Hi All!
I made it back to NY after 19 hours of flights, 12 hours of waiting in airports AND getting to repeat Tuesday the 15th! I have just a week to turnaround and get ready to leave for Europe now! I am super excited, but at the same time, I don't want these next days to fly by because I have so much to do!! But it’s been awhile, so here's a recap of the highlights from New Zealand:
My travel partner, Erik. If a person can be the best part of the trip, then he was it! He is a 27 year old from Cologne who was just finishing up five months of travel in New Zealand and was up for doing a final victory lap of the country before leaving out of Auckland on the 15th just like me. He knew everything one could need to know from how long it takes to drive between each city to all of the dishes that could be cooked with pasta, tomatoes, onions, carrots, avocado, and egg to exactly where the public bathrooms are in every single town. In short he was a lifesaver, but he became a best friend over the 2 weeks.
Seeing a shooting star for only the second time in my life on Day 2 on south island. It would have been hard to miss in the giant black sky because it was just so big and bright. As only my second sighting, it was thrilling!
We were able to do a two day hike along the Grand Traverse Track on south island (one of the 9 Great Walks in the country) complete with an overnight stay in one of the backcountry huts that are provided every 3 to 4 hours or so as the full track takes about 6 days. The trail was rather rocky, steep, and intense, so it was really the simplicity of the hut and the actual overnight that were the highlight for me! Arriving just before sundown we got to cook dinner in the near dark and enjoy it in the company of just a few others who were also tackling the track in the winter season. (Winter, starting May 1, means no electricity and no running water in the huts!) The hut was so peaceful and quiet and after only maybe an hour of hushed whispering around the stove fire, everyone went to bed by 8pm! This became my favorite night in NZ with the solitude in the woods and the feeling of accomplishment after a tough hike.
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| Sunrise at the Routeburn Falls Hut |
Doing a boat ride through Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park. It was just stunning and we had gorgeous weather the entire day in the beautiful park where much of Lord of the Rings was actually filmed. It was exciting to be able to recognize landscapes in this park and in the adjacent Mt Aspiring National Park where the Grand Traverse track winds and where most of the elves' scenes were apparently filmed.
Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula. This beach is named New Zealand's best beach and is really, really amazing! It's not accessible by car actually; you can only walk to it which takes around 30-40 minutes and makes the cove that much more special. And actually that only gets you to the beach adjacent to Cathedral Cove. They say Cathedral Cove is not accessible by land; you need to take a boat there because you are not supposed to walk under the natural rock bridge to get there due to the known threat of falling rock. However, if you feel like taking the risk you can reach it by land at low tide. I was there on an overcast day with off-and-on drizzle and had the beach to myself to explore!
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| Standing in the falling rock zone at Cathedral Cove |
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| Cathedral Cove |
Bungy Jumping! I knew I was up for it, but I wasn't sure I would end up being able to do it once I started traveling with Erik because he wasn't interested. However, I found out that one of the three jumps that you can do in Queenstown only requires an hour of your day from start to finish so booked a reservation for that one! (Unfortunately it was only the 47 meter height one and not the 143 meter highest-in-the-world-one because that requires a lot of extra travel time to reach.) Now I wish I could say that I did some super cool jump because with this mid-height you are strapped in at the waist and not your feet so you can do flips, Matrix style "shooting backwards" falls, swan dives, etc. What I ended up doing was not looking down before I jumped and just running and preparing to jump on the count of 3 thinking I would just leap with all my might. However, with this approach strategy I did not take into account what I would actually see and feel when I got to the edge of the ledge! My stomach dropped about 2 feet in my body and I became scared faster than I think I have ever become scared in my life, but it was too late! I had all the momentum from running and was already over the edge and all of my grace “flew out the window.” So I just flailed a wee bit screaming “Oh My God!” a few times! The free fall was fairly short so I managed to regain my composure :) I don’t think anyone saw or heard… not! The adrenaline rush was just HUGE and it was definitely scarier than sky diving. I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think I would do it again. Skydiving has a much longer lasting thrill (perhaps 120x longer? 20 minutes vs 10 seconds?) and with tandem skydiving, it’s actually someone else who makes the leap and you’re just attached and along for the ride! More my style :)
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| The Ledge Bungy over Queenstown |
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| Mid-flail freakout looking ever so graceful |
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| Butterflies still in my stomach walking back up - adrenaline still making me shaky! |
The hot chocolate and marshmallows of New Zealand. As travelers roughing it in a campervan, this became such a treat and luxury almost every day (well for me at least, Erik preferred cappuccinos)! The marshmallows of NZ are much better than the ones in the US – I even bought a bag to bring home!
Driving on the left side of the road. In total I drove nearly 900 km unaccompanied at the end of my trip in a small rental car and about another 500 with Erik when he let me drive the campervan. At first I had to keep the mantra “Keep Left” repeating in my head as I approached every single intersection and roundabout, but I eventually got the hang of it and it was so much fun! It actually started to feel natural towards the end. I think it will definitely be an adjustment now returning to driving on the right.
Discovering two amazing gelato places! One was in Wellington and I took the server’s recommendation of combining the biscotti and mixed berry flavors (mmmm, mmmm good!) and the other in Auckland called Giapo. It’s actually a test kitchen of flavors each week from French toast to white chocolate tuna to avocado and passion fruit. I played it a bit safe and had White Chocolate Velvet and it was outstanding! I’m so glad to know that gelato is still in my future in Europe!
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| only one-quarter of Giapo's flavors in Auckland that week |
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| best gelato in Wellington according to Erik - and I agree! |
The list really goes on and on….Taupo, Wellington, Bay of Islands, hot thermal baths, picking up my first hitchhiker alone, sleeping under the full moon under our moonroof, eating at a vegetarian restaurant just like my favorite one in San Diego where they do an outstanding job of mimicking meat dishes; there were highlights every single day!
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| Lake Taupo |
But maybe one last highlight was my entire last day. Erik and I reunited after a weekend apart during which he sold his van and tried to fix some issues with his work laptop. (Really brings a new meaning to working remote! His software development consulting firm has been letting him work part time from NZ!) Our flights weren't until the evening so he showed me One Tree Hill, a park in Auckland, where we climbed the steep, back way up to a monument (roads are for wimps!) at the top of the hill with a spectacular 360 degree view of the city. It had been raining off and on on us and we had been staying dry ducking under trees and finding shelter on one side of the monument, but we came out just in time to see a full rainbow stretching across the other side of the sky. I had no idea what Erik or the park had in store so I regrettably left my camera in the car, but I am so, so glad Erik had his cell phone to capture just how perfect the rainbow was. It was along the south side of the city forming an arch right over where Auckland’s airport is as though directing me home and just making me feel better about this part of my journey coming to an end.
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| The perfect arch rainbow over the airport in the background |
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| Sheep that were roaming free without fences in One Tree Hill park - they ran away from me! |
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| A photo from Goog images by Chris Gin (c) to show One Tree Hill |
And now for the low lights…I don't think there were too many!!
Sand flies. These are just pesky tiny flying bugs that are pretty much along the entire west coast of South Island, including Abel Tasman NP. Only the females bite and I was lucky to never get bitten, but they really are always in your face and food if you pull out a snack on the trail!
Losing my umbrella. It’s kind of sad that this was such a sad thing for me, but it’s really most upsetting because it was so lightweight and perfect for travel and I'm not sure I can find as good of a replacement this week before Europe!
Not being able to experience Hot Water Beach the way it should be. Hot Water Beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula not far from Cathedral Cove is NZ’s most unique beach. Underneath its sand only about 6-8 inches below is really, really hot water! So what you’re supposed to do is come at low tide with a shovel and dig yourself a giant hole and relax in the hot water before the tide comes back in. However, on the three days when I had the opportunity to visit, low tide was at 6, 7, and 8am or at 7, 8, and 9 pm and I wasn’t up for digging and/or driving in the dark. Kind of a big bummer.
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| Hot Water Beach at high tide |
And lastly and unexpectedly writing this here at JFK's Jet Blue terminal, the gate right next to mine to Rochester is boarding for Tampa and I just got a sharp feeling of homesickness and wished I actually had reason to be boarding that flight. After about 9 weeks away I definitely am missing Florida!
I miss you guys!
Annie
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