NEW ZEALAND ADVENTURES

Life Lesson: Don't Talk to People on the Bus! Do Talk to People Dancing! 23/10/23 Hey everybody! I hope you enjoy the How Its Made esque title of this blog posting. That may be a niche joke. I know my dad is laughing though. Ok, let's get into it! I last left you with my epic tramping adventure, so this weekend I decided to keep my life in the city. Conveniently, the Aotearoa Film Festival has been in full swing so I got to discover New Zealand through the screen. Alice's Theatre was one of the coolest, little cinemas I have ever been to. Alice and Wonderland themed, the ambiance felt like dark academia mixed with burlesque. The shelves are lined with CD's from westerns to dramas to a New Zealand Christmas. It's definitely worth the ticket.  I attended two showings from the Show Me Shorts Film Festival: Crime Spree and Women Rock the World . Both had exceptional films from a variety of directors from all over New Zealand, Europe and Australia. My favorites were Pis

  I am DEFINITELY a Day-Hiker 20/10/23 Welcome back to another chapter of my little New Zealand life! Over the last week, I have been doing a lot of learning about myself and my limitations. I was SO excited to go tramping and I was SO blissfully unprepared.  Let's get into it!  So the night before our tramping excursion, I packed up my trek bag and was beaming with anticipation (see my epic 14kg pack below). I have always wanted to go backpacking and despite being in Montana for the last six years of my life, I somehow never got the opportunity?? Anyways, I am a big hiker and love to climb a mountain or two. I'm not unaccustomed to hiking up a steep hill or getting my feet wet but this was unlike anything I have ever done before. I was incredibly grateful to be invited and to have the experience of tramping in NZ, but MAN my flatmates were in wayyyy better shape than I was after an Avis/Budget summer.  The trail we did was an out and back trail starting in Kaikoura and ending

Flower Power (and Birds of Course)! Monday morning, I frantically looked around for my binoculars but could not find them anywhere. My plan was to go to the museum and then wander around the botanic gardens with some of the friends I had made in the hostel. As I tore my locker apart, it suddenly hit me that I had left them in the very same food court in which I demolished my post-seal colony fajitas. They didn't open until 10:30.  I decided to test my luck to see if anyone was in the food court anyway. A kind construction worker told me he'd keep an eye out and that he would hold onto them for me if he saw them. At that point I had done everything I could do, so I sat down for breakfast at Urban on Manners and went feral on my mushrooms on toast. 10:30 came along and the construction worker had found my binos. Crisis averted! I put them in my bag and headed to one of the coolest museums of all time.   I love museums. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa was no exception.

Never Too Old for Cat in the Hat! Hey everyone! Wellington proved to be quite a grand city so I am going to have to split this post up into two parts to make it more digestible. It was full of scooters, laughs and mushrooms on toast (my new favorite breakfast).  On October 7th, I started my morning with a delayed flight. My original booking was from 6:15 am so the delay was a welcome one. I only needed to leave around 6:30 to make my flight. Since the buses don't run that early in the morning I took an Uber and was blessed with a sweet man who gave me a 10% off coupon to his Indian restaurant. TSA is much more relaxed in NZ so I was ready to board the plane within 10 minutes at the airport. Easy breezy! I landed in Wellington around 10:00 and caught the bus into town. My hostel (Trek Global Backpackers) was conveniently located in city center so the bus ride basically brought me right to it. On the way, we passed the St. James Theatre which just so happened to be showing the theatr

  Nothing Better Than an Ocean View 06/10/23 Hey party people! I've been up to quite a bit these last few days so here's the update.  To be entirely honest: I was getting pretty defeated about the job situation. I knew it wouldn't be a breeze finding a job in my field but I have been applying to A LOT with little response. My hopes were set pretty high for bird work and that just...hasn't happened yet. But, after taking a deep breath and re-realizing (thank you Jasmyn, Dad and Gma + Gpa), I'M IN FREAKING NEW ZEALAND AND I WORKED AT AVIS BUDGET ALL SUMMER TO TRAVEL, I started really getting out and exploring. I went to Diamond Harbor. I got stuck in Diamond Harbor. MJ and I planned a spontaneous kayaking trip in Akaroa. I bought a cheap plane ticket to Wellington. I am slowly but surely getting ok with the travelers timeline. What am I rushing a job for anyway??? I'M ROCKIN UNEMPLOYED BABY! I am Taylor (the traveler)! That was dramatic but you get the gist.  Plus