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.