kepler track, brod bay and the murchison mountain range

kepler track + jenn

gotta love the camera timer...

kepler track

te anau walk to brod bay

on sunday i walked the first part of the kepler track, to the brod bay lookout. the track is a gorgeous combination of lake front, grasslands, new zealand bush and mountains. i can see why people flock here (but am glad it's still winter and the "off season" as there are still very few people out and about - on my 4 hour hike i crossed paths with only 1 other person).

baby sheep and the kepler mountains

storms a comin'

pastures + lake te anau + murchison mountain range...

lake te anau

ah, peace and quiet... from queenstown i slept on the bus to te anau (staying up too late, drinking too much and getting up too early will do that) and arrived just after 9am. i checked into the backpackers and took a much needed nap (plus it was snowing and windy and cold out). at 1p i got up and headed out, bundled up, for a much needed walk along the lake. lake te anau is just east of the mountain range on the west coast of the south island, and is the gateway to the fiordland sounds. most people, myself included, use te anau as a base for trips to milford and doubtful sound and the kepler and hollyford tracks.

couch surfing queenstown

couch surfing 1/1! i flew from wellington to queenstown on thursday for a 2 night stopover before heading west over to the sounds. as i had been to queenstown before and wasn't planning on any of the touristy agenda items, i decided to give couch surfing a try, in the hope of getting a bit of a local view/meeting people. www.couchsurfing.org is an online network of couch surfers and couch hosts and i had heard some success stories from other travelers. there is no exchange, it is literally nice folks who like to meet people and can offer a free place to stay (be it a couch, spare bedroom, floor, etc.). i contacted a few folks and ended up with josh, a 33 year-old bungy instructor, and his 4 roommates in downtown queenstown. it was GREAT. josh and the roommies were all really welcoming and relaxed, he cooked dinner both nights and we hung out at the frankton spa all day on friday. i slept on the couch but it was comfy (and i know couches) and in all a great way to save a few dollars.

in other news, the weather is currently quite chaotic (more so than even "normal" new zealand weather): http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/7951028/massive-storm-to-hit-new-zealand/
while in queenstown it snowed from thursday evening all the way through saturday morning, leaving about an inch of snow on the ground in downtown queenstown (which is rare). wellington is getting a gale and here in te anau it is alternating between rain, snow and sun within ever hour (it's actually pretty cool).

windy welly

from auckland to wellington: wellington is a much nicer city, full stop. wellington has great parks and a beautifully developed downtown area and pedestrian alleys and the bay is clean and a joy to walk around. the one downside is that wellington is windy. very windy. insanely windy. i had 6 days in and about wellington and did a little of this and a little of that and a lot of relaxing. maureen put me up in her cute little apartment in eastbourne (across the bay from wellington) and then the two of us stayed a few days in plimmerton (a place she was house-sitting for a co-worker). i took the ferry into wellington and cruised the town, hiked up to mt. victoria, read, drank coffees, baked maureen cookies and a ginger cake and generally just hung out. it was great!

view of downtown from mt. victoria...

wellington looks an aweful lot like sf in some places... except that the cars are on the wrong side of the street...

the tranzscenic

i so feel lucky that i had the time to take the train from auckland to wellington! it was a long trip, 12 hours, but it was beautiful countryside and relaxing and completely worth it.

these are the strange satalite laser beamy things on the ceiling of the auckland train terminal...

sunset over fields just north of wellington...

the $1 ferry to auckland

i left coromandel town on tuesday, the 7th, via the ferry to auckland. frankly, i've had quite enough of auckland at this point but it is the go-between between the far north and everywhere else (at least for the carless). my ferry trip was great this time 'round and the weather held out and i was able to enjoy the top deck the whole way over.

goodbye driving creek cafe... for now

yesterday was my last working day at the cafe!!! that exclamation is out of "oh, my goodness i'm leaving," not "thank goodness it's over." my 12 weeks here have been a surprisingly wonderful experience full of fantastic people, fun projects, delicious food, all the organic, free-trade coffee i could drink, great walks in the bush, lots of local flavor and unforgettable conversations/debates. it's the perfect time to head onward but i'm still really excited to come BACK for christmas (and the month of january) to see coromandel town and the cafe in the summer light (more people, more sunshine and much more on in general).

from here i'm taking the afternoon ferry to auckland and on friday i'm hopping the train down to wellington to visit with my dear friend maureen.

i'm lucky that i didn't feel the earthquake in christchurch and my friends in the area are all OK.

to those in the states, HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!! enjoy the sun for me as it is POURING rain here!

two new zealand icons

this is a cheeky little pukeko. from my arrival i have seen them everywhere but every time i have tried to capture them in a photo they fly away... this one i got from quite a distance by pretending i wasn't taking a photo... their colors are really beautiful in person and these birds adorn many a new zealand knick-knack.




















this pohutukawa tree seems to have bloomed a little early - rumor is that the coromandel peninsula known for them, especially in the summer/christmas time when they are all in bloom.

sarka and jenn

our new wwoofer, sarka, arrived at the cafe while i was on my ski trip... she hails from the czech republic and has a degree in special education and psychology... needless to say we've become friends! her boyfriend is actually wwoofing elsewhere in coromandel town, for candice the author that i wwoofed with in my first weeks here. small world, country, area, etc. this pic is from the kauri track hike that gives a lookout over the coromandel harbor (if you can call it that) and coromandel town.

SPRING!

new zealanders regard the first of september as the first day of spring... and september first proved why - it was STUNNING out! it was warm and sunny and SHORTS weather! my new wwoofing roommate, sarka from the czech republic, and i did some major walking around coromandel town to celebrate.

beautiful blue sky with luscious green hills...

looking out from shell beach towards auckland/the islands...

modeling in my shorts!