WHERE TO BEGIN: THE 18 DAY JOURNEY AROUND THE SOUTH ISLAND

I literally have no idea where to start this post. I realize its been a good month and a half since my last post. The time is simply flying by as fast as it possibly can. I find myself counting how many days I have left in this country almost every single day; and at the same time trying to pretend like I don't really only have 70 something days left. Without going into break at all, I can easily say that going home is going to be a huge challenge. I simply love this country; the varying landscapes, the smells, and especially the people.
Where to begin? Fall break. April 1-18th, 2010. Brittany Ryan, a chick from Pennsylvania, and I rented a Wicked campervan and drove clear across the entire South Island, half a country, in 16 days. I had been wanting to do this my entire life. That trip was the stuff that the movies are made of, or at least my expectations were. My whole life I wanted to live out of a spray-painted van, drive endlessly into a changing horizon every single day. To camp. To see the stars every night. To wake with the sun, sleep with the moon, and throw away my watch. That is what I did for those incredible 18 days. I watched the sunrise while driving through the rolling valleys of Milford Sound, almost tipped my chair backwords from leaning back so far- mouth ajar with amazement-while looking up at the stars in the Cameron Flat. I had everything I needed in the world: music, a sleeping bag, a pillow, my food, and Cody the Adventure Bison in my car. Everything I would ever need to be happy was within an arms reach- always. There is something so unbelievably refreshing about living off nothing but what you need. I use this terminology loosely- merely because I stopped at a bakery or a cookie factory about every 20 minutes on the trip to gorge on delicious- and totally unnecessary food. This consequently lead me to gaining 10 pounds on vacation: but what can you do? I love not caring about what I look like. I love avoiding mirrors. I love washing my hair, body, and doing my laundry with only shampoo. I like eating the same ol' crap (peanut butter sandwiches and pasta) every single day, multiple times a day, and finding it completely delicious and satisfying. I love feeling the wind in my hair. I love being surrounded by seemingly never ending oceans, by mountains that are so big it shakes you to your core, by waterfalls that take your breath away.
I discovered how truly lucky I am on this journey. I learned how rare and wonderful it is to be only 20 years old and to know what you love. I cant explain how I know, or how I am convinced that I know. I just know. Nothing seems more natural to me, nothing makes me happier, than doing exactly what I have been doing for the last two years. I cant be thankful enough to my family for raising me to be confident enough to take on my dreams and to challenge myself to do things I didn't think I could. I cant be thankful enough to Nikki Elkins for creating GeoJourney, the program that started this entire life-changing process. I cant be thankful enough, to life itself, and mostly luck, for the sheer chance that I was born in a place where I am allowed to dream the way I do. I cant be thankful enough to every good and bad person I have met on my path who have truly shaped and molded my existence into the person I am at this moment in time. I like to think that my entire being, mindset, and lifestyle choices are a giant compilation of all the wonderful people I have met in my life who have inspired me to change, improve, love, grow, learn, and teach.
So now that I have completed my formal Oscar acceptance speech, what the hell- that was a tangent- I will get to the juicy stuff! What I did, where I went, who I met, and what I learned during those crazy weeks in South New Zealand. I will most likely spare you the boring details of every moment of the trip, but give a general outline of where I went.
Here we go: Bus from Hamilton to Auckland. Plane from Auckland to Christchurch. Christchurch to Darfield; where we stayed with Brittany's boyfriend's Mom's house- she hooked us up with some amazing camping gear and I cannot be thankful enough for her hospitality and amazing cooking. Darfield through Arthur's Pass- straight to the West coast- to Greymouth. From Greymouth to Frans Josef; where we stayed with Brittany's boyfriend's Mom's Sister's house. Complete strangers in every sense of the word, recommended through Mike's Mom, and they gave us the keys to their house, brought us home chocolate Easter bunnies, cooked us dinner, talked about the essence of life, drank wine, and played Pictionary. Let me remind you, complete stranger. I will remember Cush and Chris for as long as I live- they were truly wonderful people with beautiful outlooks on life. From Frans Josef we went to the Frans Josef glacier-duh-and south towards Fox Glacier. From Fox we continued south through valleys and lakes where we camped for the first night in the Cameron Flat- one of the most beautiful campsites I have ever slept in. The stars, oh my, the stars. Cameron Flat to Wanaka - where we cooked sausages in the sun on the blue lake, read, and enjoyed the day. We also happened to go skydiving over Wanaka, which is also consequently one of the greatest moments of my life to date. Wanaka to Arrowtown- a quaint and overpriced little town. Arrowtown to Queenstown-where I realized I had a UTI and had to pay 200 bucks for a hospital visit. Good times. Queenstown- where we ate delicious Fergburgers and gourmet ice cream. Queenstown to Te Anau- where we camped on another beautiful lake. Te Anau to Milford Sound-where we took a 9 am cruise around the sound on a massive boat-free breakfast, mountains, green water, fur seals, and waterfalls. Milford Sound to Lawrence, where we drove extremely out of our way to get the "BEST ICE CREAM EVER" - which turned out to be ice cream from a gas station that you can get anywhere along the way. Lawrence to Dunedin which is a surprisingly awesome and kind of Americanized city. Dunedin to Oamaru where we got stampeded by an angry fur seal and met some extremely interesting farm boys. Oamaru to Mt Cook National Park- where we camped near the Mountain and did a short 3 hour hike to the base- totally awe-inspiring. Mt. Cook to Akaroa- the peninsula to the East of Christchurch- real fruit ice cream and laundry services! From Akaroa all the way up the east coast to Kaikora-where we camped on the ocean, saw many dolphins and fur seals, had fish n' chips, and did a breath-taking hike on the clifftops. No whales, but hey, I gave it a shot. From Kaikora continuing north into the Picton, Nelson area where we went wine tasting and to a gourmet chocolate factory. From Picton to Abel Tasman National Park-where we went sea kayaking in the crystal clear green water for half a day. From Abel Tasman to Murchison- in the dark- sketchiest and scariest road of the trip. Murchison to Hanmer Springs where we went to another natural spa to relax after sea-kayaking and the trip in general. Finally, from Hanmer back to Darfield to drop off the gear to Trish and Sid- and back to Christchurch to spend the day exploring the city before our departure back to Hamilton. CHEESE AND RICE! That was a lot of adventure time!
Obviously, a lot of awesome things happened between all these stops. Many moments of personal growth and amazement. I was in pure shock for 90% of the trip, because of how beautiful it was-all the time. I met people from all over the world- The Yukon, Israel, Holland, Belgium, Berlin, Spain, Germany, Australia, England, the Canary Islands, and America. They all spoke of their travels around the world- successfully making me realize that I am totally lame in every sense possible and really haven't seen a significant portion of the world. All these people were fascinating and wonderful- they all fed my desire to travel, to converse, to explore, and to grow. They spoke of the emotions felt while traveling and how it changes a part of you so deeply that you can never return to the person you were prior. I feel like I am part of a club of people who just...get it. Those people understand exactly how I feel, and you can express it without saying more than a sentence or two. In all fairness, those two sentences really don't explain anything; but the lack of being able to put the passion into words says enough. They get it. Its unexplainable and drives us to a new sunrise and horizon every single morning.
So here I am, back in Hamilton. After living out of a van. After being surrounded by my mountains and oceans and prairies. I miss it, but I am glad to be back. My vacation from vacation has come to an end and I have successfully closed another chapter of my life.
GREAT SUCCESS.