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Go BIG, then go home.

joyclaypoole
Jun 16, 2016
5 min read

As I celebrate 1 week left here in Dunedin, I’ll share my good friend’s Emma’s words, “We go big, then we go home.” We decided it’s not ‘or go home’ because we have no choice, we are going home.. on the 23rd. However we do have a choice of how to spend our last days in this lovely town we have grown so much in. So we have gone to town for some delectable desserts and also done the local Speights Brewery Tour - a Dunedin must do. This past Saturday I spent a lovely morning walking to the farmers market to get the best and most authentic savory crepe made by my favorite french man (who makes his savory spreads from scratch and from his family recipes). I enjoyed this crepe in the sun (even though it’s winter!), watching the keiki (kids) run around the market and listening to the live music. While traveling, I’ve learned to relax into moments when I’m alone and be all present - I could not have been happier in that moment. A life lesson that traveling has taught me.

I also exercises the mantra of ‘going big, then go home’ with my five day, no shower (except a freezing Lake Wanaka swim on day five) tramping trip (kiwi language for 'hiking + camping'). I got to see some of the most amazing views I think New Zealand has to offer and try out mountaineering! Turns out - I love it!! Who knew an island girl with the rhythm of the pacific ocean as the tune in her heart would love snow SO much. A toddler can’t get more excited than I was to be in the snow (Thank you to my travel buddy Miles for putting up with my excitement and also being excited with me!). Aoraki National Park holds the highest peak in New Zealand and a whole lot of mana. For those of you who aren’t familiar, mana is a pacific cultural term for sprit, power and strength. I’ve learned about it in my Anthropology of Pacific Cultures class as well as my Maori Performing arts class. It is also a term in the Hawaiian culture, so I’ve grown up aware of it. I couldn’t help but take some quiet moments to be, breath and relax in the grandeur of Aoraki National Park. Tourism and colonialization never seem to benefit spiritual places, but I’m thankful for the open track and people who who allowed me to experience that area with such great history and spirit.

The hike to Mueller Hut is one of the most well renowned hikes in New Zealand, 1810 steps and all. The first half is all steps, then you travers up a rocky/bouldery hillside - as I am told. We did the hike in the winter time, so as I was told by the Department of Conservation lady, this is not a hiking trip, it’s mountaineering now. “Are you prepared for this?” She ask me. “YES! I have our crampons and iceaxes, as well as some upbeat attitudes!” I responded. Good thing because there were no rocks to travers up. Instead that portion of the hike was just a huge hillside of knee to hip deep snow that we climbed. And the stairs, well I counted them (because that's the sort of thing I do...) and I counted 1,437. So there were 373 stairs that were so covered with snow that I couldn’t see them at all. The 1,437 which I could see were incredibly packed with snow, and by the second day, with ice - and that made it hard to come down this steep mountain! Oh boy, what an incredible experience that was- all with the most amazing views.

I could go on and on and on. I’ll give just some brief highlights because I have to study for finals. I'd love to talk about this trip though when I get home and see friends and family!

I saw my first glaciers!!! On the mountain range facing Mueller Hut there are hanging glaciers and if you’re outside for any bit of time you’re guaranteed to hear a rumble and then look over to see an avalanche happening. Nature is just SO incredibly powerful, it amazes me. This was a very moving experience for me!
I got to walk on frozen ice for the first time (Hawaii girl!) and see small little organisms at the bottom of the frozen pond. Thankful, it stayed solid and no one fell in :)
Intense sunrise and sunset colors on snowy mountains…. While staying at Mueller Hut were in between two mountain ranges so you just see the sun dip and rise around them. This lends to starking contrasted lines of color on the opposing mountain, and some amazing color gradients in the sky. Waking up to sunrise isn’t so bad when it’s at 8 am… And star gazing isn’t too late when sunset is at 5 pm…. I've never seen the sun with a trajectory path so incredibly low to the horizon.
The shorts days are incredibly frustrating, especially when traveling and trying to see as much as you can. However, star gazing at 9pm and admiring the milky way which stretched from horizon to horizon is not all that bad for a good sleep schedule. Especially when you get to make 28 wishes off of shooting stars… I almost went inside after 14 shooting stars (lucky number) but then more kept coming. So I made it to double 14… 28 :) (Shout out to Ole Cross Country girls and Coach Gelle!!).
Please check out some pictures I got up there. I’m incredibly satisfied with them, given I took them with a hand held canon. I do have a larger canon which I got some pics with when I was not hiking (any pics with Aoraki and Pukaki lake were with this camera). I couldn’t be more happy about traveling with good cameras - huge shoutout and thank you to Aunt Pam and Rob, Uncle Freddy and Aunt Margret and Mom for helping me with that! Thank you, thank you!
Learned to play the harmonica last night! Well.. kinda. We just messed around playing to various songs, but isn’t that all you ever do on the harmonica? Within an hour we upgraded from playing along to youtube videos and added in a guitar and some pots and pans for percussion. A very unique and hilarious jam sesh with some goons I will miss dearly :)
Everything about NZ seems to be slipping away. I plan my last meals with friends, last coffee dates and think about no longer living where I do. Even though this place has influenced me in such a wonderful way, it’s the people which I will miss most. And this is something that has not changed for me while traveling, and I’m happy of that. I value the relationships and bonds with people and look forward to intellectual conversations I am blessed to have and stories I am fortunate to hear. I’ve met some amazing friends here who have helped me grow in new ways and find out more about myself and life. I feel forever grateful and know it will be hard to leave them in one weeks time.