Oh What a Feelin’…Driving in New Zealand!

Better late than never! It’s our first Guest Blog post here on WFM with guest bloggers, Jodi & Matt Arden. The Ardens are our dear friends from NYC who trekked halfway across the world to meet us in New Zealand. Hilarity ensued (and we are forever grateful)! See below… (And more to come on India later this week!)

BY JODI & MATT ARDEN, WFM GUEST BLOGGERS, SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND

When Amy and John informed us of their decision to go gallivanting across the globe, we promised to meet them somewhere that would be both disruptive to our sleep patterns and our bank account. It was their skepticism that made us all the more determined to fly as far West as possible, testing our will and our wallets.

We are still unsure to this day if we were driven by the delirium of our first 27 hours of travel, or the excitement of reuniting with Amy and John, but before hopping our flight to Queenstown we skipped the eggs at the Sydney Airport and sent a digital challenge to Amy and John; wake up and get ready!

They responded thusly.

Game on. Our trip was clearly developing an early theme.

And that’s actually what New Zealand is about … having fun. The culture, the people, and the places seem to all be made to fully trigger your enjoyment sensors. Whether you’re snapping a selfie at a breathtaking vista or guzzling down a bottle of local brew, you’re overcome by the same dizzy joy.

But, our journey had an added wrinkle of bliss. One 22-foot long wrinkle named Chuck.

A Chuck is the only way to truly experience New Zealand. So, while we’d love to fully capture all of the magical details of our time on the South Island, it would simply take too much time and too many pages. Plus, we’re already 3 weeks late delivering this post, and we all know how Amy is about a deadline.

So instead, we present the Top 5 things you learn when travelling New Zealand in a Chuck Wagon.

1. You Get to take Pictures Like This

Every few miles there is something amazing to see in New Zealand. Part of experiencing the country is having the freedom to pull over at any time or place based on any whim (FYI, John’s whims are typically meat pie based). There are literally beautiful things to see every few kilometers and you’re never going to see the most amazing parts if you’re not on the open road, taking cliff-side hairpin turns in an oversized moving van driven by two American knuckleheads who really really really like driving on the right side of the road (in a left-side-of-the-road kinda place).

Let’s face it, the danger is half the fun! It really makes you appreciate the beauty even more! Plus you get to take awesome pictures like this!

We’ve decided to make this the cover of our first album (karaoke themed, of course). Because riding NZ in a Chuck makes you the rock stars of your own World Tour. Well, that is until you pull over to discover a Lynyrd Skynyrd / Starship concert at the base of a mountain in a vineyard. Because there are real rock stars in New Zealand and they built this city on rock & roll … or you’ll tell yourself that after 5 hours drinking in the sun.

But without a Chuck, you can’t stumble upon things like this.

2. Everybody Poops

That’s what you learn. Real fast.

3. Amy loves any opportunity to host houseguests and has clearly missed it.

We’ve all visited Amy and John back when … you know, they had an address. No detail was ever left out when they hosted. Whether you were invited over for dinner or just stopping in to have a drink (which would eventually include custom cocktails, a fully cooked dinner, and a freshly baked cake), nobody opens their home to guests like Amy and John.

This holds true in a Chuck.

Amy woke us up every morning with fresh pressed coffee and even made us pancakes. Lunch was a pleasant affair and by the time we were ready for dinner cheese, crackers, fig jam and wine were put out in equidistant quadrilateral positions. This was, of course, all enjoyed in a dirt free Chuck as Amy hermetically sealed all windows and doors and barred shoes from entering the cabin.

We know they are having fun on this little adventure, but man does she miss entertaining.

4. Chuck Breeds Cultural Assimilation

Proof: While Amy was setting up a group selfie shot, this is how both Matt and John reacted immediately and unprompted to the phrase: “pretend there are girls standing next to you.”

5. You get to see Springfield, NZ.

Granted, on its surface stopping in a one street town with a population of 219 probably doesn’t sound all that exciting. But you’ve never been in a Chuck. With a John.

No word in the English language can quite describe the exuberance with which John screamed when he saw Springfield’s greatest landmark through his window. Though if you reference #2 on our list you can probably guess what I did in my pants as I was driving.

With a face full of gas station ice cream (sadly, they were out of meat pies) John brought our adventure literally to a screeching halt with these pivotal trip-altering words:

OH MY GOD!! THERE’S A GIANT DONUT WITH A HOLE IN IT YOU CAN TAKE A PICTURE IN!

And there was. So we did. Thanks Springfield.

And that, in a nutshell, is our impression of New Zealand. It’s simultaneously the most beautiful, fascinating, weird and fun place we’ve ever been.

But that may also have a lot to do with the company we kept.

Thanks Chuck.