2/22 To the North!

Well, well, well - I'm now back in Hamilton in the North Island.  Jon and I picked up hitchikers along the way and met some interesting people.  One guy is 27, from Minneapolis, and lives in North East - small world!  Making our way down to Queenstown, I ran into one of my best buds little brother, Michael McCarty, and the bar during the Super Bowl along with a bunch of other Johnnies and Bennies - it turned into a rowdy night with karaoke and all....
Jon, me, Roman (new friend from Holland, and Martin (the MN hitchhiker we bumped into again), tramped the Caples and Routeburn track for 4 days.  It was legendary (another kiwi word).  After the hike, I rolled my boot into a Fergburgers (Best burgers in NZED) to clear out the waiting line - oh was it sooooo goood to eat!  They ended up taking a picture of us boys for their homepage because we ordered the biggest sandwiches possible - I had the blue cod fish (The Codfather) - it was everything and more!   
Reunited with the Israel friends, we stayed in Queens a few more nights and then cruised over to Dunedin and Christchurch.  We stayed 3 nights with some killer people, Mel & James,  in CC.  It was hard to leave their house!  Mel is the singer in the band Sweet Leaf and has a gorgeous voice - looking forward to catching some her shows!
Jonny boy starts up school and now I'm on my own.  I think I'm going to head out to a small surfer town called Raglan, which is supposed to be fantastic.

Eating:  I've been eating really great - fresh fruit & vegetables can be found along the road side everywhere as well as some free range eggs!  My favorites to make:  rice w/ an egg, spring onion, carrot, lemon/lime, peanut butter, sweet chili sauce, little pepper, and any other vegetable (i.e. red/green pepper).   Sandwich - whole grain/wheat bread, cheese, avocado, tomato, spinach, red onion, olive, oil and vinegar dressing w/ salt, pepper, basil, rosemary, spices.
Sleeping:  The van has a double bed with storage underneath.  It is actually quite comfortable for two and has a large moonroof to check out the stars.  Not to mention it has some pretty cool curtains with sunglasses on them - lots of people dig the curtains.  I pretty much park the van anywhere and do freedom camping.  It's cool to find a river because you'll usually find other camper vans to hang out with too.
Showering:  With the few clothes that I have, I actually stay quite clean.  I would like to get a shampoo in a little more often, but eh.  I pretty much rock up to any river, lake, or waterfall and take a dip.  I'll even wash my clothes in the water (I have an organic soap).  The water is stunningly clear and drinkable everywhere.  I purchase a bag for solar showers, but have yet to use it ' )

Daily activities:  Mainly, I've been hiking during the day otherwise driving around for sight seeing.  I picked up a 2nd hand guitar and brought along a harmonica too.  I get lots of time to read have have been digging into some really great books: The Alchemist, Tao, Buddhist Life, Sun Signs, etc.  I have about a dozen books to go through.

Whew.....Jonny and I just left Christchurch right before the earthquake.  And yesterday a huge tree crashed down two car lengths in front of us, halting traffic for a long time.  Lucky ducks we are....thanks to all the prayers from the Tucson folk before we left the states!

That's all for now....

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/mike.j.edgar/2011_02_23NewZealand?feat=directlink

2/5 Living the Dream....

Finally living the dream - In a van down by the river ' )  I spent 5 days at a hippy festival on top of a mountain made of crystal.  Music was all day and night - never stopping. Breathtaking beauty, music all day and night, and really interesting people.  It was so great to be at a festival where everyone wanted to have fun, respected the land (zero garbage anywhere), and that you could have intelligent conversations with.  There were tons of free workshops everyday, so I learned some great yoga meditations, acupuncture song writing, herbal medicines, about the mayan calendar, and I became certified to perform Rieki healing sessions.  I had the privilege and opportunity to write some free style songs with a few of the other artists.
I became really great friends with two girls from Israel, Bar and Renana - they are like my little sisters.  Met some really fun kiwis - James, Mel, Kahu, and Elle.  I will see them all again in NZED for sure.
Jon and I tramped (hiked) Abel Tasmen for 3 days.  Stunning views of the ocean and beaches!  We didn't have but two tarps to build a makeshift tent - one for the bottom and one for the top.  The problem was - no screen for the sand flies and were eaten alive.  The next night, I was chatting up with warden looking to possibly get an upgrade from camping to the hut.  He did his rounds, saw our tent, chuckled, and hooked us Minnesota boys up with a cabin - what a guy!  His son just married a girl from MN, so I think he was fond of us.  Near the end of the hike (8 hours or so), there was a seemingly random tavern serving beer on the hiking trail - what an oasis!!

1/24 Auckland, NZED

I'm in New Zealand!  Spent the last few nights couchsurfing.  It's been "choice" (kiwi word for awesome).  Stayed with a hairdresser, bartender/server, and a Zack Galifianakis look alike (just as funny too).  They just gave my bro and I the keys to there house - crazy hospitality.  Man, they get on the sauce here - up till 6:30am.  Hard to find time to sleep!

Kiwi Lingo:  "Choice" (Awesome)  "Mean" (Cool) 

Learning about the Maori people.  Beautiful people/culture.  They have a greeting called the breath of life.  When greeting, you press your forehead and nose together with that of the other person and hold that pose while you exchange breaths of air.

Jon and I bought a van and leaving Auckland now.  Hope all is well in Minnesnowta!

1/20 FIJI

So much happened!  Where to start?  I spent 4 days out on Mana Island (magic island) and met the greatest village people and friends.   I met a busker from France named Xavier.  We had intense philosophical conversations and serious jam sessions partnered with the rhythm of the ocean waves - surreal.  I've never been able to just let loose and sing in front of anyone and I was able to on this island.  I'm going to buy a traveling guitar when I get to New Zealand and give it some serious focus.

The Fijian kids were a blast - they turned me into a jungle gym.  I went diving on the far end of the beach one day and when I turned around, there were 8 kids following me.  So funny - they hold your hand and want to just be around you the whole time.  One the little children made me a guitar pick out of a piece of plastic off of the beach!

Meeting Peter (Romania), Olympia (Greece), and Max (Italy/Fiji) was a joy.  I snorkeled and dove with them while on Mana.  Max taught me how to free dive, while fishing with a spear gun.  We saw sharks, bright blue starfish, family of lobster, I got to pet a box fish, and many other. 

I drank so much Kava.  Love it.  Traditional Fijian food was beautiful.  Kasava with tuna rolled in flour and cooked in coconut milk was my favorite dish.   Thanks to chef Vinni! 

The island had a hill that I climbed and it allowed you to see many of the other islands, including castaway. It was perfect meditation mountain. 

I love the peace and friendliness on the island, but am looking forward to New Zealand.

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/mike.j.edgar/2011_01_09FIJI?feat=directlink

1/13 Can I Really Get Away from Work?

Flying on the plane I awoke from a funny dream, so I thought I would mention it.  The Wells team and I were flying on a 747, when all of a sudden we had to make an unplanned landing due to weather.  Brian G said it was it would be no problem and then asked me to de-ice the entire 747 before 8:00 a.m.!  Haha - Donna volunteered to help as usual, Elizabeth was really optimistic, Bharat and Vijay offered to help, but Vijay wanted to finish his tea first, Jillian was nowhere to be found (maybe she was in the cockpit or not even on the plane?).  Haha, that's about all I remember of the dream - I'm sure the whole wells team was in there though!  I'll miss the whole Wells Fargo team - what a great bunch of people!  Hope all goes well with the conversions!

1/12 L.A.

Santa Montica:  Venice beach is dope.  Literally.  Medical marijuana is being pushed like crazy.  Apparently it’s only $40 to get a prescription card.  My bro and I rented bikes and went along the beach.  It is such cool place to chill with all the people playing music, the skate park, graffiti park, performers, etc….

Hollywood:  Jon and I hiked near the Hollywood sign – we were about 30 minutes from the top, but ran out of sunlight.  We met some cool folks in the hostels and walked along the alley of stars.

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/mike.j.edgar/2011_01_12AZLA?feat=directlink

1/8 Phoenix

Phoenix:  Swung in to see Petey, Amanda, and Harley for a night.  Pete flew back from Vegas to hang for the night – what a buddy.  They are doing very well there….living mansion style      ‘ )  Love those guys and looking forward to the wedding!  Off to L.A.

1/7 Under the Tucson Sun

First stop -  Tucson.  It feels great under the sun.  I swung by to visit my grandma for a few days.   As grandmas always do best – I was fed soooooo well!  My brother, Jon, joined me in Tucson and we hiked up Little Cat Mountain.  Before the hike, my grandma said to watch out for rattle snakes.  Well on the way up, I felt a sharp bite on the back of my thigh, “Aaaahhhhhh!!  It got me!  Oh boy!...Yep….it got me good.. Oh boy….oh boy…!”   My brother runs up and starts laughing as he saw I was bit by a  la cholla.. It is a small cactus, not a rattle snake.  Haha – about a dozen needles pierced through my pants and into my thigh about a quarter inch.  I figure I must have stepped on it and then kicked it up to my butt…I guess I kicked my own ass on that one.  I thought I had it bad, my brother got one on his bare ankle that went in a half an inch.  And I thought he had it bad, a guy I met on the summit, David, he fell into one and he said it took him and hour to pull on the needles out!  None the less, the hike was stellar.  Thanks grandma (and her friends) for the laughs and food.  I’m off to visit some great friends in Phoenix before heading  to L.A.

1/4 Ready....Set........Banana!

Thanks to all for the farewell parties, the drinks, the meals, the drinks, the wishes, the trinkets, and more drinks!  Ready…..set……wait for it….wait for it…….waaaaaiiiitttt………..GO!  And I’m finally off!