i worked my first shift at the restaurant last night. instead of having a regular schedule, joe (the manager) is giving me whatever shifts he can find - bartending either up or downstairs, or waitressing. i was waitressing last night.
you can tell i'm used to being a bartender though. as i took a couple's order, i found myself chatting with them about how long they're in woods hole for, how the drive was, the weather (turned to rain again yesterday), and so on. after a few minutes, i suddenly remembered that people don't come into a restaurant and sit at a table to chat, they actually want to be left alone. so off i ran, apologising. [bartending is way better, by the way.]
as per usual, most of the people coming in were waiting for the ferry to the vineyard, and just wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. including one woman who went to the bar to order and then refused to actually sit there, instead claiming a table by the window (why bother going to the bar at all then, you ask? so did we). she ordered a salad, hamburger without the bread or fries, and then brought out her own apple for lunch. if you're on a diet, i don't recommend eating in a restaurant period ma'am.
the job search is going, shall we say. nothing in either the cape cod times or falmouth enterprise looks particularly promising, but i'm going to wander around falmouth this afternoon in hopes of finding someplace. supposedly you can make $1000 - $1400 delivering the paper. tempting, tempting. does it warrant getting up at 4:30 am? maybe as a last resort. there's also the "college students! sales and service" type ads that just scream telemarketer, but hey ... a job is a job.
29 June 2006
26 June 2006
it's such a lovely day
i'm back! summer!
it is so warm and humid here on cape cod. quite the shock coming from four degree celcius dunedin. i lay out on our porch today and soaked in the sunlight. i understand why people worship the sun.
my travels back were ... interesting. the overnight bus from dunedin to christchurch was a bizarre experience. i slept about an hour total - the "bus" (more like an over-sized van, really) stopped every hour and made sleep impossible. upon arrival, at about 3:30 am, i discovered that nothing was open, except for pubs, so my plan to sleep in the bus station was thrown out. my friend evan had warned me about this possibility, and told me to call him if it turned out to be true, but then no payphones would accept coins, or my credit card, or debit card, or phone card. (this was the only time since coming to new zealand that i have missed having a mobile.) and so, there i was, at 3:30 am, wandering around downtown christchurch, in the pouring rain, with my pack, backpack, and suitcase.
so i went to a pub.
and showed up dragging all my bags, asked the bouncer what time they closed, "9 am love, after the soccer game," went inside, dumped all my stuff at a table, got an irish coffee, and talked to an australian and somalian guy until i met evan and laura at 8 am. oh but wait, we'd said to meet at the bus terminal, and there were two and we went to different ones. so i didn't actually meet them until 9. but, shopping and museum visits accomplished, and i made it to the airport in time.
for some unknown reason, i didn't really sleep on any of my flights. i can usually sleep anywhere, no matter the conditions, but not this time. by the time i made it to boston, i think i'd had five or seven hours of sleep in almost four days.
los angeles airport is quite the introduction back to the states. new zealand and america are quite similar, there is no denying that. yet, i found (still find) myself overwhelmed. it is so noisy and everything is so big. flying in, you can't even see the city because the smog is so thick. but then again, iit is nice to see the diversity of this country - new zealand lacks that.
and cape cod doesn't change. it rained all weekend (sad), but it is so familiar and our apartment looks so good and home-y and brad and i went to the strawberry festival and grocery shopping. [man, trader joe's is a fabulous place. i was getting so excited over all my old favorites: mango sauce, frosted shredded bite size whites, real tortilla chips and real, hot salsa.]
i didn't sleep well (still) saturday night and then at 8 am sunday morning, i crashed. (8 am here is midnight in new zealand) i think it's really funny, and strange, how my body was still clinging to new zealand time, despite days without sleep.
and so, the job search and thesis work begins.
it is so warm and humid here on cape cod. quite the shock coming from four degree celcius dunedin. i lay out on our porch today and soaked in the sunlight. i understand why people worship the sun.
my travels back were ... interesting. the overnight bus from dunedin to christchurch was a bizarre experience. i slept about an hour total - the "bus" (more like an over-sized van, really) stopped every hour and made sleep impossible. upon arrival, at about 3:30 am, i discovered that nothing was open, except for pubs, so my plan to sleep in the bus station was thrown out. my friend evan had warned me about this possibility, and told me to call him if it turned out to be true, but then no payphones would accept coins, or my credit card, or debit card, or phone card. (this was the only time since coming to new zealand that i have missed having a mobile.) and so, there i was, at 3:30 am, wandering around downtown christchurch, in the pouring rain, with my pack, backpack, and suitcase.
so i went to a pub.
and showed up dragging all my bags, asked the bouncer what time they closed, "9 am love, after the soccer game," went inside, dumped all my stuff at a table, got an irish coffee, and talked to an australian and somalian guy until i met evan and laura at 8 am. oh but wait, we'd said to meet at the bus terminal, and there were two and we went to different ones. so i didn't actually meet them until 9. but, shopping and museum visits accomplished, and i made it to the airport in time.
for some unknown reason, i didn't really sleep on any of my flights. i can usually sleep anywhere, no matter the conditions, but not this time. by the time i made it to boston, i think i'd had five or seven hours of sleep in almost four days.
los angeles airport is quite the introduction back to the states. new zealand and america are quite similar, there is no denying that. yet, i found (still find) myself overwhelmed. it is so noisy and everything is so big. flying in, you can't even see the city because the smog is so thick. but then again, iit is nice to see the diversity of this country - new zealand lacks that.
and cape cod doesn't change. it rained all weekend (sad), but it is so familiar and our apartment looks so good and home-y and brad and i went to the strawberry festival and grocery shopping. [man, trader joe's is a fabulous place. i was getting so excited over all my old favorites: mango sauce, frosted shredded bite size whites, real tortilla chips and real, hot salsa.]
i didn't sleep well (still) saturday night and then at 8 am sunday morning, i crashed. (8 am here is midnight in new zealand) i think it's really funny, and strange, how my body was still clinging to new zealand time, despite days without sleep.
and so, the job search and thesis work begins.
21 June 2006
i can take a road that'll see me through
i leave dunedin tonight to ride an overnight bus to christchurch, where i will arrive at 3 am. i plan on sleeping for a few hours in the bus terminal before running around christchurch like mad, doing last minute shopping (maybe waiting until the day before (of) my departure back to the states to buy souvenirs wasn't the best plan) and stopping by the museum if i have time – dragging laura and evan (who are currently in christchurch and oh so kindly offered to tag along) with me.
and then a flight to auckland, where i have a four hour layover. i leave auckland at about 10 pm on the 23 june on an overnight flight to los angeles, where i arrive about 3 pm on the 23 june. and then another seven hour layover in lax before another overnight flight to boston, where i will arrive at 7 am and collapse into a big heap but somehow need to stay awake until at least ten otherwise i will mess up my internal clock more than it definitely already will be at that point.
my room is currently in shambles, because i am the most stressed out and disorganised packer that i know.
i keep telling myself that it will get done. it's just a matter of actually ... finish. somehow, space doesn't seem to be the issue (probably since i sent all my dive stuff back to the states with my parents) but weight is definitely, definitely going to be a problem. hopefully they won't weight my carry on (since there's a seven kilo weight limit) as i plan on putting my laptop, two textbooks, and two books to read during the course of travel in there, in addition to clean underwear, my toothbrush, and a ton of jetlag pills, aspirin, and airborne medicine.
i'm a bit stressed, can you tell?
exams are over and hopefully they went well. mostly, the past week has been lasts: last tramp, last international dinner, last lecture, last happy hour, last DH at steffi's, last flat white. this is different from leaving a semester at BC – i have no clue if i will ever see most of these people again, although i now have a stack of skype names and phone numbers scattered around the world. i just hope that something comes of it. i hope that, even if it's a few years down the road, someone will ring me, saying that they are in the states and where am i and could we possibly grab a drink? perhaps it is wishful thinking.
if nothing else, i feel like i have learned a lot about myself in the past five months. i consider myself to be so independent, fiercely so, and maybe too much. to the point where i ended up spending a lot of time by myself. i crave my alone time at BC; this has made me realise how much i need my friendships – the kind where i can call someone or knock on their door and they will always, always go grab coffee with me or go for a walk and ... talk. those deep, meaningful, philosophical talks are so rare here, when you've only known someone for a few months. and i miss them.
still, i am torn about leaving here.
the last tramp of the semester was a bit disappointing – we didn't even find the road to where we wanted to go, slept inside david's two-door hatchback car for a grand total of three hours one night, and it rained – a lot. still, here's to us, and a month's worth of trips together:
[me, laura, and david on our last tramp]
[a very sad, incomplete list, but a few little things:
things i will miss about new zealand
kiwispeak: cheers, boot, takeaway, petrol, ay, give way,
food: gingernuts, flat white, mintchips cadbury bars, hokey pokey, wine (so good and so inexpensive)
the smell of the cadbury factory
my marine science classes
happy hour at the cook
adventure
excitement
! road signs
all the road signs actually
beauty
the octagon
thursday night international dinners
jazz at robbie's
things i will not miss about new zealand
my freezing cold flat
the fact that my towel never dries, so each morning after a shower, i "dry" myself off with a progressively worse smelling towel
instant coffee]
by the way, if you are in or around or can get to the boston area, specifically cape cod, we're having a bbq on the fourth of july. give me a ring (oh my goodness, i'll have a mobile again, crazy).
there's a very good chance i'll continue to update this. keep checking...
and then a flight to auckland, where i have a four hour layover. i leave auckland at about 10 pm on the 23 june on an overnight flight to los angeles, where i arrive about 3 pm on the 23 june. and then another seven hour layover in lax before another overnight flight to boston, where i will arrive at 7 am and collapse into a big heap but somehow need to stay awake until at least ten otherwise i will mess up my internal clock more than it definitely already will be at that point.
my room is currently in shambles, because i am the most stressed out and disorganised packer that i know.
i keep telling myself that it will get done. it's just a matter of actually ... finish. somehow, space doesn't seem to be the issue (probably since i sent all my dive stuff back to the states with my parents) but weight is definitely, definitely going to be a problem. hopefully they won't weight my carry on (since there's a seven kilo weight limit) as i plan on putting my laptop, two textbooks, and two books to read during the course of travel in there, in addition to clean underwear, my toothbrush, and a ton of jetlag pills, aspirin, and airborne medicine.
i'm a bit stressed, can you tell?
exams are over and hopefully they went well. mostly, the past week has been lasts: last tramp, last international dinner, last lecture, last happy hour, last DH at steffi's, last flat white. this is different from leaving a semester at BC – i have no clue if i will ever see most of these people again, although i now have a stack of skype names and phone numbers scattered around the world. i just hope that something comes of it. i hope that, even if it's a few years down the road, someone will ring me, saying that they are in the states and where am i and could we possibly grab a drink? perhaps it is wishful thinking.
if nothing else, i feel like i have learned a lot about myself in the past five months. i consider myself to be so independent, fiercely so, and maybe too much. to the point where i ended up spending a lot of time by myself. i crave my alone time at BC; this has made me realise how much i need my friendships – the kind where i can call someone or knock on their door and they will always, always go grab coffee with me or go for a walk and ... talk. those deep, meaningful, philosophical talks are so rare here, when you've only known someone for a few months. and i miss them.
still, i am torn about leaving here.
the last tramp of the semester was a bit disappointing – we didn't even find the road to where we wanted to go, slept inside david's two-door hatchback car for a grand total of three hours one night, and it rained – a lot. still, here's to us, and a month's worth of trips together:
[me, laura, and david on our last tramp]
[a very sad, incomplete list, but a few little things:
things i will miss about new zealand
kiwispeak: cheers, boot, takeaway, petrol, ay, give way,
food: gingernuts, flat white, mintchips cadbury bars, hokey pokey, wine (so good and so inexpensive)
the smell of the cadbury factory
my marine science classes
happy hour at the cook
adventure
excitement
! road signs
all the road signs actually
beauty
the octagon
thursday night international dinners
jazz at robbie's
things i will not miss about new zealand
my freezing cold flat
the fact that my towel never dries, so each morning after a shower, i "dry" myself off with a progressively worse smelling towel
instant coffee]
by the way, if you are in or around or can get to the boston area, specifically cape cod, we're having a bbq on the fourth of july. give me a ring (oh my goodness, i'll have a mobile again, crazy).
there's a very good chance i'll continue to update this. keep checking...
16 June 2006
solid olive oil
it is so cold inside my flat that the olive oil has solidified. and i'm not talking about how olive oil separates when it's in the refrigerator. this olive oil was beyond that point - it had actually solidified all the way through. as in, to the point where you could not pour any liquid out because there was none.
do you know what the freezing point of olive oil is? around 2 degrees celcius.
that is just depressing.
do you know what the freezing point of olive oil is? around 2 degrees celcius.
that is just depressing.
14 June 2006
west coast
the first monday in june is the queen's birthday here in new zealand (well the day it's celebrated). it was also the weekend right after the end of lecture and right before exams began. it could be viewed as an extra study day, but it also offered a three-day weekend, so david, laura, and i decided to go tramping.
while looking through a book of tramps around the south island, i read about a place called "castle rocks hut", which you access by crossing the franz josef glacier on the west coast. the hut, literally, looks out over the glacier. we called DoC, who said you could still access the hut and a guy in the tramping club who went last year and said it was a good introduction to glacier crossings, so we decided to do it. it didn't require three-days, so the plan was to go to castle rocks saturday night, then up mt. armstrong in mt. aspiring national park on sunday and monday.
the drive took something horrendous like eight hours, but we managed to make it to the village of franz josef, where basically everywhere had "no camping signs" - so we drove to the glacier parking lot, set up our fly a few meters down from the "no camping" sign inbetween two handicap parking spots and got up early enough to take it down so no one would know. we weren't the only ones doing it either - there was a tent nearby. my sleeping bag is not very warm, at least definitely not made for near freezing temperatures, so i brought my fleece blanket from my flat along. definitely the best idea i had for the weekend - it kept me so, so warm. fleece is a wonderful thing.
we checked at the DoC office in the morning about conditions to get to castle rocks - and again, we were told it'd be fine. and so we packed up all our stuff and gear and headed out.
[franz josef glacier moraine]
new zealand is unique in that it is the only place in the world where glaciers exist in temperate rainforests. this glacier used to extend far beyond its current position - a great (can such a thing be great?) example of global warming.
to get to the glacier, we had to pass a bunch of "guided tours or experienced individuals only" signs - kind of intimidating really ... seeing as how we are neither. we had been assured, though, multiple times that it was a great place to learn, so we continued on anyways.
as we were putting on our crampons at the base of the glacier, a tour approached. the guide asked us where we were off to:
"castle rocks hut"
he laughed. "no you're not"
we stared at him - surprised.
"no one's been there for a year. there's a 30 foot wall to get off the glacier"
"well," i said "we'll at least go have a look"
and so off we went, up the stairs cut into the glacier
and we went for a wander, following the trails that all the guides take. the crevices are filled in, there are bridges, ropes to hold onto, steps for goodness sake. but, despite these things, it is ... beautiful and incredible. even though it was pouring down rain and cold and even though every single guide we passed laughed at us when we told them we were going to castle rocks hut. it was one of those giddy ohmygod-i-can't-believe-i'm-doing-this-i'm-walking-on-a-glacier-!!-:D feelings.
[waterfall]
due to our ... lack of experience, we didn't go very far (since we'd, obviously, decided not even to attempt this castle rocks hut thing). just wandered around for a few hours and then went back to the car to try to figure out what to do for the night.
we stopped by the DoC office to try to find a hut about an hour off the road and to tell them that, you know, maybe they shouldn't be telling people that castle rocks hut is accessible when no one has been there for a year. and they're supposed to be taking care of this hut?
we decided to head down the road to the cattle track to blowfly hut. a really really adorable little hut that was nice and warm and we had a very relaxing night.
[did i mention that david let me drive? and that it was a manual? and that i only stalled once and managed to stay on the left side of the road the whole time (just a nice sweeping left turn out of the parking lot ... whoops. it just feels so natural to swing out]
[swing bridges are so fun]
the next morning, we drove to the wonderful town of haast (where everyone we met and spoke to was absolutely crazy) to pay for the hut and buy tickets for brewster hut. laura decided to take a bus to wanaka and have david and i pick her up on monday on our way out because her knee was really bothering her.
david and i headed off to brewster hut - an absolutely tiny hut with no heating (i have never been so thankful for a fleece blanket). it was cloudy and half raining the whole way up, but right as we arrived at the hut, all the clouds lifted.
[i also saw my first kea - an alpine parrot notorious for following trampers around and screeching/bothering them. and just being parrots. this one left david and i alone though.]
[brewster hut with mt. brewster behind it]
the hut is literally tied to the ground, and we discovered why that night, as the wind absolutely howled past the hut - it really sounded like the thing was going to blow off the mountain. to keep warm, we lit tons of candles and got our stove going.
we had a really great time - made cards out of the visitor book's paper and played ers for a few hours and chatted and tried to stay warm.
in the morning, everything was frozen solid. including my socks (which were stiff as boards) and our boots:
[shoelaces aren't supposed to do that]
so we spent a good deal of the morning trying to thaw everything - mostly holding our boots and clothing as close to the stove as we could without accidentally lighting them on fire.
we just left all our stuff in the hut and headed up mt. armstrong.
[the snow covered bit is mt. armstrong, although that's a false peak. the peak is about 800 meters up from the hut]
we had an absolutely gorgeous, perfect, beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky (such a relief after the not-so-great weather we'd had thus far and since it was the west coast). it was great - gave us good practice with our crampons and ice axes and felt good to actually get to the top of a mountain. and the view was spectacular. you could see everything: the ocean, mt. cook, mt. aspring, mitre peak, sisyphus, just to name a few. absolutely incredible.
[frozen waterfall on the way up]
[david and i at the top]
[mt. brewster and glacier]
[coming back down]
[david and i with mt. armstrong in the background]
we picked up laura in wanaka and then i drove home. it turned out to be our last real trip (well, we did go away the next weekend, but it was a bit disappoint (more later)). laura and david have just been great to go tramping with. i love that we throw together these trips at happy hour on tuesday and figure out details friday afternoon, then jump in the car and go. that is what i will miss the most about this country - the spontaneity and the adventure.
while looking through a book of tramps around the south island, i read about a place called "castle rocks hut", which you access by crossing the franz josef glacier on the west coast. the hut, literally, looks out over the glacier. we called DoC, who said you could still access the hut and a guy in the tramping club who went last year and said it was a good introduction to glacier crossings, so we decided to do it. it didn't require three-days, so the plan was to go to castle rocks saturday night, then up mt. armstrong in mt. aspiring national park on sunday and monday.
the drive took something horrendous like eight hours, but we managed to make it to the village of franz josef, where basically everywhere had "no camping signs" - so we drove to the glacier parking lot, set up our fly a few meters down from the "no camping" sign inbetween two handicap parking spots and got up early enough to take it down so no one would know. we weren't the only ones doing it either - there was a tent nearby. my sleeping bag is not very warm, at least definitely not made for near freezing temperatures, so i brought my fleece blanket from my flat along. definitely the best idea i had for the weekend - it kept me so, so warm. fleece is a wonderful thing.
we checked at the DoC office in the morning about conditions to get to castle rocks - and again, we were told it'd be fine. and so we packed up all our stuff and gear and headed out.
[franz josef glacier moraine]
new zealand is unique in that it is the only place in the world where glaciers exist in temperate rainforests. this glacier used to extend far beyond its current position - a great (can such a thing be great?) example of global warming.
to get to the glacier, we had to pass a bunch of "guided tours or experienced individuals only" signs - kind of intimidating really ... seeing as how we are neither. we had been assured, though, multiple times that it was a great place to learn, so we continued on anyways.
as we were putting on our crampons at the base of the glacier, a tour approached. the guide asked us where we were off to:
"castle rocks hut"
he laughed. "no you're not"
we stared at him - surprised.
"no one's been there for a year. there's a 30 foot wall to get off the glacier"
"well," i said "we'll at least go have a look"
and so off we went, up the stairs cut into the glacier
and we went for a wander, following the trails that all the guides take. the crevices are filled in, there are bridges, ropes to hold onto, steps for goodness sake. but, despite these things, it is ... beautiful and incredible. even though it was pouring down rain and cold and even though every single guide we passed laughed at us when we told them we were going to castle rocks hut. it was one of those giddy ohmygod-i-can't-believe-i'm-doing-this-i'm-walking-on-a-glacier-!!-:D feelings.
[waterfall]
due to our ... lack of experience, we didn't go very far (since we'd, obviously, decided not even to attempt this castle rocks hut thing). just wandered around for a few hours and then went back to the car to try to figure out what to do for the night.
we stopped by the DoC office to try to find a hut about an hour off the road and to tell them that, you know, maybe they shouldn't be telling people that castle rocks hut is accessible when no one has been there for a year. and they're supposed to be taking care of this hut?
we decided to head down the road to the cattle track to blowfly hut. a really really adorable little hut that was nice and warm and we had a very relaxing night.
[did i mention that david let me drive? and that it was a manual? and that i only stalled once and managed to stay on the left side of the road the whole time (just a nice sweeping left turn out of the parking lot ... whoops. it just feels so natural to swing out]
[swing bridges are so fun]
the next morning, we drove to the wonderful town of haast (where everyone we met and spoke to was absolutely crazy) to pay for the hut and buy tickets for brewster hut. laura decided to take a bus to wanaka and have david and i pick her up on monday on our way out because her knee was really bothering her.
david and i headed off to brewster hut - an absolutely tiny hut with no heating (i have never been so thankful for a fleece blanket). it was cloudy and half raining the whole way up, but right as we arrived at the hut, all the clouds lifted.
[i also saw my first kea - an alpine parrot notorious for following trampers around and screeching/bothering them. and just being parrots. this one left david and i alone though.]
[brewster hut with mt. brewster behind it]
the hut is literally tied to the ground, and we discovered why that night, as the wind absolutely howled past the hut - it really sounded like the thing was going to blow off the mountain. to keep warm, we lit tons of candles and got our stove going.
we had a really great time - made cards out of the visitor book's paper and played ers for a few hours and chatted and tried to stay warm.
in the morning, everything was frozen solid. including my socks (which were stiff as boards) and our boots:
[shoelaces aren't supposed to do that]
so we spent a good deal of the morning trying to thaw everything - mostly holding our boots and clothing as close to the stove as we could without accidentally lighting them on fire.
we just left all our stuff in the hut and headed up mt. armstrong.
[the snow covered bit is mt. armstrong, although that's a false peak. the peak is about 800 meters up from the hut]
we had an absolutely gorgeous, perfect, beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky (such a relief after the not-so-great weather we'd had thus far and since it was the west coast). it was great - gave us good practice with our crampons and ice axes and felt good to actually get to the top of a mountain. and the view was spectacular. you could see everything: the ocean, mt. cook, mt. aspring, mitre peak, sisyphus, just to name a few. absolutely incredible.
[frozen waterfall on the way up]
[david and i at the top]
[mt. brewster and glacier]
[coming back down]
[david and i with mt. armstrong in the background]
we picked up laura in wanaka and then i drove home. it turned out to be our last real trip (well, we did go away the next weekend, but it was a bit disappoint (more later)). laura and david have just been great to go tramping with. i love that we throw together these trips at happy hour on tuesday and figure out details friday afternoon, then jump in the car and go. that is what i will miss the most about this country - the spontaneity and the adventure.
08 June 2006
music in high places
my first exam is tomorrow. nothing like an exam to make me want to procrastinate:
the last weekend of may, the weather was looking pretty awful just about everywhere in the country, so david, laura, john, and i decided to take it easy and go to mt. cook for the weekend and stay in a hostel. after you've been going tramping every weekend, a hostel is luxuuuurious. there are showers, tv, heat, real plates, a refrigerator, a kitchen - pretty amazing for people used to lowered standards of just about everything for a weekend. and we all forgot towels - none of us are used to being able to shower over the weekend.
mt. cook (aoraki "cloud piercer") is, by the way, the tallest mountain in new zealand. where kiwis like, say, sir edmund hillary, learned mountaineering.
we left saturday morning, which meant that for once we were able to enjoy the scenery during the drive:
[courtesy of laura]
despite the poor weather outlook, the goal for the weekend was to just catch a glimpse of mt. cook. after checking into the hostel, and we headed off to do the walk up the hooker glacier valley, which (according to the lonely planet (we are such tourists) promises views absolutely dominated by mt. cook.
the weather, however, wasn't cooperating.
still, the moraine and glacial lake were pretty impressive.
[mt. cook is on the right ... somewhere]
we made dinner and spent the evening watching pulp fiction. we decided to get a fairly early start in the morning and were rewarded as we drove to the parking lot near the trailhead for another day walk:
[the most impressive part is that none of the other peaks are even close to as tall]
magnificent, isn't it?
we climbed up to the sealy tarns, about halfway to mueller hut, and on the way up, the clouds rolled back in and covered up mt. cook.
[the tarns]
[view back into the valley]
and on the way home, we stopped by the tasman glacier (the biggest glacier in new zealand)
[the glacier is actually beneath all that rock stuff and the lake. you can see the actual ice way far back on the left]
the last weekend of may, the weather was looking pretty awful just about everywhere in the country, so david, laura, john, and i decided to take it easy and go to mt. cook for the weekend and stay in a hostel. after you've been going tramping every weekend, a hostel is luxuuuurious. there are showers, tv, heat, real plates, a refrigerator, a kitchen - pretty amazing for people used to lowered standards of just about everything for a weekend. and we all forgot towels - none of us are used to being able to shower over the weekend.
mt. cook (aoraki "cloud piercer") is, by the way, the tallest mountain in new zealand. where kiwis like, say, sir edmund hillary, learned mountaineering.
we left saturday morning, which meant that for once we were able to enjoy the scenery during the drive:
[courtesy of laura]
despite the poor weather outlook, the goal for the weekend was to just catch a glimpse of mt. cook. after checking into the hostel, and we headed off to do the walk up the hooker glacier valley, which (according to the lonely planet (we are such tourists) promises views absolutely dominated by mt. cook.
the weather, however, wasn't cooperating.
still, the moraine and glacial lake were pretty impressive.
[mt. cook is on the right ... somewhere]
we made dinner and spent the evening watching pulp fiction. we decided to get a fairly early start in the morning and were rewarded as we drove to the parking lot near the trailhead for another day walk:
[the most impressive part is that none of the other peaks are even close to as tall]
magnificent, isn't it?
we climbed up to the sealy tarns, about halfway to mueller hut, and on the way up, the clouds rolled back in and covered up mt. cook.
[the tarns]
[view back into the valley]
and on the way home, we stopped by the tasman glacier (the biggest glacier in new zealand)
[the glacier is actually beneath all that rock stuff and the lake. you can see the actual ice way far back on the left]
cup o' coffee
yesterday i was on my way to a cafè in the octagon, when i passed by a starbucks. i've passed this starbucks countless times in the five months i've been in dunedin. i have never been in, however, because when i arrived in new zealand, i vowed not to visit any american establishments - even the mccafè, which doesn't exist in the states.
but, as i'm walking past this starbucks yesterday i realised that starbucks would have filtered coffee.
see, because filtered coffee does not exist in this country. i don't own a coffee maker, so my flat has instant coffee (i won't even mention how disgusting the stuff is). at a cafè, you can only get espresso drinks.
and i dearly, dearly love filtered coffee. and i miss it so. and there is nothing quite like sitting down with a nice big cup of coffee instead of the itsy-bitsy little flat whites that seriously you could finish in one gulp and only take about 15 minutes to drink, even if you are drinking as slowly as possible (they are quite tasty though, don't get me wrong).
so, i am embarrassed to admit, i turned and walked into starbucks and bought the biggest cup of coffee i could (sizes! what a fantastic concept).
i leave new zealand in two weeks and i couldn't hold even wait that long.
but, as i'm walking past this starbucks yesterday i realised that starbucks would have filtered coffee.
see, because filtered coffee does not exist in this country. i don't own a coffee maker, so my flat has instant coffee (i won't even mention how disgusting the stuff is). at a cafè, you can only get espresso drinks.
and i dearly, dearly love filtered coffee. and i miss it so. and there is nothing quite like sitting down with a nice big cup of coffee instead of the itsy-bitsy little flat whites that seriously you could finish in one gulp and only take about 15 minutes to drink, even if you are drinking as slowly as possible (they are quite tasty though, don't get me wrong).
so, i am embarrassed to admit, i turned and walked into starbucks and bought the biggest cup of coffee i could (sizes! what a fantastic concept).
i leave new zealand in two weeks and i couldn't hold even wait that long.
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