The Curse of the Crystal Spirit Artist

Sounds like a Nancy Drew novel, Ay?

So my friend Anna's boyfriend (Jason) came to visit her last week and they had rented a car to go adventuring. I decided to join them on Friday on a trip to...

The Catlins: Get back to nature on a captivating road trip through rugged coastline, isolated forests and wildlife-filled bays! (thank you Lonely Planet)

Got that feelin' youre third wheelin' ? Nah, Anna and Jason were really cool and the third wheel's job is to take a ton of pictures. No big. I was having a ton of fun ;)

Kaka Point

Our first stop down the East Coast was the beach at Kaka Point. Beaches are always amazing, but the coolest part was all the small tide pools amongst the rocks. We even found an 8-legged starfish alive and crawling!

Nugget Point

Our second stop was Nugget Point but we had a few adventures along the way. We're following the map (which isn't very hard when there's usually only one road. Yes, in all of NZ) and we have to venture on to this gravel/rocky road along the coast to get to the point where there's supposed to be the rarest of all penguins, seals, and a light house with amazing views! Along this tiny road by the beach we see a small house (the first one in ages). Then we notice there's a sign resembling something of a store so I convince everyone to stop to check it out.

Chapter 5: Nancy Encounters the Crystal Spirit Artist

Now before you think I'm even remotely exaggerating...

As we tip toe through her magical displays of gnomes and fairies in the yard, an old hippie woman with dry white hair comes out to greet us. She welcomes us into her 10x10 gallery shed and warns, "No pictures allowed." Then, if the garden gnomes and fairies weren't strange enough, she shows us all of these crystals and rocks and small paintings and fairies and unicorns.

And I bet you saw this coming. What does every spirit artist worth her salt have? A troll. A protective troll "that may EAT YOU!!" to be specific. I hope by now you know I don't joke around, but just in case...

In order to discourage insanity, we chose not to purchase spiritual art of any kind. In retrospect, I believe this was our downfall (or literally the sheep's downfall...)

We moved on pretty quickly after that. We parked at the first landing halfway up Nugget Point and unfortunately came at a bad time to see the penguins. We saw zero penguins. Since they are supposedly the rarest in the world, I guess zero is a fair number to see.

We walked to the next spot up the point to see the seals. Apparently, when they say you can see seals they mean you can stand hundreds of feet above them and pretend that the black smudge on the breakwater below is a seal. Fun? No. But did we just accept that and move on? No. What would Dora do? Explore.

There we were hiking down the grassy mountain. No trail, no permission. It only cost a muddy butt and a little sweat to come 20 feet away from the seals! And let me tell you, so much cooler than a zoo! We were very careful not to speak louder than a whisper and we stayed behind a bush to try not to scare them. The babies were the cutest with their little blubbery bodies plopping along :) 2,700 pictures later, we hiked back up and continued on.

Last stop: the Lighthouse. There were AMAZING views of the water below and the huge rock formations! Absolutely beautiful. Nothing funny about this, just awesome.

Purakaunui Falls

Wanting to get home before dark, we chose our last destination only a little farther south. This was such a great quick walk into what seemed to be a tropical rainforest. Five minutes in you find the waterfall! Its not huge and you can't walk behind the falls, but its still a beautiful place!

Murder or the Curse?

On our way out there were a few sheep in the road just hanging around like lazy puff balls. We had some carrots for snacks that we thought we could feed the sheep with. Anna stayed in the car while Jason and I tried to get closer. No surprise, the sheep kept walking away. When we tried to run to them, they ran too. Instinctively, we wanted to catch up. (predator-prey psychology? i dont know...) We jumped in the car and Anna started to slowly continue our drive down the road. The car was obviously faster than the sheep and we stopped at first, but it was kinda funny that they stayed on the road and kept running. Now we're not monsters-- we did stay a safe distance away from the sheep, and a little exercise is good for any animal. Then we noticed it: the Fatty. There was a really fat sheep that started to lag behind and it was just the most hilarious thing we had ever seen at the moment. We still remained a safe distance away but I guess the Fatty decided not to run anymore and moved to the side of the road where there was what looked to be a grassy area with bushes. That seemed like a logical move except for the fact that there was a 10 ft drop about two ft off the edge of the road! The Fatty took one step and poof! he was gone. We were sure that such a fluffy fatty like himself would roll down and hop back up. We stopped and got out to check anyway. Apparently sheep have no physical relation to cats. Poor Fatty was lying at the bottom of the drop amongst the bushes. He lifted his head a few times, but he didn't get up and scurry away.

We couldn't get down to get a better look at him, and there weren't any farmers around to tell. We payed our respects and left a half-empty milk jug on the road hoping someone would stop to pick up the trash and find the sheep. Anna and Jason say we're not murderers (or at least it wasn't intentional). I think that this was a curse put on us by the Spirit Artist and her troll. We didn't buy her crystals that she swore would bring us luck, and then we mocked her crazy lawn decor. If the sheep incident wasn't enough, 2 hours after I got home from the trip I lost my voice. I wasn't sick and I'd been fine all day, but after telling the sheep story 3 times, my voice was gone and didn't come back for days.

Coincidence? I think not.

Ultimate Update!

I never did make it to that Ultimate tourney in Christchurch but my friend Spencer picked me up a disc!! The theme was Futurama but unfortunately the disc is pretty boring and white. That's ok, I'm still so happy to have one! We threw around a little today because the weather was unbelievably warm!

Also, I might try scrimmaging with the local team this weekend. We'll see how it goes :)

Jesus Drives a Pimp Mobile

This is long, but so good.

Just when I thought I had no ride to Christchurch Friday morning, I was offered a spot in a 12-person van rental. We even got 1 day free on the price! Then I found out some space opened up at a friend's house and I'd have a free bed for the two nights! So we drive the six hours up to the city Friday afternoon and I get dropped off at my friend Jono's house to get settled.

Jono's House: Warmth, great bed, heated tile floors and towel rack, awesome parents

Jono shows us around the city a bit to experience the night life and after a long night of dancing at Boogie Nights we go back home to nice warm beds! The next morning (after the best sleep since I left home) Jono took us to the Wildlife Preserve. It was like a zoo, but better! We danced with the talking parrot, pet eels, and shook hands with monkeys! We also got to see wallabies, whining otters, and KIWIS! The kiwis were really special because they're endangered, the national bird, nocturnal, and so funny to watch waddle around uselessly.

Later that day, half of us watched the game at the stadium and the rest watched it back at the house (saved $50, stayed out of the rain, and had dinner courtesy of Jono's parents) UNFORTUNATELY i couldn't make it to the Ultimate tournament.. it's kinda hard when you're the only one interested and you're lacking transportation. So sadly, I still have no disc.

I met back up with my van buddies Sunday to head home around noon. We got some gas and snacks and settled in with our ipods for the journey back to Dunedin. The van started slowing down about 40 min into the trip. We knew there was definitely something wrong when we were going 10K/hr while flooring it. Five minutes later and we were twelve international students in a dead van on a highway with nothing but open fields in sight. Our friend who rented the van never asked one VERY important question about the car: petrol or diesel. We put petrol in a diesel van and killed it. DEAD. We're not sure if we have to buy it now or what. I don't really wanna know.

get the cameras rolling... TRUE LIFE: I'm a Hitch Hiker

(Before you have a heart attack mom, I am still alive)

It's pouring freezing rain and the wind is whipping, and we have to leave the van to get towed. We grab our backpacks and sleeping bags and head out of the van in pairs (girl and guy), stick out our thumbs, and put on a big puppy dog face.

It took Chris and I no more than 10 minutes to get our first ride. This guy was a total creeper. He was in his late 40s, covered in tatts playing some hard metal music like Disturbed. When he reached into the arm rest we were sure he was about to pull out a gun! Just a cassette. Well, it was a Dashboard Confessional cassette. Creeper. He drops us off in the center of the very next town about 15 min away. We're trekking through the wind and rain to try to find the major highway when we see three kids standing at a nearby gas station holding cardboard signs saying "To Dunedin" and "Heading South." Getting closer we realize its our friends (2 of them being my flatmates)! Crazy thing is, they weren't in the van with us earlier. They had bought a car and driven up to Christchurch on their own. Their car ALSO broke down the day before and we had just happened to find them in this random small town about 1.5 hours out of the city.

Sadly, we had to keep moving without them. A group of three is hard enough to hitch with, forget five. We felt like bums having to move on to the next corner so weren't competing for the nickels and dimes of passersby. Ten/fifteen min later we see a van (not a minivan, more like a small shipping truck) start to pull over. Our friends that we just left are inside waving!! They stop and tell us to hop in!

This was Jesus. in the flesh. in a pimp mobile.

Pimp Mobile: sink, lighting, makeshift bed, stereo system, custom wooden trim shaped like waves, pictures, 2 surfboards, snowboard, skateboard, guitar, beanbag

This guy was young, friendly, loved KFC, and was headed all the way (5 more hours) to Dunedin! He was actually really happy to give us a lift because in such high winds the height of the van causes a ton of wobbling, reducing his speed by half. Five people added a lot of weight and would make his trip faster. If this wasn't a miracle enough, he drove us right to our door! So what if he grows his own weed, this man dropped straight from heaven.

One hot shower and hot meal later, I was alive and well with one crazy story.

No Plans, High Expectations

Two papers to write. For those who know me, I'm sure you'll agree this will take about 73 hours. I wish I was joking. BUT the reason why I'm writing tonight instead of sunday hours before they're due is because...

were traveling to CHRISTCHURCH this weekend! There's an All Blacks game there Saturday, but instead of watching rugby for $50, I'm going to watch an Ultimate tournament FOR FREE! Im expecting them to be selling awesome discs with kiwis and ferns/ anything NZish. Soo excited to finally get my hands on a disc again!

Funny thing about short notice travel is..

1. We don't know where we're staying. We could be staying in a hostel/ couch surfing/ staying at an already packed friend's house/ camping/ sleeping in the car.

2. We don't know how we're getting there. We could be renting a van/ taking a bus/ hitch hiking (no im not kidding. my friends did it last weekend in pairs and it was "a great success!") (thats for purds and mack)

...We'll see. Im sure I'll have a good story or two on Monday!


I'll leave you with a few notes of wisdom:

Pocket knives are for fingerless people only.

Never buy saucy tortellini in a bag.

Never make the Pukana Maori face to the bouncer. (see below) He will kick you out of the club.