I don't think you have any clue how much pumpkin I have eaten over these past 8 months. Before I came to NZ, I had only had the pureed stuff in soup, pasta and dessert.
Kiwi's love their pumpkin. It's what potatoes are to North Americans. Total staple food. I said that I was pumpkin'd out the other week (it's what these farm-bred meat-eaters throw at us veggies with a sideways glance and a heavy sigh... to be honest, I am endlessly thrilled that Helen is a Veg too- misery loves company).
But I take it back. I'm not pumpkin'd out. Tonight's dinner was just a gong-show. This weekend was the official start of the rugby season for all our guys, so everyone stayed at the Hostel (instead of going home to visit their families). Food ran out, and the poor weekend cook was scrambling to put something together for the few dozen hungry teen boys that didn't get anything yet. I grabbed a few ingredients that they wrinkled their noses at (pumpkin) and brought it back to my room to cook up.
Pan fried pumpkin. A little salt and pepper. Yup. I'm a fan.
The weather here has been unreal. Despite the fact that we're about midway through autumn (entering Vancouver's November equivalent), it's still shorts and t-shirt weather! It's been in the 20's and sunny for weeks, but tonight it has changed. The rain is pouring down and there's a definite chill in the air. The highs this week are supposed to be in the mid-teens (with snow in the higher areas). It looks like NZ is beginning to mourn our departure.
One week left. At this time next week, Scotty and I will be sitting in some wait area in Fiji. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and we can spend 2 of our 5-hour stop-over on the beach. I'm not sure how kind I'll be to my travel buddy at the end of our 30 hour trek back home (yes, 30 flipping hours). Hopefully I'll be all hopped up on the excitement of seeing all these people that I grew an even greater fondness for (distance does that) that my exhaustion will go into that over-tired hilarious mode, where everything sends me into a laughing fit. That's the best.
Either way, there'll be tears. I'm just hoping (for Scotty's sake) they're the laughing kind.
I was so busy putting that video together and then getting some souvenirs for those special little nephews and nieces of ours that I haven't even mentioned our trip to Queenstown.
Keeping with the trend of our travels,
it was amazing.
"They're pills that create a sort of temporary forgettingness. So if somebody finds out how you do a trick, you just give 'em one of these, and they forget the whole thing. It's a mainstay of the magician's toolkit, like how clowns always have a rag soaked in ether." Gob Bluth, Arrested Development (From IMDB)
IT'S THAT TIME OF NIGHT WHEN THE THE MAGIC TRICKS ARE DONE AND NOW THEY TRY TO BENCH PRESS EACH OTHER.
I don't think there was a more scenic time to go than when we did. The autumn colours were out in full force. Bathed that bright golden autumn sunshine, and then contrasted against that bluer than blue sky- I just sighed over and over and over again.
SWOOOOOOON
HOW CRAZY IS IT THAT NEXT WEEK I GO FROM AUTUMN TO SPRING?
No trip to Queenstown would be complete without a little bungee. We just watched. Brian inquired about whether you could go free if you went nude (as a certain someone wouldn't even bat an eyelash at that kind of opportunity), but they said no- you can go nude, but it'll still cost you $200 bucks.
So we just watched.
And no one went naked.
THIS GIRL WAS A ROCKSTAR. PERFECT FORM. DIDN'T SCREAM FOR HER LIFE. JUST DID A LITTLE WHO-HOO!
ROMANTIC WAY TO SPEND $400
THIS POOR GUY HAD TO BE PUSHED.
THIS WOULD BE ME IF I WENT.
THIS WOULD BE ME AND SCOTT (EXCEPT SCOTTY WOULD PROBABLY BE SMILING... AND NAKED)
HA HA.
THESE SIGNS ARE EVERYWHERE IN QUEENSTOWN. IN EVERY LANGUAGE. THE ENDLESS WAR ON POOPY PAPERS.
We spent our Saturday on top of Bob's Peak. At 1,425 feet above the lake, it gave us an eagle's view of the city with the Remarkables Mountain range as the backdrop. Scotty and I likened it to Grouse Mountain (we even had a good trek up to the top).
STAIRCASE THAT JUST DROPS INTO THIN AIR (FOR THE ZIP-LINERS)
QUEENSTOWN WITH THE REMARKABLES IN THE BACKGROUND
We spread out our packed lunches and had a picnic on the edge of the mountain. First row seats to Queenstown.
WATCHING THE PARAGLIDERS GO OFF THE EDGE
THE FIRST SUNDAY AT CHURCH- WE'RE RUNNING LATE. CHURCH HAS STARTED AND AS WE CROSS THE GRASS OUT FRONT, MAYA YELLS, "I'VE GOT 2 DADDY'S" AS BRIAN AND SCOTTY WALK IN IN MATCHING OUTFITS.
We donned our helmets and took the lift up to the street luge track so that Scotty could feel the wind in his beard. With only a pull brake and four wheels, we sped down the hill on these plastic sleds (they could really go). Helen and Maya left us all in the dust on our first trip down and I howled like a hyena at Scotty trying to videotape us and steer his luge with his feet.
HA HA. LOOK AT SCOTTY.
THE LUGE TRACK. INSANELY SCENIC.
The next day we met up with an old house master (he finished in December and moved back to Queenstown to help out with the family business) for a little 4-wheel tour (the family business). When I say "little" I mean 3+ hours along trails, through giant puddles and over motocross trials.
I HAD SOME SERIOUS LITTLE SISTER SYNDROME. JUST WANTED TO KEEP UP WITH THE BOYS.
Despite the steady stream of dust coming from the guide in front, I couldn't stop grinning. I even told myself to smile with my mouth shut, but the next thing I knew, I was running my tongue over my mud caked teeth and telling myself to smile with my mouth shut all over again.
SCOTTY
BRIAN
DUST FACES.
Lachlan (our guide) put Maya on the front of his quad (he was the one doing the wheelie in the video). I had enough trouble keeping myself on the bike down over the bumps- I couldn't imagine keeping a 5 year old on too, but I guess starting your riding career at 3 makes those kinds of things easy. Lachy has been a national quad-bike and motocross competitor for years and was training himself up to qualify for this years races. Two weeks before the qualifiers, he flipped his bike, was knocked unconscious and had to be air lifted to the hospital. True to any guy who has always led the extreme sports lifestyle, he was pretty relaxed as he told us about his accident- sandwiching the fact that his mother actually had said her goodbyes to him in the hospital between the hallucinations (upon waking from his head injury) that the medivac staff were aliens with no heads and that he failed the comprehension tests (after spending who knows how long in the hospital) because the lady pronounced "sandwich" really strangely and it distracted him (not because he was brain-damaged).
He captured his crash on video. If you go ahead to 3:20, you'll get a really eery feeling after watching it (it's not gruesome or anything, just creepy).
Plans for the final week include packing, crafting (i'm not telling, you'll find out when I'm home) and a few last beach visits. I'll try and do one last post before we take off. I never got around to posting about a few other places we've seen.
I caught myself feeling it for the first time last weekend. It's been coming in waves ever since then.
Reminiscent.
Today marks 2 weeks until we come home. I am feeling so bittersweet over it. I miss everyone like mad, but I've loved so much about these past 9 months.
New Zealand is quickly slipping into a "memory"
I really can't even begin to explain the ocean of gratitude that both Scotty and I have for the Satakes and the incredible memories they gave us. It has been so beyond expectation.
To take this journey with my husband has opened my heart- I love him so much. So so so much.
The truth is this: I have always wanted to travel. I have always wanted to drop anchor somewhere far from home and just stay there for a while. This has been my dream. Last year, while this was all just an "idea" and had yet to take that giant leap of becoming an actual reality, I was talking to one of my regulars (a gentleman in his 60's) at the pub, and I told him about this idea to move to New Zealand for the better part of the year followed by a bunch of "but's." He listened. When I was finished talking, he leaned forward, looked me right in the eye and said, "The only thing you need to worry about is time- money, jobs etc. will always be there in one way or another- time comes in windows, you will never be as free and uncomplicated as you are right now.
Go."
I have heard that bit of advice applied to starting a family: There never is a right time, you just take that leap. But it's so much further reaching than that. If it's something you want, something you've dreamed of, it's probably going to require a leap. Blind faith. Figure it out as you go.
There's that common quote that some of life's greatest regrets lie in not taking risks. I believe it refers to the big ticket items: the things we dream of. This trip was one of my biggest dreams realized.
I am not saying this to brag. I am saying this to encourage you. My regulars' words had a huge impact on me and I believe they are worth sharing.
What do you dream of?
Can I be that little push? That push that gets you off that ledge?
I am a huge believer in making the best of what you have- being content, but sometimes that message can work against us, and instead, we settle. We fail to see what we actually have (and so we aren't really making the best of it) and just stagnate.
If it REALLY matters... find a way. Find the courage. Breathe deep and step off that ledge.
Here's a video recap of our past 9 months...
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman (source: thinkexist)
I'm a work in progress, but I am going to try to at least attempt some of my other dreams because failure really isn't the worst that can happen (repeating that over an over again in my head).
I have this creeping desire to watch Christmas movies. The leaves are changing and falling off the trees, the days are getting shorter and once the sun sets, there's a chill in the air.
With these flip-flopped seasons, I'm just so confused.
I caught myself today feeling very tempted to buy a velvet dress and a russian style fur hat, but then I reminded myself that I'll be heading home in a month and summer will be well on its way.
Our easter weekend was quiet. We held down the fort at the hostel and played the part of chamber maids getting everything ready for the guest group coming in this week. Next weekend we're heading out on our last adventure with the Satakes to Queenstown (arguably NZ's most popular destination), the adventure capital of New Zealand.
Last week, Scotty and I went to the place where all the Easter magic happens...
Cadbury World.
Surprisingly mini-eggs are not all the rage here like they are back home. The kiwis are all about their marshmallow eggs (seeing as their claim to fame is the very marshmallowy pavlova- it kind of makes sense).
TOWER OF CRUNCHIE BARS
VINTAGE CADBURY
SILOS OF CHOCOLATE
Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to bring my camera on the tour, but I couldn't take a photo of the smell anyways. The air was thick with chocolate- I wish they could bottle it and that my kitchen could always smell like that- they gave us little bags and we collected fresh samples along the way. Kinda like trick-or-treating (my favourite passtime).
THE TOUR GUIDE HAD A GOOD LAUGH AT SCOTTY'S GIANT BEARD AS SHE HANDED OUT THE HAIR NETS AND "SNOOTS" (BEARD COVERING)
COCOA BEANS- I ACTUALLY ENJOYED THEM
At one point, they took us up into one of the silos and dropped one ton of liquid chocolate from the ceiling into a pipe 15 feet below (we stood behind the railings around it). I could feel the rumble in my chest from the giant chocolate waterfall as we were splattered with warm chocolate. Such a bizarre willy-wonka experience.
CHOCOLATE BARS FOR MILES
HE'S WORN OUT THOSE SANUKS, BUT INSISTS THAT THEY'RE "FINE"- NOTE THE BIG TOES PEAKING OUT OF BOTH SHOES
