Blue · Spoon

I still haven't managed to find my way back to the United States. I just got my New Zealand visitor's permit extended for another month and a half, so I'll be here until May. I'm working in Tongariro National Park as warden in the park's backcountry huts that hikers use. It pretty much rocks. I spend all day (almost every day) out exploring the various parts of the park. It's surprising how much hiking I do - one day I walked 17 kilometers round trip to spend five minutes checking my email, another day I walked about 25 kilometers round trip because I knew that there was some duct tape at another hut that I wanted to get so I could do some gear repair.

The coolest thing about this whole gig is not that I get to walk through the places where LotR was shot, but I get HELICOPTER RIDES sometimes. If there's a helicopter going into the hut where I'll be stationed for the week, I can hitch a ride in! It's so cool! It's just a little helicopter, and there are no doors on it, so when it banks really hard to one side to turn, it can really be felt, and we end up looking straight down several hundred feet. It's really quite nifty. Kind of like a carnival ride but cooler because it's way higher up.

I get to talk to people from all over the world (not so many New Zealanders, actually, this place is quite a tourist destination) and am slowly amassing a list of contacts in various countries that I'll probably never get around to visiting.

I could spend a really long time typing about it, but the person who's computer I stole wants it back, so I won't.

Hope everyone on my flist is well, and I really will at some point try to read it, reaquaint myself with you all, and see what you all are up to.

[Unknown LJ tag]
1. Who was the first person you talked to in 07?
Some random Indian girl in Circular Quay.

2. The first person you hugged?
The random Indian girl's random Indian friend.

3. The first person you called?
Umm...a hostel to see if I could book a room for the next night.

4. The first person you texted?
I have no text capabilities. =(

5. The first drink you drank?
Jaegermeister mixed with extremely cheap, extremely disgusting wine. EEW EW EWEWEW!

6. The first person that called you?
I have no phone...I only make outgoing calls.

7. The first person that texted you?
Again, no text abilities.

8. Who was the 1st person to hang up on you?
No one has hung up on me. Dude, this meme is turning out to be very boring.

9. What was the first thing you watched on TV?
News the next day at the hostel becuase I was bored and hung over.

10. Who was the first person you thought of?
Hmmm...I thought about my friends at home and what they're going to be doing for NYE.

11. What was the first thing you ate?
A piece of toast that I mooched off one of the people staying in the same room.

12. What were you wearing at midnight?
Gray hiking pants and a pink tank top. I think.

13. First kiss?
No one's kissed me yet. =(

14. First Laugh?
At another random Indian guy (I ended up hanging out with this group on the docks) who had lost his shoe in the crowd.

15. First person to say 'i love you'
Um...that would be my mum.
</lj>

Yeah...that turned out relatively lame.

I have discovered couchsurfing.com and am currently staying in a suburb outside of Auckland with some guy and his 12 year old daughter. It's nice to not have to pay for a room, but also seems a bit dodgy. So far it's working out all right, though. I haven't been assaulted and murdered yet. Hopefully it will stay that way. This is something that I will NOT be telling my mom about, as she will freak. =)

Of course, this means I won't be back in the US until the end of March, which makes me a little bit sad. Although there are a few things that I intensely dislike about my country, it's home and I'm starting to miss it. =(

BUT MORDOR! SO WORTH IT!

Also got to meet Beth (Zahri) today in Australia. It was awesome. We walked around and she was very indulging and let me spend time browsing through outdoors gear stores to buy stripey long underwear (something that they don't have in the States). And she told me about the area, which is cool. It was like I had my own personal tour guide. Unfortunately, she didn't see me at my perky best, as I had gotten finished with a 10-hour bus ride at 2am this morning, crawled into bed at 3am, woke up for no reason at 7am, and was a bit sleepy the whole time. And was wearing smelly clothes because I'm trying to wait until I get back into Auckland to do laundry. *sigh* But it was still fun.

We did, of course, hit up many, many bookstores. I find it a little bit sad that I come to the other side of the world and I still spend hours in bookstores. I think I have a problem. I wonder if there are 12-step programs for this?

I got distracted by alcohol 100 meters from my bed last night and now have a headache. Serves me right.

Perhaps will do a summary of my 2006 when I am not paying $1 for 15 minutes of internet time.

After coming back from Mordor, I spent a couple of days wandering around Auckland and meeting an odd guy at the hostel. He was coming on to me ridiculously strongly - he massaged my feet. And then decided to suck my toes, which was where I drew the line, because that's just weird. I just met the dude and he thought he was going to get some. *snort* It was definitely good for a laugh, though.

I am now off to figure out how to get to the airport to catch a plane to Sydney.

I walked through Mordor.

A whirlwind of the last year or so:

Japan rocks. But it rains a lot.

New Zealand rocks. But it rains a lot.

Being lazy at home isn't quite as much fun. Though it rains a lot there, too.

Anyone out there know cool places to go in Australia? I'm hoping to head over that way in a few days. I hear that it doesn't rain quite as much.