hippie bullshit

melbourne pics, tassie and sydney stories... but i'm in cairns now

2007-03-08T01:43:00.000-05:00

holy crap. i'll have been on an airplane for about 7 hours on my way home this time next week... it's really come up fast. well oz has been great. i'm still really enjoying myself here. i'll be broke when i get home, but that's what working is for... right? umm. yeah. so i don't even remember where i left off last entry, so i apologize if i repeat myself or anything... let's see. melbourne was really relaxing and quiet? even though it's not quiet at all... i was just pretty quiet there. besides a couple of nights of drinking...

for some reason, all of these computers suck and none of them will let me upload photos... so i manages to get 10 up while in sydney (internet was expensive there)... and these ten aren't that exciting, but they're of melbourne... so here they go:

here's the beach of st kilda:

and here's some of my friends, holly and doug:

and a great shot of us using the timer on the camera:

here's the little 8 person dorm i stayed in for a week:

here's me looking semi-emo for some reason... maybe it's the headphones and random "sweet" shirt and "interesting" hair:

here's a bus sign i liked:

haha. this one makes me laugh. here's me trying on a very expensive ($250 AUS) dress. don't worry i didn't buy it and i don't know why i'm showing you guys:

a city shot i liked:

same thing again:

and most importantly, here are my current favorite activities:

(and i do mean reading the book, and not that i am participating in the act of sex and drugs and cocoa puffs... though i did eat cocoa pops this morning, which are basically chocolate rice crispies... yummy... and i guess that is a beer... so you could consider that drugs, but i don't. it's not. :)

so on to tassie:
i went on a tour of the west coast which rocked my socks off. i have some mind blowing photos, but the internet is preventing me from showing you. it was great. let's just say that the tour guide called me paris hilton because of my sunglasses (really nancy's sunglasses). anyway, since jason did that, then i got to make fun of him and basically we got along really well. which made the trip much more entertaining. we saw lakes, waterfalls, mountains, went canoeing, walked on sand dunes to beaches which had whale bones.... soo fucking cool i never imagined i'd ever see that. ever. and we saw more mountians and drank and ate food and you know. we had a blast. my tour group was really fun and we all became friends. you know how it goes.

so on my last two days there, i went to coles bay and did some hikes in this national park there... and that was great... besides the fact that there was NO transportation to the park or in the park... that really annoyed me. at one point, i hitchhiked onto a tour bus, which was really fun. anyway, then i went back to hobart (a city in tassie) and flew to sydney.

sydney was also great. but for different reasons. before the plane left in hobart, i made friends with this amazing lady, colette, from canada. she was a flight attendant (on vacation) who had missed her flight in the morning and was now flying to sydney to catch the next one the next day. we ended up hanging out and she ended up inviting me to stay with her in a really nice (like really freaking nice) hotel room in sydney. the give discounts to flight attendants there... and you know the kind. people open doors for you and there's all kinds of goodies in the hotel room. and a pool and a spa and whatever you like. it was right down town by the rocks and the opera house and all that stuff. we lived it up like amazing women should.

then she left and i went to the blue mountians for the day, where i hung out with these other two guys (who also happened to be flight attendants... strange, eh?). we had so much fun touring around and we had dinner together at this nice restaurant... and they got me properly drunk before i took the train back (alone) to sydney. it was such a great day/night. then i spent the next day wandering the city.

then today i flew to cairns, where it is humid and hot and rainy. but i'm not down about that... it should be fun here. and i think i might go to the movies or something. we'll see. i'm going to try to go diving soon... i'll keep you updated. but i'm excited. there's lots to do in this little tourist town. and i promise i will spend no time at the hostel because i'm not using any air conditioning here...

hmm. so i think that's all. i know i'm forgetting lots, but you're probably bored by now... so that's all i'll tell you.

i'm really excited to come home. i'm counting down the days. it'll be nice because it's so hot here.

replies: (note: they just started playing eminem in this cafe, so i'm going to be quick so i can leave... blah!)

stella: i have the new cat empire cd... i don't know if i told you, but it's sweet! i'll give it to you when i get home. i'm not a badass climber... i only climbed that weekend and haven't done any sort of exercising since... unless you count walking or drinking beer... but i will totally try out that slack line! it sounds badass. i'll see you soon!! i hear you guys are going to red rocks now? (that's what mom and dad said) awesome!!!

nancy: i'm stoked, too. we're going to rock our socks off. seriously. can we go on a date immediately? and did you write the comment about john's mustache? because that was hilarious. and i love you. and i just immed you a bunch of times... hehe

jack's smirking revenge/jack's raging bile duct/emily: i love you so much. your comments made me laugh so hard that, like usual, people turned and gave me the what the fuck look. i love that. and you. we have to go on a date when i get back, too. maybe you me and nancy can combine it... but if not, i'm up for as many dates as possible. and also, i'm hanging out of my pants too. or at least i feel fat... ick, but i'll hopefully fix that soon... hehe.

seanners: i hope the photo above cleared up the st kilda sands apperance issue ;) it's not as nice as the sydney beaches... but from what i've seen of cairns, it's very nice... hehe. and i'm sure it's not even close to the east coast beaches where you lived... but i did like the sands of tasmania... they were so mind blowing... and not crowded. anyway. update me on your life. i'd love to hear it. talk to you soon.

jay: that's great you've found a climbing partner. that always makes it easier! i'm sure you will run into me at the red or something. i haven't climbed in it seems like ages since arapiles... but it'll all come back soon. i'm super excited. keep up the hard work at school! you're awesome and way smarter than me.

climbing at mt arapiles/climbing in the oven

2007-02-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

it was insanely hot... that's all that really needs to be said... i mean it was over 100 degrees every day. we tried to hide from the sun... but failed at certain key places... like belaying ledges and things... the result... i was very hot and enjoyed sporting some ridiculous hair styles due to an attempt to cool off...

so you all remember john and mica... the two australians who i climbed with at paynes ford/golden bay in new zealand? well they live in australia and just so happened to be around melbourne when i was arriving, so they picked me up from the airport and took me out climbing at mt. araps... they are totally badass and it really was lots of fun...

here's the sunset and some sprinkles of rain as we drove from the airport to the climbing place:

here's the scene i woke up to... excellent beautiful trad cliffs... and this is only a part of the whole place... (it was dark when we drove in):

here's mica before we did our 5 pitch route:

here's me belaying john up the first pitch (don't worry... i've dealt with the mullet since that photo... now i clip the back up):

the view from the second belay ledge. i think. could be the third...

the sun was really hot... and the route below here is really cool:

me looking stupid from one of the belay ledges:

john doing a step across to start the third pitch:

john doing a chimney to start the fourth pitch:

john looks hilarious with a mustache on the 4th belay ledge:

a better photo of this classic route i want to do next time i go there... the only scary part is the wrap rings are on that precariously balanced boulder on top... who the f thought of that?

clearly the heat has warped my mind:

john wraps down:

i am miserable in the car (no ac and the windows down just blows hot oven like air in from across the flat planes):

this really fun route john and i did (here's john leading it):

and you can see i got to lead belay double ropes... it was fun:

here's me sunburning on top:

the sun made me feel like this:

also i think i look like a funny prep school boy... anyway, here's me on top again... i was bored while i was waiting for john to play around with one of the pieces i couldn't get out...

here's how that climb made john feel (it was a solid 5.10 trad lead route... not to mention really hard for me to climb and clean... sooo tiring... the gear was all really good and hard to get out):

and this sums up mt arapiles:

so yeah. i still love climbing. but i think the lesson of this story is that i never wish to live in or near a desert/really hot place in summer or whenever it is hot... which rules out austin and australia and all places near the equator. so that's productive...

now i'm in melbourne... i've been on the beach at st kilda for a week now... i'm leaving for tasmania tomorrow and i'm going hiking there/chilling out for a week. then i'm off to sydney for three days then i'm off to cairns for 5 days to snorkel or something then fly back to melbourne so i can fly home... whoo. it's going to be busy. i'll try to put up some pics soon in tassie or syndey...

notes/replies:

stella: that's excellent that you and a snow day. i am insanely jealous because i never got anything of the short... besides the time the truck ran into the telephone pole and cut electricity and we had half a day off... even the tornado didn't cancel any of my classes.... but i suppose you were there for all that... anyway. yeah. hugs and kisses.

nancy: glad to hear that you are happy for snow. i'm going to try to watch the videos, but i might not be able to until i get home... so remind me. i bet they're sooo freaking sweet and hilarious. i miss you a lot. just so you know. oh and that drink is v... if i remember, i'll try to carry a bottle on the plane with me (they have it in aus), but they'll probably not let me do that...

jess: i love you too. and i can't wait to play. xoxoxo

team awesome and akaroa!

2007-02-12T17:59:00.000-05:00

where to start?! this past week has been completely mind blowing! before you get too excited, i'm going to tell you that i haven't done anything crazy or exciting in the sense that it couldn't be done in little old ohio... anyway. long story short, i've been in akaroa for the past week (well, a bit less) and it's been fucking awesome! i stayed at this hostel: the cher la mer. anyway, here's akaroa from the hill:

and near the beach... but this isn't the nice beach:

and what made it so freaking sweet was the company i had there. i needed some time with some really awesome people to give this trip a nice conclusion. the weather was great the first day and a half, but then it was all cloudy the rest of the time, but my spirits soared. i first met this great british guy, mark, who was super cool and who i played shithead (a card game) with for many hours. we also went to see this french movie: the valet... which was hilarious.

i also went sailing in akaroa... i got a tour of the bay and saw lots of dolphins and cool rock stuff and cool seals...

so here was the boat i was on:

then colin came along... and he somehow was totally a perfect addition to the card playing, movie watching, music chatting group of mark and me (and occasionally tim... a guy who worked on the sailing boat and lived at the hostel) we named ourselves, TEAM AWESOME and we conquered the town (which was so small... there was no town), so we really just played shithead all day and night and took turns cooking feasts for each other... here's the boys (well mostly colin that night) cooking:

and the result: (yes, i'm the one with the wine and the beer... tee hee)

we went to le bons bay one day and wandered around... super cool. mark evaluated the sand quality:

and colin checked out the surf...

then he found this guy was having a bad hair day:

i found a bone:

and we went to the movies and saw volver... which was also great (the movie theater in this town was sweet!!)

we adopted a stray cat... who in turn brought us a dead mouse... we named him charlie:

and we really got along with everyone at the hostel... so we drank until we could drink no more the night before we left...

and when we were leaving, one of the staff actually said, "you guys can't leave... you're like the furniture." i was touched. it such a perfect chill place and the guys and the other people we hung out with were all really awesome. i mostly chilled with mark and colin, but i also had long chats/played shithead with the guy named tim, who has had a sweet life of lots of sailing and who worked in denali this past summer doing restaurant work... we had so much fun talking about that place... here's us playing shithead and talking films and religion with tim:

i also met this bad ass girl from juneau, alaska... stephanie. she has traveled the past 2 (american) winters to norway and other cool places and who is a glacier guide in ak in the summer... and she was only 18... crazy. anyway, it was sweet!!! yay for akaroa... anyway, the plan is to go to the farm tomorrow and hang out for the day, have a bbq on the beach if the weather is ok and then drive to chc on thurs and take off. it'll be really sad to leave... but since hanging with colin, i kind of want to come here and do a year graduate diploma in wine making/selling... hmm

anyway. i love you. xoxoxoxo!

replies:

stella: you are so totally sweet. i have nothing new for you since i facebook messaged you. thanks for enjoying my last story. it really looks like you're living up your senior year, which is soo freaking awesome. i'm super excited for you and everything. and if i haven't told you yet, your hair looks sweet! do you wear dresses and things like that all the time? because it is totally sexy. i think i'm getting a mullet again... tee hee. anyway, i'm still super excited to hang out... even if it is a week or two later because of silly spring break schedules... poo

nancy: you're right. i hope school isn't killing you... hugs and kisses. miss you girl.

alone camping and a few days with ben and justin

2007-02-04T19:03:00.000-05:00

so, i successfully rented that crash pad thingy. it's pretty nice but a little awkward to carry around because it has no strap... all in all, i'm satisfied to have something to catch me when i fall. let's see, so here's my most recent adventures:

i drove up to castle hill and pitched a tent by this lake about 15 min drive past the climbing... free camping!! yay! here's my sweet setup:

and here's my beer cooler:

and i'm a happy camper:

the weather was good for the first couple of days, so i spent all my time climbing different exciting boulders at spittle hill and quantum field... sorry no climbing photos... i was out there all alone... here's one of my hair having a sweet day:

oh and here's some scenic shots from the road:

then the weather took a turn and rained like there was no tomorrow :( so i was stuck in the car for hours the one afternoon...

i read:

i drank tea:

but it had powdered milk... not as good:

and i sat there and listened to music (and obviously took funny pictures of me...):

but pretty much i felt like this:

so when i woke the next morning and it was still raining, i packed up and drove to town to see if i could entertain myself there... when i got in, i got a text from ben saying that the plans had changed and him and justin wanted to come and play with me asap. yay! i drove up and hung out for the night then we left the next afternoon (after mustering the hoggets off the valley) and headed to chc. we went climbing at the roxx that evening and drove out to the lake and camped out. the next day, we went climbing at castle hill. it was sooo fun. the boys did really well with their new shoes. we all climbed a bunch of V0, VI, and VIIs. justin even got 2 VIIIs. it was awesome! here's a shot of me:

hehe... i'm really just laying on a rock... and here's a shot of the sweet VII crack we all did... it was really good... a bit sharp without tape...

and here's ben on a really fun VII slab:

then we went back to town and swam in the town pools/spas. the weather was really nice the next day, but we were all a bit tired/sore from all the climbing, so we went to sumner beach and walked around and got ice cream. the next day, the weather wasn't as nice, so we climbed all day at the roxx. then on saturday, we went to hamner springs and played mini golf... here's justin:

and swam in the hot pools all afternoon. then the boys had to go back to the farm to muster all the sheep for crutching... (shaving around their butts so they don't get maggots...hehe... i bet they look hilarious after that)

so now i'm back in christchurch. the plan is to spend some time researching stuff to do in australia and book some things. then if the weather is nice, i'll spend some more time at castle hill. then hopefully i'll go to this fun little french town thing that has nice beaches and hang out there. then i might go up to swim with dolphins and go to the farm for one last night and then i'll be off for australia... crazy!! i only have a week and a couple of days left... ahhhh! i don't want to leave at all, but i do miss you all. why can't you guys all just move out here? that'd be perfect ;) anyway, i love you. xoxoxo

mmm, yes. replies:

erin: that's sweet that the comp will be on st. patty's day! i am soo excited to see everyone! i'm definitely not going to be in shape for competing, so i hope you guys want some help setting!!! ;) i hope you're enjoying the winter and still have some time for climbing between all the business of school! almost done, right?

stella: i'm trying my hardest to stay cool ;) you can tell me if it worked when i get home. you guys are going to have such a sweet time out at j tree for break. holy crap. that'll really be sweet. i bet you're climbing so strong now. i just got this feeling about it. i don't think i'll make it out there if the comp is when i get home. i'm going to stick around for it and then i think that the vegas trip is a go, so i leave for that on the following friday... but i'll keep thinking about it because i love you so much. anyway, you should cut your hair to this length. it's soo easy. and i haven't washed it in weeks! but i don't know what your hair looks like now... maybe i'll have to check facebook... i bet it's really long now. and totally sexy. hehe. i miss you girl. kisses!

nancy: you are crazy as per usual. but i love you, too.

caitlin: solo traveling is sweet... and scary and quiet, but mostly sweet. i've really been enjoying it so far with the car. it's really best to have a car or to have a bus booked or something. i've met tons of people who are traveling solo, like me... and lots of them are hitch hikers. (well all the hitchers are boys... but it's still cool). anyway i had a hard time licking myself on the face from the one you sent back... so i just spit on my hand and rubbed it on my cheek ;) hehehe. sorry to hear you're not in school. but at least you have more free time now ;) i'm glad you've been enjoying kendall. i miss it so much, but not as much as i miss you.

jessi: you and i have a lot in common. and i like that. i still miss you, too. but i'll see you sooo soon. and it'll be sweet!!! :) i'm also into smiley faces today... hmmm. keep an eye on steve... the trouble maker... hehe

steve: i hope this one was short enough for your liking... i'm glad nara's teets are doing well. oh, and her puppies, too. ;) my right eye just watered because my contact is drying out... and it looked like i was crying... and a tour group of asian people walked by and stared at me... it was excellent. i miss you, too.

yep, i'm talking to myself on a regular basis

2007-01-25T18:17:00.000-05:00

soo. travelling alone. good times. interesting times. i find myself making myself laugh at jokes i made up or things that shouldn't even be funny. i also shower less. and i sing in the car lots. and well, it's great.

here's my story thus far,
i went to paynes ford for rock climbing! i met some sweet australian kids (who are also math majors... crazy), mica and john:

we all stayed at the hangdog camp which was within walking distance of the crag. lots of pretty good sport... and by lots i mean about 10 walls, but that's enough to keep me entertained for a bit. so we climbed for a couple of days on some fun stuff... it reminded me of the new... but a bit shorter.
here's camp:

and my tent:

and then we spent the last day in golden bay at farewell spit:

there were sweet sand dunes there:

then joanie texted me and asked me to drive toby home if i could. i was like, "where is toby? and yep, no problem!" so i found out he was about a 15 min drive from me on the beach. i drove him home and dropped the australians off at the spots they needed to go... and since we had become such great friends, they said they would pick me up at the airport in melbourne and take me trad climbing in australia for the first weekend i am there! freaking sweet. they are soo nice and cool.
anyway, after stopping at the farm for the night, i went to christchurch and did some laundry and then headed for the west coast... lots of driving:

i first stopped off at punakaiki (pancake rocks) and camped out in the rain.... ugg. the tent got soaked... which was only annoying because i had to pack it up. here's the rocks:

and i camped along the shore there somewhere:

then i headed off for the glaciers. i first went to fox glacier, which had excellent signs:

it was a bit rainy, but my spirits were up. glaciers are cool.

and there was strange water that was pretty blues and greens:

then i headed over to franz joseph glacier... it was raining more and i was pretty wet/cold by now, but it's the west coast... it rains a lot. so here was my view of that glacier:

which made me feel like this:

then i hiked to a "spectacular" view of the glacier and this is what i saw:

which made me feel like this:

so i gave up and went back to the hostel... where they had free organic veggie soup at 6pm and a hot tub all the time... yesss! i watched chicago with some sweet european chicks. and sat in the hot tub with a guy from israel and a guy from auckland. then in the morning, it wasn't so rainy, so i went back up on franz to check out the spectacular view:

much better. this made me happy.

after i finished playing at the glaciers, i went to hokitika... the jade capitol of new zealand.

i visited the gorge there:

and lake kaniere:

and the hot wheelz is still going good:

and walked around in this creepy ass forest by the lake:

the beach there was awesome!!!! there was a view of mt. cook:

and some other mountains/hills:

they were having a sculpture competition with stuff you find on the beach (there's tons of driftwood). here's the sign and some of my favorite pieces:

i stayed there for about three days, so i got to walk on the beach tons and look for jade... silly thing to try to do, but this lady who worked at the backpackers taught me. the first night i looked with this old lady from denmark... we were unsuccessful and i looked alone the next morning and found nothing... but then! the sweet lady gave me a jade necklace. she had found the piece herself and it is huge... i don't have a picture of it yet, but i'll put one up soon. so i went out that night looking with a swiss guy and i found a piece that night. i was so excited! then i went out again the next morning and found two more pieces. here's all three (and yes, i took them in and a jade expert told me they were all jade... nonbelievers...):

i ended up giving one to the swiss guy because i could tell he wanted one. and jade is supposed to be given. i was just excited because they say it finds you, and not you it. so that day, i drove the swiss guy to greymouth. and we went through a sweet one car bridge... even though those bridges are everywhere, this one was also shared with the train, which made it more intense and totally sweet:

then i drove myself back to christchurch through arthur's pass:

just after i passed castle hill, this huge cloud was coming up into the mountains... where there was perfect weather. it looked crazy:

and i drove into it... and it's been raining here in town since. i found a little camp site while i was in the mountains where i plan on living (because it's free... also it's in the middle of no where... no phones or cell reception or anything) but there's a creek and i can boil water and i can always drive an hour to town if i need stuff. mmm. complete isolation. luckily there aren't bears out here... hehe.

i got a strange coffee this morning. they put a red ball on it.

i didn't know what it was or if i should eat it, but i did. and it ended up being chocolate. it reminded me of the first episode of black books... what a great show. haha. that's all for now. peace and love. i'll try to check in again in a week or two. or if the weather is shit, then i'll probably just laze around town.

hugs and kisses kids. i miss you. only 1.75 months till i get home!!!

stella: i haven't been as hardcore of a climber as possible, but hopefully i'll be working on that a bit harder now. i only lead easier stuff because mica admitted she had never caught a whipper before and i was too scared to fall... so i did laps on all the climbs i lead and still had tons of fun. john is a bit more experienced, but he was only around the first day because he had to go to town and get boots the second. anyway, they want to teach me trad in australia and they said there's lots of super easy trad routes... so i'm really excited and a bit nervous, but i'll be sweet. there's a route there that people solo all the time which is rated a 5 in australian... i'm not sure what that is in u.s. but a 5.7 is about a 14, so it's ridiculously easy and it's like 300 ft tall! holy shit. i might try to trad lead it because that would be sweet. but it might end up being sketchy... mmm. anyway, i miss you. come and play with trad with me. i hope you're still kicking i.s. ass at home. be good... ;)

jessi: dude! i love your idea to have photos of everyone we love. i wanted to do something similar to that some years ago where i took pictures of everyone's faces when they make their face.... you know everyone has a face that is unique and completely weird and totally us. mmm. i love that about our group. i hope ou is treating you right. i miss you so much i can't wait to come play with you!

caitiln: glad to hear peru was totally badass! i am super excited to see your pictures! i bet they are sooo amazing. the pictures i have are ok sometimes, but the weather is crap so often that it's kinda hit or miss. glad ian passed the hug along. he said you got mad when he also licked your face on my orders. i did order him to do that, too. sorry if it bugged you. i thought it would be funny. but i suppose i just miss you bunches. i hope school and work is still fun... or as fun as it can be. i miss you... kisses.

end phase 1: farming and begin phase 2: climbing

2007-01-10T21:09:00.000-05:00

before we get to business, i just want to say i still miss you all oodles. nancy just came out and visited, so that was toally sweet. we rocked new zealand hard core. now, i'm beginning new zealad phase 2... travel around and camp and rock climb as much as possible. i've taken a long enough break... it's been like 2 months!!! so i am in town for another day or two until i hit the road and see where the rocks take me... did i mention i am now an expert manual car driver on the left side of the road? because i am ;)

but anyway, to catch up, here's some christmas pictures:
here's the boys body surfing and kayaking on the insane ocean:

toby's baywatch photo:

here's the boys going tubing/kayaking down the river of death (the clarence river):

the weather really got nice then and the farm still looks great:

here's toby with our christmas tree:

here's the christmas fun!! (did i mention toby wore spandex... because he's sooo cool):

yeah we did a bit of work on christmas... moving some cows across the street:

yes, we got dressed up for dinner:

here's how sweet the fishing was right after christmas:

now, here's some shots from nancy's wonderful week in nu-seel-hand:
we did a good bit of driving:

here's where we stopped along the east coast between kaikoura and christchurch:

i was reunited with castle hill:

on the road to tekapo... lupins!:

finally, the lake and nice weather:

then we were on the road again:

we stopped at mount cook:

then we were off to wanaka... where we went to puzzling world:

and that's all for now... i'm off to pick up the car. it was getting the window fixed... it had a bit of a crack in it. talk to you kids soon. much love!!

replies:
nancy: i can't be bothered to think of something to say... we just spent a week together and it was bad ass!!! love you. cheers.

jessi: i am an ass. i totally got your card and chuckled over it for a bit then forgot to thank you for it. it completely made my day. i love you so much. i hope your ears were burning because nancy and i talked about you. only good things, don't worry. we just love you so much.

stella: nancy said she failed to give you the red book. i kicked her ass for you. i hope your break is going well and that you've gone on some sweet climbing trips. i miss you tons. umm. it's totally sweet that rob killed a beaver with the back of a hatchet. i am really impressed. give him my compliments. and the first step to being able to do that is being able to watch someone do that... so you are amazing. and i love hearing from you, as always.

jay: your pictures are great! i'm glad to hear you had fun out west. i think you are totally hard core!!! i guess you're probably back to your studies, so i hope that's going well.

steve: i love your posts. you crack me up. i was glad to hear alex visited and that you had a fun break. nancy said you guys were pretty busy being sweet. that sucks about the workload at school. if i had money i would send it to you so you could visit nancy. i think she's going to visit you sometime soon. she was talking about it. miss you still. oh and good luck with those programs you applied for. you never know. they are really sweet.

the holidays!

2006-12-19T13:41:00.000-05:00

well, we finished most of the crazy animal farm work. now it's time for the relaxation on the farm (we're not doing much until after the holidays... so in our free time, we've been doing a lot of hunting (and fencing... i'm pretty cut up from rolling up barbed wire and netting and all kinds of rusty shit). but back to the hunting. i've been killing rabbits and goats. the boys even got a deer. my best shot was a goat from 200 meters away... i think piers was proud. but the hunting includes fishing... we've been adventure fishing by setting out nets off the coast of the farm... getting pummelled by waves (well the boys did, not me... i'm smarter than that... for now). our most glorious 48 hours was when we caught 3 sharks off coast of the farm (yeah we ate one for dinner tonight) and in the morning, we caught 45 crayfish (these are huge... lobster size) and some butterfish. mmm. anyway, it was awesome and i've never seen the boys more excited.

so besides hunting and fencing, i've also been eating lots of plums that are everywhere... holy crap they're so good. oh and christmas here was nice. it was a hot sunny day and i got to drink for all of it and the food was great and the presents were adorable and the company was really nice. all in all, a great christmas. hopefully new years eve will be sweet, also. i'm not worried.

anyway, i finally got around to putting up some photos from ages ago... so they are, but better late then never, right?

here's back to the trip to stewart island with sean:

sean managed to get a seal to attack him... which was a bit scary, but he was faster than it...

then we went to ulva island... which is like a mini stewart island where there are lots of crazy birds and no animals

even though it looks warm, it was cold on ulva island:

the ocean was too rough to take the ferry back to the south island of new zealand, so we had to fly out on this scary 10 person (including pilot) airplane... which almost crashed as we watched it land from the insane winds... but it was really cool:

then we hitched up to lake tekapo and saw this (day 1):

day 2 (here's that snow i was talking about):

day 3 (still freezing, but looks better):

here's some photos from when we watched joanie's triathalon...
here's joanie and piers:

toby (yeah he's 16):

me angry that my picture is being taken:

toby and ben showing off their guns (which is all they talk about):

me doing what i do best... eating:

now here's photos of bunny (i know you remember that story):

here's a random shot of toby in the yards when we were doing weening (they're probably about 1000 sheep in the yards at that minute... but obviously you can't see the whole area...)

here's the campus board i keep talking about:

toby after he shot and carried back his first deer:

piers and ben looking for deer and goats and pigs to shoot:

mike (this kid visiting from england), piers, and ben hunting on the king's farm looking at parikawa:

still more shooting:

nasty, but artsy shot of a bunny ben shot with a gun meant for bigger animals:

hunting night sunset:

and finally, a photo of me about 1.5 or 2 weeks ago... i'm a bit fat but oh well, but you can really see my sweet hair... and by sweet i mean fugly...

anyway, i'm exhausted. time for bed. probably some fencing work tomorrow... and i have our modified workout to look forward to... yesterday i did 40 pullups (not in a row obviously) and 70 pushups... sweet. too bad ben did 50 pull ups and 75 pushups... we'll see how i do tomorrow.

love you.

replies:
emily: i miss you oodles. i have my address on here somewhere in a past blog... but it's just parikawa private bag, blenheim new zealand... same as last time i was here ;) i wish i could do cozy winter things with you too. i can't wait to see you when i get home... and p.s. i saw this shirt with skulls on it in a shop and really missed you.

caitlin: i hope things are going well in peru... can't wait to hear stories and see pictures. i love you oodles. muah!

jessi: you are amazing. i miss you and it hurts. for some reason i want to make scrap books with you when i get home... are you in? (i'll make you cookies... eh, eh?)

nan-c: you are one crazy slut, but i can't wait to see you... i'm counting down the days. p.s. you made me laugh so hard on christmas, thanks for that...

phil: you are insanely awesome! great plan to hide in nancy cleavage... they'll never find you... but watch out for the adorable beagle dogs they have at the airport to sniff your stuff... i always forget and start to pet them... then i look up and notice that there is a security person attached to the other end of the leash...

"one heart, me and you"

2006-12-11T01:54:00.000-05:00

so i sincerely apologize for not really responding to people's comments in ages, so this entry is dedicated to just that... because i love you guys so much and i really do look forward to hearing from everyone... (and this is in chronological order from people who wrote to me long ago to most current)

jessi: you should see my hair now... definitely needs a trim, but i think i'll let it go a bit longer because i'm not really going out in public anyway... the only people who know it's hilarious are the throssells and all these damn sheep they have. anyway. i haven't heard from you in a while, what's new? miss you.

stella: i just wrote you an email, so nothing new has happened in the last 3 seconds. but i love you.

steve: you are hilarious. i love your comments and i love what you wrote to me on facebook... that's a keeper. i heard you went kayaking. how was that? are the puppies still adorable? and how did finals end up? happy winter break... piers was using the chain saw today and it smelled of gas and reminded me of a snowblower and i thus thought of winter and christmas... mmm. oh and i know you look sexy with a beard. i hope you still have it to keep you warm. and who did you go climbing with? this comment to you has really turned into an interrogation... hehe. i love you bunches.

jay c: i'm watching the weed spray stuff... and the dip chemicals. don't you worry. anyway i hope the climbing is still going well and you are staying warm and driving safe (because i remember you had a bit of a ride to the gym)

caitlin: i'm so excited that you're working at the gym. how do you like it so far? i hope those kids are being good at the parties. holy crap i am so excited for your trip, too! ian said it was coming up on the 18? i might have remembered the date wrong, but either way, it's soon and you'll have so much fun. stay safe and tell me how it goes. i miss you a bunch. love love love.

nancy pants: i just talked to you on the phone... so here's some random stuff: dunedin is pronounces duh-nee-din, so it's probably not elvish. and you'll get to cut my hair/advise me on what to do with it when you get here. um that's all i can think about. we tried shooting a cat last night but missed. i thought of you. it was hilarious. and the art show thing is still bad ass.

britt-knee: i love the way you wrote out your name. it's amazing. better than nan-c. mabye. also i'm glad you have an overly jolly man friend. i need to find one of those... just for the holiday spirit. are you done with school yet? if not, good luck with exams and such. i've been thinking of you a lot with regards to missing you and thinking about planning my trip to australia... keep it real and keep your hair as sweet as ever (i haven't even seen your head lately, but i imagine it's really hot as per usual)

jordan: you're still the craziest person i know. but that's a good thing. i'll try to teach you some more things i know, but it might have to be in the form of a talk when i get home. i'm much better with speaking than writing. as you know. as for women and backpacking... i don't know... some girls really mean that and some are just trying to sound cool or they're hitting on you. and some, like myself, prefer rock climbing. kiwis are more laid back than any other group of people from any other place i've been... even more laid back than the alaskans. but it's a lot of hard back breaking work, too. i am impressed daily with the pure strength and intelligence of every member of the family i'm living with. farming is hard and i'm not weak... they make me look like a child.

jay: you know... everything has it's time. you can still adventure around the world when you've finished everything in chicago. but it is really nice here. i haven't been climbing much, though... which needs to change. have you been to the red lately? have fun at red rocks! be safe and send that 20 pitch climb. it sounds totally bad ass!!!!!!

ok i think that's it. happy holiday season everyone. i'll be in touch again soon.

i love you.
genevieve

my pet bunny

2006-12-07T01:26:00.000-05:00

man, i really can't seem to keep a hold of this blog thing. i try to write often, but i always want to put pictures up, but with this dial up... it takes way to long, so i have to wait to go to town, which is becoming less and less.... mmm. so here's another entry with no pictures... unless i get bored later and decide to make a project out of it tonight... which i might.

so anyway, the rest of my trip with sean went great. we enjoyed our snow day and it did clear up a little the next day, but i still couldn't see mt. cook... so i'm going back in january when i'll have a better chance. the lupins were amazing, though. i've never been so mind blown by some flowers and aqua blue water...

we left the lake on friday and had a long day of hitch hiking. sean and i parted ways in christchurch, where i hitched the last leg to the farm... it took ages. i had about 6 rides for a 2.5 hour car drive... everyone seemed to be only going to the next town. it was really fun anyway. i met tons of sweet people... like the family with the two babies who had me over for tea and the guy who owned a winery and this woman who was lighting up a joint to celebrate dropping the kids off for the weekend at their dad's house and of course the crazy semi-truck driver(s) and the woman who owned a camp and told me not to hitch hike ;)

it was great. i got "home" just after dark and found ben and toby waiting for me (not really, they had just been out shooting rabbits)

anyway, i got back to the farm just in time for the insanity. i've woken up between 5am and 6am every day since i got back besides tuesday (where i slept in until 7:30am). we've been moving cows and sheep everywhere (mostly sheep though). joanie competed in this sweet triathalon on sunday and did really well. i went and hung out with her all day. we sorted out all the sheep on monday and wednesday and sold mostly all the lambs for meat or to get fattened up a bit more so they can be made into meat. it has been nuts, but i like the hard work and i love mustering for some reason. we did some dagging (cutting the shit of the back of the sheep when it gets stuck in their wool), which was a bit gross when they had maggots... which a bunch did, but the rest was fun.

we even found a nest of bunnies one day while were were mustering (collecting the sheep). we fed all to the dogs but one which i kept all day long then realized i couldn't feed it (its eyes weren't even open yet... it was the size of my hand) and even though we had a connection, i just couldn't stand to know i let it starve to death, so i fed it to the dogs. it was really hard to do because it was completely the cutest thing ever and as i was reading my new book, jonathan strange and mr norrell by susanna clarke (yes sean, i went and found it in blenheim on sunday because you made it sound so good), it totally crawled off its heating pad into my sweatshirt pocket and cuddled with me...

anyway, today i got to clean out the races for the dipping on saturday. it's going to be sweet. and by sweet i mean really intense and painful. but i like that. i shoveled shit and leaves and mud and chemicals and all kinds of who knows what out of this thing and got some of the water on my hands from the dip... and they smell... and i've washed my hands a few times now and showered and i still smell. ben and i couldn't get the whole dip to drain (we're trying again tomorrow). i bet when we get to the bottom, we'll find some dead animals... maybe even a sheep... eew.

i'm hoping to go grubbing for these tussock things tomorrow for some of the day. it's really fun, like playing where's waldo.. find the tussock on the hill side and dig it out... one point for a small one, three points for a big one, ten points for a seeding one...

anyway, we start the dip on saturday... dunking sheep in chemical bath to prevent them from getting maggots is really fun for 5 seconds. then the sheep realize what's going on and freak out and you basically have to stick your hand up their ass and push them all the way down the race into the box they go in before you dunk them... it's great fun. i am actually excited though. i love the work here, even the worst is still fun.

it builds character.

i'm not sure how long we're dipping for... depends on the weather... we can't do it if it rains... but when it's over i'll write. and hopefully pictures then...

love hugs kisses lambs
genevieve

p.s. my legs are getting strong from running up and down these steep ass hills after sheep... but i still am not that good at campusing ;)

new zealand summertime snow day?!

2006-11-29T17:49:00.000-05:00

merry christmas! i didn't feel the season starting until today, when i woke up at lake tekapo and found myself in a snow storm. sean and i are calling it our snow day because we've really been travelling hard for a while now (we left stewart island and hitch hiked from the complete south of the south island to somewhere in the middle in the mountains), so we're just chilling out for the day at the lake. it's way to cold to try to hitch hike anyway. the hostel is warm and the showers are nice and hot. i think we'll head out tomorrow sometime... as long as the weather improves. ben said it was hailing on the farm a couple of days ago... so maybe it's just some summertime flurries. which is crazy to me. but i find it funny that i travel to the places in the world where it snows in the summer (alaska snow on july 16 and new zealand snow on november 30) funny.

anyway, i just wanted to say hello. i'm not dead. this trip has been great so far and i'll put up some pictures when i get to a proper computer that doesn't cost $1/10 min. and i know i need to write back to some of you. sorry i haven't got time to do that until next time.

all my love,
genevieve

p.s. mt. cook might be out if the clouds clear up for tomorrow. i think the lake will be absolutely amazing with the lupins, snow, and white huge mountains... and of course the lake water is an electric glowing blue... bluer than the bluest sky. it looks insane, like magic is real or something... ;)

hitch hiking!!!!!

2006-11-24T03:14:00.000-05:00

so much has happened since i last updated. i am going to have to save some of this story for when i get home and you ask me and then i can have crazy things to talk about. here's a random amazing sky picture:

first off, happy turkey day (a bit late... sorry). here's my dinner with sean:

ok, so let's get to story telling.

i'm going to be kinda quick because i'm at an internet cafe in dunedin and i hate paying for this. so here it goes:

i did some really cool work on the farm fixing fences. we also cleared a lot of stuff for concreting... it was hard work.
here's a photo of the still very wet concrete... and that's not all of it, but it gives you an idea.

then i built a campus board with ben and we hung it up and it's really kick ass. anyway, i'll put a new photo of it up when i get back to the farm. i just keep forgetting to bring my camera to the wool shed in the yards (where it is hung).

so why am i not on the farm and what am i doing? well, on wednesday (11.22.06) i hitch hiked down to christchurch and met up with sean. this really cool surfer dude gave me a ride and he showed me the best surfing spots in kaikoura. he had two tapes: one was atmosphere and the other was some 80's mixed tape. it was great.

then on thursday, sean and i hitched it down to dunedin. we got a ride from this nice newly wed couple from melbourne, australia, for about a third of the way. then we got a ride from this guy from israel. he bought us lunch and took us sight seeing along the way. here's a photo of those cool moreki (i probably spelled that wrong) boulders with sean and david (israel guy).

here's some seals we saw at shag point:

the people in dunedin were so excited to have sean and i visit that they threw us a parade:

we've been staying at a really nice backpackers in dunedin and we went and saw albatross today. really cool. and we had to hitch hike both ways because the stupid city transportation doesn't go to the spot they are.... anyway. it was quite windy. here's a photo of an albatross... and yeah, that's the best i could to without paying $40 for a stupid tour... they chained it all off so we couldn't go to the observatory without paying. ick.

we also went to the cadbury factory and bought some chocolate. mmm. look at this picture of a really crazy girl... ;)

today, we're headed all the way south. we probably won't make it to stewart island until tomorrow... but we're taking the bus, so we won't get rained on too much.

love you. talk to you soon. everything is great. i am thankful that i'm here in new zealand on this trip in this town enjoying right now :)

p.s. i watched interview with a vampire last night and it gave me scary dreams.

p.p.s. here's my latest artsy fartsy photo... too bad it wasn't sunny when i took the picture...

pictures = fun

2006-11-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

so i've uploaded some pretty cool pictures. umm. the catch up: well the farm stuff is going great. i've been playing with sheep, cows, dogs, rocks, weeds, 4-wheelers, landrovers, tussocks, and the throssells and some of their friends.

the latest interesting job (besides the usual mustering animals, dagging sheep, shoveling shit to put around avocado trees, grubbing those narcellus tussock weeds...) has been preparing these two fields for hay. we've literally been walking around them with the 4-wheeler and trailer picking up rocks and moving them to make some sort of bridge over this river. and by rocks i mean smallish stones. and billions of them. also, we've been spraying all the evil prickley weeds so i don't bleed too badly when i pick up the hay and get stabbed by them. i actually like spraying because those weeds are really evil and maybe my biggest enemy in new zealand... hmm.

anyway, here's some photos:

new profile photo = me and lamb blood... no i didn't kill it or anything, but we had to mark their ears and hot iron the tails off... so it can get messy...

um, but backing up a bit, here's some photos of the last two days christchurch...
um. in case you forgot, this photo is to remind you that ducks to new zealand are like squirrels to americans

my favorite part of uc campus is still beautiful:

another random campus shot:

ben and i went driving around port hills at night to take some city shots, but it was a bit rainy/foggy, but we stil got these cool photos:

i bought a south island rock climbing guide:

we had a night of drinking to celebrate the boys finishing finals
drink 1: black velvet = guinness and champagne

this is only after drink two: (ben and james are in love)

we had some nasty pork pie to sober up before heading to bar #2:

and the night continued on and ended with ben and i walking home for 2 hours because the busses were gone. which was nice, until someone threw something at me from a car and it hit me in the leg and left a pretty good welt... poo heads. that's ok. karma will get them back someday. bitches.

the next morning we were like how did the flat become such a mess?

then we realized that we'd all clean it up later... mmm
(in this photo is james, anton, ben (from left to right)

now, what you've all been waiting for!!!!!!! farm photos!!!!!!!!!
so this does not come close to really showing how big and beautiful and mind blowing and yeah you get the point, but here's a few photos to give you an idea.

and if you look close enough, you'll see the skid marks of when ben almost slid/rolled the landrover off the hill. pretty sweet skillz that he didn't.

shooting practice

and me spraying the weeds... those fuckers

all in all, everything is well. i'm having a great time. also, i got to see sean garmire. remember that kid from alaska? well he's still a badass. we're going on a trip to stewart island on wednesday. i'm sure we'll tour around the south of the south for a bit, too. then i have to be back at the farm by december for the insane farming season. where i will be worked. and i will love it.

oh and i'll put up a pic of my room on the farm soon... but i no longer get to wake up in the bright orange happiness...

notes/replies/whatever:

jessi: girl, i miss you. i'm glad you enjoyed the photos... so i hope you'll like these new ones. i'm also glad you love stars. and do you know i love you?

jordan: don't worry. i won't get killed... yet. hehe. you should think of a new theme/name for my thingy... if i like it, i'll use it. anyway, i hope the studies are going well. and um, keep it real.

caitlin: you are nothing but sunshine! i'm glad you love the rapture cd. and i'm so excited for you to go on your trip... it's coming up fast. i can't wait to come home and hang out with you more. :)

steve: you had better sleep in my bed... but watch out, sometimes dan comes in and cuddles with you ;) anyway, you have my permission to enjoy it. miss you still.

nanC: hell yeah you HAVE to come out here. they have a pottery ROOM. you would rock the house and my socks off. but yes, i'll call soon or something.

um, so yeah. i still love you.
-wren

in another computer lab somewhere on uc campus...

2006-11-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

haha! i stole ben's swipe card, password, pin, and all other silly stuff i need to use the internet here for practically free... i found my favorite lab (mac lab) in the basement of the 11 story library. cool. not.

ok, so here's those pictures i claimed i put up from last time... (click on the picture to see bigger. i think.)

the view of sunrise from airplane window...

some pics from the bus ride down the north island:
lake taupo:

some mountains:

sunset:

the ferry ride pics:

my room (really justin's, but he's in england) at the flat:

the "door" to my room:

anyway, here's some more updateness:

umm, the weather was nice for some city wandering. so i forgot to tell you pretty much all the exciting stuff that happened since i've gotten to the city. um, the first day, we found this gread book sale thing where it was a dollar (NZ) for a bag of books. sweet! i found this great book called, Get Your Tounge Out Of My Mouth, I'm Kissing You Goodbye!. i loved it. i definitely read it in two days (it wasn't really long anyway). i recommend it to any girl to read and any guy who might enjoy a feminist rant... i forgot the author, but she also wrote a book called, If You Can't Live Without Me, Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?. i want to find that and read it, too. they're a bit older... maybe focused to the baby boomers generation, but i still really appreciated it. but i'm also crazy. and sweet.

i guess most kiwis haven't seen girls with shaved heads (or really short hair) because i keep getting strange looks and there's nothing in my teeth or on my face. as far as i can tell. i went to see toby (youngest brother) and he freaked out. i bet he's never seen that before ;)

the boys have been cooking all kinds of roasts and really fantastic meals that i thought i'd only get from grandma... yummm. i made them beer cheese last night. it was really white and creamy because they don't put coloring in their cheeses ;)

it rained for like 2 days straight, so i've been stuck in the flat... so the boys showed me this t.v. series that is english and maybe one of the best series i've ever seen. it's called BLACK BOOKS. it's really funny. watch it, or die. you pick.

music to listen to that i've been obsessed with:
anything by STARS
or anything by STYROFOAM

holy crap they're good. stars is like a bunch of people from the broken social scene and styrofoam sounds like postal service mixed with some notwist. mmm.

some of you wanted my address, so here it is:
genevieve
parikawa private bag
blenheim, nz

i'll be at the farm (address above) in a couple of days and i plan on staying a while. hopefully i'll be able to put up notes pretty often, but don't worry if it takes a bit. they still have dial up and i can only use the internet and night because it's cheaper or something. i have to ask still.

if you want me to send you stuff, email me your address (genevieve.luken@gmail.com)

replies/notes/whatever:

erin: got your message. sorry i didn't get to see you before i left. i think it's my fault because i was late to the coolest party ever saturday. i'll have to make it up to you when i get home.

emily: i love you. you had better be winning all the horse shows.

britt: i put my address up above. and you look really hot (a.k.a. sexy) today.

deb: i brought climbing stuff, sleeping bag, clothes, sunglasses, camera, ipod, wallet, passport. that's pretty much it. i miss you too. i hear school is treating you well this year... maybe too well ;) i hope things keep up for you.

jay: thanks for the note. i hope climbing is going well.

nanC: the half flush function is that the toilet isn't really full in the first place, so it just flushes with half the tank of water and half the water remains... so it's good if you only peed... but whole flushing is needed for everything else ;)

stella: yep, i meant the garage door. i read it and it didn't make much sense, too. oops.

mom: i like the south island better. more dramatic. bigger nountains, more variety. and i'm just biased. i'm sure there's climbing everywhere, but i'm going to investigate that and i'll let you know. and i wrote in my first blog how to do that... i think. but basically i'll try to put them up on here, so you don't need to worry. otherwise you can go to www.photobucket.com and enter hippie_bullshit_2 as the username and newzealand as the password. that should work.

karalyn: oh i wish you were here... i need another person who will freak out about half flush toilets and hoakie pokie ice cream with me... umm i forget what the beer was. ben got it and said it was really good. i've had tui and speights also... and we're getting emerson's on tap tomorrow. yay! oh and i also had some farm home brew that piers (dad) makes... holy crap his is the best. i wish i could make that... maybe i'll learn.

steve: glad to hear you've been climbing a bit. can't wait to climb with you when i get back. i miss you too. go to perkins lots for me over break.

wow that was a lot. sorry for the long post. love you guys. i'm off to climb for the evening then drive around port hills. i'm hoping to go to castle hill tomorrow if the weather is still nice and if ben can use the car.

love you guys.

in the engineering library...

2006-11-04T16:45:00.000-05:00

well, i am alive and safe now. currently i'm in the library with ben while he is "studying" (crossword puzzles). um, i landed in auckland at 6am (nz time) then caught a bus then caught a bus to wellington. that was fun. 11 hours of bus fun time. i made friends with a nice girl from san diego and a guy from melbourne, australia. that passed the time well because by then my ipod battery was dead and i didn't have a power converter to charge it yet. we got off the bus and stayed at the downtown backpackers... which was ok. we played pool and i did awful for some reason, i think i was tired. then we sang a bit and drank some delicious nz beer ;)

i woke up early the next morning and caught the ferry to the south island (a 3 hour ferry) it was georgeous and i chatted with an old couple who were birders and learned a lot about nz and australian birds.

this story is exciting, right?

then i was super lucky and ben's parents picked me up from the ferry and drove me to the farm (parikawa). ben was there with some friends, so then i hopped in the car with them and went down to christchurch. which is where i am now. whoo. lots of sitting and travelling those two days.

all is well now, we wandered the city yesterday and went rock climbing at roxx. it was a perfect day out, so i was a bit sad i didn't get out to castle hill, but i plan on going sometime in the middle of this week. the gym was really fun, though. i did the top half to a 27 (5.13 ish i think) slab problem... but i might have cheated because i used the bolt holes at one part ;)

anyway. i'm working on getting fat already. i forgot how everything is bread and butter and meat and butter and cheese and butter and cream and cream and cream. but it's so good. i made sure to climb hard though... and walk everywhere... tee hee. did i mention that the beer is amazing? because it is.

other interesting thing i forgot about and was amazed to remember... the toilets all have half flush and whole flush... which still blows my mind at how smart that is.

oh and jenna, we saw jia and he looked great. and he's coming to the farm after he finishes his last final for a few days. yay.

and heather, i got stuck in customs for a minute because i forgot i had your blow pop in my bag... which i was delighted about when the found it because i ate it and it was really good. thanks ;)

there's not too much else going on. i'll try to update again soon. i've already got a bit of a sunburn ;)

my hair is long and funny. i might shave it... again.

p.p.s. i almost forgot to tell you the best part so far... i'm sleeping in a room off the garage in chistchurch (which is not connected to the house), so every day i get to open the door and walk out and close it... i don't know i'm not describing it right, but it's totally awesome and hilarious. i love it. and it's painted bright orange because justin decided he likes bright colors.

p.p.p.p.p.s. i added some PICTURES. check them out. i'll try to link them up to this page soon, but no time now. peace and love.

off to nz (again)

2006-10-28T01:57:00.000-05:00

umm, so i'm leaving on tuesday (oct 31, halloween, yeah) for nz again. i'm super excited about it. of course getting everything together is always crazy fun. let me tell you. anyway. i'm going to keep a sweet blog on here with pictures and random crazy stories.

in case i don't figure out how to put pictures up, you can go to my photobucket page and log on as "hippie_bullshit_2" and the password is "newzealand".

pretty simple.

so far the plan of only taking a bag (well backpack really) seems to be working out. but i still have three days to find stuff that i want to bring ;)

the plan for when i get there is to try to make friends on the plane, or if i'm lazy and everyone seems scary, then i'm going to take the bus to fairy to bus to get the parikawa (the farm). from there, i'm sure i'll go to christchurch and play. but i really have no idea what i'll decide... but i'll let you know how it turns out.

anyway, i have random things to do... (halloween parties tonight). but you, ... have a good weekend. talk to you soon. comment often.

oh and p.s. if you are interested in reading my nz blog from last thime i went, the link to that is on the right side of the page... it's also called hippie_bullshit. i do not remember what i wrote about, and i'm not apologizing for it. i do remember that there were tons of sweet pictures if you clicked on the links. enjoy.

also, new album by the rapture, "pieces of the people we love" is really good.

and finally, i love you, whoever you are.