So what have I been doing?
Wellington continues to be pretty glorious! Many of the exciting events I referenced in previous posts have now come and gone, but there are still quite a lot of fun activities upcoming. I'll only be in Wellington for another 6 weeks now, which is just insane, so it's also time to start paying attention to my Wellington and New Zealand bucket lists!
So what have I been doing?
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(Done June 20th, July 4th, and drunk August 4th and beyond!)
My AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING friends Sarah, Adel, and Shannon bought me a gift certificate to make my own beer at The Occasional Brewer in Wellington. They have all of the equipment and recipes, and they'll help you through the process but you do most if yourself. I decided (after a LOT of thought) to make a blonde ale. It's going to make 40 liters, so we're going to party at the hostel when it's done! On June 20th, off I went! I started the day by meeting Eugene, my helper for the day. He'd prepared the correct amount of grain for me and started heating the water, so I was ready to jump right in. The recipe is different for each beer, so the couple next to me that was brewing a Pale Ale did a lot of different things. 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: 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! From June 24- Jordan and Kara leave New Zealand and return to the U S of A: Now it is time to return home and have new adventures and new experiences at home and in Seattle. Jordan and I bid New Zealand (and Lizzy) a fond farewell. I have learned a lot about myself, and about life, and I have brand new ideas for the future. I have prepared a slideshow of all my favorite moments... and don't worry, it may be 60 or so pictures now, but I pared it down from 215! Haha. There are just too many good memories that I will always hold close.
From June 19 to 20
Our last adventure in New Zealand before heading back to Chicago for further US travel was a visit to the Waitomo caves. We had both been looking forward to this particular trip for months–Kara especially since she has a serious love for caves, rafting, and making me do things that are scary. It was a bit rainy when we got to our destination, but we were psyched to go, and it looked like the weather was going to hold enough for us to safely do our tour. As you can see in the pictures below, we did our tour with a group of Asian girls from many different places. They were nice and seemed like a fun group, although we didn't get to talk much because most of them didn't speak much English. It is a bit of an unfortunate regularity in the New Zealand adventure tourism industry that Asian tourists will sign up for activities they may be unprepared for (i.e. white water rafting without knowing how to swim). After confirming once then twice that our group partners could swim, our guide was eventually able to convince them to admit that only two of them could swim. I can't say we know why this happens so often, but Kara and I quickly took on unofficial babysitter assistant roles for our tour. That said, the girls did a great job, and Kara and I only had to help out once or twice. After our gaseous tour of White Island, I was looking forward to smelling less of the Earth’s bowels. Alas, my wish was not to be granted because we headed back west to Rotorua, where all the thermal pools give a wonderful aroma of—you guessed it—sulfur.
I can’t complain too much though. We stayed at the Funky Green Voyager, and Kara and I would highly recommend it to anyone who goes through Rotorua. Room was nice, the kitchen was clean, and we found the company to be excellent. In particular, we met a German couple about our age who we had great conversations with over the next few nights. We got to play an excellent game of charades with them and some other hostel guests, and they taught us an excellent card game whose name is either Cambio or Dutch or something else entirely. Anyway, we were up to two things in the area around Rotorua: white water rafting and Hobbiton. We were set to white water raft first. Kara found out that the highest commercially rafted water fall is nearby and had trips on sale through BookMe, so we had to go. I was skeptical of it being much better than my other rafting experiences in the north woods and Georgia/Carolina, but I was proven very wrong. This trip was definitely worth taking. We showed up at the raft barn to get started with gear and tutorials, and to meet our raft team and guides. We were outfitted with full wetsuits, helmets, PFDs, and spray jackets, all of which made us surprisingly warm despite the cold water. We spent some time going over the usual safety guidelines for white water rafting, but also practicing how to brace for our especially long falls over two large waterfalls. We were in a raft with a klutzy couple, and Kara had some trouble with the boyfriend and got elbowed in the face during our practice. She toughed it out though, and we walked down to the river to test our mettle. |
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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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