My Very Last Blog.

   Well, I’m home. It’s good to be back, but I miss New Zealand already. Our trip home was rather uneventful, but it took forever. We’re exhausted. We travelled almost 12,000 miles in 60 hours. It’ll be a while before I do that again!

   Saturday morning (New Zealand time), Mum and I woke up at 330 to finish packing up and get to the airport in time. We took a shuttle over there from our hotel, and boy was it windy out! It was hard to walk it was so gusty! I felt so emotional leaving Wellington that morning.

   Mum and I got into the airport, checked in, and boarded our plane. We had a longer than normal flight to Sydney because of the wind, but made it there in four hours. Piece o cake. We went through customs and immigration, checked our bags again, and had a few hours to wait before going through security. When we finally did get to security, I got checked for explosives! And frisked! What the heck! Do I look threatening?

   Our flight to LA from Sydney was 13 hours long, but not nearly as bad as the flight in February. The plane wasn’t even close to full, and the seat next to Mum and me was empty. We watched movies, slept, read, listened to music, and ate. They fed us dinner, a snack, and breakfast, and it was good! We flew Virgin Australia instead of Delta this time, and it was a much nicer flight. We took off at 11:10 AM Sydney time, and landed at 11:20 AM LA time. Flying through so many time zones is confusing!

   It was so warm when we got to LA! It’s not winter anymore! It was also still Saturday in LA, even though we left Saturday morning and had been travelling for so long! My body was very confused at this point, and it only got worse. Anyways, we were stuck in California for 10 hours before our next flight, so we headed up to the Delta Sky Club to take advantage of the free food, drinks, and internet. We really couldn’t do much, so it was pretty boring. We left once to get dinner in the airport, but for the most part, we stayed in the Sky Club and did nothing. We were too exhausted to do much else though.

   Mum and I finally left LA around midnight (west coast time), and got to Detroit at 7 AM. The flight was only about 3 hours, and I managed to sleep most of the time. We ran over to the Sky Club in Detroit to snag some free breakfast, charge our electronics, and change out of winter clothes before our next flight to Bangor. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long at this airport! We ended up taking off around 9, and I was so ready to be done with this hour and a half long flight, and our 3 day long travel. Mum was upgraded to first class for this flight, but she is soo good to me, and let me sit up there! I owe her! It was lovely. I’ve never sat first class before, so I felt spoiled! The seats were huge and comfy. The flight attendant greeted me by name, and offered me drinks and snacks like every 15 minutes. How swanky!

   We landed in Bangor at 10:40 AM after an easy flight. Dad was waiting for us on the curb, and it was so good to see him! It was also HOT out – almost unbearably after having just come from winter time! The 3 of us headed out to camp and relaxed in the sun all day, and that night I slept for 17 hours! I guess I was tired…

I think I can see my house from here...

   It was a bit strange to come back to the US after being gone for so long. Everyone has accents here! It’s weird not to hear a Kiwi accent everywhere. The money also looks funny! I’m not used to it. Another thing I’m not used to is people driving on the wrong (right) side of the road. It’s gonna be hard to adjust to driving again! It’s funny how you can get so used to something in such a short period of time.

   It was so hard to leave Wellington, but it was so good to finally land in Bangor. I’m glad to be home, and I’m excited to go back to Wells. I learned so much, did so much, met so many people, and travelled to so many places while I was abroad. It was an amazing experience and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.

   Well, it's finally over. I'm so glad I blogged the whole time so I have something to look back on. And I'm so glad I blogged so that you could all follow me on my adventures! Thanks for reading!

My Last Days in the Coolest Little Capital in the World.

   My South Island trip is quickly coming to a close. Mum and I are flying back to Wellington Tuesday afternoon, after me being gone for 3 weeks, and Mum traveling with me for one of them. I have had such a good trip, but I wish I could have spent more time down here. There is so much to see and do! I’d love to come back in the summertime when there isn’t so much snow.

   Tuesday morning before our flight, we wandered around downtown Auckland. I like Wellington way more than Auckland – it’s laid out better and there aren’t so many people. Auckland was nice for a quick visit, but I definitely wouldn’t want to live there. We explored a bit, then went back to our hostel to pack up and go to the airport. I love NZ domestic flights, because you can check in a half hour before your flight, get right on board, and the flight itself is never too long. Our flight from Auckland to Wellington only took an hour. We hardly reached altitude before we started to land!

Mt. Taranaki from above.

   It felt so good to be back in Wellington again, but weird. It feels as though I’ve been gone for so long! I love that city though, and I’m glad I get to spend some more time here before leaving the country. Mum and I arrived in Welly just after 2:30, so we had all afternoon to do whatever we pleased. We hung out in my flat for a bit, unpacked and got settled, and then took the bus across town. I love just walking around Wellington, so that’s what we did. We walked down Courtenay Place, Cuba Street, and Lambton Quay – a few of my favourites. That took up the whole evening, so we got dinner, walked home, and relaxed with wine, face masks, and the Three Amigos.

   We’re flying out of Wellington Saturday morning, so we’ve got a couple more days to spend here. Wednesday, we ended up walking around the city more. We walked over to Cuba Street first and got crepes at the cutest little crepe shop in Wellington. It was Mum’s first crepe ever! We also walked up to uni, cause I had to pick up some papers. We walked up Mount Street, which is quite a hike. We conquered Mount Street – such an accomplishment! We took the cable car down from uni for the last time. I’ll miss the view from the top! We didn’t do too much other than that on Wednesday, but I did go out with a friend that night. Gotta say goodbye to everyone before I go!

   Thursday was more of the same for me and Mum. We walked around town and shopped, but also cleaned my flat a bit and went out for lunch. We went to Boulcott Street Bistro, a little place I’ve wanted to go to the whole time I’ve been here.

One of Wellington's hidden gems.

Happy 4th of July from the Bistro!

   It was so delicious. Definitely the best meal I’ve had in a while! I’m glad we went before I left! We went down to Te Papa after lunch, walked along the waterfront, and got a beer at Mac’s, a necessity before leaving Wellington. I went out with friends again Thursday night. I can tell it’s gonna be so hard to leave this place!

   Friday was our last full day in Wellington. We had some things to take care of, and I had to pack everything. Luckily I don’t have a lot over here, but it was still hard to pack everything and make it fit into my suitcases! Mum and I spent most of the morning packing and cleaning, and finally in the afternoon, my flat was cleaned out! It was kind of sad to see my room empty, but not really. I’m not very happy with Stafford, but that’s a whole different story! Once the flat was cleaned out, I had to have it inspected by the building manager, and then I was free to go! Mum and I took our things over to our hotel near the airport, then came back into town one last time. We walked around town for the last time, and went out for snacks and drinks. With my last few days in Wellington, I just wanted to spend time in the city. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself trying to do lots of new things. It was a perfect end to my trip.

Like mother, like daughter.

   It’s so hard to believe that I’m flying out Saturday morning. It feels like I’ve been here for so long, but at the same time, it feels like I just got here yesterday. It will be so hard to leave because I so fell in love with this place! I'll have to come back some day, for sure!

Walking down the waterfront one last time.

STILL on the South Island!

   It has been soo long since I’ve last updated.. but I’ve been busy! I was on the move for 3 whole weeks, and then I spent my last few days in the country enjoying Wellington with Mum. We have had such a blast exploring! We've been driving tons, and I was driving for a few weeks before she got here. On the road, I've seen lots of the same things, and it's all pretty weird! Here are some of the things I've seen a lot of while driving:

  ~ bee boxes

  ~ SHEEP, cows, and deer

  ~ mountains (snowcapped as well as green and lush)

  ~ vineyards and farmland

  ~ one lane bridges

  ~ campervans

  ~ impatient drivers (not in campervans)

  ~ the cheesiest road signs (DRINK DrIvE)

These things are everywhere! Anyways...

   Last Saturday, Mum and I woke up early in Invercargill. We were in no rush for the day, and didn’t have much planned for the day except the drive to Dunedin and the Speight’s brewery tour. So, we took our time getting ready, ate breakfast, got petrol, and we were outta there! Invercargill was bigger than I imagined, and it seemed like a cool place. I wish I had gotten to spend more time there… next time!

   From Invercargill, Mum and I drove to Bluff, the southernmost city in New Zealand. It was a quick 20 minute drive, and it was beautiful (per usual). We stopped at Splinter Point to see this neat sign:

World famous in New Zealand!

And also stopped at the Bluff Hill lookout. I would have like to have stayed longer, but it was SO cold and windy up there! It was absolutely unbearable. So, we ran up the spiral ramp to the top, snapped some photos, enjoyed the view for a second, and ran back down to the warmth of the car.

From Bluff Hill. That boat was huge, but it doesn't look it!

Stewart Island in the distance, NZ's third biggest island.

   New Zealand’s South Island in winter is no joke (although it’s still no Maine)! We hopped in the car and drove the Southern Scenic Route to Dunedin. It was beautiful, but through the middle of nowhere! Typical for the South Island…

   At this point, we still didn’t have Mum’s luggage. It didn’t arrive in Queenstown with her, so Air New Zealand was supposed to send it to Dunedin, so we could pick it up when we got there. As soon as we got to Dunedin, we headed over to the airport to pick it up. But… no luggage! We spent a while at the airport trying to sort it out, and apparently her bag was sent to Christchurch, but didn’t make it all the way through to Dunedin. How frustrating! However, the luggage problem was finally sorted out – Air NZ would send the bag to Dunedin that night and have it delivered to our backpackers. We’d been traveling for 6 days without her luggage, so we really hoped it would arrive that night!

   Once we finished in the airport, we went to check into our backpackers in Dunedin. It was a really nice place, but it was right on the side of the hill! Scary driving! We hung out in the hostel a bit, cooked dinner, and then walked down the hill to the Speight’s brewery. The tour was really cool! Our guide was a bit of a crazy old man, but he knew so much about Speight’s. Our favorite part of the tour was the end, when we had an all you can pour tasting session in the tap room. Mum and I tried all of the different beers and they were so good! The tour group kept chatting with our tour guide so we could stay longer… sneaky! Mum and I and a few others from the tour group went to the Speight’s pub next door for a while. We tried chocolate beer, and it definitely tasted as weird as it sounds. What a day!

Tour guide "Lez" and James Speight.

Good lookin' bartenders!

   We had another tour in store for Sunday in Dunedin, but this time, we toured the Cadbury chocolate factory. We had a big group with us, and since it was a Sunday, the manufacturing plant was closed. We didn’t get to see much. They were also doing construction, so part of the plant was closed off to us anyways.. kind of a bummer. But we did get to see a one-ton liquid chocolate waterfall, drink liquid chocolate, and get lots of free chocolates!

Cadbury world! We're standing in front of the Crunchie mountain.

   After the tour, we explored Dunedin for a while. We went to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world! It was not as steep as we imagined, although these pictures really don't do it justice.

We drove up that!

Driving down was even scarier.

   We planned to fly to Auckland at 6 that night, so we didn’t really have time to do anything else big that day. It was nice to see the city though – Dunedin looks really cool. We got to the airport a bit early, checked in, and waited for our flight. It took a little less than two hours to get to Auckland from Dunedin, and it was a great flight. We took the bus to our hostel, which unbeknownst to us, had lots of stairs to navigate with all our heavy luggage. Luckily we got help! It was pretty late by the time we got settled in, so we just made some popcorn, drank some cab franc from the winery (I’ve missed it!), and watched tv for a bit before bed. Traveling is getting the best of me at this point – I’m exhausted!

   Mum and I had a big day planned for Monday. We took the ferry over to Waiheke Island, my favorite place! We met up with Thomas, my camper van accomplice, and the three of us drove around the island all day and stopped at wineries. The weather in Auckland and on Waiheke was so much different than that of the South Island. It wasn’t freezing! I was actually too hot.. a very weird feeling after being so cold at the bottom of the country!

   The ferry ride over the Waiheke was beautiful, but windy! When we made it on the island, we rented a car, but didn’t get far afterwards. The car wouldn’t lock! We had to take it back and get another! That snafu didn’t keep us from our wine though! We went to 4 or 5 wineries, but with lots of driving in between. Waiheke is only 19 km long, but it takes quite a while to drive around the whole thing. It was the perfect day for it though, and we had a blast. When we weren’t lost that is! The map we had of the island must not be right, because we drove in so many circles! It was good fun trying to find our way back to the ferry terminal.

Oh how I miss my vines...

We like wine.

So typical.

   The three of us went to dinner on the island before taking the ferry back to Auckland in the evening. It was after 8 by the time we got back to the hostel, so the three of us did what Mum and I did the night before – yummy wine and popcorn! It was such a good day, and so good to be back on Waiheke!

<3

Mum's a Trooper!

   Well, Mum and I were stuck in Queenstown without her luggage. She only has 2 outfits, and not much else. I feel so bad that she’s stuck without anything… especially warm clothes! We were scheduled to leave Queenstown Wednesday morning, but without her luggage, we didn’t want to go far, or else we would just have to drive back to pick it up. We’d spent quite a bit of time at the airport already trying to figure this out, but Wednesday we spent a few hours there getting it sorted out. Mum and the airport people made the decision to send her luggage to Dunedin instead of Queenstown, so that we could pick it up when we arrived there in a couple days. That meant we could keep on going with our plans, but she wouldn’t have anything with her! Way to go Mum for sticking it out with no luggage!

   So, after spending the day (it seemed!) at the airport, we drove to Te Anau, near Fiordland. The drive was not too long, and we didn’t have any mountains to go over. Wahoo! It was an easy drive, and very pretty, as is everything in NZ. We got to Barnyard Backpackers in the late afternoon, and it was such a nice hostel! It was located on a farm with cows, horses, sheep, and deer. We had our own cabin to ourselves, with a spectacular view. However, it was FREEZING! We turned on the little heater in the room as soon as we got there, but it didn’t really do much. The cabins were more built for summer than winter, I think. Barnyard was in between two small towns, Te Anau and Manapouri, so we drove to both to sightsee. Both are situated on lakes, with mountains in the background. So pretty! After our drive, we headed home to cook dinner and go to bed early. We have been so tired and have been going to bed extremely early. Such party animals we are!

The view from our cabin, complete with rainbow.

   Thursday morning we woke up in our freezing cold cabin and decided there was no way we could spend another night there. We made breakfast, checked our emails on the deathly slow dial-up computer in the lodge, and left Barnyard. We drove to nearby Te Anau and checked into a sweet hotel. It had heat! And a lovely lake view! The receptionist was also sooo nice to us. We should have stayed there the other night too!

The South Island is beautiful everywhere!

   Since we had a Milford Sound cruise booked for Friday instead of Thursday, and all our plans had been rearranged, we didn’t have much to do Thursday. The weather has been messing with my plans this whole trip, and this was just another thing to work around. So, Thursday we ended up just walking around Te Anau, buying some souvenirs, and getting groceries. We also saw Ata Whenua: Shadowland at Fiordland Cinemas. The movie is just scenes from Fiordland, but is so spectacular. It took years to film, and was done mostly by helicopter. Fiordland is so remote, so it was cool to see all the scenes we would never get to see, and that had probably been untouched by humans!

   Friday morning, we had a cruise scheduled in Milford Sound in Fiordland. We woke up veeery early to get to Milford at 9. It’s a two hour drive, and it is beautiful. Unfortunately, most of our drive there in the morning was before the sun rose! We didn’t see much, and the road was still frosty. Frosty, mountainous roads are not fun. Anyways, we got to Milford a little early and checked into our cruise. We had a bit to wait before we got on the boat, but we were off on our cruise in no time.

Hi Milford!

   The cruise lasted from 9:45 to noonish, and was so beautiful. It was cold though! The boat has a nice seating area inside, and decks outside. We went outside when we could, but we spent a lot of time in front of the heaters inside! The cruise was amazing. We went around Milford Sound, and saw taaaall mountains, the bluest water, neat rock formations, waterfalls, and some wildlife. I’m so glad we did it, even if it was freezing and windy!

Cool rocks!

Can you see the teeeeeny tiny boat to the right of the waterfall?

That gives you some idea of the size of these things!

Cap'n Gail, at it again.

:)

We got so close to this waterfall... we got wet!

The iconic Mitre Peak.

   After our cruise, we had the two hour drive back to Te Anau. This time, it was light out, so we could see all the beautiful views! We stopped to admire Homer Tunnel, a 1.2 km long tunnel running through a huge mountain. Luckily we didn’t have to wait for the traffic light, which only changes every 15 minutes! We also stopped at The Chasm, a divide in the rocks formed by a river, a cool lookout, and the Mirror Lake, which was so still and reflected some of the lovely mountains. We took our time getting back to Te Anau, then took a short break before we kept driving down to Invercargill, the southernmost city in NZ. It was a lovely drive, but I felt like we had been driving all day – how exhausting!

The Chasm. The rocks were so smooth!

This cheeky little Kea walked right up to us!

Zoomin' through Homer Tunnel.

Pop's Lookout - beautiful!

The Mirror Lakes on a perfectly calm day.

   We went to our backpackers in Invercargill when we arrived, but quickly decided not to stay there. It was so sketchy! I made a reservation online, and of course all the hostels make themselves look good on their websites. This one in particular looked so good online, but when we got there it was small, crowded, and dirty, they took cash only, and our room was just a glass door away from the TV room. Needless to say, we got out of there as quick as possible and found a decent hotel to stay at. We have really been spoiling ourselves lately!

The view from the bottom of the Earth!

MY BIRTHDAY!

   Tuesday was my 21^st birthday! Wahooo! Although it’s not as much of a big deal here as it is in the US. The drinking age is 18 here, so 21 doesn’t really mean anything. They still celebrate though! And speaking of celebrating, Mum and I sure did! WE GOT TATTOOS!

Walking around the gardens, thinking about our tattoos.

The peninsula at Queenstown.

   We woke up pretty early and drove into town to look for breakfast. We walked around a bit and finally decided on Bob’s Weigh for a nice brekky before our day. We saw a tattoo place nearby, so we decided to go in and talk to them. I’d thought about getting a tattoo to commemorate my stay in NZ, but I didn’t really think about doing it on my birthday! We talked to a couple tattoo shops, then thought about it a while before making a decision. We finally made up our minds, and we did it! We got our tattoos done at White Tiger, by a lovely man named Scott. He was so great! He explained everything to us, and was so nice about everything.

Scott! The best!

The guy behind me is making the same face!

   Mum and I got the same tattoo – an outline of New Zealand. Hers is on her right ankle and mine is on my left side, under my armpit. I absolutely love it! It means so much to me.

Exciting!

Whatta guy...

   On Tuesday, we also walked around the Queenstown Gardens, went to the supermarket, checked a million times to see if Mum’s luggage arrived (it didn’t), had a beer at Atlas, and got a huuuge Fergburger for dinner. After our big day, we drank champagne in our little cabin to celebrate my 21^st! What a lovely day!!

Happy 21st to me!

Walking and Driving.. All I Ever Do Anymore!

   What a crazy day I had Saturday! Sunday was much more chill. We drove most of the day. We had to get to Wanaka, which was about 3 ½ hours away, and do all we wanted to do there. So, we woke up early, made some breakfast in the van, and got on our way. We drove to the Fox Glacier, which was just 20 minutes down the road. We didn’t have time to walk to the glacier, unfortunately, so we just drove as close as we could get. If only we had more time!

Perfectly exposed forest...

And perfectly exposed glacier.

   We kept on driving, and stopped at Lake Matheson along the way. It’s also called the reflection lake, because it reflects Mt. Cook so perfectly when the weather is good. It was beautiful, even though the water wasn’t totally still!

Our walk through the rainforest!

The Reflection Lake with Mt. Cook on the right.

   From Lake Matheson we carried onto Wanaka. The drive there was SOSOSO beautiful. We were winding through the Southern Alps the whole time, along a river until we ended up at Lake Wanaka. The views were incredible! We would be driving through forest, then it would clear and we would see huge mountains in front of us! Wow! After following Lake Wanaka a ways, we then made it to Lake Hawea and followed that for a bit. It was so pretty to see huge mountains across the lakes. We eventually made it to Wanaka, after crossing back over some mountains from Lake Hawea to Lake Wanaka. Such a beautiful town!

Sheep and mountains. Typical.

Cows don't belong on the road!

A cool turnout we stopped at. Like another world!

Look at that snow line!

Looking one way...

...and the other...

...from our ugly van!

I'm in love.

75 kilometres per hour, not miles!

   Mt. Iron is a little rocky knoll carved out by glaciers in Wanaka. It’s surrounded by a valley and eventually mountains all round. The view from the top is incredible, so Thomas and I wanted to hike it while we were in Wanaka. The walk is supposed to take about an hour and a half return, but it took us much longer because we stopped to take so many photos! The walk started right in town, wound up the knoll, and took us back down the other side. It was so muddy and snowy the whole walk up! The view from the top was definitely incredible though. We could see for miles in all directions, and it was so cool! We planned our journey so that the sun set while we were on top of Mt. Iron. Seeing the sun set over the mountains was so pretty. We booked it back down to the van afterwards – it gets cold after the sun goes down! The moon was still almost full, and was so astonishing.

On our way up!

The shadow of Mt. Iron! So cool!

<3

Watching the sun set atop Mt. Iron.

This is only half of what I could see 

   We found a holiday park to camp at for the evening in Wanaka, since we needed to plug in for heat. We hung out for a bit before getting ready and going out to dinner to celebrate my upcoming birthday. We had the yummiest pizza and beer at a little Italian restaurant – the perfect way to celebrate!

   Thomas was scheduled to fly out of Queenstown just as Mum was arriving on Monday afternoon... perfect timing! I wouldn’t have to be alone for too long! So Thomas and I woke up early Monday, packed up, cleaned up the van, and drove to Queenstown. It only took about an hour, but we stopped a few times along the way. It was such a gorgeous drive! All the driving we’ve done has been through absolutely breathtaking scenery.

   We got to Queenstown, got petrol, and went to McDonald’s like we did just about every day! We took advantage of McDonald’s free wifi as much as possible : ) We dropped off our Jucy van at the rental company, and it was so bittersweet! It was good to be rid of the big, ugly, bright van, but sad that our adventure was over! Thomas and I then went to the airport. I saw him off at 3ish for his flight back to Auckland.

   Mum’s flight from Sydney was supposed to arrive at 3:30, but I didn’t see her until almost 5! It was so good to finally see her! Her luggage had been lost somewhere along the way, so she had to talk to some airport people to try to figure it out. They had no idea when it would arrive, but we would have to hang out in Queenstown to pick it up. We picked up our rental car, then drove to our backpackers and got settled. It was a cute little hostel, but it was so busy! Queenstown is a huge skiing city, so a lot of people were in town to enjoy the new snow.

   Mum and I both wanted a good dinner, so we drove around the city a bit before stopping at Speight’s Ale House for dinner. We sat next to a warm fireplace, the food was delicious, and it was good to be with Mum after so long. Both of us were exhausted, although I’m sure Mum was way more tired than me after flying for a couple days! We headed back to our hostel and turned in for an early night.

   I had such a fun time with Thomas in the van, and it flew by! I hope traveling with Mum doesn’t fly by too! We’re supposed to hang out in Queenstown, see Te Anau and Fiordland, go to Invercargill and Dunedin, then fly up to Auckland before flying back to Wellington for a few days. It seems like such a long time to be traveling!