New Zealand...or not...

Last Saturday (or, actually, two Saturdays ag0) watched me see Noah off at the bus station in Charlottesville, pack up my stuff, return the rental car, and head to the airport, to end up in LA later that evening. One night in a hotel (thanks mom and dad), and 13.5 hours of flight time later, I found myself landing (in the future) at the Auckland airport in New Zealand (home is 4 hours ahead of me right now, but a day behind, weird). I was fortunate enough to sleep a great portion of the long flight, but still landed with massive jet lag, as is to be expected. I caught a shuttle to Bamber House where I had booked a reservation before leaving the states. The office was closed when I arrived (because it was so early in the morning) and as it turned out, I didn’t get a bed until about 1 that afternoon, which meant I fell asleep on one of the lounge couches for an hour or two in the morning and barely made it to the grocery store that afternoon before falling asleep for the night.

Upon landing and getting oriented, the strangest thing happened. I realized that I didn’t really want to be in New Zealand right now. I was, for some inexplicable reason, not feeling the vibe of traveling here, right now. I tried to pass off that feeling the first day to jet lag, missing Noah, having no plans etc, but it didn’t really go away. After waking up the next morning to find someone had taken the $60 US cash I had from my wallet overnight while I slept, finding out that a friend from the states I had hoped to cross paths with wasn’t going to be in Auckland after all, and still having this sensation that now was not my time for an affair with New Zealand after having slept a solid 12-13 hours, I decided to honor the gut instinct. So, I did what had to be done and got my flight switched to take me to Australia on the 30^th (which is today, I am writing this at the airport where my 5:45 am flight was delayed over two hours, but not soon enough for me to know I didn’t have to get up at 2:30 in the morning to get to the airport, oh well, the joys of travel).

What that means is that, ironically enough, my New Zealand experience has consisted of 5 days in Auckland, which is, they say, the “worst” part of the country (I have consistently received advice to get out of it into the countryside as soon as possible). I haven’t thought it was too bad as far as cities go, although I have admittedly been fine with staying fairly low key. Between recovering from the jet lag, getting my head sorted out (or starting to) what with all the craziness of the last month, and enjoying the warmer weather and interesting company one finds at a hostel, the last 5 days has been actually quite needed and pleasant. I managed to climb the volcano Mt. Eden three times (it was right nearby, and more of a walk than a climb) and there is a great view of the city from up there, plus cows grazing all over it. Another day I walked around the city with someone else from the hostel, seeing at least part of it on foot. I was inspired by a fellow backpacker (who didn’t know what it was) to make pumpkin pie in honor of Thanksgiving; a mundane, tasty adventure though. I actually had to buy pumpkin and bake it, as canned pumpkin puree is apparently not something one can purchase here. It turned out quite well though--despite the square baking pan--and it is always fun to share stuff like that; anyone not from North America had never had pumpkin pie (pumpkin pie is sweet, not savory?) and it made for a good afternoon activity. All in all, I’m sure I’ll be back to New Zealand sometime in the future, but am feeling quite glad I listened to that first instinct and decided to move on. I feel grateful I am in a position to do so.

So, as it goes, here comes Australia! I’m actually feeling quite a bit more excited than I was for New Zealand, for whatever reason. I am planning to stay first with my friend Kristin (from Sydney) who I met in Xela on my Guatemala trip last year and have stayed in touch with. After that, who knows, but I’ve got some ideas, we’ll see how it works out.

I did write this post at the airport in New Zealand on Sunday (or Saturday for most of you reading this), but have not had the time/chance to get it up and posted until now. I made it to Kristin's house easily and am loving being here. We are having a great time together, her family has been nothing but welcoming, and the weather is all warm and sun-shinny. I think if anything, it looks like I'll be staying with her for a while and I'm feeling like this is more where I should be!