Thunderstorms....

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Man...it is pouring, there's thunder and lightning...terrific weather in short. Reminds me about a poem about rain :-).

The WT's Top 5 Travel Accessories

Given the length of my trip there were certain items I found particularly helpful. Note - not all these items were required for survival, however they often lent a convenience and flexibility which made them crucial to a lazy-ass like myself. And yes - I am a gadget geek - so bear with me.


1. My phone! I am in love with my phone. I have an emotional attachment to it bordering on obsession. Imagine my dismay earlier this year when I got the screen scratched because I was deliriously mosh-pitting around when UT beat USC earlier this year and my phone was in the same pocket as my unnecessarily-yet-unabashedly-bulked-up key chain. I spent hours on the Internet trying to find a cure to no avail. I went to local cell phoneries (there's a word for you) to try to see if they could do something to cure my baby. I'm now chalking that up to experience now and find the scratches on the screen character forming. Enough nonsense though - the Sony W800 is an MP3/Camera phone that just works. It works as a phone. It works as an MP3 player. It works as a camera. The experience in each of these areas is seamless. I bought it because I wanted a phone which would work internationally and also allow me be able to listen to music on those 12 hour flights (I have around 30 hours of music on there now). The camera takes very good pictures and is a 2MPer, which means I can get very good quality 4X6 or 5X7s from photos I take with it. A good number of pictures on this blog were taken with this phone. And best of all, it has built in auto-stiching panoramic on pictures, something my "camera only" camera does not do. All the compliments I have gotten on my panoramic pics - I owe to my phone (and damn it Sony - you can put auto-stiching on a phone but not on a camera?).


2. My shoes! I can't over emphasize the need for quality hiking boots on a multiday hike.I bought a pair of Asolo Fugitive GTX hiking shoes prior to the trip. They are lightweight, breathable yet water-proof (at least when you don't submerge them) and kept my feet at the optimal temperature at all times. And they've dried quite nicely - you can barely smell the streams anymore (maybe I should send someone reading this blog the inserts as a reminder of home :-) ).





3. My Sleeping Bag! The REI Subkilo served me very well on this trip. It's the perfect size. It compresses to an impressive small volume, features natural goose down insulation, has nifty internal pockets and is rated as a 20F sleeping bag. We had some colder nights in New Zealand and I always felt supremely comfortable in the Subkilo - my only fear was waking up with a possum sleeping on face.... This experience reminds of my first sleeping bag which my dad bought for me in Saudi Arabia. It a blue tube, was around 5 times bigger and significantly heavier than the Subkilo. I remember freezing, unable to sleep when we trekked some snowcapped mountains east of Istanbul. And the internal material was anti-hairy guy - what were they thinking of selling this product in the Middle East? Ah...what a difference 20 years of technology (and a non-cheap purchase) makes.




4. My Rain Jacket! Fortunately I was semi-forced to buy a Zone rain jacket on the first day of the New Zealand hike. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I remember thinking to myself as I rummaged about the last vestige of an outdoor store we were going to see for the next 10 days, about what a waste of money this may end up being. Well - after the second day when I understood why the West Coast is sometimes jokingly referred to as the Wet Coast, I started to appreciate my relatively cheapo Zone rain jacket more and more... It's nothing fancy - no GoreTex or wicking action is included - but it was cheap, had some ventilation built in and kept me dry. You really can't ask for more.


5. My Watch! OK it's also nothing special, i.e. it does not have a compass, altimeter, barometer, doesn't take the temperature...But, it's cheap, small, lightweight, tells me what time it's in Turkey and let's me know exactly how slowly I run 4 miles (you don't want to know). And it's been with me on the shark and dolphin dives. Oh - and it turns itself off after an hour which prompts anyone who looks at it to tell me it's broken. The number of women I've impressed with this energy conserving watch...well....you can't even count on one hand.




Honorable Mention: My OR Sombrero - it would've made my top 5 had I been able to hang on to it. I used to lose so many clothes when I was a kid. This loss brings back "happy" memories of my parents berating me for losing yet another sweater or jacket. Guess what mom and pop? I paid for it - I can lose it just fine - thank you very much!







The WTF Item of the Trip: Swiss Army Travel Gear hybrid backpack. I had such high hopes for this item. I mean it was 2003 Outdoor Product of the Year. Obviously this was not awarded by anyone who actually used the bag. I thought I was growing a third shoulder at times during the hike. I had to get it repaired three times as it broke four times during the trip with straps coming off, the zipper not working (fun accessing your stuff from an opening around a third of the size it should be). And to top it all off, their customer service never answered any of my e-mails. Upon returning to the States I rang them up. They were courteous enough on the phone, offering to fix or replace the bag, while also mentioning that their e-mail was down for 2 months. I mean, seriously, what company does not realize that their e-mail is down for 2 months (that's 60 days people!)? Back to REI this puppy went - thank God for flexible return policies.

Photographology....

I was briefly going through my pictures to try to figure out which ones I needed printed, after sending a batch off to my parents. That got me thinking (always a dubious idea). I took 3 gigs worth of pictures and movies on this trip. For the non-computer savvy - that's a shitload of pictures. The majority of my pictures consist not of famous places or picturesque settings but people, hotel and hostel rooms, meals and (to-me) out of the ordinary images (see my Weirdish Images posts). It's the ladybug on the window of the van which rode with us for over 50km. It's the sign which implores one not to park over 2,880 minutes (that's 48 hours) in a particular spot. It's a shot of the half eaten white chocolate blueberry muffin at Cafe e Vida. I guess these are the things I don't want to forget. They are the demi-glace without which the main course would be a chewy, dry encounter. They're the oiled ball bearings which make the bike tire turn (and I am the King of Bad Analogies!). Without them I would just be a tourist on a sterile trip.

One of the cool things about being back....

I get to hang out with my cats.... I should say, I am allowed to hang out with my cats....

Final Beard Status! (how exciting)

Last Shave: 12 days ago.
Overall: OK - I need to be back in Turkey where a real barber can take care of this. I've decided to spare my colleagues this sight....

The duality of being able to communicate anywhere and anytime....

"As far as I can tell, devices meant to save you time and help you communicate actually take away time and give you an excuse to not to communicate. People like e-mail because they don't have to answer it. I don't even own a computer".

Enlightening owner of that quote....

This got me thinking: do we communicate more or less than we did just a mere decade ago? And what's happened to the depth and quality of our communications? How many many meaningful conversations do you have daily?

I believe volumewise, we're in the stratosphere in terms of communications and it's only a matter of time before someone figures out the ultimate anti-gravity equation for communications and we can warp beyond our puny limit of daily hundreds of e-mails, voicemails and junkmails. Call me a cynic 'cuz I live in the corporate world - sometimes it seems like half my day is either spent deleting e-mail or generating e-mail which will be deleted as soon as possible by someone else. This must be the Devil's version of the to-do list. How many times do you let e-mail sit there before answering, or not? How many calls do you allow to go to voice-mail?

At the same time - thanks to the Internet in particular, we make way more (often fleeting) connections than we used to or could ever think to. Are you interested in talking about a kite-swaying-cat-loving-vege-hating-post-feminist-neoconservative-environmentally challenged world? Well - there's likely more than one someone out there that you can connect with. And that's magic.

In short:

Volume - up
Connectivity/Range of Communication options - up
Standard Deviation of the Distance of the People We're connecting with - up
Quality of communications - don't know
People yearning for a shared connection - still there

Coming Home...Snowstorm

My planned 34 hour trip, turned into a 40 hour trip (really that's not too bad) once I hit snowstorms in Dallas. Snowstorms in Dallas?! What the hell is happening to the world? It's frustrating to be 33 minutes from Austin and wait around 6 hours on the tarmac while planes get de-iced one by one. It's almost like waiting in line to get into a sold-out SXSW show (damn it - I really wanted to catch the Pretenders)....

Weirdish Images #2

Here are some more weird images from my 6 week boondoggle. Nothing mind blowing - just small things which turned my head....

Here's the original Weirdish Images #1 Post.....

Auckland: No comment...


Auckland: it warms my heart to know Frodo is as kebab friendly as I am...

Near Okarito: 6 eggs - but there are 12 eggs in the carton. Ah - it's size 6 eggs... How...well thought out.

Near Okarito: 7 eggs?! But...oh you know the routine...

Copland Valley: Better keep that head above the water or that smile will be wiped right off your face!

Copland Valley: I travel halfway around the world and in a room full of Israelis, find a Turkish t-shirt.

On the way to Queenstown: our little hitchhiker....

Queenstown: Brings back memories of the Middle East and preprayer cleansing. Why is it in a hostel?

Queenstown: Just thought it was cool that a newspaper could use the term "Farts" on the front page....

Queenstown: See people - it's not a Lexus - it's a damn Toyota Harrier! Bet that makes you feel better about the price tag.


Queenstown: ahh...cheap I know...

As I depart Auckland...look you can watch departing passangers. Where are we, in a zoo?

Goodbye New Zealand... I will miss you

I boarded my QT - Auckland Air New Zealand flight at 4pm from QT International and was back in Auckland in the evening. BTW Air New Zealand features the happiest yet most manly stewards I have experienced in the air. Well done lads! After a completely unmemorable stay at a motel close to the airport, I took off early in the morning with Cathay Pacific - 34 hours of planned travel time with 28 of that in the air. Really looking forward to it.

Goodbye New Zealand. You are one of a kind and I will be back.

NZ Hike Day 11: Wheeeee!

Yes - the guy in the background had some issues later on...

One of the many things I learned on this trip, thanks to a good friend, is that no matter how little time you think you have, you can always squeeze in another experience. Queenstown bills itself (and probably is) the Adventure Capital of the World. So I had 4 hours to eat lunch, purchase some gifts, buy some Milo and Whitaker's dark chocolate (which I have become addicted to) and to find something interesting to do...

After some hemming and hawing on what exactly to do, I decided to go with paragliding. I had skydived back home in Austin and although the initial rush is pretty cool - it felt like an abstract experience: 30 seconds of freefall followed by 2 minutes of parachuting down. I had really enjoyed the slower portion of it - being able to take in landscape from a perspective that I would normally not to see.

I chose to go with Tandem Paragliding - they would handle pickup and dropoff in QT and Angus Tapper, the chief pilot I would be flying with, is the 3 time NZ paragliding champion and is ranked 8th in the world. Very reassuring to say the least.

We drove up a winding, pebble-strewn road up to Coronet Peak at an altitude of 3,800 feet. Apparently in the winter, one can go up to 5,400 feet and jump from a snowy peak - which sounds breathtaking. There was not much prep for the jump - except for a brief demonstration of what it would feel like as I ran off the cliff. Angus told me run as fast as I could while he held me back - this simulated what the chute was going to do. As we were going through this exercise I observed 1 crash and 1 near crash on takeoff - what was that about being reassured?

Look Mom - no hands!

I think the funniest part of takeoff in paragliding is how slowly it happens. You start running as hard as you can but there is so much resistance from the chute that as you near the peak that you are to jump off from - you feel like you're stuck in some crazy editor's hands and he's slowed the film speed to one tenth what it should be and that you really hope the guy strapped to you really knows what he's doing...and time is going so slowly that you get to think that over three to four times before you get to the edge.

As we jumped, we immediately started to get lift and I was on a high, literally and figuratively. It was truly awesome. In a mountainous area such as the one we were flying in, the lift for the chute comes from thermals - pockets or columns of hot air, heated by the sun and rising. A pilot, especially one as experienced as Angus, hones in on these thermals. Once we found thermals, we started doing circles around the thermals and spent a wonderful 30 minutes up in the air taking in the area around Coronet Peak - what a rush.

NZ Hike Day 11: Queenstown..more goodbyes

I woke up really early today to get my stuff together, which was a feat after last night. You know when you get to the end of a journey and all of a sudden, somebody changes the rules of gravity, and walking becomes a chore, your legs feel like they have 20 kilo weights (yes - I'm going metric!) attached to them and you feel like you're on Jupiter instead of Earth? When you realize how tired you are after just a couple of beers? Last night was that night.

I strategically (AKA in a stumbling manner) maneuvered myself around the 2 pieces of the room floor which I could still step on, without stepping on my roomies' clothes, with the ultimate goal of getting outside the room to take a shower. I also simultaneously heaved all my backpack and other stuff outside the room, because one of my pet peeves has become the 45 minute rustling of plastic bags as fellow trampers repack before they leave at the crack of dawn, while the majority of everyone else is trying to sleep. The biggest packing issue turned out to be my boots which had ratcheted up the level of stink from the tannin laden stream water they had absorbed over the last 10 days. I made the odious but correct decision to carry them instead of packing them and let them air dry, and tied the laces onto my daypack.

Them's some good fish!

Officially the hike was over yesterday but some of the gang was still together due to most of us staying in the same hostel. Khanh, Steffi and I scurried over to Joe's Garage, recommended by a local over Vudu Cafe, which is what the Lonely Planet was touting, for a leisurely breakfast. It was at Joe's that I learned that pikelets are not some weird fish dish the Kiwis have for breakfast but are small, silver dollar sized pancakes served with jam, which I promptly ordered and devoured.

Some bittersweetness ensued after breakfast, as I bid a final goodbye to Steffi and Khanh. Trips like this one highlight for me the need we feel as humans to connect - we were strangers 10 days ago and I was saying goodbye to 2 friends, who I would love to meet up with again and explore. We will see.

At this point I had roughly 4 hours left in Queenstown and under a day left in New Zealand. When this whole trip started I questioned whether I was taking too long a break. I think we're conditioned in the US to feel uneasy over extended breaks. What we accomplish at work for many of us defines a large portion of our lives - we feel out of our element if we're disengaged from our professional lives. My dad also added to my initial uneasiness with a comment along the lines of: "you're taking how much time off!?". I can safely say at this point that the pendulum has fully swung the other way. I don't want to leave. Work is becoming the alarm clock set to go off at 5am that I keep on waking up every half hour during the night to check on.

NZ Hike Day 10: Beard Status

Last Shave: 10 days ago.
Overall: Very itchy - but clean!

NZ Hike Day 10: Goodbye Fellow Hikers!

One Last Meal...but a damn fine one

Today was the last official day of the hike and we managed to get everyone together at the Golden Elephant for a last meal (without porridge!) of delicious Thai Food (I love good Thai food and there's so much of it in this part of the world - and they know how to ratchet up the heat).

It's been such a gratifying hike and the people in our group had just as much to do with that as stunning New Zealand. If any of you are reading this - thank you. The experience was rewarding for me beyond what I could have imagined. And it's good to know that we all have beds now have in Frankfurt, Melbourne, Austin and of course lovely, lovely Feckenham.

NZ Hike Day 10: Queenstown!

Almost there.....

We arrived late in Queenstown on the evening of the 10th and final day of the hike. We dropped Jan and Alan off in the suburbs, in the hopes of meeting them later for dinner.

The Remarkables.....from Wiki :-(

And then...a mass of people. Queenstown is utterly beatiful and also utterly touristic. The sidewalks are jampacked with backpackers, Kiwi-bus riders and the ultra-wealthy. Being back in the city, even one as small as Queenstown (official population of around 8,000) was an odd feeling. One gets used to having space and not really having to share it with a lot of other people. As you drive towards and through Queenstown, your jaw drops and you marvel at the Remarkables and the shore of Lake Wakatipu (did you know that the lake has a rhythmic rise and fall in water level - about 4 inches every 5 minutes? Crazy I tell ya).

I thought about this as I made my way to my dormroom. I opened the door and felt like I was back in college (that's university for non-Stateside readers). The entire, and I really mean the entire, floor was covered with clothes. 3 Canadian college chicks taking a break from the harsh semester of college in Australia. I yearned to be, well, younger....

NZ Hike Day 10: Queenstown...almost

Think of this as a teaser trailer (Di)....

NZ Hike Day 10: Lake Hawea

Avoiding multiple ass-breakage scenarios, while gingerly climbing down Brewster's Peak, Steffi and I had a chance to talk about "boys". Well - I guess the bottom line of the conversation was, men are assholes. Nothing all too mindblowing or revelatory but it's always fun to gossip as you twist your ankles and knees in angles which don't quite seem right.



Once we got down, we immediately headed South, past Lake Hawea, which is a popular and transfixingly crystal clear lake, which lies in a glacial valley. I think I got some of my best pictures here, and surprisingly enough, I was shooting them as we were speeding along in the van, next to the lake. I never could get as good shots once we had stopped.

NZ Hike Day 10: Climbing in Mt. Aspiring National Park

The last day was a busy one. We started the day off at 6am, under the assault of the sandflies, which I imagine have tiny alarm clocks, as they sleep next to our tents. They check ours, set theirs 5 minutes prior and are ready to "be", the moment we step out of our shelters.

But the day was simply too enjoyable to care too much about those bloodsucking illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents. We drove for 30 minutes until we got to Brewster Path, which lies along Brewster Stream (sadly it was the last time my boots were to get wet in New Zealand!) and we started to ascend (surprise, surprise) Brewster's Peak. OK - I made that last part up - I'm not sure if the peak we climbed actually had a name but it was around 1,200 metres up and a solid 2 hours of fairly steep ascent, using tree roots as a natural stairway. It had rained fairly recently which ensured a lot of slip and slide and not of the fun variety. We broke the tree line at 1:45 mark and hurriedly clambered up for another 10 minutes until we got to the peak.

I think I could've spent the entire day on Brewster's Peak. It's so peaceful - not to sound too Bill Murrayish (check Groundhog Day) - but "I wish we could all live in the mountains at high altitude. That's where I see myself in five years.... "

The man who went up a hill and came down a mountain....

The gang...

NZ Hike Day 9: Beard Status

Last Shave: 9 days ago.
Overall: Looking manly - I feel like a giant fuzzball. Hook Grass of the World Unite!

NZ Hike Day 9: Sad Moon Rising...

It's the last night before hitting Queenstown tomorrow evening. There's not a sound to be heard. The skies are clear and starry. Everyone's gone to bed and the moon's rising in the horizon. I can't remember being this self-content in a long time.

NZ Hike Day 9: On to Mt. Aspiring National Park

We hiked down Copland Valley today. What was an incline going up became a decline going down and despite a leisurely pace, and an unplanned stop for a walking stick which managed to find its way down a bridge opening in to some caves, we made it down in 7 hours, around a half hour faster than our climb up.

Everyone now was openly aware that the hike was coming to an end and at times there was an a solemn air about the group. We drove down further south, stopping at a salmon farm to pick up some fresh salmon (as well as beer and wine!) for a last night feast. Coincidentally, tonight was also the only night where I was doing any cooking thanks a to a very serendipitous schedule. And I did not pay anyone off, honest!

Jan strutting her stuff...

At around 7pm, we pulled into a DOC campsite, set up camp and Jan started stuffing the salmon with dill and lemon, rubbing the outside with lemon and some oil. I worked on the carrots, broccoli and the potatoes. It was a group effort though, as everyone pitched in to peel the potatoes, fetch water for cooking and cleanup and set the dishes (we were eating on non-plastic and non-bowl dishes - hallelujah!). As a side note, the trip's been wonderful in being able to cook some real veggie-laden, relatively unprocessed food. And tonight's fish was no exception. We cooked the salmon wrapped in foil over the simmering embers of our camp fire as we started on the beer and wine (my authoritative beer review will be coming at the end of the trip: South African, Australian and New Zealand beers to review...I could have a beer now, come to think of it). I daresay the salmon came out perfectly and may be the best fish I've ever had - it was flaky, fresh and lightly smoky.

The Last Supper...

On Hook Grass...

Hook grass makes a worthy competitor to the despicable sandfly. It is not quite public enemy number one though because it has neither the geographic reach nor the equally devastating impact on everyone getting close to it and here's why: hook grass is a clever little plant with a devious method of spreading its seeds. The seeds, which hang on a stalk, which resembles a malformed wheat bush, have small hooks on them. These hooks attach themselves to anything with hair on them, usually attaching themselves to animals, such as deer, to fall off at a later point in time and spread this ignominious plant.

So, for those lovely ladies who shave their legs and those effeminate members of my gender, who are lucky enough not to have any hair on their legs (or are wise enough to wear gaiters), the hook grass can be safely ignored. But, if you're like me, and wonder why you're so hairy when both your parents are relatively shiny all over, hook grass becomes an enemy to be cursed over and over again, as you pull each seed out along with a tuft of your body hair.

Natural depilation, free of charge, thanks to hook grass! I am investing in some gaiters next time my friends.

NZ Hike Day 8: Punishment and Reward

The eighth day of the hike was a mixture of clouds and sun, except when we undertook a 3 hour hike further up the valley, which ended in a roaring downpour. I don't think I've enjoyed getting wet as much as I have during this trip. As my clothes and I got fully drenched, absorbing the falling rain like thirsty sponges, I skipped happily across the longest swing bridge of our entire hike. You are not supposed to stop on the swing bridges but I could not help briefly halting in the middle to take it all in: a roaring glacier-fed river, bucketing rain and me: dangling several hundred feet above and below it all.

Yes - you can literally play with your plate afterwards...

This was our last night at the Welcome Flat. And we had a surprise guest appearence in the form of cheescake on a frisbee. As I've mentioned before - frisbees are extremely valuable, up there maybe even with the much ballyhooed towel as a travel accessory. We played a modified game of Charades in 3 rounds as we munched on our graham biscuit based cheesecake. As our laughter echoed off the walls and we made fools of ourselves in trying to describe famous and infamous historic personalities, I had a twinge of sadness creep in. 8 out of 10 days. It was 80% over. There were only 2 more days to go before letting go of this experience, these people who I had gotten to know in the past 8 days and felt like I could spend another 80 with.

NZ Hike Day 8: On Privacy...

Ever since the South Africa/Dubai portion of my trip there hasn't been much of a notion of privacy. There was not much in the backpacker dorms or hostels I stayed in. And there certainly is none in the hut when there are 30 other people sleeping in the room with you. This is probably the Turkish military experience I have to look forward to. And you know what? It ain't half bad - in fact, I really like it. This notion of needing space is a modern day construct in my opinion. I notice it far more so in the US than I do in any other country. We live in the age of the individual and the US is the capital of the individual. Communal space is being annexed at a rapid clip - I am afraid by the time we're satisfied in with having our own space, we're not going to have anyone to share that joy with....

NZ Hike Day 8: The Hotpools in Copland Valley

The Welcome Hut is a two storey wood cabin with a cooking and common area downstairs and sleeping quarters upstairs. The most fascinating aspect of the cabin is its close proximity to several natural hotpools. As the air cooled in the evening, we donned our swimsuits and dashed out to try out these natural hotpools. It was getting quite dark so we had our flashlights with us to guide us to the hotpools. It was an interesting experience to say the least. One the one hand, being in the warm to scalding hot water was quite comforting, given the windy, cold air around us. On the other hand, the pools sit in pure mud and and have a slimy texture. Anyhow, I guess it was not really my cup of tea as I've been in far clearer hot pools in Turkey (so I'm spoilt). There were hikers who spent hours in the hotpools though. I will also add that my brief experience did wonders for relaxation and sore muscles. And there's something very cool about laying your head back and looking up at the star-filled clear sky, sitting in a hot tub of water. Not quite Sanbona, but very fulfilling nevertheless.

NZ Hike Day 7: Beard Status

Last Shave: 7 days ago.
Overall: I have now tied my hands behind my back so as not to scratch my face.

NZ Hike Day 7: Welcome to the Welcome Flat!

As we neared the 4pm park we came upon the sign you see to your left. After hiking for 7 hours it was a simply delicious sign that we could not but help laugh at. We were almost there. Hotpools awaited us as well as a hut with fresh water and mattresses.

A quick word on the hut we were going to. The Welcome Flat hut sits in between the no frills-roof-over-your-head hut and the Great-Walk-Oooh-We-Have-Electricity-and-Flushing-toilets huts. It probably leans more toward the Great Walk huts in that it is maintained by the DOC and is a good size. It does have long drop toilets and no electricity. BTW - it's unnatural how easily your body reverts to following the available daylight when artificial light sources are no longer available. Be it at a hut or camping, everyone was in bed and sound asleep by 9-10pm.