So there’s Meg. She was the one I met first when we shared a room in Abel Tasman. She’s from Ontario, and she’s one of the funniest and most real people I’ve ever met. She is, as we've been joking, the courage behind my badassery. She has a great heart, and I’m gonna miss her tons when she heads to Australia in a few days. She also apparently has a friend named Tom back at home who is a male version of me, so I’m totally going to visit when I get back. She’s the one on the right.
There’s Emily, who’s also from Canada (Calgary, I think), and she’s a crazy awesome bohemian who’s running around New Zealand without a plan, much like me. I met her the first night we were in Abel Tasman as well, and my first memory of her is her sitting in the common room playing guitar and saying “I’d do anything for money, except for work.” It was hilarious.
There’s Kira and Hardy, who I have to write up as a pair ‘cause they’re so effing adorable together. They’re from Germany, and I honestly have to say that I’ve never found German a nice language until I heard them speak it. Hardy’s a bit quiet until you get to know him, and then he’s just a super chill, super nice guy who I wish I could talk to more. Kira’s probably one of the top five most gorgeous people I’ve ever met. She’s got style, and she’s got a sort of dry humor that really comes out in her German to English translations, and she’s playful, which is one of my favorite characteristics in people. Here’s the four of them all together:
Then there’s Anna, who’s from England, and is a bit of a bookworm like me, but she knows how to party. We’ve had some great conversations about communes in Niceragua and the English opinion of the royal family.
And last there’s Joao and Ghislaine, and I’m not sure if I’m spelling EITHER of their names right. Joao is from Portugal and Ghislaine is from the Netherlands. Joao competes only with Meg for the loudest person in the group. He’s crazy and will go running off places randomly and singing at the top of his lungs in total silence. I know a bit less about Ghi, because she’s super quiet most of the time, and sort of stays in the background, but I guess that’s to be expected if you’re dating Joao.
So that’s the core eight (including me). We’ve got a few that come and go outside of that, but the eight of us have been together since we got to the South Island. We’re tight, and we’ll all be going our separate ways starting tomorrow, and that bums me out.
But here’s what we’ve been up to in the past week:
-Took the HUGE ferry from Wellington to Picton and started our journey on the South Island.
-Spent the first night here at Abel Tasman National Park, which was beautiful, but not quite as nice as National Park in the North Island, at least to me. I thought about doing the Great Walk they have there, but decided against it in the end because the timing was weird. Now I’m glad I did, ‘cause I wouldn’t have really met this cool group!
-The next night we spent in Barrytown, which has a population of about 40, so our bus pretty much doubled it. We stayed in a pub that doubled as a hostel, and had a crazy dress-up party and I had my first long convo with Meg about not knowing what we’re doing with our lives. It’s really nice to meet other people who have the same feelings and doubts about that as I do.
-The next night we were in Franz Joseph, which was BEAUTIFUL. My favorite place, I think, or at least right up there with Natty P, as Meg calls it. Just when you think the hills can’t get any higher, you see the even LARGER mountains and the glaciers on top.
-We stayed two night in Franz Joseph so we could spend a whole day climbing the glacier, which I did, and it was GORGEOUS.
-Next day we got on the road again and slept in Makarora, another tiny town with about one store. That night was karaoke, and I’m proud to say that I’ve now embarrassed myself in that fashion at least once in my life. Hardy and I sang “By The Way” by the Chili Peppers. We pretty much rocked it.
-Then, finally, the next day we got to Queenstown. I was sad that we were done with our beautiful West Coast drive, but it was nice to get back into civilization after our time in the wilds. Plus, this is the first place in NZ where I’ve felt like it’s really fall. Most of where we’ve been has been dense rainforest, and this is the first place with trees that change color!
-Since we got to Queenstown we’ve been bungy jumping (not me, but a few of us), been out partying, had some sweet serious convos, eaten Fergberger (which Queenstown is famous for), taken part of the walk around the lake, met some new friends, Kira’s gotten a SWEET tattoo (I thought about getting one, but nothing felt right), and had a pretty great time overall. Mostly we’re just enjoying being around each other. I keep feeling like I should be spending my time making plans and looking for jobs, but I figure taking a break from that for five days (last Friday through Tuesday) to enjoy being where I am with who I’m with isn’t a bad thing.
So I don’t know what I’m going to be doing, or where I’ll be, after Tuesday, but things will work out. I have a couple of job possibilities, but I’d like to stay near Queenstown for a bit. It’s so pretty here, and there are lots of hiking possibilities, even though I think it may now be too cold to camp. We’ll see. But I’ll try to keep this a bit more updated, and for more pictures of my adventures (I can only put so many on this blog ‘cause it takes SO long to upload) go check out my facebook.
Peace, y’all!
No comments:
Post a Comment