Living in New Zealand
Hey all. So, I don’t know about you, but living abroad is an experience that I have dreamt about for a long time. I never thought I would get the opportunity to do it so early in life, but boy I am grateful. In the spring of 2020, I ended my backpacking trip through the southeastern hemisphere in New Zealand. Here, I bought a cheap car, swam with dolphins, and continued going to college. It was a pretty great place to set up camp, if you ask me.
So, let’s back up just a little bit. If you look at my last few posts, I told you all the stories of my adventures through the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. From my last stop, Tasmania, I got onto a flight that stopped in Melbourne and then sent me on my way to Christchurch. I arrived with my big, purple backpack, and I was greeted by a very kind lady from my new (temporary) school. From there, she brought me to the outskirts of Christchurch, to Lincoln University. I was reunited with the dear Maddie Mason (who also brought me an extra bag from Colorado since we would be living there for an extended period of time). After unpacking, getting my classes figured out, and making a few friends, we went out to downtown Christchurch. There were lots of fun stores, and a big park. So, we casually hung out by a tree.
Definitely climbed about 30 feet into this tree…
Chillin’ in a tree
After familiarizing myself with Christchurch a bit, I decided to browse the internet to buy a cheap car to use for the semester while I was there. I ended up buying a 1997 Honda CRV for about $700, which would be much cheaper and more convenient than trying to rent a car whenever I wanted to go out and explore.
Finally, I had prepared myself for the coming semester, as well as the coming adventures. So, the first weekend of the semester, my friends and I went to the beach. The beach we went to was south of Christchurch, and it was called Taylor’s Mistake. We went for a short hike up the bluff next to the beach, and went for a swim when we returned. We also threw a frisbee around for a while.
The beautiful blue waves of Taylor’s Mistake.
And the even more beautiful Maddie Mason!
This weekend was a great introduction to what my semester was going to look like. For the next week, we went out to downtown Christchurch, we hung out on campus, and I started my classes. I took Environmental Economics, Watershed Science, and Introductory GIS. The next weekend, some friends and I decided to drive to the west coast. I had my two new guy friends, Jake and Jacob, in my car, while the other five drove in their car. The drive was kind of long, so we stopped for meat pies about halfway. We also stopped at Arthur’s Pass National Park for a little while, and admired the clear blue water.
Crystal blue waters through a valley in Arthur’s Pass National Park.
Once we got to Hokitika on the west coast, the guys and I stopped at the Glow Worm Dell. There were some pretty cool mushrooms and a whole lot of ferns. Afterwards, we went to the beach and messed around with some driftwood until the other car caught up to us in Hokitika.
When the others finally made it, we made a grocery store run, and we headed to the rental house for the night. By the time we had left the grocery store, it was pouring rain, so we had a night in. We played a bunch of games, watched a few movies, and ate pasta. The next morning, we went into Hokitika central, where we all ate breakfast. We also walked around the main street and admired all of the pounamu jade that is unique to this area of the world. According to those who were selling the pounamu jade, you are not supposed to buy it for yourself, only as a gift to others. So, I bought a necklace for Maddie, and she bought a necklace for me. Afterwards, I drove Maddie and our friend Tessa to the Hokitika Gorge. Normally, the waters are bluer than the picture above, but the heavy rains the night before likely lifted a bunch of sediment and turned the waters gray.
Some bright orange mushrooms from the glow worm dell.
The beautiful Hokitika Gorge.
The view was gorgeous (badum-chshhh). We got to cross a bridge as if we were Shrek and Donkey, and we saw some more fungi. The water was moving really fast, and it was refreshing to stick our feet in. That night, we camped up in the mountains, and we watched the stars because the sky was extremely clear. I also got to go for a walk before sunset on this trail by a river where I found so many cool ferns.
The following week, it was Tessa’s birthday, so her, Maddie, and I went to Akaroa to go swim with Hector’s dolphins. They are the smallest and rarest of all dolphin species. Even though the mature ones looked like babies to us. The water was pretty cold, but we had wetsuits to keep us warm. Akaroa harbor itself was beautiful. The yellow hills contrasted so beautifully with the water. Once we made it out of the harbor, the rolling hills turned into cliff faces. On top of seeing and swimming with the dolphins, we also saw the world’s smallest and third largest penguins, some seals, and some albatross. We saw an insane amount of wildlife all in the span of about three hours.
Swimming with dolphins in the wild was such a cool experience. It is a really unique feeling to be “playing” with animals of a different species, when they don’t have to interact with you at all. I’m really glad that there are opportunities to see wildlife up close while they still live free.
The weekend after swimming with the dolphins, we went to Sumner Beach. The beach is huge. There were a ton of big rocks to lay on above the sand, and that’s where we spent most of the day. There are quite a few little shops and places to eat nearby as well, but we had brought our own snacks and drinks.
Me and my gal on the beach.
Flex.
After one more week of doing my classes, it was CSU’s spring break, and for some reason this crazy guy liked me enough to come visit me. So, as soon as he got here, we went right back Sumner Beach, although we were at a different area. We ate right on the beach, and Evan bought his first legal beer.
We got to look through the tide pools and walk through this rocky cave on the beach. Not a bad first day for Evan, if you ask me. The next day, we drove to Akaroa, where we spent the night. We went into a few souvenir shops, walked up and down a few docks, and ate dinner at a pretty good restaurant. We watched the sun set on the water, and went to our rental house for the night. It was really cute, and the windows looked out over the harbor. The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and set out to drive south of Akaroa along a series of bays. We found a few really pretty ones, and we befriended a whole bunch of sheep on these dirt roads.
Evan and I.
The whole drive back to Christchurch was beautiful. We went to the Grouse, the bar next to Lincoln University that night, and we hung out with my friends. After hanging out the next day and going to Sumner again, Evan and I drove my car all the way down to Queenstown. Little did we know what would happen in Queenstown…
On our way down, we stopped to see Lake Tekapo, and boy did it not disappoint. The sunset was unreal, and the water was cool and refreshing.
Jump!
So, upon arriving, my mother texted us to head back to Christchurch the next morning as we were on standby for a flight back home, due to the start of the pandemic. CSU had told all study abroad students to come home. Even though I was grateful to have gotten to go to New Zealand at all, I was still pretty devastated that I had to leave 3 months early. After driving 6 hours and arriving late at night, we had to get ready to drive all the way back the next morning. After getting some sleep that night, we woke up and packed all of our stuff. I couldn’t get a refund on the following two nights for the rental house, and my car wouldn’t start. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there were very few mechanics available to come see what was wrong with my car. I finally got one on the phone, and he said he could come check it out in about an hour. While we waited, I found a place for us to stay for the night in Christchurch, since we needed to be there for a standby flight the next day. Finally, the mechanic got there, and told us that our coil pack needed to be replaced in order for it to start again, so I didn’t have many options. I chose to find someone to sell it to, because I had no way of transporting the car anywhere, and all the shops I could get a hold of were booked. The mechanic gave me the number of some guy who buys broken down cars, and I got to calling people. He told me he would be there in a couple of hours, and I proceeded to try to find someone who would rent me a car for a one-way trip to Christchurch. The pickings were extremely slim, but I found this weird little tan car that costed way too much. Unfortunately, that was my only option. Luckily, the man who owned the rental was nice enough to drive us to the car rental company. Once we got there, we rented the car, went back and packed our stuff, and headed out to finally get something to eat. We got to eat at the famous burger spot called Fergburger. The burgers were really good. While we waited for the man to call about buying the car, we sat next to Lake Wakatipu. I needed a break, and Evan and I just sat and hung out for a while.
Eventually, the man named Roger called us, and we went back to where my car was stranded. Roger was quite an interesting man. In the 30 minutes I knew him, he gave me his whole life story. He used to be a goat farmer. One day, he decided that he didn’t like goats much, but that he really liked cars. So, he sold all of his goats, and started to fill his farm with old, broken-down cars that he buys. He parts them out sometimes, and sometimes he fixes them up. So, I sold Roger my car for $150. Evan and I pushed it into his trailer, which he hauled away in his station wagon. After getting the car all squared away, Evan and I got in the car to head back to Christchurch.
After a long, rough day.
The drive back to Christchurch felt so long, but I was probably just bummed we had to leave. That night, I went back to Lincoln University to pack up all of my stuff to move back to Colorado. We got some sleep, and waited to see if we got on the earlier flight. We didn’t make it, so we decided to head to Christchurch Bike Park. Evan and I rented bikes, and we got to do some downhill riding. That was my first time riding with Evan, and probably my fourth time riding ever. It was pretty fun. However, the bikes we rode didn’t have the best brakes, and the dirt was very loose. So, I wrecked. I smacked my shoulder directly into the ground; no tucking and rolling occurred whatsoever. I still don’t know how to wreck the right way. Nonetheless, the bike park was super fun. I am glad we got to end our adventure through New Zealand, as well as my adventure around the eastern hemisphere, on a fun note.
The next day we both boarded a flight back to the USA. It was very, very bittersweet. I was extremely sad to have left New Zealand so soon, and that I hadn’t gotten to do some of the things highest on my list. However, I was feeling very thankful to have experienced such an amazing trip.
New Zealand was quite a place, and I definitely got around that island despite the trip being cut short. If you have any questions about where I went, bars we went to, beaches we lounged at, or trails we hiked, please send me your questions! I would absolutely love to talk about this wonderful country with anyone who is interested. Until next time…
Zoooooom.
