Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer.
Unfortunately my homework load has prevented me from posting this any sooner! But this past weekend my flatmates Hira and Bekah and myself embarked on our first roadtrip! Above is our route that we took! It is part of the southern scenic route that winds through the Catlins and along the coast. It even goes all the way up to Queenstown.
But the adventure began before we were even on the road. We did not make a reservation for a car and just decided to walk over to this place called Rent-a-Dent. Weird name for a rental car place if you ask me. But anyways, there were these ladies in line in front of us so we figured we wouldn't have much of a wait. Well, turns out they spoke French so communicating with the guy behind the counter took a little longer than we had anticipated. And by a little longer, I mean like a good 45 minutes. So finally the ladies the drive off in their rental. We are waiting at the counter to be helped and the man asked if we were the ones who called in and made a reservation. We said no, but we called in earlier this morning to ask if you had cars available. The lady next to us who had walked in a few minutes prior said she had made the reservation and had taken the last automatic car. We all looked at each other, wide eyed, mentally saying I can't drive stick, can you? Turns out none of us could. So after all of that waiting, we had to walk out empty handed and find another rental car place. Which being in a city like Dunedin wasn't a problem, we just ended spending more money that we had planned. But once we were on the road, we let our frustration go and just enjoyed the journey.
But the adventure began before we were even on the road. We did not make a reservation for a car and just decided to walk over to this place called Rent-a-Dent. Weird name for a rental car place if you ask me. But anyways, there were these ladies in line in front of us so we figured we wouldn't have much of a wait. Well, turns out they spoke French so communicating with the guy behind the counter took a little longer than we had anticipated. And by a little longer, I mean like a good 45 minutes. So finally the ladies the drive off in their rental. We are waiting at the counter to be helped and the man asked if we were the ones who called in and made a reservation. We said no, but we called in earlier this morning to ask if you had cars available. The lady next to us who had walked in a few minutes prior said she had made the reservation and had taken the last automatic car. We all looked at each other, wide eyed, mentally saying I can't drive stick, can you? Turns out none of us could. So after all of that waiting, we had to walk out empty handed and find another rental car place. Which being in a city like Dunedin wasn't a problem, we just ended spending more money that we had planned. But once we were on the road, we let our frustration go and just enjoyed the journey.
Our first stop was to Kaka Point, this beautiful little beach.
Our next destination not too far down the road was Nugget Point. I made the realization that is was called Nugget Point for the nugget-like boulders in the ocean. Hira just looked at me and said duh! Just like my realization of the Organ Pipes. Sometimes it just takes me a little while to catch on!
Anyways, moving on from my blonde moment, we had planned on making a lot more stops on the way down to Slope Point, but there were numerous places we drove by where the road was closed. I'm assuming it was due to weather, because the day or so before we had a snow storm, which was the first snow that has hit the city of Dunedin since I've been here! But luckily the skies cleared and melted the roads in time for our trip. Anyways, from Nugget Point, we continued on to Slope Point, hoping to catch the sunset. But before we could make it to our backpackers lodge.........
.........we had to stop for a cattle crossing. I'm sure we looked incredibly touristy snapping pictures while we were stopped, but we just couldn't resist! Oh yeah and that whole driving on the left side of the road, right side of the car thing, it wasn't all that bad! Bekah drove for a little while and got us out of the city. But about an hour in she got kind of sleepy, and she also seemed a little nervous so I decided to take over. Luckily, my first drive was out in the country where I wouldn't run into any traffic. The roads were fairly windy and some were dirt paths like this one. But driving in Colorado prepared me for that!
We made it to Slope Point where apparently there is a sign that points in the direction of the Equator and in the direction of the South Pole, which we are significantly closer to the South Pole. Well, the directions to where that sign is located exactly wasn't very clear, so we ended up going in the opposite direction. But we still found the perfect place to watch the sunset. Can't complain too much about watch the sunset out in the middle of nowhere in New Zealand!
We hiked back to the car - I'm pretty sure we walked a good 40 minutes out trying to find that stupid sign - and headed to our backpackers' lodge. We pulled up to the cutest little farm where we were greeted by the woman who owned the property. She led us to our room and showed us where the lounge and kitchen were as well. Now, I have only stayed in one hostel before, the one in Invercargill, but this was SO NICE. The lounge and kitchen area, though detached from our room, was fairly large and had plenty of seating room. Our room had two bunk beds, a sink in the main area, and we even had our own bathroom and a little space heater. But best part - THERE WAS INSULATION! We got our room settled, made some pasta for dinner that we brought (which was genius because any restaurant was at least 20-30 minutes away), gossiped like any group of girls would do, and called it an early night.
Like the early bird I am, I rose before the sun, Bekah and Hira did and decided to spend my Taylor time welcoming in the day. I mean come on, I got to watch the sunrise on a beautiful August day on a farm in New Zealand. Can it get any more perfect?! Probably not.
We hiked back to the car - I'm pretty sure we walked a good 40 minutes out trying to find that stupid sign - and headed to our backpackers' lodge. We pulled up to the cutest little farm where we were greeted by the woman who owned the property. She led us to our room and showed us where the lounge and kitchen were as well. Now, I have only stayed in one hostel before, the one in Invercargill, but this was SO NICE. The lounge and kitchen area, though detached from our room, was fairly large and had plenty of seating room. Our room had two bunk beds, a sink in the main area, and we even had our own bathroom and a little space heater. But best part - THERE WAS INSULATION! We got our room settled, made some pasta for dinner that we brought (which was genius because any restaurant was at least 20-30 minutes away), gossiped like any group of girls would do, and called it an early night.
Like the early bird I am, I rose before the sun, Bekah and Hira did and decided to spend my Taylor time welcoming in the day. I mean come on, I got to watch the sunrise on a beautiful August day on a farm in New Zealand. Can it get any more perfect?! Probably not.
Once we were all up and ready, we decided to go into "town" and refuel - the car and ourselves. We packed up and said goodbye to the family and were on our way. There was a little shop nearby that had some snacks so we thought we would swing by and grab something for breakfast. We walked up to this little shack that didn't really have a whole lot of options. So we mutually decided to purchase the chicken flavored chips to snack on at 9:30am. You do what you gotta do when you're a hungry traveling study abroad student on a budget. So we headed to town, got some really expensive gas, and some snacks from the cafe to munch on for lunch later in the day. Onward to Curio Bay we went!
Curio Bay is the remains of a petrified forest and apparently a good spot to see penguins! But clearly that didn't happen. Still a beautiful place though!
Our next stop was the McLean Falls (left). We had to walk a little ways to into the Catlins in order to get here, but as you can see it was quite worth it. Since we had to return the car before 5pm that day, we knew this might be pushing it, so we decided to walk a little quicker than usual. Well only 20 minutes of walking later, we walk up and see this. Now, I did not put the picture of myself in front of the falls, but they were so big! And the roar of them was just amazing! |
Our final destination on our road trip was the Parakanui Falls (right). It are supposedly the most photographed waterfall in the world. So if you got a postcard, calendar, professional photo, etc of a waterfall, there is a high chance it is this one. Except my photography skills and lack of an amazing camera does not do this place justice. But personally, as far as water falling off rocks in a forest go, I prefer the McLean Falls. But still a sight that I will never forget!
So you could definitely say our first road trip was a major success! We made it to 6 different places. I didn't kill anyone driving. We got to see some absolutely stunning nature. And we had some flat mate bonding time. Successful weekend...check!
Thanks for being patient with me in taking so long to post! I will write again soon!
Thanks for being patient with me in taking so long to post! I will write again soon!
In case you haven't seen, Hira and I have started a hashtag on Facebook and Instagram for our New Zealand adventures! Make sure to check it out!
#hiraandtaylorinnz
#hiraandtaylorinnz