…beautiful/breathtaking/crisp/chilly/sunny/warm/rainy/picturesque/full
of sheep and happy
people/hilly/green/grassy/mountainous/snowy/adventureous/windy/wonderful.
New Zealand was absolutely incredible and I don’t know
how to explain it all. This blog is going to, again, be slightly different.
It’ll start day by day and then finish with different experiences and other
events that I missed. Also, again please look at pictures on Facebook to see
the whole experience (pictures really don’t do it justice but they help)!
One rainy September morning, a lonely shoop (singular
sheep) stood watching the road from its paddock. The road, like all roads in
New Zealand, was quiet and clear of traffic but very windy. Behind the sheep
sat the hilly mountains covered in trees that looked like blankets on the
hills. Close by, the lonely shoop’s fellow sheep, next to them a paddock of
cows, and in the distance reindeer were roaming. This one September morning,
however, was different. In the early morning as the shoop stood chomping on the
grass, it saw three Spaceships zooming by. In these Spaceships sat eleven
American Uni students on their spring break from Australia. The following
recounts the tale of their adventure (from a first person point of view).
Day 1(Sunday, September 25th)
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| Sleeping at Christchurch Airport |
Jetstar only has one flight from Sydney to Christchurch a
day, and it lands at 12.50am. We couldn’t pick the Spaceships up until 9am, so
we slept in the airport; another experience to cross off the bucket list. We
were all so excited though and not in the most comfortable sleeping situations
that it was more of a nap than an actual sleep. Just before 9am, three of us
got on a shuttle and headed to the Spaceship station. It was COLD! We could see
our breaths, it was raining and when we arrived at the Spaceship station we
found out that they had forgotten about daylight savings. Finally though, we
got our Spaceships; big orange Toyota mini-vans. We got Jay, Qui Gon-Jinn and
Ophiuchus. From there we drove to pick the rest of the gang up from the airport
and started our adventure.
First stop was food. It was weird driving around
Christchurch, not only because we were on the “wrong” side of the road, but
also because the city centre was still closed off from the earthquake. We had a
GPS, but because we couldn’t get through the city, we drove around for a while
before pulling into a gas station to figure out a game plan for finding a
grocery store. We had all pulling up in a line at the pumps and were talking
about what to do when we noticed a guy taking pictures of us. We starting
making smiley faces and putting thumbs up, because we thought we must look so
funny – three Spaceships pulled up together. Turns out, the guy was the owner
of the Spaceship company!
At the grocery store we got A LOT of peanut butter and
jelly, BANANAS (only $1.99/kg!!!!!!!!), some fleece gloves and pasta. Then it
was time to hit the road for real and head to Nelson – a 5 hour drive North.
Driving in New Zealand was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever had.
The landscape is breathtaking and ever changing. Every turn we made revealed another stunning
view; sometimes hilly and sometimes oceany. We drove making occasional stops;
our first big one was to see seals. We were driving on a road that seemed as if
it was etched into a cliff; one side the cliff went up high, on the other it
dropped down low. We pulled over on one side of the road where there was enough
space for all three Spaceships and discovered seals! So many seals – huge ones
and little baby ones. We were able to get so close – one person even touched
one! The babies were so cute and friendly. We were on a schedule though and had
to move on. Our next stop was to see the sunset. It was so bright and you could
see it setting behind the mountains. It was beautiful.
 |
| Our first dinner |
Finally, we made it to Nelson. It was already dark and we
needed a place to eat, so we pulled into a Countdown (Woolies) car park and set
up our first dinner in the Spaceships. Everything is very organized like puzzle
pieces – everything had a specific place. We pulled out the little side plate
and set up the burner on it. After starting to boil the water we set up the
tables and chairs and we were ready. With a very nutritious dinner of ramen
noodles we came to our next challenge; where to sleep for the night. It was
already pretty late and one campsite we found wanted to charge us over $200 to
sleep there. So we roamed around before we found a nice little dirt road in
between two paddocks where we set up camp. With eleven of us, four people slept
in tents which we put in between the Spaceships and the rest of us set up the
Spaceships for sleeping. The back seat turned around and there was a
three-piece mattress that we made into a bed. We huddled under the covers with
as many layers as we cold and went to sleep for the first night in New Zealand.
Day 2 (Monday, September 26th)
 |
| Nelson |
The next morning we packed up the cars and headed back
the central Nelson. It was a really cute little town with crocheted trees and
bikes all throughout the city. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were about
to head out to Abel Tasman National Park, but first we stopped to ask where the
best place within Abel Tasman would be. While some of us were in the
information centre (they have them in almost every town in New Zealand – they
provided us with so much invaluable information!) other people went to a
touristy New Zealand shop across the street. That was where we got our New
Zealand beanies. The day before was really cold and we were cold at night too
so we needed hats so most of us got matching hats (to which we later got a
comment from a German guy asking why we were all wearing the same hats). Clad
with our matching hats we drove from Nelson to Abel Tasman.
 |
| Low tide |
Parking in a lot where we found some Spaceship cousins
and packing some sandwiches we set out on a hike through the mountains. Little
did we know that it would turn into a tropical looking beach! New Zealand
reminded me of so many different places; Colorado, Switzerland, Italy and then
Hawaii-like beach places. It was amazing to see such bright sand and brilliant
blue water after walking through what felt like a rainforest. We started off
walking on the path through the trees, but once we found an opening headed down
to the sand. I would really call it a beach because the water was really far
away because it was low tide – the area between low tide and high tide is huge!
It’s crazy to think that the tide can change so dramatically in one day. We saw
waterfalls, caves, shells and took hundreds of pictures! We got back on the path and walked some more
until we found an entrance for Apple Tree Bay where we stopped for lunch.
 |
| Abel Tasman National Park |
 |
| Like our matching hats? |
On the way back to the vans, everything still looked so
amazingly beautiful, and even though I knew I’d probably taken the exact same
picture on the way there, I had to take more pictures because the view was so
incredible. When we got back we just sat in awe over how perfect our hike had
been – the weather was great (sunny with blue skies) and the views were jaw
dropping. After some stretches we decided to find a campsite before it was too
dark. We drove around for a while before ending up at McKee Memorial Reserve
which was right on the water and had a PLAYGROUND!!! All being mature college
student, we had WAY too much fun in the playground. We had another delicious
camp dinner and after setting the vans up for sleeping we sat on the rocky
beach around a campfire – the perfect ending to a great first real day in New
Zealand.
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| This is how we "shower" |
*NOTE: we had our first “shower” at the campsite. And by
shower, I mean we put our heads under a faucet and washed our hair. It was
cold.
Day 3 (Tuesday, September 27th)
 |
| "Flag dresses" |
Once we got back to Nelson, the fun began. The whole
reason we were in Nelson was because of the Italy vs. USA rugby world cup game.
As we drove into Nelson we saw flags waving out car windows – many of which
were US flags. We stopped back by the tourist centre where we saw a bunch of
guys fully clad in American flag outfits, and the funny thing was that not one
of them was even from the US! We walked around Nelson and got some last minute
accessories for the game and picked up our Kiwi hitchhiker (he knew one of the
guys from our crew and we just met up with him there, but he DID hitchhike all
the way to Nelson from Wellington!). Finally with the whole New Zealand crew
together we taught our Kiwi hitchhiker about tailgating and found the perfect
spot to part the vans during the game…in a parking lot with a tractor. It
couldn’t have been more perfect!
 |
| Could this be any more perfect?! |
We set up the cars for dinner and took a lot of pictures
with the tractor. The four of us girls changed into “flag dresses” and took
pictures by the tractor. It was just too perfect and made for some perfect
pictures (see Facebook for them all). We took a really great shot of all us
that would look perfect on a calendar for July (very patriotic for July 4
th).
After clowning around for a while, taking some more pictures and tailgating for
a while it was time for the big game. Walking to the stadium was so funny. We
were all decked out in red, white and blue and I felt so bad for anyone not
wearing US colours passing by us. We were all excited and having a good time
and full of American spirit.
 |
| Showing our red, white and blue! |
Once we got to the stadium, our excitement just boiled
over. We were at a rugby world cup game, watching our own country! We had
really good seats too (might have been because we had to splurge a little
because we were too late getting the cheap seats…). Everyone was supporting the
US or Italy (obviously), but the funny thing was that they were mostly all
Kiwis! They had just picked sides. A group of ladies sitting behind us were
rooting for Italy because they had visited 10 years ago and a brother and
sister close to us were each cheering for a different teams (probably to add
some competition between them).
Another reason we were so excited for this game was
because it was supposed to be a good match-up. The week before we had watched
Australia beat the US 67-5. No jokes. It was a major butt-whooping and there
was a chance the US could win this game. It didn’t happen but it was still a
really exciting game with a final score of 27-10 (check). It was really fun
because the whole crowd interacted with us – we were blatantly American. I
think that it was fun for them because a lot of the crowd was Kiwi and picked
their teams for their own personal reasons, but we stood there tall and proud
singing the national anthem, rooting for our country. The first half was a good
back and forth but Italy just took over in the second half. Although we’ve all
learnt a lot about rugby since we’ve been in Australia, there’s still so many
rules and calls that we didn’t understand. Nevertheless it was a great experience
and we had so much fun! I am very jealous of the people that traveled throughout New Zealand following all the games. Going to more world cup games,
of any sport, is definitely something I want to carry on doing.
Although it would have been fun to stay in Nelson after
the game, we had a really early start the next morning so we headed back to
make camp at the Spaceships.
Day 4(Wednesday, September 28th)
12.45am…barely into day 4 we get nicely awoken by the
Department of Conservation. Apparently they’re not on the same page as the
police department. Even though before we had set up camp we asked the police if
we were allowed to camp where we had parked and had gotten the OK, the DOC said
no. So, we had to get up and we moved back to where we’d slept the last time we
were in Nelson.
 |
| The long and winding road... |
4.30am…awake again to head to Fox Glacier! It would have
been amazing to see the landscape and the surroundings of where we were driving
but we had to start before daylight to make it on time as it was a good 6-7hour
drive. But once the sun did come up it was beautiful! It’s hard to really
describe the landscape and the way it looked as the sun was coming up. We never
really saw a proper sunrise but the colour of the clouds was amazing. The
clouds were pretty low and were only about half way up the hills, with the top
(more than just the peaks) clearly visible. It looked almost like one of those
traditional Chinese landscape paintings of hills and clouds (if that makes sense.
The roads were so windy that it was actually really fun to drive – there were a
couple of times where it was a little sketchy because there were such sharp
corners but it was a very scenic drive all in all.
 |
| Fox Glacier - but where's the glacier? |
During the drive, our resident Kiwi taught us about this
game, “the game of life”. Once you’re in it, you’re in it forever, or until you
take out a full page ad in the New York Times saying that you are no longer in
the “game of life”. What happens is that every time you say the word m.i.n.e.
you have to do 10 push-ups. By the time we go to the glacier, everyone in our
car had racked up a fair number of push-ups and we eventually got everyone on
board with it. It’s hard! But it’s so funny. Unless we were driving, as soon as
someone said the word they had to drop and push out their 10 right there and then.
People gave us weird looks.
 |
| Still no glacier...? |
Finally, it was time for our hike. We were given huge
thick socks and heavy clunky hiking boots. We grabbed big blue rain jackets and
cramp-ons and then we were off. In the bus on the way to the glacier we saw
where the glacier had been 100 years ago and 50 years ago and how it had receded.
Our guide told us that it was just the natural cycle of the glacier and that
although the current one is constantly changing side; growing and receding, it’s
just its natural cycle.
 |
| Strapping on the cramp-ons |
We walked for a while on the rock next to the glacier
until it was time to strap on the cramp-ons and start on the actual glacier. We
grabbed a glacier stick (a wood pole with a spike in the end) and stepped onto the
ice. The ice looked dirty in parts because of the rocks, but other places it
looked white and sometimes blue. Walking on the ice was so much fun. At one
point we were even able to walk down into a crevasse which was so cool – it started
really wide and got down so small that we couldn’t even fit down it. The ice
was really blue there because of the reflection from the sun (the ice captures
all the colours of light and only reflects back blue). We took some cheesy
touristy pictures at the top and before we knew it, it was time to head back
down.
 |
| One good looking group on a glacier |
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| Push ups on the glacier |
Again, like at Abel Tasman National Park, it was so
beautiful and interesting that I took a lot of pictures on the way up, and even
though they probably looked exactly the same, I couldn’t help but take more
pictures on the way back down. It had stopped raining but the clouds were still
over the mountains, but it made them seem even higher and more ominous. I think
that if the sun was shining it would have looked completely different but I
wasn’t complaining – it was still gorgeous. On the way back down, there were a
LOT of push-ups.
*Although glacier water is delicious, if it's all you drink for 10 days you will get dehydrated as it does not have any vitamins or minerals*
 |
| Queenstown |
We were still on a pretty tight schedule so as soon as we
got down; it was straight back into the cars for us. Next stop Queenstown. On
the way, we stopped at a gas station where I’m pretty sure every single one of
us had to do push-ups. When we arrived in Queenstown, we stopped at a park
right outside in Frankton. It was right on the water and we had the most
beautiful view of Queenstown all lit up.
Day 5 (Thursday, September 29th)
 |
| Driving to Milford Sound |
Another early morning, but filled with exciting
activities. We drove from Queenstown through Te Anau (te-anoo) to Milford
Sound, supposedly one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. We left
early enough that we would have plenty of times to drive slowly through the
pass which we had been told could be pretty scary. We had perfect weather
though, sunny blue skies with no threats of avalanches. Because we were so
lucky with the weather we were able to drive at normal speeds and because of
the extra time we had, we had many opportunities to stop and take pictures.
 |
| There's that good looking group again! |
There were so many opportunities to stop and take
pictures and the landscape was beautiful. Another perfect sunny day allowed us
to see all the mountains. It reminded me a lot of Wengen; blue skies, sun and snow
covered mountains. It was beautiful. The air was also so fresh and crisp that
it was nice to just open the window, close your eyes and breathe in the air. We
stopped at one area on the side of the road to take pictures and all of a
sudden a kea flew onto the roof. We’d hear that you have to be careful with
keas because they will try and get into the car. It landed on the lead car, and
someone in the last car held out his sandwich and the kea flew right over!
People then took turns putting bread in their mouths and letting the kea take
it from them! When we were getting back into the car we saw a sign saying “do
not feed the keas”. Oups.
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| 'Not' feeding the kea |
 |
| Wow? |
When we got to Milford Sound (in Fiordland National
Park), it was instantly beautiful. We had some time to eat lunch, take pictures
and take our second “shower” of the week. It was way colder than our other
shower as the tap water was straight ice melt! After a couple of seconds though
our scalps went numb and it wasn’t so bad. For the first time since arriving,
we changed into jeans and looked somewhat respectable as we headed to the boat
for our cruise.
Milford Sound is a fiord (a long, narrow, deep inlet of
the sea between high cliffs typically formed by submerged glaciated valleys) and
the only way to see it is by boat or helicopter. We took a boat and made a big
loop around. The mountains started at the water and rose up high into the clouds.
Although it was a beautiful day, there were some clouds; but they made the
peaks look like Mount Olympus, huge in the sky. The mountains were reflected
perfectly in the water and the boat brought us right to the edge of the
mountain. There were waterfalls all over the place, many of which you could
follow from the peak of the mountain all the way down to the water. Twice, the
boat brought us right up underneath a waterfall, so close that we had to go
inside or else we’d get soaked.
It was cold and windy out on the deck though so we went
inside for a while where they had tea and coffee. It was nice to really be warm
and we could still see the scenic outside. There was a guy commenting and
explaining what we were seeing. At one point he said there were seals, so I jumped
up and went to see them. There weren’t any babies this time, they were all
really big. After coming back and settling down inside, he said there were
penguins. So up I jumped and went to look for them. I couldn’t see them when I got
out there but someone said they were on the right hand side. I couldn’t see
them so I just took a picture hoping that I would be able to see them when I blew
up the picture. My friend told me that they were actually on the other side. It
was an easy mistake though – the penguins were TINY! Apparently they’re pretty
rare and they were hard to see.
 |
| Randy at Te Anau |
Once we were back on land, we headed back to Te Anau for dinner
and the glowworm cave tour. In Te Anau we had plenty of time to hang out and have
dinner. As we were eating a dog came up and started hanging around, he named
him Randy. The water again was crystal clear and reflected the sun off the
mountains. It was beautiful. We also found a park where, again, we had way to
much fun in. There was a wheel which you could hold on to and spin around and
around. It was a lot of fun but soon it was time to get the boat to the glowworm
caves.
We had to take a boat across the lake to the entrance of
the glowworm cave. Te Ana-au means ‘cave with a current of swirling water’ in
Maori. There is a whole story and “according to Maori legend [Lake Te Anau] was
created by an unfairful wife’s deception. The Maori chief Te Horo discovered a
sacred spring and asked his wife not to reveal its existence. However, when he
departed on a journey, she showed it to her lover. As soon as the lover’s face
was reflected in the water, a raging torrent burst out, drowning the village and
forming Lake Te Anau” (Glowworm Caves Visitor Information). It was only in 1948
that these lost caves of legend were rediscovered.
Once we got to the cave entrance we split into groups as
the caves are very narrow and only one group of people can pass by at a time.
We were the second group to go and our guide loved us. I’m not exaggerating –
one of our friends went on a tour the next day and when the guide (same guy)
learnt that they were also from Wollongong, he said that we had been his best
group since he’d been working there. We laughed more this trip than I think
many of us had before and we were just having fun. We walked through the caves,
passing a waterfall, seeing their one (and only) stalagmite (it was tiny), and
started to see little glowworms. They looked like tiny glowing LED lights with
auras around them. They were all perfectly spaced apart. Finally we reached a
landing where we got on the boat, were told to be absolutely silent and all the
lights were switched off. It was kind of disconcerting as literally could not
see a thing for a while. The boat would also bump against the wall every now and
then which was also unsettling just because you had no idea that it was coming.
Eventually we reached the grotto where the glowworms were most abundant. It was
so cool looking; there were patches of darkness where there were little green
lights lighting up the area. It’s hard to describe but it was almost magical.
When we got to the end of the grotto, our guide told us that since we were
being such a great group that he’d show us something they don’t usually show
people. The grotto is the furthest point in the cave that you can go without
needing scuba gear and he showed us that if you were to get approved to dive in
the cave, where the entrance was. Eventually we had to head back, where we
sipped on Milo and watched magnified videos of the glowworms while we waited
for the other groups to finish their tours. Then it was back to Queenstown for
the night.
Day 6 (Friday, September 30th)
 |
| Queenstown |
Finally we had a lie in! At least some of us did – four of
the boys woke up bright and early to go bungy jumping at the Nevis – one of the
highest bungy jumps in the world at 134m! We slept in, took our time packing up
and headed to Maccas to wash up, change and send e-mails telling family members
that we were all doing OK. When we met back up with the boys they had such big
grins on their faces from bungy jumping! Once we were all back together we went
to hang out in Queenstown for the afternoon. Our original plan was to visit the
Blue Pools in Mount Aspiring which looked amazing but they were a three hour
drive away which would have meant a six hour round trip journey so we just went
back to hang out in Queenstown.
 |
| Bye Jay |
Good thing we headed to Queenstown instead of Mount
Aspiring because Jay broke down (it had a broken drive shaft). So we hung walked
around Queenstown which is such a cool town while we waited to get a new
Spaceship and for Jay to be towed away. Jay was replaced with Kay. Good thing
we had insurance on the vans too! The people driving in Jay had to take all
their stuff out and transfer it to Kay and then push it across the parking lot
to the tow truck. We were very lucky that Jay broke down in Queenstown too because
they had a Spaceship station right there so it was a quick fix.
 |
| Eating our Ferg Burgers |
We had such a nice day just hanging out in Queenstown
which is a really nice ski village in a sense. It just felt like a small town
but every now and then you would see people walking through with skis and
snowboards even though there was no snow on the ground. They said they rarely receive
snow in the town, it sticks to the mountain. A friend of mine had told us to
check out Ferg Burger which was in Queenstown. It was a really small restaurant
with hardly any sitting space but so many people lining up for it. I had the
cockadoodle doo; grilled chicken breast on a roll with sundried tomato puree,
lettuce, onion and aioli. It was maybe the best burger I’ve ever had.
 |
| The mountains look like they should be in a painting |
When we were walking around we saw a park right on the
water so we went back there to eat our burgers and hang out for a while. There
was also a candy store that gave out free fudge samples! They were good sized
samples and they had so many delicious flavours (I may have gotten cut off). It
was just so chill sitting in the park with a bunch of friends. A couple were
singing and playing the guitar and there were people all around just having a
good time like us.
 |
| Honestly...who wouldn't want to be friends with us?! |
We ended the day at Ministry of Sports, a sports bar
where we watched the Samoa vs. South Africa rugby world cup game. When we
walked in, a guy sitting by the stairs said “is that guy wearing a DU
sweatshirt?”. Two people from our group go to DU and sure enough, they recognized
two guys from their school. They were studying at Griffith in Gold Coast and were
spending their spring break in Queenstown. Sometimes we live in a really small
world. South Africa beat Samoa and we headed back to our park to sleep.
Day 7(Saturday, October 1st)
Today was our one real free day. We had no plans; nowhere
to go, nothing to do, the day was entirely up to us. Some of us decided to go
mountain biking while the others went on a hike. Mountain biking was so much
fun!! We rented bikes from a shop (one of the guys that worked there graduated
from CU), got a half day gondola pass and headed up the mountain.
 |
| Check out that view behind! |
We started off on green…and us girls never made it any
further. But it was still so much fun and the amount that we improved from the
first run was pretty significant. We all started off together but the boys were
so much faster and so much more fearless that they ended up having to wait for
us a lot. The turns were really sharp and windy and we didn’t have full on pads
so if we fell it might not have been pretty. But the scenery was beautiful and we
were happy to take our time, enjoy the view while also having a great time
riding down the mountain. Our Kiwi was the only one that got injured – a tiny
little cut that bled a lot and looked a lot worse than it actually was. So I
could that as a success.
 |
| Ahuriri Bridge DOC campsite |
After riding for a couple of hours we started to get
hungry. So, we went to Ferg Burger…again. It was just so good that we couldn’t
leave without going one more time. We returned the bikes, shopped around a
little but then it was time to head out of Queenstown for our last day. Our
next destination was Lake Tekapo but there weren’t any campsites around it, so
we stopped at a DOC campsite about an hour away where we skipped stones, ate
our last big dinner (Jessie and I cooked over a pound of pasta) and sat around
a bonfire. We played a game called “hot seat” where one person is on the hot
seat and you go around the circle, each person asking questions. It’s nice that
although we learnt a lot about each other being stuck cars together for a week
that there is still plenty to learn about others.
Day 8 (Sunday, October 2nd)
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| Lake Tekapo |
Our last day was not very eventful. We had to have the Spaceships
back at the Station in Christchurch by 4pm. That meant getting there, getting
everything out of the vans, cleaning them out and dropping people off at the
airport. We only made a quick pit stop at Lake Tekapo. It was absolutely
beautiful with the most amazing coloured water I’ve ever seen. It looked like liquid
turquoise. A couple was getting married and it definitely made a beautiful backdrop.
 |
| Moses 'parting' the Blue Sea |
If we had, had more time we could have gone for a hike
around the lake. It’s definitely something I want to do whenever I get a chance
to go back but just stopping there and looking at it was a great experience.
One really funny thing that happened was with our friend who’s last name is
Moses. During the rugby game, he said “I’m Moses and I part the Blue Sea”. He
meant to say the red sea but for some reason blue came out his mouth. So while
we were at Lake Tekapo he found a stick and ‘parted’ the Blue Sea. The funniest
part of it was that he had to ask how to part it!
 |
| Our car with our mustaches |
Before long it was back in the cars for our final drive
of the trip. Once we got into Christchurch we stopped outside the airport to
arrange all our belongings and clean out the vans. It felt like our stuff
doubled because the vans had gotten so disorganized with all the moving around
to set up for dinner, then for sleeping and back for driving again. We dropped
people off at the airport, returned the Spaceships then went back to the
airport for a long 14 hour wait for our flight and our first real shower of the
trip! So yes, we only had one shower the entire time we were in New Zealand and
it happened on our last day, at the airport. I think that’s a sign of a good
trip. We hung out at the airport looking through pictures then sleep on the
airport floor again.
Day 9 (Monday, October 3rd)
Our flight was at 6.30am and because of the time
difference we got back to Sydney at 7.30am. Once back in Wollongong, my room
looked like my pack had thrown up all my belongings onto my floor and I was too
tired to do anything about it. After a nice long 4 hour nap, it was time to go
through pictures.
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| Our Spaceships |
Life on a Spaceship
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| A very full Spaceship |
As I mentioned earlier - the Spaceships were very organized with their different compartments. Everything had a place to go. When we first loaded them up, we put all our bags on top of the fold up mattress. This was fine for driving, but whenever we stopped for dinner or to sleep we had to rearrange everything!
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| State of the art stove |
For dinner, we had to take all the pots and pans out from a compartment that was under the mattress. To make it more convenient we had to swivel the chair around but then it was easy. To do all this, however, we had to move most of our bags around so that we could lift the mattress up enough. We would get out the little side arm that would support the stove and there it was! The tub that fit all the plates and cutlery was also conveniently, a wash tub.
For sleeping, we had to move EVERYTHING out of the back to make room for the mattress. First the chair had to be swiveled round, then two poles came out that a board was put on. This was where our feet went so it wasn't that sturdy but it did it's job! We put a lot of the food in the compartment with the stoves and cutlery and then put all our bags in the front seat. From there we could lay the three-piece mattress out, put the sheet on and lay the comforter over it. Once that was all made, there were curtains that covered all the windows so the sun wouldn't shine in and so people couldn't see us sleeping!
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| This could also be the reason we got some weird looks! |
The best part about the Spaceships, besides being convenient for everything we needed, was people's faces when they saw three Spaceships driving in a line. In Queenstown there were a lot of other Spaceships so we didn't get that many looks. But other times we would be driving through a small town or all parked in a row and you could just see people looking at us passing with amusement on their faces. It made us laugh every time.
Funny Quotes of the Trip
"I can't believe they woke us up before the hut thing is open" - after getting woken up before the coffee stand at the airport.
"I don't like lima beans. They taste like pillows" - you learn a lot about people being stuck in the same car for a while.
"Shoop. If sheep is plus, is one a shoop?" - how the word shoop came about.
"Hey! US supporters, when we win, we are all rushing the field" - at this point it was pretty obvious that the US was going to lose to Italy in the rugby game.
"What's your name and what do you do?" - Italian supporter
"My name's Moses, and I part the Blue Sea" - Moses
"What do you do on your day off?" - Italian supporter
"Beat Italy" - Moses (no explanation needed).
"Haasta la vista, baby!" - driving on Haast pass.
"Do you burp some up too?" - I'll just leave it at that.
"So do you get single meatball then?" - when you don't get a double meatball sub at Subway.
"It's not you...it's your music" - we listened to a lot of iPods on this trip, some iPods were preferred over others.
"Why are you all wearing the same hat?" - a German guy at McKee Memorial Reserve asking about our New Zealand hats.
"I've eaten enough sheep poo to last me a lifetime" - R n' R employee talking about sheep poo (chocolate covered raisins.
*NOTE: Since coming back from New Zealand, it’s hard not
to think about it with a smile on our faces. We have all gone through pictures
over and over again reliving the memories of our trip. It was truly one of the
greatest trips I’ve ever been on. It also felt very rewarding as it was something
that we planned and executed all by ourselves. I’ve grown up a lot being in
Australia and this trip is evidence of it.
This trip was possibly maybe one of the most amazing
experiences of my life and one that I will remember with a smile on my face for
the rest of my life. I also have plenty of pictures that I can replay the trip
as many times as I want. I hope that everyone is able to experience a trip like
this at least once in their lives.
Two weekends ago, Jessie and I went up to Sydney to meet
some of my family. Before meeting them, we started at Paddy’s Market. Finally!
Of course both Jessie and I forgot our cameras but I’m going to have to go back
to get more, so it’s not the end of the world. Paddy’s wasn’t really what I was
expecting. First, when you walk up, it looks like a mall. And part of it is a
mall; there are three floors and the top two are all clothing stores. The
ground floor though was all market area. I thought it would be more like the
Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne; chaotic, busy and people everywhere. It was
similar in a sense that it had all the typical touristy things. However, there
were also a lot of other stalls; clothes, jewellery, flowers, etc. we spent
about two hours there – having to snack on our peanut butter and jellies
because walking around was so tiring!
It was a really hot day, and even though it was nice to
walk around, I was relieved when I had a chance to sit and watch a show. The
first was the seal show which was great; they had three types of seals. They
started with a small little seal and went all the way up to a huge great seal.
They dove from high stands, splashed the crowd and did flips to touch their
noses on a ball. It was really cheesy but still really fun. Then, it was off to
look at more animals before the next show. It’s funny to see bears and monkeys
in Australia. There were even elephants! There were huge big elephants with
small little babies, all holding each other’s tails and walking around. Sneak
peak: made me excited about Bali!)
With full bellies we walked over to the Royal Botanic
Gardens. Fun fact, the Queen of England was in Australia at this time. The
gardens have colourful flowers all over the place; huge bright roses, poppies, lilies
and more! It was so hot though, and humid so we decided to go to the Aquarium. It
was great – we saw so many fish and other sea creatures. They have all these
little Lego people all around; a mermaid, a keeper, a camel, a scuba diver and other
random Lego people all over the place. At one part of the aquarium they had a
life sized rubber great white shark. Next to it, they had a screen where they
showed the routes of six great whites they had tagged. They all swim up and
down the coast from Brisbane down to past Wollongong!
We left the aquarium around 6pm in search of a bar; the
rugby world cup final started at 6.30pm! The finals were between France and New
Zealand. Although Australia and New Zealand hate each other in sports, we had
been to New Zealand and felt that we were completely justified in supporting
them! And they won!! It was a really close game but a great final! As we were
walking back to the train station we saw fireworks – we decided they were for
the world cup!
On Monday Scott and John went skydiving. They were
landing on the beach so I went to go watch them. It was a perfect day – sunny,
blue skies with some clouds. It was so fun to watch them. I was staring up at
the sky trying to find them, then all of a sudden little black dots appeared
against the clouds and there they were!
