One adventure ends, another begins.

NZ weather: 60-70 F

Days 1-4
Thursday, Feb 22 - Sunday, Feb 25
NZ road trip


Time is a funny thing. I’m not even 2 weeks off the Ice and being at the South Pole seems as if it happened 4 years ago, a distant memory in which you’re no longer sure if it was dreamt or real. The sunburn I easily got on my pale skin the day after we returned from Pole is still a reminder that it was real.

It took a few days to get my feet under me at Cheech and figure out some semblance of a plan. First, I bought a car. What? BOUGHT a car when you’re only there for 6 weeks? Actually, by my accounts this is the most economical way to see New Zealand. Cheech has a backpackers car lot set up for just this type of transaction. The sellers pay the car lot $20 kiwi (XX USD) per day just to park their car their while they wait for a buyer. The car lot offers help with setting up an independent mechanics inspection, insurance, and title changes for the buyer, hence enticing buyers to stop in. There’s a big chance you’re taking in that the car won’t leave you stranded, but on the other hand, the opportunity to resell the car and get all, or at least some, of your money back (some even make a small profit) was too good to pass up.

I bought a 1990 Nissan Sentra from19 and 21 year old girls from Germany who bought it in Auckland at another backpacker’s lot and had been driving it around for the past 4 months. I paid $900 Kiwi ($632 USD) and the $75 kiwi ($52.60 USD) mechanics inspection said all it needed was an air filter. It has an obscene amount of kilometers on it, which I’m purposefully leaving out as to not worry my family that I’m stuck in the middle of NZ somewhere. The girls from Germany, Victoria and Margaret, named the car Pinky as it has a light pink hue and they had become very attached to her. We simply changed titles at the local post office for $9 kiwi ($6.32 USD) and I was the official proud owner of Pinky.

I was incredibly nervous about driving and didn’t want anyone to watch (or to put any passenger in danger) while I learned how to shift with my left hand (Pinky’s a manual), drive in the left hand lane, make right hand turns, navigate round-a-bouts, and turn on the blinkers with my right hand. I had to go against every driving instinct that I had been learning since I was 14. Fortunately, I ran into Webster earlier in the day at the tourist information center. She was finding out bus information to travel to Takaka to meet other Polies and go climbing. Webster worked as a load master in cargo at the Pole and lived in my Jamesway. I really didn’t know her all that well, but needed the moral support for the beginning of my NZ adventure and offered to drive her at least part way. I also offered for her to take advantage of my camping equipment I just purchased from the second hand sporting goods store and Salvation Army.

Webster and I spent the next day finishing errands in Cheech before we set off going north along the coast. She was very handy to have around by helpfully pointing out when I would walk right past Pinky on the street or when I would get in on the wrong side. Since is always felt as if I were driving directly into a head-on collision, I would overcorrect to the left and Webster let me know when I was close to parked cars or cliff walls. I am told you can always tell an American driver as they have no left side mirror any longer and they always turn on the windshield wipers when they are about to turn. Thankfully, after a few days I began to avoid both of these issues.

Since we got a late start, we only drove about 2-3 hours through beautiful vineyards in rolling hills and gorgeous valleys to Kaikoura. Since this NZ adventure is on a very tight budget (despite the myths, you really don’t get paid very well for working in Antarctica), I had a map of all the free, or nearly free, department of conservation (DOC) campsites. We found a campsite a few kilometers outside of Kaikoura, right along the rocky surf and unfortunately right along the highway, but it was dark and we had new gear to tangle with.

I spent the sleepless night regretting another cost cutting measure of not buying one of the used sleeping bags from the second hand store. I thought I would be warm enough in the tent and with a quilt mom sent me for Christmas. Besides the cold, the semi-trucks sped by what seemed like inches from my head so I probably slept only an hour or so while I stared at Webster jealous of her undisturbed sleep.

The next morning was grey and raining and still beautiful while we both had a lazy morning getting organized and watching the surf. Kaikoura is a small, very touristy, coastal town that only recently gained its touristy status from the whale and seal watching off its shores. We drove to a lookout point and watched the fur seal colonies in the light rain and took a little hike up a hill. Since neither of us care for touristy and prefer solitude we continued on through Blenheim to Picton on the edge of the Marlborough Sounds. This was another beautiful drive along the coastal rocky mountains and through more vineyards and cattle and sheep fields. Picton was beautiful with its harbor full of boats but it was still raining so we only stopped a minute for more camping information. We took the very up and down, wiggly and squiggly, almost-falling-off-the-edge, and picturesque Queen Charlotte Drive to another DOC campsite which was perched in a small area, once again off the road, but more secluded next to a bay of the Sounds. Since it was still overcast, the darkness revealed strange “stars” in the stream bed near our tent. They were the size of a pin point but bright blue and white exactly as if we were looking up at a night sky. They were all over up and down the stream bed and were brilliant. I commented that since everything else on this side of the world is backwards, it goes to figure they decided to put the stars in the ground instead of the sky. When we turned on the flashlight we could only see moss and found out later that what we were seeing were glow worms.

I was determined for some solid sleep and even though I sprung for the cheapest sleeping bag on a quick stop in Blenheim and a pillow from the Salvation Army, I could not get any sleep. The cicadas in the tree overhead were deafening and my cheapest sleeping bag was also the thinnest making me shiver all night. The morning brought beautiful sunshine so how could I be crabby? I had a morning swim while Webster found sea stars, had coffee and then packed and left. I wanted to explore the Sounds more thouroughly and Webster was eager to get climbing. We took the scenic drive to Picton, stayed long enough to get advice from a kiwi, take pictures, and use the bathrooms only to return along the same and only road. The views were breathtaking looking into the azure blue waters among the large green hills. We stopped in Havelock since they are the “green lipped mussel” capital of the world I had to try some. They were delicious! The funny thing about many of these small towns is that they are identical to many of the small towns in North Dakota. We passed through many that go by in a blink of an eye and I imagine them sharing school systems and having long bus rides like those of us in ND.

Nelson was one of the larger towns we had come to, yet. The kiwi in Picton had directed us to a camp site right along the beach in Nelson. At $14 kiwi ($9.83 USD) per person per night, this was the Hilton of campsites and a little out of my budget. It was too urban and modern for both Webster and I, but it did have its advantages, wonderful showers, laundry, internet, and a 5 minute walk to a wonderful beach with the city backdrop on your right and wonderful mountains across the bay to your left. We set up camp and didn’t have any dinner since we were still full from all the green-lipped mussels and turned in. I was again determined to get sleep since it had now been 2 nights without it. I drank wine before bed and then lined my thin, but very portable, sleeping bag with my quilt and wore a sweatshirt and 2 sets of sweat pants. (I really don’t think that the nights get very cold here, it’s just that I seem to be more prone to getting cold easier – at least temporarily after living on the Ice.) After all that work of getting comfortable, the drunk, retired neighbors in the campervan across the road decided to have a very loud conversation. Webster handed me ear plugs (she sure is handy) and I finally got at least 6-7 hours of continuous sleep.

I had the most beautiful morning on Sunday! After getting some sleep, I went for a jog on Tahunanui Beach in my bare feet, did yoga in the sunrise, and then discovered how to use my cell phone in NZ and made phone calls while walking in the surf. So far it has been the best morning, yet!!

Webster bought a bus ticket to head up to Takaka departing on Sunday. She was eager to meet our mutual friends and I had just received word from a B & B in the Marlborough Sounds about woofing for them for the next week beginning on Monday. Since it was just around the corner and I have some time to kill before I’m set to meet friends in Hokitika, I agreed. We drove to Nelson city center and ran a few more errands and said our goodbyes at the bus station. I returned for one more night at the Hilton and enjoyed Sunday afternoon putting color into my pale skin on the beautiful beach.