Adventures of Curl (Week Two - New Zealand)

So the first week of my family’s vacation was spent in Australia (see previous post), the second week was all about New Zealand, one of my favorite (and most beautiful) places in the world!

Day 8: We drove to Kaikoura, and checked into the Dolphin Lodge Hostel at 4:30pm. We thought it would be a good idea to go on a hike, because you know, when in New Zealand…you should totally do outdoorsy stuff like that! We bundled up (fortunately), because it ended up being an 11.15km loop that took us in total about four hours! Dad wasn’t too happy about that…ha. Halfway through the hike we got to see seals, which were really neat until they started getting aggressive and started barking at us! But it was, literally, every turn we took was a photographic, breathtaking view.

After the hike Dad went back to the room, because his back was hurting, while the rest of us went to eat at a place called The Sonic. I had stuffed squid, which was a bit of a stretch for me, but turned out to be so good! Mom and I ended up going back to the room after dinner, because we had an early morning and I was driving the next day. Caitlin, Lindsay, and Andrew headed off to some place called The Groper, and didn’t get back ‘til two or three in the morning…another good night of fun for them!

Day 9: We tried getting an early start on our drive to Punakaiki, but when we stopped for coffee Andrew confused “ the big brekky” (brekky being short for breakfast here in Australia and New Zealand) for a breakfast sandwich. This mistake delayed us just a bit considering the MASSIVE plate of eggs, bacon, ham, hashbrowns, tomatoes, and toast couldn’t be taken to-go.

            When we finally arrived in Punakaiki we first stopped to look at the Pancake Rock Blowholes, which were a series of rocks that looked like a stack of pancakes, and blowholes that you could only see at the right time of the day when the tide was coming in high. We made our way to our hostel, checked in, and then asked about the best place to eat dinner. Punakaiki is small, so there were only two options…Punakaiki Tavern or The Beach Hut. We asked which had better food and view of the water, and were told The Beach Hut had nice patio seating, so we set off to find it.

We actually thought we were lost when we pulled into this place to turn around; The Beach Hut was ACTUALLY an itty bitty hut…like the size of a sno-cone stand. And there was no view, unless you walked about a hundred yards past some brush. And patio seating? No, it was four picnic tables with umbrellas. Not what we were expecting at all. We decided to stay and eat there anyways, because we talked to some locals who said this was THE BEST fish, and they were right, it was!

After we ate we went on a little hike to Razorback Point; we hiked into an open cave and then spent some time trying to take artsy pictures on the beach with the sunset behind us. What we didn’t realize while we were trying to get this perfect pictures was the tide was starting to come up…Andrew was taking photos of Lindsay doing cartwheels, and Caitlin was taking photos of me doing handstands. We had set all our stuff on the sand (phones, fanny packs, camera lens, gopro, jackets, etc) and all of a sudden we hear Caitlin start making noises and we realize that the water is chasing us and headed towards our stuff! Lindsay and I sprint from our poses towards our stuff, while Andrew and Caitlin scramble to grab everything too. Everything was rescued but a lot of it got soaked; my phone was completely submerged in water for about one second before I could grab it, but it somehow recovered and survived with no problems :) I only wish that that scene could’ve been recorded on video…our faces, us sprinting and diving to save our stuff, would have been priceless to see!

We got back to the hostel just in time to watch the sunset on the beach, and then us kids headed to the only other place in town, Punakaiki Tavern, for drinks and a few games of darts. Lindsay and I  (“team not so awesome,” creatively named by Andrew) whipped Caitlin and Andrew’s “team awesome” duo. Then they beat us the next game…ha. We closed the bar down, then headed back to the hostel for a quick game of Scrabble before bed. I lost.

Day 10: Today we got up early, and drove to Charleston for our first adventure activity in New Zealand…underworld rafting! This was basically caving and tubing combined; we did a lot of walking and exploring in an underground cave and then at the end we hopped in our tubes and rafted down the river back to our starting point. We saw lots of neat cave formations (which all have scientific names that I can’t remember) and even a five-foot eel! One of their big selling points was that you got to see glowworms. I was actually pretty disappointed because I was expecting to see thousands and thousands of little shiny glowworms during this hike and over halfway through we had only seen a handful of them at one stopping point. But then, just when I thought we weren’t going to see anymore, and that their advertisement was a bust, we hopped in our tubes and as we turned the first corner MILLIONS of glowworms appeared! It literally felt like we were outside stargazing, it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen.

 After our underworld adventure it was time to get back in the car and head to our next destination, Greymoth (for lunch). My dad was driving at this point, too fast I might add, considering he was having one of his episodes but was too stubborn to pull over and let me drive. The roads were full of twists and turns, just like you were driving in the mountains of Colorado. I got car sick and threw up about thirty minutes into the trip; lemme tell ya, salt and pepper cashews don’t taste as good on the way up as they do on the way down…(TMI? ha). We finally got to our lunch spot at Montieth’s Brewing Company and sat down for beers and tapas. We had entirely too much food on our table, but of course we ate it all!

            

            After we ate we decided it was best for me to drive the last five hours to Fox Glacier. This was the longest stretch of driving in our trip, and it didn’t help that our GPS kept taking us off road, or at least not the fastest routes. We didn’t arrive to our hostel until after midnight AND I killed my first animal while driving that night too…I thought it was a fox, because it looked like this cute. little, red-furred animal…turns out it was a opossum, and their quite the nuisance, so I actually did a public service…doesn’t make it any less traumatizing! Poor thing.

Day 11: Today was the day we were going to hike a glacier! We got up early and headed to our check in point at Fox Glacier Tours. Upon arrival we got all our gear, consisting of mittens and a jacket. Wait what?! We’re about to hike a glacier and that’s all we get?! My family showed up in tights, a long sleeve shirt, and our Patagonia nano-puff jackets. Why is everyone else in full on ski gear!? I thought we were going to be given all that stuff? Shit. We start to get on the bus with our coffees and our guide says “Y’all look like the most prepared ones here.” Sweet, thanks for the sarcasm. All I can think is, I am going to freeze. And y’all just don’t understand, I HATE COLD WEATHER.

            When we get to the site where the helicopter takes off we are given our boots and wool socks. My family and Andrew were in the fourth group to fly up to Fox Glacier. Finally it was our turn. We boarded the helicopter (which was sweet, I might add) and hopped off about midway to the top of the glacier. As soon as we got off I was freezing! After we all got out, our guide fitted us with metal spikes for our boots, so that we wouldn’t slip on the ice when walking, and ski poles to help if needed, as well…then we were off! I think in total we climbed up, down, and around the glacier for about three hours. We had lots of fun :)

            After hiking Fox Glacier it was time to get on the road again, this time to Wanaka, one of my favorite places in New Zealand. It was still early when we arrived to our hostel, so as us kids were unpacking and getting settled and changed in our room, Mom and Dad went for a walk along the lake and said they’d meet us in town for dinner soon. This is how “dinner” went…margaritas and chips/queso/pico at Amigos, then beers at Lake Bar (which had a perfect view of the lake, obvi), then finally a DELICIOUS dinner at one of the best pubs in town, Lai Whaka Pai. Dad turned in around 11pm, Mom and I stayed out ‘til about 12:30am, and then Caitlin, Andrew, and Lindsay bar hopped until about 3am or so (I think that when I heard them “sneak” in to the room).

Day 12: We woke up and drove to a coffee shop called Urban Grind for breakfast. Mom and Dad had woken up earlier and headed into town, but knew to meet us at Urban Grind around 9:30am so we could figure out the plans for the day. After we all ate and got our caffeine fix, we did a little shopping around Wanaka, then drove to Arrow Town for even more! Arrow Town was this local iconic town just thirty minutes outside of Wanaka, and towards Queenstown, which was our final destination. I found the cutest bag and suede cape/kimono at a store called 2 Gypsies. I spent too much money but, you know, oh well. It happens.

            After leaving Arrow Town we drove to Queenstown, checked into our hostel and then started exploring the town. First stop, dinner at the famous Fergburgers! These burgers are to die for. They are so good, and so big that it should be a crime for one person to eat an entire one! After we ate we inquired about the “big swing” (which was completely booked) and a jet boat tour. After booking our jet boat tour the salesman told us we HAD TO go to the Queenstown haunted house and the ice bar…so we got some discount coupons and set off to find them.

            We were a little sketchy about the haunted house, not knowing if it would REALLY be scary. But, as we were walking by on our way to the ice bar, Caitlin went in to ask what time they closed and came back out saying that a teenage girl was in tears because she was so scared…we were sold. And we decided to do it before the ice bar just to be sure we got to it. Andrew was the leader of the pack (getting the worst of it all by far), then Caitlin, Lindsay, me, Mom, and finally Dad bringing up the rear. It was pitch black once you were inside, and it was like a maze where you had to look for little red lights to follow and find your way out. The people could not only scream to scare you, and get all up in your face, they could actually touch you too! We had a lot of fun…and made it out without any tears.

We ended the night with the ice bar and another bar called Cowboy (obviously we had to go there being from Texas and all). The ice bar was cool, er, uh, I mean, cold! Everything was made out of ice, the bar, the seats, the tables, the walls, even the glasses you drank out of! We lasted about forty-five minutes before our hands got too cold and our fingers lost feeling.  Eskimo jackets and gloves can only do so much in below zero temperatures. From there we went to Cowboy, where we played shuffle board. We, either Caitlin and Andrew’s team, or mine and Lindsay’s team, ran the table ALL NIGHT; nobody could beat us! That being said, we didn’t have much competition besides ourselves…we had to teach every.single opponent the rules of the game and how to play. Regardless, all we did was win. We didn’t go home until three am; that was the latest I had stayed out and I was sooooo tired! It was worth it though.

Day 13: Our Shotover Jet Boat Tour was set to start at 9am, with what we were told was an 8:15am check in. I had packed my stuff the night before, knowing that it was going to be an early morning after an even later night, and I wanted to go to Starbucks to get everyone coffee. I left my things packed nicely by the door and told Andrew to put my stuff in the car then come pick me up from Starbucks so we could get on our way, all bright-eyed and bushytailed. I thought I was doing everyone a favor, and being super nice, by offering to get up (extra early) and go get coffee…my dad thought otherwise. My dad was convinced we were going to be late to the jetboat tour, all because Lindsay and Caitlin were taking too long to get ready, and I had gone to get Starbucks. Fortunately I was off getting the coffee when he went off on everyone; it was a bit tense when I hopped in the car with all the coffees. I was one of those times where I knew something was wrong, but I also knew better than to ask.

            Nobody talked on the drive to the tour. Dad was huffing and puffing and speeding around corners. And after all that, we got there right at 8am for check in, which the woman at the front desk told us we didn’t actually have to be there ‘til 8:45am! Ha. We didn’t laugh it off…until later.

            The jetboat tour was AWESOME. I highly recommend anyone for this if you want an adrenaline rush and the constant thought that you are going to crash because you are high-speed turning so close to a big rock or squeezing through an itty-bitty area with only a stream of water!

            After the jetboat tour we had brunch at a place on the water called Ivy and Lola’s then it was time to head to the airport and fly back to Sydney. Once back in Sydney we checked into our YHA hostel then headed out to find a place to eat. Some locals said Malaya was the place to go; they were right. Although expensive, it was very tasty…a nice “last supper” with everyone.

            I was in a weird mood that night…I had mixed emotions….on the one hand, being in close proximities for the past thirteen days (in the same car, or the same room…hardly ever leaving each others sights) had me annoyed and needing my “me time,” alone.  On the other hand, I was overcome with this sadness knowing that in a few short hours my family would be flying back to America, eight thousand miles away, and that more than likely I would be saying yes to my company’s proposal of a second sponsorship (meaning I wouldn’t be moving back to the states in just two short months as planned).

 

Day 14: Lindsay and Andrew’s flight left early this morning, so they woke up and caught a cab to the airport straight away. After saying our goodbyes, myy parents, Caitlin, and I basically did everything I had already done the first day with Lindsay and Andrew; we saw the opera house, harbour bridge, botanical gardens, hyde park, and all that good stuff.

Overall it was a good two weeks, and as soon as they all got on the plane, I missed them.

XO - Cristin

Sometimes Plans Change

Sometimes plans change. Sometimes your heart grows for the people you live with, the people you work with, and the community that surrounds you.

Six months ago I was going on and on about how excited I was about my “five year plan.” This plan consisted of me going back home for the next year and getting my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate, then traveling around the world as I taught. I was going to start teaching in South Korea the first year, then teach in Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Cambodia over the second year, then Dubai, and Saudi Arabia in year three, and finally all over South America (Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, and Costa Rica) the final two years.

But then, a couple of weeks ago I was thrown a huge curveball.  The company I work for, SNAP, offered to sponsor my second visa. Second visas are pretty hard to come by here in Australia, and this was by no means expected. I mean, I had literally just sent all of my clothes back home to America with my family after they came to visit me. So I didn’t say yes right away, because there was A LOT to think about…

My current visa expires May 23^rd (that’s in seven weeks), so a decision had to be made fairly quickly. I’ve had anxiety attacks, and I’ve cried a lot over the past two weeks. I haven’t gotten much sleep either. There’s literally so much going on inside of my head. Do I want to put my five-year plan on hold? Can I continue to be eight thousand miles away from my family for the next three years? When am I going to get to go home, and for how long? Where am I going to live in Australia? Should I sell my (very used, semi-unreliable) car and get a better one? What about rego and car insurance, which is about to expire? And health insurance? These are the times when you need your mom and dad to just give you a hug, say they love you, and tell you no matter what everything’s going to be alright.

I’ve barely gotten any sleep. I’ve done a lot of thinking, and praying. I’ve made lists out the wazoo. But I’ve finally decided that this is an offer I can’t refuse. I’ll still be able to travel because I will continue to work in a casual, rather than full-time, position (meaning I can take off whenever, and for however long I want, and still have a job to come back to). So it’s with a little sadness and a lot of excitement that I’m taking my bosses up on their offer…I’m staying in Australia for the next three years!!

  

“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” – Isaiah 41:13

XO - Cristin

Adventures of Curl (Week One - Australia)

My family, and Andrew (who might as well be family now, considering we broke him in pretty well), spent seven days driving up the east coast of Australia from Sydney to Brisbane. And ok, lemme tell you, a week in Australia flies by when you’re constantly on the go. We did a lot, but at the same time it felt like we hardly did anything, and then all of a sudden it was time to go to New Zealand!

But anyways, here’s a short little rundown of each of our days in Australia –

Day 1: Lindsay and Andrew’s plane landed in Sydney at 8:40am. I woke up about 5:30am, got ready, double checked my bags, then headed to the Maitland train station to catch a 6:30am train to Paddington where our AirBnB loft was for the night. I arrived in Paddington just before 11am, had no clue where our house was exactly, but Lindsay had mentioned a coffee shop nearby that I could go to if I beat them there, so I stopped in and ordered myself a coffee and just waited, hoping I would spot them at some point since they didn’t have a phone I could call. Sure enough, about two minutes later I see two people with luggage walking up to a house right across the street trying to get into a locked gate. It was them! I grabbed my coffee, walked over, gave them both a big hug and then watched as Andrew struggled to open the gate. He finally got it open, and they had two dogs, which we weren’t to let out. We got in the gate and it turned out Andrew had left the keys in the door, locking us in. Next thing I know he’s climbing up the fence and hanging over trying to reach…it was going to be a good two weeks!

            After we settled in we decided to take a stroll to the nearby suburbs. First stop, a bite to eat! We found a coffee shop/pub on the corner of a busy intersection; prime real estate for Aussie people watching J We ordered hamburgers and sangria, enjoyed our meal, then explored the rest of the nearby suburbs, seeing everything from the Botanical Gardens, to Hyde Park, to St. Mary's Cathedral, to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We ended up at the Glenmore Hotel for a rooftop terrace view of the Opera House and a few drinks, and there we met the McArthur brothers…three brothers from Canada, who bought us our drinks the rest of the night (from about 5-11pm…we weren’t complaining). 

Day 2: Mom, Dad, and Caitlin’s flight arrived in Sydney at 6:30am. They had told us it would be about 8/8:30am when they would pick us up in the rental van so we could get on our way to Smiths Lake. Well, around 11am we see them FINALLY drive by the place we were staying…apparently it was a nightmare driving with my dad in the car (being on the opposite side of the road and all). I think they said they almost had two wrecks? All I know is, my dad was stressed out from the driving, and my mom and sister were scared to death. So we opted for me to drive the rest of the trip…seeing as I’m an expert now J The only downside was having my dad as a “backseat (passenger side) driver” the whole time! We had a GPS, which, you know, is generally for whoever is driving to look at, but my dad seemed to think he needed to have it faced towards him. And then, when he got hold of a map he seemed to think he knew better than the GPS so we were all sorts of lost…all the time.

        Our first stop was Maitland. I wanted my family to meet Mitch and Snoop, and see where I have been living the past six months. We chatted for a bit, gave Snoop plenty of kisses and belly rubs, then headed downtown for a quick lunch at The Belmore; it was their first experience having a chicken schnitzel. 

After lunch we hit the road, 3ish hours later we made it to our AirBnB place in Smiths Lake. We met our hosts Rob and Marzena, unpacked our things, took a tour around the property and down to the water, then went on a hike. After our hike we drove down to Hamilton’s Oyster House for dinner, which was surprisingly average at best.

             

Day 3: Well, everyone else was still on American time so they were all waking up anywhere between 4am and 6am. With all that shuffling and moving around going on I couldn’t sleep in (which was fine, I didn’t mind). There were kayaks for hire at the place we were staying, so we decided to kayak “around the bend” to the Frothy Coffee Café. Around the bend was more like around three different bends; by the time we were halfway I thought my arms were going to fall off…Caitlin and I fortunately found our rhythm on the return and kicked everyone’s tail back to the house.

            After our morning caffeine fix, we headed to the beach. There were plenty to choose from, but we settled on Boomerang Beach mostly because we missed the turn off to Bluey’s Beach. We were told this would be one of the calmer beaches, but man, it was windy and the waves were big! We still had plenty of fun, there was body surfing, lots of frisbee, and plenty of sun…too much sun for the five coming from winter wonderlands…they were all lobster red the next day!

            Dinner was at a place called Huey’s at Bluey’s. It was a pizza parlor; with some of the best pizza I’ve had while living in Australia (but still not as good at 575* in Amarillo). After dinner we went to find the Green Cathedral. Lemme tell ya, this place was pretty cool! It was basically an outdoor church...absolutely beautiful!

Day 4: We woke up, packed our things out of our AirBnB place, and drove to our next destination, Bellingen. When we got there we stopped for lunch at a little café called 5 Church Street (delicious, by the way). We had plans to go bushwalking in Dorrigo National Rainforest, and as we were leaving, an old couple from California (originally New Zealand and England) stopped us to give us direction to the site. The old man also told us to “be sure and stop in the old funky junk store on the way, where [his] his ex-wife could probably be found, too.”

We checked in to the YHA hostel after lunch, then headed out to find the Dorrigo National Rainforest. We went on a 6.6km/2.5hour hike through the rainforest, seeing lots of waterfalls, and even baby bats! Maf, the guy working at the front desk of the YHA, had told us we HAD TO SEE the “big fig tree” and another “majestic” area in Bellingen, so we went on a little scavenger hunt…I was expecting a much bigger “big fig tree.” It was big, just wasn’t what I had pictured in my mind; there was a waterhole there too though, with a rope swing, which Lindsay, Caitlin, and Lindsay all enjoyed swinging from while it was raining. The “majestic” place that we finally found wasn’t so majestic to any of us, so that kinda became the running joke/word of the trip.

It was a rainy night, so we stayed up late talking on the covered patio of the YHA. My dad likes to blast the air-conditioned, which hostels generally don’t have, so he thought it would be a good idea to sleep with the double doors open. Mmmm, no! When I got out of the shower and headed out to the patio, there was already a big green tree frog inside the room! Not even ten minutes later we saw a opossum (which we thought was the hostel’s cat) jump up on one of the patio tables. We decided to close the doors…haha. As we were sitting in a corner table the opossum jumped up onto the rafters across the room, and eventually made his way closer and closer to us until he was right above us! It was pretty entertaining to watch, but we all ran as soon as he got above us.

Day 5: Our next destination was Main Arm. First we made a breakfast/coffee stop at The Galley in Coff’s Harbour. We walked around the bay then hopped back in the car and drove to Byron Bay, which was also on the way.

            Once we got to Byron Bay we changed into our swimsuits in the car, Andrew decided to go to the side of someone’s house across the street and got caught by the owner who said, “I hope you weren’t taking a pee in my backyard!”  After we changed out of our clothes, the kids headed down to the beach while my parents made a quick trip to get ice for the cooler and a couple of snacks. More frisbee was played, and Caitlin and Andrew became experts at body boarding (watching my dad must’ve helped…he’s surprisingly good). We were at the beach swimming in the water for around two hours before we were told by a surfer to get out of the water because a shark was nearby. A SHARK, PEOPLE!!! And the guy said it was “only six feet long.” Only!? Holy moly, you don’t have to tell me twice.

            We walked up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse after the shark warning, spent about an hour ‘n a half there taking in the scenery and even stood on the Eastern Most Point in Australia. From there we drove to meet our AirBnB host and check out our next place. It was waaayyyy out in the boonies, but it was a neat little country home. Only two baby huntsman spiders were there to greet us…

  

Day 6: Our final destination was Brisbane. We were supposed to be returning the car that afternoon, and we had finally made it to Avis then realized we forgot to fill up the car with gas. Who knew a petrol station would be so hard to find!? It took us about forty-five minutes to find a shell station, by this point we all needed a beer. So after we dropped the car off, this time with a full tank of gas, we walked over to a nearby pub. It just so happen to be the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, so we chose Gilhooley’s Irish Pub, complete with bag pipes, cloggers, and lots of green!

            After leaving there we checked into the Brisbane YHA hostel, then started walking to find somewhere to eat. We were in the mood for margaritas, so we stopped at a Mexican food place (but not the one with the handsome waiter standing at the door to greet people, who literally made Lindsay walk in slow motion). We ordered nachos as an appetizer, and let’s just say it wasn’t what we were expecting…nothing like the nachos you’d get in Texas! The margarita was good though J After dinner it was time to bar hop, first to Brisbane Brewing Company which was a pretty hip spot with a nice vibe. When my parents decided to turn in, we headed to the next place called Lock and Loaded. This place had live music and lots of hippies with dreadlocks; it was rockin’ and it was fun. We closed that bar down then asked the bartender if there was anywhere that had karaoke. He gave us directions to Casablanca, which just so happen to be right down the street from our hostel. When we arrived there, the bouncer let Andrew and Caitlin right in, but stopped Lindsay and I for ID. Lindsay asked why we needed to show ID but Caitlin and Andrew didn’t, and he said “when people look too young we have to check their IDs.” So I start pulling mine out and go to show him, but the bouncer says,  “No, I don’t need to see yours, only hers.” That made Lindsay’s night. I on the other hand, was a little offended…I’m nine years younger than my sister! Hahaha.

Day 7: We woke up (too early I might add), checked out of the hostel, and walked to the ferry for our trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was about an hour’s ride to the sanctuary and we were a tad bit too late for all of us to get a good seat outside the boat…so Caitlin, Andrew, and I sat inside and played cards – a made up way of “War,” Jacks and Fives, and Speed – while Mom, Dad, and Lindsay squeezed in outside to look at the waterfront views.

We got to the koala sanctuary around 11:30am. We got to see ALL the typical Australian animals: kangaroos, koalas, emus, dingos, wombats, flying foxes, tasmanian devils, snakes, lizards, and all the different birds (and a bunch of other things I can’t remember the proper name of). From there we took a taxi to the airport for our 5:30pm flight to Christchurch, NZ. We got there wayyy early, like three hours, because the guy at the YHA front desk had us nervous about not allowing enough time since it was an international flight. So we sat down, had a nice lunch, then boarded our three hour flight to New Zealand. Since there was a three hour time change, we arrived in Christchurch at 11:45pm. We got a taxi and went straight to the motel and then to bed.

**For a more complete and hilarious recount of all the events which happened in Australia, try and convince Andrew Arnold to email me his day-by-day notes!

XO - Cristin