Liz here:
Most of you know this by now, but Jen and I are back in Michigan. We got back about a week ago, after a two-hour flight from Queenstown to Auckland, a night spent sprawled on benches in the Auckland airport, a four hour flight to Melbourne (in Australia), a four-hour layover in the Melbourne airport, a fourteen hour flight to Los Angeles, a long layover in L.A., and then a five hour flight to Detroit. Whew. It takes DAYS to travel around the world.
We were supposed to come home April 5th, originally, but our money was steadily disappearing, and when good ol' Achilles' brakes spectacularly caught fire driving down the mountain into Queenstown's valley, we decided to make an end with NZ before we were entirely broke. We spent a few days exploring Queenstown (which is gorgeous), making our travel plans, searching out Mexican food, and watching some seriously top-notch street performance. And then we came home.
I gained a lot of insights from my time in New Zealand. I learned more about how other people work - and about my own mind, and desires, and needs. (I also learned how to make the shit out of a bed and carry a full tray of wineglasses.) There were some depressing, miserable lows. There were some long days where we didn't think about anything but work. There were some long days cooped up in a miniature, loud, smoking car with four other (usually gassy) people. And then there were those exuberant, joyful, perfectly beautiful highs.
I'm working on writing some essays about some experiences in NZ; I might post them here when I'm finished, so keep checking back in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I hope to see all of you and do some story-sharing in PERSON, for the first time in months.
Much love, and thanks for reading -
Liz Dengate
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Hello from Windy Wellington
Liz here:
Sitting in NZ’s capital city of Wellington, at a café called Kapai on Courtenay Pl., around the corner from our hostel. We’re actually staying in a hotel, not a hostel – quite a nice place, the Cambridge Hotel, with a posh lobby and extremely high, beamed wooden ceilings – but it does have a backpackers’ wing. We’re in a six-bed dorm, so don’t think we’re forgetting our budget now.
The hotel has a pub attached: a place you might call your “local,” with thick, wooden tables, lots of old men drinking, and rugby on the television. Although when we arrived for an afternoon pint earlier, they were showing U of M vs. State basketball! I went crazy, shrieking “That’s my school!” while the guys looked on bemusedly (and a little bit impressed, I dare say.) I forgot it was March Madness time.
We’ve been camping, mostly. In the two weeks and a day since we left Paihia, tonight’s just our fifth night in a hostel. The last two nights, however, were freezing (almost literally), very wet, and almost comically windy. The guys kind of revolted (with Jen temporarily gone, the ratio of non-campers to campers has risen to 3:1) and here we are, booked into the Cambridge Hotel, with our soggy tents forgotten in the car’s boot. Anyway, it is Lewis’ 21st birthday, and I don’t think Lewis gets any happier than when he has not only a bed, but one in a building that is half pub.
I like this city. I left the guys in the aforementioned pub and have been exploring for the last two hours, wandering the streets and perusing a used bookstore. Since we never really spent any time in Auckland (NZ’s biggest city) Wellington feels huge. It’s the most culture and the most people I’ve experienced since September, basically. From my perch here, I can see two Chinese, an Irish, an Argentinian, a Jamaican, a Moroccan, and three Indian restaurants. Awesome. There are tons of people walking around, theaters, an opera house, a yacht-studded harbor, parks and statues everywhere.
The only drawback is that it’s windy as Chicago and cold. People are literally walking around in winter coats. After months of Paihia summer, this feels “Baltic,” as the guys would say.
The last few days have been a whirlwind of travel. We bop around in the tiny car (three packs securely strapped to the top), stopping occasionally for coffees, toasted sandwiches, or curry takeaways. We cook a lot of instant noodles, oatmeal, and pasta on my little stove, and the guys have gotten quite good at setting up the tents. The roads are a blur of sheep-y farmland and rolling hills, and tiny towns with the requisite bakeries selling mince pies, and fish & chip shops, and dingy gas stations. Everywhere begins to look the same, driving down the middle of the country, and that’s why I’m glad for a couple days in Wellington, which is definitely its own distinct place.
Photo update soon – stay tuned!
Liz x
Sitting in NZ’s capital city of Wellington, at a café called Kapai on Courtenay Pl., around the corner from our hostel. We’re actually staying in a hotel, not a hostel – quite a nice place, the Cambridge Hotel, with a posh lobby and extremely high, beamed wooden ceilings – but it does have a backpackers’ wing. We’re in a six-bed dorm, so don’t think we’re forgetting our budget now.
The hotel has a pub attached: a place you might call your “local,” with thick, wooden tables, lots of old men drinking, and rugby on the television. Although when we arrived for an afternoon pint earlier, they were showing U of M vs. State basketball! I went crazy, shrieking “That’s my school!” while the guys looked on bemusedly (and a little bit impressed, I dare say.) I forgot it was March Madness time.
We’ve been camping, mostly. In the two weeks and a day since we left Paihia, tonight’s just our fifth night in a hostel. The last two nights, however, were freezing (almost literally), very wet, and almost comically windy. The guys kind of revolted (with Jen temporarily gone, the ratio of non-campers to campers has risen to 3:1) and here we are, booked into the Cambridge Hotel, with our soggy tents forgotten in the car’s boot. Anyway, it is Lewis’ 21st birthday, and I don’t think Lewis gets any happier than when he has not only a bed, but one in a building that is half pub.
I like this city. I left the guys in the aforementioned pub and have been exploring for the last two hours, wandering the streets and perusing a used bookstore. Since we never really spent any time in Auckland (NZ’s biggest city) Wellington feels huge. It’s the most culture and the most people I’ve experienced since September, basically. From my perch here, I can see two Chinese, an Irish, an Argentinian, a Jamaican, a Moroccan, and three Indian restaurants. Awesome. There are tons of people walking around, theaters, an opera house, a yacht-studded harbor, parks and statues everywhere.
The only drawback is that it’s windy as Chicago and cold. People are literally walking around in winter coats. After months of Paihia summer, this feels “Baltic,” as the guys would say.
The last few days have been a whirlwind of travel. We bop around in the tiny car (three packs securely strapped to the top), stopping occasionally for coffees, toasted sandwiches, or curry takeaways. We cook a lot of instant noodles, oatmeal, and pasta on my little stove, and the guys have gotten quite good at setting up the tents. The roads are a blur of sheep-y farmland and rolling hills, and tiny towns with the requisite bakeries selling mince pies, and fish & chip shops, and dingy gas stations. Everywhere begins to look the same, driving down the middle of the country, and that’s why I’m glad for a couple days in Wellington, which is definitely its own distinct place.
Photo update soon – stay tuned!
Liz x
Friday, March 4, 2011
Pictures - jen
The silver fern: one of the national symbols of New Zealand. The new, curling fern is a symbol of new beginnings and growth.
Waitangi Day - annual celebration of the Maori and British treaty signed February 6, 1840
Last night at Swiss. Kelly, our awesome boss.
Peini and Julian
Our traveling companion, Steven
While eating one of the Valentine’s Peeps my mom sent, Steven gave a gangster shoutout to all his “peeps”
The Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean colliding….cool. In Maori tradition, the colliding of the seas represents the coming together of male and female and the creation of life.
Te Reinga – the leaving place for all Maori souls to the next world. Souls would climb down the roots of the kahika tree, named Te Aroha, where they would continue on to Hawaiki
Getting towed by Brett, our new Kaitaia friend who saved us from being ripped off by a car mechanic
The black swans of Rotorua
Maori cemetery in Rotorua
Rotorua meeting house, the official Maori meeting house of the entire central/eastern North Island region. All of the carvings on the meeting house represent famous Maoris and Maori traditions and legends.
Lake Taupo
Lewis, another of our traveling mates
It's too early.
Good morning, San Francisco!
I don’t really know why I’m saying this. I think I saw someone say it on a tv show once, or in a movie. You know what I mean though? Gooooood morning, San Francisco! I don’t even know why that pops to mind. I don’t even think we have followers in San Francisco. If we do though, that is awesome. I think it’s just too early.
It is currently 7:00 a.m. here at the airport in Napier. I’ve been so nervous and only slept about 2 hours last night. For today ----- my parents arrive. I have NO idea why I’m this nervous. Normally, I’m just like, “Oh yes. Parents.” I mean, I love my parents. Love them. But normally, I can sleep just fine before seeing them.
I think I’m just worried that they won’t have a good time here. Or that the weather will be horrible. Or that the airlines will lose their bags.
Here at the Napier airport, there are two gates. The “Phantom of the Opera” music is playing over the loudspeaker. There is one check in counter. There is no x-ray/security to go through. I’m all alone save one rather obese woman sitting next to me who for some reason decided that today would be an excellent day to wear her tight, obviously fake, leopard print dress.
Yes.
I fly north to Auckland and then south to Queenstown, located almost at the very south of New Zealand. My flight arrives in Queenstown at 11:30 and then my parents’ flight arrives at 2:30. Hopefully we will rendezvous at the baggage pick up.
Liz, Jamie, Lewis, and Steven plan on continuing driving south from Napier to Wellington. They’ll then take the ferry across from the North Island to the South Island. My parents and I will meet up with them in roughly about a week as we head north and they head south.
** Note: At this point, I feel as if I should apologize for the lack of recent blog posts. Liz and I have been staying at Department of Conservation campsites every night, which is AWESOME, but….there’s never cell phone service and there is obviously no wireless internet. Often, when we do get to a town or a village, we’re just passing through on our way to another National Park.
Enjoy the pictures. I’m going to go get a coffee.
Miss you all,
Jen x
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
From a Soft Bed...
Liz here:
I write to you all at the moment from a very soft, cozy bed, with a real pillow and a real blanket - kind of a shock to the system after our last week of camping. It's pretty nice. WE were all a shock to the system, I'm sure - the olfactory system - until yesterday afternoon, when we got our first shower, after seven days of hiking and kayaking.
I bring you a quick recap of the road trip so far. Above is a picture of New Zealand's north island. We began at the big blob north of Whangerei, near the top: Paihia, in the Bay of Island. From there we zoomed up to beautiful Cape Reinga, where we spent a couple of days.
On our way back south, the car pooped out and we were stuck in boooring Kaitaia for a day and a half - but we quickly recovered and raced down the island, for a brief stop in Auckland to pick up Lewis, and then on to smelly Rotorua, of the sulfur springs.
After Rotorua it was Taupo, for sailing, excellent espresso, morning swims in rivers, and cider drinking. Around the lake to Taumarunui, a little town lost in nowhere, where we rented five kayaks from a kind family and paddled twenty km down the gorgeous Wanganui, camping beside the same river.
After Taumarunui, we entered the expansive, haunting, and mountainous Tongariro National Park, with its simple, minimalistic beauty, for two nights more camping and some epic day hikes.
And here we are now on the East Coast, in the Hawke's Bay wine region, in the art deco city of Napier.
Jen, sadly, left us this morning - but she's off to meet her parents in Queenstown, which is pretty awesome. She flew down, and we'll meet her and her parents in the top of the south island in about a week. I wish her a very happy early birthday - it's tomorrow!!! Jen is an amazing friend, a trustworthy confidante, a cool and collected traveling companion, a funny and entertaining mate in adventure, and I want her to have the absolute best birthday she's ever had.
More details coming soon; in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the heck out of this bed.
I write to you all at the moment from a very soft, cozy bed, with a real pillow and a real blanket - kind of a shock to the system after our last week of camping. It's pretty nice. WE were all a shock to the system, I'm sure - the olfactory system - until yesterday afternoon, when we got our first shower, after seven days of hiking and kayaking.
I bring you a quick recap of the road trip so far. Above is a picture of New Zealand's north island. We began at the big blob north of Whangerei, near the top: Paihia, in the Bay of Island. From there we zoomed up to beautiful Cape Reinga, where we spent a couple of days.
On our way back south, the car pooped out and we were stuck in boooring Kaitaia for a day and a half - but we quickly recovered and raced down the island, for a brief stop in Auckland to pick up Lewis, and then on to smelly Rotorua, of the sulfur springs.
After Rotorua it was Taupo, for sailing, excellent espresso, morning swims in rivers, and cider drinking. Around the lake to Taumarunui, a little town lost in nowhere, where we rented five kayaks from a kind family and paddled twenty km down the gorgeous Wanganui, camping beside the same river.
After Taumarunui, we entered the expansive, haunting, and mountainous Tongariro National Park, with its simple, minimalistic beauty, for two nights more camping and some epic day hikes.And here we are now on the East Coast, in the Hawke's Bay wine region, in the art deco city of Napier.
Jen, sadly, left us this morning - but she's off to meet her parents in Queenstown, which is pretty awesome. She flew down, and we'll meet her and her parents in the top of the south island in about a week. I wish her a very happy early birthday - it's tomorrow!!! Jen is an amazing friend, a trustworthy confidante, a cool and collected traveling companion, a funny and entertaining mate in adventure, and I want her to have the absolute best birthday she's ever had.
More details coming soon; in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the heck out of this bed.
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