Yes, I know I said I would write two posts in a week like two weeks ago. However, I’ve had a little critter problem in my house and it’s been occupying my life. So, I was too busy not getting sleep to write my second blog post. That said, apologies to my loyal readers (hi Mom and Dad).
So let’s go alllll the way back to Easter.
April 19th – 22nd
Wow a month ago? Shit, I’m slacking. Anyway, Vic’s friend Roland was visiting for the week and he stayed with us over Easter. A word about Roland – he’s literally one of my favourite people I’ve met here. He’s just this endless source of positivity. He’s also crazy smart and will hit you with these random mind-blowing facts. He asks insightful questions, like “what was your favourite part of your day?” (as opposed to “how was your day” – I liked this because instead of just answering with the generic “fine”, you actually had to think about what you did during your day and what you liked best). Anyway, Roland can stay.
Easter was verrrry low-key. The weather wasn’t awesome, so while we were supposed to go explore the West Coast, the rain shut that plan down. So instead, we hung around Wanaka for the weekend. It was glorious. We had a mimosas and a big Easter brunch with a couple friends and then on Easter Sunday we drove out to Mount Aspiring National Park and hiked up to Rob Roy’s Glacier.
Hooooooly. I think I found a new place in NZ that rivals Mount Cook.
April 26th – 28th
The weekend after that, Victoria went away with one of her other buddies, so I stayed in town and had a weekend to myself. It did give me an opportunity to hit up Skyline Bike Park for the last time before it closed for the winter though.
It was kind of sad – I’m a bit undecided if I’m going to stay here after winter, so the thought of this being my last time riding Skyline kind of left me feeling like I should’ve ridden there more, like I didn’t get enough to ride everything I wanted to. It’s things like this that make me think about staying a little longer here.
May 3rd – 5th
Vic had more friends in town this weekend – this time it was her buddy Seth and his friend from home. Seth, Vic and Troy all grew up together in Colorado. Six years ago, Seth was in an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, so now he’s in a wheelchair. That said, he’s a pretty incredible person. He works as an engineer for a military company and is crazy smart – he brought his own drone that he built himself. He’s also into the same nerd shit that I am, so we hit it off talking all things Game of Thrones.
Seth, Troy, Vic, Alanna and I decided to head to Ohau to visit Mike who was staying at his cottage there with a few friends from uni (remember Vic and I went there on our first adventure together way back in January). I hadn’t seen Mike since our weekend in Dunedin, so I was stoked to get to go to the cabin again.
It was such an amazing weekend spent chilling at the cabin, having huge group meals and exploring Mount Cook with Seth and everyone.
May 7th
The last day I’ll cover in this entry was Troy’s goodbye bonfire. Because Americans can only stay a year in NZ, Troy had to head home on May 9th. But Vic wanted to do one last bonfire for him. So Lottie, Puckey, Vic and I drove out to the lake early and started a fire. While there, Puckey drove his truck into the lake a little (it’s a big 4×4) and we sat on the hood and drank beer while watching the sun go down. It was the most at peace I’d been in a while and after a little chatter, we all quieted down and watched the stars come out in silence. It was really beautiful.
Soon, Troy, Seth and his Dad showed up and the fire got into full swing. Troy did one last poi show for us (where he spins the fire on the chains) and we all sat around the fire until it burned out.
On the way home, Puckey wanted to do some mudding in his truck, so we drove off to an area of farmland that had a huge mud pit in it. It was a total blast until we got stuck in a puddle so deep that water started to seep in under the doors. I definitely thought that we were in it for the night, but after one last slow 4wd low push, we miraculously were able to back out of the swamp and get out of there. It was such a high driving home, only because I think we were all fully convinced we were going to have to spend the night out there.
Well, that’s it for the last month. This last weekend I had was one for the books as well, but I’m waiting on photos from Vic to write that blog, so you’ll probably get another entry this week… or not, who even knows. I’ll see ya when I see ya.
- JB
Onward. 