Back in the campervan

I seem to be stranded in the campervan at the moment. I was emailing the roomies about bills and Evan said "I'm going to check out the beach." I said "I'll be right there." and, well, Evan took the key with him so I can't lock our little house. I know this isn't Philly but our entire travel lives are in this van and we have some weird neighbors at this RV park. (For example, I took a pic of our campervan from slightly onto our neighbors' camper site and the woman got out of her RV, walked over to our site and started taking pics in every direction). So...I popped open a beer and figured I'd get a blog entry in.

So...the pics of the campervan are because I realized I'd put up a bunch of the inside sleeping quarters but maybe not of the creative outside. And the pic of my hair? Well, I wanted to show you all my jew-fro before I resort back to the headbands tomorrow. I have a hair appointment on November 19th...almost 2 more months of growth and then something has to be done to tame my dome of curls (yes, Megan, if you're reading this I'm talking to you).

We left our lovely chocolate pudding hostel today and drove off toward Abel Tasman National Park. It's raining (of course) and apparently rained buckets overnight. Rivers are flooded, as are streets. Along our route we wanted to see the largest cave in the southern hemisphere. We drove 10 of the total 11 km dirt/gravel road (through tons of flock of sheep and lambs) only to reach an impassable river running across the street. Evan wanted to try to drive across it. I suggested not. We drove off a ways and decided we could maybe park there and walk the 1km to the caves. Evan proceeded to drive in reverse down the road and our convo went like this:

Me: Ev, you're nuts. Even the sheep are staring at us.
Evan: Sheep always stare.

Regardless, we got out of the van and realized that the river was also pretty impassable by foot and I decided the chance of it raising more and us getting stranded out to pasture with the sheep wasn't worth it. No caves for us.

We got a little lost today. Between 2 maps neither happened to know where our holiday park is located. Luckily we found it before I starved to death. It's on the beach (where Evan is still wandering apparently) and once the weather clears tomorrow we should be able to do some ocean kayaking and some great shore walks/hikes. At least we used this rainy day to do our laundry and drive aimlessly around and not one of the very very very few sunny days we get. At least it's not cold at the moment.

Evan seems to be a little snippy with me today. I don't know if it was our lost journey or if it's the return to sleeping in the back of the van. I'm just laying low. If I could lock this van I'd happily go watch some TV in silence for a bit but for now I'm just loading up on another beer.

More from Nelson, NZ

Well...it's our last night in Nelson and, sadly, the last night of chocolate pudding and ice cream. I can't remember if I filled you all in but we decided to stay here to wait out some rainy weather before we move on to Abel Tasman National Park. It was a good call.

Yesterday we walked around a bit and saw a mama duck and her babies. After that we went to the beach and even though I was bundled up in socks, pants and a fleece it was a relaxing few hours watching the waves come in.

Today we decided to go to a workshop to make bone carvings. Evan made a fish hook which symbolizes good luck and prosperity on journeys, especially over water. I made a pikorua. It symbolizes 2 fern shoots embracing each other. The story was about 2 little ferns that grew up next to each other and as they got bigger their trunks interlaced and they could never be separated. To the Maori (native) people of New Zealand pikorua means eternity, infinity and the everlasting bonds of friendship ‎​as well as the continuous flow of energy between spiritual and material world. I designed it, carved it, sanded it and polished it and then Evan "gave" it to me by putting it around my neck just like I gave him his. We're each supposed to wear them until we find the right person to give it to. Because we've worn it, it keeps a piece of us with it and will give whoever we give our respective necklaces to a connection to us. And as it gets passed from person to person we all get tied together. Pretty cool. Oh, and cocoa the cat was a big help with all of that.

We hit the grocery store and cooked up some fajitas for dinner. I managed to drink an entire bottle of wine and it's about 1 hour til pudding time. Hopefully we get some decent weather as we move back out to the wilderness tomorrow for a few days.

Yes, my hiking shoe/boots are waterproof!

Today was a fabulous day. It's sunny and warm and we went for a nice long hike along a lake in the Nelson Lakes area. It doesn't hurt that we woke up in real beds again this a.m. (and even had our own bathroom for 1 night at no extra cost due to a booking snafu by the hostel.

Luckily, today there were no weather surprises. I've learned, however, to expect anything in NZ. I pack everything in my daypack in a garbage bag first to make sure it's all dry in case of sudden downpour. I also keep my passport, wallet and phone (if I carry it) in individual ziploc bags inside the garbage bag just to be extra safe. Even on days like today when it's reasonably warm out I pack: at least 1 fleece (today I packed 1 and wore a fleece vest), my rain coat, my hat, my glove liners and my new "fresh-as-sheep" glove/mittens. I decided today that I also need to start packing an extra pair of socks.

The one surprise we did encounter today was due to the crazy amount of rain that fell yesterday (and led to us not hiking). The trail was pretty much ankle-deep muddy patches or trickling water for about 75% of the time. That doesn't include the streams and small rivers we had to cross (it was kind of like Oregon Trail but without the wagon). At first we did our best to stay on drier or less muddy land (like when you hop from pillow to pillow on the floor to avoid alligators or monsters under your bed. Other people did that right?). Eventually we gave up and just forged ahead through puddles and mud. Both of our pairs of goretex (sp?) hiking shoe/boots survived and so did our (dry) feet.

I am not really as graceful as Evan at all this water and mud crossing. Somehow he managed to come out with spotless legs and mine looked like I'd been mud wrestling. I did get to wash them off in the crystal clear (and chilly) lake water at the end and that was pretty refreshing.

Oh, and a small side note. Our campervan has decided it no longer likes to climb hills (quite a problem in NZ, land of mountains and crazy steep roads over them). It smells bad and won't really accelerate. We need it for 2 more weeks...Evan thinks it will survive. I'm deferring to him but secretly I'd like to bet against him if I wasn't so worried we're going to get stranded in the middle if a flock of sheep.

In other news, going back to things I updated you all on during my Europe travels, I did my first underwear wash in our private bathroom yesterday. I currently have 16 pairs of hanky panky underwear hanging to dry in the back of our campervan (I'm sure Evan loves that). We were supposed to be in a shared dorm room tonight (where I did not want to hang it out to dry) but Evan decided we should be big spenders and get our own room for $10 NZD more per night.

I also have gotten to see my feet the past few days now that it's warmer. Toes: ok. Bottoms of feet: still clean and soft. Toe/foot hair: needs a trimming.

We decided during dinner tonight that due to rain heading our way we're spending 2 more nights at this hostel before heading to Abel Tasman park to do more camping, hiking and some kayaking. We'll head to the beach tomorrow before the rain starts and maybe make some bone carving jewelry (yes, I have animal cruelty issues with that as well) on Wednesday when it really rains.

Regardless, that's real beds and a toilet I don't have to walk in the cold (or rain) to in the middle of the night for 2 more nights. Or, as Evan pointed out, 2 more nights of free hot chocolate pudding and ice cream. Yipee!

I found the heat!

Yes, it wasn't natural but I found it. Today I gave myself a fabulous gift...hot yin yoga. After all this hiking and biking and sleeping in the back of a campervan, that was the best 90 minutes I've had in quite a while. I got to stretch. I got to sweat. It was fantastic!

So...after checking out the book/homebrew store in Blenheim we left and headed north west. We're in Nelson now where it's kind of sunny and almost feels like an actual spring and there is a beach nearby. We're even staying in a hostel with beds and free hot chocolate pudding (kinda like super fudgy brownies) and ice cream at 8p.m every night. I'm in love.

We were supposed to hike this morning down in Nelson Lakes. We got up, left at the crack of dawn, drove 1.5 hours and it was pouring there. So, having maybe learned our lessons re: hiking in rain and snow, we drove back to Nelson, walked around, had a great lunch, checked out the beach and then I got to go to yoga. We followed that with tofu stir-fry and heineken and, of course, chocolate pudding and ice cream. It even got sunny again. Tomorrow we're going to groundhog day it and try this hiking thing again.

Speaking of groundhog day, it was daylight savings in NZ today (i.e "spring ahead"). No one on the radio or that we've spoken to seems to understand the concept. It's been kind of hilarious.

A "medium scale adverse event"

While Evan is passed out on the bench across from me I figured it's a good time to bring you up to date. Let's go backwards.

Today, we explored Blenheim to Renwick and around different wineries via bicycles. Fun? Yeah. Right weather? Definitely not. We biked against the huge windgusts for 10k to get here and the bike seats are horrendous. I'm scared to bike back because I'm afraid to cause permanent damage to my crotch area. I'm going to try to rig a seat cushion out of my wind breaker. Wish me luck. At least we're drunk biking and not driving.

Yesterday was an exciting day for me! I. Held. A. Lamb!!!! Yes, horrible pic of me BUT I. Held. A. (3 day old) Lamb!!!! We watched a whole sheep shearing show, fed a ram, and Evan fed a 5 week old lamb named Ellis from a bottle! Fantastic!

We also took a long walk along the Kaikoura peninsula. It was sunny and fabulous. There is a very strong and very cold wind from the south right now but even with that it was a breathtaking walk. I even saw a bunch of cows on the way back and snapped some picks. Apparently cows have very itchy necks and use any fence, wire, or pole to work that out.

We tried to have a picnic yesterday. It was way too windy so we ate in the van but I took a pic of our intended picnic table. It would have been so nice! While we ate in the car we listened to a bit of NZ NPR. I learned that the snow down south is definitely unusual and that it is, as I had suspected, killing many of the cattle, sheep, and lambs. The farmers have requested that this event be called a "medium scale adverse event" which, to an American, sounds quite wishy-washy and British, eh? In the USA we'd have declared a state of emergency already.

We also learned today along our bike-drink ride that this weather is quite cold and windy for this time of year. That makes me, once again, feel better about how surprised I am by how cooooold it is here.

Regardless, we've decided to forget about Fiji and save our money for Australia. Sad but true. Just 2.5 more weeks of the NZ horrible cold. October 12th can't come soon enough!

Dear Dad, I'm wearing socks with my Keen sandals (and yesterday I wore a waist-pack). Love, Heather

We woke up this morning to fabulous blue skies and sunshine and drove for a good 3 hours that way up the West Coast of NZ and started heading back east. It still wasn't "warm" out but, as I've said before, I'll take sunshine. And then the snow came, again. Only for 15 mins or so (and now it's drizzly misty hazy sunny-ish) but still. Enough with the snow! (BLOGGER'S NOTE: We stopped for a bit and now we're in winter storm conditions again!).

We're headed to Hanmer Springs for the night to enjoy the natural hot springs and pools (BLOGGER'S NOTE: We actually stopped at Mariuia Springs and chilled/heated in those pools so now we're heading all the way east to Kaikoura tonight. The pools were nice but for a ton of moss and algae, I had to get out early because I was grossed out.) and still hoping that as we head east and north we continue to get less precipitation and a little warmer temps. Evan is more optimistic than me but we'll see.

So, I've been trying to keep a mental list of the reasons it's not that bad backpacking in the cold weather. Here's what I have so far:

- your clothes don't get dirty/smelly as quickly so it reduces the need to do laundry (and is very helpful when you only have 2 pairs of long pants and 4 longsleeve shorts with you)

- I barely ever have to shave my legs

- I don't need to worry about dirty feet like I did in Europe and I definitely don't need a pedicure (I haven't even seen my feet for more than a minute a day when I dry them after a shower)

- no one is witnessing my hair's continuous awkward growing-out stage because I wear a winter hat or headband almost constantly

- it's totally ok to wear socks with sandals and carry your crampons (not tampons, see yesterday's entry) in a bright red huge waistpack (aka fanny pack)

- it's easier to heat our campervan at night than it would be to cool it (and we get to keep our windows closed so no sandflies or mosquitos)

- it's easier to warm up after a shower than it is to stop sweating

- nothing/no where is crowded

- our campervan isn't overheating on this crazy uphill climbs

- it's really cute to watch the lambs cuddle with each other and the mom-sheep to keep warm

And that's about it! Sounds fabulous, eh?

NZ, the ice cold rain (snow) forest and why do my mittens smell like sheep?

Well...a lot's been going on down here, especially with the weather. We left Lake Wanaka yesterday to head up to the Franz Josef Glacier. I thought: "yes! Going north. Maybe less snow and a bit warmer!" WRONG! Instead we drove directly into a snow storm (again!) and this time it was significant, it was sticking to the road and there was a good 3-6 inches of snow/ice/slush to drive through for about 300km. Evan and I are good winter drivers after growing up in NH and Evan slowed down and was very cautious. I was not worried about him. Unfortunately, our "wicked" camper only starts 1 out of every 3 times and we're lucky it runs at all. I was a bit nervous about what it would do in the snow. Luckily, I'm here to tell you about it.

Once we were out of the storm I realized that the trees look like rain forest and not anything like the freezing cold climate we've been in. I decided that this is how the dinosaurs died. They thought it was going to be a regular spring day and then BAM! snow storm, too cold, death. I learned today, however, that NZ gets as much rain in certain areas as the Amazon (rain forest look, explained). I also learned that this recent snow is not really the norm but some sort of fluke this year. Yay!?

So today, we went glacier hiking! I was maybe 80% excited. I've seen glaciers. I've touched them. I even sledded on one (on a flannel shirt) back in the day. Why would I willingly hike on a cold, frozen, wet glacier (when it's probably going to rain or snow again)? Well, I'm glad I did.

The company we went with gave us all the proper waterproof gear, I was all layered up in my fleece and wicking clothes, and I got to wear these massive boots and crampons (not tampons, crampons - spikes you attach to your boots to help when walking on ice). We went up and down, we went through crevasses, we went through tunnels (irises), we saw the bluest ice I've ever seen, we even built a snowman. My toes only got cold when we stopped for lunch. We lucked out big time with the weather. It was relatively warm (but not too warm for all the layers we were all in) and it barely precipitated. We had a bit of snow/hail and a tiny bit of rain but I'd say most of the day was sunny/clear. (Don't worry, it's raining now).

I was also excited about the new glove/mittens I bought myself. They were warm and stayed pretty dry and let me use my fingers to take pictures and etc. And then I wiped my nose a couple times and realized that whoever made my glove/mittens basically took the wool off the sheep, wove my glove/mittens and put them on the rack to sell. By the end my hands and my nose all smelled as fresh(???) as a sheep. Lovely.

Tomorrow we're off to a night in some hot springs and then wine country for a few days before heading to another park for some more outdoorsy stuff. We're still heading north and hoping that at some point winter ends and spring begins (yes, it's supposed to be spring).

Oh, and this just in, we may be spending 4-5 nights in Fiji before heading to Australia. Dream. Come. True. (And SUNSHINE!). I'll let you all know when it's for certain!

LOST! FYI: the other end of the hatch is in New Zealand

So yesterday was another gorgeous day in Lake Wanaka. Evan and I decided to take a walk along the lake. And we walked and walked and walked - along the lake and around and down a river. We estimated we probably walked 20km roundtrip.

Along the way, I discovered the hatch pictured above and the weird tiny tree-lined peninsula you can see Evan walking into. I definitely expected a scene out of LOST (others anyone?). Luckily for us, at the end of the tiny peninsula was just a gorgeous view of spring buds on trees, the snowy mountains and the lake. Not gonna lie, I was at least hoping for Sawyer to be sitting there reading a book.

The river was so teal-turquoise it looked almost fake. It was sunny enough that if I had my bathingsuit I probably would have gone for a swim. On our walk back I worked on my posture and tried to relax and stretch my shoulders. My hips are a mess too. I'm not made for cold weather. This woman needs some yoga in her life. Evan, he needs some pants. Hiking in 40, maybe 50 degrees F in basketball shorts just isn't going to cut it.

After our walk, Evan treated himself to about 5 beers and a bowl of fries for lunch. I had a cappuccino, carrot and coriander soup, and 1 beer just because. Then we relaxed a bit at the hostel before going out for Mexican. Yes, my goal in life is apparently to have Mexican on every continent (I've moved on from sex museums in every country).

And then we came back to the hostel and relaxed some more. Something I don't understand about hostels in NZ so far...it seems that many travelers find a hostel and decide to work there to stay for free. Great idea, right? Well, I would agree if they ever left the hostel on their time off. They don't, they stay around the hostel all the time. Someone explain to me what the point of that is.

Also, I have 1 complaint: my brother sleeps sooooo much. I've never been much of a sleeper. A good night for me is 5 or 6 hours. Yes, occasionally I crash and need a long sleep-filled night to recover but generally I just don't spend much time sleeping. We've been going to sleep no later than 10 p.m. (although I've rebelled and stayed up til 11 a couple times) and then he can still sleep til 8 or 9. It's nuts.

I woke up at 6:30 this a.m and decided that I was just done sleeping. So here I am, in the common area of the hostel, blogging, looking at yet another cold and rainy day and wondering who the fucker is that parked our campervan in over night and how we're supposed to leave in an hour or so to head to our next stop (glaciers. Yay! Or yay?).

Like Annie says...

"The sun 'ull come out, tomorrow!" And it did!

Waking up in an actual bed today, warm and cozy and not having to go outside for the bathroom, or even put my shoes on, was fantastic. Realizing it was sunny outside was the icing on the cake or the cherry on the sundae or whatever you want to call it.

I showered and decided to take a walk into town. Just the view from outside the hostel was incredible. I actually got warm on my walk! After exploring for a bit and deciding that Lake Wanaka is gorgeous when it's not all grey and dreary out I grabbed a cappuccino (much better than my usual morning instant coffee and coffeemate) and walked back to the hostel.

And there I sat while Evan snowboarded up in the mountains somewhere. On a couch, looking out of a huge window over the gorgeous lake, no shoes, no layers (according to Susan, Italian Vogue says wearing everything you own at once is out this season...sorry IV, it's fucking freezing out there) and plenty of wifi.

I savored my cappuccino, I spent all my wifi credit on a lengthy call to Preston working the nightshift in Prague, I sewed a hole in 1 of my 2 pairs of pants, and I enjoyed a lovely inside day. I even had live accordion music (that part I didn't really love but a young french teenager was courting a girl with his skills and I didn't have the heart to tell him to stfu).

Evan apparently had a great day snowboarding, picked up 1 hitchhiker and hitched his own way up and down the mountain. We grabbed a late lunch after he came back, had a couple beers (my beer had "bohemian tendencies," according to my parents, so do I) and hit up another random movie, "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World."

I drove the campervan on the OTHER side of the road for the 1st time, we played some battleship, and now we're killing a 6pack of lager before we decide whether we should have Mexican or Japanese for dinner.

AND, the best news, we added a 3rd night here. That's 3 nights in a warm bed without mid-night outdoor bathroom adventures. Yessssss! Word on the lake is that the sun may come out tomorrow again.