Week 1, New Zealand: Kia Ora! (or Be Well!/Hi)

New Zealand is gorgeous. I was talking with a girl from London a few days ago and we agreed, once you've been here most natural wonders are ruined for you. You may never find another mountain or lake quite as breathtaking because you've been here.

The experiences:

Thanks to Bobby T I organized a network of one way relocation rentals. Some countries have these as a method for transporting cars to different locations and renters like me get a great deal. So for $1 a day and insurance/gas costs I set out to drive from Queenstown to Auckland in 7 days.

The woman who prepped my rental was a Michigander and my first intro to the vast amount of Europeans and Americans working abroad here. Next, Taylor Swift came on the radio. So many comforts of home! Then I realized how crippled I am without the GPS on my phone and was driving around for some time getting the hang of things before I found the bridge I was to jump off. You may have already seen the photos but if you haven't they're also in the RTW album I have on Google Plus which will keep getting updated as I find Wifi. This is the bridge that started everything for Bungy Jumping  and it was the first thing I did upon arrival--taking the plunge. Mind bogglingly scary especially as they make you fill out your own toe tag before going but worth it. When it was over I would have paid anything to stay on that raft and float on to calm down.

Day two I decided to take it slow. I did some off-roading, got a Fergburger (famous to the point where you wait on line for hours, I only waited 5 min) and got a cookie and Flat White at the Cookie Time company. At Fergburger I shared a table with a reserved British father daughter pair but they soon finished up and were replaced by an 8 person Malay friend and family group. These people were a godsend. Actually two of the gentlemen were pastors, the women were phenomenally vibrant and sweet and I have an open invite to visit Mai's restaurant in Kuala Lumpur so we can talk travel.  So if any of you are planning to travel there I've been assured that it's delicious--The Dancing Fish. Part of the family lives in Auckland and was acting as a tour guide on a very similar track to me, so I don't know why I was surprised to run into them again the next day at Milford Sound. (Oh and yes the burger was very delicious, not as good as ShakeShack but up there)

 

Milford Sound is the only Fjord you can get to via car in the southern fjordland of the south island of New Zealand. I took a tourbus to get there since it's a good 5 hour drive and we even crossed the tropic of capricorn. Then we took a cruise of the fjord, took tons of photos, and had a few dolphins follow us back into the harbor. Along the way I met a Chicagoan who was upset I hadn't gone to the Safehouse (he even shared the password with me) and a group of older Italians who spoke no English--somehow they adopted me though? It was strange but worked out all the same.

After that I drove north to Christchurch, where I didn't do much but enjoy the beautiful scenery and European likeness. I met a few interesting people from Germany and London and left the next morning for Picton. Picton is where the ferries take off to go from the south island to the north island. The hostel I picked was about 20km away from the city but I figured that wouldn't be too big of a deal. However, what I found was that the Queen Charlotte Highway was the only way to get to a very remote location without any store or restaurants. By far the nicest hostel I've stayed in and very nice people but getting there was a "white knuckle" experience. I had to make the same drive back to town at 4:30am the next day to catch the first ferry. So about 14 hours driving on the south island and a long 3 hour ferry ride to the next leg of the journey.

I picked up my new car and headed to Lake Taupo for a quick stop then Rotorua for a couple nights. This is a lovely city with fabulous restaurants and amazing geothermal activity. They sell the mud in beauty products and you can see the hot springs from the road. I took time here to plan my next week out a bit. So Sunday I headed to Hobbiton--the set from LOTR and the Hobbit that they negotiated to keep. Not the most thrilling since I've only seen LOTR once and never say the Hobbit movies, but a nice couple hours walk around, great photo opportunities, and some delicious cidre in the Green Dragon. Then I drove to the Waitomo Caves where I was set to see the "glowworm" phenomenon. I signed up for a "black water rafting" tour, got into a wetsuit and tube to go caving and yes more jumping (this time backwards over a few waterfalls in the cave). I thought this was going to be a lazy river experience but it was far more physically demanding than I expected. I survived and proceeded to laugh at myself with the other 11 members of my team when they displayed all the photos of the hilarious and fun journey through the cave.

And today I arrived back in Auckland ready for week 2.

The Lessons:

• Driving on the left side of the road is super easy, just look right, and keep left
• Take the day off every few days.
• New Zealand is my most expensive destination--not for food and accommodation but the activities and adventures you want to do are all pretty pricey.
• I still love moderately small towns--Queenstown was by far my favorite so far.

Interesting:

• New Zealand is thinking of changing its flag
• I was here for their version of Independence day. Only theirs (Waitangi Day) is to celebrate the coming together (and treaty) of the Europeans and the Maori people to work together
• There are hardly any stoplights here, unless you're in a city most intersections are roundabouts and it works fabulously.
• New Zealand has a version of Percent for Art program like we do in WI and last week they revealed a piece that reminded me of the notorious football tower outside Camp Randall, I may go see it as it's supposed to be more overtly phallic (perhaps I'll load a picture). 
• For the first time, perhaps ever, I ate an entire Bento Box with chopsticks and no mistakes.