New Zealand

The 27 hour travel time from NYC to Auckland is no small undertaking. In fact, my second of 3 flights took off on August 23rd and landed on August 25th. To try to minimize jetlag with a 16-hour time difference, you have to be strategic. I did everything I could to stay awake from NYC->LAX so that I could sleep through the following 11-hour leg. This would allow me to get a full night’s sleep and wake up a little before 6 a.m. local time. The following few nights, I was pretty exhausted by 7 p.m., but not too far from a normal sleep schedule.

For my journey, I packed only a carry-on and a personal item. I chose this for ease of movement, and later learn a checked bag for the final two flights would have cost $180USD!! No thank you! However, the website for these flights made clear that a carry-on could be no more than 7kg. This was fantastic as mine was closer to 15kg. In an effort to avoid the horrendous checked bag fee, I decided to make use of my resources: flood pants. I have labeled a picture to explain just how I went about lowering the weight of my carry-on bag.

After flood pant-gate, I eventually landed in Auckland. The itinerary for my stay in New Zealand is as follows: 1 day in Auckland, 6 days in Queenstown to ski, 2 days in Wanaka, 2 days back in Queenstown. My time in Auckland was mainly spent fighting jetlag. Cool spot, cool birds, cool boats. I quickly made my way to the main focus of this trip: Queenstown. Here I would meet up with my friend Sydney from Duke Ski and Board who is currently studying abroad in Dunedin and had a mid-semester break this week.

I have never been anywhere quite like Queenstown. It just has all the outdoors and fun things in such a compact area. It was the perfect amount of constant stimulus. While our main reason for staying in Queenstown was for skiing, for those who don’t ski there were still plenty of activities. Helicopters and parasailing and scenic gondolas and boating and plenty of shops. The city was alive 24 hours a day, and it is currently winter which is considered Queenstown’s off-season. If you are bored in Queenstown, idk you must have your eyes closed or something.

We skied 1 day at Coronet Peak, 4 days at The Remarkables, and 1 day at Cardrona. Any day on the slopes is a great day to me. In terms of actual ski quality, the mountains weren’t any bigger than what you find on the East Coast USA with slightly better snow. Quite a few bluebird days where I was comfortable skiing in just a sweatshirt. What makes these mountains unique is not necessarily the skiing itself but rather everything around it. The views from the mountain were spectacular, looking over at other snowy peaks and lakes and green hills below. The US Ski Team Mogulers shredding some sweet lines and doing jumps with ease I had never seen in person (gentle reminder that I am so much better than them). That and the sausage rolls at The Remarkables. $4.50USD for a delicious lunch? Ummm yeah, count me in. Don’t even get me started on the convenience store steak and cheese pies - current count: 6.

The people I have met in New Zealand are some of the friendliest that I have ever met. Even the public bathrooms are nice (seriously - they talk to you and play bird noises). Although I have only been here just over a week, I’ve noticed most people are not only open to but are excited to strike up a conversation. Coming in as a clueless American with an accent arguably makes this a bit easier. People here are eager to help out and maintain a more laid-back vibe. Even within the businesses: the place where I rented snow pants only charged me for 2 days instead of 6, and the bike rental shop did not say a word when we returned our bikes an hour late. There is a general impression that everyone will do what they can to accommodate each other.

I’ve also noticed a generally heightened level of respect, in particular with regard to the environment. All of the hostels I have stayed at have eco-friendly reminders posted throughout. Many places with free water do so with reusable cups: in fact, I haven’t seen any disposable dishware. At one mountain we skied at (Cardrona) they did not have any landfill bins, only recycling and compost.

After 6 days on the slopes, we made our way to Wanaka. First notable encounter: leashless dogs. Incredible. Plentiful. Very few with leashes. They are just as happy as everyone else to be there and say hello. However, there is a perhaps slightly unpleasant anecdote I’d like to share about one of these dogs. I had read in advance that rabbits here are seen as vermin as they have devastating ecological impacts. I thought I had read this as a kind of small thing in passing, but I could not be more wrong. Of any sign I’ve passed here, the one frequented most is to trap/kill any rabbits seen on sight. This conflicts with my personal ideology of aw bunnies so cute! Naturally, you can imagine the contradicting emotions I felt when on a scenic mountain biking route, I watched a leashless dog doing its duty, following state orders. One less rabbit hopped New Zealand after that. I had no choice at this point but to take a break, eat a banana, and enjoy the crystal clear water and white mountaintops before continuing our bike tour.

Our stay in Wanaka was just as active as that in Queenstown, filled with hiking and biking. As we make our way back to Queenstown, the plan is to have a little more downtime, checking out local op-shops (thrift stores) and jewellery stores to recover.

If you are considering a trip to New Zealand, I highly recommend these areas, but definitely get a car. To reach the cool nature spots we had hoped to, we came to realize that options outside of a personal vehicle were slim. I briefly entertained the idea of renting one but decided winter road conditions aren’t the best place to acclimate to driving on the left side of the road. Speaking of which, by the end of this trip I have finally begun to instinctually look to the right first before crossing the street which is huge on the personal safety front. I have no doubt that I will be back here eventually, to properly explore some of the more popular attractions like Mt. Cook, Hobbiton, the Fiordlands, and Franz Josef Glacier to name just a few. For now, I am looking forward to heading over to Sydney, Australia soon!