When I arrived in NZ, it was late at night, and I had to check into a hostel. I'd never been to a hostel before, and I was kind of scared. First, because I noticed that there was already someone sleeping in my room. Next, because there were 4 other people sleeping as well.
Sunday: I woke up and met my roommates, and was relieved to find that they were also on my trip. There were 49 of us in total on the trip. Most were from Macquarie, and the group I initially spent time with were from all over the globe. There were Americans, Australians, Germans, Danes, Colombians, a Mexican, and a Brit.
At lunch, we went to these rocky hills where scenes from Narnia were filmed, including Aslan's death and resurrection. So, since it was Easter, it made sense for us to be there.
Afterward, we traveled to a farm in Flock Hill, and learned about sheep and wool. We had some time to kill before dinner, so we all planned to travel to a "nearby" waterfall. We followed the signs, but it lead to a dead end with a huge mud puddle. Some gave up and went back, while others decided to try different paths. After two hours, my travelling companions had all given up. The rest were on bikes, so they went back without me, leaving me to find my way back home.
2 more hours later, I finally found my way back. The sun had set during this time, and everything was pitch black. I had my iPod to illuminate the way. I tried using short cuts, but this actually added time to my journey. And one point I ran into a field of cows.
I used these two hours to reflect on life, like one does during a walkabout. The sky was absolutely beautiful. You could see so many stars.
(Turns out the waterfall was actually beyond the mud puddle from earlier, but the recent snow meltage had caused the huge pond to appear in the middle of the path.)
Monday: Oh, this was Glacier Day. We climbed 5000 steps...or 500 steps...up a rainforesty mountainside to walk onto a glacier. I ate a piece of it. This was a very sweaty, tiring, 4 hour process.
Tuesday: During the day, I finally found my waterfall. It was beautiful, but the best part was the afternoon/evening, where we arrived in Queenstown and traveled up the mountain side to race in luge karts and bungee jump. The only people who did this were about 10 of us, including my roommates and their friends. This was a lot of fun, and bungee jumping is one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.
We ate that night at a Mexican restaurant called Sombreros where we all wore sombreros (except for the Mexican, who didn't want to perpetuate stereotypes). The food was amazing though, and even the Mexican agreed that it was like real Mexican food.
Wednesday: My second activity for Queenstown involved a horseback ride around some of the locations used in Lord of the Rings on some of the horses used in Lord of the Rings. It was rainy, and the horses were hard to handle at first, but it was still wonderous to look at.
We ate dinner at Fergburger, which has the best burgers ever, and we should eat there again tomorrow.
At night, the plan was for us all to meet up at a bar and then visit a nearby "ice bar" where everything is made of ice, and you get to spend 30 min in there (since it's small, and othere people want to get in). As you know, I have sworn off bars entirely, and since I wasn't really bonding with the people on my trip (i.e. they all got wasted before we even left for the bar), I knew I'd be miserable. I still came along for the ice bar, because that was something unique.
Since we had a big group, we went in two halves. My drunk roommates told me to wait for them and go in the second group, but instead I went in the first group, and it was the best decision I made the whole trip.
I barely knew any of the people in the first group, and I was basically just counting down the 30 min I had to spend in the ice bar. Suddenly, a girl came out of nowhere and started taking pictures with me and her friend. We got to talking, and we basically stayed together for the rest of the night.
Even after the ice bar, we didn't go out to various bars to get drunk like everyone else did. We went on a quest to find brownies. We never found them, but I was glad I had finally made real friends on the trip. (For the rest of the trip, the girl and never got drunk on the nights everyone else did, even though she does drink.)
Thursday: As we said goodbye to Queenstown, we were greeted with a magnificent rainbow that stretched across the sky. I wasn't able to get great pictures of it, but at one point it framed a mountain perfectly, and it was the best thing I'd ever seen.
We spent that night on a cruise boat in a fjord. The quarters were very cramped, and the cruise was quite cold, but that didn't stop us from swimming in the water. I even managed to do a lap around the boat in freezing water, although I barely made it.
That night, the girls and I played various board games, including Guess Who, except instead of asking the regular questions ("Is your person wearing a hat?"), we asked abstract questions ("Is your person a pedophile?").
Friday: We spent the morning cruising around the fjord, and getting a spectacular sunrise over the ocean. At lunch, I had a peppermint slice, the greatest dessert ever. Imagine aYork Peppermint Patty and a brownie had a baby. We then drove a lot, stopped at a fruit stand, with delicious fruit products and beautiful roses. We ended the day at another out of the way place near a lake.
I skipped a stone.
I got my future read by one of the fellow tour members who had tarot cards. I'm either supposed to "stay the course" or "make a change in my life," I forget which.
The girls and I explored the area, playing on a seesaw and playing ping pong. Everyone eventually ended up in the hot tubs.
Saturday: Most of the day was spent driving back to Chrsitchurch and the scary hostel (where the trip began). Nothing truly exciting happened. The tour bus left us, and my new friends and I just wandered around the city.
Sunday: I said goodbye to my new friends, and eventually caught a plane back home. This time, I watched "Bolt." I'm pretty sure everyone sitting around me thought I was weird for a) choosing to watch Bolt out of the huge library and b) crying during the emotional parts. I think it made me miss my dog.
And that was my trip. What have we learned?
I MISSED YOU SO MUCH
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