New Zealand (Part 1): October 2015
Queenstown
We arrived in Auckland, and both “declared” on our customs forms. We had been told that New Zealand was very strict, and had no problem handing out fines, so we decided to bite the bullet and declare everything. Javier declared his cliff bars, I, my shells that I had been collecting, and both of us declared our boots. Yes…you are supposed to declare your boots, which will receive a thorough cleaning if they are deemed too dirty. No foreign dirt in New Zealand!! We waited for a while in the first line, and had to go in a second for my shells. This second line took forever, and when it was finally my turn, the woman looked and said, “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry you had to wait all this time. Please go ahead.” Maybe I should have told the first guy that the shells were several months old. If anything was alive in there when I picked them up (which there wasn’t) they would have been very dead by now. We had dinner, and used the “free phone” to call our hotel for pick-up. It’s pretty great, the hotels all have a number, ours was “70.” You pick up the phone, dial 70, and are connected to the hotel. Why can’t every country have this!!! We were only spending the night before an early flight the next morning. We opted for a budget stay, and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. We have paid much more for much less in our travels. All we really want for an overnight is somewhere clean, with a shower and semi-comfortable bed, and trust me, some of our places have had ONLY those things…remember our first night in Fiji??? 🙂 This place was great. Everything we wanted plus more, and free pick-up and drop-off! We bought some snacks at the airport, since we knew we wouldn’t have options for dinner. Neither of us were particularly hungry, but we ate the snacks, enjoyed some TV and slept in our more-than-semi-comfortable-bed.
We were on the 5am shuttle to the airport. It was a little early for us, but at that time, it only runs every hour, so there you have it. The upside of arriving well before our flight was that we had time for yummy breakfast. Javier and I were still kicking our coffee habit, but when you’re eating breakfast on the go, there aren’t many choices other than coffee or McDonalds, and neither of us felt like processed grease at the moment. Thankfully, we discovered a place with fresh fruit and yogurt. It’s funny, we kicked the coffee habit because we realized it was becoming an expensive habit while traveling through Australia, but our replacement was even more expensive! We traded up for fresh fruit juice and it was twice as much as a latte, which by the way, is really what we drink…lattes and cappuccinos, no wonder why it was breaking the bank. Ha!
Ben Lomond track
We both slept for most of the flight, but woke for the show. As we neared Queenstown the mountains started surrounding us. It was incredible. Snow-capped mountains all around. There were rivers, lakes, sounds, glaciers, fjords. It was just beautiful. We were becoming more and more excited. We took a shuttle into the city center and were with a group of retired Aucklanders. Our driver was so friendly, and the group chatted the whole way there. We were the last to be dropped off, and we talked with our driver for a bit. He had a rough childhood, and is now part of a motorcycle group that does charity rides. The next ride is to bring awareness to domestic violence. According to him, New Zealand has the most cases of domestic violence per capita in the western world. I found that very surprising.
Queenstown
We instantly liked Queenstown. It felt like a small mountain village. We opted to stay at a hostel that has one floor of hotel rooms. The price seemed too good to be true, and we were too early to check in, so we would have to wait and see. It was just after 9am when we arrived, and decided to go ahead and book some activities. Our first stop was AJ Hackett. We were interested in the Nevis bungy/swing combo. They had availability later that day, so we went ahead and booked right then and there. We booked it so that we would have enough time to eat lunch right before we left…maybe not the best idea, but we went for it. We walked around the town and Javier received a much needed haircut.
Pretty good burger
We had heard rumors of a burger place called Fergburger. Weird name, huh??? We received mixed reviews. Some locals we met, said it was overrated, while others said it was actually quite good, but the owners were jerks. We looked online, and it had great reviews, so we figured, why not? Nothing like stuffing yourself sick with a massive burger before jumping into oblivion.
Our conclusion…Fergburger is a fine burger. Not the best by any means, Austin’s Hopdoddy stills holds that title for us, but a decent, huge burger. We rolled ourselves into a couple of shops to look around and finally back to AJ Hackett. There, we were weighed, asked about medical history and signed our lives away. Our group was collected and driven 45 minutes to our bungy location.
Nevis Swing
We had been told to do the swing first, since it was the lesser scary of the two. When we arrived, they were ushering all the bungy people into one area to get their harnesses. We asked if we could do the swing first. The girl in charge said they never let anyone do the swing first, asked us why, and finally (since they weren’t busy) allowed us to go ahead. The swing guys were great. Very funny and relaxed. There was a couple in front of us and the woman was freaking out. While they were swinging away, we chatted with the guys. We asked what starting position they recommended. They said backwards and upside-down. We said, okay. They strapped us in and hooked us up. Once we were sitting in the swing, they brought us out over the platform. Normally, this is where people get really scared because you’re basically hanging over this canyon waiting to drop. Since we were backward, we couldn’t see anything other than the inside of the little hut. The guy showed us how to flip upside-down and wrap our legs around the straps to secure our position. Once we there, he told us to put our hands above our heads. So there we were, hanging upside-down, holding on to nothing, while dangling over the canyon.
Nevis Swing
The guy asked if we were ready, we said yes, and as he was giving us directions, he let us go, and off we went, swinging through the canyon. We made it to the top of the arc and started swinging back. I went to flip myself rightside up, but couldn’t because I was holding Javier’s hand. When did that happen??? I told him we needed to flip back, so we let go, freed our feet and legs, and *flip* all was right with the world again. We swung back and forth a few more times taking pictures and enjoying the scenery.
Next stop, bungy. We were fitted with a harness and waited for another small group to join us. There were 6 of us. The jumping platform is a small box suspended between two mountains.
Gondola to the platform.
There is a small gondola that transports you to and from the jumping platform. The workers are with you at all times and are constantly clipping you to this or that cable. Once inside the jumping box, they put more straps on your harness, as well as ankle straps and pads. Then it’s a waiting game. I don’t know how they decide who goes first, most of the guys went first since they were in the same weight class and therefore, bungy cord. Javier was second in line. I was looking for a good place to stand to take pictures, and I saw him stepping up to the platform. I figured I had a few seconds left to position myself, but next thing I hear is him screaming.
Here we go
HE JUMPED!!! It happened so fast. The guy before him took a little while longer, and I didn’t realize it was because he was scared, I thought it was part of the process, so I thought I had more time than I did. I ran to try and get some video of him bouncing around down there, but I missed most of it. I couldn’t believe it happened so fast. Next thing I know, they’re pulling him up. When he came up, he was beaming- shaking, but beaming. He loved it. We barely had time to talk about it when I saw I was next. There was another girl before me. Javier jumped with his camera, and started taking video of the girl. She made it to the platform and froze. She turned and started talking to her boyfriend in Dutch. Her eyes started filing with tears, so Javier turned off his camera. She was so scared. Finally, the worker told her to stop talking to her boyfriend and talk to him instead. He told her that he could help her. He knew what to say. Only a minute or so later, she’s looking forward and jumped!! While they were pulling her up, they sat me down to get me ready. Now I was getting nervous. I had been very calm up until this point, but I could feel my heart picking up speed. It didn’t help that the chair they sit you in seems very similar to the table and stirrups you experience at the lady-doctor.
Jackie jumped!
The girl came up with a huge smile on her face. They went over the instructions with me. There is a strap that is connected to a pin that basically holds your feet in place. Once you bounce a couple times, you’re suppose to pull the strap, releasing the pin and your feet so you can flip right-side up. I hopped out of the chair and shuffled toward the platform. Even as I write this, my heart picks up speed. You’re not at the ledge of the box. You’re on a tiny 12x12inch square that hangs off of the ledge of the box. So, if you look at your feet, the only floor you can see is under them, to either side is canyon. I knew better than to look down. I had been through something like this before when I was much younger, and I knew that looking down was going to make this much harder than it needed to be. They take part of the bungee and throw it over the ledge. This pulls on your legs a little, and to be honest, this is the scariest part. Next they had me look at camera number one and two, and without further ado, started the countdown. 3…2…1
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Jackie’s swan dive
It’s funny. Even though I could hear him, it was like he was far away. I had tuned out everything around me, and all I could hear was him and his counting. As he was counting, I was also counting in my head, and forced myself to think of nothing else except for those numbers. 3…2…1…jump! I don’t even remember jumping. It was like I woke up and realized I was airborne. The fall was exhilarating yet peaceful. I watched the ground coming closer and closer. Once the bungy cord felt I had gone far enough, it gently pulled me right back up. One bounce…two bounce…time to pull the strap and flip over. Only, I couldn’t pull the strap. I had a hold of it, and yanked as hard as I could, but nothing happened. So, instead of enjoying a peaceful view back to the top, I spent the time bent in half trying to keep the blood from rushing back to my head. Oh well, at least the fall was great. Once back at the top, Javier was there to receive me. They took off my excess straps and while we were waiting for the last member of our group, Javier says, “Want to go again??”
There wasn’t much discussion. We both enjoyed it so much, we decided to go for it again. This time, I was able to get a few photos of Javier as he jumped, and after talking with they guys, figured out how to pull out the pin so I could flip properly. Apparently, my shoes were the culprit. Javier enjoyed his second jump just as much, if not more so than his first, and I was able to enjoy the views right-side up for a change.
After receiving our complimentary shirt and hat, and buying a couple pictures and videos, we were back in the shuttle, on our way to the city. We sat next to a young Indian couple and chatted with them the whole way. Turned out, she jumped, but her husband couldn’t do it.
with Angela and Tom
Back in the city. I was tired. Too much adrenaline for one day. We were supposed to meet with Javier’s friend in a little bit, but I just wanted to relax. We made a few stops in town before getting back to the hostel/hotel. Moment of truth…was this place too good to be true?? The place was GREAT!!! The room was just right, and we even had a balcony with spectacular views of the mountains. It was my dad’s birthday, so I facetimed with my family. The conversation took longer than anticipated, so I was late to meet Javier’s friends, but they were very gracious. We decided to have drinks and snacks close by. We had seen a restaurant earlier that boasted a variety of ciders, it seemed interesting, so we checked it out. We all ordered, sat and made small-talk. Javier’s friend, Angela, and her boyfriend, Tom, were really great. They are low-key, easy going, easy to talk to, and the more time we spent together, the more comfortable we became and all had a really nice night. Javier and I were tired from our adrenaline-filled day, and Angela had to work at 6am the next morning, so we decided to turn in early and agreed to meet again the following night.
Ben Lomond trail
We started our day later than anticipated. We had a 6-8 hour hike ahead of us, and wanted to get moving early, but surprise surprise…didn’t. We finally started the Ben Lomond trek around 10:30. The first section took us about 45 minutes to the top of the gondola, where there was a small restaurant and cafe. At the top, we were supposed to eat a light lunch, but instead had Indian tikka masala, rice, and naan. Not exactly light, so we had to sit around for an extra 30 minutes or so just to let it settle. We also bought some band-aids for Javier’s feet. He had just purchased new shoes in Melbourne, and was so excited to break them in. Well, after only 45 minutes, he already had blisters on both heels. They didn’t look too bad yet, and I asked him if he wanted to turn back and save his feet, but he’s stubborn so we went ahead.
Ben Lomond trail
The hike was beautiful. It started out winding through the trees, which Javier and I have since decided is our favorite terrain. It was quiet and peaceful, and unlike Australia, we didn’t worry about something deadly hiding around every corner. After another 30 minutes or so from the top of the gondola, the terrain changes and its wide open. The mountains are all around and it is just spectacular. As we climbed higher, we could see Lake Teapu below. We passed a sign that said the “saddle” was in 1.5 hours. We made it there in 1 hour. From there the views were amazing. On one side of us was Lake Teapu with it multiple shades of blue, and to the other side was green and brown mountains. The next sign said that the Ben Lomond summit was 1 hour away. We figured we could make it in around 45 minutes, so although Javier’s feet were really hurting by then, we went ahead. This next part was much more difficult. It was quite rocky, to the point where we had to use our hands to climb. We crossed over a couple small patches of snow, and finally reached the top- over an hour later. So much for 45 minutes. We enjoyed the views at the top. They were even more amazing than in the saddle. We decided that one side reminded us of our hike in Switzerland and the other reminded us of Peru. There’s this map-type thing at the top. You look through the little hole at a peak, and on the base, it tells you the name of the mountain you’re looking at. I would have enjoyed spending more time up there, but it was freezing and the strong winds didn’t help.
Ben Lomond track
At one point, I was taking pictures and my hands went from freezing to burning. I told Javier, it’s time to go. We found some shelter away from the wind and were able to enjoy a few more moments, but it was already starting to get late, and we both wanted to get moving.
I hate going down. If I had to choose, I would hike up and slide down. We didn’t bring trekking poles, which made the downhill even worse. We found a walking stick along the way, carried it for a while, did all of the necessary Gandolf the Grey quotes, and then tossed it away for the next person. Funny thing, we stopped for a break and this couple came walking past us with stick in hand. We wanted to get down asap. The wind was really strong, and would carry us faster than we anticipated. We ran/walked the rest of the way down. We stopped again at the top of the gondola to buy some more water and made our way back to the city. We went straight home to shower and when Javier took off his shoes, there was blood. Both of his heels and his pinky toe were raw. Huge blisters that were open and bright red. I felt so sorry for him. I could hear him in the shower yelling at first and then laughing through the pain. Running water over open blisters…OUCH!! Poor guy, we put band-aids over the open sores, comfortable shoes on and rushed to dinner. Did I mention our hotel/hostel provides free breakfast and dinner??? Pretty great huh? The dinner portion is small- perfect for me, and for only $3 you can upgrade to a normal human size- perfect for Javier. We were in a rush because we wanted to make it to happy hour…cookie happy hour. From 6-7, the cookie store has buy-one-get-one-free. Fresh, hot, soft, gooey chocolate chip cookies were the only thing on our minds as we raced down the mountain.
Cookie time
Javier messaged Angela and she met us at the cookie store. The three of us walked to a bar, where Tom had parked the car and was waiting for us. Tom is a quiet guy. He’s not overly friendly in the beginning, he takes his time to get to know you. I understand this personality, I am the same way. For job purposes, I’ve had to change, but this is how I prefer to be. The previous night, Tom didn’t say much, but as the night progressed, he opened up a little bit more. When we saw him this time, he was that much more talkative and friendly. By the end of the night we were all having a great time. It was like being with old friends. We really didn’t want the night to end, but between our hike and the beers, we couldn’t go for very long. We apologized, and they were very understanding. I kept forgetting that they are not young kids, but professionals. Both of them are chefs, but they have the gift of eternal youth. They both look like they’re about 10 years younger than they really are. Angela was a little tried from being up early as well, so we said goodnight and agreed to meet again the following morning to have breakfast at the cafe where Angela works.
Our morning was supposed to be simple. Wake up, pack, receive the camper van, meet with Angela and Tom for breakfast/brunch and start driving. Well, the camper van didn’t arrive until an hour later, and Javier had to drive the guy to the airport. Really??? So instead of meeting for brunch around 10:30-11 like we had planned, we didn’t meet until 12. Javier and I had stopped by this cafe called Vudu the day before for some yummy juice. While we were in line, we saw all of the baked goods, and breakfast food coming out. We said we would come back the following day for breakfast. Well, we were in luck. Angela is the breakfast chef at Vudu! There are two of them within a block of each other. We just happened to walk into the one she didn’t work at. We were excited. We ordered a lot of food, and Angela very generously treated us to breakfast. It was delicious.
We picked up our camper van
We were sad to leave them, but it was already much later than we had planned on leaving. We said our goodbyes and hoped to see them again when we passed trough Queenstown on our way back from Milford Sound. We jumped in our old van. Have I told you about our van?? Well, it was all that was left since we waited until the last minute. All of the modern, popular vans were already hired, so we had to find one of the leftovers, and let me tell you…it was a gem. It was seafoam green and looked like a down graded Toyota Previa, circa 1997. It was dented, scratched, the belt whistled, and in general, sounded like it was going to fall apart anytime we went over 85km/hr. It was supposed to have an awning attached so we could sit in the shade, but we’ll never know what that was like since the zipper was rusted shut. The driver’s side mirror was broken, and taped with electrical tape, so now only holds one position, thankfully it’s the one we needed. Let’s see…oh yes, the “fridge” that comes with it simply didn’t work, so it’s a really good thing that we bought ice and opted to use the cooler until the fridge cooled down to an acceptable temperature. Three days later, the ice was still going strong, but that’s only because it was below freezing, so the milk would probably keep better if we just set it outside.
New Zealand
Now for the positives. The bed was comfortable, and I don’t mean comfortable for a camper van, I mean comfortable…period. We had a night of torrential rain, and not a single leak. It survived our entire trip, and was surprisingly good on gas. We successfully cooked lunch using all of the supplies included. It turned out to be a comfortable ride. And lastly, that god-awful green color made it very easy to spot in the parking lot. She may not be the fanciest thing on the road, but she’s reliable, and half the price of those other fancy-shmancy vans, so I guess we can’t complain too much.
Now THAT was a tangent.
To see more more pictures of New Zealand, click HERE.