Summer road tripping through New Zealand: your sign to stay abroad for Christmas

By Maja Peach, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Hello! It has been a while since my last blog, and I thought I would pick back up with reminiscing on my incredible summer in New Zealand. This blog is going to dive into the very start of my summer where I experienced my first workaway and a fabulous road trip through the South Island…

Workaway

I was first introduced to the concept of workaway this year in New Zealand as a lot of my friends were applying for them for their summer. It’s a really great way to acquire some free accommodation and immerse yourself a bit more into kiwi life. The general idea is that you help out a host by working a certain number of hours for them – usually tasks such as gardening, repairing or cleaning – and you will be provided with free accommodation and potentially food.

My boyfriend and I stayed at a workaway in Gore in the South Island. The hosts were a lovely couple who had a huge garden and lots of animals, including a very cute and social deer called Hazel. We worked around 6 hours a day, mainly gardening and cleaning up areas. We stayed in a lovely converted small cabin which was separate from the house with our own little kitchen and bathroom. Our host provided us our food ingredients (which were often a random surprise but very fun for inventing recipes) and we always had long evenings to ourselves, so our space felt very respected. They were also big-time bikers and owned many vintage cars and bikes which was very cool. It was a great way to learn more about New Zealand from their perspective as they had been living there their whole lives.

Road trip

After 10 days at our workaway, we headed off on our South Island Road trip! Our aim was to do as much freedom camping as we could to save money and stay in some beautiful spots. Our first stop was Lake Pukaki which is a beautiful place with a great view of Mount Cook. I would highly recommend visiting one of the lakes around Mount Cook if you are planning on visiting NZ.

We next headed all the way up to the North. We stocked up on lots of ingredients for sandwiches and dinners, so we didn’t have to keep shopping. Although, there are lots of shops on route in the towns which you pass through fairly frequently. We drove through Arthur’s Pass which is a beautiful drive through mountains and gorges with waterfalls flowing down the slopes. We camped right up in the Golden Bay area which has stunning beaches and walks around it, and a high chance to see some huge seals! On our way down from Golden Bay, we stopped at a lovely waterfall with a crystal-clear river which we could jump into and snorkel, a great recommendation from someone at a campsite. We also decided to camp there overnight so we could wake up to the sunrise in the gorgeous place.

We made our way over to the French Pass area and stayed in a very remote campsite right on the beach. We found a great spot to see the fast tidal currents swirling around in the ocean from the French Pass lookout track.

We ended our trip driving down to camp near Pukatea/ Whites Bay which has a lovely beach to swim at and watch the sunsets.

The road trip was an incredible way to explore the South Island, and I would highly recommend anyone to stay and explore their study abroad countries over the break. We made it a very low cost, spontaneous trip which is very doable in New Zealand!

The following blogs will continue to reminisce about the rest of my summer in New Zealand and Australia. So, stay posted…