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email me: katie@katieclaussen.com
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New Zealand
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our first big adventure was our black water rafting trip, which including "abesailing" into the caves down a 135 ft drop, doing a zip line, tubing in FREEZING cold water, seeing glowworms and rockclimbing through waterfalls. it was a blast. |
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i am officially a daredevil (um, i think i already was...but this tops it all). this morning page, palle and i went skydiving. it was a 15,000 feet drop (the highest in the world!) - 10,000 of which was freefalling. SOOOOOO AMAZING. it was one of the best experiences ever, plust i had fantastic scenery. (we dropped over the largest lake in n.z. called lake taupo). |
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it was more than 1 minute of free fall. the rest of the fall is slow but still super fun. i loved it so much that i went up right away and did a second jump. "mike p" (my tandem partner) and i did a 1 1/2 flip out of the plane the second time. it was awesome! |
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i would have gone 10 times, but it would have gotten a bit expensive. i'd really like to take lessons and get certified, but i don't have the $2,000 and 4 weeks to do it at the moment. maybe someday. |
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we also went whitewater rafting down the kaituna river. while the trip itself was short (1 hour), the drops we went through were not. the first was about a 4 meter (12ft) fall/rapid and the second was 7 meters (21 ft). super fun. page, palle and i were the only three in the boat with the guides. good one! |
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that night we went to the traditional maori dinner, dance, concert and night hike. we learned a ton about the culture and the food was pretty good. they selected three of us to go and greet the chief of the tribe (which involved getting on stage.) |
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i of course volunteered. i got to the do the maori greeting (touching noses 2 times) with all these people. it was super cool. after the concert, we had dinner. the food is called hangi - it's potatoes and meat steamed in a hole in the ground. i only kinda liked the flavor. overall it was an amazing experience - well worth it. |
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on the south island, we've covered quite a bit of ground. we drove half way down the west coast and spent a day hiking the franz josef glacier. that was amazing - and freakin' cold! |
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it was a 6 hour trip that included squeezing through little crevices and tunnels, climbing up the ice and withstanding strong winds. it was too windy out for our hot ice guides to take us all the way to the top of the glacier. i was definitely okay with calling it quits after the 3 hours it took us to hike up there, espcially because crawling through the ice did not keep us dry. it took us the rest of the afternoon to defrost. |
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the next day we carried on further south and drove through some of new zealand's most beautiful landscapes. the hostel we found next was about as cold as bethoven house, but the scenery we woke up to was well worth the freezing tempetures we endured through our sleep. we had arrived at night and were unaware of what we would see out our window... |
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we had arrived at night and were unaware of what we would see out our window the next day. but the next morning i walked outside and was in awe of the mountains in the distance. |
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it was an absolutely spiritual moment! |
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the day got even better as we drove through more mountians to milford sound on the southwest side of the island. here we took a boat cruise out in the sound. incredibly beautiful! |
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we got lucky when we ran across a huge family of dolphins who took a liking to our boat. there were about 10-15 of them who were swimming along side and under the boat. it was so cool! a grand finale for page's two weeks here! |
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while in queenstown, palle and i braved the "thrillogy" bungy jumps. the first jump that i did was one i did while i was visiting in november last year. 43 meters off the first ever bungy jump site. instead of doing the traditional front dive, i did mine backwards. and while i hadn't been at all nervous, jumping backwards - blind to all that was below me,- was terrifying! i haven't felt that kind of fear in a LONG time. it was awesome though. after i walked back to the top, there were about 10 tourists from thailand cheering for me. i wasn't sure what was going on...but they had me pose with them for photos. there were at least 6 cameras! i guess i impressed these strangers. hilarious. |
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the next jump was one i hadn't ever done. a 440 foot drop - the highest in n.z. i would be lying if i said i wasn't nervous for this one. we had to ride in a gondola out to the "pod"/platform. it was great fun watching everyone in the group fly. i was last - so i got to see everyone survive it before me. this jump was unreal. i'm not sure whether i like bungy jumping or skydiving more. i'm addicted to both. we have our last jump (my sixth ever) tonight. i'll be sad when it's over. |
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other than that ...i'm not sure where we go next. my travelling buddy, palle, gets to make the call. i just know we're going south. hopefully we'll find some penguins ;>
my mom and kevin come down the last two weeks of june. we'll do some lord of the rings touring at that point. i'm in for some very different adventures with them - i can't wait! |
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Australia |
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i just came back from a 3 day camping trip on fraser island (off the east coast of australia). there were 9 of us in each 4x4 land cruiser and 18 of us who camped together. i met some of the most unforgettable people yet! |
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prior to leaving, we had to shop for alcohol, meat and food. needless to say, we had plenty of each. we had to wake up at 5:00 the next morning to pack the van. |
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during the day we just drove all over the place bouncing around in the back with our food, camping gear and bags! it was one big happy family. |
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no one said a whole lot at first and we got stuck without a radio...so it will come as no surprise that i filled in that gap ;> i suggested "story time," which otto (from norway) started with an epic about his adventures in morrocco. |
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before driving through the "washouts" (in this case a small lake), one of us had to wade to check the depth of the water. so we elected john, another one from england. |
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we made it through the giant puddle, but while on the back roads, we weren't always as successful. in those cases, we had to push. the girls had to opt out at least once to get it all on record.
we camped that night on the beach and of course broke out more than a few drinks and roasted marshmellows over the campfire - which was a first for several people in the group. olly and i had to train the rookies. during lunch the next day, jeff (the other american in the group) introduced another novelty - the peanut butter and jelly sandwhich that at least half of the group had never experienced. matteus - from sweden - was not very impressed. neither jeff nor i could understand why. i mean, it's WAY better than veggimite! |
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one of our many stops was on indian head - on the north end of the island. from here we were on the lookout for sharks, stingrays and turtles. we only spotted the latter two, but there was enough other amazing scenery to make up for it. |
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an old shipwreck - clearly the most exciting site we visited while on the island. |
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the first night we made the mistake of letting the guys cook dinner - loads of meat over the "barby" - which i sware they marinated in sand! what a treat.
we all lived through it...thanks to the help of the beer and wine we had - those were also instrumental late into the night when nigel wandered into the "girls' tent" and climbed into sabine's (from germany) sleeping bag. olly was charged with going to wake the snoring monster. when he finally got him to comeback to life, nigel insisted that it was his tent and sleeping bag. not even close...his little home was on the other side of the site AND his sleeping bag he was in was a totally different color than sabine's.
after all that hard work and laughing, olly, otto and i "broke into the van" to find the cookies and make up for the dinner that didn't fill us up. |
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waking up on the beach was so amazing. every hour the clouds looked cooler than the next.
the second night i was in charge of dinner after our fearless leader, nigel, appointed me. in truth, i was quite pleased with the idea because it meant i could ensure little to no sand. and yes, i made one kick ass pasta dinner with NO SAND!
later i figured out why nigel didn't want to be in charge of that meal... he and olly wanted to "take a walk down the beach" - which really meant going to the next door campsite to find the swedish girls. no wonder he wanted me to cook! ;>
in the other group that we travelled with, there were these 4 dutch guys (dutchies) who were out of control. i couldn't be around them for a minute without laughing. and half of that time they weren't even speaking english. eveline took a liking to one of them - jose (pronouced "yosh" in dutch). they were the entertainment for all of us while we sat around the campfire. everything they said between themselves was followed by tons of laughter.
the worst part about travelling at this point is saying goodbye to great people. but that's the way it goes, right. kinda a lost
in translation idea - people come into your life for even a few
days and make you appreciate so many different things. |
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i just got back from three days of sailing off the coast around the whitsunday islands.
the whole trip was just fantastic. there were about 40 of us on board and we had a blast! |
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i went scuba diving twice on the great barrier reef. i saw a sea turtle (so cool) and all kinds of amazing fish. the reef had more colors than you would believe. |
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it's "stinger season" so we had to wear protective suits
to avoid getting stung. the stingers here (jelly fish) are enough
to kill. |
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my next stop is a short trip that involves driving a 4X4 around even more beautiful islands and camping in between.
pictures from there are sure to be awesome! |
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my friends from cairns (east coast of australia). Andrea is Swiss-German, Eveline is Dutch. |
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Even through the strong currents and ice cold water, we made it. Rock sliding was SUPER fun. |
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On our rainforest tour, we swam in the waterfall. The water was FREEZING, but it was definitely worth it. The waterfall is pretty famous and used a bunch in commercials here. There used to be a shampoo commercial here with this waterfall, and this picture is a recreation. Pretty cool, eh? |
Japan
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i made it to tokyo. this place is pretty overwhelming - and not just due to the language barrier. even though english is written on a large majority of the signs and so forth, it seems that very few people speak or understand english. it's isolating. i was escorted out of the one restaurant as the guy so politely (and in pretty good english) informed me "we do not have english menu." the welcome/open sign outside was just for kicks, i guess. |
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other than that, i rode the rollercoasters at the tokyo dome city amusement park and blowing money on pachinco and slots, which was fun to see and be a part of for a short time, but i didn't get anything for it. no tickets that could get me a whoopie cushion or cool pencil topper. oh well. i'm sure my trying to communicate with the guy teaching me what to do was entertainment for everyone around.
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they are ALL ABOUT fashion here. i must look like a total geek in my jeans and t-shirt, while all the girls are decked out in their awful eighties outfits. they're wearing leg warmers, socks of all paterns and colors - with the pointy stiletto heals (that are pink, metallic - and every other bad color imaginable) with rolled up jeans, jean jackets and converse with crazy laces. it's frightening but humorous.
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i met reimon, a student, in one of the parks. we had afternoon tea - traditional japanse green tea - no shoes permitted. he showed me around for a day after that.
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overall - tokyo is out of control and almost surreal. it's more crowded and crazy than any place i've ever been. i loved all of it! moving on to australia... |
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My Previous New Zealand Trip
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this is where I am off to...these pictures are from my previous visit to new zealand. |
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moke lake is located in queenstown, the thrill capital where the first official bungee jump took place |
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lord of the rings territory |
