Well, I've now lived in National Park, New Zealand, for 12 days.  I've been working for 7 days.  It's fantastic being back in a kitchen and cooking again.  Granted, we don't do that much cooking - it's more like throwing stuff in the microwave and then throwing it in the deep fryer or the grill.  But we do cook a lunch for the workers building the new cafe at the top of the mountain.  We cook up a big serving of something (stew, lasagna, etc) and give it to them with some bread.

I'm number 3 in the kitchen behind the Head and Sous chef.  Primarily because I speak English!  The other two people in the kitchen are from Chile.  But so far I've had a great time working and unfortunately it's still kind of slow and I'm still working on learning the menu and how to make everything on it so I don't have much to report other than that.

The weather has continued to be kind of shitty so most of my time is spent either in my room or the lounge.  I have been enjoying the World Cup and hope to see the US beat Algeria and I've been REALLY enjoying teasing all the English folks here whenever they try to make a crack at me or any other American I can just say "Draw!" and they all just slink down without another word.

And because I don't have too much to report I'll just share some pictures of where I'm living and working!

Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom) in the morning.

The lovely location where I live.

The lovely location where I work, Mt Ruapehu.

A view of the resort from the parking lot.

Looking back down the mountain from the parking lot.

Another shot up the mountain when the road crew just brought up a food truck.

The icicles at the kitchen windows.  The wind does one hell of a job on them.

The main lodge, rentals on the left, cafe on the right.

Another cafe down on the right looking out to the horizon from the mountain.

Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Ruapehu at dusk.

Another cool shot of Ruapehu at dusk.

More updates later!  Once I get another sunny day when I don't work I'll take pictures of where I actually live and some more of the goings on down in New Zealand!

A Train Ride To A New Home. And 3 Sunless Days...

It's been a week since I've last filled you all in on my shenanigans down in the southern hemisphere and I feel like that is exactly what I've been doing.  Nothing but shenanigans.  Very fun shenanigans.

When I left you last it was a Monday evening and I was heading off to get dinner.  I'm pretty sure that night I headed off with Leon (the Englishman I roomed with) and Neil (a Welsh Rugby player and a friend of Leon) to Wendy's much to Leon's dismay.  Neil was all about it because they had a '5 dollar chicken burger meal.'  Neil spoke with such a thick Welsh accent so that I could barely understand about every 3 words that came out.

Continuing on with that night we traversed back across the street (Wendy's wasn't that far from the hostel) and went down into the Globe bar (the hostel's downstairs bar).  My problem with trying to recount these next few nights is that I didn't write down my own personal journal during the next few days and I don't exactly remember what happened which night.  I'm about to do my best to recount the nights chronologically.

On one of the first nights I met a Welshman named Gez who  I quickly befriended as well an English girl named Marie.  Like every night in the Globe bar, we played pool for an extended period of time and ended up meeting an Irishman named Mark.  After a few hours in the bar we ended up playing one of the last games of pool against two Kiwi girls.  Trash-talking galore between the two teams (Gez and myself versus...Jojo and Angry Kiwi Blonde) ultimately led to friendship and an invitation to another bar where they were going. Dylan (a kid from LA) and Angry Kiwi Blonde really hit it off together and walked off into the night, thankfully towards the next bar.  Myself, Gez, Marie, and Mark followed about 2 blocks behind while Jojo and the other members of her group jumped in a car towards a bar named Forte.

See...I know the name of the bar now but when Jojo was explaining it to us none of us caught the name. We lazily chased Dylan and AKB hoping to make sure we caught their next turn before they turned down a street we couldn't see.  It worked until about 2 blocks away from the bar when we lost them.  We had no idea they turned down an alley and we just continued down the same side street we were already on.  I suggested we stop and ask for directions to any bar that starts with an 'F.'  Naturally, neither the Irishman nor the Welshman liked the idea and the English girl didn't think any of us would do it.  The good news is we were passing a strip club and I could just ask the bouncer if there was any bar that starts with an 'F' and quickly directed us back two streets, down an alley, and it would be on the left.

Ok, really long story short, we stayed out until 6 in the morning.  The night consisted of lots of drinking, lots of rounds bought by lots of varying peoples, and lots of flirting with women of varying nationalities. The most hilarious part of the night was when Marie commented on Jojo's purse asking if it was Chanel. Jojo said it was and quickly pulled out her Gucci wallet and Versace sunglasses.  She quickly asked us what we thought she did for a living and I immediately and jokingly responded stripper.  I got ready to fire back any comment she threw at me but instead she merely smiled and nodded.  She continued on o explain to us that Forte, the bar in which we were currently patrons of, was the bar that many of the strippers in Auckland hung out with after their work day (or night).  It was definitely one of my more fun nights and one of my more expensive.

The next few nights were comparably tame and were spent almost exclusively in the Globe bar playing pool with a variety of people though Marie, Gez, Mark, and Leon became my staple of friendship and I may have promised Mark a round at Pinehurst (Mom we may have an Irish visitor, refill the liquor cabinet).

On my last night in Auckland before I grabbed the train down to National Park I figured I would either call it a night around midnight or just stay up all night until I had to catch the train at 7 in the morning.  Hanging out with the aforementioned crew you can assume which one I did and if you can't assume then you clearly have no idea who I am.

Instead of reiterating nearly everything I've already said I'll just show you a few pictures of the night which nearly mirrored the night I just explained with more alcohol and less strippers.

Like I said earlier, games of pool always begun the night at...

The Globe Bar!  The Bar beneath the hostel.

Gez and I in the Globe bar...put too much cider in him and this happens...

Lying on the Auckland sidewalk screaming obscenities.  Mark loves him too apparently.

The next bar!  I have no idea what it's called but they served drinks in teapots!

And we turned those teapots into a neat little drinking fountain.

And we had quite a few of those teapots...

The stripper bar! Sans strippers.  Mark may be ready to take his clothes off though so who knows...

I found a tree to climb!  The cops who pulled up right as I climbed the tree thankfully didn't stop me.

Aaaaand a picture of six in the morning where Mark is 'this close' to getting another Guinness.

My last night in Auckland was fantastic thanks to many of the friends pictured here and any I missed.  Gez is supposed to come visit me soon and I won a 2-for-1 Bungy jump off the Auckland Bridge that I'm supposed to Bungy with Mark.  I imagine I'll see many of them again soon.

On a much less positive note I decided to trim my beard today.  I plugged it into the adapter, plugged the adapter into the wall and flipped it on while standing in the bathroom.  It buzzed for all of .2 seconds before I heard a loud POP and soon began smelling smoke coming from the actual trimmers.  I AM NOT PLEASED.  Because of this, instead of looking like an incredibly traditional mountain man, I have shaved my face.  This is the first time in a LONG time it's been clean shaven.  I am less pleased than if I could have just trimmed the damn beard...

Pictures of my new home and my freshly (and unhappily) shaved face coming soon as well as updates of what I've been doing in my new home coming soon.

Love and miss you all. (Especially you followers I don't know, that's just kind of fun)

17 out

God Save the Queen! (Happy Birthday Queenie)

Well, I've spent two nights in Auckland now and I've already learned some interesting things about the city and New Zealand as a whole.  This list includes Auckland is the 5th largest city in the world, geographically.  Apparently, according to my English roommate, Auckland is the gay capital of the Southern Hemisphere.  And, Kiwis as a whole (so really New Zealand) hold themselves in high regard.  To put it more specifically, New Zealand seems to suffer from the Napolean Complex.  They seem to think they are quite awesome (a theory I'm still in the midst of testing).

Man, how to keep you guys informed.  When I last left you it was my first day in Auckland and I had only been sitting on the library floor trying to update you guys.  Since then I have experienced some interesting things.

Once I got checked into my hostel I met my roommate, Leon, from England.  After nominal introductions I quickly wanted to set a competitive tone with the upcoming world cup match so close.  I asked him if he was getting nervous regarding the upcoming battle between our two countries.  He quickly fired back, "What battle?"  What battle?  The World Cup man, soccer's biggest stage.  Sorry, football's biggest stage.  APPARENTLY, Leon doesn't like soccer.  Er, football.  Leon prefers baseball of all things.  Unsure of how to continue the conversation because of how bamboozled I was that I just met an Englishman who didn't give a rat's ass about one of the only games that matter in England, I'm pretty sure we bumbled around with a variety of topics until I mentioned I was going to go find lunch and he invited me to a little pub a few blocks away.

I brought my backpack with the idea that I'd walk around after lunch and try to capture the heart of Auckland with my camera.  Instead, Leon and I shared a few stories over food and a pint and then I mentioned I wanted to walk around Auckland so he decided to give me a walking tour.  The walking tour lasted all of 20 minutes and we actually hit up most of downtown Auckland.

I hadn't realized how small it was but we even walked around the Harbor for about 5 minutes checking out the giant sailboats and pleasure yachts.  That just makes me want to be rich as shit and have a boat I can dock anywhere in the world.  I wonder if my cook pay will catapult me towards that dream.  I'm guessing not likely.

We got back to the hostel and I lounged in the lounge with a book (not yours, sorry Mikey, I'm trying to finish Ghost King).  I spent about two hours reading before I caved and bought internet time for a week for 50 kiwi dollars.  Time creeps along in Auckland at the hostel and I'm pretty sure it wasn't even 5 pm yet after reading for 2 hours and there wasn't much of a plan for the night.  Ultimately, at 7:30 pm that night the downstairs bar was serving pizza, I went to the bar for pizza and drinks.  I met a Kiwi from Wellington and another Englishman who I played pool with.  I learned Kiwi rules, English rules, and taught US rules.  I also won most of my games and for that I was quite proud of myself.  After giving up the table around 10pm to some other Kiwis, Michael (the Kiwi from Wellington) and I ventured off into the night to find more action.

He asked me what the plan was as two young, attractive Kiwi ladies walked past us.  I suggested we engage them and tag along to whatever bar they were going to.  We found out they were going to an 80's dance club, brilliantly labeled Boogie Wonderland.  Arriving at Boogie Wonderland we found there was a 10 dollar cover.  The ladies walked in but I questioned the bouncer and the girl taking the money if it was packed and if the club was full of girls like the ones that just walked in.  She more or less said, "There will be later."  Clearly, she wasn't the best saleswoman.

We decided to forego boogieing for a time and found an Irish pub at the harbor that will be one of the first places I go when I come back to New Zealand around the age of 50.  However, the bar significantly lacked peers in my age group so after one expensive beer, we walked back to Boogie Wonderland wondering what kind of welcoming we'd get from the bouncer and ticket lady.  Thankfully, it was jovial.  The bouncer saw us, laughed, and let us pass with a single of exclamation, "You guys again?"  The money mistress threw out some sarcastic comments as she took our money and I feigned my appall at her comments and told her I thought all Kiwis were supposed to be very nice people.  She explained to me, quite clearly, that Kiwi men were great guys but Kiwi ladies were 'bitches.'  Yes, that's actually how she explained it to me.

Laughing hysterically, we went into the time machine that was the flight of stairs down into Boogie Wonderland to find black lights, mirrored globes spinning on the ceiling, a constantly changing lighted dance floor, some fantastic 80's apparel on many of the patrons, and an impressive array of 70's and 80's dance music.  This is where I learned that alcohol in NZ is annoyingly expensive.  I asked if there were any specials for the night.  There certainly was and, just my luck, it was a beer special.  3 beers, 20 dollars.  Now most of you are probably thinking, "That sounds expensive, but I know if I change that to US currency from Kiwi currency it will sound more reasonable."  Well, you might be right if they were pints and you were in New York City.  I bought 3 bottles of beer (355 ml or 12 ounces each) for 20 NZD.  That would be 13.36 USD.  To their credit, it was the cheapest beer I've bought so far.  On average, I've spent about 16 NZD for 2 beers.  Also, I'm nearly out of Kiwi money already and the Banks are closed today so I cant change without getting ripped off at one of the many currency exchanges.

After meeting a variety of Kiwis on the dance floor I decided to call it quits around 2 am (I think, I honestly have no clue what time it was when I left).  Due to my level of intoxication, falling asleep was quite easy.  Meaning the room wasn't spinning but I was tired enough to just pass out.  Parents be proud!

The next day was also quite slow at the hostel but I finally decided at night I could take some cool pictures of Auckland at night.  And by that I mean take pictures of the Sky Tower.  For those of you wondering what the Sky Tower is, here.

Like the CN Tower in Toronto, the Space Needle in Seattle, and the others around the globe, it is just another gimmicky tourist attraction with a casino at the bottom.  But it is a fantastic piece of architecture to be the centerpiece for photography.  I walked around Auckland for about an hour (staying within about 15 blocks of the tower) trying to find good angles to take pictures.

My first was quite close but I found a ledge I could easily set up my tri-pod and catch a cool photo through a tree of the tower.

Continuing my venture around the tower in a clockwise fashion I found an intersection that allowed for another, and more clear, view of the tower.

And instead of giving an introduction to each picture here are the rest of the ones I thought might be worth sharing.

And my personal favorite so far...

And at this point folks I'm getting tired and hungry at 5 pm on this Monday evening so I'll have to inform you of my futuristic shenanigans at a later date!  (Ky I hope you approve thus far!)

Peace out from NZ.

And So It Begins...

I have arrived!  I currently sit on the third floor of the Auckland City Public Library mooching off their free (up to 100mb of transfer) Wi-fi.  I have stopped by my hostel (my temporary home for the next 5 days) and have stored my luggage but I can't actually check in until 1 pm.  I've been aimlessly wandering around the city for about 2 hours now until I have finally stopped for a little while at the library.

Pre-travel I had a good time with Mike and Ken as they both stopped by the house on my last night in town so that we could all enjoy a really good cigar before I left.  I finally finished packing as mom and I left for the airport at 12:10 pm EST.  My final request before I left the country was that I could eat a meal that I knew I would not be able to eat in a very, very long time.  So, naturally, there was no other place to go - Bojangles.  Oh it was so perfect too...

Anyways, at the aiport Mom helped me with my luggage to the counter and we checked everything in and off I went!  It's hard to believe that I'm going to be living for a year with just these three bags...you might be able to tell how excited I am at that prospect...

My trip was completely uneventful which I'm grateful for and I even slept for a good bit of the 12 hour flight.  I immediately started watching Nine starring Daniel Day Lewis once I got on the Auckland flight and I'm happy no kids were around.  It was practically softcore porn when Penelope Cruz was on screen...but it was also a good movie.  After that I enjoyed my dinner, brushed my teeth, drank some Nyquil and went to bed.  I woke up and had breakfast an hour and a half before we disembarked.  I landed this morning at 7:25 am in New Zealand and only lost my turkey jerky at customs.  My illegal knife and my hiking shoes survived the customs agents mostly because no one really gave a crap about the shoes and I told a fib about the knife not being an assisted-opening knife.

After getting out of customs I made my way to the bus stop, paid my 16 New Zealand Dollars and hopped on the bus that took me straight to my hostel (after reading the brochure that I could have saved two dollars by showing my student ID.  I arrived at my hostel to find out I couldn't check in till 1 pm but they could hold my bags for me.  Since then I've wandered aimlessly (I tried to find a breakfast joint outlined in Lonely Planet but I couldn't find it) around the central part of auckland.

I am getting fleeting memories of the streets from when I came here as a 15 year old.  The streets feel, in a strange way, familiar.  Also, Auckland seems to be like Seattle on a smaller scale.  It is an overcast day today so I have yet to see much of the sunshine and it feels like an early Fall day in Boone right now.  Cold enough to have my long sleeves on but that is about it.  I really wish I put my flip flops on before I left the hostel!  It's getting to be about time for me to go back to my hostel and find out what room I'll be in and maybe some things to do for the coming night and few days.  I could also use a nap.  Or at least a comfortable chair as I've been sitting on the library floor now for about an hour.

More to come!