OKAY!

So I have 30mins of internet time so I figured that perhaps it's time I updated the old blog... I will try to make this as painless as possible, but expect this one to be a multiple sitting read.
Wellington - So I met up with Lori's friends Vonnie & Eddy for supper and a tour around some of the surrounding areas... some nice pictures of me from one of the lookouts. Later that night I met up with the three English people that I had been hanging around with recently (Jess, Chris, and Luke) for some good old fashioned lazer tag (decided to splurge since it was our last night together). The next morning I was up for my 7am ferry across Cook Straight (Cpt. Cook was the first European explorer to set foot - so you could say that my roots are actually in NZ (my moms maiden name is Cook for those of you not following)).
Picton to Nelson -
We arrived in Picton and quickly jetted off in our bus to Nelson where I was to stay for a few days. On the second day I did some trecking and made my way down to a beach (just a 45 minute walk one way... what I won't do to come home tanned). I found a landmark that said I was 7352 miles away from Vancouver... so just think of me as being next door. Aside from that the hostle in Nelson wasn't the nicest as the facility wasn't built with backpackers in mind (especially the small kitchen).
Westport / Lake Mahinapua
The next day we made a stop at Lake Rotoiti (a glacier fed lake) for the crazy ones to jump in... I chose that my health was slightly more important. For those of you who didn't know I got a bit of a head cold (I know there is no sympathy coming my direction but you want the details so here they are). I also spotted a Kiwi bird (a National symbol - but a rather ugly bird), which are typically nocturnal... but I have seen two of them in broad daylight?? The hostel in Westport (The TripInn) was beautiful and made up for Nelsons shortcomings. I went for a short jog here and quickly realized the difference in climate from Australia as my lungs felt like they filled with phlegm (again... details). The next day on our way to Lake Mahinapua we made a quick stop at Cape Foulwind. Now Cape Foulwind (so named because the person who discovered it encountered a storm in the area or a 'foul wind') is famous for its fur seal colony! Now if I am not able to be reincarnated into a koala I would like it to be known that I am okay with being a seal... they are so funny and lazy... got tons of pics! After this stop we drove a short bit to the Pancake rocks/Blowholes. Essentially these are a series of stratified limestone stacks which, over many thousand years, have been eroded to resemble a giant stack of pancakes (crepes if you ask me). Pretty cool... although the water was too calm to see the true effect of the blowholes. That night we stayed in the Lake Mahinapua Hotel (run by a 90 publican named Les), where I only had to pay $10 ($6 if you convert to Canadian dollars) for a place to sleep! We also were served an amazing meal and had a themed party that night... which 'unfortunately' I again wasn't feeling up to. Les actually only runs his hotel for the bus company that I am travelling with so it is quite an experience that not many travellers get.
Franz Josef -
On the way to Franz we stopped at Pete's Bushman's Centre (overrated and run by one of the rudest locals I have met to date... drive past if you have the choice) which educated us on how people of the bush lifestyle survive... by jumping on deer and selling them live for $2000... ask me about it for better details. Once in Franz Josef I signed up for the steepest guided GLACIER walk around! That's right... ICE and COLD... if felt like Canada. I even got to wear some crampons (spikes to help me not fall on the ice) and managed to get some really amazing pictures... reminded me what I left behind (and wasn't missing) back home.
Wanaka -
The next day on our way to Wanaka we stopped for a short hour walk around Lake Matheson... which is where you can get some amazing postcard photos as Mt. Cook (I think I explained why this is important to me earlier) reflects upon this beautifully calm, mirror-like lake. It appears like you are seeing double. In one of the pics I posted it's of a mountain upside down... it's actually a picture of the lake! Crazy I know.
Queenstown -
On the way to Queenstown... which is where I am now... we stopped at Puzzling World (aka my heaven). It has a 3D maze and loads of brain teasers and puzzles. I took on the maze and completed it in 28mins (it is supposed to take 30-60 mins... so I'm a pretty big deal). Then we made a stop at AJ Hackett's first commercial bungy jump (where Amanda and Justing took the plunge) and we watched a video explaining the science and excitement behind the sport. Pretty interesting as we got an insight into the early stages of it all.
The following day (yesterday) I went on a mountain hike. It was an ambitious hike to the summit of one of the higher mountains surrounding Queenstown (expected time it takes is 8 hours return... we gauged it taking us 6 hours... but it took under 4... but don't ask me how close to death I felt). Great exercise and worth doing (even if you break your camera trying to take a picture of yourself at the summit... disposable cameras it is!)
Today I went on a Milford Sound cruise... essentially you are on a huge body of water that was created by glacier movement... you are surrounded by mountains in every direction (again formed by glaciers... and you see some of the most breath taking scenery) But that is all for now talk to you soon. Ryan

Photos

I am trying to load some pics as we speak... I'm loading 42 we'll see how many make it on!

River Valley & Wellington

Alright so after Taupo we headed to a secluded area of NZ known as River Valley. Essentially you take a million turns down a winding road until you get to this very large cabin. It really gives you a feeling of being in the outdoors as there is no t.v., no internet, and no cell phone service for miles... Beautiful! When we first arrived it didn't take long to realize that there was a beach volleyball court so I got right on top of that. Later in the evening presented an opportunity to really get to know some of the people that you are travelling with. So far I have been making a lot of acquaintances on these bus trips, but recently I have also made a couple of friends that I will be keeping in contact with later. There is a couple from Slough, England - Jess (a teacher like me) and her boyfriend Chris (who is wickedly funny). I have pretty much been a shadow to these two recently and have enjoyed getting to know both of them (Jess came bungy jumping with me). There is also a younger traveller that has completed our 'clique' - Luke also from England. The four of us decided to do the white water rafting offered in River Valley and it was amazing... even though I fell out of the boat at one point. We got some amazing pictures and even got a chance to flip our boat three times (once we made it so that the bow went perpendicular to the river for about five seconds before flipping over... AWESOME). Since then we have done a few nature walks... and for all of you Lord of the Rings fans... I have several pictures of Mt. Doom and some of the other amazing landscape from the films (even if I haven't watched any of them).
I am now in Wellington (the capital city) and have enjoyed some of the luxuries of being in a larger centre... like cheap internet! Tomorrow I plan on doing a little more touring around before I meet up with one of Lori's friends from over here and then I will get to bed early as I have to catch a 7 a.m. ferry to the South Island the next morning. Talk to you all soon... hope to have many new adventures for you soon... and luckily for you mom none of them should involve life risking adventures.
Take care, Ryan

P.S. I miss you all too... and for the billionth time I'm not coming home early. Ha.

Oh Yeah...

I forgot to mention... but the reason that I was up so early this morning and able to write out my experiences was because I was scheduled to do an activity at 10:15 am. Oh the activity you ask... a BUNGY JUMP! It was amazing! And once again I am happy to say that I live to tell about it... plus I bought the dvd so feel free to have your stomach enter your throat when I get back home with it. It was 47 meters above a river. You had the option of a water touch... so I said yeah lets get my hands wet... only they misjudged and I came up about 3feet short... and they wonder why I didn't trust being fully submerged!
Anyways for those of you who are concerned for me you can breathe easy because this was the last of the crazy things on my list of things to do while on this vacation so relax.
As usual take care,
Ryan

New Zealand!

Okay so this is an impossible task, but I will try my best to summarize my trip so far. Started on the 8th when I arrived in NZ. I landed in Auckland and didn't get a chance to do much sight seeing but from the sounds of it I didn't miss much. Then we headed out to Mercury Bay the next day. On the way we stopped at a dormant volcano for pictures and also at Cathedral cove which is a beautiful beach with a naturally created archway. From Mercury Bay we drove to Rotorua and on this trip we did a hike through an old gold mine and and some tunnels with glow worms (worms whose poo glows to attract other insects into a sticky weblike string they lower - so they can eat... however, after leaving the larvae stage they do not develop mouths so their lives are short lived and their only job is to procreate for the next couple of days). From here we ended up in Rotorua and I took in an amazing traditional Maori cultural show... so amazing I am really glad that my trip has been equally educational for me. The next day I toured around Rotorua (which stinks of rotten eggs and burnt rubber) a location for lots of geothermal activity. I saw bubbling puddles of mud and steaming bodies of water (more exciting than it sounds) as well as a building that was erected for a coronation ceremony for Queen Victoria. After Rotorua I went to Waitomo. On the way there we took in a NZ farm show... saw/touched all 19 breeds of commercial sheeps here in NZ... watched a cow get milked and saw sheep dogs in action. Afterwards I went Blackwater rafting which is essentially hopping in a thermal wet suit and an innertube and floating along underground river systems and jumping off waterfalls (definitely recommend giving it a go). I also did an amazing walk here and saw some really cool caves and historical sites. Now I am in Taupo and have a couple of days to relax and check out the sites... likely going to check out the thermal pools today. Otherwise I am healthy and happy and will see you all before you know it... so stop counting down the painful days that you are away from me... haha.
Take care,
Ryan

Pictures

So there is a new link to get to the pictures... as I didn't remember how to access Amanda's account... so take a look at my trip thus far... and forgive me for some of the pictures and their explanations.
Take care, Ryan

Great Ocean Road

Okay... so once the manager arrived and was looking to book me into my room a group of people started talking to him about the trip they were about to take on the Great Ocean Road (which is basically a long stretch of highway along the Southern coast of Australia... with land on one side and the ocean crashing on the other side) in a few hours. Their discussion revealed that they still had room for one more person if I wanted to go along.... but I would have to make up my mind within an hour (at this point I still haven't slept). I told them that I would think about it and decided that I would have a shower before any decision... so that I could actually be semi-conscious. In addition the manager of the hostel said that since my bed wasn't ready yet anyways he wouldn't book me in yet... and if I chose to go on the trip he wouldn't charge me for the nights that I would be away (which is a rare thing for hostel owners to do). After thinking about it I decided that this trip had actually been something I planned on doing this time around in Melbourne anyways... and this way it might be a bit cheaper. Needless to say... I went on this trip... (with complete strangers - don't try this at home kids...haha). We took off at about 1pm and headed down to the coast making stops at all the scenic stops along the way (pictures will be posted soon). We decided that it would be an overnight trip (to allow for a slower pace) and so we checked into a Cabin (which was actually a box-trailer that was slightly bigger than our car... but managed to comfortably sleep all five of us... I have a picture of this too). Originally we had talked about tenting, but apparently someone read my blog because we had a mix of cold/showers for the majority of the trip (something apparently incredibly uncommon here). Aside from some of the amazing sights (the Twelve apostles (there are only 8 or 9 remaining) - which are free standing columnar rocks; the Loch Ard Gorge - a shipwreck sight) we also managed to take in some wildlife in their natural environments. I saw an achidna(sp?) digging its nose in the dirt at the Twelve Apostles, and of course we spotted several KOALAS in the trees munching on some gum leaves!!! Overall it was an unexpected twist that worked out really well. And even better than that if you do a day trip tour with a company you'll pay $90-$140, whereas, I paid under $80 and that includes my food, transportation, accommodation and a two day trip! So taking the risk saved me a good $40, and if you've seen my bank account you would be smiling like I am... haha. Anyways I am going to go and eat something... 2 days and I am on my plane to New Zealand!