Well here I am, they always say that time flies when you're having fun. Turns out that that is the truth. I am sitting here in the library looking back on all of the good times that I have had (fortunately there aren't many bad ones, but I can just skip those anyway!) I think that I can truly say that I am leaving with out any regrets and that I have done what I have come here to do. Still I am not exactly sure what that is but whatever it was I have had a good time doing it!
I have been very fortunate to meet the people that I have met along the way, everyone has gone out of their way to help me however they could.
I have a funny feeling that if I keep going then I am just going to start blabbering on, so I want to end this by saying thank you to everyone for all of the support and help that you have given me, even just reading the blog has meant a lot to me (I can see that people are reading ;) )
Any way I am going to end it for now and maybe some day if I am lucky I'll start writing again for the next adventure... er trail ;)
Cheers!
Scott
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Look at me go!
Hey everyone! I am now writing from a hostel in Greymouth. Just about halfway down the west coast of the South Island. It is a neat little town. I am going to be spending about a week here I think helping out around the hostel in exchange for a free bed, laundry, and internet. Not a bad deal! It is cool because this is the first hostel that I have been to that has as many kiwis staying here as there are backpackers. It is a nice way to meet the locals!
I am helping to put in a new reception desk that is made out of one big chuck of Rimu. It looks really good, of course! ;) There are a bunch of really fun things that I am going to try and do while I am around here. First off is a Monteith's Brewery Tour Tonight or tomorrow, not sure yet. Then there is a place north of here that I may have told some of you about. You get all day to hand-forge your very own knife! In the spare time between steps you get to learn knife/hatchet throwing, archery, and tons of other cool stuff!
Going to do some more work now! Talk to you all soon!
I am helping to put in a new reception desk that is made out of one big chuck of Rimu. It looks really good, of course! ;) There are a bunch of really fun things that I am going to try and do while I am around here. First off is a Monteith's Brewery Tour Tonight or tomorrow, not sure yet. Then there is a place north of here that I may have told some of you about. You get all day to hand-forge your very own knife! In the spare time between steps you get to learn knife/hatchet throwing, archery, and tons of other cool stuff!
Going to do some more work now! Talk to you all soon!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Wow two posts in one week!?!
Look at me go! I told you that I would try and post more! I have been chopping down a hedge and chipping it all morning and next we have to pull a little willow out of a creek and chip that up too. But I have a bit to tell you about life. I am leaving tonight and heading for Nelson for two nights and then South on down to Greymouth. I don't think that there is a whole lot of other stuff to report yet, just been life as usual here for the past couple of days. Spent some time in beautiful Blenheim which even the guide book admits "doesn't have much going for it." I didn't think that it was that bad though.
I watched a really cool documentary last night called "Man On Wire" I Don't know if any of you have seen it but you should! It is a really cool story about a wirewalker that set up a tightrope and was on it for 45 minutes at the top of the World Trade Centers! I won't ruin it for you but how they get it up there is way cool!
Alright I think that is about it for now, going out to make some more wood chips! Hope everyone is doing great!
Cheers!
I watched a really cool documentary last night called "Man On Wire" I Don't know if any of you have seen it but you should! It is a really cool story about a wirewalker that set up a tightrope and was on it for 45 minutes at the top of the World Trade Centers! I won't ruin it for you but how they get it up there is way cool!
Alright I think that is about it for now, going out to make some more wood chips! Hope everyone is doing great!
Cheers!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Long Time, No See!
Sorry everyone! I have gotten really bad at updating this haven't I? I promise that I'll try and be better. Now that I am off the boat it should be easier, still it has taken me some time to get used to internet here. At home we all take it for granted that you can just go out and find a coffee shop with free internet. New Zealand is different though, it is really expensive! Some of the hosts can be pretty touchy about their internet as well they should be. Some of them pay almost $200 a month for it! In town the going rate is about $4 an hour for it. So I post when I can!
I should probably tell you what I have been up to. I am now on the South Island! I am working at an amazing vineyard just outside of Blenheim (Blenum). It is the center of the Marlborough Wine Trail. The whole valley that I am staying in is covered in vines, literally! The views are great, to the north there is a mountain range that is steep and jagged and covered in pine trees. Then to the south there is another mountain range that is all dry and brown. It is a really cool contrast with everything.
As far as the work goes I have spent all morning walking up and down the vines putting up netting to keep the birds off the grapes. It is interesting because some vineyards use the nets while others go for the scare tactic and use flashy ribbons, cd's, guys on quad-bikes with sirens, shotguns and gas-guns (glorified propane spud guns). So there is the nice peaceful scenery set to the sound-track of a war zone! You get used to after a while though!
My next stop is in Nelson for a couple of nights and then on down to a hostel in Greymouth. The drive down the west coast is supposed to be one of the greatest drives in the world so I am really looking forward to that! I should have more constant interwebs access for the rest of the trip so I will really try and get back into the habit of posting here!
I should probably tell you what I have been up to. I am now on the South Island! I am working at an amazing vineyard just outside of Blenheim (Blenum). It is the center of the Marlborough Wine Trail. The whole valley that I am staying in is covered in vines, literally! The views are great, to the north there is a mountain range that is steep and jagged and covered in pine trees. Then to the south there is another mountain range that is all dry and brown. It is a really cool contrast with everything.
As far as the work goes I have spent all morning walking up and down the vines putting up netting to keep the birds off the grapes. It is interesting because some vineyards use the nets while others go for the scare tactic and use flashy ribbons, cd's, guys on quad-bikes with sirens, shotguns and gas-guns (glorified propane spud guns). So there is the nice peaceful scenery set to the sound-track of a war zone! You get used to after a while though!
My next stop is in Nelson for a couple of nights and then on down to a hostel in Greymouth. The drive down the west coast is supposed to be one of the greatest drives in the world so I am really looking forward to that! I should have more constant interwebs access for the rest of the trip so I will really try and get back into the habit of posting here!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
I'm all connected up again!
Hey everyone! Sorry to leave you all hanging for so long. I have been living aboard the good ship Rose Maree and cruising around the northeast coast of NZ. It has been an amazing experience and will unfortunately be coming to an end in the next week or so. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so I won't even attempt to describe it all, but take a look at the new pictures on Flickr. Just a small selection of the best! Right now I am sitting in an Organic Cafe on Waiheke island enjoying the great weather. I have begun to realize that I am in the final stages of my trip! I am past the halfway point and it is all starting to slide faster and faster towards the end! It has been an absolutely amazing trip so far and I hope I can do just as well in the last few months!
My next step is I am going to do a quick road trip with some friends around the Bay of Plenty region and then I am going to the south island before I run out of time. There is an amazing amount of stuff to do here and I have been trying to cram it all in. If you cram too much though it isn't nearly as fun. I think it's better to miss some stuff and give me an excuse to come back soon!
My next step is I am going to do a quick road trip with some friends around the Bay of Plenty region and then I am going to the south island before I run out of time. There is an amazing amount of stuff to do here and I have been trying to cram it all in. If you cram too much though it isn't nearly as fun. I think it's better to miss some stuff and give me an excuse to come back soon!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
The "Next Trail"
Clever title eh? Hahaha I just thought that I would post another update again, make up for some of the last ones that I forgot!
Today I am leaving Kerikeri (unfortunately) but I am moving on to bigger and better things! I am going to move onto the boat tonight! For those that don't know I have been given the opportunity to sail around the coast of New Zealand for two or three months on a beautiful hand-built 60ft yacht! I will hopefully post some pictures of the boat soon. She is named Rose Maree. I am not sure what my access to the internet is going to be like while I am on the boat but I will try and update you all as much as I can!
I just checked the stats from my blog and I am so excited to see how many people are reading it and where everyone is from!
I know I still owe you all some pictures but they will be here soon!
cheers!
Today I am leaving Kerikeri (unfortunately) but I am moving on to bigger and better things! I am going to move onto the boat tonight! For those that don't know I have been given the opportunity to sail around the coast of New Zealand for two or three months on a beautiful hand-built 60ft yacht! I will hopefully post some pictures of the boat soon. She is named Rose Maree. I am not sure what my access to the internet is going to be like while I am on the boat but I will try and update you all as much as I can!
I just checked the stats from my blog and I am so excited to see how many people are reading it and where everyone is from!
I know I still owe you all some pictures but they will be here soon!
cheers!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Here I am again!
Hey everyone! I have taken a bit of vacation for myself and I have been staying at a hostel in Kerikeri farther north. I spent Christmas here with a great group of people from all over. We spent Christmas eve at the pub with the rest of the town which was quite fun! It is really cool here because people are truly not concerned at all with theirs or other people's appearance. Normally you would expect people to be at least a bit dressed up on Christmas Eve but there were people in normal street cloths and even some in gumboot and work cloths. Now you are probably thinking that it has something to do with it being a pub but it is like that everywhere! You can walk into the supermarket barefoot and shirtless and people don't really mind at all.
Christmas Day night we went to a beach and lit a bonfire. We had a barbecue with the fish that we just caught. I don't know what they call them here but at home I would call them a rockfish. Later Tony, our host, informed us that "Those are dog food" I think it was because they were so bony, but they tasted great to us!
Yesterday I took a tour from the town of Mangonui north up to the tip of Cape Reinga. It was very, very cool! Unfortunately it was a bit like the Oregon coast when we got to the top, with fog blowing up over the cliffs so we couldn't see a whole lot. I could just barely make out the outlines of the Three Kings Islands. On the way back the tour stopped at the "Ancient Kauri Kingdom" another corny tourist trap but it was pretty cool to be able to walk up a spiral staircase carved into the stump of a 45,000 year old tree! There were chunks of rounds that stood taller than me and they were only pieces!
Today I am just taking the day off maybe going to the Karikari Peninsula but tomorrow we are going to go on a fishing and diving trip in the Bay of Islands! Hopefully the weather gets a bit better tomorrow, today it is really windy and there was apparently an cyclone on the South Island somewhere. The forecast looks good though!
I am heading back south to Whangarei on the 30th (29th your time) to hop onto the boat! I got to go out and spend a few hours on the boat before I left and she is beautiful! I realized as I was climbing on board I realized that I forgot my camera! So I can hopefully get some pictures to you sometime! We are planning on leaving Whangarei on the 2nd of January and I am not sure where we are going from there. The last that I have heard was that we are going to the Hauraki Gulf and Great Barrier Island but that plan may have changed and we may be going North instead now.
Also thank you so much everyone for the Christmas wishes, as always it was great to hear from you and I hope that I remembered to send you something back!
I think that about sums up the last month. I can't believe how bad I've gotten at updating this! I will try and post pictures soon, my camera is in my room which is like a 2 minute walk away so I'll do it some other time :) Hopefully I can give you an update before I leave!
Cheers!
Christmas Day night we went to a beach and lit a bonfire. We had a barbecue with the fish that we just caught. I don't know what they call them here but at home I would call them a rockfish. Later Tony, our host, informed us that "Those are dog food" I think it was because they were so bony, but they tasted great to us!
Yesterday I took a tour from the town of Mangonui north up to the tip of Cape Reinga. It was very, very cool! Unfortunately it was a bit like the Oregon coast when we got to the top, with fog blowing up over the cliffs so we couldn't see a whole lot. I could just barely make out the outlines of the Three Kings Islands. On the way back the tour stopped at the "Ancient Kauri Kingdom" another corny tourist trap but it was pretty cool to be able to walk up a spiral staircase carved into the stump of a 45,000 year old tree! There were chunks of rounds that stood taller than me and they were only pieces!
Today I am just taking the day off maybe going to the Karikari Peninsula but tomorrow we are going to go on a fishing and diving trip in the Bay of Islands! Hopefully the weather gets a bit better tomorrow, today it is really windy and there was apparently an cyclone on the South Island somewhere. The forecast looks good though!
I am heading back south to Whangarei on the 30th (29th your time) to hop onto the boat! I got to go out and spend a few hours on the boat before I left and she is beautiful! I realized as I was climbing on board I realized that I forgot my camera! So I can hopefully get some pictures to you sometime! We are planning on leaving Whangarei on the 2nd of January and I am not sure where we are going from there. The last that I have heard was that we are going to the Hauraki Gulf and Great Barrier Island but that plan may have changed and we may be going North instead now.
Also thank you so much everyone for the Christmas wishes, as always it was great to hear from you and I hope that I remembered to send you something back!
I think that about sums up the last month. I can't believe how bad I've gotten at updating this! I will try and post pictures soon, my camera is in my room which is like a 2 minute walk away so I'll do it some other time :) Hopefully I can give you an update before I leave!
Cheers!
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