Two more jam-packed weekends in New Zealand… No matter how much of this beautiful country I explore, there is always so much more to see. Last weekend, I went on a road trip with three of my friends. I have recently rekindled my baking obsession and brought along heaps of homemade muffins and chocolate chip cookies, much to the enjoyment of my companions (three hungry young men). The baked goods were gone within a couple days.
We went to Queenstown and hiked the Ben Lomond track, which is about 5 hours return and yields stunning 360º views of Queenstown, the nearby lakes, the Remarkables mountain range, and the Southern Alps. There was a kea at the top. I know you’re not supposed to feed the kea, but we did share the muffin with him to lure him closer so we could snap some pictures. Anything for the Insta. At one point, we somehow wandered completely off the path and into a rocky landslide area. The rocks kept sliding out from under my feet and at one point I fell on my ass and couldn’t stop sliding for about 10 meters until I slammed into my friend. My friends and I also accidentally stabbed our hands on this spiky grass plant and my one friend’s hand started bleeding. What kind of savage grass literally draws blood??
Apparently kea like to eat the rubber in car doors. It was only a rental car so I didn’t really worry if they were scratching the paint job. Not like I would have cared if it was my own car either, which is literally older than my high-school-graduate sister.
At the gondola in Queenstown, there is a Jelly Belly store for some unknown reason. Here is a fun piece of artwork hanging on the wall there. “Frodo Lord of the Beans: Taking inspiration from the JRR Tolkein books and ensuing Lord of the Rings movies by Sir Peter Jackson, this image depicts the devotion of Frodo to the ring. This Jelly Belly masterpiece took over 100 hours to produce, using more than 20,000 jelly Beans.”
What a masterpiece.
The next day I went on a boat cruise through Milford Sound, billed as “the Eighth Wonder of the World” (but somehow so is the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China…) Regardless, it was pretty spectacular. I saw bottlenose dolphins (I honestly had no clue those even lived in New Zealand) and fur seals. There were a bunch of waterfalls too, and the boat went right up to one so I got a little misty which was cool besides the fact that I was frantically trying to protect my expensive camera from the water.
After the boat cruise, we hiked up to Lake Marian, which was beautiful. The guys spent a really long time seeing who could throw a rock the farthest into the lake. Being an intellectual and mature female above that kind of behavior, I watched. (I’m actually just really bad at throwing and didn’t want to embarrass myself.)
I never witness sunrises at home because I am lazy and not a morning person, but winter sunrises here are so late (after 7 am!) that I am occasionally awake for them. Here are some lovely ones from the side of the road (left) and my hostel’s kitchen (right).
This weekend, I went on a road trip with one girl I know, and then three strangers. It was a very interesting time but for sure a blast. I hiked up to Brewster Hut with the two girls. The hike was kind of intense, starting with a river crossing right off the bat. My one friend ran right through the river because “it looked shallow.” It wasn’t. Then we literally climbed up roots and rocks straight up to the top of a mountain. It was supposed to be 6-8 hours return, but we crushed the entire thing in 3 hours so we had a lot of extra time and stopped at the Blue Pools after (pictured on right). The views from Brewster Hut were stunning but the best part of the hike was probably the fact that there was a dog at the top. Of course I got a picture with it.
The next day, we went to Lake Alta which was the filming location for Dimrill Dale in Lord of the Rings. Exciting!!! I consider myself a relatively large fan of Lord of the Rings. Coming to New Zealand, the country where the movies were filmed, I was hoping to meet a lot more avid fans, but so far all I’ve encountered is “OMG she’s such a big fan, like her dad has actually read the books!” or “I went on a Lord of the Rings tour and saw where Eragon was killed or something!” That’s not even his name and he didn’t even die. Regardless it was cool to see the lake. Besides the fact that I almost slipped on ice a dozen times, it was really pretty covered in snow.
A lovely lookout spot with some of my new friends.
Even the roads in New Zealand are photogenic. I’m pretty sure they’ve filmed a car advertisement here.
Have you heard of Fergburger??? It has been featured in the CNN and Los Angeles Times and is advertised as the best burger ever which I wholeheartedly agree with. Admittedly my uneducated vegetarian opinion is based solely on their tofu or falafel burgers, but still. They are the hugest burgers I have ever seen and undoubtedly the best. I went twice last weekend while I was in Queenstown, and had absolutely no problem going again this weekend. Here is me very content feasting on my fourth Fergburger since arriving in the country. In Ferg We Trust. All in all, some more wonderful weekends in wonderful New Zealand.
