Mid-Semester Break
What a glorious day it is to wake up and have nothing to do except walk.
This mid-semester break, I spent the whole time with Emily, with a few others along the way. We essentially embarked on a 10-day New Zealand trip, carrying all our things and doing a combination of three-day hikes and hostels. This post might be a bit long and you can skip it because it’s not going to contain much more than a play-by-play of the break, and is more for the continuity of the blog.
Wed., April 16th
There was a city-wide power outage in Dunedin, making getting to the bus a bit stressful. I was feeling quite nervous at this stage, especially traveling for so long with just a backpack. Thankfully, we all arrived in one piece, and enjoyed a leisurely commute to the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand, to a city called Invercargill. Then, from Invercargill to Bluff we had a super friendly and chatty bus driver, and made this 30-minute journey super enjoyable! Our driver drove us to a beautiful sunset and an orange moon. After arriving in Bluff, we were happy to find that our 'campsite' had a kitchen and real toilets, so we cooked dinner in luxury and prepped for the next day, when we were going to travel to Stewart Island and start our first 3-day hike, Rakiura Track (which is a 'Great Walk', of which there are 11 in NZ). A cute resident cat paid us a visit, and we fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing :)
Thurs., April 17th
The ferry ride from Bluff to Stewart Island is notorious for being rough (https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/n9tuu0/stewart_island_new_zealand/?rdt=34899), and the idea of that was not sitting well with me. Spoiler! We had a beautiful calm ferry ride which lulled me to sleep, but not before we saw some dolphins and an albatross sitting on the water (the same animal we paid to see in blog post # 5!). Along our journey to the island, everyone was ominously telling us to stay safe?! 'What unknown beasts were ahead?', we questioned. We successfully arrived on this southern island, surrounded by near-Antarctic waters, and tramped all the way to the first campsite. We saw some deer along the way, and some beaches, and some beautiful trees and moss and lichen. We had some fun making spaghetti at the campsite (which Emily tipped over not once but TWICE) and went kiwi hunting with a red torch. We didn't see a kiwi but did scare ourselves sitting in the dark forest.
Fri., April 18th
The second day of Rakiura track is known to be muddy, and it delivered. Suddenly, the whole trail dissolved into puddles of mud, which was surprisingly fun to navigate around. This probably continued for a few hours. Once we got to our next campsite, we went kiwi hunting again, and saw a kiwi!! Apparently my friend Kami saw it's beak, but I just saw it's bum, and Emily didn't get to see it at all before it ran away into the bush. Throughout the night, we could hear kiwis calling (for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8SdqOT_no0). Stewart Island is probably the best place in New Zealand to see a kiwi, and it's apparently possible to see them during the daytime too, and I think one of people's main motivations for going there. Overall, we had a beautiful day on Stewart Island.
Sat., April 19th
We woke up at 5 am to get off the track and have the chance to visit a smaller predatory-free island called Ulva Island which is a sanctuary for many birds. We were walking before it was light, and got to experience the forest coming alive with the sun. We made it back to civilization! Then, while the others decided to explore town instead, I took the water taxi over to Ulva Island. It was really nice to spend some time alone; I realized that I almost never do things alone here (no matter what I want to do, there's often someone around to do it with me!).
We were so lucky to have stunning weather on Stewart Island. I really enjoyed the forests and beaches of the Rakiura track, the fact that there weren't any huge hills (more so undulating terrain), and, being a Great Walk, it was very well maintained. For me, the highlight of the track was the lush, ancient forest with tree ferns and waterfalls and moss and lichen -- it never gets old. My favourite part was navigating the mud on day #2. The low-light was just having to lift my enormous backpack from the ground to my back -- now THAT gets old fast.
We took the Stewart Island ferry back to the mainland, and stayed in a hostel overnight. We got delicious Indian food, took showers, went grocery shopping, did laundry and prepared to start the next leg of our journey... another Great Walk called Kepler track?!?!?! Sike, instead we decided to uproot the whole next section of our itinerary, cancel everything and rebook ourselves onto a different Great Walk called the Routeburn, for reasons which I will not bore you with. And so, the journey continues, with (so far) everything going well.
Sun., April 19th
It was this morning that I managed to book my plane tickets from New Zealand to Canada on my phone while live chatting to a booking agent in a hostel, and I think that sums up the situation pretty well. So, I guess it's official that I will indeed be returning home. Sunday was a travel day from Invercargill to Te Anau, which involved Pineapple Lumps (an NZ classic), a cheese roll (an NZ classic), and sitting at a junction in the middle of nowhere waiting for our bus (an NZ classic?). In Te Anau, I went to a free bird sanctuary where I saw the prehistoric Takahe and the cool blue ducks. Emily and I watched 'Shadowland (Ata Whenua)' at the Fiordlands Cinema which involved stunning drone footage of the Fiordlands mountains. This allowed me to zoom out (literally), and remind myself of where I was. The mountains truly put you in your place. Beautiful.
Mon., April 20th -- Wed., April 22nd
We traveled to Milford Sound, one of the most popular tourist destinations in New Zealand. I am glad to be able to say I've visited and I think I would have regretted not going, and seeing the mountains from a boat on the water was a different and cool experience, but nothing beats being on top of the mountains. We then began the Routeburn track! Please enjoy this video!!! #vlogwithinablog
https://youtu.be/u3cmRexIn34
The first night of camping was very memorable and it was quite a bonding experience because we weren't camping at an official campsite, rather on the side of a mountain in the middle of no where, with no one around. It was cool to feel that much trust in another person (Emily), and to convince myself that we were going to be ok (we were, there was nothing actually dangerous going on).
Wed., April 22nd -- Sat., April 26th
We traveled to Queenstown where we stayed in a hostel until Saturday. Queenstown was quite touristy and I spent money every time I left the hostel. I went to the gardens where I gossiped with Liam on the phone (#shoutout). I did a big day hike up a mountain, by myself! I ate Vietnamese food with Emily and Veronica. I bought my mom a small souvenir (#shoutout) and myself some pants. I was glad to return home on Saturday. Emily and I were both proud of ourselves. This was quite a big accomplishment and brought me some more confidence in being able to travel and hike. I am so lucky to be here.
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Sun., April 27th
Lizzy and I spent the day at Sandfly Bay on the Dunedin peninsula where there were plenty of sea lions. I tried a feijoa for the first time, very interesting and quite yummy fruit. We also saw a yellow-eyed penguin on the cliff as we were leaving, which is the rarest species of penguin in the world. Same animal we paid to see in blog post #5, but in the wild this time! Epic!
Peace and love, my friends.