a trip with the Kiwis

AH!!! Birthday!! Okay, I promise to write more about my trip to New Zealand as soon as I have heaps of time available; however right this minute I want to talk about a significant portion of my holiday...my birthday with friends!! This was the first time ever I was able to celebrate a birthday with friends I made in college! Ah! 21 was definitely a good birthday bash. Honestly, I wasn't looking for anything big because in Oz, the drinking legal age is 18.

My New Zealand trip began the 1st of June and lasted until the 8th. I arrived at Christchurch, NZ at 11pm on Tuesday. It was pouring rain. I was alone. I found a cab, befriended the driver and boogied my way to Charlie B's hostel. I literally just climbed into bed and fell right asleep. I guess traveling all day zonks me out. The next day I had all to myself. I decided to tramp (synonymous to bush walking) around the city. It was small with few people. The biggest tourist attraction was the Cathedral. I met the priest, had a chat, and lit a candle for peace. I went to an art gallery, a history museum and a few parks (all which were free). There was also a centre for the arts, funded by the NZ government. Basically it is a little village of art studios that display and sell art pieces. I met some fellow artists and talked about their works. This one lady suggested I go to the Royal botanical gardens to see an exhibition on the Mauri people. So off to the museum I went.

At the museum, I met a Mauri guy who worked there. He spoke the language and was active in his tribe. He toured me around the entire museum, explaining to me the histories, plights, and eventual successes of his people. He told me the differences between the tourist assumptions and the truths about the Mauri tribes. After his two hour tour, I explored the gardens in the rain and stopped at a cafe for a mocha. It was there I met up with Karen, Claire, Becca, Chad and Drew! Aw hey whitman students!! It was so nice to see the girls (I just met Chad and Drew that day for the first time...oops?). We caught up on life, grabbed some lunch and headed off to Dunedin, home of Otago University.

As lame as this sounds, I spent my first day at Otago studying. That's right Mom and Dad. I cracked open my psych notes and began memorizing social psych theories. It was that night that my birthday celebrations commenced. I apologize in advance, but this blog is going to have tales of drinking. As it was my 21st birthday, alcohol had to be involved. No worries though! No one got hurt/sick/injured/arrested...the celebrations were successful nights ;)

Claire, Becca and Kar took good care of me. They bought me drinks and I was introduced to all the Kiwis! The NZ kids were super nice and we all went out to the pub area and went dancing. The night didnt last very long but it ended in the most epic of ways: grilled cheese sandwiches. The best, most delicious conclusion to a night of drinking.

The next morning, well, okay. The next afternoon, Karen and I packed up the car and grabbed the other road trippers (fellow Whittie students: Janna, Gabi, and Erica) and headed off for Queenstown. We got there at night so I couldn't see much of the city. We went grocery shopping, checked into a hostel called "Southern Laughter" and had dinner at a crazy good burger joint. We finished our night at a pub called Buffalo something. Our hostel had drink specials to the place: 1 free beer! As we 5 girls were shmoozing to ourselves at a booth, a fellow snow boarder approached us and joined our table...He definitely thought we were about 18 or younger because he made two major faux paus: 1) He asked us our ages and 2) he asked if we "were planning on getting drunk as". Well, after laughing at both of those questions we answered that we were 21 and no, we were not planning on getting "Drunk as". We asked him how old he was and he laughed nervously and said something along the lines of turning 21 next June. We each placed bets after we finished our beers on how old he actually was..I think we agreed on 17. I give him serious brownie points though for approaching a booth of girls alone! No matter how old he was, he sure has guts

Karen and I headed back to our hostel room. We ended up sharing a two bunk bed suite with two Eastern English snow boarders who were following the ski season to the southern hemisphere. They were friendly enough and we ended up talking about Mammoth mountain and how they want to work there someday but have only ended up working in the Colorado areas.

The following morning was spectacular. We were all up by 7 to watch the sunrise. Because we arrived in Queenstown at night, I had no idea that there were giant, ominous mountains surrounding me. Really, they were spectacular. Most of them were snow capped beauties, intimidating fellow mountaineers and skiers. The girls and I ate some oatmeal, marveled at the gods and started on a city walking tour. We found a massive lake, royal gardens, and BONUS! a candy shop.

We got a move on and squeezed into the car. We drove to the famous bridge of bungee jumpers and watched a 10 year old girl plunge a few hundred meters for her birthday. Scared to pieces, I left unable to take the dive. The car of girls and I drove past Lord of the Rings film sites and unbelievable views. We stopped at a playground for a drive break and swung on the swings. There was a dinosaur in this park! So cool! We stopped that night at a place on the beach. Karen and I took a sunset walk by the waters (oh so romantic) and talked about life and Whitman. When we got back to our hostel, a feast of sorts was ready to be devoured: nachos! Basically the best nachos ever consumed.

The next morning, we were off to an ambitious start. Firstly, I was driving (my first time on the “wrong” side of the road). It really wasn’t too bad. The main problem I struggled with was that the turning signal lever is on the right hand side instead of the left. On the left hand side, there is the windshield wipers. Good thing it was raining! Otherwise I would’ve looked like a bigger fool. Secondly, our trip was super adventurous because we decided to see not one, but two! glaciers! We stopped and hiked up to the Franz Joseph glacier and the Fox glacier. Both were fascinating and glorious. I was proud to have had my picture taken in front of such a geological wonder! Gosh I should have been a geo major

After a few more hours of driving in the rain, we made it to our next hostel. It was amazing. For a low fee of $23, we were given a house. We shared it with two other couples but this house was huge! We girls had our own two levels to ourselves. One of the couples, funny enough, was a Tassie couple! I talked with them while playing on one of the hostel provided acoustic guitars. The man was very friendly. We covered topics such as: his children’s educations, professional goals, and epic trecks. Apparently this Tasman came to NZ by himself to hike the most famous peaks because he had already hiked all the ones in Tassie twice over. His wife was just visiting him for the weekend.

The next morning we took a series of short hikes. One was to the beach. This beach made me understand the Romantic period of art history: the period when artists focused on the terrifying or overtly dramatic. The water was vicious: seething, scratching with menacing claws, ready to grab wary visitors and pull them into its rip tide of doom. I of course had to walk down to the shore to touch the water myself, but I ran away quite quickly because that was mean water. Not California coast water. Oh no.

After the beach hike, the girls and I went to Pancake rocks to see another geological phenomina. Apparently, the rocks by the sea were of a sandstone sediment and with the combination of tectonic movement, wind erosion, and sea erosion, the sediment divided itself into layers thereby looking like stacks of pancakes. Cool, huh?

Next, we drove through the famous Arthur’s Pass. Beautiful! NZ IS like Tassie on steroids: the mountains bigger, the canyons wider, the birds more aggressive and terrifying. I was attacked by a kea.

That was my final day in NZ. We left Arthur’s Pass for Christchurch. We stayed at a hostel that used to be a legit jailhouse. Therefore, it is only fitting that the hostel be named the Jailhouse Hostel. My room was an old cell block. The cinema room was the isolation room. It was definitely creepy, but so cool! After unloading our packs, we went to search for a place for dinner and possibly a drink. As it was actually my date of birth, unlike the other days of prior b-day celebrations, we wanted to have a nice meal and a cool drink. We found a Chinese place that was open. Apparently I share the same birthday as the Queen so everything in NZ was closed. Karen and I split a bottle of wine, and no one even carded me. It’s going to be a weird feeling back in the states when they’ll ask for my ID. Because the age limit is 18 over here, I get past security no questions asked.

We ladies finished our night with an experience at a pub. (A more traditional 21 celebration). I became best friends with the bar tenders. They were so nice! They were from Western England and were about to travel to California, so I had so many things to tell each of them, whether or not they wanted to know about them ;) Those blokes were very fun. They exposed me to drinks I never thought existed. Did you know they light drinks on fire? What is the purpose of that?? Anyways. That night those bar tenders got the pub band to sing happy birthday to me and I left with a mega happy smile on my face. The next morning (bright and early!) I boarded a plane at 4am. I could not have asked for a better trip. I got to celebrate my birthday with old Whitman friends and I explored the entire Southern Island of NZ. I met Mauri citizens, watched a crazy girl bungee, and got attacked by vicious parrots. I saw so many geological formations, drove on the left side of the street without crashing, and sang my heart out to the bad pop music played on the radio. I am going to miss the Southern hemisphere. What am I going to do when I leave this place?