glowworms, flying sailboats, 'chch', and my first entry in the guiness book of world records.

me admiring sculpture in Rotorua

I am sitting down to my afternoon tea on this cold, rainy day that has prohibited me from riding a borrowed bicycle around 'chch' aka Christchurch, New Zealand, the funky city with way to many coffee and bicycle shops for my general well being. But don't feel sorry for me. Seriously, stop. The first week of being 23 years old in New Zealand has been nothing less than magical and I finally have a moment to tell you a few highlights.

art in christchurch

When we left off, I was in Rotorua recovering from my 23 year old birthday fiesta - it almost seems light years away. After driving, driving, driving and more driving we found ourselves in a tiny village called Waitomo Caves famous for its..... Caves. This 3 building megaopolis (which was renamed by Ricky as Guantomo Caves, for reasons of his inept to pronounce WAI-To-Mo and confusion with the infamous US military base) hosted us for just an evening, but made it special. I urged my fellow dorks to play frisbee with me in the focal point of the town - a large green field - and they obliged. I even managed the mighty frisbee to "accidently" land near a group of 4 pretty Irish girls sitting on a park bench, figuring out where to go next. After we had our in with that slick move (who says frisbees can't pick up chicks?), we encouraged the Irish to have a few drinks it our awesome van later that night and not drive all the way to Hamilton as night, as you know - its dangerous to drive at night of course! Besides we were eager just to hang out with people other than ourselves and we had just bought a Disco ball to trick out our van. After the party was arranged, Halen and I went on a little run just outside of town and had a suprisingly amazing time doing so. I wrote a personal note about running a few kilometers outside of town, slowing down, takening of my earphones and looking up at the beautiful, BEAUTIFUL stars of the Southern Hemisphere, proudly displaying themselves in a near silent, pitch black setting. Moments of silence between myself and Halen followed and without words, only gasps (and maybe even a tear of awe) we shared a view that I never thought I would even dream of...

A late night ensued and sure enough we found out that 7 am comes very fast when your up until 4 am. Coffee, coffee, coffee and a little excitement about crawling in cold, wet caves for 5 hours woke me up and helped my tug and push Ricky to do the same. A couple from Seattle (first Americans we have met this far in New Zealand) and a gentleman from Germany accompanied with us on this awesome adventure into the deep caves of Waitomo. Abseilling (repelling down, with different equipment), jumping from waterfalls, swimming/tubing in ICE cold water, and seeing the famed (and much better in person) glowworms sparkling their blue phosphorecent lights reminded me of the stars the night before, provided us with an experience not to be forgotten.

We hit the road after our caving adventure (awesome drive, see picture with the van) and made it all the way to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand for a night were we caught a ferry to Picton, the tip of the South Island the next day. More sleep, more drive and finally we are warm and snug in a motel in Christchurch, the largest (and maybe hippist) of the South Island. We needed beds (I havent slept in a real bed for 9 days) and an absence of driving, so here we are. Last night we stubbled across a large event in the town square that turned out to be an awesome time. A dance troupe (ill leave out the name to keep this 'g' rated) had organized with the city to attempt a Guiness Book of World Records attempt to get the most people synchronized dancing to a song. Slowly but surely, around 3,000 people (1,000 more than needed) showed up in 80's clothes to help with the attempt and over about an hour everyone in attendance was taught the wickly funny dance routine to Bon Jovi's "You Gave Love A Bad Name". Ricky and I got it down fast and jammed out with most of Christchurch, I think we were on TV too.

So its all going ... uhh.. pretty well, I suppose. Stationary bicycles in the gym at the motel are not cutting it and hopefully the weather will clear tomorrow so I can ride a bicycle around town and get lost in Christchurch. We are all just about ready for warmer weather, but there is talk of going snowboarding tomorrow, because we are sooo close to mountains. We just have to find skipants first.

(sorry for so few pictures!)

Love and happiness from chch!

Taylor

Day 5 of the New Zealand Adventure!

Greetings from the wild roads of New Zealand! After 1, 100 km on the road, we are finally in Rotorua, the adventure capital of New Zealand! Starting in Auckland, we set out on to the wild, curvy roads of the Kiwis with an eager (almost too eager) plan to conquer most of the North Island before September 24th when we have to board a ferry to the South Island. Auckland was quick and fun, where we had an interesting night at a stripper bar (NOTE: not strip club, bar that only and strippers went to) that was suprisingly very tame. Downtown Auckland is not the best place to park a campervan, in case you are wondering for future reference. Moving on up to the Bay of Islands, we endured many hours of lambs, grass, hills, beaches, lambs, cows, grass, cows, breathtaking vistas, more cows, more lambs, more grass and made it all the way north to the Bay of Islands. Yesterday, we took off to the world famous surf spot of Raglan (9hour drive, ouch) and spent the night there under the beautiful Milky Way Galaxy. I woke up to (my birthday!!!) a soccer tournament next to our campervan and went on a wonderful run and yoga session and discovered a concrete bathroom half under sand covered in art and inspirational quotes on my run! A few more hours in the car and we are now in Rotorua, ready to do some Zorbing (google it) and whatever other crazy adventures this town shows us for the next night or two. Sorry the post is short, but I am minimizing my time on the Internet, because I am quite fine without the comforts of home. Here is a pic or two get you by! LOVE AND PEACE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD! TAYLOR (IM 23, yippppppppppppppppie!)

Samoa pics now online....

finally a few pictures from samoa that I got to upload For all the illiterate! samoa sunset aganoa beach caves

bicycles are worldly underwater in samoa

post extreme snorkel session

have no idea what this says (2nd to) last meal

Mount Maunganui and the plan to conquer New Zealand

(Ricky, Halen, Hayden, Taylor at the base of Mt. Maunganui, with town to left) The hectic morning of calling, booking, googling, haggling, comparing, and planning for a coast-to-coast trip of New Zealand has finally reached a descending calm. After booking 13 days in a campervan, an interisland ferry, a car rental to get the campervan, and a flight from Christchurch to Auckland, we finally allow ourselves the pleasure to go to Mount Maunganui’s pristine beach on this warm spring day. With flowers in full effect around me, and a light, cool coastal breeze blowing on my face, I get a few minutes of laughter and smiles while I watch Ricky and Halen paddle their rental longboards into the freezing, yet moderately sized surf. Moments like these – moments where I can reflect on the beautiful places and wonderful people I have encountered – make up for the hustle and bustle of coordinating timetables and budgeting for a van to cross the entire “Middle Earth”. There is a bit of uneasiness that comes with the picture of three super dorks driving a right-hand drive, 4-meter long campervan 2,000 km in a foreign country that – for some god-forsaken reason – drives on the left side of the road. But the excitement and giddiness that comes along with 2 weeks of open road and extreme scenery is a small compromise for a little planning and calculated risk. For the past four days we have been lucky enough to stay at Halen’s friend, Hayden’s “flat” (house for those not down with the New Zealand/UK lingo), among his two other roommates – Emma and Mark. These days have been relatively chill, loosely filled with leasurely biking around Mount Maunganui, shopping in surf shops, cooking for our hosts, a bit of surfing and a lot of sleeping (read SNORING in Ricky’s case) due to the late, but unforgettable, nights spent with our lovely British ladies that couldn’t stop following us in Samoa (see below). (Harry, the three travelers, Sarah, Faye, Zahra, Laura waiting on a ferry from Savaii to Upolo) (Mount Maunganui and main beach from on top the Mount) This picturesque little beach town of Mount Maunganui, just outside Tauranga, has treated us well while we walked its beaches, climbed its mountain, and made new friends with funny accents. Halen and I could see ourselves coming back here once summer gets into full swing in January and working to support our bad habit of travel (I already inquired about working down the street at a bike shop!), but for the moment we are all just trying to take it all in – one of the hardest parts of travel – while hanging out on the other side of the planet, yet feeling right at home. (Handstands on top the Mount, overlooking the Bay of Plenty coastline) Alas I have other activities to do on this … “busy” … spring day; Yoga, espresso, fish ‘n’ chips, book reading on soft sand and maybe even a visit to the local hot saltwater pools. Life is hard, but we all have priorities – mine right now is travel! Love from the land of Kiwis, Taylor

Summer in Savaii

I wrote down a blog about about a bus ride, but I will post that later, as I don't have my sheet of paper with me to transpose onto the blog. OK, with that said... I have spent the last few days out of the capital of Apia, Samoa and crossed over to Savaii, the slightly more beautiful largest island. Stories have been made and laughed about, but ill just summarize the last few days in a couple of lines. Savaii is slightly more beautiful than Upolo, something I didn't think was possible. Even more laid back than its sister island, Savaii hosted us for four nights in the towns of Manase and Aganoa. Manase boasts expansive, beautiful beaches that has water a color of blue I never thought I would be lucky enough to see. Us three travelers looked out of our thatch fale and continuously questioned the blueness of the water. What to call it? Aquamarine? No, not good enough. Super turquoise? nah, Ultraaquasupermarine? That may do, but ill try to let a picture describe it in the next post (Samoan internet is about the equivalent of dial up connections of 1984 IBM machines). Aganoa let us stay in nice fales at a surf resort with a private beach on a nature preserve, flanked left by black lava caves while the southwestern Pacific ocean sunset on the right entertained us nightly. Again. Ab sol ute ly beautiful. And cheap. For generous meals included, fales never cost more than $30-$40 USD a night. If you are looking to get away from it all, the Samoan relaxed but amazingly beautiful and friendly life is a perfect budget getaway. Now that the positive is out of the way, there is the fun little eccentricities of travel that we have gone through. My second favorite was the night when I was not let into a bar in Apia because my shorts were too short. Why you ask? "It is not fair to the other patrons". A laugh ensued and I figured my beautiful, perfectly sculpted legs are not fair to the other people in a bar and let it slide. We walked back to another bar we were previously at and sat down to enjoy a bar and the locals when all of the sudden a mysterious splash of chunky liquid came from the sky right on Halen, and splattered a little on myself and Ricky as well. After a few moments of shock and awe we figured exactly what this foul liquid was - Samoan vomit. We ran back to the hotel and showered, changed and called it a night. Also enjoyable was the time in Savaii when we took a bus to Aganoa, only to be told 4 minutes into the hour ride that the driver was tired, wanted to take a nap and would be stopping at his house for the rest of the evening. After a few hitchhikes (each lasted about 100 meters, Samoans don't drive far apparently) we finally gave in to the $10 cab ride... So now? Its on to New Zealand... after a $84 change because Ricky and Halen read the airline ticket wrong (that was fun) and we missed the flight. hehehe. Wow. OH no! one minute left on internet.... bye!!! See you in New Zealand and ill post pics ASAP! LOVE TP

Upolo Island, Samoa

Hello. Im in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hanging out on a large lava formation known as Upolo in a country named Samoa. I got here a few days ago, early in the morning and took a cab to a remote village with my 2 friends in order to stay in a small fale, a traditional hut on a gorgeus beach. The village, Saleapaga, doesn't have any TVs, but it does have plenty to look at. About 10kms down the road is some of the best snorkelling in the entire world, filled with huge expanses of coral, multicolored fish and crystal clear water. The stars and moon illuminate the stars every night as my travelling companions play Uno under a single incandesent bulb outside of our hut. The people look at you as if you are a strange white ghost, but are some of the most sincerely nice humans I have ever, ever incountered. We are back in Apia, the closest thing to a city now, staying for two nights so we can catch a ferry to another secluded island called Savaii. Life is tough, I mean slow, but relaxing and awesome... in fact, why am I in an internet cafe? peace, update soon love teepee

The Pacific Beckoning

Ok, Ok, Ok, So the last post on Southern California, aka Los Angeles, was a little harsh. Theres always a silver lining to every cloud, no matter how smoggy it is:

Today, SoCal, as the hip ones like to say, redeemed itself. It started off with a typical day in Los Angeles (2 hours in traffic/finding parking) but opened into a beautiful day of horribly played beach volleyball with my sister, her boyfriend, Ricky and Halen, body-bending bodysurfing, extreme frisbee throwing (becoming a very regular activity), and a constant contagious laugh spewing out of my mouth. After all this activity, we rounded off the afternoon with a peaceful hike up Point Dune to see the rumored starfish chilling in the tidal pool. Hitting the dusty trails, we trekked to see beautiful vistas of the Malibu coastline, then back down to find a secret beach and the famed tidal pools. One starfish (maybe dead) sat still among gorgeous tan, blue and black rocks specked with white sand that if one looked at it right, and was in the right state of mind, resembled colorful galaxies with dots of stars against a dark backdrop - a reminder of the universe within each little piece of this beautiful earth. 

While walking back to the car, I pointed west towards the grand blue of the Pacific Ocean and mentioned to Halen how the Pacific was beckoning, calling and enticing us to our next adventure in Samoa. Ricky and I have been looking forward to Samoa the last few days as we trudged through the rigors of Los Angeles (and finally saw the true allure) but today really got to live while not thinking of tomorrow. 

So, without leading to far ahead to tomorrow, the three dorky amigos will hop on a 10 hour flight to the last small civilization before the International Date Line, Samoa, right in the middle of the Pacific that keeps whispering in our ears. 

tp

ps- We saw Dog the Bounty Hunter in a CVS Pharmacy store in Malibu. Awesome. Here is his biggest fan, Ricky, with the Man himself: