I’ve been in Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand for 5
days now, but it honestly feels like I’ve been away from home for a month or
more. Maybe it’s the really long flight, and being a whole day ahead of the UK
in time and having done so much already that makes it feel that way.
We went out for a drink that night at a bar where Davin, a
friend of Macca & Bex, was playing acoustic guitar. He had flown all the
way from Atlanta in the US to play at their wedding, which he promised them
over 2 years ago. We had a couple of drinks and I met a few of their friends
who were going to the wedding, mostly all old school or uni friends from
Auckland. After a while I got pretty hungry - NZ’s late night food of choice is
pies, like kebabs in the UK. I had a chicken one that I nuked in the microwave
in the shop up to road, it felt like eating a brick of dough that was hot on
the outside and cold gooey stuff in the middle. Eish. But usually the pies are
great here I’m told.
Can’t remember what they were called but they were so funny.
There were about 20 of them on stage, doing reggae / rock covers of stuff like
Pink Floyd and got the crown jumping up and down and singing wildly.
I had a little panic about being so far away and completely
on my own when my friends from the wedding party started going home to their
lives in Auckland. 8 months all of a
sudden feels like a crazy amount of time and anyone who knows me knows how much
I like being with close friends and family for a hug and a chat, so finding
myself without a soul for hundreds of miles who I know feels like a huge wall
of terrifying! So I’m trying to get over myself and realise what an amazing
opportunity this is and how many people out there would love so much to be able
to do what I’m doing right now.
So, Wanaka! I flew in with Jestar from Auckland which is a
pretty standard budget airline. Everything seemed to run smoothly, although I’m
told if there’s any adverse weather in the South Island they just redirect to
the nearest town a few hundred miles away. I was expecting some serious
turbulence as we were flying into all the mountain ranges in the South but it
was nice and smooth, and as we descended I could see all those (still snow
tipped, even though its mid summer) beautiful mountains that I’ve heard so much
about. We flew right in between two mountains when we landed in Queenstown’s
tiny little airport.
I had to kill around 2 hours in Queenstown before my
connecting bus to Wanaka, which are not at all regular; I think they only go
around 4 times a day. Queenstown seems like a popular stopover for backpackers
and holiday makers and is very pretty with mountains and a big lake and all
kinds of paragliding and extreme sports going on. I had the best chips I’ve
ever had from a fish & chips stand by the lake - chunky and crispy with
lemon pepper and vinegar, YUM. I’m going
back to Queenstown today on my South Island tour so more to come on that.
Wanaka is inland on the South Island and sits on a big lake
that twists around the mountains which in the winter are covered in snow, when
it’s big for snowboarding and skiing. It’s
extremely clean and fresh - like the rest of NZ. There is a small waterfront
with boats, and leading to the water is grey sand and pebbles. The water is
exquisitely clean and not as cold as you’d expect of water in the mountains.
Even though the sand is grey you can see the bottom clearly, and it’s shallow
for quite a few metres in so it’s perfect for swimming. There are no currents
or tides, so you can float around the lake in blissful mountain freshness, although
there are a few little speedboats dashing around from time to time. It doesn’t
seem to be on the main tour bus trail - at least for stopping over for the
night - but there are lots of holidaying families and healthy couples doing
mountain biking and wine tasting. It’s really expensive, also like the rest of
NZ. A coffee is £3, internet is £2 or more an hour and breakfast in a cafe is
about £9, and a pack of 4 beers in the supermarket can be £10 or more. The
breakfasts are delicious though, and avocado’s are in season!
Macca’s family live in Wanaka which is why he and Bex
decided to get married here. When Bex first told me about the wedding and
invited me I absolutely knew that I wouldn't be going, although I loved hearing
about it. But when I started to think seriously about travelling it became
almost central to my plans, and is the reason I started in NZ and not anywhere
else. It was actually perfect because it meant I could start at the farthest
point and work my way back home and follow the summer and be in a place with friends all getting together to celebrate. What
could be more perfect? I think starting somewhere wild like India might have
thrown me right over the edge, I'm freaking out as it is! So this was the
perfect way to start.
I arrived in Wanaka on Thursday 2nd with the
address of the house that Te had given me and I had no map but I knew the town
was really small and that it couldn’t be far from where the small bus dropped
us off. The information centre on the
water was closed so I just looked at a map and found the road. It didn’t look
far so I set off, but it turned out to be all up hill and farther than I thought
so I arrived very hot dragging all my bags. I was staying in a house that some
friends of Chris’s had organised – with Te, Chris, Tim, Pipianna, Sav and
Daniel. It had a great balcony overlooking some of the mountains...
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| My travelling companion, Farigo, looking out over the balcony |
Friday the 3rd was the wedding, and we got all
our finery together and headed down to the waterfront. The location of the
wedding was secret, and we were getting picked up by a bus to be taken there.
It was pretty hot. The weather here isn’t scorching but man the sun will get
you if you’re not careful, I’m so brown already. I bumped into Hayley, one of
Te’s friends, who I met in London a while back which was a really nice
surprise. These New Zealand girls are all so pretty, maybe it’s the weather and
looking more natural than English girls who are always caked in makeup.
We were driven up into the hills on a coach and arrived on a
mountain clearing overlooking a valley and bluey grey mountains in the
distance. It really reminded me of the Drakensburg in SA, the grass is brownish
and dry and just really rugged and pretty. NZ isn’t as green as I thought it
would be, although that might because all the mountains are covered in snow
most of the time.
It was such a beautiful set up for the ceremony. A clearing
overlooking rugged beautiful mountains, a canopy made of green/brown pine
branches, hay bales to sit on and some white parasols to protect us all from
the sun. Mojito’s and Pimms served in cute little jars, and you could hear the
tinkling of the ice as everyone became silent when Bex walked down the aisle
and they said their vows, which they wrote themselves. I remember once sentence
‘I promise to let love rule’. Aw!! Bex’s dress was made and designed by Hayley
and was gorgeous, and the groomsmen all wore skinny black jeans and black
converse trainers and the bridesmaids all wore little black dresses, needless
to say I’ve never seen so many cute people in one place. As we were all just
chilling out and talking after the ceremony, we heard a helicopter and all of a
sudden it swooped down and landed right next to us and took everyone by
complete surprise. It had come to pick up the newlyweds for a flight through
the mountains, and Bex leapt in with her Miu Miu heels. How cool is that?!
There is a link to
all the pics on the right.
The celebrations continued down the hill in a converted
barn. We all sat down to dinner under a big open canopy at tables named after
some of their favourite musicians. David Bowie, Patty Smith, I was on the Nina
Simone table. The food and nibbles were so, so good – done by a local
restaurant. The wine was local and while the speeches were going on our table
got tipsier and tipsier, and started playing a game. Every time someone said a
word in their speech you had to take a gulp. My word was thank you, so every
time someone said that I had to take a gulp which is quite a few times in
wedding speeches! They also thanked me for coming all the way from London...aw.
For dinner there was local lamb and salmon, man it was so yum.
We danced the night away and ate lots of different types of
cake. There was a draft beer which you poured yourself, of South Island beer. I
had really hit a wall of jetlag by this point, and as soon as the bus came to
pick us up at 12.30 I was straight on it.
The next day we were all pretty knackered, but awesomely we had Rippon
festival to go to for wedding after party. It’s a day of music in Rippon vineyard,
which is up one of the mountains overlooking a stunning area of the lake with
an island on it. You can buy their own wine directly from the festival which is
a really good idea I thought. What better way to market your wine?
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| View from the festival |
We walked all the way there which took about an hour, I was so hot I couldn't function so while everyone found a spot to sit in the
festival I bolted to the queue taking people down to the water’s edge in a
truck. It had something like a hay cart on the back and it bumped us all the
way down the hill through the grape vines. There were a few people there with
cars and boats having a bit of a party on the water. I walked away from them a
bit and waded into the water and it was cold and fresh, and dunked my very hot
head in a few times. I lay on a rock in the sun like a lizard for about 10
minutes and then ran back to the truck to go back up to the festival.
I didn’t recognise most of the bands, only The Datsuns. We
sat up on the hill watching it all although the view was so stunning I was
watching that most of the time. Te, Hayley and I went for a dance to this
band...
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| The crazy band |
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| Jared, Hayley and Te getting down |
As the night came on it became colder with a cool breeze,
but damn the view was incredible. The moon came out and lit up the lake like a
lamp, and I just wanted all the people to go away so I could sleep right there
under the stars. It was almost spiritually beautiful, and I really felt why
people want to live here. It’s in the sticks, pretty boring and not very
cultural but man is it beautiful up in those mountains!
My bus is only picking me up today, Tuesday 7th
so I had to spend Monday just hanging out in Wanaka on my own and I must say
I’m very keen to leave this small town and go explore the rest of NZ. I went
for a nice long swim on the waterfront, and then went to the quaint little
cinema which just looks like a house that someone has turned into a cinema and
restaurant. There are couches for seats, and they have an interval where you
can buy cookies that have come straight out the oven and you can also get home
made ice-cream.
I’m staying in Wanaka Backpaka, I’m in a dorm with 4 other
girls and the rooms are pretty clean and there’s a good lounge area to hang out
in and nice big kitchen. I haven’t spoken to a soul here though, there are only
couples and groups but mainly I’m feeling too down to strike up conversation.
Hopefully that will change when I join my tour bus, The Stray Bus tours.
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| The Paradiso Cinema, I watched The Descendents |
Next up... Queenstown, Mount Cook, Kaikoura, Picton, Abel Tasman.
