Dunedin to Queenstown

It was another breakfast of champions with wheatbix for breakfast, but no chocolate this time. We had enjoyed the town so much the day before, we weren’t quite ready to leave this town so we hung out for a bit and went to the art gallery, some cathedrals, and the Sports Hall of Fame museum. Josh and I got lost for a bit and saw a mean as fire station and battery shop, ha ha. On our way out we of course had to swing over to the world’s steepest street, Baldwin street! And holy smokes they aren’t kidding! That is one steep street and people actually live on it. I was driving and as tempted as I was we decided our little cheap rental car might not be able to make it to the top so we drove up a street next to it and just walked up it a ways and took some photos. Even the streets next to it were a bit sketchy in our car.

On our way to Queenstown we were a little more aware and were sure to stop in a place we knew would have food so no weird lunches this time don’t worry. Driving was a lot of fun! It was kind of scary for the first hour, but it just took some getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Driving through town at the beginning was the worst but once I got on to the highway and made some mental adjustments, I was good from then on. It is kind of funny because as all of us drive we all drift to the left side of the road because we are used to seeing the road from the other side of the car, but we all go it down. We finally arrived in Q-town and it was like you picked up Park City and plopped it next to a lake in New Zealand. Just the same ski town feel. A lot of condos and shops. We walked around for a bit and checked out the city. That night we sat down and made a sort of plan for the rest of the trip because we had no idea what we were doing the second week. After a tasty free dinner compliments of the hostel, we rested up a bit and went out on the town. Now this town has it going on even for a Tuesday night. We went and hung out a place with live music, which actually wasn’t very good, but it was fun and we met a bunch of people and everyone I told I was from Utah would respond with pure jealousy! I felt so proud to be a Utahn. Everyone else I meet and say I am from Utah just thinks about mormons, here they think about snow and are stoked about it. We met a couple guys, Benji and Dominic, that were ski patrol and ski instructors and we just talked about skiing and how great Utah and Colorado were and they gave us advice on skiing in New Zealand. It was a good night. 

Christchurch to Dunedin

"This isn't vacation" was my thought as our alarm went off at an hour way to early to be enjoyed after our late night out on the beach. But like the awesome travelers we were, we had set a time schedule because we didn't want to waste too much of our valuable daylight driving.With only rubble to see in Christchurch we figured it best to get an early move to Dunedin. For breakfast we has the same cereal the All Blacks eat, Wheatbix and our chocolate cupcake leftovers.We made one last attempt at driving through the center of town with no luck. It was still quite the bustling city but you could tell business was suffering. I felt bad for the people there, I have never experienced anything of that magnitude and I respect the people that are making the best of the situation. I can't imagine what I would do. 

The drive to Dunedin went by quickly as we talked and played games in the car. We basically went through every well known male (and females for Josh) celebs in sets off 3 as we said who we would "marry, date, or dump." From classical romanitcs like Nat King Cole and Micheal Buble to young stars and even a few animated characters. But it was fun and we all had ridiculous reasons as to why we liked certain people. So throughout this trip we realized there were a few things we didn't plan on. For example today, it was lunch. Fun fact: New Zealand isn't like the USA and there aren't fast food places just off the highway everywhere, unless of course you bring a stove with you and are in the mood for some lamb. So we were all getting a bit hungry but really wanted to get to Dunedin and so we didn't have to stop. So we got a little creative. If you are going to judge us for what we made for lunch you can stop reading now. But as far as resources we had some bread, wheatbix, leftover noodles from the night before, and peanut butter. Wheatbix is basically impossible to eat dry so that was out. So I think it all started with Marian making Josh a peanut butter sandwich and then Marian got a little more creative, she made a frosting sandwich and jokingly I offered her the left over noodles because she wanted something else for her sandwich, so my surprise, she said yes. So it came down to us 4 crazy college kids eating frosting, noodle, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. After sitting in a car for 4 or so  for some reason this idea seemed not too far out, looking back now, I have no idea what we were thinking. Best of all we had no utensils so we spread all the ingredients with our fingers. Wow after all of that I appreciate those of you who are still with me reading this. 

About an hour later we arrived in Dunedin. We quickly checked into our hostel and then literally sprinted to the Cadbury Factory...not because we were eager to eat more chocolate but because we were late for our tour and wanted to work off some of the chocolate frosting we had just consumed before we went to eat more. So we arrived just a few minutes late for our tour but only missed a few minutes of the movie so it was all good. The tour was great! They gave us some candy to start and we watched a movie on the founding of the factory. Our tour guide Cocoa Joe dressed in purple overalls took us all around the factory. He would give us more chocolate as we went and even more when we answered questions about what we learned. He showed us how all the different types of chocolate are made and the huge machines they use. We went up into one of the silos they used to store chocolate mass and they had set up a chocolate waterfall! We walked in and squished up against the wall and Cocoa Joe opened massive tube that just dumped liquid chocolate down the length of the silo! In the end we got to eat some of the fresh chocolate that was still in liquid form. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit sick of chocolate at this point to really enjoy it, but it was still pretty good. I did buy a few more chocolate bars in the gift shop because they were cheaper then they are anywhere else and they are straight from the factory!

After getting all cocoa-ed out we met Alyssa's friend Sophie, a local Dunediner. She took us on a little tour to Otago point. We saw great views of the harbor and the city. We swung across the peninsula to a wildlife reserve and despite the bone chilling coastal winds we walked down to the beach in search of some wildlife. There were signs everywhere saying how you have to basically camp-out for an hour to wait for the penguins to come in because they won't come if they see people moving around. I didn't really want to wait so I went penguin hunting! It started at the edge of the ocean where I saw penguin tracks going up the beach. It is like one of those things where I have never seen penguin tracks but when you  know, you know. I followed the tracks and soon heard the sound of a bird I have never heard before so I kept going. The beach led into an incredibly steep hill covered in bushes but I was a hunter so overcame the rugged terrain in search of my prey ha ha. And there is was...a penguin! Just hanging out in the bushes. I thought for sure it would run away but I guess I kind of had it cornered. And so I got closer and closer until I was in reaching distance of the penguin and got some really great close of photos. After I got my photos, I thought hey, I have never touched a penguin before....ya bad idea so as I reached my finger to give it a little pet, I realized it was a really bad idea and didn't do it. Instead...I used a stick, and whoa! I am glad didn't use my finger because that bird when crazy and started attacking the stick! I might have lost my finger. Now I realize that was not a good idea in the first place and pretty disrespectful and not nice to the penguin but selfishly I did it anyway, sorry. After our penguin encounter we moved further down the beach to the group of sleeping sea lions. Now I may be a little selfish but fortunately I am not stupid, so don't worry I didn't even think of poking these massive beasts. They were all just hanging out on the beach taking a little nap. A few rolled around and one rolled down the beach a ways before it finally got up and waddled into the ocean. It was a lot of fun to see some real New Zealand wildlife.

After our super nutritious day we had decided we were going out to dinner because there were supposed to be some really great places in Dunedin. So of course we had to stick with the unhealthy theme of the day and get pizza. Mostly it was just because they had a Monday night special for half off and ended up being a lot of really good pizza for super cheap. Afterwards we really wanted to go out because Dunedin was supposed to have the best live music and shows at night...unfortunately it was Monday, and you have to have one hoppin' city here to find anything to do on weeknights with such small populations. So it was back to the hostel, which  I don't think any of us minded after a long day. Although our hostel was quite a little adventure as well. It was a place Kaitlyn, Jessica, and Layton would all be envious of, we stayed at Hogwartz!. It was this cute hostel filled with Harry Potter paraphernalia. Alyssa was in heaven. She has purposefully reserved this place and was so excited to stay here. We had a great few of the city and a neighboring cathedral. After a nice toasty shower for me to warm up, we went a took over the tv room and watched the first Lord of the Rings to see so far how our journey has compared and well it was basically exactly the same, I mean ya there were a few minor changes but really watch that movie, that is what you do here ha ha jk. But really it was cool to check out the landscapes in that movie and realize that was really all around us! It was really exciting, even though I did fall asleep for most of it, I had an excuse as it was my turn to drive the next day!

Dunedin bus station

Cadbury Factory

Driving the cadbury mobile

Otago Harbor

Fun photoshopped photo of the beach

Penguin foot prints!

Penguin

Josh and Alyssa

Sleeping sea lion

Josh has sea lion foot print feet!

More penguins!

Sandymount wildlife refuge

Picton to Christchurch

The morning came sooner than I had hoped but I was still so excited to head down the east coast of the island. It was off to a grand start as our hospitable hosts of Tombstone gave us free breakfast. Josh and Marian picked up our rental car, a reasonable sized sedan, and we were on our way. Four Americans with a map atlas I had checked out from the library and no driving experience on the left side of the road it was a bit worrisome at first. Our increasing gracious host, Lynn from tombstone directed us to the best places to stop on our way to Christchurch. We took a sort of scenic route and stopped some incredible lookouts. We wound around on a gravel road that went along some of the sounds and were a bit scared we had taken the wrong way. Coming from the states none of us really has experienced a gravel road as being a major road, but I trusted our atlas and was relieved to see the east coast emerge. As we got onto a real highway we settled in for a long day on the road. It was a beautiful drive along the ocean with rolling green hills followed by large rocky cliffs. For lunch we stopped at a cafe on the coast in Kekerengu and I tried my first Ginger beer, don’t worry mom it is not alcohol.  I loved the cafe set up and would probably recommend it for a destination wedding spot in the summer ha ha. Further along the way, we stopped at a waterfall about a 4 minute walk away from the highway by Half Moon Bay and got to see a large colony of baby seals swimming and playing in the waterfall. Down the road we stopped at what is supposedly one of the best places to watch seals, dolphins and whales, Kaikoura. We hung out on the rocky beach for awhile and stretched our legs and skipped rocks as we waited for any sign of wildlife. On account of sitting in car all morning, it wasn’t long until our bladders limited our patience and we left to go find a gas station.

                As we continued, our drive turned inland. What was ocean turned into large green pastures full of sheep and random rows of trees. It was windy with loads of hills as it finally flatted out as we reached our destination, Christchurch. I had underestimated the size of the city, and was very surprised as we drove through large suburban areas. Finally as we got closer to the city centre the evidence of the earthquakes was everywhere. It became a game, who could spot the most rubble. In the major areas with big buildings it was still everywhere. There were cracks through large buildings and house. Many windows were replaced by cardboard. We attempted to navigate the crazy one way streets to get into the very centre of the city where the famed cathedral once stood and many other historical buildings only to be met by sign after sign of “road closed”. The middle seven blocks of the city were completely shut off and caution tape, scaffolding, and construction equipment hid any hope of a view into the heart of Christchurch. The most recent major earthquake was all the way back in June and another in February, but so much damage and so much confusion with the government has left this town waiting to rebuild, not to mention the 3 to 4 small earthquakes a day continually reminding people of the power of mother nature. Lynn had warned us, and it was true, the heart of Christchurch has been broken with the quakes.

                After driving around a few circles (there really are roundabouts everywhere here!) we finally made it to our obscurely located hostel next to the pier. Daylight was fading fast but it didn’t matter too much as all the famous sites and popular locations hadn’t been open for months. So we decided to take this new found free time to do some grocery shopping and make a nice dinner. We decided on a group favourite, chicken parmesan and cupcakes. A bit of confusion at the hostel left us waiting about 3 hours before we could finally use the oven, but dinner finally reached our growling tummies. Afterwards we played some cards as we waited for our cupcakes to bake. There was only a 6 cupcake tray so we ended up making 5 enormous cupcakes. Slap some chocolate frosting on top and we had a very sweet treat that was impossible to eat all at once.

 After hyping ourselves up on sugar, we needed to release some energy and went for a late night stroll to the pier. It was a chilly night but we had a good time as we walked out over the ocean, walked along the beach and played on the playground nearby. The sounds of the waves crashing the whole time just added to the calming atmosphere of bright stars on the cool crisp night. We finally headed in knowing the morning would be an early one and we had another long day of driving as we left the once lively town of Christchurch. 

Karaka Point

Karaka Point

Maori figurine

Port Underwood

Whites Bays

Rarangi 

The Store cafe in Kekerengu

After we left..

Seal

Half Moon Bay

Just a taste of what I am dealing with here :(

Rubble

More rubble

Beach playground

Cupcakes

Quake evidence was everywhere!!!

On the pier!

Pier Planck

Whale Rider

Surfers

               

Palmerston North to Picton

My adventure began on August 27^th, the Saturday of the beginning of the mid-semester break. A simple invitation I had posted on to facebook for some people to join me for the mid-semester break in the south island had been answered by 3 willing americans. Josh Miller, a 21 year old nutrition major from North Carolina, Marian Hudson, a 19 year old Art Major from Georgia, and Alyssa Miller, a 21 year old peace studies/phish major from neighbouring Colorado (Lakewood actually) were all keen. A combination of late night parties and a stressed few hours sleep (worrying about if I had everything I needed) resulted in a fatigued start but the excitement of the adventure to come kept my fuel gage far from empty. My breakfast and lunch consisted of all the perishable foods I couldn’t leave behind, but I didn’t mind having a vegetable filled omelette followed by 7 kiwis. As we all met at the bus stop in front of Massey the first sign of anxiety threatened to put our trip to a negative start, Josh forgot his passport and while sprinting back to his flat before the bus came he found a taxi that took him the about 2 km round trip journey. We all got a good laugh as his pulled up to the bus stop in a taxi with time to spare.
As I boarded the bus of course I headed to the back row because that is where all the cool kids sit. When I got there I found one of my good friends Kelly asleep in the corner. It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise as I gave her a little nudge to announce our presence. We all sat in the back together and had a good time during our 2 hour bus ride. We finally arrived at the ferry terminal in Wellington with a few hours to spare. We opted to stay there and eat lunch to be sure we would not miss our ferry. Kelly was boarding the same ferry and met her dad, CJ, at the terminal. He had just flown in to travel with her. It was so fun to see how excited they both were to see each other, he was pretty cool. Finally they called for us to board the ferry. The excitement bubbled inside me as I was actually going to the south island of New Zealand! We of course got right to taking pictures of the beautiful Wellington harbour, islands, and cliffs. It was our last view of the North Island for the next two weeks. It was a smooth boat ride and the ferry was huge! They had semi trucks, cars, and a few hundred people.

                As we entered the Marlborough Sounds of the south Island we were filled with awe. Our first views of the south island were magnificent. We were met by a group of dolphins jumping and swimming alongside the boat. The sounds were huge and incredibly steep. We were envious of the few houses and boat docks we passed that clearly were only accessible by boat along the sounds. The water within the sounds was a smooth as glass in some places, water skiing anyone?

            In a longer than expected journey through the sounds, we arrived at our first destination, Picton. We had pre-booked our hostel and owners were kind enough to come pick us up from the ferry terminal. As we settled into our hostel, Tombstone, and we were very impressed of the quality of it. It was definitely one of the nicer hostels, yet still cheap. We had our own room and there were new, thick down comforters to cuddle up with on our bunk beds. After we dropped our stuff off we headed into town to look from some grub and something to do. It wasn’t long after our 5 minute walk into to town we realized there was nothing to do here at night and not many food options.  We opted out of a couple $25/plate places and found a small bar/restaurant Toot ‘n’ Whistle. It surprised me that such a major town for transportation was so small and quiet on a Saturday night. We gave up on finding anything to do and headed back to our cosy hostel next to the graveyard. With our tummies filled, it was time to hot tub. In the adorable tiki hut hot tub we made a new friend. This interesting fellow had been drinking a whole bottle of wine by himself in the hot tub and was in the mood to talk. He was a kiwi on his way to a navy base and he sure loved telling us about his crazy adventures. It made for an interesting night. We made it a fairly early night as we were excited to get an early start the next day and to see if Josh would sleep walk. 

Waiting for the bus

Ferry Terminal

Wellington Harbor

Departing!

Kelly and CJ

Travel buddies

Our journey

Checking out the sounds

The ferry crew

Crazy college kids

Welcome to Picton

Only in NZ would someone check a rugby ball

Room key

Tombstone and the tiki hot tub

Picton

Tombstone's neighbor...very 

appropriate

Tombstone!