Comments | amerrywanderer: New Zealand

amerrywanderer

New Zealand

Apr 20, 2010 19:03

Hello, lovies.

I've been very quiet as of late but I want you all to know I still love you all. Even those of you who don't post often.

This post is a plea for information. I'm going (moving?) to New Zealand for 6 months starting in August, to live and work and wander around for awhile and be a bit crazy. I haven't got any plans as of yet, nor do ( Read more... )

Comments 5

muffledlaugh April 21 2010, 00:39:33 UTC

OH MY GOD THAT'S AWESOME!!!

This entry has a bunch of cities/locations where I was able to do some fantastic things. I also highly suggest you make sure to visit Matamata (otherwise known as Hobbiton) and walk the Tongariro Crossing and get up close and personal with Mount Doom ;)

My favourite locations were probably Auckland, Queenstown, Raglan (best surfing on the entire island, according to the Kiwis I spoke with, anyway), Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Christchurch, and Wellington. I would also recommend Kaikoura, which I didn't get a chance to visit but is notorious for it's seal beaches.

I still have a ton of the pamphlets from when I was there. If you want, I'd me more than happy to send them to you :)

muffledlaugh April 21 2010, 00:51:00 UTC

Also, I dunno if you remember Liz Koch but I know she'll be in New Zealand sometime after September, I believe. She's currently in Africa (she'll be traveling around Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia until September before coming back to NY for a wedding and then leaving again) but I know she mentioned New Zealand as part of her trip, as well as a job there picking fruit that she was looking in too. She might be someone to talk to about jobs, etc.

amerrywanderer June 8 2010, 12:30:54 UTC

ok this is so absurdly late it's...well, absurd, but yay! I might actually be volunteering in Kaikoura if all goes well, but hopefully with sperm whales and not seals (as seals are smelly).

so questions: what is this barrytown knife-making bone-carving thing you list? i am mega curious.
is raglan as awesome as it seems? i'm going there anyway, but yeah. these are things i need to know.
did you get down around the milford/routeburn tracks at all? i've heard they're crazy busy but i'm not sure i want to do an un-popular track without someone else to hike with...

also if you think any of the pamphlets you got would be helpful, i'd love to take a look (if you can part with them!). i'm only just now really starting my planning (which is absurd in itself), but that's what i get.

yay! thank you!

muffledlaugh June 8 2010, 13:13:28 UTC

So Barrytown is this insanely small town on the South Island that I guess is most notable for its beaches that occasionally wash up pieces of jade. There's a place there though where you can go and make your own knife, from welding the metal to carving the handle. Here's the website: http://www.barrytownknifemaking.com/. It's about $60-$80 (depending on the exchange) to do. I had wanted to make one while I was there, but I realized that I would have to check my backpack on my plane ride back to Auckland from Christchurch if I were going to be carrying a large knife, so I decided against it. Also, I was pretty hung over the day I was supposed go, so yeah. There's also a place there where you can go and for $55 carve your own jewelery out of bone (I think it's a cow shin, but I'm not positive), but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called ( ... )

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