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Dave Says:

Warning: The following entry contains graphic descriptions of karate. Those not familiar with the ways of the rising block should turn away now.

We tried running. We tried rock climbing. We almost tried yoga. However, nothing comes close to the feel of a foot cracking against the side of someone’s head so there was nothing left to do but track down some martial arts. As it happens Nelson has several martial arts schools so entrusting the same process that lead us to Quantum in the first place (look in the Yellow pages, go to the first school listed, which is closed, so go to the second) we turned up at Nelson Seido Karate. Just like walking into Quantum five and half years ago, we were greeted with warmth and respect and soon found ourselves taking a class. Before you could throw a round kick, we were back to a twice a week karate schedule discussing forms, one steps, kicks and punches as if we’d never left. However, what at first appears to a simple derivation on what we already knew turned into a completely different beast. As is the way with martial arts - nothing is quite what it seems.

Nelson Seido just celebrated 30 years. 30 years!! That’s amazing. The master (Shuseki Shihan Andy Barber) must know most of Nelson and probably trained people who are now in their forties when they were kids. He’s a 7th Dan and his wife (Kyoshi Jane Barber) is a 4th Dan and the most senior Seido Karate woman outside the US. The family that kicks together stays together. We took a number of classes from both of them to see how different their styles are.

Not wearing a belt is like doing karate naked. It’s a very humbling experience. I think that if we’d been dressed as white belts it would have been easier because everyone’s (including our own) expectations would have been set correctly. Instead, people would break down a round kick for us and then almost fall over when our “first” attempt at the technique took the hair off their ears. We also learnt, for example, although the rising block looked the same, it’s purpose was completely different so we had to breakdown the technique not from a physical level but from an intent and energy perspective. When the purpose of a block is not to block, recycle energy and set yourself up for something better, but purely to block everything changes.

It took us a little while to realize this and although we were always externally courteous and respectful of what we were being taught I think both of us internally would do things the Quantum way. Once we attempted things the Seido way it increased our respect for their dojo and their style. All of that gained from not having a discernible rank… there’s a lesson in there somewhere I think.

Their lessons are not as all over intensive as ours. The warm-ups and class are intermixed and last for just over an hour. The warm-ups are well below what we do although doing push-ups on a hardwood floor on your knuckles has to worth at least double points ‘cos it hurts like fury. There’s a lot more emphasis on upper body strength with many drills involving punches, backfists and elbows. There is very little emphasis on stances which, to us, seemed quite bizarre. We weren’t sure where we are supposed to get our power from and that’s probably why my shoulders and chest hurt the next day. I ended up doing all those drills in a pseudo horse stance. I figured it was better my legs hurt from a twenty minute horse stance that the whole of my upper body!!

We learnt three of their forms although they we all a derivation on a simplified basic form so no problems there except that feet and hands do not land at the same time. It’s feet first followed by the hands. Despite repeated attempts at the forms neither Sarah or I could break the feet and hands rule. Personally I thought it looked neater anyway - nothing worse than messy karate
Seido Karate appears not believe in the adage “It’s not the speed I move but whether you see me do it.” Everything they do is super fast. Forms are performed properly at breakneck speed and sparing makes my eyes tired just watching the endless rushing around. We were allowed to do non-contact sparring and there were a couple of occasions where I felt like I was watching a cartoon character as I stood safely out of range of some person throwing 300 techniques a second. I don’t think I would have to have done anything to win a fight because sooner or later my opponent would have fallen over from exhaustion anyway.

Where techniques may have differed the energy at the dojo was excellent. The master is great with kids and everytime we went there were at least four new students coming for their introductory lesson. Everyone exhibited great courtesy and respect and the master’s little chats at the end of class were insightful. The say osu (pronounced “Os”) a lot - I mean a lot - it’s “Os this” and “Os that” all the time. It’s a little infectious.

And so… Do we have a few cool drills to try out on Quantum students? You bet! Did we learn more about our own style than Seido? You bet!! Did we miss Quantum and are looking forward to returning? You bet!!!

If you want to check out their school, here’s the website: http://www.seido.co.nz/

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and our third gallery and our forth gallery and our fifth gallery and our sixth gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.

Dave Says:

The New Zealand restaurant industry is somewhat like a gangly teenager. Look into their face and you can see the adult they wish to be but the arms are just a little too long for the still developing clumsy body and they have this awful habit of slouching just when you need them to stand up straight.

Now, I am, I readily admit, spoiled. For all of the faults the United States may have, eating out at a reasonable price for reasonable food and service that trumps all isn’t one of them. The Kiwi’s want the same so bad it’s clearly visible in everything concerned with eating out except the actual eating out part.

There are two main classes of dining experience, the cafe and the restaurant. However the line between the two is often blurred. In NZ it’s all about the number. If you’re given a number when you order then you’re in a cafe. The patron is pretty much on their own in a cafe. Go up to the counter, fight your way though the crowd, order something to eat, order something to drink (usually having to take it from the fridge yourself), pay for it and collect your number to take back to your table.

In twenty short minutes someone will arrive carrying you order. Eat and be gone - very simple. Nothing wrong with that except everyone gets a number for every little thing everytime. The Kiwi’s can’t even make a latte without writing it down, giving you a number and making you wait twenty minutes. Again not a problem when, like us, you have nothing else to do and taking your time with coffee is a good thing. Usually however, its after you drink your coffee you relax. In NZ that cup disappears instantly upon it’s emptying leaving you sitting there at a clean deserted table without, heaven forbid, a number. Now everyone with a number grasped in their hands looking for table knows you’re just “camping out”. Time to leave.

It’s the restaurant thing that’s tricky to deal with. Now, there are amazing restaurants here just as one would expect the developed world over but it’s not of those that I speak. I’m talking here about the casual dining experience. Assuming this is not a number based establishment this is how it works:

Walk in, find a server (any one will do - usually one carrying a plate of food will nod in the direction of an empty table for you). Sit down, wait at least five minutes for menus. When the menu comes note that every place can mix you a Moscow Mule (vodka, ginger beer and lime). Decide if you want the bread and olive oil appetizer for $6. Appetizer are called “Entrees”, entrees are known as “Mains” and take-out is “takeaways”. Once you’ve decided if $6 for a couple bits of bread and oil is too rich for you freely olive oil soaked blood decide on your mains. For this expect to pay a lot of money. Nothing comes less than $NZ20 and most cost $NZ25 (up to $US19 a meal). At some point before you’ve decided a server will come by. This isn’t your server, it’s just “a” server. Decide quick, if you send them away then you have to wait a long time again. Now order, order, order. Order everything you need, order some things you think you might want and be sure to order two drinks because once that person leaves your table, you are done, your allocated waitress time is over. You will never have the pleasure of talking to a server again.

Food here is excellent. I have no complaints.

Finished? Excellent. Need anything else? You do, oh I’m sorry you’re now going to have to perform one of the many skills the British exported to this land. I’ll call it “The Waitress Chase”. Remember, your allocated waitress time has expired so if you need anything, get up and run after someone saying in a timid voice “excuse me, excuse me”. If there’s something wrong with your meal best pick up the plate and run after them with it. Need another drink? No problem just run after them with the glass. Often the number of customers running around exceeds the number of staff working and these are not professional plate carriers so collisions can occur.

Once you’re completely finish it’s time to pay. Using your new found skills at hunting down wait staff, do it again this time with your credit card in hand. Now, here’s the good thing. You don’t have to tip. In fact, I left some money on the table once as a tip and they came running after me to give it back. Not tipping is a blood pressure saver because the service is so bad that if one did have to leave the outrageous 20% of US standards then one’s entire evening would be ruined. In NZ you can walk out feeling like you beat the system. However, next time my US based readers complain about the tip amount cast your minds back to this blog entry (or print it off wallet size as one of those tipping calculators) and think of the alternative. Yes, we’re spoiled. Yes we’re pampered but, by God, we pay for it and it feels good.

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and our third gallery and our forth gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.

Sarah says:

This here little town is suiting us just fine. It amazes me how we continue to be entertained by our new routine of getting up at 10:00, walking to town, having a coffee, walking back to the house, grilling up some dinner..and that’s about it. It’s not that we aren’t doing anything at all - we’re actually doing quite a lot. but when you don’t have to make time for a job, you can do lots of things and do absolutely nothing at the same time!

Trafalgar Street is a main shopping street in Nelson and it ends right at the steps leading up the town cathedral. The fine people of Nelson are partitioning to close the block of street right in front of the cathedral steps from traffic so that it can be dedicated to street performers. We’ve been to several summer events so far on that very block and let it be known - we whole heartily agree that their idea would be splendid.

Take for instance the annual Buskers Festival where the whole town came out with their picnics and cushions to sit on the cathedral steps to watch street performs earn the coins we quite happily dropped in buckets. people juggling fire while balancing on rolling platforms, walking a tight rope supported by members of the audience, pogo-jumping with no hands - it’s a family friendly spectacular!

A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream was pretty cool but we still didn’t catch on about bringing your own cushion. we rented them.

Saturday Market is where we get our produce for the week.

We can’t wait to check out the wine and art festival next weekend and then there’s the End of Summer Fair in early March.

Last night we attended Opera in the Park and Fireworks Finale. Apparently, this is old hat in the UK and David had been to several with several other girls - but I had not and I was pretty blown away. We bought a bottle of wine and set up a blanket and picnic. It was pretty cool. Of course they set off the fireworks to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Oveture which was - well - amazing.

We’ve also been keeping fit. We went to a Capuiora workshop in the park yesterday - I cannot walk today and will absolutely not be taking up this particular martial art but it was pretty cool to learn the basics. Anyone after extremely firm inner thighs - this is the thing for you.

We are also very excited to be attending a local Karate school (www.seido.co.nz). It has been awesome being back in a dojo, we’ve loved seeing the similarities and differences to our style at home, we’ve been very welcomed and hope that we are representing our school and Master well. We may even come home able to count to ten in Japanese. More details on the school to follow.

We are about half way through our trip now. It’s taken about this long to relax a little and not have dreams about the office. It’s also taken about this long to be reminded how cool our own city is and that it’ll be good to get home and the end of this.

So many of you have sent us emails or posted messages here and we’ve really been crap at personally responding to most of you. I’m super sorry about that - I have no excuse other than we are 1.) lazy and 2.) constantly watching the clock tick up more $$$ on computer time. But we miss all of you and thank you so much for keeping in touch!

Kindly overlook spelling mistakes as this computer is way too slow to do spell check.

Take care!

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and our third gallery and our forth gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.

Sarah says:

There is nothing like sharing a community kitchen with a mass of hungry backpackers all wanting the kettle at the exact same time and being forced to clean all your pots, pans and dishes as soon as you are finished using them, to appreciate having a kitchen all to yourself. And there is nothing like spending a few weeks with the shower not always being free exactly when you want it, to make you appreciate having your own bathroom. And finally, there is nothing like being surrounded by really lovely but loud Irishmen who really do try to whisper but just can’t seem to get their voices down that low - even in the wee hours of the morning - to make you appreciate the peace of a real, grown-up house all to yourself.

So, we’re in Nelson and settle in to our rented vacation home. Having chosen it from 3 small pictures on the internet, I say we scored. The place pretty much rocks. We’ve got pictures posted so you can see what I’m talking about. It’s super close to a really cool little river and we think it’s fun to walk along the river path for a while and then jump in for a swim. Awww, doesn’t that sound cool? It’s probably about the coolest “we can’t do this at home” thing we’ve done.

Every Saturday there’s this great street market and, I think, just about the whole town comes out for it. It’s really quaint - everybody knows everybody and all the girls, who have to wear really terrible school uniforms all week, are all done up in their trendy little summer outfits hanging out eating ice cream. it’s really small town and cute.

we don’t really have much new to report yet but we’re going to be getting up to some cool stuff here soon so we’ll keep you posted.

Your friends,
Sarah & Dave

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and our third gallery and our forth gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.

The Anatomy of a Backpacker.

The common spotted backpacker (homo-backpackerous) can be found most often in the countries of New Zealand and Australia. They are migatory creatures and spend the winter months (and sometimes the entire year) in the Southern hemisphere escaping the harsh winters of their native North European countries.

Easily spotted by their distinctive humps these young 20-something mammals travel often in groups (known as a “bus”) but also alone. Their humps grow as the season continues. At first both the male and the female of the species have a back hump, something about the size of a pack and one small daysack sized hump they carry in their skinny white arms. As their trip continues the back hump stays about the same size but the small hump moves to the front of their bodies to make room for more smaller tote bag size humps they carry in their now not-so-white but still just as skinny arms. Nalgene bottles grow from these humps in odd places.

Once per day, as the sun sets, all the backpackers in a particular area will descend upon a few number of nests they will use for the night. These nests are known as hostels and, in places, demand outstrips supply and a frenzy ensues as they scramble for shelter for night. Often the backpacker will attempt to plan their itinerary and book ahead but the backpacker has little consideration for confirmed reservations when there is fun to had. Credit cards are now the preferred form of barter to confirm a spot in the nest for the evening. Although designed as temporary nesting areas, some backpackers will use a hostel in a more permanent fashion thereby causing stress to other more transient backpackers. For these backpackers who stay semi-permantly their days are spent on useless hunting gathering tasks as they hunt for menial jobs and gather minimum wage when they find one. This is an illusion that perhaps one day the forces of evolution will fix, for their wage is barely enough to survive so when they finally do leave this nest their stores for the next leg of the journey are no more full than when they arrived.

The nesting place known as The Hostel is an interesting structure. Backpackers are by nature solitary creatures so when forced act as a community strange rituals are performed. Food that has previously been gathered must be clearly marked as not to stolen by others of the species. Whereas in nature a scent usually does the trick, the backpacker must resort to use of the sharpie. Some things that look free to unsuspecting backpacker may in fact belong to someone and their use may cause eviction from the nest. Only things clearly marked with the pictogram “F”, “R”, “E”, “E” are truly for the use of the community (unless of course an enterprising backpacker crosses out the image and marks it with their own). These rules are complicated and the young backpacker must find them out by trial and error. It is worth noting that for many of this strange species this is the first time they have left the family nest and mother is no longer around to help out her poor cubs. No where is this more evident than in the part of the nest known as the kitchen. Many signs left by the elders of the hostel warn it’s temporary residents that their “mother doesn’t live here” so they should “wash up and put away your own dishes”.

Sleeping arrangements are complex in the nesting hostel. There is a definite hierarchy. Those at the bottom of the tree share areas known as dorms. Often there are eight or more backpackers of mixed gender sharing the same space. Again although this is communal living there is very little community and the solitary nature of the creature becomes apparent. Teritory is key. Very little sleeping goes on in the dorm area as multiple backpackers all need to relieve themselves at various points in the night and some retire late and some rise early. Next up on the hierarchy are the areas known as “twin rooms”. These are for backpackers traveling in pairs. This arrangement provides both companionship and a chance for better sleeping quarters. Sometimes individual backpackers will form uneasy alliances to afford themselves these rights but, again, being solitary and selfish creatures, they rarely last more than a few days. The final and newly created category of sleeping arrangement is known to the pack as “doubles”. The interesting fact about doubles is that on first glance they appear to be inhabited by backpackers but on closer inspection are almost always taken up by Rollaboards (homo-rollaboardous) a sub-species of the common spotted backpacker. These are older, wiser and more affluent ex-backpackers whose humps are pulled behind them on wheels. They take a free ride on the infrastructure they helped create when they were backpackers thereby creating less dorm space and therefore less mess in the nest. Rollaboards in doubles are always mating pairs.

The diet of the common spotted backpacker is almost exclusively Raman noodles and beer. At this stage in the physical development of the young backpacker the natural high gained from the alcohol found in beer is more important than the nutrients found in fresh food. It takes more effort for the backpacker to forage for fresh food where Raman noodles can be found under any bush or Star Mart. Obvious visual signs of malnourishment are disguised by a browning of the skin (known as a tan) and the usual effects of too much of the naturally occurring alcohol imbibed the previous night. It is a wonder evolution has not naturally de-selected this species.

Dawn rises over the nest and it is time for these young backpackers to shrug their humps and migrate to their next destination to repeat this complex ritual over again.

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.

Sarah says:

Following our stay in Taupo we were planning to head straight across to a coastal town called Gisborne but realized the drive would be longer for one day than we wanted. We decided to break it up by heading north a bit and following the coast road all the way around - this was turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made so far and not only because Gisborne turned out to be a shitty little town. Anyway, we headed for a little beach town called Opotiki and stayed at a kind of beach shack backpackers. We pulled up to the place and it’s this little bungalow on maybe a half acre of land RIGHT on the beach. The house is surrounded by these amazing tropical flowers and the beach is empty and gorgeous. The house didn’t look like much from the outside but it took about 2 seconds once inside to see that it was about perfect. The owner was this super tan Kiwi guy who, I’m sure, hasn’t seen a pair of shoes in decades. The place is small - can maybe sleep 15 - and it was nearly empty so we had everything kind of to ourselves. All the rooms opened up to the beach and he had 2 great massive decks and a bbq - it was just awesome. We took two of his boogie boards and, at like 5:00pm, headed to the beach for a swim. The water was like bathwater - I mean it was the most gorgeous ocean water we’ve been in so far. I could hear David over there taking waves in screaming “woohoooooooo” all the way. You really couldn’t have asked for a more perfect place. So we sat on the deck with a bottle of wine contemplating if we could ever give everything up and just buy some shack on the beach and never have to wear shoes again. Something to think about for sure.

We had one more perfect night like that. The owner of that place, Steve, suggested we stay at his mate’s place the next night. The next beach town was called Tokomura Bay and was about 3 hours down the road. Same thing: little house, no worries, no shoes. We met a guy from Ireland and a guy from the Netherlands and went down the pub with them - please see David’s entry on our first Maori encounter. Anyway, good on us for taking the longer way around as I would definately count those nights as highlights.

We do have pictures and we’ll be uploading a batch when we get to Wellington in the next couple days. Sorry for the delay. It’s not always easy to find a place that can do it and everything - well just about everything - closes at 5:00pm in NZ which has made coming to internet cafes a bit tricky sometimes.

Take care and we’ll chat again soon!

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.

Sarah says:

Who thinks rafting over a 21′ waterfall is the craziest thing we would possibly get ourselves into down here? Who amongst this little group of friends knows that I’m the biggest ninny there is and can’t believe I got into the boat? Well, it’s adventure city, folks, for David and Sarah and we just can’t seem to get enough!

The rafting just wasn’t enough for one day so following that we rented mountain bikes and had an absolute blast! I lie, really. The pictures we have posted make us look really soft but we couldn’t get the really impressive stuff because, basically, it was kicking our arses. We are extremely fit people, no doubt, but the mountain nearly had us for lunch. We did get a lovely vista from it, though, but don’t think we’ll be taking up mountain biking back in good old Washington.

Next: we are on to caving in Waitomo. We did 3 absails down black holes to about 60 meters (about 180 ft) below ground surface - the first one was super long and dark and the 2nd two were long and dark and through waterfalls. At the bottom we walked and swam through caves! We were feeling pretty cool about ourselves at that point So cool that in our next town, Taupo (where we are now) we tried rock wall climbing. I like the coming down better than the going up but David is an absolute reckless monkey and pretty much had the whole wall in the palm of his hand.

The premier adventure was today, though, by far. Check this out:

That’s me - coming down from 12,000 feet in the air! I can’t even begin to say how cool it was to fall out of a plane and see the earth below. we happened to be above one of the most beautiful turquoise lakes I’ve ever seen in my life. We did freefall for about 45 seconds and then the parachute went up and it took about another 5 minutes to land. I really can’t believe I did it. I was pretty terrified during the flight up but I had an excellent guide and David as also there and, honestly, when I was shuffled to the door of the plane and my feet were dangling out over the edge - I really was not scared anymore. It’s just the most amazing thing you can do and I’m so, so, so glad to have done it. Thanks David for convincing me and booking it for me when I wasn’t in the room to hear you doing it. Awesome day, guys.

Next we’re heading back to the beaches of Gisborne. Talk to you then!

Don’t forget to check out our first gallery and our second gallery and all our extreme sports mad stuff.