Hey, everyone! This past week has been pretty full on with lots of small things going on. It hasn’t been too busy… but it’s been busy enough. I swear, one of these days I need a weekend to not do a damn thing whatsoever. One of my favorite parts of the week was going down to Glenorchy to walk a portion of the Routeburn track.

Routeburn Track

The Routeburn track is typically done along three days. People start in Glenorchy and finish closer to Milford Sound. It’s supposed to be a beautiful track. I briefly walked along it when I went to Milford Sound shortly after buying Goldie. That morning hike was one of my favorites since being in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Abby, Jasper, Yvonne, and I had made plans to go on the hike. The three of them had gone out dancing the night before but I took the night to enjoy having the room to myself haha. I was doubtful that they would be up at 10am in order to drive the 1hr+ to the trailhead… but 2/3 were! Yvonne ended up sleeping in and missed out, unfortunately.

The roads were kind of wet from rain in earlier in the morning but the drive ended up being fine. I drove slower than the speed limit since there were twists/turns along the way down to Glenorchy. Luckily, the road wasn’t too busy and I only had to pull over once so cars could pass me by haha.

After a break for snacks, we continued the drive. I was slightly worried there might be some gravel roads along the way but they were pretty sealed. The last twenty minutes or so was gravel-y, but it was alright. “You can do it, Goldie!” I cheered her along.

The views down in Glenorchy are incredible, especially now that it’s winter. I love seeing snow on the mountains and there was a lot of it down that way.

Eventually, we arrived at the trailhead and began our hike. It started with a suspension bridge leading over a river.

Since it was after noon by the time we’d arrived, we knew our hiking time was somewhat limited. We wanted to wrap up by the time it got dark, so we decided to walk as long as we felt like it and then turn back. Of course, we wanted to allow for daylight upon our return, too.

Abby was very taken by the scenery. She hasn’t been to Milford Sound or gone on any of the hikes in Fiordland National Park, so she hadn’t yet seen the rainforest-y hikes. She declared early on that it was one of her favorite hikes she’d been on in New Zealand. The rainforest hikes really are something – and pictures truly never do them justice. I love the moss, the ferns, the mini waterfalls along the cliff faces. In person, they’re gorgeous. In photos, they’re flattened and don’t show the same color vibrancy.

There were a few suspension bridges along the way. After crossing our second one, I gasped at the views. There was a very unusually shaped mountain. Abby noted how she had never heard me sound that excited so far. It made me think of how much Joey and Rob loved the reaction I had to my first moose spotting in Alaska.

We carried on. The hike wasn’t particularly challenging. It was a steady incline practically the whole time. I never felt out of breath or needed to stop. Within about an hour, we reached Bridal Veils Falls. From straight on, they didn’t look that impressive, but directly below the bridge the waterfall cascaded into a really cool area. The ground below the waterfall had been smoothed down by pressure of the water, as had the canyon(?) walls. It looked like something you might find at a waterpark.

While Bridal Veil Falls had been our tentative final destination, we decided to push on for a while longer. We made it to the falls earlier than anticipated and wanted to see what else we could see. We were hoping to get a good viewpoint that showed the surrounding mountains. After close to two hours of walking one way, we were told by some passing hikers that we still had around an hour to go. On borrowed daylight, we decided to turn back.

Instead, we did two detours. The first detour took us next to the water, where we (of course) took some selfies haha. The area reminded me of Babinda Boulders up in Cairns… sans leeches.

Closer to the start of the trail, we took a detour through the nature walk. I thought it was funny it was named that because the whole hike was a nature walk. Along the way, Jasper asked if I would share my sobriety journey with him. I tried to keep it short, but that damn story always takes a long time to go over even if I’m trying to abbreviate it haha.

Abby laughed because during one of the more intense parts of my story, I stopped and was like “look at the tit on that tree!!!” and took a picture.

We ventured closer to the water one last time, where we saw a hut across the river and some lovely mountains. It was one of my favorite parts along the trail. The lone hut reminded me of Green Lake Hut down in Southland.

And then we were back at the trailhead! Our walk was around four hours and we got back home JUST in time for dusk. It was perfect timing on our part.

I’d love to hike more of the Routeburn track one day but as I’ve mentioned already… there is so much I have left to see. We will see if I manage to get back there.

I’m glad Abby and Jasper were able to experience the hike with me. We had a fun time with lots of conversation and laughter.

We have plans to drive up to Wanaka and go to Roy’s Peak before Abby leaves mid-July. I’ve been wanting to go there for a while, so I hope we can make it work.

Time with Friends

Earlier in the week, mi amiguito Juanito invited me over to his place along with some others for dinner. The invite was rather last minute and I had some errands to run after work. Once finished, I drove over to his place where I was met by Juanito, Rose, Fabian, Armin, and Iris. They were all making food that was traditional to their country. I can’t remember the name of the meals, but I do remember the dessert Rose & Fabian made was called a Victorian Spongecake. YUM. All the food was so yummy. I didn’t have time (or space, really) to cook, so I brought chips, cheese, crackers, and kit kat bars. I figured junk food counts as traditional American food, so…

On Saturday night, Josh was in town from Christchurch. After the Routeburn hike, I met up with him, Jen and her daughter, Carly, Emily, and Josh 2.0. It was a nice time. Josh is always cracking Michael Scott-esque jokes but in between, I was able to ask him about his new job and how he’s liking Christchurch. I also spent a long time talking with Carly and Emily about “the Troubles” between Northern and Southern Ireland. It was a pretty interesting conversation.

Last Monday, Yvonne invited Jasper, Abby, and I over to her new home. We brought some snacks and spent a couple of hours catching up and laughing together. Yvonne made a delicious dessert for us, too! I can’t remember the name but it was v. yum. We took a couple of pictures on her polaroid camera. Polaroids are officially the best, although I’ve known that to be true for a while. As Jasper, Abby, and I walked home we talked about how nice it was to actually be inside a HOME. Not a hostel, but a proper home.

Miscellaneous

While walking home one day, I decided to buy a donut from one of the local street vendors. I was debating between the $4.50 one or the $8.50 one. The $8.50 was expensive but… it was crème brûlée and I don’t think I’d ever had a crème brûlée donut before. I decided to go for that one. And the dude gave it to me for free! I couldn’t believe it. Thanks, stranger! I will definitely have to get more donuts from him.

OH, and how could I forget? KIWI PARK! Two of the kiwi laid an egg, which is very, very exciting park news. It is set to hatch just before I leave Queenstown, which is a wonderful coincidence. I have my fingers crossed everything will be successful with that little guy. Kiwi have it so tough. I’m looking forward to when the Kiwi Park staff move the egg into the incubator so I can see what a real kiwi egg looks like. They are massive and take up majority of the female kiwi’s body.

I also got to feed the tuatara for the first time. Since I have such a struggle with the larger geckos, I was wondering how it would go down but it actually ended up being awesome. I love them and hope to feed them again soon. I’ve mentioned once before but it has been a while – while they look like lizards, tuatara aren’t actually lizards. They are their own species and they actually date back to the Mesozoic era. They are often referred to as “living fossils.” INSANE! This guy in the photo ate 32 mealworms. I can safely say… I am a lot more comfortable with mealworms now haha. Finally.

After Kiwi Park, it was Catch-Up Day. I talked to my mom on the phone, then my old housemate Kory from Perth. While on the phone with Kory, I cut the call short to talk with Dan & Maisie. I originally had phone plans with them but I hadn’t heard back from them right away so called Kory. Once finished, I called Kory back. Lots of phone calls that day! But all good things.

The darkest day of the year is in a few days, which is exciting for me. While winter is quite beautiful in Queenstown, I prefer longer days. Even though winter has only just kind of begun, I’m glad to know that the days will be getting longer. Phew! Soon.

Art of the Week

Reflections

I officially sent in my resignation for my last day at work. It will be September 10th, which is also my brother’s birthday.

I have been trying to plan out what my travel plans look like after I’m finished working. I know I want to spend majority of my time in New Zealand, but I am also planning for the potential of going to Fiji for a week just before my current visa expires and then coming back on the NZeTA visa.

I wanted to plan out the places I’m really keen to visit and also how much time I might be spending in each place. Whichever way I planned it, I became aware that I probably need to spend more time on the North Island and less on the South. At the moment, it seems like 3 weeks on the south, 2 weeks on the north, Fiji for a week, and then about 4 more weeks on the north (during which I’ll be needing to sell my car). In deciding that, I was surprised to find I felt a hesitancy towards spending less time on the South Island. I… LOVE the South Island. And I think it will be really weird to move from the South to the North.

No matter what I do, I won’t have enough time to see everything. Even if I had ALL the time, I wouldn’t be able to see everything. That’s just how it goes.

I also wanted to mention something that I found quite interesting. I was feeling nostalgic and reading through some old blog posts from my early days in Perth. Can we believe I have left Perth more than a year ago at this point? Crazy. One thing that really struck me was the struggle I felt in my early days in Australia. I was really resistant towards working in Australia instead of just traveling around. The plan was to work there half the year, then travel half the year, but what I REALLY wanted was to just be traveling. I had spent so long saving money for travel and working at a stressful job. And even though I was exploring in Australia, I was still working again. Long hours, hard work. I was right back at it and I had only just left America. Of course, the second half of the year was absolutely incredible.

And here in Aotearoa, I am in the same boat. I have gone on some incredible adventures since being here, but by the time I leave the country, I will have worked for ten months and traveled for three. But I don’t feel that same resistance as I felt in the early days in Perth. Actually, it’s kind of exciting because the REAL travel hasn’t even begun yet. Come September 10th, I will finally, FINALLY be a full-time traveler for a while. That’s when I will truly be beginning my long year or so of travel – the thing I have planned for. Yes, I have had time off work. Yes, I’ve explored and gone traveling on weekends and even for half a year in Australia. But what’s coming up? This is the thing that has been years and years in the making.

How exciting is that? Less than three months left. Wow. I can’t wait – and yet, I want to cherish the time I have left in Queenstown and not rush it.

What’s next? Who knows. I don’t have concrete plans this weekend yet. Christchurch is the weekend after.

Until then – sending you all my love. x