Land of the Kiwis

So what is a Kiwi, I ask? It turns out it's either a fruit, a flightless bird, the New Zealand Dollar or a person from New Zealand. And you thought the Ozzies were odd, at least they aren't simultaneously a fruit, a bird, a coin and a person.

* One thing I learned in Alaska was keep half of tank of gas in your car at all times, cause you don't know when/where the next gas station is. This was reinforced in Australia cause the next gas station you get to may be closed and since they don't have pay-at-the-pump, you are screwed... Now after all this, you'd think I'd learn... After coming down Fox Glacier we passed a gas station, I made a mental note to gas up. We stopped by the outfitter, changed our boots, said bye to the guides, etc... Called my next hostel to get a room (the guy yelled at me, another story...). I drive to the gas station only to find it closed at 8pm. Says next gas station 140km, I look at my odometer, it reads 350km (or so), I knew for a fact that there was enough gas until the thing read 500km... so I drive.. mountain coastal roads... drive drive.. then I realize the odometer is wrong. It's reading 480km and the signs are saying 40km to the next town (where I assume the next gas station is...). Now this being New Zealand, there isn't anyone on the roads and I've only passed 3-4 houses... So at this point I'm being careful with the gas. At 500km the gas light has been on for at least 30km... and we are going up and down mountain coastal roads... every wide shoulder I see (and there aren't many of them).. I'm making a mental note on how to pull off in the event I run out of gas... I do make it to the next gas station... again to find it closed! I drive 500m to a motel (the ONLY motel) to find it fully booked. I ask the person where I can sleep as I don't have enough gas to make it far... She suggests a secluded beach about 2km down the down... I'm staring at the gas indicator and being easy on the accelerator all the way to the beach. Spend the night alone on a gorgeous beach, clear sky, no moon.. all the stars and the Milky Way and forget my troubles. Wake up the next morning... gas up and on my way. The odometer read 530km or so... In the end, a great adventure!

* So the getting yelled at part. This has happened several times in my trip both in Australia and New Zealand. People calling me crazy for driving in the dark. I understand it's dangerous, but that's life and driving. This guy at the hostel said "You are an idiot", exact words. Never had someone who wanted my business call me that before...

* During the Kepler Trek I met a Spaniard, an Italian Swiss, several Germans, a Liechtensteiner, an American and a crazy Kiwi. So some background, the Kepler Trek is about 70km long and about 1000m elevation difference between the start and the end of the trek. I was carrying about a 15-20kg pack, heavy by most standards. My packing list was: tiny stove, 1 small fuel canister, 1 set of UK military cooking/eating set, 1 ultra-light down sleeping bag, 1 set of full winter (read: blizzard proof) cloth, 2 sets of cool weather cloth and 1 set of warm weather cloth, full first aid kit, 3L of water, and other small trinkets (iPod, GPS, solar charger, etc...). This guy... first day we show up at the lodge, a bunch of us are sitting around chilling and next thing we hear is loud club music coming out of these speakers by him. 30 minutes later, he pulls out a 15inch Macbook Unibody and starts playing movies on it. The next morning, we wake up and I walk by his bunk. It's a mess! Chips (crisps for you English...) all over the bed, random trinkets (wallet, iPod, etc...) sprawled out all over the bed like he's been there for 1 week, not one night. Later talking to him we find out he has fresh tomatoes, 5kg of potatoes and a 5 person tent (for himself...). After he packed his bag, I tried to lift it. I can usually lift up to 25kg without having to struggle too much... man.. his bag had to be at least 30kg. That night after doing what should've been a 4-6 hour hike in 8-10 hours he tries to setup his tent in the dark. Having never done it before he discovers his stakes are larger than the stake holes... he just shoves the stakes through the tent... The next morning he found out he left his jacket with his car keys at the summit of the track.. about 1000m back up and at least a 20km trek... Never ran into him again...

* One of the better War Memorials I've seen was at Auckland. The War Memorial on the top floor had dedications for fallen soldiers, listing names and wars they died in. In one section the wall was completely empty and on the bottom of the wall these inscriptions: "Let this remain unfilled." Also from a dedication to WWI soldiers, a colonel to his men before they disembarked in Wellington said "Remember, you are not Heroes, those are buried in France."

* Hillary's Axe was on display in the Auckland museum. Just so cool to be inches away from history like that.

* Australia had many small roads. Reminded me of driving in West Virginia all the time. New Zealand was even more gorgeous. Winding small roads, country driving, towering mountains... What I found hilarious was the one lane bridges... You'd be driving on this nice road and bam one lane bridge, and then another one lane bridge. This would be found on all the highways, even the national highways. You can see this in the new X-Men movie, the old couple driving on the road crossing the bridge then coming onto a two way road with arrows pointed on it. Notice they pull into the wrong side. That was New Zealand....

* Swine Flu hysteria hit while was flying from Australia to China via Japan. We had to wait on the plane in Tokyo for the health inspector only to find out he only checks US inbound flights. In the airport a lot of people were wearing surgical masks, so were people on the flight. This is where it cracked me up. So you are in a sealed space, and you wear surgical masks.. makes perfect sense. However, what do you do when you eat? or drink? Obviously you take it off. This is what I noticed everyone did when the food and drinks came around. Then afterwards, they just put the mask on like they never took it off. WTF? 5 minute exposure to 'dirty' air is the same as a 2 hours exposure...

Anyway in China now. Engaged... excited... nervous... and out of my depth.... Will blog about that later...