Written by Emma Moore We started the trip like every epic adventure starts, with complications. I always say “It isn’t an adventure unless something is going wrong.” First of all, I completely spaced on the fact that one usually needs a credit card to rent a car, so we were almost car-less if it wasn’t for our mom coming to the rescue and giving us permission to use her card information (thanks again Mom). Then, when we were three hours into our drive to a remote camp spot on Lake Tekapo, I realized that I forgot the sleeping bag that I had borrowed for my sister to use. But of course I brought everything else you could possibly think of, including things we didn’t need (except for the chocolate, we needed that). I just forgot the one thing that would provide my sister warmth during the negative degree nights. Luckily enough, we made an amazing friend at our campground that night who had an extra sleeping bag. The next day, we awoke to a colorful sunrise over a secluded lake surrounded by vibrant autumn trees and cried tears of joy over the beauty that we had woken up to. After a gourmet breakfast of hot cross buns and peanut butter, we drove off with our wonderful new friend Lucy on an adventure to Mt. Cook National Park, where our jaws dropped at the land that surrounded us. We ended up doing a few different hikes and having a dance-off with these three Australian brothers on a swing bridge. This led us to a fun night of drinking boxed wine and belting out Elton John’s “Rocket Man”. We all parted ways the next day and Elisabeth and I started our journey to Lake Wanaka, where we swam in the brisk waters and basked in the sunshine. We ended up meeting a super awesome goofy ginger dude named Jimmy, who we ended up staying with for the next couple of days and creating some of the best memories. You know that scene in Lord of the Rings when the trees come alive and one of them walks out and says “My friends used to live here”? Well, Jimmy took us there and we had a magical time, which naturally ended in rolling around in the moss and Elisabeth and I chasing sheep.
After Wanaka, Lis and I headed to Queenstown and met up with our dear friend Lucy. That night, we were lucky enough to get the opportunity with the grandparents of the family Lucy Au Pairs for. We were totally spoiled with our own floor in their beautiful home, with heated blankets and breakfast made for us in the morning. Talk about Kiwi hospitality! After another “see you later” with Lucy, Lis and I made the trek to Fiordland National Park, where we spent two days awestruck in nature. This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, it will forever hold a special place in my heart. On our way back from the Milford Sound, we stopped to hang out with Lucy again in Queenstown one last time and got the proper night out, complete with mechanical bull riding, dancing on table tops, and singing karaoke for free cookies (all the while being completely sober). We headed back to Wanaka the next day and met up with our good ol’ pal Jimmy and all of his friends, including my wonderful friend Lauren from Idaho. We spent the day soaking up the autumn sunshine by the lake and paddle boarding, with plans to head to the West Coast with Jimmy and Lauren the next day where we would do the Copland Track. After a slow start to the day, we started the 7 hour hike around 12:30 pm and got to the hut around 6, just in time to watch the sunset and spend a good amount of time soaking in the natural hot springs. Let me just say, the mud in these pools was definitely the highlight of the hike. I’m pretty sure Jimmy smeared every centimeter of his body in it. We finished the hike with some cold beers at a pub in Fox Glacier and ended the night with a bonfire under the stars on a crystal-covered beach on the west coast. After some crystal hunting and sad goodbyes, Lis and I spent our last couple of days driving up the coast to Picton, where we did some caving and sight seeing. We ended up treating ourselves to a night in the cutest hostel I’ve ever stayed in (The Lazy Cow) and made our way up to Nelson Lakes National Park and through wine country before we took the ferry from Picton to Wellington. It was home from here. The best part about the trip was that we ended up pretty much disregarding any of the plans we made, we just got in our car with a tent and went where life took us. In my opinion, that’s the way most trips should go. And if we really want to get deep, which I do because I’m a D & M whore (deep and meaningful), I truly believe that’s the way life should go. Sure, you can make an exhaustive list of plans and create expectations, but it never really goes the way you planned, and that is a beautiful thing to me. Elisabeth and I saw some of the prettiest sights we will probably ever see in our lives, but it was the people we met along our journey that made it so worthwhile. You know, those people you say “see you later” to instead of “goodbye”. It’s the laughs that you share together, the tears of happiness, and the joys and special moments in life that you experience in the company of others that make life worthwhile. Every single day, I find myself absolutely amazed by the natural beauty of New Zealand. But I know that when I leave, it’ll be the people I’ve met in this beautiful place that I’ll miss the most. To read more about Emma's time studying abroad in New Zealand, check out her blog: https://earth2emma.wordpress.com/
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