Over thirty years ago Michael and I met in New Zealand, so when we were offered a two month sit near Auckland last year we figured why not, as it would give us a chance to revisit some of the places we saw when we first met.
Some of you may have heard about our first date, some of you not, so here we go……….
Lake Taupo, New Zealand was a small yet stunningly pretty place back in 1995. I (Yvonne) had been travelling solo for over two months at that time and was pleased to meet a fellow Brit at the hostel. Being the friendly gals we were, as we passed through the common area Jess and I announced that we were going to the pub just up the road and did anyone want to join us, upon hearing the invitation we were joined by one guy, who, little did we know was in for quite the adventure!
We set off and barely had time to introduce ourselves when dark shapes peeled out of the shadows behind us. Michael was their first target, and his response to “Hey white boy give us your money!” was ”I don’t think so”. This was apparently the wrong answer, for which he received two punches to the face. Fight or flight responses kicked in and he took to flight, running–as fast as possible in flip-flops–back towards the hostel.
The four males in this group of teenagers took off after him, leaving Jess and myself, facing two heftily built girls. They tried the same line with us, which also received a “no”. After a brief scuffle and a few kicked shins and scrapes, I broke away and flagged down a passing car, the occupants had seen the scuffle and whisked me back to the hostel, Jess also broke away and ran into a nearby gas station where they phoned the police.
With adrenalin, surging through your system it is amazing what you can do, just ask Michael, who managed to outrun the thugs and make it back to the hostel. The sight of his bloody face had already caused quite a commotion by the time I and Jess (in a police cruiser) made it back.
The remainder of the night was spent giving statements and trying to describe this group of teenage thugs. Wearing jeans and baggy T-shirts, briefly glimpsed in the dark, they could have been any group of local teens. My first and only time in a police cruiser, was the tour of the local hangouts we were taken on, trying in vain to identify our attackers.
We were eventually delivered back to the hostel after midnight. The horrified owners immediately pulled out the brandy. I am still not sure, if it was to calm our nerves or theirs, as we once more told our story.
It was here where we had our final interview of the ‘night’ with a stress councillor. A little cranky and tired of repeating the story, we gave her a condensed version. Her advice to the three of us was to “keep on talking it out”.
Over the next few days as a bloody nose, split lip, bruises and scrapes healed, we hung out by the lake, checked out the local hot springs and formed strong friendships. Jess headed back to England and Michael and I decided to travel together for a while.
After ten months on the road, travelling though New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra and Nepal, we were still together. Which as any backpacking couple will tell you is a major accomplishment. One thing led to another and before we knew it, we had settled down in BC, Canada.
Now here we are back in New Zealand taking a walk down memory lane. We hadn’t really spent any time in Auckland the first time around, so it didn’t jog any memories, but once we had finished our sit and started exploring, that was a different matter.
Our first destination was of course Lake Taupo. We wanted to stay at the Rainbow Lodge Hostel where it all started, but it was apparently no longer in business. Therefore, we had booked elsewhere but still fairly close to where the hostel had been. As we came into town it was very obvious that Lake Taupo was no longer a sleepy little town. Hotels and apartment blocks lined the lake side road as far as the eye could see. The only thing familiar was the lake, it is still as beautiful, but the traffic wasn’t. We settled into our hotel and set off in search of the street where the hostel used to be. The street was easy to find but was unrecognizable as the urban sprawl had swallowed it. This was no longer a quiet dark street perfect for a mugging; it was lined with homes and businesses now and had not one but two gas stations. Our GPS led us on to where the hostel should be, but we had no idea if it would still be standing.
Nope! A car dealership now sits on that spot, which was rather disappointing as we had been hoping that the building itself would still be there. But it wasn’t to be, when we asked in a local shop if it used to be a hostel, she said yes it used to be, but it had been pulled down about a year ago. After chatting for awhile we shared our story and she exclaimed. ‘OMG I remember hearing about that’ apparently our mugging had made the news.
On the way back to our hotel, we did find the gas station that Jess had run into and from that were able to identify the side street that the teens had come from. It was hard to comprehend that this was the very spot where we had been mugged all those years ago as it was so very suburban now.
We did eventually get to the pub that was our original destination, and of course had to have a glass to celebrate actually getting there at long last. Sadly, the pub had fallen from popularity and we can only imagine what it must have been like 30 years ago, I am sure it was a lot livelier then.
Interestingly enough, even though the area had changed so much it did stir up many memories for us, going out on the lake with the hostel owners, swimming in one of the local natural hot springs and yes, our first kiss and all that other soppy stuff.
One of my (pre-Mike) memories of being in the area was visiting the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park with the famous Champagne Pool, so of we went. Everything was there, the boiling mud, the sulphur ponds and the Champagne Pool. It was here that I could see solid evidence that a few decades had passed, as the constant mineral deposits from the bubbling water had extended the edge of the pool further from the path than it used to be.
We also did a few fun things that neither of us had done before. First, we visited the Kiwi Sanctuary and saw both adults and newly hatched chicks, fascinating birds and slowly being reintroduced back into the wild.
We had also been told that we had to go to Hobbiton, as Lord of the Ring fans it had to be done. It is rather expensive at NZ $120 each but it was fantastic. We felt like we were indeed in Hobbiton and kept expecting Mr. Proudfoot to come out of his door and scowl at us, just as he does in the movie.
Then it was onto the South Island to revisit some of our favorite spots there. Although we did not have enough time to revisit the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers, Milford Sound, Hass Pass and Queensland as we had done the first time on the West Coast Express. We did revisit two spots that we have strong memories of. Le Bons Bay on the Banks Peninsula was first and again the hostel was no longer running, but stepping onto that marvelous sweep of beach was if we had stepped back in time. We half expected to see our host down on the beach with the rustiest Morris Minor Traveller we had ever seen, launching his boat for our wildlife tour. But the place was deserted, it was just us, the gulls and our memories of that long ago wild boat ride and a rather significant conversation while sitting on the hostel steps later that day.
The final places on our must-see list were near Greymouth on the West Coast as we had visited them way back in 1995 on our bus tour. One of the places we had stayed at was ‘The Former Blackball Hilton’ in the old mining town of Blackball. It was a hostel style place and guests had access to the kitchen. I wanted to go gold panning, so I left Mike in ‘charge’ of dinner. I found ‘gold’, well a few flakes anyway and Mike eventually found something to cook. At the one and only store in town, he found a very desiccated Venison sausage and managed to turn it into a quite edible ‘Blackball Bolognese’. He also partook of some of their very strong beer, and yep, he was a happy chap.
The Blackball Hilton still stands and is still a hotel, we did look it up but chose not to stay there as we’re no longer into ‘shared bathrooms’. Oh Boy, haven’t we come a long way, thirty years on and we are a wee bit pickier now. However, we did see that their restaurant has a very good reputation these days. Why not? It would give us a chance to revisit the place and treat ourselves to lunch.
The town of Blackball itself was looking the worst for wear, although there were now two stores not just one. The hotel was still looking good externally, but was showing its age inside. The bar staff were fairly friendly and we ended up sharing our story with them. Apparently, they no longer serve the strong beer, because the alcohol content was inconsistent and sometimes way too high. Mike obviously wasn’t the only one that got hammered after two pints of it.
Surprisingly enough lunch was excellent; in fact, it was the best meal we had in New Zealand. It was also a far cry from Mikes Blackball bolognese all those years ago. From there we headed off to revisit the Pancake Rocks, which I had forgotten all about it. It is an amazing sight and I couldn’t believe that I had forgotten all about it, but the memories came flooding back at my first glimpse of its signature stacked rock structure (it looks for all the world like multiple stacks of pancakes, thrown together by an over enthusiastic mad chef).
Revisiting all these places each with their own significant memoires, served to remind us of who we where all those years ago and of how our relationship developed with each step along the way. A few long-forgotten memories returned, but in some places, we knew exactly what long ago comment was running through each others head. It was indeed a wonderful ‘walk down memory lane’ full of poignant memories. It also made us realize just how fortunate we are and how much we have to be grateful for.
Here we are thirty years later, ‘still talking it out’ and marvelling at what we have achieved since then. It goes to prove that even a mugging experience doesn’t have to end in disaster. None of us were badly hurt, we did not loose any valuables. Instead, we formed strong friendships and relationships that are still going decades later and we do have one hell of a story to tell!
