Running with the Wolves

Running with the wolves.
It's time for us to go.
Left all our clothes.
With the car left by the road.

And we were running.
For a reason.
For the burning, in our veins.
And we were running.
For a reason.
We just need to get away. 

Running with the wolves.
We're screaming at the stars.
Left all we own.
In a hole in our backyard.

And we were running.
For a reason.
Left our cubicles in little flaming piles.
And we were running. 
For a reason.

I need to feel something different for just a little while.

I'm not coming home.
I'm staying with the wolves.
They can burn all my mail.
And disconnect my phone.

Tell my mom I'm sorry, sorry for leaving.
But I'm staying. 

Now we're running to find meaning.
We're gone, and we're never coming back. 
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Thank you Cloud Cult for this great song to fall asleep to..
Streaming The Current (89.3) from New Zealand was such a great idea.


Thanks Mom.. <3

What I've been up to....

Well, It's official. I will be done with school at Waikato University on October 29th!!
Can't wait! Working on some siiiickkkk travel plans at the moment ;)
Also, total line up for Rhythm & Vines was released today... yay!

Okay, you're right... that's really not why I came on here. I wanted to let you guys know what I've been doing over the last week errr so!

First and foremost...

Britt & I made STEAK DINNER

The meats different but what of it. It was DELICIOUS.

 

Katie, Nora, Ruth, Denise & Myself went to the SNOW for a weekend.

except that it was a blizzard so we couldn't really make it to the snow...
but here's us @ Lake Taupo :)

I got a picture with a GIANT wooden kiwi

While katie's car was broken down.... 

And we went to Huka Falls which is the start of the Waikato River

It has the most amazingly blue water

And now... I sit here in my room. Writing a paper. Oops.. I meant, taking a break from writing my paper. Also, taking a break from studying for my popular culture test to write this. Awaiting more great adventures to come.

It's cold out again... isn't it supposed to be getting warmer now? I've had enough of the cold. Bring on summer! :)

I'm having an internal conflict right now. Can't decide when I should head back home. I suppose I should give it some time and see how I like traveling before I start to worry about it. Thing is... I realized something about myself. I don't like not knowing. I wanna plan it, and know, and know that what I plan is the right thing to do. Hm...Always thought I was super spontaneous about these things... guess I was wrong. You learn something new every day. ;)

Peace, Love & Life Experience

--BreezyDownUnder

TurqouiseNails

Hello lovelys :)
I'm kind of glad that my travel journal is now down in the blog... just as boring for me to write as it probably was for you to read. But hey... at least now its documented in electronic history, aye? Hehe. Well, apparently we are supposed to be getting some 'biggest storm on the planet" in New Zealand this weekend. I'm rather skeptical of it because all it talks about is rain, snow, and a lot of wind. Sounds like a pretty average storm to me... Although the snow in most of the North Island would be really weird. I don't think people would know what to do if snow started to fall her. Me, on the other hand, would probably go make a snow angel :).

I suppose there is some good that will come out of this storm.. my unwillingness to leave the house will cause me to be very successful in studying for my test that I have tomorrow. But ohhh New Zealand.. will you please stop crying? It's almost summer! Put on a smile and let the sun come out!

We had a gorgeous day yesterday, which I also grudgingly spent studying.. but you know whenever there is a WHOLE day of sun around these parts that the next 4 are pretty much promised to be complete shit. And that is exactly what happened. Yayyy. I should be a meteorologist.

Well, new news in the world of my life includes Verena coming back to the north island! Hooray! She misses her boy in the mountains too much.. hehe. So she's coming back here for him and will be staying about 3 hours from where I live. Pretty exciting stuff. Also, I will hopefully get to see her this weekend because the group of girls that I hang out with have decided to take a trip 'to the snow' for the weekend. It's Nora's last weekend, she's going home on tuesday now :(, so we wanted to do something fun before she leaves. However, if its going to be such crappy weather, I kind of doubt that we will be able to go snowboarding. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Next week we are having our international potluck thinger with my friends. I'm gonna make Tator Tot Hot Dish. What up! I'm so excited! Even though it probably won't taste the same at all... but I can hope!

Still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my time in New Zealand. The end of the school year is rapidly approaching...my last final is on October 29th! Woohooo! Then I was thinking about maybe going to see Australia for a few weeks (possibly with Verena). Or else I could always go to the South Island but I kinda wanna wait to do that until my parents come and/or after the Rhythm&Vines Festival. Who knows! So much to do, so little time!

I've been using this as my procrastination method so that I could take a break from studies... but I think it's time for me to retire the blog for the day and hit the books again!

Peace, Love & Lots of Rain!

-BreezyDownUnder

Spring Break Chronicles: Surf, Taranaki, Surf

28-August-2010: Clear Skies

Ahh today was gorgeous! Woke up on the beach around 7:30 am (yes, we get up early here! It happens when you’re sleeping in a van and don’t dread a school day J) and went for ‘a run’. Ok, Ruth actually went and I just tried.. the sand wasn’t hard yet so it was really tough to run. Then we landed at a BackPackers to take a shower for 3 dollars which was really nice of them... we are so lucky that it is off-season. All of these people keep telling us that they don’t normally allow people to shower there haha. Talked to the older couple that was watching over the place for winter for awhile and then after that we left for Tairua for the Puketuni Valley to go on a gold mining tramp. It was a 3-hour track and we did it in two... crazyyyy! It was a really fun walk with mine tunnels (3 short ones) and climbed uphill forever on our way to the Collins Drive track. It was a 500 meter gold mine tunnel and not going to lie it was pretty creepy. Ruth got freaked out as soon as we hit pitch black so I had to be brave and continue on with our lantern, singing songs.

It was really awesome! After our tramp we were really gross so we thought it’d be a good idea to jump into the river that was by where we parked the van... Yeah.. FREEZING COLD. Let’s just compare it to jumping into Lake Superior in fall. Haha, oh dear it was funny...but really refreshing! And then it was my turn to drive the van... yes, I now know how to drive not only a cool minivan but also on the left side of the road. It actually wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be... the most complicated thing is mixing up the windshield wipers and blinkers because they are on the opposite side of the wheel. I think biking has helped me to get used to staying to the left though because not once did I start to go right. Good news, ay? It was great to drive though through the mountains and such. I miss driving.

First place I ventured to in the van was Hot Water Beach and wow! Is it cool! It’s a Geothermal area (go figure) and when it’s low tide you can go there, dig your own hole, and it becomes a hot pool! There was a lot of tourists there today.. the most we’ve seen anywhere on our trip. I couldn’t help but think how weird it would be to someone that isn’t familiar with the concept. You arrive at this beach to see a ton of people.. but rather than swimming in the ocean, they are all sitting in this one area of the beach in sand holes. Haha.. so great. Occasionally, our pool got a little TOO hot and i burned my tush but then you just dig in a cold spot and you can balance it out.

After that we went a little more North on the Coromandel Peninsula to Whitiangi and took the passenger ferry to ‘Scallop Fest!’ We were super excited to experience this popular occasion but apparently you needed tickets ahead of time and by the time we got there the festival was almost over anyway. However, we did go to Snapper Jack’s to eat and I got Seafood Chowder for the first time since I’ve been in New Zealand. Mmmm! It was really good and came with buttered bread.

We currently are at a new campground near Cathedral Cove hanging out in the lounge, eating chips, chocolate, lollies, and watching some rugby on a big screen tv. The lady that was working here thought we were crazy for being so excited about the TV and kitchen... What! We never watch Tv, ok?! It’s pretty exciting. Well, I still don’t really understand the rules of rugby.. It’s kinda like football but really continuous.. after a tackle they just keep passing the ball.

Cathedral Cove

30-August-2010: Losing track of the days..

We are in RAGLAN!  Yesterday we ended up in Tauranga and Mount Manganui. Ate at Zeithyn’s for dinner and it was so absolutely delicious. Kind of a Turkish, Indian style restaurant. Slept near the beach in some rando boat landing and woke up this morning to about 20 high school boys running past our van at 7:30 am...haha...awkwarddd. Not much going on in Tauranga right now, plus there was no surf and we are itching to try it so that’s how we ended up in Rags. Which I love so its all good. J

Rented wetsuits/surfboards from the Raglan Backpacker’s for 25 dollars today and went for about 3 and a half hours. So tiring but SO.MUCH.FUN! Starting to think I taught myself how to snowboard wrong... considering I longboard and now surf with my RIGHT foot forward and snowboarding with my LEFT forward. Weird as...But! I DID stand up today, which is awesome. Got it about 4 times really good. I’d say the board kind of owned me though... considering it’s about 8 ft. Talk and I’m a whopping 5’ 3” AND it was really windy, ha! It was a struggle to walk my board to the water... let’s just say that.

1-September-2010

Went surfing again yesterday for FOUR hours! It was a lot of fun and I was up for a whole wave a few times. It’s just a fun experience to learn. It’s understandable how snowboarding helps you to surf but then at the same time, it’s a much different experience. It’s fun to be in the water instead of cold snow too! Afterwards I was starving so we got Fish N’ Chips from Nannie’s in Raglan.. I looooveeeee that place.

Headed off to New Plymouth for the day because Raglan was rainy so surf wouldn’t be fun today. Think we went to sleep by 9pm because we were so burnt out from surfing. Went to the museum in New Plymouth this morning and that had lots of awesome Maori artefacts. Also, stopped by a second hand bookstore today where I got ‘Stuff on my cat’ (made me think of andrea.. don’t ask) and this book in the NZ’s favourite books called ‘Tully’ and so far its been really good!

Visited Mount Taranaki, some gardens and a children’s zoo...it was excellent ;). Then we stopped at  Mike’s Organic Brewery for some tasting on our way back north.
 

Spring Break Chronicles: Northland

And so the story continues...

Day 5: Piahia                                                                                    

View we woke up to

Yes, we are finally on the road! Got out around 6 p.m. last night and headed north. Too dark to see naything but full moon and awesome stars! James would be jealous of the stars visible around here..you can see the milky way like I've never seen! We decided to crash last night in the can at a spot in Piahia. Woke up in the morning to the Bay of Islands and blue skies! It is so beautiful! Washed up in a public beach restroom and then headed for Russel in hopes of meeting up with Nora at some point today. You take a ferry from Piahia to Russell maybe 6 mins. tops and then you are on the peninsula. We are surrounded by water, little islands, and trees. 

I'm writing this from the top of Flagstaff Hill and god, is it cool. :) Also, standing next to this flag pole that was a part of the Maoria revolt against the British settlers that arrived here in the 1800's. The flagpole was put up in 1840 by the British and chopped down FOUR times by Maori. It was rebuilt in 1858 as a peace offering and is still standing today. So awesome to learn about. Oh, and p.s. THE VAN IS AWESOME. Pretty damn comfortable to sleep in too! Finished this day off visiting with Nora's family and then ferried back to Piahia and started driving north again. 

Day 6: "Don't Honk the Horn with your Ass"

Well, Ruth just honked the horn to let everyone know that we've arrived at Bayly's Beach. To finish what we did yesterday we ended up in Karikari Peninsula, checked out Matai Beach at the end of it and Holy Smokes! It was incredible. Completely empty, not walked on, white sand beach out in the middle of nowhere. (Easily one of my favorite spots of the whole trip) We slept in the van there and had a bonfire on the beach which was really relaxing. I miss bonfires. We also apparently went to some waterfalls in the area as visible from the picture above.. however, I'm not entirely sure what falls these are... we came across a lot of them. But! Check out the rainbow that you can see in this picture. I think they were somewhere in the way north. Kaitaia?? 

Before swimming @ Matai Beach.. Brr!

Grabbed Fish n' Chips in Keikhoe today and started heading south down the west coast of the northland peninsula. Went to Ngwana Springs which are Hot (thermal) Pools on the outskirts of town. It was in the kind of run down place but turned out to be incredible. Ended up talking to the older man that was "working" (aka sitting in the hot pool with us) and he told us all about the area. They had about 15 different pools all different colors (from different minerals) and temperatures. It was kind of raining so we got to sit in a pretty hot one which was so relaxing. It was great & now we smell like sulfur, ha! But at least our skin is soft! Left the springs in hopes of camping by Kei Ewi Lakes tonight only to get there and find that the campsites are closed for logging :/ so now we are at Bayly's Beach in some cul-de-sac next to a house that we are hoping no one lives in, haha! Ohhh, the adventure never stops. I can hear the ocean though so that's a good sign!

Day 7: We Severely Need to Invest in A Flashlight

Woke up this morning in the cul-de-sac to find cows grazing next to our car haha! That was neat. Then we headed south to Dargaville in search of a backpackers to take a shower. Turns out the BPers here is closed in winter..ughhh. We ended up stumbling up to the door of McLean's B&B and this precious old man named John answers the door and we stand there awkwardly (probably smelled awful) and asked him if we could just use the showers. Turns out his wife had recently had a stroke so they hadn't been taking in many at their B&B but he said no problem took us upstairs to our own shower and room to get ready. They were such a sweet couple with many recommendations for travel and such a good spirit. John and I joked about buying beer before the liquor stores closed for the weekend and we had a few laughs. Adorable. Other than the fact that he called me a yankee =P We checked out the public gardens in Dargaville and they were really disappointing.. but they had a cool playground constructed like a pirate ship! 

So, after giving Dargaville a chance..and being not too impressed, we moved on to bigger and better things. Headed for Whangeri next and went to Whangeri Falls and for a hike. After that we went to Abbey Caves which were kinda cool but didn't want to climb too far into them without gear. Plus the fact that caves just kinda freak me out... as I've realized from this trip. There was also a 'Rock Forest' sign in the area which we checked out just far enough to find a grave from 1884 of a two-year-old boy complete with plastic toys all around it... CREEPY. So we hightailed it out of there as fast as possible. Grabbed some McD's soft-serve ice cream...(this quickly became a tadition) and headed for Bream Bay.  Waves are awesome, water is clear, cool cliffs to either side of us and islands off in the distance. Hot here earlier than most nights so we set up shop-- Tried out our gas burner that came with the van & made pasta with leek and spicy pepper sauce and had some beers while sitting on Lang's Beach. This is another favorite beach of mine from our trip.. Perfection. We live a rough life, aye? 

Lang's Beach @ night

practicing photography w/cool tree

First time cooking was a success!

Day 8: One week & Last day of the Northland

Today was full of driving. I think we drove for somewhere around 5 hours. Wen't to Manghwei Heads this morning after leaving Lang's Beach... I can say that I have been there..but I couldn't tell you what the hell the heads were. (This is a reoccuring theme in the trip...i think they try to hard to make everything a tourist spot sometimes). After that, we continued south toward Auckland (my favorite place...) got some groceries @ Pak N' Save (almost forgot the muffins!) and headed for Coromandel Peninsula. Somewhere along the way we went to this cafe called 'Dragon's Rest' and got AMAZING muffins. Honey & Oat and I got a Cappucino w/ cinnamon on top. Mmm! Decided to skip past the crappy town of Thames (pronounced Tims) and are now on the East Coast of the Coromandel in the quaint town of Tairua at Ocean's Beach. A million beaches right? I know.. we decided to follow the ocean during our travels. The beach is complete with high school kids driving in for a late night make out sesh every 20 mins. Most of them leave once they see our van though...who's the creepers now?! ha! I absolutely loved Tairua. We decided to climb to the top of Paku Hill and then headed back down to a picnic table to make our 2nd home cooked meal with our stove. The stars are out again tonight. <3

Below is an eclectic collection of the events that are either written about or captured on film from the day:
From the top!: First of all, L&P is by far my most favorite soft drink in the Southern Hemisphere. Lemon&Paeroa for those of you that are wondering...and what is Paeroa?? I'm not really sure yet. But it's delicious and it quickly became a staple to our day to day adventures in the van (still attempting to think of a name for the beast). 2nd picture is us hanging out our swimsuits to try only to forget about them and then drive to a beach 15 minutes away with a truck honking at us and us going WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?! Landing at the beach to find that..well, we aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree ;) Thennnn we just have some pictures of me hugging trees/the coast from paku hill/ me at the top of paku hill praying to the sun god for more sun and less clouds. 

makes the world go 'round

embarassingly left our swimsuits out to dry while we drove..

Spring Break Chronicles: Auckland

This is where it all began...

Arrived in Auckland Friday night (20/8) after a hellish day of rain and deciding to skip one class and go to the other to find out it was a 20 minute movie that the Prof. put in and then walked out the door. Just my luck. Took NakedBus for a whopping 12 NZD to Auckland and watched the movie 'Dodgeball' on the way. HaHa! Arrived downtown with absolutely no idea where to go and jumped on a random city bus hoping it would take us in the direction of our hostel. After about half hour on the bus we finally were in the area. Stayed at Verandah's Backpackers which has a good view of downtown from the backyard.

Went to sleep that night dreaming about apple pancakes that we had brought along for breakfast the next borning (mmmmMmm). A p.s. to myself in my travel journal 'p.s. it's so great to be in a big city right now..reminds me of the amazing Minneapoli and the skyline here looks awesome with the skytower!'. Little did I know.. I'd soon be very, very sick of Auckland.





Day 2: New Car!

View from SkyTower

Queen Victoria Statue

We went to the Backpacker's Car Market in Auckland today and Ruth found a van that she really likes. 1990 Toyota Estima, holler! So now, new plan. We're in Auckland until Monday when we get the car and then back on track up north. Oh, did i mention that it's actually a van PLUS bed? How sweet is that? So hopefully all goes well. We went to the skytower today for 16 NZD and then to Auckland Art Museum which was really cool. They had a lot of feminist pieces in one of their galleries that remind me of my Women's Studies class. Also, saw the statue of Queen Victoria where the NZ women's movement held a protest and did a mock funeral in the 70's. That was cool to see. Later that night we wandered aimlessly around K'Road (Karangahape Rd.) and went to a place that our friend Kirill recommended as a sushi bar. It was called 'The Little Turkish Cafe' and we got apple sisha and a few coronas. Turned out to be a pretty good time. People watching in this city is incredible. I think we've run into a few people on 'their corners' so far and this one lady(??we arent sure) is clearly on some serious drugs. A little creepy. Also decided while at the backpacker's in Auckland that a new goal I have here is to go diving or get diving certified. This woman staying at the BPer's is a diving instructor and was telling me of these places all over New Zealand that are World Famous diving spots. That's pretty awesome! We also ran into these people when we were walking around town today from AKSamba(??) They all gathered on one of the corners and started playing intruments (drums, maracas, etc.) and dancing. Found a short video of it online if you wanna check it out (Samba). Well, thats about all for today. Just filling my brain up with useless knowledge while on the road.. told my dad to watch out cause I'm gonna be the next up and coming Dr.Professor.Reuter. Seriously..its happening.
New Knowledge of the Day: How do you create a waffle fry?
Answer: Mandoline! What the heck. You need a special gadget just to make them. And then you cut the potato-turn 90 degrees- cut it again-90degrees-cut etc. Then when you fry it it makes the holes! Who knew!


Day 3: STILL in Auckland

Learning about the Ocean (Scallop)

Yes, here we sit in the 'heart' of New Zealand..still. But tomorrow is Monday and that means great things are coming our way! We went to the Auckland museum today and learned about all kinds of stuff. For example, there was a whole exhibit on the Pacific people and the native tribes that lived on the islands. Also, a section on dinosaurs ;), the ocean, and volcanoes. My favorite part being about the volcanoes considering that is how New Zealand was formed. It's really awesome to learn about that stuff... or re-learn it I guess.. since I first learned it in...what...5th grade? Ha! I learned today that Mt. Renengha (where I went snowboarding) is one of the most active volcanoes in the world...errupting every 3-4 years!

(stuffed) Kiwi (bird)

Crazy, huh? We also met up with this girl, Charlotte, today who knew Ruth from back in the day. Also, went to go see 'Killers' today (that movie with Ashton Kutcher)  and it was pretty good. I give it 3/5. I'm so antsy to get travelling. Staying in BPers also inspires me to see so much/go new places. Last night they were going on about Taiwan and how incredible the people are there. I also really want to learn more about the Maori..their history is really confusing and a lot to take in right now, but I hope I understand most of it before I leave.




Day 4: On the Road...Almost!

Lalala, bored at the Backpacker's Car Market...what to do... we've been here since 1:15 p.m. and it's now 4:26 p.m. Played 500 card games, bought salsa doritos, ate salsa doritios, creep like crazy on the auto body shop and now we're just Ready.To.Go. Also, the 'girls' are out on the corner again.. third day in a row we've seen them standing there. Pretty sure our intuitions about that corner were correct. Well, Ruth and I have decided to start our own rap crew. R-Dawgg & BreezyB. Watch out. We're gonna be massive. Alright, enough of my rambling...car is done.. FINALLY!!!!

HAMMY!..er wait, hammyyy....

BACK IN HAMILTON. And as the title of this hints.. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Oh, Hamilton. Home to many of my good friends and this flat, flat, boring, bar filled city. Just kidding. Not too bad. But after seeing so much I'm ready to hit the road again! It will be good to catch up with friends though...already on my way out the door-- off to make dinner with Ruth & Nora. And to answer the question many of you may have been thinking but the opposite answer-- Did I get sick of spending two weeks in a mini van with Ruth? The answer? No-- actually I didn't. Not annoyed by her at all! Pretty impressive I think. The same would not have been said had my roommate tagged along. Ok, but off to make dinner and then beer & How I Met Your Mother night with all our friends! Just wanted to pop in and say hi before I took off again. More to come soon.. you will have so much to read you won't know what to do with yourself.

One thing I did want to mention before I leave though -- arrived home to find friend requests on facebook. Most were unimportant people from the past and then the last one-- "Hannah Vukelich" attached with a note wondering how I'm doing (complete with a smiley face) and then saying she didn't want things to have ended on a bad note.

How do I feel about this? The request is still pending and honestly I'm a little distressed at her attempt to be friendly. Considering the year of us trying to fix a broken friendship still makes me want to cry. Most of you went through it with me. So, thoughts? I need some insight. pronto.

That's all I've got.. more SOON. I promise

Peace, Love & A lot to think about..

--BreezyDownUnder