Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello out there and happy Thanksgiving to you all. We had KFC today. It's not turkey. I hope you all are eating much better than that.

We have been on the road non-stop lately. We went to the island of Java and did some really cool volcano trekking. We also went to Borobudur today. It's the largest Buddhist stuppa in the world.
Apparently everything you do in SE Asia has to be done at sunrise. Every morning you have to get up at 4:00 and catch a bus somewhere or hike up something. It's worth it though when you get the views. This is Mount Bromo.

The day after Mount Bromo we went to Ijen. There are sulphur mines there and it's one of the most amazing but disturbing places ever. The views are spectacular but the working conditions are horrifying. There are men mining sulphur with not much more than a handkerchief as a face mask. All day long they breath in horrible smoke and chemicals. They then have to hike up the mountain, many of them barefoot, with up to 90 kilos (180) pounds of sulphur on their backs. They labor is back-breaking and I can't imagine the pay is any better. It's sick to think that things like this actually go on. There is no OSHA here to say any other though. To them it's just work. To us it's appalling.

Next was Borobudur. This massive Buddhist temple was built long ago. It was abandoned when Islam starting taking over the island of Java and the Buddhists were forced out. It was covered by bushes and volcanic ash over hundreds of years and later discovered in the early 1800's. Even though the stones are beginning to crumble it's easy to appreciate how impressive this place really is. The carvings are so intricate and I can't imagine how long it would take to create. It's pretty cool to stand on something that's been there for thousands of years.

Tomorrow morning we are going to a festival bright and early. It is currently Hajj in the Muslim religion. Hajj is the pilgrimage Muslims must make to Mecca in their lifetime. It is celebrated here tomorrow with parades, ceremonies, and animal sacrifices. The locals keep telling us we have to go experience it so once again we are getting up at the ass crack of dawn to do so. It should be quite the experience though.

After that we have come to the point in our trip where we are parting ways for a bit. Andy has already seen most of Southeast Asia so he's going to head to the areas he hasn't seen yet. AJ is meeting a friend in Malaysia for a few days. I'm heading to Singapore and then probably off to Vietnam after that. We hope to meet again for Christmas and New Years if it's in the cards. Only time will tell....

Much love and happy holidays to you all,

Ryan


These pictures are out of order but I don't feel like rearranging them since I'm almost out of internet time. The bottom ones are Mount Bromo, the middle ones are Ijen, and the top ones are Borobudur. Enjoy.

Indonesian Sunsets....

Every night is amazing and they seem to get better and better with each passing day...

Bali, Indonesia...........It's NOT Missouri

Well, we made it to Bali last night. We left NZ at 7:00 in the morning and took a 3.5 hour flight to Melbourne, Australia. From there we had a six hour layover and then another 6.5 hour flight to Denpasar, Bali. We crossed four timezones in the process. We know have an +14 hour difference between the States.

We got in around 6:00 pm local time but by the time we got our visas and through customs it was dark. It was quite an experience right off the bat. The second we walked out of the airport we were barraged by locals pulling us every way trying to exchange money, buy maps, book hotesl, and get in their taxis. It was really frustrating. You couldn't even focus on our own maps trying to figure out where to go without 30 people saying, "Yes, yes, you come with me." It was a bit of a pain in the ass.

After finally negotiating a cab ride to the town of Kuta we made our way. It was chaos. There are motorbikes everywhere flying past cabs with hundreds to people just running about in the streets. There really aren't any type of traffic rules here. You basically just get out of the way and hope not to get hit. You have avoid children, bikes, motocycles, horses, street carts, and all kinds of other crazy stuff.

After about a half hour in the cab we get dropped off at our hostel. Lucky for us they had no vacancy for night. At this point we are all starving because we hadn't eaten in 18 hours. Our flight was on Pacific Blue and it's a budget airline. You get nothing free. All drinks and food must be purchased at a pretty ridiculous price. The Melbourne international terminal sucked too. They only had one crappy cafe to eat at and it was priced pretty crazy for the shit they were selling. We opted to wait and eat in Bali. We we freaking starving!

So, with fatigue setting in we decided to walk a bit and find the next place to stay. Lucky for us, again, there was a blackout in half of Kuta last night. We had no idea where to go and everything was dark so you couldn't tell what you were getting yourself into. You would look down alleys and just hear crazy Indonesian chatter and not know wheter to proceed or not. After some time we walked up to a hotel to try and get a room. Most people here speak Bahasa Indonesian with enough English to get your money and book your room. We just went for it and booked a room for the night not knowing what to expect. We didn't care anymore.

Later we walked the crowded, dark, chaotic streets and found some street vendors selling food. We don't know what we ate because it was dark but I know it was amazing! I'm pretty sure there was some pork, some fish, and some chicken. We got a huge plate of food covered in chili oil and beer for only $3.00. It was pretty awesome. We sat on a street curb while a woman served us with her bare fingers and finally got to take it all in. We were no longer in New Zealand and a long way from Missouri.

After that it was back to the hotel and thankfully the power had come back on. We passed out and woke up to a pretty nice view of the pool from our private balcony. Not bad for $10....


It's hotter than hell but only because of the humidity. It's like a Missouri summer with an extra 80% humidity. Hopefully it will be a great time though. Today we head for the beach to see what this place is all about. I'm sure we are in for some great views...

Talk to you all later!

Ryan

Penguins!

After much work up and down the coasts of New Zealand we finally saw some penguin colonies. We saw a few in Abel Tasman National Park but only when swimming by. We never really got a good look at them until now.

We are in Oamaru right now on the east coast of the South Island. There are two penguin colonies here. One is the blue penguin and the other is the yellow eyed penguin. The yellow eyed penguin is the rarest penguin in the world. They are supposed to be scared off really easy and you are supposed to be very quiet to see them. They come in from sea right around dark. There was a viewing area on a bluff and you could watch them float ashore like driftwood and all of a sudden they would pop up and waddle across the beach.

After a while they would waddle away and disappear into the bush. We didn't really expect anything else when all of a sudden a few came out of the bushes right in front of our face!

It was really cool to see the rarest penguin in the world in it's natural environment. Few people can witness such an event. What an experience.

Just around the corner was the colony of blue penguins. They come in at dark and are in the process of nesting right now as mating season is going on. They would come across the road and hide under sheds where they made their nests. Also really cool but it was hard to get a picture because the flash scares them off.

Overall, it was freaking cool to see some penguins in the wild carrying on like they do everyday. Worth the wait all this time.

Milford Sound

An amazing place! Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park on the South Island of New Zealand. The huge area was carved by glaciers over millions of years. There are stunning waterfalls, mountains, and wildlife. It was truly a remarkable experience. The pictures (and video) speak for themselves.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Our start to the South Island has been a bit frustrating. We have been here over a week now and it has rained at some point every day. Five of the days have been absolute monsoons. We did, however, get out and do a three day kayak trip around Abel Tasman National Park.

For working on Mt. Ruapehu we got a special with a company called the Sea Kayak Company. We got a three day "freedom rental" for the price of a two day. Basically, it meant we had kayaks for three days and could go wherever the hell we wanted. We booked campsites along the coast of Abel Tasman for two nights and headed out.

Day one was pretty good. We started off with a bit of sunshine but it quickly turned to cloud and later showers. We got the hang of the kayaks pretty quick and made it to our first campsite much earlier than we anticipated. We head a bit of choppy water during a stretch called "The Mad Mile" where the headwinds pick up a bit. Overall though, it was a good day.

Split Apple Rock, Abel Tasman National Park

Day two was a bit different. There is an island which is notorious for having a large seal colony on it. It's a couple of bays past where we were scheduled to camp for the second night. We were told by our instructor on day one that the water can get choppy out there at times when it gets windy. So, we set out early on Tuesday morning to try and see some seals and get back in time for a relaxing afternoon on the beach. We kayaked for a couple of hours and again got to our destination much quicker than expected. The waters were really calm and it made for an easy trip.

Tonga island was really cool. There were seals just hanging out on rocks and then every now and then you'd see one in the water playing around. They just roll back and forth like an otter. It was really cool when one would all of a sudden go under your kayak and then surface. Every now and then a penguin would pop up too. It reminds you that you are a far way from Missouri when you see it.

Seals on Tonga Island, Abel Tasman National Park

After we saw the seals we decided to head back to the campsite. This is when the weather took a turn and things got down right scary. The winds started whipping around the point of the island and it got really dangerous. The problem we had was that we were trying to cut across to the mainland. Our kayaks needed to go at an angle and we couldn't keep the noses of them into the wind to ride over the waves. It got to the point where the waves started intensifying and they started cresting right over the top of us. The waves were topping three meters (about 10 ft.) and really rolling. Then, of course, it started pouring down rain. We started to get tossed around like plastic bathtub toys. Our rudders became useless at this point and they only way to stay afloat was to try like hell to paddle and hit the waves head on. We really thought we were going to capsize the damn things. It was the second time we entered "survival mode" in New Zealand.

Luckily, about a gruelling hour later we made it to the beach exhausted and happy to be on land. We were very fortunate not to flip one of them over. There were a few casualties but none of us. We lost a spare boat paddle, water pump, water bottle, and flip flop along the way. We were soaked head to toe and made a nice big fire the rest of the day to unwind. We were then told by the conservation officer at the campsite that the waves got too big for the water taxis to run. Glad we were out there crashing along the coast in hunks of plastic.

Day three was pretty uneventful. We had a long way to go to get back to our car so we headed out early. The mighty Tasman Sea was calm so we made pretty good time. It was tough though because our entire bodies ached head to toe from the day before. Blistered hands and all though we finished the trip and have some seal photos to show for it. Worth it.

Mother Nature tries her hardest to keep us down but we keep coming out alright in the end.

Another victory for the three of us.

Heading out soon to move down the west coast. From here it's the Pancake Rocks, Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, and a brewery tour of one of our favorite NZ beers.

And the dream continues...

A crazy sunrise in Motueka this morning right before a rain shower. The video doesn't really capture how intense the colors were but it was the coolest thing to wake up to.

Hitting the Road Again

Hello, hello!

Well, it's official. Our time at Mt. Ruapehu is over. We left yesterday morning. It's a very bittersweet feeling. It's great to be travelling again but we had to say goodbye to some really amazing people. Some strong friendships were made and it's hard to let that go. That's part of travelling though and there's not much you can do about it. Hopefully we keep in touch and our paths cross again some day.

Other than that we are stoked to be on the road again! We got into Wellington yesterday afternoon and spent the night. Luckily, a lot of our Ruapehu friends are here as well so we had one last night out with them. It was a good ending to a great winter season. In a few hours we board the ferry to cross to the South Island. We'll be travelling there until mid November and then it's off the Southeast Asia!

Life is good and it's only getting better. As the leaves change colors back home the weather is warming here and flowers are blooming. It's absolutely beautiful. Since we'll be on the road for awhile you may not here from us as often. We'll be sure to check in when we can though.

Love you all and a big congratulations to Jake and Heather getting engaged the other day. We wish you two the best of luck with all the planning.

Peace be the journey. Later!

Ryan



Matt Costa - "The Road" (It's become the anthem of our trip)

"Don't talk
Don't say nothing
I just packed my things
And I'm headed for something
Where I'm going
Well, I don't really know
The road is calling
So I've got to go
Yes the road is calling
so ive got to go"

"We bid farewell as the winds blew like hell
said we'd meet again
Like some storybook tale
but, no, we don't talk
We don't say nothing
I'll just pack my things
And go headed for something
but where I was headed
well i didnt really say
the road was callin
and I was on my way
yes the road was callin
and I was on my way"

It's About Time!

The Crater Lake at the summit of Mt. Ruapehu - an active volcanic vent.

Oh…..hello.

How the hell are you all? I’d like to first apologize for the lack of updates on this blog. I tried posting an update a few weeks ago and when I tired to upload I ran out of internet credit and lost the whole thing. Oh well. Shit happens. Sorry for the delay…

Anyway, life has been good. Not much new stuff has changed but we have all been having a blast. We have spent the last four months living on Mt. Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park. There are two ski fields on Mt. Ruapehu - Whakapapa and Turoa. We work on the Whakapapa side of the mountain. Just to the other side of our mountain is another active volcano called Mt. Ngauruhoe. Mt. Ngauruhoe is also the same mountain that was Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact, a lot of the filming took place around us here. There is a cliff ledge called Meads Wall just above the beginner field where a number of scenes took place. Many of the rivers around here played a part in the shooting of the movies. It’s pretty cool to live on an active volcano that was also a movie set.

Our time here has been nothing short of amazing. Even though the weather can be absolute shit sometimes the stories we will take away will make it all worth it. We have met more than a handful of amazing people here. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to some of the great friends we have made along the way. We’ve worked together, partied together, and shared many good times together. There are countless photos and long-lasting memories that have honestly made this one of the best periods of my life.

We are down to a few weeks left here at Mt. Ruapehu. Our contracts officially end on the 11th of October. My fate is a little more undecided right now. Happy Valley (beginner field) is where my café is located. It’s at the lowest altitude of the whole ski field. The weather has warmed up quite a bit lately and we have had a lot of rain. It has really melted a lot of snow at the lower altitudes. I may have my café close in the next week or so because there is nothing left to push around down there. We are supposed to be getting some more snow tonight though so only time will tell.

Even though saying goodbye to some will be hard we are all ready to move on. This has been another chapter in a book but it’s been a great chapter. We are all itching to hit the road again and see what New Zealand has to offer. After we leave here we are headed to the South Island for a little over a month. Luckily, we are going to be meeting up with a lot of people from the mountain along the way. It will be fun to keep our good times rolling with some great scenery.

All Blacks vs. South Africa rugby match - Hamilton, New Zealand, 12th September 2009

For our travels in the South Island we just purchased another car. Hopefully it works out better than the last one. Her name is Georgette and she’s a 1987 Honda Civic hatchback. She’s tiny. Really tiny. I had two girls from Chile that worked for me as cashiers in my café that just left for Asia a few days ago. They needed to get rid of it and we needed some wheels. We got a pretty good deal on it and it seems to run very smoothly. It only cost us $700 for the car. With some minor work today it passed the WOF (safety inspection). It’s a big step up from the last one and hopefully (fingers crossed) we won’t have any problems on the South Island. It will be a tight fit with three of us and our gear but since it’s getting warmer we plan on sleeping in our tent every night along the way.

I really feel like we have become veteran travelers at this point. When we roll into a new town we can find everything we need and have a cheap meal completed within a thirty minute period. It really makes things more enjoyable when you aren’t stressing out about things along the way. Things always work out in the end and just have to learn to love the bumps in the road. They always make for great stories when it’s all said and done.

After we spend our time on the South Island we have tickets booked to Bali, Indonesia. Needless to say, Bali is going to be fantastic. I don’t know of a better way to end winter in New Zealand than heading to tropical beaches in the surf capital of the world. We are getting visitor visas there that are good for a 30 day period. After that it’s we are continuing on in Southeast Asia. We hope to visit Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand in our travels.

After Southeast Asia we are all pretty undecided still. It looks like we are all parting ways and heading off on our own. Destinations and length of time are all still to be determined by each of us. Wherever we each end up I’m convinced we will still be living the dream. This trip has been too amazing so far. I can’t imagine it running out of steam at any point.

On the other hand, we all miss you guys back home. It’s hard to see birthdays and holidays come and go when thousands of miles away. I’m sure we’ve missed some great times back home but we have some great experiences to show for it. I just hope everyone is still doing well and staying healthy. Our paths will cross again soon and when we do we’ll share some stories, some laughs, and many drinks.

Once again, sorry for the lack of updates. There just hasn’t been much changing here lately. I’ll be sure to post more as we hit the road again soon. Just a few more weeks and counting…

Much love to all,

Ryan

A T-bar after a stromy night. Just a picture to show how much ice we really get here. It can get quite extreme.

Great Views and Great Times...

Just a quick update today. First of all, there was a large earthquake last night on the South Island. We are still on the North Island and it didn't affect us in any way. We are all safe! Don't worry. Who knows though, maybe it jarred something loose this way and we'll get to see some volcanic action in our future. We can only hope. What a story that would be to tell.

School holidays are still going on but they end this weekend. It'll be nice for us since we've all been putting in around 60 hours a week we've been so busy. Things will quiet down and we'll have much more time to ski and enjoy ourselves.

It's been really hectic here the past few days but it always seems worth it at the end of the day. No matter how shitty of a day it was it always ends with an amazing sunset and you just get lost in it for awhile. It's a great feeling. It's probably the best relaxation medicine and it doesn't cost a thing. When Kiwi's say, "no worries" I'm convinced it's because they've seen so many amazing sunsets.

Miss you all! Hope you all enjoyed the All-Star Game too.

Ryan

Mountain Livin'

Since I have been told by about a dozen people now to do an update on this thing I guess I’ll go ahead and do one. The mountain is closed today because of a blizzard so I guess I have some spare time for a change.

We have all been extremely busy on the mountain (or volcano) the past few weeks. There is a café at the top of our ski field called Knoll Ridge. Last year an arsonist set fire to the building and it burned down to the ground. They have a very good idea who did the crime but at this stage they still don’t have enough evidence to pin it to the person. In the meantime, they are building a temporary building to stand in it’s place until next summer when they can make a brand new facility. This has really set back everyone on the mountain. They are basically running three weeks late getting things done. It has been a real challenge for Andy and myself to get prepared with our new staff since everyone is a little bit lost right now. Nonetheless, we put in a lot of hours the past few weeks and we officially opened the mountain two days ago.

So far working on Mt. Ruapehu has been great. We work with some really nice people from all over the world. I love spending time and socializing with people from all different cultures. It enriches your life to hear some of the stories they share with you. We work with people from England, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Latvia, Slovenia, Sweden, Canada, Spain, Finland, Ireland, and a ton more. It’s really cool to talk with people that a from a country that wasn’t even a country when we were born. It makes you realize how fortunate you really are sometimes.

Living on a mountain is also an experience in itself. Mountain culture is like none other. Everyone is laid back and just gets along with each other. Everyone is here to have fun and enjoy their lives. It’s much different that St. Louis. Instead of hearing about the daily murders the news report consists of the weather forecast and the freezing altitude. That’s about it.

It’s really crazy when 4WD road restrictions are put on the mountain. The morning bus will get to the base of the mountain and pull over to the side of the road. Everyone will jump off the bus and prop it up on wood planks and throw snow chains on it and go. It’s crazy how fast they can do it. It’s like a NASCAR team changing a tire in the pits - except they don’t have hillbilly accents and chew tobacco.

The staff quarters is also a good time. Everyone gets down the mountain by around 6:00 pm and has dinner. Then it’s down by the fireplace for some drinks. Everyone parties a bit and heads to bed by around 10:00 to get early the next day. It works out really well. There are card games from all over the world with different rules to all of them. Once again, it’s nice to get to see how other cultures do things.

We all seem to like it here and really enjoy ourselves. It’s going to be a good four more months.

Oh, and just so you fellow Americans know…. We’ve already placed an order for three 12 packs of Budweiser and we’ve arranged to have the cook here make us beef burgers for 4th of July. We may be wearing snow boots on a volcano thousands of miles away but we’ll still fly the flag here and celebrate proudly.

Miss you and love you all!

Until next time…..keep on keepin’ on.

Ryan

Hello, All

Just a quick update. We are all finished with our trip to the Northland. We spent two weeks in an RV and we left Auckland and headed up the east coast all the way to Cape Reinga and back down the west coast. It was a great time. The scenery was breathtaking and we never had any problems. We were supposed to have a four person RV but when we got to the rental place they had goofed and forgot to clean it. Instead we got a free upgrade to a six person RV. The extra space was great since we spent two straight weeks in it. It had everything we could ever need.

Tuesday morning we left Auckland and took an 11 hour bus ride to Wellington. Yeah, it was a long ass bus ride. It wasn't too bad though and it was pretty cheap. Now we are spending some time in "Windy Welly" and seeing the town. We are also only a little over a week away from starting work at the ski resort. It should be a blast. We passed the mountains on the way from Auckland and they look beautiful. It should be a great time.

We'll check back in soon once we get settled on the mountain (which is actually an active volcano).

Ryan

Happy Mother's Day!

It’s been awhile since we’ve had an update here. I figured it’s about time to let our parents know what’s going on in our worlds on this all important day - Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day out there, ladies!!

We haven’t really had an update lately because nothing has really changed here. We have been in Rotorua since Easter and everything has been going well. We were working for a really nice couple on their orchard picking feijoas. The work was easy and it was a lot of fun getting to know some new people. Unfortunately, the picking season ran short this year. There was a lot of rain this year during the pollination season which in turn led to a smaller growth of fruit this year. There’s really nothing you can do about that. Some things are just out of your hands. So, our employment ended three weeks earlier than we had originally planned.

This posed a little bit of a problem for us since we no longer have any wheels to get around and live in. We start our jobs at Mt. Ruapehu on June 10th so we have a month to kill in between. Unfortunately, the fruit season has been pretty poor all around, not just in Rotorua. The pack houses are paying kiwi farmers not to pick their fruit right now because the market is too saturated with product and it’s driven prices down too far. There are no jobs there and apple picking isn’t much better. You wouldn’t think a recession would hit all the way down to fruit but when you are talking about exports you are talking about big money. Our chances of landing a job for the next month in the fruit picking industry are slim to nil. Especially when New Zealanders are out of work. Obviously, they have first pick over tourists.

With all that being said we made the decision to head north and see the Bay of Islands and Far North regions. The weather there is a little bit warmer and when we hug the coastline it’s much more bearable at night. Learning from our last mistake we are renting an RV this time. We leave tomorrow on a bus to Auckland. When we arrive we are picking up an RV and heading out. For the next two weeks we have a fourth traveler, Joel. He’s from London and was working with us on the orchard. His plans were shot too by the early layoff. We ran some numbers and found a four person RV was much more economical that living in hostels the next month. Plus, it allows us to get out and see the north instead of being stuck with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

We are really looking forward to moving on past Rotorua and seeing some new things. Hopefully we won’t have as many problems as last time. The RV is equipped with a toilet, shower, fridge, and stove so it will be much more convenient than The Bearded Lady was. Only time will tell…

Once again, happy Mother’s Day out there. We all miss you!

Death of the Bearded Lady

Live and learn……..and try to enjoy the bumps along the way.

Well, we had our first major setback of the trip. The Bearded Lady has had her last journey. You get what you paid for and we apparently paid for a certified piece of crap. Probably not our best decision of the trip. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes and this was a big one. After the first time she broke down we spent $800 to get her up and running. We still needed to get the speedometer fixed in order for it to pass it’s warrant of fitness (WOF). It’s like a state inspection back home. This morning Andy and myself went to Taupo to get it fixed and have the WOF done. After $300 we had a speedometer but it didn’t pass the WOF because we need a new muffler and a front tire. We decided to head back to Rotorua and have the work done there. We drive the hour back to Rotorua and four blocks away from our hostel she started to make a lot of noise. The ole’ Bearded Lady coughed and sputtered and then smoke began coming out of our seats and pouring out of the back. That was all she wrote. Roadside assistance came out and she was in fact dead. The engine was blown and the cam belt was useless too. Way to go us. She’s now headed to a scrap yard for her final resting place. It was going to cost almost double what we paid for it just to have it running again. We figured it’s not worth the nightmares ahead so we decided to put this one in the “shit happens” column and move on. Luckily, we are in Rotorua picking feijoas and we’ll be here for a few more weeks. I guess we’ll be regrouping and planning our next move from here.

Life goes on…

Ryan

New Zealand Great Walk: Lake Waikaremoana

New Zealand has hundreds of walks and tramps to get out and see the countryside. There is also a series of “Great Walks” that usually consist of multi-day tramps ranging in difficulty level. Our first great walk was on Lake Waikaremoana, which is in the eastern central region of the north island. It was definitely a walk to remember. If not for the scenery,we will definitely remember it for the way mother natured tossed us around and treated us like idiots.

We decided to do the tramp on the Thursday before Easter. You have the option of either staying in a hut or a campsite during the tramp. The huts are very basic cabins with water and a stove. The don’t have electricity or anything but you at least get a crappy mattress to sleep on.
We arrived at the Department of Conservation office about 11:00 am on Thursday morning. Since it was Easter most of the huts were filled up for the holiday weekend. Easter here is like Labor Day back in the States. It’s the last real weekend to get out before winter starts to set in. Our only real option to do the tramp was to leave that day and hike up Panikieri Bluff, stay in a hut at the peak of the bluff, and then move on and do campsites the next two nights.

Day one would consist of a 4-5 hour tramp, day two would be 8-10 hours, day three would be 5 hours, and day four would be a 2 hour tramp to the water taxi pickup location.. We booked our hut and campsites and headed out.

We got to the carpark about noon and tried to book our water taxi. The last boat was leaving at 12:30 so we had to be ready on the dock in 20 minutes. So, we immediately raced to the van and started stuffing stuff into our backpacks. We grabbed some clothes, ramen noodles, a small stove and about 187 granola bars.

The water taxi pulled up to a rocky shore on some large boulders and as we were getting out the skipper said, “I hope you guys have some warmer gear. It’s about 4 degrees cooler (Celsius) at the top of the bluff.” As he said that his first mate also said, “I hope you guys are in shape too because you only have about four hours of daylight left.” These were both very comforting departing words to hear on your first real New Zealand tramp. Those would usually be words that should said BEFORE you are dropped off in the middle of nowhere. This is New Zealand though and there is definitely a “do what you want” attitude. As we approached the skies turned from “partly cloudy” to “you guys are screwed gray.” That alone shaved an hour of daylight off our schedule.

As we walk up the shoreline we see a sign signaling the start of the trail. Well, apparently in our rush to beat the clock we missed the trail itself and started up a road directly behind the trail. We start rushing up this hill like no tomorrow- we were determined to beat the four hour time estimate. About 40 seconds into our climb the ominous skies decided to start dumping rain all over us and our 40 lb. packs. This only encouraged us to move faster. Well, we moved fast enough to come to the end of the road and realize that all we had done is walk up to a lookout tower and a small power plant. Not exactly the tramp we were looking for.

After getting back down to the trail start we had now burned one of our four hours of daylight. We are soaking wet at this point and now have to make the climb already tired and a little bit defeated. We had no choice though- we had to go up.

Apparently there was this little footnote on the map that stated this leg of the tramp required “high levels of physical condition.” That was no joke. This was no walk at all. We literally were climbing straight up the side of a mountain. The rocks were wet and slick and the further we climbed the colder it got. Luckily, it only got worse.

About an hour into our climb the rain decided to turn to hail. If climbing a wet mountain wasn’t bad enough we now had to battle icy slopes. This continued on for about an hour and again, the higher we got the colder it got. Being on a bluff the winds also started to pick up and really make life miserable.

As we got about halfway up the mountain the hail turned to heavy snow. It wasn’t like a snow back in Missouri either. These were big, heavy, wet snowflakes. It took only minutes for a layer to form on everything around us. It was at this point when we started to get worried. We were only a short while away from total darkness and we had no idea how much further we would have to go to reach the peak. Every time we’d turn a corner there was another ledge to climb. It was a seemingly impossible battle. The cloud cover was so intense that we couldn’t see anything. That was the biggest shame of our trip. We would come to an opening that you could tell would be an amazing view had it not been awful outside. We never got a good picture the entire way up. Pictures were really that last thing on our mind though at this point. We were at a crossroads to either press on and risk the darkness or pitch the tent. The only problem was there was never a location to pitch the tent. Everything was jagged rock and water was pouring down it all. We would have risked hypothermia and even death had we pitched the tent. We would have no way of drying out or staying warm.

We decided to keep on going and for the first time in my life I can say I was truly in survival mode. We were slipping on tree roots, rocks, mud, and anything else that could get in our way. It was absolutely miserable. We got to the point where we literally couldn’t see our own feet. We are extremely lucky that one of us didn’t break an ankle or fall of a cliff. There are no signs on the way up the bluff to give you any indication about how much further you had to go. There are only orange arrows that follow the trail path. In our pathetic preparation we didn’t have headlamps either. We had to rely on two crappy LED keychain lights to find our way to the arrows. It was bad and only getting scarier.

Then, out of nowhere, there was a set of wooden stairs that led straight up a bluff. There was a pulley system there too. We figured it had to be used to bring supplies up to the hut. Shortly after we climbed the stairs we climbed a few more cliffs and then saw a single light on top of a hill. Sure enough it was someone’s flashlight from inside the hut.

We stormed in the hut an hour after darkness fell defeated and accomplished at the same time. You should have seen the looks on the peoples faces in the hut. There was utter disbelief when we walked in. The hut warden didn’t even know we were coming that night. Nobody would have known if we would have made it or not. We were lucky, to say the least. We sat that night by a tiny stove and tried to dry our clothes as best we could. It was cold. Really cold. We were lucky to have good sleeping bags to get through the night.

The next morning we hiked down the bluff to another hut. We were deciding whether or not to call it quits. We could have arranged a taxi pickup at the bottom. It was a beautiful day though and we decided mother nature could win the battle but we wanted to win the war. We kept pressing on and suffered through the wet clothes and shoes to make it to a campsite that night. We met some hunters who were good to us and gave us some coffee, tea, and eggs. We traded stories and they reassured us they are only as prepared as they are today from learning from there mistakes. The New Zealand bush can be extremely dangerous.

The next two days were pretty uneventful. We tramped around the lake and have a ton of great pictures to show for it. This country can be brutal but it sure is beautiful. It really can’t be described in words. You must experience it for yourself. I’m glad we finished the walk and didn’t call it quits. You can only grow from your experiences. Needless to say, we’ll be better prepared next time.

Ryan

Just Checking In

Good morning (or afternoon). Just a little update about what we've been up to in NZ.

We finally have The Bearded Lady (our van) fixed after about a week stuck in Taupo. We still don't have a speedometer because the part needs to be ordered from Japan. In time we'll know how fast we are going........if we can ever figure out what the hell a kilometer is. It's amazing how affordable this country is. We had the van fixed at a Mazda dealer and the whole repairs only cost around $900 NZD. Our driveshaft ended up costing a little more than our original quote so they didn't charge us labor. That would NEVER happen in the states. It's pretty sweet. Everything is easy like that. We transferred the car's ownership at a postshop. No lines at the DMV. You don't need to get a new license plate, the same one is good. Car insurance only cost $120 USD for the entire year! There is very little paperwork in this country and everything is so relaxed. It's awesome.

We had great interviews at the ski resort, Mt. Ruapehu. We are getting jobs and they want to offer Andy and myself supervisor roles. Since we burned a lot of cash jumping out of planes and staying in hostels while our van was in the shop we are on the hunt for some part-time work. We headed out of Taupo and went north to the Bay of Plenty region. We stayed the night right on the beach and listened to the waves crash all night. Life was good. The Bay of Plenty has a very high demand for fruit picking this time of year. Unfortunately, we are finding we are about two weeks too late. We have a lot of calls in but the positions are all full. Apparently that recession thing is world wide and it's harder for foreigners to get work this year. We have faith though because all the farms tell us people come and go every day and openings happen a lot. Kiwi picking runs pretty much through to June. Until then, we are waiting on a phone call to work the local fish market. We were hoping to start this morning but didn't get the call last night. Hopefully tomorrow. It just depends on when the boats come into harbor. Hopefully we get to wear sweet yellow gear and look like the Gordon's fish guy. That would be sweet!

We are currently in the city of Tauranga and if the fish and kiwi thing doesn't pan out we will most likely head south to the Hawke's Bay region to try and pick apples. We have to compete with the South Americans for work around here. They pretty much post up at the hostels and work all the farms. They work hard too so I can see why a farm hires them. It's really crazy but nobody from New Zealand is actually from New Zealand. Maybe one out of twenty people you ask was born here. They all want to leave after college. Most of them can make more money elsewhere. There are a lot of Brits and Canadians here. If you are from anywhere else besides NZ I can see why you would want to stay. It's awesome here.

Like we hear time and time again, "no worries."

Cheers,

Ryan

Greetings

Sorry, this hasn't been updated as much as we would like. The videos take freaking ages to upload onto youtube. Generally, there isn't enough time to get the videos on there. However, there are a few. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search rrb868s. That's my username. My videos will come up at the top.


Life is good here. We'll try to get a more detailed update soon. We got jobs at the ski resort locked in!

Bula!

Hello out there. All is good in our neck of the woods. Fiji was great. We had great weather the first two days. It rained the last day but it was nice because it cooled everything off. The people were friendly and the rum was strong. It was a great way to spend three days. We did take a jungle hike one morning that was nothing short of amazing. We thought it would be a nice little walk and then 20 minutes in we were waist deep in water grabbing tree branches and hiking up a mountain. We went deep into the jungle to get to a waterfall and then headed back. It was really awesome.

We just got into Auckland last night and the city is very nice. Everything is so much cleaner than back in the states. I'm starting to see why people never leave. We just purchased a van from a couple from Minnesota. Our home for the next several months only cost us $2,500 NZD. Life is good. We are heading out to see the countryside tomorrow and hopefully lock down our ski resort jobs!

Some Parting Words

I'm sitting here tonight, hours away from departing from New Zealand, and my mind is wandering all over the place. I see visions of the future and glimpses of the past. I can't help but think of all the places I've been in my life and all the places I'm about to see. It's a very unusual feeling.

I wanted to take a second tonight to say some parting words. It's hard to imagine not being able to see friends and family for the next year but that's the reality in what I'm doing. I've learned quite well over the past 25 years that friends and family are the brick and mortar of the foundation of your life. Acquaintances come and go but and handful of people place an indelible mark in your existence. I am truly going to miss these friends and family.

As we grow older we take differnt paths in life. My path happens to take me thousands of miles away from home. Working in West Virginia the past four months has made me realize how much absence does make the heart grow fonder. Sadly, some relationships deteriorate with time and eventually fall apart. I know, as an inevitable part of life, this too will happen to me. I wish only the best to those who may drift away from me in the coming years.

I already long for the day when we meet again, share some laughs, and tell some stories. I'm sure our time apart will fly by much quicker than I ever could imagine. Until then, I wish everyone the best of luck in all of their endeavors. Stay healthy and go wherever life may take you. Please, keep in touch! Just because we are thousands of miles apart doesn't mean we can't keep up to date with each others lives. I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

With Much Love,

Ryan

Join Us!

Hello, everyone! As you know, AJ, Andy, and myself are heading out on a journey on March 17th. We are leaving behind the noise and commotion of St. Louis for pristine beauty of the land of the long white cloud. I figured the best way to keep in touch with everyone would be to set up this blog. So, here it is. I will update this regulary and post photos, videos, etc. Check back in from time to time and see what we've been up to and drop us a line. It will always be good to hear from friends and family from halfway across the world.