My amazing time in Aus may have come to an end, but the journey never stops. Whether you are travelling across the world, across your home country, or locally, you are always on a journey. I realise I rather let this blog drop off which I never intended to do. Now my head is feeling very cluttered so I decided it would be a good time to resume blogging, get some of the jumble out of my head, and update the world (ie the very few people that will read this) on what I have been doing.
Thinking back, my last entry came just before I returned to NZ. I had an uneventful journey back. The only thing that stands out in my memory is waiting for my bus from Manakau to Hastings. The only place open at the time, around 7am, was McDonalds. I went in and got a soy hot chocolate which was pretty gross, and used the free wifi. Whilst I was in there a guy at the next table leant over and asked me "Hey, what does that word mean?" pointing to a word in his horoscope. I don't remember what the word was, but I told him what it meant, and we chatted for a few minutes. Then a guy that had been on my flight and also wanted to use the wifi was struggling to get onto it and came and asked if I'd got on and if I knew why it wouldn't work for him. He had just not hit the log on button or something really simple so I was able to help. I felt like an agony aunt. An agony aunt with jet lag.
After a week in HB I set off for Wellington to spend some longed for time with my man. By which I mean I drove 4 hours each way for curry noodles at Aunty Mena's.
The next exciting entry in my schedule came on the 3rd May. ARCTIC MONKEYS. Seeing my favourite band live, I don't think will ever get old. They were fantastic. There were two songs which I particularly hoped they would play but they didn't. Everything they did play was perfect though.
That night kickstarted my busy and exciting month of May. The next morning I embarked on my first trip to the South Island. My parents and I did a bit of a whirlwind tour:
4/5- sailed Wellington-Picton, drove along Queen Charlotte's Drive (this involved intense motion sickness) to Nelson, where we spent the night. The motel we stayed in there I rate highly so shout out to them (http://www.delorenzos.co.nz/).
5/5- drove Nelson-Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks). We messed up a turning on that drive so it took us an hour or two longer than it should have, but Pancake Rocks is so worth it. I'm sure my geophysicist boyfriend is glad I think so. After Punakaiki we drove on to Franz Josef and checked into a motel. The motel owner gave us a nice tip about some nearby glowworms so we were able to take a late night stroll and marvel at those amazing creatures.
6/5- started the day with Franz Josef glacier. Poor weather meant the safe point to walk to was quite a way from the glacier, but we could still see it. Then we went on to Fox Glacier, which similarly we could not get close to but still amazing stuff. Then we drove to Queenstown for our next stop.
7/5- here we took the opportunity to relax, with no long drives planned immediately. We found hot chocolate and wifi and walked round the town. We wanted to go to the local pools but discovered they were closed for maintenance. Then in the evening did something mum and I were excited for and dad probably could not have cared less about, the ice bar. I went to an ice bar in Koh Samui and I think I will continue to visit ice bars whenever I am in the same town as one. Mum and I had yummy icy cocktails and we took lots of photos and then we went to the bar next door to warm up with mulled wine.
8/5- up early and onto a coach for a long but beautiful drive to Milford Sounds. We booked a day tour to do this which included coach there and back, and a boat trip round the fiord when we were there, which couldn't have been better. It was a beautiful day and we were lucky enough to see dolphins, who spent a good amount of time following the boat and playing in its wake.
9/5- drove to Lake Tekapo where we stopped off for a dip in the hot pools. Then continued to Timaru where some friends of ours live and had a wonderful catch up with them.
10/5- Akaroa. Quaint beach town just south of Christchurch. I had a really awful experience being yelled at by the man in the fish and chip shop. I then checked the reviews for the shop and found out that he does that to customers often, so while the town is lovely, the fish and chip shop is to be avoided. Lots of other places to eat, and we found a better dinner experience at La Thai. Yes. "La" Thai. The town is French influenced and a few places make a good joke of that.
11/5- drove to Kaikoura and saw the seals. They are such sweet creatures. Big cute lazy blobs.
12/5- back to Picton for our return ferry to Wellington.
That was the end of the South Island trip but not the end of being busy, with good things of course. My graduation was the next day, so all my uni friends were in town. We all met up for dinner and a catch up which was awesome. Then graduation! Finally have that nice sheet of paper to certify my degree. Graduation robes are fun, because you have wings. That's right. I'm an adult with a degree.
My parents headed home the next morning but I stayed on in Wellington with the boyfriend and managed to catch up with more people there. Then on the monday (19th) I had to get back to HB because on the 20th mum and I went to Auckland for even more excitement. Michael Bublé! His show was really great. He is an excellent entertainer with an amazing vocal talent.
That Auckland trip was the end of the excitement of May really. The past week I have just been chilling out at home, watching a lot of House, getting emotionally exhausted over the UCSB shooting and everything that is riding on the back of it, and hanging out with one of my top girls making rainbow cupcakes as therapy to cope with the depressing state of the patriarchy in which we live.
This writing stuff down business is good and I am hoping that by typing this update speel I will manage to clear my head enough to do the writing I really love, poetry. My head has been too much of a jumble to comprehend making any particular poetic order of it.
