New Zealand

[amerrywanderer]

Hello, lovies.

I've been very quiet as of late but I want you all to know I still love you all.  Even those of you who don't post often.

This post is a plea for information.  I'm going (moving?) to New Zealand for 6 months starting in August, to live and work and wander around for awhile and be a bit crazy.  I haven't got any plans as of yet, nor do

Comments

[muffledlaugh]

OH MY GOD THAT'S AWESOME!!!

This entry has a bunch of cities/locations where I was able to do some fantastic things. I also highly suggest you make sure to visit Matamata (otherwise known as Hobbiton) and walk the Tongariro Crossing and get up close and personal with Mount Doom ;)

My favourite locations were probably Auckland, Queenstown, Raglan (best surfing on the entire island, according to the Kiwis I spoke with, anyway), Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Christchurch, and Wellington. I would also recommend Kaikoura, which I didn't get a chance to visit but is notorious for it's seal beaches.

I still have a ton of the pamphlets from when I was there. If you want, I'd me more than happy to send them to you :)

[muffledlaugh]

Also, I dunno if you remember Liz Koch but I know she'll be in New Zealand sometime after September, I believe. She's currently in Africa (she'll be traveling around Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia until September before coming back to NY for a wedding and then leaving again) but I know she mentioned New Zealand as part of her trip, as well as a job there picking fruit that she was looking in too. She might be someone to talk to about jobs, etc.

[amerrywanderer]

ok this is so absurdly late it's...well, absurd, but yay! I might actually be volunteering in Kaikoura if all goes well, but hopefully with sperm whales and not seals (as seals are smelly).

so questions: what is this barrytown knife-making bone-carving thing you list? i am mega curious.
is raglan as awesome as it seems? i'm going there anyway, but yeah. these are things i need to know.
did you get down around the milford/routeburn tracks at all? i've heard they're crazy busy but i'm not sure i want to do an un-popular track without someone else to hike with...

also if you think any of the pamphlets you got would be helpful, i'd love to take a look (if you can part with them!). i'm only just now really starting my planning (which is absurd in itself), but that's what i get.

yay! thank you!

[muffledlaugh]

So Barrytown is this insanely small town on the South Island that I guess is most notable for its beaches that occasionally wash up pieces of jade. There's a place there though where you can go and make your own knife, from welding the metal to carving the handle. Here's the website: http://www.barrytownknifemaking.com/. It's about $60-$80 (depending on the exchange) to do. I had wanted to make one while I was there, but I realized that I would have to check my backpack on my plane ride back to Auckland from Christchurch if I were going to be carrying a large knife, so I decided against it. Also, I was pretty hung over the day I was supposed go, so yeah. There's also a place there where you can go and for $55 carve your own jewelery out of bone (I think it's a cow shin, but I'm not positive), but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called

[muffledlaugh]

Oh, I also should mention (because I know you're a big surf fan) that Piha is also excellent for surfing, and it's probably the most famous surf beach on the island. It was also the beach where they filmed that movie The Piano.