oh the places you'll go..

Well, I just returned from an wonderfully exhausting, extensive trip of the NZ south island for half of our 'spring break' here at Vic. Emma, Karalyn, Ellen, Kevin, and I flew to Christchurch, rented a station wagon, Silver Bullet II, and continued to make our way from Christchurch to Sumner, Queenstown, Fiordland, Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier, and back to Queenstown all in a week. This trip certainly had its fair share of hilarious stories, exciting adventures, and picture-perfect moments. Here is a rundown of the trip:

Saturday. We were picked up from the hilltop at our dorm at 5:45am and drove to the airport where we caught an early flight (like 6:30am) to Christchurch. We picked up the Silver Bullet II, had a lovely cafe breakfast, and set out to explore Christchurch. We browsed in the cathedral, the market, and little shops; took phonebooth pictures; chased birds; laughed at Chinese people trying to get a jumping picture on a self-timer; and saw other historic Christchurch sights such as the Bridge of Remembrance, a war memorial. We decided to drive to Sumner, a town set on the coast about 20 minutes away, to watch the sunset and grab dinner. I enjoyed walking the beach, filling my pockets with sandy treasures, and feeling the sand between my toes. We found a cute little cafe for dinner, and I had one of the best bowls of soup (cauliflower!!) and an organic salad for dinner (I miss my 'veges' from home!) Getting back to the hostel that evening was the first of many nights spent in a bed that creaked and a bathroom that was shared with other people unashamed of walking around without clothes on. The quote that was mentioned at every hostel thereafter was Karalyn's question, "Oh, I have to make my own bed?"

Sunday. We woke up early Sunday, grabbed a Subway sandwich on our way out to eat lunch on the road, and headed to Queenstown. The drive definitely took longer than expected due to the breathtaking sights along the way. Queenstown is much like your typical quaint, cute ski town with a New Zealand twist. We spent the rest of our daylight hours just walking around, taking pictures, and finding somewhere good for dinner. The scent of an African grill place caught our attention, and they said they could squeeze us in. I had what I thought was a wonderful salad with spinach, onions, bell peppers, marinated chicken, almonds, etc., but what I really got was food poisoning that kept me up most of the night. After getting tired of crawling out of the top bunk of our hostel for the third time, I grabbed my pillow and comforter and slept by the bathroom. Thankfully, we had our own bathroom in our hostel room this time. I was ready for Monday to come.

Monday. Karalyn and Emma bungy jumped in the morning, and Ellen, Kevin, and I went along for moral support. Still feeling yucky from the night before, Karalyn met some friends and snowboarded with them at a beautiful place called The Remarkables. What I would give to be able to go back and ski there for a few days. The rest of that day was spent drinking NZ's equivalent of Gatorade, browsing around town again, chatting with my parents for a long time, and resting. That evening after dinner, we went to this place named Minus 5. It is a small bar made entirely of ice. Everything from the seats to the drinking glasses are ice. You reserve a 30 minute time slot and get to have a fun drink and take pictures with the ice sculptures while you sip your cold drink all bundled up. Sidenote: I can still count on one hand the number of places I have been to that serve ice in their drinks.

Tuesday. In preparation for our drive to Fiordland, we walked in the rain to grab some breakfast at another cafe. My new favorite breakfast here is museli and yogurt with some fruit when I am not in the dorm. Their muesli here was homemade with tamarillo fruit (it's becoming another 'superpower' fruit - look it up!), and kiwi slices (which apparently you can also eat with the skin still on?). We drove to Fiordland National Park, which is now nominated for the 8th Wonder of the World, and hiked for Lake Marian which wound up being a little over 3 hours. The trail was marked by little orange triangles nailed to trees (Emma, those were not merely 'caution' labels) and the barely created walkway had pretty much turned into a rushing stream of water from the rain and melting snow. Upon arriving at Lake Marian, I did everything I could not to just fall to the ground, so thankful for the marvelous sight before me. The Lord is just so creative. We made the trek back to the car, were attacked by an army of sand flies, ate dinner at the only place within 2 hours distance any way, played Spades and Presidents (card games) until late in the night, declined offers to dance on tables from the friendly Kiwi staff at the lodge, and finally fell asleep to the rain.

Wednesday. We woke up early to find another drizzly, cold morning for our Milford Sound cruise. Milford Sound is kind of like a cove with landmasses jutting out. It is really only accessible by boat, so we booked a cheap 2 hour cruise that would get us to these places. Even though it was drizzly, it was amazing. We had dolphins swim by our boat, rainbows peeking through, waterfalls everywhere you looked, and just beauty everywhere. After we finished with that, we were going to Franz Josef Glacier to do some hiking we had reserved for the next day. Since there is literally one main road, we had to go all the way back through Queenstown and up the west coast again to get to the glacier. We had our gas stops planned out, and at 7:53, we stopped in a town (big dot on the map) called Haast (ironically named after the man who discovered the glacier) to get some gas. We found the town looking deserted, but a gas sign blowing in the breeze, and the lights to the small supermarket on. Emma ran into the supermarket, and came out saying the gas station had already closed and that trying to drive the other 2 hours or so to the glacier in the rain and on windy roads would be risky with such 'low' gas. Apparently, you are always supposed to keep a full tank when driving on the West Coast. We realize none of us have service, the rain begins to pick up, and we start thinking about our next move. Our hike is at 8:45 in the morning, the gas station opens at 8. We've already put money on the hostel accommodations. We are so not in America, the land of 24-hour gas stations anymore. Anyways, we all go back in to the supermarket and ask to use their phone, hoping that out insurance with AA will send us some gas for a small fee so that we could make it to Franz Josef sometime that night. Despite bad phone lines, Emma finally gets connected with the lady and it put on hold, when the owners of the supermarket, a husband and wife, tell us that they have to go home. We are thinking to ourselves," Ummm okay. We have little to NO options here, and you are kicking us out?" Thankfully there was a payphone around the corner Emma and I crowded into to get back on the line. AA was very gracious and called the gas station in Haast and a nearby city to see if they might open up for us to fill up for a fee. Haast refused to open up, so we drove 20km to another gas station where we thankfully filled up. I'm telling you, this situation had all of the perfect beginnings to a horror movie. No cell service, raining, not much gas....We drove around 2 1/2 more hours to Franz Josef in the rain, 120 turns in a 23km stretch, and finally made it to the hostel where we passed out for the night.

Thursday. We woke Thursday morning to more pouring rain. Despite the intermittent rain, the glacier hike still was going on. I have to say that this was one of the most intense things that I have done. It was a 5 hour trip total with about 3 or so hours hiking and climbing on the glacier. We were in small guided groups on the steepest guided glacier hike in NZ. On our walk to the glacier, which was MASSIVE, it began to hail pea-sized hail twice, and once we got to the glacier, the rain held out until we were just about done. The wind was merciless, and we had to dig our crampons (spike-like things that attached to our boots) deep into the ice to get a good grip. By the end of the hike, our feet and hands were numb, our bodies exhausted, and ready to sleep. We had a quick lunch in the town, and Emma and I took turns driving back to Christchurch for the evening.

Friday. Friday morning came too quicky as we parted ways with the Silver Bullet II, had breakfast in the airport, and flew back to windy Wellington. Oh, check facebook for pictures and videos of our NZ Chinese Fire Drill and other sorts of things!

This country has stolen my heart.