Good Bye New Zealand

It’s crazy to think that the first part of my trip it already over. I could not have imagined anything better for me to do after graduating. College definitely wasn’t the right option for me yet. I’ve learned so much and had fun doing it all the while.

It’s taught me how much fun travelling can be. It’s constantly a whirl-wind of new people new places and new things to do. One night I could be sitting watching a rugby game with a sheep farmer and three nights later be playing cards in the back of someone’s house truck. Or playing scrabble in two different languages. Or bar hopping with a two other American’s multiple years older than me. It’s a crazy lifestyle to live, and everyone that is doing it seems to be in the same mind-set. Enjoy life now while we are young and not afraid. It makes making friends easy and a constant game.  

On the opposite side of the spectrum, it can be lonely.  Of the people I’ve kept in touch with they all seem to have the same thing to say. Lucky you, I’m jealous. I wish I could be in New Zealand also. It’s funny because sometimes when someone says that I am thinking the same thing about their situation. I found myself longing for having a place to call home; whether it be a dorm room at college or my own room back in Jersey. I wanted that comfort of having my own bed where I’ve slept for the past two months, and a dresser instead of a backpack. Sometimes all I wanted was my living room where I could curl up on my couch and watch the Discovery channel till 2 am.

 I guess I’ve realized how travelling can be an absolute blast sometimes, but others can be lonely; it’s just a matter of finding that balance between the two.

New Zealand has taught me to be independent. I couldn’t call my mom up to let me borrow her credit card to buy something online. I had my own card with my own money. I needed to manage it so it wasn’t gone before I got to Hong Kong. I couldn’t wait for my dad to fix something that I had broken. I couldn’t wait months till I got around doing my laundry. I had to make plans and respond to emails instead of leaving them for later and forgetting about it. All these things had to get done soon otherwise I wouldn’t eat or have clean clothing. I’ve learned to be independent enough so I can function by myself, which was a new concept. And something I’m definitely ready from a break from.

It’s taught me patience. For example: Right now I’m sitting in Auckland the day before I leave writing and watching the last Lord of the Rings on the TV. And I’m perfectly fine with that. I don’t mind just sitting here relaxing, and writing. By comparison, two and a half months ago I sat in Auckland and was bored. I felt like I should be out doing something, or making friends. I wanted to be constantly entertained. I was getting antsy and uncomfortable with it. New Zealand has taught to go with the flow, relax and be patient.

Lastly this first part of my trip has taught me how much I love my family. Missing thanksgiving was difficult. I saw my extended family sitting eating turkey with stuffing while I ate tacos. I remembered them playing the alphabet game and saying what they are thankful for. I hadn’t seen Zach in four months. I lived with him for the first 18 years of my life. I haven’t seen my parents in 2.5 months. And Chris + Tory in who knows how long. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to see everyone in three days.

New Zealand also taught me I can grow a sweet beard.

Cheers, for the final time. 

The Beginning Of The End

The moment I left my room at the Blenhium vineyard it marked the beginning of the end of my NZ trip. I left on the 5^th, which gave me 11 days to make it up to Auckland to get a flight to Hong Kong.

My first destination was Wellington. I had passed through it before, but not long enough to explore and get a feel for the city. It is the country’s capital after all. I had two options for transportation to the city. I could either get a plane flight, which costs NZ$ 84 or get a bus to the ferry and take that which costs NZ$ 66.  I went with the flight because the ferry situation takes 5 hours longer.

I took a 7 am flight into Wellington with Paul on that Monday morning. We walked up to the man behind the Air2There desk and said; “Hi, we are Paul and Ben.” He said, “Great! Put your bags there so I can weigh them .” We did that then took the bags off again and sat in the waiting area. No ticket, no security. No last names even. It was a new and welcomed change from the mess that Newark is.

We waited for a few minutes before walking out onto the tarmac to the plane. There were 8 other passengers on the plane that could fit 13. There was only one pilot, who happened to be the same person that checks you in. I put my own luggage beneath the plane, and then climbed into the co-pilot seat.( I had asked him earlier if I could sit in the cock-pit with him.) We took off out of Blenhium ON TIME then landed in Wellington 20 minutes later at 7:30.

That left me with ample time to explore Wellington.

The first thing I did was get some McDonalds and drop my backpack off at the hostel I was staying at.

Then I went to the library.

After the Library I spent about 2-3 hours exploring Te Papa. Te Papa is this HUGE free museum in Wellington. It’s like it’s a combination of the MET and Liberty Science Center. Except it’s not as big as the MET and not as exciting as the LSC.

After that I went on a tour of their parliament building. I almost fell asleep.

Got some dinner at a Thai place.

Then I went back to my hostel where I hung out with two German guys from my room. We were able to score ourselves some free lasagna and brownies from the downstairs kitchen.

The next day I got a bus to my first farm with Jenny and Perry. I had left a shirt there when I had left previously. I asked if I could return and stay with them from the 6^th to the 10^th. They were more than happy to oblige. What they didn’t tell me was that I would be working my freaking butt off.

 I arrived right in the middle of dagging time. Dagging is when we herd all the sheep in together and separate them from into lambs and ewe’s, which you’ll recall is moms and kids. We would weigh all the lambs and separate the ones that were guys and above 34 kg from the rest. Those were the lambs that were going to get sent to the slaughter house on the 11^th. We put a green mark on their head to signify that.

After that we had to dag all the sheep. The process of dagging is basically just shearing all the poppy wool away from the sheep’s butts so they don’t get infected by flies. For the big ewes there was a machine that would hold them but the lambs were too small. To dag the lambs I would grab them by their front legs and drag them to Perry who would cut off the wool. I was literally dripping sweat. I haven’t worked that hard in a long time.

 I stayed with them for a short time before saying goodbye for a final time. I got the bus to Manukau where I got picked up by a new wwoofing host where I’m staying till the 15^th. 

Cheers

Vineyard

Whoa. I’ve been working hard the past two weeks. My body is actually sore when I lay down to go to bed at night. But don’t worry, I don’t mind because the work is fulfilling.

You may recall that I said I was in Blenhium working on an organic vineyard and olive grove.  This vineyard is located in Marlborough, which is known for its wine. Paul and Jacqui, my hosts, have only 7 acres of grapes and maybe 10 acres of olive trees. During my stay with them I only worked on the vineyard because olive season is the opposite time of the year. For the sake of management I’m going to break my blog into 4 parts: people, work, play, random.

People

My hosts were Jacqui and Paul. During the week Paul would live in Wellington working for an advertising agency while Jacqui would stay back in Blenhium taking care of their kids and Wwoofers. Jacqui had worked as a corporate for a while before deciding to buy land to plant a small vineyard.  That means that most of the time Jacqui giving me jobs to do. I’d say that Paul and Jacqui make a great couple because they are opposites. Jacqui is very outspoken and a strong personality. Paul is more soft spoken and gentle, but still very engaging and talkative like Jacqui.

They had two boys who were homeschooled by Jacqui. Apollo is 11 and William is 14. It surprised me how engaging they were for their age. Both of them talked during dinner and would want to talk or play games or cards during the down time.

Aside from me there were two other wwoofers, who came at separate times. The first was Sara. She was 25 years old girl from Sweden and a fantastic baker. We would have different delicious bread almost daily. She was also really into art and an easy person to talk to abut controversial things. She left on December 1^st and another girl, Hanna showed up the same day. Ironically she was also Swedish, though a little older than Sara at 27. Hanna and I got along really well. We had a similar personality, and both enjoyed to laugh. We both also didn’t really like going to bed early, so we’d stay up watch a movie and hang out.

I’m including animals in the people section. They had about 5 or 6 chickens which were hilarious. They were a breed that didn’t have long legs so they’d waddle everywhere. They also had three cats. One was black that was terrified of everything. One was yellow but not that social. The last was this huge cat named James Brown. He was a boss. He thought he was the king of the house and made sure the other cats and humans knew. He would just lie down and chill most of the day in the most ridiculous positions. Lastly they had a horse named Lucy. She was an older horse with an attitude.

Work

Blenhium’s climate makes it perfect for grapes. Relatively cool nights and hot days. That doesn’t mean it was great for the people working in it though. Since it got hot in the afternoon Jacqui and Paul liked to get up early and work to beat the heat. Early being 6:30. SO every day I would get up nice and early around 6 eat a quick breakfast, and start working by 6:30.

When we would start working at 6:30 we would always do the same thing. Turf flip. Since they are organic they can’t use chemicals to kill the grass beneath the vines. The only way to try to kill it is to cut the roots then go row by row flipping over the mounds of grass so make sure the roots didn’t regrow. So, for the two hours every morning it would be up and down up and down up and down flipping a mound of cut grass then moving on to the next. Eventually I got the shoveling job, which involved helping to cut roots that regrew or helping to flip large mounds.

At 8:30 we had an hour break.

At 9:30 we would start work again for two hours. Each day the job varied which was nice. A few days we would mulch underneath the plants we cleared of weeds. One day we wire-lifted, which involved lifting the wires and tucking all the growing stems inside the wire.  I weed-wacked for two hours once. Collected some fallen sticks. Tied irrigation back.  A few times we put cardboard beneath the plants after they were mulched to prevent grass from growing.  After that work was all done around 11:30-12 each day. In addition to that we were expected to help cook and clean during meals each day.

It sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn’t bad. It’s always nice when the work varies so I don’t get bored. However, at the farm I did actually get some blisters and calluses cause it was tough work at times.

Play

After lunch we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. Most of the time we were exhausted and would go to our separate hut, read, then take a nap.  But we didn’t do that every day.

Twice I went to a nearby river: once with Sara and once with Hanna. The river happened to be the one Peter Jackson is filming The Hobbit on. The first time Sara and I just hiked to the river to dip our feet in. It was about a mile or so away, through endless expanses of vineyard. I have literally never seen so many grapes in my life. It went on FOREVER.

The second time, with Hanna, we went swimming. We had to hike a little farther up the river to find a calm spot. The spot we did find was perfect. The water was cool enough to be refreshing from the heat of the sun, but not cold enough to hurt. We would start by jumping in at small rapids which would pull you down to a deeper calmer area where you could stand with the water up to your chin.

Random

Another day Sara and I decided to take a shot at making homemade ravioli, which FYI sounds a lot easier than it is. We spent about 4 hours in total making it. The first step is to get the dough consistency just right. It’s only egg and flour, but that took a while. Then you have to cut it up and put small pieces to roll it thin. Then we had to make the filling, which was spinach, ricotta cheese and sautéed onions. Once we did that you would put a piece of rolled pasta down put a dab of filling on top then cover it in another small piece of dough.  Then cut the edges and set aside. Do about 60x. We also had to make a tomato pasta sauce from scratch, and a salad. Even though it took so long it was rewarding in the end.

A different day Hanna and I made homemade vanilla ice cream (with the vanilla stalk, not extract) with walnut brownies. The brownies didn’t take long at all. The ice cream didn’t work out as well. It involves a lot of waiting. We also didn’t give it long enough to freeze so the first time it was just liquid vanilla ice cream. The next day it was completely frozen and tasted great!

On the last day we were there Hanna and I wine tasting. There are a lot of them surrounding a town nearby called Renwick. We had Jacqui drop use off there. The first place we went was Gibson Bridge and costs $3. They had multiple kinds of white wine, which is mainly what is grown in Marlborough. That vineyard had a great presentation and personality. You could tell the owner really felt passionately about their wine.

The next place was Mahi. It was kinda lame. The lady didn’t seem to really care, and their wine wasn’t as good; probably because it was a lot bigger. On the other hand it was free, and had a cool wine cellar which they let us into.

The last place we went to was called Te Whare Ra. I forget what it means. We got to taste for free, even though it should’ve cost $5, because we were nice and talked about wwoofing and stuff.  They had the largest selection of wines at about 9-10 different blends. I really liked a white wine there that was made with a Reising grape.

After that Jacqui picked us up and brought us home. The tastings took about 2 hours, because every winery likes to talk about the flavor of the wine, what the difference between wines are and other things that I didn’t understand.

Random

I’m a Blenhium celebrity. No joke. When I was wine tasting TWO people said, “Hey were you in the newspaper?”.YEP, I was in the Marlborough Express. It’s a local newspaper that came to do an article about the wwoofers at their vineyard. I just happened to be at the farm at the time she came. There are two photos of me in the paper and also says a little about what I’m doing and where I’m from. 07901 is an internationally known city now people. Just ask NZ.

Jacqui and Paul are fantastic goods. Legit restaurant style food every night. Like for example the first night I was there I had risotto with asparagus, bread with their own olive oil and wine made from their fruit. The food for the rest of the week was just as good, if not better than that first night. The only difference was that it was all vegetarian. That was great for the first few days but after that I desired some meat. I mean I’ve done the whole, full or partial vegetarian thing, for the past 9 years. My mind had just been reopened to the wonders of beef! 

Wow, sorry for the HUGE post. It’s hard to imagine I was only there for a 9 days. 7 days till the end of my NZ experience. Holy Crap.

Cheers

Golden Bay

I apologize in advance for the lack of photos. I don’t want to use too much internet of the vineyard I’m at.

Ricky’s house is located in the Golden bay, about 25 minutes north of Takaka.

He lives in a beautiful little cottage nestled in a valley surrounded by native bush. The house has two small but cozy floors. The bottom floor is a kitchen with long wooden counters and a metal sink. There isn’t any garbage disposal, dishwasher, large oven or even microwave. And the he mountain of dishes waiting to be hand washed gives very rustic feel.

Right next to the kitchen is a long wooden table with benches of either side ready for a game of cards or to be eaten on. Upon closer inspection you can see round burns from hot pots being put down and the remnant pieces of paper with names and scores left over from an intense game of rummy the night before.

To the left of the table is an old couch with a white throw over it, chilling in front of the tv waiting desperately to be used for movie viewing.

Further to the left of the couch is a small side area decorated with various paintings and picture frames, of Ricky’s children when they were younger. In the corner of the room is my bed.  A foam pad on a raised platform with my possessions hap-hazardly scattered over it. Directly next to my bed is a wood burning stove with a raging inferno billowing up the smoke stack helping to keep us warm from the chillier nights in the valley.

Continue looking left and you’ll find a door that is almost eternally tightly shut. In it you’ll find Ricky’s teenage daughter probably watching a movie and texting her friends.

Walk back to the table and you’ll see a set of French doors leading out to a small deck. A small chair and futon sit around a stump-made-table. On the other side you’ll find a drying rack for clothes, with the small pants of Toby dwarfed next to my pants drying in the sunshine. You’ll also find a grill that has seen many sausages and vegetables.

Walk down to find and open area with a small fire-pit in the center, where on clear nights we could sit around drinking beer and talking.

That’s my memory of the place I spent the past week. The area I described is where I spent most of my time hanging out, eating or watching movies.

Down the hill from Ricky lives Raina, Tony, Bo and Naya. Raina and Tony are together, and Bo is Raina’s 10 year old son. Naya is a 53 year old women who lives in an awesome house truck. It’s an old school bus tricked out with a kitchen, living room and loft with a bed.

Aya, Ricky and I spent many hours playing cards over at Raina’s, or drinking tea in Naya’s “living room”.

Raina and Tony have a dog named Lovely that just had six puppies. When I got there they were six weeks old. They are probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. When we would bring them out of their kennel they would run around you, play together, get lost in the garden and gnaw on my finger. The best part was that each one had their own personality.

 Freckles was a tan and white mix who had a lot of fight in him. Rose and James Bond were both black like their mother. Rose was the quieter puppy who would happily sit and have a cuddle while James would run circles around everyone and get lost in the garden. Bruiser was tan with a little black. He loved to play and climb on me. Honey was the prettiest. She was a great tan color with a personality that seemed to be a mix of the others. The last puppy was Sassy. She was just like her name implies.

Rose

I wish I could upload more pictures but just image 6 Labrador puppies running around.

When I wasn’t playing with the puppies we would go on other adventures.

One day I helped Ricky collect some firewood for the bonfire and fireplace. We spent like an hour climbing into the bush and lugging tree’s back out. After we had enough we cut them up with a chainsaw. At this point I was sweating like a pig. The sun made it VERY hot. So we decided to go to the beach and swim. When we got to the beach it wasn’t very crowded. I didn’t waste time, and jumped in right away. The water was cold. Do you know how when summer is just starting and the air is hot but the water is cold because it’s only been hot for a few weeks? Kinda like the jersey shore in late May, early June? Yeah, the water was like that. I stayed in but Ricki and Aya hopped right out. After a while my body got numb and it felt great.

On a different day Aya and I decided to go shellfish fishing at the same beach.  Ricky’s house was about an hour walk from the beach, so we hitched a ride there and back. It was low tide and we could walk out reallllly far. We collected a bunch of Pipis, Cocos and a few Muscles. The shellfish cooked in a broth of garlic, oil, and white wine was delicious. None of the shells were bigger than my big toe, so it wasn’t a full meal, but did make a great snack.

A different night, Ricky had some friends from Christchurch staying at the house. Their names were Cleve and Jimmy, and they both had some killer dreadlocks. Jimmy himself was an electrician but also a part time DJ. He had brought some of his gear so we set it up to hear him mix. He wasn’t like the DJs at school dances; he would mix tunes he knew well into great beats. It was mainly trance and other techno music. His mixing turned into a dance party with nine of us that went to 4 AM. At one point we hooked up some of Ricky’s stage lights that flash different colors.  It sounds kinda lame, but it was actually a blast.

Those were the four big adventures I had when at Ricky’s house. Aside from that we played a lot of cards, watched movies and just relaxed. I did some gardening, lots of dish cleaning and other small chores along the way. Some days I would help cook dinner, like on thanksgiving, when we had tacos.

I was only able to stay a week before I had to go to my next farm to wwoof. I left on the25th and hitch hiked down to Nelson where I stayed in the same hostel as the last three times. Got the bus to Blenhium early the next day and got picked up there.

The crazy thing is that, as I post this, I have exactly 3 weeks till I leave New Zealand.

Cheers

Trip North: Part 2

I left off with me driving north to Kiakoura.  It’s about two and and half hours from Christchurch to Kiakoura, but the drive took me about 4 because of various reasons. One was due to road work, another cause I got tired and took a nap halfway, and the last was because I stopped along the way to explore the shore a little.

After my brief stop I continued on to my hostel called the Dusky Lodge. It had a great communal area with a pool and jacuzzi in the back. I made myself some mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner again and did my last post. I also went and chilled in the Jacuzzi for a while, which was very relaxing. Then I went to sleep.

The next morning I got up around 9, took a shower,  checked out of the hostel and spent the morning in Kiakoura exploring.

Kaikoura itself isn’t all that spectacular. It basically has one main street with hotels, stores and restaurants populating it. The thing that draws all the tourism is the beaches, mountains and wildlife in the area.

 Since Kiakoura was built on a peninsula a beach runs the northern length of the town. Parts of it are rocky and parts are sandy. But from what I hear, in the high summer it’s a really popular beach location. On the other side of the peninsula is a shallow rocky ledge that has been worn down by the waves constantly beating against it. During low tide it is possible to walk on it, giving it the feeling of the deck of a ship. (or so I hear)

In addition to the beaches there are huge white capped mountains that dominate the landscape.  It’s like the mountain range decided not to have hills before the mountains. Or they were worn away by erosion. It can be surreal to stand on the end of the peninsula and look out at the endlessly blue Pacific Ocean then turn around to see towering mountains. It was awe inspiring to say the least.

There is a really cool hike that runs around the tip of the peninsula that I did that morning. You can either walk on top of the bluffs or take the low road that runs right up against the sea. What I did was walk on top of the bluffs going one direction then turning around and walking the sea rout back to my car.

After about 3 hours I was done with my hike and decided to drive to Blenhium to stay the night. At least that was the plan. Once I got to Blenhium is realized that there is literally nothing there. Or rather, there is nothing of interest. It’s only touristy things are the vineyards. Other than that they have a handful of hotels and one hostel. I decided just to head up to Picton, where I would have to drop the car off the next morning.

When I got to Picton I went to the I-site to try to find some good hiking routes, it was only 5 and I still have 3-4 hours of sunlight. Yeah. 3-4. The sun literally never goes down. 

I-sites are these awesome New Zealand things that we don’t have in the states. They are at basically every respectably sized town (about 1000 people).  The sites have people who are thing solely for helping tourists. You can book hotels, tours, buses, and basically anything your heart desires. While I went to the i-site to find some hikes, I ended up booking my bus for the next day and my lodging for the next two nights. The lady does everything and I just hand her my credit card. No fee included.

I first stopped at my hostel, where I found at they had free bike use during the day and apple crumble at 8. Aspraw[0ehraw[0eifa9fj FREE APPLE CRUMBLE! It’s basically apple cobbler. Before the much anticipated apple crumble I decided to go on a bike ride, on nearby mountain biking routes. When I was getting ready, my roommate, who was a 40 year old guy from Tabago, but lives in Australia, walked in with a bike helmet. His name was Sherwin and we went biking together.

We didn’t really know where we were going, and ended up going on a hiking trail instead of biking. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to bike ride UP stairs, but it isn’t easy, much less possible. We had to carry our bikes half the time. At one point I fell down a small cliff and Sherwin caught the bike so it didn’t fall on me.

Once we found the actual biking trails the ride was enjoyable. The trails were easy and smooth. They also had some great views. Sherwin and I took a break on a stone beach and watched boats come and go for a while.

We ended up getting back to the hostel at around 7:30, which gave me half an hour to make dinner before apple crumble. I made myself ramen. You may realize how unhealthily I eat. That’s because cooking a real meal takes a lot of money and time, and I’m just lazy. After my delicious ramen, Sherwin and I made friends with some Scottish girls. We ate our delicious apple crumble and ice cream and talked for a while before getting an early night. 

Not much happened to me after that. I dropped off the car. Took the bus to Nelson where I stayed the night. Ironically I ran into some wwoofers from the orchard that left a day or two after I got there, and talked with them. Then I got the bus too Takaka where I got picked up by Ricky. (The same ricky that gave me a ride and let me stay in his truck.) It’s been at his house that I’ve been staying for the past week.

My next post will describe my crazy and fun adventures I’ve had while I’ve been here!

Cheers

Trip North: Part 1

After my little sky diving experience I set off traveling north. If you remember, I had to be in Picton in four days, so I had time to stop at some cities and stay the night.

The day I left picton I got off to a late start, probably around 5 or 6. The problem with that was  between Queenstown and Christchurch there is nothing. At least on the east coast there isn’t, which the direction I was traveling up was.  Not much happened to me the rest of that day, I drove a bunch, tried to find a good radio station which isn’t possible in the middle of New Zealand, and drove my Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ.

Then I slept is the car. HORRRRRIBBBLLEEE idea. I didn’t so much as sleep and closed my eyes. I figured I’d try to put the back seat down and sleep with my feed going into the trunk. Nope. Seat didn’t go down. So I was left trying to find a comfortable position in a super small Nissan sedan.  Needless to say it wasn’t possible. I got up at 6 and started driving toward Christchurch.

I got into Christ church around 11, after taking an hour nap along the way, and started looking for a hostel to stay at. Usually the first one I go to has space, and if not the first then the second. That wasn’t the case in Christchurch. I was able to get a room at my FIFTH hostel I went to. This was mainly because of the earthquake.  

I’m not sure if you remember hearing about it in the news, but Christchurch had two major earthquakes in the past year. It was the second one that did a lot of damage. It’s very evident as soon as you drive into the city. You drive by countless empty lots where buildings used to be, or buildings fenced off that have yet to be demolished.

In fact the heart of the city is totally fenced off. The city center was the worst part hit of the city. The buildings were older, taller, and not earthquake proof. The city center was also where most of the restaurants, bars and active part of the city was.  It left the city feeling dead. There wasn’t much to do and tough to get around. I kinda felt like I was in a war zone.

I explored the area for a good two hours before going to the hostel.

After making myself some mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner I took my car and headed for the beach. I thought that I would just head toward where I thought the shore was and get there easily. It didn’t really work like that. I got really lost for 20-30 minutes before finally finding the shore.

I spent about two hours there before heading back to my hostel. I watched a movie and feel asleep.

The next day I decided to go out to the Banks Peninsula, toward Akaroa. I got really lost again, but eventually got there. It reminded me a lot of Frenchtown, New Jersey. It was small but had a lot of personality. The beautiful sunshine also helped I’m sure.

Cliffs collapsed because of the earthquake making the roads unusable and hard to get the Akaroa

Didn't mean to get soooo much ice cream...

Low tide

After that I drove a few hours North where I stayed in a hostel in Kaikoura for the night. 

Queenstown

I left off with my description of my less than stellar time that I had in Roxburgh. Luckily, since I left I’ve been having a great time! It’s late Tuesday night right now, and I left Roxburgh on Friday. That is about 5 days since I’ve been gone.

My first destination was Queenstown.  The city is known for being one of the most popular and EXPENSIVE tourist destinations in the southern island, if not the country. It isn’t very big though, only about 11,000 permanent residents.

I got there kinda late, around 6:30, so I figured I’d probably just stay in that night and explore the next night. I could not have been more wrong. After checking into my hostel I went to go find a bank. After that I walked back to my hostel to probably just watch a movie or read. When I got to my room I found two other Americans in my room! We were all pretty pleased with this because Americans in New Zealand are endangered. We had a room of six but there were three of us, Joe, me, and Jess.

We hung out for a while in our room just talking and cracking jokes, while Joe and Jess drank. I didn’t have any beer so didn’t, which will I would be thankful for later on…

ANYWAY, at about 9:30 or 10 we decided to go out! Queenstown has heaps of bars, and a lot going on a Friday night. Our first bar we went to was called the Broiler room. We got there and it was hopping. It was really small and there were a lot of people dancing. I wasn’t exactly sure how to order alcohol so Jess showed me how to. I was confused cause I’d only been used to what actors do in movies which I knew wasn’t true.

After about 30 minutes a lot of people had left so Jess ,  Joe and I moved on to Altitude. This next bar was more popular than the other. They had some drink specials and a dance floor.

We stayed there for about an hour then moved on to the Buffalo Club. There was a small dance floor but a lot of people and great music. It was part bar and part club, which we all liked cause we liked to dance. I think Jess and I more so than Joe… This was by far our favorite bar. We stayed there for a while.  Joe and I talked to two girls for a while. One lived in Christchurch and the other there in Queenstown. I wish I could have told you their names, but, no dice… Jess also picked up a guy there named Gouli. Or so we think. He was a mysterious guy which made him the brunt of many of our jokes. None of which he knew were about him.

After a while we moved on to the world bar. Joe needed to smoke a cigarette and Jess had brought Gouli along, so I just stood there waiting for Joe to come in. According to the bouncers, standing and waiting means I’m really drunk. I got kicked out. I had had a bunch of drinks but was by no means drunk. Heck I saw people who couldn’t walk strait get let in, and I could hold a reasonable conversation and stand straight! Oh well.

After 15 minutes Jess and Joe realized I was gone and came out with me and we went to the next bar, Winnie’s. It was really similar to Buffalo. Small space, loud music, alcohol. It was like 2 am at that point so I was getting tired. I danced a little, then just sat and chilled while Jess danced with Gouli and Joe tried, successfully, to pick up girls.

At 2:30 we said goodbye to Gouli and headed back to the Buffalo club. We each had another drink, danced some and then went back to the hostel at 3 am. And passed out.

If anyone had observed us the full night, there is no way they would have been able to tell that the three of us had met a few hours previously. We acted like best mates and laughed a lot. I know I said that I had my best time in New Zealand with, Selina, Richie, Anna, and Aya but that night was just as fun!

The next day both of them had flights to catch. I would’ve liked to hang out, but obviously they couldn’t. So I explored Queenstown during the day.

Crafts fair

Beach on the lake

Massively delicious burger from Ferg Burger

Read there for awhile

Self-Portrait what do you expect.

I stayed in that night because I spend a BUT LOAD of money the night before and I don’t like drinking 

multiple nights in a row.

The next morning I got up and checked out then went to go pick up my car. WHAT CAR?! Yup. There is a cool service in New Zealand that connects travelers with rental car businesses that need their car relocated. It happens everywhere. Since there tends to be a flow of cars southward in New Zealand there are always large numbers of cars in places like Queenstown, Dinedin, or Christchurch. The service connects the travelers who, get the car for free, but have a time requirement and final destination. In my case I have a small Nissan Sedan that needs to go from Queenstown to Picton. I have it for 4 days, with free insurance, and I only have to pay gas. It’s a win win situation.

I named him Blue originally. Then remained him Squeaky, cause he definitely needs new brakes.

Me driving on the left side of the road, nbd.

And on the right side of the car.

Before I left Queenstown, I noticed how nice of a day it was.  So I went skydiving.

I walked into the store front of NZone and said, “I want to go skydiving.” Four hours late I was falling 172 mph straight toward the ground.

I paid for a 12,000 foot free fall, and then filled out safety forms.

After that they take you on a twenty minute bus ride to their airstrip and landing zone.

They divided us into two groups, so they plane did get too full. Most people had paid for photographs and a video, but I refrained. It was too expensive and I didn’t really care for it. I was in the second group, so I had a cup of tea and chatted.

After the first group had gone, my group got suited up. We wore a harness, goggles, gloves, a jumpsuit, a hat thing and whatever clothes we had one. The harness was to strap me to Mira, who was the pro, and who ironically didn’t spend English too well.

It wasn’t until we were all piling into the plane that I got anxious. We all sat on our buts with a person in front of them in-between their legs. Then the plane took off.

And we climbed, and climbed, and climbed. Until we got to 15000 feet. I had unintentionally gotten a few 3000 feet. At that point they open up the door and toss you out. I remember my stomach just dropping as soon as we jumped. The next 60 seconds of free fall are a blur. I remember it being REALLY cold and my eyes watering up. Then floating to the ground and landing. I didn’t pass out or anything I guess my epinephrine was just getting produced in overdrive.

It was a blast.

After that I drove to Christchurch, but not before getting another burger. :)

But that’s another story, I’m too tired now.

Cheers