We took the ferry from Wellington to Picton. I will be honest with you, I miss a LOT of the scenery that we pass during our travels because I get wicked motion sick. Typically I just get on the bus/ferry/shuttle and try to fall asleep as quickly as possible to avoid the inevitable headache. The ferry wasn't too bad until we started going through the Cook Straights. This is where the two islands have zero land between the north and south, and the waves get much bigger, which unfortunately woke me up. Damn waves.
Once we got to Picton we took a bus to Christchurch. Christchurch was flattened in a lot of areas in 2011 from an awful earthquake. It's still in shambles and buildings look like they were hit yesterday. Our bus driver explained it will take about 20 years to get the town back in shape. Our hostel was right across the street from a church that is currently being renovated.
After a long day of travel and two kinds of motion sickness, the last thing I was interested in was finding a grocery store and cooking dinner....so we went out. We went to a small restaurant called Duo and it was really good. I think at that point in my day a freaking pb&j would have been the culinary success of 2015, but the burger I had was pretty spectacular.
We had one full day for shenanigans in Christchurch which AJ and I spent getting caught up on our books (that budget won't keep track of itself!), answering a bunch of emails, and doing laundry. Then, around 3:30 we started the process of making, what we believe to be, the world's largest chicken pot pie.
Let's talk about that pie. First, we were working in a kitchen that had basic tools at best and an oven in celcius. We were working at a deficit the moment we entered the kitchen. We managed to bake the chicken and get that cubed up and make a roux and get all the "parts" ready, but then it came time to make a crust. Without a dough knife. NEVER AGAIN! So much dough needed to be made and trying to work in rock solid crisco-type-product into flour with just a fork was insanity. It took us at least 30 minutes to get it workable to where we could start making the dough, but then OH WAIT...NO ROLLING PIN! It was a comedy of errors and I can only imagine what was running through the heads of people who had the unfortunate experience of bearing witness to this sideshow we called dinner prep.
All in all, we got that crust together (tectonic plate style) and it turned out PERFECT! But we accidentally made too much. So fast forward to us trying to pawn this extra pie off on random strangers from around the world that are feeling hesitant of this American pie, I mean, as Americans it's not like we're known for making everything into a freaking pie like they do in the UK. We found a few takers and all was well. One of our takers was American and pretty jazzed to get pot pie. He was also heart broken three hours later when I threw the leftovers away because it had been sitting out forever. Food safety people....food safety!
The next morning, bright and early, we headed for the Tranz Alpine train to take us to the west coast of NZ. It was a 5 hour experience up through the Southern Alps via Arthur's pass. Absolutely breathtaking scenery, that I saw...when I wasn't asleep due to motion sickness. I really feel like I'm missing out here!
Once we got off the train in Greymouth we began the absolutely terrifying journey to Franz Josef. Our driver must have recently retired from Nascar because he was driving way too fast and, I'm not being dramatic at ALL, we thought we were going to die. Ok, maybe a little dramatic, but people's belongings were flinging all over the place and I almost fell out of my seat three times.
Arriving in Franz Josef was both a huge relief (due to the bus ride being over) and a crazy amount of pent up excitement for me. I have been counting the seconds until I got to go back to Franz since I left in 2013. It's my happy place :) Small town, quiet, beautiful scenery, and so much to see from running around on hikes and tours. I led a hike to Peter's Pool, a reflecting pool that didn't reflect much due to the misty/sprinkling. It was a beautiful hike though.
L-R: Marissa, Lexi, Kaylee, Emily, AJ, Amy, Kaitlyn (squatting) Brittany, Elizabeth, Erika and Kris
After dinner Marissa, Lexi, and I went back out to the road leading to the glacier for the darkness. With the town being both tiny and remote, you get almost zero light pollution out there. We wanted to just go star gazing to try and see the southern cross, but for the first time ever, it was so dark and clear that I finally got to see the Milky Way. I've never seen it before and it was so awe inspiring. I just laid in the road (not kidding) and stared at it until my legs got numb from the cold.
When I thought the Milky Way was surely to be the icing on the cake for this amazing program and my favorite city, I then spent half an hour the next day on a helicopter ride to the glacier. Amy, Elizabeth, and Marissa joined me and we flew up to the glacier and then did an ice landing. After we flew back and got to see Franz from the air and it was sooo tiny! The glacier actually looked small, too which was insane.
L-R: Elizabeth, Amy, Marissa and me before our flight
Glacier straight ahead!
Ice landing
Flying back to town, that's the Tasman Sea in the distance :)
In my three programs to NZ and AUS I have done some crazy and exciting and fun things....nothing comes close to what I experienced this time in Franz Josef.
So now we're in Queenstown. It's the adventure capital of the southern hemisphere! There are plans being made about bungee jumping (it was invented here) and canyon swinging....oh the adrenaline rush they'll all have from the chaos of the next two days. I brought AJ to my favorite pub, Pog Mahones, for a stonegrill dinner. They bring your meal to you on a stone that is over 400 degrees (Fahrenheit) and you cook your dinner to your liking (I had surf & turf, AJ had the filet). It's a dining experience. Then we went to The Winery (formerly called Wine Tastes) to sample some New Zealand wines before heading home to the hostel.
It's about 4 minutes before midnight here and I'm very much ready to sleep now. I will try to do better about keeping up with the blog, it's pretty annoying to write about 6 days at once, lol.
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