26 March

12 March: My friend, Marcus, took me to Taupo for the night. He has a Aunt and Uncle that weren't home so we stayed with his cousin at there place.

13 March: We went mountain biking just outside Taupo in a place called “Craters of the Moon”. That was really fun. Once we arrived back in Rotorua, we went to the climbing gym for a bit. We didn't climb a whole lot because he wasn't feeling well, and I hadn't climbed in a while and got pumped out really quickly. That evening some of his friends took me to a place where they were having what they called “Cornevil”. Cornevil is a cornfield with a maze through it. I was great. We went through this maze at 10:00pm and there are people to scare you and all sort of Halloween things. That was really fun.

14 March: John took me to Turangi to climb up Mt. Ngaurahoe, aka “Mt. Doom” from the Lord of the Rings. We met with the Slovenian couple who stayed with them a few days prior. The views were great and the climb was quite demanding.

15 March: I got suckered into a flight seeing tour of the Mt. Ngaurahoe area. There were a few clouds, but it was still amazing.

16 March: I said goodbye to the older couple I was staying with in Turangi, Judith and Colin, and the Slovenian couple who were staying with them as well. I got on the bus and headed to Wellington.

I really like Wellington. They says it has better coffee than Seattle and more cafés, bars and restaurants than New York City per capita. Is it true, well, that may be a matter of interpretation or poor statistics, but they do have a lot. Wellington reminds me of San Fransisco. The landscape is hilly and the atmosphere seems energetic. There is a young crowd, as it is a university city and there is always something going on.

17 March: I took a tour of the Parliament and walked a lot around the city. Not to mention, this day was the first day I had run since I arrived in NZ. Because it was St. Patrick's Day, I drank a Guinness at an Irish Pub called Murphy's.

18 March: I went to the zoo and got to feed a giraffe. That was a lot of fun. Then I took the bus to the botanic gardens. After that, Andrea arrived in Wellington so we hung out the rest of the night.

19 March: Andrea and I just hung out and walked around all day. Then we started a little drink fest at 3:00pm. We didn't stop until 12:30. In the middle of this, We met up with a Couch Surfing friend, Ryan, at the Paramount Cinema for some movie trivia. I was the least help since I don't hardly watch movies.

20 March: Andrea and I hung out all day and walked around the city. We later met up with Ryan at a bar after he got out of work. That's when Andrea and I were randomly handed two rugby tickets. The game started in 15 minutes so, we took off. The game was fun, but I don't understand rugby so it was only okay.

21 March: We had brunch with some Ryan and some of his friends, then got on the ferry to Picton, which is on the South Island. If I had to describe Picton, it would be like Seward, Alaska only situated where Whittier is on Prince William Sound.

22 March: Andrea and I took a water taxi to a place out on Queen Charlotte Sound and did a 14km day hike between Ship Cove and Furneaux Lodge. I had actually considered taking a job there upon arrival. I don't think I will, but it was in a quiet, beautiful location on the sound.

23 March: Andrea and I hitched a ride to Spring Creek with a man named Ray. He seemed like a pretty good guy. He told us about his two kids that live in the States now. From Spring Creek, we got picked up by a Swiss couple in a station wagon heading to Nelson. We made it to Nelson, where we were headed.

24 March: We just hung out and relaxed. I went for a run the last couple of days. Later that evening, a German girl, Anett, who we actually met in Picton, and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire.

25 March: The three of us went for a hike/kayak in Abel Tasman National Park. It's a little more than what I want to spend, but it was will fun. Andrea and Anett had never kayaked, so it was worth it. We had a great day.

26 March: Today we are relaxing again. I went to the geographical center of New Zealand today. It's up on a hill about half a mile from out hostel. We are also going to decide where to go tomorrow as we are leaving Nelson.