been so long

i guess it's been well over a couple weeks since i last wrote. blogger has not been very cooperative in the south of the south island. i really did try to write a couple times. well, now that i'm in nelson, there is a speedy internet place where i can fill you in on my travels.

basically, i'm ready to move to this fine country. it truly is thee most beautiful place on earth, i'm convinced of it! last time i wrote i swam with dolphins. since then the adventures continued. in a nutshell, here's the rundown of crazy shit i got up to: white water rafting (total raft capsize in the middle of a class 5 rapid! for some reason i was pumped after it, rather than totally freaked out. another fear conquered, thank you very much), horse trekking through beautiful lake side/farm land/mountainous area, and yes ladies and gentlemen, i got to do my sky dive in queenstown (adventure capitol of nz). that was AMAZING!!! i've been high a few times in my life and this has got to be the best high that there is. i ended up getting strapped up with a hottie danish tandem jumper (bonus!). he was a freak show and was psyched that i was pumped to go (i had no fear what-so-ever since this was my third attempt--weather had been bad all tries). if you really wanted to go for it, you could ask your tandem partner to do flips and stuff in the free fall, so naturally, i did.

i got to go up in the plane with my friend shannon (who i'd met on the bus trip--rad canadian chick) which made it more fun. we were both really psyched up and both our tandem guys were trying to freak us out saying stuff like "hope this is strapped on properly." sitting in that little cockpick was nuts. we just kept climbing higher and higher, way way way past the giant mountains called the remarkables. i knew 12,000 feet sounded high, but i really had no concept just how high it was. it all seemed to happed quite quickly. the door to the cockpit opened and the first guy was gone. shannon was next. my guy held me over the edge so we could see them fall. sooooo fast! holy shit, we were next. i sat on the edge of the doorway, curled my feet under me and held my head back. and in 3, 2, 1 we were falling backwards!

those first few seconds were hard to remember as i think it's quite a shock to your system to be falling out of a plane. but soon enough i could feel what was happening. cold air rushing over my face, my cheeks flapping in the wind. my tandem guy tapped me and gave me the thumbs up and when i gave them back he was ready for some fun. soon enough, the world i was looking down on was above me. we were flipping in free fall. soo sooo soooooo good! my smile was from cheek to cheek and i was screaming with glee. next thing knew, a little jolt happened and i looked up to see the parachute was released. my guy could talk to me then and he pointed to look up. all i could see was a tiny dot in the sky rushing down like a falling rock. that's what we had just been doing (i was looking at the girl behind me in line coming down). i had no idea we were going that fast. it just felt like your kind of hovering in air and the wind is rushing over your face.

the glide down was also really good. my dude was soooo cool. he knew i was loving it and was pointing out all the amazing scenery around us. he did some great spins in the air and then let me have the controls of the chute. i turned left, then right and we were parallel to the ground from the velocity of the spins. LOVED IT!! he pointed out our target area and took back the controls. i was so not ready for this to end. pretty soon we were heading straight for the grassy area, i held my feet up, then ran with him and we landed. i was unstrapped from him and just started jumping up and down from excitement. shannon and i ran towards each other and continued our dorky jumping like game show contestant winners. then i ran over to high five my guy and that was that. my knees were just blubbery and my head felt really full. it was a feeling hard to describe but i was ready to go up again then and there. if it weren't for the cost, i would have instantly. i thought that would be something i would do once in my life, but when the opportunity knocks, i will do it in a heartbeat!

back in queenstown, shannon and i tore it up that night out at the bar. we had a doozy, both meeting boys. her's, a local player. mine a young british traveler. both were crazy. we drank it up and danced it up. at that point we had both left the bus tour behind (was super great while it lasted but was ready for freedom). i was planning on renting a car and driving up the rest of the west coast of the south island. shannon was heading on to auckland. my time was running thin and i still had so much more i wanted to do. so what did i do? extended my trip an extra week. nice one.

so while in the bar being ridiculous with the young brit, i asked if he wanted to join me for a drive up the west coast. crazy traveler that he was, he agreed. we decided to meet the next day to work out the details. when we did, he convinced me that we should get a camper van. seemed like a good idea to me (save on hostels) and freedom to drive where ever. so that's what we did. me and random young brit (his name was matt) took off the next day and headed straight for lord of the rings land (paradise in glenorchy). it really was LOTR style. so gorgeous. then it was off to this rad mining town called arrowtown. then on to the coast and the glaciers (walked right up to a huge glacier! so random). then up the coast and parked on a side road, which turned out to be a gorgeous beach. as soon as we parked, the clouds parted (had been raining for most of the south), the sun came out and a HUGE rainbow went right over our camper van. heaven!!!

next day was punakaiki and the mysterious pancake rocks, then up thru the beauteous area of the north of the south island, heading towards abel tasman national park (which i hadn't read much about but knew i wanted to go there). when we arrived, i knew why. i found my spot in this world. it was the perfect combination of big hills of alpine and rain forest with gorgeous white sand clear blue/green waters at the foot of the hills! i had found it! we stayed the night at old macdonald's farm in marahau (lovely little village) which was at the start of the park. you see, the park didn't even have a road. you either had to walk into it, or take a boat. that next day was so sunny and beautiful, i decided to take a water taxi to the top of the park and walk back. the girl at the info desk suggested this area saying it wasn't too much of a walk. when i got on the boat with the other passengers they were all going to the mid-section of the park and i was the only one going beyond. the boat captain said to me "feeling energetic today are we?" that had me a little scared, but i wanted to do it.

that boat ride was really nice. got to see the whole lay of the land on the way to the various bays. i finally was the last one to get dropped off and it did look like a very long walk back, but i was up for it. as soon as i stepped on to that white sand beach and up into the rain forest trees, i knew it was going to be the best hike ever. the trek went on and on and on but every view was mind blowing. i hiked way up into the hills and could see for miles, nothing but clear blue water. then back down the hills onto the beaches. when i got hot, i stripped down and took a swim in the refreshing water--i was the only one on that beach! i couldn't believe how few people were out that day. it was like my own park or something. soon enough though, i caught up with 2 dutch women who i walked with the rest of the way. they were very friendly and had traveled all over the world. after my 4 hours of conversation to myself about what i'm doing on this planet and what i want in life, they were the perfect pair to run into. they got me psyched up to keep traveling the world. i know that's all i want to do now. and i'm perfectly happy to be a nomad. well, a working nomad. i'll figure it out somehow, but i know i have to keep moving. this life and this world is too too good to let it pass us by. we must get out there and see it and live it!