notes from the road

Clarification of Sorts

I’ve spoken of “traveling” as if that’s not what I’m doing now. It’s odd, I know. When most people come to NZ, they set out to see certain sites in the South Island and in the North Island, ticking things off on a mental checklist until all major cities, national parks, glaciers, and mountains have been seen. This constant motion and visiting of set tourist destinations is what I’ve been referring to when I’ve mentioned “traveling” in prior writings. While most people will take time to work or wof (working in exchange for accommodation, etc.) in the midst of traveling, not many will spend 3 months in the same section of the country, not ever really working and going back to cities they’ve already been to. So, a lot of people will tease me about my traveling logic, or lack there of. Keep in mind though, when on a road trip out west in the states, I drove by Old Faithful and decided to forgo the 20 minute walk to see it, but the day before I drove an extra 2 hours to see a park with life-size ceramic dinosaurs. Haha. I guess that’s just how I roll. And while I started to get sucked into the need of seeing and doing everything here in NZ a few weeks back, I like my traveling style. I don’t need to see every waterfall, lake, tree, flower, or rock in NZ.

AUCKLAND

Biggest city in NZ – population 1.3 million (more people than on the whole South Island)

It’s just a normal city, nothing really special, and the 10 days that I’m spending here are more than enough. 1 day would have sufficed, but when booking my flight, 10 just sounded like a good number for an extended layover.

Ya know, I went almost 3 months without eating fast food and since I’ve been here I’ve had Burger King 3x. I don’t even like Burger King that much, and I really don’t like paying $8US for a value meal – crimony.

I’m staying at a hostel outside of town with those crazy German boys and it’s actually a pretty nice place with these fabulous verandas that overlook the skyline and I love eating breakfast, drinking tea, and doing my devotions there each morning. The bathrooms are beyond awesome, as they have a shower, sink, toilet, and mirror in the same room – the things you take for granted back home : )

OK, routine day: after breakfast we go into the city and run errands, shop, use the internet, come back for lunch, read, write, hang out, make dinner, play board games, hang out, go to bed. Yesterday one of the guys rented a car though and we went and saw some mountains, beaches, stones, and flowers : )