Road Trip Part 1

Are you ready to read about the most epic week of my life? (Actually that’s not much of an exaggeration…) I’m finally read to talk, hope you’re ready to read cuz here we go!

Saturday, Feb 20th

Today was beach day! Wellington has a very large bay area, that’s quite protected from the ocean. However, there are no natural beaches, so the city ground up some rocks and such to make a beach. It’s still beautiful and the water is not to bad! After swimming a bit I went with Hannah, an IFSA-Butler student who’s from IL and goes to Illinois Wesleyan. She mentioned that she was going on a road trip starting the next day and I was interested. She wasn’t sure of all the details so we went to lunch to talk a bit more.

Lunch was, well, interesting. (Mom, you may just want to skip to the next paragraph.) We went to a place called Hog’s Breath, a pub that had a balcony over a busy Welly street and served burgers. We both ordered a fantastic burger with curly fries. Delicious! After starring at the drink menu which showcased some summer-islandy choices we decided that they sounded too good to pass up. Our waiter brought our order: 1 Afternoon Delight (for yours truly) and 1 Melon Splice for Hannah. We eagerly tasted and were a bit disappointed with how much they tasted like alcohol. After we mixed them, they drastically improved. By far, the best drink I’ve ever had. Now as you might know, alcohol can impair judgment and alter mood. So when we were asked if we needed anything more, it should come as no surprise that we asked for another round. Hannah stayed true to the Splice but I switched to a Mudslide. After our hour plus lunch on a hot sunny balcony, we paid our tab. Now I suppose that doesn’t sound like the craziest thing for maybe you, but for someone who really doesn’t get drunk that much, it was pretty nuts. We stumbled through Wellington City all the way up the damn hill, stopping often to double over in laughter. We laughed at everything, the price of the drinks, the incline of the hill, and the time, not close to 5pm. Hannah and I eventually managed to make it to a friend’s flat, still not sure how, where we were greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies and a couch! After resting, we managed to make it all the way to my flat where after calming down a bit we started to discuss more about the road trip. What a strange afternoon, full of smiles and stupidity…but sometimes that can be fun!

(Mom, you may not resume reading) After a very philosophical and most serious lunch with Hannah, spent discussing the pros/cons of the trip, I decided I wanted to go. Around 7:30pm the night before. My flat mates told me I should go, which was awesome as I was worried about missing out on flat-bonding. So there I was do laundry and trying to pack for six days, best packing I’ve ever done, even time for sleep!

Sunday, Feb 21st
Woke up early-early! I met up with the other going: Hannah, Anna, Alison, Grace, and Jeff. Anna also goes to Illinois Wesleyan and is from IL. The six of us are all IFSA-Butler students. We walked down to the rent-a-car to find out that our van was not there nor was ever supposed to be. When we had called the previous night, the phone call was automatically transferred to Christchurch as Welly was closed. I’ll save you my rant on why that doesn’t make sense. Thankfully for us, Gavin, a nice kiwi who was hitting Corona’s while working, helped us get a van. However the van wouldn’t be ready until 5pm and even then there was a chance it wouldn’t happen. Gavin was nice enough though to let us leave our bags and promised to keep an eye on them. So we hit the town! We stopped at the farmer’s market and bought some supplies and had a spot of brunch in town. I suggested we go sleep at Hannah + Anna’s flat so we trudged back up the hill.

Hannah, Grace, and I watched Ten Things I hate About You, which I’d never seen and found very entertaining. Afterwards we watched some episodes of Biggest Loser, a show where contestants compete to loose weight. I always thought the title was demeaning as it seems it’s calling overweight individuals losers! But it’s apparently the biggest loser…of weight! Which is clever, but the title still bothers me a bit. I got some shut eye during the episodes and eventually we decided to go down a half and hour early to try to sort out our trip.

Gavin greeted us warmly and helped get us a van, which he had someone drive over from Welly Airport. As soon as we saw it, Hannah exclaimed, “Dark Knight!” And it stuck, our dark green van, the dark knight. Hannah and I signed some papers, as you have to be over 21 to drive a rent-a-car. It was an old Toyota with eight seats.

While the rent-a-car people laughed, Hannah cautiously pulled out from the lot and began driving on the left side of the road! She did very well, though the windshield wipers and turn signal levers are also reversed which is more confusing. We headed to Pack ‘N Save to buy some supplies: breakfast bars, Up & go’s (a nonperishable breakfast shake), canned fruit/veggies, beans, bread, Pb & J, etc. Now it was after six and we started driving north to our first destination Napier, the Art Deco Town (see map). The original plan would have gotten us there in the afternoon to enjoy the town, but with our set back we would just be using it as a sleeping point. Alison, who was the head planner, had made reservations at a Backpacker’s hostel for us, and thus we had to book it over there as they aren’t up all night!

An hour or so after our departure, in which we oooed and awwed at the hills and trees and coast and ocean and the overall beautiful, we spotted huge dark smoke clouds. We were very curious and kept driving until we pulled over to watch the billowing smoke escaping a large hill. We couldn’t believe our luck, suddenly our late start resulted in us watching a volcano erupt! (Sadly, we actually found out later that it was only a fire, though only it as understatement. It was a huge fire, and we watched helicopters go into the ocean to fill up large buckets and dump them. Though our pictures aren’t as cool as they were when we thought it was a volcano…needless to say, we’re American…)

We stopped to make PB & J sandwiches, well Grace made most of them! She has a great knowledge of the correct ratio, such a good sandwich! We were looking for a restroom where we stopped, a small strip, and couldn’t find one anywhere so I went into a restaurant and not only did they let us come in and use their facilities without making us purchase anything, but they even filled up my Nalgene with water and ice! That’s brings the total to 2 for very friendly and helpful Kiwis!

The drive to Napier was so pretty even at night, as the stars came out. We realized we weren’t going to make the time for the hostel and called. Luckily, the man who was working was also a nice Kiwi and told us to call back when we where thirty minutes away and again when we were there and he’d let us in (Kiwi friendly/helpful count: 3) We pulled in a bit before 12 and sure enough, he came down, gave us our sheets, collected our money ($23/person NZ). We shared the room with two others and slept.

Monday, Feb 22nd
We woke up in Napier, which was great as the sun was out and we could see the ocean, with the beautiful beach made up of small stones, as opposed to fine sand. We found breakfast at a little place in town and then got back into the DARK KNIGHT!

Today we were heading to Tikitiki, north of Gisbourne (see map) and also on the coast. The drive took us until 4ish and we had a petrol scare as the countryside is very rural and even small towns don’t have petrol stations. We did find one, and proceeded to Tikitiki, Hannah driving the whole way. Again, we were stunned by the beauty of New Zealand. We also drove through some cows, which was a bit nerving. We made it to Tikitiki alive!

There we found the ranch where we were going to go horseback riding and sleeping at. Ridge, a Maori man who lacked one forearm and hand and in its place had a claw, ran the place. He told us we were his first group of Americans in almost seven years and was surprised we’d found the place. We each mounted a horse and with Ridge and Sam, his assistant, we starting riding. My horse was Wai, which means water in Maori. We rode to the beach, on the beach, in the ocean, up a river, up a steep hill, and finally paused, an hour and a half in to take in the views. It was one of the most beautiful places that I had ever seen; so much green, so little people. Ridge took Anna’s camera and kept snapping pictures at us, while I fumbled with riding and taking my own. It is work riding, but also a lot of fun, especially galloping, though Wai was more of fan of walking. At the end, I said my goodbye to Wai and we walked over to where we’d be sleeping, the grass in front of the kitchen/bathroom facilities. Ridge thought we were crazy to lack a tent and ended up not charging us the ten dollar camping fee (Kiwi’s that rock: 4). He left and we went inside to prepare dinner.

I took charge and cooked pastas, two boxes, with green beans and corn. Gavin had also given us a loaf of bread that the Farmer’s market had given him, so we decided to try it, though it was very strange bread. The two boxes of pasta proved to be way more than we needed and I ate much more than I needed! But it was delicious to have a proper dinner.

We went outside and joined Sam by the fire. There was a couple from Wellington as well as two girls from Europe. Eventually it was just Sam and us and we decided to go to bed. Anna, a fellow psych major, started firing personal questions at Sam, and we ended up learning a lot about him! He was from the UK and here on a sort of holiday. He was only eighteen and traveling and living on his own, which was inspiring. In any case, another night in New Zealand and this time sleeping under the stars. We even convinced Sam to sleep out with us! He’s a funny kid, I’ll leave it at that. And who knows? Maybe we’ll see him again, most likely we won’t.

Also, I made friends with three dogs. Cassie, Tux, and perhaps their offspring, we weren’t sure and nor did we learn her name. They were great pups, though Tux barked next me very early in the morning.

Sleeping under the stars is great in concept but one is prone to dew as well as large flies…

Tuesday, Feb 23rd

Awoke a bit wet and not very well rested and extremely soar from the day before. We all had trouble sitting on our bums. After a quick breakfast and a quick goodbye to Sam, and a long goodbye to the dogs, we left. Ridge had told us about two girls (the two from Europe) that left and then turned the car around and came back. We didn’t have time to do that, but as we left, we all knew we wouldn’t have minded staying there.

Today, we are driving to Rotorua, the city that smells like Rotten Eggs! After a drive, which was slower paced and full of stopping and picture taking, we arrived in Rotorua with no plan, not much food, and no where to camp out. We found another Hostel, paid the fee ($28 NZ) and headed out on a walk around a park full of bubbling mud and horrible smells! Rotorua is known for it’s geothermal activity and stench. The mud pools were cool and actually if you got really close smelled a bit like a ham in the oven…though perhaps not one you had made fresh that day.

We headed to Pack ‘N Save where we purchased some more supplies and food for dinner and took advantage of the fact that our hostel had a pool! Finally it was bed time, and it was nice to have a mattress!