Well, put the organic baking profession on the backburner. We still haven't heard back from the bakery, so about 6 days ago we left from Picton and hopped on a big cruiser ship/ferry for a 3.5 hour ride across the Cook Straight while watching the history channel and drinking milk. We have been up in Wellington for 6 days hanging out with Ben and his roommates, basically just living in Wellington. We have been in contact with an organic Eco-Village, hoping to work there. They include a group of 10-15 families who merged together because they were all interested in living similar lifestyles. They purchased around 150 acres of land about 100 Km north of Auckland on a peninsula. Each family grows their own food organically, as well as structures their own homes and are basically sustainable. This sounded interesting to us, because we want to learn how to milk a cow and drink some raw milk, as well as get more tuned up to some of their lifestyle. It's been a fun 6 days here back in Wellington, meeting more people and spending time downtown and hanging with the flatmates. Sounds like most of this house is heading up to Auckland region to tour some of the northland and we will probably do some hiking or sight-seeking with them. So right now it is Thursday night here and we are preparing to bounce northward somehow on Saturday or Sunday. There has been talks of hopping in cages in the ocean to look for sealife, namely whale,dolphin, or shark...just in the talking phase though, nothing further yet. We've since surpassed the halfway point of the trip, and have alittle over 3 weeks left, the flight home boards on June 22, the cash flow is running extremely low, but morale is still running rampant, I am loving it out here, but still missing the family and friends back home, as well as June weather at the lake. It is in transition from fall to winter out here, so June and summer sounds nice, even though the winter here is mild...Wellington has been probably in the 50's most days, and will continue to warm up the further north we travel. The day after we finished our WWOOF Job in the Marlborough Sound we saw the pilots on the news with the people we worked with, talking about the scary situation of them running out of fuel and almost crash landing, was interesting to see we were there when it happened.
I think it's time to grab some tunes and my headphones and go for a walk around Wellington and see if i just can't run myself into a nice little cafe to get some reading done. Below is the Eco-Village website link we have been talking to.



http://www.otamatea.org.nz/index.htm

From Queenstown to Marlborough Sounds Region

We were somewhere near the text "Pelorous Sound" @ the lodge. The top map is zoomed in on the top of the south island where the Marlborough Sound is located.


(never mind the blue on the map)
Since I've last been on here we ended up staying something like 7 or 8 days in Queenstown. I loved every single moment in that city, the backpackers we stayed in started feeling like our home away from home. Bunji Backpackers was my favorite hostel we've stayed in so far. The friends we met there are actually people I will stay in contact with for a long time, we usually hung out with the same group each night of about 10-15 people, sometimes going downtown or sometimes staying in and just messing around, cooking and watching movies. Staying in backpackers is a really unique experience because everyone staying in there is from all over the world, everyone is traveling and offering eachother advice from their travels. Usually the cheapest methods of travel, where to hitch a ride from travels, what cheap travel agency to go through, what local food shops are best...etc.The longer we stayed at Bunji, the harder it was to leave, we got to the point where we settled down long enough where it started feeling homely,casual and part of a routine. The last night in Queenstown it was 3 other people's last night and 2 birthdays so we all decided it was best to go out and celebrate the times we had there and the birthdays. Our bus left Queenstown at 8 am the following morning and a friend Mr.Longbottom from the UK was supposed to wake us up because his bus left at 7:30 am. He forgot to wake us because he woke late himself and had to hurry, so I ended up rolling out of bed at 7:45 to use the bathroom and realized suddenly we had 15 minutes to find our bus. An intense scramble of packing ensued, trying to pack down our sleeping bags,and all our clothes. We jogged down to the city about a 7 block distance to see our bus and make it just in time, as always. We rode North East for 8 hours heading to Christchurch, one of the larger cities on the south island. On the way we passed Mt.Hood which is the largest peak in New Zealand, and a few other nice mountain ranges. We slept in Christchurch one night at one of the more commercialized backpackers that was huge and felt more like a cheap hotel, not a very friendly environment so I was glad to wake up there and hop on the bus towards Blenheim at the top of the south island. On our drive along the east coast of the south island from Christchurch to Blenheim we went through Kaikoura which is the famous city for spotting whale and many forms for sealife. We saw a few Sea Lions but that was about it, still a beautiful coast though. After about 4.5 hours that day we arrived in Blenheim where a ton of travelers are occupied in the vineyards pruning, which is much needed work this time of season around here. We are headed this direction to meet our WWOOF Hosts, where we planned to do work on a Lodge in the Marlborough Sound region. They picked us up the following day in Blenheim, arrived with a pet deer they got in Kaikoura. Our task that day was to load the pet deer in the boat and get him back to Tira Ora Lodge, where they live and work. Bambi was in no mood for an easy stroll, so we actually had to pin/tackle down Bambi and tie his legs for the ride. I had to watch over him in the boat as Feigum and the Tony rode back to drop off the trailer, Bambi was kicking his hind legs fiercly and trying to spring free, so I was basically fighting a deer for about 2 hours. It is a 50 minute boat ride from Havelock(just near Blenheim) to Tira Ora Lodge located in the Pelerous Sound which is in the Marlborough Sound. We arrived at dark to Tira Ora, loaded up Bambi who, when finally free would actually follow us around and enjoy the company of people, liked to be pet just like a dog. The land was unbelievable, they have 550 acres of land filled with animals and some big mountainous hilltops behind, with a big dock, about 4 or 5 buildings, one their main house, a few bunk houses, one camp they use in the summer to house and enterain camp kids. A few barn type buildings as well. They had 3 ostriches,sheep,horses,pet deer,cows,pea cocks,4 dogs, a few cats, geese,donkeys and maybe a few others I'm forgetting. It was awesome the first day we arrived it was rest day. So we had all day to mess around with the animals and look around the property. Monday we chopped wood for about 3 hours then painted 3 more. On our 4th day there we realized 6 hours of labor was too much for vacation so we decided to take it easy a bit. The owners realized this and we all decided it was a good time for us to leave, since Tony was bringing back 2 other guys back to Havelock who were there scouting the land to bring kids to. If we waited longer our next ride would be Tuesday (7 days) and would cost $40 each. So we packed up after 4 days at Tira Ora Lodge and came back to Blenheim, the 2 gentlemen gave us a ride back here free, so we arrived in Blenheim again last night and it appeared we would be taking the sleeping bags and sleeping in a park since all the hostel offices close around 8. After walking around and trying to hitch rides towards Picton/Wellington for 2 hours we finally found a hostel that was open, and they gave us a really good deal. At Tira Ora we came across some pretty crazy times, a small plane in the area ran out of fuel right near Tira Ora and were preparing to crash land in the sound, they came over the ridge and saw the air strip the lodge had, they had no idea it existed, they said they saw their lives flash before their very eyes. They magically had a safe landing, they were gliding at that point. The family had them in for coffee to ease the nerves a bit. The 2 on the plane stayed for awhile then refueled and did a few laps over the lodge to check if the fuel was efficient then took off. That was a pretty intense episode. Now here we are back in old Blenheim again, in contact with an organic bakery that e-mailed me saying they could use some help in Nelson, which pleases me. I've heard Nelson his very scenic, has many lakes and is only an hour and a half west of us right now. If that doesn't develop we will head to stay with Ben again up in Wellington which is a 30 minute drive, and 3 hour ferry ride north of us on the bottom of the north island. In wellington we will probably look for a good job around the city, keep our eyes and minds open.
Hopefully by the next time I make it on here we will be accomplished organic bakers or have reunited with Ben McLean.



http://www.tira-ora-lodge.com/


Kia Ora,
Kc

QTown Recap

I still can't believe our luck this trip. Everything we haphazardly decide to do, every hostel we decide to stay in,everything we do always has turned out to be the right decision, I'm beginning to wonder if there are any problems in NZ. Fiordland and National Park, the region where we hiked the Milford Track, which is as far south and as close to Antarctica as we will get, this region gets more rain then anywhere in NZ. We had 4 days of complete sunshine, that is unheard of, I've heard horror stories from others of 4 days of complete downpour rain, everyone involved with the hike could not believe our luck with no rain. Seeing that we had little spare clothes to change in, rain would have made the hike much less enjoyable, but the waterfalls a bit larger. This is our 3rd day in Queenstown, probably my favorite city I've seen down here. Yet, ever new city I travel to here always seems to be my favorite. Yesterday I attempted to climb a solo mission to the peak overlooking the city to grab some choice photos. I am still extremely sore from Milford and I was trying to beat sundown, after about 45 minutes I thought I took a wrong turn up the mountain and decided it was best to turn around before I got into trouble, when I reached the bottom it turned out I was actually on the right track and about 5-7 minutes from my destination. So I guess I will go up again today with more sunlight and try my luck again. After my hike last night I ran into a kind lady we hiked with from Czech Republic, and she needed some help finding a good car to buy for her travels here. We walked all around town looking at community ad space and calling people for her car. I told her to offer $200-$300 below the listed price, since everyone selling travel cars around here are so anxious to sell because they are leaving the country and going back home, so they will usually sell it for much cheaper then the listed price. We head to Christchurch tomorrow, awaiting a few E-mails from jobs we will work on, where they provide housing and food for 3-5 hours of work per day. This will be good time to settle down for about 7-10 days and not spend money on bus fare,food or any other nonsense. I've got a listing of a few jobs I'll link below. So I guess I will go out and enjoy my last full day in Queenstown, hopefully I will have some photos overlooking the city.
Until next time I hop on here,
Kc
Marlborough Sound Job 1

Marlborough Sound Job 2

Christchurch Job Host

Chrischurch Job Info

Queenstown

Milford

'Ello, we conquered the milford track yesterday, the last 4 days we managed to tramp around 40-43 miles with the weight of a small child on our backs. But, we also journeyed our way through some of the most beautiful, breathtaking scenery I've ever seen. The day before Milford we hiked 3 hours into the Keplar Track, which is another "Great Walk" Of New Zealand, retreated backto our cabin ni Te Anau where a new couple from China checked in. We woke up early the next morning and hopped on a bus that lead us to Te Anau Downs, where we hopped on a boat that drove us through fjords surrounded by huge lakes, where eventually Clint dropped us off at the beginning of the Milford Track. Our journey began with a group of 4 from UK,Georgia,Czech Republic, and Germany, and also a group of 2 from Czech Republic. After 45 minutes of hiking a rather green,foresty trail we stopped at Clinton Hut for lunch, which was probably a mistake. We then ate for an hour and hiked about another 80 minutes and stopped and played around on a river, hopping rocks and taking rest on a huge tree laying in the river as deadwood. We were extremely behind the pace to make it to Montanyo Hut (little did we know). About an hour of hiking past our river stop we hiked in the most beautiful valley, inbetween 2 huge mountain ranges of the Fjordland National Park. As we layed and drank water for our last break I snapped a few pictures of us laying against our packs, we had our moment of silence for a few minutes to soak it all in, some of the most beautiful moments I've been apart of. The last 3 hours were pure hustle halfway up the mountain. We finally arrived at Montanyo Hut about sunfall, sometime around 6:30, the mountains block all the sun at a fairly early time. We arrived to a nice hut nestled up in a mountain, no electricity,only source of anything was water from the stream. It was filled with tramping groups and hikers all over the place, cooking with their fancy,expensive camping gear. We walk in with dried fruits,bread and trail mix as they are sipping teas,gorging on pasta and somehow a birthday cake. So there we all were, 46 trampers all in a hut with a few picnic tables resting our aching bones, everyone being guided by the headlamp on their heads, you could really tell where people were looking with headlamps on their heads. We started day 2 about 9 am (quite late). The first hour of hiking was all up the mountain until we reached the summit. It got very snowy and windy at the top, but also new views formed as we were looking top-down rather the former. We stopped for lunch ina freezing cold hut on the top, right near Mackinnon Pass which is the highest point of the hike. After lunch little did we know (yet again) that a 3 minute's hike from our frigid lunch spot was down the mountain a nice sunfilled path going down the opposite side of the mountain. The remainder of the 2nd day was down the mountain through lush forrest , across cabled and wood plank bridges until we reached the Sutherland Falls, which are 5th largest in the world. About 6 pm we arrived at our Hut for the evening. Again, all the bunks were full so we were plotted on the floor of the Hut, McLean with just a blanket was freezing both nights, I felt sorry for the guy, seeing that I had a 20 degree bag and was very cold myself with 2 sweatshirts on. I'd say it was about 40-45 degrees in the Huts both nights. We woke about 6 am on day 3 to get a good start. It was all along the side of a river and lakes on day 3, straight and the easiest day of the hike, except for being very tender and sore. We arrived at the end around 3 pm where the boats would pick us up and drive us through part of Milford Sound. It was an amazing 3 day journey, meeting some amazingly friendly trampers, a majority of the gruop of 46 were middle-aged, somewhere in their 30's or up through 50's. There were also plenty of people in 20's as well, from all over the world. US,Canada,Israel,Czech Republic,Germany,China,Italy,a few tramping clubs from Ontago Region of New Zealand. ONe of the best things was meeting and being around all these amazing people throughout the hike, always seeing them when you pass eachother for lunch breaks or for the sites of the hike. Last night we got back to our beloved Cabin in Te Anau after a 2 hour bus ride away from the sound, which we have been longing for. We ran into Yon and Asaf from our hike in the town at a pizza joint. Turned our Asaf was going to sleep in his vehicle to save on cash and Yon had a room in the same hostel as us. So we offered Asaf couch space for the evning and he abliged. Since it is getting closer to winter down in NZ and the south island is cooling down, especially overnight temps drop. We woke up this morning and McLean had to hop on the bus to Queenstown, then board a flight from QTown to Wellington, back to his schooling, we had some solid times with Ben, for about 10 days straight. Feigs and I woke up and right as I ordered our $35 dollar bus tickets he ran and told me we didn't need to, that Asaf was headed to Queenstown and would give us a ride for 8 dollars, just to split gas. So we eventually cancelled the bus fare and got $17 back from the $35 and rode a couple hours with Asaf and Yon. Asaf is from Israel, it was interesting learning more about their culture, in his army duties he had to do for 3 years (no choice in Israel) he had to watch over terrorist palestinians and such. Yon is a mechanical engineer from east coast Canada, Ottawa region. Us 4 cruised to Q-town and checked out the city today, it is quite beautiful here, smaller then Wellington by quite a bit tucked up in mountains and on a lake. We are staying at a hostel here for 2 nights in a tool shed that is heated and with beds, actually pretty comfortable. Our plan is to slowly make our way northward, where it is warmer. We have a job possibly lined up in Christchurch which is about 8 hours NW of Q-Town. with goats to milk, and organic veggies and other work for us to keep busy with. After that we also have to lined up in the Marlborough Sound Region, doing similar work plus additional work with the land for conservational help, seeing they are covering heaps and heaps of land and many hikers come through.

A few things I've noticed while living out of a backpack. You miss good, cheap, food. Everything here seems so much more expensive. Everyother day we head to the grocery to try and plot what foods we can carry with us, that won't spoil, that we enjoy, and that isn't expensive. This is a very tough task. Also, I have only found 1 decent pizza joint in Te Anau and only because they didn't put sauce on it. The sauce they put on their pizza here is usually similar to bbq sauce and tastes funky in a bad way. Also, Keabob's are huge here, basically our version of the burrito. People here are insanely friendly as well. Television and any sort of entertainment or media is very explicit here. Not much censoring goes on, even on prime time television. The police do not carry firearms in New Zealand, everything here is so laid back, that theme seems to carry over into everything. I'm currently downtown Queenstown at the World Cafe, where all travelers come to make cheap calls and get cheap internet access, the phones have been booked forever. I don't really remember the way back to the hostel but I guess I will go figure it out after alittle walk around this aspen esque town.
'til later,cheers,
Kc

Te Anau now remains our current home. Yesterday we took a flight from beautiful Wellington down to Queenstown near the bottom of the South Island. We were in Wellington for about 7 days with Mclean and his roommates, we got a really good feel for that city and once McLean finished his speech for a class it was time to jet down to Queenstown. Once arriving in Queenstown we hopped on a van with other hikers headed down to Te Anau(SW of Queenstown). This joyride really started reminding me of Lord of the Rings. Amazing mountains surrounded by bays and lush green forest. Our van driver also happened to be a city messenger and delivery driver, so along the way we stopped at farms,shops as he tossed packages out the window and honked the horn letting the owners know he made the drop, that was old school. It was about a 2.5 hour drive through some really astonishing mountainous views. We arrived in Te Anau yesterday about 4 in the afternoon, this is a nice little town with a laid back atmosphere, basically designed for backpackers to stay and settle before big hikes all around the town. We somehow got settled in a hostel which is more like a lake cabin for $30 each. Like most hostels we were thinking we would share an 8 bedroom, which is always nice for meeting folks but not if you need some solid sleep. We settled in the 2 bedroom cabin with a couple from Wales who are really nice, they just checked out and left us a nice little note, letting us know they left us their extra goods in the fridge. We've got this amazing cabin and loaded up on hiking foods and are setting out to trek the Keplar Track as a day hike today, alittle warm-up for a 3-4 day trek through the Milford Track, ending up in the Milford Sound (google it). We are minutes away from taking off down to the Keplar Track for the day, only thing is that the rain is coming down fairly hard right now. We better get going, I will finish this update soon, til tomorrow.

Kia Ora---from NZ,
Kc