The Salt Flats and more

Today we left Calama almost as soon as we arrived. We decided to go ahead and catch a bus to San Pedro (which is one step closer to Salar de Uyuni The salt desert in Bolivia which is supposed to be absolutely amazing and we are really exciting to go see some of largest salt flats in the world. Our bus journey from Calama was only 1.5 hours and only costs us five American Dollars. This bus actually had Air Conditioning so that was great. It was a really good ride and we got to see an amazing sunset as we drove thru the mountains that is one view I won't forget.

San Pedro is a really neat city with tons of shops and cool stuff and lots of neat old architecture. It even has a plaza dating back to the old days! We are staying at a really cool family owned hostel in the middle of nowhere (the view of the stars here is pretty awesome) they seem really nice and only charged us 10 USD per night for a really good clean room and we hot water in our shower! (a luxury here and toilet paper is included!) for 10 bucks back in New Zealand you couldn't get any accommodation!

Ben and I had a good beer and a relaxing time at a neat cafe that had an open fire pit and we just discussed life and our plans and just reflected on the past year and half (it has been a great ride!) both of us are really going to miss this traveling once we have to finally go home. Being travels we really have less strings than most people, you know we can go where we want,when we want, with who we want and if we don't like a place we just move.

That is something not to take for granted but even traveling sometimes you just need a little time to relax and take a break just exactly what we did tonight. When you travel the world as I have you tend to see lots and lots of amazing stuff all over so I have to remember to keep myself grounded and realise that what I am seeing is amazing (sometimes even once in a lifetime stuff) and I have to realise that I am super lucky to see it all and not grow dull to amazing stuff or take it for granted. Even sometimes you just zone out and totally live for that moment only and just forget everything in the world except what is happening at that exact moment. That is really one of the things I will miss most when I am back at home. Tomorrow we are going to explore the city and study more Spanish and book our tour to the salt desert.

We got our tour booked for the salt flats and it looks amazing! We also managed to meet up with some friends of ours that we randomly met on the plane ride over to Chile from New Zealand and now we have randomly met them again so it looks like all of us will be heading into Bolivia together which is good :) Bolivia is supposed to be a really cheap country (which is good for me as Chile is fairly expensive by South American standards) but, Bolivia just like Chile and Argentina charge me 140 American dollars just for entering only because America charges that fee to them to enter. Sometimes I hate our govt. and their fees! It sucks for me as a traveler! :( Ben has to pay nothing :( But it will be fun anyway. I have had some great meals so far of stuff I would normally never touch and my Spanish is improving slowly. I have also become a huge fan of the natural fruit juices they have here in Chile. They are freshly made and cheap and they taste amazing! Tomorrow at 8 am we leave for our tour of the Bolivian Salt Flats. It should be a great time and I can't wait for the amazing pictures!

Our tour of the Bolivian Salt Flats was amazing! It was extremely touristy (you know stop here for a few photos then move on) but I still really enjoyed myself and there was so many amazing things to see and do. Our guide didn't speak a lick of English but luckily for us we had a guy in our group who was totally fluent in Spanish. We got to see “The Rock Valley” which was thousands and thousands of rocks just seemingly dropped into the middle of desert but it was all natural! It was really fun scrambling all over them and I got some good pictures which I will upload to Facebook soon. We also saw some really amazing beautiful mountains and scenery and lots of lakes with many different colours but the salt content was so high in them that there was no animal life really so, if you were quiet it was just dead silence! The scenery changed quite frequently it would go from green to total desert to something In between. It was pretty warm during the day ( I did get a little sunburn) but at night it got freezing! Luckily on the tour they provided us with enough of everything. The food was basic but good. I just ate what I was given. On the last night we did have meat which I am quite sure is a big luxury for most Bolivians as it is a really poor country. One of the guys had a birthday while we were on the tour so we surprised him with a party and our guides even made him a cake! It was really a good night.

The last day was finally the day of our salt flat tour. These salt flats are some of the biggest salt flats on the planet. It is 12,000 K's big or 7500 miles big! It is just massive and a bunch of the world's salt is mined here. We got to watch guys scraping it by hand from the ground into big trucks. That would be a terrible job but better than no job I guess. They were just coming out of the rainy season on the salt flats so rather than being totally dry there was actually a lot of water everywhere. It is so flat there that when you take pictures it is like a total optical illusion. We had a lot of fun with that! You can make it look like your a giant and stepping on your friends who like like midgets. It is all natural too! You are only limited by your imagination.

After that, we drove back to town and waited to catch our bus from there to La Paz Bolivia where I am now.

Until next time,Tyler

The days roll on....

You will have to bear with me I am getting used to this Spanish keyboard (and Spanish in general) so if I make any mistakes that is why. I believe I last left you when we were on our way to Valpo from Santiago. We stayed with yet another great host, Peter y Seba and they were awesome! Ben and I had a great time there hanging out and meeting locals and eating amazing sea food. I got to challenge myself by talking to locals only in Spanish and for the most part generally I understood what they said and they understood what I said!

I can now buy bus tickets and order food and do basic stuff without too many problems but, here in South America they dont do menus all that often mostly the waitress just verbally tells you everything so I have had to just blindly pick most of my meals and I have eaten a lot of stuff I would never ever eat at home haha. So far there has only been one thing I absolutely didn't like though. It was a huge hot dog covered in mayo and avocado and tomatoes called a Itialiano Completo. But I learned quickly how to order a hot dog con ketchup solo (with ketchup only). Still,Entiendo más de lo que hablan. ( Still, I understand more than I speak) but I am learning more Spanish in less than a week than I ever learned in high school!

The bus rides are interesting here in South America. The local city buses cram as many people as possible onto them (literally like over 40) and they are cheap. Less than one dollar usually. They will stop ANYWHERE at ANYTIME which is nice sometimes haha. They always have people on them trying to sell you something which is annoying and there is usually someone playing live music for money which at first was cool but is now annoying a bit too haha. I just got off a 25 hour straight bus ride from Valpo to Calama so long bus rides are normal. Other than having a terrible toilet and no air conditioning on the bus I couldn't complain too much but 25 hours on a bus is a long time! We are headed to Bolivia in a few days though.

I am slightly sick at the moment but just a head cold nothing serious and I did manage to get some medicine here. Our 25 hour bus ride only cost us 44 USD! :) Oh ya one last thing to all my readers. Toilet paper is a privilege in life not a basic right. Here in South America it is pretty rare outside of the big cities so I have learned quickly you should always travel with your own and also dont expect everyone to know English all the time,everywhere because they dont!

So far so good here though, it will be a good adventure :) Til next time,Tyler

P.S. I watched a movie in Spanish on the bus and understood (most) of it and listened to some Spanish music and understood (most) of it. That is an exciting feeling! and one last thing interestingly enough there is a huge German influence in Santiago and some people even speak it (a good thing for Ben) in Chile they love hotdogs,sandwiches,loads of salt,usually they dont provide butter or black pepper and sometimes you have to ask for Servicio (silverware) just some general observations I thought I would throw in here :)

My first blog in South America!

Well let me start this first blog in South America out by saying I have paid my debts to the travel God's by surviving the worst flight ever! Some people believe that Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travel but he sure didn't save me from 13 hours of pure hell haha. I just got bad luck of the draw though, in the multiple thousands maybe even millions of miles this was bound to happen at least once and I guess I am lucky I have lasted this long without it happening. Want to know what it was?d

Ben and I were stuck in between not one baby but TWO babies! One directly in front of me and the other directly across from me. The one in front of me generally wasn't so bad and slept most of the time but the one directly across from me was the baby from hell. He would NOT stop crying almost the entire flight and he would sometimes set the baby off in front of me! So they would both be screaming and there I was stuck with nowhere to go.

I considered drinking myself to such a state of drunkeness that I would pass out but in the end figured it would make me need to pee too much. I was going to listen to my music but of course I had just recently lost the cable for my Ipod and no matter how loud I turned up the volume on their crappy plane radio thing I could still hear those kids. In the end I slept maybe an hour if that out of 13. Our flight was so delayed that we missed our connecting flight so they ended up having to rebook us on another flight to Santiago.

After getting ripped off on a taxi ride as per usual in a new country we finally got to our couch surfer's place and had to wake him up at 1am. He and his roommate have been awesome so far though and it has been great. I shouldn't complain too much now that we are here alive and in one piece and only the flights were rough. We did meet a couple of cool people on our last flight though which was nice and we will be hanging out with them and exploring the city with them soon. Our new host has taken us on a great city/food tour and we have really enjoyed the local knowledge. My budget will be tight for Chile though as I had to pay 140 American Dollars just to enter the country which sucks but nothing I can do about being American. They don't charge Ben since he is German.

I have had a lot of fun so far though and our first day sure has been interesting. Everyone including my host tells us that Spanish in Chile is the hardest Spanish dialect in all of South America due to their pronunciation and speed they talk along with the slang they use and unfortunately for us we don't speak Spanish. I speak a LITTLE from high school but not much Ben speaks none. A lot has flooded back to me but not close to enough. The percentage of people who speak passable English is just about 20%. I won't be able to take that immersion course for about a month until we get to Argentina. :(

Then after our hosts left for work we decided to check out the local equivalent of Walmart here (even though it isn't called that) and I wanted to break my large bills I got at the airport. A 20,000 peso note here is fairly rare and I wanted to break it. (it equals about 40 American dollars). So I went to the cashier and tried to pay for my stuff only she gave me the incorrect change (I was owed about 18,000 peso's or about 38 dollars) I tried to even begin to explain to her what happened but she just didn't understand and the line was huge. She thought I had given her a 2000 peso note and not a 20,000 peso not.

Since I wasn't getting anywhere with her I went to the customer service desk and said “habla inglas?” I wanted to know if anyone spoke English. I quickly came to realise how badly I need a functional conversational grasp on Spanish and how difficult it is when you want something and no one around you can understand you. One of the workers said poquito Ingles and I said poquito Espanol. So we both established that we both knew a little bit of each other's languages lol. I was trying to explain to them what had happened and they just weren't getting it. Luckily a customer was there who spoke English and he translated for me. (by this time a cashier,a security guard and some form of manager were involved) they told me to wait for my correct change. To their credit they were very nice and they even gave me cookies and something to drink while I waited. But I waited and waited.... it took them over 30 minutes for me to get my change! I finally did get it though. After that we went for some dinner and and I somehow managed to order some form of breakfast for dinner you know toast,eggs etc. But, the toast came out VERY dry and my eggs (which I would have asked to have scrambled if I knew how were over easy) so there was no butter for my toast or no salt and pepper for anything but I ate it.

For lunch we went out with our host and he ordered for us so we got some amazing sandwich's and empanada's too. Our sandwich's had mayo and avocado and other crazy stuff along with lettuce all of which what I hate but, the sandwich was actually really really good and I quite enjoyed it. Then we went out with Jordan later and we had yet another amazing dish it was French Fries with an egg on top and onions and cheese and it was pretty good after we washed it all down with some good beers and called it a night. Tomorrow is our big day of sightseeing around the city but so far so good here in Santiago other than the language barrier but we are learning functional Spanish quickly!

Our last night spent with our awesome host Jordan in Santiago involved us going a birthday party of his friend and her parents were quite wealthy so this party was catered and it was all you could drink and we had a beautiful view of Santiago. Pablo Neruda was a famous south American poet and he had three houses all in Chile. So far we have seen one of them and taken a really interesting tour of it. We are actually in the city (Valapariso) where he built his second house and we plan on taking the tour there. I have been eating all kinds of food I would never touch at home at all. Stuff with mayo and guacamole and onions and much more but only because I have no choice. I don't speak enough Spanish to tell them how to take it all off haha.

Spanish really is super needed in South America the English speaking percentage just isn't that high at all. But, I have been learning quickly as has Ben. I can ask for directions and buy bus tickets and just basic basic stuff. I probably speak like a child but I am learning! Oh ya I forgot to mention they pack the buses here like you wouldn't believe! literally like 100 people on a bus it sure seems like! Then they have people come on and try and sell stuff and even play live music on the bus. Riding public transport in 3rd world countries is always exciting haha

Today after we bought our bus tickets we arrived in Valaparaiso for the weekend and apparently they have great seafood here. It looks like a good city and our new host Peter is really cool. We look forward to hanging out and having a good time. We have had some amazing food thus far (even though it is a little salty, Chileans love salt!) and tomorrow we are going to try Ceviche (fish cooked in lemon juice) so I am looking forward to it. Thus far we have had an amazing time and I loving learning espanol and the South American culture in general. Until next time yall take care. Bolivia is our next stop after Chile. -Tyler

P.S. Besides all my amazing friends in New Zealand that I miss a ton I also miss the meat pie so so much! Chile is full of sandwiches so I have eaten a lot of those but also had some good Chilean food :) 

Goodbye New Zealand

Well this is really it. I leave for the airport in less than 3 hours. I have seen almost all of my friends and really been made to feel special. I have some amazing friends here so it really has been hard for me to leave I am actually quite sad. Such is life though, Ben and I are on to the next adventure and I am really excited. As we speak I am sitting next to some of my friends and I am wearing a shirt that one of my friends got me for my birthday.
I have had tons of birthday parties to go too and leaving parties and farewell dinners and everything. I usually just cut the cord and leave straight away but it has been different here. I really will miss everyone. I hope the weather is really hot and good in South America! I am looking forward to getting away from this weather here haha.

The other major thing I want to mention is that I never wanted to make this a "friends list" or a competition between my friends because all my friends are amazing but I really feel that two of my friends deserve a special mention. I just randomly met Debs and Nadia via their flatmate. I didn't end up actually having a lasting friendship with him but those two girls are some of the most special people to me in all of New Zealand. for only knowing them five or six months it is amazing how close we have become.

You have probably heard me mention my Auckland girlfriends and those two are it. They have been there for me thru everything and listened to be complain about whatever I wanted to bitch about and also listened to me have the good times in my life. They have really helped me more than they will ever know. I am totally going to miss Tayla,Tailya,Tyle,Taylor,Tylor nights. The movies and pizza nights I won't ever forget nor will I forget our date nights or the CS drinks nights. There is alot I will miss. But, these two girls I KNOW I will see again so this isn't goodbye forever. We did have some great times together.

But, I do have so many Couch Surfing hosts,friends,randoms,good friends to thank everyone has been amazing and I will be back in New Zealand for the people and the places! So thanks to everyone and I had a great time here! Now onto the next adventure! Next time I write I will be in Santiago Chile! and it continues..... -Tyler

It is finally over

Six months sure did go fast! by tomorrow I will be in Santiago Chile! I am really excited for my next part of the adventure yet at the same time I really sad to be leaving New Zealand. Last night I had a farewell dinner/drinks and just the amount of people that actually showed up really showed me how much I do have amazing friends here. I was totally blown away by the turn out. It was a good night but also sad to be saying the final goodbyes. But I know it wont be goodbye forever just see ya later because I WILL come back here for a visit!

Today Ben is back from Sydney and we have to do our taxes and a few loose ends and that is it. I have dinner plans with friends and just getting everything done before tomorrow.  All good things must come to an end as they say... I shall miss you New Zealand... but get ready South America! -Tyler

Only 2 days left

Today I got to work on the boat owned by my friend's dad. This was my first experience actively working on a sail boat and really only my second time on a sail boat (the first was our free sailing trip Ben and I did in Oz) but the work was just basic maintenance stuff. I did some sanding and priming and just general clean up. As I have now officially stopped working this was good to do something a little different and more relaxed. I enjoyed working and his dad is a really cool guy not only did he pay me well but he also bought me lunch!

Last night was my last Wednesday night drinks ever :( There was a huge turn out of people and I was really blown away I will miss everyone for sure and it was sad. One of my friends even made me a chocolate chip muffin (my favourite!) it was so good :) I was really happy to see everyone but sad to be leaving soon. I have also had my last pizza/movie night (we saw Limitless) so the “lasts” will continue :(

From here on out I am just wrapping up my final things here. I have my passport back in my hot little hands (thank God) and have all the money owed to me (minus my New Zealand tax return) I will do my taxes before I leave. I still have that Aussie bank card to sort out but I am confident it will get here before I leave. I have my medicine and hopefully enough contacts and all that other boring but necessary stuff. I actually am covered by some travel/health insurance now as well so that is a good thing I guess.

I booked a week here at a hostel and this is the first time I have stayed in a hostel in six months! It is a strange feeling but I have some good roommates here. Two German girls and two Canadian guys so it is good to hang out with them as now really all I am doing is killing time before I leave and waiting for Ben to get back from Sydney. My only complaint is that damn male flutist! Today I went down there before work and I was going to tell him off but for some weird reason he stopped and left before I could get down there I think it was because the police were there. I was going to report him actually but they were actively arresting someone so I decided not to bother. I only have to put up with it for a bit longer and maybe I will just scream at him from the window lol.

Seriously it is ridiculous that I have to put up with this crap for the money I pay! He isn't even good! I needed to research the number for the noise complaint people, everyone in my room hates his noise I really should have done something days ago I just haven't so I guess that's my fault huh? My only other complaint is that the water in the showers here only stays on for ten seconds and then you have to push the button to turn it on again its annoying and it doesn't stay hot. But whatever enough of my complaining at least I am not homeless, soon I will be out of here!

We have done our research for our trip and have a rough budget (I hope I will have enough money for all this, the visa fees I have to pay to get into countries is going to kill me!) Ben is so lucky he doesn’t have to pay ANY visa fees but I do :( Over this weekend I have hung out with some friends and caught up for some goodbye drinks then on Saturday I have two parties to go too and I will just have a busy weekend! Monday and Tuesday I will just be wrapping up my final loose ends. Today I had a good catch up lunch with an old friend and hopefully I will get to see everyone I want to see before I leave.

I have lots of parties to go too before I leave. Leaving parties,birthday parties just parties galore so it should be a good time and I am going to try and not to spend too much money haha. I really will miss it here and I really do have great friends here that I will be coming back to visit for sure! Last night at Nadia's birthday party I did manage to have a really quite deep extremely enlightening conversation with a guy there. He was really cool actually we talked about the meaning of life and why we are here. Way to deep for most birthday parties haha but I really enjoyed it. You know the other day I had a few moments in time where I just let everything go. I mean everything. I was just living for that exact moment in time and nothing else. There was a busker playing some Jimi Hendrix on his guitar on Queen Street. I just stood next to him and listened to him play. I didn't say a word and neither did he. All the background noise of the street just faded away as did everything else in my mind. I was just living for that exact moment and it is really rare something like that happens but I won't ever forget that feeling.

Nadia's cake turned out great and she loved it which is good because I slaved over that thing for hours (with the help of my wonderful friend Agamit because I have never baked anything in my life haha) and we made it from scratch not even out of a box! Nadia's party was also really fun and I had a great time. Before that I stopped off at my friend Rach's party and had fun there too. I am just about all partied out haha. Today (Sunday) I am supposed to see another friend and tonight is my leaving dinner with all my friends. I still have to do my taxes and hope that pin number gets here but I wont stress about it because everything else is done. Ben gets back today at some point too.

Hopefully everything works out according to plan for us and even if it doesn't I know it will be ok, its all an experience as it always is for me in every country I visit and I always have a good time no matter what. Also hopefully I can leave South America with an active knowledge of conversational Spanish that is one of my big goals. Well I guess that is it for now. Until next time.-Tyler

One week to go

Well I just thought I would write a little something today since I have one week to go. I checked into Base Hostel for a week and it cost me 185 NZD! That is crazy expensive for sharing a room with six people but to be fair I haven't paid for accommodation in a while so it is ok. I got a bottom bunk which is nice but the sun shines on my eyes in the morning and there is this dude (yes a dude) who plays the flute REALLY loud on the street right below my window for cash. (He is making me nuts because he starts at 7:30am!) who does that?! My roommates seem nice and one shares a name with my dad and one of the girl's is from Germany and she shares my birthday!

My passport and bank card stuff should be resolved by the end of the week as I have called and confirmed on both. Ben and I sat down and made a plan and semi budget for South America and I have requested some CS hosts in Chile so pretty much all my loose ends are tied up and now I will just enjoy my last week. I had too much stuff to send home so I ended up giving a lot of my clothes to a random homeless dude. He needed them more than I did. So that is my good deed for the day.

Tonight is my final movie/pizza night and we will be seeing Limitless about that guy with unlimited brain power (until he stops getting his pills) it looks really good. Tomorrow is also my final drink night :( Ben is in Sydney now for 6 days before we leave. I have a bit more research to do for our trip but everything seems to be slowly coming together. I will be sad to leave for sure but it has to happen :( I will miss it here. Trying to soak up the time I have left.

Oh ya, my yahoo messenger totally crashed so I had to get a new yahoo messenger addy. If you had me on your list or you want me on your list let me know so I can add you to my new name. I guess that's it for now yall take care,Tyler

8 days left

So, the time is fast approaching... I have 8 days left in New Zealand :( I really will miss it here a lot I have so many great friends here. I will work a bit more before I leave but nothing super serious just try and enjoy myself before we head to Chile. Ben and I sat down and worked out a rough plan and a rough budget today so at least we knocked that out and hopefully I will have enough cash to make it all work!

The Brazilian Embassy said they should be sending back my passport this week and I should get that last bit of information from my Aussie bank so hopefully everything will come together before I leave! I am not to worried yet, just tying up my loose ends. Trying to save money and not spend it :P

On Friday night I went to a birthday party of my friend Julia and it was a lot of fun! It was a "smart and sexy" theme so I had to break out the nicest backpacker clothes I had haha. I managed to pull it all together and look fairly nice actually. I really had a great time with great friends and by the end of the night we did manage to give the birthday girl a chippendale-ish birthday surprise haha :P it was a great party :)

Saturday night I planned to have a quiet one and I managed to get about half way thru it just relaxing and resting and then my friend called and she said "get ready the taxi is coming to pick you up" haha so I was forced to go out with them but I did manage to have a really good time so I really can't complain too much lol

I want to give a huge shout out to Laura Blake,Windee Wallace and Anna-Marie Scroggins. These three amazing women have managed to make me super happy! Laura and Windee have allowed me to stuff myself full of awesome American junk food that I haven't had in 18 months and Anna Marie has just cooked me the best home cooked meal I have had since Nov 2009! Thanks ladies :)

I guess that is really all I have for now, I will be doing a little bit more planning for South America while Ben is in Sydney for a week but all the big stuff is out of the way now. Yall take care and I may only write a few more times before South America but we will see. I am looking forward too it and I already have some connections there so we should have a great time! -Tyler

Time flies when your having fun

I believe I last left you after Paddy's Day ya? well since then I have recovered physically and mentally haha. I managed to have a great weekend camping and enjoying life. It was great to get out of the city one last time. I leave on 5 April for Santiago so that is quite soon! You know its funny because when I first got to New Zealand I didn't like it at all but due to all my great friends here and my good times here I will be extremely sad to leave :( Such is life though gotta move on to different things. I will be back though!

I went back to working construction near Britomart (The Transit Centre here in Auckland) and we are about two weeks away from opening so I am just doing last minute things really. Cleaning etc. It doesn't pay great but it is better than no money and sitting at home bored. I enjoy working with my hands. This building is going to be the Headquarters for WestPac (A bank) and it is really flash! They spent north of 300 million on it so it has a gym and showers and Ipod docks at every desk and automated everything and it is really high tech. I have been really proud to see it come together since I started there and to be part of it even if I just do little stuff.

Now that we are close to opening day all the big wigs have come touring and it amuses me to no end to see them come into our dirty half way functioning service elevator (which is not really what you think of when you think of a lift at all lol) It is basically just a wooden box attached to elevator cables to get us up and down the 14 storeys. Nothing flash but it works. So these people in their perfectly pristine never been used hard hats and $5,000 dollar Armani suits get in and look so terrified! haha it makes me laugh. It is even better when the lift is packed and they are forced to stand close to us dirty sweaty guys lol. We are the ones creating what they will make all the money in so I think I deserve a little satisfaction in bringing them down into reality for just a little bit LOL. Yesterday I saw a 20-ish girl who was with the big shots and she showed up in Knee High Boots! I almost fell over laughing! who comes to a construction site in those?!

Anyway I am almost done working for good and it will be an odd feeling not to lace up my steel caps or put on my hard hat anymore. I will be sending that stuff home though, its good gear. I have a busy weekend ahead of me! Today I have birthday party to go too and going with my friend Laura to a North American food shop I am so freaking excited for some pop tarts! :P tomorrow I will be working for a friend for the day helping on his boat and Sunday I am visiting some friends and getting a home cooked meal from an awesome friend of mine!

Next week I will be wrapping up all my last loose ends, I have travel insurance now. I need to get some more contacts, meds are squared away and I (almost) have my bank situation all the way resolved finally! (it has been a serious mission)  I got my  superannuation check from Australia finally though. I will be expecting my passport back next week too. Well yall take care. That's it in Tyler Land for now.- Tyler

P.S.  My best mate Ben is doing ten days of totally silent mediation north of Auckland (I think he is crazy) but he really wanted to do it. So I am wishing him the best on his 9th day already. I will see him when he is back. He leaves for Sydney soon though for a week and he will come back the day before we leave. Anyway his birthday was on Paddy's Day and he couldn't even celebrate so I celebrated for him haha. Happy birthday mate. Hope it was good 24th :)

Late Edit: I want to give a huge shout out to one of the coolest Canadians in all of Auckland! Laura Blake from Toronto you are amazing! She took me to the American/Canadian food store and I loaded up on pop tarts,cereal,candy,mac and cheese and Dr Pepper and I am soo sooo soo excited. I even got chips and cheese it and gold fish! It is sooo sooo sooo good! I haven't had any of this in 18 months! I am also supposed to be receiving another care package from a good friend of mine soon but I wanted to buy it here just in case her package gets stuck in customs or something. It has been a great day! mmmmm

Late Late Edit:  Movie review time, we saw Hall Pass on Tues. and had Domino's as usual. It is quite funny because we have been going there for months now and my friends always place the order under my name every time even if we do separate orders haha. For some reason they just can't spell my name right there. It is kind of a running joke now lol  I keep the misspelled receipts just as tradition. This week they actually messed up my order but I got a free drink out of it :)

As for the movie, it was made by The Farrelly brothers (who made Something about Mary) so it was funny of course and it was pretty good. It was about two guys and their wives who take a week off of marriage. We saw a preview for a movie called Limitless about a guy who gets a pill to unlock 100% of his brain power (since regular humans only use about 10%) but then he stops getting the pills. That is all I know but it looks great and it is the plan for next tues!-Tyler

Paddy's Day/ Camping weekend

My Paddy's Day here was pretty awesome, as was my last Paddy's Day in Australia they really do it big in this part of the world. I had a lot of fun having drinks and partying with friends. I really do have some amazing friends here and we always have a great time! I woke up with a head ache but it was self inflicted. Other than that I was no worse for the wear and really enjoyed it. It was also the birthday of my best mate Ben. But, he is doing 10 days of totally silent mediation and some retreat somewhere away from everything so I had to celebrate for him haha. He is the big 24 now! :P

A few days after Paddy's Day on Weds I went camping one last time with an awesome group of CS'ers to the Coromandel a beautiful region here about four hours north of Auckland and we were blessed with perfect weather. I have a great group of core friends here and we can just hang out and have fun. I even mooned my friend from a moving car, I haven't done that in years haha. It really is liberating just to act stupid sometimes haha. The thing I love most about my friends here is we can be so open and honest with each other and have deep discussions about God and Religion and Politics (which we did lol) or we can just shoot the shit and talk about nothing in particular (which we also did)

So all in all a really great week/weekend for sure. It really made things better because they have denied my visa to Brazil so I wont be going there unless I can get in at the border. I will give it a shot though. They are supposed to be returning my passport/money from the embassy in Wellington. I have decided if I can't get in Brazil I will take an immersion Spanish course/home stay and use my time productively while Ben is in Brazil. I can always get there another time. So while I was depressed about this I will just go with it and stay positive and have fun. In 16 days I will be in Santiago Chile! One of my CS friends will be there too :) It is my goal to go home knowing Spanish. I may be back at work on monday though :( Not fun but I will get the extra cash.

New Zealand is one of the first countries on this planet I have visited that I will come back to for the people not the places. I have had some good friends leave recently and soon I will be leaving myself so it sucks :(  I really will miss it here as my time draws to a close. My good friends here know how I feel about all of them though and actually one of my best friends here just applied to Texas State Uni in San Marcos so if the cards fall right I may be down there with her for a while :)

All is as well as can be here in Tyler Land. Yall take care,Tyler

Connecting the dots

I recently heard a speech online that Steve Jobs (co founder of Apple Computers) gave at a Stanford college graduation in 2005. He told some stories from his life about connecting the dots. He was really inspirational and basically just said that usually you don't know it at the time but almost every choice you make in life leads to others. He never graduated college yet now he is a multi millionaire. His birth mother gave him up for adoption on the condition that his working class adoptive parents promised to send him to college.

He started college but quickly realised (as I did) that it wasn't for him. So after spend all of their life savings on college he dropped out. But, he stayed on as a "drop in" (I don't even know if you can do that anymore) and he studied classes he was actually interested in. He picked up a calligraphy class and enjoyed that and years later he used what he learned in that class for the typing fonts on the Mac computers.

That story got me to thinking about my own life. Almost directly after high school I went to college. I had no idea what I wanted to study so I randomly picked computers because at the time that is what I was interested in. But, after spending my parents money and wasting my time I realised it wasn't what I wanted. So I dropped out. Then I started working a lot of random dead end jobs. Finally I made it into a job a semi enjoyed doing vendor services at Home Depot. But, I wasn't truly happy I was just getting by.  

Then in Oct 2009 I lost my job. I got laid off due to the economy. I was really depressed for a while and had no idea what I would do next or how I would find another job or anything. It was then that I made the decision to come away traveling and I moved to Australia to start working there. It was by far the best decision I ever made and I have learned so much about myself and grown so much as a person not to mention all the amazing things I have seen and all the places I have been and all the great people I have met. Not to mention I now know that I want to get certified to teach English in a foreign country so I have chosen a career path while I have been away!

So at the time I thought losing my job was the worst thing that could have happened but looking back on it almost 18 months later and I would consider it one of the best things ever to happen to me. Funny how your perspective changes. I don't regret my choices so far. Actually tonight we saw a new movie called The Adjustment Bureau. It was with Matt Damon and about a congressman and his path in life and the choices he makes.

It really makes you think about your own choices in life and what you do with it. Freedom and free will to make your own choices are privileges and not rights because not everywhere in this world are people allowed to make their own choices. So be thankful that if you are reading this you are probably in a country where you are allowed to do what you want within reason. So just remember that almost every choice you make in life is interconnected to something else and while it might seem bad at the time, looking back on it months or years later and it may not seem that way anymore.

Recently I have seen No Strings Attached and Unknown and King's Speech. The King's Speech was a great British movie about the King of England back in World War Two who inherited the throne after his father died and his brother advocated due to him wanting to marry an American woman. Well he actually had a really bad speech impediment so he had no desire to be in the public spotlight but it was thrust upon him. He got a great speech therapist and eventually he was cured.  Geoffry Rush and Colin Firth are both great actors in this movie as is Hellena Bonham Carter. I would totally recommend it.

No Strings Attached is a cheesy romantic comedy (it was the girls choice 2 weeks ago) it has its funny moments though and it isn't all that bad. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star in it. I would recommend it but it isn't a MUST see. We also saw Unknown with Liam Neeson. It was a thriller that was about a guy who is in a car crash and loses his memory then someone is impersonating him. It was pretty good but in a way it was also your typical thriller so it could have been better. I would still recommend it though. Next week I think we might see the new Owen Wilson movie called Hall Pass which looks funny.

Well that's all I got for now. Yall take care,Tyler your traveling Texan :)

Work is all over!

So after a full month on tour traveling almost everyday and doing gigs all over the north island on this winery tour and then directly after that starting a 10 day build for a one day festival (Pacifika) it is all over. I had a really good time working with great people and making some good money. But, I had to get used to working insane amounts of hours and running on no sleep.

I have already blogged on the winery tour so I wont touch on that except to say that it was great to work with everyone and really feel like I accomplished something in building that stage and doing production load out (and setting up the lighting) for the bands. It was also really cool to get to know the bands and meet famous people. As for Pacifika that was a mad house! We started working 10 days before the festival started setting everything up. It was at a MASSIVE park called Western Springs Park next to the zoo here in Auckland (so I didn't have to travel far). It was a ton of work to get it all done, but on show day everything managed to come together :)

I was super busy running around everywhere (and driving on my golf cart feeling super important with my radio haha) but then it got to the point where there was really too many people there to drive around (it was a free festival with 200,000 people!) so I had to hoof it. In the morning before it started when the vendors were getting there setting up all their stalls it was pretty insane! It didn't help matters any that I had a name badge and orange hi vis on that said "God" on the back haha. (I nicked the hi vis from a bag but it turned out that it was my boss's boss, his hi vis haha. Basically he owns the company so apparently he is "God" but I got to wear it feeling all important haha. It just back fired on me because all the random people expected "God" to know EVERYTHING and I certainly did not! :P

But, after the vendors got all set up the festival was actually from 9am to 5pm. Once it got started it went smoothly. I had to deal with some really frantic mothers who had lost children. One woman couldn't even talk to me! I asked her what her son's name was and what he was wearing and all she could do is scream. It was frustrating because English was also not her first language but I am happy to report that by the end of the day all the lost kids were reunited with their parents.

About 5:05pm tear down started and we ended up working a 17+ hour day with just a break for brekkie lunch and dinner. Then we slept for 4 hours and woke up again to do more tear down. All in all it took us 3 days to take down everything we put up. It was alot of work just for a 1 day festival haha.

But, I had a really good time on this job and I will remember it fondly. in 22 days I will be in South America! yall take care,Tyler

The last day on this tour

So right now I am currently right in the middle of the last day of this current tour I am on stage building for the bands and I haven't had much sleep lately but soon I will :). It has been really good and I have worked with great people, my boss is awesome! But it is long long hours and hard work. That is what we get paid good for though. We managed to make it thru the whole tour almost with no rain but for the past two days it has been pissing down!

It is soaking wet and they almost canceled the gigs but luckily they didn't. Luckily I have some rain gear so while I am all bright orange I am still bone dry and not soaking wet. We get one day off then we start back on Pacifika on monday and back for just over a week of work there for another festival. After this is all over I am going to sleep a long long time haha.

That's all I got for now yall take care,Tyler

First day back

Well since I had my one horrible day where nothing went right at all things have improved thank God. I have started back at work again which is good for the money situation and for staying busy. We are setting up for a festival called Pacifika (a cultural festival here in Auckland) we are working ten days building stuff and setting up fencing etc for a one day festival so it is going to be huge! (hopefully fun too) I am also leaving today for Hamilton because we have 1 show left to do there for my original MoreFm Winery Tour and then one last show on that tour here in Auckland. The end is nearing! 

I have had a good time and a good break so far :) Got to catch up with friends and have a good time. Recently I have had some friends leave so that is always sad and shitty and I hate goodbye's! Soon it will be my turn though :( I only have 1 month and 2 days left in this country! Today I finally applied for my Brazilian Tourist Visa and I am not 300 dollars poorer and I hope and pray they approve it so I can go! Fingers crossed I will get my passport back from Wellington in one piece :(

Well I don't have much time left here before we have to leave for work so I am going to end this for now but my job is pretty good and things are pretty peachy right now on my end I hope on your end too (wherever you are and whoever reads this lol). Yall take care,Tyler

The worst day in a long time

Today was one of the worst days I have had in a long time. It started off when I was walking from my new (temporary) home back into the city and I got lost for a bit. I prefer to think I wasn't lost and just taking the scenic route but it still took me an hour to get into the city walking. I was hoping that my day couldn't get any worse from there but boy was I wrong.

After that I decided to go get my Brazilian visa application done. It was pretty far out of the city so I decided to call first before I went. Well I called and no one answered, I figured they were really busy so I would still go. I bought a day pass on the bus that costs me 10 dollars and by this point about 3 hours of my day had been eaten up. I finally made it out there and I found out that it was actually the Brazilian Consulates House. Just a regular house in regular neighbourhood. Owned by a regular guy employed by the Brazilian Government. Not what I was expecting. Well not only was it just a regular house, he wasn't even there!

So I spent all that money and made it all the way out there for nothing. So I called and left him a message. He finally managed to call me back after I made it back into the city. He informed me I had to physically mail my passport to Wellington. I am only hoping I have enough time to do this and enough pages in my visa. Of course I went to check this at the American embassy and they were closed. The bad stuff just couldn't stop happening.

So then I met a friend and it was good to catch up with her and we actually had a really good time. That was a bright side to my day finally. We decided to go to an American sweet shop to cheer me up so we were going to get the bus  but we missed it and my day pass didn't apply anyway. I was so freaking frustrated that I threw away my day pass for the bus.

Then I just decided to go back to my new (temporary) home in Mt Eden. It was quite a walk so I decided to take the bus. You want to guess what bus I had to take home? The exact bus I just threw away the pass for! Then I just started laughing and how horrible my day was. The only other bright side to my day was I hitch hiked home and got a free ride.

Now I am back home shut in and not going anywhere so it can't get worse. Tomorrow is my first day back at work and it is a new day. I am trying to stay positive and hope tomorrow is much better. This is it for me tonight. Take care,Tyler

My time off update

Well I have had roughly a week off and honestly not too much has happened and that has been exactly how I wanted it! It has been great just to decompress and relax and do nothing. I have been out with some friends and had some drinks and relaxed a lot. Taken some walks around the city and just caught up with everyone and done general stuff.

I did go today with some friends of mine to hang out at a pool. Rach's parents have a pool and they are gone to England. They live outside of the city a bit so it was great to get out there and relax. I went out there with Amanda and Jenneke and my friend Kate and we had a BBQ. I was surrounded by beautiful girls all day and got to eat a feast and relax. Every man's fantasy right? :)

I really feel that I have done more than this but I guess I haven't lol. I have to go to the Brazilian Embassy tomorrow to suss my visa for Brazil and shop for a few other things but I plan on having a relaxing last day with friends before I go back to work. This has been quite a boring update but this is me.

April will be here soon!-Tyler

The Earthquake

Just wanted to let those of you know who were worried, that I live in Auckland not Christchurch so I am safe and sound. But, it is very sad because Ch Ch keeps getting slammed by earthquakes and this time people have died :( so please keep them in your thoughts. -Tyler

A day off finally...

After roughly 12 days on the road and 12 gigs in 12 different cities I finally have a week off. This is much needed because right now I am sick as a dog with a head cold which has been aggravated by my lack of consistent sleep lately and my insane working hours. Today (my first day back home in the city) I went to the doctor and got myself sorted though so hopefully soon I will be good as gold again.  I work with good people and make good money though so in the end this has been good for me so far and I have got a lot of great experience and seen many really awesome places I never would have seen otherwise. I have learned a whole lot about what it takes to get a show ready to go and I will never take it for granted again and never look at a concert the same way again either! It sure does take a lot of work to build the stage and set up the lights and sound for just one show and we do it over and over all over the north island.

I finally got to watch the whole gig last night for the first time and I really enjoyed it. There is three bands, Midnight Youth,Op Shop and Brooke Fraser on this Winery Tour. Almost all of our gigs are performed at these wineries. So there is fancy people and fancy catered food and drink. (Which I don't mind eating hehe) Our company pays for our accommodation and our food so while we are working we basically have zero expenses plus we get our daily rate so it isn't a bad job just really long hours and full on hard work. I have a great boss and work with great people though so that sure helps. Not to mention I get to work with my friend's Ben,Brian and Thomas and get to make many new friends! :)

The only other thing I wanted to mention was that I have actually had the time to talk to some of the bands back stage and one band in particular Midnight Youth (they are all guys my age or younger) are really awesome. They have really taken the time to talk to me and get to know me and really make me feel like I matter and I am not just some random crew member. I think that is really awesome they are so down to earth.

One band member in particular Nick (one of the guitarist) has talked with me quite a bit and even gave me a CD of theirs for free. But not only did he give it to me for free he autographed it for me along with all the other guys in the band! I was actually out in the crowd watching the gig at the time and he actually searched me out and found me in the crowd and gave it to me. He even talked to my friends that I invited to the concert. It really meant a lot to me that he would do that and I wont forget it.

I have one week off before I start working again and I will work straight thru until 15th of march then be done for good. Well that is all I got for now. Yall take care,Tyler

An important one about true happiness

I felt this was important enough to  make a separate blog just for this.I don't want to sound all holier than thou and all high and mighty like I know something everyone else doesn't but, I have just recently really truly realised this and I wanted to share it with everyone.  I know I have touched on this before but I wanted to talk about this again. Really I just have one question for yall. "Are you happy"?. Be honest with yourself and and answer that simple question. That's it really, are you happy with your life? If you aren't happy with your life why not? I know this sounds stupid but it is so true, when I say that I really really am happy now. These travels have really helped me become honestly happy with my life overall and much happier than I was before.

Back home sure I have a great family and awesome friends but I was going nowhere in life really. I was working a 9-5 job that I didn't really enjoy that wasn't going to be my career. I was going to work and coming home and doing the same thing over and over meeting the same people going to the same places doing the same things and not being satisfied with life. I was saving money but I had no specific goals in mind and no long term goals or career motivation. There was things I wanted to do in life but I would always make up an excuse as to why I could wait and do them later. Really I was just going thru the motions of life but not really living.

Then I got laid off in October 2009 and realised I had a choice to make. I could stress about finding another job in our shitty economy or I could make a change in my life and take a risk and do something new. The decision to come alone to a country I had only been too once before for three weeks was a big decision but I am so glad I took the risk. My first month in Australia alone was rough and I was home sick and regretting my choice. At first I didn't know anyone or anything. Most people thought I was crazy back home for just packing up and leaving.

Then something amazing started to happen. I started to meet great people and feel at home. I got steady work and started learning my way around Sydney. I started to learn how to rely on myself and my skills and learn new skills. Then I met Ben and we started traveling together. I was able to make any decisions that I wanted in my life. I could go wherever I wanted with whoever I wanted for as long as I wanted. You might think you can do that back home and up to a point you can but it is much harder when your traveling you are just so much more flexible and open minded and willing to just randomly pack up and take a risk and try something new. I have met tons and tons and tons of great people (even some now life long friends) by just striking up a conversation and saying "Hi my name is Tyler"

Long story short, I really have fallen in love with this life style of being free and open and willing to take some risks but in return I get to travel the world and see tons of great places most people can only dream about and meet so many great people I can't even count how many great friendships I have made. My one year trip has now turned into two. I have seen Australia,New Zealand,South East Asia and now we have South/central America to go! I am so happy and took the leap of faith and came away traveling. It has been the best decision I have ever made and I don't regret any of it. If I had stayed home I never would have learned what I have learned about myself and what I can do and never learned what I wanted to do with my life (Yes now I have a career plan!) nor would I have met all these amazing people or seen these amazing places. There is nothing that makes me happier so far.

Earlier I touched on the fact that back home there was things I wanted to do with my life but I would always make up excuses as to why I could wait. Well you (or me for that matter) might be dead tomorrow so there should be no waiting. I have made a commitment to myself to learn at least one new skill a year until I am happy and well rounded enough to say that I have learned the things I have always put off.

I have never known how to use chop sticks and all my life I have said I will learn one day and always managed to put it off. I have always used a fork at Asian restaurants and just forgot about it. Well my good friends recently bought me my own chop sticks and sat down and taught me how to roughly use them. I am really proud that I can knock this one off my bucket list. My next commitment to myself is to learn Spanish. I have always wanted to learn it and always put it off. This year I am committing to myself and to yall that I will learn it. There is no reason to wait any longer. I can always keep coming up with excuses or I can just do it.

In the next years I want to learn how to play a musical instrument, I want to start a regular exercise program again, I want to try sword fighting, I want to get my A license for skydiving, I want to give pistol shooting a go again since I ruined my chance in my teens. I also want to learn how to salsa dance. The funny thing is I always waited on all of these goals but if I put my mind to it doing at least one of these things per year is easily obtainable and there is no reason I can't do it.

I want to end this ( I hope your still reading this far haha) with a challenge. Ask yourself if you are happy with your life.  Be honest with yourself and just ask yourself if you are happy with your overall life. If your answer is no like mine used to be then you can change it. It is easy to say the words but it is a little harder to actually make the changes. It is a little harder but not impossible. If I can do it you can do it. Think about what you want out of life and go for it. One goal a year. Not hard!

I know I am making it sound easy especially with me being way over here traveling and doing my thing not being ay home in the same place as most of yall but YOU MAKE YOUR LIFE WHAT YOU WANT IT TO BE. Only you can make the changes. Stop making excuses and being unhappy with your life. You have the power to do what you want when you want. Even one small change makes a big difference. Just remember there is no reason you can't have the life you want. I only hope I can still be as happy with my life when I get home as I am now. If all goes well I will be a salsa dancing Spanish speaker when I get home though :) and this is just the beginning.....-Tyler

Back on the road again

The last of our days off for a while back in the city managed to be pretty eventful actually. Mentally I had planned to have a quiet night and just rest up completely for work the next day. What actually ended up happening is I went out for drinks with friends then I went to dinner and a comedy club. The comedy was actually really funny I had a good time there. After comedy we wandered over to the weekly Couch Surfing Drinks. We were quite late but there was still some people there there and as always I had a good time there. I met some old friends in the city and made some new ones and got to catch up with everyone.

After drinks was over I went out to a night club in the city with my friends. Pretty quickly I realised it was quite late and I needed to be in bed! So I left and went to bed. We had to be up and at em the next day at 8am so I got ready and picked up in the city at 8am and we started our drive to Gisbourne. It took about 8 hours and luckily I got to sleep most of the way :)

Now we have a new guy on our "German" team at work. Steve has been reassigned to the site crew (he is working with Ben now) and my good friend Thomas is now working with us. He just started his first shift last night. Actually all things considered it has been pretty cruisy so far because We got to Gisbourne a day before the concert so we had time to set up the whole stage and not worry about sound or lights until today.

Today has been a pretty full on day though, We unloaded all three trucks and set up the sound and lights. After that we got to go and rest for a bit which has been good to catch up on some sleep. In just a few hours we will be back to tear down the stage and pack everything up then hit the road yet again and start it all over. On an unrelated side note, apparently Gisbourne is one of the first major places in the whole world to have the sun shine on it. It is a huge New Years Eve destination and the population triples here! So now I can add it to my list of awesome places I have been.

Oh ya one last thing, I finally saw Ben today (I didn't manage to see him at all during our break back in the city) and I only saw him briefly today but he is now sporting a mustache. I wish I had a picture for you haha. It is one of the worst looking mustaches I have ever seen and even he knows it. It is a huge joke but his whole crew is sporting mustaches and I have to give them props for having the balls to even walk around in public with those things haha. (To be fair I will be looking just as horrible in November of this year when I participate for the first time in Movember)

Work actually went fairly well at the end there last night. We had a few delays with loading the sound and lighting truck but, once we got to actually break down the stage we busted it out in 2.5 hours and that is our fastest time yet. Also on another related side note we actually had enough time earlier yesterday to have a nap and then go for a drive. We saw the Gisbourne coast line and the spot where Captain Cook first landed here back in the 1700's when he can from England. Funnily enough they made a statue of "Captain Cook" in 1969 and placed it there but it isn't actually him! Historians have noticed the clothing and facial features look nothing like him and no one can figure out who it is haha.

This morning we have now checked out of our hostel and hit the road headed to Martinbough to get ready to set up for our show tomorrow.
  

Just a little side note, I have always told myself that I wanted to learn how to use chop sticks and never actually have done it. Now that my friends have gotten me my very own personal set of chop sticks I have no excuse not to learn so I have been practising some and now I can actually use them to eat was long as the pieces of food are large enough. I am really proud of myself and now I can take it off my bucket list. Well that's all I got for now. I wont get Internet access to terribly often I am afraid but I will try and keep yall updated when I can. Take care, Tyler

My day off

So today was my first full day off of work where I wasn't totally wiped out. Last night I did go out with Debs and her friend Jess and DS. We had Korean food and we had to cook our own meat but it was good! After that we had beer and ice cream and topped it all off with a beer. Good times had by all, too bad Nadia had to work :(

Today I noticed my laptop charger was lost so I had to make a train journey to buy a new one :( but now things will get better because I got a new one! I am also headed to the beach shortly with some friends and tonight I will have dinner with my English student and her boyfriend as a thank you for my help. They are very nice!

Tomorrow I will head to a comedy club for a show and then to drink night and possibly a movie. Then the honeymoon is over and I will be back at work. Well that is all so far. I know this is a really boring update and I didn't say much but I just felt like randomly blogging.

The only other thing I wanted to mention was that there is a ton of homeless people here on Queen St (the main street) here in the city. It is kinda sad actually but they are like fixtures here. I pass them on a daily basis pretty much and I even know some of their names. Sometimes I give them money if I have spare change. There is one guy with one huge long dreadlock, another guy with a huge beer belly who always goes shirtless. (gross) another guy has a radio which he blares all day but just sits there in silence and expects you to pay him for listening to his bad music haha.

Then there is Blanket Man down in Wellington he is a local celebrity. He wears nothing but a blanket and a loin cloth and that is it. But people give him stuff all the time even an Ipod! They even wanted him to run for mayor haha. He is just a local fixture. I am quite sure he has mental issues but, when I met him in Welly he was an interesting guy for sure lol. I actually am really going to miss Auckland in general and my friends here for sure. Funny because I hated it so much my first week here but I really like it now!

LATE EDIT: SHE PASSED!!! I have been teaching English to a now really good friend of mine I met. She is from Taiwan and her boyfriend is Chinese. She wanted to learn English so I said I would be her conversation partner. While she already had a pretty good basic grasp on English I worked with her a lot and just tonight I found out she passed her English competency exam!

 That means A) that she is a great student and B) that I am a pretty good teacher! (although she is much better student than I am a teacher haha) I am so happy for her and happy she did it and I helped! They also took me out for a celebratory dinner and paid for everything. I know that was a big sacrifice for them money wise so it really really meant a lot to me to have them be so kind to me. I won't forget them for sure!

In addition, I had said I wanted to learn how to use chop sticks. Not only did they buy me my own personal set of chop sticks to practise with but they taught me roughly how to use them. Ang and Raymond I wont forget you! It really means a lot to me when people do great things out of the kindness of their hearts and these days that is rarer and rarer which is why I try and pass it on!


Oh ya  tomorrow I get to go out on a boat with my friend and today I will see Ben and Brian (yet again lol) I work with them and I can't even get away from them on my day off haha. Well that is all I got for now. Yall take care,Tyler

Work again!

So I started my new stage building job with Ben and Brian only Ben is on a different team. Brian and I work with two other really cool guys Steve and Val. Us four are classified as "The Germans" which is amusing because Ben is actually German and he isn't on our team haha.

Our first two days have been really full on. We showed up at 10pm on the first day and worked until 5:30am. Then we slept for a few hours and woke up again to work from 8:30am to 3:30pm. Then we slept for a few more hours and woke up to work from 10pm to 4am or roundabouts. The hours are long and hellacious but the people are nice and you stay busy and we get paid pretty well. Our breaks are pretty short though, we get just enough time to sneak away and inhale some food and water really quickly then it is back to work!

I never really realised how much work it actually takes to build a full stage,unpack three trucks and set up everything in time for the bands to get there and play their gigs. It is really full on and long hard physical work with crazy hours so I will never take it for granted again but, it will be a good job with some good experience and I am learning lots of new things for me so I look forward to it. I really have worn quite a few different hats job wise since I came away traveling it has been good.  They provide our accommodation and our food so really no complaints there. Our rental van was pretty awesome too.

Now we have 2 days off and all I have done today is catch up on my sleep. But, it is Superbowl Sunday back in America so I feel like I should go do something considering it is in Dallas this year even though I haven't seen a single game this year!

I almost forgot about this! I witnessed first hand right in front of my eyes two bums fist fighting in the library here in Auckland! It was one of the wildest things I have ever seen and I have seen a lot haha. There has always been three security guards in the library here and I never knew why until now. The bums came down the escalator. ( Many bums actually semi live in the library or sleep there at least) and for some crazy reason they just started punching each other and choking each other right in the middle of the floor! They started to yell and then the security guards swarmed them and tackled them.

It was just like a crazy movie in front of my eyes lol. Eventually the real police showed up and took them away and everyone calmed down. It was the wildest thing that happened to me that day lol. I also saw the aftermath of a lady being hit by a car. She didn't die but it was messy and very sad :( her purse was all over the road :( sometimes Aucks gets wild! Especially Queen St on a weekend haha. but no worries I am always fine! :)

I hope everyone is well back home and staying warm. (It is hot here, most of the time!) but when it rains it rains! anyway yall take care,Ty

Opps I skipped one!

I somehow managed to skip a blog entry so I will add it now, out of order. My apologies hehe.

When we arrived in Taupo we met up with our friends Amanda and Jenneke after we had caught up on some serious Internet time doing banking and all that boring stuff. But, once we met the girls we decided to go climb this mountain. It took us an hour and 15 minutes to get to the top.

The mountain climb was not SUPER hard but there was points where I was dragging ass haha. I really am not badly out of shape but nor do I have my 18 year old body anymore. As 30 approaches I can feel that this is really a time for me to get serious about working out or just accept that I will have a beer belly and be lazy forever haha.

The thing is, it wont take me much to get back into quite good shape I just need time,a consistent schedule,a good work out plan and motivation. Right now I have a personal trainer with me (helpful huh?) and all the knowledge of what I need to do. I just need the time and consistent schedule along with the motivation to do so. I like to think that I wont let myself slip into beer belly mode and I will be motivated to stay in good shape.

After we got off the mountain we headed directly to the beautiful Lake Taupo. The view from 1200 meters up on the mountain really was amazing and totally worth the hike. The lake was quite cold and the rocks were really slippery so we decided to go to some thermal hot springs.

Now that was the ticket! Those hot springs had the perfect balance between super hot and super cold and you could switch back and forth. It was all free and all natural. Brian has a really cool shock proof underwater camera so we got some really great photos from under the water. We met some really cool people and just had a great time relaxing. The stars out were absolutely amazing last night.

I really couldn't have asked for much of a better day yesterday. Our last days really have been great and made me happy to be alive. Soon I will upload photographic evidence to facebook so yall can see how awesome its been here. It was one of those days that really makes you appreciate life and living and being alive and hanging out with good friends. You hear so much negativity in the world all the time but when you have a day like that its really easy to focus on the positive and just try not to take everything for granted and realise that we really do have great lives.

Today we will head to our CS gathering at The Crossing and tomorrow we will get ready to hike 20 k's across (hopefully the weather holds!) it is going to be a fun celebration with 120+ other couch surfers and I can't wait for our last blast before we start working.

I wanted to quickly touch on the subject of motivation. When I was a kid I tried many different sports including track and even competitive air pistol shooting. Both of these were things I really could have been good at  I was just lazy and unmotivated pure and simple. It is funny now I look back almost 10 years later and I want to try these things all over again. I also want to learn Spanish and learn to play an instrument.  All of these are things I could have learned back then and been really good at if only I had tried harder. It frustrates me now to think this I wish I could go back to teen age Tyler and scream at him and tell him to get his ass in gear!  But the good news is it isn't too late I plan on picking up one or all of these skills in the future.

Yall take care,Tyler

The CS Event

So the girls and Ben and Brian and myself made it to the CS event and we got there with 120+ other couch surfers! This was the biggest CS Event in New Zealand history! we arrived on Friday and built our tent and got settled in. Originally we were supposed to do the 20 K Crossing the next day (Saturday) but the weather was bad so that meant that they pushed it back one day. So we got to drink and party and have a good time. Eat and have fun. I met people from nearly every major country in the world it was amazing.

Most of you know that my birthday is 30th of December. Well I was working my railroad job I didn't have time to celebrate it at all since I was working so full on. So, I decided to have my belated birthday party at the CS Crossing Event. But, somehow the message got twisted around and people assumed it was actually my birthday on Jan. 30th haha. at first I tried to let people know it wasn't my actual birthday but eventually I just went with it lol.

I had one of the best "birthdays" ever. 120+ people celebrated with me and I even got a trombone solo for my birthday! It was amazing lol There was also a girl there named Amanda who I met and she shares my exact same birthday only she is one year older than me. So that made it even more festive. All around I just had a great time.

The next day since our crossing was canceled we got up and worked off our hangovers by going and seeing the sites around the local area and let me tell you there is some beautiful places there! We did some great day hikes and such. We also went to some great thermal hot springs for free! I got to spend time with tons and tons of amazing people from all over the world who share a love of travel. It is so easy to talk to anyone and everyone about  anything under the sun because we all have a basic love of travel. There is no need to justify anything about ourselves or our love of travel. We just always ask each other "where next?"

Sunday was the day of the crossing and it was 19.4 K's which is just over 12 miles. With all our stops and so forth it actually took about 8 hours. It wasn't EXTREMELY hard it was just long and very windy and cold! The scenery was amazing though! I should have pictures loaded up on my facebook page before too long. After the Crossing we all drove to see some more sites and relax in the hot pools then we came back and had a massive bbq/beer fest it was a great weekend.

The only downside was the owner of the place we were staying. He was SO mean and rude it was insane. He literally told us "I hate you couch surfers" and he locked the bathrooms so no one could use them all night! He complained about the rate of pay HE set for us and told us to "go to bed" all the time like we were 12. It was so stupid! I don't know how they organised us to stay with such a jerk but he was horrible and I will never stay there again ever. The list goes on and on with his stupid crap but other than him though everything else was amazing and I had a great time.

I am also back at work now for my new concert stage building job and today was the first day. We will be traveling all over the north island following a few bands on a winery tour. Our job is to build the stage for them and get everything ready then tear it down when they are all done. It was really full on and long hours but not SUPER hard and its good money. I get to work with Ben and Brian and a lot of other cool people so no complaints so far :)

Well yall take care,Tyler

Road trip

So I decided randomly to enjoy a road trip with Ben and our new American friend Brian. They had already planned to go and I just decided to not work for my last week before my concert job and go with them. I am really glad I did! When we left Auckland and started driving to the Coromandel  it was dumping rain! It was raining so much and so hard we couldn't even really camp in our tents. By the time we got to town it was dark anyway so we managed to find a B&B kinda place and stay there for one night. It was really nice to be out of the rain!

After that, the rain cleared up and we drove on towards Roatoua but we camped for the night at a free but not so great rest stop. It was not amazing at all but it got us by. We also had the chance to camp at a really great spot that was at a scenic overlook. (the town that smells of sulfur) and on the way we stopped at Mount Mounganui and climbed it. While we were there we walked around the town for a while and directly after we got off the mountain we were so hot we ran right into the ocean! The water was cold but so so refreshing.

The next day we continued on to Taupo and we camped in the middle of the forest! We found an unused (or so we thought) logging road and we went way way back and we managed to find the perfect I mean perfect camping spot right on the lake! When we got there we were alone and we thought it was totally amazing but then a few people showed up and told us it was Maori land. Apparently the lake was a sacred burial ground for their dead after a huge massacre happened. It was kinda creepy being there alone and sleeping next to this lake of dead people but we managed.

A little later in the night a Maori tribal representative showed up and told us we weren't allowed to camp there. We weren't aware at the time that the land was tribal land but he was not a murderous killer nor was he a uncivilised savage he even drove a truck. He was nice enough to let us stay the night as long as we promised to take away our rubbish and not get in the lake. (we didn't swim and we did take our rubbish). So while it was a little creepy being there we had GREAT weather that day and an AMAZING spot. I have some great pictures.

After the few people left that we there it was just us and nature and for a good while we could see SO many stars! We just relaxed with some beers and cooked dinner and just had a great night. I still consider myself a non smoker but, since I have been here in New Zealand I have smoked a true Cuban Cigar (not illegal if you aren't in America hehe) and last night we had cigarillos. I can't say I am a big fan of smoking but it was nice just to relax with Ben and Brian and just shoot the shit. It was a great day and a great night.

The next day we packed up and headed to Lake Taupo. We are here because we are meeting 120+ couch surfers and we are going to do the e Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It is going to be a great time and I am also celebrating my belated birthday party here! I can't wait :) It has been a great road trip so far and SO good to get out of Auckland for a bit and have a last blast before we start working hard for the next month and half.

Soon we will be back in the city and back at work but for now the fun continues.... I will update you more as I get it. All is well so far :) Please forgive my spelling mistakes there is a lot of Maori (the native people of New Zealand) names that I can't pronounce much less spell correctly even though I try my best.

Yall take care,Tyler

P.S. South America  will be here before I know it and I am so excited for April!

Aussie Floods

I know I am late on this because I have known about the floods in Aussie for a while now but only now am I getting the time to blog about this. Apparently it is even newsworthy in the States! Since I lived in Brissy for six months and I still have many mates there I was quite worried. But, I have checked on all my mates and they are fine which is great! The area that is actually flooded is near to where I actually lived. It is all very sad :( I do hope things get better soon!

I am back working construction at Britomart for now until my concert job starts in Feb. It isn't as hard as the rail job but nor does it pay as good. I am just constantly amazed at how many guys at work wear NO hearing/eye protection when they totally should! You only have one set of each yet they just go on like it doesn't even matter! I have seen guys jackhammering with NO ear protection OR eye protection on! Officially on the books its illegal for them to work like that but in reality the bosses seem to think its their choice.

Did you know that in less than 8 hours of exposure to a jackhammer you can potentially go deaf? I always wear my muffs! What else? Soon I will go on a camping trip with CS and it is going to be fun! The weather is still up and down here, when its hot its hot and when its rainy its rainy! I seem to have lost all of the weight I put on at the rail job, no surprise there lol

Oh ya, movie reviews! I have seen Unstoppable the new Denzel Washington movie about the runaway train. Without giving too much away for those of you who haven't seen it, it was surprisingly good considering the whole movie is based around them chasing a runaway train lol. It made it even better for me because they actually used rail road terms and I knew what they meant and I could pick out all the outrageous movie theatrics involving the rail line that would never happen in real life lol.

I also saw Love and other drugs (it was the girls choice lol) it was about a guy who gets into pharmaceutical sales to start selling Viagra when it first came out. Then he falls in love with a girl and blah blah. It sounds typical but really it had some good twists and I actually enjoyed it. On top of all that Tues as well as being cheap Tues at the movies is also cheap Tues at Domino's so good food had by all :)

I smoked my first true Cuban Cigar (not illegal if you aren't in America ;)  ) it was not as amazing as I had hoped and I plan on staying a non smoker. At least I can take it off my bucket list now.
I guess that is all for now. -Tyler

Just a few other things....

So I wanted to mention a few more things now that I have a bit of time. It seems my week long job jackhammering concrete ended after 3 days. Unfortunate but what can you do? Apparently the six of us guys knocked it all out. I have come to the conclusion that I really hate jackhammering. It is deafeningly loud even with hearing protection (without ear muffs you seriously can go deaf) there is concrete dust everywhere and that jackhammer is so frickin heavy it will throw you all over the place if you aren't careful. Not to mention my entire body is sore and I was so freakin dirty today!

I have gotten to use a lot of different cool tools since I have been working construction here in New Zealand. I have used a thumper to compact dirt into the ground (that really threw me around!) a jackhammer,an angle grinder,concrete saw,concrete drill and much more. All new and exciting skills for me :P 

Working in the cold rain and mud really sucks badly but you gotta get the job done. I worked with two guys who didn't use eye OR ear protection on the jackhammer. Of course it is their choice but I just think that is idiotic. Well when they go deaf and blind it will be their own fault.

On a more positive note I got all my errands done and I seriously think I saw Forrest Whitaker on Queen St today lol. If it wasn't him he has a twin! Tonight I have a farewell party for a friend and it is movie/pizza night. I have a busy schedule haha. It won't be long before Ben and I are in South America!

I know there is more I could write but I am blanking it. I have nothing. Yall take care,Tyler

Its already almost Feb!

Well now that I have that concert job starting in February it looks like Ben does too! I recommended him and they took him on too. Since my last blog I haven't done too terribly much but I have been out to a farm with some new CS'ers and met a ton of new people! We helped bale up some hay and in return we got to swim in a really cool waterfall and eat a huge BBQ! It was great to get out of the city and into the country.

Everyone I have met so far has been great as have my new found friends and I even found out that I share my birthday with Amanda only she is one year older than me. I don't know if I have met anyone who shares my exact birthday.

I have been doing some more construction work in the city just making a little extra cash before my concert job starts in February. We are jack hammering concrete pillars at the moment. It is dirty hard work but it pays. Keeps me busy at least but, it is no fun in the rain! My high paying rail job is over :( but those hours were really killer!

Apparently this concert job is going to be one month long and really full on but the pay should be great and the bosses seemed cool in the interview. I hope it goes over well. Tomorrow night is our weekly movie night/Pizza night and Wednesday is drink night along with me working all week so I have a full on week.

Yall take care,Tyler

Ben has arrived!

So my best mate in all of the southern hemisphere got here on the night of the 11th. Since then I have helped him set up a bank account,tax number,mobile phone and gotten him (hopefully) a job. Along with all that, he is crashing at my place for the moment and we have been interviewed for Japanese TV! How cool is that?! haha.

I have enjoyed a little time not working since I worked so full on with that rail job but soon it will be time to find work again. I have confirmed working setting up concert stages in February to March but, I am going to need a little something between now and then. I am sure I will find something.  I took Ben to his first CS Drink Night last night and we had a good time. I have given him the city tour and introduced him to all my friends.

It is really good to catch up with him again and gear up for South America in just a few months! I will have my belated birthday party at the end of this month so it should be good fun. I have met tons of people here so it will be a blast! really thats all I got for now.

All is well here :) yall take care,Ty

Its over.....

Finally after 15 days I can rejoin the real world! I made some good money but I worked super hard! Basically all we did the whole time was dig holes and put in foundations (slabs) of concrete for the power poles to be raised up on. It is much more complicated than that but that is very simple terms. I mostly did prep work for the holes before they were drilled by the digger but I did a little bit of everything really. Just alot of this and that. Here is some stats on my job. They did provide us with free food and water which was good.

Days of work: 15
Days off: 1
Hours worked: 156
Breath Tests passed: 15
Random drug tests passed: 2
Number of clothes washes done: a lot
Kilometers walked on the rail line: Hundreds
Amount of water drank: 45 liters/ 11.25 gallons
Amount of Subway eaten: 15 times
Chance I will go to Subway anytime in the next 6 months: Zero.
Weight gained: Almost 3 kilos/5 pounds! (all that subway)
Days worked in the pissing down rain: 1
Tan increased: 100%
Work experience gained:100%
Chance that I ever want to use a jackhammer ever again: zero (that sucked!)
Chance that I would wake up at 5:30am on my first day off: 100% lol
This first day off: PRICELESS!

I worked hard but got paid good and really enjoyed everyone I worked with which was good. I hope to keep working with them we will see how it goes. It was super hard but worth it really and I got some great work experience on the rail line. -Tyler

Work/Birthday/NYE/2011/Etc

Work has been getting better lately. It was rough for me at first and I didn't feel as if I fit in or it would be a good fit for me. But, after the first few days I started to get into the swing of things and everyone started to get to know me. It became easier for me and now everyone is really nice and helpful. The work is hard there is no question about that and the hours are long but, the pay is good so it is worth it. I have had a few issues with my hours and my pay but I have rang my labour agency and I am getting it all sorted so no big worries there.
I actually have transitioned into a new job role that I like very much. It isn't extremely physical but, it is really important and I enjoy doing it and I have learned it well so far. Basically what I do now is do all the measures for the cuts  that they dig. In simple terms I have to help measure out everything so they know where and how much to dig before they lay the foundations (slabs) for the actual power masts to go on. So we need to do our job right to make sure everything that follows is right. All of the measurements are in metric so I have an "assistant" to help me with my measurements and math but, I direct the digging crew and tell them where to dig and I do the physical measurements. There is 3600 of these cuts to get done before the project is finished so it is a big job but, we are just contracted to do this over the holiday period while the trains are stopped. Once the trains start running again mid month they will be working only on night shift again.

I also wanted to make a special mention of my site foreman Rob. He really is a good guy. He seems to really care about all of us guys and he actually remembers my name (I have worked on site's where they dont even care about learning my name) and he really listens to me if I have any suggestions or concerns. Not only that but, he buys us lunch everyday so we dont have to pay for any food. For New Years Eve he let us knock off early and he bought us a special lunch and even some donuts! We get breath tested everyday before our shifts so no alcohol for us but, on new years eve after work he bought us all a beer. It is really nice to work with good people, it makes a big difference working these long hours.

This is hard dirty work with long hours but I do enjoy feeling that I am making a difference to the Auckland Rail Line and helping to get it better for the people of Auckland. The only complaints I have is sometimes we have to wait around for certain decisions to be made because the chain of command is very large and when you need a decision on something,sometimes it takes a long time to get your answer because it has to go all the way to the top and back down again. That is a little frustrating. We have also had 1 person fail a breath test and 1 person fail a drug test but other than that all is good as gravy and I am happy. Today (Jan 1) is my only day off so I enjoyed it with friends but I will be back at work tomorrow until the 9th of Jan and (maybe) longer. I got another job offer starting in Feb and going until mid march to help build up and tear down sound stages for a concert series all over the north island. It is good money and a great way to travel for free so I think I will do it. Things are looking up for me now :)

We have had 2 people fail drug and/or alcohol tests (we get breath tested every morning before shifts) and we have had some guys come onto site dressed like us (workers) and try and steal stuff to resale it. (They got busted because they were wearing shorts and we aren't allowed to wear shorts. We have also had some kids break in after New Years Eve and break all the windows out of one of our diggers. We have had the usual drama's with delays and stuff. It is frustrating but nothing SUPER major and no big injury's so I guess all in all it has gone pretty well so far. By the time my contract (most likely) expires on 9 January I will have work over 150 hours in 14 days! But it isn't so bad. It is good money and I am happy once they sort all my pay issues out ( being worked on supposedly) I will keep on top of it though trust me!

My new years eve was great. I was just out with three other good friends but we had an awesome time. We saw the fireworks at the sky tower and had some drinks in the city. I cant believe 2011 is already here and I have already been gone for 14 months now! New Years Eve last year in Sydney has come and gone already. Time just flys! Ben will be here soon and before I know it, it will be time for South America! It will be good to see him again though. I am really enjoying my time here though. I am not a fan at all of the "four seasons in one day" weather in Auckland but other than that I really like it here.

I also had a great birthday. I went out with my friend Debs, I jokingly refer to her as my Auckland girlfriend because while we are just friends I have gone out with her and been in more date type situations than any other girl here in Auckland haha. We had Mexican food that was actually decent but since I was working the next day I limited myself to one beer and a margarita. It was a good relaxing evening though. We ate out at the viaduct (harbour) and had a great view and great weather. Debs and Nadia even got me two shirts for my birthday and I was really touched that they actually got me something. Today for my day off we went to Mission Beach and had a (longer than expected walk there haha) but it was a good day we also hung out with our friend Daniel from Sweden so it was good to see him again, he also went out with us for New Years Eve so it was good times had by all.

Just a little shout out to all my family and friends back home but I hope your New Years Eve and Christmas was great and all the best for 2011. I also want to give a mention to Abbie (in case your reading this) happy birthday Abs and I am sorry I wasn't there to share it with you this year. Maybe next year ;) I will be home eventually haha.

Yall take care,Tyler (I cant believe I am 26 now!) 30 will be here before I know it haha