The New Zealand Chapters. I: Kia Ora Aotearoa

"The universe has a way of taking you where your feet need to go."

That's what I wake up to every morning now, scrawled in black sharpie on the back of my door. As much as it's probably the ramblings of the hippie who stayed in this room before me, it's scary how much it rings true for much of my journey here in New Zealand so far.

I'll be splitting this into several chapters, so let's start with Chapter I: the beginning. Saying Kia Ora Aotearoa, Hello New Zealand in Maori, was never something that was really on the cards for me. But like almost everything after, it happened by chance. I had never planned to come here after my last winter in Niseko but by chance, I had the day off to spend 3 hours from 5am to furiously click away at the Working Holiday Application web page. I only decided to throw my hat in the ring after chatting with a friend just to see what happened. Chance dictated that I got it and she unfortunately did not.

One big carrot.

So, phase 1, planning. Hah! Planning. All along the way, any plans I've had were blurry visions and outlines at best, which you will see as the blog continues. Anyways, the original plan for a long time was to head to Wanaka for the winter and work my way up from there. I ended up doing almost the complete opposite and started up in the North Island after those plans fell through. Sean, who I worked with in Japan, lives in the shadow of the volcano, Mt. Ruapehu, the highest peak in the North Island, and that's where I decided I would go after he graciously offered to host me whilst I found my feet.

So I booked my flight for August, smack in the middle of winter, and off I went. My arrival in New Zealand was pretty uneventful. After being mistaken for being Japanese on the bus from the airport (I knew just enough to answer in Japanese for some reason), I stayed at The Attic, in Auckland's CBD for a night. It's a cool little backpackers which I would recommend to anyone needing a place in Auckland. From there, I bought a ticket for the Intercity Bus to Raetihi. Tip 1: Buy a travel sim at the airport when you arrive. They're pretty cheap and travelling with data is fantastic for booking a bed or using Google Maps on the fly.

The Attic

Raetihi. With a population of just under 1000, it is definitely the smallest town I've ever stayed in. Made up of mostly farms and abandoned stores, Raetihi has 1 main street and that's it. On that main street you could almost imagine a tumbleweed rolling through, passing the half open shop fronts. The great thing about New Zealand though, is that it is so vast and green that it doesn't matter. Everywhere and everything is in some form beautiful, or charming, or rustic. And if you look hard enough, Raetihi definitely has shades of all 3.

After a bus ride of close to 7 hours, I arrived in Raetihi at the gas station which also doubles as the town's bus stop. A beaming Sean picked me up and we headed to his house, The Olde Courthouse. No, that's not just some gimmicky name. It is actually a B&B run by his mom and the building used to be the courthouse in Raetihi with the courtroom now serving as their kitchen, dining and living area. It is really quite surreal and very cool. If you are ever passing through, spend the night there and say hello for me. They were the most gracious hosts when I was there and Sean's mom is a brilliant chef. Not to mention, the house is also the base of C6 skis, which Sean and his dad craft in their backyard.

Ohakune. Another sleepy little town about 10 minutes from Raetihi. This one has 3 main streets though and a junction area at the other end of town with all the bars. Like Raetihi, it has a population of under 1000. The difference is this number balloons in the winter when all the seasonal staff pile in. The other big difference, is that Ohakune is the entrance to Turoa. That's the ski field on the south western side of Ruapehu and was to become my local mountain for the next 3 months.

Things started off with a bang and a cracker of a first weekend. We rode ATVs, visited the hot pools in Taupo, and then rode some of the best snow Turoa has seen in 4 years or so. Great introduction to riding in New Zealand as the ice caught me off guard and I went off a cliff face-first on my very first run. As you can see in the accompanying video, the rest of the day was great blower snow and fortunately, or unfortunately, that first day was my best one on the mountain.

Turoa looking mean.

You know it's been a good day when you look back
and know which line is yours.

To close off the first chapter, I had come to realise a few things. After the excellent weekend, I needed money. That was going to be in Ohakune and having no car meant that Ohakune was where I needed to move to. The house and job hunt began.

Videos of the first weekend:

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