the hard goodbyes

Posted on May 19, 2013 by karenula

we arrived in Queenstown again on Thursday evening.
I had booked the nights left at The Flaming Kiwi to go back where I had made friends before, and in fact, the first people I saw were Yin and Alex.
Yin had been touring around Queenstown and it’s surroundings, and on Friday she was going to try the burgers at Fergburger (everyone I’ve met that has been to Queenstown talks of this burgers as “the best ever”), so I told her I would join her to try them as well.

then I went with Jon to find him a hostel because The Flaming Kiwi had no beds left. he stayed at another at the end of the road, but just for the night, because next day he was starting to work for accommodation at the X-Base Backpackers.

Joel came home after work and we cooked some dinner for the both of us. again, we were back in our little routine of cooking and watching movies all night.

next day I went with Yin to have lunch at Fergburger… Jon had told me they were a little bit overrated, but to be honest, they ARE very good… I didn’t find any exaggeration on people’s description of them… we shared a “Southern Swine” (beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, aioli, and tomato relish) and a “Little Lamby” (lamb – sorry Lamberto -, mint jelly, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, aioli, and tomato relish)… they were incredible!

of course, after that, we were about to have food coma, so we decided to walk a little bit on the lakeside.

we found a playground and stopped there to sit on the swings… I’m guessing its been like 10 years since I’ve swung myself on one of this things… it was a great feeling to do it… though I almost puked…

we then met with Jon and Cam (the Canadian) to have ice cream and talk some nonsense.

back in the hostel I waited for Joel to come from work to go buy groceries. we decided to cook some Mexican tacos, and I have no idea how I managed to eat them after the gross lunch I had… but I did… and of course, I had food coma again.

next day we didn’t do much… we walked around town, then visited Jon in his new home to say hi and give him back some of his stuff (yeah! like a divorce), went to do more groceries, cooked dinner and watched more movies.

Sunday, my last day in Queenstown… I woke up pretty sad because of it… I had now a routine and friends to hang with here in Queenstown… though it’s still not my favourite New Zealand city, and I wouldn’t live here unless I got my dream job or something super special, I still got some sort of feeling of “belonging” which I totally attribute to the fact of having many friends in such a small area.

so, Jon came to visit and to take the rest of his stuff from the car. we talked a little bit, hugged a lot, and said our goodbyes (briefly because he had to go to work)… I’m going to miss him A LOT… Mr. Pee-Pee is now a very important part of my life… this two weeks traveling together we’ve experienced all kinds of emotions and lived all kinds of experiences: from stress to peace, angry to happy, bizarre to ordinary, but above all we had a lot of FUN! we were like a 60 year-old married couple, in fact, several people we met along the way asked us if we were together haha… we argued, agreed, and disagreed like such, all the time!

I then said my goodbyes to Joel… again, hugging a lot… I am going to miss him too, in a very different way than Jon, but still a lot… we got very close in very little time, and he’s of course a very important part of my life too… we said we might see each other again, if Joel finds a car in the next few days, it is possible that he might ride to Christchurch where I will be the next couple of weeks… we’ll see what happens… but, goodbye for now… to both…

the big loop

Posted on May 16, 2013 by karenula

Jon and I started the second part of the road trip heading towards the Catlins.

we decided to go this way because apparently the weather was going to turn bad and the Catlins is a place you want to visit with shiny sun in order to see all the beautiful places it has… FYI the Catlins is sort of a national reserve where few people leave and is mainly composed by farms, but it’s got different spots to visit such as waterfalls, beaches, the slope point (southern most point of the South Island), the petrified forest, penguins, seals, shipwrecks, etc.

so we drove from the hostel to Balclutha taking as many scenic roads as possible… I was driving, and after Balclutha we started seeing signposts of towns we had already passed… something was not right… when I told this to my “copilot” he just said “feels like we are going in circles, doesn’t it?” haha and since Jon has proved to be lousy reading maps, it was certainly a fact that we were lost… again… we had to U-ey… again… but no harm done, we just lost like an hour with this detour (maybe less) and got back on track.

236 km

I think we were both tired, or just not really in the mood for doing any touristic stuff, because we did not stop in all the spots the Catlins has.

we got there and drove through all the exits and just detoured to see the Purakaunui Falls.

then we drove again stopping maybe a couple of times to take pictures of the landscape, but not really caring what was out there.
we got to a village called Papatowai where we stopped for some petrol (just in case) and where we searched for a gypsy caravan that Architect Tim Heath (from Dunedin) recommended we stop to take a look at what this guy creates… but unfortunately it was closed… for winter (though it was still Autumn).

back in the car again… we now started looking for a place to stay. it was getting dark and we were getting tired.
we stopped at a place called Penguin Paradise Holiday Lodge at a village called Waikawa.

93 km

it was a small place with a kitchen, dining room, lounge area, and two bedrooms in what seemed to be a house once upon a time; one washroom, laundry, toilet, and another bedroom in what seemed to be a renovated/new area of the original house; and another little cottage outside with four beds; a quite big but forgotten garden; and a big parking lot.
there was a French couple staying in one of the rooms, but I think we were all minding our own businesses so we didn’t interact much with them.
there was a phone inside the house that we had to use to call the owner and tell her we were staying there for the night. she doesn’t live in that house, but she obviously lives near by because when we called her she said she would come later in the night to charge us.
the house was very complete, the kitchen had almost every appliance and tool to cook with, a fireplace with logs, games and books, she had pictures of the places in the Catlins, and maps, and pamphlets of different attractions in New Zealand… the whole thing (the small house in the Catlins) made me realise how much I would like to have something like this!

the owner came. she is a beautiful Japanese girl with awesome greenish eyes. she told us what was around to visit, and made us feel at home. when I told her about her eyes (that I’ve never seen a Japanese with that eye colour) she said that it IS very strange, and that when she was a kid her friends in Japan would tease her saying that she ate more bread than rice… so cute!

that night we just cooked dinner and went off to bed.

next morning we set off to explore the Catlins (this time for real).

83 km

first we went down to Curio Bay where the petrified forest is. I had no idea what to expect, I was imagining all petrifaction possibilities: on a cliff, on the floor, standing, laying… it’s funny to get there, see it from above and see logs lying on the rocks, get closer, touch the brown log and find that it is in fact, petrified… the colour and texture are of real wood, and when you touch it it’s another sensation than the one your mind originally had for you.

then we drove to Slope Point, or the southernmost point of the South Island. it is right inside a sheep farm, so you need to be careful not to step on sheepshit and also take in consideration that due to farming stuff this area is closed all September and all October.

on the way (in or out) you can see some windswept trees and get an idea of how hard wind blows there.

and then we drove out of the Catlins into Invercargill.
we stopped at a McDonalds to have some of its free wifi, and why not, have a hamburger too… but, well, money is not your best friend while you travel, you need to spend as less as possible and get as much as you can… and that’s what we did, by ordering this:

yeah… puke!

we didn’t tour around Invercargill. after eating we went to the supermarket and off towards Te Anau.

165 km

we stopped at several places to take pictures and admire the landscape.

we reached Manapouri, and since it was getting dark, we decided to stay there at a hostel that seemed really nice: Freestone Backpackers.

the place is brilliant! it’s a whole piece of land on a mountain. there’s the main house at the top, where the owners live. they have the office there too and a computer with internet, also, that’s the wifi area.
this guys built several huts all around their land, and they have all kinds of rooms (for couples, for groups of friends, and dorms). every room has a little stove and sink. there’s a common hut on the bottom of the hill with showers, toilets, laundry and a fridge… that was a little bit inconvenient… if we fancied a cup of tea with milk, or a piece of bread with cheese, we had to walk all the way down to get the milk, or to get the cheese… if only they had mini fridges inside the huts, the place would be perfect!

being there and seeing the family that owned the place just fed my idea of having my own backpackers someday.

we shared our room with two other French guys that were leaving very early to do the Milford Sound tour. we cooked dinner, had a little chat with the French, and then off to bed.

next morning we toured a little bit around Manapouri, then drove to Te Anau where we stopped to ask for information in the iSite.

92 km

Manapouri

Te Anau

we decided to do halfway to Milford Sound just to get to the mirror lakes to make it quick and drive during daylight back to Queenstown.

and Queenstown greeted us like this:

240 km

overall we made a big loop from Queenstown to Queenstown.

910 km

queens(party)town

Posted on May 14, 2013 by karenula

we arrived in Queenstown at around 5 pm… Jon had booked a room at the hostel where Cam, the birthday boy, was staying, and I decided to stay at the YHA in front of the lake (700 meters from the centre)… it would be our first time sleeping separated. he came with me to my hostel and then took the car… I did some laundry, relaxed a bit, and I was about to eat something when Jon texted me that there were free pizzas at his hostel (the party was getting started)… so he picked me up and took me there…

they were celebrating four birthdays in one, and THEY were making the pizzas (actually it was only Jess one of the birthday girls, and Cam’s girlfriend). so, the birthday people were Cam (Canada), Jess (Canada), a German girl who’s name I do not remember, and Joe (Scotland). and the non birthday people were Jon, Joel (Canada), and me. after several minutes Rachel (the Irish girl we met in Lake Tekapo) arrived, and so did Freddy and Tin (Swedish and Danish we met in Mount Cook)… so apparently Jon had been picking up people in our trip to take them to the party! (well dome Mr. Pee-Pee!!)

after dinner we set off for the drinking part of the night… I took the car and parked it near the centre so that I could take it back to the hostel, I was NOT walking 700 meters in that cold!

Cam had some sort of deal in one of the bars, so drinks were cheaper for our party… which was a pain because I was not drinking but it was good, I had a great time anyways (like always… those who know me can tell you that I do not need (much) alcohol to have a good time…) and Rachel was not drinking either, so the both of us were most of the time together talking between us and with the rest of the group (while they still could)…
then, Rachel left me… she had to get up early the next morning, so she literally abandoned me in my soberness… I had to blend in somehow, and that’s when I spotted Joel… he was dancing with the German girl’s crutches looking like Forest Gump when he’s dancing with Elvis Prestley… so cute!… so I joined his dancing group, he was with Alex and another girl (both from Australia)… we ended up in the crowded dancing floor… it was so much fun!
when the party was dying, Joel and I went out to find any bar that would still be open… we ended up in one called Cowboys (or something), where Alex was, and where the beer was cheap…
at around four am we decided to leave, Joel walked me to the car and I drove him to his hostel, we exchanged numbers to do something the next day and then I drove to my hostel…

next day I checked out and drove to Joel’s… we were going to drive to Glenorchy (actually, HE was going to drive, and I was going to be the tourist because he has done this before)…

so, we got to the small town… like people said, there is nothing, but the drive it pretty amazing.

we drove back to Queenstown, Jon wanted to stay there until Monday to handout CVs and talk to people about any possible jobs… so I switched hostel to where Joel and other people from the party were… Joel sold me the whole idea: free wifi, lounge with 150 movies, and friends… how could I say no to that? (if you are interested it’s called The Flaming Kiwi… I should get a commission for this).

we then went to have lunch… we were looking for a sushi place that Joel knew existed, and it was delicious! we walked around the town centre and when it started to get cold we decided to go back to the hostel… there I started installing in my new room, since Jon wanted to stay Monday, I payed for two nights there. my bunk mate was a German guy (how strange) called Eric, he bought a van and has been travelling and working in the South Island. he’s such a nice guy! I didn’t have much time to get to know him, but we did talk and I did have my laughs with him.
apparently, this is a long term stay hostel, so most of the people living here are not really interested in going out to do the touristic stuff, most of them work so it becomes more like a house where after work everybody sits down to watch movies, cook dinner, and watch more movies after that. it’s a big family, and I was part of that family for a couple of nights. Joel and I would go to the supermarket to buy stuff for supper, we would both cook together (he did most of the cooking), and then we would sit down to watch movies all night until 4 am.

on Monday I went out for a walk and met with Jon, I hadn’t seen him since the party and he had texted me the day before saying that he might stay in Queenstown and cancel the rest of the trip with me… I was ready to kill him and throw him into the lake, but when I saw him he said that it was all good, that he is coming but he needed to get back on Friday morning because he was starting to work for accommodation at the X-base backpackers… so, that meant we had to hurry doing whatever we were going to do… I headed towards the lakefront and sat to admire the landscape.

I wanted to go up the mountain where the gondola takes you, but didn’t want to pay for the gondola, and when I got to the track that takes you up, decided I was not in the mood to do it. so I just went to the cemetery to walk around and take more pictures (like I did in Picton)… for some reason I do not love Queenstown like everybody else seems to do. although I now have friends here and I feel good with them, there’s something about the small town that doesn’t fit with me… might be the whole filled-with-foreigners party-town thing (no offence).

I went back to the hostel and started to get my things ready… Jon was moving to my hostel later on to make thing easier for next morning.
back in my dorm I met Yin, she’s from the UK but her family comes from Hong Kong, she’s been travelling just for holiday, and she is staying in Queenstown for a week or so… we chatted just a little bit. she is really nice, easy to talk to, funny… I will see her again when I come back, I liked her!

when Joel came, and after doing our little routine, we sat to watch movies and relax… it’s been nice to have someone as close as Joel has been this past days, definitely a highlight of the trip!

Joel

next morning I booked more nights in the hostel for my return. it will be nice to come back to a place that feels like home instead of starting over at a new hostel. I said goodbye to Eric, because he was traveling a little bit more and I was not going to see him when I came back… I saw Yin and we said we will see each other later… Joel didn’t wake up so we just texted a “have fun, see you in a couple of days”… and off we were to our second part of the road trip, heading towards the east coast once more… but this time doing a big loop instead of zigzagging…

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Tag Archives: queenstown

the hard goodbyes

the big loop

queens(party)town

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