South Island one - Auckland to Otago

The SOUTH ISLAND

Pree, Rachael, Paurakh, myself. To paraphrase Andrew Merrill, I don’t know who’s reading, or what you’ll think, but, to keep from paralyzing myself, I’m going to say whatever I like. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry. The plan for the South Island: start in Christchurch (Chch), drive south and east to Mount Cook, drive south and west to bottom of Island, go to Stewart Island, drive north up west coast, loop around top and back down to ChCh.

Day one. Saturday. Travel to Christchurch.

The airport was small and ghetto. We saw two guys from AustraLearn who were doing more or less the same trip as us, though they hadn’t really planned anything, etc. Didn’t have hostel booked. They said they were going to do mushrooms in Milford Sound. I was left thinking (tip my hat to Andrew) “Is this the best my generation can come up with?” The flight was quick and uneventful. We flew over mountains and Pree kept excitedly hitting me and saying “It’s the South Island!” Yes, yes it was.

We took a bus from the airport, and it’s very lucky two girls overheard us being unsure about where our hostel was, because they were natives and were able to draw the route on our map.

The hostel was old, with no elevator and steep stairs. I just about died with my suitcase – why didn’t I bring a duffel bag? Not the last time I would wonder that! The whole place smelled oddly like bees-wax. We had a room to just the four of us. It was clean and nice.

Christchurch is just about the cutest city ever, except maybe Dunedin. There were huge metal sculptures just to make the city pretty, and a cute park around the Avon “River.” On the way back we saw a guy spinning around sticks on fire. It was sort of hokey, his CD player kept skipping, but it was still cool.

We borrowed some cards from the front desk and played a game that I’m pretty sure Paurakh made up while drinking beer. I had Monteith’s Celtic Red. It’s now my favorite.

Day two. Sunday.

Pree did my make up that morning, which was flattering, but I didn’t really look like myself all day.

It took forever to get the van, because the rental place didn’t open when they said they would, and they had more renters than they thought they would, and then they brought around the wrong van. It was all very shady, but I wasn’t really surprised, since  they  had been willing to rent to us on such short notice. We finally, finally got the van. It was pretty sweet: fold out bed in the back, and a sink in the back as well, and also a propane tank with a burner on top, and plates, pots, pans, silverware. We went to pick up a tent we had rented; the journey wasn’t so good because some random girl who looked about 12 years old, had silver pom poms in her hair, and looked stoned threw a rock at our van. It made a huge noise and a dent, and it was weird and scary.

The guy we’d rented the tent from was this nice little old man. His back shed was filled very tidily with camping equipment. We also rented a sort of mattress pad to sleep on. I couldn’t believe how tiny the tent folded down to.

Then we went grocery shopping. The most notable thing about it is that we got boxed milk that didn’t have to be refrigerated until you opened it. Genius.

We ate Indian food at the food court and then finally, finally were on our way. Well, sort of. We stopped at a beach just outside of Christchurch. A dog beach, it turned out! Much playing with puppies ensued.

We finally left Chch and spent the night literally right next to Lake Tekapo. We cooked some bean and rice burritos and drank beer and stargazed. The stars were too bright, and the lake made ocean noises.  were too lazy to set up the tent, so Paurakh slept across the front seat, and the girls slept in the back.

Day three. Monday.

We woke up to a GORGEOUS sunrise over Lake Tekapo. That day we drove to Mount Cook. The idea was to hike Hooker Valley pass- what a bad idea! It started raining freezing cold rain, and the wind blew so hard that it sucked off my beanie and the back of Rachael’s earring, and ripped my and P.Rock’s ponchos to ribbons. We crossed two swing bridges, and each time I thought I would be sucked off. The wind occasionally blew us off the path, and the rain came so hard that it felt like it was going into my pores. At the end of the hike, we saw an iceberg, the big payoff, but I was too miserable to care, and spend the time huddling behind a big rock. We sat, soaking wet, in the back of the van and tried to warm up and decide what to do. While we were sitting there, the rain literally blew through the seal of the closed window. We hung our stuff to dry in the back, but there wasn’t enough hanging room by far.

We outran the rain by going east to Canterbury near Otago. We camped near a lake again. That night Pree and P.Rock slept in the tent. With only two people in the back, it was cold. Not for the last time!

Kapa Haka final

June 5^th, 10:04 am.

Last night I had nightmares, and this morning I woke up very tired, sad, and pensive.

Even though I have a month left in Auckland, yesterday signaled the end in many ways. It was my last day of classes at Auckland University: all that’s left now are exams. Did I learn everything I could? Did I take good enough notes to be able to study? And did I talk to enough people, the right people, the ones who wanted to be my friends, who would help me grow?

Yesterday was my last logic test. I will never do logic again, not even in the final. What’s weird is I started out hating that class, but now it’s one of my favorites, possibly my one favorite. I started with no friends in it but now I know Sam and Ben. I wish I’d known them longer! I tried to copy and paste some logic here, but it uses symbols that blogger can't handle. :(

Yesterday was also my final Kapa Haka performance. I put my poi away sadly this morning. I know I’ll use it again, to show people at home and to teach my mom, but then I’ll be the expert, which is just wrong in so many ways. We’re probably never again going to stand in our kitchen and practice together.

Going to the final performance was so cool. I didn’t think anyone I knew would be there (in the audience). But I looked out and saw Paurakh, Brent, even Brent’s best friend Gui, Kevin, Eric and Chris (think way back to the beginning of the year), Alyse’s boyfriend David, and, surprisingly enough, Liam, because he hates Maori “culture”. I didn’t see everyone because it was so packed, but afterwards, I saw Pree and Amanda (think way back again). Obviously some of these people were primarily there to see someone else, like David to see Alyse, but they didn’t ignore me at all! I was expecting afterwards to be like after the plays at Catholic high, where people were only interested in talking to the person they’d come to see, but it wasn’t like that at all. I talked to everyone I knew, even those people who had been in the performance as well, such as my flatmates, Britta, Meaghan, Scott, Alyssa from AustraLearn….

So today is sort of a let down. Well, it shouldn’t be, because I still have a test to do today, and Hollywood Bakery with the Timlins, and I get my Philosophy essay back today. But… not to be overdramatic, but it is the beginning of the end.

I do wish I could go back and tell myself things: Learn to surf now! The water will be much too cold soon! I guess I have learned things, but not the things I thought I would

Two random notes

April 27. I’m sitting in Albert Park under the shade of a big tree, drinking Taro milk tea with bubbles and trying to decide if I should eat leftover tortellini or stir fry with rice. The fountain is going, there’s a group of school children shouting at the tops of their voices, and seagulls keep wheeling past. The wind just blew all the leaves about – there’s some on the ground now, since it’s nearly fall. It was cold and rainy yesterday, but today it’s hot and slightly muggy. I was up yesterday until 2 am finishing an essay on the rubber industry in Malaya in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century. I have a tutorial in an hour and a half, and I know if I nap, I’ll never go to it. So instead I drink bubble tea, listen to children holler, and muse as to when I plan to do the dishes.

 

May 24. It’s cold and rainy today. Things I miss most about the states: Friends and family, Denali, Disneyland, Garden State, Moulin Rouge, calling people on my cell, having a comforter instead of a sleeping bag, having my hair cut, no tourist shops, consistent internet, central heating, my bike, understanding slang.

Things I love most about New Zealand: The attitude that you can do anything, safety, my flatmates, Japanese and Thai restaurants, learning to cook, traveling, learning to take pictures, sheep, the beaches in the summer, being able to walk anywhere, difficult classes, public transport, the exchange rate, Kiwi accents and slang.