Tiffanytasker's travel blogs:
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My Transformation into an Adrenaline Junkie
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To be honest, New Zealand and I got off to a bad start. I arrived at Christchurch airport at about 1am on the 2nd of June, and was detained from leaving by customs who refused to believe i wasn't some sort of crazed drug addict. My bag was very throuroughly searched, my diary read, the photos on my camera gone through and my phone and sunglasses tested for drugs. Surely any idiot would know not to put drugs on their sunglasses?! But apparantly i had a few things going against me. I was "very young to be on the clubbing scene" and i had also been to Thailand, which is in fact a "drug source company." Who knew?! After a lot of questioning and the ridiculous reasoning that customs "don't trust people who say they've never done drugs" i was allowed to leave, free as a bird, at roughly 2a.m. Brilliant.
I chose to join some fellow backpackers who were lying in their sleeping bags on the floor, and enjoyed probably the worst nights sleep of my life. At about 7am i packed up my things and jumped on a bus to my hostel. It was freezing. Literally, freezing. And raining. I was cold, tired, ill and cross. Already my trip to NZ wasn't going to
plan.
Luckily the next day was much better - i ran into two guys who i'd travelled up the east coast of Oz with very early in the morning before i boarded my mini Kiwi Experience bus with 11 others and trundled off to meet the big coach in Westport. New Zealand is an absolutely stunning country - rolling hills and enormous snow-capped mountains, and thousands of fluffy sheep. The winding roads however didnt like me either. When we stopped to go on a scenic walk i was sick at the roadside. Thankfully the walk which followed and the fresh air made me feel better. Everything was covered in frost and was very picturesque, hence my comment "It's like walking through Christmas."
Back on the road again and eventually we met up with the other 70 people on the trip and i was soon know as "sick girl" by all those on my bus. Definitely off to a good start. We drove to Westport, a minute town with absolutely nothing going on. No phone signal, no working internet.. Nothing. We were lucky enough though to score the best room in the hostel - Unit 7. Its even mentioned in the Lonely Planet for its blazing fire, sofas, tv, private kitchen and en-suite loo. Luxury for the likes of us penniless travellers. The evening was uneventful, m ynew found friends and i napped all the way through the three-legged pub crawl and walked through the pouring rain to join them at the last pub where a boy drew a moustache on my finger and i met another boy who'd been at school with my good friend Charlotte from Thailand. The world gets stranger and stranger.
On wednesday the 4th of June we were in for a treat: driving along the 4th most scenic drive in the WORLD. Oh yes. We left Westport early doors and went on an hour long walk to see some seals. They are so cute and very, very lazy looking. They just lay on rocks and screamed at each other. From there we drove to the Pancake Rocks and blowholes, rocks which have thousands of layers and therefore look like a stack of pancakes. The yreminded me of the "drip-drip" sandcastles which Tristan and I used to make in Frinton. The water underneath was so churned up that every now and then there would be a massive burst from one of several blowholes.
We carried on our merry way to Lake Mahinapua where we stayed with the infamous Les, and 83 year old man with a great hairy beard and a farmers hat with about 100 pins and badges in it. The Mahinapua Hotel was to be the location for our fancy-dress party that evening. Hotel is not the word to describe where we stayed. I'd go more along the lines of.. Dump.
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