It begins

Act IV, Scene I
Dec. 8th.
Punakaiki

I met everyone but one at the hotel lobby this morning. Everyone seems very nice. Our guides showed up at 10:30. M., our main guide is from Auckland and now lives near Christchurch, and S. who helps him out and does most of the shopping and cooking. She’s originally from Austria, and now lives near Christchurch as well. We have our own little bus thing with a small trailer attached where they keep all our food supplies and whatnot. So we were waiting on our last person. We were told to meet at the lobby of the Copthorne hotel; well there are three Copthorne Hotels in Christchurch. So our guides check all of them. They then drove us out to the airport to the “Antarctic Center” which was the place to meet if you had flown in that morning. And low and behold, there she was sipping coffee. They loaded her up and off we went. There is enough room on our little bus for everyone to have their own row and then some. Our guides provide yummy snacks of fruits, granola bars, and other snacky things and books on plants and animals and history. M. drives like a Kiwi. Fast. We headed west and our first stop was a short hike around Kura Tawhiti. I know this because I took a picture of the sign, but I already forgot the enligh name (Castle Hill). It is a limestone formation on the eastern slopes of the Southern Alps. And it is also the location where they shot the first Narnia movie, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, specifically the final battle scene. Also, some scenes from the LOTR: The Two Towers was filmed here, specifically where Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli are surrounded by the Riders of Rohan and where Viggo Mortenson broke his toe while kicking an orc head. I asked about the possum clothing thing and a whole discussion broke out about how great possum is for clothing. It is mixed with alpine sheep wool (merino) because their wool is finer and it is suppose to be great because it keeps you cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold and doesn’t smell like wool even after you get wet or sweat in it for days on end.

Our next stop was Arthur’s Pass and the Devils Punchbowl. Here there is a ranger station, it’s called a DOC Station (Department of Conservation), but it’s the same thing. You go inside and they sell all sorts of stuff from kiwi playing cards, clothing, maps, trinkets, and possum pelts. You can also learn about the history of the area from displays and such. The possums here look nothing like they do in the states. But they are an invasive species that is wreaking havoc on the bird populations and such. So they have tried everything to try and stop its growth. So you are allowed to swerve to hit one with your car. We had lunch here and then took a short walk to see the Devils Punchbowl waterfall. It was raining a bit but it wasn’t bad. We then headed all the way to the west coast and the Tasman Sea. According to M., the people who live here are “just different”. The sea is beautiful. We made it to Punakaiki and checked into our lodging. They are bungalows right on the beach! They are very nice, full kitchens and bathrooms, and little patios. Wow. I strolled along the beach (mostly rocks – a rock skippers paradise), mostly limestone rocks. I saw some marine fossils (shells) and picked up two rocks for the nephews. That’s what they said they wanted: so easy. We then went and had dinner at a café owned and run by the “biggest bushiest eyebrows you have ever seen”. He is only open for lunch, but M. and REI have an arrangement, so he makes us dinner. Sweet. We had fish n’ chips. I know I don’t eat fish, but I liked it. I also got the free beer because I was the prettiest. Woo Hoo. It was good too. Every area has their own beers. So this was the West Coast’s beer, Speight's Dark Ale or something like that. After dinner we walked across the street to the “Pancake Rock’s”, which are another limestone formation that really does look like a huge stack of pancakes. Very beautiful here.

Things I have learned today… that I can remember:
1. M. is a Jafa, which stands for Just Another Friendly (or rather that other F sounding word) Aucklander. Which is what south islanders call most north islanders.
2. The kiwi bird is a lot bigger than I thought. They are bigger than chickens, and completely flightless. A lot of birds here are flightless because before Europeans came, there were no mammals. Absolutely no mammals except 2 species of bats. So a lot of birds got their food on land, so why fly?
3. The largest (and only) Alpine Parrot lives here; it is also the smartest parrot species in the world. They love to chew on rubber, so you will see them eating cars, bikes, anything with rubber. We saw two knawing on a Volvo. S. said she found one in our trailer when she was packing it back up after lunch.
4. There are more people living in Auckland City than there are on the entire south island.
5. The average rainfall per year on the west coast is 10 meters! That’s roughly 32 feet.
6. The Tasman Sea tastes saltier than the Pacific Ocean, to me anyway.
7. There are sand flies here. Nasty little buggers, but if there are sand flies, there won’t be mosquitoes. They are just as annoying though. Swarm and bite all the same.
8. It doesn’t get dark here till after 9:00pm. I’m not used to that.
9. Toilets don’t flush clockwise or counter-clockwise, they flush straight down and with a vengeance too. I don’t think either nephew could clog these puppies up.
10. And finally, “Kick the Tires” means I need to use the toilet.

Next>>
Prev<<

just a little hello

Hello from Hokitika!

Only have bit of time on the internet here at the kodak camera shop. So this is just a little check in to say Woo Hoo, this place is awesome. I've been keeping a written blog on paper so when I get more than a few minutes, I'll write it up and send it off to you all.

It's great out here, some rain but it is actually really nice.

Better jet,

Yee Haw!

Next>>
Prev<<

It’s cold… but it’s so pretty

Act III

Today was a relaxing day of sitting on my ass. The morning was a bit hectic, but it all worked out… or soon will. So I used 1800HOTELS.com to book my room in Wellington, and well the hotel doesn’t recognize them or whatever. So I ended up paying for it again. I will try my darndist to get my money back from the website. So for the future, I recommend not to use that website. I figured out what bus I needed to take to get me to the Interislander Terminal where my ship was waiting. I got on the bus and the guy says, I don’t go there; you have to go to the train station where there is an Interislander bus, which you take to the ship. Oh crap. He says he’ll take me to the train station. He was nice and told me exactly were I needed to go and what platform I needed to be at. So it worked out but man it was five bucks to go maybe 10 blocks. Ouch. Then it was another 2 dollars for the bus to the ship.

The ship is BIG. 10 decks, and two decks just for cars. I spent most of my time on the 10th deck, which they call the “Sun Deck”. It’s basically the roof of the ship with chairs and viewing areas. I was up there in the cold and wind because if I’m outside and can see, I don’t get sick. I did go down below for a bit because I was getting too cold. But once we got to the fjords, I just had to be outside to see them. Plus by then it had warmed up. Here are some pics:













The little town of Picton where we docked on the south island




A view from the waterfront at Picton




I had an hour before I had to be on the train. So I sat on the shore for a while and made friends with a sea bird and some ducks, then went to Subway to get lunch. I know, I know, I’m in a foreign country and I eat at Subway? Here’s my reasoning: I haven’t been eating much of anything, that’s what happened when you leave a Larsen on their own with no one to make decisions for them, and I needed something familiar, so there. Well, all the choices of meats and extra’s are all the same but the meats themselves are different. I had a turkey sandwich and it was dark meat. I had no idea they made dark meat turkey slices. So it wasn’t quite familiar after all.

I got a seat all to myself on the train and facing the right direction, which was fabulous. Unfortunately I was on the inland side and not the coast side of the train. But since I had a seat all to myself, all I had to do was stand up to see out the coast side. It was pretty. Lots and lots and lots of sheep. I took a short video, just for you sis! I believe the route I took, the Tranzcoastal is the least popular. The most popular is the Trazalpine, which leaves from Christchurch on the south island and goes into the Southern Alps. Supposedly spectacular views!

So the ferry The Interislander was about 3 hours, and the Tranzcoastal Train was about 5 hours. So now I am at the hotel in Christchurch, doing laundry at 9pm. Tomorrow morning I meet the REI folks, and off we go on a hiking and kayaking adventure. I will not have internet access for much of this part of the trip, so my blogging will be sparse from here on out.

Note: Noir, you would love it here, in the bigger cities. Auckland and Wellington. So many shoe stores so little time.
Sis, they DO make and sell possum clothing. I saw a sign!
I’m glad I came early on this trip. If I had arrived the day before the REI part of the trip, I would have been miserable the first 3 days. It took me 3 days to get the system back in check. I finally feel ready for fun. Yesterday and last night I had a bad sore throat, and I went to bed at 7pm last night. Today the throat is almost completely healed, yay!

I am now ready to be awed.

Next>>
Prev<<

I don’t wanna get up!

Act II

Today I went to Wellington, the capital. I got up at 4:30am, to meet my shuttle to take me to the airport. My flight left at 7:00am, and I arrived at the Wellington airport at 8:10am. Man was that early. Too early. Ugh. What is pretty cool is that the entire check-in system in Auckland for domestic travels is automated. You go to the kiosk, type in your confirmation code, out pops your boarding pass. If you have check in luggage, you put it on the scale, and out pops your luggage tag. You put it on, then place your bag on the rolly machine thingy and off you go to your gate.

I took the bus to the closest stop to my hotel, and hoped I wasn’t too early to check in. I wasn’t. I went up to my room, and crashed for 2 hours.

I got up at 11:30am and headed out to see Wellington. It is WINDY!!!!!! Holy crap! But it remained dry almost the entire day. If you like shopping then this is the place. I had lofty goals when I set out. I wanted to see the Parliament buildings (The Beehive), and the Oriental Parade (the beach), and the Weta Workshop (where all the stuff from Lord of The Rings were made). But only made it to Civic Square which houses some parliament buildings, the National Library, which is decorated in poke-a-dots. I’m serious! I walked the waterfront around the harbor to the Te Papa (The National Museum of New Zealand) This place rocks! It’s FREE!! There are 6 floors of awesome stuff. From sculptures, paintings, tons of Maori and European history, and natural stuff like plants, animals, the Largest Giant Squid on display (their claim to fame), fossils, landforms, etc. The south island has a major fault line running straight through it. Part of the island is on the Pacific Plate and the other half is on the Australian Plate. Huh. The museum is very hands on, great for kids. Lots of things to touch and play with. There are also exhibits that you have to pay for, such as the Pompeii Exhibit that is touring here right now, and there are also rides you take, yes amusement park type rides, but you have to pay for those as well.

After the 6 floors of awesome I walked a little farther down towards the Oriental coast, but it was crazy windy and I was tired. So I turned around and went back. There was some Go Wellington Bus (the local public transportation) thing going on in a park. They had one bus where the entire side was cut out and made into a stage, and another bus where they were letting people spray-paint it.

I got back to the hotel just in time for it to start raining. I hope this doesn’t become a theme. I got to my room by 3:45pm. Still plenty of time to go see something else, but I’m exhausted. Sucks. Oh well. I think I’ll order room service tonight. I’ve never done that!

Tomorrow I will be taking the Inter-Island Cruise ship to the south island (Picton), and then the TransCoastal Train to Christchurch. This will take all day. Then the next day will be the first day of the REI portion of the trip! I hope it doesn’t rain. It’s supposed to be SUMMER!

Next>>
Prev<<

Ouch ouch, are we there yet?

Act I: Scene II

After being a zombie for 29 hours, I slept very well. I awoke at 9:00am NZ time, and amazingly it was SUNNY! Well, there were large puffy clouds, but I’ll get to those later. I was out of my room by 10:15 and on my way down to the harbor (Viaduct Harbour). I stopped at a little coffee shop and got a dark mocha. Oh was it delicious. Creamy, frothy, and chocolatey. The Auckland waterfront is gorgeous. It really is a city of sails. Huge, and I mean HUGE sailing ships, yachts, and what-have-you. There are a ton of restaurants, shops, and the like. Apparently New Zealand will be hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2011, so there are lots of shops for the All Blacks (the national NZ Rugby team). Ironically, the NZ football team (soccer) name is the All Whites. There must be a reason for the names, I just don’t know it.

I walked around to look at all the boats, there is one called the Søren Larsen, which is a wooden sailboat. And you can tell by the name that it was originally from Denmark. It’s been in a couple movies (none that I’ve heard of) and has circumnavigated the world twice. You can take cruises on it now.

I went to the visitor center and picked up a map of the Coast to Coast Walk. It starts at the Waitemata Harbour. So I start off… and get lost. The map provided me was mostly useless and the walk itself…. Not really marked… at all. Supposedly I was to walk through the University of Auckland, I found the university, just not the road I was suppose to walk. I eventually find one of the roads much past the university on the walk and just went on. It took me to Auckland Domain (a park) where I got lost again. You will notice, this becomes a theme. It is a large beautiful park. With a War Memorial Museum. I didn’t go in, because, I was lost. I watched some cricket, still don’t understand it. Eventually I found my way out and then the walk takes me to Mt. Eden Domain. This park is cool. You can walk up to the summit, which is a near-perfect crater of Maungawhau (volcano). Stunning 360-degree views, and I again, couldn’t find my way out… lost again. So after going in circles a few times, I went out the way I came in to the park and walked all the way around it to the other side and picked up the walk a few streets off. But at that point, I didn’t care anymore. I walked around Auckland College of Education, and was suppose to go through Melville Park, but again, I missed that street, which on the map had no name so I guessed, and guessed wrong. Oh well. The walk then takes me to Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill Domain and Cornwall Park). This is the largest of the parks that I went too. By now, I was hungry and tired, and my feet were killing me. But this place has some very cool Maori history. Ironically when you get to the summit of One Tree Hill, there is no tree. There was a native tree there, but it died, so they planted a pine tree, which some protester took a chainsaw too, so now, there is not tree on One Tree Hill. Just an obelisk and a dead guy who donated the park to the city. He was one of the “founding fathers” of NZ apparently. Again this park was formed by volcanoes so the landscape is cool. I stopped at the café/restaurant/ice cream place and got a raspberry sorbet in a waffle cone. Why not? I stopped and sat down to watch some kids playing tag rugby. And then headed out for the last leg of the walk. I was so close, I didn’t want to stop. I took some short cuts, and finally made it to Onehunga Lagoon. The end of the walk. I sat down at the lagoon, and the sky opened up and I was immediately drenched. I would have walked around the lagoon to Manukau Harbour but I was drenched, tired, and just didn’t feel like it. I still had to walk to the bus depot to catch a bus back to the city center. I made it to the bus depot, and figured out which bus would get me closest and it came about 10 minutes after I got there.

It kept raining all night; I was too tired to eat so I popped into a little convenience store to get some chips or something. It happened to be an Asian convenience store. Go figure. I found some chips though and a soda, so I was happy.

The walk was interesting even though I probably added a good couple miles to it when I went in circles all those times. It was 16 km, you do the math for miles. I got to see a lot of Auckland and all of the park highlights, and a lot of the burbs. I came away with two blisters on my right foot, and I’m so sore, I walk funny now.

Next>>
Prev<<

Nobody messes with the Space Time Continuum

Act I: Just getting here

Hello from Auckland New Zealand. I finally made it. Let’s see, my sister dropped me off at the San Jose airport at 3:15pm on Wednesday the 2^nd. I flew to Los Angeles, then to Sidney Australia, and then to Auckland New Zealand. I spent a total of 19 hours in a plane, and a total of 28 hours from my house in Gilroy to the hotel here in Auckland. All I have to say is next time, take a direct flight, I don’t care how much more it costs. I am a walking zombie right now. I went through 4 different security checkpoints and through 3 customs checkpoints once in Auckland. Happy to say though that I never got searched and didn’t have to go through the stupid puff machine. Also, just so you know, it’s only us silly Americans who have all these strict rules and regulations. The flight attendants would say things like, “due to us flying out of the US, please….” Or “because of US federal regulations, please…”. And we are the only country, which makes you take off your shoes. There were some American ladies in front of me at the Australian security point and the guy kept saying, “No no, you keep your shoes, I don’t need them.”

Oh, and you got to love Australians. When I got my ticket from LA to Sidney, I flew V Australia, which I believe is a part of Virgin Air. Anyway, you walk up to their ticket counter and they have dance club music piped in, and the walls and ceiling are painted black and purple and the V Australia signs are neon red. These people know how to have a good time. I was not looking forward to the long 15-hour flight from LA to Sidney. My sister can tell you how anxious and nervous I was. But I did ok. No puking the entire time. And I slept through most of it. No screaming babies, a few snoring guys, but luckily the plane was not full. I was in the middle row on the aisle and there was a guy on the other aisle, so there was an empty seat between us. That was nice. However I was extremely jealous of the gal across and one row up from me. She had three seats all to herself. The movie selection was huge. I watched one movie, ate part of the dinner served and then tried to sleep. I guess I slept quite a bit, though it felt like I would sleep for 10-15 minute intervals, but then when I smelled breakfast, I looked up and the screen said, 2.5 hours left in our journey. I couldn’t eat the breakfast, my stomach wouldn’t handle it. I did take the little crescent roll though.

My layover in Sidney was just under 3 hours. I flew Emirates. The female flight attendants have to wear these funny hats. And everything is in Arabic. Lots of interesting people on that flight, and a whole lot of crying babies.

Both the long flights had TV screens at every seat and USB ports. However, I never did take out my laptop or ipod. I suppose it didn’t help that the two DVD’s I brought to watch were also options on their TV’s.

Well, I have been in Auckland for just over 6 hours. It’s raining, and supposedly to rain tomorrow. Kind of bummed about that. I had planned this “Coast to Coast walk” which starts on the Pacific Coast of Auckland and takes you through the city to hit all the cool parks and such to the bay of the Tasman Sea. The walk would take about 5-6 hours for me to walk it, and then I could hop on a bus to take me back into the city center (where my hotel is). If it is still raining tomorrow, I will go to the i-site visitor centre and see what they have to offer cheaply and mostly wet free.

So far in my 6 hours, the people here are nice. I took a shuttle van from the airport to the hotel (they drop you where ever you want to be dropped off). That took about an hour. The shuttle holds 10 passengers and I was one of the last dropped off, and traffic didn’t help. I’ve never been to a country where they drive on the left. Freaky! I hope to get used to it pretty quick. When I finally made it to the hotel I took 3 Motrin for my horrendous headache, and laid down for a little over an hour. Luckily I woke up! (When I got to my room, I couldn’t turn any lights on. Went back down to the desk, and he explained I have to put my room key in this little slot by the door and that will activate the electricity. I felt like a dope. He said it is so that guests don’t leave the lights and such on all day while they are out and about. They are real big here on environmental things.) I was then starving, and went to the café in the hotel. It’s a Chinese/ Malaysian mix. Who knew? It was good. I watched a Cricket game on their projector TV. I don’t understand that game… at all. I took most of the food back to my room, my stomach is still not right. I showered, brushed my teeth, and now I almost feel human again.

Well, no pictures yet. I’ll start that tomorrow when I go exploring. The next time I check in will hopefully be in two days. I’ll be flying to Wellington, the capitol, that morning.

Oh and the NZ Dollars still represent the British Empire. Queen Elizabeth II is on most of the currency. I don’t think it has really sunk in yet, that I’m actually here.

Until next time.

Ps, my bath soap exploded, so everything in my bath room kit is covered in blue soap. I even had the bottle in a plastic baggie!

Next>>

Taft: the "other" hell

Once again it has been a long time and once again I apologize. Instead of writing Part 3 of the what I really do trilogy, I will instead give you a brief update on what I am doing now. And let me tell you, it has started me thinking about my job and do I really want to keep doing it.

For the past three months I have been here. (the project is done for now... it ended up being almost 7 months) The Navel Petroleum Reserve of Elk Hills, outside the city of Taft. For those of you who know California, it is even grosser than the armpit (Bakersfield) which is about 45 minutes northeast. I, along with my co-supervisor with our crew of minions, have been surveying out here in the hills (which can be like scaling a cliff), the flats (which look flat and easy but aren't - stupid drainage's), amongst the deranged cows, deranged locals, weird guys from Texas, 114 degree heat (it cracked our windshield), toxic and lethal gasses (hello hydrogen sulfate), and some other things I won't mention. It's a good thing I never really wanted to have any children because after this job and the who knows what I have been exposed to, if I did have a kid it would probably come out with three arms, one leg, half an eye, and be a total Debbie Downer.

Let me see if I can sum up the project in as few of words as possible. It is a 3D seismic project which means these doofus Texan's are basically "taking a picture" of the underlying strata (earth) to find more oil. To do that they lay out what are called geophones which pick up the vibrations from the vibe trucks (which are really really really big tonka trucks with huge "pads" that when placed on the ground can shake your intestines right out of you. When they are not allowed to use the vibe trucks (steep or unstable terrain, biologists spotted endangered species, or us archaeologists found yet another brick ruble pile from 1929) they use drills and stick dynamite in a hole and blow it up... well, not up but down. It's very comforting hearing a boom boom boom off in the distance. So anyway, we walk the "trails" the trucks will be driving, and the geophone lines, and source lines (which are the lines the vibe trucks will shake or blow up). We walk and walk and walk. To date we have located over 500 archaeological sites. Now don't get your panties in a knot. Most of these sites are associated with the production of oil and oil like products. People started drilling here in the early 1900's (anyone see that Daniel Day-Lewis movie called "There Will Be Blood"?? It was based on the first oilers in Taft). So we find glass bottle fragments (most of the whole bottles have been looted), tobacco tins, lots of beer, dishware. Basically there are two types of sites: domestic refuse and remnants of abandoned oil wells and there associated out buildings (sumps, furnaces, broilers, etc.) Sometimes it is interesting, like finding medicine bottles for hemorrhoids. But it also gets pretty drab after the two hundredth brick scatter.

So i'm not sure what is keeping me sane.... maybe i'm not. The environment is very unforgiving. It is desolate, dusty, toxic, and at times smells like a rotten egg threw-up in a sewage pond. The pay sucks (don't get compensated for overtime because i'm salary, not compensated for the drive to and from my house to Taft which is a 4 hour drive each way. I think I should get something for having to drive past Harris Ranch), the best hotel in Taft has a cockroach problem and a semi-creepy manager and horrible internet, the rental car place doesn't know squat when I tell them a minivan will not work for me, what part of 4-wheel drive do you not understand, and I could go on.

But what I realized on my way home today was this; i'm isolated and alone. I'm surrounded by people all day and I have to interact all day, but i'm alone. I'm in charge and I have to act like i'm in charge which means I cannot ever be just one of the crew. I'm with them, but not one of them. Does that make any sense? And what is freaking me out is that everyone knows my name and who I am, but I don't know their name or what they do half the time. With the seismic crew alone there are over 70 people.

I don't like being in charge and responsible for all these people (I have 4 crew members and that will grow to 7 on Tuesday). Unfortunately I do ok at it, and therefore get more stuff to do and more people to manage. So i'm isolated. I'm also isolated from the world around me. I'm only home 7 days out of the month (you have no idea how much a person can miss the simplest of things like your own bed sheets), and it's not like I can go take a class at the community college or a gym class or book club, or god forbid try and schedule a doctor's appointment when there is only 2 days in the month you're available.

*I wrote this while in Taft in month 3. We were there for 7 months. My co-supervisor and I really did almost go insane. Both of us contemplated (seriously) quitting right then and there. We had to deal with cranky crew (mostly they kicked-ass), very stupid clients, extremely long hours 10-12 hour days, micro organisms, rashes, aches, pains, and all around misery.

*as a result of this project (it is still ongoing, but most of the field work is done) I will be leaving for a month to New Zealand. I will be away from the job for over a month, since it also over laps with the christmas holidays. Hopefully the time away from the job will help give a better perspective on my life and my job (do I really want to do this job questions). And if i don't want to continue, what do I want to do? My hope is that I will come back happy with clean lungs and a new appreciation of well, everything.