New Zealand - South Island

Before coming to New Zealand, I heard from friends that you must rent a car to play, otherwise it will be too inconvenient. I think it's boring to rent a car alone, and I don't want to drive alone for so long. My friend also said that if you don’t want to rent a car, you can also try to hitchhike. New Zealand is the safest country for hitchhiking. Until three days before I flew to New Zealand, I was still in a semi-panic state, because I posted a message about carpooling to find travel friends, and either there was no reply, or the time was not suitable. If you can't find a donkey friend to carpool, then try to hitchhike. As a result, two days before I flew here, I saw another post about looking for a donkey friend. He said that he planned to leave on the 13th. The itinerary was similar to my plan, and it was more flexible. After contacting him on the phone, I learned that he is an experienced camper. All the camping equipment is ready and the car is rented. If I am not afraid of the difficult camping conditions, I can join him. He can wait for me to arrive on the 14th. Set off. I thought it would be fine if I could find a partner, regardless of whether it was difficult or not. I had camped twice before, which was very interesting. I had no equipment, so I could only hang out with others.

I flew four hours to Christchurch, South Island in the early morning of the 14th. Due to the time difference, I was two hours short, so I didn't get much sleep. When I arrived in Christchurch, I went to the supermarket to buy a sleeping bag and bowls and chopsticks, and my donkey friend drove to pick me up. Why do I have such a predestined relationship with Denver? This little brother is also from Denver, and after a few chats, he knew that he is a fellow. I was worried that if I didn’t get along, I would have to hitchhike in two days. After chatting a lot, I found that he is also the kind of person who is very organized, highly planned, and obsessive-compulsive in some aspects. He is surprisingly similar to me before the resignation trip! He also resigned last year and started traveling. He was an international exchange student in Israel and Argentina in high school, and he is good at Spanish and Hebrew. He also sings two Chinese songs: "Big City, Little Love" and "Mice Love Rice", because he has a college roommate who went to China as an international exchange student. He started humming it while driving, and I was also brainwashed by the Divine Comedy.

Although it was cloudy, the scenery along the way was still beautiful. The donkey friend bought food ingredients in advance, made a PB&J sandwich for lunch that he hadn't eaten since leaving the United States, and then walked casually nearby for a while, accompanied by birds along the way. When I arrived at the camp, I started to learn various camping skills from him: choosing a camp, setting up a tent, collecting firewood to make a fire, picnicking, etc. It was raining lightly outside, and when the two of us took turns blowing the firewood and couldn't blow it anymore, he joked casually: You probably didn't bring a Chinese fan, did you? I said no, but I could fold one out of paper, and then I took out the New Zealand visa paper (the only piece of paper I had with me) from my bag and folded a fan to fan the flames, but the fire failed because of the constant light rain. I made salad and pasta for dinner, and it was raining outside, so I had to take the pot to the car to eat. After eating, washing dishes and brushing teeth are all solved in the creek next to it. On the first day in New Zealand, there was no Internet anywhere on the road to the camp. It was a day back to basics!

The next night when I got a signal, I saw messages from many friends asking me if I was safe. Then I learned that a terrorist attack occurred in a mosque in Christchurch and 50 people died. According to the news, the location where the shooting incident took place is not far from the botanical garden I passed through yesterday. God, I'm scared just thinking about it. It was the worst massacre in New Zealand since the 18th century.

It was raining outside the camp the first night so it was extremely humid outside the tent. My brother from Denver told me early in the morning that there was good news and bad news, which one should I hear first? The bad news is that the small backpack, sneakers and socks were all soaked in the outer tent. The good news is that we don’t have to go there today. Go to work. After that, I learned camping survival skills such as tent storage from my brother in Denver. After going on the road, I found that he is a die-hard fan of "The Lord of the Rings". The music in his mobile phone is all the theme songs of the Lord of the Rings movies. He said that the most important reason for him to come to New Zealand is to visit the filming location of Lord of the Rings. Because the rented car was too old to play music, and the sound effect of the mobile phone was too bad to bear, so he bought a cheap bluetooth speaker so that he could karaoke in the car.

In the afternoon, I arrived at Cape Foulwind on the west coast of New Zealand, where I saw many seals on the reef. Then I went to Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks, which look like layers of muffins. I also watched Blowholes, which is particularly spectacular when the tide rises at six o'clock in the evening. It's a pity that it has been raining every day these days, and the sunset has not been seen.

Since everything in the tent was wet and it had rained all day and there was no chance to dry it, so I stopped camping tonight and found a youth hostel with only two beds left. The kitchen inside is not bad, everyone cooks and eats there. The aunt at the front desk of the youth hostel told us that there is a free cave nearby where you can go in and watch fireflies, but you can only see it after it gets dark after nine o'clock in the evening. Fortunately, the little brother in Denver was well equipped with a large flashlight and headlamp, so we went to explore the cave. I was really lucky to look up in the cave and see the "sky" full of fireflies, the green ones are like stars, it's amazing. After turning off the flashlight and headlights, the cave was really dark. This guy likes to meditate. He meditated for ten minutes without making any sound. He could only hear the sound of the sea outside and the sound of water dripping inside the cave. He felt very relaxed.

On the morning of the third day, we drove all the way to Franz Josef Glacier, and played several interesting games on the way to pass the time on the long-distance road. This is the first time I have seen a small piece of blue sky in three days in New Zealand. As soon as the glacier saw a shadow, it started to rain again. We originally planned to stay here for two days, but the constant rain affected our travel mood too much. After checking the weather forecast, we found that the weather at the next stop was not bad, so we temporarily decided to drive to the next stop, Wanaka. This decision was really wise. On the way to Wanaka, we felt that we had been chasing the sun, with more and more blue skies, and finally saw the magnificent natural scenery of the imagined South Island of New Zealand. In the past few days, this buddy asked me to play music on his mobile phone while driving, and found that he has a lot of music lists suitable for different situations, including "Lord of the Rings", "La La Land", Latin American music, Israeli music, classical music, etc. music etc. This dude is super obsessive about the music he listens to: the music in the list must be played sequentially, not randomly. When playing music, you can't pause it directly, you must slowly reduce the volume, and then stop. His volume requirements for each piece of music are also different. He drives and I play music and feel more tired than him.

Since leaving Malaysia, I haven't done serious mountaineering. On the second day of Wanaka, I went to Roys Peak Track early in the morning. It took about five hours to go back and forth. The whole process was carried out without trees or shelter from the sun. I also saw a little sheep on the side of the road. After going down the mountain, my body was sticky to death, sweat, soil, sunscreen, and mosquito repellent were all mixed together. But the view at the top is really beautiful, worth it! Back at the camping site, I changed into my swimsuit and went for a swim in the nearby Wanaka Lake. This was the first time I went into the water in the cold outdoor lake. The water temperature was estimated to be less than 10 degrees. Immediately I felt refreshed and tired. All gone! After adapting to the water temperature, it was not as unbearable as imagined. I also washed the dirty clothes in the lake. This buddy is also a super environmentalist. It is strongly forbidden for me to use any bathing chemicals in the lake, so I can only wash with water.

This buddy said yesterday that the Rob Roy Track in Mt. Aspiring National Park is a highly recommended hiking trail in the travel book, and the scenery is beautiful. My legs were still sore after climbing the mountain the day before yesterday. I hope this trail will have shade, at least it won't be so sunny. Fortunately, after I started hiking, I walked for a quarter of an hour in the sun and entered the forest. I tried to take a selfie with the cattle and sheep. The cattle were quite calm and respectful, but the sheep turned and ran away when they felt me approaching. The scenery along the way is really amazing, and the final destination feels very close to the glacier, and you can see many waterfalls formed by melting glaciers.

During the hike, I learned a new game to pass the time with this buddy, which is about spelling English words. He taught me the rules and played three warm-up rounds. He said that because he is a native English speaker and I am not, he has no advantage, so he let me have two rounds. Fortunately, I let me have two rounds, otherwise I really wouldn't have won, but I think he must have not played his full strength. In the process of playing, I also learned several new words. He also asked me if the game could be played in Chinese, but after thinking about it, it really didn't work.

On the sixth day, on the way to Queenstown, I passed Arrowtown, which is a gold mining town with a unique style. This buddy came here to find a filming location for "The Lord of the Rings", but we couldn't find it after walking by the river for a long time according to the photos taken online. In the afternoon, I arrived in Queenstown, set up a tent by the lake at the camp not far away, and took a nap in the sun. Later, I saw an extra tent next to it. It was a French guy who had just finished his part-time job in Auckland. I didn't see his car parked next to the tent, but only saw a big backpack, and I learned that he had hitchhiked all the way from Oakland, North Island. He came over with a hiking map and showed us where he was going to hitchhike. They chatted and talked about the filming location of "Lord of the Rings". I couldn't keep up the conversation. Looking at the backs of their like-minded people, I suddenly had a good idea. I suggested to my buddy in Denver that when I left on Thursday, there would be a vacant seat in his rented car. He should go with this French guy to explore "Lord of the Rings" "The filming location.

Two days ago, the buddy in Denver recommended me to go to the Nevis Highwire Bungy (Nevis Highwire Bungy) in Queenstown, which is famous for its extreme sports. The height is 134 meters. He just went there a week ago. Before I decided whether to go bungee jumping or skydiving, I heard that Queenstown is the birthplace of bungee jumping, and with the strong recommendation of this buddy, I booked bungee jumping. When I arrived at the bungee jumping place, I was the first to be transported by the small cable car in a group of ten people. When I saw the people in front of me jumping down and then being pulled up, I was nervous and my heart beat faster. After waiting for a long time, I found out that it was not the first-come-first-served ones, but the ones that were transported later jumped in front of me. After asking, I found out that the order was determined by weight. I looked around for a week and found that they were all Europeans and Americans. I guess I was the last one to jump.

By the time it was my turn, I was already calm and fearless, but the moment I stepped on the pedal, the adrenaline surged extremely fast. The whole process of jumping and free falling took about 8 seconds. The feeling cannot be described in words. In the process of bouncing up two or three times, I was completely relaxed and enjoying the scenery of the surrounding Grand Canyon river. I completely forgot that when I was bouncing up for the third time, I should pull the rope on the left hand side, so that I could sit upright. I didn't remember until I felt an upward pull. At that time, I couldn't pull it anymore, so I just went upside down. After going up, I was teased by my brother. Anyway, another item crossed off the list of things to do!

Although Queenstown is full of tourists and shopping stores, it is actually quite distinctive. My favorite is to sit by the lake and watch the beautiful scenery and the performances of street performers in the evening. I came back from bungee jumping yesterday and didn't know what to do, so I found a nearby hill for hiking. There were bright red mushrooms everywhere beside the trail.

It was the last day of carpooling with my buddies in Denver in the South Island of New Zealand, and we decided to find a restaurant for dinner, and we both ordered veggie burgers. In the past week, I have been eating sandwiches or cooking at the camp. The last time I ate in a restaurant seemed to be in Melbourne. I really didn’t expect that I could not eat out for a week during the trip. In the evening, we summed up and reviewed the experience of this week. First of all, I thank him for agreeing to my request for a carpool companion, preparing all camping equipment and food, trusting me to drive his rented car, taking care of me along the way, and teaching me a lot Camping and tenting skills, although I have mild obsessive-compulsive disorder (except music), but it is still very flexible to discuss the itinerary. His evaluation of me is: very independent, helping him to share the travel expenses and responsibilities, not afraid of hardship, calm when encountering problems, strong problem-solving ability, always positive attitude, easy to feel happy, organized and planned. Originally, two days before the start, he still wanted to use his extremely organized advantages, but then he found that I was always one step ahead of him in thinking about what needed to be done, so I gave up. He also said that after I suddenly said "Hurry up and go down the mountain, I want 💩" on the way with him, he didn't think of me as a girl, saying that I was very down-to-earth and had a boyish personality. I feel his assessment is quite accurate. This guy will continue his journey in the South Island. I have another friend in Denver. See you back in the United States.

I got out of the tent early this morning and woke up from the cold. Looking at the surrounding mountains, the clouds and mist surrounding the mountains, and the quiet lake, recalling the camping experience in the South Island this week, I feel that everything is still so magical. There are still many places in the South Island that I want to go but don’t have time to go. Keep it in mind and come back later.