Checking out New Zealand with Ben

Ben and Lisa were the most amazing hosts while I was in New Zealand, they made me feel instantly at home, cared for and at times even pampered. They cooked for me, gave me rides and even helped me plan a trip to Queenstown. Ben planned road trips for both of the weekends I was in New Zealand. The trips were an amazing chance for us to spend time together, something significantly limited in the past the five years due to distance. We talked about our lives, gave each other advice and laughed about the past and how much we’ve both changed in the nine years we’ve been friends. It was as if he never moved away.

Our first trip was to Akaroa and the banks peninsula, on the east coast of the south island. It was beautiful, the only French settlement in New Zealand, it is a beautiful small town right on the water. We visit many beautiful inlets and bays, stopped to go on a few small hikes and explored the beautiful country roads of the region.





***
The next day Ben and Lisa took me to lunch in one of New Zealand’s many wine regions, Waipara. We visit two vineyards and taste several delicious wines. The second vineyard was where Ben and Lisa bought the wine for their wedding, last September and they recognized Ben. They invited us to go out to the grapes and pick some so we could taste them in their natural state. It was really fun and the grapes were delicious.





****
The following weekend Ben pick me up at the airport in Christchurch just as I was flying back in from Queenstown, so we could begin our road trip to the east coast of the island. Along the way we stopped for a cold drink in the middle of nowhere and I tried to chase down a sheep, so I could pet it. When I got close enough to the sheep it started to pee everywhere and scared me away.


We chose to stay in the very small almost empty mining town of Hokitika for the night and the next day, make our way to Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. The hikes(walks) to both of the glaciers were beautiful and surprisingly easy. The glaciers were both amazing. Fox was smaller and had fewer people. It was centered in the middle of a very high valley carved over thousands of years by the melting and moving ice.



The Fran Joseph glacier was more commercial, but in my opinion more visually impressive with a river emerging from an ice cave at its base and ice so cold it was blue. I know absolutely nothing about glaciers except they are made of ice, cold and melting (due to climate change) at an alarming rate; however, if you want to know more this is a good resource.





After the awe inspiring glaciers we made our way to the New Zealand pancake rocks and blowholes in Punakaiki, just in time to watch a beautiful sunset.




***
The next morning we drove back towards the east coast to soak in the natural geothermal hot springs of Maruia. Soaking in the natural pools felt so good after two days sitting in a car and hiking around glaciers. The sulfur smelling water was healing the wound on my knee from a bicycle accident two weeks prior, it magically healed in the hour I was in the pool, and my muscle and back pain I had was gone. All this was with a view of a river and mountains. It was an amazing morning and an even more exceptional weekend.

I am so thankful to Ben and Lisa for sharing their home with me, for taking me places I could not have seen using public transportation and making every minute of my trip special.