The Other Half

Lake Hawea

2008-09-15T08:47:57Z

Ooh another post... I have a friend staying with us at the moment, (liz)she lives in Queenstown and spends a couple a nights a week with us, so Whitney and I share our room when she's around. Wanaka is a very small town, with very little to do, so when Liz was down last we managed to entertain ourselves for nearly 2 hours! We were out at Lake Hawea nearby Wanaka, and we got some really awsome pictures from the excursion.

I've got a couple of more I forgot to put on my memory stick so I'll add the rest tomorrow.

Update on life in Wanaka

2008-09-02T03:37:54Z

Hi Everyone! Sorry I have been completely hopeless at keeping my journal updated. I've had some technical issues with the computers and have been struggling. I'm still in Wanaka, still living with Sarah, Orla, and Whitney and getting to know them better and better each day, which means I am getting more and more attached to them each day. Sarah will be working in Vail this coming winter season so I am bringing her home for a dinner sometime this winter mom. I've had a few little adventures in the last couple of weeks. Burton hosted the southern hemisphere park competition here in Wanaka and I made a trip up with a group of about 10 work people, the best part of the little trip was hitching up, after no one would pick up a group as large as ours we decided to block traffic and lined up across the rode with our thumbs out forcing drivers to take a few of us at a time. Definitely one of my favorite moments here. We managed to squeeze 7 of us in a tiny little half bed pick up, but we huddled together for warmth.

The next little adventure turned out to be our Treble Cone staff party where the theme was "glitter and twisted", which I thought was a really contrived theme! I really would have prefered an ugly sweater party, but that idea was not a hit. In order to poke fun and the theme's obvious sleazy sexual undertones I decided Whitney and I would go as White Trash, so we made dresses from giant black plastic bags. I was really very proud of my dress. This is our process of making the dresses:

This would be the finished dresses:

The night ended up a bit disasterous, which is as to be expected at a themed staff party where the company is footing the bill. Sarah was kind enough to get out of bed and pick us up and take us safely home, and then help me get out of my costume after the mini tanterm I threw over not being able to get myself out of it, because I literally taped myself into it. This would be the aftermath in our house the next day:

A week or so later Whitney and I spent the day up at work for our day off together. We decided to hike up to the summit to take in the amazing views of Southern Alps from behind Treble Cone.

From the top you have this amazing feeling of being on top of the world overlooking some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in my life

But getting back down is another story, this would be how I got down:

But of course I did it with style ;)

Just a few more pictures, you can take your time with this entry because chances are I will not post any more for a while. This last weekend I went up to a little mntn called Ohau, it is near Mt. Cook the highest peak in Australasia, but you can't really see Mt. Cook from Ohau. It is the cutest little ski field with one lift and a collection of little tiny huts for the lodge area.

Note the sign for canteen and toilets right next to each other, that confused me a little at first. I though "huh, that is a little wrong" But no one else seemed bothered. It was a fun weekend with Orla.
This would be Lake Ohau:

And Orla, her friend Chucky in the background:

And this would be the best shot I could get of the road up to Ohau, I put this picture in to show you what it is like getting up to the ski fields. The road to TC is very similar. How people were to get to the mntn is such and after thought, I love it. There is no town built around ski fields because they are so hard to get to in the first place. It's hard to tell from the picture but this is a very steep climb with cliffs on the side and no guard rails, the road fits one car comfortably, good thing traffic is usually going the same direction, either up or down depending on the time of day.

Well I hope everyone is doing well. I am coming to the end of my stay in Wanaka, only 3 more weeks until I head back up North. I am excited to see the Mardon's again at the orchard and Ann from Hastings, so I am looking forward to the next thing. I miss you all and I will see you soon! Lots of love, Autumn

I no longer work in a meat pie factory YAY!!!

2008-06-28T02:32:16Z

Hi all, Sorry I haven't updated this in so long. I have been working in Wanaka, and sometimes internet is hard to come by, especially on a budget, and I have been a bit lazy. I worked in a meat pie factory which was awful! But strangely amusing. I am now happily working at Treble Cone one of the local ski mountains. Which has been so much fun already! My view from work everyday could not possibly be more amazing! This is Lake Wanaka and the valley, I watched the sunrise over this valley every morning this week.

In this picture the yellow arrow is where my house is, and the Wanaka township is just to the right a little ways from the arrow.

The man made bunny slope, pretty much the only bunny slope on the mountain, the runs are all pretty steep. Mount Aspiring is to the right, it is the largest peak. You can also see the snow line, it rarely snows below that, when it is snowing on the mountain it is raining in town, so now when it is raining in town I get very excited.

I need to get a picture of the road up, every morning it is so scary!! We are all bused up in vans at 7 am, and arrive at work by 8, the last 30 minutes of the road are pretty much straight up a dirt road (with no gravel or grating) with sheer cliffs on either side and no guard rails. When you hit the snow line the road is usually ice so we need to put chains on the van before we hit the ice line. I learned how to put chains on yesterday but I screwed it up and had to spend 10 minutes lying in the mud.

So far the house situation has been really great! I love my new roomies and our house is really comfortable. We all went out last night, so I got a picture of us all together. Me, Sarah (the kiwi) Orla (the Irish lass) and Whitney (also American)

And here is a picture of Sarah and I, this Sarah is my Belgian friend, she works in rentals. We took it on my computer this morning.

I need some more pictures of my house. I will update that soon, and get a good shot of the sunset from work. I miss you all, I hope everyone is doing really well. I love you all! Autumn

View from my porch

2008-05-25T02:57:58Z

Hi all, I moved into a new house in Wanaka, and I must say it is a palace! I'm pretty excited about it. Also I start work at Treble Cone (one of the ski mountains in Wanaka) on June 23rd, so I'm all set! I don't have any pictures of the inside of my house, or the outside, so after I post this I will go home take care of those and post more later this week. I also need pictures of the new snow we got this weekend. All our peaks are snow capped right now and it is starting to look a bit like home.
So this is the view from my living room windows.

Also I thought this tree was amazing! I am not sure what kind of tree it is but after a rain they are so beautiful because the outer bark is stripping off and the inner bark is very colorful when wet.

Milford trip

2008-05-09T04:01:58Z

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. I have been trying to make a place for myself in Wanaka and today I am very pleased with myself, I have a job on the mountain and I will soon have a beautiul little home with a great big secluded yard and incredible views of the mountains. I am living in a hostel for a little while longer and for now I am entertained by a nightly spectacle of international cooking and a rudementary english lessons. I have really enjoyed the little microcosm of the world I have been emersed in at the Hostel, but it is time for some personal space & my 6 bed dorm room is getting a bit cramped.
About 2 weeks ago I visited Milford sound area with Jocelyn, the Canadian girl staying here, & I have intended on posting these pictures for weeks now. Sorry I am very behind.
We started the weekend in Milford with a night out on the piss, a kiwism for a night of drinking, but it was a tuesday so we were home well toasted by midnight for some drunken photos in the hostel kitchen.

This is the next morning, from now on I am keeping a collection of my best bed head photos

We started the trip with a traffic jam up the Crown Range Pass between Wanaka and Queenstown...

Only in New Zealand would you get a sheep traffic jam, we were stuck in the midst of them for like 40 minutes, so we took a little tea break and took some video and pictures, much to the annoyance of the herd dog and the line of 15 cars behind us who were waiting for us to finish our tea after the sheep had been cleared by the dog.
On the way to Milford we stayed in a little secluded camp ground in the mountains where after chatting up the owner for 30 minutes he offered us the best room in the place and $20 a night. We had a whole shack to ourselves which was really living it up after 6 bed dorms for a month.

The shack had no heat or electricity and it was freezing so we preformed the most logical evening entertainment we could think of. Long underwear photo shoot.

Us frolicking like victoria secret models.

This shot was the sexy look.

Thanks for the long underwear Mel I'm getting a lot of use out of them! They are silk, which in my defense is the best available fabric for long underwear! But, it is a little scandalous, so I am a little embarrassed to be showing these. But we seriously spent literally an hour doing this & it was a good time, so I am posting them.

We paid $95 for a boat cruise of the Milford Sounds with all old people and the most disgusting airplane style bbq meal. The kayak trips were booked, so we settled for the boat, which meant we didn't have to wake up at 6 am.

The boat backed into a waterfall to amuse the children and tourists, for some reason Jocelyn & I raced to the front pushing children out of the way to get to the top of the boat, not really considering waterfalls are wet, and we would be wet and cold for the rest of the day.

The trip left in the middle of the day and it was sunny so the majority of my pictures are real crap with the bright sun in the background. But if you can tolerate to look at this one with that blaring sun, the trees in the front are called cabbage trees and I love them!

The mountains on the way back.

Because we stayed on a boat trip and didn't do anything physical we intended to do some walks along the way back, but we were wet and cold so we spent all afternoon warming in the cafe in the parking lot, and then did a short 15 minute walk to this incredible waterfall that carved its way through the rock. But we did stretch the walk out to 30 minutes.

I'm really far behind on Wanaka pics too, so I will try and upload all of them later this week.

Life in Wanaka

2008-04-27T02:20:15Z

A couple weeks in Wanaka:
I started working in a bakery, which to my great surprise 5 am actually exists, no people inhabited it save the strange few I work with. I have no interest in exploring it any further than I am required to. The bakery is the Doughbin, it is a little tired and a bit rundown but it is a long standing Wanaka favorite, mainly for my boss who is an iconic woman at 60 who still can flaunt a mini skirt and outrageous colorful hair, she is a lot of fun. I also work in the hostel in exchange for my stay, I am becoming very familiar with the mysterious and fascinating tools of the world, ie: sponge, toilet brush, and mop, it is very dignifying work.
Wanaka is gorgeous, nestle right in the middle of the mountains settled around a large lake. I'll post a picture as soon as I have a good one. The surrounding mountains near by are in the Aspiring National Park so there is quite a few good hikes around. The Rob Roy Glacier hike is about 30 minutes out of town down a dirt road, but it took me an hour to get there going through herds of sheep and cows, and crossing several fords in my wee ford.

It was a gorgeous hike, with plenty of sheep along the way.

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Last week Jocelyn (a Canadian!) and I went to Milford Sound, so I have some pictures of Milford to post, I'll post them later today or tomorrow along with more pictures of Wanaka. I want to go to the park with Jocelyn, Adam (a Brit) and Mateo (a smaller Brit, he is 3) because the park here has all these really fun toys we never had at parks when we were kids, so I am anxious to get off the computer.

The fun bucket at the park:

In Wanaka at last

2008-04-10T06:42:26Z

I finished my little whirlwind tour of the South Island for a little. Didn't really finish so much as ran out of money and need to settle down for a while to find a job. Traveling is rough though, I feel like I have been grabbed by the ankles and spun around several times and dropped. I went from Abel Tasman to Punakaiki to Hokitika to Franz Joseph to Queenstown to the Routeburn track and to Wanaka. Now I need to raise the funds to go down to Milford. Here is a couple of picks from the trip...

Me at Pancake rocks in Punakaiki, sorry about this picture it is incredibly cheezy! What a dork! But check out those cool glasses! Actually this is the only picture I have that is a good example of the pancake rocks... they're in the background.

From Punakaiki, I went to Hokitika, where my camera was lost so I had no pictures of Hokitika. Then I went to Franz Joseph which is this huge glacier in the middle of a rainforest, and I met this really cool Irish girl who emailed me some pictures. I could have paid $190 bucks to walk on the ice, but I just chose to walk as close as I could get for free. Well worth the money.

This is a terrible picture, but the signs are actually really funny. I laughed so hard when I first saw them. That poor little stick man is in such peril! I wish I had done something funny in the picture, I look so out of place with the doomed little stick.

From Franz Joseph I headed down to do the Routeburn track. Which is built up as this huge deal, all the Dept. of Conservation info sheets had all these warnings about weather and dangerous tracks so be very prepared ( I mean come on it's New Zealand where the scariest animal is a possom and people go out of their way to help strangers). Regardless of common sense telling me I'd be fine I spent way too much money in Queenstown. But the track was pretty easy, with the hardest day being a 5 hour hike, and the huts were real plush with actual flushing toilets and sleeping mats. No heat though or hot water, so that was one unforseen danger... Oh No Cold hands! The whole hike was beautiful, through the rainforest and southern Alps.
Oh dear another picture of me.

Here is a picture of the first hut, I wish I had a picture of the bunks and the rest to show everyone what it was like inside, but I forgot to take one.

The first night of the hike I met 3 Israeli travelers around my same age, a little younger, they let me tag along with them for the rest of the trip. They shared some food with me too, which I was so grateful for because in a moment of misdirected virtue I decided it was unnecessary for me to waste money on snacks, so each day I suffered because honestly I really love snacks. We played cards in the night, and complained about blisters during the day. I had a lot of fun with them. For the first 2 days they called me Adam, I was sick of correcting people about my name, so I didn't bother, then I remembered I know my name in Hebrew, so I told them it is Stav (thanks Itay) and they all went Ahhh right, Adam is a boys name.
So from left to right, me, Noa, Dana, and Raz.

I have plenty more pictures of the trip to bore everyone with when I get home, I am limiting what I put on my site so everyone has something to look forward to, haha. So I know you all can't wait for that long session of looking through several photos of just me. YAY!

Why didn't anyone tell me about sandflies!!!

2008-03-31T08:36:19Z

Did I mention the sandflies in my last entry? Because I aparently have the most covetted blood in the little sandfly world. I quickly became a schmorgasbord feast. It was so bad my ankles swole and the pain went beyond minor itching to serious burning. In fact everyone I showed my feet to proclaimed "Oh my god! It looks like you have a disease!" Yah lovely, typical though, me and bugs have a very unhealthy relationship, I hate them with a passion, they love me with a passion. Anyway here is what my feet looked like, this wasn't even the worse of it, only the oldest bites showed up on camera, there are at least 30 bites not visible in this picture. Not to mention the other foot.

An English couple felt very bad for me and gave me their bug spray, so that was nice of them. But even with 80% deet content the sandflies were unphased. I had to take an antihistamine and get an antihistamine cream to put on them just to sooth the burning. Sorry for the lovely picture, I know that is disgusting to look at.

Abel Tasman, what more can I say!

2008-03-29T02:11:59Z

I spent the last 3 days in Abel Tasman National park, and I... I don't know what to say. It was the most amazing, beautiful, spectacular place I have ever been. I spent the last 3 days shitting myself thinking. WOW I can't really be here... I must have died, or I am in a blissful coma.
The first day I did a kayak trip from Marahua to Anchorage beach.

Check out the tiny seal blending in with the rocks in this picture...

The weather was apsolutely amazing this day, warm, sunny and no wind. And the beaches were almost completely desserted, we kept kayaking to these beautiful golden secluded beaches.

That's the guide in the background. He packed the group a lunch of organic fruit from his garden, sandwhiches and french press coffee. It was a gourmet meal on the beach.

Me in the kayak. I spent the first night on Anchorage beach. In the nicest campsite I have ever stayed at. FLUSHABLE TOILETS!! And it was still woodsy, not touristy, pack in tent sites only. This is a view of the beach, not a very good one, but this is Anchorage.

Here is my own gourmet meal of cold soup straight from the can (A new low for me, and I must say I am quite proud) and tuna fish and pita.

Despite it being cold soup straight from the can, might I point out that it is "Very Special" cold soup in a can...

After eating I went to explore some caves near the beach.

The next day I started my trek to the 2nd campsite. Day 2 rained all day, the entire hike and my pack felt so heavy hiking by myself!! It was so easy to get discouraged, but the scenery around me kept me distracted. First I had to cross this section only crossable at low tide.

Here is an overview of the crossing

Scenes from the trail, looks a little bit like Lord of the Rings. I did feel a little bit like a hobbit, maybe because I was the only one on the trail with big pack.

First stop, where I had lunch. Unfortunately the sun came out just for this picture, then started raining again, so I had my lunch in the rain.

7 hours later, after some major blisters and bruised hips, I reached my destination for night 2, which looks a little bit like where I had lunch.

My little campsite for night 2, everything was pretty wet at this point, so I today I invested in a rain cover for my pack which was not waterproof. Go figure it would rain in a rain forest and I wouldn't be prepared.

At that campsite that night I met a couple from Germany, Susanne and Bob, (well they lived there, Bob was from New Hampshire, Susanne was from Germany, and they lived together in Munich) So the next day we hiked together which shortened the trip dramatically for me. I wish I had a picture of the two of them. We had to wake up at 5:30 and be out of camp by 6:30 in order to make the tide crossing before high tide.
The tide crossing at Awaroa

Me looking so rugged. Ha

The trail along the way day 3 was my favorite hike, again it rained, but I had company this time.
A spiral fern, I thought it was pretty exciting

And finally, day 3's destination Totaranui beach. The only picture I have, I was so tired and over pictures and it was still raining. Unfortunately as soon as I got on the water taxi back I thought I wish I had one more day which was not what I was feeling before I got on the water taxi. So now I am on to plan my Milford trek and more prepared this time. I think I am going to try and figure out how to come back to New Zealand and work in the Abel Tasman area. It is too depressing thinking that I may never see it again.

I bought a car!

2008-03-19T03:30:28Z

I bought a car this weekend, a sky blue 1988 Ford Laser! It's pretty sweet. Your typical grandma's car, which is probably just perfect for me considering my driving record. (Hopefully they can't look that up) I have decided that I am naming it Doris Day, which seems to suit it, although I have only had her for 3 days now, may be a little earlier for naming. First day I bought Doris I took her for a cruise to the beach, so of course I had to get a picture with the ocean in the background, a little cheesy considering I had planned that picture all day, well pretty much since the moment of buying the car. I can explain though! Everyone I have met is from an area near the coast so the ocean is nothing special and it was really difficult finding a ride with someone who actually wanted to go to the beach, so that was all I wanted to do after buying my car.

Kirsty went back to Scotland, I was really sad to see her go, but I am ready to start traveling on my own for a while so I will be saying good bye to Pernel and everyone I have met here in Hastings, which is a little sad because I have met some really wonderful people! I liked this picture of Kirsty and I, so I thought I should put it up, I have a copy posted in my wee caravan as well. Which reminds me, I am going to have to say goodbye to the caravan too! That's really sad, good thing I have Doris now to keep me comfy.

This weekend I will be heading down to Wellington to take the ferry over to Nelson, and Abel Tasman. I am booking a 3 day kayak trip in Abel Tasman which I am really excited about! I'll keep everyone posted.

More Hawkes Bay subject matter

2008-03-01T05:02:45Z

I have had yet another lovely 2 more weeks in Hawkes Bay area, and I'm a bit anxious to move on... I've got caravan fever. last weekend went on an amazing walk to Cape Kidnappers to visit some smelly birds at the top of the cliff. It was a beautiful walk, but being extremely hung-over did not help the 12km journey, nor did the smelly birds help being extremely hung-over.

This is where we were heading, Cape Kidnappers at the end...

This is looking back in the middle of the walk...

This is from the top of the Cape...

Here are the smelly birds, the gannets, which live for 25-30 years, mate for life and have a wing span of 2 meters, and live in their own shit...

Finally this week I had a chance to get in the ocean! After a long days work in these really disgusting trees that have these awful tiny furry bugs that get in your face, your nose, throat, and when you brush by them they rub all over your skin and it looks like blood. This is me after a day in these trees...

So after work we headed to the beach to clean off the gunk...

As you can see, I still have no tan at all, except maybe a slight farmers tan

More Art deco

2008-02-20T06:33:17Z

I was having problems with the last entry and the site froze, I think I was trying to do too many things at once. But here are some more pictures....

Some dancing on the street

Loads of classic cars

The depression dinner was loads of fun to watch, everyone came in costumes to look like they were hard up and had tin cups, tin plates, and soup and bread. We didn't go though, just watched, it was $45 for soup and bread! But it was funny to watch everyone get drunk and dance, the one couple in red and black was not apart of the dinner, they were just dancing.

On Sunday everyone attended a massive afternoon tea, and most people came with themes from the 1930's

The entire picnic took place along the shores of the bay, this area is much too dangerous to swim at though, there is a strong under current. The hills we are standing on were brought in from rough waters last weekend, normally this beach is flat.

Art Deco weekend is something everyone should do at least once, I have decided, so maybe we should just all have a weekend where we get to wear fun clothes and dance in the street! The first part of this entry is below...

Tomfoolery at the Napier Art Deco festival

2008-02-20T06:02:23Z

This weekend I attended the most random event I have ever been apart of in my life, in costume none the less, the Napier Art Deco festival. The entire town turned out to celebrate the weekend and Napier's iconic architecture, it was completely random and probably the most fun I have had in a long time! I couldn't believe how many people were in costume, and most of them reliving their dreams to be Hollywood actors in the 1930's, everyone from families with small children, grandparent's and teenagers were dressed to the nines. Me too of course, I decided to go as a page boy from the 1930's.

I photoshopped this picture to look old, and I'm pretty proud of myself, obviously. I went with my friend Chirsty from the orchard, she is from Scotland, and her friend Ann from here in Hastings. Ann took us all around the festival and completely wore us out!

I wish I had a better picture of the 3 of us, Ann and Chirsty were dressed as flappers. There were not a whole lot of girls dressed as boys there but I did find these women dressed as men, so I had to get a picture with them. By the way that is the Queen Victoria in the background, the biggest cruise ship ever built on its inaugural run, I think it took off from Hampton England, but I don't know, I wasn't very impressed, it looked like a floating Hotel, and the people on board were only allowed off for a couple of hours.

I am going to have a meaty neck when I am finished at the orchard

2008-02-14T07:40:11Z

I am so sore from lugging 100lbs of apples around all day. (More like 25lbs) But most of the weight is carried by my shoulders, so my neck could probably pull a semi truck full of bricks right now (like world's strongest man) This weekend I went to the beach, but the weather was not good enough to swim, it was raining and blowing. I seriously came to this country to swim in the ocean it is pretty pathetic that i have yet to do that. But the beach was gorgeous! It was Waimerama for those of you who know where that is. And of course I have some pictures.

And of course here is a picture of me, just what everyone wanted to see I am sure.

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to make it to the beach, although it is art deco weekend and I am going to some events for that (in costume!) But in the meantime I get to ride the bike into town. Which let me just say... if anyone had any questions about whether or not I rode the short bus when I was a child, check me out! This should settle any disputes...

Helmets are mandatory here, and the law is strictly enforced. I ran into a pole, no joke, on the way here today, my reaction times are a little slow, so that really helps my image as a person with special needs. I have to balance 2 grocery bags and my computer on the way back, should be fun! Yeeha!
Any hoo, I better get going it is getting dark and I have a 20 minute ride ahead of me. I miss you all! And I hope everyone is doing great! Take care, cheerio! Autumn

Getting familiar with Hawkes Bay area and refamiliarizing myself with wine, good ol' wine

2008-02-06T05:39:25Z

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is well, and life is treating you all well. I had another chance to find an internet cafe while the rest of New Zealand enjoyed a day off for Waitangi Day (The Maori's have some awsome words and names! Like Tuki Tuki valley, I know you'll like that one dad) I decided to post some pictures of sleepy little Hastings, it is really not much for a town, and I am feeling a little trapped here without a car, I think I will buy one in 3 weeks time because I will be able to save some money at the Orchard. Here is the main st. in Hastings Haratonga Rd.

And here is where all the New Zealand babies come from

Last weekend I went to the Hawkes Bay wine festival with the english couple I am working with and one girl from Whales, we had such a good time! We stayed at one winery all day, the Moana Park Winery, and split 5 bottles of wine between the 4 of us. Here is the winery with the folk musician who played there in the background.

Then this is me, starting on my first glass of wine for the day.

And then this is me half way through the day (3 glasses in) Note the glazed half open eyes, I snuck into the grapes for this picture.

From here on out it was all down hill, we did get the musician and his girlfriend to give us a ride home which was fun, and I was past out by 8pm, in bed by 9pm and had no problem getting up the next morning at 8am, considering my hangover hit me at 3 am. The next day I went to Hasting's farmer's market which is really cute, reminds me of the Boulder farmer's market. Here is Pernel Orchard's little spot, with Cheryl, Phillip and Joanne in this picture. And the musicians at farmer's market.

Monday this week I started some real work! Apple thinning! Yay! Basically you have to climb up and down these heavy metal latters ( I have bruises on my shins from leaning against the latters) and thin the small apples so the other apples can get big and sweet. The small apples are sent to a juice factory where they are turned into a product for cosmetics, don't ask me what. Here is a picture of the group I have been working with. From left to right... Sian from Whales, Sean, then Jen from England (Sommerset) Gary from Whales, then Don from New Zealand (he's our boss) in the back standing is Ben from New Zealand (he's really annoying, but still young so I am trying to be patient, and Serena from New Zealand. We are all on our 10 minute break which turns out to be 30 minutes if we can stall long enough. Everyone calls it smoko because it is a smoking break usually. And we all yell SMOKO! when 10am or 3pm comes around, it is very exciting! Especially when you are thinning apples.

And here is me on the latter picking apples, notice the cute little bucket, it is pretty obvious I posed for this picture because I would definately not be smiling otherwise, this is hard work.

So that's what is happening with me lately. I am really feeling homesick today and missing everyone. It is really hard to be here and see all these places and not have anyone I love with me to share the experience. But I am having fun, I just reach my first day of really being homesick. I miss everyone and I love you, I hope you are all well! Love, Autumn

Apples, peaches, pears, plums oh my!

2008-01-31T03:48:22Z

I am so sorry about the long delayed entry. There is really no such thing as wireless here and I literally just paid $10 to use it for an hour. A little fusterating, and it took me an hour to walk to town and everything closes at 5 and it is 4:35 and they are stacking chairs. So I must make this quick. I am at the orchard. And I love it! I have made some great friends with the owners of the orchard who are 70 + but that is about it so far. I feel like I stepped back in time 50 years. I hand picked apples today and put them in a little basket, it was great! Here is a couple of pictures of the orchard.

I am also living in a very tiny little camper. Which they call a caravan and if you call it a camper they will correct you because camper is camping under the sky. Calling it a caravan is better anyway it makes me feel more like a gypsy which is very exciting for me! Here are a couple of pictures of my home sweet caravan. Which I will soon make my home away from home.

And here is where I sleep in the caravan, it's so cozy!

Ok i need to go they are sweeping under my feet and giving me the looks, geez it's not even 5:00!! One thing about American I love and hate is you always have a little time after close. I love you all so much and I will do better to update this as soon as I can find internet that is not so freakin expensive. Take care, I miss you all! Autumn

Auckland

2008-01-25T08:15:54Z

I can't think of much clever to title this entry. After taking care of all the necessary technicalities like bank account/ bus pass/ and groceries I took a little trip up the sky tower. ( The pointy tower in the distance)

It was a little overpriced at $18 to take an elevator up 280 m. but the views were amazing!

They actually feature bungy jumps off of it, which I think is totally nuts, but I overheard to very small children very excited to do it and I felt like a big weeny, I had butterflies just standing over the glass floor.

Sorry I am a little boring, the city doesn't interest me very much, it is a little dirty and full of everybody but Kiwi's (New Zealanders) But I did see a skinned possum ready to eat in the window of an asian restaurant today, that was exciting, I should have got a picture, it looked mighty tasty!
I hope everyone is doing well. I really miss you all!

I made, dragging 45lbs of luggage behind me.

2008-01-24T20:45:14Z

After 33 hours of traveling I finally arrived in Auckland, tired dirty and dissoriented. Just as I should be I suppose. I saw Fiji briefly, it's tropical! Who would have thought. I really only saw it for a brief moment when I got off the plane and went into the airport. I had some Tai food for my first meal in New Zealand, it was delicious! One of the advantages of being so much closer to south east Asia.

Here's the giant plane I got off of in Fiji, 480 people were on it! I still don't understand how they keep those giant things in the air! I didn't see much of Fiji, pretty much just customs and security, but it smelled nice and tropical. Flying over it was beautiful.

6 Hours and counting in LAX 0 movie star sightings

2008-01-23T02:53:13Z

What kind of airport is this, I'm suppose to be in Los Angeles isn't it suppose to swarming with designer bag clad big sunglasses and ugg boot wearing movie stars! I feel lied to. Star tabloids is a sham!
I have been driving around a 50lb duffle bag all over this airport it looks like I could fit a good size body in it too. Too bad no one wanted to come along as my checked luggage.

This is me waving good bye to Denver!

And Arna I had to post this picture because you look so good in it! This is Arna and I Sunday before I left, Arna stayed the night and my mom and dad's with me. Both my parent's think you are awsome bye the way Arna. I keep hearing about how positive you and and how friendly you are. They love you!

First Day of Live Journal

2007-12-11T07:52:21Z

I just set up live journal. Haha, as if I really have anything important enough to say to publish out in the open.