Some New Zealand Reflections

I remember waking up on my last morning in Wellington and having my heart sink at the sight of my empty-looking room. For the past six weeks, Weir House was my home base. No matter where my weekends took me, I had somewhere to come back to. Somewhere to call my home in the southern hemisphere. 

I learned much more in New Zealand than I ever could have expected. It was where, for the first time, I really felt like I developed opinions about political systems after experiencing New Zealand's Parliament. I finally understand why endangered species are so important to keep around and the different ways to go about protecting them. I understand why people go on seven-hour hikes, and that maybe I’d like to do another one someday. I was able to experience some of the most majestic scenery in the world with new friends.

It’s almost hard to put into words what exactly I’m gaining from this experience. For me, I feel like just in these first six weeks, I have a greater appreciation for everyone and everything in my life, as well as the greater world around me. Gallivanting around the world is incredible, but I’ve realized that I don’t ever want to live too far from my family. I have a new appreciation for traveling, but also for being able to call the United States home. There are some luxuries that we simply take for granted – like fast internet and large glasses of water (I still don’t understand why every water cup here is smaller than a teacup).

And then of course there are all the things I have experienced that I never thought I would. While it’s fun, it takes a lot of trust in people to make yourself fall off a cliff and make sure they don’t let you die. I never thought that I would enjoy seeing scenery in a kayak as much as I have in the past few weeks. I never, ever expected that my first time experiencing class 3 rapids would be hanging on to a little sledge. I survived a seven hour hike through a volcanically active area. There’s so much more I could say but this post would become unbearably long.

One of the most important things I’m trying to keep in mind here is to enjoy the small, unexpected moments- like finding that beautiful black-sand beach on our way to Waitomo our first weekend and stumbling upon Brisbane’s giant Ferris wheel that lights up purple at night. The world is a wonderful place, and sometimes we all have trouble remembering that when we have an assignment due or appointments to make. If there’s one thing I’ve learned here, you can always make time for the things you really want to do. The things you “need” to do will get done well at some point, and you’ll learn to sacrifice the things that are slightly less important in order to get them done. Sometimes I think New Zealand does a better job prioritizing than America does.

Milford Sound

Before I get into this post too much, there are some things you need to know about Milford Sound…

First of all, Milford Sound is a fjord, not a sound.

To make up for naming it incorrectly, they named the area Fiordland. Clearly they didn’t have spell-check back then, because it should have been spelled Fjordland.

If you ever go there, be prepared for mean little buggars called Sandflies. So many bug bites, and one even flew into my eye!

For those of you who don’t know, a sound is carved by water, while a fjord is carved by glaciers. The biggest difference visiually is that the valley is more of a U shape than a V shape. As you first drive into the Milford Sound area (even if you’re nowhere near the water), the first thing you notice is how tall the mountains are and how steep the slopes are. There were definitely areas that looked near vertical, but if I had to guess, most of the slopes were probably angled between 60 and 75 degrees. I have never seen anything quite as spectacular as these mountain peaks coming out of land that had been pressed flat by previous glaciers.

There is only one hotel (/hostel) in the Milford Sound area. It also holds the closest thing in the area to a convinence store within an hour and a half’s drive. The area does have an airport though, and on nice days it can be the busiest airport in New Zealand. This was when we first learned about sandflies and why bug spray is important. Before the first night was over, I probably had at least 10 sandfly bites. You learn to make sure your roommates close the door to your room, and that exploring at dusk isn’t the best idea unless you don’t mind getting your face swarmed.

The morning of our kayak was mysteriously cloudy. We could see the bottoms of the mountains, but there was a very distinct line where we couldn’t see past the clouds. Our American guide told us that these were her favorite mornings, comparing it to a striptease. According to her, when you see everything instantly on a bright summer day, “it’s like full-frontal nudity… a little much”. As the day went on, the clouds slowly cleared, allowing the full mountains to tower over us and be even more awe-inspiring than we expected.

I really enjoyed having a guided tour because I wouldn’t have known things like that the two permanent waterfalls at Milford Sound are both glacier-fed and over 150m tall (that’s 3x the height of Niagra!) Also, because the trees grow out of the cliff faces almost horizontally in some places, the area is prone to “tree avalanches”, where literally one tree breaks loose, falls, and takes out everything below it as well. There’s a lot of cool environmental and biological things I learned that day, but I’ll save it for in-person babbling for anyone who’s interested enough to ask me.

Also, in case you’re wondering, it’s even prettier than in a postcard. Or on the internet. There’s a reason why it was named one of the eight wonders of the world.

Queenstown- Whitewater Sledging

When Jamie first suggested that we spend our Saturday “White Water Sledging”, I was a bit skeptical. She kayaks down class five rapids on a regular basis, so I wasn’t sure that her idea of “not-that-hard” and “fun” would be the same as mine. However, after considering that Queenstown is one of the only places in the world you can do this, I committed to it.

Now I bet you don’t know what river sledging is. I sure didn’t before I came to New Zealand. To put it simply, it’s like boogie boarding down class one to three rapids, but don’t worry- you have handles. You also wear wet suits (rivers are really cold, in case you were wondering), fins (to help you go in the direction you want to go, i.e. away from rocks), and helmets (for when your kicking fails and you crash into rocks, like I almost did on multiple occasions. Almost.).

When we actually arrived at the river, we were given a short briefing and our gear followed by a short tutorial in the water. One of the first things we had to do was flip our sledges and recover them. Then we had to practice barrelrolling with our sledges so that we would learn not to let the board go when the nice icy water hits your face. Then we were on our way into the main river flow to have an adventure.

I think it took all of about 15 seconds for Pavil (guide #1) to have to save me from crashing into some boulders. Although once I got the hang of it, swimming straight into the waves and riding  through the rougher water was a total blast. We had the opportunity to do the whole run a second time and “play around”, which I used to practice barrel rolling through every wave I could.

I really wasn’t expecting much out of sledging- I figured that it would be fun, but that I would enjoy canyon-jumping and kayaking Milford Sound more, but this may have been my favorite thing that I did in New Zealand. It was challenging, but definitely not impossible to get reasonably good at in the time you have. I also can’t remember the last time my abs were that sore, so I must have gotten a good workout! I feel like I end almost every post with this but whatever… if you ever have a chance to go whitewater sledging, absolutely 100% DO IT. You will love it.

Canyon Jumping! - Queenstown and Milford Sound Weekend

For our last weekend in New Zealand, we decided to jet off to the beautiful town of Queenstown. Within hours of our plane touching the tarmac at the airport, we were on our way to jump off tall ledges and do some Canyon Swinging over the Shotover river.

This canyon swing is the tallest in the world with 60m of freefall that leads you into the 200m swing. I was actually the first one in our group to do it, and in all honestly, I wasn’t scared until I got up to the edge of that platform. 60m is a long way to fall.

We had a few different options of jump styles. I knew I wanted to do the “Gimp Boy Goes Hollywood”, which is where they position you upside down and release you while you’re upside down, but my plan was to ask the guides to help me pick another jump. One of them told me instantly that I should go backwards, and that I should do that one first so that I have to get myself off the edge of the platform for the first time by myself. Just to explain, going backwards is literally just putting your hands behind your head, leaning off the platform, and plunging towards the ground. It was terrifying, but incredible. To see the videos of me doing it, click here for my first jump (backwards) and here for my second (“gimp boy goes Hollywood”). I would post them directly but I just shipped my dvd home to help make room in my luggage for more stuff.

SEVENS!

For those of you back in the states who have never really seen rugby before, there is a very good chance that you haven't heard of Sevens. "Sevens" rugby is where instead of playing 11 vs. 11, they play 7 vs. 7 in short games. As our luck would have it, it overlapped with our time in Wellington! Another wonderful thing about Sevens is that everyone dresses up in ridiculous costumes- think Halloween + Mardi Gras with some rugby thrown in. There's also an opening parade where countries get to introduce their teams and a bit of their culture. I feel like the best way to sum up this weekend is with one of my "things I learned" lists. Here we go people...

1) Cheering on the national sports team for your country while in another country makes you so much more proud of everything they do. I didn't even really see any of the matches until the last two on television, but I was so proud of our American team.


2) Professional rugby players are really nice (or at the least the USA ones are). Maybe it's because they don't get as much national attention as other professional players, but they didn't mind taking pictures or chatting for a minute.

3) If you spend a day working on your HTS paper down at the Alexander Turnball Library during Sevens, you absolutely won't regret having gotten that much work done. You will, however, be disappointed that you missed 20 Australian boys prancing around the playground outside your dorm in $300 Care Bear costumes. (Thanks for the picture Kari!)

4) American Flag leggings are worth the money. You will wear them more than once, I promise.

5) When you find yourself with three costumes for the weekend (Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls, Rattata the Pokemon, and just... USA), you should put on your puppy dog eyes and convince one of your goofiest guy friends to spend the next 12 hours in purple leggings so he can be Rattata instead.

6) Gabe is a really good sport... and a convincing Rattata. 4 Pikachus actually challenged him to a battle!

7) When you don't have a costume and you're supposed to be leaving in an hour, MAKE A TOGA! You're welcome Scott.

8) You don't need a beach to lay out and get a tan. The grassy steps near the Wellington Harbor's "Boathouse" is a great place to spend an afternoon (and delicious gelato is only steps away!)

9) When trying to look like you're a flying powerpuff girl, kick forwards not backwards. What can I say? I'm uncoordinated. It's part of my charm.

10) Courtney Place is where you should go during Sevens, especially on Saturday night. Between impromtu dance parties to music by street performers, thousands and thousands of crazy people (and their amazing costumes), and being able to buy pineapple on a stick before you make the long trek back home, I can definitely say the experience was something I won't forget.

11) I never thought I would say this... I think I like rugby better than football. To me, they're both similar and fun to watch, but in rugby it's continuous action and less whining about them being tackled. For example, I'm pretty sure in the Kenya vs. England final I witnessed a guy break a rib. He layed on the ground for a minute or so (there was no pause for a medical assessment) withering in pain, and then got up and started playing again. Long story short- watch some rugby.

That's it for now! In less than 12 hours, I'll be on a flight to Queenstown for a weekend of jumping off things and doing an excessive amount of water sports. Also, thanks to everyone who actually reads this blog! I did it more as a journal for myself, but I'm glad to see that at least a few people are enjoying it :).