World ExploraSean: Back on the Bus

After leaving Queenstown met our new driver Rob. Rob loves food and cooking group meals, which he only charges a mere $5 for. His thought process is that if you don't eat, you don't shit, and if you don't shit, you die, because those are the facts of life. It was clear I fit in on this bus. The only person from our previous crew left with me was English Lucy. However, there were some fellow North Americans in Nicole from Kansas and Victoria from Vancouver.

For lunch we stopped by the bluest lake I have ever seen, Pukaki. As with the colored lakes in Bolivia, the coloration is caused by minerals. When the lake formed, glaciers ran down the mountain side, crushing rocks in the process and carrying their sediment into the lake (As previously mentioned my blog stands for two things: providing educational facts and promoting respect for women). We also stopped by another mirror lake on our way to Mount Cook, which was our destination for the evening.

Brightest blue waters I have ever seen

Mountain closeup with my 75-300mm lense

Best picnic spot I've ever been to, hands down

Another mirror lake

We got to Mt. Cook pretty early, so Lucy and I decided to take a hike up to one of the viewing points. Even the first view stepping out of the hostel is pretty spectacular as you are literally in the middle of nowhere. There's no pollution, city lights, and rarely any cars running, so you get absolutely amazing, unobstructed views. It was probably one of the most peaceful places I have ever been in my life, and I have been to five places.

Pretty sweet view from the hostel

Also viewable from the hostel balcony

Our hike ended at the summit with this view of Mount Cook, the glacier surrounding it, and the river below it

I wish I could hike up there!

A zoomed in shot of Mount Cook. If you look close, you can see a face in the middle of the photo...spooky

Mount Cook is known for having one of the clearest night skies in the world due to minimal artificial lighting and pollution. I really wanted to do some time lapses, so I ended up wandering out into the surrounding fields in the middle of the night and set up shop. It's really weird how safe you feel in New Zealand, I wasn't even slightly concerned to be walking around in the dead of night by myself in the wilderness. Plus, unlike Australia, you don't have to worry about poisonous creatures or wildlife attacking you.

The night sky...for some reason my blog turned the photo purple upon upload, so we'll just roll with it

For some reason my blog mostly blacked this photo out...But if you look close you'll see the hostel, mountains, and stars....not a bad place to stay at all

The next day's activities were to either go sledding down a hill or hang out in some hot springs, so Lucy and I opted for the free option of doing a walk up Mount John instead. It was all uphill, so Lucy heard me complain a lot, because I was feeling particularly whiny and tired that day. We got the honor of seeing a pregnant Asian lady, which Rob was talking about the day before, claiming they were mythical creatures. After the hike/springs, we stopped by a weird little cafe on the way to Rangitata that is famous for it's Salmon/Bacon pies. To clarify, bacon is New Zealandian for Ham. It sounds like a disgusting combo, but it's actually pretty legit, plus it fulfilled my weird obsession with trying new foods.

The path to Mt. John was speckled with snow

The view from the top of the Summit, supposedly something from LOTR was filmed near this area as well

Pies are really big in New Zealand - this one is Salmon/Ham...Surprisingly delicious and a lot of Salmon for $5!

Once we got to Rangitata, I decided to attempt a workout since I've become super out of shape and my mirror is starting to disappoint me...and we all know I'm ridiculously vain. I started jogging and ended up trespassing through someone's land, hopped some large rocks across a river, then ran through a gated area to a gravel road that passed through giant fields of farm raised deer. It was pretty cool, the deer would stop if I stopped and run with me if I ran. That night Rob cooked us a group meal of bangers and mash with help from the other guys on the bus, except me because I'm a lazy free loader. I also did no dishes, and Kelsie gave me a free beer. Suck it universe! That night we ended up just hanging out and watching movies, Quantum of Solace and Jerry Maguire, whilst eating a chocolate pudding cake. I attempted to get a movie from my portable hard drive to work, but despite my nerd status and countless electronic devices, I failed everyone. I'm a terrible nerd!

Another bright blue lake

The next stop on our journey was Christchurch International Airport, as a lot of people end their trip there. We said goodbye to Lucy, whilst three people from the bus ended up renting a car so they could meet us in Kaikoura rather than staying in Christchurch because their flights took off at a later date. There's not a ton to do there, because it suffered severe earthquakes a few years ago and is still in ruin. When we arrived in Kaikoura we took a brief detour to the town's viewing point, where you get a spectacular view of the town.

Kaikoura

There are coastlines on both sides of the town, I would have loved to skydive here. Mountains in the background, ocean on both sides, beautiful.

The famous activity to do in Kaikoura is swimming with the dolphins, so I opted to do that with Nicole and the pair of sisters from England, Kelsie and Karen. We were a bit unlucky as it was super windy, so the crew wasn't able to find any dolphins. I asked if I could take off my shirt to try and lure the dolphins in, but it was deemed to be a safety risk. Not for me, but for everyone else on the boat who would be forever changed by seeing my washboard abs being misted by the salty ocean water. My life may be pulled from a Barenaked Ladies song, "I tend to wear my mind on my sleeve and have a history of taking off my shirt". Since we didn't see anything out on the waters, we ended up getting a full refund, which was pretty sweet because normally they keep $40 as a fuel charge.

After we got back into town, we met up with the other guys from the bus that opted for the other Kaikoura activity, fishing. We got to eat the free rock lobster (aka crayfish), sivichi, and drink wine with all the fisherman. The luck (dare I say skill?) of the Irish was also on display as Mick caught 14 fish on the trip, which crushed everyone else from the bus. Later that night we went to grab dinner in town at a place that had a porterhouse steak meal special for $15.50, but the lady there was such a bitch that we all left and Rob ended up making us a chicken curry dish.

Whenever I see them I can hear Peter Griffin screaming, "ROCK LOBSTER!"

It's weird how the color drains and they are just plain red after being cooked

Twas also during this time that Victoria introduced me to the Kinder Surprise, which is a chocolate egg that has a toy inside of it. They are banned in America, because it's a choking hazard. Seriously America, you are so sue happy that you prevent us from having cool stuff. You even let people sue McDonald's for making them fat. Luckily, I'm getting a chance to experience some of the things you've deprived me of!

I look retarded, but I can't help that I get super excited about everything

My toy was a top! So in one sense of the word, I am no longer topless when writing my blog!

I stayed behind in Kaikoura for a few days as it was buy two nights and get one free! 3 nights for 50 bucks in this place...I'll take it! Amazing for New Zealand, plus the hostel was clean and my room contained only me and some cute girls. I have to say I enjoyed Rob's sunshine bus, as his bus somehow got sunny weather during his entire south island drive and everything was super relaxed. After leaving Kaikoura, I joined Chase's bus, which was comprised of a pair of male twins from Switzerland and three women... finally an acceptable ratio of males/females! Upon leaving Kaikoura, we stopped by a weird little waterfall where baby seals congregate to play. No one really understands why they go there, but it's an awesome spot to interact with actual wild animals.

I so lonely

I wonder what he's thinking about...Maybe he's contemplating what he'd like to do to the seal in the next photo

This seal was putting out the vibe

Climbing out of the water

Buster Bluth, I felt your fear of seals in this moment

Sean saw seals swim (try and say it 5 times fast!)

Pretty amazing, there were at least 50 of them playing in this tiny waterfall pool

After petting a wild seal and almost getting my hand bitten off, we got back on the bus. We picked up Vanessa, who was on my initial bus down, on the way to Picton. From there we once again embarked on the 4 hour ferry ride between Islands. I didn't end up taking a million pictures this time since the weather was shit, not unlike what my flabby, untoned body had become. Once we arrived in Wellington, a few of us went for drinks at the local hostel bar and were entertained by an old fat guy that was hitting on all the women...realizing this would be me in thirty years (20 if you measure it by my receding hairline), I slowly felt a little piece of myself die on the inside. But we had an early night in as we had to leave the next morning at 630. Seriously Stray, you gotta let me sleep in. I'm not great to be around normally, so when you make me even more tired, grumpy, and whiny...I feel bad for the world around me.

After driving the entire day, we arrived back in Auckland at 5 pm and my Stray journey was complete. I would definitely recommend Stray to my fellow explorers as it's a great way to see New Zealand and you'll meet a ton of amazing people....and some that give you the creeps, most notably the Dans. For my final week in Auckland I crossed the final few items from my NZ bucket list and started planning my journey to Australia, but I'm afraid that's a story for another blog.

Random GoPros