Broken Machine

I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, or course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards.
-Sam

The past 9 days have been devoted to adventure! We had “spring” break and were basically kicked out of the convent. Here is an account (although “brief” and incomplete) of said adventure.

The over arching goal of our trip was as follow: to kick the butt of the Milford Track (said to be one of the world’s most beautiful hikes). Kayla, Ben, Josh, and I boarded a bus bound for Christchurch. We hiked across the city with bags in tow and picked up our rental car (a beautiful Nissan Sunny). From the time we picked up the car we had roughly 18 hours to complete an 8.5-hour drive. Off we went! Into the sunset! Driving on the “wrong” side of the road! We had many adventures that evening: stopping at Salmon World, watching the sunset over a lake surrounded by mountains, and getting stared down in a bar in a town called Twizel.

That night we “slept” in the car that night. And if you know anything about sleeping in cars, you know that it actually means kicking people, losing circulation in your legs, and not any actual sleeping. We gave up around 6 am and headed off for Milford. We were just on time to catch the bus from Te Anau to the ferry. We spent an hour of the ferry (and stole some toilet paper since we forgot ours). We disembarked and the adventure began! Day one was a short hike (made longer by our curiosity-driven detours). We met a soldier from the Israeli army, named Maya. We bird watched, cross swing bridges, and were mesmerized by crystal clear streams (full of giant trout). That night we met a true bushman named Peter. He carried a dead stoat in his pocket and played a flute alone in his hut. We saw glow worms that night and were blown away by how much they looked like stars.

The next day was marked by an eleven or so mile hike. The boys fished and the girls explored. Our track took us through a valley with sheer cliffs and water falls as far as the eye could see (which wasn’t all that far because there were also a ton of huge trees). We walked through avalanche zones and saw a kea (the alpine parrot). When Kayla and I got to the hut we claimed our beds and rushed down to the lake. We laid down on the helicopter landing pad and just passed out. The boys eventually showed up (without fish). The evening was filled with freezing cold bird watching, fly-tying, reading, and eating. The following day was the longest but the coolest. We climbed the McKinnon Pass. The top was beautiful. We had a snack in a hut and were disappointed by “the bathroom with the view”. We saw the second highest waterfall in the southern hemisphere and were completely soaked as we tried to touch it. That night Kayla and I swam in a freezing cold river (while Ben laughed). Josh caught a fish (after stalking a bikini-clad woman)! It was a good night. The next day we headed on our merry way, another 11 miles to go. More fish, more birds, more laughs, more trees, more waterfalls. What a good trip ☺

But wait! That’s not all! We still had many days left of break! That night we slept in a hostel. We ate lots of pasta and ice cream. Ben left his Taylor Swift poster attached to the bunk bed. And we made chocolate chip and strawberry pancakes for breakfast. We made it back to Queenstown, ate at Fergburger (and were disappointed), ran into some friends, and watch Kayla Jones bungee jump! Twice! She may be the coolest person I know. That night we hung out with Kooba and waited patiently for El Taco Trucko, which never came! We waited so long for that darn truck that we couldn’t find a campground and ended up sleeping in the car once again. The next morning we set up a tent, napped, and then ate really bad chips and salsa (purchased in frustration after the lack of taco trucko). That night we made it to Dunedin. We checked into our haunted hostel, burned some pizza, and watched fireworks on the roof overlooking the entire city. Our night ended with reading LOTR out loud.

Man this is really long-sorry y’all! (PS I’m saying y’all now in preparation for the Country Music Half Marathon). The next morning we headed out to the Otago peninsula to see us some penguins. Major fail: it costs 45$ to see penguins and we were just not into that. We looked at some cliffs and then headed back. Josh and Ben dropped Kayla and I off in the city and went looking for Josh’s missing camera (what they did during those 2 hours I’m not sure: it involved talking to prisoners I believe, but no finding of a camera). Kayla and I ate lunch and did a lot of walking through second hand shops. We headed off to Moeraki to see some sweet round boulders. Kayla tried her hand at driving and totally rocked it. We collected shells, saw some round rocks (with dinos inside), bought more chips and salsa, and headed off to our next campground. We actually found a campground! No more car sleeping! We pitched a tent by a lake and made a fire. That night was awesome. We ate decent chips and salsa by a fire and began reading the Hobbit out loud (also Ben discovered that he actually had Josh’s camera in his bag). We awoke refreshed and began our drive back to Christchurch! We stopped once more to try and see penguins. Another fail. Why is it so expensive to see penguins? Josh and I took matters into our own hands, scaling some walls and fences in an attempt to spot us some chubby, flightless birds (no luck).

The rest of our trip was relatively uneventful. A car ride and a bus ride stood between Kaikoura and us. Tyler picked us up and we hugged him exuberantly. We were happy to be home.

Things I Learned:
1. There is no need for TV. Not when you have a roll of tape or a piece of old floss (NOT string!)
2. When we move out on our own we probably won’t eat super well at first, but we won’t starve.
3. Sleeping in a car is awful.
4. I think I’ve said this a lot-but friends make EVERYTHING better.
5. You can’t really appreciate having a place to call home until you don’t actually have a place to call home.
6. The extreme beauty of one place doesn’t negate the beauty of other places. Don’t be sad to leave because it just means you will be free to see other amazing things.
7. I didn’t really come up with anything profound at all on this trip ☺ but I had a blast and learned a lot of little things about being adult.
8. Tolkien is awesome.