Just Updatin'

This blog lacks content, I know. I don't know why but I haven't really felt like blogging. Same old routine here in New Zealand, if you can call it old, but still certainly having a good time. I miss the city though, in a weird way. Not coming back early, but I can definitely say I'm looking forward to coming back. I miss you guys! Unfortunately and fortunately at the same time, I'm only going to be back for a week before I'm ack in the woods. The plan is to complete the 211 miles of the John Muir Trail in July. Can't wait, actually. The more I learn about this John Muir fellow the more I admire and envy him. Completing the JMT is certainly a fair way to honor his life and what he's done for wildernesses around the globe. Not to mention he was known to have a rockin' beard that I hope to emulate upon embarking on this mission.



I bought a car.



$1000NZ (about $500USD). Enough to get me around and plenty of room to sleep in the back.

I also bought a bike.







Not really a necessary purchase, I know, but I got an amazing deal on it. The drive train alone is worth more than I paid for it. The frame is in beautiful condition with incredible lugs. I really have no idea where it came from, and Google is no help, but it is certainly classy. The rest of the bike is either Italian or Japanese. I love it!

I also finally climbed the mountain. A few days before I decided to summit I was doing work with the Department of Conservation in Mt. Egmont national park. We did a bit of trail work and hut maintenance while it rained, hailed, and snowed on us for three days. With the 100km/h+ gusts it made for sketchy working conditions and we didn't as much done as we'd like. I was sort of planning on saving the summit until after I've done all the tracks in the park, but decided to just go for it before it got too icy. It was a nice climb, though much easier than I thought it would be. Listened to a little Thrice (all kidding aside Kozmo, Image of the Invisible is probably one of the best songs of our generation), Spoon, Ted Leo, and Hillsong United on the way up.

Here's a shot of the transition from track to route.



The sketchiest part of the climb was this section down into the crater.



A shot from inside the crater at a lava formation known as the Shark's Tooth. Check out all the windblown ice.



Great Success.



Other than climbing and hiking, I've still been doing quite a bit of fly fishing. Was able to snap this photo the other day. I think it's one of the best I've ever taken.



Just got back from fishing and boating in Lake Taupo last night. I'm now up in Auckland until this weekend. After that I'm off to the South Island and over to Australia. Won't be back down to Taranaki for about a month. Should be good times!

Update!

Apologies for lack of updates, I just haven't felt like bloggin' much.

I'm kinda going to Tarantino this one because I haven't sorted through the pictures from my road trip last weekend yet.

So the past couple days have been a bit rainy and in between showers I've been doing uphill sprints on my fixed gear bicycle, in addition to my usual daily route. Well needless to say uphill sprints on a track bike are brutally painful but I figure if I'm not climbing mountains I might as well attempt to build a bit of muscle. My legs felt fine at the time (my lungs, a different story), but I woke up with a sore knee and now I'm stuck here on the couch. Knee injuries scare the crap out of me. What the heck would I do without these things? Not sure what I was doing wrong, except perhaps for riding a track bike where track bikes certainly don't belong. Lesson learned? Probably not...

Before the rain I went fly fishing (surprise). This was an attempt at a self portrait. Came out a bit dorky, but I'm a dorky guy so I guess I shouldn't except anything else. I caught all rainbow trout this day and actually kept one for my dad (not the fish pictured, a much smaller one). He's been bugging me to keep one since I got here so I did and luckily it was just OK tasting. It was the first fly caught fish I've ever kept.



Before that I climbed up Fantham's Peak.



It was an awesome hike, despite being trapped in the clouds for the upper half. No view from the top, but I was fascinated by the alpine flora that survives up there.



This is the route to the top. Once above treeline you hike through a steep scree field the rest of the way up. Take a step, lose half a step, take a step, lose a step, repeat, etc. In weather like this (which is actually "good" weather for this mountain) the route is sort of a guessing game. There are wooden stakes placed in irregular intervals to the top. But with the cloud cover you can't see the next stake from stake you're currently at. It's not so bad when you're going up, but definitely something to be aware of on the way down.

I took lots of photos of the life in this seemingly barren alpine environment. I wish I knew the names of them all off hand, but I haven't researched as much yet.

















Before my Fantham's trip I went on a little road trip to break in my new ride, a '93 Mistubishi Magna Station Wagon, and to figure out how to drive a manual transmission. No photos yet, but here's the route. Stay tuned...