Montana Kiwi Chemistry: To the end, heading North for the winter

Well unfortunately this is the last blog I will be posting for this trip to New Zealand. This was quiet a long journey that I had no idea how it would turn out, but as all good things the journey is the best part (well almost).

During this journey I met and had laughs with people from so many countries that it is difficult to remember all of them but I will try: Ireland, Canada, USA, Germany, France, Japan, Indonesia, China, UK, Israel, South Africa, Denmark, Greece, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Argentina and New Zealand.....whew that was difficult but needless to say I can nearly travel anywhere and have a place to stay now!

My last adventure started with me and a 12kg pack with a bus ticket to Auckland. This was a most difficult trip to pack for as I had to carry everything with me that I would use in town and in the bush, needless to say I had to turn the undies inside out several times (haha just kidding ma, okay maybe not..). Auckland is rather large city, but can be really empty if you don't know anybody so if you are passing through it is kind of the luck of the draw with the room mates or people you meet. This trip though I had to fly out at 6 in the morning so I just chatted with my german room mate on california prop. 19 (if you don't know i'm not going to tell) then to bed. The flight was uneventful except the notable mention that New Zealand airport security is horrible, they didn't even ask me for my ID, but I could be used the the amped USA security.

I arrived in Christchurch kind of expecting the place to be full of earth quake damaged buildings, but was greeted by a charming city full of historic buildings and a busy since of bustle. I had a bit of time so I wandered around for a bit taking a few snap shots and snacking on a fresh baked cookie. Finally the bus came and jumped on for a long nine hours to queenstown, oh by the way the bus was called the "naked bus" hahahaha!

The nine hour bus ride was a looonnngg one, the only saving grace was the scenery started to get progressively more interesting. One really interesting thing was the department of transportation used gravel from an old river bed (the river used to run before they damned it for a reservoir), well the gravel was infested with a foreign weed that just happened to be in bloom, amazing! The weed blooms with a vibrant blood red to purple flower that covered the side of the road in a beautiful road show on the way to queenstown. The people on the bus were really boring and despite my best efforts to make conversation I struck out all until we stopped for afternoon tea and I got to chat with an interesting Irish guy while I was eating my pie. The New Zealand fast food of choice is pie, not like american pie where they are all sweet and fruity, but full of meat cheese and all sorts of fried goodness wrapped in a luscious pastry skin.....mmmmm okay back to the trip. I arrived at queenstown and checked into the hostel Base of Queenstown. Upon checking in the room was dark and there were two people sleeping, well was during the day so I flipped on the lights and made myself at home. Turns out that the two people in my room one was from California and the other was from Finland. My room mates soon took the hint that the day was not the time to sleep and woke. The California guy was a momma's boy that was traveling on his parents credit card for a few months until they cut him off. The Finish gal works in Auckland as a nanny and was down checking out the south island needless to say I think she should have been a model because she was immaculately beautiful.

Before the festivities for the night happened I went and booked my transport to and from the trail heads I would be using to traverse through some of the most amazing wilderness I have ever encountered. With my trip booked and every thing ready one day early (this is in major contrast top my usual last minute planning) I went out with my room mates to some friends the Californian guy had made. The friends we went to visit just happend to be most of the staff for one of the more famous bars in town the Buffalo club but the bar is for a later night this party was in a small cabin on the edge of the city. This cabin had an amazing view of the lake and city. Unfortunately I do not have any over view pictures of Queenstown if you are curious google image it. Queenstown is a picturesque town perched on the edge of a loch kind of like what you would imagine as a small swiss village in the mountains. The night progressed and I kept it pretty low key and kept the conversation with the Finish girl (okay who doesn't like talking with beautiful women!) and some of the bar tender people I met. At near 3 in the morning we decided to go because the Californian guy was really drunk and we were out of drinks but that is when catastrophe struck. California forgot his cell phone and went back up the hill to get it, but on the way back he broke through one of the steps and rolled his ankle in a bad way swollen and black and blue, the only way he could make it back to the room was because he was so drunk. Needless to say I thought it was rather hilarious him smashed off his ass and limping like an old war vet so I decided to poke a bit of fun at him and well I rolled my own damn ankle. CRAP here I was on a trip I had planned for several months and less than two days before I was supposed to hike 35 kilometers I roll my ankle making fun of the drunk guy and so karma slaps me square in the face.

Away I went to sleep that night praying that my ankle would be miraculously healed in two days so I could do my journey through the landscaped that inspired Lord of the Rings movies. I woke when the Finish gal left the room for she was going on a bus tour of the Milford sound (much to my disappointment) I rolled out of bed and went to get a drink and use the toilet and ouch...no healing progress in the 5 hours of sleep... My with my frustration mounting I went and used the internet hoping a member of my family would be on so i could consult them on what I should do. With the internet used and no progress on my venting I went back to the room to nurse my minor hangover and throbbing swollen ankle. Back at the room I am greeted by a cheerful bed ridden californian and a sad Finish gal whom had just missed her bus because her clock was off. Well this turned out to be a good thing for me because I had nothing to do that day as I had been incredibly vigilant about packing and prepping for the trip. I didn't want to do any of the famous tours or bungee's around because they were in excess of 300 dollars just for the basic package (tac another 100 dollars for photos). The reason the late bus trip worked in my favor is that she didn't want to just sit around all day either when we were on a time schedule for being in Queenstown so...we rented a car and drove all over the national fijordlands! Ya I know for some reason this beautiful model picks Me to hang out with her all day...it must be my dry humor...The day was good lots of driving and talking with every chance we had to pull over and take pictures of breath taking scenes. She drove for the most part as I had not driven much in NZ and was afraid I would run someone over on the right side of the road. She drove like a crazed NASCAR driver....but it was fun! Finally at the end of the trip I took the wheel and drove like a CRAZED formula one driver!! On our way back we stopped at a small pizza cafe on a small town outside of Queenstown and had an amazing dinner! Pizza I have been craving for so long I finally had because most of the pizza in Kiwi land sucks the big one. I had a pizza called the godfather: tomato based sauce, feta, cheddar, mozzarella, spicy Italian sausage, spinach and sun dried tomatoes mmmmm good! The day with the golden goddess ended unfortunately and I went to bed early hoping to get some good sleep and even better healing out of the ankle!

I woke early and got out of bed to find...the ankle still in a misery state. At this point I was in a frantic point hiking the 35 kilometer trail could be decisively dangerous with a bum ankle, but then I had but load of time, effort and money into making it happen. I had no one to consult and no one to talk to about is so...I got an ankle brace at the pharmacy and a lot of ibuprofen and pain killers and DID IT!! I was a really nervous at this point for two things. The first of which was obviously the ankle which could have made the most mundane hike murder, the second of which was the unknown terrain and the fact that I was doing a normal three day hike in two days. Under normal circumstances I would have been a bit nervous about doing the three dayer in two days but with the bum ankle I was flapping (flapping=freaking out) hard core. Then to make matters worse the bus was late so I didn't hit the trail until 10:30am.

I set out on the trail with about 10 other people all whom were doing it in three days. I was hoping to keep up with the old people and make it to the last hut by dark. Well as I started walking the ankle hurt horribly and I didn't know if I should turn around and hope the shuttle was still there, but I chewed up some more pain killers and ibuprofen (chewing them makes them work faster). Then all of a sudden the pain eased into an uncomfortable gnawing sensation instead of the feeling of needing to amputate it. The farther i treked the more the ankle limbered up and the less pain i was receiving so pretty soon I was trucking and out in front of the whole group. I hiked with snack bars stuffed to the hilt in my pockets and my camera in another pocket, knowing that if I had to stop for too long my ankle would start to tighten up and I would have to work through the miserable pain all over again. Even though I mention that I was trucking on the track relatively pain free compared to what the pain had been I still could not support much weight on it. This makes things rough when you are hiking an epically rough trail and can really only jump down onto one ankle when crossing things.

Whew I made it to the first hut and took a break looked at my watch 2.5 hours hiking….what?!! the track was supposed to take 4.5 hours to get there. It was at this point I relaxed and just cruised knowing that I had nothing to worry about. Before heading out I brewed up a cup of tea, laid out and enjoyed the beautiful view from the first hut. The next section was decidedly much more difficult considering I had 2000 feet of vertical to climb! This second section however was the crown jewel of the hike. It is hard to describe what I saw even with the pictures for the pictures are a child’s rendering of the beauty crude and base compared to the original. I also don’t remember much of this section because it was very physically exhausting and very hot. When I hike I am kind of in autopilot mode, obviously very aware of my surroundings for safety, but I don’t actually remember much of it but flashes as my mind wanders and gets lost in its self which is one of the main beauties of it. By the time I had started to descend into the second cabin next to the lake I was utterly exhausted and my ankle was in agony but my destination was in sight and I hobbled to the cabin with relief. The cabin was already nearly full as a truck load of people had started that day walking from the previous direction (the trail can be hiking either direction) and people from the cabin I had tea at had hiking there. The first thing I did was claim my bunk and head to the lake and soak my feet for the constant pounding on an already injured ankle was bad news and I needed to control the swelling before it started. I then made supper and started mingling amongst all the people (probably about 30). The night ended well with laugh’s, smiles and great conversation among which were a handful of Israeli ladies that were great to talk with.

The next day started off very painfully and I decided to skip some of the side trails as my ankle was in a poor state and fairly swollen. I was about ¾ of the way done with the last leg of the hike and was feeling in a crap state tired and my ankle felt broken and around a corner I found a bunch of Israeli’s sitting down making some Turkish coffee (most NZ people only drink instant coffee YUCK) and they offered me some. So I sat there for about an hour just chilling on the trail with amazing views drinking fabulous Turkish coffee! The time came and I trudged on the final stretch of the journey and thankfully made it to the pick up point and the three hour bus ride back to Queenstown. The bus stopped along the way several times to pick up people from the various trails that dumped onto this stretch of road back to Queenstown. Everyone was in a good mood for we all had completed some epic hike and felt inspired by the country and scenery, the mood even got to the bus driver and he made a detour and we all bought a case of beer for the last 1.5 hour drive back ahh nothing like a cold beer on the bus ride home after a good hike!

I got assigned to a different room at the base and thus different roommates, these were all from Canada and really hard partiers. I figured what the hey, it was my last night so I went out with them. Luckily they were taking it easy so going out consisted of grabbing some brewskis and heading to the beach on the lake front and chilling out late into the night. It was a good night that eventual ended at the bar and maybe a wet t-shirt contest but that is another story in itself!

My time in Queenstown was quick and at an end so I grabbed a subway sandwich for the long bus ride back to Christchurch. This ride was really quick because I slept nearly the whole way; I was really beat from hiking and staying up late experiencing the wonderful Queenstown nightlife. I made it to Christchurch and checked into the Base of Christchurch hostel which turned out to be the best hostel I had used yet. It was set up into room pods with a community room and kitchen for the pods instead of the mass community room and kitchen. This is awesome because you can meet people and hang out casually without tons of people. This night I chilled out with the “pod” mates and watched classic movies.

The next day me and a Danish guy (massive tall blond hair guy) explored Christchurch until our bus came to take us to the airport, both of our flights happen to be near the same time me to Auckland him to Auzzy (Australia). The first time consuming thing we saw was an Indian company of some sort shooting a film in the main square. We spent near two hours laughing and watching them do out takes, one notable mention of this was while they were shooting several young hoons (hooligans) on scooters came by and in the back ground did a mock imitation dance of what they were shooting. I was on the ground rolling with laugher when the security guy finally came and made them leave, it was hilarious! We then walked around looking for something to eat and came across a New York style sandwich café. We both decided we had to eat there just because they had a sandwich called the “Obama BLT”. The next stop we made was at an old English pub. We sat and talked with the old crusty English guys talking of their misguided youths when they had lived in the UK. This was a really good time because one the old guys were hilarious with their stories and two we got free beer! Eventually the time came and I bid my Danish friend goodbye and jumped on the plane to Auckland. Unfortunately I got stuck next to a really old lady with horrible gas, nearly gagged the entire way bad….nasty!

I checked into the Base of Auckland (if you had not guessed by now the Base is a chain of hostels throughout NZ and Auzzy) My new room mates were two from Argentina and one from France. I spent a good chunk of time hanging out with the Argi’s drinking on their nasty tea they offered (it tasted like badly cut grass) when the announcement came that the basement bar was giving away free pizza, and well I can’t give up a chance for free pizza and a beer, so Frenchy and I went down and started drinking a few beers and eating some pizza. The night started to go and eventually I met a guy from Germany and his roommate from Colorado. Eventually it ended up just me and the German guy wandering the main drag of Auckland when we ran into a santa pub crawl party. Pub crawl parties are very popular here, you pay a fee and you get so many free drinks and admittance into all sorts of bars and clubs plus free transportation on some of the legs. There were way to many good looking gals in skimpy santa outfits to be ignored so we joined the party train and ended up at a hopping high end club and why they let the two dicks without santa outfits in I don’t know but I didn’t complain. The rest of the night was filled with dancing my face off! The drinks were rather pricey so unless some one was buying me drinks (which seemed to happen often I don’t know why..) I just tended to sip on one for a long time. Well unfortunately 4 comes early in the morning (the club didn’t close tell 6) and I needed to get back to grab my bus which would be 4 hours later. I got back to my room (sober because I had been dancing so much I had to switch to water to keep up with activity, probably not good on the bad ankle come to think of it hey maybe that’s why every-one was buying me drinks!) I grabbed the bus at 8 and fell asleep nearly right away and woke up an hour later 20 minutes outside of Auckland…bus broken down. This was okay because as of this point all my adventures were over. So what do you do when your bus is broken down, grab a sausage roll and coke then get to meet your fellow bus passengers…..

Well folks unfortunately or fortunately that is all, the adventures are done and the sun has set and my time here is at its end. To say I have enjoyed writing this would be an understatement because I really enjoyed it and I hope that all of you got some enjoyment as well. New Zealand a beautiful enigmatic country and will always bring a smile to my lips when thought of. This has been one crazy journey and not all of it easy. The journey was not just physical but mental and emotional as well. I used this time here for a re-building so to speak of who I am and what I am about. I have found so many times that who I am the Charlie that I really am got so lost in all the extra baggage and mind games I play with myself that I really didn’t know who I was or what I wanted in life. New Zealand gave me time to strip away the false pretenses and masks to expose the real me and determine what is important to me living the rest of my life in happiness or in the pursuit of happiness. I faced my demons from Iraq, past relationships, failed goals, achieved goals and found myself much stronger for it.

So without further ado I thank all of you who read this and have had provoking thought or inspired idea on my words or even just got a smile out of it, I bid you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Take Care and Cheers Mate. Charlie O. Bruner