Sup. It is Molly!!! I’m actually alive!! We arrived in Christchurch late last night and went and found the van, Paggie. It was a whole 37 degrees which is not good for the girl who hasn’t had a winter in 5 years. Once we got into bed under all the blankets in the van it was totally fine. The next morning, Ashley showed off her cooking skills and made us oatmeal while I stayed swaddled up in bed. We then arranged the van for what clothes I did need and put the suitcase on top of the van. We were on our way. We stopped at the grocery store first since Paggie had been left alone for a week with no food in her and then we were off to find alpacas.
This man loved being caught in this photo.
We found the place and it said it was closed, but Ash called them and asked are you guys open, the lady said yes, but we only take reservations. To which Ashley said….oh….well we are outside your gate….. Thankfully she said come on in! The nicest man, Paul, greeted us. We caught him just in time to do feeding. They had about 70 alpacas!! He taught us so much about alpacas such as what they look for in the fur and what they look for in alpaca shows( yes that’s a thing) and their eating and behavioral habits. He had a field of mama and baby alpacas, called crias, which was obviously our first stop. The babies were about 6 months old and the cutest thing I’ve seen since the wombat. Some of them will come right up to you and give you kisses. One named Madison kept coming up and nibbling on Ashley’s boots and pants. We felt like alpaca gods, only because we had their food. We finished up in the field of older alpacas. They have characteristics just like horses. You can tell who the dominant ones are. They hoard all the food and spit at the others to get away. Paul called the bossiest, Marley,she looked me straight in the eyes and sneezed/spat her food at me! It was so funny. After the tour of the animals, Paul invited us inside to meet his wife. I think we stayed there for almost an hour just talking to them about all sorts of things, like we had known them for years. When we finally did leave we made a very important stop at the cookie factory to pick up some cookies. Then back to the airport for a quick shower. We are currently on our way to the west side of the island to Hokitika gorge. I think we are trying to see glow worms there…? I don’t really know. I’ve just been a follower this whole trip. It’s the best. So in like 4ish hours we should be there, or somewhere, I literally don’t know. But 4 hours of Ash and me together, alone, just us and our thoughts is bound to be interesting.
9:30pm Thursday- July 6th- We were 3 minutes away from where we were going to park and camp for the night in Franz Josef. Then the crash happened. It happened so fast and yet so slow. After many exchanges of “Are you ok?!” and “yes, I’m fine” between Ashley and I, we climbed out of the driver side door and call 911. The closest officer was in Hoki which was two and a half hours away. Fortunately while Ashley was doing that, a stretch hummer came down the road and thankfully stopped. Everyone meet Chris from Franz Josef, he is our hero. He stayed with us the rest of the time. Franz Joesf is a very small town, or establishment as what Fish called it (We will get to him later) and you are a local if you have been there for 2 days, so needless to say everyone knows everyone. Chris called some people he knew that could help us pull Paggie of the road. Before they came another car stopped with a guy that work in Franz, his name was Mason, he was our lifesaver. He lived in Franz as all tour guides there do. In two hours the police finally came. He wrote a report and gave us claim number and the rest was on us. Thankfully Mason gave us a place to stay. Not his place, but his friend Sam’s place. So at midnight we come strolling into a strangers house with what we could/needed from the tipped over Paggie. Sam, another glacier guide, greeted us and already had pull out couch ready for us. We quickly hopped into bed with all the blankets we could find since there was no heat. Thankfully Ashley is a stress sleeper and was able to go to sleep fast. I was more worried about her than Paggie.
Woke up the next day, July 7th we were suppose to be doing heli tourof the, glaciers and thought we might have to cancel to get van sorted out. Chris the hero called us that morning. He had already had the van up on its wheels but said it was a goner. He said after lunch he would be able to move it and told us to go on the glacier tour. So we made our way to the heli tour. It stopped on top of Mt Cook(maybe IDK ash says [nope it doesn’t it stopped on the glacier, ya can’t land a helicopter on Mt. Cook] ). This girl, having fled the NC winters for the past 4 years hasn’t seen snow in ages! I was so happy! It was by far the prettiest snow I have ever seen, but I was freezing!! We hopped back in the heli and flew over another mountain and, waterfalls and blue ice, it was beautiful. After we landed we went and had quick breakfast. Well I did, Ash had very little to eat because she was still stressed about what was going to happen to her house.
After breakie we made our way back to Sam’s cabin and waited for Chris to call us to help move the van. Chris, his nephew and his dog Drover picked us up and went to move Paggie. This is the first time we saw the real damage and realized Paggie had met her demise. She was still “drive-able” but probably not legal or livable anymore. She could still drive so the nephew got in her and flew down the street in her to local farm where Paggie will sit for the next few days. We got we needed out of Paggie, two car loads worth of stuff and brought it back to Sam’s. Yes everything that Maggie and Ash need, bought or brought was now in Sam’s little cabin. We organized what we could and tried to consolidate. By probably around 5ish Sam and his 2 roommates Matt and Fish had made it back to what looked like a bomb exploded. They all are the nicest people I’ve ever meet and I will probably miss them most---sorry Ash! Later that night a couch surfer came in her name was Lucia from Spain. Again nicest girl I have ever met. Sam made dinner for all of us. We all sat around the table with chicken wraps, funny stories, deep life conversations, arguments about science and so much more! That night we had learned that last night was the coldest night yet in Franz, a good day to stand on side of road for 3 hours eh? After dinner and a few drinks we finally all went to bed. All of us huddled in our beds with hats, jackets and socks because as Fish and Sam said you don’t get $50 electrical fee from turning on heat, when it gets cold you just put on more layers!
We woke up around 8 and decided to try and hitchhike to Hoki. Thankfully after about 15 minutes, Matt drove by and he offered to take one of us to Hoki, since he only had one seat and seatbelt. Since I can’t rent a car or drive on the left side Ash went to Hoki. I decided to head back to town and have breakfast and then back to Sam’s cabin. Fish and Lucia were there and about to watch a movie so I joined in. About 5 hours after Ash left for Hoki she finally made it back Franz with a rental car. So we packed all the stuff into a car about 2/3 the size of the van. We said goodbyes and were on our way to Queenstown. It was at this point that I decided I would be the worst backpacker because I already miss all of them so much!
But upwards and on wards. Later that night, before it was dark, we made it to Queenstown. Ash made me have a milkshake first. I of course got the fluffy unicorn, because why not! I downed that with no problem. We then headed across the street to get some Skillet Nachos that Ash wanted. Again I crushed it. Then we found our way to an ice bar because when you are already freezing why not put yourself into a below zero room. I think we were allowed 45 min in there, but we were in and out in under 15. We had our drink, touched all the things and took all the pictures then got out of there! We drove back to our motel in nearby town. Finally had a warm shower and got into our heated bed and called it a day.
Forcing ourselves out of the heated bed, we packed the car up and made our way to the next destination. I don’t think we had breakfast so naturally we stopped on the way for ice cream. Double scoop and a cone, the size of our heads. We soon found our way to steepest street in the world, Baldwin St. We hiked up the street, the most exercise we have done. Ash had to stop half way for a breather, but none the less we went up and came back down. And then we were on our way to our next cozy hotel in Dunedin. We had dinner at nearby restaurant and called it an early night. Next day we had a tour at the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. So of course a bunch of free chocolate, always a good way to start the day. After our tour and buying more chocolate and before noon we were on the road again. To make our adventure more exciting we thought it would be a good idea for me to drive.
I only almost ran over the grass on the side of the road a few times, but it was fine. We stopped at this island thing and on the far side of it there were baby seals! They were so so cute, I wanted to squeeze all of them. They would let you get right next to them. Ash told me the grown seals can be vicious, so naturally I was very intimidated by the little ones, but I got over it, sort of. After I was done admiring the pups we hopped in the car and went just down the road to the Moraki Boulders. These large, perfectly circular rocks are on the shore and no one knows why. There are stories about how they got here. I don’t really remember the story Matt told Ash that Ash told me; there is a reason I don’t go to school. I was done driving, well mostly decided I shouldn’t drive in a real city with other cars and people so she drove the rest of the way to Oamaru.
For some reason almost everything in Oamaru is closed on Monday, so there wasn’t much to do. We wandered around then had some drinks at Scott’s Brewery. We were waiting around till dusk to see the tiny blue penguins cross over the pier. We waited and none appeared. So, of course, as the children we are we went and played on the playground in the dark. Ashley had already been here and played on most of it. We went down a “very scary slide” according to Ashley. I’m the one afraid of heights and it was not that scary. We went to play on the zipline, and then the hamster wheel. The life changing hamster wheel was officially my new favorite thing. After many laughs and falls and dizziness we went back to the pier……STILL NO PENGUINS! We were determined to see them. We decided to grab take out dinner and then come back and look for the penguins. There was ONE penguin, ONE. Which I guess is better than none. He stayed around for maybe 10 minutes then scampered away.
For breakfast we had a milkshake, correction, I had a milkshake. I’m sure you all have seen it on facebook by now. It had two donuts, whip cream, and multiple candies. Did I eat all of it, no. Did I eat most of it, yes. Anyways…we carried on our way back to Christchurch. Somewhere along the way we stopped and had our ears pierced. A sister bonding experience. As expected, Ash was nervous, so I made her go first so she wouldn’t chicken out. Hers went in without a hitch. Mine the other hand took three times! My ear was stabbed three times! Just so the family doesn’t panic, it was not because they were bad at their job, but where I originally wanted it, the piercer(??) knew it wouldn’t lie straight and would bother my ear and head so she put it lower. We finally made it back to Christchurch to the air BnB where Ash would stay until Maggie got back. We unpacked all the stuff from the car into our tiny room with bunk beds.
Early the next morning we chucked the two suitcases that were going back to the states in the car and made it to airport. Of course it was really cold and rainy. So my flight was super delayed and I had a connecting flight in Auckland. After about the third delay we decided to change airlines and get me on a flight that would hopefully get me there in time. So we had to get the suitcases back from the first airline, buy new ticket and re check bags. I said the worst and quickest goodbye to Ash, I hated it, but I had to rush through security to get to my new plane. Once I landed in Auckland I had to get bags from baggage claim and run to international departures with a backpack, some Malaysian knapsack Ash gave me to carry on all the breakables and two large and very heavy suitcases. I am clearly not the fittest person and struggled to find my check in for American Airlines.
Needless to say I did not make it in time to check in and get bags checked. Isaac behind the desk very kindly got me on the next flight out. Newsflash, they only have one flight a day to the states. So I was in New Zealand for another 24 hours. I had given pretty much all my NZ money to Ashley and my credit cards were locked so I had no cash for a taxi. After about 2 hours of panicking with a dying phone and no idea how to get out the airport or what to do, my mom called me and told me she got me a room in the hotel across the street. THANK GOD FOR MOTHERS. I checked in and ordered dinner. I had gone to put my empty dinner tray outside and let the door shut behind me. Locked myself out. So with no shoes I trump downstairs to get someone to let me back into my room. After that I decided it was time to just go to bed before I got myself into any more trouble. Next day had the largest breakfast ever and FINALLY made it on a plane to the states……. The rest of this blog is all Ash. I am so glad I got to visit her and finally see her! Come home soon, I know it won’t be as great as NZ, but too bad. Love ya, miss ya
End Note
Everyone go out and read Shantaram. Sam introduced us to this book and it is life changing. It's a chunk of a book but you won't be able to put it down. Even Molly is going to try to read it and she never reads. Apparently it is super popular in these parts or so Sam said it was. But so far no one has heard of it and I have asked a lot of people about it, yes even strangers I pass in the street (is it creepy to stop stranger to talk about a book...probably but that is besides the point).
Sorry this one is late, Molly has never been particularly punctual.