The place of kiwis. The place of mountains. The place of bays and glaciers and unique wildlife.
The people were kind, the scenery was stunning, and the hiking was next level.
In reflecting on my time in New Zealand, it’s a struggle to vividly remember it all. Three months is a lengthy adventure.
My arrival in Auckland seems like a year ago. Either that’s because my memory is as shit as I think it is, or time has been distorted by the amount of experiences I fit into that glorious 90-day window.
I met heaps of people. Many of them fleetingly, but a few kindred spirits that I could easily contact if/when visiting their home countries (and vice versa). I also picked up a little bit of lingo if you didn’t catch that usage of “heaps.”
On that note, probably the most valuable part of this trip has been the immersion into another culture. Even though it may have only been a subtle contrast to that of the U.S., it’s still an important process. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m a changed person or anything, but seeing the way other people live everyday life can at least open your mind to a different approach.
I wrote about the “no worries” attitude before and that’s something I hope I’m able to keep with me as I go forward. Everything doesn’t have to be taken so seriously. Things work out. There’s a lot of stuff out there we can’t control, so just take it as it comes. No worries.
By the Numbers
Days in New Zealand: 91 Days at Workaways: 43 Days with a Rental Car: 28 Nights in Hostels: 39 NZD Spent: ~$7,425.84 USD Spent: ~$5,017.46 (Avg. conversion rate of roughly 1.48)
Also, here’s my Trip Advisor profile. I was reviewing things pretty heavily up until I wasn’t. Maybe one day I’ll finish it out but it doesn’t seem likely.
Finally, I still don’t really know what I’m doing, but I think I’ve taken some decent pictures along the way. Kind of hard to screw it up with scenery that good. Below is an album with my favorite photos from New Zealand.
I’m sure we all woke up a little groggy. We were getting an early start.
The plan was to hike Ben Lomond, which was a challenging uphill climb with variable weather conditions. First thing, we went to DOC to check on the status and get some details.
I think we were all questioning it. I was worried about my knee on the way down and they were hesitant about the temperature and grade. The response we got from the ranger was, “It snowed up there a few days ago so it’ll be slushy. You’ll have to take care where you put your feet in certain sections because there’s a quick drop off.”
It wasn’t necessarily a vote of confidence. The unspoken consensus I was picking up was that we weren’t going to the summit.
The compromise we made was to ride the gondola up (skipping the first part of the track) and go for as long as we were comfortable. We’d luge afterward since that was at the top of the gondola anyway and then call it a day.
We went back to prep lunches and snacks and got ready to go.
The gondola ride up was nice. At the top was an exceptional view of Queenstown.
Queenstown from the Gondola Lookout
There was definitely a difference in temperature just where we were. I think motivation was low group-wide but we started the walk.
It was a decent grade at first; not too terrible. Hannah commented early on that it was already better than she thought it’d be. Then what was a gradual ascension began to get more intense.
About 20 minutes in there was a sign noting the saddle was 1.5hrs and the summit was 2.5hrs. So a 5hr return. It didn’t seem in the cards.
As we continued, they fell behind me at a few stages. What I didn’t know was that they were already calling off the summit while talking amongst themselves.
We made decent time getting to the saddle and had a snack. Looking at the peak from where we were did seem ominous. A persons’s silhouette was the size of an ant on the ridgeline. Kind of sweet though.
Up the Saddle Toward the Summit
We decided that we might as well keep going for now.
The last leg of the climb was obviously going to be the most difficult. To add to the challenge, the wind decided to start whipping. Chilly gusts of 20-30mph that we were leaning into.
At some point, the trail got muddled with wash outs. We were rock hopping and doing switchbacks.
Hannah shot out of a cannon. Whether it was anger at the cold or the morning coffee taking full effect, she crushed the final ascent.
Before we knew it, we’d hiked Ben Lomond. The altitude is 5,150 ft, of which we climbed 3300+ft. It felt like a special accomplishment. And shortly after arriving, we got our reward in the form of mint chocolates from a very kind Japanese man. He bowed many times.
In the Mountains, In the Clouds
Ben Lomond Summit
The view was worth it. There was a dude up there in shorts somehow. Cruising. Said he could see his house. Props. He mentioned something about “l’appel du vide,” the French term for “the call of the void.” Like there’s a voice in the back of your mind when being at heights like this that tells you to jump.
I was like nah, but I might get blown off by this wind and try to ride it all the way to the bottom.
On the way down, the wind conveniently shut off. No surprise there. We ate our lunch at the saddle and pressed on.
I’m not sure how long it took us in total, but we took a deserved rest when we got back to the gondola station.
We got a classic line from Hannah after a little while of sitting at a table outside.
“My legs are cold. Zack, can you put your legs on my legs?”
-Hannah Chartouni
I can safely say I’d never heard that request before. Now I can tick it off the list.
Before it was time to take our gondola ride down to the ground, we had luge tickets to use.
It was basically like real life Mario Kart without the weapons. It looked kind of cheesy as we watched people go by, but it was actually really fun trying to get as much speed as possible. There were some sweet downhills and curves in there. We got 5 runs and took a very scenic chairlift up to the start each time. We were all pretty happy with how the day turned out.
Fat Badgers Pizza
Back at street level, it was time to satisfy the appetites we’d worked up. We went to a place called Fat Badgers where Zack and I got a massive pizza, wings and a beer and it was pretty much lights out after that.
Solid accomplishments.
Day 5 – Kind of Shotunder, Actually
It was rafting day and I was hyped. It was also a great day for it. The weather was pristine.
Based on my previous rafting experience in New Zealand, this was going to be sick. It was also another level up. We’d be on class 4 and 5 rapids in the same sweet as canyon where I did the swing and zip line. Stoked.
The downside was that they didn’t allow personal cameras for safety reasons. Based on the videos they were playing in the office, it did actually look pretty gnarly. The river was running higher than normal so it was going to be churning.
They said that they weren’t operating a few days ago because of the water level and also told us that at least one boat was flipping every day.
Scandalous.
Another exciting detail about this trip was that to get to the drop in, we’d be on one of the worlds top 10 most dangerous roads.
Skippers Canyon Rd. – *This is not my image. No copyright intended.
Seeing it in person was crucial. Our driver had steel testicles, that’s for sure. I would’ve nope’d out hard in a regular vehicle, yet here he was maneuvering a bus full of people with a trailer full of rafts behind it.
We’re talking about a one lane (generous), winding dirt road that’s high as shit with no guard rails. And there was another vehicle + a bulldozer trying to come the opposite way at two points. Crazy.
In any event, we made it safely where we needed to. For the driving portion at least.
At the launch point, we got our final safety briefing and our boat assignment. We were paired up with 3 employees from the company who were kayak guides. So basically our raft was mean as hell. We were the lead boat down the river because of how sick we were. That is not factual, but a safe assumption per my unskilled observation.
The early stage of the Shotover river was pretty smooth sailing. There were a few class 2 and 3 rapids but nothing too gnarly. There was also a spot where we got to jump out for a swim. Pretty frigid river but when in Rome.
It was kind of surprising when we got to the halfway point. We’d only conquered a handful of rapids so far and nothing that intense. We were at the chief section though.
Our guide gave us the run down and we went full steam ahead. There were 6 rapids in pretty quick succession. After powering through the first 2, we had to pull over and tie up to be on safety watch for the other rafts going down. This was good practice, but we had to do it repeatedly and each time was like 10-15 minutes long. It really interrupted the flow of the trip. It seemed a bit overly cautious, so we were all wondering if there’d been some kind of major accident.
The rapids in the chief section were pretty extreme and definitely gave me a rush. It would’ve been nice to run them back to back to really feel it. Our guide said our line was perfect and then admitted it was a redemption run for him because his raft flipped the day before. Clutch. Also, smart to withhold that info until afterward.
The big finale of the ride was going through a 200m tunnel (super sweet and unique) right out onto the last rapid, “Cascade,” which was a 7m drop.
That was a fun spell. I actually thought the drop was going to be crazier but it was all good.
At the end, me, Zack and Hannah talked it over. We were a little underwhelmed overall. In total we were on the river for about 2hrs but 30 minutes or more was spent pulled over waiting. There were only around 12-15 rapids in all over that whole time. Plus, they didn’t allow GoPros and didn’t take any pictures of their own, which was a service they said they provided. Mildly disappointing not having any evidence of the journey. For me at least, the Tongariro rafting was a better experience in even though the rapids were smaller. One man’s jaded opinion.
Bandana Bros
Back in town, we found some lunch and ate by the water. There was no rush. We had a 2.5hr drive to Te Anau but nothing planned for the evening.
On the way, we stopped at Amisfield Winery which had a good reputation. We were comically underdressed but still got a tasting. Another solid Pinot Noir. Z&H enjoyed a glass as we chilled outside on their sweet ass patio.
Views
Vino
Vines
I also forgot how nice the drive out of Queenstown was. Whoever planned the roads wrapping along the mountains right next to the water was smart. I suppose that’s the easiest way to do it, but I still appreciate it.
Car Napping Like a Boss
After a bit of chatting and some more car naps, we got to Te Anau. We topped up our groceries in preparation for our trip to Milford the next day. Then we went to check into the hostel. I was staying in a dorm the first night and then we were all staying together the second night.
That’s how it was supposed to be.
During preparation, our plans moved around a little bit and in redoing the reservation, I made it for the wrong day like a dummy. Oops. I had a feeling about it earlier in the day too.
There was no vacancy at any of the affordable places in town either. Screwed the pooch. Thankfully, Z&H let me stay on the floor in their room.
It was an early wake up call too — our shuttle was leaving at 6:30am the next day.
