Hello from Adelaide! (I would say from Sydney, since that was when this was supposed to be posted, but alas here we are)
Our last week of New Zealand was a whirlwind of incredible sights and car rides along the southern coast of the South Island. Due to bad weather we had to change our free travel plans last minute, but I think all of us agree that it ended up being a great trip nonetheless. After some brainstorming, and quickly booking hostels and a van, we decided that we were going to drive down to Dunedin from Queenstown and then pass through Curio Bay and loop back up to Queenstown for our flight to Australia.
During the first day of our road trip we took our lovely twelve seater van the four hours to Dunedin where we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the Otago Peninsula. Upon our arrival Maddie, Katie, Molly, Brian, Anna, Ori, Ben, Zack and I all decided that we were going to spend the rest of the evening going on a wildlife tour while Annie caught up on some yoga. The tour involved seeing the rare yellow-eyed penguins along with a great deal of playful seals and other natural wildlife along the coast. The next day the group split up to either go kayaking or to go mountain biking. Skyeler, Maddie, Brian, Katie, Annie, and Anna all went kayaking, which got pretty interesting when a lightening storm came and they all ended up getting out of the kayaks for shelter in the woods. Apparently while they were there a lot of interesting dances took place… Meanwhile Ori, Simone, Molly, Zack, and I all went mountain biking for the day while Ben stayed back and explored Our bike trip included a nice, easy detour up the steepest street in the world, which we (of course) all conquered without a sweat. After that we rode along till we got to the actual biking trails where the more experienced bikers (Ori and Zack) broke off from Molly, Simone and myself. I can definitely say that we all had a great time biking through a spooky forest and also on a BMX course. On the way back we encoutered some intense hail so we took a nice break and got some hot chocolate until it passed.
The following day we were on the road again and made some incredible stops that included Tunnel Beach, which is sort of what it sounds like just so much more awesome that what we could have predicted it to be. We also traveled to Nugget Point, Purakaunui Falls, and Jack’s Blowhole. The highlight of the day was definitely buying different relishes at a little beach house by Jack’s Blowhole. The next day we managed to spoil our eyes some more with some amazing scenery. We started out the day stopping at the Gypsy Gallery, which no words could possibly do the quirky, wonderful place justice. You’ll just have to take my word for that it was probably one of the best stops that we made during our whole trip. After that we headed out to Cathedral Caves and ended the day by traveling to one of the three petrified forests of the world. Later that night we all participated in a Hunger Banquet (which I won’t spoil for you in case some of us want to hold one once we get home) where we all gained insight about our food consumption in comparison to the rest of the world. That night, Ori, Maddie, Molly and I all slept in the van for the night (when I say sleep I really mean we all silently tried to get comfortable for hours until morning).
During our last day of free travel we went down to Curio Bay where some of the group went hiking and the rest visited a wildlife center that contained a lot of birds that are native to New Zealand. We then traveled back up to Queenstown and ended our trip with a nice group dinner. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that New Zealand will be greatly missed, but all of us are excited for the new adventures that await us in Australia.
See you soon,
Morgan