can't stop, wont stop...

Cannot get enough of Slumdog Millionaaiiireee! love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVlBrooxcM

This and that....

Ahhh OK! I realized i forgot to write about st. pattys day. as I said, i was on the hunt for irish people. I was about to give up on my night, BUT then, something AWESOME happened....I walked in my room and there were 2 irish girls that showed up YA!!! they were super nice and fun. we decided to go out to this "irish" bar...I think it was just a bar with decorations. but we were walking there, and realized none of us knew where it was....given that Westport has like 1 main road, but we talked to this guy and he was like "just listen for the music." no shit, we heard the music like 5 blocks down and there we went! It was pretty fun. Nice little irish band, everyone was shitfaced. Oddly enough, they played Wagon Wheel at the end, which is one of my favorite songs....so that was a lovely touch.

Ok, enough of that...

This week has gone by soooooo fast! Jeeez-la-weez. Hamish and Margaret are going to get back tomorrow night....I think at least. So here are a few highlights of the week.......

---Yesterday, during high tide, mark and i decided we should take a little kayak trip out. Not to the sea, but just around the estuary. so the kayak we took was SOOO old. we ended up fitting myself, mark, and FINN the dog in the kayak. hilarious. right when we started moving, mark pointed at something and finn just dove in the water. so of course, he got back in, and then just shook out all over the place and got us drenched. and stinky. we ended up getting stuck somewhere and walked back in our underware. pretttttttttty sweeeet! wish we had a pic of the three of us because we looked insane. pure rednecks.

---the chickens here are my friends now. they are HILARIOUS. I primarily feed them and they crackkk me up. they walk all over my feet and if they see me walk to the feed bucket,they freak ou8t and start running at me. The main chickens she has are a little walk away. so when I walk there in the morning i have my gumboots on and usually some lettuce leaves of something....so i start walking and say "heyy choooky choooky chooookkyyy!!" and they all start RUNNING at me. like little dinosaurs. its so odd and funny. then they follow me into their little house and i get there food and scatter it around. the rooster is SO damn loud. i want to kick it. but, i wonnnnntt! At night i have to collect the eggs. there are usually between 8-10. YUMMY! THe best is when i pick them up and they are HOT because they were just laid. pretty neat. Margaret told us that if any of the chickens are being "clucky" which means not laying eggs when they are istting there, to punish them by locking them up in the "sin bin" which is a cage and not feed them for 3 days. HA!
hummmm what else..........mark and i have these "art sessions" they are pointless, but fun nontheless. we just draw whatever....usually eachother in realy messed up ways, with blue hair and buggers. durrr!

FOund this new guy I like to listen to, Tiki Taane, he has this one song "always on my mind" that is sooo good. he was in a big group here called Solomonella Dub......... FYI.

What else, soo....OH YA! Farm WIFE! Shit, sooo basically after being here I realized i am not cut out for farm life. I think I would feel confident with a big garden and chickens, but thats it. Mark has had some troubles so he has done all the mowing and cutting wood, i have painted, weeded, and picked Calendula for soap. Oh and i stacked a shit ton of wood. but ya, basically, what it boils down to is that i understand how sexism came about back in the day. stuff can be hardd! especially for someone as small as me. small hands. so i appreciate farmers even more. and local produce. I enjoyed it and always wanted to support it, but now I think its necessary. its how people make their living, and its good for ya!

so the neighbors here are GREAT! and all new zealanders. I have had like 4 people, just neighbors, call here to see how I am doing and if I need anything. And hamish's sister, lindsey, who I have stayed with in CHristchurch and LOVE called the first night to make sure I was OK. SOO NICE! I love these people. such nice folks.

sandflies are a problem right now. my feet are swollen from the bites and they are just ALL OVER. ugh. oh well, once i leave the W. coast they will cool down a bit. its just bad over here.

Welll, anyways, i need to collect my thoughts betterr.......................................... scattered right now. OH YEA! I used a hair dryer today for the FIRST TIME SINCE JAN. 24th! I can't believe its half way over....only a month and a half left......crazy.

Oh ya, mark and I are going to do part of the Heaphy Track, its one of the "great walks of new zealand" it starts/leaves from Karamea. we are going to leave weds. and hike till Sunday...very excited! loooovvee hikin! ok, xoxomwah!

something to appetize the eyes...

Ok, sooo.......the big giant tree in the sunset is the coolest tree i have EVER seen. its on their neighbors property----hes gone for the week but they said we could go up there because he has this super sweet view clear all the way past the estuary and to the sea.

the pine looking tree is called a Norfolk Pine and its my favorite tree in NZ. BUT, its not native--comes from an island, norfolk island, btw NZ and aussie. its on their property. so there ya go!

Holy Moly, a lot has happened...and now I'm a farmer! AHHH!

Lets start from right now to the past week and a half or so...

Right now i'm in Karamea which is on the W. coast of the S. island. its pretty much just like jurassic park. population 500, which is spread out over like 6 miles. so yeah, there is nothing here. one very smalll grocery store, the post office (which is inside the hardware store), an isite info place and some hippy store that sells old clothes. YEEHAW! So I got picked up by Hamish, how is LIndseys sister--the woman I have stayed with in Christchurch. He picked me up from this CRAZY, INSANE backpackers (which I will get to later) on thursday morning. He had to take all of this Flax to the estuary because they are building a trail there, etc etc. So i just rode around with him and his truck, with Finn, his dog for a bit. It was rainy and gross out. At one point--during on eof the runs back to ge tmore flax, i stayed with finn and threw fetch with him for a bit. when we got in the car, he started hacking and a piece of his lung, is wear it was his lung, flew up and landed on hamish's jacket. I almost puked. id idn't say anything though. gross. i thought i killed the dog. but alas, he is fine and barking like crazy right now.

SO, Hamish and Margaret----AWWEEEEESOOOMMEEE! I love them! They live on a farm, wtih a small orchard that has pears, apples, an OK plum tree, land lemons. then they have 500 feijoas which is NZ fruit. their main thing is Tea Tree Oil. They are the only organic tree tea farm in NZ which is pretty sweet. so they have all these tea trees and they are AWESOME. i have a cold right now so I have been doing these tea tree inhilations....VERY intense. but they clear you up. Margaret said she would always just give her kids a dot of tea tree oil when they had a cut headahce, flu, etc. ha. So she is HILARIOUS. makes me laugh so hard. just a laid back hippy woman who is very smart and funny. we have a lot of fun together. Hamish is also equally as awesome. he is SO nice! He had to teach me how to use these gigantic lawnmowers that i swear were made in the 1800's and had more patience with me then anyone i have ever met. i kept getting them stuck, or I couldn't push it. ohmigod they are HUGE. so annoying. and he taught me how to use the 4 wheeler, which is pretty gnarly. its a stick shift so thats funny.

SO yeah, i stayed with them solo for about 3 days. they just showed me the ways of the farm....how and when to feed the chooks (chickens), watch the sheep, feed the cat, dog, etc. look after th garden. watch the baby chooks. lots of stuff, actually. they also live right on this MASSIVE estuary. its the biggest i have ever seen. yesterday mark and i walked all the way to the sea----the Tasman. its a GORGEOUS beach.

So my friend Mark, who is traveling here for the year and working, said he would meet me up here. he has no phone and i had no reception and he was gonna hitch up here. AAHHH! so anytime ANYONE passed by on the "highway" (they live on the highway, its realy just a country road) we would run out and see if it was mark. ones a group of biker guys stopped in front. hamish thought it was mark, i thought that would be INSANE if it was...it wasn't. so then finally, 2 evenings ago, a HORSE TRAILOR showed up in the drive. and guess what! it was Mark! I died laughing. hilarious. I was SO happy he showed up! I knew he would, just didn't know when. but just realy happy he is here. i was scared i was going to have to talk to animals all week....

we have lots of chores to do--LOTS of mowing, have to feed the chickens twice a day, weed, pick the apples and pears, and paint one side of the house. so we are busy. mark is mowing right now.......we cant get the other mower to work. i'm taking it as a sign that i'm not supposed to mow??? ya.

So....stilll going back in time....right before I got here I stayed in Karamea at this wicky wack backpackers called Rongo Backpackers. The building, which was small, was painted in rainbow colors so it really stuck out. everyone was hugging eachother and loving eachother......ughhh! hippys! i have nothing against hippys, but this was nuts. 2 poeple started hugging in front of me and didn't let for like 7 minutes ( i counted) and i waslike oh shit i hope she is ok, i hope no one died, and then their arms broke and she was like wow that was great, thanks.......ahh...ok?

The good thing about ROngos was that every weds. they have a potluck dinner. so everyone was supposed to make something from their country, or atleast something good. my fav. was israeli. it was called Shakshusksa??? not sure exactly. it was like a spicy omlette, but not, onions, tomoatoes, and egg...hard to describe but so damn good. so we had fresh bread, couscous with tomatoes and onions, pumkin, lasagna, these asian thing, fruit salad---lots more. i just pitched ina couple of bucks bc i didnt want to cook. and some of those people had been there for like 2 weeks cause the 'got stuck there'--every 4th night is free. so they were all best friends...how lovely. OH but, one cool/funny thing they had there---outside in the back there is this small room thing where they have painting classes a couple times a week AND Karameas ONLY radio station. you can go a play anything you want at anytime. how funny.

So now we back up all the way to westport....westport sucks. its this small town that links karamea to civilization. i got picked up by the 'bus' to go to karamea there. it was more like a small airplane of a car. it was myself, the driver, andt his guy who lives in this town called Granity which is in between karamea and westport. he said the only time he talks to people is when he comes to westport to go the grocery store. so of course he was talking my head off. the ride was interesting and AWFUL. I got car sick. it was the curviest road EVER. and the 'bus' was also the delivery truck for karamea. so people would just tel this guy what they wanted from town ....and we dropped it off. so we stopped like 15 times to peoples houses and stores. hum.

so i felt like shit the rest of the day and was starting to get a cold then...whaa wahh. i know.

now i'm here and we are having a blast! we are both just thinking this whole thing is hilarious. mark is mowing right now, i did garden stuff today. Finn, their dog, is crazy. ive never met a dog with so much energy. he will play fetch with you for HOURS. we played with him yesterday for like 5 hours. nuts. and so strange, we were on the estuary and we were looking at him and he took a poop like a human, sitting on a log. soo funny! whatta crazy dog. he can also jump like 5-6 feet to get balls and such. nuts.

ok, so this blog was to satisfy my mother. i have more stories to say but I will save those for tomorrow or the next day. talk soon! ooxoxox oh and here are some pics of the past couple days and such!

From wearing Drag to a Dead end town....

HIYOOO!!!

Lets see, where shall I start....so stray actually picked me up this time around. I was sitting outside the hostel I was staying at in Able Tasman where supposedly they pick you up. Then one of the guys working there asked who was picking me and I said Stray and he said I better just stand in the middle of the road so they don't forget me.....ya....so then he ended up giving me a ride to where stray was staying that night---this place called Old macdonalds Farm like 30 feet from my hostel/barn. So I got on the bus and all was well!

So whenever I was on Stray before I never really knew where we were going until someone told me. I thought we were going to Westport, but apparently we were driving to this small ass town--population 40--called Barrytown. We were literally staying at a BAR. Basically this bar is only open for the 3 locals that come there and for Stray. So the bartender was our "receptionist" and gave us lost of booze. But the kicker was they made all of us dress us in nasty ass outfits--wearing drag, the guys were all in lingerie, etc etc. i'll post pics later. We we all just got pretty drunk--it was a good time. By the end of thenight, our bus driver, Baggins (yes, as in lord of the rings) was in a skirt and a bra. We ended up playing this awful, AWFUL drinking game. I lost so I had to take a shot of beer and wine---GROSS> but this other chick had to drink a shot of baileys and tequila----EW. so anyways, that was that---pretty fun. THe only problem is I have to go and do that exact same thing in a week when I'm done with house sitting, which starts tomorrow.

That next morning, we jumped across the highway and did this bone carving thing---I made a pretty sweet as necklace. I will also put up some pics of this. The bone carving itself smelled SOOO awful. i wanted to puke. GROSSS!

So then stray left at 1 and my bus picked me up at 2. I was sitting on the side of the highway with my pack feeling like a complete homeless person. i have had this feeling multiple times.

OH Also, we stopped on the Punakeiki Rocks aka Pancake rocks. super cool--check 'em out. AND, we stopped at this lookout spot that was rated in the top ten for best views in the world. I can def. see why---it was gorgeous.

so yea, now i'm up in Wesport--this shithole town. it kind of reminds me of martinsville----its where 'real men' come to live. Lots of coal and gold mining up in this part. I was attemping to walk to the beach this afternoon after I talked to my mom. So I started walking and then realized the beach must suck cause i was the only one walking towards it. Mind you, there was no one walking anyways. so I get to one part of the walk and there is no one around and i'm about to head down a dirt/sand road with bush on both sides. I could just imagine getting robed and killed. but I still wanted to go. i had my knife with me and almost put it in my pocket and then realized i was a freaking idiot. so I turned around. i must have been 40 yards from the beach. oh well, better off alive in westport than dead on the beach. just felt creepy...

the hostel i'm at is pretty cool---its like an old victorian house. there were people up till 5 am this mroning in the room next to me. i wanted to kill them.

I think i pulled a muscle above my ass. it hurts so bad and its giving me a limp. HOT.

So i leave tomorrow for Karamea--its a little over an hour from here. I'm staying at this backpackers called Rongos Backpackers and Art Gallery---i think its real hippy. and colorful. I prob. wont be able to sleep. my friend mark should be meeting me in karamea within the next day or so. I HOPE. I will die if he doesnt.

So yeah........there are some other things I could say but I need to gather my thoughts before I write them out. So its St. Patricks day here---i've been on the hunt for irish people. god they are so crazy, i love it. I was hoping the two crazy identical irish girls I met on the Tongariro crossing would be here---i'msure they are always blacked out.

Ohmigod---THE BACON HERE IS SO AWFUL! I just had french toast with bacon, banana, and berries---the bacon is seriously dead human. i can't look at it. and i need to remember that i dont like it here. EW. VOMIT.

ok, i will write more later. i have to tell you about this awful woman from purdue. gross. for many reasons.

going to take a shower and go to the grocery store. just bought some fresh corn--i'm sure I will mess it up though.

xoxoxomiss things! (i think?)

sandflies in my eyes!

Finally made it to Able Tasman---thank god. I wanted to KILL stray.

so i'm here and its GREAT! I'm staying at this place called "The Barn" and it has roosters (which are annoying in the morning). There are people camping here and staying in the "hostel." It has one GIANT room that everyone has to walk through to go to the bathroom. I heard about this before I came so I booked a smaller room with 4 other people. It's pretty nice---can be loud in the mornings though.....on to bigger and better things..

So I got here 2 days ago (thursssday) and met this Czech girl/london girl. She is 28 and has been living in London for 9 years. she was really fun and we went on a 5 mile hike the day I got here---GORGEOUS geography! That night we just hung out with some other folks---a german guy, and an aussie couple. Just drank and talked, etc etc.

THe next day I woke up at 8 and went kayaking all day---LOVED IT! I love kayaking. so fun. There were 6 other people, so 7 with me, so I ended up being in the sea kayak with the guide---SAAAWWWWWEEEET! He was GREAT! We got along really well. he is a kiwi and his name was brad---i think he was like 28 or somethin. has traveled all over the world and writes for a bunch of outdoor magz. We might meet up tonight at this bar called Hot Mama's in Motueka--which is a town sorta close to here. who knows. We ended up just telling eachother disgusting jokes the whole time. when we were making our way back the water got sorta rough so he freaking PLOWED me through a massive wave and I got SOAKED! not cool. but he was laughing. jerk. there was another guy named Rohan, "Rowi," that was also pretty nice. he worked for them and it turns out he has been to Indy! His sister lives there. STranngeeee.....whenever I say i'm from indiana people either have no idea where it is so I say "the middle" or they say "Ohhh, REggie Miller!!" HOw strange is that? I forgot about reggie yearsssss ago. call me a bad hoosier, but who gives. there were two other girls on the trip and both of them were from Ohio--but not traveling together. There was also a UK couple on it and they thought I was "Brave" they said, to be traveling solo. i guess. an american/canadian I just met thought I was "ballsy." but there are SO many solo travelers I never feel alone. baoahabahl.

so anyways, on the kayak trip we went around this small island that has a seal colony on it. SOO COOL! There were hundreds swimming all around us. Under us, coming up to the kayaks,playing with eachother. One of them followed brad and I for a bit and was jumping almost in the boat. Its also pup season so the babies were pretty cute trying to swim.....

Kayaked to some lagoon and around to some beaches. Stopped at Anchorage bay and got a water taxi back. Freeeeezing on the water taxi back!! so damn cold. Rowi kept trying to give me his jacket but I think it smelled like ass.

what else what else....last night i was SO tired. got into my bed around 8:30. This hostel is also infested with germans. the girls in my room, who were gone, had on makeup to go kayaking. what the fuck? Then last night, im in the room and one of them comes in and starts pounding makeup on her face and I was like "ohh are you guys going on??" and she said " oh nu, ima gonnah met my boyfriend en da internetz" are you kidding me? Putting makeup on for the internet? I look like I just got runover by a semi every time i've talked to joe or my parents. oh well, to each his own.....but not really, cuz that is just stupid.

today I got up around 9 and then left for a hike at 10. I did about 8 miles all by myself!! lovely day. great views. the water is a piercing tourquoise here---but has TONS of different shades. Depends on how the sun hits it. in the water taxi for kayaking the water looked like glass or how jello looks when its done---clear and glassy. you could see straight to the bottom. OH and we saw penguins! Apparently they are stupid penguins and drown pretty often. sad. I heard able tasman was so bad for sandflies but I havent thought it was THAT bad. I mean i have gotten bitten, but the bees are what scare me. You can constantly hear humming on the coastal treck that I was on. they are EVERYWHERE. all over. but I dont think they bother people?? Who knows. Also, I have realized the worst part about hiking is when you stop for a break. BECAUSE, when you do this, your feet realize they are on a rest and all your blisters come alive and it HURTS SO BAD. atleast thats what happened to me.

So i have made a lot of different countries and how the people travel in them:

USA: Usually they are solo. More women are solo then men. The men that travel with friends are giant meatheads and work out all the time. SICK.

UK: travel solo. eager to meet people. nice. but can't cook for shit.

French: Travel as couples, always look clean and like they have an outfit on. smoke a lot. and wear purfume/cologne.

Germans: travel in herds. Are loud. disrespectful. have nice clothes, most of the time. good jeans.

Scottish: Drunk! Drunk drunk drunk and very nice.

Irish: also drunk but completely insane.

Swiss: very attractive.

Anyways, its almost 6. i'm gonna hop in the shower--which is nice and clean, and then drink some tea, akjhaksjd. who knows.

will write more later when I gather my thoughts. I"m so dirty right now and I smell. hopefully my shit is still up in my room, as I haven't checked it since the morning. leaving tomorrow morning at 9 for westport---it is supposed to suck. not excited. but i dont really care. it keeps me moving. then I go to karamea a few days after that to house sit! YAHOO!

ok, byeeeeeeeeeee! xo

You will NOT believe the story I am about to tell you...

HOLY SHIT.


so tonight, after I was neglected by Stray, i decided I needed fat kid food and a movie AKA burger king (GROSS) and "He's just not into you." So i'm at burger king, stuffing my face with fries....I see through this tiny window through the bathrooms a guy that walks through that looks familiar. Turns out to be one of the german girls boyfriends from the hostel who is actually kind of cute. So we kind of give eachother a "hi, how are you?" nod. Then, he and his girlfriend, a german, durr, start walking towards me. I try not to make eye contact but they come over. They ask me what I'm doing tonight, I explain--in the FASTEST english possible to try to speed up this convo, that I got ditched by the bus. Then I say that I'm meeting some friends from my hostel later. (LIE). I can tell they don't understand me that well, which is a good thing. Because then they tell me they are about to go to a movie, and I'm thinking shit shit shit, please dont be going to hes just not that into you....and she goes "oh daaa we are guttin ta ga tu "he'z jus na thea into yu" du ya wantuhv come?" So even though I already said I was meeting friends, i tell them yea I will meet them there. REALLY didn't want to. REALLY awkward. Not only am I being invaded by the germans again, but now I'm a third wheel on a german date. GREAT. So they go ahead of me and I try to decide if I should stand them up. But no, no no no, they will not dictate what movie I go to! I will prevail!!! So I walk over to the cinema, which was like 20 feet from burger king and guess what? Not only was I not a 3rd wheel, I was in the entire group of GERMANS FROM MY HOSTEL! like 8 of them. no joke. so I go over, say hi---we NEVER even said hi at the hostel. I nervously go get my ticket and just walk in the theatre without them. They end up kicking some girls out of this row because they demanded all 8 of them sit together. RUDE. then they sort of wave down to me to come sit by them....I was all the way in the back, in the corner---Best seat in the house. I told them I was cozy back there.

I jsut can't believe that after my days in the german hostel, i ended up on a date with all 8 of them.

oh, and to make things extra special I left the movie with a few minutes to spare so it was dark and I didn't have to say bye to them. awwkkkward.

and my review on the movie: C
***chick flick
***not so good acting
*****justin long was pretty cute
***jennifer connelleys eyebrows are crazy and I can only imagine here on heroin bc of requiem of a dream.

ok, goin back to my hostel. shower, read, and go to bed.

nighty night!

fucking bus.

(this is kind of what I looked like today waiting for the bus)

so today i was supposed to leave nelson. but guess what!!! THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!

i get dropped off at this hostel where the bus was supposed to pick me up at 2:25---I made SURE I was like 35 minutes early. it says to get there 15 minutes early, but I didn't want to take any chances. So I ask the people at the hostel where stray usually picks up. they said out front, so I go there, and then they say that the driver usually comes into make sure he has everyone.

so i'm waiting, on the sidewalk, like a homeless person for this bus. It was supposed to come at 3---but I knew it would prob. be late.my last bus was 45 minutes late and they said that was really rare--it can be like 15-20 minutes late. So anyways, i got excited because I SAW THE BUS! but it was going away from my hostel and was 4 blocks away. so I went into the hostel to ask if that sounded suspicious and if that was the way out of town...they didn't really know so we called Stray and they said they were still going to pick me up. i waited and watched and thought I was going insane because there were all these school buses, that looked JUST like a stray bus, but slightly different--it was like the thomas crown affair. ughhhhh.

what a crock of shit. i stayed out there for another hour, and mind you, nelson is the size of my fist, so i knew it shouldnt have taken that long to gather people. went back in, they called stray and low and behold, they claim that stray came and already left! WHAT SHIT! so i called their bluff, kind of got an attitude although I know it wasn't this chicks fault, but was like "listen, i was sitting out front, right where they pick everyone up....I didn't have my ipod on, and I wasn't asleep---I was looking for a GIANT ORANGE BUS and it didn't come!" so they told me they could get me tomorrow. BITCH, i aint got no time to waste! So I just bought a bus ticket to get to able tasman tomorrow morning. i get there around noon.

peace out nelson. and stray, F-you!

leaving germany!

HELLOOOO!

leaving Nelson today to go to Able TAsman with StrayBus. VERY Excited! I think this park will be one, of many, highlights of my trip. crossing my fingers we have good weather---it is supposed to be all sunshine. YAHOO!

a very sweet, nice, japanese girl moved into my room yesterday. i felt so bad for her. she said she was really lonely and missed her family---she came here to learn english and travel...she is just 21. I could just tell how difficult it has been for her here, with the language barrier. she is trying though. her english isn't that good---she has to think a lot before she says anything. so of course i was trying to help her---laugh now mother, i know you think my english is AWFUL. i know it is, but i can help someone who sucks even more than I do....so anyways, i helped her understand what the following words are " offended," "suspect," "recommend," and "god bless" that was difficult because she kept asking me and i didn't understand what the hell she was saying. till FINALLY she said her brother sent her an e-mail in japanese (by this time in our deep, glowing friendship I was on her bed with her looking at all of her japanesey computer stuff and her japanese computer dictionary she brought) but yea, so her brother wrote her in Japanese but at the end, said "god breath" and she didn't understand---CLEARLY. he is trying to learn some english too. I ended up giving her this dirty grey wife beater I had---i have worn it to bed like 4 weeks in a row. i felt bad giving her a dirty tank top, but she LOVED IT. and I gave her my bridget jones diary book because i jsut finished it. that will take her YEARS, if not decades to read.

toying with the thought of staying here for the full year, or atleast through the ski season. just a thought. i really don't want to deal with getting a job and having a "normal" life back home. i just looooove traveling. i haven't gotten sick of it yet at all, or my backpack, which I was worried about. but it turns out I packed less than anyone in new zealand. i met this chick and she is here for 6 weeks and brought 6 sweatshirts. I am here for 4 1/2 months and I brought 1. maybe I underpacked? no. i packed perfectly. yep.

yea, so anyways, i really dont like thinking of getting ajob back home. it makes me sick to think about. when/if I get a job, it better be SO FUN AND I MUST LOVE IT! argh. who knows...

NEXT.

my feet are really banged up right now. falling apart. possibly have athletes foot. the aussie chick left me these neon green jangals (flip flops) that she got for free. brand spankin new! ANd green is my favorite color---SCORRRRRE!

anywho---i have to go to the grocery and buy enough food to last me 4 days. there are no grocerys in able tasmans or stores. i think i'll just buy tuna fish and cucumber....ohmigod that sounds awful. i will think of something. atleast i have my giant chocolate bar and kettle corn.....wow, that was depressing too.

ok, must go!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxo

pics i got from a friend down undah

pictures from kayaking in milford sound with April and Mona!!!!!

Mark Called, Mark calleddd! YES!

Ah! Much better day. My friend Mark Strother, from home---who i have already met up with here, FINALLY called me because I was waiting to see if could stay with me while I house sit....as I don't want to be by myself for a week in an extremely remote place. Karamea is literally a dead end. LITERALLY. so he called and I am so relieved! He is picking apples, which he said was fucking awful down in Central Otago. he said he gets paid by how much he picks and one day he picked the wrong type and they had to throw them all away. ha. and he said he lives with a drug dealer (again) and in a dungeon (again--as we did in queenstown). so anywho---so happy about all of this.

the day is good. woke up and went for a run. did some lunges and stuff. there is a cricket field across my hostel so i ran around there. its kind of gloomy here today. but thats OK. I bought a FABULOUS sheep skin rug. Its HUGE, and so FLUFFY and i love it. should get to my house in 4 weeks. also bought a really cute, short skirt---i kind of don't buy short skirts anymore, but this one is super cute. good with boots and sandals. yahooo! Oh andi bought a eye mask because the place I'm staying at in able tasman is just a GIANT room (i believe) so everythin gis exposed. I doubt I will sleep.

I made a reservation for my kayaking trip today...its all day friday---get to swim with seals, dolphins, and blue penguins!! I guess there is a HUGE seal colony on Tonga Island which is where I will be part of the time. VERY excited! Ready for another adventure. I think the rest of the ime i'm in able tasman I will just hike all day, or take a water taxi somewhere. hoping to meet people, as I am in a more social mood now. I haven't been in nelson, as my hostel is a small german town, and I was kind of getting sick of having the same conversation with people....

whats your name? Where are you from? where are you going? where have you been? how long are you here? Any tips? Thats a standard backpacking greeting. its nice and what not, buuuut, it gets old if you don't break it up. maybe sometime, when I am at my breaking point for that convo, i will pretend to be deaf and see what happens. ya?

what else what else........new japanese girl moved into my room. not very good english and VERY japanesey. cute girl, nice sweet. was making rice when I left....enough to feed the german colony.

ummmmmmm, well, i guess I will get goin! I leave nelson manana at 3 pm. then I get to able tasman. SO EXCITED too because its supposed to sweet as weather there---blue skies, sunny, and HOT. can't wait! Hopefully the sandflies and bee's aren't bad. I know they will be though. I bought some bug spray yesterday and the man I bought it from was like "going some place where youre gonna get attacked?" and I said " ya, I think...able tasman" and he was like " oh god yes, you will definitely be attacked." kiwi's are funny people....the nicest people too.

OH, i forgot to tell you about the FUDGE shop! I am not necessarily a fudge person, BUT, they have this fudge calle dGrandmas chocolate fudge and its out of this world. so pretty much everytime I walk past I get a piece. they know me now. slightly embarassing, but not enough to stop going. chocolate is everywhere here. they have entire isles in the grocery story dedicated to it. I LOVE CHOCOLATE. and today i was at this little grocery story and I saw this tube thing that said "Marzipan" which is what my friend Helen's mom has called me for YEARS, and I thought it was a tube of meat, BUT, it was CHOCOLATE! so meant to be.

ok, must go now. its raining and I have no raincoat. I should have brought it into town...stupid me.

CHEERS! xoxo

From shitty day...to A-OK!

What a rhymer I am.....

so I had a shitty day today. I think it was my first shitty day BESIDES the day I got all my shit stolen which was pretty legit in my mind. So I wrote a little notey-note on facebook, which I never ever do. I think the only time I did it was to try to sell a backpack and that failed. But i must say, this was a success. So this is what I wrote....

"i am having a yucky day over here in Ned Zed and I want everyone to know about it. HOw annoying is that? very.

woke up with a headache which is never a good sign. then this chick in my room left but her alarm kept going off, over and over and over again for about 30 minutes. KILL ME.

my hostel is infested with german girls. i typically have nothing against germans over here (they are EVERYWHERE and travel in packs) but these girls are super clicky and wont speak english. just german. annoying.

what I would really like to do today is sit on a couch, watch a reallly good movie, call Mother Bears or Avers to DELIVER, then eat a delicious pizza all to myself. with ranch of course. oh and drink upland beer. oh man i miss that beer.

i know I have no room to complain about my life over here...its fucking awesome I have loved all of it, but on days like this, its just blarhhhhhhhh.

maybe everyone should send me a jolly good joke? or a short tale of their lives? ha. ok, gonna go walk around while my head pounds with every step i take......

misss you guysss! xoxoxo"

And low and behold, I got responses! And gueesssss what guys!!! THey made me feeeeel sooooo much better! I should write notes everyday, bwahahha! No, but really, it was quite amazing how the internet works and how fast things get to eachother. crazy. But I did gets lots of good fbook messages, stories, quotes, etc. So i just want to give a HAAAAAAAA-ZAH!!, YAY, THANKS, YAHOO, WOWZAH, to everyone who sent me a little something sweet.

on another note, during my depression today I went and saw "The secret life of bees." I really enjoyed it---although when I left the theatre i was crying and my eyes were swollen. aww but it sure felt good to cry. the theatres are really small...the one yesterday---ya I know depressing, i have been to two movies in two days, by MYSELF, had 12 seats in it. the one today was a bit bigger. BUt it was just myself and 3 women. One was by herself, she was in her late 60's and was crying the whole time. the other two were 50'ish and were friends. then there was me, in the back, young and alive, in a dark room crying. bwahah. I sure do love movies though. loveeeeeee them!

Anywho--thats it for now. this was kind of pointless. anyhoot----CHEERS MATEY!

Oh, lastly, I just want to say that I think I really do hate john mayer and dave mathews band with a firey passion. i heard both today and wanted to do. and john mayer's facial expressions....GAG ME WITH A PIECE OF CLOTH COVERED IN GASOLINE, PLEASE.

Daniel King is my English Lover.

Where oh where do I begin! I arrived in Nelson on Saturday morning at 5 AM. Tired as hell. Ended up working the entire farmers market with Jennie because she needed the help. We sold out an hour early. While we were there, she gave me a giant bag of plums and wa slike " go give this to the falafel guy, he is giving us lunch" (they trade/bargain all the time, the farmers that is). So she pointed me into the general direction. The falafel ended up being a mysterY! I was walking around saying " falafeeelll guy....where are you!!"???" finally, in this littler car mobile thing I look in---it did not say FALAFEL on the front---and asked if he was the falafel guy. He said yes, i gave him the plums and then he talked to me for about 8-10 minutes on where I was from. Would NOT believe I was from the US because of my skin. DOne and Done...

The farmer next door to jennie and I was SO nice. she grew organic veggies and plants. she gave me these cute little cucumbers called Apple cucumbers---you can basically eat them like an apple. yum. got those for free and an avacado cuz i'm a wwoofer and "i'm helping the cause" as the french farmer said....

GOt some new sunglasses, as I so sadly lost my red ones. they were like my trademark in my pictures, a "where's waldo?" type deal. sad. but oh well. thank god i didn't bring my good glasses. i knew I would lose them.

ate a DISGUSTING sandwich yesterday---it was supposed to be a BLT with avacado but the bacon looked like human flesh off the side of the road and the bread was SOAKED in mayo. gross. I had to push it far away from me and put napkins on top of it as not to throw up.

the hostel i'm stayin at in Nelson is great--"The bug" very clean, BUT, full of all of these German girls! THOUSANDS! I swear. and they all travel together. oh well.

I was THRILLED to not wake up at 8am, put on my gumboots (rubber boots) and pick blueberries. I woke up around 930 and then just laid there for about an hour. awww it felt amazing.

my blog, esthetically, is very boring I have recognized. my friend lindsays is out of control with decor. i am a blog failure.

I SAW THE SADDEST THING YESTERDAY!! ahh was walking home and saw this woman in a parking lot kind of shaking, and realized she was crying and trying to catch her breath. I thought she was in a fight with a man next to her that was leaning into the back of a subaru type car....then I looked closer and they were outside of a vet's office....then I looked even HARDER and realized she had blood all over her hand....then I looked EVEN HARDER HARDER HARDER and realized that a dog was in the back of subaru!!!!!!! it had been hit by a car or something! I almost puked. it was incredibly sad and I wanted to go back and leave a note on their car saying that I hope their dog was ok. I can't imagine....it was just really sad.

FENCES---everyhouse here has a fence (and when I say "here" i mean in new zealand) all around the house. front and back. privacy is suprisingly a big thing here.

on to bigger and better things, like DANIEL KING.

DANIEL KING: when I first booked my first stray tour bus this Daniel called me to make my booking. He is probably in his 20's, from england. I have NO clue what he looks like. BUT, he writes me all the time, and when I write him witha question or anything, he literally writes back within seconds. is so strange. I told him I was picking blueberries, so he wrote me the next day saying that he bought blueberries at the market cuz he was inspired by my picking them. writes me all the time...tells me to come to see him when I get to auckland and he will take me for a drink....but then I have been so annoying with ?'s that now I have to take him to a drink. Maybe we will get married and move to an island. BUT, i facebooked all the daniel Kings and it could be fatal. half of them were 15 with puibic hair curls and gross teeth....humph.

Today was nothing tooooooo special. walked around, went to lunch...and then went a movie---Vicky Christina Barcelona. I tried to watch it on the plane over here, but i was to drugged to understand what was going on. I LOVED IT! ohmigod it was so great. penelope cruz is HOT and i Iloved javier bardem. ahh i cant get enough.

made me realized certain things too---like i would rather die then end up boring, talking about golf and new TV technology type stuff, with a guy wearing a brown belt, tight kacki (sp??) pants, and a gross polo shirt. EW. I hope that is not me.

I have also realized that, of course, when I get home I will get a job and move somewhere...who knows what or where that will be. but, I want to try and travel every year and half for atealst 3 months. my next trip will be to S. America ( I will go witha friend, its to sketch). and I def. want to live somewhere for a year.....who knows.

Anywho, i should go. people need the computer and I am going to make some tea. so hot here though.....

ok, love and miss! cheers!xoxox

what elisabeth and I did before I went to the farmers market at 5am

MY BIRTHDAY: Aug. 2nd, 1985 this is me. Modality: Fixed Element: Fire Ruler: The Sun Season: Summer 5th Sign of Zodiac

Metal: Gold Stone: Ruby Color: Orange, Gold Anatomy: The heart.

Keywords: magnanimous, generous, hospitable, caring, warm, authoritative, active, open

Comparison with its symbol, the Lion:

The majestic lion, the King of the Beasts, is Leo's symbol. Throughout history, the lion has symbolized sovereignty, rulership, and courage. "The lion's size and strength have captured human imagination since ancient times"(1) Leos, like lions, are thought to be strong leaders. They generally have a regal quality to them, and possess a noble manner that is hard to miss. The glyph for Leo represents the mane of the lion.

Sun in Leo

(The Sun is in Leo from approximately July 21 to August 20, depending on the year). There's an unmistakably regal air to Solar Leos. These are dignified—even noble—folk. Leos have a reputation for being conceited, but think again. Leos do feel important, but this generally takes the form of wanting to change the world in some way—to make the world a better place. They are generally motivated by affection for people, and often have big dreams and plans to make people happy. Generally, Leos are hard-working. After all, they are attracted to the good things in life, and they know they have to work to get them. It is sometimes difficult to imagine Leos as go-getters if you happen to catch them in one of their languid moods. These people can sleep in, laze around, and luxuriate for long periods of time. However, when they do get to work, they do it with intensity and determination. In this way, they are not unlike their symbol, the lion. The worst thing you can do to a Leo is accuse them of bad intentions. Displaying behavior that makes them think you don't appreciate them runs a close second. These happy, jovial people become mighty hurt when others don't see them for their noble intentions. Loyal, and sometimes rather traditional, Leos are, after all, a fixed sign. They'll hold on to situations and people for a very long time before they give up. There is an unmistakable idealism to Leo's view of the world and the people in it. Often, Leos have a very noble inner code that they answer to. Although on the surface, Leos appear rather confident, they can actually be some of the most humble souls around. They are the first to blame themselves when something goes wrong. Once again, it's the Leonine self-importance at work, and this characteristic works in unexpected ways. Instead of being the conceited, self-absorbed show-offs of reputation, they are usually very self-aware, self-conscious, and, yes, even humble.

sand flies and rain

a few things........i kinda feel rushed right now.........

---got a new wwoofer girl from new jersey---went to boston u. shes cool, outgoing, funny----good good

--still leaving here on saturday, VERY excited. cant wait actually.

--sand flies are AWFUL. they are supposedly really bad in able tasman and on the west coast bc the wet climate....arghh....not excited. they are out again today. BUT, they leave if it gets windy.

--forgot to say that new zealander (kiwis) do not use napkins AT ALL. or paper towels. they dont even use napkins in nice occasions....strange and kind of annoying bc i am forced to wife dirty stuff all over my pants.

---supposed to rain here all day---bob says. ugh..........

ummmm thats about it for now. pretty tired, ready to move on, VERY glad I came here though. I am think im going to come back here to work in May before I head up to the N. island to leave, but just for a few days---its Feijoas season......look 'em up! its a type of strange fruit!!! YUM!!

--had a FABULOUS dinner tonight with jennie and 3 of her friends.......lentil thing, tomatoes ( her tomatoes are out of this world, you could eat them like apples), couscous and fresh veggies from her garden, fresh bread, wine, etc ec.

hannah just kicked me out of her room. must go. ugh.

ready to leave.

CHEERS!

oink oink

(this picture is of Able Tasman Nat'l Park---where I am going next week!)


ok, getting delusional here in Renwick. ready to move on. BIG TIME.


forgot to write about our pizza party last night. Jennie made 3 homemade pizzas---SO DAMN GOOD. everything was out of her garden.. pizza A) pesto, corn, onion pizza B) feta, red onion, spinach, roasted red pepper, pizza C ) sausage, tomato, cilantro, ??

I think i just messed some of those pizza's up, but you get the dift. good. THEN, to top it off, she made a plum tart that was OUT OF THIS WORLD good. i could have eaten the whole thing. i will be dreaming of that sweet little tart when I get home, thats for sure...

so that austin guy had 2 crazy stories he told us....oh and i forgot to say i think he is 19 or 20...a child.

so he told us that while he was in kaikora he saw this guy on the side of the road about the go fishing so he asked him if he could go with---he said yes. (just an FYI, iw ould never go fishing witha stranger, what if they used YOU as bait!!!??) so anyways, he said he was swimming at one point and all of the sudden heard this "WOOOOOOOOOSH!!" of air and looked over and therewas an Orca Whale about 30 feet from him. CRAZY! he said the guy fishing with him was shitting his pants, and so was he. So thats one story down, the next is actually horrifying. the second day he was hitch hiking and this 18 wheeler picked him up. he said it was a huge Maori man. they were driving and the maori guy asked if austin had ever driven an 18 wheeler, he said no (OBV.) and then he asked if he wanted to drive it. So austin said yes, which i think is INSANE, because A) its an 18 wheeler and B) its New zealand---KIWI DRIVERS ARE CRAZY! and the roads are NUTS! so he said he started driving it, and then the maori guy was like "ok, i'll be back in a bit" and then went to bed for 2 HOURS!!! NUTS, I TELL YA! just NUTS!

anyhoot---today I graded plums which basically means i sort them into ripe, unripe, and gross. pretty boring. THEn, we had to groom their grapes to sell. which is just annoying.

this afternoon i tried to get a little organized with my future (1 week). I was going to leave on Saturday around 1 to Nelson.........BUT.....jennie insisted on giving me a ride to nelson at 5 freakin AM because the farmers market ( and yes mom, its the Outdoor Market, its mixed) so now I have to work the SAt. farmers market. I really want $ for it. maybe she will give me thousands of plums. humph. so I will stay there till the 11th, then get on a Stray bus to ABle tasman Nat'l Park---which I am VERY excited about! lots of hiking and kayaking. And eventually head down to Karamea where I am house sitting for a week. After that, ITS APRIL!! AHHH! time is flying. then I will just be doing a loop of the S. island and then who knows what. Might come back here for a COUPLE OF DAYS and work on a vineyard or pick Feijoas at Jennie and Bobs bc May is the time they are ripe.

so the spa i told you about near the farm...WAS GREAT! i went today to get a back massage. I was in such heaven. the girl was GREAT but i am VERY oily now. extremly actually, like I might fly out of my dirty bed. gosh i love massages. if I were really rich, I would get 1 a week. you wouldn't want one everyday bc then you would possibly forget how awesome they are. And I would also want my own chef. and a personal trainer. and a little red gnomb to rub my feet at night........

well, i think thats it for now. going with hannah to the Cork and the Keg to meet austin for a drink. tired still---have slept like complete shit while I have been here. there is a damn sheep farm next door and the dogs bark all night at them. and there are creeky noises and sometimes...if you listen real hard....you can hear the cochroaches heartbeat.....

SEEEEEEEE YA!

"The last time I was at disneyland, I was on acid"

Tonighhhhht, tonightttt (westside story-ish)

well, tonight is March 2nd, 2009 and the stars are out out out. picked some blueberries for about 2 1/2 hours today, got finished, and then bob asked us to pull weeds----AHHHHHHH!!!! This was the first time I really felt like a slave. It sucked. And, not to sound like a 100 year old, but it hurt my knees and back. We did 4 rows of blueberries---LOTS. Chelsea was grating the blueberries, by herself, because she wanted to. strange, she is.

After we picked, i tried to take a nap and then hannah and I went to two wineries---Framignan ( i think thats what it was) and Bladen. Bladen got best wine cellar of 2008. it was AWESOME! Small, SO SMALL, wooden, cute, mountains in the background. and DAMN good wine. I bought a bottle of Pinot Gris. Loved all of the wine though. Pitty, because they dont' sell in the states. I love small wineries like that. We biked to both of these---pretty hot out today for a change. Actually, Yesteryday, March 1st, was the first day of fall here believe it or not. CRAZY! They said it should start getting pretty dark here in the next couple of weeks.

Came back and hung out with jennie. I brought a bottle of wine over, which she was very happy about bc he tummy hurt and she had taken some medicine for it and said it told her not to drink alky but she said that was "bullshit, it makes you feel better" god i love her. she is hilarious. the other day she was paying for some wine and tried to put her $ in her boobs, but couldn't, cuz she has none, and looked at me and said " damn i wish I had some tits....my mom had the biggest tits"

haha. loveeeeee her!

So last night I walked outside o take a picture of the sunset--BRIGHT pinks, reds, yellows. dancing all over the sky. so when I was out, jennie ran out of her house with the phone pointing to me. My first initial thought was "Oh shit, someone died" then she said "its austin" and I thought I had died because whenever ANYONE says austin I always think of my dear friend austin who passed around, geez, i think 5 years ago this april....4 yearS?? Crazy, really. SO austin is this wwoofer working across the river. he is from berkeley. looks slightly fake hippish---like you know he has $, and could wear better clothes, but is ttrying not too..... we start talking at the farmers market in blenheim the other day and he says he has to be back in Auckland by May 20th, and I say me too...ydada ydada adya...turns out we are on the same flight!!! crazy! so i have a friend now. we might try to ride up from wellington to auckland together--who knows though. hes got a car and a mattress in the back.

BOB: bob was HILARIOUS tonight. apparently he smoked austin out, which i am slightly jealous of. I was starting to wonder how they lived there life in this town, on this farm, w/out drugs. but i saw jennie really high the other day and now I find out that bob has done acid and smokes pot. no wonder he is so awkward! he has doneee tooooooooo many drugs! so made a funny comment about Mr. cook, telling me not to climb it by saying " its fucking cold, people die, its awful" but the way he said it was out of seinfeld. I died laughing because i havent heard him say anythinglike that before. then he started talking about disneyland in the 70's and how he did acid and it was the WORST trip ever because there were so mnay people. he was funny. so skinny and small. oh bob. Gosh, I LOVE THE MOVIE "what about bob?" watch it!

oh geez, what else...........leaving here on Saturday but I will write more about what I am doing later. jenie and bob told us two girls and abit ago were wwoofing here and they woke up and realized they were gone. They found a note that said " sorry, but, the cochroaches were too big"

I AM NOT KIDDING ABOUT THESE THINGS!! HUGE!! MONSTERS!!!

welp, gonna read and go to bed. need to drink some water first. Ohhh yeah, yesterday at the farmers market, my 15 year old boss, AJ, was totally hitting on em (which is so illegal) and then about 5 people started talking spanish to me, saying "gracias" and what not.......um........they def. dont know i'm american. sorta/kinda funny.

chelsea, the english Elf wwoofer is leaving tomorrow. jennie told her another wwoofer is coming, but, guess what---SHE's NOT! its a secret between jennie, myself, and everyone who reads this. bwahhah xoxo
night