We've Moved!

Jackie and I have started a new blog to reflect the new, more global nature of our recent adventures!

Check us out at www.glexpedition.blogspot.com

(It's a word combination. Global+Expedition=Glexpidition! Get it?!)

See you there!!

Love,

Anna and Jackie

Here we Come World

Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that we were standing in the San Francisco airport getting ready to board our plane to New Zealand. Barely any idea of where we would go once we landed, what we would find, or the adventures we would stumble upon throughout our undetermined amount of time that we would stay in the country.

Nine and a half months later we found ourselves with packed bags, slowly saying our goodbyes, and getting ready to hit the road.

A million things have happened since we updated the blog last.

We were living in Dunedin with the most amazing and beautiful Stock Family. We were intruders into the lives of a young family and loved every minute of it. No amount of Thank you's would do justice for everything they did for us. We made our exit plans, finished up work, an old primary school friend Jackie Bahue and some of her friends came through for a few days, and we caught a ride with them north.

On our farewell tour we stopped back into Nelson to say goodbye to the Francis family and sent our passports off for our Indian and Chinese visas to be added. Getting back to the big city found us with a week or so of work at the old owners of La Zeppa new restaurant called Ragu. Jo, Andy and Jimmy took us in for a last two weeks in NZ...Anna guest played on a U-15 soccer team as goalie, we worked a bit, did some closing down of our accounts/lives here in the country, and plenty of watching world cup soccer games and all of the sudden it was time to go.

Surprise! Anna is home and I headed over to Australia for a week. I stepped off the plane with NO plans and Christina's phone number that was missing a digit. I worked for accommodation from Monday-Thursday at a hostel close to downtown and I am now currently staying at a friend from Prep Christina Tidwell's place in Sydney. Australia has been really good to me and I've gotten around a lot of the suggested Sydney activities- some alone and a lot with people I met at the hostel. Traveling alone is lame though. The running commentary in my head needs Anna's ears.

I'm off to Fifa International FanFest to meet up with an Aussie I met at the NCAA basketball tourny last year in Portland then to watch the USA game. Boarding the plane to leave here on Monday morning to Seoul, South Korea to meet Robin. Words can't describe how excited I am to see more cheetos... I mean my mom.

Summer here I come again, I've missed you.

G'day mates. HA.

Jackie sans Anna

Oh, the Lessons We'll Learn

In no particular order, here are a few lessons we learned in New Zealand

- The extreme value of Thank You notes (Ok Mom and Dad, you were right all those years...)

- When in doubt, make sure the driver is the closest one to the middle line

- Fake it till you make it. Works every time.

- "Nice" serves as a great catch all adjective

- The all important difference between a Flat White, a Long Black, a Short Black, a Latte, a Cappaccino, and how to make them

- Shouting is hard on your wallet, not on your voice.

- The "unusual" can become "normal" quite quickly

- Always check the fluids in your car

- Nothing comes after "as" in phrases such as "mean as, sweet as, keen as, cold as, busy as, etc.

-Look right on when crossing the road.

- Kiwis swear more than Jackie.

- Sambuca is NOT an acquired taste

- Jorts are not an acquired style

- Nothing beats a good New Zealand Sav Blanc on a beautiful sunny summer's day

- Who knew Doritos (and importing Cheetos) could be so exciting?

- When somewhere gets too cold for shorts, that's a good time to get out!

- "WH" makes an "F" sound in Maori

- Appreciation for good fresh produce, delicious cheese, smaller portions, fine wine, and warm hospitality

- The importance of working somewhere you like

- Even the biggest city in a small country feels small - that is until you return from living on the South Island...

- Being socially accepted is often directly correlated with hair length

- Apparently the American accent is cool? Apparently we have one?

- Wombinations are funny everytime

- A little generosity goes a long way

- You can only romanticize being homeless and sleeping in your car for so long (for about 2 nights/3 days according our scientific research)

- Walking barefoot in the supermarket is surprisingly liberating

- The fine distinction between a Kiwi, Aussie, and Pom accent

- if u wud lik 2 txt, u cant rit alot

- CSB= Cool Story Bro, and other fine examples of Kiwi slang: keen, have a squiz, giz a geez, skuxx, the list goes on...

- "There's no such thing as a bad experience" - Andrew Clements

The list could go on Forever. Thank you New Zealand, for everything you have given us!

Guest Post By Jimmy Clements

The cake in the face for my birthday in Auckland & the GANG 

We would now like to take a moment to introduce a guest author for our blog; the one and only Jamie Jim Jam Jimmy Jimbo Clements.  She has generously offered to fill in some gaps that we have left out along the way and we are honored to have her here on the blog as she has come to be such an important part of our lives her in New Zealand.  CSB

Well now I think that I better start at the beginning. The very first lunch :) Where "the three Americans" got to see the quiet, shy Jamie that once existed to those that did not know me. But that all changed as you got to know me in the amazing place called Whangamta. The memories as we surfed... well we tried to anyway, we boogie boarded and we swam. Life was as simple and as fun as it had ever been. That was truly an amazing summer. From seeing a um UFO to people being rescued by the boys at the surf life saving. 

It all started when Kyle and Sebas decided to go out in the rough seas, when all of the rest of the gang finished their swim and headed inside my very observant mother asked where the "two boys had gone." My father then smoothly replied they had gone to "the hole in the rock". I think you really had to be there in order to experience my mum's face and he tone of voice as she said: "in this weather and this type of surf - they must be crazy." So we waited for their safe return... We waited... and waited... and waited until finally Clem also known to me as dad went to ask a lifeguard that was going past on his ATV if he could get the IRB to go out and have a quick squiz to see if they could see them anywhere. A couple skipped heartbeats (and a few extra worry lines to come in later years) later and no sign of the two. Dad panicking because as I would put things: he had blood on his hands. There was still no sign of them and the IRB had checked all over. Then the question was asked by the nice eyed lifeguard "you don't think they would be stupid enough to go to the hole in the rock, do you?" Nobody answered that properly. So the IRB decided to check in there anyway as the rescue mission/search was moved up to a "full scale search" and the swimmers went in to see if they could see the two because the life boat couldn't come through. We all rode to the surf club on the ATV while the boys were taken back with the kayak in tow. After a round of high 5's they shared their EPIC ADVENTURE with us all. After dad requested they give the lifeguards some thanks. All of us girls spotted the hottie - we found out later his name was Dan. Dad then invited all of the lifeguards involved to drinks, dinner and a night of Beer Pong afterwards. Dan came but then left, as we checked why he did not come we found out he was "socially challenged" so we were without the hottie as I (Jamie Clements) bet EVERYONE in beer pong  remember the name because one day I will become a champion beer pong player and you will all say haa I played with that girl once, she was brilliant. That night turned into a great summer. 

Following the drama we went Zorbing and i think it was around this time that all of the nicknames were in use: BJ or Bix Jnr. for Anna and also Mom from me for Anna and Jackie was The cat (really long story behind that one) so we were all getting to know the now famous nick names. We then followed on from Zorbing to see the AWSOME concert Ragga Muffin this was one of the high lights of my summer. 

After that brilliant summer i had to go back and go to school but hope was not all lost because I went down to the bach for my birthday, IT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER :) thanks guys. I had the lovely banner from The cat and a tasty Pavlova from Mom. It was truly great. When i was back in Auckland we had another party and i got the cake in the face from the amazing cat. We then went to wellington later in the month and had lunch there. It was great to see all of you again because i had already started to miss you guys :( I think that really over-all it was a great summer and the beach soccer which we FOR SURE WON topped the whole year off.

 Thanks also to Gigi and Steph who were to put things lightly; entertaining. It was so funny and fun to spend time with you all. So over many star gazes and drinks we had the best summer. That summer is going to be a hard summer to top. I think that when you are all old with your Zimma Frames and walking sticks and children i'll come see you again. After Law Uni of course. 

So really i am going to finish by saying how much of an amazing time you have created. You have made me a better person, i have enjoyed sharing stories and listening to your wisdom and your jokes. I think that you are amazing people and in all honestly ( i ankle swear) i love you all. You are truly the best americans i will ever meet and have met. Thank you so much for putting up with my craziness. ;) bye for now. Keep in touch and also a big HELLO from New Zealand to those that read this through! goodnight and goodbye.

Thank you for all of your time

Catch yizs lata!

Jamie Clements aka Jimmy

An Ode to Stewie

This one goes out to Stewie, the Stewman, Stew-rama, the Stewster, the Stewmeister...

Today Stewie the Sprinter leaves our lives forever. It is a very bittersweet moment in which we acknowledge that our lives would not have been the same without him over the past nine months yet recognize that we must now venture forth without him.

It has become clear in recent months that Stewie is as upset about this forthcoming change as we are, displaying signs of a leaky tire, an off center alignment, and a dying battery. Stewie we have heard you loud and clear and to this we say, "Sadden yourself not in the upcoming days that we will not be spending together, but rather, revel in the memories of all the treasured memories of the past."

So with that, and in honor of Stewie and all that he has given us over the past nine months and knowing that in a short two hours, we must part ways, we have spent some time below reminiscing some of our favorite Stewie memories:

- Driving off into our first sunset the day we purchased a vehicle that would come to be known as Stewie.

- Stewie's first day trip to Piha Beach.

- The several, several nights that Stewie became not only our mode of transportation but also our home, storing our clothes, providing us a place to eat a meal, and a comfy car chair to lay our head at night.

- The times Stewie was able to touch other peoples' lives through the hitchhikers we picked up together. Surely their lives were just as touched as ours was...

- Those dark days when Stewie fell ill and had to be nursed back to health. Those days created such a strong bond and reminded us of how much we had come to depend on Stewie as a part of our daily lives.

- The shade Stewie cast in the kiwiberry, pear, and apple orchards; relief from a hard day's work.

- The long hours spent together on roadtrips. You were there Stewie through the tense mountain climbs as your temperature slowly rose from the exertion, the philosophical discussions, the many gorgeous viewpoints, the random pit stops. You were there when we were lost, you were there when we were simply wandering, you were there whenever we needed you, at the end of the day Stewie, you were there.

So on this Tuesday afternoon, as your new owner makes his way towards us to take you on a new adventure, we raise our beer to you dear Stewster. You were the closest I've ever been to owning the car and, lets face it, probably the closest I will be for quite some time. So here's to you dear Stewie, here's to 20,000 glorious kilometres of New Zealand countryside spent together, we will miss you dearly, go forth, drive on, and please please please, don't die until we are out of the country....

Mother's Day in New Zealand was not Motherless.

Cristina and Robin joined us for the Cadbury factory tour.

Well we survived a week straight of Bikram Yoga. You don't understand real, hard out sweating until you've lived this. I have been mistaken all my life. I thought that I sweat a lot when I run or play soccer or get uncomfortable. Wrong. I sweat a LOT when I am in a 95 degree room with 35 other people, who are all trying to bend and contort, and look back, way back, lean back, back back, MORE BACK.

Yoga spiritual revelation?, probably not. Did it help us figure our lives out? I have to think so. Tickets have been purchased, plans are starting to be made, and we are getting to a point when we are thinking non-New Zealand travel thoughts. Who would have thought this day would come?

Life in Dunedin, NZ has been amazing. Anna is working the mornings away at a hotel downtown and I've got some hours as a support worker for a 19 year old woman not too far from where we're staying. There is a lot of relaxing and internet-researching too. (Facebook stalking, trip planning, emailing, trying to catch up on some world news we have neglected the past 8 months. EIGHT MONTHS. well thats sure a long time.) We have hit up the Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour, loved Liam and Audrey, gone on a few driving adventures, we used to try and find Jackie work but have since given up, been to quiz nights, caught up on both Glee and Lost (probably about 25 hours of television catc

h-up), yoga-d enough to hold us over until India, seen a museum or two, Anna has been concentrating most of her efforts toward hair growth, and many nights have been spent bullshitting over wine with the fantastic Colleen and Paul.

Here's a picture of Anna's full head of hair to keep everyone updated.

Miss you all.

Jackie and Anna

When do we meet Buddha?

Being jobless and homeless so much over the course of the past month has left us a bit drained.

In addition, we have quite a few large life issues we must address... like what we will be doing with the next months and years of our lives. Please... even more pressing, we need to figure out what we will do with the next DAYS of our lives.

While fruit picking was a great source of meditation and gave us hours with our own thoughts to reflect upon the world and our place in it (Anna did more of that, since I had my Ipod) it left us with blistered thumbs and bruises on our toes from gumboots.

So, we have decided to undertake a new challenge as a means to bring clarity in our pathetic, muddled lives of hotel waitressing, flight researching, and hanging out with 3 year olds. (there is NOTHING lame about hanging out with 3 year olds, especially Audrey, but I've got 20 years on the girl.)

A self-created 7 day Bikram Yoga Challenge. It works perfectly for seeking enlightenment and fits into our super cheap lifestyles. One week unlimited 90 minute Bikram Yoga Classes for $20. So we send this into the blog world so that I can't back down on going to Yoga tomorrow... and Anna will get out of bed to go to yoga in 2 hours. At the very least, we hope to be able to touch our toes at the end of this. (and maybe in 7 days time, Jackie will have a job).

Cristina, Be proud. The day has come. Jackie and Anna in Yoga class. Maybe Acupuncture next?

Namaste, homies.

Its a cold, cold world out there....

...when you don't have any hair. Well, at least when you have a five o'clock shadow growing on your head. (or on your friends head... who you have to walk around with, be seen about town with, and console when an entire family of five stares her down for WAY longer than socially normal.)

As the poll results to your left may indicate, the public spoke, and we listened, once again. As of Monday, the 19th of April, 2010 at around 5:30pm, New Zealand time, Anna DeMattei Wheatley joined the ranks of the bald headed. Pictures can be viewed via the link on the sidebar if you haven't witnessed the process already. Viewers be warned however, it gets a bit...hairy...in the middle.

The theme of the last two weeks has been: "Pull Your Life Together." A theme we have reinforced by making our very own calendar. Complete with the smiling (actually mean mugging) faces of us truly. We were bored that day.

Last week was spent in the lovely small little tiny town of Oamaru. Known for its cheese factory (loved by the cast of Scrubs), and its yellow eyed and blue eyed penguins (not loved by Jackie - let's just say they aren't the most exciting creatures to watch from a high cliff emerge from the ocean). We were in Oamaru on a work exchange, working for a couple hours every morning cleaning rooms and making beds in exchange for free housing, free breakfast (read: toast), and free internet. Naturally we made pretty good use of all three. We spent a lot of time going over possible options for what the next couple months could look like; going back and forth over which is best, trying to weigh out our options and, naturally, ending up with something completely different. As to what those plans for the next couple months are....well we aren't going to spoil those just yet - tune in next time.

Currently, we are back in Dunedin. Anna is working the breakfast shift at a hotel restaurant and Jackie is considering picking up a paper route (Take that Jesuit education). It short, our lives are nothing short of glamorous. But its a few extra bucks to fund us on our upcoming travels. Its getting cold here. Anna is slowly, very slowly, learning to love fall and cold weather again. Jackie is quickly, very quickly getting bored with life as an unemployed member of society. But as always, we're doing well, and wearing some pretty stylish hats on a pretty regular basis I might add.

We even have a semi-permanent address (until mid June) if anyone wants to send us some love. (Especially since so many of you wanted to last time...not)

As we start to get more and more serious about upcoming travel dates, we have but one question for you all:
Who's meeting us where????????

Big Gulp eh? Welp, see ya later,
Jackie and Anna. Anna and Jackie. Janna. Aackie. We're pretty much interchangable at this point (except for the hair). Its sick.

All That and a Bag of Cheetos

Life in short since Skydiving....

Finished working for Tom Pearpicker, who we miss everyday. Moved out of Nelson. Got talked out of going into the Wildfoods festival in Hokitika by the guy selling tickets at the front gate. Got our money's worth out of our tent. Got our money's worth out of our car by sleeping in Stew. Checked out Greymouth. It was Grey. But there was a pretty sweet brewery. Attempted to swim with seals in Kaikoura (we were foiled by weather) so we walked along the peninsula instead. Crashed a pub crawl on St. Patrick's. Stayed with a friend of Beth Purpur (Kathryn) from her time in India who lives in Christchurch. Picked up 4 bags of Cheetos from the airport. OH, I mean picked up Andrew Backus from the airport for SpringBreakNewZealand010. Dominated a quiz night. Got Scrumpy. Went to two glaciers... Ate Cheetos there. Picked up a package from Robin from Connor Clements...ate Cheetos there. Met up with Della Tall and her friend Carly who were on their way through NZ. Hiked to the foot of another glacier. Had the greatest dinner with the greatest friends...ate Cheetos with them. Saw Sebas off to Los Angeles. Went to Queenstown, to find that we dislike the city more than we dislike sandflies. Put Alissa on a bus to begin her journey home. Got Backus kicked out of a hostel. Went on a SeaExpedition on Milford Sound...ate Cheetos there. 12 degrees is cold water to go swimming in at 9pm, ask Anna. Hit up the southern most point of NZ sign... just to get the tshirts...and to eat some Cheetos there. Sent Backus home to get his diploma. and that is where it all went downhill..... from then to now, we've lived in our car, eaten topp ramen from the bag, , skipped Easter mass because it isn't appropriate to go after sleeping in your car, job searched, sadly, very sadly finished our last bag of Cheetos...at a backcountry hut that we had to climb a mountain to get to cause we had no where else to stay (that was a definite low point), left Wanaka to head to Dunedin, went on a Brewery tour, stayed with the most amazing Stock family, job searched, failed, and now we live at a hostel where we clean in exchange for beds and breakfast. PHEW.

Soooooooo. How about them Mariners?

We uploaded a few more photos of our most recent days. We'll caption them when we can.

Miss you all,

And then there were two....

Free Fallin'

Welp, Anna is finally 23. Jordan's year.... It'll be one to remember.

Alissa and I figured we should start it with a bang... so we blew anna's face off with fireworks.

Just kidding. we really jumped out of a plane. seriously. Skydiving on March 9th... never to be forgotten. It was UNREAL... here's how it goes...

Our boss let us off work early from pear picking...(planned in advance unbeknownst to anna)..he told us that we only had to pick 2 bins instead of 3...SOOO... perfect timing, at about 2:30 we headed to the car to leave to maybe go "jump in the ocean to cool off" (stupid gullible anna)... Alissa got a blindfold on Anna before she knew what was going on.... we drove in a few circles, off the beaten track, stopped and danced outside the car for a second, then headed toward the Motueka airport to Abel Tasman skydiving for our 3pm jump time.... took the blindfold off of Anna and introduced her to the idea that she would be jumping from a plane in no more than 30 minutes... we saw the intro video, stepped into our jumpsuits and harnesses, and marched out to our awaiting aircraft.

20 minute flight around town, 13,000 feet later, and the door was opened to our awaiting destiny....and the rest is history... the whole experience was beyond words. It will unquestionably be done again though... any takers for round two?

Turning 23 in style

Skydiving is a little scary...

WOW. Enough said.

HEY...HEY! DID YOU JUST SEE WHO I JUST SAW?

International Fashionistas back from a LONNNNNNGGGGGG hiatus... (not because the fashions have been good... we've just been busy.)

Believe it or not, famous athletes run rampant around this country. Maybe its because the air is so clean here- or the exchange rate is favorable- or maybe just because they don't have to run from stalking fans. We have been blessed to have seen the likes of Dale Earnhart Junior biking along in the town center in Nelson, Jordan taking the metro bus (just like us regular Joe's), Carmelo Anthony grabbing his morning cuppa, or Ray Allen (from the Sonics, obviously) standing in the supermarket queue.

Everytime we spot one of these superstars, we call out to them, hoping for a glimpse of their face or possibly even an autograph... but without fail... they continue walking along pretending to not hear us. Its like they forget their celebrity and sometimes don't even recognize their own names!

So, for all of you who don't get to come face to face with stardom on a daily basis... here are a few we have caught on film.....

What's New in the 03

Car troubles aside, here's a little update on the positive aspects of life down under...

Our trip down to the South Island was an eventful one as we tried to squeeze in every last bit of North Island sightseeing into our travels before we left the island for good (or at least for now?)

We made a quick stop in the Napier/Haistings area for some delicious vino and sunshine (and later, thunder). And then headed back inland with the ultimate goal of completing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, claimed to be the best day hike in New Zealand.

Before we go on with the adventure telling however, I feel it is necessary to take a moment here to once again interject a little information about our Couch Surfing experiences, which we try to do as often as possible given the free-ninety-free cost of staying in these places for a night, and of course the colorful people we encounter. Which leads me to my next point. We always end up staying with the WEIRDEST but the nicest (in the weirdest way) people. We will just leave it at that for now to keep from putting too much bad karma out in the world (Lord knows we need all the good stuff coming our way - and bad karma seems to come in the form of car troubles these days, troubles we could definitely do without). But if they are "colorful" and fantastic, yet strange, perhaps fantastically strange and are a part of the Couch Surfing network in New Zealand, then we have probably stayed with them. That being said, beggars can't be choosers, Couch Surfing is still an amazing idea, and we would be lost (and sleeping a lot more in Stewie) were it not for our fantastically strange hosts.

The Tongariro Crossing was....cloudy and misty. Not quite the clear day we were hoping for, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves quite a bit. We managed to take a kilometer picture, for all 19.4 of them, made quite a few Lord of the Rings jokes with Gnarls making special guest appearances (one of the volcanoes of the crossing was the inspiration for Mt. Doom), and saw some amazing volcanic/alpine terrain (as promised by all the tourist info duh). It was a very iconic New Zealand experience and one we greatly enjoyed crossing off our list.

We spent a couple days in Wellington before crossing over (staying with fantastic friends of the Clements who inspired us with their travel photos and stories), sightseeing, watching the Olympics Opening Ceremonies (surprisingly hard to find), taking in Kiwi culture and history (and the world's biggest Colossal Squid ever found!) at Te Papa, and enjoying Windy Wellington.

We finally arrived to the South Island, and the sunny Nelson/Tasman region and settled in with our gracious hosts, the Francis family. After about a day of worry that we weren't going to find any jobs (and about 10x a much worry about Stewie never running again), we landed a job picking Kiwi-Berries (not Kiwi Fruit) and Pears. Fruit picking is not easy. Don't let anyone fool you. It is surprisingly exhausting to more or less slowly walk down an aisle of kiwi-berries with your arms above your head plucking berries from the vine. But its pretty amazing money so again, beggers can't be choosers and the people we work with are all nice, although some a bit over the top when it comes to kiwi-berry picking competition.




The South Island is an amazing place. Right as we pulled our trusty old Stewie off of the ferry and on to the mountain and sheep lined highways, we got the feeling that things are just a but grander here. So needless to say the prospect of exploring is very exciting. So far we have done a two day hike to Mt. Arthur in the nearby mountain range, sleeping under a rock overhang out under the stars and getting amazing view of the Tasman Bay, exploring the most northwest point of the South Island, Farewell Spit, enjoying the local farmers markets, hiking and swimming in the Abel Tasman National Park, picking up some very interesting (and very hippy) hitch hikers, nursing our blistered fingers, and spending some quality time with the Francis family.

The next two weeks has a lot of fruit picking in store for us. But hopefully also some fun here and there. Once our jobs here wrap up the plan is to do last bits of exploring around the north of the South Island and then begin the great journey farther south! In the meantime, wish us luck (and our fingers, and Stewie - we're going to limp him through the rest of New Zealand).

Sending you all lots of Kiwi sunshine

Stewie's Seething in the South Island

It's almost as if Stewie was warning us when he failed his W.O.F. (Warrant of Fitness) renewal a week before moving to the South Island...he needed a new ball joint. So $178 later we had a new ball joint, a new W.O.F. and our first big expense spent on Stew.

But we weren't worried; Stewie had been so faithful for the past 5 months,and nothing else could possibly go wrong...then again it's possible that our worries were shadowed by the fact that we got a whole smoked snapper from our mechanic!!

So we set off the next day down South for a little touring around Napier. Unfortunately we were waiting out some bad weather and while at a lookout eating some stinky cheese we had just gotten from a cheese cafe, we happened to get caught in a massive thunderstorm. We decided that it might be a good time to head out of town to our next destination, and so, Jackie turned the key in the ignition and....nothing. Anna braved the storm to ask a neighboring car if they had jumper cables, but no of they didn't. So then we whipped out Jackie's handy dandy AA (equivalent of AAA) card and called up some roadside assistance. Of course, by the time we got off the phone, Stewie had decided that he would start up again.

We headed south to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island...the trip was uneventful and we made it to the Francis' place just fine. It wasn't till we pulled out later that night and noticed an oil leak on the driveway that we realized Stewie was sick...possibly home sick.

The next day we stopped at a local mechanic to have him check Stewie out for us...what we found out was that his transmission had a crack in one of its seals...and that we would have to go see a transmission specialist. $190 later and Stewie's transmission is crack free, but we are informed that the water pump has a minor leak. Good, Great, Wonderful!!! We decide that this too will need replacement, but we have just planned a weekend trip to Mt. Arthur, and so top Stewie up with water and vow to keep an eye on him until we can make a proper appointment.

The road up the mountain to the Mt.Arthur track is a steep, windy and un-paved one and so upon arrival at the parking lot, steam proceeded to pour from under Stewie's bonnet (hood). We open him up to find our coolant boiling, and so let him sit while we prepare to hike. We safely climb the track at Mt. Arthur, stay a night and climb back out and then head to Tasman National park to camp for the night. The next morning we wake up and start our journey over the mountains to go and visit Farewell Spit. Stewie does a great job and makes it over the mountain just fine...that is until we hit the road out to the spit and he overheats.

Luckily for us, a nice Kiwi gentleman pulled over to help us out, and as we added water to Stewie, and he started spitting it back up at us, the man offered to go get his mechanic friend in town. We ended up topping up with water and coolant, and thus managed to stifle Stewie's fever back to a normal temperature. They said we would be able to make it out to the spit just fine, but to top up the water before we went over the mountain again.

When we checked Stewie's water level before going over the mountain it was where it should be, so we proceeded on our way. Needless to say Stewie did a superb job of climbing that mountain and didn't overheat in the least bit...it was the flat tire at the end of it all that we really weren't expecting.

With yet another dash of luck, we happened to realize the flat tire about 200 metres away from a gas station, and so went to get a jack and put Stewie's spare tire on, and then drive the remaining way home at 60km/hr.

Wrapping up our first week in the South Island, it is easy to see that Stewie has some profound distaste for this island and is for some reason taking it out on his loving owners. Hopefully this is only a phase.

There is a silver lining to this story though; We now know how to check and refill both engine and transmission oil, how to refill coolant, how to refill water, how to un-corrode a battery, and how to change a tire!!
Cheers,
Alissa, Anna & Jackie

Monday Pick Me Up

Because its Monday here, and Sunday at home we thought we would provide you all with a little pick me up to combat any cases of the Mondays that may arise within the next 12 hours. So here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngycU76wvoQ

If this has already become really big and then faded in the States, we apologize, things take some time to cross the large ocean known as the Pacific. If this is the case (Shout out to Tara Miller for showing this to us a year ago), please enjoy an oldy but a goody.

Either that or go listen to some Lauryn Hill. Its good for the soul.

Also, we saw Carmello Anthony today. The very large, chain smoking, very white, quite short, not tattooed, version of Carmello playing pickup softball against us. We also saw Ray Allen, a very large, very Maori, did we mention large, but still SONICS supporting version of Ray Allen in the supermarket line in Whangamata (pop. 3800).

And if that isn't a little pick me up, I don't know what is. Maybe you all just need to MAN UP and get your tickets and fly out here.
Boom. Roasted.

Peace

A Quintessential Kiwi Summer

Kiwi summers are awesome.

For the past month we have been living in Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, about 2 hours south east of Auckland in the Clements' bach (beach house). Friends and family streamed in and out, Riverhouse style which of course made us feel right at home. Our days were punctuated by a bit of work here and there (Jackie and Alissa at a local cafe and Anna waitressing at a small pizza/pasta place), teaching ourselves how to surf, frolicking in the waves, wandering (and sometimes running) along the beach, intense matches of beach soccer, lots of card games, lots of wine (and port courtesy of Andrew), and lots of sun and laughter.

For future reference, a new acquisition of the summer has been nicknames. Clem was quick to square these away within our first couple nights there:

Anna - BJ: In continuing with the Wheatley/Weet-Bix nickname tradition, I became Bix Jr. after my loving mother, or shortened to BJ. This nickname was especially exciting when yelled across crowded restaurants or introduced to strangers so that they believe my actual name was BJ

Jackie - Cat or The Cat: Apparently there is a kid's song that goes along the lines of "Oh Miller Catepillar..." Which was subsequently shortened to Cat. I find this nickname particularly hilarious, especially when "The" proceeds the nickname.

Alissa - Stick: The nickname process went a little like this, Alissa's last name is Hays. Hays like a Haystack. Haystack is shortened to Stack. We had to give the nickname a couple days to see if Stack would Stick. Stick stuck instead... Plus Alissa's tall...


Summer Highlights from BJ, The Cat, and Stick:
-Raggamuffin: A day-long Reggae festival in Rotorua where Alissa and I became the legal guardians of Jamie (from now on referred to by her true name, Jim Jam) and Conner so that they could a. go Zorbing on our way to the concert, and b. so we could get in with the family price. The highlight of this day as far as I am concerned is seeing Lauryn Hill perform live. It was pure heaven on earth. I can now die happy... -BJ
- Gigi/Steph Visit: When one of my dearest high school friends Gigi came to NZ on a "research and development" trip with her friend Steph (who is opening a wine bar in Napa, CA)...Anna, Kyle, and I jumped into the car with Gi and Steph for a wine tour of the country... we headed down toward the south island for a 11 day whirlwind of wining, adventuring, zorbing, crossing the Cook Strait, karaoking, and making our way to Christchurch. Unforgettable memories. - The Cat
- I suppose the highlight I would mention (especially considering the rest of my summer was consumed with cafe work), would have to be a lifeguard related one. We had a visit from our good friend Sebas at the end of the summer in which he and Kyle decided to go on a kayak out to the doughnut island where you can kayak in through a cave. I have to mention that this day was particularly stormy and not fit for kayaking, so when two hours after they left, we still had no idea where the boys were, we alerted the surf lifeguards who sent out an IRB (rescue boat) and ended up having to swim into the cave entrance of the island to find the boys perched on a rock...They were returned safely and subsequently made it into the local newspaper. - Stick

January was an amazing month. Good friends, good food, good wine, good surf, plenty of sunshine, and plenty of amazing memories. We are so luck to have had this opportunity. Now we are off on our next big wander, ending up eventually in the South Island for some more adventures down there.

Wish us luck!
BJ, The Cat, and Stick

Holiday Whirlwind

Your favorite kiwi travellers just got back from quite the adventure. Are you ready for the rundown? I sure hope so....

Orphans Christmas parties in our waterfront aparment. Sunbathing and cooking a feast on Christmas day. Waihieke Island for wine tasting (We may or may not have hitchhiked to one of the wineries. Yes I know, we are classy). A night/day in Whagamata. Sea Kayaking to hidden beaches on the surrounding islands in Whangamata (Think Pirates of the Caribbean but in real life!). Camping on the side of the road on the way to Rotorua (not as sketchy as it sounds, we promise). Using up the rest of Clem's clubhouse tab ($150) at Wairake golf course in Taupo by having Jackie pretend to be his wife. Gisborne for two nights including sneaking into the 3 day Rhythm and Vines festival on New Years Eve to be the first to bring in the New years with a bang (and lots of dancing). Camping on the beach and watching the sunrise at the eastern most point in New Zealand (first to see the sun!) Crashing a party in a $1200/night penthouse suite in Tauranga. A stop off in Whangamata on the way back to Auckland...and here we are again getting the last things taken care of before we move down with the Clements in Whangas for the month of January.

Exhausted yet from reading that? Cause we sure are from doing it all. Luckily for us where we're headed has a lot of time on the beach in store for us..and maybe a couple hours of work a week at a cafe. Yeah yeah we know, we have it rough.

Hope you all had a very happy and healthy and restful holiday season and that 2010 is treating you well!!

Sending lots of kiwi love!
Anna, Alissa, Jackie, and Kyle