Two childhood friends embark on an adventure to New Zealand on February 20
th, 2010. They got into Auckland around 12 am and went straight to their hostel for the night. The next morning they went back to the airport to catch the shuttle to the camper van rental place only the two men ended up at the wrong place. When they eventually got to the rental place, they were surprised at how horribly terrible the van was. Stephen and Jeff looked at each other and laughed realizing they were in for an adventure that they would never forget.
As the two headed off on their journey, the first thing they did was name the van. It was Jeff's idea to name it Ingrid and the name stuck. After loading up on groceries, the two of them decided that they would head over to
Rotorua to eat lunch on the ocean. There was an
asian family that was
infront of the van that was ironically feeding the seagulls next to the sign that clearly said "Do not feed the birds". They would feed them and run away. It drove Stephen crazy.
After lunch, the two pushed on down the west coast of the North Island, stopping every so often to try and capture the magnificent beauty that they were beholding and failing every time because something as beautiful as New Zealand can hardly be captured by a picture. The two made it to
Waitomo, where they would go black water rafting the following day, around 7pm. Not fully understanding the camper van culture, they paid $15/ person to park in a hostel's yard. Stephen's idea was that the two would meet people, soon figuring out that camper van people tend to keep to themselves, so they followed suit.
The sleeping situation was like something out of National Lampoon's Vacation. The comical nature of the situation probably eased the pain that Stephen endured sleeping on the foot-wide space between the bench seat and the sink, which Jeff aptly named "the Hallway". Jeff slept on the bench. The bed did fold out but it was barely larger than a single so that situation seemed to be better. Jeff didn't complain.
The second full day began after the alarm rang 3 or 4 times and the two got the hint, it was time to get up. They ate their toast and took the 30 second drive to the caving place (it was next door). The first trip was tubing in a glow worm cave. It was amazing. The glow worms lit up the caves. The trip took four hours and they ate a quick lunch and then went on their afternoon adventure. This adventure included repelling and rock climbing in caves, through waterfalls and squeezing through holes that Jeff thought that he would never be able to get through. They were going to fast to even have the time to be scared, zipping through tunnels. By the time it was all over, the two were both knowledgeable about caves, glow worms and completely exhausted. Not only were they lucky enough to be the only two on the trip, which meant that they got to do more, they also got 10 pictures for free that would have cost $100 or so. The two packed up and headed to Stephen's cousin's house.
On their way there, they happened upon the most beautiful sunset they had ever seen and Jeff made the first of many toasts, saying, "Here's to things our friends will never be able to do."
They pressed on and reached their destination at around 11, parked in their driveway, cooked dinner and went to sleep. Jeff thought it would have been so funny if they were parked at the wrong house because there was so much confusing with where it was.
They woke up the next morning, Feb. 23, and were happy to find out that they were in the right place. They met Matthew and Inge and the kids. They talked for a while, took showers and took off down the west coast because they were hoping to get to the South Island by the end of the day. They went to the closest beach and at breakfast. It was the first time the two of them had ever seen black sand beaches and it was beautiful. They pressed on and made it to Wellington where they had to go standby on the ferry. There was a cancellation and the two ended up getting on the ferry. It took three hours and was the most boring trip that they had to endure. After the ferry they drove down to a seal lookout point and camped in the parking lot, Jeff sleeping in the bedroom and Stephen in the hallway.
The two woke up on the 24
th and took pictures of the seals, then headed off down the coast hoping to make it all the way to
Queenstown by nightfall. They made a few stops for pictures and for dinner. It took them a while to find a spot for dinner because little did the two know, camper van people are very territorial and one questioned why the two were so close to him. That made it weird so the two left and found another spot. They made it into
Queenstown at 1am and parked in a parking lot.
The 25
th brought about the most exciting part of the trip or at least the two thought that they would be having the time of their lives that day. They rushed around to find the sky diving place and finally found it. They signed in only to discover that the trip had been delayed until 11:20 from 9:20. So when 11:20 came around they went out to the drop site, got on their gear, got in the plane only to have the trip delayed again until 3. When 3 came around they were told that all trips were cancelled for the rest of the day and that they could reschedule or get a refund, which they found out that they have to go through the online company to get the refund instead of in the store. This only reaffirmed their belief that customer service isn't high on New
Zealand's priorities. Needless to say, the two were upset. Not really because they didn't get to go sky diving but because an entire day was wasted waiting on trips to be cancelled. The two decided to go up the east coast this time, which happened to be the quicker route. This was the first day that Jeff clocked some hours behind the wheel and he safely got the two to
Kaikora, where the two slept on the beach.
The 26
th started out like one of the days before. The two went to a seal colony but were actually able to get right up next to them. One of them hissed at Jeff and so they figured that they would keep some distance. They raced up to catch the 1pm ferry to the north island and made it. This time the two were prepared and brought Stephen's laptop and some DVDs. They watched
Shawshank Redemption and by the time the movie ended the ferry was dock and it was ready for the two to get back in Ingrid, the van, and head out. Stephen was also freaking out about changing his flight and booking skydiving. He wasn't able to change his flight but he was able to get the two booked for sky diving Feb 27 at 8am. They rushed to Auckland and parked down the street from the airfield.
The final day of the trip and they were actually going to jump out of a plane. The two got strapped up and in the plane. To continue an ongoing theme of Jeff's life, his tandem partner asked him if he was drunk.
"Of course not," Jeff said.
He said, "Good. Me neither."
This was slightly confusing for Jeff to understand but what he really wanted to say was, "No, I'm just about to jump out of a @#$#@$ plane. I'm a little nervous."
Stephen was the first to go and then Jeff went right behind him. It was a thrilling feeling falling through the sky and through clouds. It also started raining. Both got
queezy but only Stephen threw up. Jeff, being the heavier of the two, naturally made it down before Stephen. He was there waiting for him with a smile on his face. They were lucky because the rest of the trips were cancelled for the rest of the day because of the weather. The two showered up and returned their Ingrid. They got to the airport and Stephen got on his flight while Jeff waited 8 hours for his flight. He had a few annoying people talk to him while he was watching a movie on a laptop. He also got a good laugh at a person describing where Seats A, B and C are and what rows are what. What really grinds his gears are flight attendants that insist on seeing your boarding pass and direct you to your seat as if you can't read the numbers and letters above the rows or be able to count to 8 and know the letter A.
Aussie/ Kiwi phrase of the day:
Sweet as: I confirm that your recommendation is fine by me