best two weeks ever

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WOW!!!!!!! so i just got back from my epic two week roadtripping experience around the south island of NZ. dayum, i do NOT want to go back to school! all i want to do is travel, travel, travel!

alright sooooooo what all did i do in the past 14-ish days?

well, Malia, Elyse and i took our wonderful POS car, bluebird for a lil trip to explore more of the south island. our first destination=Lake Tekapo. i have never seen a lake so incredibly blue! it was breathtaking. apparently its due to some sediment that's a result of glacier melt. and there were trees growing in the water! that night we got drunk in our car and then went to an old people's bar because it looked like a hoppin club from the outside! but it was good fun anyways. it's so weird seeing oldies gettin freaky on the dance floor! haha. we really were the youngest people there. slept in good ol' bluebird and had a great breakfast while looking out on tekapo's beauty. then we were off again! we drove through lake pukaki and stopped at essentially the best thing ever- a free driver reviver pit stop where there was free food and coffe drinks and music! They're put on by state insurance all over the country from time to time because there are so many long stretches of road in this country. as we're pulling out of the parking lot, Elyse jumps out and is all excited about something. essentially, she got to sit in Burt Monrow's original motorcycle!! it doesnt mean too much to me because i've never heard the story before, but apparently he is a motorcycle legend, and is a pretty flippin big deal. i was really happy for her.
after a reallllllly long day of driving through beautiful valleys with some really crazy rocks jutting out of the sides of mountains, we finally arrived in beautiful Wanaka. this town is surrounded by lakes and is just so picturesque and cute. we just chilled by the lake, drank a lil, checked out a flea market, ate really delicious burgers, and chilled some more at a pub. that night, we decided to risk it by sleeping in bluebird in a pretty public parking lot. of course, we get woken up in the middle of the night by securtiy warning us that we'll get fined if the cops see us. so we move to the side of the highway outside of the town.
next day! we're off for a very epic tramp. we drove out to essentially the middle of nowhere, about an hour down an unpaved shitty road. right before reaching our destination, we stop the car to take pictures of sheep. btw, these are the LUCKIEST fuckin sheep in the entire world. they get to roam freely, no fences anywhere, and their home is one of the most beautiful, remote places i've ever seen. shit, this entire country is full of places like that. anyways, while we're stopped, smoke starts pouring out of our engine, and shit explodes and overheats. anti-bueno. thankfully, a nice german fellow named Sebastian came and explained to us that our radiator was kinda effed, so we waited for everything to cool, and then filled it up for water for a temporary fix. we finally reached the trail head, and tramped for about 4 hours. we saw glaciers, waterfalls, forests, a river, a beautiful valley, huge crazy rocks, and so many Kea! Kea are the only species of alpine parrots in the world, and they have incredibly vibrant feathers. i would have to say it was the best half day hike i've done here so far. afterwards, we ran into some pish posh group of middle-aged Kiwi couples, and they were absolutely hilarious, driving all the way out to the trail head in their fancy as Mercedes, simply to "go someplace nice," and expecting a fancy restraunt at the end of the road. hilar. so we drove back into Wanaka, having to pull over and let Bluebird cool down from time to time, so she wouldn't explode again.
then, off to Arrowtown we went! let's just say what should've been less than an hour drive took us nearly 3 hours, because we had to pull over about every ten minutes and let the car cool down for 15 minutes just so we could get there in one piece. at one point we flipped a coin to see if we should drive all the way there, or simply stop off in this tinyyyyyy town mid way. we decided to keep going. after what seemed like the most stressful drive of my life, traversing through mountains and sharp curves and bends, while in neutral, with no barriers on the roads, freaking if the car would overheat, we finally made it to our destination. as soon as we parked, i started drinking. we wandered over to the New Orleans hotel, which had a roaring fire, comfy couches, and great hospitality. we ate, drank some more, and passed out on the couches until they closed for the night. then we drove our baby Blue back out onto the highway, and slept for realz. the next day, we took her to a local mechanic, and he told us our radiator had cracked. he fixed her up realll good, at least temporarily. as she was getting fixed, we wandered around the town, i panned for gold (and failed), and reenacted Lord of the Rings scenes that had been shot there!! Arrowtown is a famous gold mining town here in NZ, and it's surrounded by the most beautiful forests, especially at this time of year, when all the trees are turning. i felt like we had been transported back into the 1800's. what a lazy day :-)
as the day dwindled down, we headed to Queenstown!! all i have to say is, wow. this place really does live up to its name-adventure capital of the world! if you want to do virtually any extreme sport, you can find it here. plus, its absolutely gorgeous!!!! honestly, if i had to make a comparison, it reminds me a lot of Lake Tahoe, except the mountains aren't covered in trees. After scrambling to find an actual place to stay, we checked into the Black Sheep Hostel. what a great place! after getting settled (aka getting trashed), we went out to Fergburger, which is the quintessential burger joint, especially when you have the drunchies. then, we were off to an ICE BAR!!! man, i've always wanted to go to one of those! i can finally say i have! it was quite tiny, and cost like 30 bucks to get in, but we got the most delicious free drinks mmm yummmm! not to mention i was so drunk that i totally (accidentally, i swear) wore the ugg boots that they give to everyone to wear inside cuz it's so cold, home. Almost back to the hostel, i drunkenly look down at my feet and yell out " you guys these arent my shoes!" the best part? my sandals were still in my bag!!! score! i guess i got my monies worth. good night.
next day, it's off to go luging!!! i dunno how the hell to actually spell it, but we took the city gondola up to the top of this mountain. from up there, we could see Queenstown, the lake, all the mountains, and well, just everything. we went for 5 rides on these lil man powered go karty things. suuuuuuper fun!!! basically, the entire time i thought i was living out Mario Kart. like, the song was playing over and over again in my head. we watched some people go bungy jumping, too. on and rode thingys that were just like ski lifts! after getting back to town, we got hella cheap pizza and played some pool. and then went back to the hostel to watch lord of the rings! and essentially pick out all of the places in the movie that we had already been to :-) i couldnt even sleep i was so excited for the following morning....
....... why might you ask? because i jumped off a cliff! into a canyon! twice!!!! at 830 am, i partook in the wonder that is the Queenstown canyon swing, which is a weird knock off of bungy jumping, but better. there are over 10 different ways you can jump to your death, and u get to choose which one you do. its a whole lotta freefall! my fist jump, i just ran and jumped off, kinda like a bungy. that wasnt so bad... the rush was absolutely amazing!!! but oh my goodness, my second time around, that was a whole nother story! i decided to do "the chair" which is where you strap yourself to a plastic lawn chair, and tilt yourself off the platform backwards into the canyon. the guys that work at the place are total assholes and really love to mess with everyone, so of course they did with me as well. well, they did an excellent job, because they made me cry!!! i had such a gnarly panic attack, omg! when they finally tilted me off, i screamed so loud that people sincerely were worried about me. by the time i was swinging at the bottom of the canyon, i was half laughing-half crying. btw, you can watch the video on facebook. boy, what a start to the morning! afterwards, we all went out to Sushi to celebrate conquering jumping off a cliff. afterwards, Malia and Elyse went on a horseback riding LOTR epic adeventure, while i went montain biking from Queenstown to Frankton along lake Waktipu. it took me a number of tries before i got a bike, but thankfully i got one. at the beginning of my ride I did a double take as i rode by two girls walking along the trail. guess what???? yup, another random encounter! it was Sophia and Crystal, two girls from EAP! later that night, they slept in our car, and they showed their graditude by giving us something special in return :-). Oh my goodness, how i had missed biking! it was a great, beautiful day. that night, we partook in a Pub Crawl. unfortunately, it wasnt all that great, as far as pub crawls go. basically, the only way you could get drunk was to buy your own drinks because we went to 8 bars, but stayed at each one for like an hour, and only got 6 free drinks. see, you're supposed to hit up bars for like, 20 minutes each MAX!!! oh well, it was still a gooood night.
the next day, it was finally time to say farewell to Queenstown, and head on down to Milford Sound and the Fiordlands!! it has been my mission to go there the entire time i've been here, as i wanted to make sure i saw the place my Mom so very badly wanted me to visit, for her :-) it's a national park, but its an entire area of NZ that has been relatively unexplored, and you really are out in the middle of nowhere. our first night we spent illegally parked in a car lot at the head of the Hollyford track. we were the only ones there, except for the one other man. as soon as we parked, he came up to the car and offered us tea. Malia and I, having faith in humanity, gladly accepted. we talked with him for a bit, and he told us all about his crazy backpacking experiences around the world. after he left, Elyse of course tells us we were just roofied and freaked us out. of course, we were fine, but its actually awesome that she thought of that so she could help us if the worst had happened. the net morning, we woke up to absolute beauty and serenity, in the midst of beech forest, rivers, glaciers, and mountains :-) we had a nice moring sesh ,made boooooomb breakfast, did a short hike up to an amaizingly tall waterfall, and then the first protion of the Hollyford track. if we had been more prepared, we would've done the entire thing, which takes 3 days to finish. it was a lovely tramp, with vistas abound. we headed out to Milford afterwards, and stopped to get water from this little shop along the way. the dumb bitch of a lady running the place flippin wrote down our liscense plate numbers!!! for "stealing" water! from a bathroom. jesus.... whatever lady. who knows what the point was. that night we camped at an actual campsite, worried the cops were after us or something, and met up with these guys we had met the day before at the waterfall. basically, we continued to run into them another 4 or 5 times before we finally parted ways. it was funny, because they had also met the man who gave us tea, as he had been staying at the campsite and he had given them a sausage. small world, eh? that next morning we were scheduled to go kayaking in the sound for the day but our trip was canceled because the weather was getting epically stormy. so what better to explore the sound by boat in the midst of pouring rain and gnarly winds? so yeah, we did the boat route instead, and road all the way out to the Tasman Sea, while passing by moutains jutting straight out of the sea, covered in mist and fog, while standing at the front of a ship face to face with all the elements. so epic. later that day we chilled out at a pub, played pool, ate a delicious meal as we watched the sound get trashed by waves, rain, and wind. mother nature is quite the powerful force. oh and Elyse and i had an incredibly intense connect 4 tournament. hahaha it was soooo funny! it was surprisingly peaceful. that night, we illegally camped again, in some random ass spot towards the end of the park.
next morning, we headed down to Invercargill to pick up supplies to go camping/tramping on Steward Island for 3 days! racing, running out of time, we got everything together and headed down to Bluff, the southernmost town on the mainland of NZ. we hopped on a ferry, crossed the Foveaux straight, one of the most turbulent bodies of water in the world, and arrived at our destination. Stewart Island is descibed as the galapagos of the far south, as its a island full of endemic native birds, including the infamous Kiwi!!! goodness, the place is paradise. the first night we had no other choice but to pay a henious 15 dollars a piece to camp on the front lawn of a backpackers hostel run by a lady who seriously needs to get laid, next to these weirdo German guys with guns who were creepily looking at us. haha. the next morning we decided to be badasses (aka idiots) and brace the crazy forecasted weather and do a 3 day tramp around the island. the first day wasn't all that bad, other than the fact that the trail was SOOO muddy, it was ridiculous. after a while, we all stopped caring and just decided to say fuck it, and stopped trying to avoid getting our boots wet. after 5 hours, we got to our hut for the night. it was full of fun people from all over the world, and we just chilled, ate, and gave each other massages. the next morning, things got a lot worse. we woke up to pouring rain, high winds, and even more mud than before. after a couple hours of debating, we finally decided to brace nature once again, and did a 6 hour tramp. after a while, i was hiking alone, as apparently i am a slow hiker. oh well. i got a little worried a few times, but overall it was quite the experience. i got exceedingly frustrated at some points, as i kept slipping into mud, climbing through entanglements of tree roots up and down steep hills, but boy, was it worth it in the end! like, wow, the world rewarded us at the end of our day. the hike ended as we crossed a swing bridge onto a lovely private beach, and the sun finally came out and was shining ever so brightly! i was so freakin happy i was jumping around with my giant turtle pack and lame poncho on singing, as i had gone a bit half crazy all day :-). we set up camp and just enjoyed our scenery. unfortunately, the good weather only lasted for so long, and rain returned. that night, with our summetime children's play tent for 2, a tarp, and only 2 sleeping bags, the 3 of us faced a crazy intense storm. we turned the sleeping bags into a giant blanket, and spooned all night long to keep warm. none of us really got any sleep, but we told lots of good stories with the occasional "we're gonna die!!!!" thrown in the mix. good stuff!!!! that morning, half asleep and exhausted, we were happy to find that the rain had stopped again, and we did the last leg of our hike, which was only about 2 hours. wow!!!! the rest of the way we walked along gorgeous beaches with fantastic views of the ocean and outlying islands. we couldn't of asked for a better way to end our crazy adventure. not to mention, the didnt have to walk the last 3 km of it, as we got the brilliant idea to hitch hike back to the town once we reached a road again, and it actually worked!!! these nice construction guys pulled over with their pick up and let us jump on board. thanks guys!!! we got back and went to this adorable cafe and ate what felt like the most rewarding meal of my life. the lady that runs the place was super cool... shes originally from the states, came to NZ to get her phD and did research on Stewart Island, fell in love, and decided to give up what she so long thought was her dream job to just open a cafe instead. and ever since, she's been running the whole thing totally on her own, works for 6 months of the year, and then takes 6 months to travel every year. sounds like my kinda life !!!!!! god, there are so many great people in the world :-) later, we got back onto the ferry, said goodbye to paradise, and returned to the mainland. this time around, with all the stormy weather, that boat ride was crazy!!! the waves were HUGE. oh and i forgot to mention, but we ran into our friend from Lincoln, Tri, on the ferry! and omg he's way crazier than we are!!! he hiked totally alone for 6 days in that weather! yeah, go Tri!!! you rock!! that night we headed back up north to stop in Dunedin for a couple of days before heading home.
That night we stayed with the absolutely amazing Marguerite Leoni, one of the sweetest girls i've ever met in my life :-) Malia and I know her from EAP, so she took us in to her flat and let us sleep in her bed! all of her flatmates were also awesome, and we had such a great time there. she showed us around Dunedin, the Scottish capital of NZ! of course, i was thinking a whole lot about Marshall, his mom, and Scotland. we got dank smoothies, checked out the town, the Cadberry factory, the university, and had a hella cheap lunch made by members of the Hare Krishna. later on, we drove out along the Otago Pennisula to see some penguins. unfortunately, we didnt spot any, but we did see some seals and other crazy exotic birds, not the mention all the beautiful scenery. the drive was fantastic but also kinda scary because you're literally driving right along the water, and there is no barrier. one wrong move and BAM you're driving into the ocean. that night, we cooked a great dinner, baked 7 layer bars, and had a LOTR party of sorts. it was so nice to be hanging out with so many wonderful people!!! the following morning, we went to the weekly farmers market. again, i was reminded of all the lovely times i've spent at Berkeley's farmers market. honestly though, i think Dunedin's is even better. i bought cheese curds, bratwursts, raspberry juice, and Green Man Beer!!!!!!!! wow, i dont even like beer, but this one is great. i will admit, i was won over when i found out it was brewed down the street, is organic, and the company reuses its bottles. plus, it actually tastes good! i had to buy a case. again, we had a random encounter! two, actually, as we ran into multiple people from Lincoln. i love this country, you can seriously run into people in the most unexpected places because its so damm tiny! le sigh.... we finally had to depart Marguerite's lovely flat and say our goodbyes. seriously, we all felt like family after only 2 nights. so great. on our way home we stopped by what is supposedly the steepest street in the world, and the Omaru boulders. i swear there are steeper streets in San Francisco, but i could be wrong. who knows. and my goodness the boulders were so unique and beautiful!!! oh, how i missed just frolicking along the beach.
our on home stretch, of course our tire pops. its all good though, because we're big girls and changed our own tire!!! haha, sad, i know. but still! we were proud of ourselves. then we took it in to a local Goodyear and had a new one put on, an the guys working there were all kickin back, drinkin, and offered for us to join. ohhhhh goodness. what better way to end a vacation? hahaha. yeah, we cordially declined, we wanted to get home! ok well Malia and Elyse did, i was pretty content with never going back.
well, back we went. we finally arrived at our starting point, Lincoln Uni. man, what an amazing two weeks. like, wow. i feel like i've used all of these adjectives way too much, but really, thats the only way i can describe it. man, i wish i didn't have to go to school here, but just travel. it's all good though. it's still so weird to think that i LIVE in New Zealand, and not just simply visiting. like, i know how to get around, and am familiar with it. i don't think the thought will really sink in with me until i'm finally leaving this country just how incredibly unique this oppurtunity is, and how lucky i am to be living the life that i am right now. I.LOVE.NEW.ZEALAND. !!!!!! thanks for reading!!! sorry i suck at life and it'd taken me weeks to write about all this!!!!! <3 y'all!

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