The One with the Four of Us

Meet Caroline AKA Caro

Age: You don’t need to know.

Nationality: Brit.

Former Occupation: Some sort of job involving Rolls Royce plane engines.

My favorite thing about her: How she says “Scuze Carol” every time she sneezes!

Meet Agatha AKA Ag

Age: Looks younger than all of us but isn’t!

Nationality: French/Lebonese.

Occupation: Geologist.

My favorite thing about her: When she nods and smiles even though everyone can tell she has no idea what you are saying.

Meet Cecilia AKA CC

Age: the group baby, a youthful 20-years-old.

Nationality: Swedish.

Former Occupation: Elite player on the Sweden National Table Tennis Team.

My favorite thing about her: Her taste in music ROCKS! And she’s an elite-level athlete – even if it is just ping-pong!

Meet Ashley AKA Chico

Age: 24

Nationality: Ah-Merican!

Former Occupation: Childcare aid, rugby player, student. Take your pick.

My favorite thing about her: Isn’t this a bit awkward to answer? I’m already writing about myself in the third-person.

If life is full of unexpected things, then traveling up’s the ante. I didn’t expect to meet three young women who had an equally strong desire for adventure. I didn’t expect to see them more than once, let alone live with them for two weeks. And I didn’t expect to have such a stupendously fun time!

Things started out in Abel Tasman National Park when I came upon a group of girls meandering the trails ahead of me. With Cecilia carrying the worlds biggest camping mat, I scoffed at her and unfairly labeled their trio “stupid tourists”…little did I know I would spend a few nights sleeping on that oooh-so-comfy and amazingly cushy mat a few weeks down the road! Within the hour I had dropped my preconceived notions and we were on the road to friendship. Agreeing to meet up in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, I bid adieu to the girls and excitedly waited for the days to pass until our reunion.

Wellington was windy and gloomy when the four of us found each other in a café named after something French. A run-around of grocery shopping and last minute gear grabbing saw us leaving town at dusk. We didn’t get very far. Night one was spent on the side of the road next to a field of cattle. Agatha snored and twitched, which I surprisingly found funny rather than annoying…things could only go up from there!

By day two we were preparing for the Tongiraro Crossing: a grueling 9-hour tramp through a series of volcanoes…including MT DOOM (think Lord of The Rings). The climb up the volcano was one of the most difficult physical tasks I’ve taken on in my life! There was no trail, only rocks, loose slate, and a steady stream of tourist making their way up a peak so high they resembled ants. Every few minutes shouts of “ROCK” would echo from above and everyone would freeze or move out of the way of basketball-sized lava rocks mercilessly plummeting downward. An hour later, crawling on hands and knees, Cecelia and I pulled ourselves up the overhang of the volcano crater – a massive hole in the earth painted by nature in a beautiful array of colors. The freezing wind hurried our decision to descend and, watching people slip and scrape their way down jagged lavacap, I took my cue from a man toward the bottom who was sliding upright down the loose gravel. One step created a sliding movement of four or five feet, and when in rhythm, I found myself floating down the volcano, looking very much like a skier hitting the powder on a double-black-diamond. Reaching the bottom in a fifth of the amount of time it took to climb up, I wearily sprawled out on the dirt and waited for my mates. When the four of us met up again, we pushed on toward the mineral-filled waters of Blue Lake and Teal Lake. Stopping for only pictures, Caroline and I ran the last 6K of the trail in order to get back to the van in time to retrieve Pip from the parking lot at the starting point of the hike before dark. 

After our exhausting day hiking, we spent a tour-filled day exploring massive Huka Falls and then all the bizarre geothermal activity in the area. The sights were stunning but the smell we could’ve done without! The four of us then made our way to Rotorua (also known as Rotovegas –a joke considering how little there is to do in the town after dark, and Smellyrua due to the sulfur created egg smell which permeates the air 24/7). Taking Caroline with me, we spent an entire day destroying the trails of the local mountain bike park. If you haven’t biked in Rotorua, you haven’t really lived. 

The 175K worth of rideable trails include easy cruisie tracks for beginners increasing in difficulty up to the expert-only National Downhill Course warning about extreme, unavoidable hazards. We peddled the moderate to difficult trails until we dropped (or fell, depending on who you ask). After a night experiencing a traditional Maori hangi (a meal cooked in the ground), we headed north to Whakatane (pronounced fa-kah-taan-ay) to swim with Moko the wild dolphin and take in a morning spent lazying about the beach.

After spending numerous hours driving together in our campervan convoy, tackling one adventure after another, and nights spent laughing over campfires, it was time to say goodbye. The girls were headed further north to Auckland, while I was driving south to continue my own adventure in Gisborne. It was a brief two weeks spent together, but they were 14 days spent with three wonderful young women that I will never forget!