New Zealand: Part 2

In advance, congratulations to anyone who is not my parents who is actually reading all of this...hehe!

Day 4: Monday, September 24
Today was our earliest start because we had a lot of driving to do. We were up at SIX AM. Even though I hadn’t gotten much sleep, it wasn’t terrible, because it was a beautiful clear morning and breakfast was really good. If it hadn’t been for the fact that we got a hearty breakfast every morning I would have had no motivation to get up whatsoever…haha. Once we got on the bus, everyone was pretty much asleep instantly. A couple hours later, though, we made a stop in the Cromwell district at this awesome fruit stand that had literally every fresh and dried fruit EVER. I got so much stuff - dried pears, pineapple, and mango, yogurt covered raisins, shortbread…yay for bus snacking. By this point we were starting to know each other’s names and we definitely were up for sharing all our various things. (Although I have to say that there was so much dried fruit snacking that I have now actually developed an aversion to dried fruit and am not sure if I can eat it anymore ever again…haha.) Every place we came to, Scotty would have something interesting to say about the history of it or just a random tidbit of funny information. Like the town we passed that became famous for some sheep that got lost and then they found it in a cave six months later and it was SOOO puffed out with wool that it was ridiculous. (Okay, this story might lose something in the retelling.) There are SO MANY sheep in NZ, by the way…our scenery consisted of farms with sheep (and sometimes cows and even deer), snow-topped mountains, rainforest, and lakes galore, often with waterfalls right by the side of the road. I don’t know how anyone could ever get used to that kind of beauty.

Oh, other random very important thing I forgot to mention: Scotty told us right from the beginning of the tour that we were going to have a “morning song” that would be played first thing in the morning when we got on the bus. This was the theme song for the All Blacks Rugby Team of NZ (in case you didn’t know, rugby is a HUGE deal in both Oz and NZ), and it’s called “Why Does Love Do This To Me” by this band called The Exponents. I can not describe how addictive this song is. The first time I heard it, I was like, oh this is pretty good…by the third time, I was eagerly singing the chorus along with half the bus…after that, it went through my head non stop and we were screaming it at the top of our lungs at random moments throughout the day. So addictive. Scotty is clearly experienced at getting his tours to bond. :)

Anyway, Monday was basically a LOT of time in the bus. Our one other major stop was at the Kawarau River bungy jump, which was the first commercial bungy site in the world. Before anyone wonders, no, I was never planning on doing a bungy jump because I think they are TERRIFYING. However, getting to see the site was cool enough for me, and seeing someone actually jump off was also enough to reassure me that I had made the right decision in deciding to NOT do it. See pictures. It is just not my thing, although I totally respect the adrenaline junkies who can do things like that! Then we headed into even more super mountainous terrain that eventually ended up in this crazy tunnel called the Homer Tunnel. It took like eight years to build because it kept collapsing due to the amount of water the area gets (like eight meters a year!). It was this really scary dark narrow one lane tunnel and the bus just barely fit through it. By three in the afternoon we had arrived at our destination, Milford Sound, which is one of the most popular attractions on the South Island. We were really happy to get off the bus since it has been like a six hour drive!

Let me see if I can try to describe Milford Sound at least a little. It’s part of the Fiordland National Park which goes up and down the west coast of the south island. All these fiords/sounds (I keep forgetting the difference between them even though I learned it!) are these huge lake areas that were formed by glaciers and surrounded by huge mountain cliffs. We were supposed to go out on a fairly small boat, but because it wasn’t running that evening, we ended instead on a fairly LARGE cruise ship called the Milford Mariner! Now I’ve never been on a cruise before so this boat, which fit about 70 people, was definitely the largest I’ve ever been on in my life. Again, Dana and I got our own personal cabin and bathroom, both of which were SO CUTE. Once the boat started heading out into the Sound, we all ran out onto the upper deck and literally were just laughing out of sheer happiness because it was so utterly gorgeous. It rains 220+ days out of the year, but it was perfectly clear that afternoon and evening, which is apparently really rare. It was windy and exciting and we got the most amazing views of the mountains and waterfalls. (One waterfall that we saw is three times the size of Niagra Falls!) I could have stayed up there forever, or maybe a little less than forever since it was kind of cold. Then we anchored at this one place and had the option of several water activities. The other girls chose to go on a little motorboat but I decided to go kayaking since I’ve never done that before and figured it would be a pretty SWEET first place to do something like that. I was a little nervous because apparently kayaks can tip over kind of easily, and the water was FRIGID. But as soon as I got my balance, I was so exhilarated that I wasn’t worried about that anymore - I just had a blast paddling all around and looking up at the cliffs. I felt so tiny, all by myself in my little kayak! It was absolutely amazing. What was not amazing were these PSYCHO insects called sand flies - you would think that in really cold weather, bugs would not exist, but oh, they DO, and these bugs love my blood just as much as mosquitoes, so I definitely got a lot of bites. Still it was totally worth it.

After that, the other girls were dead set on JUMPING INTO the water, which was about 10 degrees Celsius. I was very unsure about this, especially considering that I had brought everything in the world EXCEPT a bathing suit since I knew it was going to be cold. However, I was able to work that out, and found myself standing at the edge of the boat peering at the water in apprehension…but everyone was like YOU HAVE TO JUMP, so I did, and I can not even tell you how cold this water was. It literally took my breath away. I came up GASPING and swam as fast as I could back to the boat - AAHH! But I’m so glad I did it because it’s kind of cool that I have jumped into freezing water in the middle of Milford Sound...hehe! After that, a hot shower has never felt so good. Then we headed out to the Tasman Sea to watch the sun set, which was absolutely amazing, especially considering that the sight is so rare. Then we went to the main galley for the most amazing feast EVER. (Again, the food far exceeded my expectations on pretty much the whole trip!) First they brought out bread, then soup, and then we had this HUGE cold and hot buffet with a carvery, and then a huge dessert table too! I was totally in heaven and took pictures of all the food, of course. After that we saw a slide show presented by one of the crew on all the wildlife that lives around there and the history of Milford Sound, which was really interesting. Like I said, I have never been more interested in history or geology than I was this past week. It’s one thing learning it from a book (boring), and QUITE another when you are actually in the middle of it! I was so eager to learn as much as I could about the land and the places and the culture because it made me feel that much more connected to how incredible it was.

That night, because it was clear, I had one of the best star-gazing sessions of my life, I think. Picture this: crystal clear night sky, next to no light pollution, almost no wind, and me on the top deck of the boat figuring out where all the constellations I’ve learned in astronomy were. It was amazing. (I need to find another word because I know I use amazing way too much…haha.) Our boat was one of only two that have a license to anchor in Milford Sound overnight so it was just totally deserted and so unbelievably tranquil. I really didn’t want to leave at ALL.

Day 5: Tuesday, September 25
It was up bright and early again, but the breakfast MORE than made up for it - another buffet, yay! We headed out to the Tasman Sea again that morning to see if we could see any wildlife along the coast, and we actually did see a tiny cute penguin in some rocks! But it was SO small and hard to see and I didn’t get any pictures. I am so bad at spotting wildlife…haha. As we headed back into the Sound, we faced what is called a katabatic wind. This is a wind that blows down a topographic incline such as a glacier and is SO STRONG. I went up on the deck to feel it and actually thought I was going to get blown away. You could barely breathe, much less talk - you just had to brace yourself against this crazy wind in your face. It was so refreshing to be out in the midst of it, though. We asked the captain how strong it was and apparently it was only like 40 miles an hour, which doesn’t sound impressive at all. I can only imagine what a storm would be like on the Tasman Sea: absolutely terrifying! Apparently it is one of the roughest and most difficult to travel seas in the world.

Anyway, it was with great sadness that we said goodbye to our amazing little cruise ship, but we had to get on with the tour, so by 9:30 in the morning we were already headed out of Milford Sound. We did a lot of driving again (with awesome music!) with a few scenic stops to take pictures of waterfalls and stuff, and by mid-afternoon, we had arrived in Queenstown, which is the other major city on the South Island and known as the adventure capital of the Southern Hemisphere. It is a huge tourist attraction due to its spectacular scenery, bars that literally have people partying in them every night of the week, and adrenalin crazed activities such as bungy jumping, sky diving, jet boating, etc. Much to my delight, I found out we were staying in a REAL HOTEL. Now, it was the reject part of the hotel towards the back, and we had bunk beds in this room across from the laundry room (haha!), but nevertheless, a REAL HOTEL! With a TV in the room! We got super excited about the TV since we never get to watch it back in Sydney, obviously. We just got settled into our room and then discovered that there was a HOT TUB outside, so I went out there and got to sit in the hot tub that had a view of the enormous Lake Wakatipu, which is one of the biggest lakes in NZ, as I watched paragliders drift around above me. It was seriously my own personal paradise. After that I took my own little quick stroll around Queenstown to see what shops and restaurants there were (the town is basically two or three streets, not hard to find your way around), and then I went back and got to help Scotty and Te cook dinner! (SO EXCITING. You all know how much I miss being in a kitchen.) They were seriously the best tour guides ever. Scotty has been with the Connections tour company for so long that he knows literally everyone at all the cafes and bars and everywhere we stop at along the way. In the hotel we were in Connections has their own little dining room with a kitchen and a bunch of tables, so that’s where we prepared and had dinner. It felt so homey and relaxed.

After that, even though it was a Tuesday night, we were obviously going out, because every night is a party night in Queenstown…haha. Of course Scotty and Te went with us to show us the best places because they are that cool. It was kind of a crazy evening! The end. :) But seriously, it was great to hang out with the tour group not on the bus and by that point I felt like we were really starting to get close. This one bar had the BEST music so we were all dancing and I rapped whenever there was rap music and this greatly entertained everyone. (I have no idea why. I mean, isn’t my rapping totally serious?) So the night ended quite late but it was okay since Wednesday everyone was actually doing their own thing since we all booked whatever “adventure” we wanted to do on our own.

Day 6: Wednesday, September 26
I got to get up at the amazingly late hour of 9 am! Jess and I had booked a hang glide off one of the mountain peaks in the area, but due to a whole lot of mis-communication, it ended up getting canceled. This was definitely the low point of the trip and we were both really upset because it was the company’s mistake, not ours, in terms of where we were supposed to meet to go up there. It took so long to figure out that there was even an error that by the time they told us we couldn’t do it basically the entire morning had been wasted, which was extremely frustrating. So we tried to make the best out of a bad situation and went and booked a paraglide instead. Paragliding is similar to hangliding but in a hanglide you are kind of dangling and in a paraglide it’s basically a sitting position. We traveled up the gondola, which is without a doubt the most annoyingly tourist-y thing they have in Queenstown (such long lines), but the view is absolutely spectacular. Once we got to the top, they set us up with our instructor people, and like five minutes later I was ready to go. I was kind of scared because I had no idea what to expect and I was still recovering from my anger/frustration over the whole hang-gliding debacle, so suddenly I was like um, what I am doing exactly? But you do it with someone else so it’s not like I really had to do anything. He put on all my gear and he was like okay, we’re going to walk, and then jog, and that’s all you have to do. We were on the top of a big hill way at the top of this mountain, and he was like go, so I just walked/ran (that was the only scary part), and before I knew it we were flying! It was the most exhillirating feeling and once we were in the air it wasn’t scary in the least - really, it was more relaxing than anything else, seeing Queenstown and the gorgeous lake from a birds eye view. We got to be in the air like eight minutes and it was just wonderful. I landed perfectly too. :) So that was great and I felt a lot better after that, obviously.

In the afternoon, we had a late lunch and caught up with Dana and the other two guys who went BUNGEE JUMPING off of the highest bungee in the world (or at least in the southern hemisphere or something) - 134 meters! The bungee thing became a huge joke because the two guys who did it were so proud of themselves that they couldn’t stop talking about it and whenever they saw each other they would just be like “BUNGEE, BUNGEE! WICKED, WICKED!” and they called each other Bungee and stuff. They were hilarious and soooo much fun to spend time with. Then we looked around town more in the various souvenir stores and such and Dana and I had the BEST hot chocolate at this chocolatier place. I want to own one someday; I am dead serious. After that it was mid afternoon but we were both so exhausted, so Dana went back to the room to take a nap and I decided to go on a walk around even though I was tired. I love being on tours so much but I also really like spending time by myself, so I decided to just go to the Botanic Gardens (like every city in Australia and NZ has a Botanic Gardens - I think it is the best idea) and walk around and see where I ended up. I ended up being out there for at least an hour and a half, just walking around the lake and by the edge of the water. It was practically deserted in most places and it was probably one of the best walks I’ve ever had in my whole life. I kept looking out over the water and realizing how incredible it was that I was in this country in this place having this experience. All throughout the trip, no matter what I was doing, I knew that I was having experiences that I would probably remember forever, and that just really made me think about myself and my life in general. There is no better time for deep personal reflection than by a huge lake in New Zealand. :) I highly recommend it and guarantee you will discover something new about yourself.

That night, we went back in the hot tub again (so blissful!) and I got to help make dinner again as well. I decorated dessert cakes! YAY! Later in the evening, Scotty and Te had booked “Minus 5” for us, which is this bar where everything is made ENTIRELY OUT OF ICE. SO COOL. Literally. It was actually negative eight degrees when we went in. You are only allowed in there for half an hour because it’s so ridiculously cold. We had to put on boots and jackets and gloves, and then we got to go in! Except for the floor, literally everything was made out of ice - benches, sculptures, the bar itself, and even our glasses! It was such a unique experience and I absolutely LOVED it. We ended up going to several other places after that, too, so it was another late night, especially considering that we had to again get up at a heinously early hour the next morning. But it was totally worth it because I had SO much fun and got to meet even more random people! I love Kiwis - they are even friendlier than Australians, which I didn’t think was possible. They are just so easy to talk to and fun to hang out with.

---

---

---