scooters

Motor scooters are huge in Thailand. You see very few cars and lots of motor scooters. That’s what the locals use. Few drivers need the power of big motorbikes and cars, especially in Bangkok where the traffic is stop and start. The laws are not strictly enforced and they are so easy to handle you see ten year olds with little siblings driving them. Our experience with motor scooters was at a small town, Sichon.The resort we found rented them out to us and we spent the whole day driving them. We got some suggestions on were to go and we went to two water falls. The other great thing about the scooters was that they were the same price as a taxi for all of us so we could use them to get food in town because the resort food wasn’t very good. We ended up renting them again so we could use them just for that. But the best thing was I got to drive on the road! Carsen 5/12/09

Wantoo Wantoo

WantooWantoo, the address (1212) and slogan of our last wwoof farm in New Zealand. 35 acres in the region of Motueka, S. island NZ. WantooWantoo is all about wanting to do what you do. This was probably the most relaxed farm yet because we got to choose our work and got to play with the family as work too (who wouldn’t want too)! On the 35 acres there are 2 cows, 2 pigs, 40 chickens, 3 single human beings and 2 families. A great environment. We stayed here for 2 weeks and did a total of a million things (not really) consisting of milking the cow and making cheese. There is a river right by so we swam and fished. We also had many campfires which we used to make bread rolls on sticks called damper. These are most of the experiences we got to do at wantoowantoo and enjoyed our selves for 2 weeks.


Carsen 3/23/09

Week Of Freedom

After leaving Marama farm we had a week to travel up the west coast of the south island. We left Gore on the 3rd of April to head up into Fiordland NZ. We managed to do 2 hikes, one to Key Summit and one to Lake Marion both close to each other and moderately easy. Key Summit has a nice view of Lake Marion and were pretty hikes but nothing amazingly different than any thing else. We also drove to Milford Sound. It is very touristy with nothing going on, except cruises to see the plentiful wildlife. We did not take one of these cruises but did go on a board walk from a parking lot to a dock. This was pretty much what we did in Fiordland.
On the 6th of April we headed up to Mount Cook. While going up to Mount Cook we went through Queenstown where we did bungy jumping off a 43 meter high bridge (we have photos)! It was an excellent thrill and very smooth ride, we highly recommend it. While at Mount Cook we went on a hike in horrible weather and left later that day. For the last days we went up to Fox Glacier and drove all the way to the north tip of the south island were we are woofing.

Carsen 3/10/09

Marama Organics

The past week and a half we were wwoofing at Marama Organics. The property is 30 minutes away from Gore, NZ off of highway 1 on the South Island. Marama houses 6,000-10,000 sheep and cows across a fully organic 3,000 acres. We were there during shearing time so we got to help out with that. If the weather was nice, the shearers came and we would move sheep from the outdoor holding paddock into the shearing barn. Because the dogs were not as helpful as they should have been, we acted as the dogs. As you can imagine, this was quite an experience! There were 3 main sections of the holding paddock, which led to a corral which then led into the shearing shed through a long and skinny run. We eventually got the hang of pushing them into the different sections and also used a wide variety of names and exclamations at the sheep! Hee hee. When the shearers didn’t come because of wet sheep, we moved the sheep from paddock to paddock, which often included more exclamations. Cruising along on the ATV and running behind the sheep, we were as good as dogs. We managed to move lots of sheep. This is what the work was like at Marama Organics. It was tough and made us sore but was worth the experience and good times with fellow wwoofers. The only unfortunate part was that it was mostly cloudy and you couldn’t see the beautiful landscape.

Carsen 3/3/09

Cape Rienga hike and Taputaputa bay

January 22, in New Zealand, we decided to get off the beach and go for a beautiful tramp (hike) from our campground in Teputaputa Bay to the northern most accessible point, Cape Reinga. Cape Reinga houses the longest manned light house in New Zealand. In 1987, the system switched to solar power with operations monitored in Wellington, New Zealand.
Estimated to take 2 ½ hrs, we did the tramp in 1 ½ hrs. Even though it was shorter than expected it had many enormous declines/inclines. Throughout the tramp we were able to experience the vast views of hillsides and steep rocky cliffs. Peering down to the bottom of the cliffs you could see gorgeous beaches with water access only except for the one that our trail led to, Sandy Bay. Even though the water was crystal clear and looked very refreshing, we chose to wait until we got back to our campground for a swim. We were very lucky that we were staying there and had access to the wonderful water because the trail had almost no shade and it was excruciatingly hot.
The beach in Teputaputa had the best surf for playing. All day we enjoyed ourselves in the water and even managed to body surf! One thing that was very interesting was all the day tour busses. Around lunch time, the beach filled with day trippers and then in the next minute, the busses drove away and the beach was ours. Unfortunately we had to leave, because after staying for three days, we had used all of our food.
This was one of our favorite places.-Carsen

La Familia Chilena

Navimag

On Wednesday Nov. 5 we entered Chile from Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most town of the world except for a small fishing community. We arrived in Puerto Natales, Chile for our Navimag adventure. Navimag is a cargo ship/ferry that starts in Puerto Natales and goes to Puerto Montt or vice a versa.

We boarded at 21:00 on Thursday to leave at 5:30 in the morning on Friday. The first day was fairly simple. We got a briefing on our trip that showed our route and safety rules. To pass time, we watched some movies, one of which was a documentary called Survival Island. It starred the wildlife of South Georgia Island, like penguins and albatross. The scenery was a lot like the west of Washington State, green with vegetation and cold with snow. Something different to Washington were the glaciers that went to the sea. The boat went off route so we could see one closer.

Saturday was similar until we entered the only spot of open sea, The Golfo de Penas, around 16:00. This was the very rough spot of the trip and lasted 14 hours. My mom and Sinclair both threw up but I didn’t, although at times I felt like it. We were sitting in the highest part of the ship, the pub deck, which had some tables that were constantly threatening to take us out by sliding across the floor. Because the ship was rocking too much, we weren’t able to have dinner so they gave us some rapidly made sandwiches. Since there was nothing to do, I slept the most of the time. Luckily, the rough spot ended around 4:00 the next morning. At breakfast the informers informed us that, on a scale of 1-12 for storms, ours was a 7.

The next day was our last day on the boat. Unfortunately mom was still feeling sick but she mustered up enough strength to play bingo and dance into the night. She won a bottle of Jonnie Walker Red Label whiskey and I got a Navimag information book for being the loser. Then we had a dancing fiesta!!!!!!!! When we arrived in Puerto Montt in the morning, we had to get off and say good bye to our new friends, 2 Canadians, 1 New Zealander, and 2 Dutch. For me, I would recommend it and it was nice not to cook or do the dishes. Some people said it was the highlight of their trip. It was fun, but it wasn’t my highlight. -CARSEN