2/20/2009 - Masterton

I do another leisurely morning today, including laundry. My guess is that, in my quest to save money, time, and soap, my clothes have been slowly developing a "funk" that I am used to but people in enclosed spaces may not be.

Soon enough, I am testing Zod's endurance again up the major hill from Wellington to Masterton. As usual, the van manages to make it despite being passed by every vehicle including the New Zealand equivalent of Geo Metros.

Looking back from the top of the hill. In the distance is the park where they filmed Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings.

Once over the hill, things flatten out considerably. It takes about an hour and a half total to go from the campground to the Masterton city limits.

I show up for a surprise visit at the clinic, grab lunch with David and Caroline Nixon (the head of the clinic), and get paperwork done. David kindly offers me the big apartment as Kylie and her family have finished there at the clinic and are now traveling again. Not bad!

Today's entry will be short, as I'm betting that no one wants to hear where I put "line 23b subtracted from the sum of lines 12a and 12b" or how many deductions I am taking. It is federal tax day for me, and I spend quite a while tracking down W2s and other forms for my taxes. Riveting.

It is definitely nice to have a place of my own. Though I am used to sharing bathrooms and showers and campsites and tables, I suddenly realize that not having to worry about all that is refreshing. I can set my own schedule without reference to check out times or cleaning times or traffic or closing hours. It is so strange that traveling can sometimes be more regimented than being in one place.

Kayra and Kevin have invited me over for dinner so that I can forget all of the tax fun. I make it over around 7PM, and I get to meet her husband, Kevin (who had been working away for a month when I last came through). Tracey, a mutual friend of Kayra, Kevin, and I, also made it over. We put down some wine with dinner, then headed over to a local pub to see how the beer tasted.

Belinda, the pharmacist at the clinic, and Adam, the podiatrist at the clinic, just happened to stop by as well - all in all, a really fun group and make me even more excited about working there.

The weirdest thing about the bar was that the drinking age is 18 here. As 11PM rolled around, boys and girls (they just look too YOUNG to call them anything else) make it in to eye the opposite sex, all dressed up for the occasion. I think we were not mentally put in the category of the "geriatric group", which was fine by me. Also, a limo kept driving up to the bar dropping people off and picking them up, really pushing my definition of a small-town taxi. Weird.

I called "uncle" around midnight, and headed back to the apartment. My plan is to sleep in tomorrow (Saturday) and finish all of my preparations for Tasmania, as I'm leaving on Sunday for the real Down Under.

I sleep on the couch as I do not want to mess up the clean linens and so on. Will be getting up early to start work on my taxes. I could use the refund for sure.

2/19/2009 - Back in the North Again

I am awake earlier than usual today. I have a date with the Picton Interislander ferry at 2PM, and I am not sure how long it will take to drive there. Now that I have a semi-permanent bed in the back, camp is easy to pick up and soon I head off for the store.

Or I would, except that the starter doesn't turn over at all.

NOT AGAIN! What is going on?! I walk down to a gas station and purchase some good jumper cables as it seems like they will be used more than the actual battery in the van. A guy is kind enough to jump-start me, and off I go. Given the questionable nature of starting this thing, I come to the conclusion that I will follow the big rig philosophy of just keeping it on all the time until I can find a spot in Picton that they will definitely be able to jump it or exchange the battery. I am worried that it is the alternator, which is a much more expensive proposition.

It stays on while picking up breakfast at the grocery store and does just fine. I stop at a rest area outside of town that is right next to the beach and eat breakfast with the sound of ocean waves overpowering the diesel engine noise. Some sea lions had arranged themselves in with the rocks and were meticulously practicing their "play dead" routine.

One of these things is not like the others. . .

I had just missed the explosive part of the wave crashing thing, which is too bad as it really is amazing to see. You can feel it, too, as the vibration carries to the rocks under your feet.

After two hours of driving, the fuel gauge began to needle toward "empty", but this corresponded with coming into Picton (where the ferry leaves) and I was able to pull up to a gas station that had a shop. I left the van on and went in to talk to them. After being referred to the mechanic, he came back and checked the battery showing that the alternator was, in fact, charging. It should be OK to turn off. Vastly relieved, I proceeded to fill up with diesel. A big semi truck came impatiently in in front of me about that time, waiting for my spot. You know that feeling of surety that things aren't going to go right? I had one of those right before I turned the key, and the feeling was borne out. Not a click and the door lights barely came on. Gah. The guy from inside helped me push Zod backwards as the big truck driver rolled his eyes.

It came to me in a flash, though. Suddenly, the surety that things weren't going to work became a surety that I knew what the problem was. Opening the battery cover, I adjusted the negative terminal, turned the key, and it started in a second. The terminal is loose causing an intermittent connection.

I have enough time before the ferry to visit a local auto electrician. For a ridiculous NZ$40, he puts a new terminal on the battery, and Zod starts perfectly just in time to head for the ferry.

This ferry trip is pretty unremarkable. This midafternoon journey doesn't have the drama or interesting shadows and colors of the evening trip coming from the north to the south. I spend my time working on the blog instead of doing much looking, and I am sad to say that I did not take a single picture of this crossing.

Back on the north island, I start the trip back to Masterton. The last time I made it, it was by train from Masterton to Wellington. I leave the ferry and head that direction, but find a small and cheap campground just out of town (NZ$12) that I stop at. I want to see the trip over to Masterton in the daylight as it is beautiful. Plus, it's steep and probably would be smarter to have more people around in case Zod decides to show me another mechanical misadventure.

It is relaxing and anonymous there as I make up some vegetarian tofu-and-rice Indian food. I will have to eat some McDonald's or something to regain some masculinity over the next few days.

2/18/2009 - Some Seriously Rocky Coastline

I snooze a bit this morning. It is another clear day, and as I look out my curtained window to see why it is so bright, I get this:

It's either some sort of miracle occurring or the sun has just come over the horizon and is also reflecting off of the lake at the same time. I see this spot for the next 15 minutes until my eyes recover.

Breakfast is down by the lake, basking in the slowly-developing warmth as I wake up.

Morning over Lake Tekapo. I feel pretty sure that, if there were a road over that mountain, I would not be biking it.

This is the kind of half-awake state where coffee would be the only perfect cure. Alas, I left my stove back in Masterton, so unless I take my coffee cold with random microbes and amoeba, I will just tough it out.

Soon enough, I am off again. It feels like a lazy day, and I find a left turn leading to the Mt. John Observatory. It has just opened (as it is 9:00). Why not? Might as well test out Zod this morning. The narrow paved road heads steeply and picturesquely around Mt John (not much of a mountain, really, more of a big lump) until I've gained just over 1,000 feet. At that point, I can see the curious domes of several telescopes arranged around the summit. There is a parking lot, as well as a cafe. Who knew? I am the second one there.

Zod, in an aggressive stance on the top of Mt. John. Pretend not to notice the giant dents in the side and the peeling stickers.

The cafe is very pleasant. Two guys staff it and are nice even beyond the usual for New Zealand. I do find out, however, that one is selling collected albums of his photos of the region, which may explain some of this. I sit in the sun and read Bill Bryson's "A Brief History of Everything" (I think I have the title right) which is laying on a table here. I only get through a chapter or two, but will have to get the whole thing. I crack up once or twice to the worried looks of other people.

I head out as more and more people make their way into the cafe. It is becoming quite busy. The view from up here is religious, though, and I can't go without a panorama.

This is what happens when you allow the camera to automatically stitch pictures together. Not bad, though.

As I pass the town of Lake Tekapo, driving mode sets in. My first goal today is Christchurch, just to get a feel for the place.

The road back through toward Christchurch is similar to the way in, though with more tiny hamlets sprinkled in. The area is rugged as grassland gives way to forest and then farmland again.

It takes a few hours before I notice that the traffic is really picking up. By this point, the area is flat, and Zod is not needing to work nearly as hard as usual. Skyscrapers loom as I stop to get my bearings.

Christchurch is, I think, the third largest city in New Zealand (can't be bothered to actually check, as being third versus fourth best just isn't that interesting a figure to know). It is on the coast and the city and area around it is flat as a pancake. This eventually gives way to the mountains I have just traveled through, though. It is big on bicycling around here due to the flats.

I mostly find it to be just busy. The buildings are older and most are kept up well, though. There is lots of culture, arts, and other things that I could probably care less about. I find a park and, with the help of the GPS, manage to pass by it several times before discovering a place to park.

A note about this: Parking spots appear to be similar to small, defenseless countries, and every driver seems to be 1939 Germany. Everything is well-occupied. I put lots of Zod-related hydrocarbons in the air driving around looking for a spot just to pull over at one point. I finally found my area in a dedicated parking lot deep in the park.

This was good, as it let me see what the planners of this city did with all the parking spots: Turned it into some prime park. It really is nice, with sort of a Central P{ark vibe to it. Lots of little walkways, lakes, ducks, and people sleeping in the sun (probably a significantly smaller percentage doing this permanently than in Central Park by their clothes). I sit down and do a bit of blogging and lunch at a picnic table.

This is all of Christchurch you are going to see in this blog. Just wasn't that impressed overall, but then I GUESS there could be more to see than random driving for an hour followed by 20 minutes sitting in the park. In the background is my solar panel charging my extra battery that I use to keep my camera, ipod, and computer up charged up.

As nothing seemed to grip me about this city, I decided to move on to Kaikoura, and shortly find the motorway. This roughly follows the coast, but is mostly flat. As it gets more rural and I get closer to Kaikoura, the coastline becomes more and more jagged both in its overall outline and the details of its surface. Rocks are black and sharp, and the each ocean wave explodes like a slow-motion water balloon on them. Not only that but occasionally the sea lions make themselves seen. This does not seem to be on purpose. As a matter of fact, they do their utmost to appear to be big rocks on the beach, usually only moving to slowly flap a fin. What a life!

Taken right off of the highway. Rock silhouettes frame rocky beaches looking over islands of rocks. The Flintstones would settle in just fine here.

More rugged-y coastline, getting closer to Kaikoura. The beaches are empty.

Finally roll into Kaikoura toward late afternoon. Do a bit of internetting before settling down in one of the caravan parks. It is crowded but quiet, with most of the people being older and more relaxed. Plus the view from there is fantastic.

It's a little dark, but the flash in my digital camera just wouldn't illuminate the mountains well.

I had picked up a really thick twin-sized air mattress in Christchurch, so am looking forward to a real sleeping experience tonight despite the mattress only reaching to my calves.