Final Days in Nepal

Hey all. Sorry for the delay on updates. After trekking and rafting in the Annapurna region, we spent a few days in the Royal Chitwan Park in southern Nepal. Chitwan park is a animal preserve that once was a game park. One can find animals such as tigers, elephants, bear-sloth, rhinoceros, dear, bison, monkeys, snakes, boars, and crocodiles all in their natural environment. This area also is home to ten percent of the worlds bird species. There we took a day hike thru the park with a couple of guides. We saw almost every animal except tigers and bear sloth, thankfully. For a very detailed account of our safari check out Nick's blog.
(Us hanging in trees, post rhino charge)

The last couple of days we spent in Kathmandu. Mark and I ended our time in Nepal by jumping off a 200 meter wire bridge. We took a ride three hours north of Kathmandu and spent the day bungy jumping off the world's second highest jump at 160 meters. I was pretty calm and cool until I was on the bridge and they were strapping me in. That is the moment you realize you have to jump off a bridge. Jumping off was crazy, it felt like that dream where you are falling. But you fall a few times since the cord springs you up again and again.

We left Nepal on May 19 with about 50 Nepali hats collectively. We also left for Spain down one group member. Mark's journey ended here and he is heading back to San Diego. Bye Mark and Bye Nepal.

Annapurna Update

Hello. Just a brief update. We are all well and safe after four weeks of trekking. I'm having a great time and am loving Nepal. We just finished river rafting out of the Annapurna region. One week left in Nepal. I will give a real update in the near future so until then, some photographs. Enjoy!

Annapurna Trekking Pictures

Annapurna Sanctuary/Circuit

Namaste. We arrived in Pokhara safely yesterday after a six hour bus ride up the Kathmandu Valley.
Pokhara is northwest of Kathmandu and is the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit.
Today we hung out and rented paddle boats on Lake Fewa which Pokhara borders. There was an island pagoda which was cool. Actually, it basically was just a pidgeon sanctuary. Tomorrow we take a short car ride to Phedi, the jump of point of the Annapurna circuit.

We are following the circuit clockwise starting in Pokhara and ending in Besishahar. We will do the Annapurna Sanctuary(dotted red line) portion of the trek first. This trail cuts throught the heart of the mountain range and takes us to the Annapurna Base camp. That portion should take about 12-14 days to complete. After that, we continue clockwise around the mountain range which is the actual Annnapurna Circuit. That portion will take roughly 14-16 days. We look forward to having a fun and epic journey. Wish us luck!

-David

Kathmandu, Nepal

*We are in Pokhara and will begin the trek in one day. No longer in Kathmandu*

Namaste. We arrived in Kathmandu yesterday. We were greated by the crisp spring air of the Kathmandu Valley (4000ft). I cannot chat for too long since the connection is pretty bad, the powere goes in and out, and the keyboard barely types. I did want everyone to know that we all made it here safely and will be on our way to Pokhara tomorrow and hopefully on the trail the next day. We will be on the Annapurna Circuit/Sanctuary for about 20-30 days so I probably will not be able to update for a while. If you hear anything in the world news about the upcoming Nepal elections, do not worry. The Maoists never touch or harm tourists since Nepal's economy revolves around tourism. So yes, we are safe but will be out of contact for 3-4 weeks. Hope to have a great trek.

-dc

Last Days in Thailand

Well, our time in Thailand is slowly coming to an end. But first, a celebration! Buddhism plays a vital role in Thai culture. Accordingly, every Thai male must become a buddhist monk for a few months during their early twenties. Even the Thai king was a monk for a bit. The end of one's time as a monk culminates in a big ceremony similar to a Jewish bar mitzva. My cousin's son was finishing his time as a monk and we were all invited to experience the festivities.

We arrived at a high school gym Saturday night for the reception/dinner. It was a pretty big event, about 300 people were in attendance. It basically turned into a big party with stage performers, live music, and non-stop food and drink.

The man of the hour stopped by for a photo op. I don't think he was allowed to smile during the event. Throughout the night there were dancers and a band playing. They were all students of the school.

The next morning was the actual ceremony. We arrived at the temple at 8am. A man hoisted the new monk on his shoulder while everyone shouted and cheered (rugby queen?). This started the march clockwise around the temple. The band led the way while everyone else followed. We followed as the monk circled the temple three times.
We didn't really know what was going on the entire time so we just flowed with the rest of the crowd.After the three laps, there was some sort of prayer said and another round of cheers. After this the crowd dispersed a little. Some people followed the monk into the temple for the rest of the ceremony which entailed the reading of scripture. We did not get to see this part. Even though we had little idea as to what was going on or the true significance of the days events it was very enjoyable and interesting to experience an true Thai culture.

Well that about wraps up our six weeks in southeast Asia. It has been a wild time up and down Thailand and into Cambodia. It was awesome being around my Grandmother and being able to speak and learn the Thai language. How I will fulfill my promise to come back next year, I do not know. That is something to figure out another time.

We are off to Nepal and tomorrow landing in Kathmandu! From there we will make our way to Pokhara where the Annapurna Circuit awaits! Until then, happy trails. cheers!

-dc

Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, and Koh Tao

I have finally figured out who has been pwning me all these years at Counterstrike and Halo -- 10 year old Thai kids.

Where did we leave off? Oh yes, after Cambodia our group split up for a couple of weeks. Kevin and Mark decided to do some further reconaissance in Cambodia. They spent a week or so touring the countryside on motorcycles, exploring the killing fields, and leargning to tie hammocks. Greg, Nick and I took a red-eye bus to the northern city of Chiang Mai the capital of the Chiang Mai province. My mom went to college... in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is a booming city tucked away in the jungle covered mountains. It is also slowly becomming the next Bangkok. The area we stayed in had a very international vibe to it. There were a few British bars, a German bar, a New Zealand hostel. We stayed at a quaint hostel just outside of the downtown area. The owner of the place was an old Thai guy named Adam. He was a pretty chill guy and Greg noticed that he was wearing Rainbow sandals, odd for a Thai. He told us that his sister lived in North county San Diego and worked at the Rainbow factory in San Clemente. I was chatting with him a bit more about that since I live/d in San Diego. He told me his sister was flying him out to SD next year and he showed me some pictures of her house. Turns out she lives in a mansion on the beach at Dana Point. I kind of looked at him in shock and said something like 'Oh, your sister works at the factory but not in the factory, she must run the place.' Adam just looked at me and smiled.

The second day in Chiang Mai we decided to mountain bike down the 'Old Smuggler's Run.' It is a 35 km trail once used by opium traders that starts at the top of the highest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon, and ends near Chiang Mai. The trail was very fun coming down and the views were equally as stunning. Besides a couple of slips and slides, we all made it down without incident. After a day of mountain biking we were all tired and ready for some R & R. As I was about to start my late day siesta Nick came into the room and asked if any of us had O negative or A negative blood. While he was at the internet cafe, a Thai man was putting up flyers asking anyone with those types of blood to goto the hospital and donate. His sister and two of his German friends got into a motorcycle accident the night before and the hospital ran out of blood. I was sure I had O negative so Nick and I took a tuk-tuk to the hospital. It was cool to see a lot of other backpackers in our area were allready there and even a few people who mountain biked with us. The nurse did a test of our blood type and after a few minutes called me back since I had the right blood type. I sat on the hospital table and looked down at the blood bag that I was to donate into. It said- David Chen, A Negative. I know that I am O negative so I argued with the nurses for a while. After a double check, their lab confirmed that I was in fact O negative. My blood checked out, they drew a pint, and I wisked them the best of luck. It was time for me to grab a burger, a pint of my own, and watch Man U spank Liverpool 3-0. Sweet as.

The next couple of days we spent relaxing in town and staying out of the heat. There was something we planned on doing in Thailand and were forgetting to do. Wondering what it was that we were missing, I turned to Nick...
Nick: "There's only one thing a man can do when he's suffering from a spiritual and existensial funk."

Me: "Go to the zoo, flip off the monkeys?"

Nick: "No, buy new suits."

All: "Yea!"

Thailand has a tailor on every block. One of my aims in Thailand was to have a nice suit made at the fraction of what it would cost in the States, an send it back to the States for use. We found a tailor we liked and spent an hour or so for a few nights having our suits and shirts tailored. One shirt for work, one shirt for play. So I guess now I have something to wear to work and/or Las Vegas. We will see.

At the end of our six days in Chiang Mai we split up again. Nick flew down to Phuket to meet his Dad and Uncle, while Greg and I planned our journey back down to the islands of Koh Samui and Koh Tao. We found a cheap flight to Bangkok and took an overnight bus to Surratanni, the ferry lauch point to Koh Samui. We spent a few nights in Samui which had the same beach scene as Phuket and Krabi. After two nights on Samui we took a ferry to Koh Tao or 'Turtle Island.' The island is famous for its many untouched dive sites. Koh Tao was basically 'farang' island. Farang is the Thai word for white person similar to the spanish word 'gringo.' I was the only non-western person on the island who wasn't and inn keeper, waiter, or bartender. It was odd being in Thailand, speaking Thai to someone and having them look at you funny saying, "You speak Thai? Are you Thai? What are you doing here?" I asked myself that same question. There were many bars located on the beach. One bar we went to was packed with over a hundred people, all European or Canadian- even the bartenders. An all too familiar scene: four dollar drinks, nowhere to sit, loud music, everyone yelling. This sums up Koh Tao's bar scene, not really my cup of tea. Could have stayed home and gone out to PB.

One of the days we caught a ride on a fishing boat and fished out in the ocean for a day. Greg and I caught a few local fish about half a meter long. The sun was out, and we had a great time on the open water. We didn't get a chance to SCUBA dive again but it was nice to be by the water one more time before we leave Thailand.

We made it back to Bangkok and will be at Kunyai's house until monday. In the meantime, we have been invited to a monk rite-of-passage cermony which should be interesting. After that, on to Nepal and the Himilayas! Until then, thanks for tuning in and take care.

cheers!

dc

An old SCUBA picture from Krabi. Me giving the wrong sign.

Bangkok and Angkor, Cambodia

Bangkok and Angkor Pictures

Hello All! We all just back from a four day journey in the Angkor Province, Cambodia. We had a great time touring the once hidden temples of the region. The most famous and most largest being Angkor Wat. My favourite was Bayon, a temple that featured hundred of carved faces. I spend a little too much time uploading photographs and have exhausted my time on this government computer. So for now I will let the pictures do all the talking. They begin in Bangkok where we took a tour of the Grand Royal Palace. The compound was the home of the past nine kings of Thailand. The current king built a new palace outside of Bangkok because of security concerns. We took a ride on a longtail boat and toured the vast waterways of the city.

After two days in the capital, we took a ride across the eastern border toward Cambodia. Once across the border we averted one of the notorious scam busses, a bus that promises a quick and cheap ride but provides nothing of the sort, after we were verbally accosted by a 17 year old Cambodian 'tour agent.' We left the tour agency at pace, hopped into a couple of Toyota Camry taxis, and arrived in Siem Riep after a wild three hour ride on a dirt road. The ride consisted of a rugged dirt road with no lanes. The cabbie seemed to just follow the path of least resistance while swerving thru motorcycles, tuk-tuks, bikers, cars, semis, and people. Good times. We spent two days touring the temples of the Angkor region. There are close to twenty temples, or Wats, in the region. Built by Khmer kings around 1000AD, they were consumed by the jungle after the Khmer kingdom fell. Locals still new they existed and monks still lived in the temples. Around 1860 the French 'discovered' these temples again. They cleared the jungles and restored the temples to their origional state. One of the temples was left untouched to show visitors how the temples appeared when the French explorers found them.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope to be able to update more shortly

-dc

Bangkok and Angkor Pictures

Thailand so far...

Sawasdee! Greetings from Thailand and sorry taking so long to update the ol' blog. We have spent the last week soaking in the culture and sun while enjoying a plethora of delicious cuisine. We landed in Bangkok on the 25th of February where Mom and a friend picked us up. We drove about an hour east of the capital to the province of Chaocheongsao where my Grandma lives.

I was pretty excited to see my Grandma and to be back to Thailand after so many years. The last time I was in Thailand was about 11 years ago and the last time I saw my Grandma was when she came to the states to visit about... 7 or 8 years ago. Oh, my whole life I have known Grandma as Kuhnyai, the Thai word for grandma, so this will also be reflected in the blog starting ...now. Anyways, I'm glad I have been brushing up on my Thai language skills since we were able to speak together in Thai and laugh about a bunch of things. I realised that I have both Kuhnya's laugh and her sense of humor. We all had dinner at a family friend's restauraunt located on the river. That night we went to Pattaya, a touristy town located on the gulf, to experience the sights and sounds of Thailand's nightlife. Throughout the night we we all collectively went about 12-14 against the locals at their bar games which surprisingly include connect four and jenga. No joke. In the end, Mark had one too many Singha beers and ended up challenging a local muay Thai kickboxer, bareknuckle and with his glasses on.
The next day we hung out at Kunyai's for most of the day and just relaxed. That night we drove to Bangkok where we caught a red-eye bus down south to Krabi. We were headed to Krabi mainly to get scuba certifications and also to be by the beaches. A family friend is a business partner of the scuba school we were going to so we all got a great deal on NAUI certification. We arrived in Krabi at about 9am and got picked up by a friend and scuba instructor from the dive school we were attending. Below is a sunset from Ao Nang, the beach town we stayed at while getting scuba certication
The theme for the week: Underwater Sea Adventure. Scuba classes over here seem to be a little more lax than other places. The day we arrived in Ao Nang we watched a 3 hour scuba instruction video and were told the next day we would be in open water. Sure enough, the next day we took a longfin boat to an island and began our open water lessons. We went over all the equipment, signals, etc on the boat and underwater we worked on dealing with equipment while submerged. Our instructors were pretty cool guys. They were both about our age. Sam was a Californian who grew up in Thailand so he spoke both Thai and English fluently. Mon was a local Thai who knew a little English, he had the personality of Michalangelo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle so we all enjoyed their company.
We did 6 dives total over three days. The third day was by far the best. We took a big boat about two hours to Koh Phi Phi (I believe the movie The Beach was filmed there). Visibility was great and we saw a lot of soft coral, needlefish, puffer, clowns, seaturtle, and the elusive ghost pipefish. Max depth we hit was around 16 meters, we are certified upto 18 meter. By the end of our dives my buoyancy control was spot on. On the boat ride back we had our take home certification tests graded and we all passed with flying colors. We all had great experiences under the sea and are planning to do a couple of dives while in Phuket, our next destination. I didn't take many pictures since we were wet the whole time, so I found one that summed up our week in a nutshell.

Next we are headed up the coast to Phuket where my brother, Jonathan, will meet us. It's pronounced poo-ket and not how it sounds phonetically. We will be there for about 5 days or so. Thanks all for tuning in. Until next time

Cheers!

-David

A Week in Sydney

Sydney, Australia has treated us very well. We have been staying by the Manly area, on the northeast shore of Sydney, at Nick's mate Guy's house. During our time here we have gone to some Manly beaches, a Manly bar, a Manly restaurant, and have rode a Manly ferry.The Sydney Opera House was everything I had expected and then some. Its located in a central location by the harbour so it was one of the first things we saw and we also passed daily.
The view from the ferry as we approached the ferry terminal. The opera house shown next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Getting close to the opera house. It wasn't as white as I'd expected, more of an off white. It basically looked like it was covered in bathroom tiles.
We took a few days to relax at Manly beach and get a good base tan going before Thailand.

On the last day I witnessed an old fashioned form of Aussie punishment.
Sorry I couldn't chat for longer. This week has gone by too fast, I wish we had more time in Australia, but alas, our time is up. Off to the motherland, Thailand. Until then, Godspeed.

-David

Last Days in NZ, Off to Sydney!

My how time flies when you are having fun. We have been in Auckland for the past few days wrapping up our tour of New Zealand. While settling in the hostel room I met an interesting Finn named Pakka. He just graduated college and is doing some much needed travelling while also trying to find a job in web design. I asked him if he was going to the Blues rugby game the next day and he said he wasn't much of a rugby fan, and that he played American football while in highschool, odd. He seemed like a chill guy so we decided to go out for a beer. While at the pub watching and trying to understand an AUS vs. India cricket match he told me about the Finnish version of baseball. He began to describe the game. The pitcher stands by the batter and throws the ball straight up in the air, it has to land on a small circle underneath where he threw it to be fair. The bases are as follows, first base is where third would be in the U.S., second was where first is in the US, and third was somewhere in left field. I called BS but he insisted that everyone in Finland plays this game. I checked and sure enough: Pesäpallo(Finnish Baseball). Also, Pekka says the best way for foreigners to speak Finnish with the correct accent is "to speak as though you were, you know, a retarded person."The next day we went to the first Auckland Blues rugby game of the season. They play in the Super 14 league which is a profesional league comprised of teams from NZ, Australia, and South Africa. There was a bit of rain during warmups but the sun broke thru for what turned out to be some very competetive and exciting rugby. A great experience to see live 15's at one of the highest levels of play. The Blues were down 11-8 at halftime but came out to start the second half with a full head of steam.

The Blues' lit up the second half with great backline play. Blues and All Black winger Joe Rokocoko (I like saying that name) had an amazing run for a score that ended with a dive across the touch-line (conversion kick shown). A lot of great backline plays, big kicks, and de-cleaters. Blues beat the Chiefs 32-14 after fulltime. We had a blast celebrating with the locals during and after the game. As the locals say, Go the Blues!!!
That about ends our stay in New Zealand. Tomorrow we are off to the real land down under, Australia. Until then, Cheers!

-dc

Abel Tasman, Gradually back to Auckland

Greetings again from the land down under. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, we left the Monteith's brewery and arrived in Abel Tasman National Park that night. It is located on the Northern tip of the South island. A land once inhabited by the Maoris, it was fought over many bloody battles with the Brits, became logging and mining land, and has since been turned into a national park by local conservationists. It is a large Northern point that forms a giant Northeast facing bay with many tiny bays. The beaches are considered secluded since the only way to access them is by foot. This is a half truth since there are water taxis that are constantly buzzing by and also those pesky kayakers! I took a day hike about two hours up the coast until I found a nice couch-shaped rock to park on. Soaked in the scene for a bit and headed back in. Very relaxing
The next day we drove toward Picton where the ferry terminal is located. We started playing a few friendly games of hearts while crossing the ferry to the North island. During a crucial point in one of the matches I accidentally dumped the queen of spades on mark when he was preventing Kevin from shooting the moon. We all felt really really bad about this so we let Mark win that game. We all made a concerted effort to let mark win the proceeding game by allowing him to shoot the moon three times in one game. Running hearts tally, Kevin: 568, Greg: 498, Mark: 493, Nick: 533, Me: 577. The game is over at 10,000 points.
We spent the night in Wellington. I spent today at Lake Taupo and remenisced about past times spent here with the family.

I leave you all with a sight worthy of notice.

Cheers!!!
-dc

Monteith's Brewery Tour, Start of Abel Tasman Park

We stopped in an old Maori mining town on the west coast called Greymouth. It was a quiet mining town and it was also the home of the origional West Coast Monteith's Brewery! We stayed at Duke's hostel and talked to some Israeli backpackers about the brewery tour over a couple pints of Monteiths. The tour of the historic brewery was at 11:30am and cost $15 so we all decided that it would be a fun and informative thing to do on our way out the next morning. I asked everyone if I could be the designated driver for the day, after a while they reluctantly said okay. huzzah!

Monteith's has a long history of brewing on the west coast of the south island. They began in the 1800's as the West Coast brewing company and eventually changed their name to the name of the origional brewmaster Monteith. They have won a lot of awards in NZ and Australia. And now, like many local microbrews, they are owned and distributed by Heineken.

The tour of the brewery was pretty standard for a brew tour. A couple of oddities. There is a regulation on NZ beer where it must be either 4% or 5% alcohol. Nothing to be found in the IPA department. Also, they open ferment their beer as you can see in the picture. I know you are all thinking, wont that contaminate the beer? The answer, no. Apparently the fermentation process builds a thick layer of CO2 on the top of the brew. This layer of CO2 created by the yeast acts as a microbial death zone for any foreign and potentially harmful bacteria.

During the kegging and bottling section of the tour they showed us a cross section of a keg. I've never seen one before, thought it was cool.














Afterwards they gave us tasters of all seven of their brews: a pilsen, origional, black, summer, lemon lime, red, and gold. They even let us pour our own final brew. Oh the aspirations of becomming a brewmaster!!!
Don't worry, the pose was just for show. I handed out all my beers to the rest of my peers. NZ has a no tolerance driving policy.







We drove about 4 hours north to the hidden beaches of Abel Tasman National Park. We were going to embark on some day hikes today, but alas, it is pouring rain hence the reason why I'm surfing the net and not enjoying the beaches.

Cheers!!!

David

Glacier Country and Northward

We left Queenstown a few days ago. Before we left we took the gondola up above the town for some magnificent views and more importantly, the luge! At the top of the Remarkables Mountains there is land luge park. We bought tickets up and for the luge and rode down it a few times. It is basically a downhill motorless gocart track with banked turns and a handbrake.
We took off that evening and began our drive north up the westcoast. "Its curvasity is directly proportional to its beauty"- Kevin. We camped out a night in a nice secluded patch of grass that we found. We usually follow a camp, hostel, camp, hostel type of pattern. Housing averages out to about $10 NZD a night. The next day we drove to Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier was nice. It has receeeded much in the past 100 years. Franz Joseph Glacier was equally as massive. Both put the glaciers I saw at Glacier National Park, Montana to shame.




















Franz Joseph on Left. Fox Glacier on right

End of Dusky, Off to Queenstown

We made it out of the Dusky Track after nine days on the trail and over 122km tramped. Four out of the five that started survived, not too shabby. We were all pretty stoked to have been able to trek and live in such a beautiful place that few people get to experience. Twas a truly rewarding jouney.








We spent the night off the trail eating, showering, laundering, and being merry. The next day we drove a couple hours east to Queenstown, a very picturesque Tahoe like city. It was NZ's national independence day, Waitonga day. The day they became a British colony and ended the war with the Maoris. Coincidentally it was also Bob Marley's birthday. There was a quaint reggae festival in the park. There were a lot of hippies climbing trees and tight rope walking. We played some touch rugby with some local kiwis and enjoyed a few Steinlagers with them. Sweet as. That is where we leave off.

Cheers!!!

-dc

Loch Maree to Supper Cove, Dusky Sound

I order to get to Loch Maree, which is about at sealevel, we first had to summit a mountain range about 500meters higher than Lake Roe. Summiting this range meant climbing, descending, climbing, descending, and climbing again. Oh those rolling hills.

We arrived at the pass above Loch maree at about midday. The view was breathtaking, we could see the Dusky Sound and the ocean. We will be at the Dusky, right behind me, in a day.





So we were at 1000m and had to get down to 80m. The map showed the descent was around one kilometer. Pretty steep stuff. A lot of root climbs and rock climbs. Some sections had a chain to guide you. I'm glad to still have my knees and ankles after all that.














After the night in Loch Maree we headed west to Supper Cove, an arm of the Dusky Sound. We had little luck fishing there. The sandflys were rather nasty there as well.

Luckily there was a boat in the sound that two families had chartered. They were pulling cod and grouper left and right and they were gracious enough to lend us a couple. They also gave us some fruits, vegetables, and bread! Thanks Kiwis.

The rain came in that night meaning the trail back to Loch Maree would be flooded so we stayed an extra night at Supper Cove.

The extended stay gave us some extra time to make some important decisions. Mainly about Greg's feet. He developed awefully bad blisters on both his heals and basically could not walk. A bit of luck was on our side once again. The families from the charter boat were getting flown out by helicopter that day. Greg hitched a ride out with them. Bye Greg!

We returned to Loch Maree the next day and were on our way out of the Dusky

Halfway Hut to Lake Roe Hut

The trail to Halfway hut was a nice trail for the first ten minutes. After that, and until about eight days later it turned into a tramp. Basically there were markers on trees and a direction to follow. A light path was worn in but for the most part the path consisted of roots, rocks, mud, roots, mud, three-wire crossings, streams, roots, rocks and mud.

The first day to Halfway hut was not too bad, a good warm up for things to come. The huts were a nice thing to come to after a hard days' tramp. They were somewhat sealed, had bunk beds, potable water and an outhouse. I say somewhat sealed for it was here thst we first encountered our archnemesis-- the sandfly.

Sandflys are God's way of keeping humans from settling the Fiordlands. They are tiny mosquito/gnat type meanies that were everywhere since there was a lot of standing water. We had to cover all our exposed areas and stay in the huts at night.




The next day we headed towards Lake Roe. The trail was flat for the first half and then it climbed about 500 meters.
The views from Lake Roe were amazing! We were at a higher elevation so it was colder meaning very few sandflys.
This view was from a bench right by our hut.

















On the way out of Lake Roe hut in the morning. Headed toward Loch Maree

Dusky Track

We began the Dusky track sometime in late january and left the trail in early February. I'm not sure on exact dates but we were on the trail for nine days. Clicking on the trail map below will open an enlarged version. Our path of choice was the South to North route. We started with a boatride across Lake Hauroko, NZ's deepest lake, to the Hauroko Burn Hut.
My Dusky Track Photos

South Island Roadtrip/Kiwi Birthday

I started driving South from Auckland to Wellington. Driving was about the same as the States but you're on the left and you look right first when making turns. Sometimes when you hit your turn signals your winshield wipers turns on. That makes for a good laugh. We made it to Wellington in about 7 hours, passed Mount Doom on the way, ate a meat pie. In Wellington, we stayed at a hostel where a crackhead wearing a pink dress shirt verbally accosted Nick for his crappy park job. Twas a nice town, sort of a smaller, cleaner version on SF.

The next day we rode a ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island. It was on there that it was brought to my attention that it was my birthday. Oh yeah it is my birth day I says. We had a bit of a drive for me to reflect on my old age and dwindling youth. We stopped in a town called Geraldine ( a small quiet SouthIsland town knownd for its boomin crafts markets). There we rented a hotel room for two and enjoyed a birthday drink of Absinthe and Speights. Damn the kiwis and their 4% beer. Long story short, Team America went about 10-1 at Kiwi bar games which consist of arm wrestling and pitcher pounds. pictures to come!