For my next few blogs, I will be accompanied by my good
friend and partner in crime Vicki who had come from England to stay with me for
a month.
New Zealand
New Zealand, a small island country sitting quietly on its
own in the corner of the world. I always
planned to drop by New Zealand whilst I was living in Australia but I had
recently cancelled this planned excursion because I wanted to focus on getting
farm work and get my second visa.
However I came to learn that an old friend of mine from
England who emigrated to New Zealand was getting married next month and that
Vicki and I were invited to the wedding.
What are the chances? It was a
once in a life time offer and I could never turn it down. The farm work would just have to wait a bit
longer.
Corner of the world
So what did I know about New Zealand? Well, what do most people know about New
Zealand? Unless you are from New Zealand
yourself or have a special interest in the country then the average person’s (myself
included) general knowledge regarding this country is usually very limited.
New Zealand rarely shows up on the international radar of
gossip and it seems its only recent claim to fame is that a very popular
Hollywood fantasy film was shot there, a fact that never fails to come up in
New Zealand related conversation.
“I am going to New Zealand next week” I would say talking to
someone, “oh, that is where they filmed Lord of the Rings isn’t it?” the other
person would ask, “yes it is” I would answer and that would pretty much be the
end of the New Zealand related conversation.
Either that or the other person would make some poor joke involving
Orcs.
To me I liked the fact that New Zealand is very much unknown. I have it in my mind that New Zealand will be
a temporary escape from the restless and media obsessed city of Sydney that had
been my home for the past 8 months, I felt like I needed a holiday and maybe here
I can get some peace.
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| First sight of New Zealand, note the absence of Mordor. |
Beyond the Tasman sea
I thought the flight to New Zealand would be short. New Zealand and Australia are right next to
each other, right? Well compared to
other nearby countries yes but a good look at a map and you will realize that
there is a lot of blue sea between New Zealand and Australia. It took around 4 hours before the Orc infested
lands of New Zealand began to appear in my small cabin window. First impressions of New Zealand? Well it is certainly a lot greener than
Australia.
Another thing I quickly noticed after getting off the plane
was the air here was a lot cooler and fresher compared to the air in Sydney. It had that fresh feeling you notice in the
air after a heavy downpour of rain, only here it seemed to be the norm.
The journey from the airport was relatively uneventful but
it is always exciting getting a bus into a new city that you have never visited
before. At the hostel we were greeted by
the receptionist who was a big young Maori looking bloke wearing an American
style sports jersey and a flat rim baseball cap. He seemed like a nice enough guy and gave us
the keys to our room.
Cool room bro
Our room was basic, dull and had a cool feeling lingering in
the air. The walls, furniture and even
the bedding was cold to the touch. I
attempted to turn on the electric radiator but there was no life in it. The radiator was old, tired looking and was
covered in dents. It looked like someone
had previously tried to get it working by repeatedly hitting it.
Along with the broken heater the large window that sat above
it was single glazed. Touching this
window was like touching a sheet of ice.
In fairness it probably wasn’t that bad but I had just come from Sydney where
the climate was a lot warmer. Here across
the Tasman Sea everything was a lot colder.
I went back down to speak to the receptionist. “Yes, I reported the broken heater last week”
the baseball cap wearing Maori man said “I tried to get it working for you before
you arrived”. Maybe he was the one who
had assaulted our radiator in an impatient and uneducated attempt to get it
working. “I would move you but
unfortunately all the other rooms are booked” he said with a concerned look on
his face. Looks like Vicki and I would
just have to acclimatize.
But anyway Vicki and I didn’t come here to sit in an
uncomfortably cold budget hostel room.
We were only had a few days before the wedding and then shortly after we
would be heading back to Sydney. There
was much to see and I couldn’t wait, I had that new adventure feeling.
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| Our home away from home away from home. |
