Sweet As…New Zealand: Days 5&6

Being woken up by Amy’s driving through bouts of sleep, and eventually her asking me to drive, for the safety of myself and my friends, I got behind the wheel and drove us to Fox Glacier. Here, we put on some heavy duty boots, wool socks and other hiking equipment before heading out to climb New Zealand’s 3^rd largest glacier.

After a lot of walking and a few lessons on how and why the glacier formed, we finally approached the base of the massive, frozen beast that lay before us. We hiked about 1/5 of the way before strapping on our crampons, ice hiking spikes, and began hiking the intense trails of Fox Glacier. Weaving in and out of the frozen abyss, we touched the walls of ice, stomped on the tundra like path, and went through icy tunnels. Along the way, we took some pictures, talked more about the glacier, and even tasted some of the ice that was not (all that) dirty. As Justin, Dan and I drudged through the glacier path, we came along a small pool of crystal clear glacier water. We each dipped our hands in and got a nice drink of the ice cold water. Thirsting for more, I, the brave soul that I am, took a water bottle and filled it up, savoring the fresh ice mountain spring water for all of my friends to try. We passed it around, tasting the freezing cold, completely fresh spring water as we continued the hike. Hoping to pass another pool just like it, we hiked on and saw a whole lot of the glacier, more than any other group of half day adventurers saw. As we continued on, we found another pool where I once again filled both of our water bottles with the refreshing spring water. We met a nice, American couple from Texas who we shared our glacier treasure with. We continued downward and finally reached the starting point of our glacier walk. After a very long walk, we were all exhausted, and slightly hungover, from the day. We stopped, made the rest of the food we had, including Ramen, pizza and hot dogs, and then drove on, hoping to reach Christchurch at some point.

With Amy driving a majority of the night before, much to the relief of myself and everyone else, I once again braved the wheel and drove through the winding roads. With Emily Sieb as my co-pilot, she helped me to navigate our way to a good stopping point. With every campsite in the town we were in close, and looking for a place to stop, we settled for a nice little parking lot and called it a night. As day 5 ended, our trip was much more than the success we planned for.

The morning of day 6 started as Amy got behind the wheel and woke up the entire RV with her not so refreshing driving. Dan awoke with a cheery “Hi friends! Did I get the scooter?” after a plentiful 12 hour snooze, and the rest of us were quickly awake after the bouncing and swerving on the road. I swear, those jackrabbits and that wind really do affect your driving these days!

After we returned the RV, we headed back to the airport to fly home. As we checked in, the lady behind the ticketing counter told us that all of our luggage had to be less than 7kg. Freaking us all out, we started throwing away stuff we didn’t need; putting on multiple, multiple layers (I wore 7 T-shirts, a jacket, 3 pairs of socks, and a hoodie) we braved through security with wishful thinking. As soon as we got the clear to head to our gate, we peeled of our layers and waited for our flight home.

With 6 days in New Zealand, we only got to shower once, ate PB&J for too many meals, bungy jumped the 3^rd highest bungy in the world, climbed New Zealand’s 3^rd largest glacier, and road tripped on the left hand side of the road through the country. Crossing 2 things off of my bucket list, I ended the most epic (and expensive) vacation of my time in Australia and cannot wait to return to the country of “Sweet As”.

With finals looming before me, I wish you all happy and safe adventures until I tell you of my next excursions.

Until then,

Wilson

Sweet As…New Zealand: Days 3&4

After waking up, what felt like way too early, on Sunday, April 10^th, we refilled the water, dumped the waste water, met and fed a nice little duck we named Ronald, we headed out for Queenstown to test our limits at bungy jumping.

After a long, very rocky drive, we stopped at a nice little rest top, filled up on fuel and I got behind the wheel to spare the others from Amy’s not-so-subtle/safe driving. Having done my fair share of driving through the backwoods of Stonington and other parts of Illinois, as well as trips to Eminence, Missouri for canoeing, and my past experience with the family Suburban, the RV was hardly any different. I handled those New Zealand curves like it was my job, allowing the others to regain consciousness from all the whiplash they received after the first leg of the journey. Having been my birthday, I thought it was pretty sweet to be road tripping through the South Island with my window down and the tourism radio on. We arrived in Queenstown midday, and after a nice birthday celebration with a Hannah Montana singing card, a new stick of Burt’s Bees chap stick, and a match as a candle, we decided to have a walk around the town before heading to the greatest part of our trip.

Queenstown is a precious little village that looks like it should be in a movie. It is full of little shops and cafés and is right along the water’s edge. Throughout its streets, people walk around, sit outside and drink coffee, set up their easels and paint beautiful, scenic pictures, and play their instruments for people’s change. The weather was absolutely wonderful and the scenes were amazing. After hitting up some shops, we headed to A.J. Hackett bungy and arc swing. Signing some forms saying I knew the dangers, getting my weight and boarding the van, I was off to bungy jump the 3^rd highest bungy in the world, Nevis bungy. We headed to the back roads of Queenstown, put the van in 4-wheel drive, and high tailed it up a rocky mountain to the check in station.

Going to the bathroom to get rid of my nervous bladder, I strapped on a harness, reweighed in and headed off on the cable car to the bungy platform. Having the second biggest donk in our group, I was second to jump to my almost fate, relying solely on the elastic cords attached to my ankle. I sat in the birthing chair (some said it felt like the dentist, others like the gynecologist), and let the guy secure my bungy cord. Telling him it was my birthday, he shook my hand for a congratulations and I wobbled my way to the plank.

Looking out at the valley and river below me, I heard the countdown and leaped into a perfect dive. This was the most amazing feeling in the entire world! Free falling for 8-10 seconds. Pure bliss. A weightless feeling of nothing but looking down and being completely excited. That time felt like forever, and as I approached the end of it, I began to get nervous. Right before the cord caught and stretched to pull me back up, my life flashed before my eyes and I began to panic. Then, I felt the tension and bounced back up at least 50 meters. Plummeting back down and bouncing back up, and then failing to pull the rip cord, I rose back up to the jumping station upside down, only to be congratulated by my mates and the rest of the crew. I then watched everyone else in my group jump, went back to the station, bought the DVD to prove my jump and for all to see (Just ask!), and called my mom and dad. Thanks for not answering…on my birthday!

We then returned to Queenstown and headed off to our next campsite of the night for hot showers, grilled cheese, and some much needed sleep.

Monday the 11^th also came very early. With a lot of miles to cover and very little time to do it, we did not have a whole lot of time to stop and truly enjoy the towns of New Zealand due to our jam packed schedule. After some more reckless driving by Amy, we arrived in Milford Sound. Here, we went on a ferry tour to see many waterfalls, beautiful yet freezing cold, 300m deep water, and rock formations equipped with live seals. On the boat trip, I began to feel a little woozy, but was able to shake it off with some fresh air and fresh water mist from the massive waterfalls. Despite the day being cold and rainy, we got to see some lovely sights, and had we gone farther would have been able to see Antarctica. Lucky for us, that did not happen.

We then drove back to Te Anu and went on a glow worm cave tour. After a boat ride under the night sky through more beautiful mountains, we arrived at the cave and got to walk through seeing rushing water, amazing rock formations, and thousands of glow worms. Due to their bright lights, they almost looked like fake, glow in the dark paint all over the cave ceiling. We then headed back to the main land, and decided to cook some real food in our RV. We had NZ style Ramen and hot dogs (none for me of course!), and finished the night off by playing on a sweet as New Zealand playground. Hello, childhood! How have you been?

With a long way to our next destination, Amy decided to drive throughout the night while the rest of us partook in some adult like activities in the back. We played Old Maid and Uno, while listening to some country music and singing songs of American pride. After finishing off 2 handles of duty free alcohol (only the good stuff!) in about an hour, we were all in a pretty decent state at this point. We then met the Canaver’s, prayed the rosary and passed out to the lulling jerks of Amy’s driving. I wish I remembered a whole lot more of Monday night’s escapades, but celebrating my 20^th birthday, being in New Zealand, and Amy’s poor driving skills, things became blurry rather quickly. As Monday came to a close, the final two days of our trip were soon to follow.

Until Then,

Wilson



Sweet As…New Zealand: Days 1 & 2

After taking a plane, train, and automobile, along with the awkward question of “Have you ever driven on the right side of the road?” by Nugget (Dan Reiss), we arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand at around midnight on April 8^th with a temperature of 6 degrees Celsius. We took a limo (first time ever!) to our little motel to crash for the night and begin our adventure across the South Island of New Zealand. By the way, does anyone know the name of the movie with Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson, where Hartnett is a famous sports journalist and writes a story about a fighter, played by Jackson, who ends up homeless, slightly mentally ill, and tells stories of his past, most of which are lies? We only caught the end of it, and were wondering what it was called.

After some not-so-good motel coffee made from a coffee press/plunger, we headed to Maui Rentals and began our excursion. We watched the informational DVD, signed the paperwork, and headed out in our (assumed) 6 berth Maui motor home. I decided to co-pilot the first leg of the trip, holding my breath, saying many, many silent prayers and attempting to navigate and calm Amy down as she drove this massive, beast of an RV through roundabouts, windy-country roads and beautiful landscapes and mountains.

While the other comrades slept, played card games and mingled, Amy and I got us to a nice little town called Geraldine, where we made our first stop to use the toilets and see some NZ scenery. In this town, we visited some local shops where we got to try some New Zealand cheeses, fudge (not as good as yours Grandma Carolyn!), jams, marmalades, salsas, fruit cocktails, and, finally, some good ole’ New Zealand schnapps. We then headed back to our RV, made a nice lunch of PB&J, oranges and pretzels, and continued onward to our next destination.

We arrived in Lake Tekapo, with a loud, very high pitched scream from Amy, and came down to the water’s edge. Here, we witnessed some of the most gorgeous blue water with mountainous background almost too good for real life. I won’t lie…it almost looked fake!

 

After some exploring and more picture taking, we partook in our first set activity called the Lake Tekapo hot pools. Here, we stripped out of our trackeys and slipped into our swimmers, took a quick run to the pools, and soaked in the glorious 35, 39, and 41 degree Celsius hot pools for the evening. These pools use fresh, New Zealand, mountain spring water, all of which are sand filtered and heated using minimal energy, and actually produce heat as they work. After a long week of studying, flying, and tensed up driving, these were the exact relaxation we needed. We also visited the sauna, steam room, and even dared to jump into the 8 degree Celsius “Glacier Pool,” to prove our insanity.

After a long day and the hot pools near closing, we decided to head to our campsite and call it a night. Getting some comfort of home by watching “The Bourne Identity” with Matt Damon, we ended our Saturday, April 9, 2011 cuddling three and three into the two beds, only to wake up and start our next excursion just after dawn.

That’s all for days 1 & 2! Stay tuned for the next part(s) of my adventures.

Sweet As,

Wilson

SCUBA diving with Elvis, White Water Rafting with Canadians/Asians

I had a very expensive and interesting weekend in Cairns on March 17-20th. Sorry that it has been so long, but I have been very busy with school and catching up on old seasons of One Tree Hill. I sincerely apologize for this massive delay in my adventures. So, here is what Cairns is like...

We arrived late Thursday night to Gilligan's Backpacker Hostel on St. Patrick's Day, saw multiple partiers in their best green attire and dodged a few drunken fights as we checked in. After some room placement mishaps and an Australian girl yelling "You have been evicted!" on repeat (just like Big Brother, but not Julie Chen style), we made it to our room and called it an evening.
The next morning, we were off to the marina to begin our Scuba diving tour. On the boat, we met Elvis the entertainer who is responsible for some of our fabulous pictures as well as a few laughs here and there. As we began our excursion, everything was fine until the boat started moving. Family: Remember when we went deep sea fishing in South Carolina and I absolutely hated the boat part of it and felt horrible that evening? Yes...that happened again. As we were sitting in our scuba info session, I was doing everything possible from having to yell "Plan B" and run to the back of the boat. After it was over, I sprinted outside for some fresh air, luckily able to keep my small breakfast down.
Scuba diving was one of the most AMAZING things I have ever done. Being able to breathe underwater and see all the fish, corral and everything else so close and clearly was life changing. "It was like being in Finding Nemo," as some would say. We got to hold sea cucumbers, stick our hands into a massive clam, hold sea urchins and saw so many things. We did 2 dives, and the second one was very relaxed and we kind of got to do our own exploration, and it was definitely well worth it.
After a long day on the boat and a very nice sunburn, we headed back to our hostel, found dinner and called it another early night.

Saturday morning we had another early morning wake up call and headed up (I believe) to the Tully River to do some EXTREME white water rafting. Now when I say extreme, I mean extreme. They gave us life jackets and helmets and we braved the grade 4 currents (I think that is what you call them). We were thrown from the boat, flipped out, at one time thrown out by our rival boating gang, and the boat completely flipped over. Everybody but 2 people in my boat drew blood of some form, an I got some lovely scrapes from rocks and what not. White water rafting is absolutely no compairson to rafting/canoeing, but if you are a good or decent swimmer and comfortable with falling out of a boat into the river and risking your life, definitely do this! It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again.

• Mother: You would have absolutely hated this weekend
• Dad, Aunt Angie, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Tammy, brother/sisters/cousins: You would have loved this! We should definitely look into doing this some time.

Again exhausted from our day, we had dinner and ended our evening casually. The next morning, we watched our friends Sky Dive from 14,000 feet and then had some amazing breakfast at a little cafe. Cinnamon raisin French Toast covered in honey, with ice cream and delicious fresh fruit....and I got a macaroon on the side! It was amazing! The macaroon made me think of all my little FG nuts and Todd the Baker, and was definitely worth it.
We then went to a local bar, sat around watching some March Madness, before some old 'Stralian man switched it to Cricket/Rugby/Soccer, and had a couple jugs of beer to round out our day.

Weekend in Cairns was definitely worth the experience, but very strenuous on the bank account. I would go on this trip again if I were to go back and do it all over again, just prepared myself a little better.

Word on the street is that I have around 46 days left in the Land Down Under. A trip to New Zealand with my mates, a small adventure in Sydney, and then a trip to Perth with Aunt T stand before this, but I miss you all and miss home a little too.

See you all very soon!

Until Then,

Wilson