All the things from the deep south without really going to the deep south.

I'm all curled up thinking about a good meal, that most likely I will not have because I don't feel like buying stuff then cooking it, so I'm really thinking about another Fergburger, which are just so massive. I'm all curled up in all of my warm layers of clothing because no building ever gets warm enough here, ready to tell you about my last weeks worth of adventures. It's crazy how fast the days are going by.

Thursday, June 11

After I was done telling you all about some really crazy stuff, Robert, Laura, Colleen and I (all of us who were still left from the Stray bus, plus Heiko, who went skiing) decided to take the Gondola up mountain so we could see the Remarkables mountain range. The Remarkables are the large mountain range that run from North to South in the background of most any photo of Queenstown. These things really are....well...remarkable. They are probably the best ski slop here by that will open tomorrow. The only Ski slop open is the Cornet. But now I'm off track.

So yes, we took the Gondola up. From there, we could see the most fantastic view. The lake, Lake Wakatipu, is the third largest lake in New Zealand and it is completely fresh water since it was made by a glacier, therefore, does not attach to any ocean. There is your random fact. If I'm good I may actually be able to throw a bunch of those out there this time.

Just as a side note, I have to say, I'm usually really good about remember locations, and places and things that I see there, but because all of these names here are from Maori decent I feel I just make noises so it's really hard to remember towns and lakes, unless they are the big places, so I'm really sorry for not always being real detailed. I do try to reference my Lonely Planet to help be along, so I don't make the names up, but you should hear me here when I'm trying to talk to someone and recall the places. I just say words that sound like they could fit.

So moving on...

At the top of the Gonodola you can go up a little more on a chair lift, so we did that. Then we could go up even further on a tramp (which is what they call hikes. In fact everyone in the world it seems calls hikes tramps, but us. I've got many more things that we say odd compared to everyone else. Maybe I'll just give them as I feel) After our tramp we got in these little go carts called a luge. They are not powered, but just use gravity. You can, however choose how fast you want to go. You push forward to let up on the brake and pull back to break. It was really a whole lot of fun. It's one of those things that make you feel like you turly are a kid again. I guess I was having too much fun that I forgot to pay attention and managed to flip my car around. I was going too fast through a tunnel and a sharp turn came up. Since it was wet and I was going too fast, woop, around I went. I was fine, just couldn't get my car back around.

After our exciting luge ride and our Gondola ride back down we stopped at a crepe place. Laura was sensable and got one with ham and cheese, but the rest of us got ones with Nutella. Who wants healthy food when you've got nutella.

It was a nice last even in Queenstown. Well, for the most part. Robert got it the worst. We were in an 8 person dorm. Only 3 of us knew each other (Robter, Heiko, and I) Two of the girls were probably 18 and were traveling just to party. They had no respect for their room mates. They came is talking as if they were still in the bar, and when asked to keep it down they got mad. I guess as a thank you, one of them decided to have a great night with some guy. I don't know how I slept through it all, but poor Robert was on the bunk above them. He went for many walks that nights because he was getting no sleep. It's amazing how desperate some people can be.

Friday, June 12

This morning, Robert, Heiko, Laura, Colleen, and I got picked up to go down to Dunedin. Since we were doing our trip to Dunedin as a package we had plans set for us. Our first plan was a tour of the campus. Now I know I have not been out of college long, but really. These two guys, I think they just saw in a pub and said, "Hey, we'll give you beer if you keep these people entertained for an hour." They never really seemed to have any solid facts on anything about the school, and they greeted us with beer and bagetts.

At least after that, things got more serious. We started with the steepest street in the world, despite what people may think of Lombard Street in San Fancisco. Baldwin street is not twisty but let me tell you, climbing it once in my life is enough. Hey, at least I climbed it. Many people didn't. But really, how can you visit the steepest street IN THE WORLD and not walk up it. Oh well.

From there we went to one of the orignial Speights Brewerys. Speights is one of their local beers. I guess you can find it every where here but it's more of a southern beer. It was really extensive. I feel not like anything you would find in the States. The best part to the tour was the beer tasting. Now that is not because we got all you could drink beer, plus they brought us pizza. In fact I was not too keen on the beer. There was really only one of the 6 types that I went back for more. What made the beer tasteing so cool was that we got to pour our own beer. I don't know, I guess I just found that fascinating. So I'm a dork, what are you going to do about it.

I guess the plan was to get us all to the brewery, and get everyone tipsy, so then they would go next door and drink even more. That was pretty much what everyone did. I on the other hand, knew that I needed to save my money for other things. Lucky I made that choice because as the night wore on, I started sneezing a lot. Then, very quickly I felt I was getting a cold. Yes, for those of you who have been following from the start, that does make 2 times in 4 weeks that I have gotten sick here in New Zealand. Well bugger.

Saturday, June 13

It was very definate that I was sick this morning. But, I knew I had to keep pushing on. I had a whole days worth of stuff that I had already paid for and who knows if I'll ever get to do any of it again. I got to start the day out by doing a tour of the Cadbury factory. Well, since it was a Saturday the factory was not open but we did get chocolate, and learned about how it was made. We also got to see a ton of chocolate drop down the chocolate waterfall. Oh how I love chocolate. I guess that's proof by the fact that here I am right now stuffing my face with chocolate. But, chocolate here is like no other. Even the white chocolate it better than any white chocolate you could even dream of in the states. It is purely from sugar, milk, and coco butter. Plus all dairy products here are more pure than anything you could get in the States because the cows only eat grass which gives you the most pure product. Who knows if this makes any sense, but there you go, another random fact.

We got picked up at the hostel to be taken to a local pub that is really just run by the students. I didn't really see the appeal, but I was happy since they had face painting. Everyone goes to the bar and I was first in line to get my face painted. In case I've just not mentioned why I was in Dunedin here it is. I was there to watch the rugby match of the All Blacks vs. France. Now from what I've learned the All Blacks are THE New Zealand rugby team, and over the past 20 years, they have the best record in the world. True that has been going down the last few years, but still. For the most part, if I'm going to get to see only one rugby team ever in my life, the All Blacks are a good choice to see. So as for this face painting, it's all for the All Blacks rugby game. The best part about getting to root for the All Blacks is that I could get away with wearing...well...all black. It's the first team that is geared toward all of us stage hands. I guess that made me giggle. No one else seemed to find the humor in it. Either you just have to be a stage hand to get it, or I'm really just that off in the head.

The most shocking part of the afternoon had to be the feasco we got to witness next. It was the all nude rugby match with the Cocks vs. the All Nudes. Get it. It's the pun of France vs. the All Blacks. Yeah, I can't really tell you what was going through my head at the time moment I saw 16 all naked guys run out onto the field. Now this was not the field that the big game was being played. It was local and we were able to stand right on the field line. I do know, that I took photos just to show that 16 guys were crazy enough to run around in front of a crowd of over 200 people in about 5 degree C weather, in the nude. Apparently, me taking photos caught the attention of some guy with a French radio station, so he came over and interviewed me. So, some where in France I was on a radio station, and believe me, you could hear the blushing in my voice.

Before the game we went to a lodge where they fed us, but the most exciting part that happened there was that I one the face painting contest. I had a black fern going up one side of my face. Then going down the other side I had a fern shaped black and white checkered print going down. It was kind of cool to finally win something. That's all I guess I really had to say about that.

From there we just walked over to the rugby field. We were warned that if we heard water falling, then to spread your legs apart and stand on your toes. It's not someone just pouring a beer. We were in a standing area that was just the die hard fans so none of them like to leave long enough to go to the bathroom so they would just do it right there. In fact Anna had someone go to the bathroom right on her leg. Although when I went to the bathroom, I could see why they wouldn't want to go. It was a 30min wait with only 4 toilets.

Well, the match started with the Haka performed by the All Blacks team. The Haka is a war dance that the Maori would dance to scare their enemy. Rugby is like a very fast paced football game. Unfortunately this was a fast paced game to a failure. The French won 27 to 22. So it was a sad night. Many people to get rid of their woahs decided to drink all night. I on the other hand I was getting so sick that I had to just go to bed.

Sunday, June 14

I can say, I don't remember too much from this day because I was just so sick, but I will do my best to recall it for you. We headed back to Queenstown first thing in the morning. The bus driver could tell that everyone was HUNG OVER. It's really quite funny how badly drunk everyone got the night before. I must have also looked hung over because he made a comment to me.

I guess being sick really kind of cramps your style because all I had energy to do was go have a cup of tea with Robert and Heiko. After that I just curled up in bed and read then slept for a whole 14 hours. There was just no point in staying up if it was only going to make me more sick.

Monday, June 15

I took a bus from Queenstown to Te Anau (tay.on.oo). It was a cute little place that was pretty empty. But, they at least had a fire going, which I just curled up next to read my book, still trying to recoving knowing that I was going to be out on the water all the next day.

Tuesday, June 16

I had a bus pick me up to take me out to Lake Manapouri. I had to go to the lake as my first stop to get to Doubtful Sound. Here comes another fact. Doubtful Sound is not actually a Sound. It is actually a Fiord. Fiord are areas created by glaciers. So it is incorrect that they call Doubtful Sound, sound, but they do it any ways and there is no changing that. So back to the point. I had to take an hour boat ride to get over to the Fiord. I was nervous when I woke up because there was a layer of snow on the ground. I thought that the snow would ruin the sight and that I was not going to get the best view. Well, on the boat ride so far, I was not disapointed. All of the mountains were white across the top and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. I was really lucking out too because the sun was just coming out to play and it was making all of the snow glow.

After we got off the boat, we got back onto a bus to make the drive up and over the mountain to the Fiordland. I have never seen snow look so spectacular. In fact, there was a look out that our driver took us to. He said that it was the money spot, but with the snow covering everything it was the Million dollar money spot. It was SO perfect that it really looked like a painting. I even have a photo of me infront of it that looks like I'm standing infront of a blue screen, but I swear to you that I'm standing there.

We got onto this boat that was just luxury inside. It was warm and they had food if you wanted some. It was nice. But, what we were all really there for was the scenery. There really is just no way to describe the Fiordlands. When you are out on the water all you can see is the water and mountains covered in green and white in this case. There were also waterfalls almost every where you look. There weren't as many as there can be, because there are more when it rains, which it rains on average about 7-9 meters a year there. (That's a whole lot of rain and that's another fact. Yeah buddy I'm on a roll.) Doubtful Sound is the number one most peacful place I have ever seen. They actually took 5 minutes where they shut of all of the motors and had everyone sit outside and be perfectly still so we could just hear everything around us. The whole thing felt like one of those recordings that is put on in the background of some meditation. We could hear a large waterfall on one side, and a small one on the other. The birds just echoed, and we could hear the wind in the trees. I know this all sounds cheesy but it was just perfect. I think I've humiliated myself enough that I can even admit that it all made me tear up a little.

We took our bus ride back over the mountain, but before stopping at the boat we took a detour to the largest powerplant in New Zealand. We drove 100 meters belowe sea level, which who knows how deep we were into the mountain, to see an underground power station.

When I got into the hostel, I would have never guessed that I was in the same hostel as the daybefore. There had to be about 20 people in the kitchen and this was one of the most poorly built kitchens. Lucky for me, I was just making pasta, oh wait, that's what everyone was making. Dang... well, it was all ok. I did get to work on re-learning some of my girl scout skills by building a fire. I must not have learned a lot because we didn't get the fire going too well. That is until asked the guy sitting there if he would mind helping little ole me out and get some small wood from the shed. I love being a girl sometimes. I'm sure me sounding sick as a dog helped because I would have done it myself if I had not been so sick. Once he got the wood, we were in buisness. There were 4 of us just hovering by the fire trying to keep warm. As I'm sure I've said already, but there is just no place that is warm around here. In fact, right now, I am in my coat and wrapped up in a blanket and still cold, and no I am not sitting outside.

Wednesday, June 17

If any of you look at a map and find Te Anau, you will see it's not a very large city. This means that there is not a whole lot to do there either. There are a lot of tramps that you can do, which on most any occation I would except, being sick twice in 4 weeks makes you paranoid about not getting better, so I was afraid to spend too much time outside just tramping around. So instead I sat around reading until the afternoon when I took a boat out to the otherside of the lake, Lake Te Anau (Second largest lake in New Zealand, after Lake Taupo, up in the North Island). On the otherside I took a tour through a cave. I guess you could say this cave is a lot like Lurray Caverns but not so much. This had a whole lot more water and a whole lot less stalactites. In fact, it only had one stalactite and it was a total of 1cm long. The water was much more impressive. It had ragging waterfalls and it was so tight in there that the water was not very far away. The highlight to this cave were the glow worms. These are little larva that look like worms incased in mucus. They create these like silk mucus strings that hang from the cave ceilings, then their little butts glow when they are hungry. All of this is to capture their food. So they have their butts glowing to attract the bugs that have ventured into the cave. It is to give the appearence of the stars glowing. The bugs fly too close and then they get caught in the mucus silk strings. I guess me putting it all like that, it doesn't sound too appealing, but when the lights are all turned out and you are sitting in a little row boat, and you are being pulled into this cave that is so dark you seriously cannot see your hand in front of you, and all of a sudden you look up and just see this cluster of little blue lights all around you, that is impressive.

Thursday, June 18

I caught a bus back up to Queenstown. So here I am going to Queenstown for the 3rd time now. This time, I chose a different hostel. The one I was staying at before was just too much for me. You could hear the bar across the street and the one under us. People would talk really loud in the hall all night long. Doors would be banging. People would throw their stuff every where. It was just not a place a look forward to go back to, so I stayed at another place. Unfortunately this place does not get very warm.

After I was all checked in, I walked down the street to town, only to be picked up by a shuttle. This shuttle took us up the road that leads to one of the ski fields. We, however, were not going to the ski fields. We were going up the mountain range, following the gold rush road, to get to the river on the otherside. I had decided not to go rafting because it was not my idea of fun to get wet in close to freezing water. I did, however, decide to go jet boating. This was such a strange feeling. This is a boat that is powered by sucking up the water and spitting it back out. Because it has no propeller it can manuver very well, such as making 360 degree turns. At fast speeds it can travel in water as shallow as... well I can't remember but it's really shallow. All I know is that it felt like we were just skidding over top of the water. Something that I'm sure people can appriciate, while on the jet boat we stopped at a Lord of the Rings spot. The scene were Arowen (Liv Tylor) rides across the river with Frodo, and the Ring Wraths are on the otherside, then the wave comes down the river.

I was trying to have a quite evening in but the other people were not having that. They decided that getting drunk and playing drinking games was their idea of fun. It didn't quite down until the manager from the hostel next door came up to yell at them for being too loud. Then I got some peace and quite.

Friday, June 19

This morning I did the one thing I said I was not going to do. Looking back on it, I'm so glad I did it. If everyone has guessed, I did not go see Hobbiton up in the North Island, because I was told I would be disapointing. Turns out it was a good thing because they have shut it down for the filming of "The Hobbit". So yes, I would have been disappointed. Well, I had to see something, so I went ahead and did a LOTR tour. This was a full day tour where we also got to play with weapons and wear costume pieces. The weapons were authentic exact replicas made for the movie, but the originals were given to the actors. The hobbit cloak was actually Sam Wise's one of his 5 different cloaks used for the movie. I got photos with all of it. I felt like I was geeking out more than I ever have. I can at least say, I was the least geeky person there. They all knew facts like you wouldn't even be able to think of about the movie and the books. I was just there because I loved the movies and there were great sights seen in the movies and I wanted a way to see those. I know that does not get me out of being a geek. I'll accept that.

The places that we did see were:
The river at the beginning of the first movie where Isildor loses the ring and then is shot. It was here that we learned, in order for the crew to disguise the filming of "The Lord of the Rings" they would put up signs for "Jamboree". For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a Boy Scout event. So everyone just thought there were always all these Boy Scout events going on all around New Zealand. They would disguise everything with that, even the scripts. Which we got to see the full screenplays for all three movies. OH man, it was crazy. We also got to see a full call sheet for just one days shoot. It's basically the packet I would set up if I were working in film. Not a bad idea I might add.

After that we moved on to the Arganoth. This was the part where in the first movie, they are floating down the river and pass though the opening were the two large statues of the kings are on either side. Of course those are not really there. In fact, the opening it not even there there. If you watch the movies we were standing at the top of about where the statue on the right would be. Across the way was not another another cliff. Across from us was a field. It was all digitally added, along with the statues.

The last place we went to was a place called Deer Park Heights. This is a whole area owned by one really old man. Who knows what this man really does because he doesn't farm any of this land, but it has been used for quite a few movies. It really is an ideal location though because it has the Remarkables mountain range in the back of it and across the way you can see Coronet Peak, and you can also look down on the city of Queenstown. All of those things I just mentioned were used as backgrounds in the film. The main scene filming portion that was done up here was the whole section in the second movie of them traveling to Helms Deep. What is so special about getting to visit these spots is that, since this land is owned by this old guy, it is private property and only this LOTR company are the only ones allowed access. Rock On!!!

Well, even though we only saw just a tiny tiny portion of locations for filming, I know that I'm going to be able to forever watch the films and know that I'm turely looking at New Zealand. It is now just an unmistakeable country to me. I say that and I"m sure I'll never be able to pick it out, but I can hope. Oh so the "Remarkables" to give you and idea of what they look like, they have been used in other movies to act as the Rockies.

Ok, I have really been typing for a very long time, and I'm for the most part caught up seeing as I've really done nothing today, so I"m going to leave you with this. The next time I'm updating I will most likely be finding myself in Australia. I really miss all of you. I love to hear the comments. Sorry I can't get back to all of them, it's just hard with internet being so limited, but it really makes my day to hear from you all.

Cheers from Queenstown again!!!