Not since Whistler have I had a Christmas away from home and I’ve never been in New Zealand for the holidays – and let me just say, it is WEIRD. Christmas here is the height of summer, so no snow, no Christmas lights, no skiing. Instead, it’s barbeques, shorts and beach days.
I didn’t start to feel homesick until the day before Fraser and I were due to to leave to go up North to spend the holidays with his family in Taupo. While I was packing shorts and swimsuits, it just felt wrong – like I should instead be packing up sweaters and ski stuff to go home. But I had to buck up a bit, this wasn’t a choice I could have made, it was literally a situation that was out of my control.
That said, I was excited (mostly nervous) to meet Fraser’s family for the first time. Obviously Sonia (his sister) and I were good friends from living down here. But I had never met his mom or his other sister, Jess. I was also nervous for how another family would celebrate Christmas. I love the way that we’ve always done it; Christmas Eve at Mom’s, a big breakfast the next morning after gift opening, heading over to Dad’s in the afternoon and then a family dinner in Wentworth. I knew that Fraser’s wouldn’t be like this, because everyone is different. I just hoped that I wouldn’t miss my way of doing things too much.
But before I could worry about Christmas day, I had something else to worry about – a 24 hour drive from Wanaka to Taupo. Most Kiwis would do this trip over the course of a couple of days, but Fraser was keen to have as much time with his family as possible, so we vowed to do it straight through with both of us taking turns driving.
It actually started out perfect. Fraser and I each did three hours on, three hours off – with him giving me tips on driving standard along the way. Our first stop was three hours out of Wanaka in Fairlie for an famous Fairlie pie. It was amazing and can confirm that they’re famous for a reason.
Our next stop was five hours later in Kaikoura, a beautiful little beach town outside of Christchurch. I’ve actually always wanted to go to Kaikoura and just passing through convinced me that I would definitely be coming back here at some point.
Finally, we made it to Picton, in the north of the South Island, where we caught the ferry to the North Island. The ferry is a lot like the one we used to take back and forth to Newfoundland and although it looks huge and the strait looks small, it actually takes about four hours to chug over to Wellington from Picton.
We had booked the 9:30pm ferry because it was one of the cheaper options, which put us into Wellington at 1:30am. Our plan from there would be to drive the five hours straight through to Taupo. I don’t think either of us realized what a big undertaking this would be. By the time we got on the ferry, we were totally beat from driving all day and with no beds, most of the passengers (including us) just curled up on the floor in the aisles between seats to try to get some sleep while the ferry worked its way across the strait.
When we got into Wellington, it felt a little post-apocalyptic. Fraser started out driving while I tried to get some sleep, but was distracted by the quiet drive through downtown Wellington. As we moved out of the city, I finally nodded off. Three hours later, Fraser was waking me up asking if I could drive for a bit. It was 4am and we still had another couple of hours to go and I knew if Fraser was asking me to drive, it meant that he was seriously needing to get out from behind the wheel because he was nodding off.
We switched seats and just before I put the car into gear, Fraser looked at me and said in a very stern voice, “Jessie. If you start to fall asleep, pull over.”
It’s one of the only times he’s ever reminded me of Dad. The way he said it, I knew that he was dead serious. And to be honest, I was super tired, but I turned on some music and tried to sing along to keep myself awake. It also helped that it was foggy as hell as we weaved our way through the mountains into Taupo. That extra bit of concentration really forced me to stay awake and we pulled into Taupo just as the sun was rising.
Fraser’s mom’s house in Taupo is a holiday house; the family is spread out across the North Island now and his mom bought the house as a place for all of them to go. When we arrived, no one else was there yet. After wandering around the rooms for a bit and feeling a little uncomfortably out-of-place, we collapsed into bed and slept six hours until 1pm. We then went out to get some food and explore the town.
Taupo is absolutely beautiful. There’s a huge lake with a backdrop of mountains. The town itself is bigger than Wanaka and it was nice to have a little more going on, without going to a big city.
We spent the next few days meeting Fraser’s friends and I tried my best not to feel totally out of place. Fraser is considerably younger than me and I began to notice distinct differences in his friends of the same age. There were those that would meet me, introduce themselves and then pretty much ignore my existence for the rest of their interactions with Fraser. And then there were those who would meet me and then ask me questions about myself and make a genuine effort to include me in conversations – I appreciated those people more and I began to figure out that being 24/25 years old is a bit like that – some people have figured out social etiquette and others are still just kids. Maybe that sounds pretentious.
I was dead terrified of Fraser’s sister Jess at first. She’s my age and I kind of kept imagining what it would be like if my younger brother showed up with a girlfriend who was my age – I’d probably feel a little standoff-ish. But I think she eventually warmed up to me and I began to realize that her sense of humour is a lot like mine; a little dry, bordering on offensive and could be misconstrued as rude. I liked her.
Meeting Fraser’s mom was great as well. Pip obviously loves having Fraser home and doted on him at all times. She kind of reminded me of Mom; constantly asking if we wanted something to eat, if we had enough towels, showing us the quirks of the house and where we could store our stuff, asking if we wanted to go check out that or telling Fraser he should show me this. I’m sure Fraser will feel right at home whenever he comes with me to Halifax.
On Christmas Day, we woke up to Pip blaring Snoopy’s Christmas (akin to Dad blaring Welcome to the Jungle on race days). We all got up and came upstairs for coffee and Christmas games. Pip’s partner, Helen had bought a bunch of mini gifts and set up quizzes and yard games for us. Whoever won, got a mini-gift. It was actually a really cool way of doing Christmas morning and I might steal the idea in the future.
The one thing I missed was doing the big Christmas morning breakfast. After we finished the first round of games, Fraser went to make him and I some food and he seemed in a mood. After we finished eating, he asked if he could talk to me in our room and I followed him there. Once there, he sat down and seemed really frustrated. I asked him what was wrong and he explained to me that he was frustrated because he didn’t know that his mom didn’t have any plans to make a big breakfast and if he had known, he would’ve put together one for everyone to enjoy because he wanted to make it feel like home for me.
Even writing it down now, I kind of start to tear up. It was just one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever said to me. Of course, I had been homesick since we arrived in Taupo and it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Fraser. And the fact that he remembered that I had told him about my family’s Christmas traditions and then been annoyed that he couldn’t have done something similar for me was just so touching.
I told him that it meant a lot to me that he even thought of it, but that I was having a great Christmas, even without a breakfast. Then I cried for a bit, but mostly out of love, not sadness. Once I cleaned myself up, we went back upstairs and joined in more of the games. We then opened presents and had Christmas lunch (Christmas dinner isn’t really a thing here, Kiwis all do lunch). In the afternoon, Fraser and I took our bikes down to the lake, had a swim and threw a stick for Hooch. It was such a beautiful day and I just felt really happy to be there with him.
For Boxing Day, Fraser and I got up super early and headed to my favourite place to ride bikes in NZ: Rotorua. About an hour away from Taupo, I first rode the Redwoods way back in 2019 when I was there for Crankworx with Mons. To go back was amazing.
When we got there, we realized that the shuttles weren’t running, which meant we would have to climb everything. Big job was on. And although we didn’t get as much riding done as I wanted, it was still an awesome day getting to ride some of the best trails in the country.
The next day, December 27, we said good-bye for now to Fraser’s family and drove the five hours to Auckland Airport for our flight to Great Barrier Island. The Barrier is just off the coast of Auckland and it’s where Hayden’s parents have a holiday house. We had been invited to go there for a week with Hannah and Hayden to celebrate New Year’s. I had heard that the Barrier was absolutely gorgeous and I was so excited to go and see some familiar faces. So, we packed up Hooch, donned facemasks (for the first time ever!!!) and got on the tiniest airplane imaginable. Fraser finally learned what a psycho I am about flying during the 25min flight to the island.
The best way I can describe the island is that it’s like Barbados. Tropical, with skinny, decaying roads, old ‘island cars’, and beautiful white sand beaches. From the moment we arrived, I was in heaven. Hannah and Hayden picked us up from the airport, drove us through the ‘town’ (which consisted of a gas station, a cafe and a liquor store) and then drove us down to Medland’s Beach where Hayden’s family’s bach is. (A bach is the Kiwi word for cottage).
I’ve always wondered why Hayden’s middle name is Medland and on this trip I found out that it’s because his mom’s family are the Medlands – one of seven settler families who were given land on the island by England when they immigrated here waaay back when. Kind of cool that her family has continued to have land here ever since.
Hannah and Hayden showed us to our tent, which was in an orchard in behind the holiday house. Hannah and Hayden were staying in a caravan also parked down there and Andy and Alex (who would be joining us) also had tents set up. It was like our own little commune.
The thing that I liked most about the island was that life was just simple. All our water came from rain water wells, so to shower, we’d fill up water into a sun shower bag, let it heat up in the sun all day, then shower outside. Our food all came from the garden and what we had caught that day in the ocean. We had no reception. It just felt incredible to be back to basics.
That night, we had homemade pizzas and then got an early sleep.
The next day, we headed out for Medland’s Beach, just across the road. The boys were intent on getting some mussels for dinner and took some fins to dive off the beach. I grabbed some as well, thinking that catching mussels can’t be that hard – I was wrong.
There’s a lot of factors to manage when you’re out there. You’re pulling the mussels off sharp rocks and when the swell comes in, you have to get away from the rocks as fast as possible so you don’t get thrown against them. You also have to hold your breath for a long time, which is hard when your adrenaline is pumping. And then, getting the mussels off the rock requires way more effort than I thought. By the time we were out of the water, I had gotten only one mussel and I had Fraser asking me if I knew how to swim – yeah, that bad.
But that one mussel was my accomplishment for the day and I spent the rest of the time in the water chasing rays.
The next morning, we headed out for a hike up Mt. Hobson. It was an awesome undulating walk through the island bush with a great view of the bays at the top. We did it at the right time too – on the way down, the temperature really started to pick up and we were all dying from the heat.
That afternoon, the boys were on. We got the fishing boat out (pulled by tractor down to the ocean) and the boys geared up to go diving and get some crayfish and spear fish. Crayfish are a lot like lobster, except they don’t have the big front claws, so you can catch them by reaching into their rock cave homes and grabbing their antenna. Never thought I’d be so attracted to a man who can provide, but with Fraser all rugged up to dive, I was preeetty in love.
Plus the boys pulled in a bunch of crays for dinner! Couldn’t ask for anything better really.
The next day, December 30, we headed off in the early morning to a waterfall found down an old logging track in the mountains. It was the most beautiful oasis with verrrry cold water. The boys jumped off the waterfall and Fraser even went of the 60 foot jump. After that, we chilled by the stream up above and soaked in the sun before climbing back up the logging track to the car.
That night, the boys went out for a dive while Hannah and I walked the dogs along the beach and got the best sunset and subsequent moonrise. Once again, the boys came back with more cray and some snapper.
The next day, New Year’s Eve, the boys were back out again at 5am to go for a fish. At 9am, they got back and Hayden had managed to pull in a massive 20kg snapper – perfect for smoking for our NYE dinner that night.
That afternoon, we headed out to mermaid pools when the tide was low and hung out in these neck-deep massive tide pools until we deemed it was time to go home for dinner and to get ready for the night out.
For the big drop, we headed to an Irish bar on the other side of the island. The band was playing all the classic Nova Scotian drinking tunes and the crew thought it was hilarious that I knew all the words to the songs. At midnight, Fraser and I kissed and we all hugged and celebrated the end of 2020 before going home shortly after – of course, we had to be up for fishing the next day.
The next day, the girls finally got out for a fish. Hayden helped me cast out a giant rod and it hadn’t been in the water for 30 seconds before something hooked on. I lasted about five minutes reeling it in before I was exhausted – this was a huge fish. Fraser took over and proceeded to battle with the fish for another 30 minutes before pulling in a massive kingfish. Him and I shared credit for it, even though admittedly, he did most of the work.
The sea started to get a little rough for the very pregnant Hannah and my delicate stomach, so the boys dropped us off and went out for a few more hours, coming back with – you guessed it – a ton more fish.
On January 2, the famous Barrier rain came in hot. It poured basically all day. We killed time in the morning by playing board games in Hannah and Hayden’s caravan, snuggling in our tents and napping and then we headed to the tiny brewery down to road and tried a few paddles.
We finally got a break in the weather on January 3, the day before we were supposed to leave. Hayden, Fraser and I hiked up to the lookout above Medland’s Beach and got a wicked view of the bay.
The next day, we reluctantly packed up our tents and our bags, got back on the deathride plane and head back to Auckland and then Taupo for two more days. I was so sad to leave the island, but vowed to come back as soon as I could. And this time, heading to Taupo, I wasn’t as nervous. I knew what to expect and it felt a little more familiar.
Fraser and I spent the next few days watching sunsets from a hidden spot he showed me, biking around the local park called Craters and floating the river. Floating was actually one of my favourite things we did. Fraser spent most of the time steering our blow-up boat from the water and then swimming ahead to jump off of various cliffs.
When it was time to leave Taupo for the last time, Fraser said goodbye to his family and promised to visit again soon. We then packed up the truck and headed back for the ferry to Picton. I had mapped out our next couple of days working our way back down the South Island and the first stop was Nelson.
I had wanted to go to Nelson for a while, but since it’s nearly ten hours away from Wanaka, it didn’t really make much sense. But finally, we got to go. And I loved it. The riding was amazing, the town was super cool and it was oceanside, which meant it also had beaches. It reminded me a lot of Squamish actually and I imagined that if I didn’t live in Wanaka, I’d live in Nelson.
We did our first day riding in an area called Codgers. It had a nice steady uphill and a long downhill with a really great view over the city.
That night, we went down to the beach to watch the sunset with beers and let Hooch run around. It was just before the rain came in and the sky looked so beautiful. It was another one of those nights where I was just happy to be where I was.
The day after that, we went to Sharlands area to ride, where we did one of the hardest climbs I’ve done since I was back in BC. I was so wiped after it. And the ride down was this really unkept track – it was the worst reward ever for all our hard work. We ended up bailing out of the trail halfway down and just blasting down the dirt road instead. By that time, the rain was coming in heavy and it wasn’t supposed to let up for the next couple of days, so we decided to cut our losses, check out of the campground and start making our way back to Wanaka a day early.
We stopped to camp overnight in a free campsite halfway down the west coast where Fraser made a tailgate pasta and we tried to not get too many sandfly bites as we settled in for the last night in our little tent. I was excited to get home, but also a little sad that our adventure together was ending.
The next morning after some camp breakfast sandwiches. We packed up and hauled ass the last seven hours back to Wanaka. In hindsight, it was so good to be back a day early – it kind of let us recover a bit before we had to go back to real life the next day. Check out our entire route of the nearly month long trip.
All-in-all, our holidays were incredible. I knew that this trip was going to be a bit of a test for Fraser and I – we had never spent so much time together, confined to a small space like the car. I feel like we came back closer than ever and like we had crossed into a new level of our relationship. It felt really good.
- JB
Onward. 