Update

So I've finally ordered my backpack, which will arrive towards the end of September, and I've now acquired myself a tent (thanks Gets for picking it up). Going to pitch it up in my apartment (why not?) to see how it looks like and see how easy it is. What I bought was The North Face Tadpole 23 which has gotten pretty good reviews, and is pretty roomy. It's supposed to be a 2 man tent, but just about everyone says it's perfect for 1 man. And since I'm going solo, it's perfect, but just in case someone needs some...warm lodging (wink wink), then there should be enough space for that person(s). I promise, I'm a good boy.

And now I'm really sure about getting a car. It seems inevitable in the long run. And now there's a beach I want to check out too that a sales rep told me about. Piha beach close to Auckland. Apparently it's a good place to camp too, so who knows, I might try camping by the beach there for a night or two.

I've also gotten a hold of my old math teacher from Mexico: Mr. Pulley (aka. Sir). Something I was thinking about, I don't know if I could ever call him by his first name. Really! He doesn't have a first name, he's Sir. Simple as that. I digress though! He's married a Kiwi (not the bird nor fruit)! And she's a nurse! This is must be a sign that I am on the right path (have to thank PPH for setting me on it). So if I'm lucky, he'll be coming down during the time that I'm there and visit his parents in law. How cool wouldn't that be?! Also going to try to meet some people I know in Australia, but we'll see what happens with that too. A lot of things can happen while I'm over there, but just take it as it comes, it's been working out so far! :-D


Here's a picture I found of Piha Beach. I'll be posting my own pictures up, don't worry.
















Yes, I know. I suck.

o.0

Wise words...

I met my parents this weekend, which was nice, and my dad gave me some advice/wisdom.

One was to give "full control" over certain assets that I have, for just-in-case scenarios.

Also, we were talking about dangerous animals that NZ has, which were land based. And there are 3-4 spiders which I have to be careful of, and also a bush which is pretty nasty if I were to run through it. But then he said "the dangerous ones walk on two legs," which is th damn truth. I don't expect anything to happen, but I am planning on something to happen, if that makes any sense.

All I have to say is: luck favors the prepared.

Vroom, Vroom?

Been browsing a lot through different blogs/web sites about NZ, and a lot of people recommend to get a car. I've been doing some scouting, and there's a whole industry for cars for backpackers. A bunch of different web pages too. Pretty impressive, and pretty cheap too. They gas apparently isn't all to bad either.

What can this lead to? Find a traveling companion for short adventures and then share the gas and also can sleep in the car instead of sleeping in a hostel or just drive off the road and crash somewhere with my tent. Think about it, the first car I'll buy is when I'm not making any money and outside of Sweden. Now that would be pretty sweet, no?
___________

I was at The North Face store here in Stockholm to check out what they have, and boy, there is just so much stuff that I would just love to pick up from there, but, as said previously, everything comes with a price. But I was looking at one of their tents, pretty good price and simple, and LIGHT for the size. It's designed for two people, but if only I were to crash in it, it would be pretty roomy. My private hotel on wheels. :)

Enough of that now, time to get back to work.

Oh! I got in touch with someone who lives in NZ, and he gave me a good tip on what to do. Go to this address: http://www.canyonz.co.nz

Looks boring yeah?

Holy Hell!!!

I just found this web page: Dangerous Sharks of New Zealand.


So yeah...interesting.

So far, so iffy.

Big-E is going to help me out to get my CPR and first aid certificate for my RD (Rescue Diver) course, so that'll save me some money and time. Also, if I'm lucky, I'll learn to use a defibrillator! How cool isn't that?! Hopefully I'll never have to use one in a real life scenario, but just being able to say "I can use that!" is pretty cool in it's own right. And then the basic CPR too. I remember a bit from the army, but I forgot about how long you should be doing it for. The rest is simple (I got a lot of training during the scouts and army) so I'm pretty confident about that.

Herk told me that she'll hook me up with a good first aid kit for my trip too, which is a relief too. One less thing to worry about.

But now I'm having some minor problems, what to buy? :-S

I was out looking for backpacks the other day, and I saw two more that had a lot of potential, but they were that much more expensive. No surprise there. And the biggest worry of them all is the tent: will it hold, what if it breaks during the night, what if...you know what I'm talking about.

I'm currently looking at two tents: The North Face Particle 13 and Hilleberg Unna. With a price tag of 2800 SEK and 4500 SEK respectively, the Hilleberg is definitely the more expensive, but the more secure bet. So that's why I'm looking for some outside sponsorship (read: birthday money; I turn 24 October 27th). It seems like The North Face is a bit bigger, which makes it seem a bit more lucrative than the Hilleberg, and it's cheaper. But I'm a sucker for paying for good quality. Then again, I know for a fact that just because it's cheap, doesn't mean it's bad quality (and vice-versa). If you're thinking something along the lines of, "Just look for reviews on both tents, it's called Google Chris, heeeelloooo!" Well, I have. The Unna is reviewed as being a gift from the Gods, and I've only read one review on the Particle 13, which was in Italian, and then translated by Google, which was like reading a book report by an ESL (English as a Second Language) student. So, it didn't really help all that much.

I'm also worried about my curse. Some of you may or may not know of this curse, but when ever I spend more than 1000 SEK on anything new, it tends to be broken or another problem straight out the box. Some people say coincidence, I say curse. Check it out: broken display on my Canon A530 camera (fixed), broken pixel on iPod (fixed), graphics card missing blue gamma (fixed), PSU and motherboard not compatible (fixed), Nokia phone keypad came off after about a month (fixed), went through 3 boards in my paintball gun until it started working properly, LCD display had a broken pixel (not fixed, no pixel guarantee), and finally my Nikon D40, it had a hot pixel (Nikon is waiting for their reference housing, so that'll be fixed in a couple of weeks). All of this occurred within the time frame of approximately 2 years. How lame isn't that, eh? But they've all been fixed (except for the D40 and my LCD), so yeah, it's bearable, but I do have some problems buying electronics (as you may of have noticed, all of the articles where electronic) over 1000 SEK either which way.

Aight, gonna go back to work now.

*B-L-A-M-O*

Holy Crap!

I'm thinking more and more of what I'm about to do, and it's just so surreal!

Like when I'm sitting on a hill enjoying a view, I won't be able to pick up the phone and make a call to tell a friend about how great everything is. Why? Because it's going to be a 12-13 hour difference! And it would be bloody expensive.

I still can't decide how to do all this. How much hiking do I want to do? I want to do everything there is to do down there: biking, hiking, diving, bungy, etc. But along with it comes a price tag, so we'll see how all that ends up, eh?

Bah man, it's just too much! But so worth it!

Aight, back to work!

Let's get this show on the road!

Welcome fans, this is my blog for those of you who are interested in following my adventure through New Zealand, which is going to start November 5th, 2007 and end approximately 6 months later (it could be shorter or longer, it all depends on what happens, who knows).

So what's done:

• Bought the ticket
• Contacted Dive! Tutukaka and informed them of my arrival
• Contacted Tutukaka Holiday Park about my long stay there

And that's about it, but here's what I have left to do:

• Buy snorkeling gear
• Buy backpack
• Fix a Visa (can do it here or there, a bit complicated either which way)
• Buy a camera bag
• New shoes for long walks
• Tent (possibility, don't know what could happen)
• Simple First Aid kit
• Buy a sleeping bag
• Sell my bed, closet, drawers, etc.

That's what I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll come up with more things to buy before my trip.

Money, money, money...and more money. It just never seems to regenerate in my pocket when I spend it, really sucks.

Aight. Back to work/day-dreaming.

Ciao.