wellington, new zealand

if you were biting your nails about my escape from agnes water, fear not! i escaped and made it back to sydney in time for my flight to new zealand. exactly how i escaped is a story for another time, possibly with a few bottles of wine to pass the time....long story short, i got back to sydney via ferry, van, car, walking, train, and plane. not joking. it was an adventure though.

and i haven't been updating at all because i just finished ten days hiking in the wilderness of New Zealand's North Island. absolutely stunning! i just loved it. i was sick as a dog for part of it, and had some nasty blisters but i climbed 3 mountains, walked for 8 hours at a time, and camped under the stars. i am still in awe of the magnificence of the wilderness here. i'll upload photos when i get a decent computer, but if you are curious to see which mountains i climbed, you can watch"Lord of the Rings" or "The Last Samurai" (i climbed "Mt. Doom" aka Mt. Ngaruhoe, and Mt. Taranaki from Samurai). ok time on computer is up, love you all.

Agnes Water, Australia

Help, I am trapped in the most boring town on Australia's East Coast! Severe flooding has closed the roads in and out of the town, and there's NOTHING to do. I really shouldn't complain because things could be a lot worse, aka I could be one of the poor passengers on a stranded yacht out on the Whitsunday Islands! I just bought a ticket out of town tomorrow and I'm praying soooo hard that the roads are passable in the morning! Pretty much the rest of my trip in Australia and NZ depends on me getting out of here tomorrow so um, just cross your fingers for me. I'm going to go check out the ridiculous waves on the beach right now and maybe eat some lollies (Aussie for candy) to make myself feel better. cheers!

Hervey Bay, Australia

Quick post because I've just come back from 3 days of beach camping and I am FAMISHED:

I'm happy and tanned (ok maybe a little sunburned), I saw dingos and dolphins, I kinda surfed, I've started saying "No worries", and I love Australia. Also, this country is bleeding money from me! Pizza time now, more posting later if less hungry!