Auckland
Back
at it again!! Jared and I were apart a total of 26 days. We both
had fantastic times relaxing (me more than him, so I hear), but we were so
excited to be reuniting to continue this amazing adventure together.
Jared had flown to Melbourne, Australia and spent a week there, while I
was in Sydney, Australia. We both flew in to Auckland, New Zealand for a
pre-work-schedule-commitment trip. He flew in 2 days before me, and I
arrived really late, so we met in the lobby of our hostel, Nomads Fat Camel, early
with big hugs. Jared had spent the last 2 days doing New Zealand
research, so he knew exactly where we should go. Our hostel (along with
every other accommodation in Australia and New Zealand) charged for internet,
so first, we heading to the public library for some coffee and free wifi.
There we did a bit of research on our plans for the next month or so in
New Zealand, and bought a bus package of 30 tickets with a company called
Nakedbus, because they seemed to be the cheapest, along with our first
destination ticket outside of Auckland. After that was settled, and we
were sufficiently caffeinated, we started a walk through the city, to Mt.
Eden. The walk up the "mountain", was really more like a stroll
up a hill, but it did allow for some nice 360 degree views all the way out to
the water. You know those cities right at the base of a volcano, and
when you hear about the volcano erupting you think "now why did anyone
ever think building their city on the side of a volcano was a good idea (ex:
Pompeii)?", well that is Auckland, but they've taken it to an extreme
level, metaphorically throwing their hands up in resignation to say "well,
if we're gonna be on the side of a volcano, let's do this right", and have
built themselves around a network of 48 volcanoes! After a few photos, we
headed back down to grab a bit more free wifi at the McDonald's closest to the
hostel (Jared knew all the Internet hotspots), and then made our way to the
museum of modern art, which was free and really quite interesting. We
hung out there and in the small park outside, until hunger pangs started up,
and we headed back to the hostel. This place was great, in that, they
provided a small dinner for free! Shepard’s pie was served that night,
and it was surprisingly good. After dinner, we ran out to the grocery
store, as Jared had discovered that they discount their bread products at
night, and we had both discovered that eating out, like we did in Latin
America, was not going to be an option now that we were back in the first world
($$); we stocked up with food for the next day. That evening, we decided
to try to go to One Tree Hill, the story literally being, "there was once
a tree there, but someone chopped it down." …Yea, that was the whole story of One Tree Hill.
We met up with some girls from the hostel who wanted to join, and the
four of us set out. We tried to take the bus, but after one incorrect
location, and an extended walk to the, hopefully, correct station, Jared
remembered there was a food festival in town, the Taste of Auckland!
Luckily, we were within walking distance, so we detoured to find the
festival. By the time we arrived, they were just about to close, but we
did find out that tickets to enter were $30, and did not include any food or
wine, so we decided to skip it entirely, and reverted back to our original
mission of One Tree Hill. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the
correct bus station, it was 9:50pm, the bus stopped running from
there at 10:50pm, and it was a 30 minute ride each way, so we would
have been stuck. We headed back to the hostel instead, having gotten a
good look at the city along the walk. I magically found Internet on the
corner of the hostel's block, so goofed around, accidentally forgetting the
time zone and FaceTiming my mother and best friend at 4am their time
:/
The
next morning, we ate breakfast, and made our way to the port, with one of our
friends from the night before, Leah. We hopped on a boat, heading to
Waiheke, one of the islands off the coast. Once on the island, we walked
over to a beautiful bay, and sat on the beach for a bit, just enjoying the
beautiful scenery and small-island isolation. After a bit, we headed to
the bus stop to drive farther in, and see some of the sights; first stop was a sculpture
garden. The bus dropped us off right in front of a brewery/vineyard that
we decided to quick check out. I couldn't tell if I was in love with the
idea, or if it had turned into a bit of a circus, but they had laser skeet
shooting and archery in the rows of the vineyard. Super cheesy, but still
on the line about whether it's genius or heinous. We then set out for
the long walk to the sculpture garden. Not long after we started, Jared
decided he no longer wanted to walk, and was going to head back; Leah and I
trooped on, finally making it to the sculpture garden, which ended up being
pretty lackluster. I think it was an artist’s home, who had set some
sculptures about on his large plot of land for tourists to meander through.
After a quick jaunt, we decided to head back. We were kind of in
the middle of nowhere, with a long walk ahead of us, so as a large van
approached, I quick stuck my thumb out, to try my luck at hitch hiking, and got
a bite! The man pulled over, and drove us about half way back to the
beach, before he let us out, and made his way elsewhere. The man had
informed us that hitch hiking was actually a pretty common means of
transportation, so having had luck the first time around, I tried again, and
got lucky. The second time around was a bit more questionable, as the man
that pulled over had bleached white hair, a black bandana wrapped around his
head, and a filthy car, but ended up being a very nice Swiss man, who had
actually moved there after falling in love with it as a young backpacker/hitch
hiker himself. He dropped us off right at the beach, where we sat and
chatted, enjoying the wonderful weather and gorgeous beach, for a few hours.
Late afternoon we finally headed back to the ferry set for Auckland.
That night, Jared and I had made plans to have dinner with Erin's cousin,
Kirsten, and her boyfriend, Nick, both of whom I'd met while staying with
Erin's family in Australia. After getting off of the ferry, and quickly
cleaning up, we met Kirsten and Nick right by our hostel, and walked to a Thai
restaurant. Thai food is a favorite amongst Aussies and Kiwis, and this
place was delicious (and cheap)! Jared got Penang curry, and I got green
curry. We had a great dinner, and talked about spending our Christmas
together on the Gold Coast in Australia, and got some suggestions from them for
out New Zealand travels. After dinner, Kirsten and Nick decided to come
with us as we again attempted One Tree Hill, made much easier with their car.
We arrived at the hill just at sunset, which was magnificent, with better
views than Mt. Eden. After a ton of pictures, we walked back down the
hill into their observatory, and spent a few hours meandering and looking
through their giant telescopes. After a lovely evening with them both,
they dropped us off back at our hostel, where we went right to bed.
Whangarei
The
morning we left Auckland was uneventful: packed our stuff, grabbed breakfast,
and headed out to the bus stop a few blocks from our hostel. The bus
drive was easy, quick, and scenic up the cost to Whangarei (pronounced
"Fongadey"; apparently the native Mauri tribe in New Zealand
pronounces "wh" like "f", which we weren't sure if we were
hearing correctly at first, then thought perhaps the bus driver had a speech
impediment, then realized, that's just how it's pronounced). The camp
site we had arranged to stay at provided a FREE shuttle from the bus stop,
which was amazing. We were wonderfully chauffeured to the site, pitched
our tent, and set out. The camp ground was located right by a natural
reserve and a waterfall, so we spent the next few hours strolling through the
beautiful forest and prairie covered in waist-high flowers. We reached
the end of the park, and tried a different route back...got lost and ended up
making a much less scenic return along the back roads of the town. After
a quick pit stop at the camp ground, we headed off to the grocery store, and
basically bought anything good for traveling that was on sale. There were
some pretty amazing steals there, so we stocked up. That night we ate
meat pies, a Kiwi and Aussie staple, and tasty to boot. We slept quite
well in our tent, as the weather was warm.
The
next morning, was an early pick up. Jared was going to go scuba diving
off the coast of Tutukaka, at the Poor Knights Islands, and I was going to ride
along to the beach and spend the day lounging. When we arrived at the
scuba shop, Jared started getting fit for his gear, and I was informed that I
could actually go along and snorkel, so I changed my busy plans for the day.
We got all of our stuff together, grabbed some coffees, and hopped on the
boat. Along the way to the islands, we were joined by a
"school" (?) of dolphins that swam along next to the boat, playing
and jumping through the air; pretty neat! We got plenty of photos before
they decided to get back to their dolphin-doings. We pulled up alongside
one of the islands, was informed that it was nationally protected and they
would be forced to shoot us if we climbed on the rocks, and dove in the chilly
17 degree Celsius water, with our scuba suits. The water was pretty frigid,
but the suits kept us warm. We swam through walls of jelly fish (which I
was assured [twice] were perfectly harmless), local fish, and I even got to see
a huge sting ray! After about 45 minutes, the cold started to set in, so
we all piled back on the boat for some lunch and hot drinks. We then went
to a different part of the islands, and geared back up for a second dive.
That dive was loaded with huge schools of brightly colored fish and
coral, and even some tropical fish from Australia. We again spent about
45 minutes in the water before we started getting cold, so we got back in the
boat, loaded up with hot drinks, and I got to drive the boat through a stone
archway, and into the largest ocean cave (with great acoustics we found out, as
we got serenaded by a British folk singer/passenger), and all the way back to
Tutukaka. We arrived back in Whangarei with plenty of sunlight, but we
were pooped. We strolled back over to the super market to find some last
great sales, had dinner and went to bed.The next morning, we packed up and took an early shuttle to our bus stop. We got dropped off at about 9:30am, but our bus wasn't until 2pm. In New Zealand, they have these amazing I-Sites in the center of towns, often where the bus stop is, for local tourist information and assistance with activities and bookings. They were nice enough to let us store our bags, so we walked over to the library in hopes of some good Internet. Fortunately, they did have free Internet; unfortunately, it was only for 30 minutes. We spent the time arranging buses and hostels/camp sites for other locations before being stuck, for 4 hours with nothing in the plan book. Ladies, your with me...what do you do with 4 hours of nothing? Shop! Now don't get all excited, I'm still a backpacker, and have to schlep everything around, but we found a Salvation Army, and I got a great pair of jeans (mine were crotch-holey [a repercussion of climbing in sopping wet jeans in Patagonia]), for $4!!!! Jared also got a collared shirt and swim trunks (that fit him), for a grand total of $8! After that, we headed to the Pak N' Save, to see if we could get any food sales. They had some great stuff, so we stocked up a bit more food, and headed back to the I-Site for lunch. After lunch, we set out in search of a stuff sack (draw string bag to, literally, stuff things into), because our tent bag was falling to bits. We initially shopped around at some local camping stores, before spotting a Kathmandu (the Kiwi/Aussie equivalent to REI). Now, we didn't actually think we would buy anything, as it's normally pretty expensive, and if you don't need anything super high tech, it's often not worth shopping there; however, that day, they started their Christmas sale, and the deals were AMAZING!!! We could get three stuff sacks for the price of one! So, Jared and I each chose one for ourselves, and then one for the tent, and browsed around. Absolutely every item was discounted. I got 2 thermal shirts for the price of half of one, and a pocket knife, we both got collapsible food containers with a fork/knife-spoon, and Jared bought a high tech jacket and karabiner clips. Intending to spend no more than $10 for a stuff sack, we walked out with arm loads of bags. By that point, we were actually running a bit late, so we hauled back to the I-Site and quick repacked our bags just in time for the bus to arrive.
Pahia & Bay
of Islands
Our
bus ride to Pahia was pretty short, and again beautifully scenic. We
arrived into town midafternoon, and decided, instead of walking directly to the
camp site we had arranged to stay at, that we would first pop into the I-Site
(love those things) to arrange some island activities for the next day.
We had hoped to be able to take a ferry or water taxi to an island and
camp right on the beach the next night (ah, tough life). Unfortunately, we found out there was a bit
of a dispute going on between land owners and the local Department of
Conservation (DOC), so the few areas that did allow for camping were closed at
that time, and that even if we did want to just wing it, and hope no one
noticed (there is a bit of "free camping" in New Zealand, and so much
land, it could often go unnoticed) a water taxi out during the off-season would
cost $150 per person each way! Out of the question. Luckily, Jared
had done a bit of research into local cruises, and remembered that they was an
overnight cruise that was leaving that evening. The man at the I-Site had
been so helpful, and even called the cruise to see if they could squeeze us in,
which they could!! It was perfect timing, the boat was to leave in 45 minutes,
so we hung around for a bit before walking down the dock and boarding.
There were only about 8 other people on the boat, which could hold
upwards of 35 people, so Jared and I got a private cabin for no extra cost!
The crew was awesome. The captain brought back flashes of our
captain from the sailboat we took from Panama to Colombia (disastrous if you
recall), but in the completely opposite way. He was so nice and helpful,
and encouraged us to do whatever we liked, and let them know if they could
improve anything. A complete 180 degrees compared to our other boat
experience (disastrous if you recall [no I did not accidentally type that
twice; I just want to make sure you recall exactly how horrific that boat and
captain were]). His crew were 3 young, traveling guys who were all taking
time off school to work in New Zealand. They were super nice, and you
could tell they loved what the were doing; apparently, they even spent their
days off hanging out on the boat, fishing and swimming. The captain, by
the way (I love this), was a former corrections officer, who realized the job
was eating his soul, and instead bought a boat and spent his days with young
travelers doing what he loved; he was such a nice man. Anyway, back to
the actual boat trip.... After settling ourselves in, we met a few of the
other travelers, and was informed that they were all together on a 4 week tour.
The crew had set up activities, like shooting a paintball gun off the
back of the boat trying to hit a plastic duck they had strung up behind the
stern for a free beer, or you could just lounge and relax. I, of course
opted for the paintball option and did so well, I got to the finals, twice,
before having to duke it out in a Rock-Paper-Scissor contest, which I ended up
losing, and forfeiting my free beer. Jared was less interested, but did
give it a go. In true female domination fashion, 5 of the girls made it
to the second round, while none of the boys did. As the sun set, we
docked off the coast of one of the more than 150 islands, and got to try our
hands at fishing. A few people got some bites, but nothing big enough to
cook up, and Jared taught me how to cast the line. With no fish for
dinner, the crew instead grilled up some meat, and we had a buffet dinner of
grilled meat, sausages, potato salad, beets, and rice and beans. After
dinner, we kayaked around for a bit, getting to see phosphorescence, which are
bioluminescent plankton. Every time out paddles went into the water,
small crystals of blue-white light would show, and you could see them behind
the tails of the kayaks. Jared and I had heard about this phenomenon, but
it was really exciting to finally see. After our kayak rides, we all
warmed up in the boat with hot tea, and cooled down with beers. I should
mention, this boat was pretty awesome; there was a pool table, large
smoker/grill, and a wood burning fire place! As the night crept on, we
finally packed it in and headed to bed.
The
next morning, we woke up and had a hearty breakfast of porridge and fruit, and
drove the boat over to one of the islands. We got to walk around the
island a bit, to the highest hill, overlooking the water and the other islands
around, surrounded by clear blue water, and then played/relaxed on the beach
before boarding once again. The captain started up the boat, and as we
all ate lunch, drove us back to Pahia. The trip was a complete success;
active, yet relaxing, and the crew were gems. Once we got back into town,
Jared and I walked over to our camp ground, pitched the tent, and tried to
steal a bit of shotty Internet from the hostel next door. Having less
than great reception, we decided to head over to the library for some better
Internet to get some planning done for our next few spots. After a
little, we walked back to the camp site, ate some dinner, and, after a bit of
brainstorming, returned to the library for final planning reservations.
When we finished, we went back to the tent, Jared showered, and I headed
down the road to meet up with our boat buddies for a few beers. Jared
made a quick cameo, before going to bed, while I danced the night away with the
group from the boat.
Cathedral
Cove
The
next morning, we had a quick breakfast, packed up and hauled it over to the bus
station. We had a quick transition to a smaller bus, before arriving in
Hahei late afternoon. The great thing about New Zealand, and I'm not sure
if this is just during the summer months or year round, is that the sun stays
out so late; we were able to walk around until about 9pm before the
sun really set. We got into the teeny town of Hahei, found our camp site,
pitched the tent, and headed out. Our destination in Hahei was Cathedral
Cove. We walked along the beach, and the through the woods over a small
(took about an hour and a half to cross) hill, to a set of coves.
Cathedral Cove is named such, because thousands of years ago, a tunnel was
carved out of the rock joining two of the coves together (the tunnel has a bit
of a pointed ceiling, making it look like the spire of a church...I guess; it
could just as easily been named triangle cove [but I guess
"Cathedral" is more romantic]). We walked along the two adjoining
coves, and took a bunch of pictures. At some point, that tunnel will cave
in, so if you'd like to see it, book some tickets. Also, as a side note,
if you don't really care to see it, book some tickets...this country is
amazing!! But I'll get more into that later. After Cathedral Cove,
we set out in search of a bit of free Internet, without success, and headed
back to the hostel for a dinner of Ramen noodles, reading, and bed.
The
next morning, I woke up early and had a nice jog along the beach, before
showering, eating some breakfast, and packing up. Our bus wasn't leaving
until noon, so I luckily had enough time to dry clothes, with a combination of
the sun and hand dryers, before we set out.
Waitomo Caves
The
drive to Rotorua, again gorgeous (are you seeing a pattern?), had 2 bus
transfers, and got us in early evening. We popped into the I-Site at the
bus terminal, and set up our tours for the next day; we were to see the caves
of Waitomo. After a bit of a jaunt to the camping grounds, we set up the
tent, and headed out to the grocery stores. By the time we had finished
up, it was dark, which meant it was late, so we had another meat pie dinner,
packed lunch for the next day, and headed to bed.
The
next morning, we woke up early for our pickup. I did a little bit of
laundry, quickly in the sink, before our bus arrived. The town was pretty
small, and the pickups could have been a bit more efficient, since we spent the
next 45 minutes diving around in circles picking up other passengers, before
heading out to the caves. We got dropped off at a cafe, and had to wait
an hour before starting our tour, so I had a coffee, and we both stole packets
of sugar as discreetly as possible. Don't judge us, who wants to carry
around a bag of sugar, not even to mention the potential for bugs when you’re
camping, and they charged an obscene amount for coffee. When we were
called up, we hopped on a bus to start the tour. The first cave we went
to, Ruakuri, took about an hour and a half to get through. We walked
down a long and wide spiral staircase, before entering. The cave was full
of gorgeous stalagmites piercing sharply up from the ground, and stalactites
menacingly hanging, some within inches of our heads, threatening to come
crashing down at any second like icicles off the sides of buildings.
There were different limestone formations as well, some looked like
underwater coral, some cauliflower, and some like sheets of paper, so thin the
light shined right through them. The echoes of the guide and dripping of lime
scale infused water (the liquid that actually forms the cave design),
occasionally dripping on you (a sign of good luck apparently), were the only
sounds you could hear. We also got our first glimpse of glow worms and
the tentacles they string down in order to catch their prey. Apparently,
the glow worms form constellation patterns, the hungrier they are, the brighter
they glow, confusing and attraction flies to them; the flies, thinking they are
soaring toward the sky, get trapped in the sticky tentacles, and slowly drawn
back up to their doom. Unfortunately, the glow worms, and their
tentacles, were pretty hard to capture well on camera, but damn if we weren't
going to give it a good 100-photo try. We walked back along the path we
took in, to exit, and hopped into a shuttle to the next cave, Aranui. We
ate a quick lunch before the tour started. This cave was a much shorter
walk, only about 30 minutes long, but did not lack in beauty. Again, we
saw magnificent stalagmites and stalactites. We also got a bit of the
history on the area and the caves. After, we headed to our last cave, the
most famous worm cave. There was a small bit of walking through the caves
perilous design, before hopping into a small boat, and silently (apparent glow
worms don't shine as brightly if there is noise), in complete darkness,
drifting through the cave. Unfortunately, we were not allowing to take
pictures, but the sight of the glow worms was amazing. Sometimes, there
were so many than shone so brightly, it looked like a haze of bright blue, like
the Milky Way, completely made out of the teeny worms. My only
complaint was wanting to stay in there longer and be able to take photos.
Even the pictures that we had seen on brochures couldn't match up to what
we saw in the pitch black of the cave. Really quick extraordinary.
At the end, we got back on our bus, and headed to Rotorua. Jared
made a quick stop at the grocery store again, while I did a bit more laundry,
before Romen and meat pie dinner, and bed.
Tongariro
We
didn't leave until about 1pm the next day, so laundry dried nicely.
The bus got into the town of National Village early evening. We set
up with the hostel (we were camping there) our shuttle to Tongariro National
Park, to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, for the next morning. Along with a
group of people from the hostel, we got briefed on the drive, hike, and
"volcano awareness", which apparently we needed as, (who knew??), we
were going to be trekking through an active volcano's spewing territory.
FYI, if you are around a volcano when it erupts, you are not supposed to
just run, you are supposed to watch where the flying rocks of fire are landing
and, not kidding, dodge them. I played on a dodge ball team in New
York...things were not looking good for me. Last year at that time, the
volcano erupted and luckily the wind was blowing in a western direction, so all
the hikers made it out safely; however, we were told if that occurs (an
eruption), and the wind is blowing east, it wouldn't really matter what we did,
run or dodge, we were going to burn anyway. Fantastic. I was
talking to a friend of mine that night who said, "well, sometimes an
element of danger makes the experience more exciting...right?". No, I do
not need to kill myself on a hike all day to then just die by volcano.
Later, as I was walking around outside the hostel, I noticed a lot of
Harley Davidson bikes, enough to qualify as a biker "gang", perhaps.
There was a bar/restaurant next to the hostel, and just then the door
opened up and a gaggle of be-leathered, motorcycle brand/old rock band insignia
t-shirt wearing, middle aged men and women started piling out, drinks in hand.
I looked on, as they gathered around the grass; one man picked up an ax,
and, after some taunting and cheering, hurled the ax over his head toward a log
about 15 feet in front of him that was painted like a target. The crowd
cheered and jeered, and the man did it again. As I watched, each man and
woman took turns flinging this ax 3 times, with all their might at the target,
winning a beer if they hit the target, and it stuck. I was fascinated, so
I walked over to take some pictures and videos, and started chatting up a few
of the bikers. They were from all over the country, and even Australia,
joining together for an annual (Harley exclusive) bike ride through the
Tongariro National Park. At the end of their ride, they always went to
the bar for games, including but not limited to, completing a relay race inside
the bar, with a real dead deer slung over their shoulders, and having a race to
put on "protective" gear (safety boots, pants, goggles etc), start a
chainsaw, and chug a beer. The ax throwing was the last competition, to
my lamentation. After about a half hour of watching, the bar owner
exclaimed, "and now for the reigning champion from the US", and all
the bearded, beer bellied, biker gang members turned to me and started chanting
"USA USA". Completely nervous and ecstatic, I walked to the ax
throwing line to do my country proud. The first throw missed, the second
bounced off, and the third stuck!! Winning me a beer, and the hearts of the New
Zealand division of Harley Davidson riders. Elation!! (That was for you
Jen). I headed back inside with my beer and pride. We got really
lucky with Internet; the hostel charged, but somebody had set up a great wifi
signal that was open. That has not happening since we left Latin America,
getting free unlimited access at the place where we stayed. We carb
loaded for dinner with 2 packets of Romen each, played around on the Internet,
packed our lunches, snacks, and gear for the next day, and went to bed.
This was the worst night's sleep we had gotten so far, because the
temperature plummeted overnight. Finally, at 4am, after tossing and
turning all night, we both gave in and opened up our packs outside the tent,
putting on every warming layer we had; then of course, the need to pee set in,
and we both gave in to that, getting up and walking back into the hostel for
bathrooms. Jared surrendered to the day, and stayed awake, while I tried
to get one last hour of warm sleep.
After
the hour, I stumbled into the hostel kitchen jonesing for serious caffeine.
Despite being quite sleep deprived, we were in good moods and excited for
our hike. After a hearty breakfast, we hopped on our shuttle, at
7:30 am, along with about 40 other people, and headed to the park. Just
before getting out, at 8:00 am, our driver gave us another "volcano
awareness" speech, and wished us luck. The park is the site of Mount
Doom, (actual name: Mount Ngauruhoe) from the LOTR (parents ask your kids)
trilogy, which added an extra level of excitement...mostly for Jared.
This is the only country we've been to that doesn't charge to hike their
national parks, which is amazing, but also means they don't really provide
anything else...including water, which will come into play later. There
was a map of the park in front, so we took pictures, for future guidance if
need be. The hike started pretty easily: slight incline, but straight and
well groomed. A bit farther in, we arrived at the Devil's Staircase,
which sounds daunting, but ain't got nothin' on Montaña Machu Picchu, so we
were fine. We had been told, that if we reached the base of Mount Doom
after 11:30am, not to bother going up; we wouldn't have enough time to
make it through to the end of the park before the bus left to return us to our
hostel (4:30pm). A quick side note, as you will see, this information was
completely misleading. We got to the base of Mount Doom at 9:30am,
and thought we were pie! Jared had been a bit tentative about potentially
scaling the mountain, the bus driver did say the ascent was for very skilled
hikers, but I thought that would be more daunting for me than him; I think he
may have just wanted a more relaxed day. But seeing as how we arrived way
before the 11:30am deadline (as per the bus driver), he decided he
did want to do it. We were 2 of only 5 people from the 40ish on the bus
that ended up doing the ascent. The walk started out alright, steeper
incline, looser ground, no dirt or flora, all just finely to coarsely ground
volcanic rock, pretty cool actually. As we continued, the climb went from
mildly difficult and winding, to freaking hard, harder, hardest. At
some points, the climb was probably a 45 degree incline. Our only saving
grace for most of that type of climb were the sharp volcanic rocks to hold
onto, though, often they would rip from the side of the mountain and tumble
down, leading to a relay of "watch out" from highest to lowest
climber and rock dodging while trying to maintaining footing. The points
when there were no rocks to hang onto, required a 2-steps-up-1-step-back
approach, and lead to the real exhaustion. Finally, as the summit
approached, we got a bit of snow, which oddly allowed for better footing.
Right as we arrived, the fog rolled in, almost completely obscuring the
surrounding area from view. But we didn't care, we made it to the top of
Mount Doom!!! I really wanted a ring or something to toss into the crater,
but, alas, settled for munching on trail mix instead. There was another
small summit, which we walked over to, allowing for some better views, and
photos, before we walked, or more precisely slid, back down. The way down
was much easier than the way up, obviously, but I'm referring more to the fact
that we didn't have to scale down the rocks we had climbed up, instead we just
slid down foot-by-foot using the loose gravel to provide the brakes,
occasionally slipping and getting some cuts on our hands. I'm much worse
going down than I am up, I guess it's a balance thing, not sure; so, it still
took me awhile; two hours up, one hour down. By the time we finally made
it to the bottom, our bodies were exhausted and aching, mostly knees, hips, and
feet of course. Thankfully the next few hundred meters was flat, but by
the time we arrived at the next incline, we were having a rough time. We
normally would have just flown up, but we kept having to stop to catch our
breath; our bodies were beat. Unfortunately, we still had about 4.5 hours
to go. We tried to walk as fast as possible on the level ground, but any
time there was an incline was immediately tiring, and the declines left our
already aching bodies sore. We passed a crater with bright red sand and
volcanic rock, and 3 really beautiful blue-turquoise lakes in craters, but
couldn't stop to relax and enjoy the scenery much, because of our time crunch.
We did get in photos, and then continued along. As we passed into the
active volcano area the path smoothed out a bit, but was still obviously going
down, as we wrapped around the mountains, and we got some fantastic views of
the surrounding country. When we looked ahead, we could see the path
winding its way down, but couldn't really see the end. I did see a bit of
the highway leading into the park many kilometers away, but it was obscured
after a point by the trees. There was no way we had to walk all the way
to the tree line to get picked up; that's was insanely far! Oh no, my fine
readers, that was exactly what we had to do. The trail was NEVER-ENDING!!
The last two hours of the hike we were pretty miserable; exhausted,
hungry, exhausted, thirsty, exhausted and thirsty! Again, there was no
fresh water along the trail, but we had been very frugal, with our water, so we did have a few
drops left. We thought we were making good time, until we passed a sign
that said we still had another 45 minutes to walk, at almost 4
o'clock...30 minutes before our pick up time. So we started jogging.
At that point I couldn't feel much below my neck, so, yes, it was awful,
but not as terrible as I would have thought, had you told me earlier that I
would have to jog the last bit (I probably would have kicked you in the shin
had that happened). Also, not sure who calculated the walk time from
that point, but there is no way that would take 45 minutes. Maybe, MAYBE,
if we started from that point, and weren't 8 hours in to the hike, it might
take 45 minutes...I'm still up in the air on that one. Anyway, we were
speeding by people, until finally the forest opened up a bit to the parking lot
and we could see the bus. Everyone else was sitting around with their
grins and dry clothing, while we were beside ourselves trying to recover. The last two hours of the trip were really
painful for us both, and we were happy to be done. We hopped, I shouldn't
use that word...crawled, onto the bus and headed back to the hostel. The
rest of the night was spent how you would think: shower, we got to do laundry
in an actual washer, which is always a bit of a luxury and really only reserved
for when the clothes are super dirty, 2 Ramen packet dinner, Internet and
bed.
Wellington
The
next morning, we woke up and were able to take it slowly, as our bus wasn't
leaving until 1:35 pm. My body was still aching, but not in that,
"oh, I worked out and now I'm sore" good-bad way, more in the
"oh, I hiked and now my joints hurt, because I'm breaking down at age
28" bad-bad way. We ate a good breakfast, and lounged around playing
on the Internet, packing, and waiting for our laundry to dry. A bit
before the bus arrived we walked down to the stop, and took two buses to finally arrive
in Wellington. It was the longest bus
drive we’d taken in New Zealand, and we didn’t arrive until night time. The walk to the hostel from the bus stop was
also the longest we’ve had to do with all of our stuff, made worse by us still
feeling sore and blistered. Once we
arrived, we ate dinner, planned a few activities for the next day, and pretty
much collapsed into bed.
The
next morning, unfortunately, the weather was pretty crappy, cold, and
rainy. Our first stop of the day was the
Te Papa museum. We walked along the
ocean boardwalk to the museum, which had a really cool underwater and nature
exhibit, with the world's only giant squid on display. I really wanted to view the
Mauri culture exhibit, but Jared got a bit tired, so he headed out, while I
stayed a bit longer. The Mauri are the
indigenous people of New Zealand, and we’d visited a lot of locations
significant to the Mauri tribe, so I wanted to found out more about their culture. It was pretty enlightening, and I
left with a bit more awareness that I had when I arrived. After the museum, I headed out to St. Paul’s
Cathedral, mostly because Jared had intrigued me with a picture of the Marine
Corp flag hanging in the aisle. Unfortunately, when I arrived, the flag had
been taken down, so I just strolled through, escaping the rain, and viewing the
wonderful architecture and stained glass windows. On the way back to the hostel, I was able to
pass the government building, known as the beehive, for its conical shape. Obviously, having to stand outside, I didn’t
stick around for long, and headed straight back to the hostel, where Jared was
relaxing. After a bit of lounging,
mostly to dry off, we decided to head back out again. We only had one day in Wellington, so despite
the fact that the rain prohibited us from doing some of the touristy things,
like checking out the views from the top of Mount Victoria, we weren’t just
going to sit around. We took tram up to the
Botanical Gardens, which we just as beautiful in the rain as they would have
been on a nice day, making it feel more organic and alive. The Botanical Garden walk ended with a
beautiful rose garden. Jared decided he
wanted to go back, while I did a quick stroll through a small sculpture garden before
returning as well. Back together, we
went to the grocery store to pick up dinner, and made nachos that night! Les Miserable was playing on TV, so I watched
that, trying to hold back tears (no one wants to be the weird girl crying in a
hostel), before heading to bed.
Christchurch
We
had an early wake up the next morning, ate breakfast, packed up, and started
out to the ferry. Wellington is the
southernmost city on the North Island, so we were getting on a large ship for a
quick crossing to the South Island. The
ferry trip was short, a couple hours, but we left the dock on the North Island
a bit later than expected, so we arrived just before our bus was supposed to
leave to take us to Christchurch.
Luckily, the ferry staff was on the ball, calling all the passengers up
that had to take a bus, and as soon as we docked, sped us on in a van to the
bus stop. We ended up getting to the bus
stop with plenty of time, but almost missed the bus in the end, because, for
some ridiculous reason, A) the Nakedbus bus was not labelled Nakedbus, but some
other bus company, and B) the bus didn’t leave from the bus stop area, but
rather, from the far side of the parking lot by the exit. I have no idea how, but someone discovered
the bus, and basically relayed the message back through the parking lot to the
standard pick-up/drop-off location where we were standing. We saw people running with all their luggage
in hand as they tried to flag other passengers down; we finally caught on, grabbed
our gear and sprinted (well, Jared ran, I was not about to attempt that with my
pack on) down to the bus. A bit
disgruntled at this poor pickup situation, we boarded and set off to
Christchurch. The ride was easy, and got
us into the city around 5pm.
We
had hoped to be able to stop in at the I-Site for some suggestions on how to
spend our one full day, but the site was closed by the time we arrived. We loaded our gear on our backs, and walked
about 15 minutes to our hostel. Luckily,
we had pre-booked, which we normally don’t do, because as we walked along the
street lined by hotels and hostels, everything had “No Vacancy” posted out
front, including ours. We settled in
with our stuff, and decided to head to the grocery store to stock up for a few
days. As we had no idea where anything
was, we asked at the front desk where we could get cheap groceries. She told us the main grocery store was
several kilometers away, which we had no problem walking. The desk attendant though objected to that
idea, and instead…loaned us her car!!!
Not kidding, she said it was a really far walk, especially because it
was raining a bit, and we would have to carry all the groceries back, and
should instead just take her car! After
a few back-and-forth “is this really happening” looks between Jared and me, we
took her up on the offer. Our small
conundrum then came on deciding who would drive. As you know, my wallet and driver’s license
was stolen in Colombia, but when I first went to Australia, Luca had supervised
me in learning how to drive on the other side of the road; whereas, Jared did
have his license but had never driven on the other side of the road. Oh, and it was a stick shift, making learning
that much more difficult. We decided I
would drive, and hope for the best.
Jared finely navigated us to the grocery store, while I finely tried not
to kill us or stall the car; it was a great success, and in the end, yes, it
would have been a very long walk. We
stocked up on the usual sale items, bread, tuna, ham, meat pies, Romen
etc. Our drive back to the hostel, was
thankfully uneventful, and we handed back the keys with a huge sigh of
relief. Nicest woman ever, or most
trusty and naïve…but I’m going with nicest!
That night we ate a good dinner, chatted with the other people at the
hostel, and headed to bed early.
The next morning we were basically the last people awake. Everyone there worked in construction, and we would soon find out why. We made breakfast and went out to the I-site to get some information on what to see, then set out into town. As we walked, we noticed a lot of the city was under construction. There had been a massive earthquake 2 year prior, and the city was still in shambles. We walked to the old cathedral that was in ruins, and along the streets lined by remnants of the town center. We could look into the windows of stores like Kathmandu and Starbucks, and see the place exactly as it had been 2 year before, still untouched: furniture flipped over, lights precariously hanging from the ceiling, shelves toppled sending their contents scattering through the air, and covering the whole scene, a thick layer of dust. The small convenience store had all that and probably a billion flies buzzing around, gross. We then headed over to what is known as the Cardboard Cathedral, a stand-in for the now ruined one. It was really quite impressive. Constructed by a Japanese architect, it was originally to be a temporary building; however, its erection created so much attention and notoriety that it was altered slightly to become permanent. The entire structure was built with recycled materials. The beams of the roof were large cardboard cylinders that are used for those huge sheets of plastic wrap in shipping. They had been reinforced on the inside with wood beams to allow the cathedral to remain there permanently. Out in front of the cathedral was a memorial for the 185 people that dead in the Earthquake, with 185 white chairs, each different from the next, laid out on the grass facing the church. After walking through the area, we headed for the new shopping district. This was pretty cool, and a testament to human ingenuity and creativity. All of the shops were constructed out of large shipping containers. They had all been painted and cleaned to look chic and modern, and it did present a pretty cool sight.
After a bit of touring around, we headed back to the hostel. Christchurch is interesting, but really quite small. We had lots of planning to do, so we went to the Burger King on our corner, found a nice booth, and did our homework for the next few travel locations. I also decided that it was about time I buy a computer (the fantastic machine I’m currently using), so I did a bit of research, as Black Friday in the USA was approaching. That night we again prepared an easy dinner, packing up most of our stuff, and headed to bed.
The next morning we were basically the last people awake. Everyone there worked in construction, and we would soon find out why. We made breakfast and went out to the I-site to get some information on what to see, then set out into town. As we walked, we noticed a lot of the city was under construction. There had been a massive earthquake 2 year prior, and the city was still in shambles. We walked to the old cathedral that was in ruins, and along the streets lined by remnants of the town center. We could look into the windows of stores like Kathmandu and Starbucks, and see the place exactly as it had been 2 year before, still untouched: furniture flipped over, lights precariously hanging from the ceiling, shelves toppled sending their contents scattering through the air, and covering the whole scene, a thick layer of dust. The small convenience store had all that and probably a billion flies buzzing around, gross. We then headed over to what is known as the Cardboard Cathedral, a stand-in for the now ruined one. It was really quite impressive. Constructed by a Japanese architect, it was originally to be a temporary building; however, its erection created so much attention and notoriety that it was altered slightly to become permanent. The entire structure was built with recycled materials. The beams of the roof were large cardboard cylinders that are used for those huge sheets of plastic wrap in shipping. They had been reinforced on the inside with wood beams to allow the cathedral to remain there permanently. Out in front of the cathedral was a memorial for the 185 people that dead in the Earthquake, with 185 white chairs, each different from the next, laid out on the grass facing the church. After walking through the area, we headed for the new shopping district. This was pretty cool, and a testament to human ingenuity and creativity. All of the shops were constructed out of large shipping containers. They had all been painted and cleaned to look chic and modern, and it did present a pretty cool sight.
After a bit of touring around, we headed back to the hostel. Christchurch is interesting, but really quite small. We had lots of planning to do, so we went to the Burger King on our corner, found a nice booth, and did our homework for the next few travel locations. I also decided that it was about time I buy a computer (the fantastic machine I’m currently using), so I did a bit of research, as Black Friday in the USA was approaching. That night we again prepared an easy dinner, packing up most of our stuff, and headed to bed.
Mt. Cook
Leaving
Christchurch, we had a relatively slow morning, before having to walk 15
minutes back to the bus stop with all our gear, ug. Nothing like waking up and trudging through a
town with 50 lbs worth of your life strapped to your back. We were headed for Twizel (I know you want to
pronounce the “Twi” like “Twizzler”, but it’s actually pronounced like the
“twi” from “twilight”; we made that mistake too) in order to do a day hike
around Mount Cook. The bus made a few
stops along the way for bathroom breaks, including…drumroll please….Lake
Tekapo. Ok, that might have been
somewhat anticlimactic, seeing as you have no idea what that is, but I will
enlighten you. It is, in fact, THE
WORLD’S MOST beautiful location…in the whole wide world!! We got off the bus, and literally our jaws
dropped. We took pictures and video, and
then just sat looking at the view. Even
though a picture is worth a thousand words, I will try to describe the
scene…using less than a thousand words.
In the distance were snowcapped mountains, overlooking a turquoise blue
lake. The lake was made from glacier run
off, and I cannot tell you emphatically enough how you have never seen the
bluest water can get, until you’ve seen water from a glacier. It’s not clear blue, it’s heaven blue…yes,
heaven blue. I’ve just come up with
that, and it’s decided upon. It like the
blue of babies, mixed with the blue of angels.
Holy moly, am I making myself clear enough? In the forefront, were the multicolored
flowers called Lupins, which are actually a weed in New Zealand…even their
weeds are pretty. The air was the cool,
crisp, refreshing air that only happens in the mountains, and requires nothing
more than the lightest of sweaters. The
whole scene was really breathtaking, and I cannot reiterate enough how
fantastic the view was. After about 30
minutes of hanging around, we boarded the bus again, for a small bit of
driving, before arriving in Twizel.
We
arrived early evening, with hours left of sunlight, and found our way to the
camp grounds easily. This may have been
the smallest town we had been to thus far in New Zealand. I think most people stayed closer to Mount
Cook when they came to hike. There is a
town right at the start of the trail, inside Aoraki Mount Cook National Park…come
to think of it, I’m not sure why we decided to stay farther away. Anyway, we set up our tent, got our internet
codes, and quick ran over to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Generally, when we go to a store, we are
mostly browsing for prices; if a place is super cheap, we’ll stock up, if not,
we just buy the essentials. This place
was expensive, so we just opted to buy a few things we needed for that night
and next morning. We went back to the
camp site, made dinner, and I did a boat load of laundry, because the sinks
were so nice and big! Generally, the day
before a hike, if we get into bed after the sun has gone down, it’s a bit of a
late night, seeing as how the sun doesn’t really set until close to 10pm (I
know, I know, we still sound pretty lame), but that night was a bit of a later
night for me, due to my laundry, so I probably went to sleep around
midnight. We were a bit concerned about the weather for the hike, because it rained all night, and, according to the forecast, was supposed to continue the next day. I think, for both of us, when we know it’s going to rain on a hike, we have terrible flashbacks of the freezing cold, soaking wet hike in Patagonia. So needless to say, we were worried. Luckily, when we woke up, there was not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was perfectly warm! We packed up our stuff and waited for the bus to pick us up and drive us into Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. We waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, after rechecking the pickup details, I discovered that the bus was picking us up at a completely different location than they had originally confirmed (no idea why). So we booked it to the other location. Thankfully this town is both teeny and spread out, so we could see the bus as it was heading to pick us up, and we started waving our arms like lunatics. The bus driver must have gotten the clue, because he stopped in the middle of the road (not much traffic there), and we made it! It took about 45 minutes to reach the town inside Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. Again, throughout the whole drive the weather looked pristine…until, we rounded a mountain and could see along Lake Pukaki into the valley of Mount Cook. There was a perfect line along the sky where the weather drastically changed. As we approached, the sky got darker and the rain started. When we finally arrived into the town, the weather was full-on crap. We decided to immediately start the Hooker Valley Trek, and hope that the weather improved a bit as we continued through. Like complete novices, or cocky intermediates really, we were not prepared. Jared started getting blisters almost immediately with the wet, and we had brought no Band-Aids, truly a first for us, and I had assumed the weather was going to be nice and warm (like in Twizel), so did not bring my warming layers. We were both pretty miserable as we went farther and farther into the hike. At least we did both bring our rain jackets. As we walked, Jared went slowly because he brought the correct weather gear, but his feet hurt, and I booked it, because my feet we fine, but I was freezing; we split up pretty early.
The hike itself was nice, despite the rain and occasional sleet. We walked for a couple hours before reaching Hooker Lake with Hooker Glacier in the background. There were lots of icebergs in the lake, but unfortunately, we couldn’t see Mount Cook in the distance due to the overcast and fog. I arrived before Jared, took a bunch of pictures, tried to hang around a few extra minutes, before I got uncomfortably cold with the wet and sleet, so I turned around and literally started jogging to keep myself warm. Not long into my return, I passed Jared on his way to the lake. He also took some photos, and waited around maybe 30 minutes in hopes that the sky would clear up for better views; it did not. We both arrived back into the town and hung out at the Hermitage Hotel, the swankiest joint in town. They had a fire blazing in their lounge, so like pathetic backpackers, we took off our shoes and socks and placed them in front of the fireplace to dry, hoping we wouldn’t get kicked out for our uncouth behavior. Luckily, the staff was very obliging, and we were able to eat our nice packed lunches while warming up. I was literally frozen to the bone, so it took about an hour in front of the fire before I stopped shivering. At 4 pm, our driver arrived to take us back to Twizel, where the weather was still gorgeous. We spent the rest of the day browsing the limited internet and cooking dinner for that night, and lunch for the next day.
That next morning, we packed up our tent, and had to wait around for the bus to arrive that afternoon. The owner of the camp grounds was not as obliging as those we encountered before, telling us we could stay on the grounds, but were not allowed to use any of the facilities i.e. bathroom or kitchen. We had to sneak around to even pee! Our departure time finally arrived, and we happily headed out to our next destination.
Queenstown
We
arrived in Queenstown late afternoon, and headed straight to our hostel,
Southern Laughter. Almost every location
in New Zealand allowed us to camp, except Auckland, Wellington, and now
Queenstown, but we were pretty excited because this hostel prepared
all-you-can-eat hearty vegetable soup every night. The room was nice with its own large fridge
and a small kitchenette. Upon arrival,
first-things-first, we got our hands on that vegetable soup, which I assumed
would be watered down cans of some Campbell’s vegetable soup, but in fact was
actually quite filling, with real veggies and barley. After stuffing up our bellies, we set out in
search of some activities for our time in Queenstown and free wifi. First stop, the I-Site, which ticked off both
those things. The attendant gave us some
good suggestions, but the wifi only lasted for 15 minutes. As the sun was starting to set, we headed
over to the bay, where there was a small beach crowded with tourists drinking
and relaxing the night away. We took a
small walk around the point of the bay, and sat watching the sun set over the
lake and snow-capped mountains in the distance.
We walked back through town, meandering through some of the shops. The town was truly dedicated to tourists and
backpackers, with way more restaurants and bars warranted for its size. One of my favorite things about New Zealand
is that they make tons of fancy beauty products with ingredients like Manuka
honey and lamb placenta, and they give out samples for free!! So every time we stopped into a pharmacy I
would lather that stuff on like I was showering in it! I’m hoping it took several years off of my
appearance. I digress. We finally headed back to the hostel for the
night, and went to bed early.
The
next morning, we were heading to the town of Arrowtown, about 30-45 minutes
away. We were pretty slow in making our
way out, but by late morning we started.
The plan was to try our hand at hitchhiking, which Jared had never done
before, but we were advised was a perfectly normally method of transportation
in the area. We walked to the main road
between the two towns, and took only about 10 minutes, before we picked up a
ride. Our chauffer was a young British
girl who had come out traveling years before, and fallen in love with area,
deciding to move out permanently, and show kindness to other travelers in the
form of free rides. She dropped us off
about 20 minutes (drive) from Arrowtown, and we waited a few more minutes
trying to pick up another ride. This
time, our driver was a native Maori going out to visit his girlfriend in
Arrowtown. We got dropped off right in
town, and walked around a bit searching for a place to rent some bicycles. I was still a bit weary of riding a bike,
since my Bolivia “most dangerous road” disaster, but had been assured by our
hostel desk clerk that these roads were gentle.
We got a nice cheap bike rental for the day, and early afternoon set
out. The trails were wonderfully
groomed, recently having a few hundred…thousand dollars invested in them. We rode along a river bed (from LOTR), across
swinging bridges, passing the beautiful Lupin flowers, and through spring snow
(you know that stuff that floats through the air like cotton? Maybe from dandelions?); it was sublime. The track for the most part was easy, but it
was long, and there were definitely hills, so it did take a lot of endurance. About 1.5 hours into the ride, we stopped for
a quick lunch on the side of the river, under some trees. Farther along, the road forked, one way
heading to wineries, where you could have a tasting, and then return to
Arrowtown along the same path you took out, and the other a completely
different track returning you to Arrowtown.
I wanted to visit a winery while in New Zealand, and Jared didn’t want
to return along the same path so we split up for the final leg of our bike
ride. As soon as we split up, my path
started heading down, which always sucks, because you have to head back up
it. Down, down I went, along more
gorgeous trails, with mountains in the background and fields of flowers in the
foreground. I crossed a bridge with a
popular bungee jump on it, and, not kidding, was ambushed by a naked guy
running across the bridge to the laughter of his friends watching and waiting
up in the parking lot. There is a photo,
but it will not be going up online…unless I can work some Photoshop magic. I finally made it to the Chard Farm vineyard
and winery just as my liter bottle of water ran out; good thing I decided to go
that route instead of joining Jared on his.
I was able to sip some ice cold water, before participating in a nice
wine tasting, and enjoying the marvels of air conditioning. After sufficiently satiating my thirst, I
hopped on the bike, and rode back to Arrowtown. There was definitely some bike walking on the
way up. I sometimes find that even if
you are on the same path, going out always looks different than coming in; you
rarely stop to turn around when you’re biking or walking a path. Right on the 5 o’clock dot, I arrived back at
Arrowtown and met up with Jared. We
walked through the very small town; Jared bought some Merino wool gear, and I
bought an ice cream. We found a candy
shop giving out free fudge samples, so we were all over that. “Free samples” has become a major food group
for us. After about an hour of strolling
through town, we made our way back to the main road between Arrowtown and
Queenstown, and this time Jared tried his hand at hitchhiking. First car and he got it! He was so excited he ran right up to the
window and shouted “wow, my first hitchhike!
You just made my day!” hehe. This
driver was a Canadian traveler who, I’ll give you one guess, came out years ago,
fell in love with New Zealand, and decided to stay. I’m not sure how many times I can reiterate
the fact that you should BUY A TICKET OUT HERE!
She dropped us off a bit before town, so we had one last hitchhike, with
a Kiwi dance instructor before arriving in Queenstown. We stopped briefly at the grocery store
before returning to the hostel. We were
pooped, ate the yummy free veggie dinner, went out for a bit of internet, and then
to bed early. The next day, we were heading for Glenorchy, a town about an hour away, for the night. We packed up our stuff, and trudged over to the main road connecting the two towns. I was a bit worried about our timing, as we left later than expected, and would have to find someone who would not only schlep us, but all our gear as well. Luckily, after about 15 minutes, a nice woman and her son pulled over and threw us a bone…not literally, she just picked us up to drive us. The son was adorable, telling us about all the things we could do around the area for our last few days. Surprisingly, after only about 10 minutes, she dropped us off, which we were not really expecting. However, she had been truly nice, and offered us a place to stay at her home close to where she dropped us off. I was actually kind of keen on the idea, but we decided in the end to continue to Glenorchy. At this point, we were in the middle of nowhere, in the blazing sun, with all our junk with us. Still confident though, we stuck our thumb out like we’ve never stuck our thumb out before, and after a lot of declines, an RV finally pulled over. We drove the rest of the way into Glenorchy with four brothers from Auckland, who had taken their parents RV and were driving around New Zealand; it sounded like such a fun trip for four brothers…..or…you know…three brothers and a sister…hint hint, wink wink! Screw it, grab the whole fam and do it! I digress…again. They drove us into town and dropped us off. When I said Twizel was the smallest town we had been to, I hadn’t yet arrived here…Glenorchy was the smallest town we’d been to, hands down; the whole town was probably made up of four square blocks, which is great when you have big and small backpacks to lug around. We found our camp ground, and set up our tent, before heading into “town” to look for some activities. No I-site here, but there was one river adventure company and one small restaurant/bar/information center. We went to the river adventure company, that ran car/kayak/cigarette boat adventures, but for a ridiculous price of over $200! We were not excited about spending that type of money, so we went out looking for other options. The restaurant/bar/information center actually had a few more options. We ended up booking a ride to Mount Aspiring National Park close by to do the Routerburn hike. Thankfully, we were able to decide our own pickup times, so we could avoid the disastrous exhaustion and last minute jog we had with the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, hopefully. After arranging our to-dos, we walked over to the glacier lake, honestly I’m such a lake snob now; I only like the glacier ones, haha. The view was spectacular, and the day was hot enough that we could dip our feet in the cold water without getting uncomfortable. If you’ve seen the video of the New Zealand landscapes that Jared put up, most of the views are from Glenorchy. After some photos and videos, we decided to take a quick stroll through one of the small trails around the backside of the town, along the marsh land. The whole thing took about an hour, before we decided it was dinner time, and headed back to the camp ground. We made a Romen dinner, and went to bed early, as our pick up the next morning was at 7 am.
We woke up early, packed our backs and lunches for our hike, and promptly at 7 am, our ride came for us. He drove us a short distance, explaining the hike, and a 4x4 tour service we were interested in, before dropping us off at the entrance of the hike. We had 12 hours for this hike, so we figured we could get a lot in. The first 1.5 hours was pretty flat and easy, and dropped us off right at the base of the mountain. That was the last time this hike would be easy; we started our ascent, and for the most part, it wasn’t difficult, just tiring, a steady steep incline. After about 2 hours, we arrived at a second camp site, which was actually more of a hotel/hostel than a camp ground. We went to the bathroom and filled up our water bottles in the free flowing glacier water, and were able to get some nice views of the landscape we had just hiked. We continued uphill, crossing rivers, volcanic rocks, prairies and valleys. We arrived at a lake high up in the mountain, which is always such a wonderful shock to stumble upon, because mountain lakes always kind of seem out of place, like they’ve been transplanted from their natural location, into isolation at those high altitudes. We couldn’t stop to explore the lake, because A) there was a pack of school girls hot on our tracks, and we didn’t want to get stuck behind them, (plus hiking around when you can’t see any other people makes you feel like that exact area where you’re standing has never been seen before by another human on earth….ok, maybe I’m taking it a touch too far) and B) we wanted to make it to the top of the mountain with plenty of time to relax and take in the views. We committed to going to the lake on our return back down the mountain, and trekked on upwards. The day was hot and sunny, and we were hot and sweaty. Finally we reached the “saddle”, with a small outpost where we could sit and have a snack and rest. Before we would allow ourselves the snack though (mine had cheese, and I get all phlegmy with dairy and exercise…too much?) we made our way up one last hill, called the Conical, to the very tip-top of the mountain. The distance itself was short, but the land was steep and rocky; by the time we reached the top, we were winded, but excited to have climbed so high. We could look back over the whole landscape and see where we had hiked throughout the day. Technically, this track could be done over several days, as you can descend down the other side of the mountain and along other trails to a different end point, but we didn’t have days to dedicate to Glenorchy, so we were satisfied to have made the halfway point, and tallest part of the hike. After lots of photos and some video, we headed back down to the outpost. We then ate our snacks and rested awhile. We felt pretty good about our achievement until we saw two things: one: a man and woman with a four year old on foot and a toddler on their back…so apparently a four year old can do this hike; damn those four year old hikers. Two: a man JOGGING the whole thing!!!! Apparently, his job was transporting cars, so he would drop people off at one end, drive their car to the other parking lot for them to pick up when they were done, and then jog the whole trail back to his own car. Scum bag. But honestly, as he jogged by and quickly explained what he was doing, everyone at the outpost burst into laughter as he went down. “Eff that” was the sentiment of everyone there. After a bit of a rest up top, we made our way back down the mountain, stopping on our way at the lake to fill up water, dip our feet in the cold water, and take in the complete isolation and loveliness. The walk back was easy, but at this point we had been walking for about 7 hours, so our bodies we still tired and getting a bit sore. We made it to the bottom camping ground with a bit of time to spare (so we thought), and decided to look for a small trail through the valley we had heard about from our driver. We walked all through the area, but in the end couldn’t find any trail opening, so we settled again for dipping our feet in the river and enjoying the sunshine for a few minutes. With two hours left to spare, we decided to head back to the parking lot where were to be picked up. We thought it had only taken us an hour and a half to arrive at the first camp ground, so we took our time, and about an hour into the walk, passed some people who said it had taken them two hours to get to that point…what? We picked up the pace a bit, thinking they had just walked excessively slowly, but as the time passed, and we didn’t see the parking lot, we realized maybe it had taken us longer than an hour and a half to reach that first camp site. 20 minutes left until our pick up, and no parking lot in site, we AGAIN started to jog back to the entrance, grrrr. About 3 minutes before our pickup, we spotting our driving inside of the park walking towards us. I hate when people are a little bit early and make you feel late, but in all honesty, we probably would have arrived a few minutes after 7 pm anyway. In the end, it was our longest hike, and truly enjoyable. Apparently, I’m a hiker now! I can say I find it fun and eye-opening. It’s also a fantastic workout without feeling like a workout! …that’s not true, sometimes it truly sucks. Anyway, we were driven back to the camp ground, and arranged for another tour the next day with the same man, as he was so nice. We went back, did some laundry in actual laundry machines, made dinner, and headed to bed.
The next morning, again bright and early, our driver picked us up and drove us through the area. There were quite a few locations that had been used for different movies, LOTR, The Hobbit, and…one of the Wolverine movies (Jared would kill me for not remembering which, oops), so we got to see those, along with just plain old great views. At the end, he drove us up through a farm to the top of a hill overlooking the valley, river, lake, and pristine green farmland, all contributing to great photos. At the end of the tour, he dropped us back off at our campground. I really wanted to ride horses in New Zealand, and there happened to be a horse ranch that offered tours located right across the street from the camp site; Jared was less interested, so he packed up his things, and grabbed a hitchhike back to Queenstown, while I hung around a few hours waiting for the horseback tour. In the early afternoon, I went over and saddled up. I completely embellished my horse riding skills, but I really wanted to get some time to let the horse run freely and canter a bit. The group walked through the valley, along the river bed, with great views. I was in the end able to canter a bit with the guide, which was both completely terrifying (I hadn’t been on a horse since I was 16 years old [that was the part I embellished]) and totally awesome!! At only one point did I think I might actually fall off, and the rest of the time, I had a huge smile on my face! Farther into the ride, we encountered a serious dust storm, completely obscuring our views. Even without opening my mouth, sand got into my teeth, ears, nose, and eyes. I tried as best I could to just close my eyes and let the horse lead, but he was a drifter, so every so often, I had to open one eye and guide him back to the path. Apparently, the dust stuck to me more than others, because at the end, when we dismounted, everyone was joking about how I was a completely different shade of human than everyone else. But, in the end, we got gummy treats to wash the sand down, so it was a success! We were driven back to the horse ranch, and by sheer luck, I sat in the front seat with the owner of the ranch. We chatted a bit about my travels, and what I was doing there, where I was staying, and how I was going to hitchhike back to Queenstown. The day was getting late when we finally returned to the ranch, and she was worried I wouldn’t make it back to Queenstown at all, due to the small amount of traffic going that way at night. Instead, she quietly told me that I could take the shuttle back with all of the other tourist riders, without having to pay!! Lucky break! Slash, these people are so nice! When we got back to the ranch, I ran back to the campground, luckily so close, and quick shoved everything into my pack just in time for the shuttle bus to pass by and pick me up. I took the shuttle right into Queenstown, and walked to Jared and my new hostel, Nomads.
This hostel had free dinner as well, but I unfortunately missed it by the time I arrived. According to Jared the portions were pretty small, so we decided to treat ourselves and go to the most popular joint in town, Fergburger, and have a lamb burger with the works. We initially noticed this place when we first came to Queenstown, because the line ran halfway down the block. Needless to say, we were pretty excited to get some red meat into our systems. The food in fact was really good, with “chips” (Kiwi for french fries) with aioli and sweet and spicy sauces. Yum! Best meal we’d had in a while! That night we kind of did the same old thing, showers, free internet, bed early. Jared was heading to Milford Sound the next day, while I was going to stay one more day in Queenstown before heading to Dunedin. We had originally purchased our tickets separately (remember he was in Melbourne while I was in Sydney), so we each just bought what was cheapest. For me, that was two days before him out of Dunedin; for him it was after me out of Queenstown.
By the time I woke up the next morning, Jared was gone. I had a lot of things around Queenstown I wanted to do, but in the end, it rained all day, so after a small amount of walking around town, I was actually ecstatic to just sit, read, and paint my toenails! I did, however, get in that free dinner line early and was able to get TWO portions…yea I’m slick like that.
Dunedin
The
next morning, I grabbed a bus heading for Dunedin. I arrived early afternoon, and walked over to
my hostel. Dunedin is a university town,
so it’s pretty big, but there is not a lot going on there. I found my hostel easily and was siked to
find out that there was free unlimited internet!!! I played around a bit, before heading out to
the I-Site to get the scoop on activities around town. A must for me, also suggested by our
hitchhiking driver’s son, was the Cadbury factory, so I wanted to get that
locked down. Again, the I-Site
attendants were very helpful, and I set up a city tour, penguin sanctuary walk,
and albatross sanctuary boat ride, and of course the Cadbury tour. After I had arranged my activities, I headed
back to the hostel for some dinner, more free internet, and a room all to
myself! Getting a dorm room to one’s
self is truly a rare gem. I can count
the number of times it’s happened: 1) or first town on the trip, Monterrey,
Mexico, 2) middle of nowhere South America, and now 3) Dunedin, New Zealand!
The
next day, I woke up, had a relaxed morning, and breakfast, and waited for my
ride to come. We drove to the I-Site and
picked up two more people before starting the city tour, which was probably the
most boring city tour I’ve ever been on.
We did get to drive by the world’s steepest road. Yes, it was steep, but I feel like there are
some back country roads somewhere that have to beat it. Saw all the schools around town, and lastly,
drove out to a peninsula for less-than-spectacular views due to the
overcast. In the end, I would recommend
skipping the Dunedin city tour. I
returned to the hostel, and after some lunch, was picked up by my next travel
company to see the penguin and albatross sanctuaries. We first stopped by the albatross sanctuary
to pick up some other travelers. We were
allowed to get off the bus for a few minutes to look around, but honestly,
there was bird poop freaking anyway, you literally had to dodge it. Much worse than dodging balls of fire from
the Tongariro Alpine Crossing volcanoes.
We jumped back on the bus, poop free, and went to the penguin sanctuary,
which was actually pretty neat. I got to
see the rarest yellow-eyed penguins.
Penguins are usually pretty scared of humans, and can actually get
aggressive if they feel like you’re approaching too closely. However, there was one penguin that had been
born very sick and was immediately taken into a hospital after birth. He grew up around humans before being set
back out into the sanctuary. We stumbled
upon him up close up as we walked through the paths of the sanctuary, and he
put on a little show…by show I mean he let us get really close without running
away or biting our heads off. So that
was pretty neat. We also got to see a
teeny newborn with its fluffy brown coat still unshed. I want a baby penguin. We also got to see sea lions and seals. After our tour, we hopped on a boat for a
tour of the albatross sanctuary. This was
prettttyyyy boring. Though the
capital/MC seemed to think it was “majestic”.
He sounded like someone from the National Geographic Channel, and did,
in fact, keep using the word “majestic”.
I felt so cynical the whole time, until I spoke to some other passengers
who kept rolling their eyes when he would start in on one of his speeches,
describing the flight patterns of the bird; “look at the majestic creature as
he soooaarrsss through the air, DIVING like a streak from heaven to catch his prey. Now he LIFTS his head. Now he LOWERS his head”. Yea, I’m not kidding. Bonus though, they served free hot chocolate
WITH marshmallows. After the tour, I was
driven back to the hostel for dinner, free unlimited internet, and bed.The next morning, I was scheduled to leave in the early afternoon, but received an email saying my flight had been delayed two hours, so I took advantage. First, the Cadbury Factory!!! So cool guys. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow us to bring in cameras, but I can answer your question…yes, it is like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory…with hair nets. We got to walk through the different sections of the factory and try each thing they prepared. The whole place had the intoxicating smell of chocolate. I learned how to make my very own chocolate…that is if I get my hands on the cocoa bean. And the last stand, the great pièce de résistance…drumroll…(and no this one won’t be anticlimactic)…the chocolate waterfall! Yes, they have a chocolate waterfall, and if you got close enough, I discovered after the fact, you get coated with drops of chocolate!!! It was awesome, and my favorite part of this ENTIRE TRIP!!!! Ok, maybe I’m taking that a bit far, but it was definitely my favorite part of Dunedin. After finishing up the tour, I bought bunches of chocolate, and walked around town a bit, finding one of those drug stores with free beauty products, and getting to buy some renowned New Zealand honey, before heading back to the hostel for my airport pick up.
Once at the airport, I tried to buy more small packets of different honey, and was told I couldn’t bring them across into Australia!!! I was so upset, they said I’d have to claim the ones I had already bought. One thing about the Sydney International Terminal that I remembered from going in from Chile was all the menacing signs stating “This is your last chance. Claim it, or pay the price” aka jail time or a huge fine. I went back and forth about claiming it, and in the end went with claiming it. Also, when I was going through the security check line in Dunedin, I got stopped by security as my bag was going through the scanner and they said “uh oh, is that chocolate? I bets it’s chocolate”, and then told me that I couldn’t bring the chocolate into Australia, because “see those cows out there (yes there were cows right outside the airport in Dunedin), the milk for these chocolates came from them. You can’t bring dairy into Australia”. I was besidddeee myself!! But damned if I was gonna let those security guards eat my chocolate, so I braised myself to consume large amounts of chocolate in under 5 minutes. As I started taking out the chocolate to eat it, all the guards burst out laughing! They had been teasing me the whole time, and just wanted to see if I’d eat it all! Oh, I would’ve eaten it! The flight over was great. There was food (I love plane food), and I got my own person hand held TV for movies! Once I arrived in Sydney, I breezed through customs, until a man checked my claims form and said, “hmm, animal products. It’s honey isn’t it?” How did they know that! So I had to go to a separate line where the attendants checked the form and asked the same thing, if it was honey. I replied yes, and when they specifically asked if it was Manuka honey (there was Manuka honey), I paused and stumbled and said “it’s really a variety pack, with different types of honey” (which it was), and they let me go!! Woohoo! Australia here I come…came!!
In
summary, New Zealand was amazing. We
both agree that it was our favorite country, the most consistently beautiful
country we had visited yet. The people
was amazingly nice and welcoming. Those
I-Site were the bomb! They also have
these camper vans, basically just vans that have been tricked out with little
kitchenettes in the truck and mattresses to sleep. Also, the free beauty products were a plus
for me.
If
we were to do the whole thing again, we wouldn’t change anything, but would add
the camper van and go to Reglan, which is apparently a world renowned surfing
destination, get some rafting in at Tongariro, and zorbing. What is zorbing you ask? It when you get shoved into a plastic ball,
and thrown down a hill into a lake below.
Yes, that would have been amazing.
New Zealand, we love you. Sweet
As!
No comments:
Post a Comment