Steve’s Travel Blog

Hello all and Happy Easter!!!

I have been in Melbourne for just over a week and I have seen lots of sights. I got into Melbourne last Thursday and Matt picked me up from the airport. Matt is a friend that I met in Calgary while he was doing renovations on my brothers house. He is letting me stay at his place while I am in Melbourne. He has a house in an outer suburb called Watsonia. I have my own room and it has been great to stay somewhere other than a hostel. It is definitely helping with keeping me on budget. I have been over budget lately, my daily average in February was $85 and March went up to $112 before that I was around $70.

I have been taking the train into the city or where ever I have wanted to go. The train network here is huge with about 10 different lines going in all directions. It costs 9.90 for an all day ticket but you can get absolutely everywhere. Matt also introduced me to his uncle Norman and he is helping me source out a vehicle to drive around the rest of Oz. He has been very helpful and we have seen a few cars so far but nothing that Norman has been happy with. He figures more stuff will be available after the Easter break. I am also checking out the assorted hostels for vehicles and people that are looking for travel mates. I will try to find some people to tag along with me from place to place. I have a friend in Perth (Alain) that may jump in with me when I get that far.

I have joined Matt twice in going out with some of his friends. We had a birthday party last Saturday, it was at a really nice house and a bunch of his long term friends. It was a good time and they feed us and gave me beer as well. Most were intrigued with my story and it was fun talking with others. On Wednesday we were invited out for supper in the Ivanhoe district and met with 6 others for pizza and wine. This was in a restaurant and it was BYO Booze. There are a lot of restaurants that let you bring in your own wine or beer, which is not that common in Calgary.

Most of my time has been spent in the city center or CBD. The first few days were right in the heart searching out assorted hostels and areas like chinatown and the greek district. I also spent some time at the State library where there is free internet. I went to the state parliament building and they were starting a tour so I went along. We were allowed to sit in the speakers chair which I don’t think happens in a lot of other places.

The building was really old and was once used as the federal parliament when Melbourne was the capital back in the 1800’s. I went to St. Patricks Cathedral and it was an amazing church. It is huge and there is no way to fit it into one pic. Everything was set up for the Easter masses and looked awesome. Again there were at least 6 alters like in Sydney. They have 3 masses daily and go no stop over the Easter season.

From there is went to the Fitzroy Gardens and the Treasury Gardens. It seems that NZ and Oz have a lot more of this green space than what is in Canada and especially Calgary. All these garden areas are huge and right in the middle of the city. They are great places for people to relax and take in some sun. On another day I went to the Melbourne Zoo. They do a great job of presenting the animal in a natural habitat and my favorite were all the different types of apes and monkeys. They were by far the most active animals and would come right up to us and hang from the window checking us out. The elephants and zebras were pretty cool as well. I would still say that the Calgary Zoo is the best I have ever seen, we really kick ass there.

At the Southbank part of the city is the Queen Victoria park and the Kings Domain which has an open air concert hall dug into the ground. I spent some time in the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) and it had some really cool paintings, drawings and 2 really old cars. THe next area was what they call “the shrine of remembrance” or cenotaph. This is the biggest area i have ever seen that is to commemorate fallen soldiers, I was very impressed. They even have a small opening in the ceiling that was put in that exact spot so that on Nov 11th at 11am it will shine in on the memorial in the floor. They call Nov 11th ANZAC Day which stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps.

I also spent some time at the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was very impressive but I am sure it would be really cool in spring and summer as there was not much in bloom but still really cool to see.

Most stores and attractions are still closed on holidays in Oz so I am making Good Friday a chill day to catch up on things and do some laundry. I am hoping that I will be able to get a vehicle in the next week or so or else I may run out of things to see and do. I am going to a Aussie Rules Football game on Saturday and then the Queen Victoria market on Sunday. After that I plan to see the beach on Monday (Bells Beach) where there is an international surfing event going on. Tuesday is set up for a fishing charter and Wednesday is going to be a wine tour. After that everything is open and will figure out later.

I hope everyone has a great Easter holiday with friends and family. I will be thinking about you all and hopefully all your snow goes away soon, It is golf season.

Love ya all,

Steve

PS: Good luck to my godchild Nadean and her trip to London England. I just know that see is going to become a traveller and probably see me on the road somewhere in this world.

Hello all,

Tassie has been a ton of fun and I got to meet so really great people.  Meghan and I left Launceston and drove thru the west coast for 4 days.  Our first day we started with a stop at a town called Sheffield which is known in these parts as the town of murals.  The sides of a bunch of building are painted with murals and they are really neat.  I was surprised at the amount and the quality of them.  Our next stop was to Tazmazia which is a big maze made from hedges.  It has many different mazes and other attractions.  We had our lunch here which consisted of pancakes.  THey were the best pancakes I have had since leaving Canada as most so far have been more like crepes than what we call pancakes.  We then walked all the mazes and I really felt like a kid again.  We had so much fun!!! and I got lost a bunch. We ended up spending about 3 hours in the mazes it hardly felt like we were there.  We had to leave to make our way to Devonport where were we staying for the night.  It is best not to drive these roads at dusk as there are so many animals.  If you thought there were lots around Banff then you should check out the amount of dead wallabies at the side of the road here.  In Devonport we stayed at the Gingerbread House.  It was pretty basic but had everything we needed.  THe next morning we got up and headed off to Cradle Mountain.  We did a 3 hour hike around the area and part of the Overland Track that many spend 5 days on.  A few ours was just fine by me.  We made our way yo our next overnight stop of Queenstown.  We has a few stops on the way to stretch our legs and see a few sights.  Queenstown is an old mining town and does no offer a whole lot.  THe backpackers we stayed at was only $20 but not worth much more.  Good thing we brought all of our own food.  THe only good thing is that the room was a twin room and we did not have to share with a bunch of others.  We slept in and the we were off for a train ride.  We booked the train ride from Queenstown to Strahan.  This ride was on an earlt 1900’s steam engine and a pretty slow ride.  We followed along the Queen and King rivers between the 2 towns on the line that they used to transfer copper and gold to the coast.  THe views were amazing and we were feeling pretty young as most others on the rain were seniors.  THe rivers were an ugly redish brown because of all the polution over the years.  They are now considered dead rivers as there is nothing alive in them anymore.  They are trying to revive them but only started in 1990 and it will take many 100’s of years before improvements may be seen. We had about 2 hours to tour thru Strahan which was more than enough becasue it is basically 2 streets.  We wasted a little time in the cafe with a hot chocolate as it wasn’t that warm out (only about 18 degrees celcius).  I know but it sounds funny to me!!!  We were shuttled back to Queenstown on the bus and stayed one more night in Queenstown.  At this point we are at Tuesday morning and we need to get to Hobart for 2:30 as that is when Meghan has to check in for her flight to Melbourne.  We made 2 stops on the way with about 20 minute walks for each stop at some of the highlights.  Meghan was really cool to travel with and we were very alike so it made it easy.  She is just out of Uni (studied Biology) and doing some work overseas while traveling. I even gave her a nickname (bugs) because none of the freak her out and she knew a lot of the bird sounds and the different animals. We got Meghan to her flight on time and I made my way to the City Central Backpackers.  It was a relaxing evening with a Australian movie that was very strange and early to bed.
I woke up on Wednesday and thought that I would try to set up a fishing trip so I started making some calls and the cheapest I could find was going to cost me abou $260 which is way to much.  THis was the last day I would have the car so I decided to take a drive out to Bonorong Wildlife Park.  This was a great day.  I spent about 4 hours walk thru the park and it is not that big.  THere were only a few people there when I got there and so the animals were nice to see.  A little later a school bus showed up and the animals got a little skitish. I was able to see Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies, emus,kangaroos, echindas and quolls.  The kangaroos would eat right out of your hand and were fun to talk to.  THe devils were really neat to see as they cruised thru there area.  THe kangaroos, wallabies and varoius birds are able to roam anywhere in the park and so  they do come right up to you if they want.  Most of the animals in the park are only here for short time before they are released in the wild again, the longer term stays are because they have an injury and would not survive in the wild. I left the park after having some lunch that I brought and headed back for town.  I dropped the car off at about 5 so that I would not have to do it in the morning,  That evening I walked around the waterfront and thought about what is next.  On Thursday morning I planned to piece together getting to Melbourne.  I wanted to take the ferry across but in the long run it was way to expensive.  The bus back to Devonport (where the ferry leaves from) would cost $62.50 and then the ferry itself would have been $160.  That would have been alright but all the sailing are at night and I would not have seen anything so why bother.  I sussed out at flight and was in Melbourne by 5pm on Thursday evening for $90.
While I was living at my brothers place before i left he was getting some work done on his place.  One of the workers (Matt) was an Aussie and lived in Melbourne.  I have been in contact with him since he came back and he picked me up at the airport and is letting me stay at his place while I am here.  We went and picked up a few groceries and headed back to his place, had supper and chilled for the evening.  I am looking forwrd to checking out Melbourne and plan to look for a vehicle to drive around the rest of Oz with.  By the way it is hot in Melbourne, I landed to 34 degrees and sunny, although it is supposed to rain for the next few days.  The heat is nice to get back to and it should be pretty warm for the rest of my stay in Oz.

Till next time everyone take care,
Steve
PS:  Congrats to Chris and Tara on there new business venture as they have bought the Humpty’s franchise in Brooks.

Hello all,

I have been in Tasmania now for about a week and so far the scenery and animals are amazing.  I landed into the main city in the south called Hobart.  I spent 3 days at the central city backpackers in the downtown area.  It is a nice city but there is not a lot to do during the evenings and late night.  I took the first day to walk around and see some of the close sights and figure out how I was going to see this province.  By that evening I had most things figured out.  The next day (Friday) I did a boat tour to Port Arthur.  We took a bus to Eaglehawk Neck and then got on a boat that took us around some amazing cliffs called Devil’s Kitchen,Tasman Blowhole and Tasman Arch.  All of the Tasman references go back to an early explorer called Abel Tasman who found and inhabited a lot of the places here and in NZ including the naming of Tasmania.    Cape Huay had some remarkable rock formations including one rock that climbers from all over the world come to conquire.  It is very high and not very wide, they repel down the cliff opposite it and then climb up the rock face to the top (see picture).  after a 2 hour boat ride we made it into Port Arthur which was a convict settlement in the 1800’s.  They sent convicts here because it was near impossible to escape.  They did have jail walls but security was light because they had no where to go besides the ocean.  They set up a line of guard dogs at the other end and the convicts were stuck.  It was known as a very had life if you were sent there as the only form of punishment was lashings.  Most were lashed daily by other convicts and if you did not whip hard enough you were next in line.  Most were very abused and if you ended up in the phyco ward then it was real trouble.  They were forced to go to church every Sunday but they had to stand in what looked like little coffins and could see nothing but the preacher(again check the pic).  After touring around Port Arthur we were bussed back to Hobart for the evening.  Saturday was all about the outdoor market.  THe Salamanca market goes every Saturday and it was huge.  Live music all over the place and you could buy almost anything.  The fresh fruits and vegetables were definitely the highlight and I got some of the fruit for the next few days.  Sunday was going to be get away day but it all changed.  I had met 2 21 year old Danish girls (Emile & Lotte) on Thursday and we planned to rent a car and drive up the east coast together to save on costs.  The Tassie tours here are extremely expensive so it was cheaper to rent with some others.  I went to pick up the rental and they did not have my reservation done properly and thus no car available until Monday.  I went back and talked with the girls and they figured it would still be all right so we booked again and then pretty much wasted away the rest of Sunday.  Monday started much better as we got the car and started off towards the east coast.  We drove to the Freycinet National Park and took in the Cape Tourville Lighthouse and Sleepy bay which were each about 20 minute walks and well worth it.  We stayed in a town called Coles Bay for the night in a small backpackers/campground.  In the morning we were off to one of Tasmania’s highlights (Wineglass Bay).  We did the 4 hour hike to the bay and back around a mountain to where the car was parked.  The water was crystal blue and obviously the bay was shaped like a wine glass.  The beach was white sand and the first thing we saw was a wallaby and were able to go right up to it and I pet it’s tail.  I am sure that some people feed them and that is why it was so tame but we also saw some at the car park and it was the same there.  After the hike we drove to a little town called Bicheno and an evening tour of penguins.  These little penguins go out to sea every morning for food and stay out all day until late then come in for shelter.  They waddle up the beach and to their homes and we were able to see it all.  Cute little buggers too. On Wednesday we continued up the east coast to St. Helens and what they call Binalong Bay and the Bay of Fires.  This was rather disappointing as the rocks that form the bay are similar to what we had already seen in Sleepy Bay.  The orginal explorer did not go to the area because he thought it was on fire. We had planned to stay the night but were done so early we decided to go to Launceston instead.  Launceston is the other big city in Tassie with a whopping 100,000 residents.  The drive was crazy as it was only about 120km’s but had about 300 turns in the road.  I have never turned so much, imagine the last part of the drive into Golden and then do it for 120km’s.  The car brakes were also starting to scweel and making horrible sounds.  Launceston is where the girls planned to get off as they were flying out to Melbourne.  I got checked into a nice hostel called the Arthouse and again started to figure out whats next.  It did not take long before I met a Canadian girl (Meghan) from Vancouver and we were making plans for the west coast and back to Hobart.  I did some touring around on Thursday and Friday and checked out the city as well as the Cataract Gorge.  The gorge was really cool, it is where the north and south esk river join to make the Tamar river.  There were several walks through out the gorge and I went for about 8km’s.  I got the car checked out and everything is okay just a minor issue.  Meghan and I will leave for the west part of Tasmania tomorrow (Saturday) and see what we can find.  I will continue to look for a Tasmanian Devil but there are not many left in the wild.  They have been infected by some disease and it is killing them off.  Unfortunately I have seen more dead wild life so far than alive.  The roads in the evening are full of wildlife mostly wallaby’s and tons are been killed. Hopefully the rest of the island has lessead animals and alot more live ones.

Until next time, everyone take care.

Steve

After a week in Sydney and walking to almost every part of it, it is time to move on.  I did not buy the Pajero as I was out bid by another buyer, I bid 6500 and they got it for 7000.  I decided that I will go back to my original plan when I got into Oz and go to Tasmania.  I got a flight for $125 one way which is really cheap and I will hang there for a week or two.  From there I will go to Melbourne either by air or overnight ferry (not sure yet).

So let’s back track a bit an let you know what I have been up to.  After my first day i was totally excited about Sydney and it was everything I had hoped for and there is still lots to do.  As I said last time the Navy is in harbour to routines and the ships are been inspected.  On friday they had a big routine in the harbour and I caould see 17 different vessels at the same time.  They did a 21 gun salute and had a fly over with about 10 choppers.  It was really cool to watch.  From there I continued my walk and saw the parliment (provincal) building and decided to go watch. It ws alot smaller than in Edmonton and no one showed up.  There was a guy there talking about global warming but most of the seats were empty, government at work???  From there i went to the Sydney mint and a museum that was an old jail.  Also stopped at the Sydney Library which was not a familar place for me.  I spent some time at the St. Mary’s cathedral which was amazing.  the cathedral is huge and I went into the cript below where there was some amazing architecture.  The cathedral must have 15 different alters and the “ways of the cross” were stunning.  From there I made my way to the Queen Victoria building which is now a big mall full of expensive shops.  I looked around at some computer shops as well.  From there I made my way ot Darling Harbour and to the wildlife world to see some roos, koalas and snakes.  It was pretty cool but I can’t wait to see them in their natural environment.  It got pretty late by that point so I went back to the Opera house to see if I could get somw last minute tickets but it was completely sold out.  Walked back to the hostel and made supper and went to bed fairly early because I was tired from all the walking.    Saturday morning was a naval parade, I have never seen so many dressed in the prper whites, the street were full.  After the parade it didn’t take long for most to be huggung family and some went straight to the pubs in the area.  I went to the Aquarium and was impressed with all the marine life.  You name they had it and I ended up spending way longer than I thought I would.  I walked back thru Hyde park and had to sit there for a while because it was so nice.  Not a place to be at dark but during the day it is really nice.  When I got back to the hostel I had supper with my roommates and discused the vehicle.  They had another person interested and on Monday were all went to get the road worthy check done and then make bids on the vehicle.  Sunday was all about relaxing and I did some tanning on the rooftop patio and drank some rum.  Great day but I guess I should have made it to the beach (next time).  On monday it took all day to get the proper checks done and in the end as I said before I got out bid.  Monday evening we all had supper together and a few drinks.  Tuesday I decided that it was best to get back to my original plan and get to Tassie.  I went into downtown and bought myself a computer (netbook, small travel size) and then back to the hostel to source everything out. Within an hour I had my flight and hostel booked for Thursday and sent an email to Matt in Melbourne asking for his help in buying a vehicle in Melbourne.  Matt got back to me and it should be pretty easy to get something in Melbourne and cheaper than in Sydney.  Tuesday was spent getting everything ready to leave, updating the blog and downloading programs onto the new computer.  I can now make phone calls for free using skype and got a few other things done as well. 

After all that I still need to come back and do the rest of the things around Sydney, like Bondi Beach, Manly and the Blue Mountains, but i guess you can’t do evrything the first time.

That’s about it for what has happened in the last week.  If any of you has skype my skype name is “stevedietrich”.

Gday all from Oz,

Well I made it to Australia yesterday at about noon and it has been a whirlwind since.  The original plan was to try to go directly to Tasmania but I am still in Sydney and Tas might come later.  I got into a backpackers called Eva’s which is a nice place in the King’s Crossing area close to downtown.  I went for a walk in the afternoon to start to figure things out.  I ended up with a shit full of pamphlets and no clue as to what I was doing.  The area is kinda the red light district but with lots of other shops.  I got propositioned twice already which made me laugh.  Most of the stuff is on Victoria Street they even have a library right beside 2 strip joints, must makes for really smart strippers.  I’ll just leave the rest of that alone, there is also a great pizza place that I went to, it is a little bit like little italy here as well.  I went back to Eva’s and took some time and read thru the info and met my roommates.  THere are all from Germany and just happen to be selling a vehicle.  I took a look at it and it is exactly what I am looking for but my salesman side of me kicked in and I siad that it wasn’t quite right.  For one they are asking to much but I am sure I can knock down the price as they leave soon and will need to sell it.  I am going to do some internet searches for prices and the lot.  The vehicle is 1991 Mitsubihi Pajero with 7 seat and 4wd which you need in alot parts of OZ.  It comes with all the camping equipment you can think of and all the saftey stuff as well, including spare parts and 2 spare tires.  My buddy from Holland is also willing to split the driving costs if i get the vehicle.  They are asking $8000 but i will start somewhere around $6000.  Lots of work to do on this yet but i am liking the idea.

This morning i decided to get out the walking shoes and see what else Sydney has to offer.  Wow what a great city and I will need a few more days to see everything.  I walked from the hostel to Mrs. Macquaries Point and it seemed like the whole Oz navy is docked there.  Must have been 8-9 boats of all sizes.  I found out that they are running excersises from here for the month of March.  I watched as they did morning call in the deck and a bunch of other formal stuff.  This was a great spot to get a look at the famous opera house as well and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  From there i walked thru part of the botanical gardens and to the Opera House.  It is as amazing as the pics you see and i went inside and got a schedule of events so now I may go see an opera before i leave here.  Might need some better clothes or just go with what I have and who cares what they think, I’ll never see them again anyway.  From there I went to the Royal conservatory of music (cool place)  and by all the government houses.  I went into the downtown core for some lunch and that was an experience.  It was like any other major city at lunch, all these suits running around trying to get a quick lunch with there cell phones going.  I actually watched for a while and just laughed at them, completely reminded me of downtown Calgary and I am glad that I am not part of the world.  I did some more touring of downtown and all of a sudden it was 5pm.  I started to make my way back to the hostel and saw the st. Mary’s Cathedral and decided to stop.  It was absolutely amazing and i barely saw any of it.  I am going to come back and take a good look on another day when I have more time.  Just doing some updates and checking on vehicles now but I am feeling really pumped about Australia, so far I am amazed again.

Talk to you all soon,

Steve

PS: Congrats to Nathan & Carolyn on the birth of the baby boy!!!

Hello all,

I just spent the last week traveling around NZ with Philly and we had an awesome time together.  My last post showed the start of the week.  So after skydiving we headed to do the Tongariro Crossing.  This time we did it in 6 hours and the views were astonishing.  You hike through so many different ecosystems and every turn brings another view.  THe hikes in the Rocky Mountains are cool as well but this is so much different.  After the crossing we headed to Napier and wine country.  We arrived at 11:30 am and were on a wine tour by 12 noon.  THe other tours i had been on you usually got about 5 tasting at each winery.  THe first winery on this tour gave us 8 and I got another because there wazs another one I wanted to try.  We had some good wine and some really cool wineries that had some neat marketing ideas (go to farmgatewines.co.nz).  We got back to the hostel at about 6pm and I was quite drunk and starving for food as we had missed lunch.  It was early to bed which was good because I could sleep everything off.  THe next morning we got up and did a walking tour around Napier and then to the aquarium.  Philly decided to do the scuba feeding and got to swim with the sharks and sting rays.  I took pictures and it was pretty cool watching in the tank, no place for me but maybe I will have to learn how to scuba dive.  We left Napier later that day and made our way back norht and stayed on a 330 acre dairy farm which was interesting to find in the dark.  We went back to Auckland after that and Philly is headed to the south island for a few weeks before working again.  I got tickets for a live rugby match that had the Aucland team playing a team from South Africa.  I went with 7 other guys from the hostel and had a great time.  The team from SA won but it really did not matter much to us.  I am chilly out right now getting ready for my flight to Australia on Wednesday (which would be Tuesday for you in Canada).  I am going to try to get a flight to Tasmania as soon as I get there and hang there for a few weeks before tackling the mainland.  It looks like I can get a 1 year visa but can only stay for 3 months at one time.  So I will break up Oz with some trips to Tonga, Samoa and Vanautu.

Looks like the next ime I write I will be in Oz, so till then take care.

Steve

Well, I have finally did the sky dive I was hoping to get done at Christmas, but let me catch you up first.

I met up with Philly on Saturday and we left Auckland after renting a car.  We went south to Waitoamo Caves where i had earlier abseiled down some waterfalls.  We got in in the evening so we booked into a hostel and then set up a plan for the next day.

On Sunday we went to the caves but instead of abseiling this time i did what is called Tumu Tumu Black Water Rafting.  Basically we tube down through the cave on inner tubes and it was really dark.  We also did some caving and it was a blast, but maybe not as good as the first ad venture or at least not as extreme.  After the rafting we stopped at a rabbit farm and watched a lady shear a rabbit.  It was one of the funniest things i have ever seen.  They tie up the rabbits feet and then stretch him out like he is on a spit and the just turn him around and shear him with sheep shears.  Some people were offended but I thought it was awesome.  Got to love Kiwis and how they decide that they are going to make money.  This farm has around 350 rabbits and they shear each one 4 times a year and sell assorted products made of the fur in their shop.

We left the rabbits behind and went on to Taupo, one of my favorite cities.  We booked a sky dive for Monday and then took it easy for the rest of the day.  We met up with Sam that I had meet thru the Stray bus for a few drinks but were in bed by about 1am.

Today was nothing but excitement about sky diving.  We went at 12 noon and dove about 1 hour later.  My sky dive master was called Juddy and he was pretty wild.  We got all harnessed in and then straight on to the plane.  We dropped a few off at 12,000ft and then up to 15,000ft for the rest of us.  Once we got to the proper height it went pretty quick.  I was the 2nd out and we scooted our way to the doorway and I was basically hanging out and he counted to 3 and we were off.  They first few seconds were breath taking as you start to fall at 200km per hour and wow, that is fast.  In a few seconds you figure it out and then enjoy the free fall for about 1 minute.  The camera man is all around making us look as goofy as possible and then he waves off and they open the shoot.  It takes about another 2 minutes to get to the ground and we did a few tricks while we were in the air.  it was absolutely amazing!!!  It was the best adventure thing I have ever done.  I am sure i will be on this high for a few days.  i remembered my brother Greg talking about his sky diving that he did a few years back and saying that if the shoot does not open to put the helmet on you feet and land feet first so that everything else just goes into it and there is less to clean up.  Well i told my dive master that story and he had a good laugh and said that he may use that on his next guest that is looking a little afraid, I hope he does.

By the way that is a felt marker in my mouth.  The instructors always try to draw on each other just before they jump and the guy in front of me got it really good and then they handed me the marker so that i would get blamed.  i did not know where else to put it because i had messages on my hands so i put it in my mouth.  Never did get in trouble though, sweet.

We are headed to the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow and I will do the 7 hour hike for the second time but i could use a little exercise right now so it should be fun.  We will stay in Taupo until Wednesday morning and then we are off to Napier do see what we can find there.

Until next time, everyone take care.

Steve

Well I now have proof that I know very little about electronics. 

My fancy new camera with built in mp3 player stopped working about a month ago so I bought another camera and thought that when I got back to Auckland that I might be able to get it fixed.  I spent the majority of the day today going to different shops to see if anyone could figure out what is wrong.  To me it looked like a pretty simple problem of the shutter not opening.  The camera turns on and all the functions work but the screen is blank and when i take pictures they come out black (shutter problem).  The mp3 player still works so i have been using it to listen to my music.  Every shop I went to wanted $100 just to look at it and if they found the problem then more to fix it.  I decided the best course of action would be for me to open it up and see if I could fix the shutter myself.  I stopped at a store and bought a mini screwdiver set for $4.00 and came back to the hostel and went to work.  There were 8 screws just for the back cover and once i got those off another 7 to get to where i needed to be.  I kept all the screws in certain piles so I knew where the went back.  Once i got all those screws out and was able to see the shutter I found that there was nothing wrong with it and that the problem was even deeper than that.  So i went full bore and took the camera completely apart.  Another 12 screws and some gentle pushing and prodding and it all came apart.  I am sure it looked pretty funny with it all apart and me trying to figure out what was going on.  Even with it all apart i could turn the power on and test it.  I had parts every where and to be honest the piles started to mix so i wasn’t sure of where all the screws went.  After about 1/2 hour of tinkering with it I put it back together.  Amazingly i did get all the screws back to where they were supposed to be but i ended up with 1 piece left over and have no idea where it was supposed to go.  I got it all back together and lo and behold the camera still did not work.  I really thought i could fix it but i guess that  was just a dream.  The good thing is that everything else still works so I can still listen to my music.  I will probably buy a small mp3 player and get rid of the camera or send it home and hope it can still be fixed under warrenty.  I can’t use the warrenty in NZ bacause I did not get the international warrenty, oh well shit happens.

I guess I will continue to use the new camera I bought and see if I can break it as well.

Tomorrow (Friday), I meet up with a friend that I met while traveling with Stray (Corrie) and we are going to have a BBQ at her house.  She is inviting a few of her other friends over as well and a brunch from the cast of Shortland Street.  Shortland Street is a daytime soap in NZ and probably the biggest one they have, it would be the Days of our Lives in NZ.  It should be pretty cool to meet some new people.  On Saturday Philly gets into town and we head straight back out to see some of the sights.

Till later gators,

Steve

PS: no pics with this post.

Hello all,

 Well my adventure continues and the last week has been very interesting.  Once I got on the road again the soar throat cleared up and I have been feeling great.  My last day in Gisbourne was spent fishing for supper (and I had plenty to eat) and one last day of relaxing.  I left Gissy and the bus dropped me off at a place called Whakatana.  Now I am going to given a pronounciation (spelling does not count) lesson (just for Jacqueline) on NZ language.  The “wh” in NZ is pronounced as a “f” so Whakatane is pronounce like facatane.  The “wh” is used in a lot of words here and so it sounds like the  are swearing a lot and using fuck (sorry mom).  It is their language but I giggle sometimes.  From Whakatane i took a day trip to White Island, which is an active volcano and you can walk in the crater.  I’ll get back to that, It was a 2 hour boat ride to the island and on the way we saw a pod of Orca whales and followed them for a while.  There were 2 baby whales with the pod and it was pretty cool seeing them up close.  My pics did not turn out great but i got a couple of decent ones.  Once we got to the island we got onto a small raft to get on the island and then toured all over it.  It took about 2 hours to walk arounf the island and we got to go to the middle of the crater.  The volcanos in NZ are different than what you normally see as they are not Lava filled but more with hot steam and water.  When they erupt they shoot out water, steam and rocks.  Most of the water that is flowing around the island is extremely hot and very acidic.  The colors of the rock we amazing and there was steam coming up everywhere.  THey have no idea when it will erupt again, the last time was about 10 years ago and they had about 1 minute and 30 seconds of warning.  Not enough time to get off the island so if it happened any one there would probably die.  It is funny (well maybe not funny) but they give you a gas mask and hard hat while you are on the island (like that is going to save you).  We did not see any marine life on the way back but it was still a grea day.

After Whakatane I made my way to Mount Manganui and spent 4 days watching the 2009 National Kapa Haka Festival.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the entertainment that they provided.  The native maori culture is similar to the native indians in Canada.  The english came over and took their land and signed treaties just like in Canada but the Maori’s are using that treaty to their benefit and getting a lot of rights and land back.  It was an interesting weekend because at least 95% of the crowd was Maori and only a few others (whites) were taking in the festival.  They have a lot of problems with drug, alcohol and gangs within their culture and pride of been Maori.  Sound familar to Canada.  I sat beside a Maori family for the entire festival and they were excellent to me.  The son explained a bunch of the competition to me and what was said.  I wondered if the natives in canada had competetions like this???  From what i can recall most native canadian culture is more chanting and drums, here it is all about haka, poi and singing traditional songs.  THe performances were amazing and the costumes were very detailed.  They get judged on a bunch of different categories from 29 judges sent by all the different regions and tribes.  THe family i was sitting with, their tribe placed 3rd and they were very happy.  While I was there I ate some traditional Maori meals as well, Hangi (which I had before and is chicken, stuffing, potato and sweet potato), mussel fritters (yummy) and smoked eel (it was really good and served with dry bread).  I learned a lot about the Maori culture and decided that i probably know very litttle about the natives in Canada and that the majority get judged by the few.  Not that I am preaching because by the end of it i was pretty tired of all those Maori’s.  One thing that i could not understand was after the prizes were awarded they were asked to stay for the final blessing but most (60%) left and did not care.  I talked to a few on the way out and the ones that stayed found that really insulting and why they do have so many issues with their own culture.  The culture in NZ is very different than what i found in Fiji and much prefer what i saw in Fiji. The pic that I have added was the best I could get.  It was strictly forbidden to take pictues of the performing groups but I am pretty good a breaking rules so I took a few and this one is the best I have.

I am now on my way back to Auckland and should get there on Monday night.  I will spend a few days researching my next destination.  In the running are Tasmania, Australia, Tonga, Samoa.  I meet up with Philly on Saturday and we are planning to spent about 2-3 weeks together traveling around any parts that I missed and parts that she would like to see.  We are renting a car so the independance from the busses will be good.

As things continue on back in Canada (ha, ha you still have snow) (sorry) i get to hear lots of things going on and stay in contact thru facebook and some phones calls.  I am sure I am missing lots of birthdays and such but i do remember a few like Aunty Lovina happy bday again I know you’re reading this and loved the phone call.  My buddy Abel has gone off and got married, congrats to Abel and Jennifer the pics looked great.  Lee, Christine and the Dechaine clan went to Jamacia and drank to much rum.  Rob is bitching about beaver camp, no not that beaver camp and Chris is coaching so much basketball he dreams about it in his sleep or maybe they are nightmares.  Kudos go to my godchild Nadean who is acting in a play in Lethbridge, knock’em dead girl!!!

To all, lots of hugs and kisses to those who want them (ladies you know who you are) (I hope).

 Steve

Well it has been a while since i wrote a blog so i guess i better update you all.

Since leaving Kaikoua i have been in a relax mode and have not done a lot of stuff.  I went from Kaikoura to Picton (top of the south island) and then crossed over to Wellington.  Wellington was absolutely crazy as they had a huge rugby tournament goming on called the Rugby 7’s which is regulare rugby but with on 7 players and 7 minute halves.  Canada had a team entered but did not do very well.  We are guarenteed a room for one night when we travle with Stray bus but after that it was alomst impossible to find a room and they were charging over double the regular rates.  Our dorm goes for $19 and they wanted $50 per night for any extra nights.  I only stayed the one night and then travelled on to Taupo.  It was nice to be back in Taupo as this was where i spent xmas and i just relaked for a few days.  I also got a really sore throat and so i didn’t do alot of talking.  Got lots of extra sleep and took it easy for a few days.  After i needed to get to Rotorua which is where the next part of my trip goes from but had to get there on my own.  I was planning on hitch hiking but after talking with the owner of the hostel in Taupo he gave me a ride, sweet.  I got to Rotorua and checked the town out for the few things it had and continued my relaxing as my throat was still pretty soar.  On wednesday i started the East Cape tour with stray.  THe east cape is a seperately run business and the owner (Jason) is also the driver.  We left rotorua and went to Whatatane and saw a few of the sites which inluded Mt. Manganiu and a few Maori tribal sites.  The east cape is known for it Maori culture and has a lot of Maori’s in the area.  We stayed the night is a small hostel that was built for us and very few others ever go there.  We went on a bush walk to an incredible waterfall and a little swim.  That evening we were given a great Seafood meal with crayfish and snapper.  We had a poker game as well but i didn’t do very well, but it was fun.  The next day we travelled on to Gisbourne which is the most east city in NZ and the first place for the sun to rise in the morning.  We stopped and saw one of the oldest trees in NZ (600yrs) , a really neat Maori church and the longest pier in NZ.  Our hostle for the night was just outside of Gisbourne and again made strictly for us.  That is where i am at this point as I have stayed on here for a few extra nights.  The weather is actually not that good right now and a bit cool, wet and windy.  Perfect fopr relaxing in and taking a few days off.

I will leave Gisbourne on Monday and head to White Island which is a active volcano that we can go to and spend the day checking it out.  After i will make my way to Mt. Manganiu by Thursday and take in the National Kapa Haka competition.  It will the best hakas (war dance) from all the regions and the winner will compete in a world competition on national dances.  It should be a good place to see some real NZ culture.

It has been nice catching up with some of you on Facebook and if you are ever on at the same time as i am I will be sure to say hello.

Till later, take care,

Steve 

 Looks like the pics for this blog will have to come late as this computer will not work.