Mt. Doom pictures

Just a quick post. I'm in Wellington now and doing fine. Wellington's a lovely city, much nicer (though smaller) than Auckland. It's incredibly windy though which for the most part sucks, and will suck more as the weather cools. The only redeeming value is when leggy female friends, or girls in general, wear short skirts...funny that :) Haven't done too much in Wellington so far: went to the museum twice, wandered the city a bit to get my bearings, and went shopping for a Rolex. Didn't get around to buying one though, think I'll wait till I get to SE Asia for that...

Anyhow, I haven't had a chance to upload any of my lovely pictures from the museum or any of my jaunts in Wellington, but I will finally link my album from the Tongariro crossing. I have many more, just haven't had the time to upload them all yet. Ah who am I kidding, I've been too lazy to upload them all. I will eventually though :)

Tongariro

I'm alive!

Yes, I survived my first skydive! The freefall was absolutely amazing once I got used to it. First few seconds were like "OMFG, what the hell am I doing up here?". Got over that real quick and it was just a blast. Will try to post pictures soon, have a video as well and will try to figure out a way to upload that.

Tomorrow is the Tongariro (aka Mt. Doom) crossing. 6-8hr hike depending on conditions and the speed of the group. I'm starting to worry that surviving the crossing might be more of a challenge than the skydiving...

Fun and games...

Quick update again. I'm going skydiving tomorrow (hopefully)! Was supposed to go today but the weather didn't quite co-operate and was cloudy for the most part. Of course a couple hours after things were cancelled, the skies cleared right up. Oh well, guess I can deal with another day of living safely.

It's actually a little refreshing compared with some of the dumb things I've been doing during my travels. Went surfing in Raglan on a non-beginner beach and decided I didn't need a refresher lesson. So got banged up a fair bit (including having a fin smack into my ankle), and got pulled out to sea by a rip-tide. My driver came by on a surf rescue boat, asked if I was okay, then roared off without even asking me if I wanted a lift back to shore :P Kept trying for a little bit after, then decided to call it quits when I got hit in the head by my board cause I was busy admiring something other than the waves :P

That same evening I was goofing around on the flying fox (pretty much a seated zip line) with some other bus-mates when one of them (a cute blonde) suggested we ride down together, which I quickly agreed to. Turned out to be a bad idea. The line was a bit lower than I'd expected, so the first half of the ride my legs and feet "brushed" against the not so smooth ground. Spent the rest of the night picking bits of gravel out of my legs and feet :P There was a full moon, so I'm blaming that and not the fact that I'm a sucker for a pretty face.

On a much less painful but full of equally stupid fun, I did go Zorbing! Basically you squeeze into a giant rubber ball with up to two others, which is then filled ankle deep with water. Once that's all said and done the the ball gets rolled down a hill and the riders end up in a jumble of wet arms and legs. Great fun :) Here's a picture of the ball rolling down the hill, and the stumble out after.



Well, maybe that wasn't such a short update. I'll try to post more pictures when I get a chance. I haven't been uploading them in chronological order, so probably won't be posting things in chronological order. Will try to upload all my pictures somewhere though so those that want to can take their time flipping through. Hopefully I'll have some skydiving pictures to post soon though!

Yay travel!

Been travelling for a few days now, been having a fantastic time. Haven't been able to find a decent internet cafe (or the time) to post a decent update or upload pictures. Have a bunch to post so hopefully I'll find time and a cheap internet cafe to do all that soon. Spending money a little too freely at the moment, but not much choice cause all the activities cause a fair chunk of change. Acquiring lots of bumps and scratches and hopefully that's not a sign of things to come. Skydiving in a few days which I can't wait for :) Sorry for the sentence fragments, bit rushed for time.

On the road again...

Sorry for the lack of posts folks, been a tad busy and distracted these past few. Continuing my travels today though, so hopefully will have lots of fun things to write about and lots of neat pictures to post.

van.

And the living's easy...

Hurrah! Summer's finally here! About a month overdue, but it's finally here! Here's shot from my deck taken at 8pm, which means the sun's at an awkward angle. I'll try to get a shot in the morning where the sun doesn't get in the way quite so much :)


Of course the arrival of warm sunny weather also means that I've been getting slightly burnt cause I'm working outside all day and hate wearing sunscreen. Given how intense the sun can be in NZ, I really should start to wear some, but the vines pretty much block any breeze off the ocean and make things extra humid, so having a greasy layer of sunscreen isn't too appealing. Getting skin cancer is just a bit less appealing, so I'll probably be a good responsible "adult" and slather some on.

I bring up the "adult" thing because it seems I'm older than most of my co-workers at the cafe/restaurant (Cat's Tango) by a fair margin. Of all the service staff only 3 of us (myself included) are over 25, with 2 others that are 23. All 6 of our waitresses are 19 or 20 (one of whom has modeled for FHM apparently), and our 4 runners are under 17, making things a little weird when they're inviting me over to play video games, hang out at the beach, or trying to manipulate me with their feminine wiles (the FHM model). It seems that, outside of management, everyone thought I was no more than 22, so the lack of positive responses finally prompted some of them to ask my age last week. It'll be interesting to see if my working relationships change as word of my age gets round. Here's a shot from our Christmas party.


Anyhow, with the weather improving, I might try to get some sea kayaking in if I can ever find the time and energy. Working 60+ hours a week is a tad tiring, especially when I'm on my feet all day. I'll try to get some pictures from the restaurant as well and post more often than once a month :)

A grand don't come for free...

Greetings and salutations! So still no pictures cause I still haven't figured out a way to upload them (and have been too lazy to find the local internet cafe). Anyhow, I'll respond to Sarah's (question is which Sarah?) little request. What does Van do to make a living.

Primarily, I'm looking for a rich "girlfriend" to finance my travels. When I'm at the vineyard and unable to do that, I primarily do one of three things: tuck, pluck, and rub (which unfortunately doesn't start with an 'f'). Tucking is making sure the vines are growing fairly straight and within the row's wire trellis. This is done every few weeks during the growing season to keep up with the rapid growth of the plants.

Plucking is a much slower process and involves the removal of leaves, laterals and other excess growth from the fruit zones. Laterals are secondary non-fruitbearing shoots that grow on fruitbearing shoots and would take nutrients away from the all-important grapes. The removal of leaves and laterals allows the sun, wind, and pesticides to reach the fruit.

Rubbing is done to remove excess buds that are growing on the main trunk of the vine. These buds are below the optimal fruit zone, so are removed to make sure the grapes are able to get enough nutrients. Most of the bud rubbing is done at the start of the season when there are extra buds everywhere. As the season progresses it gets done while performing the tucking and plucking as there are fewer new buds.

So that's about it at the vineyards. Sorry it isn't more exciting, but maybe some pictures will help if I ever get around to taking and uploading them :)