On the Road Again...

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, sorry for that!!! I think the last time I left off was in Milford, only a few weeks ago. I quit my job (without giving the requested FOUR weeks notice, my two weeks was greeted with a bit of a garrumph) for a few reasons. Namely, I’ve been feeling it’s about time to come home. I know my original plan was to be here in NZ for about 10 months, so this 6 month plan is sort of news to some of you, I guess.

It’s a good sign that I miss home – both in the sense of having one (haha) and in the “Canada is my home” kind of way. New Zealand and it’s people have been nothing but good to me. I feel so incredibly lucky to have had this opportunity; the travel has been challenging and rewarding, I have tried things I’ve never tried before, and seen things I can’t see anywhere else on the planet. There are LOADS more things/people/places I want to see and do, and I feel like I want to, soon and someday... hopefully sharing it with someone special next time… There have been a lot of moments here where, as happy as I was, it felt a bit empty being on my own. So, it’s been, and continues to be, a bit of a mixed bag of emotions here on these two great islands. Mostly happy, elated, excited, tired, and energized. I’m storing up all these experiences and feelings and am looking forward to continuing along this vein even once I get back to Canada… if that makes sense, great! And if not, sorry!

I’ve booked my flight home, and am VERY excited to be flying home (to Ottawa, this time) on March 14th. That’s soon!!!

I left off last in Milford, having lots of fun on the boats (less fun doing the work stuff, that got tedious pretty quickly) but the dolphins, hoses and waterfalls were constant sources of entertainment and amusement. I probably put some new photos up since last time, so check out the work photos:

Milford Sound Work Photos

Video of dolphins swimming you can check out if you’re on Facebook… (sorry to those of you that aren’t…)

Before I left they threw a bit of a party on one of the boats, for the laaaaadddiiiieessss of the Sounds. Basically, an excuse to take us out (for $15…) and thank us for our hard work, make us feel slightly less isolated by offering us lots of alcohol and hors d’oeuvres on a boat. While I only needed about 1 drink to feel like I’d had 8, due to the constant rocking of the boat because of a huge storm and big waves, a good time was had by all and we all looked pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. It’s been awhile since I’ve worn a dress and party shoes! We did get totally soaked by the aforementioned storm on the way home, which only added to the sense of adventure.

Photos of Ladies Night

On my last night in staff housing, we had a bit of a potluck / family dinner. I’d gotten in the habit of asking co-workers to have dinner with me on a regular basis to the point where we were having “family dinners” almost every night leading up to my last night. Vanessa from Brazil and I made lots of good salads and various forms of pineapple-related dishes that reminded her of home. Georgie from Argentina, always a good source of conversationhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif but not a self-declared chef, also joined us for dinner so she wouldn’t have to cook, haha! And Jody and Sebastian would join occasionally for some really really good chats about home and travel and love. Just before I left Kathryn joined the Red Boats crew as well and we shared a few tearful bottles of wine and lots of good heart-to-hearts. I never imagined in such a short time I could make such good friends, and I do hope, very sincerely, that some day I will see them again, wherever they may be. I might have to go to South America to see them, but I’m totally okay with that! ;)

Photos of Farewell Family Dinner

I finished work on the last day of February, first stop – Tuatapere (Too-ah-TAP-ar-ee). A tiny little farming village halfway between Milford and the bottom of the country. I was offered an opportunity to visit a sheep farm, and in the spirit of trying new things I said yes. Ray, the sheep farmer, shared a sausage dinner with us, $1 stubbies of beer, then off to bring the sheep in before the big rain came. All the photos came out a bit green, I’m afraid, due to the fluorescent lighting (and me having the wrong setting on my camera). I actually had a REALLY good time, it was pretty interesting, shearing was fun, and at the end I fed a bottle to a lamb, which was cool. Then we had banana cake and tea, so you really can’t go wrong.

Photos of the Sheep Farm

From Tuatapere on to Invercargill, where my guide book promised me fast cars and girls with big hair. I found, instead, beautiful gardens, the motorcycle driven by the fastest old guy (watch The Fastest Indian) in the world, and two new traveling buddies. Oh, and on the way, we stopped at Bluff, the southern most point on the South Island. I include photos only for the reason that it’s funny that they had the sign for distances to other cities, and then a sign to describe the sign, which I found kind of amusing, and unnecessary. Which maybe makes me putting photos of both signs kind of redundant but, whatever…

Photos of Invercargill

My plan was to take the bus from Invercargill up to Dunedin, but my new traveling buddies from Invercargill, Emily and David, started talking about their planned stop in the Catlins and it sounded like a pretty good idea to me. So, a few hours later we arrived in the middle of nowhere, home to Hector’s dolphins (world’s smallest!), yellow-eyed penguinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs, and a surf school. I couldn’t have asked for more, except for maybe a few more hours of sunshine (but I’m not complaining). Highlights include: 5-scoops of ice cream, watching yellow-eyed penguins come up onto the beach, harassing the DOC officer with lots of questions about said penguins, watching dolphins from the kitchen at the backpackers, running into the sea hoping they would swim with me (they did not), and surfing again.

Photos of the Catlins

Then I continued onward to Dunedin. On the way I said goodbye to Emily and David and hello to William (whom I call Willis in secret, but he doesn’http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gift like it very much) who was also going to Dunedin and with whom I shared a mutual distaste for certain penguin-viewers. These are people who ignore signs all the way to the beach and sit outside the penguin viewing hides built specifically for sitting IN, so as not to scare the penguins away. On the way to Dunedin our bus stopped at a viewing point, and there were some jerks wearing loudly coloured jackets sitting in plain view of [where the penguins would have been had they not been scared]. Willis and I told off some of these very stubborn Germans, and they ignored us. In the end, they listened to our brawny bus driver after he pretty much scared them away. We didn’t see any penguins there, and we’re blaming it on them. Onward, to Dunedin, for lots more rainy times and a rugby game. The next day it was around the gallery, railway station, and to stay out of the rain by watching Death at a Funeral (very funny, go see it). The next day we were blessed by sunny weather so I took the bus out to Otago Peninsula in hopes of albatross sightings and hopefully more penguins. Success!!! SO amazing. I won’t bother gushing about it, just look at the photos.

Photos of Dunedin and Otago Peninsula (mostly penguin photos!)

From Dunedin, up to the small town of Oamaru (Aw-ma-roo), a town which has built it’s tourism industry solely on the little blue penguins that live nearby in a colony. Which is why, of course, I needed to go there. I was pleasantly surprised by one of the nicest art galleries I’ve ever been to, many beautifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giful historic limestone buildings, a really comfortable bed, and, of course, gorgeous blue penguins. Unfortunately the penguins come up after dark, and they disallow any photography of the penguins so I have no proof, but trust me they are amazing. They stand about 30cm tall, which makes them even cuter than cute. The best part was when the penguin bit a rabbit on the way to his nesting box, and the rabbit jumped about 10 feet.

Photos of Oamaru

And now, I find myself in Christchurch, with only nine days until I get on the airplane bound for home!!! EEK! I’ll write more soon, in the meantime I have more galleries, museums, dolphins, beaches, seals, concerts, etc to enjoy… Life is so very very good.