The hardest part, as always, is planning. Since I'll be going alone, it all rests on my shoulders. So here's how I've been doing it so far:
I've felt, while traveling through New Zealand, that I'm becoming part of a global society of travelers. It's like a secret club that anyone (with the money and freedom, to be fair) can join. As soon as you stay in your first hostel, you start to meet people who are far more widely traveled and, in some cases, who have been nomadic for years. This international network crisscrosses the world, and as everyone meets each other on their journeys, they give advice on where they've been and get advice on where they're going. It's very exciting, and while it's not a lifestyle I want to live forever, it certainly is a lifestyle that suites me right now. Having met so many adventurous travelers, I think it would be a real shame if I only visited one country during my year away. And, to an extent, traveling alone through non-English speaking countries is going to (I hope) be my crowning achievement, proving to myself how much I've learned and grown this year. Plus, it lets me put off the horror of making actual decisions about my life a little longer.
The hardest part, as always, is planning. Since I'll be going alone, it all rests on my shoulders. So here's how I've been doing it so far:
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Food in New Zealand is expensive. There's no way around it, as long as you're one of those humans that eats. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a country that grows so much food, but that's capitalism for you-- most of the food grown in New Zealand is exported, which makes it prohibitivly expensive for everyone back home. I can buy a NZ apple for cheaper in Chicago than I can in New Zealand. A week worth of fruits and veggies takes up a huge part of a weekly budget.
Capitalism, in a strange and sort of terrible way, has also been my savior in Wellington. Wellington has a few major fruit and veggie markets every week, and my market of choice is the Harbourside Market next to the Te Papa Museum every Sunday. I mention capitalism in this because this market definitely isn't a farmers market. I'm relatively sure most of the food is flown in from Asia. It's mostly food you want to eat sooner rather than later, and I'm sure it's pesticided like crazy. But... it's cheap. SO CHEAP. How is it cheaper than food grown in New Zealand?? Riddle me this. I could probably find similar prices if I went directly to farms, but the actual farmers markets are quite expensive in Wellington (validly), and the grocery stores are even worse. But at this market, I can pick up the whole weeks worth of food for $12. Or maybe $18, if I buy some meat from the (wonderful, local, ethical) butcher that's on site. SO CHEAP. So, for travelers like me and for the broke people of Wellington, it's probably worth playing into the ridiculous ridiculous RIDICULOUS system in which we all live, as much of a shame as that is. I suppose those of us who know and do nothing are an even worse part of the problem than those who don't know. But. $12 at the market versus $50 at New World.
(Originally from July 4th/5th)
I decided this year that it was simply impossible to let the 4th of July pass un-celebrated. Mostly this is because I'm in a hostel with people from tons of different nationalities, and I wanted to share a bit of American culture with them- but also, partially, it is because I am in a hostel with tons of people from the UK and I thought it was hilarous. >:) Also, because I'm still a little homestick! I decided to "plan it", for as much as I did any planning, for July 5th since there was a major Rugby game on the 4th, and also the 5th in NZ is the 4th back in the States! Step one was explosives.
(Originally from June 27th)
Way back in Nelson I stumbled across a beautiful, glorious, and super expensive chocolate from a company called Wellington Chocolate Factory. I was very tempted to spend the money and get some, but in the end couldn't bring myself to do it. It was too much of a risk when I didn't know if I was going to like it for sure! But then I found out that they offer tours of their factory in Wellington for only the price of one of their bars- and you get to taste all of the different kinds, and learn a lot, and get a hot chocolate at the end! A group of 8 of us from the hostel (Me, Daisy, Amy, Martin, Carla, Lamara, Ana, and Hannah) decided to go on July 27th. I learned SO MUCH.
(Originally starting from June 15th)
So, Kara and Jordan are finishing posting their blogs about their trip through NZ before heading home, and I'm continuing my life in Wellington! (Expect a massive drop in picture quality. :( ) I'd like to keep a running update about what I'm up to, but we've decided to keep the blog in chronological order. So what I'll do instead is keep a running update on this blog, and then continue in a real-time way when all of our catch-up posts are finally done! In the meantime-- if you had asked me after my first week in New Zealand if I could ever live in a hostel long-term, I would have literally died from laughing so hard. Which makes it all the more disturbing that I have chosen to spend my four months in New Zealand at The Dwellington. It's probably not even the cheapest option for housing, but although I could pay slightly less and have my own room, it makes sense to stay here for the wonderful community!
(Originally from June 8th-15thish)
The last week has been eventful! Monday I went and finished off my work at Z Energy, my previous temping assignment. Tuesday, I started at the Ministry of Education! My work there is very detail oriented and finicky, but enjoyable. As communication from the public comes into the ministry, I log it into their system and get it sent out to the appropriate person to answer it. I also send completed letters out, and log report in, and so on and so on. I'm part of the GEMs department, which stands for Government Executive Ministry which are works that don't seem to mean anything specific. However, almost all MInistry communication goes through the department, so it's massively important! (Originally from June 2nd- 8th) It was raining when we came into Wellington, and the first thing I did was steer Kara the wrong way down a one way street. But we didn't die, and our hostel, The Dwellington, is LOVELY. Update more later! ... OK it is now Sunday, and we came in last Tuesday. The past week has been legitimately crazy.
Kara had her interview at New World on Wednesday, and I had a couple of temp agency interviews scheduled. I met with one recruitment agency in the morning, and they had a part-time job in mind for me, which was incredibly exciting as I was expecting to have a very difficult time finding work. I told them I was really enthusiastic about it, and to let me know as soon as possible. Then, that afternoon, I went to a second recruitment agency and they had a job in mind for me too, this time full-time, and they thought I could interview as soon as the next day. As I was in that interview, I got a call from the previous agency offering me the part-time job, but I turned it down and crossed my fingers for the full-time job, which made me SO NERVOUS.
NIGHT ONE
After leaving Toyah and Greg's, I drove straight to Napier to pick up Noemie at Archie's Bunker Backpackers. Napier is a really interesting town. It was a destroyed in an earthquake in the 1930s, and was rebuilt almost completely in the style of the time: Art Deco! It's not very large, but the building certainly make up for that. I'm really excited to explore it in the next week! Noemie and I have plans for an Art Deco walk, and a day at the museum, and some shopping. :) After I picked her up, we couldn't stop talking and so we had a hard time finding Beagle's place. After a bit of driving around, and some bad directions from our GPS, we completely the 5k drive in about a half an hour. :) What a pleasure it is to be with Noemie again! We always have SO much to say to each other, and her point of view is always so fresh and intelligent and interesting and helpful. And her English is so good!! It seems like she's had some incredible wwoofing experiences in the past five months, and so I can't wait to catch up with her about everything. Beagle is the owner of Beagle's Bees, an organic and raw honey business! All of his honey is completely raw with no additives. He heats it for the grocery store, but he sells it unheated to his farmers market customers. Unheated honey is still “alive” and doesn't degrade-- they've been able to eat 3000 year old honey that was found in an Egyptian tomb, I believe! It's crazy good for you. He gave us a honey tasting of “commercial” honey with sugar and water added, his heated honey, and his unheated honey. The difference is actually astounding.
DAY 1
Travel really does change you. I am a generally anxious person, and not too much of a risk taker, but these six months in New Zealand have pushed me so far out of my comfort zone for long enough that I've become comfortable outside it! I've always wanted to risk a little more than I usually risk, and so I decided to spend another two weeks wwoofing while Kara and Jordan go to Wellington to find work. After I dropped them off there, I drove three hours (by myself-- on the left!) up North on Highway 2 to Ormondsville, just outside Dannevirke. (I'd never heard any of these names before now.) It got dark just before I reached the house, and it's rural enough that even with my brights on I had trouble finding the drive way! But I finally found the sign with the name of their house: Missalonghi. Once I found it, I realized that the house was going to be amazing-- the gate was shrouded in darkness, but looked imposing and grand.
(Originally from May 1st)
Yesterday, Kara and I slew our white whale and, in the process, put the perfect cap on our six months of road-tripping together. We successfully-- dare I say, triumphantly!- completed the Tongariro Crossing! This tramp is known as one of the best day walks in the entire world, and it certainly lives up to the hype. It was one of the very first things Kara and I decided we wanted to do in New Zealand, but the weather was too snowy on the mountain when we came in November, and so we had to skip it in our bee-line to the South Island. We thought we might fly back during the summer to do it, but it proved both cost and time-prohibitive. So, in the end, we made it our goal to arrive back on the North Island early enough to completely it before it was completely covered in snow.
VICTORY!
We looked at the forecast back in Picton, and realized that the 1st would be the best day by far. We decided to spend a few days in Wellington and Taupo enjoying ourselves, rather than heading straight up to Tongariro and just waiting there for the right weather. It was an excellent decision, as you can see form the previous entries! We arrived in National Park on the afternoon of the 30th, and commenced taking it easy. We thought about renting coats from the hostel because the weather on Tongariro was supposed to be in the high 20s/low 30s, but the owner told us that our layers should be enough. So we relaxed, had an excellent steak dinner cooked by Jordan, and went to bed early! Our bus left for the Crossing at 7:15am on Friday, which was sort of brutal. But the crossing takes seven and a half hours usually, and the weather was due to be better in the morning, so it made sense. We prepared the night before-- I had my long underwear, my yoga pants, two shirts, my fleece, my shell, my wind jacket, two pairs of gloves and my hat. Kara and Jordan were similarly layered! By the time we got off the bus onto the Mangatepopo Valley, we were really hot, so that was good. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of the most popular tourist attractions in NZ. The season officially runs from October-April, so we were doing it on the first out of season day. We thought it might be a bit less crowded because of that--and it probably was--but it was a very crowded hike. Of course, our one nice day was bracketed by bad weather, so everyone may have been waiting just like we were. The Crossing is 19.4 kilometers (about 12 miles), and it's broken up into sections. The first section is the Mangatepopo Valley, which offers an amazing view of Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka MOUNT DOOM!!) as you walk towards it, Mount Tongariro off to the left, and Mount Raupehu to the right in the distance. |
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October 2015
AuthorsLizzy, Kara, and Jordan are spending a year traveling and working in New Zealand. Share our adventures and keep in touch! Categories
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