So my time in Dunedin
after getting back from Australia and Auckland did not last long. I basically had time to wash clothes, pick up
the car from our trusty rental service, and pack before we hit the road
again. That night Erin and I barely
slept more than 3 hours after running in circles getting things ready for the
trip. And I think Marvin and Wynton were
even worse off, but somehow we all rolled up to the car in the morning, drowsy
yet excited, around 5am. Yeah, that’s right;
we got up to see the sunrise. But our
first problem to solve was packing the car: not an easy task. I am fairly positive that the guys both
packed more than Erin and I so it was definitely a challenge to fit everything
including a tent, mats, five sleeping bags, a cooler, five days’ worth of
groceries, everybody bags, and four people.
It was quite the tight squeeze and there was no possible way I was able
to see out the back window (don’t worry mom and dad, I drove carefully)! But once we solved the puzzle of packing
things, we hit the road and headed to St. Kilda Beach for a beautiful sunrise.
And I enjoyed the UNC poptarts that Kelly, Courtney, and Kelsey sent to me on
the beach for breakfast that morning.
After the sun rose above the horizon, we left Dunedin and headed toward
the west coast. 
The next day we woke
up in what felt like a furnace as the sun had instantly heated our tent. So we grabbed some cereal and took a walk
along the beach. As long as you keep
moving, the sandflies cannot actually keep up with you! After packing up the tent, we started to
drive further north blasting music with the sun shining and windows down. We stopped at a couple beautiful overlooks of
the west coast (the road winded along with the coastline). We also stopped at a beach and hung out in
the sand for a while. And then visited
Franz-Josef Glacier and hiked to the base of the glacier! And acted like total goofballs of course. Erin was driving after the glacier, so I
decided to take a nap once back on the road.
Well, not the best idea as Marvin initiated a prank on me. He got Erin to slam on the brakes and
everybody to scream at the same time…while I was fast asleep. I was so startled and scared and according to
Erin, she has never seen somebody jump out of their seat so high! Wish we had caught it on video so I could
have seen my reaction!
That night we camped
at a DOC site along a lake. We even went
swimming in the lake the next morning, which was chilly, but not too terrible
once we were in. The next day we drove
to Greymouth and saw a couple beaches and walked around the town. We then headed to the Pancake Rocks, which
are these giant rocks that are isolated to an area about the size of a football
field. They literally look like stacks
of pancakes and their origin still baffles scientists! Back in the car, Marvin and Wynton created a
“man cave” in the backseat and were up to some silly shenanigans, including
dancing in the car and joking around. Erin
and I could literally not control our laughter.
We also decided to hit the beach for a while before we all went stir
crazy from being in the car. I went
swimming, but just because Wynton decided to give me a huge bear hug after
jumping out of the ocean. Afterwards, we
found a camping ground to stay at in Westport, grabbed a much needed shower,
and then cooked a delicious Thanksgiving dinner (we let the Germans join in);
complete with pasta, veggies, and wine J We hung out for a while in the
tent before going to bed. 
The next day, we
started our drive to Nelson, with a couple of sightseeing stops along the
way. In Nelson, we ate dinner on the
beach and then drove to Abel Tasman National Park. I decided if I were to live in NZ, I would
want to live in Nelson. It’s beautiful
and so close to the Abel Tasman, which is amazing! We arrived pretty late there that night and
were unable to see the ocean, but the next morning we were in for a pleasant
and amazing surprise. The golden sand,
clear blue water, and Carolina blue sky combined to make the perfect day. We took a water taxi to Anchorage Bay where
we laid out on the beach for a couple hours (and were sweating!!!) and then
hiked part of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, about a 12.4 kilometer walk. The tramp was gorgeous and at every beach we
stopped at, there were only a few others if any. We basically took about seven hours to hike
what would normally take 4 hours just because we stopped and hung out on all
the beaches. Stilwell Bay is by far my
favorite beach I have possibly ever seen!
We stayed there for a while and even took a short nap! And of course, what would the day be without
Marvin and Wynton playing a prank by hiding mine and Erin’s clothes! Once back into town, we drove to Kaiteriteri,
which is only a half hour drive. There
we found a campsite, cooked dinner, and crashed pretty quickly!
Eventually we reached the island tired, but happy because it was absolutely beautiful!!! Unfortunately, we looked at our watches and realized we had already used up over 2 out of the 3 hours we rented our kayaks…oops! So we took some pictures and hopped back in and started paddling back, this time staying a little closer to shore. About halfway back, I recognized one of the landmarks, decided to pick up the map they gave us for the first time, and realized we had gone double the distance from the initial bay than we were supposed to…oops again! So basically, we went double the distance we were allowed to go. And turned our kayaks in 1.5 hours late. Luckily, like most Kiwis, the guy was super chill and didn’t even say anything, but that he hoped we had a good time! I love Kiwis!
However, at this point we were dealing with a new problem, we had to
catch the Interislander Ferry in Picton, which was 3.5 hours away and that was
exactly how long we had until the final check in. So we ran to the bathroom and changed our
soaking clothes within seconds, jumped in the car, and took off! We dropped Marvin off in Nelson because he
had previously toured the north island and was just hitchhiking around the
south island for a couple days. And we
made it to Picton just before our final check-in time. Of course, we got there and had to sit in our
car for another hour and they were even allowing people to check-in way past
the deadline we were given. So a little
worry for nothing! But we made some
sandwiches for the ride and listened to country music for a while. I think the car behind us was a little
alarmed by our messiness (we were literally living out of the tiny car) and the
making of our sandwiches because they kept giving us weird looks. But eventually we were able to park our car
on the ferry (or, basically the largest boat I have ever been on) and we headed
upstairs to the outside deck. The ferry
ride was a bit windy, but great for the first couple hours as Erin, Wynton, and
I sat on the deck joking around, admiring the northern coastal area, and
watching the sunset. Once dark outside,
Erin and I took a much needed nap inside.
The only downside of sleeping in a tent: you are in close proximity with
snoring. I think we all snored, but
certainly some more than others…it was deja vu every morning when we all woke
up and starting blaming each other for keeping them awake. All in good fun of course…we really did act
like a family J 
Anyway, once we
arrived in Wellington on the north island, we drive the short drive to Emily’s
(my mentor) house since she had invited us to stay with her. Rachel was already there to meet us after
traveling with her family since we were finishing up the trip with her! At this point, we all crashed pretty hard and
slept in the next morning after a comfy night in actuals beds! We eventually got ready to go and drove into
the city where we walked along the harbor, walked down the famous Cuban Street,
and walked around the city. Wellington
is definitely the “windy city” of NZ, but we still had lots of fun! We also visited the Te Papa Museum, which had
heaps of exhibits ranging from Maori culture to earthquake history. It was quite interesting. NZ actually has a couple earthquakes around
the country each day, yet most of them are very minor, especially since a lot
of pressure was relieved along the fault line after the devastating earthquakes
in Christchurch a year ago. After the
museum, we met up with one of Wynton’s friends for coffee and then headed to an
outdoor screening of the second Lord of the Rings Movie. The event that attracted heaps of people from
around NZ was part of the hype before the red carpet Hobbit premier two days
later in Wellington. So we had a picnic
in the city lawn and probably did more talking and hanging out than actually
watching the movie J 
The town was buzzing
with excitement the next day, as many celebrities arrived in town for the
Hobbit Premier. But we were headed out
of town to avoid traffic and such. So we
hit the road again and headed to Napier!
It was a four hour drive, and not too exiting, except for the fact that
we drove on a four lane road for a while.
Seriously, those are very rare in NZ and I am no longer nervous when I
have to pass a slow moving truck using the lane for oncoming traffic. Once to Napier, we found Werner’s house. His parents let us stay there even though he
was working and couldn’t come home for a couple days (sad). His dad and sister then drove us to Te Mata
Peak, which overlooks the town and wineries.
Afterwards, they cooked us a delicious dinner and we all talked for a
while. 
After saying goodbye
to Werner’s family, we headed north toward Taupo and drove around Mount Doom
from Lord of the Rings (also known as Mount Ngauruho). We were thinking about doing a day hike in
this area, but this volcano actually erupted less than a week before we arrived
there so most of the track was closed.
So after viewing the still smoking volcano, we went to a Goethermal Site
just outside Rotorua. There were lots of
geysers and hot pools in the area, which are very similar to Yellowstone, but
still cool to see! The colors of the
pools and the bubbling mud were crazy!
Next, we drove into Rotorua and found a campsite to stay for the
night. We had forgotten something from
the grocery store and went back to get it after dinner and also made a
spontaneous decision to buy strawberries and chocolate dipping sauce for the
evening. So when we got back to our campsite,
we had a classy little strawberries and wine (the bottle we bought on our tour)
date with the three of us J 
The next day, we drove
to Ogo…which is a zorbing company! Yes,
we did roll down a hill in a giant hamster ball!!! Rotorua is even where zorbing was
invented! Rachel chose to go by herself,
but Erin and I went together. Basically,
they put water in the ball, we hopped in, and were pushed down the hill. Inside our ball, it was constant screaming and
laughing. I was literally sitting on top
of Erin at one point…so much fun! We
even got stuck and had to restart ourselves halfway down, which gave us even
more momentum! Wish I had pictures of us
doing it, but these will have to suffice.
Then we drove further
north and up to Whangarei. A lot of the
day was spent in the car because there is not too much between Rotorua and the
Bay of Islands where we were headed. Once
there we found a place to stay and then hiked to the Whangarei Falls, where we
took a series of very interesting, hilarious, and awkward pictures. Here is one picture of my awkwardness…haha J That
evening we cooked dinner in the camping grounds and hung out.
We woke up pretty
early the next day and drove to a Conservation site where we saw our
first…kiwis!!!! Kiwi birds our
endangered and nocturnal so your chances of seeing them In the wild are pretty
slim and we figured we couldn’t leave NZ without seeing one. The guy working the front desk was absolutely
hilarious and even helped us find them in the dark enclosure! Then we took to beach hopping the rest of the
day as we drove up the coast. And all of
the beaches were so warm and absolutely incredible!
After an hour of
driving and a small ferry ride, we made it to Paihia where we met up with our
Kiwi friend Hayden. He helped us find a
campsite (by obnoxiously asking everybody who passed by J) and even stayed with us that night. We hung out in the beach that evening playing
volleyball and soccer and walking along the beach looking out into the Bay of
Islands. That night we also went to
listen to some live music.
The next day we woke
up super early to watch the sunrise, said our final goodbye (so we thought) to
Hayden, and then drove up to Cape Reinga, the most northern part of NZ. Well, of course we had blue skies since
Dunedin (not sure how we got so lucky), so the weather was bound to catch up
with us at some point. And sure enough
it was super foggy. So we decided to
take a nap in the car and see if the fog cleared when we woke up. And thankfully it was a little better once we
woke up, so we made some sandwiches for lunch and hiked down to the
overlook. It was still a little foggy at
the light house, which marks the northern tip of the island, but we were able
to see where the Tasman Sea clashes with the Pacific Ocean! It was quite a site to see a line of waves
stretching out into the horizon and the two bodies of water are even two
different colors beside each other. We
also took a hike down to the beach and rested there for a while. Then we headed to the massive sand dunes to
climb and explore them. Afterwards, it
was time for dinner, so we found somewhere to camp near the beach. We spent the night hanging out on the beach
for a while. The stars were spectacular
that night!
We hit the road the
next day to start our journey back to Auckland and drove through the Waipoua
Forest, which is known for its mighty kauri trees! These things were absolutely huge and
incredible! We stopped at a campsite to
cook dinner and took a walk through the trees as well. Then we continued our drive to Hayden’s
house, just an hour outside of Auckland.
That night we played cards and hung out with him. The next day, we woke up and said goodbye to
Hayden again and then headed into Auckland!
We dropped Erin off at the airport because somehow we accidently put her
on the wrong flight when booking, so Rachel and I had a couple hours to kill in
Auckland. So we returned the car and
wandered around for a while. And
eventually hopped on our flight exhausted from our road trip, but so happy with
its success! It was the perfect last
trip of our semester with the best people possible!
See you all in a week!!!
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