and Back Again

Admittedly, I think I've left a few of you hanging. And while reading about me selling my guitar for the past two weeks might be just exciting as it was the first time, I suspect its probably time to write something.

So if you hadn't figured it out yet, I am back home in Corning, New York. And the weather has been so nice its been hard to sit down and really write something. But alas, it is raining. So here's a quick recap of my final days...

The last few days mostly consisted of studying for my last few exams, er....pretending to study. I know when we tell people why we were in NZ it was "For School." Yeah right. More like hang on the beach, go hiking, have lots of parties, relax, "accidently miss class", etc. My parents are still convinced I never attended class, well thats only partially correct. I did sometimes.

The night before we left about 15 of us went out to dinner in the pouring rain for one last huzzah. As I looked around the table of smiling and laughing faces, I think it finally set in how much I'm going to miss being around these people every single day. And I don't like to get sappy, but these friends are for Keeps.

The last day, before the heading to the Airport in the evening, a few of us headed downtown for one last look. And as a final farewell we made sure to pay one last tribute to NZ, we ate Lamb kebabs. And it had never tasted so good.

We jumped on the 12 hour flight to San Fransisco, and it turned out to be pretty painless. This might be attributed to the Ambien I stole from a friend. After arriving in San Fran we headed toward town to help kill our 7 hour layover. We went to the infamous In and Out Burger, whom Ed (or resident burger enthusiast) assured us was the best fast food burger ever according the burger enthusiasts world wide. They were indeed delicious, dripping with grease, onions, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and their "special sauce". I was convinced, they were the best. Unfortunatly, they're only to be found on the west coast.

We walked around a little more than jumped a streetcar to head back to the airport. We had another red eye to JFK departing around 9:45pm and arriving at 6:00am. The flight was much more painful as I could not get myself to fall asleep, as there were no pillows or shoulders to fall asleep on as I did the previous flight.

After standing through the awkwardness in JFK of everyone being re-united with their parents except myself and a few others, I made my way to the JetBlue terminal with my two carry-ons and two 50lb. bags, for my final flight. I think its fair to say that standing in the security line for 40 minutes was less than fun, and then having the plane wait in line for another 45 to take off was less than exciting. But with 30-some odd hours of traveling, what was a another 4 anyway?

So after being home for almost two-weeks, there are noticeable difference between here and There. The food for one is on a much higher level here, since its prepared by my mother. It is also much quiter here. Where before I was in a city and hanging out with some of my closest friends day in and day out. So its relaxing, but a bit lonesome sometimes.

The last thing that I noticed is that I often find myself starting a sentence like this, "Well in New Zealand they...." or "When I was in New Zealand, I...." Maybe that'll wear off, but I'm thinking for awhile it won't, and I don't mind. I'm already trying hard not to lose a lot of the memories from that beautiful place.

Everywhere I went when I was in New Zealand I tried not to take for granted. I tried so hard to soak it all in, because I knew eventually I'd have to leave. I'd peer out into the distance. I'd close my eyes and breath in the landscape. I'd listen to the ocean and mountains. Even now I try so hard to remember the memories of friends and places I tried so hard to ingrain in my mind; but sometimes there are places and times where the mind just can't hold it all in no matter how hard you try. New Zealand is one of those places.

Yet this isn't meant to sound sad in any way, but in fact, the opposite. I'm glad to have been fortunate enough to experience such a place. Somewhere that made me really appreciate the beauty of the earth and people. But I also realized you don't have to go all the way to New Zealand for that. Its as easy as staring up at the night sky or laughing with your friends.

Thanks for everyone who read this blog and all my shinanigans. I hope to start a new blog on who knows what, but I'll post it here, once I get an idea, for anyone who might be interested.

I'll leave you with a song wrote in toward the end when I was in New Zealand. Only a small group of people have heard it. I also put a little slide show along with it. The song can be downloaded via the player on the right or facebook or my music link.

I hope to make it back someday. And I hope you'll make it there too.

Peace & Love
-Nick

Sit Tight

There's one final post coming, I swear. In just one or two days, its special so its taking a bit longer than I thought.

So don't go away, I'll back after a short messages from our sponsors.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Timm and I having a jam awhile back.

So I sold my guitar today at a pawn shop. Bringing it back to the U.S. just wasn't going to happen. Marie (what I named my guitar) will be sorely missed and provided me with endless hours of joy. I bought her for $135, and got $60 back. Not too bad, I wasn't really expecting anything more than that. The end is coming near and I'll be home to warm weather. Yay!

One Week

It's certainly weird to know that I'm only going to be living in New Zealand for one more week. Maybe I've become so accommodated to living here that I haven't realized in less than 7 days I'm going to have to pack everything up into to big bags and head home. Unfortunatly, I also have a few more exams standing in my way.

I'd of course be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad. This place is rockem-sockem hoppin, and in all reality, it might be a good while before I get back. Plus there will be lots of sweet friends I made to that I won't see for a little bit.

I am pretty excited to get home to warm weather, family, and more than just pasta and grilled cheese for dinner each night, though.

Soooo....with that said. Stay tuned for a few more posts before this adventure is over.

Keep it real home skillets.

~~Wade in the Water~~

Here's another post about a tramp (hike) that I did here in NZ. With just over a week left in this beutiful country, a few of us decided we better make the best of it and go on an adventure. Rich, as you can see, was totally into the idea.
So we started of on what would seem like a regular hike through the woods. Of course when we started going downhill we realized there would only one way to get back. Going uphill of course.

Cate is great at posing for pictures...really.So we made it to the bottom of the trail and was faced with two options. Continue on forward, or loop back around via the stream track. We picked the stream caused it looked way more exciting than anything else.

It soon became obvious what it was called the stream track, because we ended up having to cross the stream about 13 times, and at times it came way past our ankles. If you've ever seen the movie Anaconda (not recommended) than that's what it was like.
At one of these big pools I may have jokingly mentioned the desire to go swimming. With me saying this Cate, Rich, and Lynn were quick to press the matter. While I was a little afraid the water may have been infested with some vicious bacteria that would eat me from the inside out, I gave in. Turns out I'm a sucker for peer pressure.
The water was cold. And when I was happy with just jumping in once, Rich insisted I jump in again cause he missed the photo. So I did. Then he missed it again. So I jumped again. Then he missed it again. So I jumped again. Then he missed it again. By this point, my skin was burning because the water was so cold. I did not jump again.

Either way, we continued on the stream which ended at a nice water fall. After cheking it out for a bit we climbed back up to the main trail to get back to the car, with our shoes soaked but heads held high. The signs had said on advanced trampers should hike this trail. We now consider us advanced.

Tim Tam Slammin

Today you are going to learn the art of the "Tim Tam Slam" as demonstrated by our in-house Tim Tam guru and model, Cate.

You may be sitting there thinking "What is a Tim Tam Slam, Nick?" Well, to put it simply, its a 1"x2" piece of Joy. It's like anything that was good in world suddenly exploded in your mouth in edible fashion. Plainly put- IT...IS...YUMMY! Directions are as follow:

1. Heat up some milk or hot chocolate. Either works.


2. Take out your Tim Tam cookie biscuit and wave it around in the air like Cate here. I recommend "Chewy Chocolate Fudge," but other friends of mine stand by other varieties.

3. Now take your Tim Tam nibble off the opposite corners to expose the biscuit and chocolaty filling.

4. Now take one bitten corner and dip it in to the milk or hot coco. Take your mouth and apply it to the other bitten corner and apply your mouth. Now suck. Once you feel the liquid touch your lips then stop. Now take the whole Tim Tam and plop it in your mouth. Take too long and you'll fins yourself in a messy situation of melting chocolate.


5. Try not to die from the orgasmic blast of chocolaty deliciousness in your mouth so you can do another!

Also, you'll probably have to do serious research to find somewhere that sells these back in the U.S. They're aren't exactly sold there as far as I know, although I'll be bringing back some packages. This Wikipedia article also has some alternative ideas. So gimmie a call when I get back and we'll give it a go.

One Tree Hill

With about 3 or so weeks left in NZ we seem to be searching for those little things that we have left to do around Auckland. Things that have been on our lists, but haven't gotten around to yet. Well a few days ago, we did just that. We went and checked out One Tree Hill. Yes I know there is an obnoxious show named after it.

Cate felt she could climb the hill instead of taking the "Sheep Path."

Technically this annoying, One Tree Hill, a show that involves a bunch of angsty young persons with boatloads of melodrama is named after a U2 song on the album "Joshua Tree." One Tree Hill (the song) refers to the volcanic peek, One Tree Hill, here in Auckland. The song was released exclusively here in New Zealand, which I thought to be pretty cool.

Sheep

More Sheep

Everyone

Funny thing about One Tree Hill however.....there's no actual tree there anymore. And while I originally planned to write out the story and reason behind it, it turns out to be quite a long story to retype. Thus, I highly encourage you to read the Wikipedia version, which is full of Boy Scout jamborees, angry activists, amongst other things. It's not too long.

We hiked up the hill to the top where you can see a tree stump of where it was. Oh yeah, and there's a big Obelisk there commemorating someone. The park (which is sacred ground to the Maori people) also had sheep and cows wandering freely. We tried to get up close to some, but they usually manage to scamper off.

I presume this is the "Tree." Maybe it should be renamed "One Stump Hill". Or just "Stumpy Hill."

Sheep?!!

Kevin's Maori Photo Study

My friend and fellow Pinhole Adventure photographer, Kevin, has been working on a photo study of the Maori culture and its influence on urban life around Auckland and New Zealand. He's an extremely talented photographer, so I suggest you check out his stuff. Just Click Here. The link will also be posted under the "Cool Links" for clicking in the future. Be sure to look through them all!

One of Kevin's Portraits

High in the Sky

So last night a bunch of us decided to head to the Sky Tower in Auckland here for some dinner. As the defining icon in Auckland's skyline it stands at 328m (1,076ft). It's known as the highest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere.

We rode up to the observation level on possibly the fastest elevator ('lift' is what they call them here) I've ever ridden. I had to pop my ears at least 5 times on the journey up.

We looked out over Auckland and the harbor as the sun was setting, then made our way up another level to "Orbit" for our 5:30 reservations. We quickly realized why it was called "Orbit" beside it being a snazzy, hip name for a restaurant. The restaurant in fact did orbit around the center of the tower, meaning it MOVED...very slowly. So luckily we got a constantly changing views of the night city scape as we ate.

The restaurant was also pretty classy. Way to classy for a bunch of cheap and poor college kids. The minimum amount to spend for dinner was $30. Way more than I ever would. But there was justification. To go up the Sky Tower just to look out is $18. So I might as well pay the extra $12 for a really nice dinner, as I was planning to go up the tower at some point before I left NZ.
So once we spent our minimum (which pretty much included the main dish and a beverage) and ate dinner we descended back to earth. Certainly an experience to dine so high up, but with a price tag of $30, it'll be awhile before I do that again.

Sorry Mom

Well, my week of misery has passed and I'm done with my paper and presentation. As a new resolution, I decided I'm going to be more diligent in my posting. However, with little over a month left here in New Zealand, my funds for big trips to write about are beginning to run dry.

So what I think I'll try to do is post my day's events. This might include interesting articles I've read or other strange occurrences. It most also might be a post on how nothing very exciting happened at all. Believe it or not, those do days do occasionally occur in New Zealand. I've got a few ideas on my mind. So if There and Back Again starts become more of a personal journal, don't freak out.

Continuing on, you may be wondering why I'm apologizing to my mom. Well if you look at the photo below, I think you'll figure it out.What led to this was an interesting psychological debate I had with myself over whether I should go through with it or not. I had toyed with the idea of getting an earring for a long time. And if I remember it had more to do with boredom than anything, as if one day I looked in the mirror and said "that might be fun." Well at one point I think it was brought up somehow over dinner that I was going to get an earring in NZ. I got a nice gasp from my Mom and an estranged look from my Dad. After explaining my thought process, I got a laugh from both. I don't know if this was because they thought I was being absurd or they didn't think I was going to go through with it. Probably both.

Admittedly, as I've been here my desire to get an earring kind of fell off, although I kept in on my list of things to do. What I think what really made me do it was this: my brothers more or less said they would make fun of me if I got one. They also said they'd make fun of me if I said I'd get one, then didn't. I figured it be best I get one and not go back on my word, rather than the other. And in the 12 hours I've had it I've received both flak and compliments on it, so I think I can handle anything my family throws at me. I mean, deep down they love me anyway, right?

It'll be interesting to see what they think about the tattoo I got.

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

Mix Tape Week 2

Nick's Mix Tape

Here's week two's, give a listen. This week's isn't quite so bizarre and has some oldie but goodies.

Essays & Presentations: Not What I Signed Up For

View From My Room

I feel like I find myself saying this a lot, but I'll say it again: I'm sorry I'm not fulfilling your There and Back Again appetite. I know I do have (a few) regular blog checkers, and I'm not doing the best at the moment.

The truth is however, I had a nice long essay due last week, and another due this week along with a class presentation. So as much as I'd love to blow them all off and say whooop-deeeee-dooooo, I'm thinking that's probably not the best idea.

So, at the end off this week I should be able to get back to being more reliable in my blogging. These are the last assignments until finals, which don't occur until mid-june. So I'll have plenty of time.

Also to keep you occupied don't forget to check out a few different things:

1. Ed's Blog - He's genuinely funny, a great writers, and usually gives a....different perspective on our similar adventures. It's listed under my links.

2. Listen to the "Mix Tape". I won't deny some of its kinda weird, but if you listen through it you might find something you like. It's got a good variety. I'll make a new one later this week. So last chance to hear this one. Feel free to make you own and post the links in "Comments", I'd love to know what everyone's listening to!

3. I've been struggling to think a of a new poll to make...so if you have ideas leave a comment. Anything will work.

4. If you haven't already, (in a shamless plug) you can try listening to my music (under links or the player on the right). If you don't like it that's fine...just keep it to yourself.

5. Check out Smitty and my photo blog, Pinhole Adventures. A collection of our favorite pictures, this was started before New Zealand, so feel free to skim through the old ones. We try to update it somewhat regualarly, though have been slightly slacking lately. We'll try to fix that.

6. Have a fatastic day and don't forget to SMILE :)

Mix Tape Week 1

www.nickmarxhears.muxtape.com

So I totally stole this idea from a friend. But this site lets you compile 12 song on a "mix tape." So I thought I'd make one so you can listen to some bands and songs I like (and recommend). Hopefully if this works out, I'll make a new one each week.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dunedin (South Island Day 7/8)

Alright, sorry for the unecessary delay in this post. Let's finish this up, sh'all we?

We had stayed in a camper park in Dunedin and took advantage of the hot showers and electricity. We woke relatively early because we had to be at somewhere at 10:00. The place we had to be was Speight's Brewery for their guided tour.
This was my first tour inside a brewery and it turned out to be pretty cool. Our guide was Keith, an older retired gentleman that had the voice and looks of Michael Cane. I believe he said he had worked there for 30 years. And he likes beer. A lot. Which makes complete sense.

And while I wish I could remember all cool stuff he showed us, I can remember a few neat tidbits. New Zealand apparently has the best hops in the world, and he wasn't just saying this. Brewers from around the world import New Zealand hops, including Guinness, Budweiser, and a bunch of other I couldn't remember. The Speight's brewery also use what are called fermenting gyles. They're essentially giant open wooden tanks that are lined with cooling pipes used to frement the beer. There are only two breweries in the world to have them and Speight's is the only one to be currently operating them (for special brews). So I guess in the world of brewing, they're extremly well known and many major film crews and publications have been in to do stories on them.
The brewery is also known as a gravity brewery. So all the ingredients are taken to the top floor and slowly go throught the breweing process toward the bottom floor. This was used in early breweries as to assist the transfer of ingredient from one stage to the next. It's argued that this is the best was to brew, but really it doesn't matter that much. So we continued on through the tour checking out the big copper tanks, the water room, and mixing rooms etc.
We had rumor that at the end of the tour you get to taste al of the different brews in a 20 minute free for all in which you get to grab a small tasting glass and operate the taps at your own leisure (or ambition). Rumor confirmed. There were six different flavors to choose from. My particular favorite was the porter- specially brewed in the gyles, a dark brew with flavors of roasted coffee and burnt chocolate. Another favorite was a seasonal summer brew, an apricot wheat beer. While maybe not considered a "Man's Beer" it sure tasted good. Like candy.
While I was modest in my tasting since I'd be driving later on, some of my RV mates were in heaven. They made sure to get their $15 dollar tour fee's worth of beer...and then some...and then some more. In fact, instead of the 20 minutes or so that a regular group would get, we ended up hangning around for 45 minutes chatting with Keith our guide. He was actually just filling in for the 10:00 tour for someone, so he had nowhere to go. We chatted about politics, famous NZ people, jokes, and got him to sing the New Zealand national anthem for us. (Check out the Video)

We finally left and decided we'd walk around for a few hours to grab some lunch and allow me a bit of time before jumping behind the wheel. Downtown Dunedin was nice, although admitedly nothing to rave about. It was nice to see Dunedinites have a sense of humor though, where someone had placed an empty beer bottle in the hand of this famous poet's statue. (picture below).

When we did finally get on the road again we made a quick stop at Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records). Kevin and I walked to the top, and it was steep. You couldn't really appreciate its steepness though until you saw some ambitious car make the attempt. Engines revving and speeding toward the upstart, the car would hit it like a brick wall and was forced to drop it into first gear as it impishly crawled to the summit. The RV would have never made it- good thing I didn't try.
The rest of the day was mainly commited to driving back north toward Christchurch with a quick stop in Omaru. It was there where we walked on some trails and caught a quick glimpse of the tiny Blue Penguins. Normally we would have had to pay something outrageuos, like $20, to sit in the viewing are to see them, but somehow we made our way along the coast on a trail and ended up on the opposite side of the viewing area. Ooops. After they came out of the water and waddled to their little house, some guys from the viewing area came over to kindly escort us out. Apparently it was a private trail that closes at dusk, but it happens a lot that people end up there by accident. So we got to see them for free. Take that eco-exploitation. Weak.
We drove a little further and parked along the side of the road for our last night in the RV. The next day we got up and finished our drive our final and original place, Christchurch. We didn't do much besides clean the RV, grab some lunch downtown, then head to the airport. Our flight was canceled after it was suppose to have already boarded, luckily we were put on flight back to Auckland; not everyone on the original flight were wuite so lucky. But due to its relative uneventfulness, Day 8 isn't going to warrant a post. Sorry.
So that was my adventure around the South Islands. Glaciers. Mountains. Narrow winding roads. Fjiords. Sounds. Beaches. Penguins. And seven friends cramped in a six person RV for 8 days. Good times. Let's go back. (Cue End Credits)