on the road in new zealand

Well, spring is officially here in Shikoku. In Naruto the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in full bloom while my long underwear has been put into seasonal hibernation as Caitlin and I both head back to work after a two-week roadtrip through New Zealand. Here's a summary of what we experienced in this amazing country.

On Thursday, 3/20, we caught the 5:30am bus to Kansai Airport and after the two hour ride and one final bowl of udon we took off on a three-hour flight to Hong Kong and then an 11 hour ride to New Zealand's largest city, Auckland.

We arrived on the 21st at about 6:00am, marveling at something from the plane that we don't see too much of in Japan- big, empty fields. All I wanted to do when I got there was simply walk around in the grass (there's not much of it here in Tokushima). We got to our place and then found nearby Victoria Park where we napped and then ate some salad later on in the evening. We then explored a bit until I started to feel crazy due to lack of sleep and the fact that we were now in late summer instead of early spring as it were in Japan. I think I passed out around 8:00pm or 9:00pm while Caitlin attempted to find something to do on a Friday night, later commenting that blue-collar attitude and fashion the locals brought back fond memories of good ol' Pittsburgh.





The next day we got up and made our way to the rental car agency where we had reserved a car for the following 13 days. Now, this would be a pivotal day in our experience in NZ because neither of us had our original driver's licenses from America which is required for our international driving permits to be valid. It turned out that they were very lenient and just glanced at our IDPs before giving us the go-ahead. Though the rest of New Zealand was expensive, the car rental fee was surprisingly cheap and proved to be a fairly economical way to see the country.


Later that day we made the drive from Auckland to Tongariro National Park and found a camp site just as the sun was setting (this would be a reoccuring theme). We paid $4 NZD (approx. $3.17 USD) to set up our tent, thinking that there would be many of these unmanned sites throughout the country. It turns out that this would be the only one that we'd come across and we ended up paying upwards of $40 to camp out in these huge, extravagent "holiday parks" that were seemingly like their own self-sufficient communites- expensive but still the cheapest accomidation available in town.


Anyway, Tongariro was incredible. This was our first taste of New Zealand's vastness and variety. We woke up with the goal of reaching the Emerald Lakes and retracing our steps after having some lunch and a break to rest our legs. The goal was acheived and the weather couldn't have been better (although I really wish I would have remembered my sunglasses before we left the carpark).
















As you probably saw, Tongariro is an active volcano and its last eruption was in 1926. The fear of being on a volcano never really hit me...I think I remember telling Caitlin that I'd be able to outrun lava no matter how fast it is. There were no trees in sight as we made the seven hour hike to the lakes and back and the surrounding rocks were spectacular, providing a kind of unearthly, mystical tone. Speaking of which, neighboring Mt. Ngauruhoe (seen in the background in a few pics) was used as Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie.


After a long day of tramping (that's what you call it here) and sunburns, we headed south to get a head start on our trip to Wellington to catch the ferry from the North Island to the South Island. This was really the only thing that we really had to be on time for throughout the whole trip so we made sure to be fairly close to Wellington the day before we needed to be there. Where we ended up was a quiet town on the east coast called Wanganui. Here, I got to eat a very non-Japanese veggie burger, we experienced our first holiday park, and camped out right beside a goat.




Early the next morning we headed off to the capital city of Wellington armed with vague directions and the same three CDs that we'd been listening to while in the car (Bjork's 'Volta', New Order's 'International', and Helmet's 'Greatest Hits'). It was during this drive when we realized that investing in an iPod car adapter would be very worthwhile. Unlike the previous day, this was a very easy drive with very little crazy Japan-like roads that go up, over, and around mountains and sheep farms alike. I was lucky to be driving this day.


The three-hour ferry ride was amusing because there were a lot of hungover people who went to see Kiss and Ozzy Osbourne the night before in Wellington. The crowd REALLY reminded me of something straight out of western Pennsylvania.


That evening we ended up Nelson, a city recommended by a New Zealander I met in Tokyo a few months back. I could see how some people would enjoy being here but Caitlin and me were not into it. We stayed here the next day for some reason as well, only to come to the realization that if you're in New Zealand, get down with nature and don't worry about the urban areas (unless you're into bunji jumping). The church was nice, though.


After our Nelson convalescence, we made our first significant drive on the South Island to the Franz Josef Glacier. Unlike parts of the North Island, everything we lush and green the entire way down the west coast. We tried to go to a beach on some private property at one point but things got weird when we hit a dead end right beside some locals who probably see 50 people attempt the same sneaky move daily. We made it to a campsite beside the glacier near sundown and got some good sleep for the first time in a few days (not much was had in Nelson).


The glacier hike the next day was awesome. The crowd of glacier-goers was definitely posh...We felt out of place but not in an uncomfortable way at all. These are the people that actually do pay the $30 USD for a plate of pasta at a nearby glacier-themed restaurant while the number of campers eating avocadoes cut by a Swiss army knife (like ourselves) proved to be low in this particular area of the South Island. Our group was good though...we even had the token lone traveler crazy person who really, really enjoyed talking about glaciers.






The next day we made our way further down south to the small town of Te Anau that serves as the gateway to Fiordland National Park and the spectacular Milford Sound. We camped at a funny hotel called 'The Great Lakes' where the made us pay $30 to pitch our tent in a children's playground a few feet from the highway. This may sound like a lot of money for camping but at this point $30 was around par for what we were seeing throughout the country. Te Anau was nice...we found a nice 'natural' pizza shop and a grocery store where we packed up on groceries for our three day stint at the Milford Sound. The next day we made the awe-inspiring drive to a place that literally feels like the edge of the earth.














We spent our time here really just taking it all in. One of the days was spent hiking separate trails along Route 94, mine proving to be a bit too much of true rainforest for me to feel like I could do it all in one day. It's hard to imagine the magnitude and remoteness of the Milford Sound unless you find yourself there in person. No wonder Kipling called it the 8th wonder of the world.

After getting our fill of Fiordland, we began what was to be the begining of our long trek home. (On our last day there we took a boat ride out to the Tasman Sea...I included the picture above of a group of Koreans that reminded me of my life in Asia that I'd be returning to in a very short time. These guys also made me want to visit Jon again sometime in the near future...)

As we retraced our route back east we picked up two Polish hitchhikers (Chris and Justina) and took them on the three-hour ride from Te Anau to Queenstown. They had just done a portion of the Routeburn track hike and were retrieving their van the next day from the Routeburn carpark. I'm still not sure why they were going to Queenstown for the night if their van was in Te Anau but we ended up meeting up with them at a bar later on in the evening which resulted in an excess of Tui beer (maybe my favorite NZ drink), weird dancing to 90s music from America (that's ALL we'd hear on the radio!), and late night consumption of a falafel burger called the 'Bun Laden'. It was a good night.

We made our last big drive from Queenstown to Christchurch the next day which took us across the South Island from west to east. Again, amazing scenery. And I think we saw a good portion of the 60 million sheep in the country.


The next day we said goodbye to the car. By this point it felt like our home maybe even more than the tent did. When we pulled into the rental agency we had put 1,872 miles (3,013 km) on the odometer. After all of this time on the road, we felt like there should have been some kind of ceremony as we parted ways with our ride.


Later that day we flew to Auckland and found the cheapest place to stay near the airport. Thankfully, we didn't spend much time in the room. Got to see Auckland on last time that evening and do a bit of gift shopping for all of the people on Japan that knew we were away. We woke up early to catch our flight and were on our way to Hong Kong at 8:00am.

And just like that we were on our way home. The trip was a good break from the norm and being in a western culture has provided me with a very new perspective of my life in Asia. I think I needed it, too. New Zealand is a good place to keep it simple...we pretty much stayed outdoors the entire time because with views like these they only thing you really need to spend your money on getting from one magnificent sight to the next.





Well, it's back to life as usual for another few months.