South Island Road Trip with Louise: Hitting the Road

There were so many times that Louise and I tried to plan our travels together around the South Island, but it never seemed to work out. She had some friends headed down that we were meant to meet up with for a bit of a road trip. We knew this months ago (she invited me along after our first adventures together back in December) but two of her friends were moving to the country and had to wait for their shipping container to arrive before they could embark on the road trip. The only dates set were for them to walk the Heaphy Track (one of NZ’s “great walks”) on the 15^th of February. Neither Lou or I were particularly keen on doing the Heaphy due to our numerous other walking adventures, so we decided to travel together while her friends were on the 4-6 day tramp.

Hitting the road in "Rocky" our well-loved car/home for the trip!

Unfortunately, that was the only plan we had. She came down to Nelson to meet me and couchsurfed where I was staying for a night. All other ideas were still up in the air. She hadn't booked her flight to Melbourne, we didn’t have a rental car, we didn’t know if we would be able to meet up with her friends, and I didn’t know how or where I was going to get back on the Flying Kiwi bus! To complicate the situation, we are two indecisive individuals who like to please other people and tend to only share opinions when we have a specific preference. Needless to say, planning, agreeing and deciding are difficult tasks for the two of us!

Playing with my camera while Lou battles the rain

Acts of Love

I find it hard to summarize the amazing experiences I've had in a blog post. I have only been in New Zealand for three weeks now, and yet it feels like much longer. I am so glad I decided to come for a full year, as I can only begin to imagine how much more there is to see and do! In three weeks I have managed to squeeze in some couchsurfing, a three day tramp, some WWOOFing, an extensive road trip, heaps of beach visits, a bit of rock climbing, and even some down time here and there. I am happy to be here, and still glad I am adventuring alone!

I met a German girl at a hostel this past weekend who is also on a working holiday. She has been here about the same length of time as I have, but said she is going home next month. She explained that traveling alone is not for her and she really misses having a place to call home. She talked about meeting tons of people in different hostels and while traveling, but how she was sick of sleeping in a different place every night. I can empathise with the part about hopping from place to place. It was nice when Nate and I spent two nights in the same hostel and we didn't have to pack up everything for once. It was also nice to have a "home base" while I was WWOOFing, but there were other aspects to that situation that made up for it. I haven't, however, actually done much traveling solo. I have been alone during different parts of my journey, but always had a companion (or several) to spend time with if I wanted to. This is partially due to the circumstances of events, but largely by design. I like to think I know myself well enough to plan for what I can handle. Then again, getting to know myself is what this adventure is all about!