The job situation has been resolved. For the past two months, I have been working part time at a café in a bowling alley. It's nothing to hoot and holler about, but it pays rent and hasn’t given me anything to complain about. Recently, I took another part time job at a plant nursery. I got the job at just the right time because it allowed me to save some money for Aileen and Francis’ visit (more about their visit to come). However, just yesterday I was offered a job around the corner at the botanical gardens café where I’ll be cashiering and waitressing. I decided to take it because it offers more hours and I won’t need transportation to get there.
Speaking of transportation, I bought a car about a month ago. The “blue beast” is an ’84 hatchback Accord. 
Don’t let the name fool you. It runs great considering its age and the price I paid. Basically, the couple I bought it from was leaving for home in the UK the day they sold it to me. I was fair, but they could have gotten a lot more for it had they had the time. Anyway, I recently took it on a 4-day roadtrip and haven’t had any problems with it yet!
Last week, friends from home came out to visit. Francis and Aileen were lucky enough to spend a jam-packed week with me traveling a bit through the South Island. (Actually, I was the lucky one! Without friends and family coming to visit every few months, I would have a hard time making it a year out here!) We first traveled west across the Southern Alps through Arthur’s Pass. We stopped to do a small hike to Bridal Veil Falls and saw many curious Kea’s, which are mountain parrots! 
One hopped up right onto the car hood as we were eating our lunch. They are notorious for pealing off the rubber sealing around windows and the car body, so I was a little weary to leave the blue beast by himself! Turns out the Kea was only interested in our lunch.
Later in the day, we made it to Hokitika and the west coast just in time to see the sunset behind storm clouds over the Tasman Sea. After grabbing some dinner, we stopped in at a glowworm dell to see glowworms. We weren’t exactly sure what we were looking for as we held onto each other and followed the path as best we could in the pitch dark. We never saw the place in light, so as far as we knew, we were walking into a cave. I’m not sure how it happened, but we eventually realized we weren’t in a cave and what we thought were stars through the trees were actually the glowworms! They were amazing! There seemed to be millions of them! They literally looked like stars in the distance. Very cool! On our way down the path, we kept seeing flashes of blue light in the distance. We later remembered the storm clouds over the ocean and realized it was lightning.
We continued driving, determined to make it to Franz Josef to do a glacier hike in the morning. On the journey there, we stopped to admire the stars and gaze at Mars. I hope you were all able to see Mars! I was unsure whether or not it would be visible in the Southern Hemisphere, but when I finally looked (the night after it was supposed to be closest to Earth) there it was! Luckily, it was a new moon, so the stars were brighter than usual. I have never seen the Milky Way so bright before! It was so bright that for a moment, we thought it was a lingering cloud or patch of fog. I wish everyone could see how bright the sky can be!
Since we arrived in Franz Josef late at night, the scenery around us was a complete surprise the next morning. It was the first day in a week’s time that the sun decided to grace us with its presence without being surrounded by clouds. I remember getting up in the morning to get my camera and charger out of the car. I took a few steps outside before I actually looked up. My jaw literally dropped and I stood there gazing at the snow capped peaks among hills of temperate rainforest. Needless to say, I couldn’t keep it to myself, so I ran back to our room to make Francis and Aileen come outside. They were equally amazed. It looked to be a beautiful day for a glacier hike!
We were a little late in our morning start and just the missed the full day glacier hike. The only option we had left was to take a helicopter glacier hike. Darn! :o) 
We weren’t able to spend as much time on the ice as if we had done the actual hike from town to the glacier, but it was made up to us by flying over the birthplace of the glacier (called the névé) and landing in a spot where there were more ice formations. It was kind of weird walking on a sheet (for lack of a better word) of ice that was older than me and a kilometer across and many many kilometers long. While we were waiting for the helicopter to pick us up off of the glacier, we saw an avalanche on a nearby peak. It didn’t look very big from where we were, but the fact that we could see it and hear if from where we were standing undoubtedly proves it was probably much bigger than our eyes would allow us to believe. This is especially true since we were told spires of ice which we thought were no taller than ourselves were actually 4 stories tall! 
Those formations were much closer to us than the peak with the avalanche. I plan on going back and doing the full day hike even though I hear it can be very painful, especially at the end of the day!
We left Franz Josef destined for Queenstown. Not far from Franz Josef, we stopped at Lake Matheson, which provides one of the most famous panoramas in New Zealand. The glass-like surface of the lake reflects Mt. Cook (tallest mountain in Australasia at ~12,000ft, but still 2,000ft short of the tallest mountains in the Sierras!) and the Southern Alps. We hiked around the lake making sure to get every possible angle in our photos. It was pretty much impossible to take a bad picture with the views we had. Unfortunately, a few clouds hid the tips of the snowcapped peaks.
Our next stop was not far down the road to the Fox Glacier. The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are 2 of 3 glaciers in the world that descend into temperate rainforests. The third is in Chilé. We only stayed long enough to take a few distant pictures. After driving through mountains, we once again met the Tasman Sea at Bruce Bay to see the sunset. Many events ensued on our nights drive to Queenstown. We unwillingly participated in a game of dodge the birds, possums, and cows in the middle and to the side of the road. Why these animals choose to pop a squat on asphalt and fly in front of cars, I have no clue. We also drove through an odd situation where a seemingly uncontrolled fire was burning not far above the road. We stopped to tell someone, but we weren’t sure what happened after that. The further drive into Queenstown that night was laden with police (Friday night) and after a small encounter with them, we finally made it to town. We were knackered from the day's events, so after chowing down on some Fergburgers (the best substitute to In-N-Out here in NZ) and chips, we hit the hay. The next day, we accidentally bumped into a few of my flatmates from Christchurch who happened to be doing the same bungy at the same time! Read “Free Falling” for the details of that day.
After eating at the Hard Rock, we headed east to the city of Dunedin where we were hoping to see penguins. We explored the Dunedin Art’s Center as well as took a drive out to the Penninsula. 
It was quite a windy day on the shore, so we didn’t spend too long outside. We did explore Allan's Beach and climbed a few rocks. Instead of seeing penguins in Dunedin, we decided to stop in Omauru on our way back to Christchurch. Again, we made perfect timing, arriving in Omauru just after sunset to see the penguins waddle in after a day at sea fishing. We saw blue penguins and yellow-eyed penguins. Let me just say I was never very interested in penguins. I guess I just never really thought about them. After seeing them, I’d have to say they are one of the cutest animals! We were given a small lecture by penguin guides as we watched the penguins brave the crashing waves on rocks to settle on land for the night. The distances they can swim and the depths they can dive to are amazing! I have a new respect for the little critters!
It was sad seeing Francis and Aileen off at the airport, but the moments we shared were unforgettable! That was only 4 days ago and it already seems like it has been a month! The past week isn’t nearly as exciting as the week before, but yesterday was National Penis Day. I kid you not!!! Apparently, an HIV/AIDS organization started it a few years back to get men to talk about their…you know whats. Supposedly, men who are open and talk about their equipment are less likely to be infected with HIV. To celebrate, (since I know you are asking how one might celebrate National Penis Day) a few dozen people posed nude in the shape of a giant penis in Cathedral Square among a few hundred spectators (Yes, me being one of them, a spectator of course! Not one of the nude people!). I couldn’t help feeling slightly odd watching the whole thing and was somewhat relieved there were a few rows of people in front of me to obscure my view. My roommate Brett, decided he wanted to be part of the action and joined in on the formation. (He thankfully was at the end I could not see!) His bare butt made the Christchurch Press! Hehe! He'll never live it down!
Before the roadtrip, I was able to make it out of town with a few friends to some geothermal hot springs. I’ve also been on a few hikes to the Port Hills around Christchurch which have given me awesome views and a good perspective on how large Christchurch actually is. 
(Me in WWII gun emplacement on Godley Head in Port Hills)
I also survived my first New Zealand earthquake. It apparently was as big as the infamous bay area earthquake (7.1 on the Richter Scale), but was centered 6 hours away. It was felt as far away as the Australian coast! I awoke at midnight to my bed shaking. It took a good 30 seconds to convince myself it was not a large truck driving by and shaking the house (which they often do). Luckily, the epicenter was not near any large cities and no one was hurt. However, experts keep saying several major cities in NZ are due to be hit by large earthquakes in the near future. I’ll just pretend I didn’t learn that and hope that it doesn’t happen while I’m still here!
Francis and Aileen brought out a few of my belongings, including one of my guitars. Seeing friends who to me are practically family and receiving lots of presents from home literally made it feel like Christmas when they arrived! They also brought out my climbing gear, so I’m hoping to do a bit of indoor and outdoor climbing while I’m here. There are some nice places for both!
So, that wraps up the past few weeks/months. I hope you are all doing well and gearing up for the fall! I know I’m ready for spring!
Silence for the first few milliseconds of my freefall. After the light bulb in my head clicked on, I screamed “Holy S#*%!” not exactly choice words, I know. But that’s what came out. Unfortunately, you can hear it loud and clear on my video. As I was reaching the end of my bungy line and beginning my first bounce, I let out an enthusiastic “WOOHOO!” Woohoo is one of very few words to describe my emotions and feelings of the whole experience. It was amazing! Spectacular! A must do for everyone who craves adventure and a good mental challenge. A definite must do for myself on more than one occasion! After unhitching my legs to be pulled up in a seated position, I sat back and relaxed enjoying the beauty of everything in that moment of time. It was difficult to take it all in. It happened far too fast! The only thing I could say as I climbed safely back into the pod was, “Can I do it again!?” All in good time! I will be back!
