pics

where you can find some pics from the trip

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/meglamb

Who knew?

I met up with some Irish girls in Sydney the other day and we were sitting having drinks when the table next to us asked where we were all from, they said Ireland, I said the States. Their reply: New Mexico? Holy Shit, there are other people that actually travel that are from New Mexico. I think they are few and far between so to meet up with them was pretty funny. A friend had just met up with them and brought green chile so we reminisced about green chile, and breakfast burritos. It was pretty random. One of the guys (all from Albq btw) had been traveling for over a year and a half and had only met one other person that was from NM in his travels. Just a bit of NM pride. :)

I'm ready

I'm ready to be in another country already. I want to be somewhere where I don't understand the signs and its not so easy to ask for directions to the train station, or understand a menu. I wan't to be lost and confused. Sounds weird but I love it. I love looking at signs and having no idea what they mean and having to guess, all part of traveling and learning. Don't get me wrong New Zealand was amazing, Australia is amazing. I am so excited to see the Rodgers, my Australian family in just a few days. I haven't seen them in almost 10 years which blows my mind. I don't even mind if I don't get to see any of Australia, I would be quite content just hanging out with them. But after than is when I'm ready, for the confusion, unknown, and wonderful language barriers. Some people find it fustrating, I find it invigorating!

you would think...

in a country that drives on the opposite side of the road (from the US) that people would walk in that same direction. I was walking through Auckland and walking up the street on the left side of the sidewalk and found myself the black sheep of the flock. Everyone was walking up on the right and down on the left. Don't know why just seemed strange.

Wow

I'm glad you guys are enjoying this blog. I haven't been insightful, just honest. But I think that's what makes for good writing. Since Swampy's I headed on the ferry to Wellington. I was fortunate enough to get a ride to the next town, Picton from one of the English girls who was staying at Swampy's. The ride was rough and started with us entering through the bottom level car port area and working our way up, Titanic style. Little Weird. Thank goodness I don't get seasick but otherwise I would have. Stuart was already in Wellington, another guy I met at Swampy's and he booked me a room in a 10 bed dorm. So basically sleeping in a room with 10 strangers is pretty interesting, but fun.
I am going to write more later, but I've had a few glasses of wine and watching the All Blacks vs Australia game so will continue at a later date. Headed for Australia tomorrow. Was suppose to go today but when you drink and go out with people til 4am sometime it just doesn't work out. more to follow.

Swampy's

Wow. What a place. Imagine the Real World house but not nearly as nice, lots of bunk beds, people from all over the world, and freezing. That's Swampy's. And where I spent my past 2 nights. Everyone who was staying there had been there for at least 2 weeks, one guy 5 months. They were all there to work on the vineyards and Swampy's was the closest, cheapest place to stay. I arrived Friday afternoon and people were all ready gathered around drinking, playing poker, reading, or just sitting by the fire talking. Everyone knew everyone, so me coming into this was a big shock and I immediately felt like the outsider, especially when I said I would only be staying 2 days.
No one was from New Zealand. There was quite a few from the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, 2 others from the states and I think one from Malaysia. It was an international family. We all sat around and played drinking games on Friday night and I had soon been welcome into the family (know by how much they were making me drink!). The next night one of the Canadians and Germans cooked a feast of a dinner and it just added to the familial dynamics. I had a few people tell me to stay and I really thought about it for a while, I could stay, work for a bit and then keep on. I decided not this trip but it's a possibility for the future.

Hitching...

So i decided that instead of riding a bike I'm going to hitch hike to the wineries. it was a much colder day and the ones i wanted to go to were a good 10km away. So I'm all set, saying bye to some people at Swampy's and someone asks if I want to smoke. I decided why the hell not. Big mistake. I start walking down the street my confidence crumbles, I haven't hitchhiked since the Guatemalan tow truck driver and even then I had Julia with me so I wasn't by myself. And then the paranoia kicks in and I have a long standing debate in my head about the proper way to hitch hike. Do I walk with my thumb out and my back to the car? Do i turn and look them in the eyes and guilt trip them? Do i turn smile and stuck out my thumb. I have no clue and apparently this is a big issue in my mind. I am finally able to laugh it off, stick out my thumb and the first car pulls over. Moral of the story: Don't smoke before hitchhiking. bad idea.