Around the World and Back: April 2012

Greetings from Christchurch! Compared to our first impression of this city, we are really loving it here. Our transition from a comfy life in Kekerengu was eased by the hospitality of a stranger; an American ex-pat named Gary who has been putting us up for the better part of a week. Without his kindness I don't know what we would have done. But let me start from the beginning...

We made it out of The Store unscathed, a fact I am proud of and still surprised by. :) We had another moment of major frustration in our last two weeks there when Clive decided we needed to be moved out of the house by noon on our last day of work... he just had to get one last little bit of salt in the wound. But then, as a "favor" (I'm sure!) he gave Brian that day off, so that he could pack and move us out on his own, while I was at work. Oh Clive. Anyway, everything got done, and when the clock struck 3:30 pm on April 17th I cartwheeled my way out of that place FOREVER. We went to the boys' house and began a party that lasted about 12 hours, until we all passed out at our goodbye slumber party. Although we would have enjoyed a good night's sleep in our house one last night, it was really nice to get to spend time with our friends before we said goodbye. I had pretty much snuck out of The Store on my last day so I wouldn't have to see the MacFarlanes... but the next morning Joe and Chloe wanted to stop in to get coffee and say goodbye, so we were the bigger people and shook Richard and Clives' hands and said goodbye (good riddance! well, that part was just in my head). It felt right. Then we got on the road and shouted out the window in our newly felt freedom!

The trip down south was awesome, with the combination of saying goodbye to our nemeses, crystal clear blue skies, the company of our great roommates, and stopovers at a baby seal colony and a picnic at the beach in Kaikoura. It just couldn't have been a better way to leave Kekerengu, and I can't say enough great things about the friends we made there. It was really sad when we arrived in Christchurch and dropped off Chloe and Joe (who are now off to SE Asia!) at the airport. There's no denying that there was stress and several mishaps while we were in Kekerengu, but there were so many great moments to make up for that, so we're leaving that place with very fond memories :)

Once we arrived in Christchurch we were able to reconnect with our friend Eva, who we lived with in Hastings. She's an au pair here for a woman who has a quasi-boyfriend who has an apartment that he's offered up to friends-of-friends in the past, and he has so kindly put us up for what has turned out to be much longer than we planned... more on that later.

Since arriving here the fall weather has been amazing. My camera is glued to my face as we drive and walk around, taking in the vibrant leaves. For the first time since being in New Zealand, it feels really similar to home, and we've been trying to figure out why. Christchurch is totally flat (unlike Seattle), and very suburban (unlike Seattle), but the neighborhoods and residential areas feel like home. There is a massive park in the center of the city with gorgeous botanic gardens, which is a huge draw. We have stumbled upon some cute cafes and even went to a quiz night last night at the most beautiful brewery (where I instantly wanted to work). The downsides to this city are of course the devastation caused by earthquakes; the once-beautiful, historical center of town has been totally destroyed and is fenced off, and the excessive construction causes constant traffic problems. Driving around in Christchurch is an absolute nightmare (Brian's been doing it ALL, luckily for me!!) because streets are closed off, the streets aren't really on a grid system so it's hard to navigate around, and it's difficult to turn around so you often have to spend an extra ten minutes driving out of your way (which really adds up if you're not totally sure where you're going...). Despite the traffic we are really enjoying our time here.

But! Yesterday was the worst day we've had in 6 months. The thought of going to the airport and getting the next ticket out of New Zealand seriously crossed my mind. **I apologize to any Kiwis who might be reading this blog.** There are just some systems and ways things are done here that I just cannot get on board with, and one of them is the dreaded Warrent of Fitness (WOF). Basically, every six months, you are required to take your car to a garage, where the mechanic goes through a check of items filling a 5 inch-thick notebook, which ALL determine whether or not your car is "safe to be on the road." There has been a small amount of concern building up to the day of our WOF inspection, but we figured there might be a few minor things we'd have to pay for, at best. After the inspection, the mechanic and his wife began with "Where did you buy this car? I can't even believe they sold you a car with so many things wrong with it. How much did you pay for it? Ohhhhhhh.... you got horribly ripped off. This is just terrible," and things to that nature. They continued telling us what a piece of crap our car was and how we should just try to sell it right away, get rid of it, and buy a new one. "Bring the next one in here and we'll check it out for you for $40, to make sure it's worth buying." This was the worst news! And it was so offensive the way they were breaking this horrible news to us! The list of things wrong with our car was very, very long, and very, very illegible. After a major meltdown, I pulled myself together and we tried to figure out what our next move was. We decided to take the car to another garage, which is apparently kind of frowned upon once you get the WOF inspection, because you're supposed to get the repairs done and get it re-checked by the same garage until you are able to pass. The first garage told us the damages would be around $1800 to fix, which they also claimed was more than the value of our car. The second garage (after, again, telling us how badly ripped off we were) estimated the damages at $900. So, the thought of spending that money to get it fixed seemed a whole lot less painful than trying to sell it and find a new one (especially since the mechanic said if we sold it in its current state we could get $400 for it! WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE COMING UP WITH THESE NUMBERS?!?!?!), so that's what we're going to do.

Although the money part stings pretty bad, I think the worst part about this is the fact that it seems ridiculously unnecessary. Almost all of the issues they found wrong with our car were maintenance things, and if we just want to drive a car that needs a little work, whose business is that but our own?!?! How can the government require you to get this extensive check every 6 months and make you update things that you don't care about at all (like a broken sideview mirror that works just fine when taped, thank-you-very-much), spending a small fortune each time?! And seriously, can you guys lay off the guilt-trip about how naive we were when we arrived here and just went to a backpackers car market in Auckland where everyone is just trying to get your money and rip you off? It's like we've been getting attacked by everyone we talk to about our car, and how much of a mistake we made. We get it, we made a mistake! We moved to another country that operates in a different way than we're used to and fell into a trap of convenience when we first arrived, and we've paid for it ENOUGH. Wow, I just got really worked up there writing about that... I'll reel it in. I do need to say though that we felt so beat down yesterday and really began to question whether we are too trusting/naive, and why we seem to find ourselves in situations like this time and time again. One thing that feels really frustrating is that because of the massive amount of travelers in New Zealand, lots of Kiwis seem to have a chip on their shoulder about tourists (which I understand); but we can't all be put in a box. Some of us are trying to make a life here for ourselves, not just pass through and annoy everyone along the way (not that all travelers are doing that either! I'm just saying, some are). We just want to blend into our surroundings and be treated like mature, responsible adults. We are trying to adjust our outlook to one a bit more skeptical and distrusting (?), so we can hopefully stop making bad choices in the future. For now we're just trying to focus on how many cool things we plan to see once we're back on the road again starting this Friday.

So! We're not going to be defeated by mishaps, but look toward good times of the future: I have a friend from WWU coming to visit in a few weeks, and we have a more extensive south island tour planned out including the much-anticipated Routeburn track, and the fjords! It's gonna be good. Until then, take it easy on us, will you New Zealand?