An Ending

So I figured this blog needed one. And it is of course a happy one. Dermot and I are home safe and sound and stuffed after a great Christmas with the McDowell/Hayden family. We didn't think that we would make it home for Christmas. We arrived in Los Angeles on the third leg of our flight from Auckland to find all flights to Philadelphia canceled. We heard that there was a standby flight to Philly at 9 p.m. Christmas Eve, so no worries, right? After the most stressful 2 hours of my life fighting for two seats on a packed plane Dermot and I landed in Philly via Las Vegas (with our bags!) at half ten at night. At half eleven we were showered and in our pj's watching Conan O'Brien by an open fire. Thank you gods of travel.

16 countries in 4 months, that's a sense of accomplishment.

As per usual, I was getting really choked up leaving New Zealand. I kept saying to myself I didn't want to leave but that's just me being typical sappy Abby. Dermot and I did everything we wanted to do there, and we did it richly. It's a pity it's so far away. It's the kind of place you could return to year after year, to the beaches, the cities, the countryside, the people. But, probably won't. Return that is in body. I'll return there daily in my mind.

The last week or so was spent reaching the top of the south island then retracing our steps to Auckland via Wellington and Raglan. We met up with our friend Freddie again in Nelson for a few pints and a long walk through the Abel Tasman National Park (I believe it was 22 km). Nelson was a great little town and the Abel Tasman was a great challenge. People who have never hiked the Abel Tasman say that it's a walk on the beach. And true, it is, there were many golden beaches to cross, high tide abiding. But there were also many hills to climb in the that golden searing New Zealand sun. No complaints really, I'm just out of shape. I remember my first week in the country a tour guide said to me that New Zealand experience is all about birds, bush, and Maori culture. We experienced all that and more.

After saying our fond farewells to Freddie and to the south island, we boarded the Interislander ferry to Wellington. I would love to transplant Wellington onto Pennsylvania. I love it, I want to live there, I could live there if it wasn't so feckin far away, but that's what makes it Wellington. Raglan after Wellington was a nice, little break before the bustle of Auckland and the ensuing cold of Philadelphia. People go to Raglan for its breathtaking beaches and never leave. We left extremely sunburnt, or in my case lobsterfied. Yet, it was nice to have the time by the sea to reflect upon the trip and the road before us.

Back in Auckland we got to see Rhys Darby the comedian perform live. He's known better as Murray Hewitt the manager on Flight of the Conchords, i.e. my hero. Hahaha. It was nice coming full circle to Auckland. We stopped by the Auckland Base hostel for a few spirits, rounding our complete tour of the cheapest and best bars in the whole of the country.

That pretty much sums it up.

Dermot and I both agree that this trip has sufficiently scratched all our iches and planted our feet firmly on the ground and brought our heads down out of the clouds. We've said it all the time, we did everything we wanted to do. We look forward now to the road ahead as it bends towards other directions. It goes on and on, remember?

Thanks for reading!

Misty Mountains

So we left sleepy Dunedin behind us with 3 pictures of the entire city in our camera's memory card and a wicked hangover. We had a great time there, though, despite the lack of things to do or things to take pictures of. We spent most of our time in The Bowler playing pool with our friend David or talking philosophy with the barman Mark. Dunedin was mini-Edinburgh indeed, cosy pubs and rain.

Off to Queenstown it is, then! Queenstown in the most beautiful "city" in all of New Zealand. It's nestled between a mountain range called The Remarkables, an apt name for a particularly spectacular section of the southern alps. And I use the word city lightly because it's actually quite small.

The drive to Queenstown from Dunedin was really long, so there wasn't much to do upon arrival. We booked a day tour to the Milford Sound then headed to the cinema to watch the new Bond movie.

The day trip to the Milford Sound was wonderful. Dermot and I had intended to get to the Milford Sound after Queenstown, though we weren't really sure how we were going to go about it, so the day tour was great. Having someone else drive us around for a few hours and give us the full tour really saved us a lot of hassle and basically enriched the experience far beyond anything we could've managed to do on our own.

That night, was Friday night, and since all we've heard about the entire time throughout New Zealand and even before coming to the country, was how great the nightlife in Queenstown was, we were excited. And don't get me wrong, I haven't seen 4 a.m. in a loooong time, but it left me a bit surprised. We went on a really shitty pub crawl that left us at 2 a.m. in a crappy club with a bunch of drunk English people dancing on the bar to Britney Spears. So we left in search of better entertainment. It was dead, the whole town was dead. It took us a half hour in the quiet darkness to find another place. Was there going to be another place? I dunno, we hoped. We eventually ended up on the Sky Bar that had a great atmosphere and a lot better music. Drunken English people are a more tolerable when Oasis is on in the background.

Since we had done all we wanted to do (i.e. all that we could afford to do) in the area of adventure sports, there wasn't much to do in Queenstown but drink.

And eat Fergburger. They are the pride of Queenstown, a tiny little business that sells the best burgers the size of your head. Yummy.

We'll leave the rest to your imagination.

We got the chance to take a few day trips. Queenstown has the highest concentration of LOTR sites in the whole country, but since the money was running low we decided to try and see them ourselves rather than pay for another tour. We headed to picturesque Arrowtown for the Ford of Bruinen where Arwen escaped the Ringwraiths. Then to the site of the AJ Hackett bungy jump where they shot some scenes for the river Anduin and the Pillars of Argonath. But the highlight was a day trip to Glenorchy where Orthanc was superimposed at the head of lake Wakatipu. But the location of Isengard was secondary, next to the scenery along the way to Glenorchy. It was unexpected beauty, which is the best kind. See the pictures we've uploaded, if they do it any justice.

The next stop was Wanaka, a little town by a beautiful lake. It was raining. And there wasn't much to do in Wanaka. It was still nice, and it served the purpose of getting us along the northern track up to Nelson, where our last stop in the south island will be.

After Wanaka was Mount Cook national park, where spent 2 days getting some fresh air on a couple (thank goodness) easy walks around the mountains and grounds before New Zealand's highest peak. Mt Cook and it's surrounding peaks were stunning. They looked fake, as we kept repeating to ourselves. But pinch me, they're real. The snows on the peaks that you could see from a distance were a neon blue. And Dermot had fun trying to hit some of the glaciers in Hooker Valley lake with stones, I think he managed to skim one of them. All the lakes around the national park are pure alpine blue, it was gorgeous. Pure, unspoiled nature.

We're glad to be doing these little villages, off the beaten path.

We arrived yesterday in Arthur's Pass, or Arthur's arse, as Dermot said this morning as I broke the news to him that it is STILL pouring outside. Misty feckin mountains. We can't do much walking in the rain here, which is unfortunate. Dermot said we could always put on our swim trunks and head to the hills, but we're not that ambitious.. We leave tomorrow, so hopefully it'll clear for a few hours so that we can take in a few photos, it's supposed to be beautiful, under all that mist.

Tomorrow we head to Nelson, to meet up with Freddie again and hike the Abel Tasman national park. I think we're actually going to camp under the stars. Those famous New Zealand stars.

I love this country.