2021: My Year in Review
Sigh, how time flies.
2020 has been a great year for me (2020 review here). 2021 was not too bad as well.
I initially thought I would be home sometime in the middle of 2021, after the kiwi season – I just have to give the kiwi season a try. But an unexpected opportunity to help out in lambing came by, and I thought, why not wait till the end of 2021?
Spoiler or no spoiler alert, I am back in this hot and humid city since the end of January.
Flashbacks of 2021
2021 may not be as exciting as 2020 since I have covered all of the South Island by then.
I am impatient. I came to NZ with a list of objectives to meet. I left my job for this! KPIs aye?
One does not just give up the opportunity to travel extensively in NZ while on a pandemic. In hindsight, me leaving my job and Singapore just when covid was discovered was nice timing, but not in a great way. Who would have thought there would be a deadly outbreak in Dec 2019, and that we are still feeling its effects?
You do not always get a two-year break in NZ that happened to coincide with a travel ban from the pandemic. No tourists! No crowd! Cheaper prices! And so you can see, I have gladly taken advantage of the situation and completed most of the outstanding activities and jobs around the region.
For me, 2021 was a year to complete what was left of New Zealand, in particular, the North Island.
Summer
Jobless in Cromwell
January saw us out of jobs in our cherry orchards. A freak and lengthy downpour of the New Year split thousands of cherries and drowned lower orchards. What a start!
We packed our bags and went trekking to soak ourselves in the natural hot pools of the Copland. In summer heat. Not forgetting the discounted heli hike to Fox Glacier as well.
We began to travel north.
My partner had scheduled his snowboarding examination at the end of February – still summer – in Auckland.
Christchurch
With a month between then and Feb, we found a job in a flower packhouse, packing flowers and bouquets until Valentine’s Day.
In between work, we also explored eateries in Christchurch and trekked the Avalanche Peak in Arthur’s Pass.
Crossing The Straits
A day before we were to sail across the straits, Bluebridge postponed our ferry departure due to bad weather. They messed up our itinerary, and we had to go with Interislander to Wellington instead.
Auckland was Meh
Our week-long stay with a Dutch family under HelpX in Auckland was horrible. Lucky for us, we happened to escape Auckland – and their house – just before another round of lockdown! PHEW! Needless to say, my partner was unable to take his snowboarding examination.
Northland Adventure
While Auckland was in a week-long lockdown, we rented a campervan and travelled around Northland. Five days in the garish van brought us to incredible places. We dived the Poor Knights Islands, slid down the giant dunes near Cape Reinga, and marvelled at the grand sight of the oldest and biggest Kauri tree in NZ.
Bay of Plenty
We entered and left Auckland in lockdown and continued our travels to Tauranga.
While in Tauranga, we stayed with friends, stayed in a hostel (Wanderlust) with a heavily intoxicated woman, climbed Mt Maunganui to see if we could catch a tsunami, and shared a cone of Copenhagen ice cream.
The following morning saw us leaving for the Coromandel, where we trekked to catch a beautiful sunrise over the jagged peaks of the Pinnacles.
Autumn
More Travels, More Hikes
The kiwi packing season was about to begin. We swung by Te Puke – the capital of kiwi fruits – to catch up with friends and explore Rotorua.
After a half-day trip scouting for pipi on the beach of Maketu, we soaked ourselves silly in the Polynesia Spa. The next afternoon has us white-water rafting down the world’s commercially highest drop at Okere Falls.
We left Rotorua for Taupo, picking sights along the way like the Waimangu Volcanic Valley and Huka Falls.
The next seven days saw us completing two Great Walks – through the volcanic region of Tongariro National Park, and down the glistening waters in Whanganui National Park.
With the heart of the North Island explored – the centre is an active volcanic region! – we travelled down State Highway 43 aka the Forgotten World Highway to New Plymouth. Along the way, we visited the self-proclaimed Republic of Whangamomona and the rustic old town Stratford.
Mt Fuji of New Zealand
What to do in New Plymouth?
Trek up Mount Taranaki, of course.
Ten hours up and down this stratovolcano left me sore for the next couple of days.
Limp or not, we travelled north and abseiled 100 m into the Waitomo Caves. Seven hours of wrestling between the rocks underneath a misty blue ‘milky way’ made up of glow worms was worth it.
Blueberries
Lucky for us – again – we were to begin our next job in Hastings as blueberry pickers right after Taranaki.
Our short stint – slightly more than a week – led us to visit Napier and also over-indulge ourselves with those sickly-sweet blue marbles.
Kiwi
We moved to Te Puke as kiwi graders until winter arrived. Along the way, we sold our old 97 Honda Odyssey and bought a 04 MPV Mazda camper car.
Winter
Travelling Again
A short respite between the transition from kiwi grading to our next job led us back to Auckland and Coromandel, where we ate ourselves sick in the night markets of Auckland, and took a million shots of Cathedral Cove. There’s also a weekend trip to Pouakai Hut for the iconic shot of Mt Taranaki.
Lambing
Then it was a couple of months of feeding and hugging lambs. In between, there were one or two lockdowns on the North Island.
Spring
Travelling
When the lambing season ended, we tried to trek up the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, but bad weather prevented it.
Travelling and camping rough in our new camper car was a fun experience.
We took Interislander – no more Bluebridge! – back to Picton and did a small loop in the South Island to catch up with old friends and food.
It was mid-October when we returned to twisting hops saplings. Back to the same old Marie-Kondo style living in a caravan until the beginning of December! We also did some apple thinning after hops training.
Summer
My plan to travel home on New Year’s Day was postponed to mid-Jan as friends wanted to catch pauas over the coast of Kaikoura and celebrate my birthday.
I spent my last month in NZ sorting parcels by the airport, doing small treks around Canterbury and fighting for a pre-departure PCR test slot.
End
2021 has been a good year for me.
2022 will not be a year of adventures in the mountains or a year of experiencing odd jobs. Rather, I will be back to catching up with old friends, old places, familiar food and old hobbies. And also back to searching for a job…
Expect more blog posts and videos of NZ to come, as I try to record as much of my experiences as I can from the photos, videos and hazy memories.
Two years and one month in New Zealand! What a ride it has been.
Video
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