July 25, 2014 Sydney

When I said goodbye to Jordan in the Sydney airport, I greeted another partner-in-crime, my then-boyfriend, James. (We’re still in touch, and still friends!) He had been to Sydney before but didn't get to see much of the city the first go-around, so because he was eager to see numerous things and I had spent most of my trip-planning on Jordan's time, I agreed to follow his lead on the itinerary.

I’m admittedly a history nerd, so skip to the next red bit if you find history boring.

However, before we jumped into the tours that James begged to do, we spent an afternoon with my pal Gina during her layover between Auckland and Perth. We three wandered around the harbor and made our way to the Maritime Museum, where we climbed aboard a sub, a battle ship (HMS Vampire), and a replica of the HMS Endeavor. Endeavor was the ship that Captain James Cook sailed while exploring Australia and NZ during the eighteenth century, and its small size shocked me. After seeing the living conditions—even though it was one of the best during that time—I have a lot more respect for those sailors.

The next day, James and I did a hop-on/hop-off bus tour that wove through the city and also went out to the nearby beaches. I enjoyed hearing some of the stories, I liked the freedom of the bus service to determine our own schedule, and I loved getting to visit Bondi Beach, but I much prefer exploring on foot. We did this as part of a tour one night (through the Rocks), but mostly did so on our own. During the Rocks tour, our guide told us about the shady past of The Hero of Waterloo, one of Sydney's oldest pubs: in the nineteenth century, young men were shanghaied by transporting them directly to the docks through a tunnel in the basement. After that tour, we stopped in and asked the bartender if he'd show us the passageway, and because it was a slow night, he agreed! We descended a narrow wooden staircase and went through a musty storage room, and there was the opening to the now-bricked-in tunnel. An old chain on the wall added to the eerie effect.

 

Other places we saw included Hyde Parkand the Hyde Park Barracks. The latter saw many uses during its 200 year history: a prison, an immigrant processing center, a women’s home, and a government administration office. Now it exists as a museum in various phases of restoration to recognize each of those phases and the many lives that passed through it.

Non-cultured readers pick up reading here:

 

We also went to Chinatown and wound through the maze of stalls in a market; we went to an underwhelming history museum; we stood slack-jawed in the Queen Victoria Building, a nineteenth-century shopping mall; and we walked along the Circular Quay numerous times. We also went to the top of the SydneyTower, which does provide aerial views of the city, but Auckland’s Sky Tower easily wins in comparison.

            

I enjoyed Sydney not only because it's a nice place, but also because I got to calmly absorb and enjoy it. After a jam-packed two weeks with a relentlessly side-splitting cough (ask me sometime about “gees linctus”), I finally recovered and got to meander through a vibrant city with good friends. I even went for a relaxing swim—but in an indoor pool since every horrible sea creature known to man lives in Australian waters. “But we don’t know about every marine animal yet, and in fact more are constantly being discovered,” I hear you thinking. The worst ones will always be in Australia. Always.

When my time in Australia came to an end, I flew on to the next leg of my adventure: Samoa.

July 19, 2014 A Bit of Australia

Our week in Australia started in Gold Coast, which is about in the middle of the continent’s eastern coast, and we stayed in two areas while there.

First was Surfer’s Paradise, which gave the impression of being an Australian version of Florida’s Panama City Beach: superficial and touristy, but instead of an unnecessary number of shops selling airbrush T-shirts, they sold UGG boots. Since it was winter, there weren’t really any crowds, but there also weren't the warmest conditions. We did spend some time on the beach, and even though the calm, tepid waves were inviting, a fierce wind constantly blew sand into my eyes and mouth and kept us from jumping in. I may enjoy a trip to Surfers under different circumstances, but I wasn't that impressed.

After two days we shifted to Coolangatta, which was still a bit touristy, but not nearly as bad, and I saw past its faults because it had the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. This is where I fulfilled my one dream of Australia: I fed kangaroos! Yes, I understand that Aussies regard them as pests (even if they're a national symbol); yes, I understand that I was only just eschewing “touristy" places and activities in the above paragraph; yes, I know that souvenir shops capitalize on foreigners' fascination with these critters and sell kangaroo pelts, dried paws (as backscratchers, seriously), and a few other parts you wouldn't believe. However, I defy you to care about all that after having a kangaroo place its tiny little paw on your palm while it eats out of your hand. Even though I was a little uneasy about standing in a crowd of weighty marsupials, I really enjoyed the experience.

 

Currumbin also had a few mournful-sounding dingoes, a drowsy Tasmanian devil, and few gorgeous native owls. A large enclosure of koalas made me squeal with delight, and I was tempted to pay the $30 fee to hold one, but I thought better of it after watching them for a bit and noticing how often and how nonchalantly they dropped their bodily waste. The park also had a rope course, which was a challenge at times but mostly a blast, due in no small part to the fact that Jordan and I were wearing matching jumpsuits required and provided by the park. Really I spent a great deal of time doubled over laughing at Jordan's flailing limbs as he tackled some of the difficult parts of the course. Don't worry, I made a fool of myself, too.

Next, we flew to Melbourne, the second-largest city in Australia. Its gridded streets consist of large boulevards and smaller avenues, which are joined together with alleys and lanes brimming with coffee shops and boutiques that draw in residents and visitors alike. Jordan and I did a walking tour our first morning there, and I enjoyed winding through the city at a casual pace that allowed me to soak in the life and history there. Melbourne has impressive Victorian structures and modern buildings in its CBD, as well as smaller, charming edifices in its nearby neighborhoods. Another nice way to see the city was by riding the old trolley that encircles the downtown. We spent a good bit of time walking through the city and one of its nearby neighborhoods, Fitzroy, where we found a home-cooked Greek meal and a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop. Although I was exhausted from all the walking, I wish we could have stayed longer, and I hope to visit again.

After less than 48 hours in Melbourne, we flew to Sydney, and our first night there we navigated the subway system to attend a show at the Opera House. Beforehand, we got dinner at one of the many restaurants on the Circular Quay around the harbor; I can’t remember what I ate, because all I recall is the brilliant scenery of the harbor, the enormous bridge spanning it, and the Opera House. Then we made our way to The Man in Black, which was a tribute to Johnny Cash that narrated his life and of course included many of his songs. Jordan and I enjoyed the show, and getting to see a performance at the Sydney Opera House—even though we were just in one of its small performance spaces—is something that I never imagined I'd be able to do. 

The following day we wandered around parts of the city, including its large Botanical Garden, an old part of town called The Rocks, and the Circular Quay again. It’s a big city, but even with its huge buildings, it still felt welcoming. The harbor is certainly an impressive sight; I agree with Jordan that the Opera House is something that lives up to the hype. At least, it did for us.

My two weeks with Jordan zoomed by. After visiting six cities (and practically memorizing the airlines’ magazines), he flew home and left me to continue the next part of my travels.

July 12, 2014 End of NZ

My final month living in NZ seemed like a whirlwind. I spent that time traveling through parts of NZ, Australia, and Samoa, and my trip was spent at different times with three of my dearest friends.

Jordan, one of my best friends since high school, was the only one from home who loved me enough to come visit me this year (are you reading this, Mom and Dad?). We combined my travel experience and his reading travel books to cobble together a two-week itinerary split between NZ and Australia.

Most of the time in NZ was spent in Auckland (flooding in Northland forced us to cancel going there), but we did make it to Queenstown and Milford Sound for a couple of days. Queenstown sits by a lake among mountains of the Southern Alps; it was chilly even in the summer, so being there in the winter was just plain cold. While there, we rode the gondola up a steep mountainside to ride on luges and to see the spectacular views made even more astonishing by a sunset electrifying the snowcapped mountains and casting shadows on the dark lake below. We also took a day-long excursion to Milford Sound (including stops at Mirror Lakes and a raging river), which was stunning on a rainy day when I visited last December, and it was still incredible on the clear summer day when I returned there with Jordan. I was so glad that Jordan got to see the South Island; it is truly stunning, and I hope the fjord lived up to his expectations since it was the only sight his heart was set on. 

Our time in Auckland included excursions to some of my favorite places, and I really enjoyed showing my new life and home to someone who knew me long before I came here. Waiheke Island, where we wandered around a winery above a small bay, was gorgeous (pictures). When I took Jordan to many spots, I loved sharing them and got an opportunity to bid my farewells: Takapuna Beach was the setting for many of my swim practices and races; Mt. Eden, one of the city’s extinct volcanoes, has some of the best views of the city and surrounding waters; The Harbour Bridge, which links the city to the North Shore, is a sight in itself and also has my favorite vantage points of Rangitoto and the city.

Our final night was spent out with my pals at our favorite haunt in the CBD, and the next morning, we flew to Australia.

December 27, 2014 NZ Epilogue

I beg my audience’s forgiveness for my long break from posting. Once again, so much happened in my journeying that putting pen to paper to convey it all just overwhelmed me—in addition to the emotional surge inherent in the reverse culture shock that hits many expats who return home. Perhaps I felt that concluding my writings about my life in NZ would potentially signal the end of my world travels. Not that, actually—rather, I guess I was worried that it would all just become some story and feel like it didn’t really happen. Once something ends, and the more time passes, the experience becomes a rote story and less the living moments that made it.

The sentiment that has shaped my thoughts and plans since arriving home has been a tremendous fear of getting stuck here again. However, today I began another chapter in my global travels: I’ve left for Lima, Peru. Before I even returned home from NZ, I set my sights on moving to South America, and even though I loved many things about living in my hometown again, I spent much of the last four-and-a-half months trying to find a way to leave again.

Now that I have finally taken the leap to prevent that fate, I feel ready to tell my final tales from my first year abroad.

February-June, 2014 Still Very Much Alive!

Dear Loyal Readers (Mom),

My sincerest apologies for the long break since my previous entry! The last four months I’ve been busy living life and just been too lazy to write about it. Instead of doing my usual lengthy, detailed story time about it, I’m relating the events in a fashion only someone with a degree in teaching can do: with a few bullet points and a lot of pictures. Enjoy!

FEBRUARY

• Chinese Lantern Festival
• Hiked Rangitoto – the volcano is the Auckland harbor’s iconic figure; it was a long, muggy climb (I was with 2 fast-paced English girls), mostly with misty views, but the cover cleared for a bit while we were at the top
• Rangitoto alternate course swim – due to severe winds it was a 3.5k race in the protected Judges and Hobson Bays (instead of a 4.6km race from the volcano across the harbor to a beach); but since they still handed out medals for the Rangi swim, if my grandkids ever find mine and ask about it, I totally did the real thing while escorted by a pod of dolphins

MARCH

• Snorkeling at Goat Island – fantastic! Went with Kelcee and Gina (2 fellow American au pairs), it’s a nature reserve, so the water is clear and the fish are plentiful—we even spotted a ray hiding among the seaweed
• Paihia sailing – an au pair pal befriended a cheerful Kiwi captain, and he sailed us around the Bay of Islands near Paihia
• Mt.Maunganui/Tauranga – went for a “sand to surf” swim race, and thanks to rough weather, ended up doing another alternate course in protected little harbor around boats. That was very disappointing, but I still spent that afternoon and the next morning playing in the huge waves at the beach next to the mount

• Cheltanham swim – entered a short, local race at the last minute, and ended up winning the women’s competition (and the $100 prize!) wearing a regular swim suit whereas everyone else wore buoyant wetsuits
• Blues vs. Highlanders game – finally went to a rugby game! The Blues (an Auckland team) beat the Highlanders (from Dunedin), and even though the game itself was exciting, my favorite part was the over-the-top pyrotechnics that blazed every time the home team scored
• Met a nice Kiwi bloke, James

APRIL

• King of Bays swim – another local swim, but a HUGE event (with around 1600 swimmers); my time was OK, but I didn’t place that well
• Round the Rock swim – challenging but fantastic 2k race in freezing water at a beach in Whangaparoa: the first half was calm but on the return the chop threw me around, I triumphantly sprinted to the finish, passing two male competitors (including my training pal, Frank) and ended as the second-place female (third overall) and claimed the prize of a box of Easter chocolates
• Warriors game – a rugby league (different from rugby union) team—great fun!
• MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) and art museum
• ANZAC Day – it originally commemorated the Australian and NZ Army Corps from WWI (which suffered tremendous casualties at Gallipoli), but now serves as NZ’s memorial day and veterans day all in one
• Rotorua – a town with geothermal activity (and a strong sulfuric aroma) that has long been a tourist destination: I did ZORBing (going down a hill in a giant plastic ball), luging, and disc golfing, and I visited the museum, waterfront, a night market, and Kiwi Valley (an animal sanctuary where visitors can feed animals like llamas and wallabies, and where there are daily opportunities to pet lion cubs)
• Martha’s Backyard – an American store that I visited with Kelsey (a girl from my hometown who now lives with her husband across the harbor from me); I never thought I’d get so excited over Wheat Thins

MAY

• My 24^th birthday – got Mexican food, which tastes more like home than anything else I can find in NZ

JUNE (so far)

• Wellington weekend – I went with Gina and saw all the sights I wanted to see: Te Papa (National Museum, where there’s the body of giant squid and an earthquake room that shakes around), underground market, waterfront, Cuba St (boutiques and a night market), Old St. Paul’s Cathedral, Parliament (A.K.A. The Beehive), Mt. Victoria Lookout
• Queen’s Birthday – national holiday, but few other Commonwealth nations celebrate it
• Sky Tower – I finally went! Amazing views, of course 
  
• All Blacks game – the first of their 3 test matches against England, it was a low-scoring game with a last-minute victory (20-15). Only one try (comparable to a touchdown) was scored the whole game, the rest of the points came from penalty kicks. However, watching the haka (and some of the very attractive players) made up for the game’s lack of excitement
• Cathedral Cove – A “hole in the rock” on the Coromandel Peninsula. Beautiful!

And that, folks, is why I haven't had the time to write anything for months. I can't believe I only have a few more weeks living in NZ, but I think I've spent my time here wisely. I plan to savor all my remaining time in this fantastic country!

—Lenora 

February 9, 2014 Tongariro Crossing

I recently had a 4-day weekend, thanks to Waitangi Day (NZ’s closest thing to Independence Day—I wrote about it here when I visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in December), so I decided to face the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This 19.4km (12mi) hike snakes through Tongariro National Park, which features three volcanoes (two of which are still active) and ascends from 1100m to 1900m before descending down to 750m. The Crossing holds high rankings on top hiking lists within NZ and internationally, so when I found a coupon for accommodation, meals, and transport for the trip, I jumped at the chance.

The park is in the middle of nowhere, so stayed in a nearby town called Owhango, which I reached after spending half a day riding a bus south from Auckland. When I first arrived in mid-afternoon at the B&B where I had accommodation, no one but the owner was around, so when I heard that she owned the blueberry orchard across the street, I volunteered to help and spent a couple hours picking delicious berries (which I later sampled in baked goods). The bed and breakfast where I stayed was quite comfortable, and only a few people were around, so I really enjoyed spending time with the handful of workers and the two guests besides me who were there at the time.

Not surprisingly, the most noteworthy part of the trip was the crossing itself (photos). We embarked early in the morning, and as our rickety bus bounced along the route to the trail, I watched the sun rise behind the mountains. That stunning sight really made me excited to begin my journey, which I began bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:23am and completed blistered and aching at 3:00pm. In between that I climbed up and down hundreds of stairs, I scrambled up rocks and slid down slopes, and I saw for miles when it was clear and saw only a few meters around me when it was misty. At times the wind whipped around and blew dust into my eyes, making me shiver and squeeze my eyes shut and wish I’d never left Auckland, and for much of the latter half of the trek my feet and knees protested over my decision to attempt twelve miles in one go, not to mention that I chose to do that distance over a mountain. However, I must say that no matter how much I may gripe at the physical discomfort of my journey, I’m incredibly proud of myself for even entertaining the idea of attempting such a feat, much less completing it. Needless to say I slept well that night.

The following day I spent the morning with the couple who were staying at the B&B with me: we drove down the road to see the Whakapapa River (which was lovely and noisy) and then lunched at what I assume is the only café in the bustling metropolis of Owhango. They then, most generously, made sure I was set for my bus to pick me up for my return to Auckland, and they even drove me to the bus stop twenty minutes down the road. Meeting folks like them—who go well out of their way to ensure that a stranger can find her way home—certainly restores my faith in humanity. Thanks to them I had plenty of time before my bus arrived, and I spent the entire evening bouncing along the winding highway back to Auckland.

The trip really pushed me physically, and certainly held its own challenges as I was traveling on my own once more, but because of that it’s one trip I think I’ll never forget.

February 2, 2014 A Busy New Year

Whew—what a busy month! I’ve started off the New Year with heaps of delightful adventures.

First up was a tour around the harbor I took with a few friends I met on the South Island trip. We hired a boat and spent a few hours one evening motoring around the harbor, anchoring a few times and jumping in to cool off from a warm summer day. The city lights up at night, and taking in the colorful CBD from my vantage point in the calm water is the best view I’ve ever beheld of the Auckland skyline. I’m so glad I got to see another beautiful side to the city!

Scuba diving was the next undertaking I tackled. I signed up for a PADI open water course with my friend Gina (a fellow au pair from America), and we had a great time in the various classroom, pool, and lake sessions over a two-week period. The course went very smoothly from start to finish—just kidding, I almost died. During my first lake descent, a loose fin spun me into a primal panic. One moment I was a couple meters from the bottom of the lake, the next moment I was choking on water and couldn’t see anything, and then after I realized I was breathing again, I suddenly found myself on the lake’s surface with no fins or mask.

I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I do know that I sort of owe my instructor my life since he’s the one who realized I dropped my regulator (that really important thing that gets air to your mouth) and got it working again. Hey, at least he’s got a great story to tell future students who uneasy about diving, which begins with, “Well, there’s no way you’ll have as terrible a dive as this one girl…” (You’re welcome, pal). Other than that brief moment of idiocy, I actually did do well and enjoy the course: I aced my written exam, felt very comfortable during the pool dives, and had a blast in the murky depths of a local lake. Since there are apparently loads of great diving spots in NZ, I’m already looking into a handful of nearby spots to plan an open water scuba adventure—with diving buddies who will keep a close eye on me.

Staying at the water’s surface seems to be a safer aquatic adventure for me, and I completed two more open water swims with my swim pal, Frank. The 3.2km Bean Rock Lighthouse swim came first, where we competitors entered and exited in Mission Bay but swam out to an old lighthouse (located on Bean Rock, go figure) in the harbor. I got fourth in the women’s competition, although the results were not split into those who wore wetsuits and those who, like me, did not—so while I’m not exactly sure how I fared, I say officially that I think I did pretty darn well. The next day I swam a whopping 3.78km from St. Heliers Bay across Mission Bay, and I came second in the women’s non-wetsuit competition. At the end of it all I was exhausted, but it always eases the suffering when I’m in beautiful surroundings. (photos) I’m gearing up for a few more races—and one of them is even longer!

I have spent a little time out of the water, though, and I’ve encountered some lovely folks from home and from NZ. A longtime friend and fellow swimmer, Kelsey, recently married a Kiwi and just moved to Auckland, so we met up for a coffee close to her new home that’s a mere nine miles from my current address. Seeing such a familiar face in such a foreign place was truly bizarre, but catching up with her and exchanging stories about our experiences in this country certainly made my day. I also met another girl from my home state: at a restaurant I heard our waitress’s North American accent and inquired about her origins, and my jaw hit the floor when I discovered she came from north Georgia and attended the same university as me at the same time I did. Sometimes it really does feel like the farther you go from home, the smaller the world gets.

The most recent adventure of late was a live poetry performance. While I had never previously attended such a function, I can only imagine that this one was better than any live poetry that’s ever been on a stage in America. The man on the bill was Sam Hunt, whom a few friends had conveyed as being some fantastic, legendary Kiwi poet. I bought my ticket with the attitude that even if the show was no good, I could at least get a taste of some NZ culture—and the show pleasantly surprised me. Hunt, a lively and very Kiwi man in his sixties performed for an hour, making the audience laugh, applaud, and quietly reflect. A vibrant but down-to-earth performer, Hunt told stories about his experiences and about people he had known, and while he obviously performed some poems that he had written, he also recited poetry from other writers that held meaning for him and shaped the works he created. I truly enjoyed the evening listening to him, and I think when I return home and people ask me about the life and culture in NZ, I’ll have to include Sam Hunt in order to explain fully what I found here.

January 5, 2014 S. Island V: Across the Southern Alps

The final leg of the tour stretched north along the western coast to Greymouth. On the way, we stopped for lunch in Hokitika, a small town that grew in the 1860s gold rush era and has recently gained notoriety as the setting of The Luminaries (the latest Man Booker prize award winner, which was a big deal in NZ since the author is a Kiwi). Other than a clock tower, it didn’t have too much going for it.

In Greymouth we boarded a KiwiRail Tranzalpine train that would take us all the way to Christchurch. The train seemed to crawl for most of the journey, but that was ideal since the ride was more comfortable than the bus we’d ridden in for over a week and since the scenery really was worth it. However, as the end of the tour, it was a trip tinged with sadness, both at leaving our now close-knit bunch and at having to start work in a couple of days.

Once in Christchurch, most of the group I’d stuck with had a last supper together, and then another girl and I took a brief stroll through part of the city. We passed parks and some lovely old buildings, but we also saw sections that seemed to be the same as they were after the earthquake almost three years ago. The following morning I didn’t have time to visit any more areas in the city before my flight back to Auckland, which means I’ll just have to make another trip to Christchurch to find the parts of the city that have recovered.

I struggle to sum up the tremendous journey I took. In less than ten days, I travelled almost two thousand kilometers around the South Island and visited a dozen towns. I saw stunning places and felt alive. I felt grateful to be alive and felt cursed to be under so much rain. I made friends and at times made a fool of myself. I experienced many new things and went to whereabouts that I’ll probably never go again, and I did my best to let go of worry and live for the time and place wherever I found myself. To record everything I encountered would take far too long (and would never quite capture my experience anyway), so I’ll close by saying that this trip was one of the most enriching and enjoyable times of my life. There—now go travel someplace you’ve dreamt of going!

January 4, 2014 S. Island IV: Wanaka and Franz Josef

Happy New Year! My tour group found a lively restaurant where we claimed a prime vantage spot on the balcony to see the fireworks set off near Queenstown’s beach. The location and company made for one of the best New Year’s Eves of my life, and as I watched and listened to the show, I wondered if 2014 will bring as many unexpected turns as 2013 did. I can’t wait to find out!

At midday we journeyed north to Wanaka, a town known for its mountain biking and winter sports—none of which I have much experience with, so I wasn’t that interested in staying there. However, our tour manager surprised us with a short trip (due to the rain) to a disc golf course, which turned out to be a blast! The sun finally came out for us to take a walk through the town, and the following day another girl and I climbed a nearby peak, Mt. Iron. Although the sides were steep and the sky occasionally rained on us, the views on the town, on Lake Wanaka, and to the other nearby mountains was certainly worth it. Pictures here. 

After the exhausting climb, our group continued northward to Franz Josef on the west coast. The route to our destination crossed the Southern Alps, which was breathtaking not only because of the scenery but also due to the treacherous roads. The bus wound up and down through the mountains, and multiple areas were lined with traffic cones to mark the sides of the road where falling rocks had smattered across the road previously. Our guide also felt the moment appropriate to tell us about a camper van that had been swept away by rocks a few months prior, which filled us with more confidence that we would emerge from the mountains in one piece. My favorite leg of the journey came when we passed a sign that read, “The Gate of Haast,” which sounded like the title of an Edgar Allan Poe story that ended very badly for a group of au pairs. Oh, and did I mention it was raining the whole time?

We did arrive in Franz Josef alive, albeit in more rain. We celebrated our surviving the hazardous trip by taking over a section of a restaurant with karaoke; other people joined in, which turned the whole thing into a competition, and we spent over an hour battling until our group emerged the victors. Highlights from the evening included a dozen of us bellowing “Living on a Prayer,” and an interesting conversation with a Dutch gentleman who had emigrated to Singapore and who emphatically articulated to me that life is too short, “So make the most of it! Really! Make the most of it!” Words to live by.

The following day we got to be outside (all pictures here), and I got to partake in the activity I’d looked forward to all this time: kayaking. It really is something I enjoy because I find it one of the most pleasant ways to take in scenery, and I longed to redeem my steering record from Paihia, so I excitedly pulled on my gear and climbed into a double kayak once our guides had prepared everything on the shore of Lake Mapourika. Naturally, it rained for most of the kayak tour, and my steering was still pretty dodgy. Despite that (and the hideous jackets we were provided), I still enjoyed the scenery, part of which was in a protected kiwi sanctuary.

The other outdoor activity was a visit to the Franz Josef glacier. It has retreated a great deal in the past 70 or so years, but this means we got to walk through the valley it carved out over thousands of years. The evidence of the glacier—particularly the ice blocks floating down the stream rushing from its base and the sides of the canyon that had been scraped smooth—and not the icy mass itself impressed this traveler most. We passed numerous waterfalls and colorful rocks (gray and white stone covered with red and green growths) that amplified the awesome but surreal atmosphere of the area.

I think I would have had a delightful stay in Franz Josef if the rain hadn’t pounded us for much of our time there, but I still enjoyed taking in the unique scenery, and the snow-topped mountains of the Southern Alps that watched us on the drive out the following morning were an incredible sight to behold. 

December 31, 2013 S. Island III: New Years' Eve

I went bungy jumping at the first commercial bungy location in the world. It may well be the only time I ever attempt such a daredevil action, but I think it’s an appropriate end to the year which has turned out to be much different than I envisioned it would be last New Years’. Plus, I figured I’m far enough away from my mama that she won’t strangle me when she finds out what I did…

December 30, 2013 S. Island II: Queenstown, Milford Sound

The tour left Tekapo and headed farther south, and soon after departing we passed Mt. Cook, which is NZ’s tallest mountain. Unfortunately the day was so overcast that a thick cloud surrounded much of the mountain, so I’m still not sure what its peak looks like. However, our stop at Lake Pukaki at its base still provided a beautiful sight—but I’ll have to go back someday to take in all of Mt. Cook. We drove on into more gorgeous scenery, including the Lindis Pass through the Southern Alps, and stopped to visit a salmon farm and to get lunch. While in Cromwell for our midday meal, I chatted with a friendly trio of older ladies from Dunedin who were on holiday and who were most curious to find out how an au pair’s job works.

Our journey continued well into the Southern Alps until we reached “the adventure capital of NZ”: Queenstown. It comprises a small but beautiful area on Lake Wakatipu, and the downtown only fills about one square kilometer. The town makes no bones about how tourism-dependent it is; most of the stores cater to travelers seeking activities, food, and retail therapy. I joined two new friends in ambling through the town, and I enjoyed taking in the views of the lake. Tekapo/Queenstown pictures here.

However, no views compared and no description could have prepared me for the following day. We took a day trip to Milford Sound, a place that everyone raved about but no one really described; after visiting myself, I understand why that happens, but I’ll try to provide a substantial account.

The bus drove well into the Southern Alps. Heavy clouds clung to the mountaintops, and rain pelted the windshield a few times. The farther we went, the closer and higher the mountains grew until we entered Fiordland National Park. Heavy rainfall in this part of NZ gives the area a luscious appearance, and the park is indeed a temperate rain forest. Trees closed in on the road, but through the branches I saw the mountainsides become steeper, and saw narrow waterfalls rushing down their sides. The trees began to thin, and we were surrounded by sharp, gray walls and peaks topped with snow and covered by even more falls. The road took our bus through a long, narrow tunnel, and when we emerged the sight only became more astounding as the mountains and waterfalls increased in grandeur. We wound down into the valley between the two sides of mountains, and finally a glistening body of water appeared.

While no one resides in Milford Sound, a bustling depot for tourist buses and ferries sits next to the fjord. We boarded a ferry and rode for an hour to the Tasman Sea, and on the way the mountains remained steep and ominous, and the hundreds of waterfalls swelled and pounded the rocks. I didn’t remain on deck for the entire journey due to the icy rain that came and went, but I tried to take in as much as I could. Even still, when the ferry docked I was just as amazed as I was when we departed. My wonderment remained as we retraced the long road out of the park, and even as I reflect on the astounding work of nature that I took in, I struggle to articulate all that I saw and felt. All pictures here. 

 

I suppose that’s what visitors to Milford Sound really wrestle with: how to express how it felt. I’ve done a decent enough job piecing together what I saw, but it’s a place where every other piece of the environment that the senses can take—the magnitude of the mountains, the iciness of the waterfalls’ spray, the sound of furious water—all combines to strike awe and wonderment into any who enter. I can’t speak for every visitor, but for me, it was a place that made me feel small, yet made me feel truly alive and part of something bigger. If I take anything away from this trip, it will be how I felt in the midst of Milford Sound.

December 28, 2013 S. Island I: Christchurch/Tekapo

I now begin the holiday trip I have been looking forward to since I first considered moving to NZ: I will spend the next ten days traveling through the South Island. It’s sparsely populated and filled with awe-inspiring works of nature, and every time the South Island crops up in conversation, everyone I meet swoons over the journeys and sights they have experienced here. I’m filled with anticipation over what I’ll encounter on my trip, which I’ll be sharing with twenty other au pairs from around NZ.

The first leg of the trip was an evening flight to Christchurch, the largest city in the south. It seemed to be a journey through time, because the flying experience I had on this domestic flight made me feel as if I’d been transported to the 1970s. Security consisted of my placing my bags through a scanner, and a chatty pair of security officers glanced at the scan before I gathered my belongings and almost immediately reached my gate. We boarded at a reasonable time, and the plane took off a few minutes ahead of schedule. I half expected the pilot to announce the stewardesses would distribute complimentary cigarettes once we finished takeoff. The flight landed ten minutes early, and I almost got whiplash from how quickly I retrieved my checked bag. In short: I’m the newest and biggest advocate for Air New Zealand.

Because of the tour itinerary, I spent the night in Christchurch but left early the following morning. We drove around a few parts of the city’s central business district and a beach, but unfortunately Christchurch was not the most appealing town due to its weather and its crumbling buildings. Earthquakes devastated the city’s center in late 2010 and early 2011—claiming close to 200 lives and destroying hundreds of buildings—and the city has hardly seemed to recover from the event. On our brief tour we saw areas in the CBD that were still fenced off, and we passed a large number of homes that were now abandoned but had once had the best hillside views of the ocean. However, life goes on, and the dozens of surfers filling the water at Sumner Beach didn’t seemed deterred to enjoy it despite the dismal weather and the crumbling city they call home.

We drove south along Highway One, and I enjoyed staring out the window at the scenery that at first felt very familiar to me. The motorway reminded me of the many drives I’ve taken through Georgia (particularly US-441, for those reading at home): the two-lane highway ran parallel to a railroad for much of the way, much of the view consisted of crop-filled fields or cow-filled pastures, and every so often you’d hit a wide spot in the road named after some farmer’s relative. We had a whistle stop in a town called Geraldine; then our tour continued south, while we watched out the windows as the terrain began to stretch higher around us until we made it to the first real stop on the trip.

Tekapo, which shares its name with the lake it almost falls into, grew from an extremely small town to a very small town in the last decade thanks to its location (near halfway between Christchurch and Queenstown) and scenery. Lake Tekapo, a glacial lake surrounded by mountains, left me speechless. It’s fed by high mountain snow, and glacial movement scraping rock gives it an unreal shade of blue. We arrived to town in the late afternoon and viewed the lake first from its rocky shore, and then we drove to the hilltop of Mt. John Observatory to survey the stunning sight from above. (Although we didn’t get to visit it, the observatory holds a special place in astronomical research, so its surrounding areas form one of only four Dark Sky Reserves in the world.) Our final stop for the evening was the Tekapo Hot Pools, where we took in the beautiful environment while soaking our travel-weary bones.

Tekapo pictures here.