One week after the earthquake that rocked Christchurch and the surrounding area, about 100 Lincoln Uni students, R.A.’s, sponsors and two wonderful bus drivers set out on a tour of the South Island. The Uni paid for the buses and transportation for this 10 day trip to try to help get us students out of the halls to make room for policemen, rescue workers, embalmers, and funeral directors that needed a place to sleep at night.
Day 1
On the first day of this epic adventure, our bus journeyed to Hamner Springs, an inland city that is known for its hot pools. Upon arriving, we set up our three person tents at the Hamner Forest Camp outside of town. This camp was able to host us because the schools that had booked this site had cancelled their event due to the earthquake. Throughout the cabins that lined the tenting area, there were several “fragile” families that didn’t have a safe home to return to. I also came across multiple families while I was walking around town that wanted to tell me their earthquake stories. One mother I talked to said she had been separated from her children and had to wait over six hours to be reunited with them at a local park. “It was the worst feeling in the world not knowing where they were, or if they had been injured,” she told me, and I could see from her eyes that she was telling the truth. Another woman told me about the scene that occurred earlier that day during the national two minutes of silence. The community banded together in the center of town, surrounding the refugees with loves, hugs and hands to hold, reiterating the fact that New Zealand is like a giant village where everyone is there to help their neighbor out.
I also had the chance to go on several short hikes around Hamner Springs before walking back to the camp site for a night of learning how to play cricket, listening to guitar playing and an introduction to sand flies (aka mosquitoes but 100 times worse).
Day 2
On day two we traveled from Hamner Springs to Nelson. Along the way however, we were met by a two hour delay due to a rockslide. Being curious, several of us walked up the road to try to see what was causing the hold up. We walked, and walked, and walked on a “wee” little hike only to be met by a police officer that told us that the rockslide was still 3 Km up the road and almost cleared. It was a beautiful walk and a great break from sitting on a bus.
By the time we arrived in Nelson, it was early afternoon so we set up our tents to dry out at Tahuna Holiday Park. This campsite was extremely generous. They allowed families displaced by the earthquake and our group to stay there free of charge. This camp site is also right along the beach so we were able to spend time in the sand before the sun went down.
That night, I met a group of guys from University of Canterbury who had been helping with the student army and decided to get out of town for a few days to take a break. We talked for hours and hours about the earthquake, the current situation, the relief efforts and what they expected to happen in the future. It was a really good chance to talk to locals my age about the quake and see what they were thinking.
Day 3
Contrary to my previous acts of physical endangerment for an adrenaline rush, I DID NOT skydive in Nelson, but a group of about 30 students on our trip, including Shelby (the girl I did my traveling with at the beginning of this trip)and J.C. from CSU did. Instead, I spent my time on the ground in Able Tasman. While I had hoped to do some hiking in the Able Tasman National Forest area, our bus ended up at the Kaiteriteri beach so I settled for an amazing photo shoot with Pete the dragon. We walked in this area that made me feel like I was in Mermaid Lagoon from Disney’s “Peter Pan”, one of my all time favorite movies. It was gorgeous.
After our afternoon at the beach, we went on a private tasting and tour of Stokes Brewery. This “craft brewery” made an assortment of products from cider, to beer, to fruit drinks (one of which tasted like an Orange Julius).
After this mini stop at the brewery, we returned to the camp where I found my very first hedgehog. He was pretty cute, but I decided not to let him into my tent even though he was scratching at the edges of our tent trying to get in.
Day 4
After another rainy night in the tents, we loaded up our stuff and headed for Hokitika. As always, this was an exciting ride because the fifty people on my bus made it that way. Along the way, I got in a very heated conversation with a guy from Idaho about dairy breeds. (BROWN SWISS are the best!!!!!)
We also had the chance to stop at Punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes. As you can see from these pictures, this is a very unique area, especially if you come at high tide. It also gets rather loud with all that water crashing hard against the rocks.
From there we continued on to Shanty town where we were able to take a tour of an old mining town that was set up a lot like “Old Town” back in Burlington, CO. Part of the tour also included panning for gold which caused several guys on our trip to go out and buy a pan so they could search for their own fortune.
After that we went to our camping site which was right next to a milk bottling plant. After setting up our tents on already soaking ground, I wondered into town in search of something. I wound up finding just what I was looking for; a church. With all the chaos of the past several weeks and the upcoming hard days of March, I needed to feel the comfort of God surrounding me in a physical form.
Day 5
Feeling rejuvenated from stumbling across the church the day before, we did a little shopping at the Jade Factory before heading to the bus to continue on our road trip towards Wanaka. Being a rather long bus ride, we had to make several stops along the way. The first one was at Thunder Creek Falls.
From there we continued down the coast, stopping at several places for pictures on the beach, one of which had stacks of stones with messages on them (and the worst sand flies ever!).
We also had the chance to stop at Fox glacier although the walk up to it was closed due to unsafe conditions.
The bus ride was rather educational as well. I was seated next to a student from Canada, Eric, and an RA from the south island who were both rather anxious to help me learn about Rugby. Since understanding the basics of Rugby is one of my goals while in New Zealand, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the basics of New Zealand’s national sport.
When we finally arrived in Wanaka, I was exhausted from traveling and quickly took a shower and headed to bed in hopes of going hiking the next day. P.s. The YHA hostel in Wanaka is amazing. Do NOT stay at Base Wanaka; stay at the YHA!
Day 6
On day six, I went hiking! Mike, one of the sponsors from the Uni, who also serves as a coach/trainer led a hike up and around the Stack Conservation Area. For over two hours, we climbed up rather steep paths to try to make it to a viewing point. It was beautiful and tiring at the same time…. And I loved it. I even had the chance to walk in New Zealand snow and catch it on my tongue when I got close to the top!
After going back down the hill, (which I thought was harder than going up the hill!) we loaded the bus and continued on our trip to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. Upon arriving at Base Queenstown, I set off to some of my favorite shops that I had found during my last trip here a few weeks before. It was great to know where I was going and what to do.
The only new thing I found was the Kia Kaha Canterbury Benefit concert. This concert was held right next to the wharf and helped raise money for the Red Cross, yet another sign that this country would pull together to help each other survive this horrible disaster.
Day 7
After my 4.5 hour return hike the stack conservation area in Wanaka the day before, I went to the DOC (Department of Conservation) at 8:30 am to work out a day hike. Having already bungee jumped four times in Queenstown, I really didn’t have any desire to spend more time or money inside the city limits.
With the guidance of the DOC representative and a friendly e-mail from the Frasiers back in Colorado, I set out to try the Ben Lomond Track. I started out by ascending gondola hill by way of the Tiki Trail (which I had done during my last visit to Queenstown to get to the Ledge Bungy) for one hour. From there, I looped around the back of the hill to the start of the Ben Lomond track. Along the way, I got side tracked and took several less popular paths to look out points over Queenstown.
After returning back to the well traveled path, Pete, my walking sticks and I made our way to the saddle. From a quiet bench that was seated at the top, you could see the valley that was nestled on the other side of the hill and it was just gorgeous.
Now at this point, I was pretty tired but it was only 12:30 and I was determined to reach the summit of Ben Lomond so I packed up Pete and continued up the hill. When I finally reached the summit at 2pm, the view took my breath away. It was absolutely gorgeous, even with some cloud cover. The most amazing part was being able to see Moke Lake from the summit because until I reached the summit, it was not visible. It was stunning and recharged me for my walk back down the ridge which was mighty beautiful as well. When I made it back to my hostel after my 8.5 hour hike, I climbed the stairs of the hostel feeling completely exhausted, ate supper and “took a sleep” that felt more like a comatose state.
Day 8
After waking up early to capture some day old bread from the local bakery that I had grown quite fond of, I ate my last Fergburger and jumped on the bus headed for Dunedin. Still pretty tired from the day before, I slept most of the way to Otago Uni in Dunedin. When we arrived however, I was fully charged and ready to go. I had a “cowboy dinner” with at Arana college, our host for the night, before being shown into our commons area where we were to sleep. Although we were sleeping on mattresses scattered around the floor, it didn’t take long to realize that this was a pretty “flesh” (new, sharp, cool, stylish) university… with amazing showers!!!
All cleaned up and ready to go, I met up with the other Lincoln Uni students to head to the function Otago had organized for us off campus. This “function” was a trip to the local bar where they had brought in a popular live band call KNIVES AT NOON. They were pretty good AND THEY TURNED AROUND AND DONATED THE MONEY FROM THIS GIG TO THE CHCH RELIEF FUND. We also played a trivia game at the bar from which I walked away from with a very nice Otago Uni hoody for knowing Tiger Wood’s real first name. From there we wandered to Captain Cook where I found a place to dance and sing and meet several locals as well as a few Americans that were out celebrating Fat Tuesday. This was a great time to let loose and let go of some stress through dance, a stress outlet I had been missing for over a month due to the distance I am currently from the Sundance in Fort Collins.
Day 9
Filled with an amazing pancake breakfast, we were dropped off in town for an hour to wander the streets of Dunedin before heading to the Lake Tekapo Campsite. Seeing as how I love sweets, I decided to use this time to look around the Cadbury World in downtown. When I walked out of the store/factory a half hour later, I had Chocolade (a “sparkling chocolate” drink), an assortment of cheep candy bars, and Turkish Delight!
Now I have been waiting to try Turkish Delight since one of my teachers (Mrs. Moore) read me “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe back in middle school and I must say, it was definitely not good enough for me to betray my siblings and become a prisoner of the evil witch for. It was great to finally try it though! The Chocolade was interesting as well. It tasted similar to a vanilla coke but had a very sweet/rich chocolate aftertaste that lingered in my mouth.
Full of sugar and sweets, we headed off to Lake Tekapo, where we able to camp in our tents for one more night (but it didn’t rain!!!!!!) Upon arriving, I grabbed some tempura from the Japanese restaurant and headed to the Church of the Good Sheppard. This building is a beautiful church that is positioned right next to Lake Tekapo.
I then returned back to camp where we hung out chatting until a midnight dip in the lake (partially because we were boycotting paying 2 dollars for a ten minute shower, partially just because it sounded like fun).
Day 10
Excited to finally get back to campus and start school, I jumped on the bus the morning of March 10th to head towards my home at Uni. Several hours and miles later, we arrived safe and soundly back at campus. While I did arrive home to find that someone had been eating my food and a trashed kitchen, it was great to be back in a stationary, dry room with my own personal space.
That night after dinner though, I was reminded why I had gone on the trip in the first place. Just after 8 pm local time, another quake shook my desk. This rather shallow 4.5 quake seemed to roll on for what felt like ages and after ten days of no shaking surprised me to the point that I was afraid that it was going to be another disaster.
The Christchurch area is still in need of your prayers. While most people have now had their electricity turned back on and things are slowly getting back to a-new-sort-of-normal, it is going to be a long, long time before things are okay here. Over 160 people were killed in this quake and with a close knit island country like New Zealand, the entire country is hurting… and the world is hurting for them. Please continue to keep the Kiwi’s in your prayers as they start on the estimated 30 billion dollar rebuild project.
