New Zealand: Penguin Party in Oamaru

21:30, the sun is still out, but the penguin's aren't crossing yet.

It is 10 o’clock in the morning and I am sitting at a bakery in Oamaru. The sky is kind of blue and the ocean is green, but the weather here is so temperamental, that I never knew what I’m going to get. I just imbibed a “caramel slice” and I’m wishing that I didn’t choose to sit outside because the sun is irritating my already worsening headache and it seems like a long walk to the counter to order a coffee. It might just be my head, but people are staring at my under eye circles and unkempt hair that I may or may not have forgotten to tidy up this morning. But alas, there are some nights that are worth these sluggish mornings.

New Zealand: Hitchhiking in Kaikoura

Hitchhiking from Ohau Stream to Kaikoura with my comrades. Not a bad place to be stuck. 

“This is what you do when you hitchhike,” my fellow German told me, “you stand in a position where the car can pull over and park if he wants to pick you up.” I raised an eyebrow, knowing he was both right and being very German.

New Zealand: WWOOFING & Black Pudding

New Zealand Olympic dressage qualifier during a flying lead change at the Hawke's Bay Regional Dressage Championship.

As I sit here eating the same chow mein for the third meal in a row and sipping tea in order to medicate my coffee addiction, I can reflect on my final experiences in Clive Hawke’s Bay. Two words come to mind: black pudding and dressage. You may be wondering why Chardonnay, or Malbec, or Pino Gris were left out of the mix. They weren’t. They simply were present at all occasions, and therefore, irrelevant to mention.

New Zealand: WWOOFing & Secret Places

Secret surf point break in the distance.

The surfers here are very tight lipped about their surf spots. Everything is a local secret. If you ask a New Zealander, there are no surf spots on this side of the island. You may wonder why they’re so tan and why they have a surf rack in their garage with 10 different boards of a million and one different sizes and colors. They’ll tell you they work in the vineyards and the boards are just artwork. Valid.

New Zealand: WWOOFing with a Veterinarian

I lean against a metal post, munching on my newly found dessert, the Squiggle top biscuit.  Farmers toss offhanded banter around, recounting how one of them drank too much whiskey last night while the another offers me vodka with my cookie. Smiles crinkle and lines of tanned skin fold over on their necks as they handle the cattle and the iron. No one acknowledges the constant drone of cows or  the tearing of grass or  the yelping of dogs chasing cars down the street. Nothing at all would indicate obscurity, except for the fact that the veterinarian's hand is elbow deep in the side of a cow, feeling around for some juicy internal organs. I just eat my cookie and laugh as the cow gut squelches and the veterinarian joins the farmer's chatter about the wine auction or The Economist or what-have-you.

New Zealand: WWOOFing in Clive Hawke's Bay

WWOOFing in Clive Hawke's Bay. Playing with Saul in the downtime.

It feels like I have been away from home for a century, even though it has only been a week. I can’t believe how many people I’ve met, places I’ve seen, and mountains I’ve climbed. But now I’m on to the next leg of my journey: WWOOFing. WWOOF stands for Willing Workers Organization for Organic Farmers and promotes a cultural blend by exchanging work for room and board. When one is backpacking, one only meets backpackers. When one is WWOOFing, one meets kiwis.

New Zealand: Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Summit of Mount Ngauruhoe, 4000ft of elevation gain to the top of a volcano.

If you think that looks like pain on my face, you can bet it is. The picture above shows me on the summit of Mount Ngauruhoe, also known as Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It is an optional detour from the famous 12 mile (or 19.4 km) day hike. I figured that I came all the way to New Zealand, so there was no reason to avoid an experience. But after four thousand feet of elevation gain up a nearly vertical rock face, I had a lot of time to really think hard about that decision.

New Zealand: Flat White and All Black, Taupo

Shore of Lake Taupo, looking at Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Tongariro. Accidentally took picture in grayscale, but that really is a black swan and a water plane.

As I write this, I’m sitting in the Taste Café in Taupo, New Zealand. The floor is cement and the walls are cedar. Even if I had my eyes closed, my nose could tell you that. The doorway is actually a giant window that reaches the ground and looks out upon Taupo Lake and the snow capped volcano tops. I cannot even begin to express how clear the air is and how blue the water is. I know it is a lake, but it is wild like the ocean.

New Zealand: Exploring Rotorua

Exploring the thermal pools in the early morning at Kuirau Park in Rotorua.

I’ve been trying to think of something cool to say about the geothermal activity of Rotorua since I arrived here. I’m sure that some devoted geologist or planetary scientist could tell me just how cool the bubbling vents are, or the yellow stone, or the black stone, or the smoking ground. But the fact of the matter is, to me, and to almost everyone else here, the geothermal activity just looks cool. It creates steamy underground openings coming out of random places in the city, creating a definite hazy mystique. The town just looks really really really cool.

New Zealand: Crossing the International Dateline

View from Auckland hostel window at 1 in the morning.

Know what happens when you cross the International Date Line. Note whether the date springs forward or falls back. Note whether you’re going west across the date line or east across the date line. Note that all of your bookings, plans, and hostels depend upon knowing the proper date of arrival. And if you get the wrong date, all your bookings will charge you the full price and you will lose your spot in the hostel and your spot on the bus.

New Zealand: Clothing Packing List for Spring-->Summer

Clothes for two months in New Zealand.

Packing correctly is a fundamental component of a good trip. I have about 10 different "base" packing lists that I have developed, depending on the trip, but all of those packing lists regard trekking, rather than backpacking. To clarify the difference: trekking is carrying all your supplies on your back through the mountains and backpacking is carrying most of your supplies on your back through the city. This is something new for me.

JMT: The Mountain as a Teacher

Lake Virginia, John Muir Wilderness. September 2015.

Here we are a Lake Virginia, a lake nestled between two passes along the John Muir Trail. After two days and nights of torrential downpour, snow, wind, and unidentifiable falling snow chunks, we have finally reached a point of rest. And by rest, I mean frantically pulling out all our wet supplies and pinning them down to the granite so that, (a) it does not get swept away in the wind blowing over the weathertop and (b)it dries before the next looming storm arrive at our campsite.

PCT: Backpacking Chores

Mott Lake, Pacific Crest Trail/John Muir Trail, California. August 2015

Among all of the camp chores, pumping water seems to be the most skillfully avoided. I’m not carrying a water pump, I’m still good from yesterday, I’ll just set my Nalgene out in the rain, I have to go to the bathroom, and we had— you know—chili last night. In contrast, if the question is, who wants to build a fire? or who wants to start making dinner?, there is an emphatically different response.

Mono Lake, California: A Different Kind of Lush

Mono Lake, California. August 2015.

Immediately after stepping out of the van at the edge of Mono Lake, I felt uncomfortable. Every survival instinct in my body was ringing an alarm, warning me away from the stagnant land. The lake itself had a salt content so high that that no carbon based life form could survive in its waters.