I come upon this beautiful story in New Zealand Backpacker News, I just have to let Debbie Chisholm from UK to tell the story to you again. This is what backpack traveling is all about.
| Making memories |
 When Harriet King’s handbag went missing in Queenstown, the 19- year-old backpacker was distraught. With no cash or a passport, Harriet was left stranded in the adventure capital of the world with no way to buy that night’s dinner, never mind pay for the many activities she had planned. “I was so upset,” Harriet, from Bath, England, explained. “It wasn’t just the money I was worried about. My camera with all my photos, souvenirs and my bungy jump DVD were in that bag too.” After a desperate search proved fruitless, friend Graeme MacDonald, 24, leapt to the rescue. The Scotsman met Harriet when he and pal Andrew Robinson, 23, spent a week camping in the bush on Stewart Island. “I met the boys when I decided to go Kiwi spotting with some friends ,” said Harriet. “There were no Kiwis though, so we just headed to the pub!” In Queenstown, Graeme accompanied Harriet to the police station and helped her to get money sent over from her parents. “In a situation like that you really learn how nice people can be,” says Harriet, who is travelling around with bus company Stray. “I also learnt that you can survive without the material things; I still have the memories and I don’t need a photo or video to remember them. I’ve realised now that travelling is about the people you meet and the memories you make, rather than the ouvenirs you pick up on the way.” Graeme, from Aberdeen, left London in late January and spent time in the US before landing in New Zealand, where he has been travelling around with Andrew by car. He hopes that any backpacker would have done the same for Harriet. “These kind of things will always go on in hostels so that’s why we all have to look after each other,” he says. The incident has far from ruined Harriet’s time in New Zealand and the country has been a particular favourite for her during her five-month round-the-world trip. “Swimming with dolphins at Curio Bay in the South Island really stands out for me,” says Harriet. “We stopped off for some lunch at the bay and we could see the dolphins leaping about in the sea. So a few of us jumped in to see if they would come up to us but we got a bit of a shock when we got in –because the water was absolutely freezing, we could barely breathe!” she laughs. Harriet says a local shopkeeper had some unusual advice for the backpackers. “She told us to make lots of noise to attract their attention so we all started singing under water which made us feel a bit silly but it was completely worth it because after a few minutes they started swimming around us. It was absolutely amazing! There’s nothing like seeing creatures in their natural habitat,” she added. After Queenstown, Harriet, who started her trip in Hong Kong before moving onto Australia and New Zealand; travelled up the west coast with Graeme and Andrew for a week. Andrew, from Liverpool, England, spent time in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia before arriving in New Zealand. He will head home via Fiji and America. Camping in the bush on Stewart Island is one of his trip highlights, but the boys’ hardy ways have led to some uncomfortable nights. “We decided to set up camp at the bottom of Mount Cook. This should have been fine; unfortunately though it was April and there was a storm so it was absolutely freezing!” he laughs.
by Debbie Chisholm, UK Photo: Andrew, Harriet and Graeme |
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