Around the World and Back: June 2012

Thawing out of my winter freeze on the porch outside my flat, I'm currently enjoying a gorgeous, sunny winter's day. Ah, Wellington. It's unbeatable on a sunny day, yet so unforgiving and miserable on a cold one. Whenever I'm chatting with people I meet, they seem to all say, "Ugh, the weather is so bad. It's so cold. You're in Wellington at the worst time," but I don't share that sentiment. Sure, it can be really cold. But it's winter time, and there have been so many beautiful days (like this one) to take my mind off the more blustery ones. Not to mention it's usually warmer outside than it is in my house, so that might also have something to do with my stance on the winter weather. ;)

We got really lucky when we first arrived here to pick out the most amazing airbnb hosts. Mel and Dan offered to pick us up at the ferry terminal, came out to carry our bags up from the car, and set up our bedroom like a little hotel room. They made us tea upon arrival and sat down with us to chat, and then made an amazing dinner to share with us (all too willing to accommodate my diet, too)! Saying that they went above and beyond the scope of an airbnb host would be an understatement… It was much more like a homestay with wonderful friends. They have continued to be amazing to us long after the 4 days we spent at their place; keeping an eye out for jobs for us, writing bad reviews on tripadvisor for a bar that treated me quite badly during a job trial, and helping Brian make some money off of his delicious bread-baking. We feel so fortunate to have made friends with such wonderful, kind, cultured people right off the bat and I'm so glad we've been able to keep in touch. Also, I highly recommend airbnb.com to anyone who's traveling and hasn't used it… we have stayed in some great places, met really nice people, and saved ourselves lots of money while still being more comfortable than we might have been in a hotel or hostel. Check it out!

I just love it here. We have been settling in nicely to our lives in Wellington, so different to our traveling lives. Yes, I have been fighting hard to make the switch from traveler to real-life resident of Wellington, and so far it's mostly working. Much of that success can be attributed to finally getting a job (a big 16 hours a week!), and at a place I actually like! I work in the cafe/restaurant section of an imports shop called Mediterranean Foods Warehouse, which is in Newtown, a suburb over from where we live (Note: "suburb" here means "neighborhood," not a place where all the houses are the same and every street ends in a cul-de-sac). This job is a good fit for me; the location is good because it's close, but also because Newtown is more of an international district, and maybe a little less sparkly than some other parts of the city, which I find refreshing. The job is also really low-key; I'm pretty much just left on my own to do my thing and my waitressing skills have come back to me, so it just feels like second nature. The place itself is really cool; lots of great products on the shelves for grocery shopping, a meat, cheese, and bread deli, and what I'm told is some of the best pizza in town (bonus: I finally know how to spell "Mediterranean"). I'm a little bummed that it's only 16 hours a week, but beggars can't be choosers! I'm on the hunt for a second job.

We have the best flatmates! I swear, we've had the most amazing luck when it comes to who we've ended up living with… Nothing but fond memories thinking about our roomies in Kekerengu, and just enjoying such good company with Jemma (Kiwi) and Mark (Irish) in our house now. The location (Mt. Cook) is also really excellent; we're a short walk away from most of the things we want to do. I can run down the hill and find myself on Oriental Parade (the waterfront) in 15 min or less, walking to work in Newtown takes about 20 minutes, Cuba street (the Capitol Hill of Wellington) is 15 minutes away, and Moore Wilson's "Food Heaven" (it really is!), grocery store is less than 10 minutes walking.

We've been frequenting the Sunday Market down near Te Papa (National Museum) for fresh veggies and fruit each week. There's also a craft-type market underground a few blocks away for me to enjoy :). Te Papa was one of the activities for Brian's birthday, so we saw maybe 1/3 of the museum then. It's really big and awesome (also has a science center inside!). We took the Wellington cable car the other day, which was hilarious. We were really looking forward to it because it's an attraction of this city, but didn't realize that it's basically a 3 minute ride, where if you're sitting face-forward (as all of us with weak stomachs do), you won't see any scenery, and suddenly you're at the top and wondering if you can have your $3.50 back. It was really silly. But it ended up being cool because the trolley takes you to the top of the botanical gardens and we walked down through them, during a little sun-break. It also happened to be Matariki, which is the Maori New Year, so there were signs posted all along the walk talking about the significance of different plants, customs, etc. Then there was a succulents garden, which is a bunch of different cacti, and at that time the sky was dark grey and the sun was shining that magical light on the plants… perfect. But honestly, besides walking all over the city for several hours a day, we haven't done any "sightseeing" per se.

So, nothing too out-of-the-ordinary has been going on around here, just settling into life and trying to make the most out of this hip, vibrant city. There are so many cafes, restaurants, bars, boutiques, etc etc around here that it is difficult to choose where to go, and difficult to resist spending money. Wellington is apparently on par with NYC for the number of cafes, which seems pretty crazy, but walking around town I believe it! Brian still continues to look for work and could use some more well-wishes and finger-crossing from those at home. :) He's been baking-to-order bread for Mel's workmates for the past two weeks and then delivering the loaves to her office on Fridays. I know he would love to make a permanent job out of that since it's what he loves to do, and his breads are amazing! This morning I drove him to the airport where he flew to Auckland for today/night to replace his passport at the American Embassy. Driving him there (and myself back into town) was something I absolutely dreaded, as I haven't driven in over a month, or in Wellington ever (I refuse). I'm not really a fan of driving… and Wellington is full of windy, hilly, skinny streets where I want to close my eyes as I envision sideswiping a row of cars parked at the curb… but yeah. I did it, and I'm alive (and I didn't crash the car)!

Not much else to report, just wanted everyone at home to have an idea of what we're up to in Wellington. I hope this finds you all well and enjoying some nice summer weather! :)

view from our deck/balcony

kitchen

living room

near Parliament

the Beehive

view from the top where the trolley took us

sundial (it really works with your shadow, we tried it!)

on our walk

succelents garden

How lucky we are when we get visitors. It's so nice to be able to share this experience with other people who are part of our lives back home, and it also serves as a mini-vacation for us! Lindsay's visit couldn't have come at a better time. What better way to recover from a stressful situation than to be able to put it on the back burner and remember why you love the place you're living?

We started out in Oamaru, and from there headed to Dunedin for a night. I was on a mission to get a second chance at eating the most amazing vegan burger I've ever had, from a little traveling vegan caravan at the farmer's market. Mission accomplished; even my non-vegan companions were impressed :) After that we needed to replenish our camping gear, so we forked over the cash for some new essentials that would allow us to escape out into nature again. The weather was still looking pretty good for fall, and we decided to reinstate our original idea to do the much-anticipated Routeburn track. We headed towards Queenstown on another one of those postcard-esque drives, and checked into a hostel with all the party people. I had a bit of a shock when we drove into Queenstown. Not only is the scenery even more striking than people have told me, but the town itself is like a giant U-Village. Posh storefronts, ritzy hotels and bars, everything looks sparkling new… we have yet to see anything like this in our 7.5 months here. Sure, in the bigger cities there are plenty of fancy restaurants, designer shops, and snazzy bars, but there are also less wealthy and well-dressed parts in those cities; not the case in Queenstown. It was disconcerting, to be honest. Suddenly I felt the loss of my very few "going-out" appropriate clothing items, and felt the collective eyes of well-off 20-year old backpackers staring me down. Ok, so, they probably weren't staring me down, and I know it really doesn't matter if they were anyway, but the point is, I haven't felt this way in a looooong time, and it felt weird. Queenstown just exists in its own world here, a separate entity in New Zealand. It's also special in that it's the adventure capital of NZ, for all things heart-pounding. But for those of us not to into adrenaline-fueling activities (weak tummy over here!), there are about a million other awesome things you can do in the outdoors here. So, being the freak that I am, I was in Queenstown, trying to avoid bungy-jumping AND partying. But I still had an amazing and unforgettable time.

Wait… I almost forgot; we did do something that brought our heart to our throats while we were there. We drove up to the top of a snowy mountain range and got our car stuck in a ditch! Luckily we were able to find a friendly man-with-truck to help pull us out of said ditch, and follow us down the mountain for a few kilometers while I silently said my goodbyes to my life. Amazingly, we survived all that, and were laughing about it by the time we arrived safely at the bottom. No one can say there are no thrill-seekers among us! Trying to see on the bright side of things, we appreciated the beauty of being in our first snow of the year, the self-led private tour of a closed down ski lodge out-of-season, and Brian's amazing ability to drive us safely out of the snow without going off the edge of the cliff. Let's not forget the views on the way down! It was truly "remarkable" (get it, the mountain range is called the "Remarkables"? heh heh…).

But seriously, the view up there was one of the best. Other amazing and notable things we did in Queenstown: hike up Queenstown hill (twice) for the most stunning 360 degree views of Lake Wakatipu, the Remarkables, Queenstown, etc etc, take a 90 min cruise on Lake Wakatipu during the only 90 min of sun and blue skies of the day, and eat at the best cafe (in my humble opinion), the Vudu & Larder, every day that we were there. Finally, as a strong competitor for the best thing we did while in Queenstown, we took a tour bus to fjordland and went on a cruise through Milford Sound. We were really excited about the cruise (since Milford seems to be the thing everyone scolds you for missing if you go to NZ and don't see it), but we didn't realize how awesome the bus tour would be. We left at 7:30am and arrived back to our hostel at 8:00pm, with stellar views to look at all hours in between. Our tour guide was so jolly and cute, and filled us in on all the history of the areas and landscape we were driving through. We had nice weather on the drive to the fjords, and got to stop and take photos along the way of things like the beautiful Mirror Lake (who can resist a good mirror lake?!). Unfortunately (/fortunately? I can't decide) when we arrived at Milford it was rainy and foggy. Part of me was disappointed because obviously clarity would make the fjords more pronounced, and produce better photos, but then again, the fog and mist is more characteristic of the fjordlands, and produces a mystical effect. Nevertheless, it was beautiful. The air and land around us felt so lush, fertile, and clean, and the peaks of the fjords poked dramatically out of the fog. For a little while Brian and I weren't sure we would make it to see Milford, but I'm so glad we were able to. Now we hope to make it back on one of those lucky crystal-clear sky days in the future.

The one downside to our time in Queenstown was the realization (again) that we won't be able to do the Routeburn track as we'd hoped. The weather had just turned (isn't that always the way?) and lots more snow was on its way, and the DOC office was recommending that only the most experienced (and those with the adequate gear, A.K.A. not us) trampers attempt it at this time. Bummed about that, but then again, who says we can't come back to New Zealand in the warmer months and do all the things we missed? We accidentally worked and stayed put during the end of the hiking/camping weather and will have to do more of that later when there's less chance of things going wrong. Damn that working-for-money thing, always getting in the way of what you really want to be doing... ;)

It was hard to leave Queenstown (look at the pics and you'll see why), but our wallets were begging us to get out of there, so we headed down towards the Catlins, stopping in Invercargill for a night along the way. Invercargill, home of Burt Munro and the World's Fastest Indian! (If you haven't seen that movie, stop what you're doing and rent it right now, it's so wonderful and heartwarming). Yeah… Invercargill isn't my favorite city, and maybe our experience there was just soured by our poor choice in hostels (story too inappropriate for this blog!!), but we left that place for greener pastures, and greener pastures we found…

I'm writing this blog post from what may be heaven on earth… the Catlins beach house accommodation in Curio Bay. It's weird; as if pulled by some unforeseen force, as soon as we arrived here we just knew we could never leave. So Lindsay, Brian and I are going to stay here forever. **Note: it is now a week or so later, and we did end up having to leave the Catlins, much to our dismay.** We found a little beachside house to settle into and what was meant to be one night turned into 3. I am convinced that the Catlins are the answer to your prayers, the cure that ails you. From the living room of this house you could sit on the couch, in front of a roaring fire, watching the tide go in and out right outside your door, with a cat sleeping and purring on either side of you. We had lots of plans to explore the Catlins, move around, and do lots of hiking, but we pretty much ended up melting into the couch for most of the days. Being lazy in the beach house was the most luxurious feeling… especially when laziness is paired with a sunrise run on the sand, and photographing sealions and the world's rarest penguin from 10 feet away at sunset. Ok, now I'm getting too sad thinking about how we had to leave the Catlins… ;) On the 4th morning, we decided we better get back to it, so we headed back to Dunedin via the rest of the Catlins (which we had yet to explore). Gorgeous drive with plenty of stops to do mini-hikes to waterfalls, lighthouses, and the Nuggets (see pics). Perfect end to a perfect "vacation."

But the vacation didn't end there! We still had a few more days with Lindsay, so after a night in Dunedin, we stopped at the Moeraki boulders for photos, stopped at the roadside organic shop for my favorite roasted fava bean snack, stopped in our beloved Oamaru for falafel lunch, and arrived in Christchurch in the evening. The next morning we caught the TranzAlpine train through Arthurs Pass. I had been looking forward to this train ride for months and didn't think it would become a reality, so it was a real treat. We had comfy seats (forward-facing for L Pay and me, so no barfing), played cards along the way, and were able to go out into an observation car to take photos on the trip. It was really beautiful, although I was slightly disappointed about how much less snow was in the mountains than I was expecting. But it was lovely and an extra special treat for my handsome chauffeur, who has been Driving Ms. Carney all over NZ and deserved a break.

The train takes you to the lovely Greymouth on the west coast. We joke about Greymouth being kind of dumpy, but it's actually a decent town. We found a great backpackers (although rats/ghost children did wake us at 1:30am by stealing a chocolate bar and sharpie out of my purse, causing a bit of a freak-out in the middle of the night), and did some more of that relaxing we'd gotten so good at. The next day we sat in a coffee shop and drank tea and read for a few hours before the train left, then were back on our way to Christchurch again. The most notable things we did in Christchurch included a visit to my favorite farmers market at the Riccarton House, where I was able to find a lot of yummy vegan treats (and kombucha! Heaven!), a quick trip to Castle Hill to see the awesome rock formations, and celebratory ciders at my favorite brewpub (Cassels & Sons) on Lindsay's last night. It was a great time (I'm a little biased, if you look at whose favorite things we were doing…), and we got to hang out with our friend Eva again, for an added bonus!

All in all, I'd say Lindsay's visit here was pretty awesome. Brian and I basically used it as an excuse to do and see all the things we'd wanted to but hadn't planned on treating ourselves to. After the string of bad luck we'd had, we were just ready to follow our dream agenda, so that's what we did. I'm so glad I was able to reconnect with an old friend, while simultaneously having an awesome vacation before starting the job search again. So cheers to you L Pay, for making some of our dreams a reality! I hope the next place we reunite will be in some far corner of the world (and preferably in less than 5 years). xo :)