NEW ZEALAND

The Trip Down | Dunedin | The Trip Back Up

My first two weeks in New Zealand were two of my best weeks ever.


Auckland to Dunedin: The Trip Down
(The Google Maps green points are more-or-less my actual stops.)

Why New Zealand?

Before I made the decision to check out New Zealand, I could barely tell you where it was on a map. A series of chance encounters stimulated my interest in this beautiful, mysterious, faraway country (this was before Lord of the Rings called more focus to it), including one key conversation with my dentist that led me to BUNAC. This program, for a fee, arranged a work-travel visa and an orientation in Auckland with very little inconvenience on my part. I had some savings and was in between jobs, so off I went!
(Note: During my time here, I named every day. You will see some of them throughout.)

Obligatory View from the Hostel; Learning Maori Culture at the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Arrival in Auckland

I arrived in the wee morning hours and I recommend this, if possible. I made it to the hostel around 6am then slept until noon which was, heck, just like a normal lazy day. Wandered around the streets of Auckland after that and barely felt the jet lag at all. Over the next few days, the orientation provided by BUNAC helped out with things like getting a cell phone and a bank account (I was unimpressed with all the banks' service fees... that's what I get for being used to credit unions.) I discovered the existence of the Auckland Car Fair that happens every Sunday. So I proceeded to bus down to the grounds and, lo and behold, I returned with a car! The car fair was awesome, had cars in every price range, and because a regular "WoF" (Warrant of Fitness) is required for cars in New Zealand, you pretty much won't end up with a dud unless you buy a car without a current WoF. The only thing about the car fair that confused me with was their Very Strong Recommendation that you get an inspection. This is all fine and good except they fail to tell you that there is only ONE inspector there for the thousands of cars for sale and he can only do about 5 cars per day. By the time he squeezed me in the late afternoon, the fair was wrapping up so I felt pretty obligated to buy the Honda anyway from the seller who had waited and waited for the stupid inspection. Luckily, nothing horrible turned up in the inspection.
I have to admit, though, having my first experience driving on the left be in an unfamiliar car smack dab in central Auckland was somewhat nerve-racking. I seriously had to repeat "Stay on the Left, Stay on the Left, Stay on the Left" my whole drive back to the hostel.
July 25, 2001: Sexy Maori Warrior Greets Me With His Nose Day
The Auckland War Memorial Museum is a great introduction to New Zealand and to the native Maori. It was also here that I discovered one of my favorite things that became a slight obsession of mine: The Haka. This is a Maori tribal war chant unlike anything I'd seen before. It was intense, dramatic, and AWESOME. It's called "Ka Mate" and you can download it here, but you should try to find a video since it's more about the visuals - and there is a sort of routine that goes along with the chant. You may have seen it if you watch rugby since the New Zealand team (The All Blacks) do it before every game. But watching the Maori do the Haka, in full garb, is very impressive. I even taught Ka Mate to a bunch of American fourth graders after I returned and they had a blast! I didn't take a photo of the Haka, but I did get a photo with one of the participants afterward, doing a traditional Maori greeting.
I'd never stayed in a hostel before I'd been to New Zealand (and not since, either, now that I think about it.) I've heard the hostelling in New Zealand is on the nicer end compared to Europe for example. I could not say for sure but it was my definitely my experience that staying in a "YHA" (Youth Hostel Association) or a Hostelling International hostel guaranteed a certain level of quality that made a lot of difference (i.e. toilet paper in the bathrooms, a well-stocked and clean kitchen, and bottom sheets on the beds). BUNAC put me up the first few nights at the Auckland YHA, which was decent. It was in the lobby of the hostel that I met a sister and brother (Emily and Ryan), also from Colorado who were traveling in New Zealand.

Where to Now?

Let me be clear that, at this point, I had no set plans. I now had a phone, a bank account, and a car (along with some cash savings which, at the time, made my American dollar go far), but my path was not defined and wide open. I knew that in general, I wanted to go somewhere, find a job, find a place to live and enjoy the New Zealand experience, but, at the moment, I was winging it. I think that is the first part of what made my first two weeks here so magical. I was in a new and beautiful place, ready to do and try anything and had no particular timeline (except that, at some point, I might run out of money, but that was not a worry of mine early on).
I vaguely had the idea that I wanted to go to South Island since I heard it was beautiful. I was leaning toward Christchurch as it seemed the most likely place to get a job, but I was in no hurry. So I started driving southward, fairly leisurely, stopping wherever seemed like a good idea and trying out anything that sounded interesting. The first place I stopped was Waitomo, a couple hours south of Auckland. They had caves, and I always like caves, with glowworms. It was neat; the glowworms in the cave of the ceiling did indeed look like a starry night. They also had something called "black-water rafting" which I had never heard of. So I went, deciding to take the "Black Labyrinth Tour".

Cave Tubing in Waitomo

My first impression was that the place was a little low budget, which often isn't inspiring since this was not a particularly inexpensive venture, but it turned out not to bother me much as the day wore on. My second impression was that it sucks to be overweight. I'll admit it, when I went to New Zealand, I weighed a lot. This was a bummer since it took forever to find a wetsuit that went around my thighs (though, ironically, the tour guide was way larger than me and clearly had a wetsuit that fit him.) The two girls that were on my tour were all skinny and athletic so I was sort of embarrassed, but eventually we found a wetsuit that worked, then the three of us piled in a van and drove out to what looked like a hilly field. Then we got out, our black tubes in hand, and WALKED INTO A HOLE IN THE GROUND. This was odd and a little nerve-racking. It wasn't all that small of a hole, but it was small enough to make me a bit claustrophobic. But then we were inside the cave which was wider than it first appeared and turned on our helmet lamps. Almost immediately, we were ankle deep, then knee deep in cold water. And then I got to experience the sensation of a wet suit doing its job - it was only cold for the part of our body entering and the rest was quite comfy.
Not long after, we piled into our tubes and linked ourselves together. The guide pulled our tubes along us on foot (I think he may have been chest deep in the water) while we floated through different sections of the cave. At one point, we were in a narrowish part where, if you looked up, you could see all the glowworms and it was quite beautiful. Near the end of the tour there was the sound of water gushing. And then, after some mental build-up, we had to take a blind jump onto a steep waterfall slide. Scary, but exhilarating! (I had to keep reminding myself that people go on this tour all the time and don't hurt themselves so it couldn't be that dangerous, right?) We were all pretty wet after that point and, being in a cave, getting pretty cold, too. Shortly later, our guide who clearly anticipated this, produced a watertight metal canister full of hot cider from somewhere and gave us each a cup to drink. That cider warmed my body right up. When we returned, we had a lunch and our guide explained that the slight cold he had was a side effect of going into the cold, wet caves day in and day out.

Lake Taupo...

I'd heard good things about Taupo and so decided to find a hostel there to stay the night (it was only a couple hours past Waitomo). I ran into Emily and Ryan at the hostel. They said they were going to try to go skydiving tomorrow and did I want to come. Completely taken by surprise at their request, I was like, "Wha... um... no... maybe... Ack.." but I had the evening to think about it. The weather dawned sunny, clear, and not windy. Perfect skydiving conditions. So, trying not to think about it too hard, I went with them.

Ryan, Emily, and I Before the Skydive; The "Holy Crap" Face

Lake Taupo... from Above

Tandem Master Tony was my man. He hooked himself to me while we were on the plane (though not in a way that made me 100% confident that we were attached, though he assured me we were) and showed me his altimeter watch. He said "When we hit 12,000, that's when we jump." I looked at how far the ground was away. It was WAY down there. I looked at his watch. It said "6,000". And the propellers kept turning. Although it was a small plane and therefore a bit louder / bumpier than your average jet, I wasn't all that nervous about something going wrong. Probably because hey, I was attached to a dude with a parachute. We inched toward the door and, before I really had a chance to think about it, he showed me that the watch said "12,000" and I was like, wait, already, are we about to jump? Yep, we were. He told me to tuck my feet under and I did. (I didn't do any of the actual jumping.) Then, before I had time to think about it, we were in the air.

View of the Airport and the Lake from the Freaking Sky
It didn't feel like I was falling. It was windy, for sure, but the ground wasn't getting much closer so I did not feel the sensation of freefall. In fact, I was way more nervous the moment before the jump than the moment after. Once we were in the air, I thought it was amazing and the view was GORGEOUS. Tandem Master Tony gave me a pre-arranged warning (I don't remember what) that he was going to pull the parachute cord and he did. We pulled up and then we peacefully drifted. After the chute opened, it was quiet enough to talk and, in fact, we were moving so slow that I could take out my camera and snap the above photos (I wish I had gotten my feet in them, though.) As the ground approached, it came a little faster than I was expecting. Tony calmly told me to tuck in my feet. I did. He handled the landing nicely. (I think I fell, but it wasn't hard, if so.) I felt great! And in fact, we all had a smile on our faces at the end.
I called my parents afterward at a parking lot that overlooked the lake and said "You'll never believe what I just did." I think they were glad I called them after the fact.
July 28, 2001: Random Renaissance Folk on Highway 47 Day
I drove a bit further, stopping for a little while to hike in the wilderness of Tongariro National Park. It was a nice enough walk, but I underestimated the kind of hike it would take to see the cool scenery and so ended up turning around after an hour or so, after consulting with an older couple and then hiking back with them. I did see this cool random wooden stairway in the middle of nowhere though.
I stayed in a cute hostel in Palmerston North that evening and, to my surprise, I saw Emily and Ryan's name in the guest log then ran into them in the hallway a short while later. Great coincidence! And by another great coincidence, a friend I had in high school who was an exchange student from Australia happened to e-mail me just when, for the first time ever, I was within easy visiting distance. Whee! As it turned out, Ryan was headed home after this and Emily intended to tour the South Island herself. We discussed traveling together because I was basically touring the South Island as well (and she did not have a vehicle.) And then it was decided!
July 29, 2001: There’s a Cow in My Way Day
I thought it would be good to have a cell phone in New Zealand mainly so I could call someone if my car broke down. This reasoning turned out to not be all that logical, for in the parts of New Zealand that you would really need vehicular assistance, you would have no signal. At this point in my trip, having a travel companion was comforting. I remember one evening up in North Island, I was on a quiet hilly road at night in the middle of nowhere. There were no lights, no cell phone signal, barely any radio stations and I had not seen another car in almost half an hour. Luckily, though, New Zealand is small enough where you will eventually reach a town of some sort.

South Island


Picturesque Picton and My Trusty Honda (on the road to Nelson)
I drove onto the car ferry at Wellington, the bottom of North Island, and, three hours later, ended up in Picton at a cute hostel that offered freshly baked bread to visitors and had a giant chess set in the courtyard. I met people at that hostel who were so well traveled, I realized I'd barely been anywhere. The next day, I met up with Emily and we started driving, hugging the pretty, winding roads of the north coast and ended up in Nelson. We hiked up a hill in Nelson to the top, where we were said to be in the "Centre of New Zealand." Whether it is or not (depending on how you define NZ geographically) is open to some debate, but it was still quite pretty.
Aug 1, 2001: Fish & Chips at the trippin’ Trip Inn Day
The speed limit on the open road in New Zealand is 100 kph (about 62 mph). As there are no divided highways, except in Auckland, this is mostly reasonable, though feels slow on long, flat stretches. And here we come to a "feature" of my Honda Prelude. My car will beep if you go over 100 kph. The first time I heard it, I panicked a bit. Why is my car beeping? Is there an engine problem? Is the door open? You don't want to hear an unexpected car sound when you are going that fast. Though I eventually figured out the pattern. Most of the time, it was not an issue, but when you were trying to pass the big trucks or just wanted to cruise for a bit, it could get annoying. I counteracted it by turning the radio up high.
August is winter in the southern hemisphere. As we drove and hostelled down the west coast of the south island, we learned that winter is a great time to travel in New Zealand. Why?
The only downside to traveling in winter is that there are less places open... basically, we had to keep watch on the gas tank. Rather, the "petrol" tank.

(totally stole this image)

Hokitika

New Zealand culture, especially among the Maori, has some very unique and pretty art and jewelry. We stopped at Hokitika at one point, which is the Jade Capital of New Zealand. Besides jade, making pendants out of white bone was very common as well. I found it simple and beautiful. We stayed at the Blue Spur Lodge, a neat hostel in a gorgeous area outside of the town. I was reading my first Agatha Christie novel at the time which had a surprise twist ending and prompted me to name my day:
Aug 3, 2001: Agatha Just Can’t DO That Day
Okay, my naming of days was often silly. Actually, the above was what I named the night. I named the day "Blue Spur Guy Reserves Lake Kaniere and Hires a Canoe For Us Day" which is how I remembered the place we stayed in was called Blue Spur at all.

Canoeing in Lake Kaniere with Emily

The "Don't Forget Where
We Parked the Canoe" Shot
The guy at Blue Spur was really nice. He helped us hire a canoe for the picturesque Lake Kaniere (about a half hour drive away). They helped us get set up on the shore and then we were free to roam. WE HAD THE LAKE TO OURSELVES. It was amazing and gorgeous
Emily and I canoed around the lake for some time, enjoying the sunshine. Eventually we stopped at the shore and wandered around a path around the lake. The trees were so thick, we could barely see the lake. I'm glad we made a point of remembering where we parked the canoe!
We continued our drive south. There was quite a lot to see along the towns of the west coast highway. Between Emily's ideas and the Lonely Planet - New Zealand book thoughtfully provided to me by BUNAC, we had no shortage of quiet moments and big adventures. Small adventures, too. Once, we pulled over for a photo and when I pulled back out onto the road, it took Emily almost a full minute to notice that, holy crap, we were driving on the right side of the road! (I hadn't noticed at all.) Luckily, no cars had driven by during our reversion to American-style driving. Our next stop was not far down: Franz Josef Glacier. The hostel we chose here was more crowded, but had a hot tub!

Franz Josef Glacier
(If you click on the right pic for the large version, you'll see the hiking group after us walking up.)

The Only Known Photos of Me with an Ice Axe

Franz Josef Glacier

Emily and I went big and opted for the 8-hour tour of Franz Josef Glacier. We were in a group of about 10 and our guides were fantastic, taking us over, under, and through various ice formations. It was cold, but not as much as you might think. In fact, our guide was wearing shorts! Not being super athletic, I fell behind a few times (the second guide keeping my energy up by singing to me), but it was not long before I caught up to the rest of the group since our lead guide often stopped to pick out the best path, and I mean like with an ice pick.
Aug 4, 2001: Squeezing Thru Glacier Crevice As Mike Sings 'The Sound of Music' Day
It was a bit drizzly and my cell phone was in my backpack. I found out later that I had wet it to the point of not working. Luckily for me, drying out the battery overnight did the job. As I was going to sleep in our six-person dormitory, I also accidentally dropped my alarm clock under the bed. I was exhausted, but knew I would want to find it now and not the next morning, so after some brain work, I pulled up the corner of the mattress and was able to reach it through the metal slats. Whew.

The Essential New Zealand: Snow-capped Peaks and Sheep
A word about sheep: No, they aren't kidding, New Zealand has a lot of sheep. There are about three and a half million people in New Zealand and forty million sheep which means, you got it, that there are 12 sheep per person. No big surprise that you run into them every so often! Interestingly, New Zealand has no native large mammals. It was all birds and insects until the Scottish and British came. The bird New Zealand is known for, of course, is the flightless Kiwi. This endangered bird is pretty much found only in New Zealand and is used as a symbol for the place (it is even on their money) and as a colloquial term for New Zealanders.

Milford Sound



Milford Sound in Winter

Milford Sound Gets Louder:
The Waterfall
Probably the most famous destination in New Zealand is Milford Sound. It's the one place in the vast Fiordland National Park that is reachable by road. And a long and beautiful drive it is. You cannot stay in Milford Sound, at least not easily, so you have to stay in Queenstown or Te Anau and drive several hours to reach it. Once you drive through the gorgeous wilderness road full of tall rocky mountains (and through the scary Homer Tunnel), you will eventually reach the coast and Milford. There is a little cluster of buildings with restaurants and, of course, the main attraction: the boat ride through the sound. Milford Sound is different every time you visit. I visited in winter, spring, and summer (there are more pictures on the next page) and it was always amazing. Winter was fairly cold and, in any season, you are likely to hit rain, but if you catch a clear day, it's absolutely stunning. For the more adventurous, there are quite a few backpacking trails through fiordland. It is probably the area with the least amount of people in New Zealand. Then again, no place in New Zealand is all that crowded since the population is so small.

Skippers Grand Canyon

Queenstown

We drove back from Milford Sound and ended up in what could be called Adventure Town or Party Town: Queenstown. This place is the epitome of New Zealand and there's something for everyone here from taking a ride up the gondola, sledding down the concrete slide, playing mini-golf, wandering in the cute downtown, going hiking / backpacking, going mountain climbing or doing the most insane thing you can think of! The next day, we chose one of the many adventure company's tours and did a four-pack of increasing crazy: 4-wheeling, jet-boating, the "flying fox" and, finally, the bridge bungy!
Aug 7, 2001: Baby Goats, Flying Foxes, and Bridge Bungy Day
The group of us (about ten twentysomething nutcases like us) piled into several 4WD vehicles and made our bumpy, beautiful way to the very blue river that carves out Skippers Grand Canyon. The jet boating followed. What makes jet boating unique, I was told, was that the boats can run in very shallow water. They also accelerate fast and are very easy to make spin into 360° turns, which our driver demonstrated several times to shrieks of delight from the passengers. The picture to the right is the view of one of the bridges from the boat. Although this is not the particular bridge we were going to bungy off of later, it is a very similar height and location. After the jet boating, we were driven back up to the top. The Flying Fox was a lot like flying, not much like a fox. They strapped you under a wire running across the canyon next to the bungy bridge, then propelled you across it! Look, there's a river 350 feet under you!

The "Still Deciding" Shot. The "Can Still Turn Back" Shot. The "Too Late Now!" Shot.

Bungy Jumping

And here was the moment I'd been nervous about for the past two days (we had made the reservations two days previous and when you pay that much money, you aren't turning back!) First, they weighed us on a scale that measured us in "stones" which was amusing. There was a random baby goat in the place which explains the name of my day earlier. Then we walked out to the bridge, cameras filming the whole thing. I was first to go. They sat me down in a chair on the bridge, chatting me up to keep me from getting too nervous, and wrapped a thick towel around my ankles.

Emily's Cute Bungy Shot
Around the towel, they put the bungy strap on. It was so simple and did NOT seem sufficiently strong or tight to keep my feet from falling through, but these guys did this every day so I trusted them. Once they were done hooking me up, I hobbled over - my feet were pretty stuck together - to the edge, then went with the assistance of the main guy (pictured) onto the plank. He told me where to look so the cameras would see me. Then, before I knew it, he was counting down from five. I did not look down. I did not think. All I knew was that I had to jump before he reached "1" or I wouldn't do it. I looked out at the scenery and pretended I was jumping off to fly. And I jumped.
For a millisecond I was flying. Then I was committing suicide!!! Holy crap! Seriously, I thought I was going to die. I screamed, I'm sure. The ground came up SO fast. But then I bounced back up before hitting the water. Then, while the adrenaline coursed and the bouncing lessened, I spun around and around. They slowly lowered me down to a man in a boat, waiting at the bottom. He stopped the spinning and unstrapped me from the cord (which was now pressing the towel very tight around my ankles) and then boated me to shore, where I had to hike back up to the bridge. I only stopped jittering from the adrenaline when I had made it about halfway up to the top.

Proof that I'm Insane
I heard later that once someone doesn't jump when they are supposed to, that the feeling is contagious. Luckily, I started the group off right (yikes!) and only one girl really panicked later, but did eventually do the jump. There are multiple places to bungy jump or jump out onto a giant swing in the Queenstown area. Most pull you back up. All have an extremely good safety record. It was worth it just so I could say that I did it later. And it was a fun bonding experience. Though, unlike skydiving, I'm not sure I'd do it again.

Mt. Hutt and Christchurch


Mt. Hutt (You Can Snowboard AND See The Ocean!)
We headed in the direction of Christchurch since that was where Emily was departing from and decided to go to a ski resort on the way, driving my little car up a dirt road to get to the top. I had never snowboarded before, only skied, but this was a week of firsts. I got a quick lesson from Emily, proceeded to get myself into a class that was a little too advanced, and Epic Failed trying to get up the lifts. It was windy and icy on the mountain, though had a gorgeous view. I could see the blue of the ocean at the horizon, which blew my mind a bit. My experience of ski resorts is skewed, being from Colorado which has some of the best skiing in the world, but not many people from Colorado can say they've skied in August with an ocean view!
Aug 8, 2001: Snowboarding in August? Day
...and I named the night, too...
Aug 8, 2001: Vodka & Cranberry Juice at Rockycola, the “Orange Building” Night
We arrived in Christchurch where I proceeded to get completely lost. As it turns out, this will be habit-forming. But only in Christchurch. We wandered through the cold downtown streets at night, got a drink, and I saw my first prostitute, sort of ironic, given the name of the city. The next day, we stopped at a place called "Cookie Time" for a snack and I dropped Emily off at the airport and we said goodbye.
I had just spontaneously spent the last week non-stop with a girl I had never met. Emily is an amazing person - we had great conversations and adventures together (through good times and bad; she actually received some sad news about halfway into our trip) and I think she and her brother as well are almost solely responsible for the incredible two weeks I had. Thank you guys!!! I wish you well!!!
After she left, I went to Antarctica. Okay, no, not the real Antarctica, but the "International Antarctic Centre" which happened to be quite close to the airport. Pretty fun and educational, including a room that simulated the "real Antarctica."

So Now What?

I spent the next couple nights at a nice all-women's hostel and did some job hunting and movie watching. I do not know when exactly I made the decision, and I don't even know for sure why, but at some point I realized that Christchurch was not where I was supposed to be after all. (You already knew this, of course, as you've seen my map at the top.) So I thought I'd just keep going south. As I drove down Highway 1, I felt like I was following a whole lot of white Hondas just like mine which was a pleasant omen. Then I drove over a green hill, saw the ocean ahead of me and came upon one of the most beautiful towns I'd ever seen: Dunedin.
The Trip Down | Dunedin | The Trip Back Up