A #tbt to New Zealand where we mastered the staggered selfie documenting our every move across the country. I miss these people something awful #nostalgia (at All Over Kiwiland )
"You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again" #byeNZ
Walked up Mt. Eden for our final adventure and were rewarded with a great view of this awesome volcanic crater, the skytower to the left, and Rangitoto to the right :)
My friend Bradford is awesome and made this sicknasty video of his adventure here in New Zealand. I make a brief cameo appearance in the Tongariro clip. Brad this video is amazing and brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it because the nostalgia is so real. Plus great choice of music. You rock.
So New Zealand's major shows are home renovation competitions and cooking competition shows and I just don't really understand the craze
I also still think its so interesting that more college kids live at home than they do at Uni. In the states, college pretty much means leaving home for the first time, but here thats not a thing!
Finally, New Zealand has terrible internet everywhere. It's SO SLOW. GAH.
Rocked the 19.4km (12.1 mi) hike despite winter weather warnings and cancelled shuttles, took a side trip to summit Tongariro at 1,967m (6,453.4ft) and still finished the crossing in under 7 hours. Pictures are super authentic and therefore mostly blurry because our viewing of the crossing was mostly blurry with all the wind, rain, and clouds..I THINK WE MIGHT BE CRAZY BUT IT WAS AMAZING
Finally a post about the Tongariro crossing hike! I think this was the perfect way to end my weekend-trips-in-New Zealand series because it really epitomizes the whole carefree free-spirited thing I've enjoyed working on over here during my semester abroad. I will try to keep it brief, but its one of my more detailed and exiting adventures as this is the kind of thing that never ever happens to me. Plus the entire 19.4km (12.1mi) crossing that included a 1.5hr detour to summit Tongariro, took us 6 hours and 54 minutes so it only makes sense that a lengthy post would accompany it. (Also, this crossing includes a turnoff to Mt Ngauruhoe, also known as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings. Casual.) So please hold on to your hats. Mom and Dad, you should probably sit down for this one. Everyone else, you should sit down too because this is a really long post and I apologize, but I promise its a good one!
Now, my friends Erin, Brad, and Santiago and I were all aware that it is winter here, meaning the conditions on Tongariro could be dangerous/icy/snowy/freezing/fun/etc. For some parts of the crossing they recommended ice picks and crampons, to give you an idea of how legit that is. We were notified that the weekend we planned to go up there, they were expecting a lot of precipitation, whether it be freezing rain or snow, and therefore the shuttles were cancelled that day. (The crossing goes over the mountain range so that you end at a carpark from which you'd need transportation, normally a shuttle, to return back to where you started.) Because we knew the shuttles were cancelled, we decided on the night before our intended departure that instead of waking up early to drive up there, we would all meet a little later in the morning so that we could sleep in and hopefully come up with an alternative plan.
We called the park in the morning and received news that didn't seem all too encouraging. Shuttles were still cancelled, and they were expecting rain. But...only 1mm though, which isn't too bad right? We were planning on renting a car to drive up there anyways and that gave us the freedom to go up at our leisure. Santiago even reasoned with the rental place and they would let us take the car for 2 days for the price of one. Also, there wasn't any snow in the forecast so that was a good thing. There were four of us, all in pretty good shape and relatively experienced with hiking. Tongariro was the last thing on my friend Erin's New Zealand bucket list. If we camped out at a hut for that night and hiked the next day, it wouldn't be too bad because even if we ended up soaked we could just drive home after...right? We could figure out the shuttle thing later, maybe hitchhike or something? We passed a lot of hitchhikers in the South Island so its definitely an acceptable thing...We all looked at each other and decided YOU KNOW WHAT!?!? WE CAN STILL DO THIS THING. LETS DO IT!!
Next. Chaos. Erin and I squealed excitedly and Santiago went to go pick up the car, telling us he'd be back in 30 minutes. We all sprinted our separate ways to pack up our things and scrounge our fridges and pantries for lots and lots of food. I poured some pasta and sauce into ziplock baggies and shook them up - dinner. I gathered all of the warm layers I'd brought to New Zealand and stuffed them in my hiking backpack - the first time it would be used for a real legitimate hike and not just as a more convenient duffel bag for a weekend away.
And with that, we took off to Tongariro national park. We had a picnic on the grass outside of a Countdown on the way there, and about 4 hours later we'd arrived at the beginning of the crossing. It was dark outside - its winter here and is already getting dark at 5pm - and we excitedly took some pictures and hiked a little bit under the moonlight to get to the first hut where we'd be spending the night before hiking the next day.
The night at Mangatepopo was way better than expected. We had the entire place to ourselves and we had heat and mattresses. We ate our ziplock-bag-pasta dinners, had some chocolate, made sure to drink TONS of water to be hydrated for the hike, played card games and shared some good laughs. At bedtime we pulled all the mattresses off the bunk beds and double stacked them on the floor in the main room in front of the heater. Rather reminiscent of the old slumber party days in elementary school :) Unfortunately none of us could really sleep well and we had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom because of all the water we'd been drinking, but the lack of sleep miraculously didn't affect us at all when we woke up at 6:30 the next morning.
Finally. The start of the hike! We walked through grasslands for a while but as soon as we started to go upwards farther and farther my legs really started to burn. I hadn't hiked in a whiiiiiile. We crossed paths with two Irish guys, or rather, they crossed our path, and passed us with ease...oh well. They weren't carrying huge backpacks so we're going to blame the extra weight. They told us that they were getting picked up at 3pm and would take us back to our car if we finished around then! YES! A way to get home! Except....we never saw them again...
We carried on and finally hit the turnoff for the Tongariro summit. We knew it would be 1.5 hours out of our way, but we came all this way - we HAD to summit something and Ngauruhoe/Mt Doom was way too high/snowy/icy/etc to do. We left our packs at the turnoff point, added an extra layer, and set off to summit Tongariro at 1900m. It was not easy - the wind was so strong and we got soaking wet. It was freezing, there was snow on the ground, and I had to keep putting my frozen hands into my armpits to thaw. There weren't any markers or signs to designate the summit, but there was definitely a point that looked higher than everything around us, and the world seemed to just drop off the edge into a cloudy abyss of nothingness, so we held up Brad's flag and triumphantly snapped a photo of the group. Santiago brought us some chocolate to get us through the return hike back to our bags :)
Definitely forgot how much more annoying it was to hike with the extra weight as we swung our packs onto our back and headed on towards the Red Crater and Emerald Lakes. Which were nearly impossible to see due to the clouds but we could see some red dirt and some super blue/green ponds that led us to identify these things that we've seen everyone else here take pictures of. We took some barely visible pictures and headed on towards the downhill 'easier' part of the hike, still not exactly knowing if we'd meet up with those Irish dudes again to get a ride back to our car...
There was nobody else out on the crossing until we came across a couple that looked like they hadn't started too long ago. I knew this because the girl was wearing a t-shirt and flannel and no hat or gloves and I immediately was concerned for her wellbeing. Anyways, the couple was super friendly and told us how they were starting the hike from the Ketetahi end. They left their car there and weren't sure how they were going to get back once they reached Mangatepopo....sounds familiar right? Cool so we bid them farewell and good luck and they headed on their way. WAIT. THEY HAVE A CAR?! HEY GUYS WAIT UP!!!!! They were about to turn around the bend and we yelled at them to see what their plan was - maybe we could help each other out! Naturally, they gave us their car keys and we gave them our phone number and we went our separate ways. WHAT. THEY TRUSTED US WITH THEIR KEYS. YUP.
Good thing too, because we got to Ketetahi and read the sign that said that it was not an overnight shelter. We could have maybe stayed there anyways. Except for the TWO POSSUMS THAT LIVED THERE AND THE POSSUM POOP EVERYWHERE. So that whole plan where we'd stay at Ketatahi overnight and wait for the shuttles in the morning would not have worked at all. AT ALL. EW. This was the first break we had that wasn't in the pouring rain so we inhaled our lunches. I ate two tuna sandwiches in max 3 minutes. I'm writing this here because I don't want to forget - Santiago made a surprisingly delicious sandwich with cheese, chicken, and jam. Not sure if because I had been hiking for 5 hours or because it was actually genius, but IT WAS SO GOOD.
We took off again into the rain and marched on through the relatively flat terrain and unchanging scenery. It was beautiful, but I was definitely glad we didn't start the hike at this end because it was long and pretty boring for a hike. It was a perfect 'cool down' to the hike we'd just nearly finished! It seemed like the end would never come. It was pretty cool having walked through alpine terrain, then grasslands again, then a forest.. BUT WE JUST WANTED TO GET WARM AND DRY AND REST OUR LEGS SO IT WASNT THE NICEST. We finally FINALLY reached the car park and sure enough, there was one van sitting in the lot.
Plot twist 1: the car was not automatic transmission. Thankfully Santiago could drive manual.
Plot twist 2: the car had very little gas. basically zero gas.
Plot twist 3: Santiago couldn't turn the car off or take the keys out once it was in park. We prayed we would be able to once we got to back to Mangatepopo.
Plot twist 4: THE BACK SEAT WAS A BED. THERE WERE TWO FRONT SEATS. AND A BED. Erin and I laid in the back, trying not to get this nice couple's bed all muddy and wet and we drove 20 minutes back to Mangatepopo, thankful we didn't decide to hitchike because there were no other cars on the road, and it was a longer drive than we thought. I honestly still can't believe it worked out....
We made it back to the Mangatepopo carpark and Santiago was able to turn off the car and take out the keys and the couple finished just minutes after we parked their car!!! THIS IS SOMETHING THAT ONLY WOULD HAPPEN IN NEW ZEALAND PEOPLE!!!
We stopped for pizza on the way home for the perfect end to our adventure. I got some ice cream too, of course. My hands were swollen for hours after and it looked like I didn't have any knuckles, but whatever. I still cannot believe how this whole trip unfolded, we couldn't have even planned it better. And to think throughout the semester all of us would meet up until late at night to try and plan weekend trips, and this trip, with zero planning, worked out just as well. Everyone who knows me knows I am always one to plan. I like to know what's going on so I can always be prepared. I always make a list to pack. This time, I packed in under 30 minutes without a list. I spontaneously decided with my friends to hike a pretty difficult mountain with no plan of how exactly it would end, and it was amazing. The entire time, we were optimistic and having so much fun, not at all worried about any of the potential problems we might face. It was the most freeing feeling ever, and that coupled with the amazing feeling of hiking over 19.4 km in less than 7 hours, was truly an experience. This is New Zealand. And it's incredible.
Can't believe I'm leaving this magical place in 6 days. Just took my last final WHAT I'm sure going to miss exploring New Zealand and pretending to be a photographer (at Lake Tekapo, New Zealand)
We're constantly reminded of the fact that Christianity is extremely prominent and the separation of church and state just is not a thing here in NZ. Back at the club fair before classes started, there were so many clubs that we're religiously affiliated. While we were back in Queenstown around Easter, we were surprised to find that liquor stores and restaurants did not sell alcohol on Good Friday. Also my favorite board game, Clue, has a NZ/British variant called "Cluedo" (LOLZ) and the character Mr. Green is actually a reverend.
Grabbed some lunch at a French farmers market today! tuna melt with beet and feta spread, plus a beet and goat cheese salad. NZ has for sure magnified my love for beets 😍 (at La Cigale French Market & Bistro)
FINALLY THE DAY WE'D ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!! THE ALL BLACKS GAME!! We were really excited. So excited that we started our celebration that afternoon in preparation for the game at 7pm.
Because we were playing England I was really expecting a Sox-Yankees-at-Fenway type feel, but it really wasn't all that. There was only try in the entire game and it was during very last few minutes so it wasn't the most exciting thing ever, but we were all still pretty pumped to be there when the All Blacks won 20-15!
Can't believe it was time for our last group dinner with our program directors Jane and Kate, and program leader Felicity. We ate an a family-style Mediterranean restaurant. Rip and I split a bottle of wine. I was initially worried we wouldn't get a lot of food because it was one of those pre-paid-for dinner things, but I was STUFFED and the meal was delicious and even included dessert!!
Also there were prizes given out for our photo competition, and my picture won for the best university photo! I got a little New Zealand luggage tag as a prize!
My Winning Photo: the only picture that makes the UoA campus actually look super nice!
We had wanted to go see Wellington for a while now, and this long weekend posed the perfect opportunity! Aliza and I, being the crazy money-saving cats we are, booked the 12 hour bus down there and gosh was I glad I brought my pillow.
We were so lucky our friend Vita let us stay with her - she was the best hostess we could have asked for! Not only did she provide us a queen size mattress, but she gave us a tour through Wellington making sure we got to see the Te Papa museum, the waterfront, and hike Mt Victoria. She made sure we were warm, well fed, and that we had an all around amazing time. We met up with the other Wellington Arcadia kids who we'd had orientation with back in February and it was awesome seeing them again!
Te Papa Museum:
THERE WAS A GIANT SQUID
AND A REALLY PRETTY MARAE
Wellington was a super artsy city and I had really wished I brought my running shoes to go for a run around the harbor because it was absolutely beautiful!
This is the Supreme court. Probably the ugliest building I've ever seen:
Pretty harbour, Wellington:
Part of the Writers Walk:
More artsy stuff
Did a baby hike up Mount Victoria at sunset, it was beautiful!
And of course, we saw this as a vacation so we treated ourselves to some good eats. Aliza, Erin, Vita, Megan and I met up with Autumn for a late brunch/early dinner at Sweet Mother's Kitchen. I got a breakfast burrito with hollandaise sauce that I ate way too quickly to take a picture, so here's a picture of Megan's chicken and waffles that also was delicious:
And after another long 12 hour bus ride home, I made it back in time to celebrate my friend Brad's 21st birthday that night! :)
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