Wrapping up "The Trip," New Zealand Style

The trip is, sadly, coming to a close. We have had a ton of great adventures so far, but we were both extremely excited to finish up with New Zealand. We figured that a camper van journey would be a great way to bookend the trip as that was exactly how we had started it in Iceland. So that was the goal when we touched down in Christchurch! But first, we had to get through customs. As a relatively small island country, New Zealand is very much concerned with any foreign substances, bugs, diseases, etc. being introduced. They had a very pointed customs form, and anyone with hiking boots in their baggage, no matter what the reason, had to show them to a border agent. Luckily, ours seemed to pass the test. Another reason why we decided to end the trip here was that we knew it would be a little expensive, so we wanted to save money wherever we could. Since it was past 2am by the time we got through security, we decided to just sleep at the arrivals area in the airport. Saving a night’s fee at the airport instead of a hotel was a great start to our budgeting! We pulled out our sleeping bags so we maybe we looked like some bums that wandered in out of the rain though…

When we woke up around 7am we repacked our bags and took the city bus to our hostel. We were able to get into our room right away which was much needed. After a little nap, we went to grab some groceries for breakfast. We cooked a breakfast of apple-cider pork sausages, eggs, and avocados in a spectacularly clean hostel kitchen. What a change-up from the disaster kitchen in Sydney! After breakfast we went off to explore Christchurch, despite the rainy weather. We started at Solidarity Grid. Christchurch was hit with a massive earthquake in 2011 that killed 185 people and left the city heavily damaged. Many countries came to their aid. As a sort-of memorial, some cities around the world also donated unique street lamps which were lined up along a bike lane at a park. From there we went to see the Brockworth Street Art Gallery (basically painting along a stone fence line) and took pictures of the old-style streetcars making their way through the Spanish colonial architecture of New Regent street. We headed back to the grocery store to buy some cheap food for dinner (frozen minced pies and soup), and then found a cool Irish pub (that was packed full of people ducking out of the cold rain) to grab a couple of Guinesses.

The next morning it was time to pick up our campervan! We rented it from a company called Spaceships, and got a simply amazing deal. For a 19 day rental we only paid $372 NZD ($234 USD). The van came with a full cooking space, extended convertible sleeping area and mattress, a refrigerator, extra cooking gas, and extra cooking stove, linens/towels, and all necessary dish ware. It was simply a converted mini-van, but that worked just fine for us! The reason it was so cheap was that most campervan renters land in the north (Auckland) and drive them to the south. Since we were doing it in reverse order, they basically were using us to transport the van to where they needed it most for a small fee. Now, on the trip so far we had tackled some crazy driving situations. Our insane Vietnamese scooter adventure is well documented, but we had also driven ATVs down dirt roads in Greece; searched all over Italy for an electric charger for our rented EV; took Kyle through a make-or-break learning of stick shift in Iceland, etc. However, this was going to be our first time driving on the left side of the road (besides scooters in Thailand, which don’t really follow any traffic laws anyway) with the driver seat on the right side of the car!

On the very first turn out of the rental car lot we had to debate which side we were supposed to be on. On top of that, Kyle went to turn on the blinker and, instead, the wipers went flying across the windshield. So those levers are reversed too. The first turn after that was a round-about and nothing felt more weird than swinging into that going left instead of right. The whole way back to the hostel was its own mini adventure, but we made it back without further issue (besides at least another dozen times accidentally turning on the wipers). After packing up the van, we picked up some groceries for the journey that included: dry pasta and sauces, bread, eggs, canned tuna, peanut butter and jelly, some canned and fresh vegetables and fruits, and some cheap snacks and discounted meats. Basically everything needed for a cheap camping trip. Of course when we finally left the hostel we accidentally opened the wrong doors in the van (remember that we said passenger and driver seats were reversed? We sure didn’t)!

Our first stop on the way out of Christchurch was at the Sign of the Kiwi café, a cool coffee spot with a great view overlooking the bay that Christchurch sits on. From there we had a 4 hour, ~330km drive through steadily ascending landscape to Lake Tekapo. Right away we started to get the views we came for: sweeping plains full of sheep and twisted old trees, with jagged snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance. We stopped at Lake Tekapo for a few photos, but continued on a bit to a nearby free campsite at Lake Poaka just as the sun was almost down. We cooked up some dinner as it got dark, and then finally looked upward at the sky…we were absolutely floored at what we saw. The whole area we were camping in (everything around Lake Tekapo) was part of an International Dark Sky Reserve. It was a crystal clear winter night and there was no moonlight to speak of. Because of all of these factors, we were able to see the Milky Way more clearly than either of us had ever seen it (it seriously looked photoshopped onto the sky), and with it we saw what felt like millions of twinkling stars. Every 8-10 seconds a shooting star would fly by. We tried capturing the moment on photo, but despite our best efforts with the camera and two hours in the cold, the images just don’t do it any kind of justice. I guess these views are just best left to experience!

That night it got really cold (it’s winter down here and the temps dip below freezing) and we woke up to a layer of frost inside the van. Some warm camp stove coffee and fried eggs got us going, and we left the camp site (only two other campers ever showed up at the whole site) and headed to the Mt Cook trailhead for our first New Zealand hike. This trail is one of NZ’s most popular, and despite it being winter and just after the country opened up, the trailhead parking lot was packed when we arrived. The first part of the 10km (5k out and back) trail was packed with people…most of whom were falling over and sliding around. The trail was extremely icy, especially at the beginning, and we were only saved by our hiking poles and decent boots. The crowds died down as we advanced further up the trail, and we were rewarded with Great views of Mt Cook and the glacial lake (with icebergs from the glacier) in front of it at the end of the trail. The people that made it that far were all awesome, and we got some great tips from some locals. The route back was a little less slippery as the sun had popped out to melt some of the ice.

From there, we decided to drive all the way down to Queenstown (about 264km). On the way we were supposed to pass through the wine region of Gibbston Valley in the Central Otago area. It had got later than expected (the ice made the hike a little longer than we wanted it to be) and we were disappointed to see that most of the wineries we had found online were closing at 5. We got into the valley at 5:30 and decided just to check around anyways, most places were clearly closed up, but we found one with lights still on. When driving by, we saw that it closed at 5 like the others, but just then the owner stepped outside and waved us in. He let us sample some wines and we ended up buying a bottle to sip by the warm fire. He came and sat down by us to trade stories, and he showed off his dogs (one of which was featured in an Australia winery dog book as a “miniature German Shepard” which definitely doesn’t exist…the dog was a little terrier and it was the owner’s inside joke that somehow made it to print). If you’re ever in the area, make sure to stop by Mt Rosa wines and ask for Guy! After the wine (just a glass, NZ has strict drinking-and-driving laws so we took the rest of the bottle to go) we had just a quick jaunt into Queenstown.

We had both thought that Queenstown was going to be a large city. Whenever we had looked at international flights into New Zealand, Queenstown was always listed as an option as much as Auckland (a city of 1.5 million people). We were shocked, then, to find out that it was actually a bustling little tourist village of…15,000 people. And it was definitely a tourist haven destination, and an expensive one at that. In the wintertime it reminded us of an Aspen or Breckinridge type town. This was one reason why we had to camp a few kilometers away, at a site called 12 Mile Delta: even camping near the town was expensive. Camping there ended up being a great idea though as we woke up to spectacular views of the mountains over Lake Wakatipu. That next morning we made the drive along the lake to the town of Glenorchy, where we strolled through for some scenic pictures. Afterwards we followed our trail back down into Queenstown and went to a coffee shop to do a little planning/booking, and stretched out our legs on the three mile round trip hike up Queenstown Hill to get a view of the city and surrounding mountains. We then hopped in the van again (it is a road trip after all) to make it as far as we could toward the Milford Sound (about 280 km away) where we had just booked a kayak/cruise combination trip for the morning.

We camped at Henry Creek just outside of Te Anau. We were up before sunrise the next morning to finish up the winding 90 km drive into Milford. The area has a large stretch of an avalanche zone where it is illegal to park/stop in the winter. We made it just in time for our morning kayak, which was just us, another couple, and our guide named Damon. Damon was awesome and very knowledgeable. During our kayak around the sound we saw fur seals (one of which played around our kayaks), white herons, and even a kaka (bush parrot) which is extremely rare, as there are only 2000 of them in the world. We went from the kayak tour and made it just in time for our cruise around the Sound (actually we almost missed it, the boat had to re-dock to get us onboard). The weather was dreary so we didn’t get great views of the fjord, but the captain had lots of interesting facts, there was plenty of free food and coffee (we may or may not have stuffed our pockets full of tea bags and cookies to take), and the staff was friendly and offered awesome recommendations for other things to do and places to stay. When we got back from the cruise we were informed that we had just about an hour to get a certain distance down the road, as the recent rain was going to cause potential avalanches, and they were going to close the road at 5pm. When we asked how long the road might be closed for, one of the cruise staff said “well last time it was 8 days.” We were offered a ride to our car (we parked in the free lot 20 minutes away) from the other couple on our kayak cruise (literally every person we have run into in New Zealand, whether they are a local or fellow traveler, has been wonderful) and sped out of the area. We decided that with such a good start, we might as well make it all the way back to Queenstown, and that’s just what we did.