What a week for small adventures. I drove five hours in heavy rain and fog to the new town that I’ll be living in. I learned how to put chains on a car… and what to do when they break going up a steep, dirt road covered in wet, heavy snow. I realized how much of an adventure just going to the grocery store can be when you’re in a country where you don’t even know the names of the grocery stores, let alone how to get there. And best of all, I discovered that I’m living only five minutes from a national park and I got to experience my first bit of “tramping” in NZ!

I have officially moved into the house I will be living in for the rest of my time working in New Zealand. I am staying in the incredibly small town – I’m talking one hotel and one gas station/ convenience store, small – of St. Arnaud. What this town lacks in population and amenities though, it more than makes up for in raw, natural beauty. St. Arnaud is nestled within a short drive of three different National Parks: Kahurangi, Abel Tasman and Nelson Lakes. I am lucky enough to be living only a five minute drive from Nelson Lakes National Park which is full of hiking trails around one of the most scenic lakes I have ever seen, Lake Rotoiti. (Rumor has it there are some massive fresh water eels that are over a hundred years old swimming around in this lake, but since I didn’t know to look on my first trip, I’ll have to make a return and [warily] go check them out!)

Real quick though, before we get too excited about the proximity of some good hiking, let’s go back to a “real life” adventure I experienced. After you move into a new apartment, one of the first things you obviously have to do is stock the cabinets/ fridge! Well, when you’re in a country you’re familiar with, a run to the grocery store is usually pretty simple, you know the food you need, you know the brands you like and most importantly, you know what the grocery store is CALLED. When you’re traveling…. let’s just say, it isn’t quite as simple. Luckily, one of our ski team sponsors is a discount grocery store called Pak n’ Save, which is basically similar in layout to a Costco, but you don’t have to buy in bulk. While this information was helpful, it doesn’t fully prepare you for walking into a store where nothing but the produce looks familiar (and even some of that is different… sweet potatoes are apparently called kumaras in NZ). On another note: HOLY MOLY is food expensive here. Even in the discount store! Honestly 11 NZD for a four pack of tomatoes. Ugh. So, between trying to do conversions from kilos to pounds, and then NZD to USD and just generally staring at all the different brands for everything (I about had a meltdown trying to figure out which of the hundred different brands/ types of bread I should buy) – I definitely left with a bit of a headache… but also a full car’s worth of groceries! The struggle was real, but I’m going to chalk that one up as a success!

Now on to a far more fun and (more importantly) scenic adventure!! As previously mentioned, I am living only five minutes from Nelson Lakes National Park, and while it unfortunately rained most of the past week, it did clear up long enough for me to go on a short hike, or “tramp” as they call it here. There are many hikes of varying difficulties and lengths in this National Park and for my first one, I chose to take it a little easier and did one called The Loop Track. The track starts along the shore line of Lake Rotoiti and then ventures up into the thick, but lush green woods that are protected by the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project. Everywhere I went, there were a million different hues of green, from the moss, to the tree leaves to the different types of grasses and shrubs, but there was also a surprising amount of black. Many of the trees had black bark, and the mud was so saturated and dark it almost appeared black as well. It was all so overwhelmingly beautiful though, what should have been an easy 2 hour hike, quickly became three because I was constantly stopping to take pictures and just breathe in my incredible surroundings. There were constant songs and noises from birds and little creatures shuffling around, but the shrubbery was so thick that I could only rarely catch sight of them. And while I knew there were animals around, I was shocked that during my whole time in the park (nearly 4 hours by the end of it), I only saw two other people!

The walk through the forest was enchanting, but the real magic was the sight of the lake when the clouds cleared and I could see the glass surface of the water with the rugged, snowy mountains as far as you could see in the distance. I actually stopped short at my first sight and just stood there for a few minutes while it all seeped into my memory. This was probably the first time since I’ve been here that it finally hit me. I am HERE. I am in New Zealand! A place that I have wanted to visit for as long as I can remember. And it is AMAZING. As I sat on the smooth stone beach on the lake shore, a pair of black swans swam up and were feeding only about 30 feet from where I was sitting. Everything was so peaceful that I completely lost track of time and couldn’t even guess at how long I sat there, just taking the occasional picture and staring at the beauty in front of me. You can look at all the pictures on the internet, but nothing really prepares you for being here.