Current location is Nelson, top of the south island. Took a ferry early this morning from Wellington. It's weird how many people you run in to who you have met in hostels. I guess everyone is sort of on the same backpackers track. Laura and I drove from the drop off point in Picton to Nelson. Just as we were arriving in Nelson, I saw a strangly familiar hobo walking alongside of the rode. It just happened to be Jamey Gekas. Good thing too, because he was headed back the opposite way. So Jamey and I are now in Nelson. It's sunny and warm. I think we will do a trek in Abel Tasman before Johnny comes down...if he ever makes it.

Amazing! After spending way too much time in the Napier Museum, I lost track of time. My bus was at 1:40 and it was 1:00. I was really hungry though...and I was like sandwich...bus...sandwich bus.....so I got a sandwich of course. Fortunately, my sandwich was really good. Unfortunately, by the time I got it it was 1:25. Fortunately, my hostel was really close and all I had to do was grab my pack and run to the bus station. So I ran down the street like a crazy person, grabbed my bag. Fortunately, the girl at the desk asked what was wrong and I explained so she said she would call the bus company and tell them I would be right there. I was just like, great you do that, and I will run. Unfortunately, NZ buses don't mess around. It was 1:37 by the time I turned the corner, two buses were pulling out, and I was dooooomed. I ran to the lady at the front desk at the bus depot and asked her to ask them to come back, but she said no and that the bus was full. Which I don't understand because I had a ticket. Then suddenly my savior, Shirley, appeared in a beat up manual diesel hatchback, with the windows perpetually locked, and an intentionally broken spedometer (so she doesn't have to pay some sort of road tax). Although, she says, every once in awhile she pays, so it's fine. She yelled at me, "GET IN!" So I did. And she was like "Were going to catch thoses buses." And I was cool with that. So she ended up driving me to the next town over, where I got on my bus. So I learned two things. Never underestimate the kindness of strangers in NZ, and never indulge yourself in a sandwich when you have one hour before your bus leaves. I hope I can repay Shirley's kindness to someone else in need.

Napier is nice but I don't think I could stay here longer than a couple days. It's a sunny beachside town, except you can't really go on the beach. It has a lot of pretty Art Deco architecture; apparently the highest concentration of Art Deco architecture in the world.

The first night here was kind of lonely. I hate moving to a new place where you don't know anyone. But yesterday was good because I met two really nice girls. Anna is from Germany and Laura is from England. I think we will meet up later in Wellington. I think it's always good to have time alone though, because not only is it extremely difficult to travel with the same person all the time, but it keeps you in a good sociable mood when you are apart from others for a while.

I went on a hike up Bluff's hill, which is supposed to give the best view of the surrounding area. A lady named Leoni, who was on her lunch break and said she walked up the hill everyday, guided me to the path. Everyone is so nice here it's unbelievable. People will just walk up and start talking to you like they have known you forever.

Next I head to Wellington, the capital of NZ.

Arrival till now

It's been really hard to find cheap internet here, so this is my first update. I've spoken to most people anyways. Everything is backwards here! Fall is spring, everyone drives on the left side of the road, day is night, up is down! Ok maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration. Actually, it's been pretty easy to assimlate here. Other than random slang terms: jandals=sandals (that's even worse than "slippers", kris), a boot= a trunk, wop wops = the boonies. And instead of saying "sweet" they say "sweet as". That's been hard to get used to.

But everyone has been very nice. I've been trying to keep Lord of the Rings jokes to a minimum. I arrived in Auckland on Oct.7. Cafes are everywhere and I've come to really like the flat white coffee, which is basically cream with a little bit of coffee in it. The coffee here is very strong though, so I am wired all day. The hostel I stayed in was huge. Probably around 500 people there. I've never seen so many people in one place. And the elevators were the worst I've ever seen and you weren't allowed to take the stairs for some reason. One didn't even go to my floor, the other two usually went to the wrong floor a couple times before you got to the right one. No one seemed very bothered by it except me...maybe we are spoiled in the U.S. with our fancy elevators that go to the right floor.

I met my roommates who were all very nice. I think I was the only one from the U.S. the whole time I was there, which was a week. I didn't really know what I was doing, so everyday pretty much consisted of coffee, walking around town and seeing sights, and drinking at night. The drinking part was a little too easy to get in to. I think I spent about an hour or two in a tree one night.

It also rains a lot here. Too much, I think. But when it's sunny it's beautiful. NZ is so hilly, and almost every house seems to have an amazing view. Another thing I wasn't really prepared for was that the ozone layer here has a hole in it, so you get burned much quicker than expected. And yet another thing I should have thought about is that this is the 21st century, and everyone has cell phones. Not having one is extremely debilitating.

After seeing the sights in Auckland and spending way more than planned, I decided to do WWOOFing on a farm. Basically you volunteer to work for a farmer and they give you a place to stay and food to eat. It's a pretty good deal. I spent my last week with Sue and Marty McCardle. They lived in Rangiriri in the Waikato region. It's claim to fame is being the home of the Shire from LOTR. It does look like that too: blue skies, nice breeze, green rolling hills, and sheep and cows everywhere. My tasks where mostly to feed chickens, help Sue put up fences for the cows, housework, entertaining the kids, and other odd jobs. It felt good to be a part of a family again.

But now I'm in Napier, on the west cost of NZ. It's a little foggy now, and there is not much to see here. It's pretty though and I think I will walk around and see some sights. Check out pictures on facebook.