Wednesday, May 30: Sydney (King's Cross)

This was perhaps the most unproductive day ever (which is not at all bad). I woke up at 12:00 as Nir finally showed up (after a 17 hour bus drive from Melbourne..). By the time I did laundry and by the time we were done with breakfast/lunch/dinner (I'm not sure what to call it), it was already evening. Then, we met up with Laura and Tyran (aka Saddam), who as it seems are staying at a close by backpackers. That's about it

Tuesday, May 29: Melbourne - Sydney (King's Cross)

In a last minute thing we decided to kgo to Sydney. Nir used the bus (part of the package), and I chose to fly. I figured I'd rather spend $100 than spend 17hours on a bus.

I arrived in Sydney at 18:40 and by 20:30 was at a backpacker in a part of town called King's Cross. It's the party section of town (as I vaguely recalled from my last trip to Australia some one and a half years ago), which was highly recommended by the Libanese person at the information desk at the airport.

After settling in I went with half the backpacker to a place called "The World Bar", which was a serious meat market...

Sunday, Monday, May 27-28: Melbourne

During both days Nir and I spent hours at a place called "Peterpan" which sells various attraction packages. Ultimately he got a package and I decided to wait until I figure out how long I will stay in Australia.

The usual pub thing persisted in both days, although St Kilda (this is the party area) seemed to be rather dead in the middle of the week.

There's this one place where they didn't want to let us in because they thought we were drunk. Ain't that something?

Saturday, May 26: Melbourne

Nir and I got back to the puzzle in the morning and spent another hour on it. If had a few more we could have finished it..

Anyway, we headed back to Melbourne and arrived around 15:30. Ben decided for whatever reason ( he may wish to stay in Melbourne for a while with a friend or something) that he wanted to continue on his own for a while, so it seems that Nir and I will use some buses from now.

Other than that we did the usual Saturday night thing in the evening - namely, the pub until 3:00am (closing time).

Friday, May 25: Great Ocean Road

The girls left before I even woke up as they needed to get to Melbourne by 12:00 to return their car. We might meet some of them in Sydney, we'll see.

This day was quite relaxed. We decided to head back to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, instead of through the highway. We got up to place called Apollo Bay, which is about 2.5 hours from Melbourne probably. There was a new YHA hostel there, which was probably as good as the backpacker in Arthur's Pass (which still maintains the title of "best backpacker"). However, we stayed at another one for $$ reasons...

The dinner section is now back. We made shepherd's Pie, which turned out pretty good.
Nir and Ben started a 1000 piece puzzle, and I chose not to join (as I know how addictive this can be). Ultimately I joined in, which meant I didn't go to bed before 2:30...

Thursday, May 24: Great Ocean Road

We headed out with the girls at 10:00am (they had their own car rental). It was quite fortunate to travel with them, since being girls they did their homework and knew what was worth seeing. Us three alone would have dicked around much of the time probably.. So we saw some Koalas, and lots of lovely views ending with the 12 Apostles and another place called the "London Bridge".

We got to a place called Port Fairy, where we spent the night. Of course, since we were 6 people it made sense to cook, which we did..

We finished the evening with a game of Pictionary, where team Israel was miserably defeated :(

Wednesday, May 23: Great Ocean Road

After a relaxing week in Melbourne (and a very productive one in terms of catching up on TV shows), I've joined Nir and Ben and we took off for the Great Ocean Road (GOR). It's about one hour drive to the beginning of the GOR. The GOR is about 150km long coastal road with rather beautiful views. The main attraction is the 12 Apostles, which are tall rocks that stick out of the ocean.

We stopped at a place called Lorne for the night (a little into the GOR). There we met three British girls: Laura, Sam, and Taryn (whose name sounds like "tyrant" and hence was dubbed "Saddam"). We had some evening Yaniv (Team Israel won - barely...), and then some Kiwi dude joined us for nothing else than a game of scrabble! He kicked everyone's ass.

Monday - Tuesday, May 21,22: Melbourne

Very relaxed days. I practically did nothing, which is not bad...

Sunday, May 20: Melbourne

Woke up around 11:00. Nir and I did some rollerblading on the beach, which was ok (the road is not as good as in Venice Beach). After that I got back home (not before getting some of that really good ice cream downtown), so I didn't get home until 17:00 or so.

Other than that I caught up with Heores (hurray) and will be waiting to hear about the car and when we leave for the Great Ocean Road.

Saturday, May 19: Melbourne

Woke up around 10:30. I sneaked out of the backpacker as Nir and Ben were keeping the person at reception busy. Got back home and resumed my TV shows regime... Again, in the evening I headed back to town. This time, however, we had planned for my "illegal" staying at the backpacker. We just went to one place called "the elephant" which was damn loud as most places around here tend to be. Also, it was somewhat smoky.

Friday, May 18: Melbourne

This was bday day - so later in the evening I celebrated my decay. Before then however, I had to run a couple of errands:

1. En route to the city (about 40min on the train) I stopped at this big and marvelous juggling store in order to buy 5 balls (I had to mail my NZ ones to Israel since there was a good chance the Aussies wouldn't let me bring them in).

2. Afterwords I continued to the city in order to start the refund process for my ticket back to NZ. Of course it takes zero time to charge the card, but 8 weeks to refund it - what a bunch of wankers!

Once this was done, I returned home grabbed dinner and got back to the city to hang out with Ben, Nir and another dude (Ofer) whom they met at their backpacker, which is located in a place called St. Kilda - the "play area" of Melbourne.

Ben bought a car - 3800cc for crying out loud. He is supposed to get it Monday or Tuesday at which point we'll be leaving for the Great Ocean Road.

A few words about Nir: He is a professional "tripper" - i.e., he is very good at tripping people, which is most amusing as we were all trying to trip one another (he was kind enough to show us some tricks, but it seemed that he had years of practice). So we have all become very alert while walking, because you never know when you might be tripped..

Other than that we did some bar hopping. Unfortunately, people smoke in bars here. How revolting! Anyway, I almost got into a small fight with a drunk Australian dickhead about some pool. Oh well, fortunately for him I'm a rather calm chap. Otherwise there was one of him and 4 of us + some other 10 Israelis that were in the bar...

This is a date to remember - I actually had a drink today (well, I wouldn't have but the folks got me one for bday so I couldn't have said ''no'...). Finally, there was the issue of getting back home, which would have involved a cab + a bus. So early on we figured I'd sneak into their room (10 beds) and just use one. This is exactly what we did.

Thursday, May 17: Melbourne

Spent much of the day catching up on some TV shows. Went to a pretty good Chinese restaurant with Harry and Mariana. Unlike in the US, Chinese food actually tastes good with no as much oil and other crap in it.

Wednesday, May 16: Christchurch - Melbourne

Woke up damn early at 4:00. Got to the airport at 5:00 and was on board at 7:00. Arrived to Melbourne at 8:30 (local time). Very surprisingly I met at the money exchange at the airport Ben, Nir and Nadav, who apparently flew in from Auckland at 6:00. Also (not surprsingly) I met up with some friends of my parents - Harry and Mariana (whom I had already visited a year and a half before) - with whom I'm gonna stay while in Melbourne. The rest of day included catching up on some TV shows (thanks need go to big brother who put those episodes up!) and then at 19:00 I hooked up downbtown with Nir and Ben to figure out what's next. I did recall from my last visit that there was this really good icecream place near a train station. Indeed, I managed to find it, and while it was very good it wasn't quite as I had remembered it. (I think that's becasue last time I came here straight from the US where the icecream is mostly crap). Still, I had my three scoops, and funny enough (for the other guys) the cone broke! But, using my juggler's instincts I managed to grab it before it fell on the ground (and after it had made a big mess out of my shirt).This brought up some funny memory when nadav dropped his three scoops on the ground a while back. PICTURES ALERT: I have posted some photos (mostly of myself...) at http://www.ist.caltech.edu/~idaniel/Data/NZ%20Pics/ in a file called "May 3-11.ZIP". It includes some photos from Nelson Lakes hike and from my solo hike at Nina Valley and a couple of others.

Tuesday, May 15: Christchurch

I haven't gotten an email from Ben and Nir about when they were gonna go to Melbourne so I decided to go ahead and get there as soon as I can as I found a cheap one-way ($220). So, off I went and got myself the ticket for tomorrow - May 16th at 7:00. Also, I got a one-way from Sydney to Auckland that's fully refundable ($760) to avoid problems when entering Australia. Clearly, the first thing I'll do when getting to Australia is cancel the damn ticket... Other than that the whole day was spent running last errands in Christchurch, which wasn't too exciting. Oh, I started reading this book I traded some Israeli at Hunmer Springs, which is an histroical/philosophical discussion of Quantum Mechanincs. It's actually quite interesting.

Monday, May 14: Christchurch

Not much happened today. I checked my flight options to Melbourne (most likely my next destination). Unfortunately, I cannot fly anywhere using one-way tickets, as they normally don't let you in the country. Since I don't know where and when I am heading next, this makes things very inconvinient. Likely solution: Buy a fully refundable ticket out of Australia...

Other than that - I watched "The Flying Scotsman". Not a bad movie.

Sunday, May 13: Christchurch

A slow and relaxing day. I saw a couple of street shows, the second of which was hillariously funny (I've seen the guy 2 months before). Other than that I spent many hours trying to finish my "Time" book.

Saturday, May 12: Hunmer Springs - Christchurch

Left Hunmer Springs at 10:30 and got to Christchurch at 12:30. First thing - I picked up my passport from "Around-theWorld" Backpackers, and fortunately enough a VISA to Australia had been granted. So the plan now is to go to Austrlia soon enough and hook up with Mr Cook (Ben), and Mr. Eat (Nir).

Other than that, the owner of the first backpacker where I tried to stay turned out to be a small car dealer as well. Not wanting to spend energy on selling the car (as the season ended long ago), I sold it to him for 500 bucks. So, no more car to worry about.

Wednesday - Friday, May 9-11: Nina Valley Track

I finally went on my track. I bought a nice little stove, and off I went. The day before I had a small dicussion with my brother who (as anticipated) strongly recommeded against such a thing (for the usual reasons - if you get hurt, alone, etc.). As it turned out his concerncs were not without merit and I had ample time to reflect on his words (which I did indeed). But I'm ahead of myself so first things first.

I drove to Boyle Village (about one hour in the oposite direction of Christchurch, namely, from where I came a couple of days before to Hunmer Springs). I left the car there for $15, these Kiwis charge you for every god damn thing. In fact, they offered to give me a ride to the beginning of the track, some 5km up the road, with my car for $15! What a bunch of cock sucking faggots!

Day 1 (nasty):

Ok, so I left Boyle Village at 13:45, walked up the road until I finally got a lift to the beginning of the track with a couple of nice kiwis. This first day was a prelude of what's to come. The walk was in the bush (so much for topo maps), wet, and slippery. My boots, which are crap (I should return those damn boots to REI and get my money back!), got wet on the inside of course. Still after 2hr 45mn (3 hr according to DOC time) I made it to Nina Hut. The Hut seems brand new, and was a very nice hut. I got the fire started (no as easy as one might think) and got the shoes to dry overnight. I Spent the evening playing freecell (almost won!) and readin my "Time" book, whic was lovely - I still have a hard time perceiving 10 to the power of 117 years into the future..

Day 2 (aweful):

This day was simply aweful. The first part was to a place called "Devilskin Hut" (I wonder who came up with that name). The track took 2hr 15min (I started at 10:15), and was the first time ever that it took me longer than the DOC time (2 hr). It was poorly marked, and I found myself several times not being sure as to how to proceed. Going back was not an option, since I went up on a steep gradient, which I doubt I could have gone back down through.

From Devilskin I walked for about 4 more hours to Doubtful Hut. The walk was not without incident. The first half hour was to Devil's Saddle, which was horrific. It was in the open with bush (and many thorn bushes) up to my waist, so that the ground underneath could not be seen. Nor could the pits. So, yes I fell a few time. Fortunately not too badly. Then right before the hut I had to cross a river. Getting my shoes wet was no problem, since they have been soked since nearly the very beginning of the day. The problem was that it was a bit wide with not a weak current. The hut was supposed to be very close but I could find no signs. I will not repeat here the swear words I used about the DOC. Finally, I found it and arrived at 16:45.

The hut was the crappiest one ever. No water, room for 2, old, and shitty. Still, I got a fire going (eventually). There was no point in trying to dry the shoes, so I gave up on that. At some point I heard a sound behind me on the table. I then saw a small mouse (or was it a rat? What's the difference?) and another one. I didn't let them stop me from falling asleep later on.

Day 3 (very bad end):

I got on my way at 9:30. Since there was no water at the hut I filled water from the river, and although hut water is usually river water, I decided to try and not drink it (and I ultimatley had no water until I got to Boyle Village). The track was reasonably marked most of times (with the occasional dount as to where to go). Unlike the day before, there was little danger here. Except at the very end right before the road. There I had to cross Doubtfull River, which was some 20-25 meters wide and waist deep (as I learned while crossing it). The fact that the water was very cold was not a big issue, as the main problem was the strong current (especially with Mr. Mega Bag on my back). I literally could not believe they expect people to cross that damn river, and I am still not sure how I managed to do it and at 11:30 I was passed the river.

I regrouped for 20 minutes and got on the road walked 5km to Boyle Village. Of course getting a ride from passing cars was impossible (maybe they are afraid from Arabs...). And of course the little rain from before picked up, but sure enough at 13:00 I made it to Boyle Village.

Small note: My original purpose was to "fly solo" for three days and not see anyone during that time, which indeed was the case (except for a hunter I met at the very beginning of day 1), and have a dry nice hike up some moutain. Indeed the terrain was somewhat mountainous, but most certainly not what I had in mind (in my worst nightmares...).

Hunmer Springs: I decided to relax for the rest of the day. So I got to Hunmer Springs at around 14:30. Since I had no food since breakfast I got myself a nice Filet (yea!). It was ok. Nothing more, which was rather disappointing given that it cost $28.50 (my most expensive meal yet!) and given that I had no decent food for several days.

Later in the evening I went to the thermal pools, which was quite a treat after the hike. The day was conluded with a movie at the backpacker with a couple of Israelis I met there (Michael and Eleanor) called House of 9, which is a thriller about 9 people locked in one house and only one can get out..

Lastly, there were two more Israelis there one of whom had been reading a semi scientif semi philosophical book about Quantum Mechanics. So I traded him his book for "The Brethern", which has been lying in my car forever.

Tuesday, May 8: Hunmer Springs

Nope, I didn't leave on my track. I was about to. I bought the topo maps, the food, but then I realized I wasn't feeling too well (maybe it was in my head). So despite the beautiful weather, I spent the day in Hunmer Springs. I went to the hot natural pools (the warmest is 41 degrees!). Spent three hours there. There are two pools where one can stick the head underwater (these are regular pools) and I tried to see if I can still hold my breath long. So I got pretty quickly to 2 minutes and 3 seconds, but the water was too cold to try and go for my record. Other than that
there was a water slide, which was pretty fun and brought up some good old memories from when I was a kid (about 300 years ago).

I moved to the other backpacker in town, which seemed bad the day before but for whatever reason I now seem to think it's really nice(coasy and has a TV!). I used the TV and watched 1492, which is a semi boring movie.

Dinner: cooked again...

Monday, May 7: Murchison - Hunmer Springs

Left Murchison with the intent to go close to Christchurch and have a 3-day track on my own. I stopped on the way in Sunmer Springs, (probably about 100km north of Christchurch). This place is a little resort town with some natural hot springs. After talking to the iSite people (information), it became evident that I should do the track around this area (it's all Sunmer Forest park, sort of, with different entry points that are many km apart). Also I talked to some local guy, Dave, who used to do quite a bit of hunting around my intented route.

The plan was to leave the next day. For the rest of the day I didn't do much, except for cooking dinner for myself (I'm getting better at that). Tonight was stir fried veges, with some chicken and mashed potatoes with onions and mashrooms. It was pretty damn good!

Friday - Sunday: May 4-6: Nelson Lakes Track

Friday morning I left to St. Arnaud (about 1.5 hours from Nelson heading south) to do a 2-day track at Nelson Lakes (2 very nice lakes). The track ended up being a "Daniel Track" - namely, there was more excitement than I had bargained for (Argentina comes to mind). But let me start with the beginning:

Day 1 - Friday:

I hooked up at 10:00 with Maria (girl I met at the kayaking in Abel Tasman). By the time we started the hike it was 11:45. Day 1 was supposed to be a 5-8 hours hike depending on the weather. In our case it was quite good. Altitude gain - about 1200m. 20 minutes into the walk I recalled that I had forgotten my toothbrush. So she went along I went back to the car and ultimately caught up. Later, I realized I had also forgotten toilet paper (didn't go back for that one). We made it to the hut after 6 hours. There were there 3 Americans: Chris, Tyne, and Meredith (however that's spelled), and a dutch - Joris, who used to work for the DOC for some 6 months. Nothing to exciting - just played some Yaniv.

Day 2 - Saturday (exciting day #1):

Woke up and realized the weather was shit More precisely , it was very foggy with some sparkling rain and heacy winds. BTW, this is the first track to which I did not bring a wind breaker, since the DOC people promised the weather would be good... So then things got exciting. I told Maria the weather was too bad for tracking. There terrain was mountainous, and given the winds and lack of visibility it seemed to me like an unnecessary risk. She, however, had her plans set from before hand (which gave her an extra 4 days of doing nothing in Christchurch) and got upset an irrational. So some tears came out, some voice raising (never on my part of course) and some bad mood (maybe it was that time of the month, who knows...). The only real problem was our severe lack of food (we never planned for an extra day, and in fact, I thought originally we were each gonna get our food, and then we shared and bla bla bla). Still, I figured better be hungry than dead. Ultimately, Mr. Dutch (Joris) had extra food and was kind enough to share. Also, I have to say my Argentina experience came in handy in assessing the situation and realizing there was no big problem. Hell, we had water, we had shelter that had wood and coal so we could keep a fire going, and there, ultimately, was food. So - no problem.

The whole day was spent playing cards really. I learned a new pretty cool russian card game from the Dutch guy. Later, a 58 year old Kiwi showed up. He'd been tracking for 8 days! One more thing about this day. For whatever reason Maria kept bitching about the situation and for whatever reason blamed me (go figure - seriously). So Kiwi guy (his name is Max) said we were like a married couple? Can anybody imagine that? I sure ain't her boyfriend and most certainly not her husband - and yet she needed to vent..

Day 3 - Sunday (exciting day #2):

The weather turned out very well today and so off we were. The plan was to meet Joris at the car park at 15:00. We left at 9:00, and we and him went on different routes. As it turned out (5 hours later) we went on a wrong one that led us to the very nice Rotoroa lake some 7.5 hours away from the car park (in nearly the opposite direction. Specifically we arrived at Sabine Hut). The reason for this mistake was a, I think, a bad sign early on - but most probably my fault. Anyway, I need not comment about the mood some of us were in. Option 1: Spend another unexpected night on the track. Option 2 - Catch a water taxi $60 per person and then a ride somehow for another 45km.
(Option 3 - if were on my own I would have simply gutted the whole thing - but this was not an option.) We went for option 2 and were lucky to catch a ride with some local (the place was Rotoroa and it has some 10 houses...) for $20 a person. So our little detour resulted in $80 per person plus 1.5 hours of being late and missing Mr. Dutch, as we managed to get to the car at 16:30 (not bad given the situation).

We drove to Murchison (60km west) and stayed at a place called "tThe lLazy Cow" - the only BBH backpacker in this tiny little town. It's pretty coasy and nice. Dinner was damn good (I'm in the chef position now..), expecially in light of the fact that we had to buy groceries in 1 minute, since the "supermarket" was closing. Mash sweet potatoes with onions, stir fry, and a shakshuka. Wasn't too bad.

Thursday, May 3: Nelson

Crap day mostly. Spent my time figuring out how to apply for a VISA to Australia. I also got to see Spiderman 3! Pretty good. Lastly, I moved to the best backpacker in town called "The Bug". I wish I had stayed there the previous nights.

Wednesday, May 2: Nelson

Still Nothing about the car. I guess I'll keep it for now. This can be called movie week I suppose, as I get to see a movie everyday. Today I saw Sunshine. Quite crappy - I strongly recommend against seeing this piece of crap. Aside from that I got to finally read a few more pages in my book "Time" by Stephen Baxter - A Sci-Fi about the end of the world and an attempt to avert it using help from the future...(so me).

One nice thing about Nelson is that because it's so dead (at least this time of year) the ars have free pool in the evening - and that's something!

Thursday, May 3: Nelson

Crap day. Spent most of it applying for a god damn visa to go to Australia. Hopefully those Australian wankers will send me the passport back in due time.

On a happier note - Spiderman 3 came out and was rather good.
Tomorrow I'm off to Nelson lakes for a 2-day track. I'm suppose to randevouz with Maria (the girl from the kayaking in Abel Tasman). It was most amusing to hear the disappointment (stress?) in her voice when I told her that there are no stoves in the hut and that I don't have one of my own. It's going to be a cold dinner...

I moved to yet another backpacker today - to "The Bug", which is rated as the best BBH backpacker in town. Indeed, it's probably the second best one I've been to thus far.

Last thing: For the first time in a long time I haven't had a "Big Bikkie" (an exceptionally tasty ice cream wrap - cookies and cream coated with chocolate that has some crisps in it - Delicious!)

Tuesday, May 1: Nelson

Yeap, I'm still in town doing nothing. I saw "300" today, which was a slightly disappointing movie. Spiderman is coming out in 2 days, so everyone (namely me) is looking forward to that.

I've posted some adds for selling the car, as I'm planning to leave NZ shortly. It's still not clear where I'll be going. The plan right now is to go to Nelson lakes (1.5 hours south of Nelson) for a short 2-day track. If I have time, I'll do Queen Charlotte track after that, which is a 71km, and would take 3 days.

The pubs were dead this evening (how surprising...)

Monday, April 30: Nelson

I separated from Nir, Nadav, Ben and Gilad today, as they headed for the north island and I'm staying in the south. I might join some of them in Australia - we'll see.

Today was a long Internet session day. Posting all them photos up does take time. Also, I figured I'd seriously check out the Everest Basecamp thing (17-day track, up to about 5500m of altitude). Unfortunately, as it seems, the season for this is over, and so no everest basecamp for me :(
I have now moved to a new backpacker, that's much smaller and cleaner.

Monday, April 30: Nelson

The rest of the group has gone up north, whereas I've decided to stay a while in Nelson with no intentions of going to the north island (as I've already been there). I spent all too many hours on the internet putting photos up etc. etc.

Other than that I made some "car for sale" notes as I now intend to get rid of the car and move to another country (any ideas?) I might go to Australia in a month or so and hook up with the folks there. We'll see.

Food: I'm now back to a normal human diet that includes normal amounts of food. It feels pretty good!