January 9, 2007 - Fate and Good Friends

Sarah and I were desperately trying to finish everything up and get to the airport to catch our flight to New Zealand. We were really tense and had already missed our intended train to the airport.

I dropped Sarah off the 24th and Mission BART station and sped over to drop off Vik's car. I was in a dead run (and channeling Tom Cruise in any of his movies because he's always running from something in a very determined way at maximum effort). I could see in front of me that some guy was looking at me and moving into my path to mess with me. I was gearing up for a tussle but looked up to see Vik. I have never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life. I started crying and pouring out all my problems. He took me in hand and made everything better. He took us to the airport with no hassle and plenty of time for us to get a cocktail and start the trip off right.

I think it's amazing that I ran into him. So many strange things had to conspire for us to be in the same place at that moment. It gives me hope that there's a power in the universe that opens up to allow good things to happen - just when you need it most.

January 10, 2007 - Lost Day Forever

This is the day that we lost when we crossed the international dateline. Most people get this day back at some point when they fly west again to get home. However, we're not going east. We'll be working our way west the entire time. This day is lost to us forever and we will never get it back. That's such a strange thought. All our friends got to live out a day that we were unable to experience. I realize it's just a day, but it's interesting that we lost it.

January 11, 2007 - Upside Down

When we arrived in New Zealand, Sarah made a joke that since we travelled to the other side of the world, it must look like we're upside down to our friends back at home. So we decided to be goofballs and had some innocent bystander take our picture while we did handstands. We thought it was hilarious of course.

I joked to people back home that we had to push our reset buttons in order to right ourselves. That is more true than it is just on the surface. We have to hit our reset buttons in order to free up our minds and embrace this new culture and all their upside-down ways. Tim taught me a long time ago that you should go to another country and profess that things are "weird". It's just different and part of the reason you're there is to understand and appreciate the differences.

Upside down

January 14, 2007 - Hunger

Sarah and I have never felt as hungry as we did on our 4-day tramp on the Kepler Track. We took what we thought was plenty of food, but apparently not. As soon as we'd eat, our stomaches started growling again. It was difficult to keep up the energy to do all the tramping up and down the hills.

At one point, a lovely family heard us talking about how hungry we were and gave us food. We consumed it with vigor and felt fine from that point forward.

We talked later that our hunger was so unusual and so quickly satiated by the food the family gave us, that it seemed like our hunger was a physical manifestation of our emotions. Perhaps we were craving something - some sort of nurturing - that this family was able to provide for us.

In all likelihood, we were probably just starving because we were working so hard and didn't have that much food, but it's a very, very interesting concept.

January 19, 2007 - Wrong Direction

We took off from TeAnau after breakfast with a goal of driving to Wye Creek climbing area just outside of Queenstown. We were happily driving along, commenting several times that nothing looked familiar and we must have been zoned out when we drove this way the first time. After driving for an hour and a half, we realized that we were going the wrong direction. We ended up in Fiordland National Park at the base of a gorgeous water fall overlooking a beautiful, raging river.

This of course completely threw us "off schedule" but it just didn't matter. We were cracking up at ourselves for never checking to verify that we were going the right direction. Our plans for the day were altered but when you're on vacation, there's a feeling that whatever happens is just fine. The good side of that is that we got to see some beautiful views that we otherwise would not have seen. And we had a nice drive into the fiordland. :-) Hopefully when this trip is over, we can keep that feeling of looseness and not get caught up in the scheduling trap. Feeling like you constantly need to plan and optimize your time is not very fun.

Pretty waterall

Happy girls :-)

January 20, 2007 - Day Off

It was raining and we were both feeling the need to get some work done (on the website and on Sarah's brother's house) so we hunkered down in an internet cafe and got a ton of stuff accomplished. The girl running the desk actually felt sorry for us because we were spending our day doing this instead of enjoying it outside!

But we were quite happy to take a day off from our vacation and get some "work" done. We were cracking up over dinner that night because that's exactly how it felt. We had to take a break from our vacation and all our activities so we could be still and do other things that we feel are important. I just thought it was cool how quickly our perspective changed and what a "day off" has become.

January 21, 2007 - Movie Night

Sarah and I were hankering for a movie so we went down to the local movie house and just weren't interested in the movie they were showing. So we went to the video store and rented a movie. We then went back to our campsite and made dinner and set ourselves up for movie night in the tent. We were really cracking ourselves up and were quite pleased with our ability to watch a movie despite not having a home or electricity or chairs. :-)

Dinner and a movie

Front row seat

January 22, 2007 - Tiny Her

I know that many of you want to know what's happened to Tiny Her. Well... Her is living with Simon this year (my cat stole my boyfriend!) and is very happy. Simon sends along frequent updates and pictures of my darling girl. Apparently, under his influence, Her has become a scientist and a trad climber. Who knew?! Whilst I believe Her to be capable of these things, I think that she's just trying to impress her new man. In no time at all, she'll be sitting on the couch all day eating fatty cakes and watching Spanish soap operas. Just a hunch.

Trad Kitty

Scientist

January 23, 2007 - Lake Tekapo

In New Zealand, there are endless points of beauty and as you drive along, you never know what you're going to come across next. Sarah and I stopped off in Lake Tekapo after driving most of the day. We weren't expecting much of anything and were therefore blown away by our view of the lake. We made the most of our wonderful view when we ate our dinner out on the picnic tables, had wine out there, watched the sunset, had hot chocolate, searched for the southern cross and then finally went to bed .

Sunset

Table with a view

January 25, 2007 - Settlers of New Zealand

When we were in Mexico, we learned how to play Settlers of Catan. We were so taken with this game, that we thought it would be fun to create our own version just from the New Zealand landscape. I seriously doubt that we will follow through with this noble pursuit, but it's still fun for us. :-)

Inspiration

Ore

Sheep

January 26, 2007 - Quidditch World Cup

Kiwis take their camping very seriously. Families often take off during the summer and camp out near a beach for several weeks. We were blown away by the tents they used. They were these old-school canvas tents that came in beautiful bright colors and could be added on to make scores of rooms that attached to one another. In Wanaka, one of the campsites we went to was packed with these tents and it totally reminded us of the Quidditch World Cup (Harry Potter).

QWC

January 27, 2007 - Possessions

When you are traveling around the world, you can't take much with you. Chairs are a luxury that we couldn't afford (space-wise) and there have been several instances where we have longed for a chair to sit in. (See how we suffer!?) When we got to our new home in Golden Bay, one of the first things we did was drive down to the store and buy some camp chairs. We were so excited to have those chairs.

We thought it was interesting how instinctual it was for us to want to put down roots and gather material possessions and creature comforts. Even in this nomadic life we lead and love, we are drawn to it. Ironically, we only sat in those damn chairs a couple of times! However, we donated them to the people camping next to us and they were very excited to receive such a lovely gift.

January 30, 2007 - Pacific Curls

In Golden Bay, there is a place called the Mussle Inn. It's a restaurant and a place for live music. The owners are a family of four who built the house and have made it their personal mission to bring a variety of good music to Golden Bay. The structure of the place is beautiful (I'm learning so much from Sarah!), the music was great each time we were there and they had some wonderful microbrews on tap.

One night, a band called Pacific Curls was there. They were amazing. It is a group of 3 women - two are Maori and one is from Fiji. You wouldn't believe the depth and complexity of music these three people were able to create. On top of that, their message was beautiful and delivered with grace, humor and acceptance. It was a magical experience. Our friend Myles bought a CD so we can share the music with you someday.

Pacific Curls