The Long Awaited New Zealand Blog!

When I first planned my trip to New Zealand from Asia I underestimated what a journey in itself it would be. I started the trip from the Perhentian Islands off the east coast of Malaysia at 6 am in an end of monsoon season storm. I boarded a small speedboat heading to the mainland drenched with 10 other wary backpackers. The forty five minute trip felt more like an amusement park ride as we rode the crests of the rolling waves. I thanked God that I made it to the main land safely and I hopped on a 12 hour bus that crossed the country to Kuala Lumpur on the east coast.

Halfway through the long bus ride we stopped at large local rest stop where I was the only westerner. Some of my favorite times traveling have been moments like this when I’m sitting alone surrounded by locals and I completely lose myself in my new reality. Then it will hit me, really hit me, that I’m by myself at a rest stop some where in the middle of Malaysia eating unknown but delicious food in a massive chaotic room filled with 30 picnic tables and a hundred hungry locals. That feeling that comes over you when you remember just how unique and crazy it all is is one of my favorite. It’s calming in the sense that you appreciate for a moment how hard you worked to get there and how worth it it all is.

So 48 hours and 1 boat, 4 buses, 1 taxi, 3 planes, and a minivan ride later I arrived in Taupo New Zealand where I got to see my dad for the first in 5 months. Seeing family after such a long time is such a crazy wonderful feeling, especially when you’re seeing each other again in a completely different country then your own. Of course the first thing I did when we got to our hotel room was take advantage of the huge jacuzzi. Who wouldn’t after months of cold showers?!

The Ironman New Zealand was held two days after I arrived in Taupo. My Dad was there working for his brother Ken and his triathlon travel business Endurance Sports Travel. They take care of the athletes and their family’s meals, transportations, hotels, equipment, etc. I was quickly enlisted to help out in the kitchen, but I can't say my cooking was anything memorable. I was really excited the day of the race to finally get to see an Ironman live. It’s such a big part of the Glah family since my Uncle Ken has raced professionally since his early twenties. I was immediately in awe of the athletes ability to push through from the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and then after all that they run a 26 mile marathon. I harbored delusions while watching the athletes fly by of my being able to do an Ironman, but if you’ve ever seen me run you know what a sight that would be.



A couple of days after the race my dad and I flew from the South Island to the North Island into Christchurch. When we arrived at the rental place to pick up our camper van we were told the previous renters had crashed it and so instead we were given a much larger pimped out camper that we readily accepted. Our first night we drove to Arthur’s Pass where I got my first taste of winter in almost a year. After the extremely hot and humid climate in Asia winter in New Zealand was a bit of a shock to say the least. My first night in Old Bessy, as I lovingly referred to our camper, my dad was surprised to find me in bed still fully dressed with two sleeping bags and a blanket. It took a week or two before I finally got used to the cold, because lets just say I’m not a exactly a warm person. I’m writing this blog entry while I sit in my bed in Melbourne with 5 layers on and 3 blankets.

Over the next few days we passed through the town of Hokitika, camped beside Lake Kaniere, and drove down the coast towards the Franz Josef Glacier. The drives between the different sites were as amazing as the destinations themselves. I had heard from my Dad and Dan about how amazing the scenery is in New Zealand and had seen their photos, but only after our third day when I saw the Franz Josef Glacier did I realize the word ‘amazing’ has an entirely different meaning in New Zealand. It took my dad and I 40 minutes to reach the base of the glacier and from there you could climb the pre dug steps to a certain point without equipment. We climbed up about 15 minutes and found a spot on the ice to sit and absorb the view and the fact that we were chilling out on a glacier. There were several tour groups passing us heading up and down the glacier in their crampons and down jackets. We waited for one group to pass and then began to descend the ice steps. The guide yelled up at me coldly, ‘Excuse me, stay back at least 100 meters so that when you fall because you don’t have the proper gear on you won’t take down my group.’ Personally, my dad and I thought she was just ticked because we made her look bad to her group because we made it up there on our own. Haha and no, to her disappointment we didn’t fall down the glacier!





That evening my Dad and I drove towards Gillespies beach on the Tasman sea, well technically since the camper was manual my Dad drove and I just relaxed and played DJ. When we walked over the dunes and onto the beautiful stony beach the colors were just beginning to emerge. It turned out to be a never ending sunset with new bolder colors rolling across the sky each minute and lasting for what felt like an hour. My dad and I took photo after photo with each one more amazing.





On our drive the next day we were treated to beautiful views of the southern alps, climbed a bit up Fox Glacier and continued on towards Hass Pass. We made a stop at the Roaring Billy Waterfall that runs down a cliff and drops into the ice blue river below. My Dad surprised me by jumping in for a ‘chilly’ swim in the glacier water! Honestly though, should I really have been that surprised:-)



As the trip progressed my Dad and I would talk about what we thought was the best scenic view of the trip so far and each day seemed to surpass the one before. Saturday was no exception as we drove down a dirt road running through farm land and mountains that were right out of Lord of the Rings. After about an hour and a half driving down the dirt road we reached the parking lot with the start of the path leading towards Rob Roy Glacier. I clearly remember this hike because it kicked my ass. Haha and I also remember my Dad saying how he remembered it from the year before not being too hard. The exercise was good for me though after being a beach bum for so many months in Thailand and Malaysia! The effort was well worth it when we emerged from the woods and saw beautiful green hills in a valley surrounded by mountains and at the top of one was the Rob Roy Glacier. The sun was right at the top of the glacier and made pictures almost impossible so we settled back and waited for it to set a bit. As we laid back on a warm boulder we heard the first crash of an avalanche up high and searched the snow covered mountains till we spotted the falling snow that continued rolling down the side for quite a while.







We made it back to our camper just before dusk and headed out from the parking lot with the intention of visiting the local town fair at my insistence. It just looked so cute and small townish I couldn’t pass it up. After only two minutes driving back along the dirt road the camper started riding wrong so we pulled over to the side of the road only to find that we had a flat tire, 20 minutes of sun light left, no cell phone reception, and we were 15 miles from town. Enter good ol’ McGiver. Somehow my Dad figured out that all of the tire changing equipment was behind the front seats and the spare tire was under the back of the camper and needed to be cranked down to the ground. With a little trial and error we got the new tire on and the flat one stowed away. I have to say though, as soon as I saw that we had the flat tire equipment I really wasn’t worried because fixing things is just my Dad’s specialty! And just like always he had the flat tire fixed with just a few minutes to spare as the last bits of sun disappeared behind the mountains and left the valley in darkness.



Over the next few days we visited Queenstown, built a beautiful campfire along the shore of Lake Wakatipu and took a cruise around the gorgeous Milford Sound.





One of my favorite hikes though was definitely when we climbed up a mountain on the drive back from Milford Sound. On the walk up we ran into Gus and Alicia, a couple who had stayed with my Uncle Ken’s company Endurance Sports during the Ironman race earlier in the trip. Travel never ceases to amaze me with the random places that I meet people I know in the world. In this case, on top of a mountain! The views on top were nothing like I had expected or seen before. You were surrounded by the green ups and downs of valleys and mountains rolling one into the other. To the north of us was a much larger mountain and halfway up was a lake tucked right into the middle!







As the trip neared the end we stopped at Mount Cook and walked out to the Tasman Glacier lake filled with massive chalky blue icebergs. The icebergs were so large that you could barely make out the small people below taking tours of the lake in little yellow rafts. They looked more like fall leaves floating by then boats.



I was really sad when we had to return the RV and the trip came to an end. We spent the last few days in Christchurch where my Dad was really sweet and treated me to a nice hotel before I returned to Asia. It’s a strange thing saying goodbye to someone you love and not knowing when you are going to see them again, whether it might be 6 months or a year. With both my Mom and my Dad when I said goodbye it seemed almost surreal, the trip never really felt over. It was only after they’d left for good that it hit me and I realized I was back to traveling solo. After being spoiled with such a great travel companion and Dad it just wasn't the same traveling without him after that!!!




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