Here it is: the final part of my "30 Litre" series! (We don't have to talk about the fact that it's almost four months late. It's forgotten? Great.)
While walking the Kepler I met this nice woman who was planning on driving her rental car west to Dunedin after finishing the track. (We'll call her "GL" for this post.) She offered me a ride before we even introduced ourselves and it seemed perfect: that's where I had actually planned on rounding off my three week break.
She told me which hostel she was planning on checking into back in town and we made plans to meet up there the next morning to start the next leg of our adventure.
After meeting Rich -- remember him? the cute pie shop guy? -- he also invited me to travel with him. Even though he was heading the direction I'd just come from, it sounded like fun. We booked it back to the Lakefront Backpackers to see if they'd let me check out early without a fee, and they did because they're awesome. On my way to grab my pack, however, I ran into the woman who offered me the ride to Dunedin. I told her that plans had changed, but hardly got the words out after seeing the look of profound disappointment on her face. It looked like I had told her that her puppy had died.
Dunedin with GL it was.
After a shower, a beer or two by the lake with Rich, a real night's sleep in the comfiest hostel bed I've ever slept in, and a few more pies from Miles Better (three to be exact), GL and I set off for Dunedin with a few hitchhikers in the back, who we'd drop off at the start of another highway.
We decided to take the scenic route through the Catlins, which would mean an extra few hours on the road but a much prettier ride. This is the route we ended up taking:
I'm gonna be totally honest. I didn't have that much fun.
Not that I had any reason to rush, but we drove at a painfully slow pace. We stopped at every look out point and drove nearly every gravel turn off we saw. We took pictures of sheep and waited an hour for penguins that never showed up. We looked for dolphins (also no-shows) and followed signs to waterfalls that we ultimately wouldn't see because it would be dark by the time we reached them on foot.
Despite the awesome night's sleep I had the evening before all I wanted to do was nap, which is hard when you stop every 50 kilometers to take a picture.
I've been trying to avoid basing this entire blog post on a cliche, but I'm finding few ways around it. Choosing to travel with someone I had nothing in common with to somewhere I'd never been vs. revisiting a familiar sight with someone I was excited to get to know better proved something to me. Maybe it really doesn't matter where you are if you enjoy the people you're with. (Granted, in New Zealand it's pretty hard to be disappointed with where you are. So just try to find and stick with good people with a similar travel style to you.)
Also I found out something that would have been really helpful to know before setting foot or butt in the GL's car: the reason she was so disappointed I wouldn't be coming wasn't actually because she enjoyed my delightfully bubbly personality and various tales of shenanigans past. No, she just wanted someone to pay for her gas. Awesome.
While it wasn't exactly my idea of the ideal road trip, there was some good that came out of it.
For one, I officially made it from the furthest point north on the South Island to the furthest point south, which is pretty cool.
We also tried to catch a glimpse of Stewart Island from Bluff. We couldn't see it, but it only added about ten minutes to the trip.
In addition to seeing a few sights I wouldn't have otherwise, traveling with GL introduced me to CouchSurfing. She had plans to stay with someone she met through the site once she got to Dunedin. Her host graciously opened her home to me too, after being asked the same day we were due to show up.
They had an awesome house and were totally fine with me whipping out my camera the second night of our stay and clicking away.
I mean, how could I resist?
They also introduced us to feijoas, an awesome little fruit which they had taken to freezing and eating in slices.
After traveling on my own so much, I started to crave the alone time I'd had the privilege of while hiking the Kepler. The next day, we took the afternoon to explore Dunedin on our own. I mostly explored this quiet little coffee shop called the Excelsior to catch up on emails and let my family know I was alive, which they appreciated.
GL and I met up, picked up some groceries, and drove back out to our host's house on the Peninsula. When we got home, we found that she had not only done all of our laundry for us, but hung it when their dryer broke down.
To show our appreciation for both hosting us and doing our laundry, we cooked dinner for the three people living in the house. Showing your hosts some love by cooking for them is a really good idea, and an absolute must if they happen to be opening their home to you for free. Some might not want to hand over their kitchen to strangers for the night, which is also cool. A bottle of wine (or two) is usually a good idea as well. We went with both just to play it safe.
My travel mate snuggling up for the night on her mattress in the laundry-hung livingroom.
The next morning, after collecting our laundry, putting away our mattresses, and saying goodbye to our hosts, we set out for one final exploration of the Peninsula. While GL would be spending one more night in Dunedin, I was itching to start making my way north back to Christchurch. Even with clean clothes, wearing the same pair of shoes and the same two shirts for three weeks, day in and day out, gets a little old.
Instead of taking my time working my way back home, I hightailed it and made it home by dark. (But not without accidentally leaving my "wallet" -- a plastic ziplock bag with my passport, credit card, student ID, cash, and house key -- in the car of one of the rides I got. Thank god Kiwis are a generally wonderful people and I had my wallet back within the week.)
Even though I initially regretted the choice to turn down Pie Guy's offer, things turned out alright and it didn't slow us down. A huge part of travel is rolling with the punches and not allowing what seems like a semi-regrettable decision to ruin your trip. In the weeks to come, I met some amazing people through CouchSurfing, which I signed up for the second I got home.
And hey, doesn't everyone need a "That-Time-I-Was-In-Another-Country-and-Lost-My-Passport" story? Anybody else have any CouchSurfing or passport-losing stories? Comment below!
Cheers and, as always, safe travels everyone!
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