While spending three nights adjusting to the time zone and city in Auckland, plans for a road trip were well underway. In New Zealand a driver can be as young as 18 years old to rent a car. Of coarse, it was a must to use this privilege immediately. Receiving things at ages not allowed in the US always feels just great. The thought of buying an old beat up car and painting it all different whacky colors definitely went through our heads. It would have been sweet to have a car for the entire five months abroad to travel on weekends, but Auckland has no place to put a car and my imagination ran a little too big. Before my orientation in the middle of the month, we rented the car for eight days.
I always feel that the best way to find out good travel information is through conversation, I can’t stand to look at a map! We decided to contact a former UNCW student named Jill that had gone to high school with one of my best friends. Jill had spent a semester studying abroad in Hamilton and liked the country so much she ended up moving here. She was such a wonderful resource to have and was so kind to not only give us advice, but also offered a place to stay. Before planning out the whole trip in Auckland, we wanted to make our first destination Hamilton to meet up with Jill.
We began our journey in a Nissan from the 1990’s that had a broken centre consol. I thought that not having speakers in the car would be a bummer. But I soon realized that the landscaping while driving was so exciting and visually pleasing that not having music didn’t even matter. Traveling in a car through the countryside of New Zealand has been more than entertaining. No drive in the US has matched what I have seen so far. The drives went by incredibly fast, even the seven hour drive to and from Wellington. Every hour driving the environment seems to completely change with all kinds of different plant life. Amazingly steep and beautiful hills are EVERYWHERE. The green within plants here almost looks neon at times it is so bright. Green seems to cover every inch of land. The roads are quite windy but it is amazing that there are hardly any cars on the road for the majority of every drive. Chelsea has been a huge trooper and has been driving the whole time. I’ve been a bit of a weenie so far thinking about driving on the opposite side of both the road and car, but she’s been doing an awesome job!
Before arriving in Hamilton we decided to spend the day in a small surfer town on the way named Raglan. On the drive there we were getting worried that we got directions to the wrong place because twenty minutes away there were no signs of water. It was funny because the ocean beautifully appeared all of a sudden after winding up a huge hill just ten minutes before we got there. The beach in Raglan is famous for it’s waves and I could see why. Even though it was a slightly rainy day the water was filled with surfers. People who grew up surfing in that town probably don’t understand the concept of waiting for a good wave since they literally come one right after the other. It was a cute little town and had a great vibe with laughing and smiling people surrounding it.
Hamilton was only an hour up the road. It was so good to meet up with Jill! She is such a welcoming person. When I heard her voice at first I thought she had developed a full New Zealand accent. After listening closer I could start to hear the Maryland dialect. I found her speaking pattern really cool! To me, New Zealand accents are very pleasant to listen to. It’s so interesting to me that people’s dialects morph to those who surround them. I’m curious to see when I first return to the states if people tell me that my voice has shifted at all. I guess it all depends whether or not I get to live with people from New Zealand. I really hope so because I loved meeting Jill’s roommates. It was fun drilling them with questions about differences we have from one another in things like slang and lifestyle. People told me before I left that people of New Zealand are known for their friendliness and so far it’s dead on. Jill was an awesome host, she showed us around the college campus she attended. People in NZ call college Uni and high school college. This explains the look of confusion on many “kiwis” faces when I told them I was in college (fyi if you didn’t know, kiwi is a term used for New Zealanders).
It was a really fun night in Hamilton. It took me less than a week to whitness an emergency and see my first New Zealand ambulance. Thankfully I wasn’t in it (haha, I bet half of you reading this thought it was me with my weird luck). Jill’s boyfriend Cam actually had trouble breathing and it was quite a scare at the time. I’m so glad he was ok, he ended up feeling better and not having to go to the hospital. It’s definitely a nice benefit that in New Zealand if an ambulance is called the person in need of help doesn’t have to pay.
The next day Jill had to work but we came along with Cam to work at the Uni’s swimming pool. Jill’s roomie Jason also joined us. The pool was filled with kids from P.E. class having to tread water. The P.E. teacher walked along the pool laughing and stepping on the kid’s fingers trying to take a break. It was comical. The water was pretty cold, I hoped right out. After a dip it was awesome that Jason showed us around at a big garden in Hamilton. It was quite a neat set up, the garden was divided into sections. Each section had a different theme influenced by a particular country. The American garden had a pop art Andy Warhol theme.
After a great stay in Hamilton it was off to our next stop Rotorua. Thanks again Jill for everything! Whipping out the map with us and giving the low down helped so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment