the end of the trip

Leaving Hokitika on January 16^th, it was time to make our way back to Christchurch. The trip would soon be coming to an end and I could feel the sadness looming. Mark and I talked about how much we didn’t want this trip to end. It hadn’t been idyllic. There were, of course, many limitations to what we could do. Mark and I butted heads a few times (shocking). There were a few times when, for everyone’s benefit, one of us walked away. One time both of us walked away at the same time and the kids were left there without any parents. Just for a second though. No worries! But that is our life whether we are in Lakewood, Newcastle or Queenstown so why not be in Queenstown? It was such a beautiful country, so open, so easy. If we had all the money in the world, we both could imagine going home for a bit (not sure where that is at the moment, but you know what I mean) and then finding the next country to romp around in for a month or so. It’s really a great way to spend time. But our time was nearing an end. Our job was to make it from the west coast that morning back to the east coast that evening as we were to spend 2 more nights in Christchurch before we flew back to Sydney.

If we were to have left Hokitika and driven right to Christchurch, it would have taken about 3 ½ hours over a big mountain pass in the middle of the country. But we decided to go up the west coast a ways to a town called Punakaiki because there were some rock formations there called Pancake Rocks that we’d heard good things about. And we’re so glad we went there.

The drive was fun as Mark and I had a mission. We set out to take pictures of all the things we saw a lot of in New Zealand that we might like to remember years from now like sheep.
And cemeteries.
And hawks. And how the trees are all wind-blown even when the wind isn’t blowing--like someone used hair spray to keep their branches sticking out to one side.
And times when Mark or I played the troll, asking the kids riddles before they crossed the bridges.
And the adorable little farm houses, so different than the often neglected ones I’ve seen along the lonely stretches of highway in the US.

So we slammed on the brakes a lot during this drive in an effort to capture all the little New Zealand goodies.

Pancake rocks were very interesting. Scientists aren’t totally sure why they are the way they are so don’t expect any intellectual commentary here, but I can tell you that they looked like drip castles with thin white layers of limestone in between the layers of dark rock. The ocean waves crash and boom in and around and under the layered formations and evoke awe from onlookers of all ages. That powerful ocean again.

We also found a beach with a river , the ocean and foam in the waves all for one great price. A little bit of heaven for each of us.

We finally got back in the car a bit reluctantly because we knew we had one more long haul to go before we rested. What we didn’t know was how long the haul would actually be. We’d already driven about an hour to Punakaiki. Next we drove about 2 hours inland to Arthur’s Pass, halfway to Christchurch. We were stopped by a road works guy (they call construction “road works”) who told us that there was a brush fire just down the way and we’d have to either spend the night in Arthur’s Pass and hope that the road cleared the next day or we’d have to turn around and take another route to Christchurch. We pulled over to have a think and decided to push through. So we drove back to the west coast and up north a ways to another pass that took us to the east coast. Logistically speaking, it was a quite a disappointment to arrive in Christchurch at 11:00pm instead of our anticipated 7:00-7:30 arrival time.

But scenically speaking, we drove through gorgeous country. This wasn’t a tourist road we were on. On all the other roads we’d driven on, I utilized the passing lanes to overtake RVs and other looky-loo tourists in rental cars. On this road, I hugged the left (slow) lane the whole way as the Kiwi’s zoomed by me, clearly knowing every curve of the road.

Mark described the landscape this way: “Even though this country is small, the land within it seems so big.” The valleys yawned wide. The rivers snaked for miles. The mountains jutted up majestically. Each lake was larger than many towns put together. The canopy of sky seemed very high above us. The green was rich. The forests were thick. If I had a few hours of detour, that would have been exactly the place I’d want to be.

January 17^th

Today, our last day, we decided to spend at the beach.
We were back in Christchurch and the weather was fabulous. It was 26 degrees and fine. That is how they describe sunny days in Australia and New Zealand: Fine, mostly fine, partly fine, and fining up (if the clouds are supposed to pass later in the day.) This day was fine and warm and we were so happy to be back under a warm sun. New Zealand is not Hawaii. It feels more like Alaska to me weather-wise.

Our last day was pretty low-key as we were completely over driving so we didn’t have the motivation to go adventuring. We also had to go to bed early as we had a 5:00am transport to the airport which we made and the return home was safe and uneventful.

So the New Zealand adventure has come and gone. We are back in Newcastle now and I have a lot of catching up to do with how that has gone. But the NZ trip will remain forever in our memories as a very good one. Compared to what I expected, it was colder, less populated, just as gorgeous, a bit less friendly, just as accessible, and less likely of a place I’ll move to. I had a feeling that once there, I’d never want to leave but I don’t think we’ll move there. I could have traveled around there for weeks on end but living there year-round might feel a little too far away. A rental on Stewart Island to visit a few months a year might be the closest I ever get to residing there which surprises me and actually makes me a little sad. I thought I would find NZ to be utopia but once again, I’ve learned that nothing’s perfect. The upsides are the beauty and the space, the activities and the freedom. The downsides are the weather and the subtle distance I felt from the people, (not that I blame them for not wanting to encourage foreigners to join them in their pristine home.) I intend to go back. We’re considering visiting the north island and parts of the south island we didn’t see at some other point this year.

Thank you for joining us on our journey and for all of the responses you’ve sent to these blogs. I have thoroughly enjoyed having an audience with which to share this experience. Next stop: Newcastle.