An Ultimate Kiwi Experience

Where to even begin? My semester break of 17 days trekking around the glories of New Zealand are very much in the rankings as some of the best days of my life. Absolutely amazing. Loaded up my one trusty Osprey pack for what would turn into an utterly fantastic, adrenaline-infused, constantly moving adventure of a lifetime. Begin: April 12. Fly to Auckland.

I'm a newbie at this whole backpacking business. I managed, but you should note to always bring a towel. And soap. They tend to come in handy. But whatevs, you get by with a little help from your friends. Or just use the floor mats, bed sheets, paper towels, and flanel jackets to dry after the far-and-few-between showers when your pals' towels are mildew-ridden. Oh the good times.

1 bag, 17 days. Go, Osprey, go!

Didn't see too much of Auckland except the inside of the most disgusting hostel I saw the whole time, and will hopefully ever see. Rocked up at half midnight to room with Miles. Oh, Miles. Poor robotic-moving, lisped-beyond-control, awk as kid from Perth. I'll say he probably had a good heart. Explored the mostly deserted streets for thirty minutes, checked out the local Macker's and decided on a good night's sleep before the Kiwi Experience began the next AM. Bells, Daina, and I finagled a free shuttle ride, clean towels, meusli brekky, and cups of joe. (This is pretty difficult to manage). So we were happy. Let the adventure commence!

Mt. Eden

Hop the Kiwi Experience bright and early to meet an overwhelming amount of English backpackers. Unlike Americans, English kids take a gap year before/after university in which they save up a lump of cash and then go 'splorin'. I like this idea. Heaps. So the Kiwi for most of our backpacker mates was just a stepping stone in their 6-12 month world travel treks. First stop: Mt. Eden, overlooking all of Auckland. Pretty spectacular. Naturally, I played some Sierra Leone atop the grassy peak. Nice.

Cathedral Cove

The cool thing about the Kiwi is that although it takes you to a specified destination each day, with a guaranteed reservation at a hostel, there are loads of sweet surprise pit stops along the way. You really get a feel for the whole countryside. Cathedral Cove, midway between Auckland and Mercury Bay, may have been the absolute most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Super stunning. White beach only accessible via 30 minute green pasture hike, with the prettiest clear blue water ever. Really amazing. Swam like giddy children at recess out to the nearest rock where we made our first friends, dove off, and swam back to shore for the first of many rugby matches. This is going to be FUN!

Random cave en route somewhere.

From Cathedral Cove on, it was constant go go go. Fun fun fun. And adrenaline to the max. Mercury Bay was a quaint, quiet beachside town where we all basically got to know one another at the hostel. Funny how complete strangers from all over the world can turn into your best friends and family in a few short days of being around one other 24/7.

All the cool kids in the back of the bus.

After Mercury Bay, headed to Rotorua. A swell little place that's only downfall was the gnarly egg smell from the sulfur of the hot springs. Luging! Gondola up the mountain and ride what are basically go carts without engines down twisty-turny paths, completely recklessly. Such a thrill. Went out that night to Lava Bar where we convinced some poor locals that we were from places like Scotland, where 'hello' was 'wagga wagga' and Narnia was a real place in the midst of Europe. Too too funny. The locals loved us. Such ignorance.

Raging rapids and weird as friends.

Days were super long, and I mean that in the best way possible. Up at the crack of dawn, exhausting activities all day long, and up as late as our eyelids would possibly let us. Such a good feeling to sleep solely for the reason that you cannot go on one more second, literally. Worthwhile times.

CAVING!

One of my absolute favorite activities was caving in Waitomo. Such an adventure. Our Kiwi leader, Brendon, was sweet as. Outfitted in crazy stupid getups (see Fbook for more pics), we rock down this deserted path in a white van to the most amazing Lord of the Rings hills, complete with the greenest grasses, sheep for miles, and killer black jutting rocks. So picturesque. I couldn't shut up about it. Head to the cave where we absailed down one at a time, romped in the icy cold shin-deep waters, pet eels, sat in the night sky of brilliant glow worms, black water rafted over rapids, jumped off little cliff tops, drank hot mango juice, all far below the earth's surface. Five hours later, rock climb our way into the calm night air and trek it back to some hot tomato soup. Such a sweet time. Permanently jaw-dropped.

Yep.

Oh, Taupo! A top place as well. Sweet backpacker town overlooking Lake Taupo, the size of Singapore. Spent the first day in complete downpour, hiking to the natural hot springs, which felt absolutely glorious on our sodden, shivering bodies. Went out to Element Bar, mixed and mingled, expecting to get out on the bus to River Valley the next day. Not. Bella, Daina, and I were on the wait list and there wasn't a chance in hell we were fitting on that green bus. So what do we do? SKY DIVE! Duh.

Surreality to the max.

Absolutely the most fantastic feeling I have ever experienced. 12,000 feet up, you lose much of your depth perception. No training, or signing consent forms, or putting down emergency contacts (none of which I considered abnormal until after landing safely on the ground), but just up and go! I was strapped to Benjamin, who promised to give me a crazy ride, per my request. Up and up and up and up. So high up. Finally strapped in and at max height, the plane door slides swiftly open. I swear, I was not scared one bit, just stoked beyone belief until that door was wide open and the air came rushing in. HOLY! What was I doing?! Fear struck me like a hammer. Bella gets pushed out. We all screamed. Quicker than ever the two other people in front of me go, now I'm sitting on the edge. Deep breath. Push down the fear. Benjamin asks if I'm ready. Fear gone, let's do this! He hollers back, 'Sweet as!' as we tumble out into the clear blue. You can literally see from one side of the North Island to the other, with the fantastic lake, hills, towns, and the works between. Fantastic. You don't get that falling feeling in the pit of your stomach, and it lasts forever. Falling, falling, falling. But you don't feel like you're falling, until the parachute explodes and everything stops. You're just sitting, seeminly unmoving, suspended a mile above the earth. Amazing. Only now still do I realize that the air had made all the snot in my poor nose explode all over my goggles. Before I can wipe it, poor Benjamin pulls them off my face for a clearer view, snot covering his unprotected hands. God! So so so so sorry! Slightly mortified, but Benjamin seems as if he's had worse. We spin and frolick in the air forever, before softly plopping on the grass. Let's do that again, please.

Post-skydive lazy afternoon in Taupo.

After the spectacular adrenaline rush, you are nothing but high. Just walking around, super tired, but so pleased with life. Lazy afternoon followed, with dockside conversations and wandering the town.

Coolest mushrooms ever in NZ.

Really, coolest everything in NZ.

Taupo BBQ.

Designated trip cook, Tom, never let us down once. Oh so pleasant steak BBQ and Speight's brews were a perfect Sunday afternoon.

The muddiest, most strenuous hike yet.

Then another top time: River Valley. Every day was better than the day before, literally. It didn't seem possible. Oh, but it was. River Valley started out as a muddy, rainy mess. Hiked the amazing hills, played volleyball and rugby in the grassy patches until our feeling-less legs had to be warmed fireside in the crazy lodge filled with crazy Kiwis. What a top night! Ski lodge style, we were thoroughly entertained by the locals and wondered how in the world these crazy kids were going to take us white water rafting in the morning. Apparently they're professionals, because they absolutely did. It was fantastic. A level 4 adventure, freezing as rapids, dunked under once, the best rafting team, and a total blast! Wish I had some pics of it, but so vivid in my mind, at least.

Just one of many daily ridiculously amazing sceneries aboard the Interislander.

The only problem with the beyond-belief good looking surroundings is you become immune so quickly. Oh, another waterfall, another river, another cave. Cool. But it is, it is SO COOL. You have to keep reminding yourself that. After the draining River Valley activities, absolutely crash in Wellington. Up and at 'em the next day for part 2: South Island. Take the three hour Interislander ferry south, the whole while being thoroughly entertained by the still-drunk at 9 AM Volcom skate team. 

Stay at a sweet little hostel in Nelson, day filled with a hike to the centre of New Zealand, capped with free beer tasting, and a silly little karaoke night. Pretty fun fun fun!

Gleaming lake, sans the 2 meter long eels.

On to Westport, which I think was only a stop because there was nothing else along the west coast. Nothing going on, but a cool little hostel. Spend the day at the deserted beach, go for a jog, watch a seal tackle a fish dinner with an elderly Kiwi fisherman, eat some of Tom's chili and rice, early night in.

Straight up jungle hike.

On to Lake Mahinapuapaupapooohoo (never learned how to spell or pronounce that one). Nothing at Lake Mahipoo except the lake, which was infested with boy scouts, and the gnarliest hostel, owned by Lez, the older-than-dirt and even stricter, short little bearded man. The saving grace: poo party. Kiwi plans it for every bus, and our theme was rubbish bags.

Prime example: Toddy the man.

As seen above, our amazingly awesome driver, Toddy, showed us all up costume wise. I was a cavewoman, kind of, and we danced the night away. There were also Playboy bunnies, a bride and groom, a nun, a pirate, a nurse, and loads of just straight trash bags bopping around. A grim time.

Caves!

On to the coolest resort-style hostel, Rainforest Lodge in Franz Josef. Spend the afternoon hiking the best hike yet (I mean it this time) that led to a tunnel cave. Wander single file through the pitch black, icy water cave, searching high and low for glow worms. Think we found about three.

Glacier Hikin'

The main event was the following day: Glacier hike. Super interesting. Hike 5 km up to the top of the icy greatness, completely soaked by rain. Slick, but just keep those feet shoulder width apart, straight ahead, dig straight in and you should be a-okay. At least our funny super-rule-following Axeman hiking buddy was.

4 hours in ate the gnarliest, soggiest veggie pizza ever. Mmm nourishment.

The whole hike lasted 8 hours, complete exhaustion, and utter frozenness. So neat though. Group 1 conquered the mass of frozen water with great speed, and back to the lodge for Easter dinner: bangers (sausages) and mash. Head to the pub for a sweet night of warm fireside conversations and laughs.

Next day is Wanaka. A total ski town with a superbly beautiful, remarkably inhabited lake. Wander the quaint town, listen to a little karaoke, and have a well-rested night before the next day in the anxiously anticipated Queenstown. We vow to return to Wanaka for ski season, it would be a top trip.

View of Qtown from the hostel. Yes.

Queenstown, me loves. The 'Vegas' of NZ, if you can call it that. The party and recreation capitol of the south, but actually considerably small and all-too-cute. The best: Fergburger. The one and only. I had three in a matter of 36 hours. After each one, of which I said I wouldn't finish each time but ultimately did, I had to nap. They were THAT good. Did some shopping, went out to World Bar for awesome drink promos both nights, kayaked the crystal clear lake, and had a killer last couple days in NZ. Only thing I didn't squeeze in was the bungy jump. 134 meters, holy. But I don't have to complete my entire bucket list in a mere couple weeks, right? Can't wait to go back.

Last day :(

Bells, Dainer, and I board the bus with a new crew. Goodbyes said, and fantastic memories swarming our heads, we trek to Christchurch. For the longest. night. of. our. lives.

Ridiculously good looking view, again.

Dropped at the Christchurch airport at 4 PM. Plane leaves at 6 AM. Here goes! The airport is far removed from the central business district and Christchurch was still shut down from the quakes, so there really wasn't a point in getting a hostel for half a night. So we kick it hobo style; we're good at it. Slap happiness follows. Then the cafe feels bad for us and gives us literally 4 wraps and 7 sandwiches that were going to be trashed. We conquer all during the night.

30 more minutes....gahhh.

Apparently everyone does the overnight airport thing, but with preparation. So many backpackers with absolute camps set up indoors, complete with laundry lines, sleeping bags, food rations, the works. I was looking for a campfire to pop up. We were unprepared, sleeping in spurts on the cold, hard floor. I showered in the bathroom, best decision of my life, drying off with my flannel. Pass the time by journaling, hemping, day dreaming, night dreaming, hallucinating, whatever works. Finally it's morning. So long, NZ, you've been so so good to us. :)

I sleep the entire plane to Sydney, feeling inspired, excited, and adventurous. Ready to have a top month in the city, seeing all there is left. Then, on a whim, off to THAILAND with the English lads fron NZ in June!! So very excited. A few finals, then exploring the eastern Oz coast of Queensland before back to the States, just in time for 4th o' July.

Time is flying, and I intend to not waste a second. So many amazing things to see and explore. So many interesting people to learn from. I'm stupidly excited for my life, and you should be too. Off to Darling Harbour for my 21st! Whoooooop whoop! xoxox