I’ve been continuing to enjoy great food and drink around the Nagoya area and I spent yesterday roaming around Nagoya solo. There is a TV tower located in central Nagoya which has a viewing platform so I was able to get a nice panoramic picture. I spent the evening at a bar called Rise translating English to Japanese and vise versa via my iPhone to have something that resembled a conversation with the bartender, then went to a gaijin (foreigner) bar called My Bar. I ended up leaving there with a couple Japanese guys who spoke a little English and went to another gaijin bar called Red Rocks something and met a couple Irish guys there before taking a cab back “home”. Now it’s time for New Years and to celebrate 3 months on the move!

So the last few days have been non-stop. Mr. and Mrs. Takagi had me over for a steak dinner which was the first meal they had with my Grandpa when he was in Japan many years ago. The next day I went all around Nagoya with Mr. Takagi and saw where my Grandparents lived in Japan, where my Grandpa worked, visited a few of their customers, went by the Aston Martin dealership and had an awesome sushi lunch. Since then I’ve gotten to go along with Noriyuki to a few fuel deliveries in the mountains, saw the Takagi’s boats, had a birthday/Christmas Eve dinner with the family and have been treated to some authentic Japanese cuisine and hospitality. Thank you can’t be said enough!

So after another night in Tokyo, roaming around the Roppongi area, I made my way to Nagoya. I took the bullet train to Toyohashi and along the way got some great shots of Mount Fuji which I’ll upload later. I met up with Noriyuki at a McDonalds where, while waiting, I tried to order a number 3 value meal with a coke and instead got 3 medium cokes. el oh el.

Before going out for a Korean BBQ dinner that evening, I met Noriyuki’s father and got to see his Unimog collection and got a grand driving tour around Nagoya. We finished the day by going to a few bars and enjoying a couple choice beverages.

So I slept at the Auckland Airport two nights ago to then catch my flight in the morning to Tokyo. I had spent said day sorting out my round-the-world ticket then blogged the evening away. When I broke free of my sleeping bag cocoon at 6 AM I went to check-in for the flight. They wouldn’t let me board. There was a mistake with the itinerary in which my flight leaving Japan was set for the 30th of March and that would put me in the country for more than 90 days (which is the maximum time allowed in the country for a US tourist visa). After I bit of a scramble I ended up booking a fully refundable one-way ticket from somewhere in Japan to somewhere in Australia in mid March with another airline. Of course since I was on a serious time crunch to check-in on time, my credit card was declined for security reasons so I had to call and verify my identity. But all ended well and I made the 11 hour plane journey Tokyo. The headrest TVs on the flight were setup as multimedia systems, with a selection of music, movies and games all for free which helped pass the time.

After arriving at the airport and deciding where I was going to stay, I set off via train. I got directions for which trains to take, but trying to buy a ticket was comical. I was standing there looking at the electronic ticketing machine as if trying to interpret some ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. After a while a lady named Shoco helped me purchase a ticket. She was traveling the same way so led me like a lost puppy to the station where I needed to transfer trains. When transferring I needed to buy another ticket so basically the same thing happened, but this time a gentleman rushing buy helped me purchase the correct ticket and I was on my way. After departing at my final stop, I walked around this area of Tokyo for a while. The temperature was that of cool fall which gave me the first real sense of Christmas time. I’m now at the Sakura hotel and luckily had a 4 person dorm room to myself last night. It is nearly 1 PM now and I think I’m going to head out and walk around for a bit.

So lots of decisions have been made in the last few hours, but I’ll get to that in Part 2. First lets pick up where we left off in Auckland…

Part 1: I caught the Kiwi bus the next morning to the Bay of Islands (Paihia), located out towards the northern tip of New Zealand, a 4 hour journey. The weather was shit when we arrived in Paihia so it was a no-go on all activities. Due to my limited remaining time in the country I was only booked for one night, leaving the next day at 3 PM to return to Auckland. I got up early on the morning of departure in hopes of squeezing in some sea kayaking before catching the return bus. The weather was good so I hired a kayak for 35 NZ bucks and took off into the Bay of Islands at 10 AM. At 2:00 PM, the time which the kayak was due back, I, absolutely exhausted, abandoned said kayak on a beach somewhere very far away from Paihia in hopes of at least returning to Paihia to catch the bus back to Auckland. While kayaking, I had made my way out of the bay, around the peninsula and out to open sea where I followed the coastline for 10 miles in hopes of finding some body of water that would make a loop back towards Paihia. Based on what I had heard from Dan, the manager of the kayak rentals, this was possible (although he had described the route to me in the opposite direction). At 8 PM that night, while out in open ocean in a dingy looking for the place where I abandoned the kayak, I was informed that this route indeed did not exist, at which point I asked Dan, “Where DOES this lead?” and he replied laughing, “Auckland.” The route in which he had described was located within the bay, guess I missed that detail. Picking up where I left off, after leaving the kayak on some remote beach I started walking and walking and walking. I was on some farm for the first 2 or 3 km, then reached a road. I was on that road for another 1 or 2 km before coming across a road sign that said many things, one of particular importance to me at the time read “Car Ferry to Paihia 17 KM” (that’s when I gave up hope of catching the bus, as it was nearly 3 PM by this time). I walked a couple hours, about 10 km, before a guy by the name of Wayne gave me a ride to the township of Russel which, from the viewpoint of Paihia, is across the bay. I caught the ferry to Paihia and checked by the kayak rental place to find an after-hours number which was Dan’s cell phone. I assumed at that point I would have to pay some portion or all of the cost for the missing kayak and that would be that. Instead I met “Action” Dan at a bar down the street from the hostel who first said something to me of the effect, “Quick, don’t have much time before the sun sets.” Whatever that exactly meant it was better than forking out $1500 for a plastic boat gone missing. A few sentences later he said, “I’ll go halves on a six pack, it may be a long journey.” After gathering metal dingy, outboard motor, flash light, six pack and a mildly intoxicated Dan we set off. With little trouble, other than taking to the ocean in a glorified toy boat, we found the kayak, loaded it up, pulled into another bay where Dan had a “victory dance” then made our way back. Around 5 PM the coastguard was alerted of my “disappearance”, luckily they don’t go on full scale search until after sundown so that all worked out. The last hitch was no Kiwi bus service on Wednesdays back to Auckland, so I booked a separate ticket with another company leaving this morning heading back to Auckland then made my way to the Auckland Airport.

Part 2: Now at the Airport with nothing planned for the future, I quickly discovered no airlines here do standby last-minute cheap flights. And then after going to a ticketing agency in the airport I ran into another problem; I couldn’t book single flights into countries without having outgoing flights booked. So after chaining a series of flights starting in Bali, Indonesia then to Bangkok, Hong Kong and so on I had a fare that quickly approached $2000 US dollars and didn’t get me very far. Luckily I had an awesome young lady by the name of Rebecka, who has quite of bit of traveling experience herself, as my booking agent. Basically my options (or at least so it seems in my limited knowledge of visas, etc) were as follows if I wanted to continue traveling legally: find a country centrally located that would let me enter on a one-way ticket and then bounce to and from there or get a visa for a country allowing multiple one-way entry or book a round-the-world ticket. So I settled on a round-the-world ticket, at the cost of $2200 US dollars and good for a year, that flies from here to Tokyo to Frankfurt, Germany to London back to Frankfurt to Los Angeles then back to Auckland should I decide to make a second New Zealand visit. The idea is then from each of those major hubs I can setup sub-trips to other parts of Asia, Europe, to Africa, etc. So I’m off to Tokyo in the morning.

Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand. In the last few days I’ve made my way from Wellington to Auckland, stopping in Taupo, Waitomo and Rotorua. In Taupo we had the opportunity, as weather cooperated, to embark on the Tongariro Crossing, a 19 km hike which crosses a volcano. The hike often gets cancelled due to winds up to 80 mph and harsh weather conditions at that altitude. We were under cloud cover most of the time at the peak, however got a few breaks in the haze to get some great shots. The next day Podge, a friend from the tour bus, and myself got picked up via van and brought to Waitomo where we went cave diving. The day started with repelling 6 stories down the “Black Abyss” into the start of the cave, then zip-lining from there to the heart of the cave. After which we jumped of a small cave cliff edge into an underground river were I then understood why we had wetsuits on. The day ended by climbing the underground waterfalls to exit the cave. It was definitely Goonies, full on. Yesterday we spent a modest night out in Rotorua then I caught the tour bus to Auckland. I’ll be heading out of here tomorrow morning heading to Paihia (Bay of Islands) to do some dolphin swimming and sea kayaking, weather permitting. I’m not sure where my next country destination is, as I have to be out of New Zealand on the 18th. I’ll likely crash the airport and try to snag some last minute flight deals. It’s a wait and see. Until next time!

So I’ve made my way back up the east coast of the south island of New Zealand, from Queenstown through Christchurch, Kaikoura and Picton, where I took a ferry to the north island, arriving in Wellington. I’ve been saying goodbye to the friends I have made over the last couple weeks on the tour bus as the journey is coming to an end, with many people flying out from Christchurch, others rushing through to catch flights in Auckland. So to all of you on the Kiwi Experience, and you know who you are, it’s been awesome and hopefully our paths cross in the future.

A couple notables over the last few days include a falcon attack while hiking up to overlook Queenstown and getting banned from the Christchurch Pick n’ Save for 2 years. The falcon drew blood from my head so I had to check with the department of conservation to see if there was a possibility of a rabies infection, but turns out there is no rabies in New Zealand so that was a relief. And while our group was shopping for dinner groceries for a certain evening, I helped myself to a mini wheel of brie cheese while I shopped. Upon eating the entire wheel of cheese the wrapper then found its way to the trash can. After I checked out I was approached by two security guards who said, and I quote, “Where’s the cheese?” After being interrogated and some negotiation to avoid getting the police involved and my arse deported, I paid for the cheese and donated 5 bucks to the Caring for Kids charity. All was well. Although if I show up in said Pick n’ Save anytime in the next 2 years they will call the police and have me arrested. Doing my best for international relations.

Day 59: I went on a glacier hike on the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. It was an early start and a long day. We spent something like 6 hours on the ice and it was still a considerable amount of time hiking to the glacier itself. The only equipment unique to the glacier hike were the crampons. They are basically spikes that attach to your boots. We got ice axes / picks later in the hike but they weren’t necessary. If you look at the photos you will see a picture of a small hole / tunnel in the ice. It was something like 15-20 feet long and uphill with loads of freezing water flowing through it. It was optional torture to climb though this hole, but of course when in Rome. I ended up soaking the entirety of the left-hand side of my body in near freezing water since there was no other way for me to fit through other than laying flat on my side in rushing water and digging my heels in the ice. After the hike was over, a group of us from the bus chipped in and made a pasta dinner.

Day 60: Today we headed to Lake Wanaka. The weather was shit most of the day, but improved a bit when we arrived at our destination. I walked around part of the lake, then hiked to the top of Mount Iron to get a great 360 view of Wanaka and the surrounding mountains and valleys. Then we all chipped in on dinner again and Chantal and Rob, two friends from the bus, made supreme nachos for 16 of us. They were ridiculously good and massive portions with loads of toppings. And for anyone that has cooked in a hostel kitchen before, they can respect the amazing feat of cooking for 16 people in a packed (and tiny) kitchen.

Day 61: We took off towards Queenstown in the morning. Before going into Queenstown we stopped at a bungie place and watched a few fellow bus-mates take the dive. It looks like a damn good time, but this jump was only 43 meters and the word on the street is the tallest bungie is in Hong Kong, 220 something meters. I think I’ll wait for that. The evening consisted of a fun night out with all the people from the bus, kind of a final night out since quite a few people are splitting up from here.

Day 62: After sleeping in a bit, the first time for quite a few days, I hiked up to a peak overlooking Queenstown. This place is seriously beautiful. I’m going to have a hard time leaving. There is a gondola you can take instead of hiking, but it’s 20 bucks so f that. At the top they had a small complex with a restaurant, cafe, gift shop and a luge course which looked basically like a downhill go cart track. I grabbed a bite to eat and took a series of nice photos which I turned into a panoramic, as you can see above.

So two months on the road so far. Part of it has felt like an eternity, the other part seems like it has just flown by. I was kind of over budget in Australia and Singapore, but I’m seriously over budget here. Looks like it may be working visa time soon. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading my posts and checking out the photos so far. I look forward to writing about new adventures and capturing new photos.