First day in the South Island of New Zealand

Alright, So I understand that I am a little bit behind but I am going to catch up and I am going to explain, in detail my experience since I have arrived in the South Island of New Zealand. The North Island was great and the experience was amazing and the people I met were so great and I really enjoyed every second of it; now moving on to onto the South Island!

Wednesday morning Larraine and I left the house at 7:30am on the dot so I could catch my airplane. We said our goodbyes and I hope I will get to see them again someday but time will tell. I did the whole airport thing and noticed that my suitcase got ripped when I came from Australia to Auckland because my clothes were coming out of the side. So I used stupid tape that barely worked and had to give my bag to them and now I will just buy duct tape before I go on my tour tomorrow, (duct tape fixes everything). So I read a magazine on the airport and blah blah blah and then I landed in Christchurch where everything was destroyed because of the earthquakes and things got interesting.

Once I landed in Christchurch I was on a mission to get my rental car that Anas and I ordered. Anas stayed the night in Christchurch the night before I got there and I was supposed to pick him up from his hostel at 11:30am. The car company picked me up from the airport, brought me to their office and that is where I filled out paperwork inspected the damages to the car and documented it and that fun stuff. I was very nervous at this time because it was going to be scary to drive all the way across town (30 minutes away) on the other side of the car and the other side of the road. So after all of the paper work and that junk I got the keys (YIKES)! As soon as I walked out of the office I just started laughing at myself because I was so scared and there was nothing I could do about it. I had to get in the car and start driving, haha! So I got in the car and I could not stop laughing, I wished so bad that somebody was there to laugh with me, but instead it was just me, by myself, haha! I sat down, tried to grab my seatbelt and it wasn’t there because it was on the other side, tried to put the keys in the ignition and that was on the other side but then I started the car and drove. I tried to use the blinkers but instead got the windshield wipers and then just a whole bunch of other little things that I am sure happens to everybody if they are driving on the side that they are not used to. Oh yeah, and when I was at the rental car office I upgraded my insurance to the gold insurance for an extra $16 for both Anas and I. We talked about just getting the silver plan but I upgraded without talking to him because it was what I thought was the best idea.

Anas and I did not have any way at all to communicate. Neither of us have phones here or anything and internet does not come with your accommodation and there is no internet anywhere that you can just hook up to so our plans we made for me to pick him up had to stay the same because I could not call him and tell him I was going to be late so he just had to wait and wait and wait for me to drive up in our new ride.

He patiently waited and when I saw him I was the most excited person ever because it was a familiar face and I was in this country by myself and it felt so good because I felt like I accomplished something so big by driving across this broken town from the earthquakes by myself on the other side of the road.

So I just waved and smiled and when he saw it was me he was just as excited as me and we just could not stop laughing. I was hoping he wouldn’t be mad because it took so long but he was not mad at all and was just happy that I made it and I was okay. I think he got nervous because it was taking me so long and he was scared and he prayed and said, “I don’t care if she comes with no car at all, and I don’t care if she gets dropped off by a taxi just please let her make it here alive and okay and safely”. So we were just both happy that I was alive I guess, haha.

So we walked around the town for a little bit but there was not a whole lot to see and we wanted to leave because there are about 100 earthquakes a day and Anas felt one while he was waiting for me. They are just little shakes but since there have recently been two very big ones we didn’t want to be there because nobody knows when there will be a big one. So we split a 6’’ sandwich from subway and drove to a town about 2.5 hours away named Kaikoura. It is famous for whale watching but we didn’t whale watch because it’s like a million dollars. We had our own experience in Kaikoura and that was even better because it is such a beautiful part of the country.

We took this secret special way that Anas’s shuttle driver told him about and nobody ever goes this way but it is the scenic, secret way. We drove the normal way and then we took this route that looked like a horseshoe on the map (that was the secret part). The horse shoe part was so amazing and we went on this walk with the most beautiful view. The pictures give it no justice and I even stopped taking some pictures because the scenery is so much better in real life then a picture. We stopped and walked on this secluded trail. We were up high and the ocean was below us and nothing was around except the ocean way below us and the scenery was breathtaking I can’t even describe it.

After this little side tour we hit the windy rollercoaster road through the beautiful mountains again until we hit the town of Kaikoura. Once we got there we immediately went on this hike with the seals. Anas’s shuttle driver told him about this as well. There were a lot of seals at the bottom but then we just hiked up to the cliffs where the ocean was below us again. When we got to the top, the trail led us through a cow pasture and we walked through that and followed the trail until it almost got dark then we turned around and walked back. This trail was so beautiful also but there were a lot more people on this trail then the one we stopped at on our drive.

It was all the way dark when we got to the bottom and we drove back toward the center of town to find an accommodation for the night. When we were driving there was a seal on the side of the road hanging out. We pulled over and took pictures of this handsome little guy.

Then I think he got stressed out at the flashes and got angry and showed his teeth and moved toward us so that was the end of our meeting with him. He was sure cute though. Then we found a cheap motel and stayed the night there. We unloaded our stuff and then went to the “bottleo” and got a bottle of wine and took it to the Thai restaurant and split a meal there and went back to the hostel and gossiped and went to bed. That was the end of our day one adventure in the South Island.