Auckland, New Zealand--the end of the road.

This trip to the Bay of Islands was a girls trip, just me, Jaimie, and Olivia, as Sam was planning on staying in Auckland to meet up with other friends.  We were excited to escape the cold and gloom of Auckland and spend 2 full days lounging in the sun on the beach.  Unfortunately, not even 3 hours north was far enough away to escape the gloom, instead it was worse!  Rain, fog, and crazy wind, we stayed as far AWAY from the beach as possible.  We also opted to pass on the camping, as setting up the tent in the rain and sleeping in it in the intense wind and rain sounded anything but pleasant.  We checked into a lovely backpackers hostel and set off to find a way to kill time.  We ended up going on a 3 hour hike through the rainforest to see a waterfall.  Nice hike, lame waterfall, but it felt good to get out and do something after being in a car for a week!  We got back to the hostel and had ourselves a little wine and BBQ night before braving the cold to walk into town for a look around.  We looked in a few stores, stopped for some ice cream, and headed back home to hit the hay well before 10pm.

NZ's famous silver fern!

Jaimie and Olivia

the grand finale

Sunday the weather was just as bad, so we drove into town, did some last minute souvenir/Christmas shopping, and set off for home.  We got home, bundled up and watched a movie, all while Olivia's boyfriend made us some homemade fish and chips for dinner!  Olivia invited her friend Vin over, and after dinner Vin took us on a grand tour of Auckland.  We drove down a street that is apparently very well-known for it's extravagant Christmas lights, but it's got nothing' on the US's display of lights!  The tour was great and Auckland is an amazingly beautiful city, even by night!

Auckland Sky Tower

Monday and Tuesday, Olivia had to work, so Jaimie and I spent the majority of the day relaxing, watching movies, packing up, and recapping the highlights from our trip (and trust me, there are many).  Monday afternoon, Vin came to visit and we had a nice relaxing time watching a movie before Olivia came home from work, joined us for a trip to the grocery store, and set off for Vin's house for a BBQ with her roommates.  It was a feast for kings, as we had sausages, steaks, and a huge assortment of grilled vegetables, plus a delicious apple pie for dessert!  Tuesday Vin was able to come entertain us again with a nice little walk through the rainforest nearby and a trip to the most dangerous beach in New Zealand!  We enjoyed a nice misty walk taking a look at all the amazing native NZ trees and plants, and creepy bugs.  We returned home to find yet another amazing feast awaiting us, as Olivia had prepared a roast chicken with vegetables, accompanied by a wine and hot tub night :)  A wonderful way to end not only a wonderful stay in NZ, but a truly incredible adventure.

Maori statues

Piha Beach

Wednesday we were up and off to the airport bright and early, 8 hours before the flight's departure because of Olivia's work schedule.  It was a great chance for Jaimie and I to get in some last minute one-on-one time before saying goodbye for who knows how long.  It was a very sad, tearful goodbye, but I know we will remain the best of friends, no matter how far apart we are.  While we have no idea when we will see each other next, I am positive it will be within a year, which for now is most important!

Roadtrip, part 2

It was a long day on the road, broken up only for a quick walk on the beach and to switch drivers.  However, time flew as we looked out the window and just go lost in the beautiful, lush scenery.  Hills, snow capped mountains, beaches, lakes, rivers, bridges, livestock, and rain.  So much rain.  It rained from the moment we got in the car to the moment we got out, 10 hours later in Blenheim, just near the ferry terminal to the north island!  We set up camp and walked to the tavern across the street for some dinner.  On the way home we got stuck in the rain, so we made a beeline to the tent and bundled up, only to be sound asleep by 10pm.  Gotta love camping!!

drunken santa on the left!

my "I'm not ready to be awake for cameras" look

snooze cruise

this one's for Dad and Grandpa--literally ALL the cherry orchards were screened in!!

Wednesday was our ferry day, so we had a little sleep in, some instant oatmeal and coffee, and were off to the ferry terminal!  We spent the 3 hour ride playing cards and trying not to be sick, as the ship was experiencing higher than average swells.  Time flew and soon enough we were back in the van on our way to the next destination: Levin!

quite the bumpy ride...

our lovely camp sight in Levin

We had all been craving pea, pie, and pus (meat pies with mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas on top!) all day, so instead of paying $15 a pop, we hopped into the grocery store.  6 pies, instant mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas and we were set!  After we set up camp, we moved to the kitchen to make our dinner, only to find a few other inhabitants there as well.  We sat and talked to the 4 other Kiwis, 2 young guys and 2 older men.  We all had our own beverage of choice, mine being a cider called boysencider.  One of the old men, who had a beard down to his belt and the thickest glasses I've ever seen, pointed out the hilarious double meaning of my drink (sound out each syllable) which started the night off with a good laugh.  We ate our delicious dinner, hung out for a bit more socializing, and then retreated for bed.  Not long after, we were nearly asleep when a staff member came and shined a giant spotlight into our tent to inform us the cops were on their way to get us!  What?!  Apparently they thought we were hiding more than just 3 people in our tent, so they called the cops to take us in for theft.  Luckily we were easily ale to prove him wrong and the situation was fixed, thank God!  What a rude awakening!

Thursday we were off again, stopping along the way to dip our toes in the beautiful Lake Taupo and take in the sights of one of NZ's biggest volcanoes.  We set up camp for the night in Rotorua, BBQ'd some sausages for dinner, had a nice workout on the trampoline, and passed out by 9:30pm!  Apparently sitting in a car all day is quite tiring!  However, the long night of sleep served us well, as Friday was to be our final day of driving, and it would be a long one!

Lake Taupo

We slept in, had some breakfast, and set off for Auckland!  Expecting the drive to take all day, we were shocked when we saw the "Welcome to Auckland" sign after 4 hours!  In Auckland, we were staying with Jaimie's old friend from Waimete, Olivia.  However, Olivia was at work until 5pm, so we killed 3 hours driving around Auckland trying to find a beach.  After an hour, we were successful, and found the most beautiful black sand beach with caves and tide pools and intense waves!  We headed back to Olivia's house at 5, said our hello's, and were quickly swept off to the Air Force base where Olivia works to join her and her co-workers for a work BBQ.  Lots of beer, sausages, and a giant lamb slow cooking on a spit, not to mention loads of gorgeous Air Force men!  We had a great time meeting all her friends and socializing and watching her drunk boss make a fool of himself!  We moved on to a local bar after the BBQ, but called it a night around midnight as we were leaving early the next morning for the Bay of Islands up north!

Roadtrip, part 1

Roadie!!!!  The planning couldn't have worked out better, as we managed to pick up a stray to tag along on our journey and be our companion/driver!  When Sam picked us up in Christchurch 10 days prior, we mentioned that we were renting a car and driving to the north island, and because his job is only 9 months out of the year, he currently has all the time in the world, so he offered to join us!  It worked out perfectly because he managed to get us a relocation rental car (meaning FREE) with his Kiwi license, and he knows the rules of the road, how to drive on the left, the good sights to see, and how to talk his way out of tickets (which we never had to do)!  So we extended our roadtrip to include Queenstown in the south and a tour of the west coast, including the glaciers, before heading to Auckland.

Unfortunately, the day started with some tearful goodbyes to Jacquie and Graeme, in which we promised to keep in touch, and they made me promise to come back and visit…NZ January 2012 anyone??  Finally we were off and out on the open road, heading to Christchurch to pick up our car before heading right back down to get to Queenstown!  We made it to Christchurch and were presented with out car--a teeny tiny matchbox P.O.S. death trap that not even 1 bag would fit in.  So we asked them for something a little bigger and were pleasantly surprised to be presented with a pimpin' minivan!  All the room in the world to spread out, and space enough for us to sleep comfortably every night!  We still planned on tent camping, but in case of rain or cold, we now had a backup!  Once we got into the country, Jaimie got to try her hand at driving, talk about a death sentence!  Within 20 minutes of her behind the wheel, we decided to spice things up a bit.  So, I bet Jaimie $10 if she could hit a bird.  My luck, before I even finished saying it *thump* dead bird.  SHIT that was fast!  Bet over.  Jaimie is officially a murderer.  Since then we have had 4 extremely close calls.  Another hour down the road and we come across a bunch of flashing lights--DUI checkpoint.  Figures.  Luckily we weren't living up to the true NZ way and were all completely sober, but the cop still had Jaimie count to ten into a breathalyzer!  Such an eventful day and it's only day 1!  We passed many beautiful lakes, mountains, flower patches, and even a Santa Clause in full costume, riding a Harley!  God love New Zealand.

Graeme, Jaimie, Jacquie, and Me!

our sweet ride!

DUI Checkpoint!

Finally after 10 hours in the car, we made it to Queenstown!  Such a beautiful quaint little town that reminded me so much of Boulder, Colorado.  We parked downtown and strolled around looking at all the shops and delicious restaurants before parking it on the grass overlooking the lake.  We stopped into the nearby Irish pub for a Sunday roast dinner before loading up again to head to a campground.  We found an awesome campground with great facilities, so we pitched our tent, bundled up in our pj's, and sat outside to play cards and watch the sunset.  We didn't last long as it got drastically colder, so we moved into the tent to finish our game, have some good pillow talk, and hit the sack by 10:30pm!

Queenstown!

tent mansion

keeping warm in my new Waimete rugby socks!

Thinking we would be rising with the sun at 5:30am, no one wanted to get out of bed the next morning.  Finally we looked t the clock to find that it was actually 9am!  What a good sleep!  We had our showers, packed up, took one more stroll through downtown and hit the road!  We bought a few groceries for breakfast and sandwiches on the road because this day would be a long one.  Heading west from Queenstown, through the mountains all the way to the coast!  On the agenda today: both glaciers and beaches!  Amazing!

Arrowtown

ME driving! scary.

Jaimie and I had tossed around the idea of hitch hiking many times during this trip, but eventually decided to play it safe and drive ourselves.  So, we opted to pick them up instead!  An hour down the road, we found our 2 victims!  Two well-dressed, non-threatening looking girls heading the same direction we were.  We pulled over and flagged them in and it was so great!  They were from Germany and Switzerland and were very friendly and talkative, so we took them with us for the next 5 hours all the way to Franz Josef!  I got to try my hand at driving and got the hang of the left side pretty quickly, so I stayed there for a while.  We stopped and took a short walk to see a great waterfall, then stopped to try famous NZ whitebait fish sandwiches, and just before arriving in Franz Josef, stopped to see Fox Glacier--amazing!!  We got into town, dropped of the hitch hikers, picked up some dinner and drinks, and drove just out of town to camp by the lake.  Due to cold and rain, we opted to sleep in the car instead.  We each took a bench, bundled up in our sleeping bags, cracked a window for air, and were immediately kept up by the millions of mosquitos and sand flies that instantly flooded our car!  We were up half the night trying to kill them before finally being able to fall asleep.  We woke up the next day to a car FULL of bugs, bodies covered in bites, and tourists curiously staring at our extremely fogged up windows.  We brushed our teeth in the lake and set off to see the next glacier, killing mosquitos all along the way.  We took a short hike up for great views of the glacier, then loaded up and were off to our next destination by 9:30am!

whitebait patties...essentially mini, see-through eels, grilled slightly with an egg white. gross.

Fox Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier