After the hike the girls all left leaving me all alone in Queenstown :( But, the following day Rebekah came!! Rebekah is my amazing friend that I met in Korea last year. She's still in Korea teaching so she came over for 2 weeks during her winter holiday. The first thing we did was a day trip to Milford Sound, a very popular site in NZ. It's a fjord in the SW of NZ and the tour included a boat trip there. We made a few scenic stops along the way as well.
We spent a little more time in Queenstown and one afternoon we took a jet boat ride. Got Soaked!!
After Queenstown we took a bus to Dunedin. Dunedin has a huge University population but also is known for their wildlife. One day we met up with another girl we knew from teaching in Korea and she showed us around town, which included walking on the steepest road in the world!! We also went to the Cadbury chocolate factory, but photos weren't allowed inside. We also went on a really awesome wildlife tour on the Otago peninsula where we saw albatross, penguins, sea lions, fur seals, and well, sheep of course!
After Dunedin we bused up to Christchurch where we stayed with another person we knew from Korea (so many connections!) We made our own walking tour around the city on a rainy day and through the many parks and gardens there. We met lots of Koreans in Christchurch who had come to learn English and had a couple of long chats with them.They were very impressed, mostly by Rebekah, that we knew some Korean. We also picked up our rental car that we got for $1/day (well, plus insurance).
Now that we had our own car, we had a bit more freedom with where we wanted to go. We drove north to Kaikoura, also known for it's wildlife. We took a sea kayaking trip that ended up being just us and the guide and we had great luck with seeing animals. We saw 2 different seals feeding on octopus!
Next stop on the road trip was Nelson. On our way there we made a few stops and also picked up a hitch-hiker who was from the US! We stopped at a waterfall along the way and then dropped him off a bit before Nelson. In Nelson, Rebekah and I went on a hike to the center on New Zealand (that's what I'm pointing at in the one photo) and played on the beach.
After Nelson we drove to Picton where we spent the night to catch the ferry to the north island in the morning. We mostly stayed at the hostel because the had a huge chess game, free spa, and free hot chocolate pudding and ice cream!!
We took the 3 hour ferry ride (which we slept most of the way) to Wellington. We stayed with a friend from Korea, Cam's, sister. We again made our own sort of walking tour around the city. I really loved Wellington because it was an arty and fun city. They call it the San Fran of NZ. We went to their big museum Te papa and saw a colossal squid!, the only one ever captured. We also went to this special "Concert in the Park" thing they have every summer. It was really cool how they lit up the park.
We only had the car for 6 days so we had to drive all the way to Hamilton from Wellington. We took the scenic route though and made it so I could show Rebekah my new crib. Notice all the Kiwi things. Sheep graffiti, Kiwiania wall, and a statue of a man sheering a sheep.
The car had to be returned by 4pm in Auckalnd so after spending the night in Hamilton we drove up to Auckland. We dropped off the car which was way by the airport and to get into town was a $16 bus ride!! So, for my first time ever, we hitched-hiked. An older man and his wife picked us up and dropped us right in town. It was great and not even as scary as I thought it would be. We stayed with yet another of Cam's sisters and spent the day walking around down town and through some of the parks.
Here's the Route from the second leg of my trip:
Wow, it seems like you've already seen the entire country! And it's only part 2...
ReplyDeleteSarah