Living the Good Life

Cue up Weezer's "The Good Life" on the iTunes, iPod, or iPhone (if your're Daniel Talley.) Here's the low down...

I've been here six days now. I've boated over ten times in the past five days. LIFE IS GOOD! The first four days (the 2nd-5th) we were on the Kaituna River. It's a "Sweet Arse" run, just a few km's long. A super short shuttle and warm water! Has a few really fun waterfalls on it, and then a wicked playspot at the end. The gorge the run goes through is amazingly perrty! Vines of native bush sweep over the river and hang down off the bank like a a scene from George of the Jungle. (But if you say you think the jungle is cool here, the locals will correct you that it's bush, eh?, not jungle.) Anyways, it's super hard to pay attention to the rapids because the scenery is way too cool. There's this cool store at the put-in with some amazing pies. Pies down here are not Pizza pies, they are like Chicken Pot Pies, except way better fillings, and much crispier, flakier, more pastry style crust. Point is, they're damn good. Especially right after boating!

Today we got a couple runs in on the Wairoa River. Another fun cruiser that reminded me alot of the Boonetown home-run, the Wah-taw-guh! Sweet Arse, mate!

A couple funky things about NZ culture that comes to mind...

-They've got a fly zapper at the place I'm staying right now, (Andy and Amy's place in Papamoa on the coast of the Bay of Plenty) and within the past minute three flies got zapped. That's not saying there are a bunch of flies here, (I hear the bugs are bad down on the South Island!) but I just thought it was funny three just went POP!
-Today we were paddling a dam release run and two goats got stranded on these two tiny rocks in the middle of the river. They obviously got caught by the water and we least than stoked on their situation. It was bloody hilarious! Stand by for pictures.
-They drive on the wrong side of the road here, like they do in Britain as well. This causes more problems than just on the road.
-If you want to talk like a Kiwi just replace a "u" for when you would normally say an "i." "U'd luke a puece of Fush and a scoop of Chups"
-They put egg and beatroot (which is kiwi for beats) on their hamburgers. It's actually mighty tastely.
-I went to a wedding of Wheel's buddies last night and the ceremony was no more than 15 minutes, in, out, papers signed and on to the boozing. That's how it should be done every time, seriously. They made out like three times when they said you may kiss the bride. It was hilarious.
-Avocados are the only thing that's cheap in NZ. You can get 10 for $3. That's opposed to a burger which ran like $11 today at lunch!
-Real roundabouts are fun.
-Highways are not massive, which is refreshing. It's very rare to see more than a two-laner anywhere.
-They are way into cricket. Like WAY into it. When it comes on the tele people get stoked, and when you ask them what the fuck is going on, they can't explain because they are too into it.
-The mix of the indigenous culture, the Maori, and the British influence is pretty amusing at times. You can drive down the road, enter a town that's name is ten syllables long and god knows how to even start pronouncing it, then two minutes later you're in the town of Bethlehem.

That's enough random thoughts for now. We are about to start our journey down to the South Island, then on to Christchurch, my future home. There I should be able to upload some pictures and really start getting ya'll aquanted with this crazy land down under!

For now, Cheers mate!!!

Arrival

I have made it to New Zealand!!! Not via Chicago, or Fiji, like I planned. I always seem to have a problem when traveling by plane...I never can seem to fly the flights I'm assigned. Oh well, I made it, and so did all my bags/ gear/ boats and paddles! Stoked. New Years Day my buddy Gareth picked me up at the Auckland Airport and we drove to Mount Manganui. It was un-real. A super sik worn-out volcano right on the Bay of Plenty. Today, the 2nd, we paddled the Kaituna River. Un-real. I wish I could describe this place better, but for the moment, I'm speechless. I will get up photos and better stories/ descriptions as soon as I have time!!! Happy New Year, all!