Road Trip Day 1: Oamaru, Hamster Wheels, and Yellow Eyed Penguins...

As I mentioned in my last post, I was traveling for the better part of November. My friend Kim was visiting from California and I had the pleasure of showing her around the South Island. 

The challenge: show off the best of New Zealand in 16 days, while working 4 of those days and not spending every waking moment driving. 

After much consideration, I decided on the route below. We spent 6 days doing the southern loop, and 4 days on the northern loop (oh, the driving...), with me working 4 days in the middle (literally) while Kim went off to the Greymouth and adventured around the West Coast. 

The first half of the trip was longer, with 5 nights allocated to maximize the best of the south. I settled on 2 nights in Dunedin, 2 nights in Queenstown, and one night near Omarama (between Wanaka and Mt. Cook). 

The biggest misconception about traveling in New Zealand is that it's small enough to "do" by car. I can't tell you the number of people who have told me they are seeing both islands in 2 weeks. I wonder if they ever even get out of the car! Notice the driving time just for our "south of the south" leg of the journey. 15 hours split by 6 days, and this was done to minimize the driving!

So zooming in further, the next map just shows Day 1 of our road trip. Actually, it only shows what's depicted below in pictures. At the end of the day we drove to Dunedin.

Right. So if you've made it this far... pictures!

The coffee in NZ is seriously amazing and I'm surprised I haven't posted more photos of my hot drinks. The above photo is of my coffee at Nosh Cafe. Turns out Ashburton has an awesome cafe, which seems to use up the quota for "awesome" allotted to Ashburton.

Actually, untrue. Ashburton also has New Zealand's longest flying fox.

For you Americans, a flying fox is like a zip line, but more playground appropriate. Don't get me wrong- they'd still be all kinds of illegal in the States (sue, sue, sue!) but they're not as massive as what you paid to do on your honeymoon in Kauai. I think they're great fun, but I'm just a big kid.

Kim on NZ's longest flying fox (unfortunately longer seems to equal slower):

Yes, this was a video. Yes, she'd kill me if I posted it. 

After fueling and caffeinating, we got on the road for the most boring bit of the trip (see "boring" on map above), about 3 hours of fields and hedgerows. But eventually we got to Oamaru, which is a coastal city originally discovered to Captian James Cook. It was eventually settled and built up by Europeans, who used the "Oamaru Whitestone" to build everything. Today the town maintains a bit of a Victorian theme throughout, with weekend festivals featuring Victorian-era costumes and language, pennywise bicycles, old-timey talk and whiskey. Oamaru is also home to the World Steampunk Headquarters. 

Whitestone buildings, ready and waiting for thy to pedal thyne bicycle down this robust shopping alley-way. Or something.

We passed up the Victorian life (and whiskey) for some local brew at Scott's Brewing Co. I guess if my Scott decides to go commercial with his home-brew, he'll have to come up with a different name.

After a few tasters but before getting on the road, we checked out the Steampunk themed, very adult sized playground just next to the brewery. Again, I have a great video of Kim, the human sized hamster, but I think she'd kill me if I posted it. So here's a few screen shots to give you an idea of how this happened:

From Oamaru, we headed south for another 30 minutes and then stopped at the Moeraki Boulders. These are large, spherical "boulders" situated on the beach (which seems to always be overcast). The reason they exist can be explained by many varying Maori legends, or here, by Wikipedia. Though there's not much to "do" there, the boulders are worth a stop to break up your drive.

Our last stop of the day was one of the best during our trip. One of Kim's "requirements" during her trip to New Zealand was to see penguins. (Other requirements: lambs, glow worms, Milford Sound, glaciers, and unbeknownst to her- baby seals playing in a waterfall.)

There are two types of penguins in the Oamaru/Dunedin area. First, Yellow Eyed Penguins, which are the 4th largest penguin breed and are also apparently the most endangered/rarest species of penguin globally, with about 4,000 birds total, found only in New Zealand and it's southern islands. Second, the Little Blue Penguin, which are the world's littlest penguin (33cm tall) and not so rare, with 350-600,000 estimated in New Zealand and Australia.

We actually didn't see any Little Blue's, which was a bit of a disappointment, though we really didn't try too hard for them. For the Yellow Eyed Penguins however, we searched out a colony described in my NZ Frenzy guidebook (get it!) as being great for penguin spotting and very not touristy.

We saw 6 penguins, two building a nest quite far away, two intently studying rocks for no apparent reason (not pictured), one preening and slowly making his way to his nest, and one sleeping and very grumpy about our finding her nest (maybe she shouldn't have chosen to nest on the trail! Just a thought, penguin...).

So, according to my calculations, we saw approximately 0.15% of the world's population of Yellow Eyed Penguins that afternoon.

Anyways, pictures:

"Think I can get closer without getting eaten?"

"Yep, I think I can stand on his head..."

"You march back down here and help me build this nest right now!"

 Oh yeah, it might be worth mentioning that these little guys with their little penguin legs hike all the way from that beach (below) to the bluffs where they nest. They journey up and down daily, spending the day in the water and the night safely sleeping in the tussocks.

We watched this guy preen and relax for a good 40 minutes before he waddled up to his nest, which was a solid 300-400 meters from the sea!

"No photos! I'm sleeping!"

Other fun Yellow Eyed Penguin facts (thanks, Wikipedia):

- They are believed to be the most ancient of all living penguins.
- They can live to be 20 years old.
- The sex ratio is 2:1 males to females, because females only live around 10 years.
- They can dive up to 120 meters (394 feet).
- They nest separately from each other, preferring privacy of nests instead of social colonies and parents take turns guarding eggs and chicks while the other hunts.
- They weigh 12-18 pounds, varying throughout the year depending on feeding and molting.
- The Yellow Eyed Penguin is depicted on the back side of the NZ $5 bill.

Following our penguin adventures, we drove down to Dunedin and checked in to our flat. We scarfed down a massive dinner and a glass of wine each, before passing out cold.

Next time, days 2-3: Dunedin.

Nutcrackers: Not just creepy Christmas decorations!

Nutcrackers are evil. Whether you're referring to the downright scary wooden statue that haunts every perfectly good Christmas, the kitchen utensil that is frequently responsible for ER visits, or the torture device that is a requirement for backcountry snow adventures in New Zealand.

Oh, you haven't heard of the last one? Neither had I until I moved to this little island on the bottom of the planet and people started asking me if I'd ever used a nutcracker. To go skiing. Nope, I prefer my ski fields (no "resorts" here!) with chair lifts and smooth landings, thankyouverymuch. Too bad, I found out. If one is lucky, one will get to use a T-bar tow lift- the equivalent to a Cadillac chair lift in New Zealand. The rest of the time: Nutcrackers.

For the Americans, I will elaborate. A nutcracker is a metal device, which hinges shut, much like the tool for cracking nuts. Instead of a nut in the teeth of the cracker, it's the tow rope. The tow rope is connected to pulleys, which will tow you up the hill. The nutcracker is your handle on the rope, and is connected to a belt around your waist. This is a nutcracker in use:

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This is how you wear it (while snowboarding, or posing in the lodge like this stud):

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You have to be ambidextrous with both your hands and feet to be able to use this thing. There is hand switching and rope holding that has to happen. While you're balancing on your skis or board. And all hand switching and nut cracking and such must happen before you get to the first pulley or your glove/finger/hand will go through the pulley and a) effectively dump you on your butt and off the tow rope with b) a very sore digit. Are you confused yet?

The most ridiculous part is you have to get the nutcracker hooked on to the tow rope while it is moving. So, if you're me, you hold on to the rope and start moving uphill with your left hand. And then you try to flip the nutcracker around the rope and close it singlehandedly with the right. Then, if you're me, you try to switch hands by holding it with both, then letting go with the right. Again, this all must happen before you get to the first pulley, or your hand(s) will go through.

The beast your nutcracker must pass through but your hands/body must avoid:

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Also, if you have awesome friends like mine, you'll hear lots of stories about how last year some girl got all of her hair ripped out by the pulley. Or you'll be there to hear the real-life account of how your other half ended up suspended upside down hanging by his snowboard. All of this makes the whole adventure seem really alluring, let me tell you. Anyways, here's a photo of the awkwardness that is getting on the moving tow rope whilst trying to nut-crack:

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See how she's holding on for dear life with her right hand while she flips and grips with her left? So much coordination.

So, this weekend we traveled up to Mount Olympus in a group of about 10. Luckily, there were more novice skiers/snowboarders than veterans. Sure, Scott and I have both been snowboarding for over a decade, but the nutcrackers put us in the novice group. Lets just say, by the end of the weekend, we probably could have stacked the empty beer bottles farther than I made it up the tow rope.

The annoying thing was that there was a first tow rope one had to conquer just to get to the lodge. I heard horror stories just about getting up the Access Tow! But then, when my turn came- I did it! I had some help (ie: someone stopped the tow rope so a few of us could hop on) but I made it first try. I was very proud. And that's the best it ever got for me.

Here's a map of Mount Olympus:

We were staying at the Top Hut Lodge, located in the center. The Main Tow and Top Tow are the only tow ropes up the mountain. Can you imagine? A resort in the States with only one real lift? I admit, at first I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. Not many runs for 2 full days of snowboarding. It may get a bit boring...

Well, worry not, my friends. I never got half way up the Main Tow. I fell off about where Molly's Bump crosses the Main Tow every time. It was so frustrating. I've never had much of an ego about my snowboarding skills, but whatever shred of confidence I had got shattered. Over and over and over. After about 4 hours of getting beat up by the rope and the pulleys and the icy snow, I'd had enough. Scott and I actually hiked from the lodge up to the traversing run below Rum Rock (upper right corner of map.) The descent after the hike was the most snowboarding we got in all day.

It wasn't all bad though (everything about the nutcrackers is bad, but the weekend was not all bad). There was plenty of IPA and cider and whiskey to help us mend our battered bodies and souls. The whole set up was a lot like grown-up ski camp- and the cooks made absolutely delicious lunch and dinner for us. The mountains down here are quite unique and beautiful. And we got to experience the whole thing with friends. So all in all, it was good. Except for the snowboarding. That was bad.

The drive up to Mount Olympus was kind of an experience in itself. Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about our trip to Mt. Hutt? That access road has nothing on Olympus. That may as well be a 4-lane freeway. When you start the final ascent to the Olympus ski field, you actually have to radio up to ensure no cars are coming down. It's a pretty sweet road.

The start of the drive: so stunning and under-represented by my out-the-window photography skills.

Access road gets steeper, the rocks get bigger, and the views get more epic.

Nearly there. No passing lane!

This is the road. And the parking lot. Looks a lot like Tahoe, right? Where's the valet?

The above photo is taken from the road. The tow rope on the left is the access tow that I mastered on my first try. You can't really see the main tow (which is above, and to the left), but it's not important anyways because I only ever got up the one in this photo. The lodge we stayed in is pictured in the top left corner. Pretty sweet, perched up on the rock. Yes, you had to tow your bags and things up the rope tow. Yes, I had someone else do that part for me...

The next day we skipped another $70 mental and physical beating, and chose to just explore a bit on the way home. We cruised down the mountain...

Yes, that is the road.

... and we checked out Lake Coleridge, about half an hour inland on a dirt road. There's lots of dirt roads that go deep into the mountains here. We agreed that we need to get out on them more.

For some perspective:

"A" is Mount Olympus. The linear looking lake just to the south west is Lake Coleridge. If the roads were paved, it would probably be a 15 minute drive. After checking out the lake we made our way back to Christchurch, had a pie, and fell deeply asleep.

A bit of countryside on the way home.

So the casualties from this weekend included (but were probably not limited to):

- 2 finger/pulley interactions (thankfully not mine) resulting in whiskey drinking
- 1 body/rope tow interaction as mentioned earlier, resulting in whiskey drinking
- 1 absolutely shredded pair of gloves (from the rope), resulting in Scott needing a new pair to replace his vintage 1998 Dakines.
- 2 ripped jackets (again, rope tow)
- ZERO cars going off the road
-  and 8 smashed egos from watching 2 of our friends (and a lot of kids) completely master the nutcrackers, resulting in 8 smashed people by about 8pm!

How to have a Seasonally Appropriate Christmas Celebration.

I had this brilliant idea before we had even moved to New Zealand. When we got there, and were in the throes of a depressing winter... with no holiday season, no new year to celebrate, not even a measly president's birthday offering a 3 day weekend... I had a plan. A brilliant plan. A mid-winter Christmas, in June! I'd been planning this since like, October. Isn't that an amazing idea of unparalleled creativity?

Apparently not. At first I just met one other person with the idea. Then I learnt of a couple of expats who had done it last year. Fair enough. Then I found out it's done all of the time. By everyone. By Kiwis, who find a warm, tropical Christmas to be normal, but just have one in the middle of winter too because why not? I have three sets of friends who have mentioned having a mid-winter Christmas. My gym is having one. If you hadn't already figured it out by my constantly sarcastic and rhetoric writing style, I'm apparently not that creative after all.

Regardless, a girlfriend and I decided to throw a Seasonally Appropriate Christmas Celebration. It was a bit involved, but we pulled it off.

7 Steps to having a Sweet Christmas Party

#1: Good Food
My friend was very organized and apparently all of our friends are truly exceptional cooks. Not only did we have a nice wide variety of Christmasy foods (not 4 different kinds of green beans like my usual party...), but everything was seriously delicious.

Even enough for seconds!

#2: Liberal Libations
When we planned the party, we realized we were bringing together 3 or 4 separate groups of friends to one table. What can you do to make sure a bunch of strangers have a good time? Add wine!

Well, we can tell Scott at least had his!

#3: Christmas Music
No matter how much ham and mulled wine there is, it's not Christmas until the tunes are on. Granted, about 89% of people would argue with me on this, but at my party there will be Christmas music.

#4: Have a real Christmas Tree
Having a friend illegally permanently borrow the perfect tree for your Christmas party wouldn't be the ideal way to get a Christmas tree. But do what you need to do for the sake of the holiday. Where would the handmade Christmas decorations go?!?!

#5: Christmas Decoration
Bring a handmade Christmas decoration to put on the tree! Scott and I made snowman and snowflake ornaments out of cut-outs from bike magazines. They were true pieces of art, and I meant to bring them home after the party.


#6: Gift Exchange
Our rules were as follows: Bring a wrapped gift that does not exceed $20 (but should have been worth roughly that... ahem, looking at you, person who brought the $0.99 puzzle!).
-The gifts will be numbered, so in our case 1 through 16.
- Everyone draws a number.
- Person #1 opens gift #1.
- Person #2 can then assess gift #2 while it is still wrapped (lift, shake, smell) and decide if they want to steal gift #1 which they know what it is and may covet, or if they want to take their chances with gift #2.
- Person #3 will then do the same with gift #3, either take the chance of opening it, or steal gift #1 or #2 (which have now been unwrapped) from it's owner.
- If you had a gift that gets "stolen", you then get to open the rejected gift and it is now yours.
- A gift can only be "stolen" once.
After several explanation attempts to a few drunk people, the gift exchange went perfectly.

Who doesn't need a Princess Makeup Kit?

Or a chef kit?

Or a child's Spiderman costume and leopard print undies??!??!!

#7: Ugly Christmas Sweaters
I admit, this is one of my least favorite Christmas traditions. But I observed that it is a tradition and I followed the rules. Except in New Zealand, it's an ugly Christmas jersey, and apparently it doesn't actually have to be the least bit Christmas themed. Just an ugly sweater of any kind will do. Good to know for next year.

The least ugly sweaters Ive ever seen at Christmas! Scott's behind the camera...

So there it is. 7 steps to a successful Christmas Party, in whatever season you see fit to celebrate. Ours turned out to be a whole lot of fun, even if it was less original than a toga party at a frat house. I think we'll even do it again next year.

Will Run for Friends

A common question I get asked is, Did you know anyone before you moved here (to New Zealand)? Answer: not one person. I mean, I moved here with my husband, and I know him fairly well, but otherwise nobody. All strangers here. Que the Oh you must get lonely, You are so brave, You must be an old soul (???), You must miss your family montage. Yes, to most of those things. I don't know how old my soul is though. I've never asked her and besides, a lady never tells.

After being here about 3 months, we had made about 5 friends. Or rather, my charming and talented husband had made about 5 friends, and I was shamelessly claiming them as my own. Anyways, it was time for me to venture off and find my own friends. But where? How?

Most of my closest girlfriends back home share some common interest of mine. Specifically, bikes or nursing. And while I haven't written off those avenues at all, I also realized I wanted to meet anybody and everybody, preferably ASAP. No need to be so specific. And thus, I found myself venturing out. I found myself running.

I've had a love/hate relationship with running for a few years, but it's never really gone anywhere because a) I married a cyclist and b) I apparently have a low tolerance for self inflicted pain. In any case, I decided to start attending the Speight's Weekly 5K Run/Walk that happens in the summer months. Speight's is an ale house in our neighborhood where the run starts and ends, followed by beer and sausages. I figured this was as good a place as any to meet other enthusiastic and athletic people in our area. But lets be serious. I probably never would have showed up if there weren't beer and sausages at the end.



The Charlesworth Reserve, where Speight's 5K is held
Below: Residents of the Reserve
Images Via

Now let's backtrack a week. After I decided that Scott and I would be doing this 5K thing (he gets dragged into all my schemes these days because I don't have enough friends to spread the crazy around), I realized I haven't ran 5K in years. So we laced up our completely inadequate shoes and went for a jog. It was pathetic, painful, and slow. If you think you're in shape... try running. Unless you already run. Then try Cross Fit. That never gets easy.

So we showed up to the 5K, paid our $5 each (paying for pain... crazy) and observed the other runners chatting and stretching and looking calm about this whole thing. The rules were explained. Yes, this little weekly event has a rather lengthy speech you have to listen to, which in the end just sums up to: new guys follow the people who've done it before, don't get hit by a car, and remember your number for the raffle. (Not gonna lie, the raffle motivated me almost as much as the beer.)

Who you starin' at?

And then we were off. It was just as awful, painful, and slow as our practice runs. Except it felt like 10K. Every muscle in my body complained, and my weak little subconscious just nodded along with them. But I did it (ok, we did it). And on the first week I made a friend and won a 6-pack of beer in the raffle. Then the second week I went by myself! I didn't win anything but a made another friend.

I also made friends with my petite lung capacity, constant pain in my calves, and loads of new stretching techniques. I joined Cross Fit (now you actually believe I've lost it) to get stronger, in hopes of building muscle to help with my running, mountain and road biking. I haven't actually made any real friends in Cross Fit yet, but I have exchanged some mutual This is f***ing horrible glances with people, which is sure to lead to lifelong camaraderie with somebody, right?

This is a pukeko, which is my favorite NZ bird...
more on that later

If nothing else, moving to New Zealand has been good for my body. I eat better because better is available, and I drink less.. because I'd have to be a millionaire to keep up with my Chico self here. I sleep amazingly (when 100km/hr winds aren't blowing), and I think I'm the fittest I've ever been (probably due to the Cross Fit, road bike, mountain bike, and running... but quite possibly could be the 43 stairs it takes to get to my front door). As far as the friendships, I've made a couple of good ones through some unconventional tactics. But I also got the chance to rekindle that old tattered love/hate relationship with my running shoes.

A Full Heart

I am so lucky to have such great family, wonderful friends, and a phenomenal husband. These last few weeks, from the memorial and dad's birthday, to spending a week in Breckenridge, CO with a close pal, have given me so much to be thankful for.

Yesterday I got caught up in my frustrations with the moving process. Everything is contingent on my job hunt, which currently feels stalled (although I did apply for 2 more jobs - an ICU and an OR). I had a moment of pure anger, really, but since then I feel re-set. I know this will happen. We're in control of our fate. And look at the beauty I have around me in the meantime!

Breckenridge, CO is a cool little resort town, and if you haven't been there before, it's worth checking out! Yes, it is touristy. But unlike Vail or Northstar, it's not a pre-fab town just established for your spending pleasure. It's actually a real place, with real year-round residents (only 4,500 of them, but whatever). There's fantastic food, great bars and pubs, and amazing hiking.

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Irresistible, isn't it?

My friend Courtney from Chicago and I met "in the middle", a 2 hour plane ride for both of us, in Breckenridge for a 4 day girls (mid)weekend. Technically it was a farewell vacation, but we didn't let that stop us from having some serious fun. In addition to enjoying the Breckenridge Brewery, and watching the Giants lose miserably in game 4, we also shopped 'til we dropped and pampered ourselves with deep tissue massages after completing a 7 mile, 1,500 foot elevation gain hike in the mountains. And this is no wussy hike- in addition to the actual hike, consider we're starting at over 12,000 feet elevation, and we've got about 4 inches of snow to contend with. We were lucky there were footprints on most of the trail.

There's no oxygen up here! Can you breathe? Yeah, me neither!

About 1,000 feet into the hike- we climbed up that rock face on the left

A small waterfall that the signs made a big deal about

Mohawk lake, looking towards Breckenridge

Reached the top of the rock face, lunch with a view.

Although we'll be leaving the states soon, and many people may think I'm nuts, I plan on filling these last few months with plenty of little getaways. I have a lot of fantastic people to say goodbye to, and a lunch date or phone conversation just isn't going to do it.

Next up, Ashland, OR (again, I know! We cant stay away from that place!) this weekend with some friends, and then the bay area the following weekend for an old friend's wedding.

Lesson learned: saying goodbye can be really fun. No tears necessary.