Top... I mean... Bottom of the World

Imagine a forest of lively green moss, drooping lichen, and abundant Beech trees. The Toutouwai (New Zealand Robin) singing softly through the trees, snakes and poisonous spiders are nonexistent. Suddenly, a sweaty biped lumbers his way through forest wielding a walking stick. A loud crack sounds as the stick gets caught in some roots, snaps, and sends the hominid sprawling face first into the mud. 

That is how my day started. 

Last night, three others and I decided that today we would go on a hike, weather permitting. As I crawled out of bed I glanced outside and could only see clouds (not a good sign after a week of rain...). Being my day off, I pulled on some comfy clothes and headed up to the staff room with a book (Wild Sheep Chase; Haruki Murakami) to wait for the others to rise. A breath of fresh dry mountain air and I knew there would be no rain today. Once they were all up and fed, we took a drive west. 

Already being in the mountains, it was only a 20 minute drive to the trailhead. We parked, and began the trek.

Ten minutes out of the car I took a swan dive into the wet forest goo. Slipping our way up a barely visible path of moss, we eventually made it to the tree line. The mountain extended a ways farther into the sky, so we slowly climbed the final stretch. On one side it was a cliff and the other a hill of shrubs so steep I would only be comfortable if it was covered in snow and I had a board strapped to my feet. Barely pushing a fear of heights out of my head, (and not wanting to look like a wuss! ) I pushed onward. 

Finally, the summit, and what a view! 360 degrees of New Zealand mountains and countryside. Definitely worth the previous internal struggle. Laying in the grass at the top for a good 45 minutes, we ate our lunch and snapped some pictures. Reluctantly we began the descent. By the time we reached the car, all that was on my mind was the steaming hot spring that awaited my aching muscles.

A nice long soak, a big bowl of curry and I am moments away from sleep. 

Good. Night!!

 Our goal, dauntingly looming above...

 the path...

 Broken strap... 

 Almost there!!

 Pride rock looks a lot bigger on the screen...

 Maruia River in the distance

 Katsuya on the edge. No way I'm getting up there...

(And thats how steep it was!!)

Summit picnic

Disaster...

Devastating news today. As I lay in the camper reading I realized the whole vehicle was swaying back and forth. After dismissing the initial thought that the maintenance guys were rocking the van, I stepped out to check if it really was an earthquake. The staff room was a circus of japanese people scrambling to get the satellite back in order. They were in an uproar about an earthquake in Christchurch. Once we got the news back on, it was just footage of what looked like a warzone. People were scrambling out of buildings and rubble, dust was everywhere, it was utter chaos. A 6.3 magnitude quake had shaken Christchurch into submission. Weakened by the September 4, 7.1 magnitude quake, many of the buildings came crashing down. Though this quake was of less magnitude, it was much closer and much shallower than the former. For a while we were very worried about some of the Maruia staff who were in the city during the quake, however we later managed to reach them, or were informed that they were all ok. 

Unfortunately, 65+ people have been confirmed dead, and countless are injured. The cathedral from my previous post is now collapsed, and the city looks dreadful. Nearly nine hours later, people are still trapped in buildings. Keep hope for those people who may be fighting for their lives. 

Below are some more pictures of this beautiful city before this horrific quake.
( I would have taken more of the city itself, but of course, I told myself I'd be back soon, and Christchurch wouldn't be going anywhere... Take this as a reminder to not leave things for a later date!! You never know what's going to happen! )

 Peace Bell and some idiot...

 Cathedral tower is now rubble...

 Not sure of the Art Gallery's condition

 Entrance to the Rose Garden

 Collapsed tower from the previous earthquake

 Big Ass Hippo

Christchurch City Council

Driving on the Wrong Side

Today was my day off, so a few of the staff and I took a drive to Reefton, one of the closer towns to Maruia Springs (45 min). I had my first experience with right-hand drive and driving in the left lane, but all went smoothly. Though a bit confusing at first, within minutes of driving I had a full feel of where on the road the car was. Reefton was a really tiny town, but compared to the isolation of Maruia Springs it was a nice change. We played pool, and walked about the town (which took no time at all...). As we strolled down the main stretch, off in the distance I recognized the unmistakable glimmer of concrete transition. Before I would make sense of what I was seeing, my feet uncontrollably took off in that direction. 20 seconds later I was standing in the entrance  of a surprisingly large skatepark for such a tiny town. I thanked the gods of concrete and made my way in to see what I was missing out on. So many rails, so many ledges and boxes, two big bowls, and a perrrrrfect little miniramp. If I hadn't been with others I would have driven back to get my board. I will definitely be heading back there very soon, for even as I type, my legs are getting restless. 

Nearly in tears of joy, I made my way back to the car where the others were waiting. We hurried back home so Niina could make it back for work, but we had a big surprise when we pulled into the parking lot. 

Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai had just arrived and was unloading his car. (His giant red chef hat makes him look A LOT taller on tv...) Aside from being quite a bit shorter than I expected, he was extremely friendly, and though he was sporting a shirt of himself, he was rather modest. 

 Reefton main stretch

 There's a lot more than could fit in the pictures

 Take, Niina, Yusuke

Local Drunk / Fly Killer Extraordinaire 

Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai 

The Garden City

The last couple days I have been so tired from my short jaunt back to Christchurch. After a late night here at Maruia, I woke up early and left for town by 8:30. Keiji, (43 year old, Yasu clone) and I listened to his Simon and Garfunkel cds the whole way while I finally got to take pictures of the road between. After arriving in Christchurch and eating 2 mince, mushroom, and cheese pies, I met up with some friends as planned. We walked all over the city, stopping by art galleries, museum, and the flower festival. Christchurch Art Gallery was interesting (i hated one exhibit, because it scared the crap out of me when I walked up to it), but the flower festival was the best part of the day. There were lots of bees, but it was really pretty. Unfortunately, I had left my bag with camera in the room when we went to the festival. After a day of walking we were all in need of a beer, so we found the best place for a drink. First place we walked into we were whisked inside a large closet of sorts to get fitted with parkas, pants and gloves. We were all so confused, but when they opened the door at the back we were hit with a blast of cold air. Walking in we were completely surrounded by ice. Everything was frozen. I wish I had my camera, but I'll just have to go back again. The following day we went to the beach and surfed all afternoon. Paul got stung by a jellyfish, but other than that it was a great day. Exhausted we bussed back to Christchurch so I could meet up with Keiji once his ballet lesson was over. We got back to Maruia around midnight, and I promptly fell asleep, only to wake up hours later for my 7am shift. That afternoon I took a well deserved six hour nap. 

 Made out of recycled chopsticks, plastic bags, and sushi grass.

 Cathedral Square cathedral

 Bamboo

 Floating house

 Giant bundle of wheat

 Cathedral Square, town center

 Penguins and duck

The beach we surfed

My Bedroom has Rearview Mirrors...

After Tomo left Maruia yesterday I moved out of my hotel room to make room for guests. As great as that room was, what with its private shower, bathroom and lots of space, I had to downgrade to the camper van. Its quite small (when laying down my head touches one wall while my feet touch the other...), but its rather comfortable. So far, after spending a night in it, I really like it. I can play music or Seinfeld (as if I would have left without the holy grail!) as loud as I want, at anytime. The only downside is that I have roommates... An army of arachnids have also taken up residence in the camper. I feel like I've invaded their home so I've been slowly capturing the big guys one by one and releasing them far away from the camper. Trying to keep my spider karma positive! 

I have the next two days off so I'm headed back to Christchurch for a night. Only got to spend an evening there without a camera, so its time to checkout the surrounding area and take heaps of pictures! 

 The Mitsubishi Bedroom

 My new view :)

the most elusive spider ever... 

Mitsuru-san

Yesterday my mom's friend, Mitsuru, and her family visited.

Maruia Springs

I guess its about time I posted some pictures of the resort itself. Nothing too exciting has happened the last few days, so heres what the onsen has to offer. Today it was really hot so there was nobody in the rock pools. Lucky for me cause I could finally take pictures without seeming like some creep taking pictures of bathers. 

 Foot bath on the patio

 Private bath houses

 Middle building houses the indoor baths. Building to the left is the entrance to the rock pools. Rooms on the right. Other roofs are pathways. 

Utase-yu - A stream of hot water massages you as it falls.

 Cooler pool up front. Medium pool behind.

Super hot pool in front (I cant stay in for more that 30 seconds when its really hot). Cold pool in background.

All the pools / running water fluctuate in temperature depending on rainfall. Temperature change can be as large as 10 degrees C! All baths have views of the river and mountains.

Long day...

It's going to be an early night tonight... After the usual day of work, we weeded every pathway. My back was killing me by the end and of course it was the hottest day in the mountains so far. After lunch some of the staff and I decided to take up hike up to the aquatic heart of the entire resort. The whole place is powered by a hydrogenerator that pumps water from a creek running down from the mountain. All the water here (excluding the thermal water) is supplied by this creek as well. It was a path that went straight up the mountain eventually ending at the giant tank. Its a really simple system, and the creek is so clean it doesnt need to be filtered. We trekked up the mountain until the path ended, then we forded the creek and made are way up its steep rocky banks. Climbing up a particularly tall bit, I slipped and slammed into the rock next to me, breaking two buckles that held my backpack strap on. Slipping the other strap over my head, I followed the rest of the group over more slippery rocks until the girls didnt feel comfortable going any farther. A quick decent easily convinced Tomo, Katsuya and I to walk down to the river for a swim. According to the other Japanese people, the river was quite cold. Fortunately, I am Oregon born, and was rather comfortable. I was the only one actually went for a swim. The others got in up to their mid-thighs but were quickly wanting to go back up to the rock pool. After a quick swim, I agreed and we walked over to the hot springs. The only other people there happened to be from Seattle, so I had a nice chat about how similar the area is to the northwest. 

Just finished an enormous portion of curry and many pieces of naan. Its time for bed REALLY soon... Thank god I dont have work until 10 tomorrow!

Yusuke making the crossing

Tomo