Travel Stories: New Zealand

People often ask me to tell them stories about our travels around the world, so I thought I would do just that and share some with you!  As I mentioned in a previous blog, in 1989 Sky and I embarked upon a life changing 14 month backpacking trip around the world.  We had no itinerary, except for our “around the world” ticket, but we were armed with our trusty Lonely Planet guide books, which helped alleviate any travel anxiety, as they directed us to local transportation, food and lodging. We planned on living as inexpensively as possible by traveling 2nd and 3rd class on trains, taking local buses, eating street food and staying in the low rent district wherever we found ourselves.

In the weeks to come, I will share at least one story from each of the countries we visited.  We will start with New Zealand then move on to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Nepal.  I hope you will enjoy this adventure with me!

New Zealand:  The Land Of Superlatives

I don’t think there are enough superlatives in the English language to describe the magnificence of New Zealand.  Around each of the numerous curves a different vista would emerge.   One curve might reveal bare, brown hills, the next a green valley backed by hills dotted with herds of grazing sheep or cattle.  The next, a tree covered mountain with a sparkling stream and the next a scene of naked knife-like peaks.  You never become bored or complacent, for as soon as you do, you are surprised and thrilled yet again.

On one such day, while driving on the magical South Island, we spent so much time stopping constantly to take pictures that we had arrived in the small town of Motueka too late in the day to find an inexpensive accomadation.  We had to settle for a Bed and Breakfast with the hefty price of $55 (NZ)!  This was WAY above our budget, but we figured at least we would get a nice breakfast, which we had to order the night before, since breakfast is included in the price of a B&B, right??

Well, early in the next morning, while browsing the menu in anticipation of eating, we discovered, written in fine print at the bottom of the page, that breakfast WAS NOT included in our price at all, but would cost us an extra $6.50 each!  We looked at each other and said, “what do we do now?”  Neither of us wanted to pay that much for food we could get a lot cheaper elsewhere, and both of us were too embarrassed by our oversight to face the owners.  Five minutes before we were scheduled to be served, we decided to escape!   Giggling nervously, we threw everything in our packs, crept by the kitchen while the cook’s back was turned, and snuck out the door.  We jumped into the car, backed over the lawn in order to get around a car parked behind us, and sped away like a couple of thieves, laughing all the way.  We felt like Bonnie and Clyde after a bank heist, expecting to be pursued through the streets of Motueka. 

Dawn still hadn’t broken, so we drove to the beach to take pictures of the magical, hill-encircled bay where sleepy farmsteads stretched to the sands and mountains rose out of their fields.  The air was misty and the early morning light was luminous, casting an air of gentleness and peace over the scene.  A few locals were out fishing the surf, others were walking their dogs and whistling haunting tunes.  As the sun rose on the new day we drove away, anxious to discover what adventures were in store for us that day.

The adventure of that day turned out to be a tour of the limestone, dolomite caves at Ngarua.  We spotted the sign by the side of the road, and didn’t hesitate a minute, turning up the driveway to investigate.  We both love caves and were excited to see what treasures this one had to offer.  We  made our way to the top of the hill which had a beautiful view of the sparkling azure Tasman Sea, and found a group of people already waiting for the first tour of the day.  The jovial owner issued each of us a yellow hard hat to wear, to protect us from falling rock, or maybe bat poop, and told us to follow him through the wooden door into the underground wonderland.  We descended a set of steep wooden stairs, and were guided through a subterranean maze of twists and turns with weirdly shaped stalactites and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling and growing from the floor.  As we entered each new area of the cave, our guide switched on lights, but kept the path ahead in the dark.  The ruddy-faced owner was a born entertainer, and kept us all laughing with his jokes and stories related to his obtaining, exploring and making the cave a tourist attraction.  He played us a tune on some of the stalagmites, and showed us the bones of the extinct Moa, a large Ostrich-like bird, which had met its fate by falling into the cave from a surface hole many years ago.   When we emerged into the sunlight once again we felt we had gotten our money’s worth from the entertaining and informative tour.

I would love it if you would share any travel adventures you have had!  Also, if you have any questions about traveling please ask!

Until next time…..travel fearlessly!!