I came to Greyhouse to do my Bio homework. But with the sudden realization that this day marks my one year “anniversary” of landing in New Zealand, too many feelings and emotions have arisen that I must get out. In my head, I had until tomorrow (the 13th) to ruminate over this occasion. But in Christchurch it IS the 13th! (Thank you, Emily, for reminding me of this.) While my NZ friends posts have all addressed this one-year anniversary over facebook (as everyones date is different)… I have tried not to linger too long over it. My attempts are failing right now.
I am part sad… but part joyful. Joyful in that I realize the immense blessing those 5 months were. There is one thing that I cannot stop thinking about. About two weeks before I left, I had a small breakdown. One of those twenty-year-old-sobbing-to-their-mother kind of breakdowns. I knew New Zealand had so much to offer. I was excited about the possibilities. But I was so scared I would have no one to share them with. A journey is not measured in miles, but in friends. Sure, I could experience a ton of magnificently gorgeous places, but I knew if it was with a bunch of strangers, it would not be the same. So yes, I reverted to a slightly junior-high mindset asking my mother what would happen if I didn’t make any friends. Boy, it’s so funny, ironic, etc. to look back at that night. My prayers were more than answered.
Emily and Jon were my flatmates in Sydney for a week. Since they were also going on to Canterbury, I thought it was so great that I would at least know a couple faces once I got to Christchurch. Emily was so bubbly and full of energy, the first time I met her she gave me tons of Australian candy (helloooo violet crumbles, how did she know the way to my heart?). Jon was chill and cool and he showed me how to get around Sydney. We took surfing lessons together and got to watch Avatar on the largest IMAX in the world ha. But I had no idea if I’d ever run into these people again.
I landed in Christchurch I believe around 3pm in the afternoon. It was a chilly summer day. Someone told me the air smells different in NZ. It really does… it’s.. pure. Well when I first got to Uni, checked into my flat, one of the first things I did was set up my internet (duh haha- with the last ethernet cord available, I might say). Lo and behold, I had a facebook message from Emily. We just happened to be in the same building (P, represent). She ended up inviting me up to her flat for dinner. Without her, who knows what I would have done! She had already hit up Pak’n'Save and had food to share. One of her first of many gracious acts of generosity. She informed me that our friend Jon was in the building… right next to us. He invited us over to O107.
Little did I know that first night I ventured in the sliding glass door of O107, the many nights I would end up spending there. Little did I know that the people I would meet there that night I would share the next 5 months of my life with. They would be with me sharing the experience of my first summit, volcano, glacier, penguins, cricket+rugby games, etc. They would also see me at my not-so-best (I’m tellin ya, as much as I love it, traveling sometimes brought out the worst in me) and still love me the same.
First impressions are funny… the most amusing to me is that of Damon. Liz was Jon’s roommate and Liz’s friends Nicole and Damon came over since they were in the same Study Abroad group. Damon mentioned he was in a fraternity back home. This is terrible, but I have a bad stereotype of a typical frat boy. So, I took Damon’s quiet humor as arrogance. Psh, oh how wrong I was. I came to know him better and now he is seriously one of the most thoughtful, considerate men I know! I had better instinct with Nicole… I saw how fun-loving she was right away. I remember telling her she looks like the actress from Swimfan. I hope Liz is not offended when I say I don’t remember my very first impression of her… it just means that it was a good one. Little did she know she’d become one of my favorite redheads.
I shared my journey with other unmentioned precious people. You are not un-thought of. But that first night set the stage for the rest of time there. I literally thank God for all of you. New Zealand would never have been the same without you.
Over New Years, I was able to reunite with some of these people. Liz, Damon, and I drove up to Boston to meet up with Emily, Alexis, and Geoff. Hmm, we’ve never see each other outside of NZ. What if it’s not the same…Okay I really wasn’t worried about that at all, but it could have been a valid concern. What a sweet reunion it was. I hope there are more to come.
This is in no way a concluding summary of my time in NZ. Just an homage to the blessing of friends.
p.s. I must admit… this whole time my blog has been a sham. The header picture is actually of the Blue Grotto in Italy. I always meant to change it to a picture of NZ, but I loved it too much. Ha.
The first day of my last year of undergrad. Let’s just say… when will I ever have time to blog about the North Island!? The GRE is screaming at me, clinical observation hours are looming, etc. etc. ha. I wrote this about Queenstown throughout the week last week and now I feel like it’s not that interesting. But I’ll try to spice it up with pictures. P.s. don’t let the end freak you out. Hitchhiking is super common in N Zed!
The day we came down from Mueller Hut was April 15th- Liz’s 21st birthday! Liz and Damon drove down from Chch to meet us in Queenstown and Nicole, who was traveling with her aunt, also happened to be there! We were all reunited.
And starving. First stop= FERGBURGER. Awww to remember my first Fergburger…Tropical swine! Real food already tastes 10x better after tramping…even better when it’s a Ferg. I think I’ve already described the amazingness that is Fergburger in another post, so I’ll refrain from expounding too much.
We then went to a couple places to celebrate Liz’s birthday, the last of which was called Winnie’s that had a retractable roof!! So cool to look up and see the stars. That night we camped next to some cows and a little lake. It was pretty chilly down in QT, so I was all bundled up in my mummy sleeping bag with all the strings pulled tight. Apparently too tight. In the middle of the night, I wake up Liz and Damon with a bloodcurdling scream. I was murmering something but all I remember is Liz’s soothing voice saying “It’s okay, we’re getting you out” as they begun to tug on all my strings to unzip my sleeping bag. I fell back asleep right away and realized when I woke up that I had a dream about being buried alive… lol. My sleeping bag= the dirt in my mind. Hence the freakout.
Sad to say now, we didn’t do much in Queenstown. Even though it’s the adventure capital of the world. But you know that’s okay. It was cold. We were tired. Somehow I ended up in Starbucks in the morning waiting for Liz and Damon when a guy in front of me asks if I’m Canadian. Besides my lack of a NZ accent, I just happened to be wearing socks with my Birkenstocks. Apparently, socks and sandals is a Canadian thing, eh? He was Canadian, so he should know! We walked around some of the shops the rest of the morning- it’s kind’ve reminscent of a cute little ski town next to a lake I’d say and then Liz and I couldn’t leave without another Fergburger for lunch. Or two. We split Bambi and Southern Swine! We made fun of everyone else for going to Subway. P.s. there are a lot of Subway in N-Zed. Then, we sadly split ways. Emily stayed with the boys for their South Island Road Trip and Liz, Damon, and I ventured back to Chch to get ready for the NORTH ISLAND…
We had a wonderful drive back to the Ch-squared. Our one-way rental was upgraded to a really nice SUV. We saw the River Anduin from LOTR. We got an amazingly clear view of Mt. Cook from Lake Pukaki. and we picked up our first (and last) hitch-hiker!
Kawarau River a.k.a where they canoe past the huge pillars of the kings!!
Seriously. Can you get a better view of Aoraki than that!?
Yep, same blue lake. I know, I’m obsessed. Hi, Liz.
Sorry, no picture of the hitch hiker. That would have been weird. But this is taken from the car on the way back.
I thought I would get all my blogging done before August began… but that obviously did not happen. I have been too busy enjoying the rest of my summer! School starts in a week… and I’m not sure I even wanna think about that…
After Otehake Hot Springs, the real first South Island Road trip began. The triumvirate reunited (being Stephen, Jon, and Geoff) plus Emily and I piled cosily into Blue. On our way down to Aoraki/Mt. Cook! Unfortunately, the weather was not being kind that day. My first views of Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo were filled with raindrops but you could still see what an amazing blue color they were.
When we got to the visitor centre at Mt. Cook, there just happened to be a severe weather warning… the lady at the desk basically made it sound like we were taking our lives into our own hands if we decided to hike up that day. We almost went. I was pretty happy when we decided not to. But I bought rain pants there anyway! So we decided to explore the Mt. Cook area as much as we could in the rain and walked around the Tasman Glacier. The rain ended up stopping, so we actually went back to the visitors centre and tried to catch a better view of Mt. Cook. The tip of it was still covered in clouds but I remember how excited Jon was just to see it (I mean everyone else was excited too, but he was more excited that usual… it was fun to see him all giddy lol). That night we just had a relaxing night trying to keep dry, playing cards, and Geoff still trying to scare Emily after he was so successful at Otehake! We woke up to a non-rainy morning…woo hoo.
Now, let the climb begin to Mueller Hut! I was nervous about this one. I knew it was supposed to be harder than Avalanche Peake. You basically climb stairs for a couple hours and then have to scramble up some loose rocks to the top! So yeah, it was no cake walk for me. My gluteus maximus was screaming at me to stop. When we were nearing the top, Stephen being the nice guy he is stayed with me and just talked to make sure I didn’t stop lol. Otherwise, he would have been literally running up the side of the mountain I’m sure. I told him I couldn’t talk back because I was trying to breathe and he just kept goin! It was definitely helpful. Anddd….
The views were so worth it.Mt. Cook and the Tasman Glacier are behind me in this one!
It was soooo windy at the top!!!
We even got to see and hear an avalanche!!
Ahh I miss these guys!
Then. It was about a 20 minute walk across the windy ridgeline to make it here…
My parents asked what the little red thing was… that was the outhouse
Mueller Hut can sleep up to 30 people and when we got there, there were just a couple Germans (of course) and 2 other American who were studying in Auckland. I was disappointed to find out that there was noooo heating device in this cold hut. Guess they don’t feel like helicoptering up wood… but there were built in gas stoves which was nice. When we got settled in ready to play a game of Hearts, the weather started to pick up again. It got colder and the rain/sleet/snow began! A couple hours later, two guys from Israel walked in looking a bit like wet icicles. The wind got so bad you could feel it shake the hut during a big gust. and the noise from the wind sounded like children screaming outside. This made walking to our hut toilet verrrry interesting. Now the boys just ran outside underneath the deck, you know because they can do that. Emily and I had to prepare for battle to go out there. All layers possible, check. Hat and gloves, check. Headlamp, check. Then unlatch the ginormous, heavy door to the hut and run as fast as you can! Okay, so I admit, it was kinda fun- definitely the most adventurous time I’ve had going to the bathroom!
At night, they radio in the weather from down below. It was not looking too good for the next day- 90 km/hr winds and freezing temps. So when we woke up the next morning, we hung out in the hut still wrapped in our sleeping bags trying to wait it out. The boys actually played an interesting game of poker with puzzle pieces… losers had to stand outside. hahhaa. But we finally just decided to go. The wind was almost knocking us down. It was intense. anddd I thought this was pretty fun too. Except Jon lost his orange pack-cover. As soon as we got past the ridgeline and started going down the rocks, the wind noticeably died down. Then it was just flying down some stairs the rest of the way down! It was still raining though, so it was a bit slippery and I think we all slipped at one point. It only took us an hour and a half to get down. I think we were all motivated by the idea of getting warm and dry.
Remember that blue, cloudy lake in the beginning? We got a better view on the way out…
It has almost been a month since I have been home from New Zealand. The farther away it becomes, the more dreamlike it seems. July has absolutely flown by with readjusting back to my full-time job and my sister’s (wonderful) wedding. But I am back to blogging because I must tell you all about the rest of my April break!! Let’s recap: University of Canterbury has an amazing 3-week break in the middle of the semester, which makes our spring break look like nothing.The first week we spent up at the top of the South Island in Abel Tasman National Park seeing a lot of beautiful coastlines. From here on out I remember it being a bit difficult to coordinate everyone’s trip. Some people had field trips for their Biology classes. Some people didn’t want to go to the North Island, etc. etc. But it all worked out in the end, as things really always do!
After a day of recovering from our first week of travels, Emily, Jon, Geoff, and I took the boys’ beloved blue car to Arthur’s Pass to hike to Otehake Hot Springs. To be honest, this was a frustrating trip. Of course looking back, it’s just funny! But a combination of disorganization, not leaving on time, and me-having-an-attitude-problem equaled me being a flustered tramper. So due to some miscommunication, we left late and did not arrive to Arthur’s Pass till one or two oclock (and Arthur’s pass is not far away, only a couple hours…). It’s a 5-hour hike to the Hot Springs and the sun was starting to go down at 6 or 7 at that time so this meant we were cutting it pretty close. We actually parked the car in a farmer’s backyard because the people at the visitor center said the car park gets vandalized a lot. We had to pass some smelly cows to get on our way (it’s pretty amusing seeing cows roam through these rocky streams with a gorgeous scenic backdrop behind them… don’t know why, but it is!) and we came to the first stream able to go through it pretty well by just stepping on some rocks. Next stream was a bit deeper… so you have to make the decision whether or not to take off your shoes so they don’t get wet hoping there are not any more crossings… I think we took them off once (which wastes a lot of time if you do it every time) and then by the next stream realized we might as well get wet! I think at the next crossing the water was maybe up to mid-calf range. I thought this was cold. Boy was I in for a treat the next day haha. So a couple hours into our hike… to make it short, we basically realized we are sorta kinda lost. We all missed an obvious 90-degree turn that was marked with a sign. We all saw the sign. and we all thought it did not apply to us. Oh man lol. So we lost about an hour and a half of our precious time back-tracking to this sign. Despite our push to go faster, it was starting to become apparent we would not make it to the campsite in time. It was pretty dark when we got to a lake that on the map looked to be about an hour away from where we wanted to be. All the time before we got to the lake, we were already trying to find a clearing we could set up our tents in, but the forest was pretty dense and there was just nowhere. Thankfully, there was a little clearing off the trail right next to the lake. We noted this spot, and actually tried to go on a bit farther in the dark but as soon as we lost sight of the orange path markers in the dark, we went back. So we weren’t able to spend the night at an actual camp site with nature’s built-in hot tubs right beside us… but it made for an adventure. And look what we got to wake up to…
There was a mist rising over the lake in the morning. It was very pretty. I will also always remember camping that night at the lake as Geoff was trying to freak out Emily by telling her the farmer was really a serial killer and scaring her with loud noises. I think I was a bit annoyed since I wanted to sleep but I also secretly thought it was pretty funny. Oddly enough, we heard the noise of a helicopter going over head… of course Geoff told Emily this was the NZ police searching for the fugitive. Okay, that finally freaked me out a little. Why would there be a helicopter out in the middle of nowhere late at night? Anyyyyway, I think Emily really did have trouble sleeping that night lol.
The next day back on our way to the Hot Springs! With how the path was, I think it was very wise that we decided not to hike in the dark! Once we got to the river that the Hot Springs was next to, we ran into another hiker who told us they were about another 30 minutes down the river. He was wearing waders for good reason. We had to go back and forth through the river a couple times and it was coooolllddddd. I’ll admit it, I’m pretty much a wimp when it comes to cold water. One of the crossings was all the way up to our waists… and I was freaking out the whole time I was in the water lol. Geoff pretended to freak out to, but of course he was just being funny lol. Although the cold water was a beautiful blue color… I have named it the pool of death.
So we kept going down the river and I was a little worried as to why definitely more than 30 minutes had passed and no hot springs… there is no sign or anything you just know they are there when you smell the sulfur! Oh why oh why do we worry so much as humans (I know it’s not justtt me). We almost turned back. But thank goodness we didn’t. They were only 5 minutes away! There were three different pools all clustered together in an area that was to the left of the river, each with different temperatures but all HOT!!! Jon, being the Montana river guide that he is (okay, sorry, that’s actually an inside joke about him being a river guide but he is from Montana!), had experienced hot pools before but this was a completely new experience for me. and they were AWESOME. I mean I’m already a huge hot bath/spa/hot tub fan. I get excited about going in those. So put a naturally heated pool of water surrounded by rocks and mountains in the middle of the most beautiful country in the world and my excitement level goes up a bit! The pools were so relaxing and felt especially great after having been in that cold river water. Poor Geoff had been hiking on a bum knee the whole time so we were hoping the pools would also have healing powers haha.
Unfortunately, we could only spend about an hour in there since we had to leave time to hike back, but it sure was a wonderful hour. We had some nice views on the way back too…
So this particular trip didn’t go exactly as planned. That’s life. And in the end, all I have are good, fun memories of it.
You know, I wouldn’t mind getting lost in New Zealand right about now…
Okay, I swear this will be my last post on our South Island Roadtrip
On Wednesday the 9th, we made our way from Invercargill to the beautiful land of the Catlins. We spent the whole day driving along the coast and through forests, stopping at as many beautiful/interesting sights as possible.
First stop: Waipapa Point.
Waipapa Point is the location of the worst civilian shipwreck in NZ in 1881 where 131 people died as their steamship was sunk by the treacherous reef. Sooo then they built a lighthouse! It was a beautiful spot and I remember the waves being huge there too. It was also where we saw a New Zealand Sea Lion!
This wasn’t just any sea lion, it’s one of the rarest in the world. He actually slid his way up the path from the beach right in front of us, as if he were claiming his territory. So we backed away, but not so far that we couldn’t get a picture. They look like pretty harmless being all fat and blubbery, but like seals, they can be dangerous if you get in their way.
Next stop: Slope Point!
Now the big fancy sign was located at Bluff, but it’s not actually the southernmost point- Slope Point holds that honor (by an extra 7km). We actually had to drive down this gravel road and then walk through the pasture of a sheep farm to get there. It kinda felt like we were at the edge of the world standing up there near the cliff’s edge.
Making our way through the rolling hills and windy roads, we then stopped at Porpoise Bay to eat some lunch on the beach. During the summer months, Hector’s dolphins will actually swim in the surf close to shore. We talked to the lady at the camp store there who said we probably wouldn’t see any penguins at Curio Bay (which was right near Porpoise Bay), but that there was a good chance at the Nugget Point lookout. So we skipped Curio Bay (later found out one of our friends we met saw a penguin up close that day! darn.). We made a quick stop at Florence Hill Lookout, since it was right off the side of the road. It was basically just a pretty view of the ocean and surrounding cliff, but while we were there an old man came up and started talking to us. It turns out he was the owner of the farmland surrounding the lookout and he pointed out the location of the “Spouting Cave”sign. There was a sign for this cave, but (like most visitors apparently) I don’t think any of us had any clue where it was pointing to- there didn’t seem to be a cave in the area around it. Turns out the sign is pointing out to the ocean, where a cave in a “sea island” spouts out water any time a wave hits.
Then, we stopped for a short walk to the Purakaunui Falls!
and then drove to our final stop at Nugget Point! You drive up a windy gravel road to get to the walkway up to the lighthouse. But before the walkway, there is Roaring Bay- the penguin lookout! We basically ran down the path to get to the hideout to view the penguins (there is actually a little shelter with windows that you go in to watch them so you don’t scare them away!). And I don’t remember how long we waited- but no penguins. So we decided to go up to the lighthouse and then come back for another look!
So the area around the lighthouse was beautiful. There was a sea mist rising through the light of the setting sun which was just so cool.
But we all were just dying to see penguins!! Back to Roaring Bay. We made our way down the path and stopped about halfway to see if it was worth going the rest of the way down… at this point we almost turned back. But then I barely saw this little blob of black and white in the grass near the shore. Commence the running. There was one penguin just chilling out. Then, we see another penguin coming in from the ocean. We got to watch it waddle ashore and then hop its way up the rocks. Then, ANOTHER waddle and hop show from another penguin. Then, we start to spot some out in the water and see them ride the waves in. THREE waddle in together. As this is happening, the first penguin is starting to make its way up the hill (I assume their nest was somewhere up there). In the end, we saw about 10 penguins. I was soooo excited.
The penguins are Yellow-eyed Penguins, which are also some of the rarest penguins species in the world!
While we were in the Catlins, we kept running into the same people at all the stops. One of them was a guy that we assumed was German (I mean every other guy we had met was…) but it turns out he was from the Netherlands. His name was Diederik (not deed-rik, deed-a-rik!) and we all stayed in the same hostel that night in Kaka Point. It was called Fernlea Backpackers and was just a little house perched on a hilltop overlooking the ocean. There was noone else there that night, so we basically had a beach house all to ourselves! Pretty awesome. That night he taught us a game called BOONANZA. which is a game about trading BOONS. aka in English- beans. The different types of “boons” translate to points, so the person with the most points wins in the end (I think Nicole won that one). So I learned some Dutch names of beans that night. Like blauweboon and snijboon. Infact, as I was watching the Netherlands beat Brazil today, the word snijboon kept coming to mind since one of their players was named Sneijder haha.
The next morning we got up to watch the sunset from the beach. It was cold, so we did not stay out there very long! Then we were on our way to Dunedin, which was about 1.5 hours away. Once we got there, we ventured out to the Otago Peninsula. Grace and Nicole did not appreciate the windy coastal road out there as they both get motion sick, but at the end there is an Albatross Colony! Though you had to pay a sum of money we were not willing to pay to actually see the colony. But we saw one fly over at the lookout, so that was enough.It was at this place that my fall occurred.
I have a penchant towards running towards things that I’m excited for (like penguins). Well I was excited for the lookout (and to be out of the car), and i notice that the pathway down to the lookout is muddy and wet- so I decide to just walk down the grassy slope. I start running down the grassy slope and then realize it also is wet and slippery! I start doing a 1-2-3 slide with my feet long enough to realize I’m going down. But I didn’t just fall down, I slid down. When I got up, I was covered in mud. My hands, my jacket arm, my pants. hahaha okay it was pretty funny. Nicole was right behind me laughing too. And just as I did this, a group of schoolkids was walking by! The teacher even said “Now kids, this is why we don’t run down the hill.” hahaha. Then, it wasn’t as funny as I realized how miserable the mud felt. So I got to change and wash up in the musuem’s bathroom and all was well. We then drove back to the city and checked into our hostel- Hogwartz! Too bad I’m not a Harry Potter fan. This was our first hostel where we actually had to share our room with other people- we had been so spoiled so far on the trip. We of course met another German boy named Felix. and we also met up with Diederik that night to go on the Speights Brewery tour and then out for dinner.
Our last day of the roadtrip ended up being an interesting one. We stoppd at Moeraki Boulders on the way home, which as I’ve mentioned before, I loved seeing those things.When we stopped for gas next, I went to get out my wallet… and could not find it. I then realized that I had taken it in with me to the bathroom at our last bathroom stop and was pretty sure I had left it there. It was a very small blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town that we had stopped at, but I remembered there was a tavern right next to the public bathroom. So I called the information number and got the number for the tavern. They kindly offered to run over to the bathrooms and check if it was still there. I had to tell them “uh it was actually in the men’s bathroom” as it had been empty and I didn’t feel like waiting for the women’s lol. But it was not there. So I called the Hampden police and left a message with the “constable.” I was pretty upset at the possible consequences of this, but Grace and Nicole did a good job of assuring me that it would all turn out okay. Lo and behold, a couple hours after we get home I happened to check my UC campus email (which is a rare occurrence) and I see an email with the subject of “wallet.” It was from an Australian traveler who found my wallet and since they were COMING TO CHRISTCHURCH, just brought it with them since they saw my UC student ID. I was so relieved. I was able to pick it up from their hotel the next morning.
So we ended up having an absolutely wonderful road trip. I had been feeling before that I had not seen enough of the South Island… and the roadtrip cured that feeling. I got to see some rare New Zealand wildlife and we were blessed with some great weather. and we just had a great time together driving through that amazing landscape!
It is good to think back on these awesome times that I had in NZ- I look back at the pictures and it feels more like a dream than that I was actually there. We have had absolutely PERFECT summer weather here in Indiana, which has really helped my adjustment. I haven’t had terrible jet lag, but more than I expected! I didn’t have any trouble adjusting to South Pacific time, but adjusting back is not as easy…
I’m glad I never lived next to the water
So I could never get used to the beach,
And I’m glad I never grew up on a mountain
To figure out how high the world could reach.
“Indiana” by Jon McLaughlin
I am no longer in New Zealand, but not quite yet to Indiana. Right now I am sitting in the Starbucks of the Phoenix airport, waiting for my flight to Indy (sounds pretty American, right?). Leaving New Zealand was about 100x harder than I ever expected. Yes, I was sad to know there would be no more NZ adventures and NZ road trips and the innumerable other things I love about the country… but the hardest part was leaving the people I had those adventures with. The weekends and the breaks were filled with seeing the rest of NZ, but really the majority of my time here was during the week: going to classes with, hanging out at Ilam with, going into Christchurch with… these friends. Its been observed that we’re a pretty close-knit bunch. This is not the end of our friendship, by any means. But this chapter of our lives is closing- a chapter we all shared together. And since our locations span from Boston to Vancouver… it’s not exactly known when we’ll all be together again. So yeah- it was hard. There were tears. My flatmate Saad kindly drove me and my numerous pieces of heavy luggage to the airport and I kept choking up in the car on the way over, poor guy. So for now- I will hold onto the memories and be thankful that God put these people in my lifffffeeeee!
My layover in Phoenix went by super quick because I uploaded some of my last New Zealand pics on F-book (oh how I love free wireless). So I am now finishing this post on the plane…
My last two weeks in New Zealand are a bit of a blur. The first week of finals (after getting back from our South Island Road Trip) I didn’t have any finals! But a lot of my friends did. So I studied ahead the whole week, right? Haha nooot exactly. A lot of congregating. Pizza at Yellow Cross on Monday. We went ice skating at a rink in Chch! We ended up having the whole rink to ourselves which meant an ice skating game of TAG. and a game of how-far-can-you-slide-on-the-ice-after-skating-really-fast. Instead of sliding, I participated as a judge, which saved me a lot of bruises and soreness haha.
That week I watched a lot of World Cup games with Damon too! The South African time difference was not working in our favour, but that did not deter us. The games were either at 11:30p, 2a, or 6:30a. It was so fun rooting on the All Whites. We went to the “New Common Room,” which is just a general gathering area for everyone in Ilam with a huge projector screen to watch from the couches. NZ is not known for its futbol. They were ranked 78th in the world when they surprisingly qualified for the World Cup and hadn’t been there for the past 28 years. They definitely carried underdog status. Although they did not advance past the group round, I thought they did awesome! They tied every game, even with the 5th ranked Italians. I actually ended up watching more of the NZ games than the U.S. games. and I think I now know more Kiwi players’ names. Ryan Nelsen is their captain and is amazing. You can’t get much past him. Winston Reid gained instant fame by scoring their first goal (in the 93rd minute of the game!) and thereby tying the game and scoring NZ’s first point earned in the World Cup. There was one guy with curly, balding hair that we called Bozo. I guess I don’t actually know his name, but I definitely always commented about how he needed a haircut. Then, there’s the other curly haired guy we called cute-hair boy (not Damon’s choice of words haha). Killen. Smeltz. poor Rory Fallon. Anyway, similar to the U.S. situation, I think this World Cup did a lot to help the sport of soccer in their country. After they tied with Italy, I saw a Tui billboard from the bus commenting on this… Tui is a type of beer known for it’s advertisements that are made up of a sarcastic comment ending with “Yeah Right.” This particular ad stated: 78th in the world. Yeah Right. I liked it . Liz saw one after the first draw with Slovenia stating: Australasia 1, Slovakia 1. Yeah Right. … commenting on Australia’s view of their part in the “victory” as stated in an Australian newspaper. But yeah, it was also cool watching the World Cup there because Ilam has such a diverse population that there’s a good chance whatever team you’re watching, there’s a lot of people from that country watching it too!
That weekend on Saturday the 19th we piled into a rental van and made our way down to Dunedin for the All Blacks game. I didn’t know it then, but it would be my last driving view of the green hills and snowy mountains. Sigh. We stopped at Moeraki Boulders again, since most of the people in the van hadn’t been there. I was glad to get to see them again though, because I think they are so interesting lol.
Dunedin was a busy place. We stopped for dinner at Velvet Burger, which to some people rivals Fergburger. It was very good- but Fergburger remains burger champion in my mind. You know it’s funny- I ended up having a lot of fabulous pizza and amazing hamburgers in NZ.We also did a pseudo-celebration of Jon and Stephen’s birthday. But it wasn’t actually their birthday. They do share the same birthday on July 31st. In the beginning of their time here, they decided it wasn’t fair that we got to celebrate everyone else’s birthday here but theirs. So they changed their birthday to June 19th. They even changed it on Facebook. At first, they had me fooled. “I coulda sworn your birthday was in July…” But I figured out their scheme. Or maybe Emily told me. lol.
The ALL BLACKS game was great. The stadium was packed as I thought. It was actually Carisbrook Stadium’s last game since they are building a new one! I thought that was fitting, since it was also nearing the end of our trip. Moreso than actually watching the rugby part of the game, I was most looking forward to seeing the All blacks perform the HAKA! The haka is usually explained as a Maori war dance that was performed to prepare for battle. As I learned in my Maori Society class, there are many different types of hakas and the haka the All Blacks perform is the type that pertains to war. So, basically, haka is more of an umbrella term rather than specifically a war dance. The haka that is usually performed is called “Ka Mate” which means “Tis Death.” There’s a long story from Maori oral tradition that you can look up to explain that one haha. They also had a haka written specifically for them recently called “Kapa O Panga,” which is what they performed that night. I love watching the haka… I can just feel the energy. and plus I love warriors. haha.
I took a video of the haka with my camera, but this is a much better view…
All of Dunedin’s accommodation was booked. Considering this and the fact that we would save money by only renting the van for a day, we drove home that night. Damon drove us late into the night. The rest of the boys were being shenanigous in the back. Shenanigous= performing shenanigans?
The next day marked my first last. It was our last Sunday going to Campus Church. Although as Damon pointed out, we had already had some lasts, like our last day of classes. But since we were going into our last week, it really felt like a LAST last. Then Monday was our last night going out for pizza at Yellow Cross. Ever since they started doing 1/2 price pizza night on Mondays, we had been going every week! They have really unique combinations that are delicious. My favorite I think ended up being the Canadian- it had an apricot sauce with chicken, cream cheese, feta, and pine nuts. I love the setting there too- kind’ve rustic looking with a fireplace!
Last week we also randomly went swimming! I think it actually came about because Damon asked if anyone would want to go play pool at like a pool hall, and someone said “Pool?! Let’s go swimming!” So we found an indoor pool in Chch at this recreation center called Jellie Park not very far from Uni. It had a spa, sauna, and steamroom too. It was fun. Thennnn I had to get down to business and spent all Wednesday studying for my finals on Thursday and Friday. My Thursday final was easy-peesie. But Friday not so much. 3-hour essay finals are intense. and finals are s-e-r-i-o-us business at Canterbury. Probably because they’re worth at least 50% of your grade… for some of my friends, even %60. They’re administered not by the teachers but by the office of the Registry.. which means a group of older people staring over your shoulder the whole time (well not mine, but that was another story I heard). Not that finals aren’t serious at Purdue, it’s just done a bit more stricter in NZ. There was a huge sign before you go in your assigned exam room saying “$120 fine if your cell phone emits any noise whatsoever.” I was so relieved to be done once my Friday morning final was over. Then the last couple days were quality time with friends and last-minute packing.
Most people left on Sunday and a few stragglers on Monday. Saturday just happened to be Emily’s birthday! Although I felt bad for her because it really wasn’t the best day to have a birthday. The weather was awful- cold and rainy. Everyone was sad about leaving. and she got sick! probably from me is the worst part. But we had a fun time going out to eat for Thai at the Red Elephant again and then LASER TAG! Laser tag was such a blast (haha no pun intended). I was horrible at it. I was “killed” so many times. anddd I ended up with negative points. But I still loved it! Many times I would accidentally run into a group of reds (the other team’s color) and run away screaming my head off haha. And end up shot. lol. The rest of the night basically all of Ilam got together in flat 107 and then our group ended up huddling in Jon’s room spending every last minute together making for a very late night. So late… that I didn’t really see the point in going to bed before the 6am US soccer game! I kept nodding off during the game though and realized… I had a lot of packing to do. and laundry. So I left at half time to start that monstrous task. and basically kept going at it until I had to leave around 1:30p. As I mentioned before, it was really hard to say goodbye. It was too quick. Too suddenly-I’m-gone.
Well, I finally made it home from the airport. This post has transitioned from airport to airplane to home in Indiana!
It is definitely weird being home. But comforting at the same time. I spent the night in LA waiting for my flight the next day and my friend Trenton came up from San Diego to visit me. I think this helped me ease back in to America. When we went out to eat, I was pretty disappointed at the fact I was going to have to tip the waitress (they don’t tip in NZ…). and I kept thinking he was driving on the wrong side of the road. I need to change back my mind set from “Keep Left” from NZ to “Keep Right”! Even in the airport, I almost ran into a lady coming out of the bathroom because I was walking on the wrong side of the hallway lol. It’s funny though, people talk about how New Zealand smells so wonderful. So clean. So pure. (which I agree with…) but when I got off the plane in Indianapolis, I immediately noticed the smell. And it was wonderful!!! It smelled like summer. Like a cool Indiana summer’s night. I can’t wait for some sunshine tomorrow… this has made coming home a lot easier. And of course, seeing my family was wonderful as well
Whew… I am going to catch up on the rest of my posts this week…
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost
I realized I may not have time these next couple days to post, so I thought I’d do a quick update….
Tomorrow: my first 3-hour essay final.
Friday: my next 3-hour essay final and then I am done! This also marks the first day someone from our close group of friends leaves to go back to the U.S.
Saturday: Emily’s birthday! This will be both a celebration and a farewell.
Sunday: leaving this country that I have absolutely fallen in love with.
day 3: Made our way from Te Anau to Invercargill. Of course, it was a beautiful drive. I think that is something I will miss most about NZ, but that is for another post. When we made it to the southern coastline, we all experienced some shock and awe. I think it sneaked up on all of us (“oh! hey! there’s the ocean!!”) and it was just so pretty- the waves were huge. There was a lookout called “McCracken’s Rest” that we stopped at to take pictures and eat lunch. and we said Hi to Antarctica…
As we were driving further down SH1, we saw a sign:
Monkey Island!? Heck yes we’re stopping there! We had no idea what it was, since it wasn’t in our Lonely Planet books, but since it was only one K down the road we couldn’t pass it up. Turns out the name has nothing to do with monkeys (as expected), but it was an island the Maori would use as a lookout for whales. Its accessible during low tide, but turns into an island during high tide. We had a lot of fun exploring for a bit and ended up doing a little monkey photo shoot too….
Once we got to Invercargill, we went straight through down to BLUFF, which is the southern-most town in NZ. This begins where you should get used to hearing that term a lot. Bluff is known as a seaport, although my dad will be disappointed in that I did not get any famous “Bluff oysters” (Sorry, Dad ). It’s also the point of passage for the ferry to Stewart Island. We went to the infamous Sterling Point sign, which despite all its notoriety… is not actually the southern-most point of the country. But its still a pretty cool sign! Also forced our car “Sonny” to drive the steep road up to to Bluff Hill, which had some beautiful 360-degree lookouts.You could even see over to Stewart Island from up there!
That night we stayed at a hostel in Invercargill called “Southern Comfort.” It was near town but just a pretty Victorian house in a neighborhood turned into a hostel. I especially loved the kitchen- wide open ceiling, tall windows, and white cabinets. As was the case at Bob&Maxine’s in Te Anau, we had a whole dorm room to ourselves! We ended up playing (instead of rummy) Scrabble with 2 German guys who were also staying there. Since they were at a slight disadvantage playing with their second language, Grace would help them figure out words if they got stuck. But one of them still ended up winning haha.
On Sunday, June 6th, three girls left the confines of Ilam and city lights of Christchurch ready to see the rest of the South Island. Nicole, Grace, & I had not seen Milford Sound yet, so we planned a whole trip around it! And it ended up being a really wonderful week. Let me tell you about it…
Day 1: Lots of driving. We made our way from Christchurch to Te Anau, which is the last sign of civilization before reaching Milford Sound. Now before I go on, I must explain the difference between Mixed-Company Road Trips and Girls Road Trips. The contrast can be illustrated by thinking back to your childhood memories. Family roadtrips= the father refuses to stop for a bathroom break, let alone to stop for ANYTHING. I have found this trait to be present in most of the male population that you travel with. Most- I would exclude Damon- he was a great fellow traveler, but he’s also known as the nicest guy in the world, which must override any negative male-tendencies. Anyway, my point is, not to offend all the males that read my blog, just to point out the contrast. So since this was a girl’s trip, we DO stop. For bathroom breaks. For picture taking. For scenic lookouts. I found this to be very refreshing. Although, I probably err on the side of too many stops. I want to take a picture of everything. It’s New Zealand- I can’t help it, I get excited. So there was a time I got a “Juli… we just stopped…” from the driver hahaha. SO. We stopped at beautiful bright-blue Lake Tekapo and then Lake Pukaki to get a view of Mt. Cook. Unfortunately for Grace who hadn’t seen Mt. Cook, it was hiding behind the clouds. We also planned a stop in Queenstown to get a Fergburger! Oh, they’re just so good. I wish you all could experience one. On the way to QT, it was SNOWING in the mountainous areas we drove through. There was literally a light covering of snow on either side of the road. Who knew I’d ever see snow in June. After our 8 hours in the car, we were ready to settle in. We stayed at a mom-and-pop hostel called Bob & Maxine’s a little outside of town. It was a great place- very welcoming hosts, a wood burning fire, and beautiful view of mountains outside the windows in the morning. So great that we ended up staying there the next night too! We went to bed early that night- but not without playing rummy with one of the Germans boys who were also staying there. The first of many Germans we were to meet!
Day 2: Drum roll please. It’s finally time to see Milford Sound. Before I left, when people would find out I was going to NZ, many would ask if I were going to Milford Sound. The answer was always yes. I had wanted to do the Milford Track over our 3-week break.. which is supposed to be one of the finest walks in the world… but alas, you have to book the huts much farther in advance than I anticipated. But just the 2 1/2 hour drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound is amazing. It was cloudy with sporadic rain throughout our drive, but that did not hinder us. We stopped at a lake with mountains barely peaking out behind some clouds, and since we couldn’t see much our motto was, “I’m not sure what this is.. but it’s awesome!!” There were wide green plains, frost-tipped green mountains which I found very intriguing, and snow capped ones too! I was basically staring out the window in awe the whole time. Towards the end of the drive, you have to go through a tunnel through a mountain. Cool, right? While we were waiting for the signal to turn green, I saw a kea flying around and then heard it land on our car. There’s a kea on our roof! Keas are the only alpine parrot in the world and are pretty social birds (pretty social or pretty, social? both.)! They will peck at you if they think you have food haha. We made another stop for a short walk to “The Chasm.” If I say “rocks carved out by water” it sounds pretty underwhelming, but it was not at all! To see Milford Sound, ya need a boat. lol. We booked the 2 hour Mitre Peak cruise for the day (which I found out is “m-ai-ter” not “meter”). We made our way to the top of the boat and started snapping pictures right away. I’m not sure if our cameras ever left our hands. The boat takes you out to the Tasman Sea and back. Sheer cliffs rise out of a deep, turquoise-blue water, waterfalls strewn all over the mountain-sides… more awe. When the boat turned around, we were the only ones left on top due to the wind. But we had fun with it- I guess we were playing in the wind! Nicole did manage to get splashed by a wave up there though lol. The whole time we were really really hoping to see dolphins… our hope declined as we approached the end of the cruise, but all the sudden the boat is pulling off to the side and we hear over the loudspeakers “There are dolphins up ahead!” Not just one or two- a whole group of them swimming around the boat. It was wonderful. In the end- Milford Sound completely lived up to its hype and to the excitement I had built up in my head. Even if I hadn’t seen dolphins… we ended a wonderful day by treating ourselves to dinner in Te Anau. That night at the hostel, Nicole & I ended up talking to 3 women from the UK and an Irish guy for quite sometime about their travels in NZ and around the world. Can I just say again- I love English accents. The girls were actually a bit older than us- although you couldn’t tell at all. They thought it was so great that we were studying abroad in NZ at our age and wish they had done more traveling then. I have met so many European people who are just taking 6 months off of life and traveling the world or students who take a gap-year off before university. That’s not very popular in the U.S. You either go straight to college or take a year off to work, so that you can afford college. You would never put your career on halt to go see the world either. I fall into that trap too. I would love to take a year off before grad school to see more of the world, but I would feel like I was falling behind my cohorts. Like I’m out of the race. I would be afraid it looks like I’m not serious about Speech Pathology. But as the English gals said- when else are you going to? You get married. You have a house which =mortgage. You have a job you really can’t leave. Despite the allure of it all, 99% sure I will go straight to grad school. But being abroad sure has broadened my grad school choices to other areas of the U.S. I thought before I would apply to a couple places out of state, but plan to stay in Indiana. Now, that has changed. Not quite sure where I’ll be… and that’s okay! Prayer can quell all those doubts and worries. Wow that was an unexpected tangent! and I’m afraid I’ve exhausted my writing abilities for the day…. I’ll have to wait for another day to finish talking about sea lions and penguins and coastline.
In non-road trip life, well… we’re leaving for a trip tomorrow! down to Dunedin to see the ALL BLACKS! Literally every hostel is booked down there. There will not be an empty seat in the stadium. It’s gonna be awesome!
Well I had my last week of New Zealand classes. Next week is “Study Break” and then there are 2 weeks of finals (but my finals are not until the last week- woo hoo!). So tomorrow, Grace, Nicole, and I are starting a South Island roadtrip! There’s so much down here I haven’t seen… like MILFORD SOUND! We are also going to Fiordland National Park and the Catlins.
This is looking out onto the Wellington harbour last weekend- I had such a great time with Damon and Megan! We traversed down funky Cuba St. with all its cafes and shops, spent the afternoon at the Te Papa National Museum, had a fancy dinner, more shopping (poor Damon), toured the Weta digital effects studio at Weta Cave, and also toured the “Beehive” and Parliament buildings. I could say a lot more, but basically it was a great time! After two weeks of rain, it was nice to see the sunshine peek out from behind the clouds (it was going back into hiding at this point in the pic).
Amidst the busy week with classes ending, I managed to book my ticket home from LA. I will officially be back in the U.S. on June 27th and in Indiana late on the 28th. I would need a whole nother page to post all my mixed feelings on this For now, I still have more of NZ to soak in and enjoy. Ka kite.
