Friday, October 1, 2010

Hello, South Island!

Kia ora again, everyone! Well, it's been over three weeks since the end of my spring break adventure, and I still feel that I had one of the best experiences of my life. It was incredible, and I'm so very grateful that everything worked out- Coordinating bus rides, flights, hostel reservations, airport transfers, and activities for our trip was certainly not the easiest task, but somehow Suzanne and I managed to do so. Now let's get to it...

I woke up early on the morning of Tuesday the 24th to catch a bus to the airport in Auckland. I had stayed up very late the night before, so needless to say I was exhausted. Once I got to the airport, I checked my bag and grabbed some lunch before passing through security. Although New Zealand is only the size of the US state of Colorado, my flight to Dunedin had a stopover in Christchurch. In the process of boarding my first flight, I was swiftly moved to the back of the plane. Apparently, the passenger that was assigned to the seat beside me was carrying an "endangered bird species" with him. The situation was a little strange, but my new seat was located in an empty row and had a better view than my original seat did. I arrived in Dunedin around 7:30 pm, and after a 20 minute shuttle ride, I reached Suzanne's flat.

The next few days were very chilly. The South Island is cold- not East Coast winter cold, but cold compared to the North Island- and Suzanne's flat had very little heat. Therefore, I spent two days parked in front of her space heater. Apart from the less than ideal temperature, I enjoyed my time there immensely. Suzanne's three roommates were incredibly friendly, and due to their rotating dinner schedule I got to enjoy a home-cooked meal each night I was there (stir-fry the first night, lasagna the second). It made me wish that I had decided to flat at Waikato. Living in a catered dorm has been nice, but it has also been more of the same after living in a dorm at Juniata for two years. While in Dunedin, I went to one of Suzanne's drama classes at the University of Otago. She and her classmates have to put on a children's production that addresses a controversial topic. The plot of their play involves a father leaving his wife and kids for a man. It kind of reminded me of the Susan/Carol storyline on Friends, except much less comedic.

On Thursday the 26th, we took a bus from Dunedin to Queenstown. The trip lasted around 5 hours. The route was very scenic, and I acted like a complete tourist the entire time.

In Queentown we stayed at a hostel called "Pinewood Lodge" and slept in a room with 4 other girls from China. When we moved our stuff into the room at 6 pm, the light was off and they were all sleeping. That night Suzanne and I walked into town and ate dinner at Winnie's pizza bar. I didn't want to risk upsetting my lactose-intolerant stomach, so I ordered a cranberry and brie chicken burger with a side order of "chips" (a.k.a. French fries) instead of pizza. It was practically the size of my head, but I ate the entire thing, and it was delicious. Afterward, we went to see a movie (Inception) and then headed back to Pinewood Lodge to get some sleep before our early start the next morning.

The Mitre Peak tour bus to Milford Sound picked us up a little after 6:30 am. Although it took four hours to get there, the "getting there" was quite enjoyable due to the many scenic stops we made along the way, including the town of Te Anau, Mirror Lake and The Chasm, where we had the opportunity to take a small bush walk. Milford Sound itself was gorgeous and the mountains in the surrounding Fiordland looked like something out of Lord of the Rings. Fun fact: Milford Sound is not actually a "sound" (a narrow inlet carved by the ocean) but a "fiord" (a narrow inlet carved by glacial activity). Although it was a long day- it was nearly 8:00 when we returned to Queenstown- it was definitely worth the time and money spent!
We caught a bus to Christchurch early the next morning, and the trip took 8 hours. Time didn't move quite as fast as it did during our first bus ride to Queenstown, but the scenery was just as beautiful. One of our rest stops was next to the beautiful Lake Tekapo, which offered some great photo opportunities. We had planned to stay at a hostel in Christchurch, but when we made it to the city we decided (I decided) that it would be a better idea to save money and stay at the Christchurch International Airport for the night instead. It wasn't one of my most brilliant moments, but everything worked out. We arrived at 7:00 pm and spent the night on the airport floor. Suzanne had her laptop and I had my iPod for entertainment, and we ate cold cans of Campbell's Soup for dinner.

We caught our JetStar plane to Sydney a little past 6:00 am the next morning. Both of us tried to sleep on the plane with varying degrees of success. We arrived in Australia safely though, and that's really all matters.

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