Saturday, January 26, 2008
Te Anau
Hello All! We have arrived in Te Anau, and have made the necessary arrangements for the dusky track. We leave tomorrow, Monday the 28th, for 8 days of trekking. It should be wild. We plan on taking a couple of side treks, and if we get some nasty weather we can be out for 10 days. Don't worry, we will be prepared with a mountain radio and lots of food. The drive to Te Anau was amazing, especially the last day. Our first day on the south island was Friday. We drove all day to the town of Geraldine, and celebrated David's birthday with a bottle of absinthe at our hotel, then made our way to the local bar where Nick and Kevin were challenged to arm wrestling matches by the local dairy farmers. Nick beat a guy who was at least 6 foot 8 and I am pretty sure Kevin was undefeated for the night. We managed to get up early and I drove the first leg of the day. We past beautiful sites like the southern alps, and lake pukaki, which is a brilliant teal color. Then we held on for our lives as Greg zipped us through one of the most scenic drives I have experienced. After taking care of dusky business we camped for free in between a meadow and a river, and enjoyed the views until it got dark around ten. We have heard nothing but good things about the dusky, so we feel we made a wise decision. Having the car has been great as well, we can go at our own pace and we see a lot of New Zealand . I will not be at a computer until at least Feb 6, but I will try to find one with a USB so I can start to upload pictures. Hope everyone is safe and doing well! -- Mark
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4 comments:
Great post! I find myself re-reading it instead of working. You didn't have to exaggerate for Nick and Kevin though, I'm sure the guys who let them win at arm wrestling just felt bad because of the state of the US economy.
i concur... i also can't stop re-reading it. its my favorite out of all the blogs of the guys on the trip... then again i might be sort of biased... can't wait to hear more from you!
mark and dudes - another tip from my man, bear grylls:
-How to eat a scorpion, and other spiders and insects:
Spiders and insects are a particularly good source of protein, which the body needs to help rebuild itself. You need to be aware before you go out, however, which have large amounts of venom and which don't. While they're certainly not tasty, tiger scorpions of Mexico are nutritious -- as long as you cut off the stinger, which has a ball of venom inside. To eat it, catch one (being careful not to be stung), then pin it down and take off the stinger with a stick. Then he's ready to be eaten. Says Bear, "Tastes kinda like cheese that's been sitting around for about three weeks…but worse." In the forests, look to dead wood to find your insects -- you will often find larvae in the wood, which are four times higher in protein than beef. While they taste sour and are slightly gritty, they can be a life saver. Another food tip from Bear: stay away from mushrooms unless you're an expert [i disagree here - nick]. And while bats might be tasty, it's probably not worth it to try to catch one, because of the risk of rabies.
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