tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80189291838363406682024-03-14T06:39:26.728+01:00The World has lots to offerInfo of where I am travelling and what I am doing at the moment. A sort of online diary for myself and anybody that is interested in what I do. Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-25500996838559413882021-10-11T04:59:00.000+02:002021-10-11T04:59:14.955+02:00 Canada Week One – Cars and Taxes<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zTubQ4lk84w/YWOnoQivdjI/AAAAAAAAWDQ/howBMShJ5ykR5Mrfg7sPQW5UsqHQ4RNKgCPcBGAsYHg/s4608/IMG_20211002_093723.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zTubQ4lk84w/YWOnoQivdjI/AAAAAAAAWDQ/howBMShJ5ykR5Mrfg7sPQW5UsqHQ4RNKgCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20211002_093723.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />For all those that don't know me or are not close to me at home, I have just left for Canada on a two year working holiday visa (IEC). Originally the visa had been granted back in October of 2019 and my scheduled flight was leaving in June (or July, can't remember) of 2020. But with the outbreak of the Corona Pandemic, pretty much all flights into Canada were stopped, so I waited in Germany and earned some money to spend later.<p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-546dc983-7fff-997b-33b8-c6b4f9f69ec0"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One year, many visa extensions and a fun year working on our local Zipline later, I left for Canada on the 2</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">nd</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of October 2021. My flight was mainly uneventful, but I do have to thank Lufthansa and Air Canada for getting all of my skiing gear over without any problems. I'm a skier and the Canadian winter and snow are world known, so I had to bring my skis with me. Also I'll be working on the snow fields come the winter season, but more on that in another blog.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-We5g8RDmW54/YWOoK4hVOJI/AAAAAAAAWDo/2Gzz8c74xqc5clkpdGZZrVlAyxOQPJ2vQCPcBGAsYHg/s2000/IMG-20211010-WA0029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="252" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-We5g8RDmW54/YWOoK4hVOJI/AAAAAAAAWDo/2Gzz8c74xqc5clkpdGZZrVlAyxOQPJ2vQCPcBGAsYHg/w189-h252/IMG-20211010-WA0029.jpg" width="189" /></a></div></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, checked in my luggage no problem, as the teller at first seemed rather apprehensive of me leaving for Canada (there are a lot of regulations in place for entering the country) but once she found out I was doing a stop over in London Heathrow she was quite relieved as, in her words “they will take you apart there when you get on board the Air Canada flight” (as in they would check every single document I have). Flight was uneventful and the dreaded check wasn't too bad, as I'd had more than a year's worth of preparation to get all things sorted out. Second flight was also good, as I shared the row with another guy and we had the middle seat free for whatever stuff we had brought along. I've been really lucky on all my long haul flights so far. Landed in Vancouver after a nearly ten hour flight and then sat in immigration for another two hours waiting for my work permit to get granted. It was without any fuss, apart from the previously mentioned waiting time. Then the sky train into Vancouver central and a short walk to the hostel with a backpack on my back, a rucksack on my front, a ski bag in my right hand and a bag with ski boots in my left. What an image that must have been. The first night was rather interesting after that. Met two British brothers who have done the exact same traveling as I have and then had to somehow sleep through the night with an American trying to keep us awake with his snoring and taking a piss in the corner (he was extremely drunk).</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oA-_28CdOtw/YWOnvdhFfSI/AAAAAAAAWDU/wGlCRVX6TDUudphVDf6uXQ0VyIeF1BIuQCPcBGAsYHg/s4608/IMG_20211006_190906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="182" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oA-_28CdOtw/YWOnvdhFfSI/AAAAAAAAWDU/wGlCRVX6TDUudphVDf6uXQ0VyIeF1BIuQCPcBGAsYHg/w243-h182/IMG_20211006_190906.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunday was then spent trying to get my bearings in Vancouver and just getting over jetlag a bit. Not much really happened on that day. Just walking around the city.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Monday was when things then got interesting. In Canada you have to apply for a SIN (Social Insurance Number) to work and the waiting time was three hours when I got there. I could have done it online, but then I would have had to wait for two weeks, so three hours wasn't too bad. A bit later the waiting time had gone up to five hours, so I'd gotten in quite nicely. After the SIN was granted (once again with no hassle, as I had all documents prepared) it was off to the bank. That took a while, too, as that was the day all the Facebook servers went down and some banks also had issues on that day. So instead of a 30 minute procedure it took three times as long. Not all that was the bank's fault, as I did have a lot of questions to ask. Canada (like the US) seems to run on Credit Cards, and I have never owned one in my life before (only Debit so far). As I don't really want to go into debt and potentially pay 20% interest I was quite thorough in my questions. Once that had all been sorted out (thanks Mehrnatz) I took a stroll through town to a Koodo outlet. Koodo is a mobile network provider and I'd been annoyed at not having internet for a day already (no Google Maps or books whilst waiting for three hours) so that was the next thing on the line. Luke (a friend from Revelstoke) had mentioned Koodo as being one of the best providers as they have good coverage in Canada and decent prices (meaning expensive in the rest of the world). Getting a bank card had been the right move before that, as they needed a card as verification. Once that had been gotten and mobile internet back on my phone I went back to the hostel, ate something and slept. Busy day.<br /></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p0ZBB-3ucLE/YWOn3fYZ_-I/AAAAAAAAWDc/5I1s9D3SrQsWexGYSv7HgSRc1QDqmsG5gCPcBGAsYHg/s4608/IMG_20211009_121926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="157" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p0ZBB-3ucLE/YWOn3fYZ_-I/AAAAAAAAWDc/5I1s9D3SrQsWexGYSv7HgSRc1QDqmsG5gCPcBGAsYHg/w210-h157/IMG_20211009_121926.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tuesday dawned and with it the next documents. If you spend more than six months in BC (the other states are less) then you are no longer allowed to drive with your non-BC drivers licence (yes, drivers licences are state governed here, not country). Internations licences also aren’t valid after this any more. So you have to change your licence to a BC one, and by doing that you have to get rid of all your other ones. So once I'd reached ICBC (the BC organisation concerning driving) I had to hand in my German and NZ licence (I'd foolishly tried to keep my German one by just giving them my NZ one, but they thought something was fishy when my visa papers came out) and got an interim licence until my card can be sent to me. All in all a relatively painless and not too costly procedure (but I had to give away my licences to be destroyed!) and it was done in a fast time. Next I wanted to know what insurance rates I could get on a car. ICBC is the only insurer here, so they have a monopoly and can decide the prices. Fortunately I lucked out and due to my eleven years of driving I get a good rate if I do get a car, which...</span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">... was on the agenda for pretty much the rest of the week. Using Craigslist I followed car sales around the Vancouver area. The car specifications I would like are quite tight, so when a car pops up I try to be on it immediately. Unfortunately so are all the dealer shops around town and they will often time snatch away a car and then sell it for quite a bit more. Had a look at two cars, but one was pretty much a walking building site and the other nearly poisoned me with a broken catalytic converter. Now for everyone outside Canada wondering why it seems so hard to get a car here is the explanation. Canada (or better said British Columbia) doesn't have anything like the German TÜV or British Warrant of Fitness. So on the roads here there can be some horrors driving around. Mark used those exact words. He's a guy I worked with in New Zealand but he's been over in Canada for three years now. I met up with him during the week for some lunch and it was good to see each other again. He's been quite the help in a lot of things relating to Canada for me. Hope to see him a few times in winter, too.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rNYmfVR1NFo/YWOoAo66cVI/AAAAAAAAWDk/hxFhQeIrnPQGCFQVMNGfVLNKatPKC29jgCPcBGAsYHg/s4608/IMG_20211010_133907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rNYmfVR1NFo/YWOoAo66cVI/AAAAAAAAWDk/hxFhQeIrnPQGCFQVMNGfVLNKatPKC29jgCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20211010_133907.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, after having a really good car snatched from under my eyes on Saturday I was fed up with looking for cars at the moment and on Sunday did a small hike into the mountains with Kjell, a fellow German staying in my room at the hostel. It was nice to actually get out and see a bit of the nature around Vancouver instead of just a concrete city for once. Didn't see any bears, though. Unsure if that is a good or a bad thing.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the next week I hope my car search goes successful and I can leave Vancouver behind me to see more of the surrounding area.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My impression of Canada so far? A bit strange to be honest. Australia and New Zealand appear closer to our European values and culture than Canada is. Canada seems more related to the US in that regard. Big cities, big cars, banking systems, etc. Also the individual states of Canada are a lot more autonomous than back at home. Probably comes with the size. Each state seems to pretty much govern themselves in a lot of things. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-76267923607134107542019-08-26T15:23:00.003+02:002019-08-26T15:26:53.074+02:00Vilser Alm<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLk3ByLnVK0/XWPdVMA0gRI/AAAAAAAAUew/pFgUH1QgtEYKKWh3UCi7aUwXVqmqtiDlACKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLk3ByLnVK0/XWPdVMA0gRI/AAAAAAAAUew/pFgUH1QgtEYKKWh3UCi7aUwXVqmqtiDlACKgBGAs/s400/DSCN4593.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Got off work
today. Wolfgang is having a holiday, so this week is a bit more
relaxed. Still have to work later, but not today. Nico had said he
would be free on Monday after working the whole weekend and I should
be prepared to be shown up by him biking up the Breitenberg. Couldn't
let that happen, so I asked him if we should bike up to the Vilser
Alm instead.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Set off at just past half past nine
with the sun up and blue sky. A few people here and there on our way
to Pfronten, but as it was Monday and most states in Germany have
finished their holidays, not to much is going on. Nico had a quick
call out to a cat in Rebichel, but the cats there don't seem to like
him much (was completely ignored again). Further on we tried going
around a building site to get to the Vils, but that way was blocked.
We ended up biking around the back way of the local supermarket and
were back on our track towards the river. Along the river there is a
really nice trail to follow, but obviously it is currently down for
repairs. Hrmpf, carried on a few hundred metres and then took another
bridge back over to the side we wanted to get on. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V-FQJHIlEH0/XWPdYUwAXJI/AAAAAAAAUe0/4roe2nCevk8ZHx21wv-LxmIGVppjv7YVACKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4592.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V-FQJHIlEH0/XWPdYUwAXJI/AAAAAAAAUe0/4roe2nCevk8ZHx21wv-LxmIGVppjv7YVACKgBGAs/s200/DSCN4592.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
No signs here and
the track following the Vils was brilliant and scenic as always.
Reached Vils after crossing the new not-any-more-hanging bridge and
started our uphill climb. Nico left me in the dust pretty much
immediately (probably the extra 30kg I'm carrying around with me) but
waited at a spot. In my memory the first uphill bit was really steep,
but I seem to have it in my head wrong. Yes, it's steeper than the
rest, but not that bad. Had a sudden call from two meters behind me
and before I could do anything, two e-bikers zoomed past left and
right of me. Not used to that yet, as even a fit, normal biker would
have been heard panting a few metres behind. Passed a clear, tiny
lake before we pretty much got to the top and ordered a shandy and
bacon sandwich.
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After lunch back on to the bikes and
down we went. Stopped at the small lake for Nico to freeze his toes
off, but it's supposed to be healthy. A husky came up and had a dip,
but decided it was to cold, too. Back in the saddle and we zoomed
downhill, overtaking people everywhere. Reached the bottom and took
the main road pathway back towards Pfronten. Once there we had to
pass by DMG (largest firm in the area) to get back on track and then
it was a quick run through Rebichel again to Nesselwang.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/pfronten-vilser-alm-nesselwang" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">AllTrails</span></a> and pictures at
<span style="color: red;"><a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNNSfpx0HcFlJveby6CjnomcmCKRoqmy7woXbbKlegwi_SczHByNqzOeY4iTeu4Rw/photo/AF1QipOQ_56G_NeSAxUbQWLt9mfIa1slOc534hpxIcCz?key=b0hCcDZVSVFUbHZyY1c0VGlnMVpJdHVVbjh3RkR3" target="_blank">GooglePhotos</a></span>.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-60334145291468892012019-08-24T20:34:00.003+02:002019-08-24T20:34:29.758+02:00Vilstal Sunny Saturday<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Trk53btpVOg/XWGDIXiinTI/AAAAAAAAUa4/3lvgYQvcuk4n4yLdyrgRxwW0Zs9mLAmVgCKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1491" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Trk53btpVOg/XWGDIXiinTI/AAAAAAAAUa4/3lvgYQvcuk4n4yLdyrgRxwW0Zs9mLAmVgCKgBGAs/s320/DSCN4574.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
When Nico
and me biked last, the original plan had been to bike along the Vils
in to Austria, behind the Alpspitze and Buron and come back to
Nesselwang via Wertach. As that idea had failed due to us not being
early enough and the days getting shorter rapidly, we took a
different route (as mentioned in the last blog). But I had downloaded
the track in preparation and was actually really looking forwards to
it. So today I decided to do it (alone, as Nico is working). Had the
track, as I need them now. Four years away has sort of made me forget
a lot of the back-way paths, but going in to my biking history on
GPSies, I have them all documented.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Set of after buying a spare tube from
Jon (just in case) and headed for Kappel. A nice, sunny, warm day, so
there were a lot of other people out and about, too. After Kappel on
to Röfleuten and then up a mini steep hill there. Overtook some
e-bikers just before and joked with them that they would come past me
going uphill anyway. Didn't happen in the end, actually, as they had
two “normal” MTBs with them. Up the Vils valley I ended up
overtaking two more e-bikes (woho), but they didn't look like serious
bikers.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Turned off the main road going up the
valley after a while and stuck to a trail on the other side of the
river. Way more fun, even if it does take longer. Back on to the main
route near the Kalbelehof (where I got a really mystical looking
picture a few years ago) and towards Rehbach. Now, to get to Rehbach
you have to take a rather steep uphill route, as the valley seems to
peter out near there. Going up I was in Zone 5 on my heart rate watch
the entire time and once I reached the top I was rather winded and
had to take a short break. Still a bit more uphill, but not as steep.
The sun was out in full blast though and I was sweating buckets at
that point. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7m1-O-MT5U/XWGDK8Fb9xI/AAAAAAAAUa8/fRLOeseE1TIhlagObRTzSHh1fePbtat4wCKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4579.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7m1-O-MT5U/XWGDK8Fb9xI/AAAAAAAAUa8/fRLOeseE1TIhlagObRTzSHh1fePbtat4wCKgBGAs/s200/DSCN4579.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back on the main road to Jungholz and
towards the Sorgalm. AllgäuDSL has a mast standing there which I
hadn't seen yet and a few things about the hut itself have changed.
They now have a petting zoo with goats and a lot more kids toys
about. Hans has grown a beard since I last saw him, too, and now
looks like a picture book Alm owner. Had a water and biked on to
Wertach. Once in Wertach I still felt rather fit so biked up the
Elleg and surprised the Smiths during their lunch. All of them were
there now, as Jessica has just come back from a few months
backpacking in Australia. Swapped a few stories and hid away in the
house from the flies and some rain which came with the evening
thunderstorms. Once I said goodbye it was still dry, so I biked to
the top of the Elleg and then down in to Faistenoy and Haslach where
it dripped a bit. On to Nesselwang, a shower, some shopping and
dinner.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/pfronten-rofleuten-vilstal-sorgalpe-elleg-nesselwang" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">AllTracks</span></a> and some pictures at
<a href="https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOz3_qbsVn4F9w3X6T8XWyPI1tyQe3ypXQKMOkm/photo/AF1QipOwKrNWSwENnahgJpfnDX6y2rUutaF9-3h9po8V" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">GooglePhotos</span></a>.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-66972337789867910752019-08-21T21:23:00.001+02:002019-08-21T21:23:22.035+02:00Mishmash Backwards Seven Lakes Adventure<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7O-BsAJMIM/XV2Z8tRD-eI/AAAAAAAAUZM/tFUwMiIjJQAE6PE-uWMOL2pu_4xGXCYPQCKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="1600" height="262" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7O-BsAJMIM/XV2Z8tRD-eI/AAAAAAAAUZM/tFUwMiIjJQAE6PE-uWMOL2pu_4xGXCYPQCKgBGAs/s400/DSCN4568.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Had a
relatively short day at work today, but for some reason it felt like
it had dragged on. I was back at home early at three in the afternoon
and just as I had sat down, Nico texted if I wanted to go for a bike
ride. At first I declined, as I still had some stuff to do in
Kempten, but after receiving a sad smile face I relented (more or
less thought “screw it, biking will help today”).
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So after Kempten and pre-cooking dinner
Nico showed up just after six. The weather was a bit weird, with
clouds hanging around the whole day, looking like it was going to
pour down any moment. But it had held the whole day, so I didn't have
the rain gear on immediately. The next problem we faced was where to
go. Originally Nico suggested up the Vilstal to Jungholz and back
through Wertach. But considering the weather and the time of day it
was, we judged that we would be back in the dark again, so we ended
up doing a mish-mash, backwards seven lakes tour. Passed through
Rebichel first of, where Nico tried to pet an (uncooperative) cat.
Next, I really wanted to see the Schlossweiher but after that Nico
pretty much had the say on where to go. Tried nudging him along
somewhere else a few times, but he won out in the end (only cause I
lost at a game of rock, papers, scissors whilst we were on the road).
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Biked past the Schwaltenweiher and I
pet a few calf's, before a donkey eaad so loud somewhere that Nico
nearly fell off the bike.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back to Nesselwang via the Atlesee and
in to a hot shower.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/schlossweiher-schwaltenweiher-atlesee-nesselwang" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">AllTracks</span></a> and pictures at
<a href="https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOz3_qbsVn4F9w3X6T8XWyPI1tyQe3ypXQKMOkm/photo/AF1QipNAhLCztJMx0DaIHt0slsW5bS_6ooSDx15Wch9P" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Google Pictures</span></a>.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-22003823209345714432019-08-16T22:23:00.002+02:002019-08-16T22:26:14.447+02:00Falkenstein Mates Biking<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Bfk6HDz_LA/XVcQiVoRDJI/AAAAAAAAUYA/r8qbal5-VJcpZJdqKx2sQScq3euAoZVGgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG-20190816-WA0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Bfk6HDz_LA/XVcQiVoRDJI/AAAAAAAAUYA/r8qbal5-VJcpZJdqKx2sQScq3euAoZVGgCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG-20190816-WA0003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
After nearly
five years, Nico and me managed a good old evening bike tour
together. Last time I reckon we had biked to Venice. Nothing as long
today, as we started relatively late and the days are getting
shorter. After getting ready and the heart-watch up and running I
waited a while for Nico to show up. He took a bit longer this time,
as his bike hadn't been used in a while and needed the tires inflated
once again (and a few other things). The original plan had been to
bike to the Alatsee (and maybe swim) but as the sun was already
starting to go down and we hadn't even left yet we decided on the
Falkenstein instead.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6KRSpgdiE3w/XVcQiqqIjQI/AAAAAAAAUYE/R5MgblymTIQ_QhKY_o25y04Ko7F-oZUdwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG-20190816-WA0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6KRSpgdiE3w/XVcQiqqIjQI/AAAAAAAAUYE/R5MgblymTIQ_QhKY_o25y04Ko7F-oZUdwCLcBGAs/s200/IMG-20190816-WA0002.jpg" width="200" /></a>Of to Pfronten some how, as in the past
years I have forgotten all the back tracks. Was noticeable, as we
took a weird way through Pfronten. I knew that there was a way to get
from down town Pfronten up to the Falkenstein past the swimming pool
somewhere. I had biked it with the group at some point (yea, yea, was
probably six years ago or something like that). Managed to get up via
a staircase next to the swimming pool and then followed the road up
to the old castle and hotel near to it. Took a while getting up, but
it was at a nice pace and the both of us could have a bit of a chat.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Reached the top and got our warm things
on nearly instantly. The sun had gone down and it was cooling down
rapidly. After a picture and some food, back down in the dusk.
Reached the bottom and with Nico's bike armed with a light we
navigated through Pfronten to Rebichel and the fog covered fields
back to Nesselwang, where a warm shower was waiting. Nico still had
the steep hill up to Maria Rain to look forwards to, though.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=dzaaxjfrumywsveg" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a>.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-19272674652577866012019-06-01T17:40:00.003+02:002019-06-01T17:44:33.608+02:00Five Year Alpspitze Interlude<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJ1zuuc-MNs/XPKcSUfu2oI/AAAAAAAAUK4/8EHRHlzCRsELIzGP-HZZFvVltaNa7ZorgCKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4561.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="1600" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJ1zuuc-MNs/XPKcSUfu2oI/AAAAAAAAUK4/8EHRHlzCRsELIzGP-HZZFvVltaNa7ZorgCKgBGAs/s400/DSCN4561.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
So today I
tackled a worrying aspect that has been bugging me for a while. In
the last four years I haven't biked uphill for any prolonged time, so
I'm a bit terrified that I can't really do any more “proper”
mountain biking. So to see how things are I planned to ride up the
Alpspitze. The day was perfect for it. Blue skies and a slight breeze
now and then.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After having breakfast with Mum, Daniel
and Annalena I went back home and got changed. On the bike and up
along the stream that comes down past Maria Trost. As I'm still using
the Polar Computer to measure my pulse I was a bit downtrodden to see
it shoot straight up to zone four, but I didn't feel to different to
what I remember how it felt like biking up the Alpspitze. So I just
carried on and tried to keep the heart rate as low as I could. I was
pleasantly surprised to find out that I wasn't running out of steam
immediately at the bottom, but I still stopped for a drink just as
the forest finished. Back in the saddle and then came the section
that, in the biker group, used to be refereed to as heart-brake hill.
Still deserves that name, as I shot up to zone five (which you
shouldn't really do outside marathons) but as the hill isn't to long
I was only in that zone for 30 seconds. Felt it in my legs and the
rest of the body, though. Then along the nice straight bit halfway up
the mountain.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As the day was such a nice one and it
was the weekend, I wasn't surprised to see a lot of other people out
and about. Mostly walkers, but a few bikers, too. Wasn't overtaken by
any, so my ego wasn't damaged. Met a few coming down and most of them
had e-bikes. Only two others that whole day were on “old” bikes. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CSMEsJ2s3Ak/XPKcVrJbvlI/AAAAAAAAUK8/8smnSbp6EEAnemc8LptRJuvH2WTgYNAGACKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4562.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1600" height="116" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CSMEsJ2s3Ak/XPKcVrJbvlI/AAAAAAAAUK8/8smnSbp6EEAnemc8LptRJuvH2WTgYNAGACKgBGAs/s200/DSCN4562.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After the forest came the more open
area. Last time I had been there was in winter taking my best group
of ski students down. Happy I can bike up it now, but there is still
some snow on the side of the paths. Biking uphill was accompanied by
the odd shriek in the distant, as the zip-line from the top is
running at capacity (I think). Reached the Kappler Alm turn of which
I wanted to continue down along, but decided that the short bit up to
Sportheim Böck could still be managed. Reached it shortly after and
had a small chat with some tourists who thought it was madness that I
had biked up the Alpspitze (just the Alpspitze! Imagine if they'd
seen what I biked a few years ago ^^).
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Then the more fun part, going downhill.
The Kappler Alm track is still as dodgy as ever, but no flat tires or
flips this time. Then down, down, down past the Hündelskopfhütte
and in to Kappel. The tree climbing spot was flooded with people (as
was Sportheim Böck before) but the Kappler Alm seemed rather relaxed
on people. In Kappel I decided I still didn't have enough and was
ecstatic that the Alpspitze hadn't beat me and I could still do it,
so I headed out to Pfronten Roffleuten. Turned off wrong in a field
and slogged through half a meter of grass after which I checked if
there were any ticks on my legs. None there so on past the
Kögelweiher crossing and back past the deer farm to Nesselwang.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Really happy that I can still call
myself a mountain biker and just have to get a bit of stamina back
again.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=helmohctjmngksot" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a> and some pictures at
<a href="https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOz3_qbsVn4F9w3X6T8XWyPI1tyQe3ypXQKMOkm/photo/AF1QipMbKws-TVzPUwokBauLZgUmLXw5CDx3YzQfHbiM" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Google</span></a>.
</div>
<br />Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-48426001406163467542019-05-26T20:01:00.003+02:002019-05-26T20:34:42.772+02:00Cloudy Hängesteeg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BGNg7mP43II/XOrcE2pB7LI/AAAAAAAAUHA/bfRBTxv6oec_IuaceXglFfa9wBgussoOwCKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4555.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BGNg7mP43II/XOrcE2pB7LI/AAAAAAAAUHA/bfRBTxv6oec_IuaceXglFfa9wBgussoOwCKgBGAs/s320/DSCN4555.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Today saw a
bit of a convoluted sort of plan. About one and a half weeks ago I
started my new job for the summer (more or less a glorified
lawnmower, but pay is good) and have been rather knackered after
every day. I had told myself over and over again the last few weeks
that I have to get back in to biking and looking at a few of the old
blog entries, I was hyping up my motivation (and depression) about
how much I had biked five years ago. So yesterday I agreed to bike to
Brian for a cuppa with mum later in the day. Waking up in the morning
the sky was overcast and I wasn't to sure if it would hold until the
evening. And as biking up the Elleg usually isn't to much off a
workout I decided to go biking in the morning and then in the
afternoon to Brian's with mum.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So, got the bike and me ready and then
it was off to the Hängesteeg. Haven't been there in years (duh!) and
remember it being a rather nice bike with lots of different views
(and I don't think I'll manage the Alpspitze yet). About a kilometre
down the road I stopped and put on my warm jumper as the wind was
proving rather chilly and it was only going to get colder in
Wertachtal. Along the Wertach jumping over puddles and splashing
through mud and towards the Bischhofstein. The actual path along the
Wertach at the Stich turn-off had been “closed” (one, not
official looking sign) to the public because of a landslide, but I
carried on anyway. Further along I found out that the landslide had
been cleared.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the Bischhofstein I then turned up
towards Wildberg and was in for the longest climb. Didn't turn out to
bad as I still was fresh and zoomed up before biking through the
hills around Wildberg to the Hängesteeg. Getting down to the
Hängesteeg was interesting, though, as the metal ramps were
extremely slippery. Managed with only a small slide here and there
and carried on up to the main road towards Rückholz, getting cheered
on by a family walking along the same track.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once at the main road I followed a
short detour to Rückholz that usually takes you on the Sieben Seen
tour and after that through Hirschbühl around the back of the
Rückholzer Steig and over the motorway. Back in to Nesselwang
through Schneidbach and happy to be home as the last five kilometres
had my legs and stamina slowly going down.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In the evening the weather still didn't
look to much better and I had come down with a slight cough, so I
asked mum if we could drive instead of biking.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=xjrgrqljexksphss" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a> and some pictures at <a href="https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOz3_qbsVn4F9w3X6T8XWyPI1tyQe3ypXQKMOkm" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Google</span></a>.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-47329718593148303612019-04-04T13:37:00.001+02:002019-04-04T13:42:39.344+02:00First Time Biking after Four Years<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KyXTVcCTPh8/XKXsVuFkm2I/AAAAAAAAT9I/Vg7iqPl3FdMXQ5Sjcnm5X-T2NXqPWegRACLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN4542-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1600" height="260" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KyXTVcCTPh8/XKXsVuFkm2I/AAAAAAAAT9I/Vg7iqPl3FdMXQ5Sjcnm5X-T2NXqPWegRACLcBGAs/s400/DSCN4542-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So after a Winter of ski instructing,
spring has shown up again (sort of, snow is predicted for later
tonight again). This means the bikes can come out again and this year
I have another piece of technology I want to test out. It is by no
means new, but I've never used one before. I'm talking about a heart
rate monitor that you can wear whilst doing sport. Rather a lot of
people around tend to use them and mum had one lying around she
hasn't used in years. Not for lack of sport on her part though, it's
just the watch is a technological difficult thing to use it would
seem (took me a few hours to get it sorted out) and it does to much
of which she doesn't need.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyway, bike out and ready. Long things
on straight from the start. The warm weather from the sun over the
past few days has passed and the condition has swung around to being
overcast and three degrees. Originally I had wanted to bike around
the Grüntensee, but a short run on an open flat section changed my
plan to biking along the wind protected Wertachtal. Heart rate
monitor working fine, not uncomfortable or anything and it is really
interesting to see what your heart is doing. According to all the
graphs and tests I'd done before, I'm a rather healthy individual,
although I don't feel like it. Once up and out of the valley the
temperature dropped due to the wind blowing occasional. In Stich I
turned of to Maria Rain and planned to go back down in to Wertachtal,
but that way is closed due to logging as I found out at the church.
Carried on along the main road over open field with every part of me
getting colder. Crossed the Wertachtal bridge with not to much
traffic going on and returned home to get all the data out of the
computer to see how I did.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=gvpfqpyohemsdmyb" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a>.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-72287161773777841002017-11-05T04:22:00.002+01:002017-11-05T04:25:37.390+01:00Gore Bay & Paua Hunting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--ezSpHX67yw/Wf6Dn5F3U4I/AAAAAAAAS48/mTfLfv_1MAA9pU7l-AFH-aT4oMQmIfeyACLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--ezSpHX67yw/Wf6Dn5F3U4I/AAAAAAAAS48/mTfLfv_1MAA9pU7l-AFH-aT4oMQmIfeyACLcBGAs/s400/DSC_1128.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
In the last week I have been moved from Kaikoura to a small beach
town south of most of the road sites. A place called Gore Bay, with
it's main town being Cheviot. Well, “main” may be a bit of a far
stretch. Cheviot probably has 300 people living it at most. The
switch in location was due to the way to work taking ages. Cheviot
and Kaikoura are about the same distance to the job, but not passing
through all the roadworks means we save a lot of time. What sometimes
took two and a half hours now can be done in a consistent half an
hour. The new place is really good, too. <br />
Anyway, in Gore Bay I
now had entire free day this weekend, after spending yesterday
shopping in Christchurch for groceries and watching a movie. Managing
to pry myself out of the comfy bed in the morning and after some
breakfast and exercise I set of on a walk to explore the surrounding
area. There is a track leading up in to the limestone hills
surrounding Gore Bay (forgot the name of the trail) and I decided to
have a bit of an explore. The sign pointing out the track mentioned
that the walk would take two hours, so I had all the food and water
with me for a lunch at the top. A lot of the trail seems to be in
dire need for repairs, as some of the pathways close to the stream
running through look to be in threat of collapsing in to the stream
bed. But they held me so they can probably hold nearly anybody.
Hiking along the bottom area of the track I came to a section which
took me through the stream, but it had fanned out and created a kind
of swampy area overgrown by high grass. Initial thought was that this
could be a risky area to traverse, but then I reconsidered my
instincts from Australia that there would be no such things as snakes
in there (snakes love those conditions, perfect for hunting
amphibians). Climbing up I got to the top in approx. half an hour. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Q3rHqg9z0A/Wf6Dmd6fwmI/AAAAAAAAS44/y8GLa04OOrIQvTsaqQKNHtrsBWGgHx33QCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="112" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Q3rHqg9z0A/Wf6Dmd6fwmI/AAAAAAAAS44/y8GLa04OOrIQvTsaqQKNHtrsBWGgHx33QCEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1131.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
At
the top with the view overlooking Gore Bay and the hills towards the
inland I meet two Kiwis who were in Gore Bay for a short weekend
vacation. Had a bit of a chat to them, mainly about the work going on
on the roads and rails to Kaikoura. Not much later back down, which
was a lot faster than going up. All in all the two hour return trail
took about 45 min. Not satisfied yet, I headed to the beach and along
that. Seeing as the tide was out about three dozen people were on and
around the beach, clambering over rocks and out in the shallows with
wetsuits on. Pretty obvious what they were after, the New Zealand
renown paua. Gore bay seems to have pretty large specimens of them,
according to all the ones on display throughout the beach town. Shoes
and socks of I decided to try my luck, too, but at the end of it all
(after clambering over rocks and kelp) my search was rewarded with a
moderate sized shell of a paua. No food inside it, though, so I'll
have to try another day.
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once the tide started
coming back in again I was back to the house for a bit of a read and
writing the blog.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Length: 6.5km</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Time: 1 hour 45 min. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-76909051840219609262017-10-30T04:44:00.000+01:002017-10-30T04:47:45.484+01:00Kaikoura Peninsula Walk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldXEtjs_jIU/WfagpnbE4II/AAAAAAAAS30/nqV5OMPiy7s0tlek_AiYTTHmcK1gRsriwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="1600" height="252" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldXEtjs_jIU/WfagpnbE4II/AAAAAAAAS30/nqV5OMPiy7s0tlek_AiYTTHmcK1gRsriwCLcBGAs/s400/DSC_1121.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Well, today’s plan was another walk. This time I didn't want to
send my poor car through the gruelling track to the bottom of Mt.
Fyffe. To much of that and it won't have any shock absorbers left to
carry on driving.<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So today I decided to
do the Kaikoura Peninsula walk. Last time I was here I also did that,
but today promised to be much nicer weather (again). Setting off, it
was actually a bit to hot for my liking, as I started sweating
straight away. But, well, summer isn't like winter. If it's to hot
you just have to suck it up, as there comes a point were you can just
not take any clothes of any more (especially in public).
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The walk to the start
of the Peninsula track took me through a bit of the town, past some
historical sites and a roadside shop selling cooked crayfish. Might
have to try that at some point, never had crayfish before. The
beginning of the actual walk is where a decent amount of seals come
to laze around on the rocks in the sun, so on good days there are a
lot of other people there taking pictures of them. As I've already
seen a fair share of seals I skipped that part and carried on
straight to the walking track. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z1R66zYYBec/Wfagshibz_I/AAAAAAAAS34/q3BWZdsXNMkOcZAdpsRvqhZLQfZjtrxowCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1600" height="104" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z1R66zYYBec/Wfagshibz_I/AAAAAAAAS34/q3BWZdsXNMkOcZAdpsRvqhZLQfZjtrxowCEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1122.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Up on the hills you walk along a mowed
grass track taking you to different points explaining different
things about the history and environment. Down bellow I could hear
seals calling out and I think most of them would have been the young
ones from what I know and could catch from the sounds. There are some
tracks down closer to the colonies, but I decide to carry on and
after an hours walk ended up in the South Bay of Kaikoura. The town
has also expanded in to here and today it was especially busy, due to
a horse race being on. With my unpredictable allergic reactions to
horses (seems to only happen in spring around said animal) I stayed
clear of that and went back up the hills to get to the town centre
and the accommodation I have there. Quick two hour walk with a lunch
break in between, a lot of black birds hanging around and not to many
people.
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Distance: 10.5km</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Time: 2 hours</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-36819162315869083862017-10-29T02:49:00.000+02:002017-10-29T03:17:48.235+01:00Mount Fyffe, Kaikoura<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gU-hkTIfrRQ/WfU6EQlZgTI/AAAAAAAAS3Q/clcyt0yclS0jOtq7aERuuFS1wZ734i2BwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1600" height="221" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gU-hkTIfrRQ/WfU6EQlZgTI/AAAAAAAAS3Q/clcyt0yclS0jOtq7aERuuFS1wZ734i2BwCLcBGAs/s400/DSC_1114.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Quite a bit has happened since the last blog update. So much for
keeping things updated more regularly...</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
All throughout
September we worked at the ski field, with not as many closed days as
at the start of the season. Had some fun times on and of the field
with most of the staff, be it skiing or hanging out.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Then came October, with
the last week of the season being the holidays of New Zealand.
Considering that the holidays were in full swing, the weather did not
really cooperate. We had one really nice day on a Saturday and the
rest of the week was a mess of cloud and rain, even a bit of snow at
some points. The last day was one of the most interesting by far.
Standard procedure every year at Porters is, that at the end of the
last day all the staff help pack up the area. This means that all the
fences, all the spring boxes of the Tow-bars and all the crash mats
get tidied up. We finished all that at about six o'clock in the
evening, after having closed down the lifts at about two PM. Mark and
me had some of the best jobs, as we were on T2 and T3. The weather
was absolutely horrific at the bottom and at the top it was blowing a
snowstorm. So much in fact that the Tow-bars had to be closed to the
public, so ski patrol could do avalanche work. Means Mark and me got
a few free runs in on the safe stretches and it was really good snow.
A nice finish for the end. Later whilst packing up the spring boxes
at T3 one of the ski patrols released a small avalanche, which, had
it carried on to far, might have gotten us whilst we were working.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day we had the
end of season party. After the whole staff devoured and entire lamb
on a spit we had a bit of a party at the Longframe (workers hut) up
on the mountain.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A few days later the
whole Benmore crew went for a last day in Christchurch. Thanks to
Nicks organisation in Sheffield we ended up doing some climbing in a
forest where they had set up routes through the trees. Doing that I
noticed how unfit I have become. Either the ones in Pfronten are
easier or I just haven't kept up my exercise (I reckon later).
Concluding that we (after some heavy debating) went and had an all
you can eat meal in one of the restaurants around the town, before
heading out to Hanses parents place for a last few drinks. After the
goodbyes, Mark and me returned to Benmore, and so ended a fun few
months at Porters. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JAtcXmJjRLQ/WfU6C8vO12I/AAAAAAAAS3M/ScskOb6YGGAejTEDVWfku76Whjm5BhFuwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1600" height="99" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JAtcXmJjRLQ/WfU6C8vO12I/AAAAAAAAS3M/ScskOb6YGGAejTEDVWfku76Whjm5BhFuwCEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1115.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A week later I got a
call from Dean (my boss at a hay contracting job) if I was available
(yes) and if I wanted to go work up near Kaikoura. The town had
suffered a severe earthquake about a year ago, and the recovery works
are still under way and will be so for a long time. As I am still
saving up money to go sailing with Dad once he sets of, I agreed and
later the next day saw me driving a tractor up to Kaikoura to help
with transporting stuff in a trailer where trucks can't go. The first
three weeks was pretty much just work and getting stuff sorted out
(inductions, picking up my car from Sheffield, etc.) but today was
the first day I actually managed to go out and do something.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Last time I had been to
Kaikoura I'd done a walk up one of the mountains, called Mt. Fyffe.
The weather was not the best that time and I was also battling a
cold, but needed something to do.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So here I was again,
this time felling healthy and a nice day out and about (also testing
out a new calorie tracker). The drive there went across some gravel
roads which I don't think my car enjoys to much and after having a
fast change of clothes at the bottom in the car park I started
walking up. Man, am I out of shape, but I still managed to get
further than last time. I had lunch at a lookout point a fair way up
and then continued further up for another 20 minutes to see the other
side of the mountain. Going all the way up is slightly out of area of
comfort right now, as the top turns in to rather alpine terrain.
About three hours from the bottom there is a hut you can stay in and
the top is about five hours from the bottom up. So after snapping a
few pictures just after the lookout point I turned round and went
back down. This is the part where I miss having a bike, but the
gradient is rather step in the first half. Still, my legs noticed the
downwards walk more than usual.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once back in the car
and heading for Kaikoura I met James on the way (a work colleague)
and had a wee chat. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-28247325306909427162017-08-28T02:00:00.000+02:002017-09-02T02:01:55.254+02:00Craigieburn Skiing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yVWCf55zTOc/Wan00zecBKI/AAAAAAAASpA/B73E2ex36WINgzLOQMHR2SRP_8s2Z1DKACLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yVWCf55zTOc/Wan00zecBKI/AAAAAAAASpA/B73E2ex36WINgzLOQMHR2SRP_8s2Z1DKACLcBGAs/s400/DSC_1067.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Sitting down and thinking on it for a while I can think of a reason
why most people, including me, seem to not be able to keep their
blogs updated after a few months of travelling. As I have travelled
for the last two and a half years, it has become a normal state for
me now. I no longer have a constant place I live at or extraordinary
things happening in the area I'm settled in, as I tend to travel and
stay at those places that many take of work for to visit and spend a
lot of their earnings on. For me this has all become semi-normal, so
not something I would write in a blog which I reserve for special
occasions.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Thinking about this, I
will tray and get in to writing more often again, as in the years to
come where ever I may settle down, I will most likely regret not
writing about all the things I did whilst younger.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On to the happenings
then...</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A week ago my flatmate
Mark said he wanted to go to Craigieburn for a ski. A bit of
back-story on Craigieburn is in order I think. Most places in the
world you here about skiing are giant ski fields, owned and operated
by corporates that have a lot of money and tourism interest in their
areas. Hidden away in the Southern Alps of New Zealand you'll
occasionally find another type of field, the ski club fields. These
are small, sometimes family run businesses that have not got large
developed infrastructure or even good access roads, but they are what
New Zealand skiers like and love. On busy days you'll find even these
small fields won't have a lot going on. Craigieburn is somewhat
famous from what I have heard. Our neighbour and work college, Luke,
mentioned that he even heard stories about that club field as far as
Canada. A quick video look on YouTube found some people saying it can
be the poor man's heli-skiing. So being only a few kilometres from
Porters we had to check it out at some point.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The day Mark and me
picked to go was probably the worst day for weather, but it was the
only day we had and we took it. Driving there we passed the Porters
turn of and carried on through Castle Hill, a village rather popular
with climbers due to the boulders placed around the area by glaciers
that have now receded. Even to a non climber like me it still looked
like one of those typical New Zealand pictures and I'll have to get
back there with my camera some time in the next few months.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After passing the club
fields of Cheeseman and Broken River we turned of at Craigieburn and
took a drive up through the native forest underneath the club field.
Something nearly all ski areas in New Zealand miss is forests. Not
that this is necessary a bad thing, but my personal taste rather
enjoys trees and woodlands to go down through. Most likely a
preference from my years growing up in Nesselwang.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After leaving the car
in it's designated place near a shed with a generator running for the
accommodations and a tractor with a snow plough parked out the front,
Mark and me went to get our tickets (at a slight discount due to
working on another field) and then returned with our gear, all set
and ready to go. The next stage at Craigieburn was to work out how
rope tows work. Rope tows are the lifts most club fields use, they
are cheaper to operate than T-bars and Chairlifts, but it requires
more skill on side of the customer to use. Both of us were Newbies in
that area, so we had a ski patrol/instructor show us how things are
done. I won't explain the full workings behind the rope tows, as you
can most likely find videos on the internet showing what they are. To
round things up, it took me three tries to get going, but the
experience of being challenged by a new lift after skiing for twenty
years was refreshing. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_tnhcAxFstE/Wan0zH38mPI/AAAAAAAASo8/9qAj5WhTjT8R8v-7ecFC1hXkGV6vEuSCACEwYBhgL/s1600/trailmap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1600" height="129" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_tnhcAxFstE/Wan0zH38mPI/AAAAAAAASo8/9qAj5WhTjT8R8v-7ecFC1hXkGV6vEuSCACEwYBhgL/s200/trailmap.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Finishing the lifts
both of us where buffed by winds blowing through the rocky spires of
the top, all alone on the ski field. Talking to the ski patrol lower
down, we had found out that at that point we were the only people on
the mountain, apart from staff. The first run down promised to be an
interesting day, as the conditions were so bad and challenging that
it was funny. Heavy snow that barely let you turn, an unknown ski
terrain, strong and gusty winds and an ever changing weather pattern
(sun, cloud, rain, fog, snow, etc. We had it all) ensured that the
day was an interesting one. The stops in the upper lodge of the
mountain were a must and a nice dry spot to get ready for another
excursion out in the elements. Over the day we were joined by a few
other people, but all in all the total amount of customers on the
mountain could be counted on two hands. Later on in the day, after
skiing through chutes and staying just above the rocks buried in the
snow, conditions got even more interesting. The top 50 metres were
awesome skiing, underneath that line the fall of heavy snow ensured
that the slope turned to glue, stopping even the most die hard
attempts at picking up speed downhill. Still, everyone was laughing
and having a great time. Mark torpedoed the snow at one point and
later on in the day we got close to being blown of the top. We didn't
manage to walk where we intended to go, but waited things out, as the
wind was so strong we could not go against it.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once the late afternoon
pulled in we called it quits, with a long last run down a chute on
the side of the mountain to get us down back to the car. Whilst
returning our gear we also had a quick drink at the bar and talked to
some of the employees there. Most where Canadian and American,
something which is in stark contrast to Australia. Most Northern
Americans seem to prefer New Zealand (similar climate?).
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After a drink it was
back home to get all our gear dried out for work again, but I could
feel the onset of a flue getting to me. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-56655394181634403412017-08-22T01:49:00.000+02:002017-09-02T01:51:08.608+02:00Porters Powder & Lake Ohau Skiing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QRbfUW4FL50/WanyLDEPRQI/AAAAAAAASoo/-D3CGFIK4E4bTVCeldgVtMIYvMvOWoGzgCLcBGAs/s1600/20170815_134449_012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QRbfUW4FL50/WanyLDEPRQI/AAAAAAAASoo/-D3CGFIK4E4bTVCeldgVtMIYvMvOWoGzgCLcBGAs/s400/20170815_134449_012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="text-align: center;">Once again a long time without writing anything in my blog. The last
few weeks have seen me working the most time, but also getting a lot
of time off, as the ski field was often closed due to bad weather.
Most of the time this was due to wind, but we have also had a lot of
snow over the last few weeks which is pretty unusual for New Zealand,
apparently. Working has been rather interesting, actually. It seems
we liftys have on of the best jobs on the mountain, as we can see a
lot of funny stuff happening to the customers and we are outside a
lot. What some people walk away from is surprising (collision with a
lift tower, face plant in to a wooden fence, etc.) but sometime
things don't work out well. We've had a few helicopter calls going
through, but that is the case with a ski field. There are a lot of
people I try to stay well away from, and even as an employee the
mountain can be an unsafe place. One lifty had a border slip down the
lift and hit him in the side of his knee and today another one got
his shoe sliced up by a renegade snowboard. Anyway, so far all of us
have survived (for the most part, but that story has nothing to do
with the operations on the mountain).</span><br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Last Tuesday we had a
powder day and I fortunately had the day of, so I hired a pair of
skies from the rentals which were built for powder skiing and went
out for the day with Hans mostly, but also a quick ride with Nick,
Logan (NMIT guy), Chris and Flo. The best run of the day I had was
coming down Bluff Face, with an unbroken powder line, being the fifth
one down. The unusual circumstances with the snow is that New Zealand
doesn't normally have this much. Last year quite a few runs were
closed the whole season, where as this year everything has been open
on a nearly consistent rate. Still, even this amount of snow isn't
really enough for me, I'll have to keep my eyes on Canada in a few
years time. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vmeH5C03ZjY/WanyRIRzf4I/AAAAAAAASos/MuPbZqgo62g4WWlJmGXs4Gy77z32vAx1wCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSC_1062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="112" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vmeH5C03ZjY/WanyRIRzf4I/AAAAAAAASos/MuPbZqgo62g4WWlJmGXs4Gy77z32vAx1wCEwYBhgL/s200/DSC_1062.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Yesterday was kind of a
hard choice where to go. Nick, Hans and Celine (ticket office Kiwi)
were heading for Queenstown, skiing in Ohau yesterday and heading for
Cardrona today. I really wanted to get to Cardrona, just because of
the size of it. But they weren’t heading there until today, on
which I am working. In the morning I was still undecided if I should
go to Porters for the day or head down to Ohau with them. The journey
to Ohau is four hours long. So I'd be driving for four hours, skiing
for four and the driving back again. In the morning it was raining
here at Porters and the top T-Bars seemed closed in the morning (in
the end they were closed the entire day) so I headed south for four
hours with the others. We passed Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki before
we got to Lake Ohau. The journey up to the ski field had to be done
in Celines car, as mine is only two wheel drive and I have no chains.
That's the interesting part about New Zealand, too. No ski field has
a town at the base of it. All of the ski field have a track to drive
up. Probably due to the snow line being so high up.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first hour at Ohau
was mediocre at best. The clouds clung to the mountains, so we had
nearly no view what so ever. After the first hour of exploring in fog
the clouds broke up and we ended up having a nice view down to Lake
Ohau with the barren mountains of the Southern Alps around us. At one
point they even opened the ridge line which we hiked up to, and had a
stunning view of the surrounding area. Throughout the rest of the day
we continued to explore the small family run mountain, which
according to the staff was a fairly busy day. Compared to Porters
there was next to nothing going on.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the end of the day
we headed back down and I said goodbye for now to the other three.
They headed down to Queenstown and I drove back up to Springfield.
Along the way I rang Grandma, Mum and Lesley to wish Grandma a Happy
Birthday and to chat a bit of the drive away. Back at Springfield I
popped in to the pub, were most of the Porter workers were having an
evening drink to say hi before heading home to get some well earned
sleep. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-70610455297714495302017-06-29T08:39:00.000+02:002017-07-02T08:50:39.441+02:00Skiing Mt. Hutt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zht5wH86AaQ/WViXpZkdrdI/AAAAAAAASiU/QRxhYd9Yi6ERE6-aVnrev1SYJ1V9zmFjwCKgBGAs/s1600/DSCN4415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1600" height="203" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zht5wH86AaQ/WViXpZkdrdI/AAAAAAAASiU/QRxhYd9Yi6ERE6-aVnrev1SYJ1V9zmFjwCKgBGAs/s400/DSCN4415.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
The ski season is finally upon us and we had the staff training on
the mountain at Porters the past weekend. All in all the entire
experience was actually rather fun, considering that training is
mostly boring in nearly ever job. But this one saw us meting pretty
much the entire crew on the mountain and getting out on the mountain
to have a look at how the lifts operate. At the end of the three days
all of us had a good idea of what to expect and what is expected.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next week saw us
settling in to our house at Benmore station and meeting all the
others that I'd be living with in that time, too. We have Mark, an
English guy I have stayed with at the hostel before, Nick (American
from California), Lena (German), Flo (German), Chris (German),
Gershon (err, don't really know, lot's of places), Hans (Kiwi) and
me. The house we are in is really good to. We had a fire and TV
installed whilst we were there and the heat the fire puts out is just
ridiculous. The owners are also friendly, all being farming kiwis and
looks like we got a good deal here (plus we are on the way to the
Porters ski field and don't need to use our own cars).
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Between going to
Christchurch rather regularly and buying shopping and other gear a
few of us managed to get a bit of skiing in on the our neighbouring
mountain of Mt. Hutt. Due to location reasons they already have
enough snow to open, but not enough for all runs. Most of the others
managed to go to the mountain fairly soon, but the day all of them
went my ski gear had not yet arrived from Germany (thanks to mum for
that). They arrived the day they were all gone, and after a few
parties to meet up with our other colleagues and a Rugby game between
the All Blacks (NZ) and The Lions (UK), Hans, Lena and me managed to
get a ski in to Mt. Hutt.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Awesome day to start of
with it, too. Most of the Canterbury Plains was covered in a thick
layer of clouds and Mt Hutt was sticking out of it. So for the better
part of the day we skied above the clouds. Well “skied”. I'm the
only one of the group that skied that day, as Hans and Lena both
snowboard. But after some awesome views and fun carving the day was
coming to an end.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back at the house most
of the others left for a party again (bit to soon for me and I was
knackered from skiing) and Nick and me were the only ones left at the
place. Shortly after it was bed for me, but a brilliant first skiing
in New Zealand. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0Mount Hutt, Canterbury 7782, Neuseeland-43.4716665 171.52644409999994-67.001257999999993 130.21785009999994 -19.942075 -147.16496190000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-77687386970961240292017-05-23T00:25:00.000+02:002017-05-24T00:26:57.137+02:00Taylors Mistake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lu5MniRGvAI/WSS2zodRW6I/AAAAAAAASfY/Wia4ttd0I30x4Uo90xukiRa92FyuVv8qACLcB/s1600/DSCN4312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lu5MniRGvAI/WSS2zodRW6I/AAAAAAAASfY/Wia4ttd0I30x4Uo90xukiRa92FyuVv8qACLcB/s400/DSCN4312.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Another day, another walk. This time to the outer end of the mountain
range I have been hiking on so far. Izzy left for a road trip by bus
today. As it left from the airport early in the morning I offered to
drive her. No bus ran to the airport at that time and as I do have a
vehicle now it was no problem. Also the airport isn't to far away
either.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After dropping her of
and returning to the hostel I had some breakfast and then got a few
things sorted out on the laptop. The weather had been predicted to
lighten up in the afternoon. It wasn't raining, but the clouds were
thick with little wind. Means that the temperatures were also higher
then yesterday.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The clouds still hadn't
lifted once I had finished lunch, so I packed a snack and set of
towards Taylors Mistake. The small holiday town is situated at the
inlet for the Lyttelton harbour, so it was a bit of a drive. In the
end I had to cross a part of the small range near to the coast to get
to the start of the hike on the other side. Driving up I noticed the
rather heavy weight of my car, but it got me over no problem. At the
top I had a pretty good view in to Christchurch, so I parked the car
and set up my camera in a small park. After the time lapse had
finished I packed up and carried on to Taylors Mistake. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once arrived in the
town I set of along the coastline. To be honest, most of the track
didn't feel very New Zealandish, it looked very much like Scotland.
Probably the reason a lot of English settled here in the first place.
The trail was nice, a well gravelled stretch and I didn't meet to
many other people (Tuesday). Saw more sheep than other people. At the
tip of the of the hill range a few fortifications had been set up in
world war two to deter the Germans from getting close. No idea what
interest they had in New Zealand nearly 80 years ago. Even if the
Germans lost then, New Zealand (and by extension Australia) is/are
now overrun by young Germans anyway.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Walked around the hill
and got back on to Summit road which runs all along the top. On all
the walk I have done so far, I've had to cross it. Once I reached the
Taylors Mistake again I had to go back down to the beach to get to my
car. A bit of a steep walk, but nothing to bad. Some surfers were
trying their best in the waves washing on to the black beach of the
town and a few did manage to catch some waves.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back at the car I
headed of towards the hostel again, but stopped along the way for
another time lapse and some photo shots of the sunset lighting up the
sky. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0Taylors Mistake Bay, Sumner, Christchurch 8081, Neuseeland-43.5855288 172.78824269999996-43.5970308 172.76807269999995 -43.5740268 172.80841269999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-6236274726503598852017-05-22T23:30:00.000+02:002017-05-22T23:40:36.581+02:00Witch Hill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7gowq8BYboE/WSNYlcGpUwI/AAAAAAAASew/Q12SqsiIeMM45nmjTAFGQJgAQ4O4KvbUACLcB/s1600/IMG_20170522_113928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7gowq8BYboE/WSNYlcGpUwI/AAAAAAAASew/Q12SqsiIeMM45nmjTAFGQJgAQ4O4KvbUACLcB/s400/IMG_20170522_113928.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Last night when I came back, Shane and me had a new room mate. Izzy,
a young woman from England. We got talking a bit and found out that both of
us had nothing planned for today, so we decided to do a hike
together. Most of the others in the hostel had to work as it was
Monday, so in the morning after breakfast and making some sandwiches
for lunch, the both of us headed out towards the mountains on the
other side of Christchurch.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've sort of come to
not liking Christchurch that much. I'm sure it is an interesting city
for people who like bar crawls and history of earth quake stricken
city's, but for one as me that enjoys the rural areas more, it just
isn't my sort of thing. A few days to view a couple of things, but
not weeks. So the past few days have seen me increasingly driving to
the foothills and beaches to get away from the town. Today was no
different and once the car had been parked Izzy and me set of up
through a valley to the top of one of the hills. The valley turned
out to be a lot nicer than I had anticipated. Before leaving I'd done
a short look at the semi-planned route from a satellite picture which
showed no features what so ever, just shrubs and rocks. At the bottom
of the valley we encountered an older women on a bike clearing the
path from a tree that had fallen over and gave her a hand until the
bulk of it had been taken of the track. Walking up we got our shoes
and trousers muddy, as the rain and cold of the past few days had not
helped in keeping/getting the track dry. To both our advantage it
meant that the track was closed for mountain bikers, as that took a
bit of the watchfulness out of walking. Still, paying attention was a
must, as the same reason it was closed for the bikers meant that we
were slipping and sliding across the tracks at occasions.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Further up we were meet
by some sheep (what were we to expect, it is NZ after all) and saw
some fellow hikers and bikers on the tarmac road running along the
top of the ridge. The same one I had traversed the day prior. Once we
reached that it was a short walk further before we got of the road
again to hike up a hill known as Witch Hill. Getting up was a short
but exhausting experience. I thought that Izzy was up behind me the
entire way as I couldn't hear her huffing as much as I was, but it
turned out (rather funnily) that she was thinking the exact same
thing. Reached the top and had a brilliant view of the Canterbury
Plains, Christchurch underneath us and the Southern Alps in the
distance.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Short note: It is
really weird for me to say that any other mountain range in the world
is the Alps, coming from the original, but that's what they are
called.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once pictures had been
taken and warm clothes put on, back down it went. The day was a lot
better than the previous one, with not a cloud in site and the wind
had slightly died down, but the air was still chilly. Had a quick
stop for lunch once we got in to a wind sheltered area along the
Summit Road again and then proceeded to walk down a bike track back
in to the valley. Looking at some of the trails there, I had to think
how much skill you need to come down there. Some of the tracks I
would not touch with my mountain bike, but then again it's probably
built more for downhill biking. Going down on foot was interesting
enough, as the wet earth and pine needles were a challenge to
manoeuvre. We reached a walk able track once we got down in to the
valleys again and carried on until we got back in to town. Then it
was only about half an hours walk to the car. On the way we got
ambushed by a cat that wanted some cuddles, weird behaviour for a
feline.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back at the car, back
to the hostel with a quick stop for some shopping and then to put the
legs up. A really nice walk with some good scenery on a day just made
for being outside. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0Rapaki 8971, Neuseeland-43.5948498 172.67395950000002-67.0557448 131.36536550000002 -20.133954799999998 -146.0174465tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-85717539136453693382017-05-21T06:12:00.001+02:002017-05-21T06:14:41.948+02:00Christchurch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hl0qnrhd5PY/WSEQf3kPWwI/AAAAAAAASeE/PzGaAiG6xlIcCSWns7nszqIKmWCKv2x6ACLcB/s1600/DSCN4266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hl0qnrhd5PY/WSEQf3kPWwI/AAAAAAAASeE/PzGaAiG6xlIcCSWns7nszqIKmWCKv2x6ACLcB/s400/DSCN4266.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Christchurch has been a rather dreary, but nonetheless an,
experience. First of my primary reason to travel to the “capital”
of the South Island was to have an interview with a prospective job
at one of the ski fields. So far the only one that has offered me
such, two others wrote back in that time saying they were
unfortunately fully staffed already (sort of surprising, since I had
written to them in February).<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On the way to
Christchurch I passed some of the iconic scenes of the South Island
of New Zealand. No use what so ever, as the complete days travel we
had a heavy fog. The bus drivers talked of the grand view over Lake
Pukaki and Lake Tekapo to the mountain range in which Mount Cook is
located. Didn't see a thing.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once in Christchurch I
got to the hostel I had booked in and I reckon I got a fairly good
choice. Not a raving party hostel, as my money is slowly going down
and I want to be able to sleep at night, but close enough to the city
centre. The only down side is that the nearest cheap supermarket is
about 30 minutes walk away. Bit more exercise then.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The day of the
interview came and I thought I had stuffed it up completely. The boss
interviewing me is from exactly the same place in Germany I am from.
Füssen to be precise and he knows my ski instructor boss at home
(Hanse) personally (or did a few years ago). Half the interview was
about the actual job and half was about how things are at home.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Shortly after the
interview I got an email asking if I wanted the job and that I could
have it. Without much mucking around I accepted and am looking
forwards to working on the snow fields for four months. </div>
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After getting the job
situation sorted out I was a bit more relaxed about my financial
situation, but one thing I was sorely missing was a car. Spending a
couple of months in Australia with one showed me what sort of freedom
you can get with only an own vehicle. Expenses, too, mind you. A
rough calculation of my old car in Oz got me to a five digit sum over
the course of the entire time I had spent there. But I wouldn't have
traded what sort of things I managed to do with it. So the week after
the interview I had a look around cars. In the beginning I just went
to dealers, but after viewing a few cars that backpackers had I
expanded in to that seller field, too. Turned out it was good that I
did, as a lot of backpackers are currently fleeing the cold and
winter of the South Island to go back home in to summer in the
Northern Hemisphere or the tropics. Absolute buyers market at the
moment, which reflected in the prices. Also I had driven a few cars
of dealers and the last one I looked at was a piece of garbage. Mind
you, he only wanted 1700$ for it, but that probably reflects the
condition of the thing. In the end I purchased a Honda Odyssey 2003
Model from two German backpackers. All is already set up for camping
and I can sleep the nights away in the back. Once purchased I got a
check on it done and only needed to repair things worth 200$. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once those days had
passed I wanted to get out and explore the surrounding are of
Christchurch a bit more. I was getting sick of the interior city and
needed to see a bit more. Unfortunately the days following saw a lot
of rain and cold weather come in, not the ideal conditions for
hiking. The Southern Lights were showing up again, too, but no luck
with the clouds hanging above. Once a day with a bit of sunshine
arrived I took a quick drive to the beach and had a walk there. The
next day I popped by a lake south of Christchurch, Lake Ellesmere.
The weather was biting cold and the wind was pushing the car around,
so after a very short walk I hopped back in and drove back to
Christchurch and the warm hostel.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day I was
starting to get fed up, so I packed all the warm clothes I could fit
in to my bag and headed of to the gondola on the other side of
Christchurch. Didn't take that, but walked up next to it, safe in the
knowledge that should it start to pour down I had a fast way of
getting down. The weather held, but it was still freezing in the
wind. The Southern Alps are covered in snow, which is hopefully a
good indication of the season to come, and even the hills near to
Christchurch that I was walking around on had a light covering of
snow. After getting to cold I walked back down, hopped in to the car
and decided to finally update the blog again.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Currently in a nice
warm room in the hostel felling good at having gotten some exercise
done. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-59134989461383204462017-05-05T06:26:00.000+02:002017-05-05T06:27:17.383+02:00Queenstown Hill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_3kosLPDK4/WQv9u7RUtfI/AAAAAAAAScs/V0vP7vMifAw3I18_NBta--tmZ5wtwdFjQCPcB/s1600/DSCN4239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_3kosLPDK4/WQv9u7RUtfI/AAAAAAAAScs/V0vP7vMifAw3I18_NBta--tmZ5wtwdFjQCPcB/s640/DSCN4239.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Over the past couple of days I have started getting a bit nervous. My
bank card hadn't shown up yet and I'm leaving the hostel on Sunday to
travel to Christchurch for a job interview on one of the potential
sky field. Having the post chase me around is not what I had in mind
with something as sensitive as a bank card.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But today all got good.
I found the awaited letter in the letter box of the hostel and
contained was my bank card. Got all the first steps sorted out and
found out that my first superannuation payment has come through from
Australia. The sky was blue, the day was warm and so far I had only
had good news. So in the afternoon I decided to do the Queenstown
Hill, the hill I had to stop at last time due to my cold.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PmTdE1uWjcg/WQv90YIrIOI/AAAAAAAAScs/RZGnESyZJrUB7XOrPh4eWdBRAvl9XDcJQCPcB/s1600/DSCN4251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PmTdE1uWjcg/WQv90YIrIOI/AAAAAAAAScs/RZGnESyZJrUB7XOrPh4eWdBRAvl9XDcJQCPcB/s200/DSCN4251.JPG" width="195" /></a>Set of after having a
lunch of fried vegetables and walked up the hill for a good one hour.
The closest thing I can compare it to is the walk to the middle
station of the Alspitze, both length and gradient wise. The were a
lot of other people on the way up and down as well, so I wasn't the
only one using the blue sky of the day to take a walk. The first part
of the walk is to actually get to the start of the walk at the top of
Queenstown. Queenstown is a city built on the side of a mountain/hill
leading down to the water and I had to reach to top of the town
first. That was the shortest part, after that the longest one goes
through a pine forest with a few deciduous trees in their autumn
colours here and there. After the walk through the forest you reach
the top of the tree line, which seems to happen rather sudden here in
NZ. Then it's more shrubs and rocks everywhere, but the scenery just
gets better and better. Underneath one, Queenstown is nestled in the
gorges with Lake Wakatipu stretching out in the deeper parts of the
valley. At the top you are treated with a stunning view of the
Remarkables (a mountain range with a sky field in them) stretching
along the other side of the lake. The pictures I've put on here
hopefully serve it justice. </div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Spent a short while at
the top having a drink and just enjoying the scenery of snow capped
mountains and blue lakes in the valley before heading back down
again. On the way I had a chat to a guy from Hong Kong who was flying
his drone around (a Mavic Pro, one I have been looking at) and then
raced down at a fast walk through the dark pine forest.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Time: aprox. 1.5 hours.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-12046631352522510162017-04-30T06:24:00.000+02:002017-05-05T06:25:38.810+02:00First Week Queenstown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PVLv4Wfq6Rk/WQv9mqqXnPI/AAAAAAAAScs/Ob3CCsRpilU_FMl93fX5dmOTSIhJt3djQCPcB/s1600/DSCN4226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PVLv4Wfq6Rk/WQv9mqqXnPI/AAAAAAAAScs/Ob3CCsRpilU_FMl93fX5dmOTSIhJt3djQCPcB/s400/DSCN4226.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
You'd think that being in a new country for a week would have seen me
post things regularly on new and exciting experienced I did in that
time. Unfortunately, this last week was not the norm in that regard.
For starters, I got sick. Badly. A cold which a few others in the
hostel also caught. The first day with it, I had committed two
others taking a walk with me up a hill behind Queenstown to have a
look down. A short way up I had to stop, as I noticed that the
exercise was not doing me any favours what so ever. From that point
on Emma (Aussie) and Adam (UK) carried on alone and I just wanted to
walk back and get in to bed. Unfortunately that would have meant I
would have been out of food, which is probably not the best thing to
be when sick in bed. Swung by the supermarket and bought a few things
before getting back to the hostel and bed. I slept for a good portion
of the day, but as a result my jet lag (still I reckon) came in to
play and I couldn't sleep the rest of the night.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Due to bad luck I had
to take an hour bus trip to the next town the following day, reason
being to open a bank account. Now, opening a bank account seemed like
such a simple thing. At least it was in Australia. On my second day
here I walked off all the banks in Queenstown and the results weren't
promising. Westpac had declined straight away. Company policy
dictated that I couldn't open a bank account before having a job
(along that line) and, well, it's extraordinary difficult to get a
job without a bank account. Ergo, problem?! The next largest bank,
the ANZ, didn't have a spot free to open an account until three weeks
later, which is a very long time to go with pulling funds from over
seas. The other bank, a bit smaller, Kiwibank couldn't give me an
appointment for a similar long time. In the end I organised an
appointment in the next town in Cromwell, where I could go and get
everything done four days later. The bank problem seems to be a
Queenstown exclusive, as stories I've heard from backpackers in
Auckland say that they got in when they walked in to the banks.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyways, in the end I
went to Cromwell with a cold to open a bank account. There are two
buses, one in the morning going there and one in the evening coming
back. End of line. Brilliant for when one is not felling to well
(sarcasm). What was nice about the journey, though, was that we had a
funny and talkative bus driver, which in my situation was really a
relief. Also the scenery along the route was stunning. We passed wine
fields and bungee drops over clear rivers where rafting and kajaking
is possible. All surrounded by the South Islands mountains. I can't
wait to travel in an own vehicle again. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In Cromwell I actually
managed to get a bit more than the bank account done. As if to make
up for all the bad felling from being ill, I got a lot of good new
that day. I'd found out I could get a bit more money from Oz than
originally anticipated, due to superannuation I was never going to
need. I got my tax file number sorted out, which was made a lot
easier with me just having been in the bank and I re-read a job
interview invitation I have for a ski field I applied for. Once back
I then just dropped in to bed again.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next few days saw
me recuperating and generally not doing a lot past sleeping, reading
and watching videos. Most of my survival in that time was in tea,
honey and raw lemons, but as of today I feel a lot better.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The past days have been
cooling off and just today we have had the first bit of snow on the
mountains. Here is to hope to a good season, and quite a few other
backpackers are also getting a bit hyped up due to the snow. A lot of
people are itching to get on to the snow fields. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-87190710921644630612017-04-23T07:02:00.001+02:002017-04-23T07:02:34.977+02:00Flight to New Zealand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first blog from New
Zealand for me. After an agonising long time.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
First the background
check of what has been going on these past couple of days and what it
has taken to get here. About five months ago I had decided to go to
New Zealand after my time in Australia. After all they are close
together. First of visa, that took a while to do. As people from the
UK are allowed to stay two years, I wanted to take my British
citizenship and apply to NZ same as in Australia. Unfortunately I
don't qualify as a UK citizen, as I have been living in Germany. So
after a lot of scrambling around with the German embassy and getting
passports sorted out internationally, I got to go to NZ as a German.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Next thing was flight
and I reckon I got a really good deal with that one. Due to me
knowing pretty sure four months before that I wanted to go to NZ I
booked a flight fast and had it go via China (to visit Rhiannon) and
Germany (to visit everyone else). In the end I paid 1200€ all
together, not bad in my books, considering it was Quantas and British
Airways I was flying with, too.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After a 35 hour long
travel of which 26 were spent in the plane I got my first eye on New
Zealand, the South Island more precise as I was flying in to
Queenstown. My body was fed up with planes, me being tall not helping
at all. My stomach had had enough of plane food, too. Nothing against
what they served, it was very nice, but in the end I wanted something
which I could spread out more. Airports just served very pricey
things.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first things I saw
coming down in the plane were the tall mountains, which we actually
ended up flying through to get to the airport of Queenstown. The top
of these mountains is not covered in trees, but only in what looks to
be grasses. Lower down the trees start showing up with roads and
small towns in them. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vff8a1sAFiY/WPw05Ke-PhI/AAAAAAAASOs/LUcYMI5-N_4FE2BD7YQdU33ypuIhljLiQCPcB/s1600/DSCN4210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vff8a1sAFiY/WPw05Ke-PhI/AAAAAAAASOs/LUcYMI5-N_4FE2BD7YQdU33ypuIhljLiQCPcB/s200/DSCN4210.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Upon touchdown my
neighbouring passenger seemed relived, he didn't seem to like the
landing much. Can't say the same for myself, as I have flown so many
times now throughout my live I'm desensitise to a lot of the quirks
of flying. On the plus side we had a nice sunny day, too, so the
views on to the surrounding and the planes reactions were superb.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Upon disembarking the
plane we passengers walked along the tar to the terminal to pick up
our luggage. I myself was relieved to see my backpack come, as the
last time I had seen it was Munich, on the other side of the planet.
Picked it up and proceeded through the document check system. For
some reason I had the jitters a bit, but there was no reason for
that, as everything I had done and supplied was correct and accounted
for. Due to that I had no issues what so ever passing through, the
only thing I couldn't answer positively was that I had a job or knew
someone. That didn't seem to matter to much, so a short while later I
stood in the main terminal. I was surprised a bit by the sheer amount
of police present for such a small airport, but then again, a lot of
people were around that day. Grabbed some money from an ATM machine
to pay for any bus or taxi feeds and then outside the airport I had a
quick ring around a couple of Queenstown hostels.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A week prior to my
flight I started looking at accommodations, which was probably not
the best thing I did. Due to an extreme lack of misfortune,
everything had been booked out in Queenstown. Everything in my price
range at least. I chatted with my Lesley about it (my aunt), who had
been to Queenstown before, and she found an accommodation which was
the cheapest of the pricey ones. In the end I booked one night in
Wanaka, a town an hour and a half’s drive from Queenstown, just in
case I found nothing on my arrival or the authorities wanted some
proof I had where I was going. In the end though, I got an
accommodation in Queenstown, as someone had backed out. Pretty much
exactly what I had been aiming for. Also Queenstown probably has the
advantage that it is the bigger of the two towns, so to set up things
like banks accounts and such it may be a bit better.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Caught a bus, on which
I had my fist taste of Kiwi English in Kiwi-land. A guy I had worked
with before was and spoke like a guy from New Zealand, but with this
bus driver I really noticed. Got dropped of at the hostel I booked in
and arranged my room and all. After getting to my bed, I pretty much
just lay in it and slept. Waking up two hours later to get my clothes
of whilst everyone else went out for some drinks. I myself was just
to knackered from 35 hours of travelling.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ib3qlE1Wud8/WPw05rGE6wI/AAAAAAAASOw/Z9u6nVP0mFcROfCVQY-JhvD8LIYtXGO-gCPcB/s1600/DSCN4212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ib3qlE1Wud8/WPw05rGE6wI/AAAAAAAASOw/Z9u6nVP0mFcROfCVQY-JhvD8LIYtXGO-gCPcB/s320/DSCN4212.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day saw me
getting up earlier than everybody else. Most likely due to my screwed
up biological clock and partly probably because of them all having
been out the night before. I must have been one of the only
backpackers awake at that time, as after having some breakfast
provided by the hostel (jam sandwich) I went out for a bit of a walk.
Sometime throughout the night I developed a headache, probably thanks
to not hydrating enough the day before. Drank a lot and had a walk in
fresh air. Looking at the scenery again I was reminded of Johannas
words, that Queenstown very much looks like Nesselwang. I can happily
agree to that, as I really like mountains and snow. The snow part is
still missing, but the mountains and forests are more than making up
for it for now.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Walked along the shore
of Lake Wakatipu for a very short while, as I had to be back at the
hostel for checkout. Checked around the town a bit, too, to see where
most of the important things are located. Back at the hostel checked
out and then walked to the hostel I was staying in for a week. Check
in at that hostel was at 3PM, so I was way to early. But in the
meantime I left my bags there and went shopping for some food. Had a
bit more of a look around the town at the same time, too. From what I
can gather of the people there are a lot of tourist here at the
moment, as I saw a lot of Asian looking people and heard a bit of
Dutch (I think) and German. If the stories of past people I have met
in Australia are true, then NZ is full of Germans anyway (again). Did
a bit of light shopping nearly had a heart attack looking at the
prices, but later on other backpackers told me that it's just
Queenstown which is this pricey.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back at the hostel I
just had to wait a short while and then got my room allocated. Fist
thing I did was have a shower to clean of nearly two days of
travelling before sitting down to write the blog. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-9460046045133068022017-04-14T10:09:00.000+02:002017-04-18T20:42:22.299+02:00Sailing Croatia Day 14: Cuscica Bay – Biograd Marina<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MsuWhYX6ugM/WPZdyxsrxSI/AAAAAAAASNg/JqURj9JjOY8hbqanotgp9K4hzepRNeYeQCPcB/s1600/DSCN4206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MsuWhYX6ugM/WPZdyxsrxSI/AAAAAAAASNg/JqURj9JjOY8hbqanotgp9K4hzepRNeYeQCPcB/s400/DSCN4206.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
The last day and
I tried to have a bit of a sleep in. For some reason I was felling a
bit under the weather again. But at one point dad asked quietly if I
was awake, with a positive answer, so I got up and helped him bring
up the anchor. Daniel must have heard the call, too, as pretty much
when I got up he was out of bed, too. Once we got under way not much
happened to me, personally. Due to being lethargic I spent most of
the last day lying in my cot with a book at hand. I wasn't the only
one felling a bit under, as most of everyone else also didn't do to
much. Later on in the day I was called up to the deck, as Rhiannon
went higher up the mast than before. Whilst helping her up another
boat passed us and the skipper jokingly asked if we were searching
for bananas. Once up I left to get back in to bed, but was called out
later as a small school of dolphins passed by. These were a lot more
active than all the previous ones we had seen, probably because there
were more of them. A couple of tail slaps on the water later we
carried on, me back in bed until we nearly reached Biograd. Rhiannon
had been doing most of the last stretch and I got to go in to the
marina.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What a chaos. We
had to dodge multiple boats hanging around the exit of the marina.
One backed in to the marina at hight speed from a couple of hundred
metres outside the marina walls. Once we managed to get close to the
entrance a catamaran came out backwards. Don't know what was going on
there, but everybody seemed to like the reverse gear. Once in another
came boat came screaming from the left, backwards of course and we
nearly had a collision.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-04rOD4-iOlE/WPZd3zNEVWI/AAAAAAAASNk/NxNn6-iAyAQt2hSWKx1_tci8NslK5wXYgCPcB/s1600/DSCN4207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-04rOD4-iOlE/WPZd3zNEVWI/AAAAAAAASNk/NxNn6-iAyAQt2hSWKx1_tci8NslK5wXYgCPcB/s200/DSCN4207.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Pretty happy
once we got in to the bay we had allocated to us. Once all things had
been checked, electricity, fuel, water and the cars still being there
we had a bit of free time before we all went out in the evening to
dinner. After eating in a nice pizzeria with large pizzas we returned
back to the boat for the last night. Took a while to get there as the
city was celebrating Easter, and a lot of residence were walking from
the church to somewhere.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back a the boat
a comfortable sleep before getting up early in the morning and
heading home with Daniel and Annalena on a ten hour trip. After being
in Oz for so long, ten hours doesn't seem like to much, though.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="http://www.gpsies.com/map.do;jsessionid=A0CB9FFBF26E6E3760A42D196B62A6E0.fe3?fileId=ajykryshmswcucgu" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Weather sailing:
Nice day with a bit of sailing and motoring.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Weather driving:
Rainy most of the way. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-3503609627599737492017-04-13T10:09:00.000+02:002017-04-18T20:40:09.746+02:00Sailing Croatia Day 13: Jezera Marina – Cuscica Bay<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lGeVlpWCbLQ/WPZXpcVcqeI/AAAAAAAASM4/TSdqfsBI11Qs9ImDQgnKmu2-3X2EujshgCPcB/s1600/DSCN4200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lGeVlpWCbLQ/WPZXpcVcqeI/AAAAAAAASM4/TSdqfsBI11Qs9ImDQgnKmu2-3X2EujshgCPcB/s640/DSCN4200.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Two more days of
sailing to go, before we head back in to Biograd an the end of the
holiday. Due to the “accident” yesterday we got away a bit later
than planned, as the marina tried and managed to contact the owner of
our neighbouring boat a bit later in the morning. Seems to be no big
issues, so we set of at around midday. The wind was not up to the
game, as it was yesterday, so we had an easy time motoring out of the
marina. Unfortunately this also meant that sailing proved rather
difficult. We still passed the start of a small regatta, which were
using all the wind that they could catch in the sails.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Out in open
there was a bit of a breeze, but not to much. Still, whilst dad
sailed across a lot of the open water stretch towards Zut Island, all
the rest of us played a game of Phase 10. At one point we heard a
loud engine sound and in the distance a coastguard vehicle could be
seen approaching. Got a few pictures of it passing and caught the
tail wave of it a few moments after it passed close by.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once we reached
the shores of Zut we had two ways of going around the island, west or
east. The east was open towards all the rest of Croaita with a few
boats around (former mentioned military boat still making a noise)
and the west was a small path between two island. We choose the west
way. Along the way we had to switch the engine on at one point, too,
and as the wind left us shortly after we motored up all the way to
the bay we stayed in. Along the way Daniel got it in his head again
that he wanted to have some water contact. So as we travelled along
we let the back down and he could stick his head and feet in.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Arriving at the
island we were in debate if you could anchor or not. One out of three
of our maps said no, but there was no sign to tell us not to. Also
someone else was there already, but one should never rely on that.
Dropped the anchor in four metres of water the first time, but after
we had let out the correct length of chain for that depth (5x) I saw
us being to close to the rocks on the side of the bay. So the anchor
came back up again and we dropped it in six metres, which left a bit
more space to the edge.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b-zHgYXGTwo/WPZXtpd_NlI/AAAAAAAASM4/7WbUnnMCIq0swTDbVqv6E-P1E4X6X92LgCPcB/s1600/DSCN4205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b-zHgYXGTwo/WPZXtpd_NlI/AAAAAAAASM4/7WbUnnMCIq0swTDbVqv6E-P1E4X6X92LgCPcB/s200/DSCN4205.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Shortly after
all of us except dad went ashore to explore the area a bit. Dad
stayed in case the boat got free. Walking was an interesting thing,
as the land is treacherous. Most of the time we walked across thin
sheets of stones that stuck up, due to the way the mountains go in to
the water. But we had some stunning views down the route we came up
with the boat. A few small remote farms with stone walls splitting up
the island. I guess that the farmers bring their stock out here in
summer, when the temperatures are milder. Reminded me of Scotland and
Dad said it bought up memories of the Falkland Island.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once we arrived
back at the boat, Annalena and Dad cocked up some tea, pasta again.
But after a nice filling meal and some desert we went to bed after
playing a game of Phase 10.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="http://www.gpsies.com/map.do;jsessionid=A0CB9FFBF26E6E3760A42D196B62A6E0.fe3?fileId=mllqxfgiucsdqsza" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Weather: Sunny
with a few wisps of cloud, light wind in the morning, no wind in the
afternoon. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-17282102117692901262017-04-12T10:08:00.000+02:002017-04-18T20:39:15.690+02:00Sailing Croatia Day 12: Zirje Island – Jezera Marina<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2hiSklXnTC4/WPZZSzyNTFI/AAAAAAAASNY/pGH-PiurvfwNjOkTcUEZNr9fDinyjD1AgCPcB/s1600/DSCN4153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2hiSklXnTC4/WPZZSzyNTFI/AAAAAAAASNY/pGH-PiurvfwNjOkTcUEZNr9fDinyjD1AgCPcB/s400/DSCN4153.JPG" width="348" /></a></div>
Dad and Daniel
were once again the first ones awake, whilst I just laid in bed
reading a book. The evening before we had agreed that we would lie in
a bit, so the motor was started up somewhere closer to nine o'clock
than the usual one hour earlier than that. Whilst we motored out I
had gotten everything on and was up on deck with the other two boys.
Just outside the bay the wind picked up considerably and the sails
went up shortly later. Annalena woke up due to that (maybe) and
Rhiannon got up a while later, too. Due to the winds Daniel was
surfing along the water at six knots later on, to much for breakfast,
so we waited until the wind went down a bit after the next tack and
had something to eat then.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our general aim
was to head towards the marina on Murter, but due to the strong winds
and early start we had loads of time left. The wind died down shortly
after, too, so we stopped at a lagoon on Kaprje. Dad and Rhiannon
walked around the island a bit whilst Daniel went for a swim in my
wetsuit. Annalena and me watched him from deck.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once the two
island explorers had returned I got on the wet wetsuit (juck) and
hopped in. Fortunately Dad and Rhiannon had bought me a stone, just
enough for me to be able to dive a bit. First time going down I had
to hold back from breathing, as the last times I went down in my
wetsuit I had a tank on the back. Dived under the boat a few times
and had a look at the anchor.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back on the boat
Rhiannon had a go with swimming, too, and eventually saw that the
water wasn't to cold in a wetsuit.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UmLznHz9I0U/WPZZW2Oh3kI/AAAAAAAASNY/tOMofTuXxcwfXECAT3aw-VWJpk2XfVk3wCPcB/s1600/DSCN4162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="119" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UmLznHz9I0U/WPZZW2Oh3kI/AAAAAAAASNY/tOMofTuXxcwfXECAT3aw-VWJpk2XfVk3wCPcB/s200/DSCN4162.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After we got her
on board and dried Annalena pulled up the anchor and we set of toward
the marina. And what a speed we had. Racing along Rhiannon eventually
reached seven knots on the GPS, a speed we hadn't reached previously.
Quite a few others were around, too, most of them with reefed sails,
but we had a short bit of fun next to another boat doing the same as
we were.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Getting closer
to the marina dad took over the helm and probably good he did to. The
wind was less than ideal coming in and following the (misguided)
advice of one of the employees we ended up scraping alongside another
boat. No to large damage done in the end and whilst the rest went
shopping I looked after the boat.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once they came
back we set of for some dinner at a local restaurant. Back at the
boat more computer stuff whilst Daniel was watching football.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="http://www.gpsies.com/map.do;jsessionid=A0CB9FFBF26E6E3760A42D196B62A6E0.fe3?fileId=jrwmsqsegozrktak" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Time 4 hours 30
min.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Weather: Sunny
day with lots of wind. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-1831424533252534322017-04-11T10:07:00.000+02:002017-04-18T20:37:26.261+02:00Sailing Croatia Day 11: Drvenik Island – Zirje Island<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xdn1mNWKapU/WPZZOvQu1RI/AAAAAAAASNY/z4q8ZK0MEqkplDJd3S3yZ1GjC_XH-KMTQCPcB/s1600/DSCN4141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xdn1mNWKapU/WPZZOvQu1RI/AAAAAAAASNY/z4q8ZK0MEqkplDJd3S3yZ1GjC_XH-KMTQCPcB/s400/DSCN4141.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
For some reason
I was pretty knackered again waking up in the morning. Might be due
to the anchor warning going of again three times in the night, due to
lost GPS signal. Can not be because of the anchor dragging, as when I
checked it the night before going to bed I had a clear view of the
chain lying on the ground with the full moon light illuminating it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Daniel and Dad
were awake before everyone else, so when they started getting the
boat ready for leaving I managed to get out of bed. Daniel drove us
out of the bay and nearly immediately we had decent wind. Annalena
and Rhiannon had woken up by then, too, so we were all enjoying
breakfast. Due to that reason the sails didn't go up until the meal
had finished. But when they did we had the good wind the whole time.
With a wind coming from behind we shot past the church/lighthouse
island we had passed on our way south and Primosten was left behind
fast, too. Along the way it was discussed if we should go to a marina
again, or camp out in a bay. As Daniel wanted to go to Zrce we headed
that way. A few hours before arriving he realised that there are two
named like that. It's written differently, but sound the same. So we
carried on on our way to Zirje. As we had only bought the food to
survive until to the next marina in Hvar, we had to go shopping on
the way. I offered Kaprje, as Dads navigation book said it's got a
supermarket there. Shortly before arriving Daniel red in the book
again, that it can be difficult to get in there with larger boats. So
our grocery aim turned to Muna, on Zirje island.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KY6uK4b-dxE/WPZZNrwkcCI/AAAAAAAASNY/AK8uwfbMJvQRisfRmeDgUal5TiM0tqtlwCPcB/s1600/DSCN4149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KY6uK4b-dxE/WPZZNrwkcCI/AAAAAAAASNY/AK8uwfbMJvQRisfRmeDgUal5TiM0tqtlwCPcB/s200/DSCN4149.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Getting in was a
bit hairy, as the wind wasn't in our favour but we managed to land
directly in front of the supermarket. Which was just being filled up.
I managed to charge my laptop to last another day and we got food for
the night. Dad and I spent some time on the boat whilst the rest
walked around the town. Once they came back we got ready to leave. We
had a play full cat having a go at the end of the lines. The cat had
tagged along with the others and was rather friendly.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Left the harbour
and whilst four of us enjoyed a game of Skipo, Dad steered us around
the island to another anchorage. We set speed records of 0.3 knots
coming around there and when Dad later had a game with them and I
steered that dropped down to zero. Motor on and we carried on around
the island to our anchor place.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Second time
anchoring on a boy and once again they are different. These ones you
take the rope through a loop at the top and there are two you secure
yourself on. Did that and whilst Rhiannon and Dad chilled on the
boat, Annalena, Daniel and me went exploring in a cave in the side of
the cliffs we had moored to.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Later on a good
dinner prepared by Daniel and Annaena. Spaghetti with a sharp salami
sauce.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Track at <a href="http://www.gpsies.com/map.do;jsessionid=A0CB9FFBF26E6E3760A42D196B62A6E0.fe3?fileId=xpzpfmmooqltdzha" target="_blank"><span style="color: lime;">GPSies</span></a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Time: 9 hours</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Weather: Sunny
blue sky day with ideal half wind. Enabled a constant four to five
knot speed. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8018929183836340668.post-62378437561541548532017-04-10T10:06:00.000+02:002017-04-18T20:36:06.945+02:00Sailing Croatia Day 10: Palmizana Marina – Drvenik Island<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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Bit of a later
morning. Stayed up until half past twelve, working on pictures, time
lapses, blogs and tracks. So in the morning we left a bit late, with
no breakfast, heading to Hvar. Just before leaving, though, we
refilled the water tank and charged a couple of things in the last
minutes.
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Hvar was the
target again, as Daniel and Annalena hadn't seen any city on the
journey so far. Got to Hvar under motor, as the wind was nearly
non-existent. In the city we backed in to a spot again, as the
harbour seemed a bit empty at ten in the morning. Power on (again)
and then we had a coffee and tea at a small cafe. Later on whilst the
new two were exploring the city and went up to the fortress, us other
three took a walk to the other side of the hill and got a picture
across the city. Back down at the harbour we got some breakfast at
the local bakery which was consumed back on the boat. Then some
shopping in the local supermarket, aptly named “Konzum”. My plan
for the evening was to cook some pasta carbonara, but non of the
supermarket sell the pre-finished sauce. A quick Google in the local
WiFi and I had the receipt for the sauce.
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Back on the boat
Annalena manoeuvred us out and then later on we put up the sails on
her watch, too. The first mile of driving straight took some getting
used to, as the boat reacts in a certain way, but she is getting
better and better.<br />
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Shortly later we
sailed along at just under three knots on our way to Drvenik. The
next hours were spent just lazing around in the sun. Dad and me
steered most of the time whilst the other three played Skipo. Later
on Rhiannon wiped up a fruit salad which was consumed just as we
passed through a narrow gap in between two island. Out behind the
island we could already see our anchor point and Daniel spotted a
super yacht anchored in there. We managed to squeeze past it and
whilst Daniel and me stood at the helm, Dad and Rhiannon dropped the
anchor.
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Once secured I
got ready to cook up dinner and Daniel rowed both girls over to the
island for them to have a look around. Dad was content with staying
on the boat and taking pictures of the rising moon.
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Dinner ready the
others came back and we had a full stomach after a while with the
super yacht taking, what seemed like, pictures toward our boat.
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Track at <a href="http://www.gpsies.com/map.do;jsessionid=A0CB9FFBF26E6E3760A42D196B62A6E0.fe3?fileId=wtgztysztmugkxgi" target="_blank">GPSies</a>.</div>
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Time: 7 hours</div>
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Weather. Sunny
blue sky day with a little wind. </div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11509019322704174747noreply@blogger.com0