Last year I got good taste of the rest of the world. New York City, Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Shanghai.
It was New Zealand that I ultimately wanted for the main course however, and I do not regret a thing.
This country really is amazing. And while it has its bad spots (like Greymouth), it also has some of the most stunning natural environments anyone could ever hope to see, all in a very confined space. The ocean brushes up against the alps, which brushes up against bushland, which brushes up against rain forests. Scenery changes in the blink of an eye.
I didn’t do everything I wanted to do, and I did a lot of things I never thought I’d ever do. I challenged myself in different ways whether it’s white water rafting, or dancing up a storm to bad club music, it has been an experience for sure.
My favourite nature-based place was Blue Duck. A truly remote location surrounded by fluffy mountains. My favourite urban centre was Wellington. A city with a soul. I’m sure Auckland had a soul, but they just drank it all away.
The Stray bus was also a great choice. My goal wasn’t just to go out and party every night, and while drinking quickly turned into a nightly ritual, it was almost always done under the context of conversation, not a “let’s see how drunk we can get tonight!” attitude. And as the group on the bus got smaller, things got more intimate, and there was less cliques. Some people I felt had the wrong idea behind traveling with a tour group. They went with friends, and just stuck with their friends and not really interacting with the group on the whole. But most people were like me, by themselves, on their own, and we had no choice but to bond. It’s too bad that by the end of it everyone was different with little to no time to really form a friendship.
Getting sick was unfortunate, but not a deal breaker since it was just a 24 hour thing. I’m sure doing a work out trying to dance the Haka helped a lot.
I also listened to a LOT of reggae music. It’s quite popular in New Zealand. And it’s not a bad genre of music either. Relaxing but groovy. Good stuff to play on the bus when we all just want to catch a few extra hours of sleep.
New Zealand does a lot of things right too. Cities and towns have most of their sidewalks covered by awnings. While Montreal may have the largest underground network in the world, it doesn’t help much when you have to walk around areas not covered by the network. I’m sure snow is a factor in not doing this because of the weight, not to mention the danger of icicles and larger chunks of ice falling down onto parked cars. Also, in most places, every garbage can has an ashtray. When the snow melts in Montreal, it gets pretty nasty with the cigarette butts all over the place. But in New Zealand, things are pretty clean.
The biggest regret was not being able to do ariel activities, and realizing that unless I become unhealthily thin, I will never be able to do them. But now that I have had a taste of white water rafting, I’m looking forward to trying out the Lachine Rapids right in my own city. I’ve learned they are in fact Grade 3 and 4 rapids, so not the weakest by far. Having floated through a grade 5, I’m sure I can handle it.
I have 128gb of photos, video, and timelapse experiments to sift through across 8 SD cards. The cards were probably my biggest expense of my trip, costing $100 a piece. I am very very happy I bought myself a dSLR camera. But, next time I travel, I absolutely need to buy a wide angle lens to get a wider shot of everything around me. The Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens just doesn’t capture everything you want to capture. Not only that, but I really need to bring a lens hood for it. Rain sucks, and while my camera (Nikon D7000) is pretty good at handling weather, getting rain drops on your lens is just annoying.
There is probably so much more I could say, so many things I’ve learned about life, myself, other people and other cultures. One thing’s for certain, I’m really torn between country and city life. There are only four major cities in New Zealand. Everything in between is country or town life. Auckland I could pass on, but Wellington has a place in my heart. However, getting to Wellington after days and days of small towns and country side, it felt awkward in a way.
Another thing I learned, is that I need my drivers license. It will be my birthday gift to myself. I’ll be turning 29 so it’s about time to do so. If and when I go back to New Zealand, I want to do it by camper van. These camper vans that you can rent are really cool, and having the freedom of movement that it offers is great. Granted, Stray is a hop on/hop off service, but you still have to follow its path. I want to blaze my own trail.
I have one weekend left before headed back to work. I will be spending it in front of Photoshop, eating salad and drinking tea. I will have one last unhealthy meal though, POUTINE. Poutine and lebanese kebabs are two things I really miss. Most kebab shops in New Zealand are turkish, and no one seems to know how to make good humus.
I do miss my friends, what little family I have, and my city. But I don’t miss winter in the slightest. I’m not looking forward to the pathetically short days, the cabin fever, the arctic winds and noreaster snow storms. Getting back into routine will be strange.
I guess the thing I hated the most about New Zealand, ironically, is the sun. There is apparently very little ozone around this area. So while you can sit outside on a terrace, in the park, on a bright sunny day back home and barely get a tan, you will burn to a crisp in just 10 minutes in NZ on a cloudy day. Sun screen is NOT optional here, and you better get a billion SPF lotion if you hope to survive. I also hate the fact that this country doesn’t believe in screens or nets for windows. It’s hard to leave a window open when bugs that will nibble on any exposed skin you’ve got fly into your place.
All in all, best vacation ever. I leave in 30 minutes to the airport. 18 hours to get home, 12 of which on one flight. Ugh…
