Little Bo Peep...We've Found Your Sheep

I just came back from an AMAZING trip to New Zealand. It is an incredible piece of the world that everyone must visit. It has everything from gorgeous mountain ranges, glaciers, and lakes, to big cities and small townships. There are 10 sheep for every one Kiwi (that’s what they call New Zealanders) and even more cows and deer. It’s nuts...they are everywhere. The Maori (Mow-o-ri) culture is the heart of the country and you can count on every mountain, lake, and city to have a Maori name and legend behind it. NZ’s top industries are tourism, forestry, and farming…and boy were we tourists (by the way when I say we I’m referring to me and my friend Bryn who I took this incredible trip with :)). We probably took close to 600 pictures and multiple videos and I’ll try and post them online as soon as possible. So Kia ora (that’s Maori for hi/g’ day) and welcome to my trip (but beware 'cause this blog is very long)...

Day 1 – Good Friday = Everything’s Closed…But That’s Ok ‘Cause We’re in NEW ZEALAND!!!

The alarm rang at 4:45am and after a night of no sleep (due to packing and excitement) I met Bryn in the lobby and we took the bus to the airport. Along the way we met a guy from England who was just coming home from a big night out in the city. Our giant suitcases (we wouldn’t be good backpackers) sparked conversation, and he told us that he had just recently traveled to NZ and we would have an unbelievable time. We checked in at Qantas and boarded our flight. After a decent breakfast (Bryn and I requested vegetarian meals but they thought I was vegan, it was funny) we took a nap, and by the time we woke up we were flying over some of NZ’s amazing mountains. We landed in Christchurch and my camp friend Hayley picked us up from the airport. She drove us into downtown so we could check in at our Hostel, The Stonehurst. We had a tiny room with two beds, a bathroom I almost got stuck in, and a great movie channel, but it was perfect for what we needed. We walked around the city center for a little but everything was closed for Good Friday except some of the restaurants on this one street. We actually had a great lunch at this place called Coyote. When we went back to the car-park we discovered Hayley’s car had been clamped and we had to call the man to remove the boot. Who knew they clamped cars on Public Holidays…shitty job. We tried to get out of it but he wasn’t budging so she paid the fee and we were on our way. Bryn and I passed out for a quick nap while watching “A League of Their Own”, showered, and went to dinner at Lonestar with Hayley and her boyfriend Mike. It was a nice night but we were still exhausted from our long day of traveling so we said goodnight early and went to bed. Wedding Crashers was on…it was perfect.

Day 2 - “Kia Ora! I’m Kristy, This is Deane, and Together We’re Connections!”

We woke up at 7 to a rainy Christchurch and walked about 10 minutes down the road to where our bus was picking us up. After checking in we got a quick fix from Starbucks (that’s one thing about this country…it may be small but you can count on finding a Starbucks on every corner in their major cities). We got on the bus and were greeted by our tour guides Kristy and Deane (we found out later that they’d been dating on and off for about 6 years. They were so cute!) They said we had a long day of driving ahead of us and to sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery...even though it was pouring. There were 18 people on our tour, all American accept for one girl from Korea, studying in Australia at multiple universities. We made a few photo stops at the Viaduct and a place called Death’s Corner where we saw Kea birds who tear apart people’s cars (seriously, that's what they're known for). After playing a few get to know you games we stopped in a small town called Hokitika. We went to a Jade Factory and had lunch at a place where they collected teapots and they were displayed all over the restaurant. They had a Noah's Arc one with a koala and a giraffe on it...obviously I took a picture. We got back on the bus and drove to Franz Josef Glacier for a photo stop (it had stopped raining by now). It was gorgeous. Our next stop was Fox Glacier where we would stay for the night (by the way, Kiwis pronounce it Glay-see-ier – kind of a bus joke I had to note). The sun was setting as we took a 40 minute walk to Lake Matheson which had the most gorgeous reflection you ever saw (the pictures are amazing). We were staying at the Fox Galcier Hotel. Even though it was just me and Bryn in a room, we had bunk beds, a sink, NO HEATER (it was freezinggg and of course we were the only room without one) and a communal bathroom. We had a buffet dinner in their dining room and then took a walk (in the dark using one flashlight and my camera screen for light) with Kristy through the Glow Worm forest. After, a few of us sat together in the common area and got to know each other a little, then we headed to bed in our freezing cold room (we doubled up with the blankets from the other two beds).

Day 3 – Helicopters and Glaciers

We had to be up early and load our bags on the bus before breakfast. By 7:30 we were on a different bus driving to the helicopter pad where we would begin our journey up to Fox Glacier. Our tour guide Matt led the group of 8 people through some basic procedure and safety stuff. He gave us hiking boots and backpacks and we boarded the Helicopter. It was about a 10 minute scenic flight up to the Glacier (we started at 800 meters up – about 2,600 ft). It was absolutely gorgeous. There were waterfalls coming down the side of the mountain and you could see the Tasman Sea which blended into the sky. The Glacier is 13 kilometers long (about 8 miles) and moves approximately 7.2 meters a day. It’s an amazing thing. We put spikes on our shoes and walked the glacier for about 3 hrs with hiking poles (I used two to ensure my knee didn’t pop out. It was amazing knowing 4 weeks ago I couldn’t walk from my bed to the bathroom and now I was hiking a glacier in the middle of New Zealand! -- cautiously of course ;)) Matt used a huge pickaxe to chip out steps for us in the ice. It definitely made the hike much easier! We hiked til about 10:45am and Matt told us we had to turn around and head back… I guess the saying’s true: what goes up must come down. The two and a half hour hike up only took us about 30 minutes to do back to where the Helicopter would land (the steps were already carved out and we weren’t constantly stopping to take pics etc.). We flew back down and drove into town where we had lunch at a little café and started our 6 hour drive to Queenstown. It was a gorgeous day with not a cloud in the sky, and definitely one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. We stopped at some pretty lakes, beaches on the west coast, and waterfalls to take pictures along the way. We even played bug-splat bingo on the windshield. Kristy drew up a box of 36 numbers and we all had a paper of 24 numbers at random in a box of 4 rows and 6 columns. Every time a bug hit the windshield she’d call out the number it hit and we would mark it on our paper. If you got a line you’d shout Bingo! – hey, entertainment is limited on a 6 hr. bus ride. We also saw a lot of sheep, cow, and deer along the way (well, this was everywhere in NZ). We drove into Queenstown while Mike (a kid on our trip) serenaded the bus with some karaoke and we checked into the Queenstown Lodge. Bryn and I had a nice room with one queen-size bed, a twin, and our own (big) bathroom. We had dinner and went to bed early after a very tiring, but fun, day.

Day 4 – Welcome to the Adventure Capital of the World: Queenstown, NZ

How crazy can Queenstown really be?? The answer: Nuts! Although we didn’t skydive or bungee (since we spent our $ on the helicopter ride and glacier hike/we were terrified) we took it easy in Queenstown…but no one else did. People were leaving by 8am to do all of these extreme activities like skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding, and more. Bryn and I slept in a little, since our activity wasn’t until 1, and went into town around 11. We had a gorgeous view of Lake Wakatipu and the mountains surrounding it from our room. We went to the Internet Café and caught up on some e-mail and Facebook (obviously) and had brunch (finally broke Passover yayyyy). The town reminded me a lot of Whistler: cute streets with shops, restaurants, small cafes, and bars. You could tell it would be amazing to be there during the ski season (by the way, it snowed there 4 days after we left). We checked into the Shotover Jetboat at 1pm. They drove us in a bus to the Shotover Canyon where we got on a jet boat that held 14 passengers, went up to 85 kmph, and only needed 10cm of water to operate. The water is drawn in through 2 inlet/intakes in the bottom of the boat, 2 jet units containing the impellors then drive the water out through 2 jet nozzles at the rear of the boat with great force (400 litres of water per second per jet unit) – I got this from their website not gonnna lie. Our gorgeous “Jet Pilot” Shane flew by cliffs and did 360 degree spins throughout the canyons. It was definitely a fun time. We came back to town and walked around the cute shops and stopped at the World Bar for an afternoon snack of wedges and a local beer. We came home and napped, met the group for dinner at the lodge, and then got ready for a fun night out. We started at a bar called Frasier’s where we took Flaming George shots and drank happy hour cocktails. The we went to an ice bar called Minus 5 next door. We had a 10:30 reservation and they bundled us up in winter coats with fur hoods, sheepskin boots (with blue plastic socks), and mittens. Everything was made of ice, even the glasses we drank out of. It was very fun and very cold. Bryn’s camera broke which was sad, but we were still able to capture the night on mine. After that we went back to the World Bar where their signature is putting drinks in Teapots…it was cute (and they tasted yummy). We partied there for a little while longer, then went back to the lodge for a goodnight sleep.

Day 5 - Milford Sucks…

We had breakfast at the lodge and were on the bus by 10:30 and off to Milford Sound. A couple of hours into our drive it started raining…this was not going to be good. It took us 6 hrs. to get there (including stops in Te Anu at the Pop Inn Café and a few others). We drove through the Homer Tunnel which is the longest underground tunnel in NZ and finally arrived at the Milford port in the pouring rain. I hate to be negative, but we were all miserable to begin with, but seeing the boat we were about to get on made our moods 1,000 times worse. I’m going to try to describe it, but you can’t really get it unless you’ve experienced it. We walked onto the boat which had this awful plad, old looking carpet. The main deck was what they referred to as the “Saloon” which was full of booths and tables and the kitchen. We got a quick introduction which included “you’re lucky it’s raining because Milford Sound only has 6 permanent waterfalls. When it’s raining there are over 1,000!”. Too bad it was practically Tsunami-ing outside and if you went on deck you’d get soaked and your camera would be ruined. Ok, it was pretty…but it was POURING. We basically spent the afternoon/early evening playing card games, Connect Four, and Jenga. Let’s just say we were avoiding every possible reason to go to bed. Our beds were like barracks, a 6 by 8 room (if that) with four bunk beds, a peep hole (that water occasionally poured into), and a curtain that divided us from everyone else. There were probably 8-10 of these cubicles in the area we were sleeping in. It was AWFUL. The showers and bathrooms were communal and unisex…we decided we’d stay dirty for a night. The boat rocked us to sleep but we were woken up by screaming 13 year olds running around downstairs…o yea, I forgot to mention there was a school trip of about twenty 13 years olds on our boat too, in addition to people who actually paid for the experience cause they thought it would be enjoyable and exciting --- NOT. We finally fell asleep, and at 7am were obnoxiously woken up by “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” over the loudspeaker…we were not happy campers. We went up to the saloon to have breakfast, saw a few seals and some other waterfalls, then went back to our little cubical for a nap before it was time to leave (water pouring in though the peep hole woke us up). The boat went out to the Tasman Sea before returning to the dock (it was super rocky). We couldn’t have run off the boat any faster. Our bus was the first one out of the port at 9:30 on the dot…peace out Milford.

Day 6 – Chasing Wild Sheep Off of Glacial Lakes

Our drive brought us back through Te Anu (for morning tea) and Queenstown. We stopped in Arrowtown for lunch which is about 30 min outside of Queenstown. It was a cute little township. They actually had a candy store where we purchased our first bag of Haribo Gummy Bears in the Southern Hemisphere (for all of you who know my obsession it was a very exciting highlight of the trip). We continued our long day of driving to Lake Ohau (O-How). The weather cleared up and we stopped at some cool places to take pictures. As we were approaching our lodge, we had to get out of the bus so Deane could drive over this tiny bridge (praying it wouldn’t break) and walk it. After we got in the bus, we discovered wild sheep roaming at the bottom of the lake. They made their way up to the road we were on and then to the hill to the left of us. Deane said he’d buy a beer for anyone who could catch one, opened the door to the bus, and 6 of the guys ran out into the bush (which was full of pricklies and thorns) to catch a sheep. They were baa-ing up the hill and trying to run as fast as they could, but one of them couldn’t escape Steven. We were all hysterical, definitely a moment to remember. We arrived at Lake Ohau Lodge had dinner, and all hung out in the common area reminiscing on the past 5 days. We watched everyone’s bungy DVDs and hung out at the bar, telling stories and playing drinking games all night. We played one game where we took a cereal box about 6 inches tall and you had to bend over and pick it up with your teeth without using your hands or touching the ground with your knees. After each round you would tear the box a little and it got shorter and shorter. It was funny to watch everyone attempt. Most of the guys even got to the final round (and they were wearing jeans – it was impressive) and little Bryn got to the finals! Yayyy hahaha. We went back to our room to go to bed after a fun night with the group.

Day 7 – Goodbye South Island, Hello North Island

Everyone woke up not feeling too hot from the night before (probably something we ate at dinner…) but we had breakfast and got on the bus to complete our last leg of the trip. We stopped at two glacial lakes, Tekapo and Pukaki (yes, I said Pukaki…it made us giggle when Kristy said it). They were a gorgeous milky light blue color. They were created by receding glaciers and the rock particles from the glacier are what give them their distinctive color. We also stopped at a lodge near Mt. Cook for morning tea and to take pictures of the tallest mountain in New Zealand. We continued our drive and stopped in a small town for a quick lunch and in another township called Geraldine for afternoon tea. They had this amazing apple crumble ice cream there…so yum. Our 6 day tour of the South Island came to an end back in Christchurch. We said our goodbyes to everyone, stored our bags in one of the hotels for a few hours, and walked around the town for a little. We had dinner at Element, a great pizza place next to the backpackers, and Hayley picked us up and took us to the airport. We checked in and were the first ones at the terminal. We started playing cards and these two guys sat down in front of us and were watching our game. They were counting in Hebrew and we could understand a little of what they were saying so finally we asked them if they were Israeli. They were shocked that we were able to make out some of their conversation and they introduced themselves to us. Their names were Benny and Ronnie and they had been in Australia and NZ working and traveling for the past 3 months (it was their gift to themselves after getting out of the army…they were a little older than us). Turns out they tried to get into Australia a day after their visa expired and they weren’t allowed to be readmitted to the country so they decided to buy a ticket to Hong Kong (flying out of Auckland), stay there for a few days, and then go back to Israel. We exchanged e-mail addresses and they told us if we were ever in Tel Aviv to look them up. Nice guys. It was a short flight to Auckland (a little over an hour) and it was raining when we arrived. We took the shuttle from the airport to Auckland Central Backpackers, our hostel. It was in a perfect location, right off the main street (called Queen St.) of town. By the time we were checked in and got to the room it was late so we called it a night and went to bed.

Day 8 - Put Your Hands Up for Auckland…I Love This City

I don’t know what it was about Auckland but we absolutely LOVED the city. We woke up around 10 and Bryn went down to the Internet Café while I took a shower and got ready for the day (our shower was like one of those sinks where you had to constantly press the button every 10 seconds so the water would stay on… it was amusing). We walked out of our hostel and had breakfast at a little café down one of the side alleys. Then we saw it, heaven in the middle of Auckland, a Dunkin’ Donuts! We ordered coffees and made the lady behind the counter take pictures of us with our cups…an ultimate tourist move but it was so nice to have that taste of home :) (there was also a Wendy’s on the same street, one of the only ones in the Southern Hemisphere, which we made an appearance at in the afternoon. Sure that’s not what the Kiwis have in mind for afternoon tea but it was right up our alley!). We burned off our calories by walking around the city for about 6 hrs (not joking) we walked up and down Queen St. which was full of cute shops, malls, and restaurants. It was like a mini New York but cleaner. Then we walked down to the Wharf where the ferries leave from and to the Viaduct which is like a smaller version of the Sydney Harbour (lots of bars and restaurants – popular area at night). The next stop on our self guided walking tour was the Sky Tower. It’s 328 meters high (over 1,000 ft.) and is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. We took lots of pictures (even sitting on the glass bottom floor) and watched “Tower Jumpers” jump off the side of the tower (attached by ropes and harnesses of course). It's the highest jump you can do in NZ at about 700 ft. high. After our tour we walked through Arthur’s Park and the city campus of Auckland University. We went back to the hostel and relaxed for a couple of hours. Last week's episode of American Idol was on (we were very excited since they don’t air in Aussie). We showered and got ready and went down to the Viaduct for dinner. We ate at this amazing Italian restaurant called Portofino and made friends with the waiter who gave us good tips on what to do in the city the next day. We tried to go into a club called Spy Bar but I was wearing flip flops so the bouncer wouldn’t let us in (he didn’t care that I had just dislocated my knee and actually had the nerve to say it would ruin other patrons’ experiences…no biggie). We walked around and went to a bar called Dany Doolands, kind of like Kilroy’s but the music was live. Turns out the lead singer of the band went to Pinewood last year…small world ay. After a few drinks there we took a cab back to the hostel and hung out at the bar there for a little. Fun night out and a good night’s sleep.

Day 9 – Aotearoa..That's Maori for New Zealand

We had to check out of the hostel by 10 so we woke up early and packed up our bags. We stored them downstairs for the day while we walked around the city. We took the advice of our waiter friend and went to the markets around the city. We started a couple of blocks up from the hostel in Aeotea Square at their market that they hold on Saturdays. We walked around a little then headed back down Queen St, obviously making a coffee stop at Dunkin, and went to another coffee shop for muffins. We then walked to Victoria Market which was a lot bigger than the other one and did some souvenir shopping. I bought a couple of cute things and then we caught the bus called “The Link” that does a giant loop around the city. We headed to Newmarket which is a cute area of town filled with more shops and restaurants. After walking around a little it started raining so we made refuge in one of the indoor malls. We’d been dying to get our nails done and there was a place on the second floor that looked decent. Bryn got a manicure and I got a pedicure…let’s just say it was the WORST experience of life (next to Milford ;)). The women were so slow and did an awful job. Between that and the weather we were not happy campers. We walked around a little more afterwards, found a bite to eat, and then waiting for my friend Natalie to come and pick us up in Newmarket. She works for Air New Zealand and had just finished a long 3 day shift and even though she was exhausted, she was in great spirits, excited to take us around. We drove through Mission Bay, a nice suburb of the city, then back to downtown to get our bags. We went back to her flat which was sooo cute and just hung out for a little, showed her pictures from our trip, and caught up on life. She said there was this cute restaurant downtown called the Mexican Café where we could go for dinner. She only lives about 10 minutes from the city so we drove in. We had our first good Mexican meal which included Passion Fruit Margaritas (yummm), then went back to Natalie’s flat. We thought we’d have a big night out, but we were all so wiped from our day that we stayed in, watched Big Fish and went to bed early.

Day 10 – Sulfur and Culture

We heard Rotorua was a place we couldn’t miss if were in the North Island, so Natalie graciously offered to be our tour guide and drive us down there. It took about 3 hrs. and we stopped along the way for petrol/gas and brekkie. When we got there, the smell of sulfur overtook our senses. Rotorua is full of geothermic hot springs, mud pools, and geysers…and they smell sooo bad. We checked into the Kowhai (Ko-Fah-I) and Colonial Motel. We had a cute little apartment style room for the 3 of us. We drove down the road to a Rotorua “tradition”: the gondola and luge. We took a gondola (cable car) up the side of a mountain and then rode a luge about 2km down. We took the scenic route :). That night we went to a Maori show called Mitai (it’s the name of the family/tribe that owns the company). They reenacted Maori tradition and culture by doing a show and presenting a traditional Maori feast called Hangi for dinner, which they slow cook underground for about 4 hours. Afterwards we went on a walk through the glow worm forest where we saw actual silver ferns (the symbol of NZ), and a fresh water spring with rainbow trout and eel in it. They took us back to our hotel in their bus and we went to bed. It was such a fun night and we were very happy that we got to do something that had to do with the native culture of the country.

Day 11 – Time to say goodbahhh

We checked out of the motel at 10am and headed back to Auckland. We stopped in a township along the way that had a giant sheep and sheppard dog made out of tin in the middle of town…weird/funny and a definite photo stop. We stopped at a mall in the south of Auckland and walked around a little and then Natalie dropped us off at the airport. We did some duty free shopping and just hung out. Our plane was delayed over 2 hours which was annoying but there were mechanical problems that they had to fix (definitely better safe than sorry). Bryn had a vegetarian meal and I had another vegan meal and they brought us extra wine (free on international flights) and cheese and crackers. We entertained ourselves on the 3 hour flight. After going through customs we were welcomed back to Aussie Land. It was a wonderful trip and we definitely made unforgettable memories and saw amazing things. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to go back but until then, Aussie it is (but that’s fine with me :)).

Sorry this was so long but I wanted to get everything in. So what’s up next? I’ll be in Sydney for the next 8 days then I’m heading to Melbourne for 5 days the weekend of April 26. I’ll be catching up with a lot of camp friends and exploring the city. The next weekend we’re going to Byron Bay and Surfer’s Paradise and hopefully I’ll be hitting up the Great Barrier Reef and Adelaide in May. Fiji (hopefully) will be my final stop before I head back to the states. Stay tuned. Until next time… G’Day, Kia Ora, and Cheers :)