I feel like words cannot capture the greatness of my experience here in New Zealand. I’ve had vacations before in several other locations yet I feel like New Zealand was, by far, the most fulfilling trip I’ve ever had. And though words fall short, I’ll do my best to document some of it here.
For those that don’t know, I took a break from work by going on a 10 day New Zealand trip. My trip was during November 10–21, with 3 days dedicated to travel. Much of my itinerary followed the South Island week guide located in inafarawayland.com, so I had a rental car to bring me places.Thankfully, November is not peak season for New Zealand, since summer season starts officially in December, and I definitely was able to reap the benefits of exploring this beautiful country without too many tourists in the way.
Instead of summarizing each day-to-day itinerary, I think there were some themes during this travel that I would like to highlight:
Nature
I can’t count the number of times I was amazed by the scenery. If you taped a microphone inside my car, you’d likely hear a “Holy Moly” or “Dang” or “WOAH SO COOL” every 30 minutes or so. One thing I immediately noticed was how clean the air is and how blue the sky is. The landscape of New Zealand is naturally saturated with so much vibrant color, which is not something I see often in the urban cities of LA and SF. Every sunset had a tinge of red, every sunrise was golden, every hill and creek was teeming with wildlife.
Oh, how I love New Zealand’s wildlife. I loved the sheep that would just sit in the middle of my hiking trail. I laughed at the Kea parrot that kept trying to pry open my car window. I adored the little seal that was spinning around the Milford Sound waters. Ultimately, I forgot how much FUN animals can be. Aside from New Zealand, I don’t recall the last time I was excited over wildlife. I definitely remember being surrounded by beautiful creatures in my childhood, but as urbanization continued my interactions with nature also decreased. Waking up to New Zealand’s chorus of birds every morning reinstated that childlike curiosity that I once had, and it was so much fun getting to photograph and interact with all the little (and big) critters throughout my hikes and drives.
Driving
I was a little worried when I realized I’d be driving over 1000 km during my time in New Zealand. Since I live in SF, I don’t have a car as car maintenance prices are absurd, so I haven’t had regular driving practice in over a year.
Fortunately, driving was actually not too bad! I was a little nervous for the first 20 minutes, but I got the hang of it quickly and it no longer ended up being an issue. Much of New Zealand’s road rules are also pretty universal with the exception of roundabouts and one-way bridges, so things were pretty simple overall.
Another scary factor was that many of New Zealand highways are single-lane with no physical divider, meaning that you’ve got highway-speed incoming traffic just 1 foot to the right of you car. This makes car passing also somewhat scary, as you will likely have to enter into the incoming traffic lane to pass successfully, and doing this maneuver requires good judgment. Slow cars on the highway will also congest traffic pretty hard, so it is likely that your ETAs likely will underestimate your travel time.
But the biggest reason why traveling on NZ roads takes so long is because the nature is UNREAL. Whenever I drove on a new state highway, I often pulled over every 30 minutes or so just to snap a few shots, or just to admire the scenery. I could only do these at well-defined pull over sections though, else it would be dangerous to me and other drivers if they accidentally collided with me at 100km/h.
There were a few unnerving experiences though. One night in Lake Tekapo, I was driving home at 10 pm, and it started snowing really heavily. I’ve never driven in the snow before, and my rental company did not equip my car with chains, so I was worried that my car would lose traction. Since Lake Tekapo is hit with a winter storm, being stranded in 0 Celsius doesn’t sound ideal. Being by myself, there are no witnesses if something did happen to me, and New Zealand roads are often empty so I likely would not have been found if something severe happened. Fortunately, my car was equipped with AWD and I was able to successfully navigate through the rain, snow, and wind alright. I think I ended up just scaring myself, which is actually a pretty common thing for me to do.
People
The first evening I arrived in Queenstown, I decided to check out the Queenstown Gardens for sunset photographs. While I was there, I met another solo traveler named Kushahid, an Australian tourist. I learned about his aspirations to become a commercial airline pilot and listened to how he was just excited to take a few days off from his difficult 7-days-a-week IT job. It was really nice to share a sunset with someone that was so different and yet so similar.The night before I left for Milford Sound, I was unable to fill up gas because my credit cards weren’t working. I absolutely needed gas as soon as possible since there were no petrol stations between Te Anau and Milford Sound. A nice lady decided to use her card to fill up gas for me and I would pay her back in cash. It was late at night and she still had a 150km drive, but she still took the time out her night to help me out.
While I was at Milford Sound’s overnight cruise, I got to meat two lovely older couples; Pete & Gina, and Peter & Tina. The former couple was from Wisconsin, traveling to explore the world and they provided some jovial entertainment to the crew and passengers. I also spent a lot of time talking with Peter & Tina, listening to Peter’s nostalgic memories of his double E career, and asking him about photography. I talked with Tina about the ups and downs of solo travel, and about our families and how anxious we were to contact them as soon as we regained service.
When I finally hit the Roy’s Peak viewpoint after an exhausting 3.5 hour hike, I was pretty bummed out because fog was covering the mountain making sunrise and landscape photography impossible. I waited for 4 hours for the fog to clear up, and yet while I was waiting, tourists were swarming the area and ruining the composition of the Roy’s Peak viewpoint (sounds petty I know, but I barely slept that day :P). A kind mother from Christchurch offered not only to take a photograph of me at the viewpoint, but also was willing to help clear the area so people could get individual photos on the viewpoint. She offered me some of their family’s food and her company as well, as she and her family waited with me for another hour just before the clouds began to clear. Her family eventually needed to head down, but the gesture and the willingness to help certainly boosted my morale and made Roy’s Peak a lot more bearable.
The night I arrived at Lake Tekapo, I was going to go out for dinner, but I was unaware of how early restaurants closed (Yelp closing times are inaccurate in New Zealand!). Before I drove off looking for dinner, a fellow AirBnB housemate offered to call a nearby pizzeria just so I wouldn’t stay out too long. Once they picked up, he persuading their kitchen to bake one more order (they were just about to close) and gave me the address of the place. While I drove off, snow started falling extraordinarily hard. I was a bit anxious since I couldn’t see and I didn’t know how to drive in the snow. Thankfully, the pizzeria was close, and after two scary drives, I made it back to the lodge. As I walked in, I saw him and his girlfriend standing next to the window, waiting for me to get back. They were worried about the snow, knowing that it didn’t snow that much in SF.
These were just some of the many encounters that really made this trip. Everyone was so kind and willing to help, both tourists and kiwis alike, and it made the hospitality and charm of New Zealand that much greater. It was fascinating to hear about all these different dreams and struggles, but more importantly, it was so cool to see different facets of God’s heart and grace in each of them. The stories resulting from these interactions certainly made up for the bad weather and unfortunate circumstances I experienced during my vacation.
While I was driving to Christchurch for my final stop before flying back to San Francisco, I remember my Spotify playing the song So Will I (100 Billion X) by Hillsong United. I’ve always liked this song, thought it had a catchy tune, but I never really listened to the lyrics until that final car ride:
I can see Your heart in everything You’ve made.
Every burning star, a signal fire of grace.
If creation sings Your praises, so will I.
I can see your heart in everything You say.
Every painted sky, a canvas of Your grace.
If creation still obeys You, so will I.
I can see Your heart eight billion different ways.
Every precious one, a child You died to save.
If You gave Your life to love them, so will I.
I honestly teared up a bit when I heard these verses, because I felt like it captured my trip so well. The magnificent scenery and wildlife, the weather conditions and road safety, and the wonderful people I met throughout the trip really showed me different aspects of God’s majesty.
While watching the Queenstown sunset, Kushahid told me that “if heaven was on Earth, this might be it”. And after my journey throughout New Zealand, it would be hard to disagree. But if God’s broken world already demonstrates such beauty, I can only imagine what it’d be like in the new kingdom come.
