60 Memories Made in New Zealand
Some memories will stick with me forever, especially those that involve personal ‘firsts’. I could write a story about each of these 60 moments from Middle Earth.
Contents
Show
My best and worst NZ memories
The Sights
- Farmers markets – Parnell, Kuirau Park, Riccarton Bush
- Sitting on giant marbles
- Flapping around schools of demoiselle and trevally
- Spelunking for glow worms in flooded caves
- Finding that the trees are bigger than my arm span
- Vegetating on an island beach
- Soaking in heated rivers
- The smell of rotting eggs in Rotorua
- Dolphins as far as the eye can see
- Craft beer tasting racks
- Sampling fresh olive oil and local honey
- Tourists getting too close to penguins
- Kayaking among more dolphins in Akaroa
- The fishy smell of chum on a cage dive
- The rush from falling out of a plane
- Visits from wild kaka by day
- Stalking wild kiwi by night
- Waiting for the clouds to lift at Milford Sound
- Blue skies reflected in blue lakes
- Bluff oysters Kilpatrick
- Scaling moving ice
People on the Road
- Sharing homemade palinka with a Slovak
- Exchanging barbs with a Mackem lass
- Retired couples on motorbikes
- Swinging around playgrounds with British backpackers (not Mackems)
- Unexpected reunions with lost acquaintances from the other side of the world
- Running into the familiar faces in different towns
- Playing Cards Against Humanity with all these people (Tip: the British version works better)
Hostel Life
- Getting woken up by screaming brats in the next room every morning
- Eggs Benedict in the hostel kitchen
- Baking homemade baklava
- Waking up to burst pipes and sinking hostel floors
- Homemade cottage pie, lemon posset, lasagne and chocolate mousse
- Feeling sorry for people while saying, ‘Sorry, we are full.’
- Chasing out people who sneaked in
- Making people fall in love with ox tongue
- Nailing the flat whites
- Barbecues at an island hostel
Experiences
- $1 pizza slices
- My rented Suzuki Wagon R’s engine screaming at 5000 rpm on a slope
- Getting the keys to my first car
- Driving to the shops for award-winning pies (steak & cheese pie, apricot chicken pie, scallop pie…)
- $10 steak and chips nights
- Nails in tyres
- Jumping into rivers from overhanging trees
- Cutting through the fog and the hailstorms
- Filling all the bottles with wine
- Getting out of a breathalyser test with my record intact
- Hooligans in a slammed BMW
- That biting wind everywhere you go
- Scoring a goal in Ultimate in that wind
- Clearing the field for rescue helicopters after scoring that goal
- Daily bird songs
- Awesome kebabs made more awesome by being this far from Turkey
- Driving into an impromptu charity car wash
- Sandfly bites
- Whitebait fritters by the roadside
- Burgers for breakfast
- The saddest Irish stew from a can to celebrate St Patrick’s Day
- How time just passes too damn quickly when you’re having fun
Don’t just sit there and dream; go make your own memories! Check out the Working Holiday and Driving in NZ posts for tips.
20/07/2016 @ 9:29 AM
Homemade baklava?! Sounds heavenly. Looks like you had a wonderful time!!
Alaina | http://www.pumpsandpineapples.com
21/07/2016 @ 11:54 PM
I did, and it was surprisingly easy to make too. :)
10/02/2018 @ 7:31 PM
Looks like you had a great time in NZ!!
20/02/2018 @ 12:18 AM
I certainly did overall!