The last of the “big trips” is over, and suddenly I have about two weeks left in my new home. How crazy it seems that at this time next month, I’ll be back in Maryland. It is most definitely a bittersweet feeling, for all of the reasons you can imagine. I miss all of my friends and family so much, but I love my friends and my home here in New Zealand. I’ve decided that everyone in MD should just move here…then I will never leave! Sorry, MD, but you just can’t compare.
Anyways! I just returned this afternoon from a five-day tour of the most southern south island parts. We started off in Dunedin very early in the morning. Unfortunately, due to some mix-ups and late changes in plans, we spent the first two hours in the airport waiting for our rental car. It was probably good to rest a little bit, as Laura and I were pretty sleep deprived and we had all been up very early that morning to catch our 7AM flight (it was the cheapest!). There had been a bit of an incident before we even made it to the airport…Laura slept through her alarms and was awakened by a call from the shuttle driver who was outside. Imagine Jess’s and my surprise to see her in the shuttle in nothing but shorts, t-shirt and a sweatshirt. At the time it wasn’t quite funny yet, but now it’s hilarious. We had to go shopping for essentials as soon as we got into Dunedin since she has planned to finish packing that morning (no time for that, obviously). After stopping at our hostel (it was freezing…but we had our own room!), we headed to Larnach Castle. Being a castle officianado thanks to Dad and our frequent jaunts in England, I was not impressed. Sorry, Larnach…you were small, boring, and you had to pay more to go inside? No thanks. You did provide some nice views of the Otago Peninsula however, so I’ll forgive you some of your faults. We continued to the albatross colony, which our hostel-person had informed us of, but we then realized we had to pay for a tour. So we just wandered around and took some pictures on cliffs instead. Our third and final stop of the day was across the peninsula up lots of windy, narrow, gravel roads (thank you to Jess for not driving off the edge) to a beach where there were penguin colonies. From our understanding there were both yellow-eyed penguins and blue penguins…unfortunately we didn’t get close enough to see the difference. We did see some penguins though! After a long trek down a sand dune and over a small river (as well as past a few seals or sea lions…we got too close to one and it charged a few steps. It was absolutely terrifying.), we made it to the viewing hides to watch for the penguins returning at dusk. We saw seven penguins at all. They were so funny to watch as they waddled out of the water and jumped with both feet from rock to rock!
The following day we browsed through downtown Dunedin for a few hours before heading down the coast through the Catlins on the way to Invercargill. We stopped at Nugget Point and Slope Point. They were both absolutely fantastic. The Catlins are renowned for their scenery, and there is absolutely no doubt why. Every inch of the drive there was something fascinating to behold. To the three of us who are used to concrete or cornfields while driving, it was almost overwhelming. The sunset at Slope Point was magnificent and such rich hues of purple, pink, and orange. Insane! We arrived safely in Invercargill to Sparky’s Backpackers. It was an unusual place to be sure. The guys running it were a little out there…we were promised chocolate cake. When Sparky said “chocolate cake in fifteen minutes!” we believed that we would be eating it in fifteen minutes. Oh no. There was a whole show…I ended up with a tambourine, Laura was on the drum, Jess had some strange strainer device that squeaked, and Sparky was wearing a hard hat and goggles. I got some cake and a free t-shirt (due to my previously unknown skills on the tambourine) out of it, so it was definitely worth it. I’ll have to recreate this cake that Sparky made some time for those who are interested!
The next morning it was off to Queenstown via the scenic route. We stopped on the coast for lunch where Jess got some really good seafood chowder (I always pick the wrong thing!). It was incredibly, horrifically windy so we weren’t able to get out and walk around as much as we would have liked. It was my day to drive and even though I drove for probably five hours, it was never boring because of the scenery. Just another beautiful day in a beautiful landscape. Take a look at the pictures!
The following day we were up fairly early again and out to the original bungee jump site. Jess had decided (after going back and forth for probably a month) to bungee jump off a bridge into a river. Well, she didn’t actually touch the river (good thing because it was freezing!). There were several jumpers before her and I was too scared to even watch them jump off the ledge. You can tell that the thought of bungee jumping myself was never even a consideration. But Jess did a great job and had a beautiful swan dive (unlike some others who went feet first and were unceremoniously yanked upside down by the bungee cord). With our adrenaline pumping, we went back into Queenstown and up the hill in the gondola to do some extreme sporting together. When I say extreme sporting, I mean as extreme as I can get…ziplining. For some it might not seem too extreme, but I can promise you it was for me! It was a lot of fun. I even hung upside down on one (kind of…I never actually let go of my tether), but it was so cool. We also rode the steepest tree-to-tree zipline in the world! Oh yeah! And the scenery was awesome as well. Nothing in New Zealand is complete without the scenery, after all. We grabbed some pizza for dinner (it was HUGE! 20 inches in diameter! But there were only two pieces left when we had demolished it), and did a lot of souvenir shopping. I don’t want to shop for souvenirs again for a looong time after leaving NZ. I’m beginning to worry about the luggage situation for the way home..we’ll have to see what happens there. After preliminary calculations, I may be carrying up to 25 boxes of Tim Tams alone. Goodness gracious. I might have to cut back a little, you think?
Anyway, the final day was spent traveling home. Seven out of my ten flights in a one-month span have been successfully completed. Now back at home base in Wellington, I have a lot of work to accomplish in the next five days. Then I’ll be home free and be able to enjoy my last ten days in this wonderful country to the fullest. I’ll probably wait to update again until the following Sunday (sorry!). In place of this Sunday’s post, you can just imagine me typing and studying frantically. I can promise it will be an accurate representation of the next week. Argh. Until then, kia ora!
NZ Southern South Island Trip (1):
NZ Southern South Island Trip (1):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150634444885707.687021.597595706&l=bc8b3bcde1
NZ Southern South Island Trip (2):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150634514675707.687035.597595706&l=9c5d303c70
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