New Zealand

Road Trippin’, Vol. 2, Part 2 -Week 16

Sheraya SmithLeave a comment

Welcome back! If you couldn’t tell from the title, this is the recap of the second half of my roadtrip, after Autumn and I split ways at Queenstown.

My first solo adventure on Wednesday was hitting up a letterbox at the Queenstown Botanical Gardens that we had missed because of the Luma festival. I located a second letterbox just outside Queenstown at the Kawarau Bridge, where I bungee jumped back in the summer.

Somewhere in there I caught these views…

I made a brief stop in Wanaka to pick up a crepe from my favorite breakfast place and some CDs from a thrift store, because I quickly found out that radio reception was pretty far and few between.

And then it was off on an even grander adventure to the West Coast! What a great day for driving…

I quickly made a habit of pulling over after seeing something really neat, dashing out to grab a picture, and then racing back to the car.

A couple longer stops were at a few waterfalls…

…and the very aptly named Blue Pools.

Earlier in the semester several ISA friends had come here and jumped off the bridge in the last picture, but it was a little too chilly for that by the time I made it there. Still very worth the stop!

About early afternoon I reached Haast, which was the last town with a gas station for another 140 km. I found it pretty funny that the station didn’t even bother posting a price; I guess when there’s much of a demand it really doesn’t matter.

After Haast I started seeing a lot more of the coast, which was really cool. I know it’s cliche, but the ocean just kept going and going…

I made a stop in Brod Bay, where it appears the thing to do was write a message on a rock and leave it in a pile, …

….then went over several suspension bridges and through winding curves…

…until I reached the tiny town of Franz Josef, my home for the night.

It was a pretty quiet night for me, mostly filled with cooking dinner, a little time spent with my Northern European roommates, and studying (did I mention I had finals that next week? Time to get serious!).

Thursday I woke up to a drizzly day. Though I drug my feet a little, I eventually got packed up and headed out to see the nearby Franz Josef Glacier. I was actually really lucky to be able to see it; a couple of months ago there had been severe flooding in the area that had wiped out the roads leading back to both Franz Josef Glacier and the nearby Fox Glacier. Fox was still closed when I got there, but I guess Franz Josef had just reopened.

It was about a 30 minute hike one way to see the glacier, and unfortunately it was drizzling most of the way. The air was so misty that it was honestly kind of hard to see the glacier; you can kinda make it out in the photo below. A bit underwhelming frankly, but at least I can say I’ve seen a glacier relatively up close now!

After finding a quick letterbox just off of one of the trails, it was time to hang up my raincoat inside my car, turn up the heat, and hit the road again!

Next stop was Hokitika, a neat little coastal town.

I had heard about Hokitika Gorge and wanted to visit but didn’t realize it was actually a 30 minute drive from the actual town. I decided to go for it anyway.

It was a neat place, but due to the rain the water wasn’t quite as blue as some pictures I’d seen. I also looked for a letterbox here but couldn’t find it.

My next official stop wasn’t until Punakaiki, but that didn’t keep me from pulling over a couple times for some cool shots.

A little bit of backstory on that night’s destination: I had first heard about the Pancake Rocks, located in the tiny coastal town of Punakaiki, from the in-flight magazine on my initial flight from Auckland to Dunedin. It was one of the first things on my bucket list, but I wasn’t sure if I would make it there, since it was pretty far away from everywhere else. When I started planning this road trip, I knew I had to get there, even if it would mean a little backtracking later on. Boy, was it worth it.

I arrived in Punakaiki a little before dark, so I decided to save the Pancake Rocks for the morning and snuggle into my hostel instead. After a day of being wet, the hostel felt so nice and dry and cozy and homey. On top of that, it was located right on the beach, AND I had a gorgeous guitar-playing Londoner for a roommate. It was a pretty quiet night studying, but it honestly felt like I’d found a slice of paradise.

Plus, I got to indulge in a steamy pud!

‘Puds’ I’m guessing are short for pudding, though more like a cakey pudding than what we have in the States. I hadn’t seen these until I came to NZ, and with so little processed food available, I was pretty intrigued. They were so good, especially warmed up!

Come Friday morning, I was honestly kinda reluctant to leave the hostel, it was so homey. Probably my favorite place I stayed in all of NZ.

But there were even better things in store for the day, namely the Pancake Rocks. They’re named so because the ocean has worn them down so they appear to have layers (my geology ignorance is surely showing). The water’s also worn away several pockets, holes and chasms in the rocks, and especially come high tide, the area is just a majestic and thunderous display of booming, splashing, spraying, powerful water. It’s really quite the sight to see, so I’m not sorry for bombarding you with pictures.

To make things even better, there was a letterbox here, and I was first finder!

I then walked back down the hill towards town to explore a nearby cave, which was kinda cool.

I still couldn’t resist the pull of the Pancake Rocks, though, and I found myself back there, which was even cooler since it was now closer to high tide. Definitely ranks as one of my favorite spots in New Zealand.

Though I lingered as long as I could, I had to hit the road so I could make it to the next destination: Arthur’s Pass, my first inland destination in a while. It was a pretty neat drive, and especially interesting how quickly things changed from bright, green and sunny….

…to snowy, cloudy and brown.

I arrived in the pass about 3:00 or so and made tracks to the Bealy Spur trailhead. The trail was recommended to me by an ISA friend, and despite having to battle some ice above the treeline, I was really glad I went through with it.

I beat the dark back down the mountain and went in search of my hostel just up the road. Not even 30 seconds after I had parked I heard something on the roof. To my great amusement, the beaky “something” didn’t take long to show itself.

It was the infamous kea, apparently its curiosity peaked by my shiny car. (For previous encounters with kea, see my post from hiking the Kepler Track.)

Even after I stepped out of the car, it just kind of sat and looked at me.

Four other less bold birds were a couple feet from the car and watched as I carried my stuff inside. Such cheeky things!

It was another quiet night with my singular bunkmate, this time July from Italy, who I had happened to first run into on the Bealey Spur track. Despite not being able to get the wi-fi to work, I was still able to study.

Saturday morning July and I went to go investigate some nearby hikes. She also wanted to see some kea (apparently her car wasn’t very shiny), so we headed to a lookout near the Otira Viaduct, where there were supposed to be some. What a piece of architecture!

Next up we started the Otira Valley Track, which was a bit lower in elevation than Bealey Spur, but still snowy and gorgeous! We could only walk about an hour in before special equipment was required, but it was worth it.

Afterwards, we drove back into the pass a little further and did the short Devil’s Punchbowl track. It didn’t really end in a punchbowl, at least not the kind I was used to, but there was a really neat waterfall!

July and I headed back to the hostel where I finished packing up my stuff and got ready to go. The hostel was a pretty neat stay, though quite rustic.

I even found a note left by some people in Earlham College in Indiana! What a small world!

After I got the car loaded, July and I said goodbye and parted ways. Next destination? Christchurch, on the east coast. After living in the U.S. my whole life, it was kinda funny to cross the whole width of the country in a matter of hours.

Of course, the drive to Christchurch wasn’t without a stop along the way. I saw there would be a letterbox at Castle Hill and decided to make a stop. And boy, I was so glad I did.

This place is well known among Kiwis as one of the best bouldering spots in New Zealand. It’s also well known as the filming site of the battle scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, hence the Mr. Tumnus stamp in the letterbox. Judging from the marks in the snow, it looks like a lot of people have found it to be a pretty good sledding spot too.

This was honestly one of my favorite spots in New Zealand. The boulders were just incredible, and it was the best feeling being able to climb up one, see for miles around and watch the sun go down.

After reluctantly leaving Castle Hill, I made one more quick stop at this picturesque place…

…then headed straight on to Christchurch. After checking into my hostel, I decided to walk a couple blocks down to BurgerFuel, New Zealand’s burger chain. Pretty good stuff, especially when paired with a good ol’ L&P (a lemon soda unique to NZ.

It was another pretty quiet night studying back at the hostel. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the same solitude I’d experienced the last couple nights, but I made do.

Sunday morning was my last day on the road, and my plan was to make the most of it. I decided to start out by walking around downtown Christchurch, and I was glad I did. I’d been to Christchurch real briefly once before at the end of our mid-semester road trip, but I experienced much more of the 2011 earthquake devastation (as well as effects of the 2019 mosque shooting) this visit. Many of the buildings downtown were still in shambles or being held together by supports, including the Christchurch Cathedral, which they’ve only recently started to repair.

I did make it to the Transitional Cathedral, more commonly known as the Cardboard Cathedral (it is actually partially made out of cardboard!). The choir was having practice when I walked in, and it was really nice to sit down and listen for a few minutes. It’s just so neat to see how different denominations worship our same God.

Next I wandered down close to the Botanical Gardens in search of the Antigua Boat Sheds and discovered the Living Memorial for the victims of the mosque shooting back in March. The memorial had been pared down significantly in the previous few months, but it was still pretty awe-inspiring.

I did finally find the Boat Sheds! I was kind of hoping I could squeeze in punting (basically they take you down the river in a canoe, similar to a gondolier), but it just didn’t work out timing wise.

I decided to try and hit the nearby suburb of Lyttleton, which ended up being a slightly longer drive than expected, part of which was through one of the longest tunnels in the country. It was a neat little harbor town; one of the coolest parts was the Timeball Station, at which a large ball was dropped at a very specific time, which sailors could use to make sure their ships’ clocks were on schedule. The station was destroyed in the earthquake and had just recently been rebuilt.

I didn’t spend too much time there before heading back, as there was still a lot left to see; I really wanted to make it out to the Banks Peninsula yet. As it happened, though, I got lost trying to head that way and had to rely on Google Maps, which just happened to take me on a strange route through a residential area. I just happened to spot a sign for the “Old Stone House” and remembered seeing online that a letterbox was located there, so I turned around and nabbed the box. It was a pretty neat location with a cool ghost story.

I was even more psyched, however, about the Girl Guide center I had seen when I’d turned off to go to the Old Stone House. I drove in through the gates, and just my luck, they happened to be having an event there that weekend! I got to talk with three Rangers, which is like the US equivalent of Cadettes I believe, and they even let me take a quick video of them! I had been wanting to interact with Girl Guides since before I came, so I was over the moon (I was a Girl Scout for 12 years, so please excuse my nerdy excitement). And to think, if I hadn’t gotten lost, and if I hadn’t turned back for the letterbox, I would have never seen the center.

Next it was off to Akaroa, finally. Akaroa is the site of the only French settlement in New Zealand, and it takes about an hour to get there from Christchurch. It was a pretty drive with some great views of the ocean and peninsula.

Today Akaroa is pretty touristy, but it was still a neat town. I spent some time wandering in and out of shops, then walked down to the lighthouse.

After an hour or two, I was getting ready to hit the road again, especially knowing it was going to be about a five hour drive back to Dunedin. I made one more stop on the peninsula on my way out at Birdlings Flat in an attempt to grab a letterbox.

Unfortunately, I was a little too gung-ho in my driving while trying to find the box and unwittingly drove into a 4×4 area only, where I quickly got stuck. I was extremely fortunate that there were other people around who quickly stopped what they were doing and came to the rescue. We dug out the car some, then I hit the gas in reverse while some of my godsends pushed. We were able to get it unstuck, thank the Lord! That was an adventure I wouldn’t mind not repeating; honestly, it was one of the scariest moments of my time in New Zealand.

And of course, I couldn’t find the letterbox. Oh well. It was still an incredible place with a gorgeous beach. Even better, I was there for sunset.

After watching the sun go down for a while, it was time to hit the road back to Dunedin. Other than a stop for food and one quick detour for another attempt at a letterbox (foiled again, darn it), it was straight back to Dunedin. I got in about midnight, cleaned out the car, and took it back to the rental place before crashing for the night.

It’s hard to say how to wrap up such an amazing trip. I guess I’m just really glad I took the initiative to figure out what I still wanted to see and made a plan to make it happen. I think I’ll be forever grateful I did.

(One more post! That’s what I’m aiming for. I’ve got a week and a half before school starts; think I can do it before then?)

Road Trippin’, Vol. 2, Part 1 – Weeks 15 and 16

Sheraya SmithLeave a comment

Here it is: the post you’ve been waiting for! (Or at least the first half). I know, the last was such a cliffhanger. (Except you already know I got home safely.)

The week after returning from Milford was a decently busy one. It was the last week of classes, so thankfully classwork was finally slowing down. I made it to my final flax weaving class and cranked out two more placemats for a total of four. I had quite a bit to carry on my way home from class and had to get a bit creative; Jessica found it pretty entertaining and snapped a picture. And yes, I got quite a few strange looks. Oh well; if it works, it works!

Outside of that, my time was largely spent planning what to do with my time in between end of classes and finals and studying for my early exam in New Zealand history. After the test was finished Thursday afternoon, ISA met up for our final get-together of the semester at the famous (in New Zealand) Speight’s Brewing Company in downtown Dunedin. We got a tour of the whole place and lots of information about its history and beer-making process, unfortunately far more than my brain could ever remember.

And of course, one of the best parts was the tasting at the end.

Believe it or not, it was my first ever beer. Definitely seems to be an acquired taste, but I did thoroughly enjoy their cider!

And things just kept going up when we got free dinner and a free drink after the tour! Steak dinner with cheesecake for dessert, no less! Plus, good company to top it all off. This girl was pretty much in heaven.

It was so hard to believe that this was the last time everyone from ISA would be together in one room. Lots of laughter, reminiscing, and toasts that night: a great way to send things off. I already miss you all bunches and can’t wait to see many of you again! Cheers!

After getting home that night, it was go time again: I was leaving bright and early the next morning on a road trip with my flatmate Autumn and had a lot of packing to do!

After a very short night, we were on the road headed for Bluff, probably the southernmost town on the South Island. Our main destination, however, was even further south: Stewart Island. We had to take a ferry to get there, which was about an hour long trip. Thankfully I don’t get seasick easily!

Stewart Island, though decently sizeable (half the acreage of Rhode Island), has just one tiny town, Oban. The island is most known for its history in timber and saw milling and the Rakiura Track, one of NZ’s nine Great Walks. If you’ve followed my other posts, you can probably guess what the main draw was for me…

After a brief stop at the DOC center to get some information on the track, we were off! Of course we had to take a picture with the kiwi (sign) we saw. Stewart Island is known as one of the best places to see a wild kiwi.

The trail was beautiful. It was a lot of ferns and greenery and had relatively few jaw-dropping vistas compared to the other Great Walks I had done, which I was initially kind of disappointed about. The track really grew on me the longer we kept going, however.

Somewhere along the stretch, we reached the point that was probably the furthest south I would ever be! Much further and I would be too cold.

After about 3 and a half hours, we reached the North Arm Hut, our home for the night. We had pretty good luck in terms of weather; just after we arrived, it started pouring. Thankfully it didn’t last too long, so we could go out and explore a bit.

Sharing the hut with us was Dan from Christchurch, Tim and Janet from Wanaka, and Janet’s dad Doug, who was from Australia. We bonded pretty quickly while trying to light a fire with very few dry materials handy. After we finally got it going and ate dinner, I spent a good while chatting with Dan and Tim about all the adventures I had been on that semester and comparing which hikes we had done.

The next day Autumn and I set out early, as we had about an eight hour hike in front of us. The landscape was pretty similar to the day before, though with a little more elevation.

To give a fully accurate representation of the track, though, I really have to show you these pictures. It was so MUDDY. No matter how careful we were, we were sometimes up to our ankles in mud… My boots were quite well camouflaged; see if you can spot them below!

Also rounding out the track were a couple of historical sites. I think I mentioned how Stewart Island was once a big timber and saw milling site, and luckily some old equipment was left behind. While the track was really beautiful, I think the history really made it for me. (I know, my nerdiness is showing)…

We definitely got more coastal views as we got towards the end of the track… So gorgeous! We even found a Paua shell! (An abalone only found in New Zealand)

After a long day of hiking (about 7 hours), nearly all of which we had perfect weather for, we made it to the end! Another Great Walk down!

Fortunately, we were able to call a taxi to take us the couple of miles back into town (especially since I soaked my socks taking that last picture… worth it!).

We got settled into our cozy hostel, then set out to find Dan, Janet, Tim and Doug, who all happened to be staying at our hostel! (To be fair, it wasn’t that big of a coincidence… Oban is pretty teeny!)

Our North Arm Hut reunion started with a short walk to an area of town nearby where there had been several kiwi spottings the last couple nights. We had no such luck, but it was a pretty walk with a good view of Oban.

We then went out to dinner at the hotel nearby, where we got some really big portions for a pretty good rate. Even after having backpacked the last two days, I still had leftovers of my loaded potato wedges!

After dinner, we headed out one more time to try to find the ever-illusive wild kiwi. This time we searched a rugby field quietly and diligently with our red flashlights (kiwi can’t see red light). It wasn’t too long before we all got impatient and cold, and one of us got the bright idea of shining their super bright headlamp all across the field. Still no luck. I think my favorite quotes from the trip occurred then: “That’s how we’ll get to see them, we’ll just blind the little buggers!” and “If we can’t see them, nobody can!” What a riot. I was really glad to meet these incredible people, and even more glad we could reunite with them. What a great bunch!

The next morning, it was up early again to catch the ferry back across. After reaching the mainland we headed back north again towards Te Anau, stopping briefly in the scenic town of Invercargill along the way. It’s home to possibly the fanciest water tower I will ever see.

Our primary destination at Te Anau was the glowworm caves. If you haven’t heard of these, they’re these teeny little worms that live only in New Zealand caves and put off a blueish greenish light. This had been on my bucket list for a good while, and Te Anau was supposed to be one of the best places to see them.

To reach the cave, we had to take a cruise across Lake Te Anau. Once we arrived we were split up into groups to go inside the cave. After walking a ways through the cave, we were ushered into a little boat, and the lights were turned completely out. After bumping around in complete darkness for a minute or two, our eyes adjusted and we were able to see clouds of little blue pinpricks floating in the black. Of course, I couldn’t take any pictures, but it was pretty cool. Guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.

After we emerged, we were taken to the Cavern House, where we got to learn a little more about the history of the place and about glowworms. I won’t share the gory details here, but glowworms are really sort of primal creatures (I don’t think that’s quite the right word, but I couldn’t come up with it…). Feel free to Google them if interested, but make sure to at least look at pictures!

To be honest, I enjoyed the ride back across the lake almost as much as the glow worms! It was a gorgeous night.

To top it off, we got to find a letterbox just outside of town! It was my first one in New Zealand, so I was pretty psyched. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s basically like a treasure hunt where you’re looking for little boxes with a stamp (usually hand-carved) and a logbook inside. If you find one, you take a print of the stamp and leave a print of your personal stamp inside. It’s pretty similar to geocaching if you’ve heard of that.

After finding the box, we headed off to Queenstown to spend the night. While most hostels I stayed at just had a bunkbed layout, this one was really unique: each person had a totally encapsulated pod to themselves within a larger room. I found the personal space and noise barrier really nice, especially since it’s hard for me to sleep when people are snoring…

The next morning it was off for another round of Queenstown adventures. The first item on the itinerary? Paragliding!

We rode the famous Queenstown gondola up to the top where we met our instructors/pilots. They got us saddled up and the parachutes all straightened out, then gave us a couple of instructions and off we went!

Essentially, once my pilot got the parachute up in the air, he just told me to start walking and then running on his cue. So basically, we just ran off the side of the hill: not really scary at all! It really felt like flying, or at least what I imagine flying would be like.

Unfortunately, the winds were a little too strong for us to travel too far out from the mountain, but the views were still gorgeous, and he took me on a bit of a roller coaster ride as we neared the bottom. Overall a cool experience!

Afterwards, we took the gondola back up the mountain and enjoyed exploring the chalet at the top for a bit. They apparently had a thing for jelly beans; in addition to a Jelly Belly store, they had replicas of some famous artwork made from jelly beans!

We also enjoyed some really yummy hot chocolate…

…and some classic Queenstown views.

Next up we tried luging. The best way I can explain luging is probably real-life Mario Kart; you basically have a cross between a scooter and a wagon and ride it on a track. I really wasn’t expecting much, but Autumn talked me into it, and I’m so glad she did! It was a blast!

Afterwards, we went on a bit of a hike, where we caught some killer views of Ben Lomond (a nearby mountain) and some other paragliders. What a stunning day.

After many hours atop the mountain, we finally took the gondola back down and headed out to nearby Arrowtown, which I also had stopped at on my first trip to Queenstown. I was really hungry for another one of ABC’s pies, and it did not disappoint! (The “M” is for mince, in case you were wondering.)

I also wanted to spend more time exploring the town since my last visit here had been short. Arrowtown was once a mining town and had a large population of Chinese miners, who were asked to come fill the vacuum of Kiwi miners who left after the large chunks of gold ran out. We learned in my history class that the miners faced a lot of obstacles, including ridiculously high poll taxes, and were treated poorly, yet were so hard-working. It was pretty humbling to see how they survived in such itty-bitty homes.

We then retraced our steps to Queenstown, where we were hoping to see Luma, Queenstown’s annual winter lights festival. Though it was pretty chilly, there were enough really neat displays to make it worthwhile.

Although I couldn’t figure out how it was related, one of my favorite parts was a garden gnome decorating exhibit. From what I could piece together, it sounds like several artists were given blank gnomes and free reign to decorate them however they wanted. The results were quite creative!

I think Autumn could have stayed for ages (she loved it!), but I was pretty cold, so we eventually headed out. Our hostel that night was in Wanaka, so it was on the road again.

Tuesday morning, we woke up to snowy mountains in Wanaka.

After sleeping in a bit (what a luxury!), we had to head out for the Rob Roy track pretty quickly. What we didn’t realize was how quickly the road would deteriorate from pavement. We may or may not have had to ford a couple pretty deep streams… Thankfully, we didn’t get stuck, and no bill from the rental car company yet! Despite road conditions, the scenery was as usual magnificent.

The track had a decently steady but not too steep incline. It followed a river for part of the way, which was a gorgeous Listerine blue (not Gatorade blue, as Autumn corrected me!).

The endpoint was the Rob Roy glacier. It was kind of hard to spot and was covered in snow, but still really pretty.

We made it back to the car in about 3.5-4 hours and rushed back through the fords to try and make it to our next destination before it closed. Of course, this just happened to line up with a quintessential New Zealand experience:

We probably spent a good five minutes creeping along behind those sheep. The poor things were so confused: first they were going away from us, then towards us, then away again! They’re not lying when they say sheep aren’t the brightest creatures. Thankfully the farmer wasn’t far behind us to tell us to just drive through them and they would move out of the way.

We rolled into Puzzling World with about an hour until closing time and raced inside. We quickly worked out a plan: explore the indoor portion of the museum, which was filled with puzzles and illusions, then head outdoors to complete the giant maze. Below are some of my favorite illusions and puzzles from the indoor portion. (If I didn’t include Towers of Hanoi, would I really be a computer science major?)

We made it outside into the maze just before closing time and were left to our own devices. (Don’t worry, there were emergency exit doors! But that’s cheating.) We were tasked with making it to each of the four corners of the maze, which all had a tower, and then finding our way to the exit. Making things even more challenging was the fact that we quickly ran out of daylight. We made it out in a little less than an hour, though!

After a decent hike plus a couple more steps in the Maze, we were pretty ready for dinner, so we hit up a taco stand in celebration of our last night together. Tasty…

Wednesday morning we were on the road again, this time before it was even light. I nearly missed seeing the famous Cardrona Hotel on the side of the road, but I caught it just in time to pull over and snap a picture.

Sadly, our adventures together were coming to an end. Autumn had to be back in Dunedin to perform at a concert, so we planned for her to take a bus back from Queenstown that morning. I still had a couple of days before I had to get back and get serious about finals, so I was going to travel for a bit more. Cheers to the first half of my travels and a good travel mate!

Shew! This post is already ginormous and there’s still a lot to cover, so I think I’m going to split this trip up and leave you hanging a little bit longer. Hold tight, almost there!

A Wet Weekend at Magnificent Milford – Week 14

Sheraya Smith1 Comment

Hoo boy. I am really having to stretch my brain to remember what happened this week. I’ll make it work though!

This was actually a pretty busy week. I did take a couple minutes to explore the campus a little more, as I hadn’t been inside the clocktower building yet. Didn’t disappoint!

Monday night Momma Dee taught the ISA group how to make pavlova! If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s a classic Kiwi dessert made from egg whites and sugar and topped with kiwifruit and flaked chocolate. I have to say, there certainly were a lot of cooks in the kitchen! Definitely a good time though.

We had to hold off tasting them until the next day because we had to bake them and let cool overnight, but I’d say it was worth the wait. Pretty unique, but yummy!

Tuesday I also had my fourth flax weaving class and started making placemats. I was pretty happy with the how the first two came out! I have to say though, they look a lot different now that they’ve dried some, but still pretty cool.

Wednesday a good chunk from us from ISA went to the annual Otago Uni Capping Show. I learned after the fact that it’s a long-standing tradition: this year was the 125th anniversary of the first one, making it the second-longest running student production in the world! In true Otago style, it was incredibly obscene and profane, but definitely entertaining. This year’s theme was “Lord of the Degrees” – think a magic ring that will give automatically give you straight A’s and everyone else bad grades, and all breeds of academic ‘creatures’ fighting to get their hands on it, and you have the basic premise. There were several other skits and small performances spread throughout the show; a lot of Otago and New Zealand specific humor, though my personal favorite was a Brexit-themed Scooby Doo skit in which the gang tried to unveil Theresa May, only to find out she wasn’t actually a monster. I have almost zero knowledge or opinion on Brexit’s recent happenings, but the chase scene in the skit sure had me howling. Some of the performances also were apparently traditions; one was the Capping Sextet, an a capella group dressed as clowns, and the Selwyn College ballet, a ballet performance by all the first-year guys in one of the dorms on campus. It was quite the night!

I had my big HCI project due this week, so there was a lot of work on that going on in between classes and all this other stuff going on. Got it turned in Friday, so that felt pretty good. I then made biscuits and gravy for dinner and got to make biscuits from scratch for the first time because refrigerated biscuit dough (or even biscuits, for that matter) aren’t really a thing here; biscuits are cookies here! I was pretty happy with how it all turned out though; so tasty!

After chowing down, my flatmate Autumn and I headed out on the town for Disco Night at a local bar. Despite definitely being on the younger side of people in the room and not knowing too many songs, it was a great time.

The next morning it was up early to head to Milford Sound with Logan and Maddie L. from ISA with additional friends Emily and Sally. The sunrise that morning was incredible, but I should have remembered the saying “red skies at morning, sailors take warning” as foreshadowing for the weekend. I had had an incredible streak in terms of weekend weather up to this point, so it was about time that my luck would run out.

We stopped in Te Anau for a brief lunch and made a photo stop at the speck-on-the-map called Te Anau Downs.

We also couldn’t resist getting a good ol’ ISA picture at the next stop.

We were driving to our next destination, the Lake Marian track carpark, when it started raining. We decided to do the hike despite the rain; we’d heard it was only an hour and a half return, so we weren’t too concerned. We quickly learned that the track turns into a small stream when raining, so we carefully picked our way up, trying not to get our boots soaked.

They say that on a clear day, Lake Marian (the endpoint of the track) is almost a mirror lake, but this was not a clear day. It was also kinda unfortunate that a fog rolled in just as we got there, which kinda obscured the mountains. Still pretty though!

We didn’t spend too long admiring the views, however. I quickly realized that it had taken us an hour and a half just one way, and that we had about one hour of daylight remaining. Needless to say, we were a lot less concerned with keeping our boots dry on the return trip. Despite getting slightly lost and even separated at one point, we were able to make it back to the carpark before dark. Shew!

Our troubles weren’t over yet, though. We had planned to camp overnight at a campsite nearby and were hoping we could find a sheltered spot that wasn’t soaked through. No such luck. On top of this, we had rented our tent and were completely unfamiliar with how to set it up, so we got it completely soaked and still couldn’t figure it out. We decided to take the loss and retreat to the car to make a plan.

Other than sleeping in the car, we basically had only two options: backtrack to Te Anau, where we were pretty sure there would be lodging for us somewhere, but we would lose time and gas; or head on to Milford, where we weren’t sure if there was lodging, but we would be close to our destination the following day. None of us had cell phone service and weren’t likely to for a good while, so we couldn’t look anything up. After much debate, we decided to take the risk and head to Milford.

Upon arriving we found a single lodge that had just five beds left, which just happened to be the exact number of people we had. I’m entirely convinced we were being watched over on this trip! We hung up some of our wet clothes, played a couple card games, and then called it a night, falling asleep to the sound of a now raging thunderstorm outside and feeling so thankful to be inside and dry.

The next morning we awoke to looming mountains all around us. This isn’t the best picture, but you probably get some idea.

I would say that Milford Sound is probably one place that looks as spectacular, if not better, when raining as when the sun is shining. This is because of the insane amount of waterfalls, which really roar when it’s raining.

The thing to do in Milford apparently is take a cruise around the sound, so that’s what we did!

And the views were spectacular, despite the crazy weather. The wind was so strong you can see the waterfalls being blown sideways below.

And here’s a little behind the scenes photo of what it was really like…

…some of us taking cover, and the rest hanging on for dear life though the waves!

Unfortunately, my phone got so wet that it decided to shut down, so the next few photos are courtesy of Maddie. Of course, the rain stopped almost immediately after my phone quit…

After the cruise, we piled back into our wet car and began the long drive home, though not without stopping briefly at the Chasm, a really cool spot in a nearby river where the water had carved out some potholes. (Sorry, no photos… phone was still a no-go).

Also not pictured is the incredible drive up to and shortly after the Milford Tunnel, which basically drills through a mountain at the base and spits you out on the other side. If you’re curious, I highly recommend Googling it!

My phone was finally revived an hour or so later along the road, just in time to get this shot!

I was definitely glad to get home and be warm and dry after this weekend. It’s times like these that make you so glad for shelter.

P.S. Yes, I am home, and very happy to be home! I’ve still got about three weeks of NZ adventures left to cover, which I’m hoping to squeeze into two more blogs. The next one will probably be really long, and the final one should be shorter; I’ll try to get them out ASAP so I don’t start forgetting what happened! Love you all! Yay for the USA!