In a matter of 30 minutes, we had to estimate how long we would need to stay in New Zealand and book our return flights using computers at the airport. We collectively decided that we would want at least four weeks to do both the South and North Islands of New Zealand and booked a return flight for June 21st to Australia. Even still, if we needed more time, we could pay a change fee and extend or shorten our trip.
Due to having to book return flights, we were running to the gate after last call and barely made it our flight even though we had gotten to the airport with plenty of time. During the entire flight, I still could not believe that I was actually on my way to New Zealand. Just the day before, I was planning to be in a town on the East Coast of Australia called Bundaberg getting my SCUBA certification. Instead, I was on an international flight to Christchurch, New Zealand, and I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. I did not even have time to do any research about New Zealand!
As we were flying into Christchurch, we looked out the plane window to see dark clouds and rain. Over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced the outside temperature - 12 degrees Celsius! (it was 25 degrees Celsius where we were in Australia!) I had not packed any warm clothes, but Vic was nice enough to lend me his red Canada sweatshirt for the duration of our New Zealand trip. One thing to say about this - a lot of American travelers pretend that they are Canadian because they are embarrassed to be American, but that is not what I was doing...promise! Even though I have the sweatshirt (or “jumper” as they would call it here), I still have to layer almost every other piece of clothing I have - it is so cold and wet!
We stayed the first night in New Zealand in Cathedral Square in Christchurch but decided to leave the next morning and drive to Queenstown. Lee (one of the guys I am currently traveling with) is leaving on Saturday (May 29) from Christchurch, so we planned to do a fast loop of the South Island. After he leaves, we are going to revisit places we liked but did not get to spend much time as well as see other parts of the South Island before heading to the North Island where it is supposed to be warmer.
On the way to Queenstown, we stopped at a place called Lake Tekapo. Even though it was rainy, cloudy, and cold, we could still tell that the lake was a beautiful place. The only way to describe the lakes in New Zealand accurately is that the water is a milky blue - the water is clear, but it looks like someone poured milk in it!
We got into Queenstown after dark, so we were amazed by the scenery that awaited us when we woke up the next morning. For those of you that do not know, Queenstown is the extreme sports capital of the world, and we were excited to see our options for adrenaline. A few of us had already gone skydiving before, so we wanted to try something different and collectively agreed that we were not interested in bungee jumping. We decided to go canyon swinging instead in the Shotover Canyon and booked it in 2 days (they did not have availability for all of us the next day).
Also, in the spirit of Queenstown, we made up a series of dares during the drive to complete by Saturday. The first person to complete 5 dares would get one drink from each of the rest of us. The dares were silly - for example, one of the dares was to put on my wetsuit and ask someone at reception where we could rent a surfboard. This would be funny because it is the beginning of winter and Queenstown is located on a lake inland from the beach! No one actually completed this dare and the game was never complete, however as part of the game, I wore my retainers out our first night in Queenstown, Mark wore eyeliner, and we styled Vic’s hair into horns (hilarious!).
Our first night in Queenstown, we decided to go to the casino and played $5 blackjack. Afterward, we went to a bar that had been recommended to us called World Bar. Known for serving cocktails in teapots, World Bar was a great spot - the dreadlocked DJ played good music and we danced the night away.
The next day, we tried another Queenstown institution - Fergburger! I can honestly say that the Cockadoodle Oink burger I shared with Amy was one of the best I have ever had. It was enormous and we ended up taking our leftovers for the drive to Lake Wanaka. Only an hour and a half from Queenstown, Lake Wanaka is another milky blue lake surrounded by amazing scenery. Even though it has been cold and rainy each day so far, it is hard not to appreciate the endless scenery that New Zealand has to offer. And another New Zealand fact that we can attest to - there are so many sheep! Supposedly, there are 10 sheep for every person (4 million people and about 40 million sheep).
After Lake Wanaka, we drove back to Queenstown and decided to play a friendly game of poker in our hostel for $5 buy-in. I ended up getting some great hands (and bluffed when I didn’t) and won the entire pot (ended up only being $20, but still)!
Canyon swinging day had arrived the next morning, and we were all nervous and excited. Vic was the only one who was terrified and regretted signing up to do it. We decided to play a few holes of Frisbee golf in the morning at the Queenstown Gardens (Vic and I were Team Gino, Lee and Amy were Team Brit, and Mark was Team Grumpy) to get our minds off the extreme sport awaiting us in the afternoon. At the end of 4 holes, Team Gino and Team Grumpy were tied, but we had to pause the game to make our canyon swinging reservation.
We drove out to Shotover Canyon, and on the way we were expected to decide on a position for the jump. Similar to bungee jumping, canyon swinging involves jumping off a ledge into a canyon. There is a 60 meter freefall (which is the same as the highest bungee in the world, also located in Queenstown). However, the difference between canyon swinging and bungee jumping is that instead of bouncing at the end, canyon swinging continues into a 200 meter swing at speeds of up to 150 km per hour. Also, there are only a few positions for bungee jumping, whereas there are about 60 different positions for canyon swinging.
Since Vic was terrified, he jumped first and was off the platform before we even had time to videotape him. He took a running leap and jumped headfirst into the canyon below. Mark was next and decided to do a backflip off the ledge. Amy, Lee, and I were next and we all were gutsy enough to do the Pin Drop position. The Pin Drop position involves leaning forward at the waist with your hands behind your back while you jump sideways off the platform. Since you do not have any limbs exposed, the Pin Drop is one of the scariest positions and can gain the fastest speeds. The only way that I can explain the experience of the Pin Drop is that it was terrifying and the adrenaline rush was incredible!
In fact, Amy, Mark, and I decided to do a second jump - this time trying harder positions. Mark went first and did Gimp Boy Goes to Hollywood which meant he fell headfirst into canyon and Amy tried the Elvis Cutaway position. Somehow I was talked into doing the position called the “Chair of Death!” I was seated in a plastic chair and a seatbelt was strapped to my waist. Basically, I was expected to lean the chair backwards over the edge, backflipping into the abyss below. This would have been terrifying enough, however the guys working the swing taunted me by holding me off the edge of the cliff. In fact, Lee could not do a second jump because he was so distraught by watching my chair jump. Amy was the only one brave enough to do a third jump - she attempted to do backflips!
With our adrenaline pumping, we decided to drive to Mount Cook Village later that night. On the drive, I talked to my mom and dad on the phone just as it started to snow. The snow continued for the rest of the drive, and by the time we arrived in Mount Cook, we were worried that we might get snowed in! We made it safely and stayed the night at the only hostel in town. By chance, some of the other people were watching Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and since I had never seen any of the trilogy, we decided to watch it. How appropriate to watch Lord of the Rings in New Zealand where it was filmed!
The next morning, we awoke to a winter wonderland and snow continued to fall throughout the day. We went on a 2-hour hike through the snow called the Kea Point walk. It was a beautiful walk and we stopped to have a few snowball fights along the way. There was a lookout over the lake surrounded by snow-covered mountains at the end of the walk, and of course I slipped and fell the whole way down the stairs, bruising my tailbone! After walking back and eating soup for lunch, we decided it would be best to drive the entire way to Christchurch that night in case the snow got worse.
Once again, we stayed the night in Cathedral Square in Christchurch and celebrated Lee’s last night in New Zealand at a nearby Irish pub. Even though it was still rainy the next morning, we decided to walk around Christchurch before heading to the airport. Not a very pretty city, Christchurch offers even less to see on a cold, rainy day.
At the airport, we said goodbye to Lee and decided to roughly plan out the duration of our trip in New Zealand. We returned our rental Toyota Rav-4 that we had had for the last 5 days and traded it in for a smaller car since there would only be four of us. Since many of the roads are closed due to weather conditions (rain and flooding in the Southeast and snow in Queenstown and the Southwest), we decided to begin by driving North to Kaikoura that night.
We planned to have our smaller car on the South Island for 10 days or so, then fly to Wellington in the North Island and get a campervan for the last 2 weeks we would be in New Zealand. The weather is expected to be drier and warmer in the North Island, so we definitely wanted to rent a campervan for the experience as well as to save a little money. And also, it would be nice to have a home for more than a few nights (even though it would be in a van) as we are starting to tire of living out of suitcases and moving every few days...
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