New Zealand – South Island

The South Island of New Zealand was where I really experienced that postcard beauty I wrote about in my North Island Post. My trip to the South Island was an organized group spring break trip. It was about a week long, and I didn’t have to think about anything – all food, accommodations, and tours were included in the trip, and anything that I wanted to do separately I could do with recommendations from our tour operators. 

So let’s talk about some of the sights. Just look at these pictures. Absolutely stunning.

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And also these pictures of where part of Lord of the Rings was filmed. 

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After the drive through beauty, we began our week with a scenic bike tour through the mountains. So, more beauty.

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The next day, the real tourism began as we started our day at a sheep farm. There are more sheep than people in New Zealand, so naturally there is a huge wool market. We spent the day at the farm learning about the process of raising and shaving the sheep and selling the wool. We got to really experience first hand and play with and hold the sheep. We then stayed for a dinner buffet on the farm at which they served lamb. It seems in poor taste, but it was probably delicious.

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We then took a tour of the Mountain Jade factory in Hokitika. New Zealand has some of the finest Jade in the world, and we toured the factory that produces the largest collection. I remember buying myself a beautiful Jade Jewish Star necklace that I probably loved so much that I wore it once. I currently have no idea where it is, but the pieces they had in the factory store were actually beautiful. 

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From there we drove about 2 hours south to Fox Glacier. We took a bus up and hiked the glacier, and it was incredible.

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Just down the road from Fox Glacier, we visited the beautiful Lake Matheson. Just look.

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Then we took our four hour trek to Queenstown. If you read my North Island post, you might remember that I told you to Google “adventure capital of the world” and I told you the entire page would reference New Zealand. What I neglected to mention was that it would actually more specifically reference Queenstown. So, naturally, this is where our real adventure took place.

Our adventure started the night we arrived at the Minus 5° ice bar. The entire bar is made of ice, including the chairs and glasses, and they give you special jackets and shoes to wear and only allow you to stay in for 30 minutes. This was a cool experience, especially as a college kid, but it is not unique to New Zealand. These bars exist all over the place, including NYC, so it’s definitely not something you need to rush to do in Queenstown.

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The next day, the real adventure began. We had time to pick one major activity at the adventure center, and then explore some of the smaller activities throughout the day as well. Jen really wanted to do a speed boat similar to the one I basically died on in the North Island, but worse, so naturally I said BYE, I’m going skydiving. And here’s Jen excited for her impending death. And the canyons that she would be boating through to die. Disclaimer: She did not actually die (I just checked) and claims she “was underwhelmed” and “expected it to be more adrenaline pumping”. Her memory of actual events has probably faded in 10 years.

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And then of course there was too much cloud cover and a chance of rain so skydiving got canceled. (Don’t worry, I got my chance to skydive in Sydney.) So what does one do when skydiving is canceled? They go bungee jumping for the 4th time. Obviously. 

This was a whole different type of bungee jumping. I “wanted” (no I didn’t, I was petrified) to do the Nevis jump, which is the highest bungy in Australasia with an 8.5 second free fall, but I was too late and it was sold out. So I opted for the Ledge Bungy, which is literally just a bungy pod jutting out of a mountain. And remember when I said the bungy jump with your center attached instead of your feet was way scarier? Well, if I remember correctly, this was the only option at the Ledge. So, in keeping with the tradition of doing all of my jumps a little differently, and since I had already jumped in this manner, I decided to take a running start. It was like straight out of a movie, where people run and realize they’re doing something terribly wrong and then come to a skidding stop dead in their tracks. I did that 2-3 times before actually making it off the ledge. But I did make it. For some reason jumping off a mountain is even scarier than jumping off a bridge – probably because landing in water seems less painful than landing on rock formations – and taking a running start is more scary than having someone push you over. So yes, this was the scariest of the four jumps, but I was in the adventure capital of the world and I left promising myself I’d go back one day to do the Nevis jump. So I guess I enjoyed it.

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Anyway, moving on. To get to the jump, we had to take a gondola and chairlift to the top of the mountain (this area is a ski spot in the winter), and there were some other fun activities up top too. We chose to do the high speed luge ride down the mountain. It was super fun.

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After the adventure was over, we went back to the beauty with a visit to the Milford sound and the mirror lakes. Honestly, I feel like all of the lakes in New Zealand were mirrors (see pictures from Lake Matheson above), this one just happened to be named for it. There were also some stunning waterfalls and other awesome views in this area.

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Finally, I want to tell you about the canyoning we did. We actually did this on the North Island, but somehow my pictures from this experience got mixed in with my South Island pictures, so I forgot to write about it in my last post. However, it’s also available on the South Island, so it’s just as fitting here. 

Canyoning by definition is exploring a Canyon by repelling, rafting, and waterfall jumping. This was probably one of my favorite activities in my entire time abroad, and maybe my entire life. It was so different than anything I’d ever done, and so much fun. I love hiking, and hiking through a canyon was just really cool. Seriously, I am not even sure how I forgot it when I wrote my North Island post, or where my head was at, because it was so incredibly memorable. 

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I’m sad to say that this is the end of my series on my semester abroad. I really enjoyed reliving these experiences and I hope I inspired some of you to travel around the world to experience the beauty and adventure that is Australia and New Zealand. Most importantly, I hope to get back there one day (but not before I hit up some of my bucket list spots like Thailand, South Africa, and Iceland). Special thank you to Grandma Zena for inspiring this entire series, and for being one of my only followers.

Next stop on the blog: after a brief stop in the Hamptons, we’ll hit up the Southern United States with stops in Nashville, Memphis, Asheville, Greensboro, Atlanta, Austin, Charleston, Savannah, and maybe a few other stops along the way. See you there!