Sachin Agarwal: November 2007

More photos later. They charge per MB here!!

They don't know how lucky they are. What a view!

Posing for the camera.

Snow on mountains.

Snow, waterfalls, and the Homer Tunnel.

Clear water.

Taupo Bungy is probably the most famous bungy site in the North Island of New Zealand, so I had to give it a shot. It was less than two weeks after my first ever bungy jump and I was itching for another. Taupo Bungy is higher, prettier, cheaper, and scarier than Kawarau. You jump off a platform that's 20 meters out and 47 meters over the Waikato River.

It was much, MUCH scarier than my first jump. I think on my first bungy jump I didn't realize how scary it was going to be. I got to the site, paid, got geared up, went out, and just jumped. I didn't think about it. But it really was scary as shit. So the second time I knew it was going to be scary as shit even before I jumped.

When I got out on the platform, I looked down at the water below and I almost backed out. I wasn't sure if I could do it. The fear from my first jump was still fresh in my mind. Maybe I hadn't looked down before my first jump, I shouldn't have this time. I knew the longer I waited the more I would want to back out. So when they counted down from 5, I didn't hesitate but just went for it.

It was still scary as shit for the first few seconds during free fall as I saw the water below me and the cliffs all around me. As I left the platform my legs got all jelloey and my knees just gave in.

So the second jump was an interesting experience. Bungy jumping is the only "extreme" activity I have done that I think was scarier *after* doing it than before. I actually don't think I could do it a third time, at least not for a while. That drop is scary as shit so it's best to just jump and not think about what's coming.

We left Wellington and drove to Taupo, about an hour south of Rotorua. Most people skip Taupo completely, and many people aren't huge fans of Rotorua. I actually loved both. These areas are the "adrenaline capital" of the North Island and well-known for geothermal activity. Taupo is less commercialized than Rotorua.

The first stop in Taupo was Taupo Bungy. See next post. After that we went to Huka Falls, the highest volume waterfall in New Zealand. It's not high but an incredibly narrow and deep canyon. It's very powerful and the water is crystal clear and blue. This is why I decided to stop in Taupo, I'm a sucker for waterfalls.

The next day we stopped at Aratiatia Rapids, the site of a new dam that people are unhappy about. They open the dam several times a day so you can see what the rapids were like before it was built. We then went to Orakei Korako Geyserland where we saw naturally boiling water, geysers, boiling mud, a huge cave, and more. Very cool.

The drive from Taupo to Rotorua was great. The entire city of Rotorua smells like sulfur because of all the thermal activity surrounding it, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. On Thursday we took it easy and spent a few hours in Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park.

Great dinner on Thursday night at Fat Dog Cafe. Off to Waitomo and then Auckland tomorrow!

Anytime I travel I'm always interested in the car culture I encounter. Whether it's practical economy cars for transportation (India) or luxury sports cars (Italy) I love to see what people are driving and what role cars play in people's lives.

Australia and New Zealand have very few European cars. They cost much more here than in the US. The most common cars are the japanese economy cars and the locally built Holdens. Gas costs about NZ$1.70 per liter so it's a lot more than what we pay.

I noticed some tuned cars in Australia (rice rockets) but nothing really out of the ordinary. Any big city that has teenagers with money will have modified cars. Though in the Sydney suburbs there seemed to be more cruising and looking for races than I have seen anywhere else.

Christchurch was ridiculous. There were modified cars left and right. But the crazy part is they weren't all lowered with body kits and loud exhausts. The most common modification I noticed was turbo chargers! I could tell because I was hearing blow off valves left and right.

Before New Zealand I probably heard less than 30 blow off valves in my life, mostly while I was into the Audi tuner scene. But I heard that many just over 2 days in Christchurch. It is nice to see people modifying cars for performance and not just for looks and sound.

Also, I'm seeing a ton of Miatas now. It makes sense. New Zealand has some of the best roads in the world, beautiful twisty drives, and perfect weather. I would kill to have my Miata here with me.

On Friday we drove from the glaciers to Christchurch. This took us over Arthur's Pass, the highest road crossing the Southern Alps in the South Island of New Zealand.

Christchurch was the first "big" city we visited in New Zealand. Christchurch was completely different from anything else we had seen so far on the trip. All I can say is the food and bar scene seemed great, but there wasn't much else going on.

I really liked how all the bars were down little alleys off the main roads. You would walk down major streets and hear music, and walk down an alley to find a cluster of 5 to 10 bars with outdoor seating. The bars were open until 6am (probably a bad thing).

Christchurch also had a TON of coffee shops. It seemed like there were 5 to 10 cafes on every block. Very cool.

In Christchurch we finally found some *phenomenal* food. It's all been good so far, but Indochine in Christchurch was top tier. I started with a great Elderflower Martini and pork dumplings as an appetizer. Then I had Lamb Shank Massaman Curry. The lamb fell off the bone, no knife needed. Delicious!

Sunday we took the TranzCoastal train and Inter Islander Ferry from Christchurch to Wellington. The train went along the coast through 21 tunnels and over 175 bridges. The views reminded me of the 1 freeway through Oregon.

Wellington is another non interesting big city. We went to the Botanic Gardens, took a tour of the Parliament buildings, and went to the Te Papa Museum. In the basement of the Parliament building we were able to see earthquake isolation devices, small pieces of steel and rubber between the ground and foundation of the building that would help during an earthquake. These were developed in Wellington and are now used all over the world (of course in California).

We had an amazing dinner at Kai in the City in Wellington. This tiny restaurant serves authentic Maori cuisine. I had some great Marlborough Pinot Noir and we ordered Hangi, a bunch of food cooked in an earth oven.

Looking forward to getting away from these cities and back to where the sheep live.

I was very impressed with the Ford Focus I had in the South Island. It looked great, was fun to drive, good steering feel and weight. I didn't like the terrible throttle response, but maybe that's because I'm not used to driving automatics.

In the North Island we got a Toyota Corolla. I'm really not happy. I'm looking at this mostly from a performance point of view, which most drivers probably don't care about. Also, this car is the previous generation and has about 40k kilometers on it.

When I was at the rental desk and given keys to a Corolla, I requested a Focus. The lady told me she didn't have one, but I should be glad since the Corolla is "more comfortable." Uh oh. What she calls "more comfortable" I call "dead." The Corolla is one of the softest, most boring cars I've ever driven. It has no feeling/feedback in the steering or the pedals. Everything is numb.

I'm really glad I had a Focus on the South Island's twisty roads; the Corolla would be scary in the mountains. There's no way I would have been able to drive fast through the twisties, and the Corolla does not have enough power to pass. When I stomp on the pedal it takes at least 3 seconds before the car downshifts with a huge jerk.

Also: The turn signal and wiper blade stalks are reversed. Annoying! The radio controls are impossible to reach from either front seat without leaning way forward. The brake pedal is further right than in the Focus, which is where I would expect it.

In the US, rental car companies allow you to bring your car back with less gas than when you took it, but they charge you more than the market rate to fill it up.

New Zealand has a different scheme. You get the car full and at rental time you can opt in to return the car empty, paying *less* than the market rate for a tank of gas. The scheme here is if you bring the car back not completely empty, the rental car company wins.

I wonder how many people they sucker into taking them up on this offer. I bet the lower cost of gas convinces a lot of people that it's a good deal. But it's pretty much impossible to plan to return the car with a totally empty tank.

Yesterday we drove from Queenstown to Franz Josef Glacier. We took The Crown Range Road, stopped at a bunch of waterfalls, and saw thousands of sheep. Once we got to Franz Josef, we did an easy 1 hour hike to the terminal face of the glacier. I was underwhelmed. Yep, it's a bunch of snow on a mountain. Cool. There was no way to get a sense for the size or beauty of what I was seeing.

But then today we went to Fox Glacier and it was a different story. I had reserved a helicopter-hike which is exactly as it sounds: they helicoptered us around the glacier and dropped us off somewhere near the middle. We hiked around for about 3 hours and then were back in the helicopter for the ride down.

It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Unbelievable.

First, the helicopter rides were awesome. They are incredibly agile and we could easily go up to the top of the glacier, around some waterfalls, and get great views of the glacier from high above.

We landed on a makeshift helipad on the ice and immediately were stunned by the size of what we were on. Fox Glacier is a 13km long glacier that is advancing by several meters per day. The ice is white and blue, not at all flat but full of crevices, ice caves, streams, and holes in the ice.

We were outfitted with boots, crampons, and walking sticks so walking on the ice was pretty easy. Our guides would lead the way, sometimes cutting steps into steep inclines and declines using an axe.

We hiked on top of the glacier for 3 hours, up and down some steep terrain. We jumped over crevices that were filled with perfectly clear water, and some crevices that were empty and looked bottomless. Don't fall in! There were tiny waterfalls and streams from the melting ice, ending in a crevice or sometimes a random hole in the ice where the water fell and disappeared. We dropped a large piece of ice into one of these holes and couldn't hear it hit the bottom.

The ice had formed into beautiful shapes, like ice sculptures. We saw several ice caves and could go inside them for photos. We found two ice caves that we could crawl through because they had openings on two ends. They were literally slides that we could get on and ride to the other end. The ice was super smooth and you could slide down on your butt (though your butt got cold and wet). One of these slides in an ice cave was over 20 meters long and the gap in the ice was only a half meter high. You had to be flat on your back to get through.

You can't really appreciate these glaciers by viewing them from the normal tourist viewpoints. You need to be on top of them up close. The combination of the beauty of the glacier and its incredible size and power made for a really great experience. The chance of avalanche was real. They get hundreds of earthquakes a year. Or water may build up in the ice and eventually explode under the pressure. Or you might just fall into a crevice (fall head first, the tour guides joked, so they can recover their boots).

It was a great experience. I'll hopefully have some good photos from the hike, but you can also see this video on youtube that someone made of the same tour we did (same company, but they take different paths on the glacier).

Don't miss this on any trip to New Zealand. Don't miss this in your lifetime.

Ok I'm ready to go!

Oh shit!!!!

From the pier in Queenstown.

The roads here are really great, the best I've seen outside Oregon. Very well maintained. Every 50km or so we pass a maintenance crew doing some sort of work on the roads or bridges. There are very few major roads running through this country. You pretty much don't need a map and you can't get lost. Just follow the signs to the city you want to go to.

There are tons of single lane bridges all over the South Island. You have to be courteous and give way to oncoming traffic. It works quite well. I guess it helps that there are very few cars on the roads. But overall I do find drivers to be very friendly here (all the people here are always friendly). People pull over and let you pass if you are faster than they are!

I saw a sign today that said "Speed cameras: anywhere, anytime." I hope I haven't already been caught!

Toilets here (and a lot of other places outside the US) have two separate flushes so you don't waste a lot of water when you just urinate. Why don't we have these?

Gas here is very expensive (as it is anywhere outside the US). It cost me nearly $100NZ to fill up the Focus. With the weak US dollar, this is painful! Food here is also very expensive. We've been eating some really great food, but it's just not worth the money we're spending on it. Maybe NY has spoiled me since I can get great food for little money.

I'm seeing sheep everywhere. Well, there are sheep everywhere. But sometimes I see rocks on the side of the road but then up close they turn out to be sheep. And now, I think I see sheep but they turn on to be large, white rocks.

Shout out to etrade for their awesome international ATM policy. The best exchange place we found in Australia gave us $105AU for $100US. My etrade ATM billed me $90US for $100AU, effectively giving me $1.10 per $US, a full 5% better than the local exchange shops. There's no reason to travel with cash or travelers checks, just use the ATM!

I've noticed a few people here eating meat with a knife and fork, holding their knife like a pencil. The back of their knife is up in the air instead of in the palm of their hand. Seems like this wouldn't give you a lot of cutting power. Is this common?

Beautiful!

Lots of art pieces arranged around Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Just before taking this photo the koala bear turned around so he was facing away from the camera. Luckily the whole tree he's on rotates so the zoo keeper could just spin the whole thing around for a perfect photo.

Look closely to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Monday we drove to Te Anau and then Milford Sound, believed to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. We drove through countryland covered with sheep, and then between towering mountains. We saw too many waterfalls to count.

At Milford Sound we took a nature cruise which was in a smaller boat than the large tours take, so we could get right up close to the action. In addition to all the waterfalls, we saw some rare New Zealand penguins and some fur seals. The boat could go right up to the mountains and under the waterfalls since the Sound is so deep. It's been a dry season in New Zealand so I'd love to go back to Milford when all the waterfalls are in full force.

The drive from Te Anau to Milford is great, with lots of places to stop to hike and see views. We drove through the Homer Tunnel which is pretty incredible. Read about it here. It's over 1km long, pitch dark, super narrow, and is leaking water. Reminded me of the ice tunnel at Universal Studios (the one that spins around you).

At the eastern end of the Homer Tunnel we saw a bunch of Kea parrots. They weren't scared of us at all and came super close for photos. But then they started following us and wouldn't leave us alone! The funny thing is they weren't flying to follow us, but were on foot. As we walked faster, they "ran" after us. In the end they were sitting on our car and wouldn't let us leave.

On the drive back I saw a baby sheep sitting in the middle of the road. I pulled over and honked a couple times to scare it back towards the other sheep. The baby got up and moved back to the fence but couldn't find a way back in (how did it get out!) Poor thing was "baa'ing" like mad and another sheep (clearly her mom) was responding. Hopefully she found the way in. So cute.


People can say my name correctly here thanks to cricket star Sachin Tendulkar.

I HATE using PCs in these hotels. WINDOWS SUCKS SO MUCH. Why can't a window that has focus keep focus? Why can other windows steal focus? It makes no sense at all and pisses the hell out of me.

We spent all of Sunday in Queenstown. We started with an early jetboat ride on the Kawarau River. I've never been on a jetboat before, they are rad. They handle exactly like cars, I couldn't believe it. The boat driver was actually drifting the boat around the river, moving sideways between rocks and under bridges. He could also do 360 degree spins (like e-brake turns in the Miata!)

After that we headed to the Kawarau Bridge, site of the first commercial bungy jump. What a rush! Probably the scariest thing I've ever done (even scarier than sky diving in some ways, since there was no one strapped to my back)

Standing on the platform looking down at the water below was a little scary, but not too bad. It was when I fell that I freaked out. It must have been the longest 10 seconds (or whatever) of my life. As I was falling I could feel the fear first in my chest, then my stomach, and then my legs got all tingly. For the first 3 or 4 seconds I'm like "oh shit what the fuck am i doing, pull me back!" but after that it's an awesome fall down. So glad I did it. I want to do it again, maybe in Auckland!

We also did a bit of wine tasting, shopping, and more hiking. We had lunch at Subway. I was addicted to Subway before I moved to New York. In New Zealand they have a lamb sandwich so I had to try it!

For dinner we went to Winnie's Gourmet Pizza. It's a lot like California Pizza Kitchen, but better. Really delicious.

On Tuesday (after returning from Milford Sound), we took the skyline gondola up for a dinner overlooking Queenstown, We got a table right by the window with a great view. The food was incredible, surprising since the spot seemed like a total tourist trap.


Totally used to driving on the left now. Except I really think the brake pedal in my Focus is way too far to the left. If you were to stomp on the brake pedal straight down, you would completely miss it. Isn't this what hurt Audi in the 80s?

Also, traffic circles are cool.

Sunset in Queenstown is at 9pm. I love it!

As we left Sydney we thought we should have spent more time there. Four days wasn't enough, a week would definitely have been nice.

But we didn't even land in New Zealand before I realized we had made the right decision to spend more time with the kiwis. From the plane we saw gorgeous snow capped mountains all around us. I've never seen a plane fly so close to the tops of mountains. I think the airport is hard to approach otherwise.

I think I'm in paradise. Queenstown is the most beautiful place I've ever been. Snow capped mountains all around us, hills covered with dark green trees, dark blue lakes everywhere. It's like the Pacific Northwest (which I love), except Eric Woershing told me "In New Zealand, they know how to party."

We have so much planned for the next couple weeks. The fun has already started. We rented a Ford Focus and we're driving it pretty much through the entire country from South to North. I keep repeating to myself "stay left."

Our time in Australia was short since I really wanted to focus on New Zealand. On Thursday we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park where we could pet koalas, feed kangaroos, and see all the other native animals (I also love tasmanian devils). After that we had a quick boomerang throwing lesson, and then headed to the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains offered beautiful views. We took a steep gondola down a valley where we saw some old mine fields. We then took the steepest railroad in the world back up, a crazy 52 degree angle. You seriously had to hold on tight since there were no seat belts of other restraints.

That evening we went to Manly Beach by ferry for some fish and chips.

Friday we went to Bondi Beach, the most famous beach in Sydney. We saw Sculpture by the Sea: there were pieces of art all along a beautiful coastal walk. We had lunch at Icebergs, a club restaurant with a view of the entire beach.

Friday night we went to the suburbs of Sydney to see family friends we hadn't seen in 17 years! After a great home cooked dinner, I went to a club with Ashley. It was great to see what Sydney night life is like.

Saturday morning, off to New Zealand!

Update The car I thought was a Peugot was actually a Holden. Two other cars I love here are the BMW 1 series (coming soon to the US) and the Mazda 2.

Climbing up the arch of the bridge with views of the Opera House.

It's not an optical illusion. He really is as big as I am (or bigger).

Favorite cities in the world:

1. New York
2. Sydney
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We arrived into Sydney yesterday and immediately went up to Sydney Tower to get a 360 degree view of the area. Then we had a 3 hour sunset dinner cruise that went all around the Harbour with views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

This morning we basically explored the city. We walked through the Queen Victoria Building and Hyde Park. Then through the Botanic Garden to get to Mrs Macquarie Point for spectacular views of the bridge and Opera House. Along the way we stopped at The Art Gallery of New South Wales which is free and has great local art from the Aborigines all the way to the late 20th century.

From Mrs Macquarie Point we walked to the Opera House and took the guided tour. What a magnificent building! It's even more amazing from the inside. We were very fortunate to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra practicing in the main hall.

After that I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. WOW. I highly recommend this for anyone visiting Sydney. We climbed a series of stairs and ladders to get to the arch of the bridge, and then climbed up along the arch to the very, very top center. The views along the way were incredible. We got to see the sunset and a huge oil tanker pass beneath us. It's pretty strange to be climbing through the steel arch of a bridge as cars, trains, and pedestrians fly by below you.

Other random notes:

1. Check in for domestic flights 30 minutes before departure, 1 hour for international. Keep your shoes on, bags go through X-Ray with everything in them.

2. Taxi cabs in Cairns were Prius's. Pretty cool, except the trunks are small.

3. There's already Christmas stuff all over the place. Which makes sense once you realize there's no Thanksgiving here, so Christmas is the next holiday. Also, Santa does wear a giant red coat in the southern hemisphere. He must be hot!

4. Three days before I start driving in New Zealand, and I still look the wrong way before crossing the street!

On Sunday we spent the whole day at the Great Barrier Reef. Phenomenal. I went scuba diving for the first time. I think i'm hooked, would love to get certified. Do I have time for another hobby? Also spent a ton of time snorkeling with the fish including petting a fish that was bigger than me (photo later). The undersea photographer could actually call this fish (wally) over for photos. Amazing.

Monday we went to Kuranda, a rain forest near Cairns. We took the scenic railroad to get there, which past a couple awesome waterfalls and the Barron Gorge. The way back was a "Skyrail" gondola, which was the highest, longest, scariest gondola ride I've ever taken. It was breathtaking.

People here are incredibly friendly.

There's a TV show called National Bingo Night that includes an Indian guy whose only job is each round to say in a thick Indian accent "Noooooo Biiiiinnnnngoooo"

Not surprisingly, the cell phones here are much, much better than what we get in the US. And they are all free with 2 year contracts. Luckily I have my unlocked iPhone so I'm cool.

Australia has phased out 1 and 2 cent coins. AWESOME. Also, all their bills are the same height but different width. I love this since it goes into your wallet nice and clean. I HATE european money that's really tall.

I've seen a bunch of Peugeot "Utes" which remind me a lot of Josh's Subaru Baja. Though the Ute only has one row of seating, it looks more like a car than a flatbed truck. Why does the US hate the Baja? And hatchbacks, for that matter.

Starwood Preferred Guest Amex rules. I wrote about this earlier when Roy's dad told us how you should use your points for hotel rooms. It works. I got a $250/night room in Sydney for $50 and 2500 points. So for 4 nights I'm using 10000 points but saving $800 cash. That's like getting 8% cash back from your credit card! Well worth the $45 annual fee.

Back to Sydney in 12 hours...

It's been a long 48 hours. Highlights:

JFK to LAX got a free business class upgrade. So you get a little extra room and some food. BFD. I can't believe people pay for this.

LAX to Sydney was a great flight. Slept most of the way. Except a couple times there was some extreme turbulence (second worst I've ever experienced). We were at the back of the plane and could see the wings seriously flapping. I am always amazed by these engineering accomplishments.

We had an incredible view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House from the plane, but I couldn't get my camera out in time. Sydney looks beautiful, but we were immediately off to Cairns. We'll be back.

We flew Virgin Blue from Sydney to Cairns. It wasn't cheap. $200 one way for a 3 hour flight. Check in just 30 minutes before your flight. Security was a breeze. I loved it. Given the cost of the flight, I assumed it was going to be like air travel before the US airlines went backrupt: food, drinks, good service. Nope. Not even free water. Are you kidding me?

Cairns is a giant tourist trap, but it's pretty. And you gotta go for the Great Barrier Reef. We got a sweet hotel room with a balcony and ocean view. Tomorrow we go out to the reef and I think i'm going scuba diving for the first time!

On Saturday I went to Tribeca to check out some photography at a gallery. Then I walked to the Hudson and down to Battery Park City. I was surprised by a gorgeous sunset.

All photos were taken with my new Canon 24-105 f/4L IS

Pictures from reunion, the football game, Phi Psi homecoming dinner, and other random shots from Apple and San Francisco.





The Red Zone