Christian Perez's Travel Journal

Kepler track and a major decision, Wed Apr 19, 2006

I finished the Kepler track yesterday. I did it in about half the average walking time. On the first day, I climbed over 3000 vertical feet in 2 hours! Most people take 4 hours. So yeah, I was booking it. Because I was fast, I spent a lot of time in the huts. Good thing Mom sent playing cards with me; I haven't done much else but learn card games and play them all night long in the huts. This British guy taught us all to play various games, and I tramped quite a bit with this Israeli couple, Issaf and Iviv.

I realized I wish I had a digital camera. I'm just no good at taking pictures, and developing film down here is really expensive. I have also been thinking having Tony down here would have made the trip better. Not only is he a way better photographer, but I could drag him along everywhere I wanted to go and he would be cool with it. Plus girls like him :) And he could split the price of a car...

I'm really thinking about getting one. Transportation is relatively cheap, but it all adds up with hostel stays, too. Its about $30-50 NZD for a bus fare and $20-25 NZD for a night at a hostel, which is really quite good in American dollars. But I've been talking to a lot of travellers, and most recommend getting a car if I'm staying for 4 months. I would have so much more freedom to go where I want, and I can save even more money buy sleeping in the car if I'm saving money and don't need a shower :) Plus, Ben is coming in July, so then we would save even more on bus fares.

If I buy I car, my plans change a bit because I would definately have to work for at least a month to afford it. So that might mean less time on the South Island, as most jobs now are North. This defeats the purpose of having a car, though, as I'm no longer 'free' to hang around the south until I get tired of the cold. But I'm told by locals that this time of year at the end of the tourist season, there are abandoned cars filling the streets of Queenstown. Travellers come from Auckland and make their way south, and when they can't sell their car before the leave, they just ditch it, or sell it dirt cheap.

So after having sworn never to set foot in Queenstown again (its a crappy over-commercialized tourist center), I might be going back to pick up a cheap ride and enjoy NZ in my own time.

I've also got a few farmstays lined up, so we'll see if those actually pan out... I might have to actually work for money instead of doing those... Is it worth it? Besides, I'm starting to wonder if I want to go back to Stanford in September or try to stick around here for another few months after my visa ends in October.

More later, plus lots of pictures from the airshow and Kepler track.