Here’s a brief (well maybe not so brief) overview of where we went:
1. Took the ferry from Wellington to Picton- very scenic but I slept most of the ride haha. From Picton we took a bus 2 hours to Nelson where we stayed for 2 nights. The bus right was great, we saw tons of sheep and a lot of the countryside. Its unbelievable how beautiful every inch of this country is! A lot of the houses were very old fashioned feeling though, like something out of That 70’s Show lol.
2. Nelson was amazing, cute little beach town and really good fish and chips! We stayed at an adorable hostel called Accents on the Park which was right next to a gorgeous park and cute little main street. And the beach was huge with super soft, white sand and warm water- we made sure to spend at least 2 hours on the beach everyday. I’ve never been much of a beach person, but this was heaven.
3. We rented a car in Nelson and took a few day trips ( and yes, I had to learn very quickly how to drive on the other side of the road!). First day we drove to Abel Tasman National Park- long drive but very scenic. Stopped at two little towns with gorgeous beaches called Moteuka and Kaitiritiri. It was something out of a movie, with sparkling clear blue water and a beach surrounded by little rock caves. At Abel Tasman it was like a beach desert, super flat and it seemed to go on forever. There were little streams of water all around the beach and then a main shoreline which we walked down to. Before we knew it we turned around and found ourselves stuck on a little sandbar with almost waste deep water surrounding us because the tide has crept in around us. The water was warm so was easy to walk through, but the sand was covered with tiny colorful starfish which I felt bad stepping on but there we so many it was unavoidable. It was so peaceful driving around- I don’t think I’ve ever felt that carefree and relaxed my entire life. I can see why people say that you can really find yourself when you travel.
4. After two days we migrated to Kaikoura which about 4 hours away. Stopped at Hanmer Hotsprings on the way, which was fun. Kaikoura was a pretty small town, again right on the water. Unfortunately, I got sick while I was there and ended up going to the doctors. It was basically like a school nurse’s office, but the doctor prescribed me some antibiotics and I was good to go. Our hostel was called The Lazy Shag and we shared a room with a German and Irish girl who we swapped travel stories with. We swam with the seals our second day there, which was so different then I expected. About 5 of us were taken out about 100 yards from the shore to a rock covered with seals. Then we all hoped out in our snorkeling gear and swam around. Some of the seals would come right up to you under water and stare you down—it was a little intimidating to be honest and most of them were bigger then me! I’m also not an ocean person but I had so much fun and never wanted to get out of the water!
Random side observation- It is amazing how trusting everyone here is. When we stopped to get gas along the way we went inside to prepay only to find out you pump the gas first, then come inside and tell them how much you put in, and they don’t even question you. You would NEVER find anywhere like that in the US.
5. Next, we drove down to Christchurch, another 4 hour drive or so, but very scenic. Along the way the car started to make a funny noise and I seriously thought we were going to be stranded on a tiny little road in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long…luckily our little mazda trekked on and crisis was averted. Christchurch was by far my favorite city. Right in the middle is a big square with a church in the middle and little vendors surrounding it. It was filled picnicking or just walking around. There was even a human size chessboard you could play with. The buildings were old fashioned and very European feeling, made of stone with ivy crawling up the sides. It’s also a much larger city and feels more like the cities we have in the US. We stayed in Christchurch for three days, then flew back to Wellington from there.
While we were there we took daytrips to Sumner, which is another little beach suburb of Christchurch. We met up there with a few people we met in Wellington about a week before. It was embarrassingly difficult to understand what they were saying because their accent was so much stronger then most others I had heard. But we had a good laugh about it and it was overall super fun hanging out and getting the real kiwi experience. We also drove to Akaroa, which is the first (and only) French settlement in New Zealand- very French town but jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It was set right on a little bay in between green hillsides covered with little farms. We also went to the botanical gardens and somehow found ourselves at a high school track meet. I felt like it was something out of Bedknobs and Broomsticks or Mary Poppins- all the boys had old-fashioned uniforms on and were separated by house. And the judges all whole pinstriped suits with big top hats.
We also decided to go to a Christchurch Crusaders rugby game- what an adventure that was. We drove to the game but had to walk a ways to the stadium. It wasn’t in a horrible neighborhood but definitely not somewhere I would want to be alone. We buy are ticket, get into the stadium and immediately search for food seeing as we are both starving. Turns out they stadium only takes EFTPOS (which are weird NZ debit cards) or cash- neither of which we have. And they have no ATMs inside the stadium- pretty supid if you ask me. So we leave the stadium in search of an ATM. To make a long (very long) story short, we eventually found a random ATM after about 45 minutes of wandering around from little convenient store to convenient store. (Don’t freak out Dad if you’re reading this- it was still bright out and we are safe and sound!) We made it for the last half of the game, but were quite frustrated with the whole situation.
Before we left for the airport we stopped at the Antarctic Center where we went through an Antarctic weather simulation.. my legs were burning they were so cold, the room got to below -4 degrees F. It was pretty interesting though and we got to see come cute penguins.
Now back in Wellington, totally beat but had the most amazing trip. Kelly and I are now super close friends which is great and I we are already planning our next excursion, though I may have to wait until my bank account isn’t quite as empty lol. Classes start tomorrow- I’m taking French, Physics and Introduction to Sustainable Architecture. I’m not so worried about the difficulty of the classes but I just feel weird being at a new school. I feel like a little baby freshmen again and I’m nervous I’m going to stick out from everyone else. It’s exciting though in a way.
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