beach, we stopped by a island rock to check out the seal colonies. They are very cute but they smelled a lot! On our way to the final beach we had a section of water that was CRAZY….it was very windy and it really felt like we were not moving at all. You could not stop paddling because if you did, you would get pushed back. I think the section we were paddling was only suppose to take us about 20-30 min. to paddle but it took us close to 1 ½ hours to get to where we wanted to go! I was lucky enough to be in the single kayak so, needless to say my arms were very tired when we finally got to shore!
This campground had a lot more people in it, for most were doing the Abel Tasmen track. We put up camp and still had the better of the late afternoon and evening to chill. A couple of us, plus some Polish boys decided to go for an adventure and scope out some caves that were supposedly accessible at low tide. Well it happened to be low tide, so I was determined to find these caves! So away we went, we climbed on rocks for about 2 hours looking for these caves...couldn't find anything...my crew wanted to turn back...but I was still curious in finding these caves..so the Polish guys and I continued our search! They were just wearing flip flops and the rocks were slippery so their feet were all cut up....but you know when you just want to see what is around the corner...so I told the boyz just one more corner I will be right back.....so I turned the corner and kept on searching for these caves...by this time I am hot and I have to pee....well it just turned out that when I turned around another corner there was a beautiful beach with CAVES!!!! WAHOO....so I got to the beach and took off my jacket cuz I was soo hot...I was excited to be able to pee and scope out these caves..I started heading toward the caves while undoing my shorts to pee when out of the darkness came charging a SEAL...a really pissed off Seal...it was barking at me......now....one would only think that these fat little creatures can't move...well let me tell you!! THEY CAN!!! ( I have learnt from this experience...in a flight or fight response...I am defiantly a flighter) I ran as fast as my short little legs would take me....probably let out a squirt of pee while I was at it!! As I was booking it across the sand....another Seal came charging out of another cave that was closer to where I was intending to go.......I defiantly let out a 'HOLY F*&#H' probably screamed like a little girl....but hurdled the rock that I was heading for...and hid for cover!!! HAHHA my little ticker was a racing........once out of sight the seals were just hanging out on the beach barking at me.....but like any good tourist...I had to capture this moment on film...so I took out the camera for some pics...well I was shaking so damn much that I couldn't even take a descent picture!! I got a couple.....you will have to check them out when I get all my pics up! So I made it back to the polish guys and they were like are you okay we heard screaming and we were coming....I was laughing trying to tell them the story..and I think they thought I was nuts when I said...I needed a hug!! But I got my polish hug!!! I am not sure what kind of damage a seal would do to you....but after asking few people a tad bit more knowledgeable then myself...told me they would have and could have done some serious damage.......So that would have been a bad way to go.......smacked by a seal flipper, gnawed on and sat on by 500 tons of blubber!!

The next morning it was pouring rain, lucky there was a shelter that we hung out in… I think we stayed in the shelter for close to 4 hours…..eating and talking to the various groups who would come and go. We didn’t mean to stay in there that long but we thought we would wait out the rain, but it seemed the longer we waited the worse it got!! But then to our surprised the skies cleared and it turned out to be a great day! So we paddled to our final beach called Observation Beach where we caught fresh fish from the ocean and a good feed on fresh mussels. The final night was pretty low key, with the evening full of random competitions from the longest head stand to how long you can balance on camping stools…performed by Dave and Sylvie! The next day we kayaked out to return our boats and then made our way to a campground called ‘Old McDonalds Farm’ to spend the night.

Road trip----Christmas continues!

2007-02-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Road Trip---Christmas trip continues.....

The following days(which turned into weeks) after our Christmas kayaking were awesome as well! We basically toured the whole South island. We now were just plain Canada (for we lost the Irish….no not at sea….he headed to the North Island to hang out with a different group)

Dec. 29th
We headed to a place called Harwood’s hole, which is basically a really deep hole (400 m deep and 70 m wide) it was a long way down……and at the time there were some climbers who absailed (repelled down into the hole) and were exploring the cave system that was far below. It is also known as…are you ready for this fact….the longest Shaft in NZ. I was there! I was there! That night we stayed at a really cool free campsite near Takaka. ( I love saying that name….Takaka)

Dec. 30th
Today we drove towards Collingwood and went to the Farewell Spit which is of international importance because it is the longest and biggest sand bar in the Southern hemisphere (26km long). There are occasions (annually) when a pod of pilot whales will become beached on this sand bar. Some of the photos are quite disturbing and it is very sad when this happens. We also went to Wharariki Beach which is a spectacular sand dune type beach….there was sand everywhere…..we spent hours jumping off sand drifts and exploring caves…although I did not partake in this activity…for my Seal days are over! We also hiked in and explored Waikoropupu springs (called Pupu springs….pronounced yes…..POO POO) ironic cuz they are the furthest thing from that. Pupu springs is the largest freshwater spring in NZ and the clearest in the world. 14 000 L of water a second is thrown up from a number of underground vents that feed the spring. It is obviously very cold and the springs are a sacred healing pool of the Moari people (Native NZ). They are all barricaded off because of the Didymo scare that is happening in NZ. Didymo or ‘rock snot’ as they call it is basically this non-native fresh water algae that totally over takes river systems by clinging to the rocks and then basically killing out all other forms of life. It is very easily transferred from river to river through bathing suits, wet shoes and boats…so as you can see it is a very scary thing if it keeps spreading as they are unsure how to get rid of it as of right now. One of the big worries at the moment is the possibility of it getting into Pupu springs and ruining the sacred pools. We stayed a second night at the same little camp site, but decided to go into town later in the evening to check out a Reggae bar…it was quite a cool little place…lots of hippies, we looked a bit out of place, but all is well. I could have spent hours watching the people dance and move to the music…it is almost like they are possessed with it, or you could just call it being high! (them not me!)

Dec. 31st
Today we hiked into the Rawhiti caves which has the largest entrance to a cave and it had really cool stalagmites (ground up) and stalactites(ceiling down). Stalagmites which are types of the deposition of calcium carbonate. If these formations grow together, meeting in the middle, the result is known as a column. (How is that for a science lesson…sorry I thought it was interesting!) It wasn’t much of a cave, it was more of a big entrance and then it ended. For New years we drove up to Nelson, which is a cute little touristy town and we set up camp at a local campground. We cooked a great meal and brought the New years in with plenty of good drinks and laughs! It was a little slow going the following day maybe to many laughs and not enough drinks..or maybe it was the other way around J….but once we finally got moving we headed towards the Westside of the island and stayed at Westport.

Jan. 2nd
Today was an interesting day because we started the day out by doing an off-road 4 wheeling experience (on quads). It turned into the tour from hell!!! It is quite funny now, but at the time I was pretty fired up. Basically the tour guide that was taking us around was a complete jerk! He was traveling so slow that we barely could make it through the mud, never mind getting muddy and to make a long story short we basically got turned around during our trip because we weren’t listening to directions (which we were given none) and we were taking too long (perhaps due to the 5 km/hr speed we were traveling) We were all very annoyed and quite pissed off with the whole experience, we talked to the owner of the company and explained to him our disappointment and he decided to take us out again….so we did and it was a whole different experience!! MUCH better….we were getting stuck and flinging mud everywhere, it was great!
After this, Paul and Sylvie put there life in my hands as I drove for the first time in NZ…quite different driving on the other side of the road….you tend to drift left….not sure why…..and it is really weird backing up…anyways, we went to check out pancake rocks. They are these really cool flat rocks and if we would have been out there during high tide, there are supposedly very impressive ‘blow holes’, where the ocean gets forced through these huge holes (the name says the rest) but we caught it at low tide, so we just saw the big holes! I would love to see it when the tide is up. On our way back to see the others we also stopped in at the Punakaike caves, which are a little cave system just off the highways. Pretty neat, obviously very dark! (head lights and flashlights do come in handy).

Jan. 3
We drove to Franz-Josef glacier today, the others all checked it out before so they just chilled at a bar while Paul and I hiked out to it. It was very big and really cool (like the pun..) to see. Paul and Sylvie had to head back to Christchurch to start work, so I jumped in with the others: Forbes, Jen and Dave, to continue on with the road trip! We stayed at a cute little campsite on Punga lake. It was a cute little set up because, everyone arranged their tents into an arc, so that everyone had a view of the lake. Well this arc created a little playing field, and there just happened to be an Irish man and a boy playing with a soccer ball. So I asked if they wanted to play and they said sure….so we made teams and had ourselves a little soccer game! It was quite funny though because as the game continued more and more people camping near by joined in and we had a little audience of people watching so it became quite competitive (imagine that, me being competitive!). It sure was a lot of fun, and we played till we couldn’t see the ball anymore….at least a good 2 hours I’d say.

Jan. 4
We drove through Haast pass, which is one of the many mountain passes that you drive as you cut through the southern alps. We stopped in a cute little town called Hawea and had a good little meal. It was quite hot so we decided to go for a swim in Hawea lake. The water was absolutely freezing, so it made it very refreshing! We met with some folk who were near by with a boat. I ended up going for a knee board around in the lake! It was very beautiful…I had to see if I could still do the 360 spin’arama…..all was good only a few wipe outs! We continued to drive to Wanaka, which is another little touristy town. We hiked up Iron Mt. which gave us a great view of Wanaka and was a good leg stretch! We stayed in a little campground by Albert town and hung out at the local pub….for some cold ones!

Jan. 5
PUZZLE WORLD……..is where we went next, can you tell I liked it (sorry it’s the science geek in me!) It was really cool, they had a whole room of amazing hologram pictures as well as a room full of optical illusions. In fact the whole room was an illusion cuz you felt like you were on a tilt and everything was spinning, things that were suppose to be one way worked totally different (hence the illusion part). It was quite funny watching little kids run into the room, not knowing what to expect and they would run into walls or just fall over cuz their balance was all off! (mean, I know..but still funny) There was also a huge maze outside, so we experienced what mice feel like in an experiment. There were Four corners to the maze labeled different colors and the object of the game is to get too all four corners, so we split into two and made it a race….I think we spent close to an hour or two finding the corners!! It was hilarious how easy it was to get lost! We then drove to Cromwell, where Jen and I went cherry picking! It was funny because I think we ate more then we picked and when we were about to leave to go pay for our bucket of cherries we had the evidence all over our lips, tongue and teeth….opps! We continued onto Dunedin which is back on the southeast side of the island, this is the place that I intended to coach hockey at, however, plans may change for I am taking a liking to Christchurch, where I am presently living. I will know more after I meet with them in Feb. to see what kind of deal they are willing to offer me and if I do indeed want to make the move.

Jan. 6
On the look out for the yellow-eyed penguin in the Catlins. It was kind of a miserable day, with some rain and wind but we were all determined to find these little penguins. Jen informed us that the little penguins were very fragile and that if a penguin sees you, you are to leave the area….So Dave, being the card he is, played this one up real good! We first stopped at Roaring bay where there was a little look out platform, Dave was hiding behind every bush and rock, saying, “Jen do they see me, Do they see me?” It was hilarious…one of those I think you had to be there type things…but just work with me here! No penguins, we then went out to Nugget point, we saw tons of seal colonies but again no Penguins…we checked out Parakaunui waterfalls and had lunch in Kaukau and drove to Curio bay to see a petrified forest of 180 billion years. And guess what ……….YELLOW EYED PENGUINS……….up real close….they were so funny to watch. Very awkward creatures, I was amazed with how high they can jump, I think there was 5 of them in total that waddled in from the ocean and made their way to the bushes, where they made quite the racket with their little calls (ear piercing really). This was defiantly the best part of the Catlins! The trees here were very odd looking, there was definitely a prevailing wind because there were all wind blown the same way!! Quite funny really!

Jan. 7
We drove to Bluff, which is the tip of the South island. We were on the look out for crayfish, but everything was closed down for Christmas(in NZ, things pretty much shut down for close to a month over Christmas and New Years). We started making our way back towards Queenstown, which is the adventure capital of NZ (aka tourist tramp….loose a lot of $$$). We stopped in at Gore which is a small little town and checked out there hockey rink. I might have an opportunity to coach here…but it really is in the middle of no where and it is the pit of all NZ jokes! We spent the night at a campground close to Queenstown, it had spectacular views, but the sand flies were awful!!

Jan. 8
JUMP DAY!!!! Today was like any other day, except that I fell 134 meters with a rope attached to my feet!! Only a 8.5 sec. freefall into a gorge full of water… AHHHHHHH….
It wasn’t really planned it just kind of happened, we went to check out the schedule to see if you had too book in advance and the lady said we could jump at 3:15 pm….well it was 1:00pm at the time!! So we said okay we will do it! So we signed up for the Nevis (the highest bungy in NZ and I believe they claim to be the third highest in the world). I think the most nerve racking thing was signing up…cuz you press the button to pay and there is no turning back!!! Dave was hilarious for the next 2 hours…..he was very nervous and scared, it really made the whole adventure that much better when you have someone with you that is that nervous!! You take a bus up to the place that you get ready to jump from, which is about a 30 min. drive…..The bus ride was great…I have never seen so many nervous people in my life….I mean I was a bit nervous, but some of the people on the bus were doing Lamaze breathing, and one poor guy had the largest pit stains I have ever seen they looped right down to the end of the shirt almost! We got up to the top and received all our harnesses, we then had to take a little cage like trolley over to the jump platform, which was suspended with huge cables in the middle of a gorge. The little trolley was quite scary for there was no real bottom to it, and as you were being pulled across you could see people jumping! I think I started to get nervous about here. We made it to the platform, which had a glass bottom and the jumping began….It was honestly the coolest feeling ever, to just dive into the air and fall, and fall and fall and fall….at first it was like WAHOOOOOOO….and then you just keep falling and the Wahoooooo’s turn into HOLY &#*# ‘s and HOLY @&#$#’s. But finally the rope catches you and then you bob up and down before you pull a lever which sits you up right for them to pull you up! The big question….does it hurt your back, the jarring….well for starters it happens so fast you have no time to think of anything, but when the gazillions of elastics do catch you, it is such a gentle spring that there is no jarring what so ever! So Mom and Dad…guess what you get to do when you come out here……come on face your fears!!! We all jumped and obviously survived, so as soon as we got back into town we went to a bar to celebrated of course ‘our lives’! We continued the celebration as we made our way over to an “ice bar” which is defiantly a tourist tramp but might as well do as tourists do….it was a really cool (I used this one already..) bar, everything was totally made out of ice (floor, benches, the bar and even the glasses!) It was only minus 7 in the actual bar part, but you should see the stuff they make you wear…big jackets, mitts and booties…..us Canadians wanted to be tough and just where our sandals and shorts in…kind of glad we didn’t for it got cold after awhile! You are allowed to stay in there for 30 min. drink your drinks and then leave. We continued the life celebration and went to a bar where we drank out of tea pots…but that tea gave me a headache the next day…so not sure what I was drinking! Before we headed back to our campsite, we ate the famous Fergburger, which is a massive burger…hate to say this but quite possibly better then Peters drive in mom!

Jan. 9
Today marked the last day of our trip! To celebrate this, I decided to do another bungy!! HAHHA I think I am addicted. Well the catch is, is if you jump within 24 hours you get the second jump for ½ price….so me being the bargain shopper….STEAL OF A DEAL! I decided to do the Kawarau Bridge jump, which is the site of the original bungy jump (I thought this was necessary, do the highest and the first site…I mean it is all part of the history! So guess what mom and dad…..hahaha get your jumping boots on!) so this jump was a lot more daunting for me. It was only 43 meters, but I decided to spice things up a bit and jump off backwards and then get fully dunked into the river at the bottom…….so ya little bit more nerve wracking!! Plus everyone is watching from a viewing platform. So away I went, all ready to walk the plank and the guy said, make sure you tuck your chin, otherwise you will come up with 2 black eyes and bloody tear ducts…..HAHAH I mean obviously good tips, but increased the nervous level!! So away I went, dove off backwards, but of course your first instinct is to look where you are going (aka not tucking chin at all!) and you are bit disorientated in the air, so I just tucked my chin in time and caught a big gulp of air before I made the plunge into the river!! WAHOOOO!!! So much fun! I loved it!!

We then drove to Mt. Cook to check it out, which is the highest mountain in NZ. But not much good when it is raining and over cast, so we didn’t see much! We stopped in at Lake Tekapo and took some pictures of a cute little quaint church that was built in 1935 we then drove all the way back to Christchurch, which marked the end of our adventure!!!

Otahake Hot springs--Dec.13-15

2006-12-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

Our next big adventure….we set off towards Arthur’s Pass (which is a stunning drive through the Southern Alps) The road construction through this pass was quite the engineering feat in 1864 by Arthur Dudley Dobson he was a man well ahead of his years! It was only recently in the last 6 years that the road was rebuilt to allow larger trucks and construct actual two way bridges rather than the traditional one way bridges that you get! (which are quite freaky) okay enough with the history lesson! I saw my first Kea (Mountain Parrot, which is the largest alpine parrot) I guess they are quite the nuisance, and are too smart and strong for their own good. Supposedly, up on the ski fields, they will rip the rubber away from your window shield (or wind screen as they call it here) so that when you drive away your whole window will fall in on you! They also rip your window wipers right off…and steal small children (ha, just wanted to see if you were awake…or if you were sleeping through the biology lesson) Okay on with our adventure…it always seems to be an adventure before we even get to the start of our planned adventure…of course I am always notorious for being late but Steve… is a staller…so the two of us make quite the pair trying to get anywhere!! Of course there is always things to do, people to see before we leave and of course we have to stop by the local shop for the very much needed meat pie(not individual…oh no..much cheaper to buy the family size!!) before you go on a hike. So we finally got to the trail head, we actually parked Steve’s truck at a farm house for $5 a night, which worked out quite nice!!

We started out on our tramp and the first thing we had was a river crossing, quite a big river (Otira River) and very cold! We then headed toward the bush hoping to find the little orange markers that would send us on our way! It was quite an interesting hike: beautiful scenery, my first swing bridge, and about 12 river crossings! Some of the river crossings were very swift moving water we had to link up and hold on to each others packs to get across safely. We made it to Lake Karapataka, which is a neat little lake formed by a rock slide which blocked a river once in its day creating a lake. Once we were in the gully that we needed to be in we basically followed our nose…..we had several more river crossings depending on the terrain up the river and all for what you may ask….how about all natural hot springs!! It was GREAT!! There was a little island, which we camped on and to the left of the island was very hot thermal hot springs!! We spent a couple of hours digging and creating a pool for ourselves so that we were able to enjoy them all night long! It was awesome!!

The next day, we explored the river for a bit, but was distracted by a very cool little beach area where we decided to sun tan….then it was back to camp to create even better pools for ourselves…..The only really annoying little bugs they have here, are sand flies…they are awful! They bite without making any noise and they are sooooo itchy!! They seem like little blonde girls! So I have a few bite marks (and when I say few…I mean a lot!) even though I wore plenty of bug spray!! In this trip I saw a real live possum, a wiker (flightless NZ bird), a Tui (very cool song bird…quite rare) and of course the Kea (which if you remember from above is an alpine parrot). The trip back was great as well, we took a bit of a different route back to the truck but made it back safe and sound! All in all, great trip, beautiful weather and had a great time!

Mt. Somers--Dec. 7-9

2006-12-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

Now the fun begins! My first real tramping trip (this is what they call hiking here) It is quite interesting all the precautions they take here for their trampers. DOC (Department of Conservation) are the people in charge of all the different hikes(there are tons of them!!)…which are all very well marked! You pretty much have to be prepared for all types of weather because the weather changes very quick here…one minute sunny and the next misty and cold….Before you go on a tramp, you always let someone know where your going and when you will be out…you also leave all your emergency contact info and medical stuff. Then at the trail head (beginning of trail) you have to write in the intentions book (which is basically a log book) in this book you put your names and what your plan is and when you will be off the trail. As you go along the trail you fill in the log books at the different huts, so that if something happens to you they can retrace your path.(the they people…are the SAR people…Search And Rescue) When your done the hike obviously you fill in the log book at the end saying your out and off the trail, then you call the person you left your info with…so they know your out and safe. Now being a rather virgin NZ tramper…I thought this was a little ridiculous in how much pre-caution is taken for a trip…I mean really how can you screw up…the trail is all marked, it is basically a path and there are huts along the way!!

So we headed south from Christchurch near the center of the island or as they call it here inland…where we met up with a family friend of Steve’s, she dropped us off at the trail head, because I guess it is common to get your vehicle broken into, because the intention book indicates how long you will be gone for! (there are hooligans in every country I guess!!) Off we went…..I was quite excited for my first real trip into NZ bush…..WOW it is stunning the views you get when you get off the highways and away from civilization. There were panoramic views every where you stood! It was absolutely breath taking at times…most of the tracks and trials are old mining roads….and it is really quite interesting how they made some of these tracks through the crazy terrain. We hiked in to the first hut, which was called Woolshed Creek Hut, it was a massive brand new hut (quite state of the art). We dropped our gear and then went exploring around the area, lots of little gullies, rivers and waterfalls. We found a swimming hole and decided to take the icy glacier plunge…it was freezing but very rejuvenating and quite refreshing after a days hike. We made it back to the hut to cook and play a couple hands of cards. The next day we woke up to the sun shining but a bit cool, we were off to the second hut. We hiked down to the rock caves, which were basically really huge rocks that had fallen and were quite magnificent (supposedly there were scenes from Lord of the Rings shot here). We made a very steep ascent to the saddle which is basically a pass between two mountains. The weather socked in on us (meaning it snuck up on us and took a turn) It turned very misty and foggy…it was crazy how fast it happened…I started to understand how easy it would be to get lost or loose your way off the trail, there are stories of people who actually had to make human chains because they couldn’t even see in front of their own face let alone find a little orange marker in the distance. It obviously wasn’t that bad, but it was interesting to say the least…it was a bit of a disappointment because it put a damper on the scenery…but before you knew it we were at the 2nd hut, known as Hut Pinnacle. It was a cute little place, looked more like the traditional huts supposedly. It was basically one room with a fireplace in the middle…bunks around the walls and a kitchen area at one end. I think it slept 10 people. The stove we had was stocked with coal…so I had my first coal lesson and how to get it going and started with not very much wood….Steve was quite the teacher…he was being stubborn (or some type of a boy scout ) and was trying to start the fire with no paper….well he finally gave in and used a little bit…but when that didn’t work…dumping a bit of cooking gas…always seems to do the trick!! So much for the boy scout way! We had the fire roaring before long and heated the little place right up! I gentleman by the name of Malcolm made his way up the trail and was quite pleased I am sure to arrive to a warm hut! He was an interesting bloke (guy) he managed a major farm in the area. (They call them Stations here) He was up at the hut because I guess there was going to be a race the next day and he was acting as a race marshal and SAR guy. We had great conversations and played cards through out the night!

The next morning we woke up to……SNOW!! It was great…I was so excited to see snow, I just had to make a snow man! We got all dressed up and started to make our way out. The scenery was great with all the snow, but as we dropped down the mountain we were back to warm weather! I was excited to have my first river crossing. It is quite funny because you will be hiking along and then there will be a river, and a little orange marker on the other side…you basically find the best path and stomp on through the river…boots and all! On our way out of the hike we stopped by Sharplin Falls, which was a little side route that took you too some cute little water falls. Then we walked about a mile down the road to where Steve’s truck was and we were all done! The whole trip could have really been done in 2 days or less but it was nice that we took our time and I was able to really take in all the scenery…it was a great beginner tramp’in trip for myself! Too put things in perspective….the race I mentioned earlier….well they did the same trip we did, the fastest guy doing in under 2.5 hours….hahahha we did it in 3 days…..(but we also had 15 kilos on our backs)

Gore Bay...Dec.2-3

2006-12-19T15:56:00.000-08:00

This was Steve’s and I first camping trip, and my first look at the scenery while we drove North from Christchurch about 1.5 hours to our destination. NZ camping is quite different then camping back home…basically it is an open field or lot and you just pitch a tent…..no real trees or privacy, but it makes it good for meeting people! The camp site was by the ocean so you could hear the waves on the beach during the night. Another different thing here, is that the kiwi’s don’t really have camp fires….there are no pits for fires even at campsites! I was surprised by this….It was a pretty relaxing weekend…I tried setting up my hammock but with the lack of trees it made it difficult…(The weather was quite windy so where there were trees you wouldn’t want to hang out….cuz you would be blowin all over the place!) but we figured we could tie one end to the truck and if we pulled the truck forward we could make it tight enough….well it was a bit too tight, I was laying in it…and then one of the ropes snapped and I found myself with a sore arse. We met up with some other random people from Christchurch (this is the city I am living at) and Steve and I played Scategories with them all in their massive tent…it was an interesting evening!! We also met up with a couple from Holland and it was interesting hearing about their travels. The next day we wondered along the beach and explored around the rocks. All in all it was a good little weekend get-a-way.

The trip to NZ--Nov.25-28

2006-12-19T14:36:00.000-08:00

It was hard to believe that I was finally stepping on a plane to make my way to New Zealand….I have been talking about this trip for some time now and finally the day came! I sure appreciated the cards and farewell wishes from all my family and friends….thanks! I even had quite the exit party at the airport with the Brentwood house hold…thanks guys!! And of course Aunty Dale to send me on my way… I was lucky to get on the plane with 2 very over weight and I am sure that my hockey bag was well over the size limit…..as well as my bike for only a $50 charge….I thought I was going to be charged a lot more!! So the trip started out great….

My first trip was to Los Angeles and it was very ironic because I sat beside a gentleman from Foam Lake, SK. He was on his way to an international rig site in New Guinee! so we were sharing our excitement of our first over sea adventure. He bought me my first beer of the trip!

Once I arrived to LA I had a bit of a wait, and then I was on my way to Taipei….My first LONG airplane ride…..it was quite funny because I sat beside a lady who was from LA and it turned out we were the only blondes on the whole flight! Everyone thought that we were traveling together and that she was my mom. It was quite funny! So the airplane…. WOW lets just say that one does not get bored….even me!! There is so much too do…I didn’t even want to sleep. First they give you hot towels to wipe your face, and then they give you stylish purple socks with a toothbrush and paste!! Once your in the air….this is when the fun begins…..everyone gets their own channel changer and TV! Any movie you could dream of is playing at your finger tips, plus all the songs you want (you can create your own play lists and everything), video games where you can challenge different people on the plane, mind bogglers and trivia questions! (I really didn’t figure this all out until the end of the trip, I couldn’t get past all the movies) The plane food was great as well….did I mention that there is all the wine you can drink…MMMMM. Once we arrived in Taipei (14 hours later) we had about an hour delay where we could get off the plane and walk around the airport, so we did. Then it was back in the plane for another 4 hours to Singapore.

Once in Singapore I had a 9 hour delay in front of me, so the first thing I did was use the fun squatting pan in the bathrooms! HAHHA it was quite funny….people looked at me funny while I took pictures….they should be thankful I didn’t ask them to take pictures of me using it!!

I then decided to check out the free tour of Singapore….price was right so I decided this was a great idea! It was quite interesting they just took us around on a bus and then gave us a bit of boat ride in a really disgusting river! But the sites were cool and I met a few people as well. Palak, actually just graduated from Auckland University in New Zealand and he was heading back home to India. So we hung out together at the airport, he bought some beer and we played pool and toured around the airport. Needless to say 9 hours went by quite quick! I then jumped on an other plane to my final destination Christchurch, NZ….WOW this is really for real!

I was so exhausted I pretty much slept for most of this trip….but then the little TV and remote caught my attention and I was back to watching movies. I sat beside a very cute elderly lady from Ireland, she was adorable and had great expressions that always caught me off guard. We became buddies and now I have a place to stay in Ireland if I ever go there! The trip went fast and before I knew it 12 hours later we were in Christchurch, NZ my final destination!

I was the first to the immigration desk to find out that someone messed up on the computer when they were filling in my visa and had me there for only a month! So lucky I had all my paper work and passport visa to prove that I actually did have a year visa…little mix up but not that big of a deal. I was then off to customs to see if I could get into the country…which almost didn’t happen! Funny little story, you know how I said I was the first into immigration…well I was the last to leave customs!! Hahah…..my bike that I decided to take last minute, well it was still caked with mud from my last mountain biking trip and a note to others make sure your stuff is clean before going into another country! I spent over an hour cleaning my bike with an officer in the bio-hazard room. It was great….we were scrubbing and scrubbing till finally he said….that is good enough! (it still was kind of caked with mud…but I think he was tired of scrubbing!) we then went to where the rest of my stuff was and I said, well do you want to check the rest of my stuff…and he said NOPE just go…….enjoy our country!! I said I sure will!!! I walked out to meet my friend Steve….who was waiting patiently for me to walk through the doors! I MADE IT…..40 some hours later!!! (I guess this is the trip you get when you go for a cheap route….but hey I got my money’s worth!!)