A couple of quick pics

Internet is iffy again so my posts are going to be few and far between.

Here are a couple of pics just for the fun of it...

First one is me driving...a big ass camper van (yes Justin, I'm avoiding the gas stations), with a stick shift on the wrong side of the road. :o)

The next one is for Lara. There is this camper van rental company called Wicked that rents these vans, each with a different paint job. Most of them are funny...some deep...some political...



The next one is for Justin...no explanation necessary....

Still driving

Currently sitting on the side of a beautiful mountain called Treble Cone. It’s a ski resort in the winter and a paragliding/ground launching site in the summer. Ian is out playing with his canopy so I figured this would be an excellent time to catch up on my blogging.

Our first night we spent in a town called Greymouth. We parked our camper van in a slot right next to the sea. That nights sleep was awesome. The winds were blowing at a good steady 35+mph with gust up to around 50 mph. The next morning we got up and took a walk out on the beach. The shore was covered with stone rather than sand. The sky was grey, but the view was amazing.



From here we drove to Franz Joseph Glacier where we did a nice afternoon hike.


So far the food here has been less than desirable, but I have high hopes for Queenstown and Invercargill. Also, the food (as well as everything else) way, way expensive! I paid $18.00 for a veggie burger!!

The night we spent in Franz Joseph it rained – heavy rain – all night, which gave us another awesome nights sleep. I’m actually getting quite used to the camper van and the motor parks. We don’t shower in the campervan…it’s totally useless, but having a toilet is great! The motor parks have everything you need, internet, amazingly clean showers and toilets, game rooms, kitchens, etc.

Last night we tried to make it to Wanaka, but ended up about an hour short. We found a remote camper park that was very private with an amazing view. It was super cold, which gave us another great nights sleep.

Today we made it to Wanaka and tried to get a flight out to Milford Sound, but got hosed by the weather. It looks like the weather out there might suck through the week. We plan to say for a day or two in Queenstown so that may (hopefully) give us another option to get out to the Sound.

New Zealand seems to be big on live stock. We’ve seen cows, goats, horses, donkeys, deer (yes, they raise deer for meat) and an ass load of sheep. I’ve never seen so many varieties of sheep…there are big ones, small ones, some with long nappy hair, some with short curly hair, snow white ones, beige ones, some with black faces and some just roaming free range road side.


So far the trip is going well. I’m having a great time, but am about over the driving part. But this should fix itself over then next day or so. Then we will be on the road again on our way to Invercargill.

I have some more pics on my camera and will upload them soon...

NZ

We are finally in NZ. Been here two days now. Both days has been consumed by a lot of driving. The camper van is going to take some getting used to, but it is nice to have some place to pee at any point of any day! :o)

Today we visited Franz Joseph Glacier. It was absolutely beautiful. We hiked up pretty close until the terrain became a little on the rough side and my ears were about frozen off. It was shorts weather at the beginning of the hike, but freezing at the end.

Turns out I blew up my power converter in China. Ian's converter doesn't take the block style plugs because the plug hole is recessed so I can't charge many of my electronics (phone, ipod, camera). Because I can't charge my camera I'm not going to be able to upload any pictures until I get home :o(.

I'm tired. Will try to get on and blog more when I have more energy.

Thanks for reading!

AUS Airport

Finally made it to Australia. Getting off the plane I get a text message from Ian saying that he was lost and was going to be late picking me up…no big deal I thought because I still needed to pick up my luggage and make it through customs.

I present my passport and customs form to the customs agent. The only thing I had not filled in was the address where I was staying while in AUS. The agent asked me how long I was there for and I explained that it was a day layover on my way to NZ. I told her that I was meeting my husband and he made our overnight stay arrangements, but I was unaware of what those arrangements were. She said, “no problem mate” and sent me on my way.

While I was waiting for my baggage a guard came around with a dog that sniffed me up and down. I didn’t think this was an issue till she came back to me three times…the last time she asked the dog “did you find it?”. Hummm I thought.

I get my bags and head out to the customs screening area. As I was walking through the gate a woman pointed me to another agent and said that he would take care of me. How nice I thought. Little did I know what I was about to get in to.

We walked over to an area away from the rest of the screeners. The guy said that he just wanted to check my baggage, which didn’t seem unusual because of the security that we have to deal with in the states. I know I’ve had my purse check for residue a number of times.

The first thing the inspector did was go through my purse. He started setting some items such as my camera and an envelope of paper work aside. Meanwhile he was asking me 10,000 questions about where I’ve been, where I was going, what I was doing, who I was meeting, why the short stay, why the route through China, how did I pay for my ticket, what did I do for a living, etc. They he went over my customs form with me. He asked if I understood all the questions…especially number 1 and number 5 (1 being the question about food, drugs, plants, etc and 5 being whether I had more than $10,000 US on my person (this one made me giggle)).

From here he explained that he was going to have to empty everything from all of my bags and scan each piece of luggage. The entire time I was standing there the guy was as nice as can be and explained that I was flagged because of the unusual route through China, the short stay in AUS and the fact that my baggage claim tag numbers were not in consecutive order.

So, I had two bags that I was barely able to close in the first place that had to be completely emptied out…I actually thought he was kidding about that until I was standing there with clothes, shoes, underwear, everything scattered all over this table. While we were doing all of this the guard’s supervisor came over and started asking me all the same questions all over again. They couldn’t quite understand my travel sequence.

We finally got all the screening of my luggage done (one bag we were unable to get zipped back up, but that wasn’t a big deal…just amusing). The last bag was my back pack. I told him that my computer and accessories were in there. He asked what was in my computer…”uh pictures, music? I don’t really understand your question”. Then he opened up the front pouch and found my Luna Bars, Airbourne and sleeping pills (uh oh). I didn’t think anything of it, but he looked at me like I was a piece of shit, pulled out my customs form and a reread number 1. I was like, oops I didn’t think about that and he started shaking his head saying this is not good. Now I’m starting to panic a little.

He made me stand there freaking out for about ten minutes while he tried to get his supervisor over to see my "stash". The supervisor finally made his way over and told the guy that it was fine to let me go....whew!

This entire ordeal took over 30 min. I got out and told Ian...he said that JC got caught with an apple and was charged $200 for not claiming it! So, all in all I guess I got off pretty easy...least it wasn't China!

Detained...

Coming soon...detained in the AUS airport! Weird how stuff like this always happens to me!

It's 6am and we're off to the airport to catch our flight to NZ.

Lunch debacle

OK...the never ending blog. I just got back from lunch and what and adventure! As I mentioned earlier, NO ONE speaks English. My first attempt I tried to find a restaurant recommended by Adrianne's UPS buddies, but no one knew what I was talking about so I ventured over to a seafood place I saw earlier. The hostess didn't speak much English but got enough out to tell me that they did not have a menu in English, but invited me over to the holding tanks to point out what I wanted to eat....uhhh, NO WAY!! So I ventured back to my hotel to eat at one of the many restaurants located there. Oh, I forgot to mention that if I don't eat I get a little nutso (most of you who know me already know this from experience!). During my search for food I was frantically texting Ian telling how much I was done with China and wanted out. I think I hit the local places just at lunch time because there were literally hundreds of people standing around waiting for tables. The first hostess I visited didn't speak a word of English and was too busy to find someone else to help...by this time I was getting a little delirious and was about in tears and ready to give up my search for food.

I finally pulled myself together and ventured to one last place. Again, the hostess didn't speak English but grabbed 3 other girls to help out. They were all giggling at me but at least trying to help. I have no clue what they were saying amongst themselves but whatever it was sure pissed off one of the guys waiting for a table. Before I knew what was going on he was up in their faces screaming something in Chinese...again, I have no clue what he was saying, but I discovered that "shit" must be a universal word because that was every 3rd word out of his mouth.

Regardless of his rantings, the girls took me directly to a table and within 5 mins I had some little munchies in front of me to tide me over till my lunch came. The food was nothing to write home about, but at least it filled the hole!

I'm off to the airport soon to catch my next flight. I'm probably done blogging till I reach NZ.

Minority report

OK. Back from sight seeing. Wow, what an experience. I was a total spectacle out there walking around. People just stopped and stared at me (actually gawked would probably be a better term).

I took a few pictures but nothing worthy of busting out all the accessories in order to download them now. The town reminds me a lot of Jacksonville...nothing special, just a river and some buildings.

No one in this town speaks English...not the hotel staff, not the people at the airport, not the taxi drivers...it's a bit challenging to get what you want. My grandmother really wants a Chinese lantern...do you think I can find one? Hell no! Do you think anyone knows what I'm talking about when I ask?? Hell no! I finally gave up and headed back to the hotel for a drink. The bar tender didn't speak English either (go figure). I couldn't order anything that she knew of so I ended up with a shot of vodka in a glass. After that I decided to just buy a bottle of wine and take back to my room.

Here I sit, getting liquored up in my Chinese hotel room...