Hi Everyone,
So here is the trip report from this summer/winter guided expeditions
and trips. My adventures took me from Mt. Hood to the Cook Islands,
to both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, and finally to
Australia. I will break apart these emails weekly to help provide
more insight of the experiences. Hope you enjoy.
Only 11 months on snow this year. September was mostly a dud so I
will hang my hat with an 11-month winter. June, I was out coaching
and riding at Mt. Hood through early July. I then headed out for what
I thought would be a real summer experience before tackling winter
again in a few weeks.
Instantly, upon arrival into Rarotonga, Cook Islands, I could feel my
skin turning clammy from the humidity—it was only 5 am! I knew my
next week would consists of lots of snorkeling and water time spent
right out front from the lagoon bungalow I would be staying in.
Mollie, my publicist, was with me for the entire mini vacation and the
guiding in New Zealand and Australia. After deplaning, we quickly
grabbed our ski/snowboard bags to the sounds of a ukulele at the
airport and took off in a little van that drove us around half the
island to our beach bungalow. We watched storm clouds break upon the
horizon and witnessed an awesome sunrise from behind the reef. Later
that day, we took to the lagoon and some needed sun and relaxation
(despite being there during the "dry" season, this was really our only
non-rainy day). It was my goal on this trip to break my own coconut
and drink its milk too. So after finding a coconut and about 20
minutes of sweat labor, my goal was accomplished and I could take to
enjoying the lagoons again.
The next day some weather came in around noon. However, earlier that
morning we went into town to get a scooter rental. In the Cook
Islands, you must have a valid Cook Islands drivers’ license in order
to drive a car or scooter. After passing a driving test and then a
visit to the government's chambers, I had my very own Cook Islands
drivers license and was ready to rock and roll with a sense of
16-year-old freedom. We were now free to explore the entire island at
our own will, granted traveling around the island gets very redundant
quickly as there is basically one road around the 32 km (20 miles)
circumference.
When the rain came in later that day, we went and purchased our
groceries for the evening. Mollie and I were both craving some pasta
so we found some noodles, sauce, and ground beef (a rarity on the
island). As we cooked our food in a central kitchen, many other
international guests asked about where we found the meat, as it was so
rare to find on the island. We explained the deli we found it in, but
we should have taken their questions into more consideration. You
see, on the islands you've got seafood, fruits, chickens, and goats,
which are all part of the local dining experience. However, there are
NO cows for standard red meat consumption. All of this kind of red
meat is brought over by boat and some of that meat gets spoiled on its
journey up towards these equator islands. (See where this story is
going?)
As it happened, Mollie was vomiting up a storm within a few hours, but
I was not. Baffled as to why I wasn't puking out my insides, we
chalked it up to the fact that Mollie’s case was probably caused by
the latte she has in the morning from the local cafe (bad unfiltered
water). It was the only thing that made sense, especially since we
ate the same stuff that day. As Mollie crawled around the main
hallway that night, I slept peacefully not really knowing how bad of
shape she was in. In the morning it was apparent that she was
severely dehydrated and nearly incoherent. She needed to get to a
hospital right away.
Since we wouldn't have been able to ride a scooter into town with her
in that condition, we hitched a ride with a local to get there. Once
there, she was hooked up to IV's and was given anti-nausea meds.
During this time, I hitched my way back around the island to go grab
our scooter which was back at the bungalow. Luckily for me, a storm
rolled in and monsoon'ed me with a downpour on my drive back to the
hospital. By the time I was back at the hospital to pick up Molly, I
was shivering and it was sunny. We were now both miserable.
Mollie and I then went back to the bungalow for rest. As night drew
upon us, I took to Mollie's leftover pasta (remember, we ate the same
stuff except the latte so I was pretty confident with my food
choices). I can't say that Mollie did not give me fair warning to
stay away from the pasta, but I couldn't help it - I love pasta and
wanted some of that comfort food from the day. We followed up dinner
with a movie. Exhausted and drained from the day, I fell asleep
quickly. After a couple of hours and near the end of the movie, I
awoke from my slumber, violently. I ran across the room, not knowing
where I was and then turned around. My mouth opened like a Christmas
nutcracker and projectile-vomited noodles.
Noodles shot across the air like a bad horror movie and reached so
far, it would have made any shot-putter proud! After a violent
episode of vomiting, I began to sweat profusely and tried to gather my
thoughts. I wasn't sure if I was having an insulin reaction or if I
had what Mollie had. I told her that if I threw up again, we were
going straight to the hospital because I didn't want to mix type 1
diabetes with dehydration. 30 minutes later, I was right on her
bandwagon and going strong with flying noodles and meat sauce.
Upon arrival at the hospital, I was placed in the ER and given large
doses of anti-nausea injections. I was then released and as I was
leaving, more noodles decided to show up. Mollie and some of the
locals helped me back in and I was seen by a doctor. The doctor
evaluated me, gave me more anti-nausea medications and sent me back on
my way. Then more noodles came and the hospital staff decided it was
best to admit me into the main hospital. I was placed into a hospital
bed for the night and monitored frequently in my own room.
Almost every hour, I was given some dose of anti nausea that would
always fail. My vomiting was on a schedule of about every 30-45
minutes. I saw contents come out of my mouth that I really never want
to see again. Around 4 am, I began running a fever. Running a fever
near the equator with no air conditioner is a HORRIBLE experience. It
was a constant feeling of overheating and getting warmer by the minute
and trying to relax your body at the same time. It was a nightmare.
Then Ralph came to visit. Who is Ralph? Ralph, was the giant lizard
that I named that ran around my hospital room walls. Mollie wasn't
stoked on Ralph at all. She informed one of the nurses about Ralph's
presence in a hospital and the nurse laughed and said, "Don't worry,
he wont bite!" I also reassured Mollie, that this is all part of the
experience and encouraged her to just take it in. That was easier for
me to say, as I wasn't sleeping on the ground on a flimsy mattress
like she was.
Later the next day afternoon, with Ralph watching over us from the
ceiling, I was in much better shape and released. We took a taxi back
to the bungalow and went to sleep. We continued to suffer for a few
more days. Near the end of the vacation we worked on recovering with
little adventure bouts of sea kayaking, visiting waterfalls, and
swimming to other islands. We weren't nearly at 100% and had gone a
few days without eating nothing more then saltines, but we weren't
going to let some bad meat ruin this “vacation.”
Needless to say, we were just as excited to get to work in New Zealand
than our "vacation" arrival in the Cook Islands. In all honesty, we
both were ready to get the hell out.
Part two: North Island New Zealand will follow next week
