Christmas, New Year's & the Final Stretch

“Once upon a time somebody ran - 
Somebody ran away saying as fast as I can
 - I got to
go - 
I got to go - Once upon a time we fell apart - 
You're holding in your 
hands 
the two halves of my heart - Once upon a time 
we weren't right - 

All we ever seemed to do is fight - 
On and on -  
And on and on and on - Once 
upon a time on the same side
 - Once upon a time on the same side in the same game

 - Why'd you have to go
 - Have to go and throw it all in my face - I could've been a
 princess, you'd be a king
 - Could have had a castle and wore a ring - 
But no
 - You 
let me go - 
I could've been a princess, you'd be a king
 - Could have had a castle and wore 
a ring
 - But no
 - You let me go - You stole my star
 - La la la la la
la
 - You stole my star
 - La la la la la la - 'Cause you really hurt me

 - Oh you really hurt me - 
'Cause you really hurt me
 - Oh you really hurt me
 - 'Cause
 you really hurt me
 - Oh you really hurt me
 - 'Cause you really hurt me - 
You really
 hurt me”

Day 24 Continued – Travel Up North – So I left you all last sitting at the airport in Queenstown, waiting to head up north for Christmas. A whole week of not running around the country being a tourist! I was pretty pumped. The flight was good, I was very excited to finally get on Air New Zealand, as I’m sure I’ve already mentioned. They even had All Blacks (their rugby team that won the world cup) themed snacks on board, which was pretty awesome. So where was I headed exactly? My friend Steen, who I met at surf camp, happened to be kind of moving to New Zealand when I was traveling around there, so I somehow luckily fell into getting invited to crash someone else’s family Christmas J. So he picked me up at the airport, and then we drove up north maybe like an hour and 45 minutes to where his family lives. I was falling asleep in the car, so I bought one of those silly energy drinks about halfway through the ride, which resulted in me being wide awake until about 5 am. Let that be a life lesson to you all. Don’t ever drink red bull type things in the evening if you plan on actually going to sleep any time in the next 8 hours. Yikes. Not my smartest move ever.

Day 25 – Merry Christmas! – While it’s certainly strange that Christmastime is….um… summer in this part of the world, it’s kind of fun. It was a nice warm day, as opposed to the usual which is me shaking when I am forced to go outside to get into the car to go out to eat. We took his Grandmother’s dog for a walk in the morning, which was sort of a major life event for me, since it was the first time I ever added a SMALL dog to the list of dog breeds that I wouldn’t mind owning one day. She was a King Charles Spaniel, and SO freakin adorable. Like heart-melting adorable. I very much enjoyed having that dog around all day. We went for a ride around the area at one point during the day, and then also went to the beach. Yes, the beach. I went to the beach on Christmas day. Did any of YOU out there do that??? Ha! I didn’t go all the way in the water (too lazy to put on a bathing suit), but I went in as far as I could. The water wasn’t too bad actually, much nicer than the frigid waters of the South Island where I had just come from. Spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the porch, then had dinner, which was super yummy AND did NOT consist of instant noodles. The rumors must be true then, real people actually DO eat things other than instant noodles! It’s fascinating. I was mesmerized by all the fruits and vegetables and meats and other non-noodle things. Good stuff. Desert was yummy as well, and then when the family opened up all of their gifts, “Santa” was nice enough to get me a couple of things as well. That was very sweet and much appreciated. Santa found me, even all the way in Ruakaka, New Zealand. He must be a smart guy. Once it got dark a bunch of us headed to the beach with some wine and had a little bonfire for a bit. That was pretty cool. Never actually had a fire on the beach before. All in all, a very nice Christmas. Sure beat the heck out of my alternate plan, which either would have been a Christmas Day Chicken McNuggets Value Meal, or perhaps if I was feeling social, a crap Christmas dinner with whoever else had nowhere real to go at one of the local hostels. I liked my plan better. I got to play with a puppy and open presents. Woo hoo!

Day 26 – Boxing Day – For us, the 26^th is just the day after Christmas, but in a lot of the world, Boxing Day is a holiday as well, which was kind of cool for me. My first Boxing Day! It was a lovely day again, and although we did some errands and stuff, my mind was back in Queens for a lot of the day. Why? Think New Yorkers, what happened last December 26^th? It snowed. A lot. I tried to get to work. So very hard.  I waited an hour and a half for the Q28, only to have the 7 train stop at Citi Field and then go no further. I walked home 5 miles. In 3 feet of snow. On an empty, growling stomach. That was Boxing Day last year. Boxing Day this year was spent partially in the jungle. I wore a summer dress. The sun was out. HA I say to the snow that tried to deflate my spirits last year, I have emerged victorious! You may have near destroyed me last year, but this year you will not! I will dance around in my flip flops on the bright green grass, singing songs of your defeat! OK, that’s the end of my rant at the weather, I promise. Last December 26^th was just a really super rotten day. A snow day that shall live in infamy. The day I walked home from Citi Field in the snow.

I don’t remember exactly what the heck I did with myself all day, but at one point Steen went to go check out his new house/apartment/flat whatever you want to call it, so I went along for the ride. Now I knew that in coming to New Zealand I’d get to be in Middle Earth, which I was really excited about. I got to walk through Mordor to Mount Doom, drove by film crews filming the Hobbit, and every 10 minutes the bus driver seemed to be pointing out another location that appeared in Lord of the Rings. But I most certainly did NOT expect to be submerged in Lost. Yes that’s right, not only did I find myself plopped right in the middle of Frodo’s world, I also ended up in what looked like the infamous Island. The new residence wasn’t too far off the main street, but it was up a long gravel road that sort of terminated in the jungle. It was an amazing little summer cottage, complete with a 60s style caravan painted in crazy bright colors, hitched permanently to the end of the porch. There was a path through the jungle behind the caravan that led up to a cliff overlooking the ocean. Totally like being in Lost. It was awesome! Very rustic though. Despite being not too far from a regular road with paved streets and everything, this was a rustic little hippie hut. Rustic, as in no indoor shower. Outdoor shower instead, with hot water heated by a gas bottle. And the long drop. More commonly known to us Americanos as an outhouse. Yes, that’s right. An outhouse. The kind of toilet that separates the men from the boys, the prissy squealy girls from the chicks who just roll with the punches. You haven’t lived until you’ve had to use an outhouse in the jungle. You simply have not lived! But I was pretty excited about getting to hang out at the place for a few days. I only wished I had not left my Lost DVDs back in Sydney!

Day 27 – Move In Day – Day 27 was spent doing the type of stuff that seems super boring when compared to sky diving and hang gliding and canyoning and glacier tramping and all that stuff, but sometimes one needs a break and the boring stuff is nice. Sort of a little taste of living like a regular human again. Went food shopping to stock up the new residence, and I bought a bunch of bottles of coke, knowing that for the first time in a month I could safely store them in a non-communal refrigerator, where some idiot might snag one. I bought myself a gallon of milk. Even some juice. Bought eggs and sausages and all sorts of food that are NOT instant noodles. It was quite exciting for me.  Helped buy some odds & ends for the house, like sponges and cleaner and whatnot. All very basic stuff, but seeing as I have lived like a backpacker since July, this was kind of fun. A little taste of the real world again. We started cleaning up the little house, which was quite a chore since no one had been there in quite a spell. I decided to tackle the long drop. Ever attempted to clean out an outhouse that hasn’t been used in ages? It’s kind of scary. There were some bugs in there who dfinitely were not please with the presence of a meddlesome human. But all in all it was a fun day. I don’t mind cleaning when I’m away from home, it’s just AT home that my incredible laziness seems to kick in…

Day 28-30 – Chillaxin! – I grouped these all together because none of these days were particular standouts, and although they were definitely enjoyable they all sort of blended together in my head. I uploaded my previous blog entry, which took ages since the internet was a bit spotty. I posted photos on facebook. Watched tons of movies. Did some stuff around town. Went for a few local walks (and got bitten up by the local bugs…) Caught up on my journal. Even actually…wait for it!... read a BOOK. Yes, an actual book. For the first time since I left home, I finally had the time to read a book. It was glorious. I also got to sleep a lot. Sleeping is my favorite activity in the world, and I had not had much of it since arriving in New Zealand. I was happy to finally not have to wake up at the crack of dawn every day to load my bag on the bus and zoom off to the next activity that would cost me $300 plus an additional $50 for pictures.

Day 31 – New Year’s Eve 2012 – The plans for New Years were sort of up in the air until the last minute, there was talk of a boat somewhere, talk of a bar, talk of a party, but in the end laziness won, and we just kind of stayed in. I bought myself some cider and some sort of malt liquor stuff that I decided must be had since the packaging was pink. Went up through the jungle to the top of the hill for midnight, which we rang in according to Vodafone time with champagne and sparklers and music blaring in the background. There were fireworks on the beach below, which while I’m sure didn’t compare to the spectacle that took place 2 hours later in Sydney, were kind of fun nevertheless. I called people at midnight, not really caring what time it was back in their time zone. I’m super glad that I got to spend my New Year’s Eve in New Zealand. We got to 2012 first!!!!

Day 32 – New Year’s Day – Another lazy day, which consisted of about 7 episodes of the Dollhouse (which confused the hell out of me), and me slowly (emphasis on the slowly) packing up my stuff to go back down south to Queenstown. I think we did go somewhere at some point. I do vaguely remember getting in the car and going somewhere. Four Square maybe? I can’t even remember anymore. Went to bed fairly early. Doing nothing makes you tired man!

Day 33 – Back to Queenstown – My flight back down to the bottom of New Zealand left at about 2 in the afternoon so I bid my friend and my week of slothness a fond adieu, and I was at my hostel in Queenstown by about 5. It was a snazzy little place, brand new, with 2 plugs at EACH bed. Seriously, that’s a big deal. Do you know how Darwinian it gets when you are sharing a room with 5 other people, and there are 2 plugs??? And EVERYONE has a phone, a computer, and an ipod, plus lots of stupid girls have hair dryers and straighteners too. You have to sometimes be ruthless to get your stuff charged. But not at Adventure Queenstown! Good for them. I give them an A+. I was going to get the famous Fergburger for dinner, but the line just to order was about 15 minutes, and then it would be an additional hour to actually have the burger in my hands. I ended up with Thai takeout on the hostel balcony instead. They cooked it up in 5 minutes, which was a much more acceptable wait time.

Day 34 – Mt.Cook – I got back on the Stray bus on the morning of my 34^th day in New Zealand. The new driver’s name was Rob. He was ok, but he wasn’t Whales, which meant that I didn’t care for him much. We drove over to Mt. Cook, which is New Zealand’s highest peak. We stayed in the little mountain village at the food of the mountain range, which was absolutely gorgeous. From the balcony of our hostel room, we had an amazing view of a glacier huddled on the side of a mountain. It really was quite sexy:

I went jet boating for my activity. The glacier is melting, and the meltwater started forming a lake back in the 1970s. When pieces of the glacier break off, it creates icebergs floating in the lake, which is pretty cool. Here’s the walk to the lake:

And here is our guide explaining some stuff to us from our little jetboat:

Those icebergs were pretty awesome. I’ve never been in a boat surrounded by icebergs before. I’ll never let go Jack, I’ll never let go! Sorry – couldn’t resist J

The tour included dinner and a glass of wine, which was quite nice. It also included a free 3D movie at the local Alpine Center, which is located in the village’s 5 star hotel. Oh man. I wish Stray could have hooked us up with that place instead. Not that Mt. Cook Backpackers was bad or anything… but it wasn’t quite a posh as the 5-star place J.

Day 35 – Rangitata – On the morning of Day 35 we drove to Rangitata, which is one of New Zealand’s best places to raft. Up until I almost drowned river surfing in Queenstown, I had been looking forward to rafting. Now all this talk of grade 5 rapids and boats flipping over was starting to scare the crap out of me. Rangitata isn’t a baby rafting trip. Rapids go from grade 1 through grade 7, with grade 6 and 7 being essentially unraftable. So grade 5 is pretty much as scary as you can get without putting your life in danger. Rangitata had 2 grade 5 sections, one 50 meters long with 2 separate 6 foot drops, and the second one just a long sh*t show of rapids, stretching for 350 meters. I prayed that the boat wouldn’t flip. The guide said that they don’t always flip, but it does happen often enough that every boat is taught what to do in case we were to find ourselves upside down.  My friend Suzy, who was at Rangitata a week before I went, flipped over when she went rafting. Yikes.

Here is us going through a baby rapid, maybe a grade 2. I am in the light blue helmet in the back, next to the guide, a spot which I thoroughly enjoyed. If things got scary, at least I was right next to the only person on the boat who knew what they were doing.

Here is our guide screaming at the top of his lungs, leading the charge into the first grade 5. I like this picture, it reminds me of scenes in war movies where the leader hoists his weapon into the air and yells at the top of his lungs, letting the troops know that it’s time to head off into battle:

This next one is my absolute favorite photo from rafting though, because you cannot see anyone in the photo at all, just all the paddles going every which way. And yet somehow, we were all actually in there, and the boat didn’t flip over. We emerged right side up, ironically only losing the guide, who cracked some girl’s paddle when he went flying out at the bottom. I also smashed my face into the woman sitting in front of me, but other than that we were all good:

After the scary rapids were all over, we got to float a bit, lazy river style. I liked that very much:

So in the end, I survived! Didn’t flip and didn’t fall out. Whew! It was fun though. The grade 5’s were super SUPER scary, but the 2’s and 3’s were just fun. I look forward to going rafting with my aunt in the Grand Canyon. She promised she would take me, and after reading this, I have NO doubt that she will follow through.

Day 36 – Kaikoura – Day 36 was essentially my last day of being a real tourist. This was the last stop on the bus tour before we basically just pressed full steam ahead back up to Auckland. Kaikoura was a spot I was very much looking forward to though. My first giant disappointment of the trip was when I didn’t get to swim with the dolphins up in the Bay of Islands, and Kaikoura was my 2^nd chance at it. Kaikoura is a hotbed for marine mammals, something to do with an underwater canyon and currents converging. Basically there are a bunch of different whale species, tons of dolphins, and fur seals hanging out all over the place.  As soon as we got to Kaikoura, I jumped off the bus to get ready for my seal snorkel. Threw the wetsuit on, then took a mini van to a boat, where we got in the water by a giant rock with dozens of them chilling out. We weren’t allowed to get too close to the rock or touch the seals, but as long as they wanted to come in the water and play it was all good. Here are some seals sitting on a rock:

And here is my new best friend, giving me a funny look under water:

He even waved at me!

It was a great time. I’ve never been anywhere before where swimming with wild seals was an option. It’s a very cool experience, although that water was quite nippy!  They gave us wetsuit hoods though to help combat the cold, which was interesting. Never been in a hood before. I wish I had gotten a picture of me in it, I looked like a little space alien. On the boat ride back to shore we even saw a penguin, who put on a bit of a show for us by dramatically scratching his belly, which was pretty cool.

Back at the hostel, which was a lovely little place called the Fish Tank lodge (it was themed! Fish themed! I LOVE themed stuff!!!!!!!), I ate Thai takeout for dinner again. I got lazy with the food preparation towards the end of the trip. It’s naughty though, buying dinner adds up if you do it every day. Plus if I was going to buy dinner, I really should have bought something non-noodle based. But that’s what happens when you budget travel. You get so used to noodles, that even when you have the option to eat something else, you still end up choosing old faithful.

Day 37 – Dolphins to Wellington – My alarm went off at 4:50 am. Let’s stop here for a moment, and just take a minute to process that. Yeah. 4:50 am. I rolled out of bed, grabbed my pre-packed bag, and hustled down to the dolphin swim center, where I arrived just as they opened the doors at 5:20 am. Not only is the best time to swim with the dolphins at the crack of dawn, but it was also the only time available that would suit the bus schedule, without me having to hop off the bus and stay an extra night, which wasn’t an option for my schedule. So up I was, in a wetsuit and leaping into the icy water at like 6:30 am. They had warned us that the boat ride might be a little rough. The Bay of Islands is a bay, not open water, so the boat ride is smooth. This is basically open ocean, so sea sickness becomes an issue. I did ok, although the small child sitting next to me puked into a bucket, which was fun. I didn’t feel great, but I think part of that was simply because I was exhausted. I could not fall asleep the night before, maybe from being excited. I was also seething mad at Vodafone, since I had to top up my mobile phone yet AGAIN the night before, after swearing on New Year’s Eve that I had given Vodafone their last dime from me. Regardless, I was painfully tired on the boat, but once you get into the water you do kind of wake up a bit.

We went swimming with Dusky dolphins, which are a southern hemisphere only species. They are also the most acrobatic of all dolphin species, which is amazing. These guys are constantly jumping and leaping and flipping. They did some complicated moves too. I saw a few back flips with full twists. They are quite talented, those Dusky dolphins! Here is a new friend I made:

And another friend as well!

We were told that in order to amuse the dolphins (who will swim away if they get bored with us), we should spin around in circles, dive down deep, and make crazy noises into the snorkel. I did the spinning thing at one point, and got into a competition with one. He swam in circles and I spun in the middle. Guess who won? I started getting nauseous and gave up, and then the dolphin got bored and left. I guess we didn’t bond as much as I though we had? It seemed like a special moment on my end…

We were given the chance of 3 swims, although I was very much done after the 2^nd swim, so I stayed on the boat when we moved to the 3^rd location. I was starting to not feel well, but I had a great time on the boat for the 3^rd swim anyway, taking pictures of them flipping around and stalking the boat:

We were done with the whole thing and back at the dolphin center by 8:50 am, where I then zoomed back to the hostel to get on the Stray bus and start the long journey back to Auckland. What a morning! We were in Kaikoura for less than 20 hours, but I sure as hell made the most of it! We drove up to Picton, where we then got on the 3 hour ferry ride to Wellington. I walked around Wellington for a bit, then collapsed in bed. Long day!

Day 38 – Wellington to Rotorua – There isn’t much to say about this day. I got McDonald’s breakfast, but they forgot to put cheese on my sausage McMuffin. We stopped on the drive to Rotorua at Tongarira National Park and Lake Taupo, so the drive was a bit of a trip down memory lane. We were on the bus from about 9 am until 5 pm, when I got off at the YHA in Rotorua. I had instant noodles and a spoonful of peanut butter for dinner. That’s pretty much it.

Day 39 – Rotorua to Auckland – I got up early and dragged myself in the rain to McDonalds, because I really wanted to have a sausage McMuffin done properly, with the cheese on it. They got it right in Rotorua. We then stopped around 10:30 am in Matamata, where I got a Subway breakfast sandwich. I was very naughty with the fast food breakfasts towards the end of the trip. Very naughty indeed.

We got to Auckland around 1:30, and I hopped off the Stay bus for the last time…until April. Yeah. Have I announced this yet on the blog? I can’t remember. Anyway, halfway through the north island, I decided I was going to come back. There is too much left I’d like to do, so I’m planning on another 2 weeks in April. Woo hoo! So that made saying goodbye to NZ a bit easier. It wasn’t really goodbye, more of a peace out, catch ya a bit later instead. Anyway, I finally took a walk around Auckland:

I also did some souvenir shopping, some outdoor gear shopping, and then took myself out to dinner for asian food, just as I did on my first night in Auckland. My hostel room only had one other girl in it, so I had a nice, quiet evening.

Day 40 – Sydney, I’m a comin’! – Woke up at 5 am, was at the airport at 6, and mixed it up this time, buying Burger King breakfast instead of McDonalds. Can you die from eating sausage egg & cheese muffins every morning for days on end? I hope not… Anyway, the flight left on time, and before we landed in Sydney we got an amazing overview of the city, flying right over the opera house and harbour bridge, plus we flew right over my old neighborhood. I caught my old K-mart and local park from the sky. So 2 weeks in Sydney now, and then…. Off to the Outback! And no, I don’t mean the steakhouse…

Final thoughts on New Zealand? Wow. It really is an amazing place, and it’s majestic beauty certainly is not overrated. I had an incredible time, and although it wasn’t all peaches and cream, there are only a handful of really sh*t times that come to mind. I mean, I certainly didn’t enjoy almost drowning in Queenstown, or almost destroying my computer getting caught in the rain in Paihia, but for the most part, it was really quite special, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

In the event you were wondering, this entry is flanked by the lyrics to 2 songs that I picked up in New Zealand, and then listened to over and over again. I spent a lot of time on the bus, so naturally I listened to a lot of music. These two songs ended up being my favorites, and will forever remind me of my (first) incredible journey through Middle Earth.

“This is not the end - This is not the beginning, - Just a voice like a riot - Rocking every revision - But you listen to the tone - And the violent rhythm - Though the words sound steady - Something empty's within 'em - We say Yeah! - With fists flying up in the air - Like we're holding onto something - That's invisible there, - 'Cause we're living at the mercy of - The pain and the fear - Until we dead it, Forget it, - Let it all disappear. - Waiting for the end to come - Wishing I had strength to stand - This is not what I had planned - It's out of my control....Flying at the speed of light - Thoughts were spinning in my head - So many things were left unsaid - It's hard to let you go... (Oh!) I know what it takes to move on, - I know how it feels to lie, - All I wanna do Is trade this life for something new - Holding on to what I haven't got - Sitting in an empty room - Trying to forget the past - This was never meant to last, - I wish it wasn't so...(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on, - I know how it feels to lie, - All I wanna do Is trade this life for something new - Holding on to what I haven't got - What was left when that fire was gone? - I thought it felt right but that right was wrong - All caught up in the eye of the storm - And trying to figure out what it's like moving on - And i don't even know what kind of things I've said - My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead - So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin? - The hardest part of ending Is starting again!! - All I wanna do Is trade this life for something new -Holding on to what i haven't got... - This is not the end - This is not the beginning, - Just a voice like a riot - Rocking every revision - But you listen to the tone - And the violet rhythm - Though the words sound steady - Something empty's within 'em - (Holding on to what i haven't got) - We say Yeah! - With fists flying up in the air - Like we're holding onto something - That's invisible there, - 'Cause we're living at the mercy of - The pain and the fear - Until we dead it, Forget it, - Let it all disappear - (Holding on to what i haven't got!)”