I'm 22!

Day 3 (27^th)

We had parked beside the highway in a cute rest area over the night. Bright and early we left our neighbors behind and headed for Lake Tekapo. Imagine a sea foam color mixed with turquoise and a splash of glitter. This is how the water looked. Amazing! Turns out all the lakes in south island have this color. I assume it’s just the high amounts of minerals that brighten the waters to unbelievable colors. We saw the famous church and sheep dog statue along the lake and carried on to Mt. Cook.

At the base of Mt. Cook lies Lake Pukaki. The only route possible was the scenic route which I was completely ok with!  We curled around the mountains until we were at the base of Mt. Cook which is the highest mountain in New Zealand. It surprisingly looks similar to the peak of Big Sky, Montana. We took a quick hike up to the glacier. I was surprised to find out I had seen this view before! In my suitability class at Swinburne, we studied this glacier by comparing a present day photo with a photo from the 50’s. The glacier has tremendously reduced its size. You can even see the old glacier line!

Me, Pete, Dave

Driving back we pulled over for a quick dip in the lake, aka glacier runoff. We hop in and right back out of Lake Pukaki because it was terrible cold, but still very refreshing!

Andrew, Me, Dave, Pete

Since it was my 22^nd birthday we drove on to Queenstown. We of course hit the bars attempting to get free birthday shots at every place. At our first bar we ran into all the other Melbourne folk that were road tripping through south island. It was a pleasant surprise and the rest of the night is history.

The whole crew is now together!

Day 2 (26^th)- Kaikoura

We took a hop, skip, and jump to get out of Christchurch. We grabbed the camper as soon as possible and started north.  For the rest of the trip the crew consisted of Dave (kind of boring), Pete (balls to the walls), Daniela (mom), Andrew (dad), and myself.

Andrew, Daniela, Pete, Myself, Dave

Daniela and Andrew had plans to kayak so the rest of us decided to hit the waves. We rented boards from a German who grew up in Ireland and now lives in New Zealand. Mix all those accents together and then slow it down to stoner pace and you’ve got the guy we were dealing with! Wow, was it difficult getting anything done! We rented all the equipment and drove out to find the water as rowdy as a nursing home. The tallest wave was suit for an ant. We hop right back in the car to return our stuff.

Since our first adventure turned out to be a fail, we hit the other side of the coast to hike amongst the seals. Turns out… seal are VICIOUS! I never would have thought I’d be shaking with fear when I was caught between a rock wall and a seal. We quickly turned around and found another hike. It was a gorgeous walk with ocean side cliffs on one side and grassy planes on the other. So far, our record was not very good as we’d only accomplished one out of three activities. We grabbed mom and dad and headed south to get out of the unlucky north!

The Beginning of a New Adventure

Day 1 (25^th)- Christchurch

At the crack of dawn Dave and I flew into Christchurch. We scarffed down our early morning breakfast of an orange and two granola bars because we couldn’t bring them across the boarder. As stealth as we were, we mischievously snuck a snickers bar through customs. We passed out on the seats in front of baggage claim until about 10:30. By this time we wondered around looking for the city bus. We were the only two on the bus and had door to door service to the YMCA. We dropped our bags and explored the city. It was really interesting to see the aftermath from the earthquake which occurred almost two years ago. Half the building we falling apart and most of the roads turned into dead ends. The whole city center was closed and the restaurant scene was very limited.

 The only bit of sanctuary was the botanical garden which was just across the street from our hostel. We took a nap here and explored the huge and beautiful garden. There was a rose section and a scary looking green house. We hit the sack early excited for the adventures to come!

New Zealand: Home of the Sheep Shaggers

Australians love to pay people out. Kiwis are called “Sheep Shaggers” and there’s also the “Two Headed Tazzies”. There’s jokes like Kiwis invented Velcro gloves (to hold on to the sheep better) and that all Kiwis wear a size too big boots so they can put the sheep’s back legs in the boot cuff to make the whole process easier.

My favorite joke from a kiwi:

There are two famers, a Kiwi and an Australian. They’re checking on the sheep when they notice one sheep’s head is stuck in the fence. The Kiwi turns to the Aussi and says, “Well, you know what we have to do.” He goes over to the sheep, pulled down his pants, and does his business. He now says to that Aussi “It’s your turn!”. The Aussi walks over the sheep, examines the fence, and replies, “I don’t think my head will fit in the fence”.  

Ha! Jokes on the Aussi now!

It’s funny how big of a difference there is between Australia and New Zealand. New Zealanders are very friendly. I’m not saying Aussi’s aren’t friendly, but Kiwi’s are overly friendly. Australians don’t pay too much attention to their neighboring country. They call them sheep shaggers and that’s that. New Zealanders on the other hand are always comparing themselves to Aussis and explaining how their country and the people within it are better. There is quite a bit of New Zealand pride especially when it comes to the All Blacks (their rugby team). It is a lot greener in New Zealand. The south island is jagged snowcapped mountains with grassy plains. The north island looks a lot like Hawaii with more tropical plants and hills. It is a lot more humid in Auckland than in the south island, and is actually raining as I type.

Aside from the grotesque picture in my head of how the locals get laid, New Zealand is amazing!

A sight to never forget!

Logan, Kevin, Me, Cole, Travis

We woke up casually and hit the road in search of the London Bridge, the 12 Apostles, and Locke Heart Gorge. All of them were absolutely gorgeous. I knew the 12 Apostles were picturesque, but I couldn’t have imagined how picturesque they were. Anddd a ten minute helicopter ride over them was only $150 so we turned around, hopped right back in our car, and hit the next sight.

12 Apostles

The London Bridge

Loch Ard Gorge

Towards the end of the Great Ocean Road we stopped at the must see extinct volcano called Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. We saw kangaroos, wallabies, and emus! One might have confused the parking lot with an emu petting zoo. With all of these giant birds around, what was I going to do but… CHASE THEM! : ) I don’t know why they are not extent yet. Their sporadic run is very impractical. They arch backwards, but stick their heads out; it’s very weird. Mother Nature’s ways… we’ll never understand them.

Kev and a kangaroo

That night we camped in Port Fairy and rolled up after all the camp sites were closed. The big question was should we sneak into a campsite and leave early in the morning or camping in the “no overnight parking” beach lot. After talking to someone who was paying $50 a night to camp we decided to risk it with the beach. We all romantically watched the sun set on the beach and then started our nightly routine of drinking. We started with games and ended with singing on the hood of the car. All in all, it was a great night!

The Great and the Ocean of all Roads

Logan, Travis, Kevin, Me, Cole

Entrance to the Great Ocean Road

We are quite the traveling squad of hooligans. None of us packed until the day of departure. We planned to leave by 9:30 which shortly turned into 11:00. A map was an unknown object to us and so we hit the road with just logic and intuition guiding us. With a few detours, we finally made it out of the city toward Geelong (the entrance of The Great Ocean Road). First of all, I must describe our car. Just before we left Melbourne Cole found some fabulous window flags that said “Proudly Australian”. Then, we had a surfboard strapped to the top. There were five of us in this small white car with bright orange tie downs running across our foreheads (luckily I am short enough that is was above my head and never a nuisance).

Car RAM ROD

First thing we did was stop for a bit to see a light house at Airley’s Inlet. Pretty cool I guess, but nothing spectacular. If you’ve seen one lighthouse, you’ve seem them all! Overall the Great Ocean Road looks very similar to Highway 1 in California. We drove through Lorne and continued on to Apollo Bay. It was about 5:00pm and we were curious as to what to do there. We made random turns until we ended up near the dock next to a fish and chips place. When in Rome! So we decided to grab dinner. We got heaps of chips and all packed in the parked car to eat because the restaurant was take away only. After that meal I think I consumed my yearly intake of sodium and fat. We hit the road again to make it to Johanna beach and set up camp before the sun set.

When we rolled in we had countless looks at our beautiful car. The looks didn’t stop there. When we set up the tents we found out that one of our tents was missing poles and a rain fly. Being a crew of engineers, we figured we could make it work. With the assistance of the car, some string, two bungee cords, and a borrowed pole from the other tent, we had ourselves somewhat of a place to sleep. Our neighbors got a kick out of set up and warned us that a storm was coming. Of course we check the weather before we left… not! Because of the rain, our neighbors where hitting the road so out of kindness or maybe pity, they gave us some food to at least survive the night.

It was now goone o’clock! Since alcohol is sooo expensive here, we had become accustom to drinking box wine aka “goone”. It’s about $12 for 4 liters. We grabbed the wine, towels, and hit the beach. The storm was rolling in over the horizon so of course we made a drinking game out of it. Every time we saw lighting we had to drink. The five of us reminisced and told ghost stories until it began to sprinkle. We rushed back to the tent realizing we didn’t even have a flashlight! Once again, we are very prepared campers! To solve this problem, we just made some friends with surfers and chilled with them until it was late enough to hit the sack. Returning to camp we noticed our makeshift tent was now flooded so it was concluded that all five of us would spend the night in our three person tent. Goodnight boys!!