Road Trippin'



Well it's been a long, long trip, but I've finally reached my new home for the next five months. I pulled into Park City, Utah a little after 7:00pm last night, 10 days after leaving Kirkland. Sure there was an extended break in California, but that's still a lot of driving. Some things I learned on this trip:

• I hate Oregon. It's basically a state that no one knows or cares about, but it takes forever to drive through. The biggest problem is that Oregon has decided that 55mph is a reasonable speed limit throughout a large part of the state.


• One fun fact from Oregon, though: you're not allowed to pump your own gas. In a throw back to the 50's, Oregon has some strange law that requires gas attendants to do all that dirty work work you. Fortunately, they don't tip them (or if they did I missed my queue), so I can't really complain too much.


• Nevada, on the other hand, is great. Yes, it's a beast of state to drive across, but the speed limit is a dreamy 75mph and the roads are straight. There's something to be said for setting cruise control at 90, kicking back and cruising.


• Driving from Seattle to San Francisco is too much for one day. As I found out, it's 13.5 hours of in car driving time (not including the rest stops), and you end up sore in all sorts of weird places for days afterwards. So on the drive from SF to Park City I opted for the two day route, which was much, much better. But since it was a two day trip, I needed some place to stay, which leads me too...


• Casino's are a great place to stay for a night. I stopped in Reno to grab dinner and watch some Monday Night Football and decided to eat at the El Dorado Casino. The bartender mentioned that rooms were going for $38 a night! That was way, way better than crashing in some motel in Elko, Nevada.

So that pretty much sums up the last two weeks of my life. I've been in Park City for about 24 hours now and Utah is definitely a little different (who knew you'd get carded for buying a lighter?!). That's good, though, I like different. Tomorrow will be my first day on the mountain and I start teaching on Monday. Between getting acclimated with Utah and struggling not to ruin my students' first day on the snow, I should have some fun times coming up soon.

Until then.

The Greatest Snow On Earth





And we're back! I realize I've probably lost pretty much anyone who may be reading this, but I've enjoyed my little vacation at home. For those of you who haven't been following the news in the great northwest, we're currently enjoying the wettest month in the Seattle's history. We're up to like 16 inches of rain and counting, with rain forecast for the remainder of the month. Of course, all this rain means that we've got a lot of snow, too. The mountains opened last Thursday and I was able to kick off my second consecutive winter up at Mt. Baker last Friday.

Which brings me to the second season of my endless winter. Starting December 11th I'll be a snowboard instructor at the Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah. I've never been to Utah before, but I'll be spending the next five months enjoying the self-proclaimed "greatest snow on Earth." I've really enjoyed relaxing in Seattle, but now that snow is falling, I can't wait to get out to Utah. And one reason I can't wait to get out there is because you will be out there too. Yes, you. I'm going to have a one bedroom apartment to myself for the next five months, and I'm more than happy to offer up a place to crash, entertainment, and free snowboard lessons to anyone who is interested. Park City is only 45 minutes from Salt Lake City, so I'll even play the role of chauffeur. So you let me know what I need to do to get you out to Utah and I'll make it happen. Deal?

My journey actually starts early tomorrow morning with a 12 hour drive down to San Francisco. I'll be hanging out down there for a week or so before continuing with another 12 hours over to Utah. Should be a lot of fun, or -- failing that -- a lot of driving. And now that I'm back in "travel mode" I'll try to keep this area a little more active.

Until then, happy Thanksgiving!

Birthday Bungy!





My sister really enjoyed my bungy videos from New Zealand and was convinced that she would do it some day, too. I decided that "some day" would be sooner than she expected and, as a birthday present, told her it was time for her to put her money where her mouth was. We gathered up six fellow victims and headed down to southern Washington to jump off the "highest bungy bridge in America."

Being the birthday girl, Kelsey was nominated as the first jumper. It's set up so you do two jumps in a row. You dive off the first time, get pulled back up, and then you immediately jump off backwards for your second jump. I was a little concerned when they started strapping my sister in, she didn't look like she really wanted to do this. And I was even more concerned when they pulled her up after the first jump, it looked like she was to start crying. Thanksfully, she was very happy afterwards and is already ready to go again.

Note: if you watch the video of her jumping, you'll her a lot of screaming. Kelsey is responsible for the first, short, high-pitched scream you hear. After that everything is drowned out by the two girls who were standing next to me. There were absolutely terrified for Kelsey. I really should have panned over to them instead of trying to follow Kelsey, they were quite a site. I think one of them (I won't name any names) might have peed a little during that jump. Good times all around.

There are a few more pictures online, but nothing too special. We've got some professional pictures being sent over, they should be much better.

Oh, and of course my sister videoed my jumps as well. Since I was the "seasoned veteran," I was nominated to go last. I managed to keep things in control for the most part. The first jump was great, but the second jump (jumping backwards) scared the hell out of me. If you listen to the two videos (below) carefully, you'll notice a subtle, but distinct, change in scream. The scream in my first jump is a "I'm the man, this is awesome!" scream. Jump two starts off the same way but quickly changes to an "Oh my god I'm going to die!" scream. I think you can hear the jump master making fun of me on that one as well.

Seattle: metronatural





The city of Seattle just unveiled a new tourism slogan, "metronatural." After stomaching the initial shocking stats (16 months in development and with a $200,000 budget) and trying to figure out exactly why metronatural sounds so... well just wrong, I've decided that while the slogan is horrible, it was really close to be good. I don't know what good is, but Seattle really is a city in touch with nature. How many cities do you know have this view? And it was definitely time to replace the old slogan, which looked something like: @L (that's supposed to be an eyeball before the @ symbol).

And speaking of Costa Rica, I've decided I don't really want to sit around and write about it. Always look forward, never backward. And I got to tell my favorite story already, everything else is the same old beautiful wildlife and exotic animals. I should have some new trips lined up soon. In the mean time I'll see how much fun I can stumble into during my break back up in the northwest. For example, I'm taking my sister bungy jumping this weekend! That will certainly be interesting...

Seattle: On Vacation





Now that I'm "home" everyone keeps asking, "what's been your most favorite place to visit so far?" My standard answer has been New Zealand, which was truly beautiful. I keep telling everyone how much it reminds me of Washington: green, mountainous, lush forests... All that good stuff. But being back in Seattle (after being away for over two years) I realize that yes, New Zealand is beautiful, but it's got nothing on Seattle. I've always loved Seattle (as everyone from California already knows, I act as an unofficial Seattle ambassador down there), but had forgotten about the small details that make this area special. Like today, an unexpectedly warm, sunny day with clear blue skies in the middle of October. Sadly my vocabulary won't do it justice, it's really something you need to experience first hand.

So Seattle and New Zealand are now running neck and neck for the "#1 place I've been in the last three months." Of course, if anyone asks me I'll still say New Zealand. If nothing else, it's a better conversation started. And now back to Costa Rica.

¿Habla Inglés?

Having just spent two months in New Zealand and Australia, I felt pretty confident that I'd be able to handle a short trip to Costa Rica with ease. Landing in San Jose, Costa Rica I (belatedly) realized there was one detail I had completely overlooked: I don't speak Spanish. I'm obviously not the first person to run into this problem, but after two months of traveling I was expecting to feel like I was back in my element. But it's been a long since I've been surrounded by an entirely foreign language. Fortunately Costa Rica is tourist friendly and it's pretty easy to get around with just a couple key phrases.

After a few days in the country I found myself picking things up a little more quickly. It's strange how much you can glean from a conversation even if you can't understand the language. Based on where people are standing, who they're talking to, body language, and the occasional familiar sounding word I was able to get a good idea of what other people were talking about.

Unfortunately that understanding didn't translate so well when it came time to respond. As soon as someone started speaking at me, my brain would immediately freeze up. Sometimes I would understand their question, but wouldn't be able to formulate a coherent response (even if that response involved correctly choosing between "si" or "gracias"). Other times each word sounded familiar, but the question didn't quite add up for some reason. The vocal highlight came late one night on our way back from a turtle beach walk (more on that later). Everyone was saying thanks and good night to each other. Happy to blend into the chorus I called out "buonas nachos!" It's so close to "buonas noches", and yet oh so far away. I had already started walking away as I was speaking, so I really didn't have time to correct myself. I keep telling myself that no one else heard me, but I've got a feeling that I was on the receiving end of many, many jokes later that night.

Home (Again)!

Well I've successfully survived another vacation. Costa Rica was beautiful and, as promised, I didn't have any time (or desire) to write any stories while I was down there. But I'm back with a few good stories and a few pictures. Actually a "few" pictures seems generous, I didn't really use my camera at all. If you take a look through my measly collection I'm sure you'll agree I should have been a little more trigger happy. But I was too busy enjoying my vacation to try and take pictures of it. Anyway, I said I've got a few stories to tell, so I'll get on with that.

Perma-Vacation!





So when does returning home actually feel like a vacation? When "home" is a temporary stop between two other vacations. :) I've just spent a week in Seattle and, although I've been busy, it's been vacation-busy, not a back-home-busy. Hanging out with friends, playing golf and tennis, and generally unwinding is not how I'm usually greeted after a vacation. I mean the only reason I even ended up unpacking was so that I could start packing back up for Costa Rica (and I use "unpacking" in a very loose sense here -- everything is in a heap in my room).

But as much as I've enjoyed Seattle, it's time to get back on a plane. I'm spending a little over a week down in Costa Rica and it's going to be busy. If things go according to plan I'll be seeing San Jose, the Arenal Volcano, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and the Osa peninsula, a remote location on the Pacific coast. It's the middle of the green season so it's going to be wet, hot and humid, but I can't wait. Plus I've got my sister's handy Costa Rican Spanish phrase book from her trip here a few years ago so I should pretty much just blend in with the locals. :)

I have no idea if I'll be able to upload pictures and stories while I'm down there. I won't have as much leisure time as I did in New Zealand and I don't want to waste it on the Internet (well maybe just a little bit...). But fun will be had, pictures will be taken, and legends will be born (in my mind at least). And it'll all make it's way back up here at some point.

Next stop: San Jose, Costa Rica!

Bungy!









Like the sky diving video, I think these are much more entertaining with a running commentary. But that's not going to happen, so here's a quick run down of each jump. The Kawarau Bridge is the oldest permanent bungy site in the world (the bridge was built just for bungy jumping). It's 141 foot (43 meter) drop, with an optional "splash landing" in the river. I opted to just get my hands wet. I wish I had done more, but I was too freaked out to think correctly. The second jump is the Nevis Highwire. At 440 feet (134 meters), it's one of the highest jumps in the world. It's about 8.5 seconds of freefall which, as you can see, translates to a long time on the first trip down.

Embrace The Fear





Up next is my sky diving adventure with NZone, complete with cheesy camera work and bad sound track. It's not a total loss, though. If you looked at the pictures you may have noticed that my face gets a little funky as I first fall out of the plane. But they don't capture the moment the same way that a slo-mo camera in my face does. It's hard to tell if I'm having fun or trying not to throw up. In reality I guess it was a little of both.

Under the Sea!





In case you haven't heard, Disney has unlocked the vault and is re-releasing The Little Mermaid in all its two disk splendor. To celebrate the occasion I too am opening up the DVD vaults, starting with stunning video of me slowly chasing a sting ray along the bottom of the ocean. It's not much to look at, but you get to hear me breath like Darth Vader.

On Tap

You may have noticed that this blog is titled the "binarynoise.net travel blog." You may also notice that I'm not really traveling right now, which might imply that this blog will slowly die. Fortunately, I've found a solution: keep traveling! If there's one thing I've learned about my trip to New Zealand it's that traveling is awesome. I'm hanging out in San Francisco right now and I'm heading up to Seattle tomorrow. I personally consider that traveling, but it's not too exciting. To make up for it I'll be visiting Costa Rica for a week, starting October 6th! Yes, it's the middle of the "green" season (a tourist-friendly term for rainy season), but it's gonna be a great trip. I've already got San Jose, an active volcano, a cloud forest, and jungle peninsula lined up. That'll get me through the middle of October and who knows what's after that.

So what else do you do when you're hanging around the Internet capital of the world without much to do? You organize your photo collection! I uploaded my last set of pictures, which include some more Sydney pictures, day trips in Cairns, and Auckland. I also tagged all the pictures so you can check out a group of pictures without wading through the rest of the collection. You can take a look here. There's some pictures from Africa mixed in there too, but I think you'll figure out which pictures belong where pretty quickly.

Sour Taste In My Craw

Well I made it home safely. Well not "home" exactly, but I'm the US. Auckland was a great two day trip. Strangely enough, my favorite thing in Auckland was the hotel. It wasn't anything special, but it was the first time in two months that I (a) slept in a bed that I actually fit on, (b) slept in a room without 1 - 5 roommates, and (c) enjoyed a real shower, not a trickling stream of variable temperature water. I had one night in Auckland and, instead of looking for night life, I curled up in bed with junk food and watched New Zealand TV. It was a great night.

My trip home was fairly uneventful. Sadly, I had forgot about our country's fantastic security measures and lost a rare souvenir in the process. I don't feel like retelling the story, I think it'll just get me fired up again. But this whole "no liquids in your carry-on" seems a little ridiculous. It reminded me of the different routines we get to go through over here, and made me miss New Zealand before I left.

So what else did I learn in Auckland? Oh yeah, even a sleepy country like New Zealand can get suspicious if you don't have the right answers for a customs officer. In this case the wrong answer is a single, young, male traveling to Auckland for just two days with no idea where he's going to stay for the night. They really didn't like that last part. I thought it was kind of fun to land in Auckland with no idea where I was going to go for the day, but the customs agent wanted to know something a little more specific than "Auckland" as my destination address. They eventually let me through, but it would have been a lot easier if I had just picked a hotel at random and gone with that.

I also passed my last test in Auckland, driving a rental car on the wrong side of the road. Things actually went pretty smoothly. The only hiccup was about 20 minutes into my inaugural trip. I was sitting at a light, trying to figure out where I was and where I was going, when I looked up and saw a police officer behind me. I didn't necessarily panic, but I forgot everything I was thinking about and concentrated 100% on not breaking any laws. I survived the ordeal but ended up completely lost and turned around. Sadly, it wasn't the last time I'd get completely lost driving around Auckland, but fortunately I really liked driving so I didn't mind.

Travel Tip #135 (September 24th, 2006)

Don't wait until the last night of a six week vacation to do all of your souvenir shopping, especially if that last night is a Sunday night. You might think, "Hey I'm in a tourist-powered city, of course everything will be open on a Sunday night." But it won't. And you'll be left with nothing to show your friends and family when you get home, not even a cheap boomerang.

On the subject of unsolicited advice, I finally watched An Inconvenient Truth a few nights ago. I feel like the message got diluted a little bit by his back story, but I'm glad I saw it, even though it was a little depressing. But as Gore mentions, a lot of people go straight from ignorance to despair, skipping the "let's do something about this" phase. I'm attempting to do my part by encouraging everyone to watch the movie. If you can't (or don't want to) see it, you can wander over to www.climatecrisis.net and see what you can do to help solve the problem.

If I've only learned one thing this trip it's that every part of this world is beautiful and completely unique. I'd like to help keep it that way so my kids can see it some day too.

Finding Nemo (September 23rd, 2006)







Finally got some more pictures up! As promised, the diving pictures aren't all that spectacular. But I got a couple good pictures of Nemo (the clownfish), so I didn't come out empty handed.

Tonight is my last night in Australia. I've got one more day trip tomorrow and then I slowly start heading home with an 11:50pm flight down to Auckland, where I get a day to relax before flying back to San Francisco.

I've been keeping myself busy the last couple of days. Instead of sitting in town for my last three days I set up three day trips. Two days ago I went river rafting on the Russell River. What was fun was that instead of the large 8 to 10 person rafts we had a fleet of small, two person rafts. So basically the guide would tell us a good path to take through the next set of rapids and send us on our way. Good fun all around, but I'm not sure about their river categories down here. The Russell River is listed as a level 4 rapid, and although there was one 5 foot waterfall (which was great fun!) you could pretty much walk through most of the river, if you had to. I wanted to fear for my life at least once. :)

Today was a slower paced trip up to the Atherton Tablelands. It's amazing how lush Australia is along the coast, it feels like I'm in central America or something. Spending the day in a 4x4 truck bouncing around the jungle and outback isn't the absolute greatest way to spend a day, but you get to see a lot of terrain that way. It was so relaxing up there that I wish I could have pulled over and slept in the sun next to a lake for a few hours instead of plunging forward in the 4x4. Next trip, I suppose.

Another big problem with these trips is that everyone keeps asking "So how long are you here for?" This is usually fine, "6 weeks" is a pretty solid answer. But today I had to start saying, "Actually I leave tomorrow night." And this leads to a whole discussion about going home, which isn't something I'm really ready to think about yet, let alone discuss. In fact, I'm not ready to think about it now, so I'm going to go have a beer and watch rugby game instead.

A Day At The Beach (September 15th, 2006)







[Note: I wrote this up last week but have been waiting for the pictures to get online before posting it. Sorry for the strange ordering...] It looks like I made a good choice of hostels. The WakeUp! hostel has been great to me so far. On Thursday they offered a half-day walking tour of Sydney followed by a free BBQ and half price drinks for everyone in the tour. Today they had another free walking trip, a tour of five Sydney beaches, from Koogee to Bondi (one of Sydney's most famous beaches).

Yesterday's tour of downtown was a great way to see most of Sydney's major points. We stopped by some water fountains at Darling Harbor, saw the Sydney tower a couple of times, and (of course) checked out the Opera house and harbor bridge. The bridge had people climbing all over it and climbing it looks like a pretty fun trek. But then I learned that it's $189 Australian dollars for the BridgeClimb. I don't think it looks like that much fun.

Sydney is full of parks, though, and we were able to take in some of the local wildlife (I don't think feeding the cockatoos is technically permitted, but it made for some fun pictures).

Today we took a 15 minute bus ride out to Koogee beach and from there walked a few miles along the coast up to Bondi beach. Bondi beach is home to Australia's oldest surf lifesaving club (not sure why they're so particular about the name, but they are). The water didn't look too treacherous, but -- as if to prove that it is -- the lifeguards were pulling someone out as we arrived. There was an ambulance, lifeguard truck, the whole shebang, but no one seemed to care too much. I guess it happens a lot at Bondi.

And although Sydney feels a bit like most big cities, there are always subtle differences that make you realize you're not home. For example, there is no "Jack in the Box" chain, but there is something very similar. And for some reason I really liked this sign in the bus, reminding senior citizens not to fall asleep while on the bus. Oh yeah, and everything really is backwards down here. Not only do cars drive on the wrong side of the road, but horse races run clockwise. I was watching some sport highlights last night and was shocked to see horses sprinting backwards down the track. Even the escalators run backwards. I know that doesn't make much sense, but imagine you're standing at the bottom of two sets of escalators. The one on the right would be going up, right? Not in Australia! I've almost walked onto the wrong escalator a couple of times in the last two months now.

Tomorrow I'm heading out of Sydney for a day trip to the Blue Mountains. There are two types of tours, the "hardcore" trip that includes a 3 hour hike through the bush and the "tourist" trip that includes a stop at a wildlife park to feed kangaroos and koalas. I like to think that I'm pretty hardcore, but after 8 hours of walking in the last two days I'm ready to a let a bus do the transporting for me. Plus I want to pet a kangaroo. :)

An American Birthday Present (September 21st, 2006)

I've got 10 minutes left, so one more quick story for the day. The year is 1988, Sydney is celebrating it's bicentennial anniversary. America, in a nice gesture, gives Australia a birthday present. So what does it give? A gallery celebrating joint Australia - American connections. In theory I think that sounds okay. But as you walk into the Australian Nation Maritime Museum in Sydney you're greeted with a huge section titled the "USA Gallery" and currently dedicated to the American Navy. A quick look at the plaque says that this was given to Australia by the US to celebrate Australia's 200 year anniversary. Great, so it looks like America gave a memorial of itself to Australia for Australia's birthday. I think things like this don't help America's self-absorbed public image.

The Locals (September 21st, 2006)

I recently realized that I've complained a fair bit about local accents and curious word choice, without giving proper due to the great phrases non-Americans are contributing to the English language.

My favorite, by far, is the New Zealander's "sweet as!" line of sayings. Did something work out well? "Sweet as!" Sweet as what, exactly? It doesn't really matter, it's just sweet as. And it's not just limited to sweet, either. "Cool as", "cold as", and "funny as" were all used frequently. As far as I can tell you can throw "as" after any adjective and it'll work. Definitely fun.

Another great word is "knackered." This seems to be more of a British thing, but that's okay. The way they say "I was absolutely knackered" is so passionate, you can almost feel the knackered-ness just from talking to them. Knackered is almost always intensified with "absolutely" and everyone uses the same passionate emphasis. It always makes me smile.

What else? Oh yeah, one of my favorite words of all time, "queue." Dunno why, but I've always liked that word. And people down here use it! All the time. I don't really have any funny stories for queue, either. I'm just happy to see it getting some use down here.

Watch Out, Jacques Cousteau (September 21st, 2006)

Still working on getting my land legs sorted out, but I've successfully added two more certifications to my trip: Open Water Diver and Adventure Diver! The three day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef was amazing. Not necessarily relaxing, but it certainly wasn't short on adventure. It's been very windy in Cairns for the last week (and continued during our trip), which makes the water very choppy, especially on the way out to the reef. Day 1 started with a 3.5 hour ride out and at least 60% of our group (about 35 divers) made a personal contribution to the ocean. The rest of us sat still in the back of the boat, grim faced, doing anything possible to help keep our stomaches where they belong and to avoid hearing the constant sounds of the less fortunate or see the parade of sea-sick bags dropping from the second level into the sea. Not exactly the highlight of the trip.

Once we set up at the reef, though, the waves were much more manageable. And the diving was beautiful. Our first two dives were open water certification dives so we'd drop down to 10 - 14 meters and do drills like taking our mask off and on, removing our regulator, and getting our buoyancy correct in the water. Everything went pretty smoothly except during a mask clearing exercise (getting sea water out of your mask) when one guy accidentally spit his regulator out (which is okay) but instead of reaching for his secondary air suplly he grabbed his snorkel mouthpiece. Obviously the snorkel isn't going to do much good at 13 meters, but fortunately our instructor was right next to him and got the regulator back in before the guy attempted breathing through his snorkel.

It was at that point that I realized how stressful being a diver instructor actually is. Diving the Great Barrier Reef 3 - 5 days a week sounds like a pretty fun job, but when you're in the middle of the ocean, 30 feet below the surface, in charge of 8 to 10 people who've never dived before, "relaxing" can turn to "panicking" in a split second, at any split second. Our instructor was a lot of fun, but you could tell that he was keeping a close eye on us the entire time we were under the water. His job was definitely not as relaxing as I had imagined.

Anyway, we were officially certified as open water divers on the second morning and were able to do our first dive without an instructor shortly after that. I felt like I had joined a club at that point, as the "real" divers (the ones who weren't doing the certification course) actually started talking to us at that point. All of a sudden we were real people in their eyes; they even helped us pull our wetsuits on and everything. :) It was a little strange being out there with just your buddy, but you quickly forget about it as you drift around the coral, staring at the hundreds of different fish (who are just as curiously staring at you). I came back from my first real dive as happy as could be.

"We saw two turtles!" I happily tell another diver.
"Cool!" he respondes, "did you see the white-tip coral shark?"
"Woah, no. That would have been great!" I tell him.
"Yeah, what about the octopus, catch a glimpse of that?"
"Oh... no, didn't see that either." I'm still happy, but not as peppy as I was 30 seconds ago.
Another diver walks over, "Did you guys see the school of 15 barracudas?"
"No..." I trail off. But then I realize, "Hey, but I saw two turtles and it was great!"
"A dive is only as much fun as the diver makes it." They smile and head upstairs. I think that was a compliment...

After our free dive we did a night dive, which is one of the strangest things I've ever done. It's absolutely surreal standing on the back of the boat when it's pitch black out, realizing that you're about to jump in with just a small flashlight (or torch, as they say down here) to light your way. I jumped in, looked down and saw a huge fish hanging out just below me (where "huge" is say 1.5 feet long). Fortunately he was as freaked out as I was and he took off. After the initial shock of basically 0 visibility, things settled down. And once under water everything was fine. It's probably the closest I'll come to space exploration, and that's just what it felt like to me. Slowly spinning around, seeing things appear from nowhere and disappear back again was strange, but fun. We didn't see too much at night, but did find a huge green turtle and we all followed it for a while. They're really graceful in the water and at night, with flashlights providing the only light in front of a pitch black stage, our turtle was mesmerizing and we floated along with him for a good 5 minutes.

The last day started with a deep dive down to 26 meters (about 85 feet) to see if anyone would get nitrogen narcosis. Going down to 26 meters doesn't really feel any different from 15, except when you look up you realize that the surface is a long, long ways away. We also brought some fun toys down to see the effects of the additional pressure and loss of color (everything starts turning to shades of blue the deeper you get). In the end no one suffered from narcosis and things went pretty smoothly. Sadly, it appears that I'm some sort of oxygen Hoover; I was going through my tank faster than anyone on all the dives. On the deep dive I ended up low enough that I needed share air on the trip back to the surface with my buddy. It wasn't stressful though, and I guess it was a good experience to actually go through a low on air experience.

Whew, I feel like I could write about this forever. I took one roll of pictures down on the reef and got maybe 2 or 3 good pictures. I'll get them up soon, along with my Sydney photos. But for now, I'm going to veg for a bit.

Crikey! (September 17th, 2006)

It's been a whirl-wind four days here in Sydney. I've been so busy walking, hiking, shopping and enjoying the sun that I really haven't had much time reflect on the city. This morning I walked up to the Rocks, an upscale part of Sydney next to the harbor bridge. Simone, one of my new friends from the snowboarding course was working there for the weekend and promised there'd be some free food if I found my way up there. The free food won me over and I spent a very relaxing morning at a French cafe. In my blissful daze I hear an older British couple discussing the meal they just ate. The woman summed it up with very British, very stodgy, "Well that was rather pleasant." It was funnier if you actually heard her say it. But as I was chuckling to myself I realized that she pretty much summed up my stay in Sydney. Rather pleasant, indeed!

So next stop: Cairns, Australia. Talking to the backpackers in Sydney I'm a little less excited about Cairns that I was a week ago. It sounds like the city isn't all that great and the surfing is basically non-existent (the barrier reef kills pretty much any wave activity and the pleasant box jelly fish hang out along the coast). But I can't wait to go diving. I'm heading out on a three day diving trip bright and early tomorrow morning.

I've got a bunch of pictures and some stories from Sydney that I'd love to share, provided I can find some free. After the dive trip I'll see if I can get my act together. :)

I'm Lovin' It (September 15th, 2006)





I've finally found a reason to visit McDonald's. I can't even remember the last time I've been in one, it's been a while. But McDonald's offers wireless Internet and I have some pictures I want to upload. I stopped by the enticing named "Internet Everywhere" first, but sadly, they don't offer wireless. They do, however, offer a surprisingly complicated pricing scheme. Their pricing info reads something like: "Spend 50 cents or more and you'll only pay $3 an hour; spend at least 3 dollars or more and you'll only pay $2 an hour; spend at least 5 dollars and you'll only pay $1 an hour!" I'm still not sure how much an hour costs.

Ah, but as I'm sitting here uploading pictures (or attempting to upload, I guess), McDonald's is doing what it does best: delivering poor quality content. My 30 minutes for $8 was a little steep, but would have been worth it to get my pictures uploaded. However, I've got about 10 minutes left and I've only successfully uploaded 1 picture. I'm lovin' it!

First Impressions (September 14th, 2006)

Sitting in the back of an airport shuttle, haphazardly wandering toward my hostel, I realized that Sydney is, in fact, a very large city. It's a bit of a shock to the system after six weeks in a town of 8000 permanent residents. I was tempted to write Sydney off as yet another big city, but after just one night in the city I can already tell I'm going to like it here. Some things I've discovered:

Darling Harbor is a great place to spend an evening. As odd as it sounds, they have really cool water fountains. I took two complete loops around the harbor and found myself staring blankly at the water displays both times.

I found out that Australia does have a great beer, Victoria Bitter (and no, I haven't seen any Fosters yet).

And I just realized that this is my first time alone in a hostel. The place I'm staying is massive and is absolutely packed with people like me. I'm a little torn because they've got a really nice bar here where you can hang out with travelers from all over the world. But I'd also like to find some local spots and, you know, maybe meet an Australian. :) I've got a few nights though, I guess I can have both.

The hostel is offering a free walking tour of Sydney today, it should be a good way to meet the city properly. And I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt for the first time in nearly two months, so I'm already happy this morning.

Stay Classy, Queenstown (September 13th, 2006)







So it's finally starting to feel like things are coming to an end. Which is good, cause I'm about to hop on a plane to Sydney. Pretty much everyone else in my course packed up and left two days ago. It was a little strange and a little sad to say goodbye, but with new friends all around the world I guess I have even more reasons to keep traveling. I don't have much time, so how about some odds and ends from around New Zealand?

With no one around and nothing to do I was finally able to take a hike up Queenstown hill. It's a great hike with fantastic 360 degree views from the top. I've got a few pictures up if you follow the image above.

After an action packed weekend I decided it was time to kick it down a notch yesterday. A relaxing, two hour cruise on Milford Sound sounded like a a nice way wrap my trip up. However, the sound is kind of in the middle of nowhere; it's a 5 hour drive from Queenstown. I thought I was going to be clever and get a flight back from Milford Sound (saving me 4 hours), but due to some technical issues (i.e. the woman booking my trip had no idea what she was doing) I ended up getting the full 13 hour experience.

The drive out there was actually quite nice. I learned all sorts of fun facts about New Zealand, too. For example, there are about 4 million people and 45 million sheep (or as our driver said, "over 20 sheep for every New Zealand man!"). Farming is big deal in New Zealand and the three most farmed animals are sheep, cattle, and (surprisingly) deer. We drove past a few deer farms and it was strange to see deer packed up, grazing in fields. To get the complete New Zealand experience I even tried some venison sausage for dinner. It was fresh from a neighboring farm and was extremely meaty. Probably the meatiest things I've tried. It was a little overwhelming, but worth a try.

But back to Milford Sound. Despite spending 10 hours in a bus, I think the trip was worth it. Seeing mountain peaks rise straight up out of the water, reaching several thousand feet was unreal. I took a bunch of pictures, and it's late so instead of writing about everything we did I'm just going to point you to them. When I get some free time I'll give a nice running commentary too, there's a few good stories there.

The latest local saying that has been causing me problems is "You alright?" This seems to be a common way to greet friends, so it's something I didn't notice much at first. But now when ever I see anyone it's always, "You alright, Colin?" And it's even worse when they say it as a statement, instead of a question. Several times in the last week I've walked into the common room to be greeted with, "You're alright, Colin." Invariably I skip a beat as my mind checks to make sure I'm not bleeding or missing any limbs.

Also, "tea" is the most ambiguous word in the English (UK) language. As far as I can tell, tea can mean: tea, coffee, a specific afternoon meal that goes with tea, lunch or dinner. Additionally, sometimes they say dinner when they mean lunch. It's always a surprise to what ends up on the table when someone says, "I'm just going to make some tea."

And my most random story of the trip so far: the last time I was in Phoenix, Luke, one of my most favorite cousins in the world, was showing off his most recent superhero cartoon, "The Adventure of Captain Underpants!" An interesting idea, to say the least. On the way to Milford Sound we stopped in Te Anau, the tramping capital of New Zealand (tramping is a fun word, sounds a little dirtier than backpacking). Anyway, I walked into the post office / stationary store and what do I stumble across? Captain Underpants! Complete with action figurine. Weird.

What else... Oh yes, be careful what you wish for. A good friend of mine, Guy, has been saying for weeks how he can't wait for the course to end so he can attempt some ridiculous jumps on Coronet Peak. "I'm gonna put some wrist guards on and jump until I break something!" he's boasted on more than one occasion. A mere three days after the course he made good on his promise, shattering his wrist on the largest kicker on Coronet Peak (while wearing wrist guards, even). Seems like a unique souvenir, I guess. Except that he was supposed to spend the next 6 months in northern New Zealand, interning on a farm. It's going to be hard to do much farm work with one good arm, so he's been forced to reexamine his plans. Hopefully he can join the farm after recovering, but he may be forced to abandon his plans altogether and head back home a year earlier than originally planned.

And that's pretty much life down here in New Zealand. As I've mentioned several times, I can't wait to find some sun. I haven't been snowboarding since Friday and my body is having a hard time justifying living in a cold, barely heated house for no apparent reason. Until then!

Free-falling! (September 10th, 2006)







So what's left after jumping from 134 and 440 feet? How about jumping from 12,000 feet? It seemed like a logical step, as well as a great finale for my weekend of celebration. However, I woke up this morning with my stomach turning. In my mind I kept imagining dangling from the side of an airplane, staring down at nothing. I spent the entire morning doing anything possible to avoid thinking about the jump, but finally the time came to head over to drop zone. We started by watching a DVD of previous jumpers and strangely, as soon as I saw them jumping I knew everything would be okay. Everyone looked so happy, it looked like it was impossible not to have fun.

The whole event went off without a problem. Sure, my insides were all tied up in knots as 10 of us stacked up inside an impossibly small plane, my face pressed up against the glass panel that would slide back once we hit 12,000 feet. But unlike bungy jumping, you don't have to do much. Your master diver directs you around and basically pushes you through the door. All you need to do is attempt to smile so the pictures don't look too strange (sadly, I failed that task).

I splurged for the photo/DVD combo pack too, so you can see some pictures over here. I really like my inability to control my facial muscles as I'm dangling out the side of the plane, the "look out I might lose my lunch" expression as we started falling, and me being way too excited about holding the camera man's hand in flight.

I went into the whole experience thinking "make sure you enjoy every second, this is a once in a life time opportunity!" I definitely enjoyed the whole thing, but I'm not sure it was actually a "once in a lifetime" thing. I may be up there again someday. But for now I'm happy to have both feet planted firmly on the ground. I've accomplished everything I wanted to do here in New Zealand. And although I'm starting to feel a little sad about leaving, I can't wait to see Australia!

Sweet As! (September 9, 2006)







Where to start? The picture covers the important bits; I'm officially qualified as a New Zealand Stage One snowboard instructor. In all honestly, this last week has had it's fill of ups and downs and it feels great to have it all finished. The mountain didn't deal us any favors, either. It rained Monday and Tuesday and my snow gear didn't fully recover until Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday we were treated to solid ice in the morning and thick, sunny slush in afternoon. And on Friday a nice cloud layer settled in; the reduced visibility made our final exam a little more stressful than it needed to be.

But I did well this week. After I finished up the last bits on Friday I went home happy. We wouldn't know our results for another five hours, but I knew I did as well as I could have through the week. I wasn't 100% sure I passed, but I knew I gave it my best.

However, the last thing on my mind right now is snowboarding. For the last six weeks I've spent pretty much every waking moment snowboarding, talking about snowboarding or thinking about snowboarding. I stored my board away Friday afternoon and don't intend to stand on it again. Instead, I've been focusing on celebration.

So how does your average snowboard instructor celebrate? After our award ceremony we all went out for a few drinks. There's also this strange tradition where all of the new instructors take a jump in lake Wanaka. When we wandered over there at 11:45pm it was roughly 0 degrees Celsius and the lake wasn't much warmer. After discussing the options with my fellow boarder Stijn, I was convinced to take a dive and came out a little colder, but very happy (thankfully those pictures are really dark...).

I didn't stay out too late though, as I had more antics planned for Saturday (and standing in bar with wet, freezing cold boxers on is about as much fun as it sounds). I was booked for not one, but two bungy jumps! As a first time jumper I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was trying not to think about anything too much. Saturday started with a drive to a Kawarau bridge, the first commercial bungy site opened (in 1988). I had convinced myself that a 134 foot jump is not impossible, but once I actually saw the bridge I knew there was no way I'd willingly jump off it.

I walked onto the bridge and told the operator that I needed some time to consider my options. He seemed to understand and said, "No worries, why don't we just get your harness on and you can think about things." No harm in that, so I slowly pulled the gear on. "Why don't you come sit down here?" he suggested. It seemed a little closer to the edge than I wanted to be but my legs weren't working very well at this point and sitting sounded like a good idea. As I'm sitting down he started wrapping something around my leg. "Wait, I'm not quite ready," I told him, hearing an unsettled sense of urgency in my voice. He nodded, laughed and kept moving forward.

Somehow I found my self standing up and moving toward a very small and very unstable looking ledge. I took one look down, saw the river flowing 134 feet below and immediately sat back down. "I just need to think about this for a minute." Everything seemed to be moving took quickly. Just a minute ago I was arriving at the bridge, convinced I wasn't going to jump. Now I was fully strapped in, standing inches away from the edge. "The longer you wait, the harder it gets," he responded. Somehow that convinced me to stand up again. But still, standing over the edge, I knew there was no was I could jump off. Suddenly he started counting down, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and for just a split second I was able to forget where I was and what I was doing, and I jumped.

As soon as my feet left the platform everything changed. I can't come close to describing the feeling, but I loved every last second of it. I screamed, I yelled, I grinned like an idiot. My hands splashed into the river, I bounced around, and I could feel the adrenaline kicking in. I conquered -- at least temporarily -- a very strong, innate fear of heights and I felt fantastic!

But that wasn't the end of my day. For some reason I'd signed up for a second jump at the Nevis Highwire site. As I mentioned, the Kawarau bridge is famous because it was the first commercial site opened. Nevis, opened in 1999, is famous because it's one of the highest free-falls in the world. A 440 foot drop, each jumper is treated to over eight seconds of free-fall. Eight seconds doesn't sound like that much time, but count it out in your head. Now imagine falling the entire time.

I joined up with a few friends (Stijn, Sophie and Chris) for the main event. After an incredibly steep drive up to the absolute middle of nowhere we finally laid eyes on the jump site. It's really a surreal set up all together, which probably makes the jump a little easier. And after the Kawarau jump I knew that, despite the fear, the fall was actually fun so I felt a little more confident as we were ferried out to the platform on a tiny gondola. Actually, I think the gondola ride was the scariest part. It's a tiny little thing with a grated floor so you can see straight down below you as you slowly crawl away from the canyon wall.

Anyway, despite looking a little concerned before the jump, I was a very happy camper as I was pulled back in. And with that, I was done. It's strange, the feeling I felt while falling was unlike anything I've ever felt before. I absolutely loved it. Yet, I don't really remember what the feeling is and obviously can't explain the feeling to anyone else. I guess that why they get repeat customers. The fear as you stand on the edge of nothingness, peering down hundreds of feet, is almost incapacitating. Yet the euphoria you feel the split second you jump off is absolutely overwhelming. I still get both nervous and excited just thinking about it.

And I opted for the DVD pack, so I can relive the jumps whenever I want to (I've already watched them three times today). I'll try to get them online at some point, but if that doesn't work out I'll just carry the DVD on me at all times. If you run into me we can have a little sit down and I'll tell you all about it. :)

I'm a Tourist! (September 3rd, 2006)







Queenstown is self-described as the adventure capital of New Zealand. Looking through a local guidebook it's easy to create a lengthy list of crazy adventures that you'd like to do some day. That list might look something like: paragliding, bungy jumping, jet boating, and sky diving. The activities are extreme and creating a list doesn't cause too much mental anguish. But eventually "some day" becomes "today" and you're faced with the cold reality of what you're about to be doing. "Wait a second," you remember. "I'm not really fond of heights, maybe just taking in the view from the top of this mountain will be enough for now."

Taking the gondola up Bob's Peak (creative name, huh?) this morning, several thoughts like this started creeping into the corners of my mind. I don't really like heights, and the thought of stepping off terra firma and soaring three to four thousand feet above Queenstown didn't sound as relaxing as I originally imagined. But the weather has been unpredictable lately and the paragliders said they only had a 30 minute window to take off and would probably be closed for the next few days cause of the winds. So I was determined to step off the cliff. As a bonus I was hoping to do it without screaming like a girl.

The flight was awesome! My fear of heights lasted about 2 seconds, but once we were airborne I forgot all about it. The view, the quiet breeze rustling the sail, and the warmth of an unusually hot winter day was all I thought about. We spent the first part of the trip catching thermals off Bob's Peak. Takeoff is at 2500 feet, the thermals can easily push you to 4000 feet (where you're forced to level off to avoid running into planes). Then we slowly circled around Queenstown getting a great 360 degree view of the Southern Alps as we descended. We finished off with some fun banks and rolls. We managed to get our bodies nearly at the same height as the sail! It was a little strange seeing the sail in front of me, not above me where it belongs. But I was busy enjoying the g-forces the moves create.

Today was a great day for being a tourist, and I got my money's worth. In addition to paragliding, I went on a concrete luge (also at the top of Bob's Peak), played in one of the most elaborate putt-putt courses I've ever seen, and took a trip on the Shotover Jet.

The Shotover Jet is a specially designed jet that needs just 5cm of water depth to operate. And operate quickly. We maxed out at about 80kph (around 50mph) and the whole time we were less than two feet from rocky canyon walls. Oh, and the jet can spin a 360 at around 40kph. It was a very wet boat ride, but again, it felt like an authentic Queenstown experience.

I've got 26 photos to prove it all, you can take a peek over here. Sadly, today was my last day of fun for the week. The Stage One starts tomorrow and it's all business until Saturday. The Stage One is the reason I came here and my plans for the winter on contingent on actually getting this certification. It's time to saddle up and kick some ass this week. See you on the other side.

The Fergburger Experience (September 2nd, 2006)





I knew there was a reason I started talking about food in the last post. I just didn't remember why until I sat down to yet another shabby Thai meal for dinner tonight. For those keeping track at home that's three different Thai restaurants and three poor Thai meals. I realized pretty quickly that this most recent place would be subpar, they didn't even have Singha (Thai beer)! In fact, their drink menu consists of water and Coke. You can bring your own bottles of wine in, which they'll graciously uncork for $4.

Oh, another thing I haven't quite figured out yet is the correct end of meal / pay the bill dance. If I walk up to the bar they seem obviously embarrassed that you were forced to come over and ask for a bill. But they don't come anywhere near you as long as you remain seated at your table, leaving you to stare intently at the kitchen door, hoping to catch the eye of a waitress on her way out (and do the little "oh of course I haven't been staring at the door for 5 minutes, but I'm ready for my bill" eyebrow wave).

So what's my latest tactic? When I'm ready to leave I start the "I'm getting ready to go" routine: stand up, go to the bathroom, etc. Invariably, just as I'm slipping my jacket on, the waitress will stroll up with a very smug "wow I'm good; he's getting ready to leave just as I'm bringing the bill over" smile on her face. It's a little bit of routine that I could do without, but did I mention that tipping isn't common down here? Leaving the restaurant knowing you just ate and didn't have to tip still helps dull the pain for a bad meal.

But where was I? Oh yeah, Fergburger. Quite possibly the best burger I've ever eaten. Truthfully, I've only been there twice so far, but I'm fairly certain that each burger takes 10 to 16 months off your life expectancy so I'm eating there sparingly. But listen to the ingredients for the Southern Swine, my favorite so far: prime New Zealand beef, American streaky bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, aioli and tomato relish. Hot damn! And you can see for yourself how big those things are. It's not an endeavors for the feint of heart. I guess the place was a local legend when it first opened; hidden on a side street, customer base growing through word of mouth. However, it was recently relocated and it's now open 22 hours a day (7am - 5am) and any time you go in you'll be faced with at least a 20 minute wait. My first time in there I left the cashier with a receipt that said "#371" on it. They were currently serving order #290. But the wait is well worth it. I've got another night planned with the Ferg' on Friday, assuming the Stage 1 goes well. I'll try to bring my camera this time.

Involuntary Time Off (September 2nd, 2006)

In the not too distance past I mentioned how busy we've been so far, even though we anticipated having up to 4 days a week off. What I would have given for a free day back then. Well, as always, be careful what you wish for. The snow gods must have been listening and in the last week I've been subjected to three unscheduled vacation days. On Tuesday I was too sick to leave bed (though I was able to read through The Grapes of Wrath), on Thursday we took the bus up to Coronet Peak but the mountain was "on hold" due to high winds ("on hold" means the lifts aren't running but the mountain isn't technically closed so they don't have to offer ticket refunds...), and today the mountain was officially shut down all day long due to "gale-force winds." Oh, and rain. There's been a weird weather pattern over the south island for the last 3 days which has caused some very warm weather (a balmy 15 degrees in Queenstown and nearly 10 degrees at Coronet Peak) and extremely strong winds from the north. Any snow that wasn't blown off by the wind was surely destroyed by the downpour today. Everyone is excited to see what the mountain looks like when we head back up there on Monday.

So what have I been doing with all this new found freedom? Sadly, nothing off the list of tourist activities I've been hoping to do. Paragliding? They don't operate in windy conditions either. Bungy jumping? Not in the rain. Instead I've been walking around town, buying souvenirs I don't want and eating food I don't need. In fact, I was excited because I was finally heading down to the Mexican place for dinner. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), two of my roommates went the night before and told me the food was so bad that they each had to send it back. Now I realize that this could be a sign of a good Mexican place, but I'd been sick for a week and didn't feel like tempting fate at that point.

On the flip side, though, when I told them I'd never eaten proper "bangers and mash" before they insisted on cooking for me. Well that's not quite true. I ended up peeling the potatoes (with an old, tiny peeler; I don't know how I didn't cut my knuckles on it), setting the table, and cleaning up after dinner while they sat around and watched The West Wing. But I got a great meal out of it, destroying my theory that all English food is terrible.

An Old American Saying (September 1st, 2006)

I was just reminded of an old American adage that goes something like, "Fool me one, shame on me. Fool me — can't get fooled again!" (If you have no idea what I'm talking about I encourage you take a three minute detour to check out this video.)

During the first week of training I made the mistake of keeping my goggles up all afternoon long (one trick we learned as instructors is to take our goggles off while talking so the students can see our eyes. I figured it'd be easier to remember if I just kept them up). I got home and my eyes were itching like they had sand in them. Rubbing my eyes, I walked into the bathroom, looked into the mirror and was greeting by a pair of absolutely bloodshot eyes. The sun wasn't out all that much, so I was a little surprised to see that. But, as has been mentioned several times since, there is basically zero ozone down here, giving the sun a much more dramatic affect than one would expect. My goggles have been on pretty much since them.

Today was a very mild day on the slopes. So mild, in fact, that my goggles were making my forehead sweat. Fortunately that's easy enough to fix, so I popped my goggles up and left them there for the rest of the day. And, predictably, I'm sporting bloodshot eyes again. Can't get fooled again!

We're entering our last weekend before the big daddy, the New Zealand Stage One exam. Our last day of training was today, so we're basically as ready as we're going to be. There's a different feeling this time around (compared to the NZ CSI exam). Going into the CSI I didn't know what to expect and definitely didn't feel prepared to take the exam. "Well, I'll just go in there and do the best I can," I thought as the week got started.

This time around I know pretty much what to expect. More than that, our trainers have definitely given us all the skills and knowledge we need to pass this test. Meaning that the only way I can fail is if I screw up during the exam. Obviously the same "give it your best" attitude is appropriate, but it's nice having some preset excuses to fall back on. I'm afraid I don't have any this time around.

And there's one part of teaching -- "student analysis" -- that can go horribly awry very quickly. When you meet a new class you have just a couple of minutes to figure out what the students know, determine what they want to achieve, and detect what's preventing them from getting there. The detection step is crucial. One slip up there and your entire plan is built around fixing the wrong problems (which translates as an automatic fail). In three of our six practice sessions today the person designated as "teacher" didn't correctly diagnos the students' fault. It's stressful and you don't have much time to get it right. But if I do go on to be an instructor I'll have to do it 6 times a day, so it's obviously a skill that needs to be present.

The Winter Blues (August 28th, 2006)

It's been a little quiet around here lately. Nearly everyone has been bitten by some virus or another in the last few weeks. Those who haven't been sick yet have been hiding from everyone else. I came down with something last week and just as I thought I was getting over it got struck down again (much worse) this weekend. The joys of communal living with poor ventilation mixed with questionable personal hygiene. But I'm not here to complain. There have been some highlights in the last week, hopefully going through them again will help me forget how much my body hates me right now.

Last Friday was a great day. I had a free day on the mountain, my first in nearly two weeks. I decided to spend an hour on the bunny slope, working on some freestyle moves. I discovered that freestyle can actually be hard work and was quickly sweating. I didn't want to go back down to take some layers off, so I just started stripping at the top of the bunny slope. First my jacket, then my long underwear top, leaving me with just a t-shirt on. But that wasn't enough, I ended up taking off my snow pants AND sweat pants, leaving me with long underwear tights, a t-shirt, and my snowboard boots on. Needless to say I got quite a few questioning looks, especially from concerned parents. I even had a curious ski patroller come over and check to make sure everything was okay. But the end result was worth it, my freestyle is looking a lot better.

When I got home Friday night I decided to go to the gym. I can tell it's a top notch gym because I've stumbled across several ski teams training there. Friday was a real treat because the Finnish women's ski team was there. There were 6 of them and a couple of trainers in one corner, working hard, chatting unintelligibly, wearing Finnish flags on all of their gear. Surrounding the team was a group of a dozen gym guys, working out way harder than they normally do, using mirrors to glance over at the team whenever possible. Obviously I was a part of this group. Surrounding our group was a another dozen female gym regulars, staring disgustedly at the men and chatting to each other in hushed whispers. It was quite a scene all around.

And speaking of ski teams, the US team was available at Coronet Peak today, signing posters, helmets, etc (sadly Bode wasn't there, but Ted Ligety, winner of the Olympic Gold for men's combine, was). I wandered over during lunch, tempted to get some autographs. However, the line consisted solely of 6 to 10 year old kids in ski school, staring at team with glazed over eyes, afraid to say anything. I couldn't bring myself to stand in line with 50 ski schoolers, so I was forced to watched from a distance, pretending that I didn't actually care that much. :)

Only in New Zealand (August 22nd, 2006)





I enjoy watching the morning news during breakfast; I feel like I'm getting a little slice of New Zealand life. Usually it's not thing too exciting, but this morning was a treat. The lead story was about a farmer who "discovered" two sheep who hadn't been sheered in over six years. I'm not sure where he discovered them, I guess he has a large farm and they stumbled out of the fog one morning.

These sheep looked massive, though. Their wool was literally dragging on the ground (but no that picture above isn't from the story). Everyone involved in the news report seemed to be very impressed as well. They asked the farmer what he planned to do with the wool. He was open to suggestions, but was thinking of donating it to a charitable cause.

Although I was laughing at the story I admit I found the whole thing kind of interesting. But only in New Zealand could that be a leading story. Of course, I can't say the US is much better. When I checked CNN.com three days ago the lead story was that a suspect in the JonBenet killing had confessed in Thailand. I thought that was interesting, but didn't think it warranted lead-story status. Two days ago CNN.com leads with "JonBenet suspect in transit from Thailand." And yesterday, "JonBenet suspect arrives in Los Angeles; transported to local jail." Alright now, three days in a row? Tracing a suspect's travel itinerary? I think I'd rather hear about overloaded sheep.

Speaking of important issues, let's get back to me. :) I start a two day first aid course tomorrow (with an extra focus on mountain safety issues). I've got a lot of snowboarding stuff to practice this week and I mentioned to my snowboard instructor that I might skip the first aid course and work on my riding instead. "Nothing you do on the slopes in the next two days will help you save a life" was his only response. It's hard to argue with that logic.

Avalanches and Snow (August 20th, 2006)

Last Thursday and Friday I joined an avalanche training class. I was hoping it would be fun and exciting; sadly it was pretty slow and boring. I definitely learned some new stuff though. We practiced using transceivers to find buried people and learned how to build snow pits to analyze any potential instability in the snow. The only real problem was that all the information could have easily be packed into a single day, instead of the two day treatment we received. In fact, even though were basically completely snowed in most of the second day we had already covered everything we needed to know.

This brings me to point #2. We had our first real winter storm starting last Friday (and still going on and off). We were getting at least and inch or two of snow an hour at the Remarkables on Friday. Unfortunately were also getting 50 mph wind blasts and about 5 feet of visibility. We tried a couple of runs but literally couldn't see the boards on our feet, making snowboarding more or less impossible. The snow was great for snow balls, though. As we waited (45 minutes) for the bus to leave, we had a full-scale snowball fight around the bus. We hit each other, cars, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be within range. It was a good afternoon.

Today the skies cleared and we were treated to a foot and a half of fresh powder. It was easily the best snow day of the year (including the heli-ski trip). Our instructors took advantage of the opportunity and we spent most of the morning carving fresh tracks in the "back bowls." Sometimes I forget we're supposed to be learning things our here. :) Only 5 more training days before our stage one exam, though! Everyone is starting to get a little nervous already.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together (August 20th, 2006)

I've been hesitant to slam my lodge-mates too much here, in the off chance that one of them may somehow stumble across this site. But occasionally I need to vent. :) There are two English girls in our lodge that everyone has described as "pure" or "sweet" but what I think they really mean is "air headed." Last night one of them was staring at an inflatable gym ball and asked Andy (the owner) how he was going to carry it on the plane with him. He responded, "Well I'm going to let the air out and fold it up." She was amazed and noted that the inventors must have been really smart guys. The other one was extremely upset while we watched Kindergarten Cop (yeah, I actually watched half of it too) because the father of the main boy was so mean. "How can such a nice kid have such a jerk for a father!" she yelled. She almost had to leave because she couldn't take it.

However, sometimes air headedness can be a good thing. Tonight we were celebrating Andy's 24th birthday. Two good things happened. First, we made fajitas! I have been absolutely craving Mexican food since arriving in New Zealand. There's just one Mexican place in Queenstown and for the life of me I can't figure out what hours they're actually opened. I've been there twice during prime dinner hours; they've been closed both times.

Anyway, on to the second good thing that happened. One of the girls bought some balloons for the party, but wanting to save 30 cents she bought water balloons. She didn't realize that you can't actually blow water balloons up with air. Not wanting to waste them, she filled up 40 or so water balloons with water and spread them over the tables. Obviously this isn't a great idea, especially after dinner when everyone has had a couple of birthday drinks.

Things degenerated quickly after the cake and ice cream was cleaned up. One balloon sprung a leak, and Andy used it to spray anyone near him. That, of course, inevitably led to a full scale water balloon fight, in our common room. 8 people lobbing balloons around can cause a mess in a hurry. We only lasted about 5 minutes, but the entire place is wet right now. I can't wait to see what the housekeeper says when she strolls through tomorrow...

(And those curious about the title, it's Hannibal's signature quote from The A-Team. Surprisingly, we've watched both seasons 1 and season 2 of the A-Team, which is something I never thought I'd say I've done.)

Up Up and Away! (August 16th, 2006)







We did it! Unfortunately, I'm not really even sure how to describe the day. Looking through the pictures I just see a bunch of mountains. They're pretty, but they're nothing too special and they certainly don't capture the overwhelming awe I felt as we soared over and around untouched peaks of snow. Standing on your board, looking down over miles of untouched powder is a hard feeling to capture on camera.

(If you want to look through the pictures I'd recommend starting here and work your way back to the first photo. I've titled all of them and even added a few descriptions.)

The day started off perfectly. We were split into groups of five (the helicopter can only hold 5 at a time) and put on a bus for an hour and a half ride over to the staging area. However the two snowboard instructors (Chris and Ben) asked me to join their group. Aside from getting to ride with the instructors, I also got to take the helicopter directly from the Queenstown airport. So instead of starting the day with an hour and a half in a bus I was treated to a 15 minute chopper ride!

I knew flying in a helicopter would be fun, but I had no idea it would be this much fun. Climbing slowly over a peak only to see the mountain drop hundreds of feet straight down below you is a breathtaking experience. And the places the pilot could land the thing were borderline insane. One false step getting out would quickly ruin your day.

The snow was great. It didn't break my all-time top ten best snow days, but it was far and away better than anything we've seen this year. And the thought that you're carving trails that have never been carved before makes everything feel special.

The instructors also brought along a video camera to capture the trip. I haven't seen it yet, but there are at least two personal highlights. First, there was a huge lip on the first run that we all jumped off. I was second to hit it and landed a good sized 180 right in front of the camera. Secondly, on the run into lunch we were individually taped coming through a large bowl. I had a nice run going and had picked up some speed as I approached the bottom. I must have hit some small undulation because before I knew it the nose of my board dove under the powder and I flipped straight over the front, sending powder all over the place. Two flips later I was back on my feet wearing a big grin and a white beard.

I think that pretty much covers the major points. Everyone in our block is walking around with a permanent smile on their faces. We don't have too much time to savor the experience, though; we're starting two days of avalanche training tomorrow. It probably would have made sense to get the avalanche training in before the heli-skiing trip, but the conditions were too good to pass up. By all accounts today's conditions were some of the best all season: recent snowfall, lots of sunshine and low wind. It's something I won't be forgetting soon.

My Commute (August 15th, 2006)







I don't really have much to say here, I think the pictures pretty much sums it up. The 30 minute bus drive up to Coronet Peak is a great time to catch a few extra Z's (or Zeds, as they all say around here) before a full day on the mountain. One of my lodge mates was kind enough to catch me in this action shot.

Not much else to report, so how about a couple of short Queenstown stories. First off, the US Ski team is here training for the summer. There was even a Bode Miller sighting this morning who was (believe it or not) enjoying a morning beer before his training....

I'm really starting to miss Whole Foods and even Safeway. I could really go for a Whole Foods salad bar right about now. And the fruit selection down here is pathetic. I guess we're spoiled in the states but I don't think I should need to pay US $7.00 for a small bag of sickly looking grapes. But by far the saddest experience was on my first day, when I wandered the store looking for the world's best food combination, cottage cheese and apple sauce. I started looking for cottage cheese and to my surprise they actually sell it in pretty large containers. It's a little expensive, but it's a price I'd gladly pay for a little taste of home.

I happily headed over towards the canned fruits section, but couldn't find the apple sauce anywhere. I asked an attended and (much to my pleasure) they promised me that they do in fact have apple sauce and pointed me back to the same section. I made a second lap through the canned fruits, nothing. Finally I brought a second attendant over and they pointed out, in the top right corner, canned apple sauce in tuna fish sized cans! Selling for US $3! I'd need two of those for a single meal, which would make cottage cheese and apple sauce run about US $7 dollars a night...

And finally, speaking of childhood habits, when I was in elementary and junior high school my dad used to pack a lunch for me. However, to help save the Earth he forced me to reuse the same paper bag and plastic sandwich bags for an entire week! I absolutely hated bringing the same paper bag home with used, dirty plastic bags in it.

Fifteen years later, here I am carefully resealing my three plastic bags during lunch and stuffing them back into my jacket so I can use them again the next day. I'm not sure if I'm doing it out of habit, because I want to reduce waste, or because I just want to save a couple of dollars. But I'm sticking to it, so mission accomplished dad...

We're going heli-skiing tomorrow, everyone is starting to get giddy. Pictures and stories to come.

Certified! (August 12th, 2006)

At around 3:30pm, August 11th, I became officially certified to teach snowboarding. I didn't pass with flying colors, but I made it through (unfortunately not everyone in our group did). This is exam is easier than our next one (the Stage One exam), but it's a similar format so at least we now know what to expect in September.

I celebrated the occasion by taking today off. It's the first time I haven't been on the mountain in nearly two weeks. It's a short-lived break though, we start training again on Sunday (for three days) followed by a two day avalanche course. There are rumors that we might be doing our heli-ski trip next too. They're definitely keeping our schedule full.

Of course I also celebrated by going out last night. Winny's (one of the bars) extended happy hour prices to everyone that passed the exam; there were a good 100 skiers and boarders packed in there. You aren't expected to tip bartenders in New Zealand so at $2.50NZ a beer (about $1.60 US) you can have a good night out at an extremely reasonable rate.

No one from our course was up on the mountain today, we've had a fun time hanging out in the lodge together. A bunch of us our about to head down to the local cinema. Movies don't make it down here all that quickly so we have no idea what's playing, but I'm really going for the popcorn. :)

Proud to be an American (August 10th, 2006)

When I first came down here I was half expecting and half hoping to pick up a little kiwi accent, or at least a few choice words. But being in a course with people from all over the world I've realized how much fun the language differences are. And as the only American in my course it's my patriotic duty to promote the true english accent and word usage. I've been sticking to American words as much as possible, including an occasional "howdy."

I've been given the most grief over the use of jelly as in "peanut butter and jelly." Apparently I should be saying "peanut butter and jam", since jelly means jello to everyone else. I tried explaining that jelly and jam are actually slightly different spreads, but quickly realized that I don't really know the difference myself. When I made my first sandwich one of the english women looked at it in amazement and said "wow I only thought you people did that in TV shows!" She was very excited to see a real American sandwich. But I've been better off than the irish smoker who calls cigarettes "fags." Telling a group of twenty-somethings that you're "looking for a fag" isn't going to go over well anywhere (except in Ireland, I suppose).

Moon Rising (August 8th, 2006)






It's been somewhat overcast the last two days, but on my way down to the gym today things suddenly cleared up revealing a nearly full moon hanging over the Remarkables. I hot-footed it back to to my room to pick up my camera and spent the next hour wandering around town, looking for a perfect vantage point. I discovered a few new corners in Queenstown, including a surprisingly old and somewhat creepy cemetery. It's situated on top of a hill overlooking Queenstown though, so that's where I set up shop (and it also explains the foreground scenery in a couple of the pictures).

As I'm sure I mentioned a couple of times, things are different down here. The moon has been camped out over the Remarkables for the last week, day and night. I'm looking out my window right now and it's beautiful at night too; it lights up the entire countryside. I tried taking a couple of pictures at night, but I don't don't have the camera manual on me and I can't figure out how to play with the aperture time setting.

It's been challenging finding good photo opportunities. The first couple of days here I was a photographic madman, it's just so stunning with the snow-covered peaks surrounding town. Reviewing them on my laptop I got bored looking at endless pictures of snowcapped mountains. Sure each picture is gorgeous, but they're all pretty much the same. I deleted most of the pictures and vowed to only shoot unique situations, which is why I was so excited to see the moon out today.

I'm also only taking my camera up to the slopes with me if I'm not training. Of course, this means that every day I have my camera nothing exciting happens, but when I don't have it we're treated to all sorts of crazy cloud formations and sun rises. Hopefully be able to capture it all in six weeks.

Skiing vs Snowboarding (August 8th, 2006)

Everyone in my lodge is training for the same exams, but we've got a mixture of skiers and snowboarders. It's been strange to see how the stereotypes of skiing and snowboarding transfer into the approach for teaching. I'd say the (positive) stereotype for snowboarding is that it's more laid back, relaxed, and encourages having fun. Skiing, on the other hand, is a more serious and technical snowsport. It's still fun (or should be), but there's a lot of important information that needs to be transfered to the students.

We're 1/4th through our CSI exams and there's a startling contrast between the skiers and boarders. The skiers are still sitting around the common table, discussing the proper progression of exercises to get a student from "gliding wedges" to "wedges with small direction changes." It all sounds terribly boring and exceedingly technical. They've been around the table for the better part of three hours.

My night has been decidedly more relaxed. I went to the gym for a couple of hours, compared songs on my iPod with another boarder, and settled down for a beer and the movie Fletch (with Chevy Chase). I'm about to spend 15 minutes reviewing some stuff we'll be talking about tomorrow and then try to find a warm spot on my bed. Meanwhile the skiers are still out there, last I heard they were discussing the proper ratio between turn size and distance or something. They know people want to have fun during their lessons, right? The snowboard training manual we've been using has a quote on the first page that pretty much sums it up for me: "Teach people how to snowboard, not snowboarding to people." It sounds like the skiers are teaching skiing with no regard to the people who are learning.

I guess I shouldn't really say anything until the exams are over though, maybe that's why the ski instructor pass rate is higher than the snowboarders.

Snow! (August 7th, 2006)







I know that picture doesn't look like much, but today was fog-soaked, snow-filled day on the slopes. That big thing in back left is the main chair lift, visibility maxed out at about 50 feet (it was closer to 15 feet for most of the day). But it was smiles all around because this is the first time we've had real snow in over three weeks (the snow machines don't count). There were 5cm by 9:00am this morning and it kept coming down all day long.

It looks like we're getting a repeat performance tomorrow, which is both good and bad news. It's good, of course, because we can need all the snow we can get. However, tomorrow is the first day of our first exam (the CSI: Certificate of Snowsports Instruction), good weather would be nice.

As I mentioned before our trainers have spent a lot of time breaking down our snowboarding style, trying getting us to ride "correctly." Obviously there's no correct way to ride, but some ways are more efficient than others. Since we're supposed to be teaching the new efficient style, I suppose we should ride that way as well.

We've been videotaped twice now, on the first and last day of training. It's amazing how much our style has changed in four days and we're starting to look like we know what were doing on the mounatin. Watching my second taping yesterday I certainly looked better, but now that I know what I'm supposed to be doing I can see so many faults and bad habits I still have. We've still got five weeks to get into perfect shape, I hope the changes I've made so far will get me through the next four days.

Halfway to our first exam (August 3rd, 2006)

We just finished our second day of training, we've only got two more days of training before we start our first set of exams. As our trainers so affectionately put it, we'll be the least prepared group of potential instructors taking the exam. All other classes will have had between two to four weeks of training. It shouldn't be too bad though because although the exam takes four full days, it covers fairly basic stuff. Obviously we have to know the material well, but we won't be stretching our technical skills.

The training has been great so far. We started off the first day by videotaping all of our current riding styles. We then went inside and our two trainers dissected our stance and board setup. We made quite a few changes to my gear: widened my feet by a good inch, opened my back foot out (the preferred stance is a "duck stance", both feet pointing out), and added more angle to my calf support. The changes (especially widening the feet) immediately helped me get lower and into a more stable base stance.

I would have loved to have gone out and tried riding around a bit with my new stance, but after making the changes we immediately headed to the bunny slope, where we've spent the last two days. We've been learning how to teach the absolute beginners, i.e. someone who is holding a board in their hands for the first time. There's a pretty good progression of moves to go through to get them from board in hand to ready to tackle their first run. As an instructor we need to be able to demo all parts of the progression flawlessly and while the moves aren't hard, we've been getting grilled on getting all aspects of the demos. They need to be technically flawless. It's amazing how much time you can spend on the bunny slope (with just one foot strapped in, even). I had forgot how many out of control riders there on on the bunny slope, it can be a scary place. But it reminds you what it feels like to be a first time rider; keeping the students feeling safe is the #1 priority.

Anyway, I suppose most of our work so far hasn't been that exciting, but I've been having a lot of fun. And the stuff we're working on can definitely be applied to my riding (and it has been), which will make me a stronger technical rider. Tonight we watched the video from original rides and it made everyone cringe. Fortunately we're going to keep taping ourselves each week so we should see some progression next week. We've come a long way in two days, I can't wait to see where we'll end up after six weeks!

No More Messing Around (August 1st, 2006)

I just got back from our "welcome" meeting with the ski and snowboard instructors. "Welcome" is in quotes because it wasn't so much a welcoming as it was an ominous forewarning. This course is tough, there's no doubt about that. We'll be spending the next four days on the slopes, riding for six to seven hours each day. We've also got an hour a night of evening instruction. After that we have two days off before our first exam. They've said that the first exam is fairly straight forward, but it's four days long! I'm not sure I know enough snowboarding to be tested for four days.

Assuming we survive the first two week march we've then got three weeks of training to prepare for the real test, the Stage One snowboard exam. This is the real exam, the one that 70% of all applicants fail on their first try. I'd like to think that I won't be part of that 70%, but I've got to get through the next two weeks first. :)

There are rumors of new snow on Thursday. I'm going to go out tomorrow night and slaughter 30 sheep, perhaps the snow-gods will find that satisfactory. There really are quite a few sheep, though. I've got two merino wool tops now and they are very soft and very warm. And nothing screams local like wearing New Zealand wool.

Praying to the Snow Gods (July 31st, 2006)

I've been on the slopes four out of my first five days now. On each lift up I've talked to people from New Zealand, Australia, and all over Europe. We happily talk about how much fun we're having and how great the weather is. But it's time to be frank: the conditions are awful.

My first day here was great. The snow was soft, the sun was shining, and I was happy. Each day since then as gotten noticeably worse. Day 2 was on the Remarkables, which I've already mentioned didn't live up to its name. My third day on the mountain was marked by morning winds around 40 mph with gusts to 60 and afternoon rain. Last night it rained we had a downpour, but unfortunately it was all rain on the mountain. When I arrived the base snow level was hovering around 90cm (less than 3 feet) which I thought was low but no one seemed to be complaining. It's now down to about 50cm and that seems generous.

And really, all that's left can't really be called snow, cause it's actually ice. The most heavily boarded areas soften up by the afternoon, but corresponds to about one run per chair. That means each chair has exactly one useable run, the rest of the mountain is unskiable cause it's completely frozen ice. As I mentioned earlier, there are 3 chairs on the mountain: one beginner, one intermediate and one advanced. So that leaves me with two runs to enjoy. All, day, long. Oh, and the advanced run is usually closed in the morning cause it's too windy.

So it's not all vacation down here. This is definitely some of the most challenging terrain I've had to deal with. And the thought of being tested on this stuff is actually kind of frightening. But if I can pull it off here I feel like I should be able to do it anywhere.