Who wouldn't wanaka be in Wanaka?

Dear friends, many apologies for my ridiculous lack of blogging. Y'all can punish me by some creative and enjoyable means when i'm back in a nearby zipcod :)
So, Christmas was grand for this jew and pushin toward the new year got even better!

Post Xmas, i had many adventures in wanaka! went for a fantastic hike in the pisa conservation area with a friend from the hostel. The hike itself was quite the tramp as there was no trail, only markers now again and thick bush to fight through, most exciting were the stops along the way to examine sheep skeletons (yeah i'm a nerd!) and attempt to bareback ride some grazing horses...the sheep didn't want to be ridden so much.

Next day i hired (that's rented here) a mountain bike and pedaled 25km out of town to a closed ski area and headed up to the top (14 km flippin straight up hill). Twas a long pedal up and mackenzie i was wishin you were there so we could distract each other from the climb by talkin bout poop and farts or something equally ridiculous ;0 gotta say though, pedallin that far up (to the snow baby!) can only mean one thing....a sweet fast ride down! Was an awesome day on 2 wheels and playing on a bike makes me realize how much i flippin love it!

The following day i headed off on a climbing adventure! Me, another climber, and our fantastic guide headed out for Hospital Rock area (no pun intended i'm sure). After a morning of single pitch top rope climbing, we breaked for lunch. After discussion of government, world bank structures, and other relatively evil establishments...we decided we'd better start climbin again :) For our final venture we completed a 3 pitch climb that was up pretty damn high...no exact measurements for yall...but, let's just say if you spit, you might count to atleast 15 or 20 before you lost sight of your projected drool (this is of course a post haste estimate). Twas a sweet day out on the rock and only made better by the company! cheers to Eric (just back from afghanistan) and Rich (our guide originally from the UK)~

Awoke to brilliant sunshine the next day (can i tell you my weather luck has been unbelievable and has guided my trip amazingly!) Headed out for a run around the lake trail (sounds like a rough start already doesn't it:) Ran, literally almost, into barbara (whose husband i'd hitched to wanaka with). i had tea...and wine...and almost dinner...with them, what a wonderful pair;) ok i digress, so back to the sunshine element. Seemed a good day to be on a boat....
So, a friend from the hostel 'acquired' a boat from his friend and the 3 of us headed out of the lake to a slightly hidden beach (which we named Dead Sheep Cove for the ...yeah you guessed it)
Anyhow, some quick swims in the crystal clear water and some chatting with bonnie rait and lucinda williams in the background....not bad ;)

Then we headed back into town to pick up Amy and Andy ISAACSON (these are grand friends of mine from eugene who are/were honeymooning in NZ and were headed through wanaka!)
So how rad is this scene, in a boat with great people in a beautiful area, hangin on the beach...not too shabby! Camped out the next few nights to save some bucks and to avoid the hoards that were flocking to wanaka for the new year. That was nice, very nice (please read using borat voice).

Andy and Amy and I rode acqua bikes the next day, which i wouldn't recommend for efficient travel and the turning radius on those bad boys leaves something to be desired...;) we also went to THE PUZZLING WORLD in wanaka which i full of visual illusions that make you feel like you're in an MCEscher drawing...so flippin cool! Then we braved the maze...whcih i was disasterous at! Amy and Andy managed to find all the towers...yeah, i found 2...but i laughed all the while at each dead end i found....and found again....ummm, and again to be honest :)

Decided to head out of wanaka with A&A the next day back to Queenstown for New Years Eve. Although i think i would have preferred wanaka for the eve, i knew i was getting attached to this town, its surroundings, and amazing people. There's nothing wrong with comfort, but if i had intention to see anything else I knew i had to jet. Once again, in travelling you must forego all attachment and yet approach each encounter fully, hold nothing back and experience every person and moment as the best you will ever meet, right Pi ?

Whewwww, so now we're caught up to new years eve in good old queenstown. A, A, & I had an amazing Thai dinner downtown overlooking the water front and perusing the people as they gathered for the music and celebration of the evening! Following dinner, we joined teh masses (us in our raincoats...score! and many scantilly clad...cuz what else is there but looking cool?) and danced to some nondescript DJ till midnight when the sky cleared and the fireworks were lit! New year in queenstown, and it rather felt like home to be pelted by rain all night and have it snow in the mountains...oh to be within your comfort zone...right ;P

My first day of 2009 was unremarkable really, but also lovely ;) Decided to head towards Christchurch where i was psuedo scheduled to begin my next WOOfing job (farm stay). Mmmmm, we'll leave it at that for now. I will rest my fingers and head back to the hostel i'm staying at...in Kaikoura. I'm headed for the ocean today, to swim with some seals...the dolphins were booked out for the next few weeks! I tell ya, those mammals are too popular for their own good ...or more likely mine! that's ok, i think i can talk seal pretty good too, wonder if they have a kiwi accent here ;)