New Zealand Day 3: The Road to Mordor

Day 3 – Wednesday, 18th November 2009

I woke up at about 7am plus today to the after-rain wet roads and the sound of tyres kneeling over them. I had previously slept on the upper bunk depicted in this picture, where the Japanese dude slept below, but found it to be inconvenient as I’d like to charge my phone and have it near me. When the Singaporean girls left the day before, I immediately took over the lower bunk from where this picture was shot, even though it meant that I wouldn’t be getting fresh sheets.

One breakfast and a toilet use later (I didn’t shower), I decided to check out and had one of the owners, Marcus, shuttle me for free to the bus station near the Cathedral Square at 9. Simon saw me as I was checking out and I took the opportunity to ask if he has a Facebook account—he didn’t, so we settled with exchanging our e-mail addresses.

Marcus looked pleased too when I told him I love the place and that I want to stay there again the following week—he didn’t have any 6-person dorm (which would cost $23 as opposed to the $26 at the 4-person dorm I was staying at) for 29th November, but he was willing to give me the 4-person dorm for the price of the 6-person dorm, which was awesome. He also asked me to rate them on hostelworld.com, which I haven’t been able to as I didn’t receive that specific e-mail to do so.

I waited for a while at the bus stop, and when it arrived, Nakedbus was surprisingly comfy—there was plenty of leg room, and it wasn’t even half-full. I suppose I needn’t be caught unawares as this is a developed country after all, but I suppose that’s the disadvantage of getting used to a total lack of comfort, shabby sardine-packed run-down buses, and hard-as-rock seats in South-East Asia (including Malaysia). Our driver was quite friendly too, and with his occasional announcements of the places we were going to, made it sound as if we were on a tour bus.

Almost as soon as we got on the bus, a Kiwi guy called Mark (depicted on this pic on the right) talked to me, and the first thing he asked was if I was from Hong Kong wtf. Apparently he’s going there after Christmas with his girlfriend (the missus) and “the little one” to visit his sister, and the plane tickets alone reportedly cost $2,000.

At a town whose name I think I forgot.

An Asian dude stretching his legs in the most hilarious manner hahahaha.

Streaks of green pass us by everywhere.

My sleep in the bus was surprisingly undisturbed in a bus, an experience I have not encountered when I was backpacking in South-East Asia. When I woke up, heavy grey clouds settled low—wide open green fields with some touches from the broom shrub greeted me on my left, occasonally with grazing sheep and cows.

Mark, my 40+-year-old bus companion.

Along the way, the bald man with a shaved face, blue eyes, dirt-filld fingernails, coarse hands, grey hoodie, army fatigue-style jacket, and tattoos on his hands and neck, who goes by the name of Mark, gave me some sweets as I was bent over my Oceania journal, putting down words, and I popped a Lemon & Lime into my mouth. When it started to rain, I found Mark engaging in a strange act involving rubbing his cellphone’s battery against his pants. He told me that it was low on battery (and the friction would presumably give it some static charge..? I have no clue), and he said that he was trying to find out, presumably from his family, if the weather in Queenstown is good, which he subsequently told me that it’s not bad. He also added that if it was raining on the lowlands, it doesn’t mean that it would be raining in the mountains too, which is where Queenstown is situated at.

Goblets of yellow broom, an ornamental plant introduced from the UK (as I was told by H) which has now became an invasive weed that’s difficult to eradicate (source).

Despite that, I found the broom shrubs actually gave New Zealand’s lush landscape a refreshing rejuvenation.

At Geraldine when we stopped for the 2nd time for a toilet break (which is rather frequent, another surprising trait I hadn’t expected as I was so used to the backwardness and the total lack of service from South-East Asian countries—I’m aware that I’m repeating myself, but it’s worth the emphasis), and Mark told me that his entire body was wrapped (contained beneath his shirt) as he just got himself a huge tattoo on his back. Apparently he has a dragon tattoo snaking around his left leg too, and he mentioned how the Japanese tattoos have lovely colours.

Hello gorgeous.

We stopped by at the turquoise Lake Tekapo for a lunch break, but as Mark was so talkative, I didn’t have the chance to eat although he did buy me a non-alcoholic ginger beer, which is one of the most delicious beverage I’ve ever tasted.

Fascinating life stories were being poured to me by Mark, even though we’ve only met for just a few hours now—but I suppose that’s where the allure lies, at confiding to a stranger, knowing that we would never meet again.

He related to me his Bangkok trip, where he paid off a cop after riding a scooter drunk, paid a lady to clean his place (in fact, paying her more than what his Thai friend had suggested because “it was so cheap”), and had some “cheap, nice girls”. He also told me that he love his wife but they have since came to a mutual understanding where they would do whatever they like, and apparently they only stayed together because of the kids, and added, “I love my family to pieces”—unique family dynamics there.

Apparently he wants to make a stop to Malaysia and wants me to keep him and his wife safe wtf (after I related some not-too-nice things about Malaysia like corruption etc—sorry motherland, just telling the truth) by giving them a tour and he would even pay me what I think I’m worth wtf. (Note that this doesn’t happen in the end, as I did give him my e-mail address after he asked for mine, and he conveniently forgot his.) He did say he really want to see the Twin Towers after seeing beautiful pictures of them in a book or a magazine.

Mark the cameraman with me against the backdrop of the beautiful blue, caused by the surrounding glaciers.

Meet Mark.

The aforementioned ginger beer.

Click to enlarge this panorama.

I could just melt and blend into New Zealand forever.

Mark made me pose this way wtf.

Another look of Lake Tekapo.

Mark also seems rich—either that or he was just bullshitting me the entire time—as he made a point of telling me how much he and his dad are making through some businesses, including some campervan sites. He even gave me his grandma’s telephone number (wtf) as she was supposedly managing some place (whose name I forgot, and whose Maori name means “To Dragons somethingsomething” (sorry, my memory’s not exactly the greatest)) and she could show me around for free in exchange for some simple tasks.

I have been jotting down what he had told me in my journal, so you’ll see more evidence of such descriptions in the subsequent paragraphs. I believe such tales of his—whether it was crafty lies on the whim or not—characterise and mirror who he is, and he does seem like an interesting character.

He was also a fan of a car brand (can’t remember if it was the Holden or something else) connected to car racing. And through his enlightening explanation of certain New Zealand areas, his cheeky grin and twinkly eyes shone at me and he behaved almost like a child, by clapping his hands and pointed repeatedly towards Aoraki, the Maori name for Mt Cook. Also, after telling him that my dad works with semiconductors, he excitedly told me about hydroelectricity and magnets and described in lengths how they work (which I clearly do not understand). And in his words, “I know I may not look like it, but I actually do read a lot” wtf.

He also didn’t like how Lake Tekapo has lost its charm due to the development of more buildings compared to before; told me that he was surprised I speak really good English; he punctuated his words with “mate” and “brother”; he went to Christchurch to get a tattoo for $800 and didn’t like the city (so did I) and kept telling me how unfriendly everyone is, and he was lucky to be able to catch our Nakedbus without first booking online. His other tattoos on the back of his head involved that of a Nazi insignia (at least, I think that’s what it is) and a skull.

He told me the story of how Mackenzie Country got its name: and it’s from a criminal called Mackenzie (forgot his first name) when he stole some farmers’ sheep and attempted to guid them across unfamiliar and new territories, before the townspeople caught him in the end. “So yes, Mackenzie Country got its name from a thief. Funny isn’t it?”.

I find this almost hard to believe, but he told me that he has a lot of money but doesn’t know how to spend them all WTF.
“I look poor but I’m not” were his words to me. His shiny new car costs $87,000 (and his dad’s about the same), and it costs him $7 everytime he starts his car wtf. His license got suspended 3 months ago for speeding near Lake Tekapo (“I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, there wasn’t anyone around”) and apparently he has only about one more month left. He also tried to give the officer $600, but the officer wouldn’t take it after contemplating a while, lol. “I will never speed again”.

We dropped by at Twizel where Mark lives, and he was immediately greeted in a warm embrace by his dark-skinned and curly-haired daughter, which I thought was a lovely intimate scene. Mark may have Maori blood as he mentioned something about learning his native blood, plus his daughter looked a little like one, but I may be wrong (his English is impeccable).

Mountains and plains rolling on either side of the bus—it’s just like Lord of the Rings. At one point along the journey, there was a hut in the middle of nowhere with a majestic, towering tree shadowing it.

With the crickets and insects chirping outside of the bus, I drifted in and out of sleep in the remaining journey.

The Road to Mordor.

Our second last stop at Wanaka.

A viewpoint near Wanaka en route to Queenstown.

Me against said backdrop.

Arrived at Queenstown around 6.30pm-ish. After I checked in at Nomads Queenstown (pre-booked online when I was in Melbourne), I looked around briefly for dinner but everything was at least $10 that I settled for McDonald’s in the end. With the throngs of people walking around and no one to talk to, I relapsed into feeling down again.

Some guy was performing the Titanic theme song on a recorder/flute wtf.

The lakeside.

A section of the town near my hostel.

I chatted with a counter lady about activities for the next day, and I deliberated for the longest time whether to go on a LOTR tour or not. I first asked if there are any activities for less than $100, and they all sounded quite unappetising, like the luge (would be fun, but I’m not doing it alone), hot springs, etc. In the end, I narrowed it down between a jetboat ride and an LOTR trip ($109 and $115 respectively). As I’d be heading to Milford Sound, she suggested that I head for adrenaline instead, but the 30-minute jetboat ride didn’t sound that worth it although it did sound exciting. Apparently the jetboat trip would enable us to see a bungy bridge or something, but I thought the LOTR trip might be worth it too (see my deliberation?).

I chatted with my German dormmate (it’s a 10-person dorm, but it wasn’t as noisy as I thought as most of the occupants were out nearly all the time) who described her paragliding experience as “peaceful”. She also said that she’d be canyoning tomorrow.

There was some confusion as to whether there are free beds in my unit 101 dorm or not. I had initially placed some papers on my bed (the top bunk in the corner), but when I went out and returned, I found some other stuff on it, and asked the reception, where the guy told me to just remove them. Unfortunately two South African girls came back and they told me they had claimed the bed earlier despite this being untrue, but they did go out to clarify matters in the end, I presume.

My bus journey from Christchurch to Queenstown wasn’t as exhausting as I had expected it would be—but I suppose it may be because I enjoyed the ride and the endless mountains and grasslands that seemed to stretch on forever.

Expenses:
Ritz crackers – NZD$3.50
10-person dorm at Nomads Queenstown – NZD$45 (plus $10 deposit I had paid online, ergo total = NZD$55)
Dinner at McDonald’s – NZD$6.20