Long story short? I'm back in the states finishing up my undergrad degree at DePauw University and currently prowling for a future in marine science-y, environmental education-y stuff with a touch of computer science. Yep.

I love Kiwi guys. They entertain me so much. Just today I walked by a line of people entering an exam and there was a guy standing there in what looked like a basketball jersey and nothing else. I stared a bit as I went by and kind of shrugged down to see if I could catch a fragment of shorts under there but didn't see anything but leg. I still don't know if he was just wearing the extremely short shorts that are popular with guys here or if he lost a bet and had to take his exam pants-less. Either way I'm slightly disturbed.

Then I went to the bank to exchange my Tongan money. While I was watching my NZ dollars being counted out, two Kiwi guys went up to the counter next to me and handed over a bill that they had gotten somehow and asked how much it was worth, as they had a bet on it. When asked what kind of money it was, they shrugged and said they didn't know, they just wanted to see if it was worth anything. It turned out to be from Thailand and worth $4.32 New Zealand. They asked for the NZ dollars.

Tonga, Last Day

I woke up earlier this morning because I was afraid it would start raining and I wanted to pack up a dry tent. After rolling it all up I discovered I had pitched my tent on top of a red ant nest. They hadn't been a problem, but it was creepy to find an entire network of new tunnels was built right underneath my foam mat.

Today was relaxed again with most people sleeping off the alcohol from the night before. I packed my bags early and then wandered around the Hideaway, soaking up the last of that unique place. A few of the boys were keen for some Coco Bocce so I joined them on the lawn. Coco Bocce is just like normal Bocce but played with dehusked coconuts and a tangerine as the marker. A few of the locals tried it out and I hope it sticks in Tonga. We played in teams with Nick and I winning over Pete and Ben, though it was close and we had major help with an excellent guest shot from Sifu, the main cook. The pigs who often got in the way and chased down the coco balls (food to them) were also on our side, nudging the opposing team's coconuts away from the target and generally causing mayhem.

Ben, pigs and Coco Bocce: what more could you want?

In between games I ate my last delicious meal... fish and chips. The snapper was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth and the chips were made out of plantains, and also delicious. I will miss that food... Sifu is a great cook.

We played a few more rounds of Coco Bocce and then it was time for me to catch my flight so I said my goodbyes and was dropped off at the 'Eua airport with Stephanie who was on the same flight to NZ. Luckily the airport there is more like a bus stop because we were able to catch a few more minutes of sun on the grass in front of the landing strip while waiting for our plane.

Good-bye beautiful 'Eua!

Our plane to the mainland, shortest commercial flight in the world

Our flight was only ten minutes, the shortest commercial flight in the world. We caught a ride to the International Terminal with a Peace Corps guy who was on the flight with us. The terminal was eerily deserted and considering we had 9 hours to wait for our flight out we were none too excited. I attempted some studying, and we chatted with the two airport security officers but the time was creeping by so Steph called up Mana, the guy that transported their group to town when they had arrived. Mana picked us up and brought us to a nice cafe where Steph and I had dinner. We walked a ways down the road which had a surprising number of people wandering around on it, considering it was after 11pm. We met a couple rugby guys who were playing for the Tongan National team the next day and were giving out tickets to the game. Since we weren't going to be there, the guys asked for good luck hugs which we gave amid some giggles (it was just a ridiculous situation). Soon after that, Mana picked us up again and brought us to the kava circle he had been at. The two of us were placed at opposite ends of the room and I was set at the kava vat. I felt so comfortable this time since I knew the drill and I started dishing out the kava straight away to the astonishment of Sam, the guy sitting next to me, who said he had never seen a non-Tongan serve kava before. The partly broken coconut shell I had to use for serving was far more difficult than the ladle from the other night, but I soon got the hang of it. I only served myself one cup of kava, but with the music and singing I was soon having trouble keeping up with the conversation with Sam and just kept yawning. We left around 1:30 or so with Mana who dropped us at the airport only to find out that our flight was running an hour late. Steph and I contented ourselves with cup of noodles from the airport cafe (incidentally the most delicious instant noodles I've ever had, so spicy!) and were joined by Mana shortly afterward who was waiting for the incoming flight and more customers. The conversation was entertaining but I was fading fast and was happy when we were called into the waiting room, giving Mana hugs before we left.

Both Steph and I were pretty quiet while waiting. Even the oddness of an entire band playing some sort of anthem outside as the passengers disembarked did not phase us... though it must have been some sort of royalty returning to the island. Walking on the tarmac to the plane, breathing in the last of the warm Tongan air, I knew I was ready to settle into my seat, plug into an entertaining movie and reenter the First World.

Tonga, Day Six

I slept so well that night, and I now completely believe in the effects of kava. Everyone seemed content to relax on this day which was fine by me. Four of us had been playing cards quite a lot though and were starting to get bored. There was a bowl of chillis from last night's dinner on our table though, so we decided to have a chilli eating contest. It took us one round, with each person eating one chilli, to decide that this was a terrible idea. We resumed our card game but with the added *spice* that the loser of each round would have to eat a chili. Oh man, it made the game so much more exciting. I lost once and took the next round off while I waited for my mouth to return to its usual balmy climate. Those things are hot!

Pretty beach nearby the Hideaway

Dinner was the best by far this night. I had pan-fried fish for the second time and this time it was snapper instead of tuna. Oh my gosh, I really never thought fresh fish from Homer could be rivaled... but this was right on par with it. It was so tender and just fell apart so well. Mmmmm, 'Eua definitely gets my stamp of approval for fish.

Pan fried snapper and tapioca chips: My most tastiest of meals
Be jealous.

That night we decided to drink and cleaned out the Ikale beers from the bar fridge. It was fun to play some familiar American drinking games again and I am now very fond of the Ikale beer. Ben took some neat photos of the night sky with my tripod too. I also spent about an hour playing with the kittens behind the bar.

The Hideaway at night with the moon, so bright I never needed a torch

Tonga, Day Five

Sleeping was interesting as I had to avoid resting on all my new bruises and cuts. It was especially hard getting in and out of my one person tent with a lame wrist but I managed. Another hike was planned for today, an unguided one this time. Despite my few injuries I decided I was keen, so I jumped in the truck for our ride to the start. On the way our driver Tim told us stories about being an extra in Lord of the Rings. Apparently he hung out with Viggo Mortensen quite a lot and showed him around town and such in Wellington. Tim actually looks really familiar to me so I'm definitely re-watching those films to see if I can spot him in any of his numerous roles.

Our hike took us to the biggest tree on 'Eua, an enormous Bayan. By itself it was quite impressive, but it actually grew out of a sort of sunken cave so that you could climb up or down via the roots. We hiked to a lookout over the cliffs too and ate some cookies on the top. I didn't enjoy the brush hitting my scrapes but I'm glad I went because I got to talk to Pete and Geneva for quite awhile about Boston specifically and traveling in general. I'd like to look at the grad schools in that area and I always thought Boston would be a cool city to live in. Now I have friends to visit there!

Just a fraction of the MASSIVE tree, and Luca climbing it for scale

After dinner that night we decided to check out the kava scene of 'Eua and joined a group drinking circle in town. The women are supposed to serve the drink to the men, so since there weren't any local women at this place the foreign girls were enlisted. I was first to do it, which required some questions and feeling awkward as I worked out exactly how the serving system worked. There were about 18 people total all seated cross legged on mats in a corner of a big concrete warehouse. I was seated by the big bowl of kava with a ladle, stirring the kava and filling the three small coconut bowls over and over as they were passed from hand to hand to everyone in the circle. Three of the men had guitars on which they played some lovely Tongan songs and sang in harmony. After every song, there was a round of kava drinking with everyone getting a bowl. When I was relieved of my serving duties I got to try the drink. It tasted very earthy and had a slight numbing effect on the mouth.

Caroline serving and Luca drinking... a lot!

Ben and Pete drinking kava from coconut bowls

The kava and the music combined to make me very sleepy and I would have been happy to stay for awhile except that my bladder felt like it was going to explode. The men regularly went out behind the building but I wasn't sure what the women were supposed to do so I gritted my teeth and held it. Luckily we didn't stay much longer and were given a ride to the Hideaway by a very large, jolly Tongan man.

Tonga, Day Four

This morning was a laid back affair as we were leaving early in the afternoon to prepare our evening umu feast. A few of us piled into a van with the guys that guided us on the Fangtuva hike. The van ride was a bit weird as we kept stopping at various places to pick up water or put air in the tires. We also ran over a puppy. With so many animals running around this island with only limited fencing, this sort of thing must happen a lot but it made me quite sad.

The feast prep was done down at the beach. Sifa took care of the chicken and fish, but we all helped with opening and grating the coconuts, peeling the tapioca and flattening the taro leaves. All the food was wrapped up in the taro leaves and banana leaves as well, then buried in sand with the hot coals of our fire and coral "rocks" from the beach. While it was cooking a few of us went and explored the reef. I went out and was videotaping Ben standing around a few blowholes. Luca was out there too, taking pictures with his camera when this big wave came over the reef. All three of us were swept away but surprisingly neither camera was submerged. Both Luca and I had our camera straight up in the air while being swept across the coral and rocks and succeeded in saving them. The three of us were pretty battered though. I had hit my left wrist on something and couldn't move it much. I also had scraped my left knee and shin and right calf and my left hand had some long scratches down the side of it. I looked at my camera later and realized I had been filming the whole time... so I have lovely footage of the turbulent water that almost swallowed my camera.

The damage:



An Ikale beer later, I was feeling better and dinner was ready. Mmm it was so hot and perfectly cooked, it didn't even taste smoky at all! The taro leaves had a bit of a sting to them though that I found unpleasant, so after a few bites I scraped it off my fish and ate around it. It was so nice to be sitting around a big fire (the Tongan boys insisted upon throwing everything within reach on top of the fire so that it started to singe the leaves of the tree above us) with friends... almost like a typical Homer bonfire.

Me and John enjoying the Kodak moment

Tonga, Day Three

Cliffside view of Fangatuva Beach

Since I was on my own for this adventure, I wasn't too sure if I'd be doing too much while in Tonga. Hiking and exploring and eating are generally more fun as group activities, so I was so happy when several members of the Auckland group assured me that I was welcome to join them for anything and that I was not inconveniencing them in the slightest. Joy! A guided hike was arranged for today to Fangatuva Beach. Our guides were two young Tongan guys and their friend who was tagging along, so it ended up being quite a rambunctious romp through the woods and limestone caves. Many things were thrown off the cliff such as rocks and sticks that progressed to the largest logs that could be carried and pushed off. The crashing sounds coming from below in the forest that the extremely rare Shining Parrot didn't sound very good and it seems ecotourism on 'Eua still has a long way to go. The boys climbed a couple coconut trees when we neared the beach so that we were all drinking coconut milk while meandering to our picnic location on the shore. What a life! I tried a bit of snorkeling after lunch and succeeding in losing my eyebrow ring just a few minutes in. Bollucks!

In the entrance to caves with lots of columns

Tonga, Day Two

My tent! Right next to the woven palm fronds that were to replace the roof...

Sleeping in the tent was not the most comfortable experience but it was nice to fall asleep to the waves crashing. I was woken up when the sun hit my tent and made it into an uncomfortable oven, so I zipped out of there and joined the Auckland group at breakfast. It was a Sunday, a day of rest for all Tongans. On Taki's suggestion, a few of us were dropped off at the church in the village to attend the service. The singing was beautiful, loud and clear harmonization without hymnals and only slight direction. I couldn't understand the priest of course, since my Tongan is a bit rusty, but it was entertaining to watch the kids who were in the front pew giggling and sneaking glances at us.

Walking back from church, Stephanie and Bessie

At the end of the service we shook hands with the priests and all the more elderly and important attendees, then walked back to the Hideaway to enjoy our day of rest. I joined a few of the girls at the nearby beach and occupied myself with opening a coconut.

The coconut I found and opened and ate, great success

Tonga, Day One

I arrived in the Tonga International Airport at 2am. I thought I might have problems getting through customs there because I had checked every box on the entry slip (yes I have camping equipment, yes I have plant products, yes I have animal products, yes I have been to a forest in the last 30 days). I grabbed my pack and made my way over to the most official looking Tongans there and prepared to disassemble my whole packing job. I needn't have worried because all they asked was "food?" and I showed them my trail mix and yogurt covered raisins, they nodded and I was off. Right outside the door I encountered a rather intimidating crowd of people waving signs and carrying odd packages such as what looked like a wedding cake made out of white plastic flowers. I found Peter waving a "Toni's Guesthouse" sign and waited with him for the group of 12 other international students from Auckland University. I chatted with a couple of the French guys on the trip into town and ended up sharing a dorm with half their group at the hostel.

Super lacy mosquito nets over the Brazilian and German guys in the corner

I bid them adieu the next morning though and caught a ride with Toni to the ferry. He warned me about the customs of Tonga so I put on a pair of pants over my shorts before getting on the ferry. While watching the ferry get loaded up I befriended a different group of international students from Auckland University who were headed to the same Hideaway Resort on 'Eua. A couple of them started feeling ill on the voyage over so I spent most of the 2 hour journey concentrating on the horizon and the approaching island.

Nice guy on the ferry who I shared the sunshine with

Arrival on 'Eua was a bit hectic while everyone grabbed for their bags that were packed in the cargo area in the middle of the ship. Taki and Tim picked up the ten of us and transported us to our new home at the Hideaway. While the others were shown to their rooms, I worked on getting my tent set up on the lawn... a process that was overseen by Bessie a Tongan woman who works at the resort, mostly doing the cooking. I was invited along with the group to check out the nearby beach. Gorgeous! We opened a couple coconuts here too and it all had a Lord of the Flies primitive feel about it.

Our arrival to 'Eua wharf, people running to meet the ferry

We didn't have to start hunting pigs or anything (though there are plenty of pigs to be found just wandering the island) because dinner was served at the Hideaway. The options are chicken or fish done up in a variety of ways with the most popular being cooked in coconut milk. We were joined by Molly the cat at our meal, nosing her way into a few scraps. She is such a tiny orange cat (Molly is the Tongan word for orange) and I was psyched to see her since I miss Tigger so much. I could not hold back the squeal when I saw that she had four of the tiniest, cutest orange kittens hidden behind the bar. I am in for some serious fuzz therapy while I am here.

All the kittens piled on to the one that is actually awake, aww!

Departure for Tonga:

Whew, packing is stressful always... and I always feel like I'm forgetting something especially on the way to the airport. That feeling subsides once I've checked in though and as I start to relax, I also start to get tired. It's been a long day what with my last three lectures, running around campus after my tent and other supplies and even squeezing in a moment to chat with my mom and book a couple nights at a hotel for our upcoming adventures. I feel accomplished now as I sit here on this uncomfortable ledge (the only place close to a power outlet) and it's finally sinking in that I'm leaving chilly Dunedin and flying north to some much happier temperatures. Bring on the sun!

Flights:

No problems here... except that I learned one more lesson. Do not drink two glasses of wine before going through customs. The forms have such tiny writing and the questions are complicated... how long have I been in New Zealand? Do I have more than 10,000 NZD of currency on me?

Wine and cheese was choice though and I'll probably do it again on the way back if offered. Watched a great movie "He Just Not That Into You" while munching on the many snacks I brought with me. Snacks are such a must on international flights.

I took my camera out on my last class trip for MARI 201 since we were on the boat again. We were studying light in the ocean so we took some measurements of light attenuation through the water column and other measurements of PAR and suspended organic matter and all those fun things. I didn't really get a clear view of how excited we all were about this but here is my class:

It's my smallest class here at Otago... a mere 13 or so of us on a good day. It's nice to have a small class to break up the giant lecture halls and multiple lab streams. We've gotten to know each other pretty well through the often unnecessarily long labs involving lots of downtime on the boat drinking tea. Sweet as.
This is the view of part of the Otago Harbour. They did a lot of whaling here so there are only the occasional sightings now. I didn't see any whales but I did see a seal and a little blue penguin. The penguin looked so funny swimming in the water... like a wounded or waterlogged bird paddling towards shore. They look so much more graceful below the surface!

I also had Deinda snap a photo of me in my fancy official Otago University lab coat. I was so excited when I learned that a lab coat was required in two of my classes! You don't really need protective gear when working with computers... except for pocket protectors! Ha! Anyways, this lab required safety glasses as well so look even more legit. Hurray for cool labs!

I'm 21! May 20th here did not feel much like my birthday and fell on a Wednesday, the day I have class from 9 to 6pm with a couple one hour breaks. Still, we had a super cool lab for MARI 302 where we dissected baby New Zealand Fur Seals. I stayed late and got to do a bit of further dissecting, like a lateral cut down the heart. Very cool.

Professor Dawson (Steve) weighing the baby seal

Liz Slooten examining the skull fracture that likely killed this seal (Seal clubbing anyone?)

The next day I decided was much more my birthday, since I was born in Alaska and not New Zealand, so I would be officially 21 on the Alaskan May 20th. I received a package sent from home chock full of birthday goodness. Alcoholic chocolates from my sister were a definite highlight since she couldn't buy me my first legal drink. Reading all the cards made me feel so special and loved that of course I started crying (happy tears!) in my room, thinking about Homer and how lovely it will be to go back. The chocolates helped me feel better, which was good because I had to pack for my weekend getaway.

Half the group from the Super Awesome Fijordland Adventure were setting out on a much more adventurous trip to the north part of the south island with the goal of summiting Mt Owen in Kahurangi National Park. The trip was off to a bad start when Harvard's car started making funny noises and kept stalling just a block from my flat.

Calling up AAA a block from my flat, oh noes!

Some people would write off the weekend as a bad job, but not us. We quickly rang up a couple rental places and were soon off and rolling in a nice automatic... and it was only 6pm. We rallied all the way to Omaru where we stopped for groceries. We bought so much food for just the five of us and TWO boxes of wine... it was ridiculous. I also broke down and ate at my first American chain restaurant since leaving the states for the UK. It was Subway... and it was delicious.

The rest of the drive I tried to sleep but it was hard to get comfy in the middle of the back seat. We also only had five mix CDs that Kris had made so I kept drifting off and waking up to power metal... which does not encourage the best sleep. With only a few wrong turns and one or two stops for petrol, we arrived at our trail start with the night sky only barely touched by the approaching morning sun. As we packed up the food and changed, the sky lightened up and we decided we might as well just take off now and rest once we were at the Granity Pass Hut... a six to eight hour tramp away.

Taadaa, twelve hours later at our track start in the new car

That tramp was definitely a test of will power. After twelve hours in a car and at least 36 hours without sleep, it all comes down to your mind willing each step, knowing that it is one step closer to the hut and rest. We actually made good time, arriving at the hut in about 7 hours even with a lunch stop and a detour when we lost the track in the snow. The sun was just going down behind the mountains as we got there so we enjoyed the last rays before trying to make some tea. I say "trying" because what actually happened was the creation of a flaming bomb out of our previously fine stove and the very quick disposal of the bomb into the snow outside. After we settled down from that scary business, no one really wanted tea anymore so I passed around my ginger wine which improved everyone's mood significantly. So did dinner and the consumption of the entire box of red wine over many card games. Surprisingly we did not pass out from exhaustion (no sleep, twelve hours of driving AND a 7 hour tramp with wine laden packs?) and were able to make so much merriment that we got yelled at by the old man who was camping outside. Geez.

On the way up, not looking too shabby all things considered

The next morning we had a late start to Mt Owen which meant that we followed the tracks of the old, unhappy couple that yelled at us the previous night. Since there was so much snow, Mt Owen was going to be quite the effort so we decided to just focus on summitting something. That something was Mt Bell, only 20 m lower than Mt Owen and still absolutely charming. With the gusty winds and abrasive snow it really felt like quite the expedition, one that may have actually required the use of the ice axes and crampons strapped to our bags. Reaching the top was accompanied with silliness like cartwheels and merriment.

More snow and feeling a bit like the Fellowship tramping through the Misty Mountains

Group shot: note the sweet ice axes and the blowing snowflakes

Reversing down the mountain was quick due to sledding on our butts for much of the way. We celebrated our success with delicious pasta, another full box of wine, and many more card games including my first win at hearts. I'm glad I learned how to play hearts in Scotland... it has proved to be a great game for mountain huts. The next morning was a quick jaunt to the car with much lighter packs and a few side explorations. We were almost trampled by a stampede of sheep on our drive out but luckily our rental car survived without a scratch, no doubt cushioned from blows by large amounts of wool. Torben the German drove us home in record, Autobahn time which meant we only had to listen to the same five CDs a couple times each. I learned the lyrics to more power metal songs about Lord of the Rings characters than I ever knew existed in the world that weekend. Great success.

Yay, I'm 21 and I just summitted my first snowy mountain!

I've been going to rugby practice regularly since my second or third week in NZ, every Tuesday and Thursday. I joined the university club because I thought that was my only option, but there are actually about 8 clubs just in the Dunedin area. Hurray for rugby country! Our main coach is Helen, who played for the first Black Ferns team. Black Ferns is pretty much the female equivalent of the All Blacks... so the elite and best of NZ. She's way tough, but nice and approachable too and I'm sure I'll be learning tons while I'm here.

Dee and I on the sideline, my hair is a bit wind-blown

Lineout in our game against Pirates (our first loss of the season)

I came home after the Pirates game, a bit down that we lost but happy that we passed at least five other games of rugby on the ten minute drive home. There's so much rugby in this country!! So when I got home I was quite confused when I came across this scene below:

That brick house on the left is my flat and in front of it is a bunch of cameras and other film stuff, some sound guys and two people dressed up in togas. Wow. All the stuff was blocking my gate so I didn't really know what to do. I asked someone what was going on and they told me they were filming a movie (well, yeah...). When I didn't leave immediately, they looked a bit impatient until I tentatively pointed at the flat and said, "I live there". They laughed and apologized for all the crap in the way and assured me that I could come and go as I pleased. I kept checking from my bedroom window (the one right in front, on the left of the photo). Sure it wasn't like being an extra in Lord of the Rings.... but at least I got involved in Kiwi film making!

I went and saved penguins this weekend. Okay, maybe not directly, but in doing things this weekend I probably increased the likelihood of at least one penguin living a slightly longer and happier life and that's pretty good work for one weekend.

These aren't the penguins I saved/helped. These are Oyster Catchers that I snapped pictures of as the ebbing tide threatened to suck my kayak into the crashing waves of the beach. Let me explain...

This is Fergus:

He and his wife own a penguin reserve and run regular ecotours of the area so that tourists can ooh and ahh over the Yellow-eyed Penguins that nest on the shore.... the rarest penguin of them all. We were not tourists; we were volunteers. This included only the slight difference in that we spent about 4-6 hours each day doing manual labour like clearing a path through New Zealand bush and removing overgrowth around important shrubs. Other than that, we were fed delicious homemade meals like pumpkin soup, lasagna and chocolate cake (with chocolate sauce!), slept in nice hotel-like rooms and had interesting conversations with Mary and Fergus while going through their extensive library.

We were also allotted some time to explore the area, which is shown above as the view from Mary and Fergus's place where we were staying. Right on the beach! They had kayaks so I tried a bit of that but the tidal current was pretty darn strong and I have not kayaked a lot.

Here's Lindsey on a rock. The penguins came ashore on one of the rocky shelves in the background at dusk after a long day of foraging. These Yellow-Eyed Penguins are the only penguins that nest in forest, so this particular population was devastated when a local farmer's brush fire got out of control and fried through most of their habitat. It's good to know there are people like Mary and Fergus out there working to protect interesting creatures like this! Maybe I'll be one someday...

This was the weather report on my homepage, spring in Homer above and fall in Dunedin below. It made me wish I was home instead of enjoying the mysterious rain of Dunedin. When you walk out into it, even if its only the slightest drizzle, you are immediately soaked and either have to go change into new pants etc. or remain damp for the rest of the day. It's like walking into a giant vegetable mist-er from the grocery store. At least my hair is short so it dries into a cool messy look super fast.

There was still quite a bit of mid-semester to go so my second mission was to go on a tramp. Joe was keen but no one else was so well... this is the adventure in Joe's words.


So on Sunday night armed with a 1:50,000 map of Dunedin and area we sat down to plan out tramp around the Silver Peaks. About an hour later we had a nice little 2 day loop all sorted out, drive in, walk in to stay at Jubilee hut one night then walk out the long way back to the road. Easy....
So Tuesday morning we set off down to Unipol to get a cooker only to discover they were out. Then some guy walked in the door with a cooker to return. Timing!! He even gave us a gas canister too. Things were looking up.
Fast forward a few hours.
Walked for a while and stopped at Pulpit Rock for lunch, just down the track we passed a older couple who looked at us then said with a knowing sort of grin “Oh I'm pretty sure you two will have the hut to yourselves”. What was that supposed to mean?

On top of Pulpit Rock

Fast forward another few hours, Stopping for a breather while going down the Devil's Staircase. Another couple were walking up and stopped for a chat. Again with that same knowing sort of grin and wink we where assured the hut would be ours for the night. I guess that a young lady and a young man tramping together looks suggestive (complete with a bottle of ginger wine strapped to the outside of Kasey's pack).



So got to the hut, eventually.... (man alive they need a few more signs up that ways!) and proceeded to just chill out like one does at the end of the day. But who should show up but Cleo and Nicky from the Uni tramping club.

Jubilee Hut

Inside of the hut

Another shot of the inside

So after the usual dinner of pasta and sausages we had another look at the map for tomorrows walk out. The only snag was the route we wanted to follow went around the long way and as we all know the shortest distance is a straight line... So we had decided to do a spot of bush bashing from ABC cave to meet the track...
Lesson number 1 – Look at the contour lines on maps.
Lesson number 2 – When D.O.C says something is a route and not formed they aren't kidding around. Spent a good amount of time the second day just looking for the track.

Random dead pig speared on a trail marker... yummy!

Pretty ridge line... this area seemed so remote even though civilization was mere kilometers away

Anyway after walking up for a ways and following a ridge we came across some guys cutting gorse along the sides of the track. So we told them what our plans were and the comment was “Oh yeah, got a bit of a walk ahead of you then. You'll get wet feet following that creek up too”. That should have started alarm bells.
So we went down 300m from our ridge to cross a river then up 300m again. Oh did I mention it was drizzling so the ground was a tad slippery under foot. Interesting times I tell you.
After getting to the road we make the choice of taking off down a side track to follow Carey's Creek upstream to where the car was parked rather than following the boring road. Hehe, would regret that later on.

Following a creek up is highly entertaining and I recommend it to all. Just make sure you have plenty of time and energy. The track just kept on going and going. Admittedly it was the end of the day but it felt like the longest walk I have ever done. Thanks to daylight saving finishing we also had to finish the tramp in the dark, trying to follow a route in the bush in the dark going uphill is also something that I'll remember for a very long time. In the end we did make it, slightly wiser and muddier. Not a tramp to take your misses on for a romantic getaway but a very beautiful part of the country and close to Dunedin. Recommended to all.
- Joe


Yep... good times with my friend Joe.

Sweaty, dirty and dog-tired but happy to be reunited with the Blue Beast (aka Joe's car)

Since I didn't have much of a chance to make plans for mid-semester break I ended up in Dunedin with a mission to entertain myself for the whole week. One of my goals was to find the glow worms that I had heard about that were in walking distance from the university. I set out around 4 o'clock with rough directions I had found online. It started raining after five minutes of leaving my flat and didn't let up the whole time I was out there. It took about an hour and a half to get to the track but I had flowers and gardens to look at and a nice iPod shuffle mix to accompany it.

Pretty flowers alongside the road

Beautiful house and garden... I would love to have something like this at my own *future* house

I had been considering turning back for a while before I saw the track sign because it was getting dark and there was no shoulder on the road I was walking on. The rain didn't help either. I had a mission though so I soldiered on and found the track sign pointing upward at the muddy trail.

7 minutes? No problem. I headed up in the darkening woods and followed the markers to a stream. I didn't see any signs for glowworms so I continued up the stream and clambered over boulders until I was in the bed of the stream with steep, stone walls on either side and dark green vegetation blocking out the last of the light above. I stopped here thinking that this was far too difficult to be a seven minute journey. I also started thinking about Gollum and those terrifying hissing words of Tolkien seemed to echo around the place.

So I turned back, dejected that I had walked all this way through the rain and found no glow worms. Just as I was about to leave, I turned back for one last look and caught a glinting blue light in the leaves. Success! A small colony of glow worms were there for my viewing pleasure. They were so tiny... like little LEDs stuck in the mossy underside of the overhanging rock.