I turned in my last papers and then literally immediately hopped in a camper van and set out for another adventure around the South Island.
For real, this place has now been more than conquered. We set out on the road with a great soundtrack to accompany our ride. And so it began...So Friday afternoon brought us our first stop: Lake Tekapo again. Oh man, still so freaking beautiful. I really like going back to places that we've visited before. The sense of familiarity makes me realize how much this place has become home to me.
We saw a pretty crazy moon rise and sun set on our way out. And when I say pretty crazy I mean quite possibly the prettiest that I've ever seen, which is saying A LOT. Especially considering where I am right now. After marveling at this beauty for a long time, we parked our camper van at Lake Pukaki and made at some dinner as my over-tiredness and Cathy's general HONL outlook on life clashed and the camper van was filled with hysterical laughter.After dinner we decided to drive the rest of the way to Mount Cook. Normally our night drives are pretty lame, only livened up by incessant talking and bonding. However, because this night was a full moon, we could actually see what we were driving into, which was hugely epic mountains all around us. We knew that this drive was going to be 1000 times more epic in the daylight. We parked our car in a dodgy as parking lot in Mount Cook and went straight to sleep.
Saturday morning brought with it extraordinary sights. When we opened our window and discovered Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, staring straight back at us. We picked an amazing spot to eat some breakfast and then started our morning on a trail that led to a great view of the Tasman Glacier. Which was shockingly almost completely under water. Once we realized this, we knew we had to go and taste some of that glacial water so we found another trail that led to the base of the actual glacier. We sat there for a while and ate glacial ice, which tasted delicious by the way, for a good while.
We soon realized that we were starving and headed back to the camper van for lunch. The ride out of Mount Cook was completely breath-taking. With sights that include colossal mountains and the bluest water I've ever seen, how could it not take your breath away?We made our way to Dunedin, stopping at the Moeraki Boulders once again and marveling at the roundness and crazy sea shells. Once we made it to Dunedin, we immediately knew what we wanted to do -- find the steepest street in the world. After a couple stops at gas stations and a few directions from some very friendly and helpful gas station attendants, we found it.
Seriously, it was really really steep. Pretty hard to even walk up, but we made it to the top. After the inevitable touristy pictures, we made our way to Otago Peninsula and ate dinner on a dock while watching the world go from day to night. We headed into a more appropriately re-named Dodge-nedin and found a great place to park.We woke up in a residential neighborhood on Sunday morning and realized we should probably get out of these people's front yard and find a place to make breakfast. So we headed to the same beach with the horses from our first south island trip and made some delicious breakfast. And then decided that it was nap time. So we napped in the sunlight, with the windows open, and the sounds of the beach in our ears. Perfect.
After the much-needed nap we headed to Oamaru and checked out the Oldest Buildings in the Southern Hemisphere. And, I have to say, this little town was adorable. I thoroughly enjoyed walking in and out of these old fashioned buildings while eating some Tip-Top ice cream. One of the girls that we were traveling with had spent a week WWOOF-ing at a random huge piece of secluded land in Oamaru and, after speaking with the owners, we decided to stay the night there. So after looking at the old buildings, we headed to her land.
We were told that we would be sleeping in a hut. I didn't expect the adorable mini house that we were sleeping in. Walking into this place, I knew this was going to be a good night. My suspicions of this were only verified further when a John Mayer cd was already in the cd player. Hello serendipity.
After a really satisfying meal of grilled cheese, we decided to check out the huge amount of land that these people live on. We didn't even scratch the surface of the amount of land that they have and I was completely blown away. The view that they have absolutely blew my mind. It's crazy that people actually get to live their lives like this. After a long walk, we headed back to the "hut" where I was able to shower, which was much needed and much appreciated. Then we all sat around by the fire, reading our books with John Mayer in the background. It's no exaggeration to say this was a wonderful end to the day.
Monday morning began beautiful and slowly turned into a gray, rainy mess. But it was okay cause we spent the day at Cindy's (that's the house we were staying at) re-routing the rest of our trip and eating a meal that was far more delicious than we deserved (seeing as we paid absolutely nothing to be there). After lunch, we decided to take another look around the land, this time with Cindy's daughter showing us around. We ended up spending the afternoon walking through fields with horses all around and attempting to get the black sheep to come close enough to see. (Side note on the black sheep: Cindy has named each one of these sheep after famous black people in the US. Their favorite one is Tiger.)
After saying goodbye to Cindy, we headed to the town of Oamaru to see some PENGUINS! First we went to see yellow-eyed ones, which are very shy and rarely seen. So we only saw one of those in the distance. After the yellow-eyed ones, we went to see the Blue Penguins. Oh my word, I can't think of anything more adorable than these tiny little penguins. They are literally the smallest penguins in the world.
We were technically not allowed to take pictures, but Cathy, being a master stealth photographer, somehow got some pictures of these cute little things. The pictures aren't that good, but you have to cut her some slack, she was taking the pictures from inside her sleeve! After it got too cold to watch these penguins anymore, we made a very HONL drive to Darfield and ended up parking in the sketchiest place we've parked in so far. It was literally behind a dentist office next to a railroad track. Awesome.
Tuesday was a day dedicated to driving and seeing beautiful sights. I mean, to be fair, that's kind of what all traveling in New Zealand is, but this day was even more so. We got up and drove through Arthur's Pass. Now we have done this drive over four times since we've been here and it NEVER gets less extraordinary. It was also a completely different drive because it's no longer winter and the mountains aren't completely covered in snow. It has been transformed with the season. Completely amazing!
We stopped in Greymouth for lunch and then headed up to see the Pancake Rocks. Super cool. Then we roamed around in some random caves and then headed for Westport. We decided to check out Cape Foulwind, which we heard was incredible. When we pulled up to the trail, we weren't that impressed. But the further that we walked along the trail, the more impressed we got. This was an absolutely beautiful place with an incredible view. New Zealand, how I love you!
We headed toward Lewis Pass and decided to park literally on the side of the road for the night. This trip was just full of crazy parking spots. We made some dinner and then sat around and talked and laughed. Once we stopped talking we decided to start reading our books. Well, that's when we started hearing noises. Keep in mind that we are in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Seriously all that is around us is trees. No one knows where we are. So, of course, being the paranoid girls that we are, we freaked out. Cathy and I immediately got into "Survivor Mode" and grabbed huge knives. Of course, these noises were nothing and we were eventually able to settle our minds and go to sleep. Honestly, the whole situation is quite hilarious now.
Wednesday was our final day on the road. We drove through Lewis Pass while listening to some awesome music. This was a completely new drive and was SO pretty! Especially our lunch spot. It was a perfect end to a perfect trip.
Man, how I LOVE the camper van trips. And the South Island. And just New Zealand in general. This place is beautiful beyond reason. We like to call this beauty, and all of the unexplainable perfectness of this place, New Zealand Magic. You can't help but fall in love with this place.
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