The South Island of New Zealand was breathtaking...roadtripping with my travel buddy, Alex from WI. Him and his twin, Adam bought a car for $900 (a Lancer, conveniently named Lance) to drive around and find work. They picked fruit in the North Island for a few weeks and met people along the way (Faustine and Tebo from France pictured). Adam continued to find work and hitchhike (lots of people do it here, guys and gals and we even picked up a fella from Belgium for a short ride) while Alex and I ventured south.
We drove (me too...on the left side AND stick shift!) from Christchurch west and then south, cruising by Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers...amazing. Camping in the car and stopping off for photo ops and lookouts. Much of the scenery...the rolling hills and tree lines could be comparable to Montana/Yellowstone and the northwest US then add the snow capped alps in the distance. The trees and mountains were so beautiful and I got to have my fall and winter that I missed out on in the states.
One evening we stopped off to check out the ocean and the waves were furious...I've never seen them this rough, loud and powerful...you could just feel the energy. Alex wanted to get closer and...you can probably guess, we were drenched by an unsuspected wave. Exhilarating but frigid.
The wildlife there consisted of mostly sheep...lots of them. Four sheep to one Kiwi (New Zealander). Milk cows, horses, deer/elk mix were also seen grazing. There is a possum problem so roadkill was abundant and all survived that crossed our path.
We clocked alot of miles (km here)...driving and stopping throughout the day then sleeping in the car a couple days and waking up to a beautiful backdrop of lakes and mountains. Campfire in Te Anau, SNOW, rain and fog in Milford Sound on the west coast. Headed to Dunedin on the east coast then to the southern tip Invercargill and north to our final destination Queenstown.
Queenstown is known as an adventure sports town. Quaint but busy with shops, restaurants, backpackers and trendy locals. We decided to bungy jump off the bridge which is where bungy originated in 1987. The fall was about 150 feet. As I begin to get harnessed in...music is playing and "No Diggity" comes on! (This was a freshman year UNC theme song) It was a message from home and gave me the guts to jump. It was intense, exhilarating but short...I wanted to do it again.
We later took a gondola up to a hill lookout where we rode the luge...it was like go-cart racing but with no motor...nonetheless you FLEW. I was schooling Alex at the beginning but he came through and passed me near the end. I thought I had him! Funny thing, even though bungying was intense...luging came pretty close.
What a phenomenal two weeks in NZ...hanging with my mom (thank you mom and dad for my amazing life) then roadtripping with Alex (thanks for the laughs, tangents and Lance). Now a few days in Port Vila to indulge and back to site in a couple days. It will be tough to unwind and get back into the swing of "island time" but Paama is the place to do it...I do miss my host family and village and look forward to seeing them again.
Thank y'all for all the encouragement and support...y'all give me the strength to embrace the difficult times here as well as to enjoy the solitude and slow pace of life that I will surely miss one day.
