Australia Abroad: The Fellowship

The greatest weekend of my life just recently came to an unfortunate and abrupt ending. After everyone last read we were in Auckland and we were about to start our “free weekend” trip. And let me tell you it is definitely one that I will never forget. After we parted from the group last Wednesday, the 4 amigos headed to Omaha Beach just an hour outside of Auckland. A fella named Chris who is actually a family friend of Meghan’s picked up Meghan, Patrick, Stuart, and me in Auckland. His family owns a beach house in Omaha which when we got there reminded me a bit of Seaside back in Florida. The house was absolutely spectacular, resting right on the beach with the most amazing views. Once we got unpacked and settled in we headed to a local restaurant that is one of Chris’ favorites. Dinner and a few beers at a relaxing beachside restaurant, what more could you want. We have reached that point in the trip where after going non-stop for 4 weeks, we are all exhausted. It was evident since we all hit the sack and slept well into the mid morning, catching up on some much needed sleep before heading down to the beach to snooze and catch some rays. It was really neat to learn that Chris used to play professional rugby for Auckland and actually knows a few members from the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. He told us that one of his friends from the team was coming to the beach house later that day to hang out, unfortunately, something came up and he was unable to make it. Sorry Jay but couldn’t get an autograph! One full day at the beach doing nothing was exactly what the doctor ordered to refuel the tanks. The last night there we all cooked another “family dinner” and watched the Nadal vs. Federer match at the Australian Open. But as always, all good things must come to an end. However, we were headed to something better. We rushed to the airport the next morning to catch our 10:20 to Queenstown, which is located on the south island of New Zealand. When we landed it looked as if we were on the set of a movie, specifically Lord of the Rings. The snowcapped mountain surrounding up and a few vast plains were all around us. Pictures cannot even begin to capture the beauty of the landscape. After retrieving our back we took a short 10-minute cab ride to the hostel that we were staying at for the next few nights. It was like an over crowded college dorm. Meghan and I were put in the same room with 4 other people. One guy from Canada, two from London, and a girl from Ireland. Even though it was a bit sketchy at first, we got to know them and it turned out to be a pretty neat experience getting to meet some people from around the world. We semi-unpacked and headed out to explore the town which was no more than 4 blocks wide and 4 blocks long. It reminded me a lot of any ski town out in Colorado, nestled in the mountains. The view from everywhere in the town was absolutely picturesque to a point where it looked fake. After an hour of wandering around aimlessly it was time for JETBOATING! Talk about a rush. We got on the Shotover River Jetboating bus that shuttled us about 10 minutes outside of town where we were suited up and put into a 750 horse powered jet boat. Our boat driver gave us a brief (30 second) safety talk and shot off down the river. The boat with its twin engines sucking glided on top of the water as it slid at some points completely sideways down the river missing jagged rocks, overhangs, and trees by inches. It was neat to lean over the side and look at the bottom of the river that was no more than 5 inches deep in some parts and thinking if we were going to bottom out. But we never did. Then came the 360 degree spins. Yes, the boat was able to whip around and do 360’s. It was insane! Definitely one the highlights of our trip to the south island. We headed back to town and ate dinner at one of the most well known restaurants in Queenstown called Ferg Burger. It was absolutely delicious. We met up with the rest of the group that had gotten to Queenstown a day earlier than us and headed out to the Kiwi Bar Crawl. It was a neat experience since we got to go bar hopping at some of the coolest bars in Queenstown. One of them was Minus 5. It was a bar where everything was made out of ice except the floor (duh, that would be a bit dangerous). The glasses, benches, tables, and bar was made out of carefully sculpted ice. The only down side to this bar was that it was a chilly 23 degrees Fahrenheit and with flip-flops on, my toes quickly became numb. But hey, I was in an ice bar with some awesome people so I wasn’t going to complain too much. After walking around town to 7 different bars with about 40 people or so, it was time to call it a night. The next morning (Saturday) everyone seemed to have slept in a bit. I got up around 9:30 and decided to go walk around some more and take in everything I could with what little time we had. Just a few steps from our hostel and I was standing at the shore of the lake. I did nothing but stand there for a good thirty minutes just taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. As cheesy as this sounds I’m hoping a few of my pictures can paint a small picture of just how beautiful and serene it was there. Across the lake I could hear some folk music drifting in and out of my ears through the wind and thought I’d head over to see what was going on. There were tables set up all around a small grassy areas where venders were selling everything from pottery, paintings, and jewelry to melted down beer bottles made into clocks. I wandered around the market checking everything out and listening to the music for about an hour before I headed back to get Meghan so we could go eat finally. The rest of the group had left early that morning to board a bus and drive up to Christchurch, the town that was devastated by an earthquake a year ago and are still having a few tremors and aftershocks every week. They had gone bungee jumping the day before off of the Nevis, which is 134 meters high, about a 45-story building. They all suggested we go jump and I was up for it however with time and money constraints, we decided to save that for another time. After lunch, Meghan and I headed up the gondola to get some good views of the surrounding area and to go down the luge that was on top of the mountain. It was fun especially since I beat her racing down! The picture of me prior to the luge doesn’t quite express my true feelings of the trip; I was just caught off guard! (go with it, y’all will see). We still were unable to get in touch with Patrick and Stuart but later found out they had gone mountain biking down a few trails near by, so Meghan and I decided to head back into town and look for something else to do until they finished up. We found a boat tour that lasted an hour and a half and decided to hope on and do that. We pulled out of the bay through the extremely choppy water and set out to tour the lake and the surrounding area around Queenstown. The views, again, were absolutely breathtaking everywhere you looked. The tour guide told us a bit of the history of Queenstown and showed us some of the famous sites around town and then my favorite part. He pointed out where some of the Lord of the Rings were filmed and believe it or not looked exactly like some of the scenes from the films. He told us that the hill had been closed to the public by Hollywood since the movies and while they were filming the most recent movie, The Hobbit. We headed back throught the rough waters to the bay where Meghan and I met back up with Stuart and Patrick and headed to get dinner and pack up so we wouldn’t have to do it early in the morning and wake the others in our room up. We made one last visit to the World Bar before calling it a night. Sunday morning came quick and we were up and on the way to the airport to fly back to Auckland and then straight from there back to Sydney on the last leg of our trip. I sort of wished the trip had ended in Auckland where we could just take a flight back to the states but our trip is going to end where it began, back at Wesley University.