New Zealand!

After coming to an end of our two weeks spent road tripping throughout the South Island we have absorbed two major ideas from New Zealand; the concept of time, and slowing down. A lot of what New Zealand can teach its spectators is the story of time; and how time has affected these islands differently from the rest of the world, to make it a truly unique place to visit. New Zealand has stood the test of time in the sense that it really has not been altered much by anything even though you sense a very ancient feel from the infinite mountain regions, lakes, and green lands. If 2000 people lived on the South Island we couldn’t begin to explain to you where they reside, we have driven south to north and west to east, and have passed through towns with only a few families. Some of these towns may appear to be stuck in time, as they operate through one co-op, a gas station, and bar where the decorations are from the settlers 100s of years ago. In terms of slowing down, you could interpret this literally because driving here is like competing in the Dayota 500 if it were located on the jagged cliffs, where one wrong turn could give you splash landing in the Tasman Sea. However, if you are a visitor to New Zealand you are forced to slow down just so you can begin to absorb the beauty of the land whether it be the sun that increases the contrast along the mountain ranges, or the golden color that is created along the mountains from avalanches, and mud slides. We have also realized to really appreciate the efforts of the local people in this country. There is no 711 down the street to grab late night food or a Gatorade, instead there are hours between little towns where you can find your bare essentials, and local goods to help you lead a peaceful and happy life. New Zealanders also just truly understand today’s environmental concerns and preserving the glory of nature’s creations.

After putting 100s of kilometers on our new Rav 4; we have driven from Queenstown to Christchurch, and what feels like everything in between. One amazing thing about this place is also that you can find yourself starting your day in a torrential down pour, to admiring a glacier, to visiting a rainforest, to driving through dry mountain ranges to enjoy a warm sunset with blue skies on the beach. We have admired all types of landscapes on the island and our adventure began in Queenstown for a couple of days until we moved out to Fiordland National Park. After enjoying Milford Sound, we heard from a friendly English couple that Doubtful Sound was an absolute must, and right they were.

Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock it was evident we were in for a special day, with the scenery getting better every minute. Fiordland National Park is one of the most famous parks in the world, however many believe it is much better to visit in the rain. Thankfully, because it rains well over 200 days a year, and it did not rain the previous day in Milford, we were banking on a nice rainy day, and that is what we got. After a 50 minute boat ride, and our first taste of 100s of waterfalls, beautiful mountains that were covered in any shade of green you can think of and endless amounts of untouched land, we made it to our first destination, and were prepared to start the second leg of the trip- our bus ride. Doug and Carley hopped on to the bus, and were ready to take the trip to Doubtful Sound to get our 3 hour cruise under way, but our driver Chris insisted on showing us the local turbine power plant. We drove down a tunnel 6 inches bigger than the size of the bus, only to look at turbines for 30 minutes to realize we were all nauseous from claustrophobia. This was dragged out for what felt like forever, until the wanna-be engineers felt they truly understood every ounce of the structure. For those less inclined to have a technical lesson on vacation, the bus was luckily open for those that enjoyed relaxing in a tunnel 100s of feet under ground and water. We made our way out of the tunnel boarded a large catamaran, and were the only boat headed out to the very large sound for the rest of the day. Since this Sound is only accessible by boat, and then car, we were completely on our own with Mother Nature for the afternoon. The rain increased the number and intensity of the waterfalls, and created a mist that again reminded us of Jurassic Park. We peacefully and very silently cruised through canals covered in thick trees and jagged coasts, until we reached the Tasman Sea. At this point the captain turned off the engines, asked everyone to be still; and we stood in absolute silence looking into this magical place for a couple of minutes. This Sound touches you with all from water, plants, the wide spectrum of soil all to large seals and different wildlife. Without a “doubt”, this should be one of your first stops in New Zealand.

We departed at 9 pm for Wanaka, and finally arrived at 12 45 after a ridiculously windy ride, and all we wanted to do was sleep. Too bad because we were locked out of our hotel, and after an hour of trying to find any open establishment we were ready to turn around until we found the only place in the area that was open, a resort in the suburbs of Wanaka. After a nice sleep there, we were off to Westland and to see the Glacier Country. The ride was somewhat less mountainous than those before because we were driving along the western coast up about mid way to Franz Josef glacier. We had out first experience with the Tasman Sea at a beach that looked a little different than those we saw along the coast of Victoria on the Great Ocean Road. It was a rainy day with fierce winds, and the tides of this beach could turn boys into men. Even though the weather was rough, some rock farming was in order, we walked the beach and progressed towards Fox Glacier, stopped into an old bar stuck in the 1800s, then made it to Franz Josef Glacier. At this point, it was pouring sheets of rain, which is apparently entirely normal for “glacier country” and we were checked into our room. We got in, and the room had 3 triple beds and was obviously decorated by Marsha Brady. So we sat, and enjoyed the ambiance of what looked liked Fes’s room from That 70s Show for the afternoon.

In Franz Josef there are very few dining options, or much of anything. It is a cute little mountain town, with tourist traps, 2 bars, a few hotels and restaurants, and Speights. We obviously liked this place, and would recommend the restaurant to everyone as we did have our dinner, breakfast and then lunch there. After a light dinner consisting of garlic bread, obscene servings of local meat, “chips”, and vegetables, we called it a night. The next day was spent exploring the glacier; we did three walks though the National Park, and then headed up towards the glacier. This walk was unlike anything we had ever seen, it was just a massive rockland, many waterfalls, with a monstrous glacier right in front of you which you could hike up into, which was awesome! This was definitely one of the favorite walks we had done thus far in our trip.

We left this small mountain town behind us, and headed up the west coast of the island to Punakaki. This three hour drive was along the amazing Tasman coast with incredible impressive views along the way. There were a few coastal towns along the way that were initially established to support the gold mining, that we stopped into, but it was mainly the sunset in Punakaki we were after! We approached the “town”, which was not a town, just more coastal land with a single lane highway running through it. The place we stayed in was a little cabin, right along the beach, nestled in forest to protect you from the highway. It was an incredibly peaceful area, and a great place to stay to get a feel for the coastal life in New Zealand. It was time for sunset, so we grabbed some of our stocked up duty free champagne then headed to the beach to toast to this amazing place! We got there early, and stayed about a half hour late because the sunset was so unbelievable. The jetties, beach, and surrounding cow pastures were the only thing aside from the ocean in site, and it was a new feeling to relax when you knew there was nothing around you. Since there was only one bar, and a resort within an hour of the cabin; we decided we needed to weasel into the resort for a nice dinner to follow the sunset. After Carley got turned down, probably because she had not showered in 3 days, and lied about staying in the resort; her Dad came to her rescue and secured a table along the waterfront.

The following day consisted of a walk through the Pancake Rocks, another picturesque setting; and a nice day on the beach. We sadly said goodbye to the west coast and headed towards our last stop, Christchurch. This drive is INCREDIBLE. The only way to describe it is that you absolutely must do it in your lifetime, or hire someone to do it if windy roads, and steep cliffs aren’t your thing. We were basically driving west to east through Arthurs Pass National Park. Even though the drive took nearly 5 hours, not a minute went by when we were not in awe; again. This is clearly a recurring theme for the South Island. We stopped to take pictures nearly 100 times, and each time it got better and better. There were literally two “towns” along the way, each with minor co-ops, adorable b & b’s, a bar, and a restaurant. The town of Arthurs Pass was a stop along the way, where we had some coffee and a beer, in an old restaurant that has not changed since the settlers initially started the town. The walls were covered in black and white photos with pictures from the Oregon Trail, all centered around the focal point of the place; an old pool table. We drove 30 minutes further down the road, and were dumbstruck by the mountain range a head of us. We once again, pulled over, and relaxed there for an hour. In that time no more than 3 cars passed this stop off, and we were in absolute silence, unless we were talking about how crazy this place was. Skiers and snowboarders- we can only imagine this area in the wintertime. We watched another sunset, further down the road; just the 3 of us, with 3 cold beers Birmy randomly had in his backpack and took in what we thought would be our last sunset in a surreal surrounding.

We got to Christchurch, and were immediately disengaged because we came from such peaceful isolation and were now thrown into a city-with no meadows, mountains, and waterfalls. After a 30 minute walk through the city center the next morning, we decided another country adventure was in order. We hopped in the Rav 4, headed out further to a little knob along the coast Akaroa. This was the best decision we could have made to capitalize on Birmy’s last time behind the wheel. We parked the car got out, and walked through the town stopping for gelato, smoothies, and browsing in little shops, and plopped ourselves down at a table, literally over the water on the beach. We did not end up moving for 6 hours, after a few bottles of wine, our last sunset together, we decided to have dinner before heading back to Christchurch. Our final dinner may have been the best; we all had the exact same meal an aged fillet with seafood chowder, and drove back to the city. We said our goodbyes in the morning, and were all very sad our time in New Zealand was over. One, because Carley’s Dad was headed back home, and two because we were back to reality- of backpacks, hostels, public transportation, and showering with shoes. Reality hit hard right when our free internet gave out in the lobby of our hotel. This ruined our plan of using the hotel’s amenities all day. Unfortunately, we had no plans for accommodation that night, and no internet, so we had to rely on a native to point us in the right direction. The cab was here, we hopped in and asked him to take us to hostel. Reality realllly hit when we were dropped off at the local jailhouse, which we had already posted about.

No offense to its fans, or Kiwis, but Christchurch is a concrete, steel jungle-and unless it is the airport, we would never suggest coming back here unless you make the journey out to Akaroa. However, we are finishing up this post now feeling incredibly lucky and sad, because news had just hit about 3 major earthquakes hitting the center of the town- leaving incredible destruction and 65+ deaths. An earthquake already devastated the city in September, and after 6 months of hard work and restoration to clean the city up it; it is awful to imagine the effects of another. All in all, New Zealand will be missed; its natural beauty and positive peaceful vibes are something that everyone should witness at one point in their life.