Last New Zealand Road Trip

T minus 6. It is Friday, we leave New Zealand next Thursday. Fly all night and arrive in Los Angeles on…Thursday morning. Yesterday we were in the far south, and are working our way to Christchurch to then fly to Auckland (North Island). But no time there, just a transfer to a long haul airplane. We arrive in LAX with no plans for getting to San Diego. No worries, we are the most seasoned of travelers; we will not be spending the night in an airport, bus or train station.

The last house sits

We spent the last few weeks house sitting in ski areas and vineyards around Queenstown. There is no secret why this is the most affluent area in the South Island. Relieved of these assignments, with no mishaps and all animals accounted for, we have just two more weeks to spend in New Zealand. We decided to torture ourselves be making one more trip to our favorite places and visit our kiwi friends. It is the road of tears.  First stop, a bach on the beach. A wild stretch of beach in the far south that gets wind from Antarctica occasionally. We sleep to the sounds of the waves crashing, and sometimes the wind howling. Across the bay, we can see snow covered mountains. Now we have not been everywhere, but I think seeing snow from the beach is pretty special. 

Le Misérables

While wine tasting a while ago, we met a couple who had flown down from Auckland to see a play in Invercargill. Counterintuitive, so we asked questions. I mean the cultural center of New Zealand, if New Zealand had such a thing, would be Auckland. Invercargill is the biggest town in Southland, but that is not saying much, there are 57,000 people. It is not large, not affluent either, undergoing what will hopefully be renewal. So a world class production of Les Miserables that aficionados are willing to fly to see, seemed unlikely. Something we needed to check out since we were heading south. We invited one of our English friends that lives in Orepuki and we three headed to the theater. And wouldn’t you know it, we see someone else we knew. It is getting weird to be on the other side of the world from home, and running to people we know. Last week we ran into another acquaintance in an obscure cafe attached to a garden store. By the way, the show did not disappoint.

Orepuki Visit

Our week in Orepuki filled up with social events that only a town of 42 can do. The aforementioned night at the theatre, BBQ at one home, dinner with our friends George and Annette (and their three mini schnauzers) another night. Steak night at the pub down the track one night, another night at the local pub, and the birthday party of a 13 year old. We had the choice of cards, snooker tournament, craft meeting, ladies lunch, deer stalking, and camera club. If I keep talking about Orepuki, it is not going to be the secret that it is: seaside hamlet of a unique collection of small farms, pub, cafe and bowling club, and interesting folks that care for one another. It is truly one of our favorite spots in the country. 

It is a six hour scenic drive from Orepuki to our next destination: the house of friends in Timaru. The sun is bright on the green hills and the lambs are just starting to arrive, Spring is around the corner. Beautiful South Island New Zealand. Bittersweet beauty, I am melancholy.

Timaru, the last pet sit

Our presence in Timaru coincides with the relief of our friends so they can get away. Yep, another pet sit for a couple of days. Great dane and friends: Nevelle the goat, Arnold the biggest puppy, cats, deaf alpaca, calves, donkeys, chooks, ducks, and doves. It is a real menagerie. Fifteen minutes after our arrival we notice Arnold eating something blue. Turned out to be rat poison. Of course it is about 5 pm everytime there is a pet emergency. We got him to the vet and he seems to be fine. He is a really big dog and we caught this quickly. Whew! Arnold is one of our favorite dogs from petsitting; top of a long and growing list. 

The Days Ahead

Monday we head to Christchurch, biggest city on the south island. We had to arrive in time to get our covid test and get the results which means a few days here. Another chore will be to go through the car and our bags and shed kilos and kilos to get our belongings in our bags, and the bags down to the weight limit. We have already given away baking pans, frying pans, coffee plunger, kindling wood, firestarters, candles, jackets, hiking boots, extra clothes. Optimistically, we are storing some camping gear on the promise that we will return. I am having difficulty unloading our exercise mats; no one wants those surprisingly.

2020, and so far 2021 has been the worst year ever for most folks. Oddly, somehow, we have managed to log the best year of our life. We found an adopted country. As much as we have done here in the past 18 months, there is still more undiscovered. We pledge to be back as soon as we can. Hopefully bring some of you with us. In the meantime, we are eager to get back to the USA for a check in; and we really could use some sun. Leaving here in the dead of Winter and will be arriving in the middle of the Summer. It will be reminiscent of our arrival in Australia, from England in Winter 2019.