Who’s driving this bus anyway?

Thanks to Brailey Kerber, who traveled with us on our recent New Zealand Active Adventure 2017 tour, we can share some funny and clever Ethan-isms & Kiwi-isms. There’s no doubt, this tour was jam-packed full of activities and destinations across both islands of New Zealand! And since a lot of ground had to be covered, a coach bus was the only way to roll. As a result, here’s an important piece of the puzzle that groups like ours rely, yet most don’t think about before landing on the tarmac – the bus driver! Specifically for us, Ethan Henshaw!

Ethan Henshaw – South Island bus driver (photo by Sue Swenson)

Ethan was the vibrant, humorous, yet cynical bus driver who drove our group throughout South Island. Trying to fully explain his mannerisms and humor out of context might be fairly easy to a New Zealander (or Kiwi), but to an American, maybe not … Luckily, (and without telling anyone) Brailey decided to write down certain statements that came out of Ethan’s mouth, mostly the funny ones. The following statements are Ethan-isms (it wouldn’t be proper if we included all of them, by the way.):

“Are your drink holders extra large to match the buckets you call a large drink?”

“I’m going to play you iconic NZ songs that no one else in NZ knows.”

“Sharing is caring and I don’t care.”

“I know what childbirth is like. I remember! I was born and I didn’t like it. I cried!”

“Cynicism is contagious … I caught it from someone!”

“I’m allergic to exercise and water. I won’t even be with you in spirit.”

“My grandmother died of emphysema and I thought, ‘That looks like fun. I’ll try that.”

Ok, well maybe you had to be there! 🙂

For further fun fodder, here’s a pic of Brailey’s Kiwi-isms that she jotted down in her journal along the journey:

Here’s the list of Kiwi-isms that Brailey wrote down.

Now, if all of that was absolutely boring to you … Feel free to check out the exciting and stunning photo album from our adventure!

Written by Trevor Roark ’03 (2014 and 2017 New Zealand Adventures Tour Leader, UWSP Adventure Tours Program Manager)