Before I left the States, I hadn't really thought much about my spring break trip to New Zealand. Rightly so, my mind was all on what Straya had to offer. And when I made it to my current home back in January, I was invested. As you could imagine. Australia has so, so much to offer, and I am going to be hard-pressed to get to everything done on my list before I leave.
But getting so invested in exploring Sydney and Australia caused myself (and others in our NZ group) to forget a little bit about our upcoming Spring Break trip. So I did something that goes against all I stand for. I didn't plan. For those of you who know me, you have to know that I always defer to planning things over being spontaneous. It just helps me sleep better at night.
But spontaneous is the exact word to describe the great New Zealand adventure. Very few things went as planned the whole week. I look back and laugh now at all the things that were "planned" before we left. In fact, here's a list (Sorry Mom).
We planned on spending our whole week in Queenstown. What happened instead? We took a bus all over the South Island to get a place called Te Anau for a couple of nights, a place we had never even heard of two weeks before. We planned on just spending those four days in Te Anau and doing things in town. What happened? We booked an AirBnb an hour and a half away without knowing. Did we plan on having to drive in New Zealand? Not a chance, but boy did I get that chance. Did we plan on there actually being cars to rent when we got to Te Anau? You better believe it, but of course there weren't. So I hopped on a random bus to Queenstown the next morning to get a car, which was two hours on the bus and two hours driving.
Unbelievable, right? But here's the thing. Unbelievable things often mean unbelievable memories, in unbelievable places. And New Zealand is and was just that. Unbelievable.
I have seen so many beautiful places in my 20 years of life. Heck, I live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth in East Tennessee. But the South Island of New Zealand is the most beautiful place I have ever seen with my own two eyes. I was in a constant moment of awe the whole entire week. The pictures that some of you have seen from my trip just don't do it any justice at all. And there is one place in particular I want to shoutout specifically.
Milford Sound is often referred to as the "8th Wonder of the World." I think 8th doesn't even do it justice. Milford took my breath away. The stillness of the sound, the rush of the waterfall we went directly under, and the opening of the fjord into the Tasman Sea is something that is hard to describe. It was something truly, truly... UNBELIEVABLE.
I also want to give another specific shoutout to Queenstown. It was number 1 on our list and many others' for good reason. The "Adventure Capital of the World" sure lives up to its billing. I mean, what other place can you jet boat, hike, canyon, and river board (ride a boogie board down whitewater rapids) in just two days? Queenstown was such a rush, and the beauty that we saw there, especially with the snow on the mountains, was just... well you know how I would describe it.
And that in a nutshell is my great New Zealand adventure. I had two pairs of pants for the whole week, I drove on the left side of the road for the first time, and hardly anything went as planned. But in the end, none of that mattered. Because it was an unbelievable week, with unbelievable memories, in an unbelievable place.
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