I just woke up for the last time in New Zealand, and as I tend to get cheesily sentimental about events such as the last time I'll do something in a specific place, I apologize in advance if I come off as complaining that I have to leave. I realize what a fantastic opportunity this trip has been for me and don't want to come across as a "woe is me, I have to go back to work" person when lots of people had to be at work this whole time. As a side note: if you have the chance/time/money to do a trip like this, I full-heartedly recommend taking a couple weeks off and really getting into a vacation. This was my first trip for over 2 weeks in one country and I really enjoyed getting to know some of the people and culture of the place I am visiting.
The last couple days here in New Zealand have been fairly mellow but quite enjoyable. Amy and I completed our road trip on Friday, driving about 5 hours from Dunedin north up the east coast to Christchurch. We stopped at the Moerekai Boulders, which are a fantastic grouping of large, round boulders imbedded into the beach. One of the more unique things I have seen in all my travels. After our last "must see" we pretty much just cruised home, looking forward to some time out of the car. Friday night I went to a party for one of Jake and Michelle's friends who is leaving for a couple months to go to Indonesia or Thailand or something. Nothing quite like attending a going away party and meeting the guest of honor for the first time. There was a nice little crowd and I had a nice time meeting some more people that I had heard about in Jake's stories.
On Saturday we headed up to a place called Hanmer Springs, which is about two hours north of Christchurch. We had a group of seven all together and stopped at a couple wineries (Pegasus Bay - fantastic, and Waikara Springs - decent enough) on the way up and had a nice leisurely drive. Michelle had rented a big house for us all to stay in and once settled we turned our attention to the main attraction of Hanmer Springs, the springs. For $12 you get to enter the springs, which consist of a series of about 15 man made springs of varying temperature and could stay as long as you like. Jake and I moved through about five pools ranging from 33 degrees Celsius to 39 degrees Celsius. After about two hours, we were relaxed, pruned, and ready to eat. While others went back to start preparing some food, Jake and I took on the task of finding some wine which is always an interesting task in some of these little New Zealand towns. Despite some difficulty, we succeeded in our mission and headed back to the villa for dinner.
After a delicious barbeque dinner of burgers and venison sausage, complimented by a great salad, everyone just sat around talking and we played a couple games of Mafia, introducing the game to the three non-Americans. People gradually headed off to bed, and Jake and I stayed up chatting for quite some time, which is always fun. Sunday we headed back to Christchurch, and went to see one of Jake and Michelle's friends competing in a Cricket match. I had never watched Cricket before, and while there is a lot of downtime built into the game, I still enjoyed the act of just lying in a nice park watching and learning the game. After Cricket, Jake and I played some non-competitive ultimate to get my last little bit of exercise for the trip, came back and had some dinner and then just hung out. A very enjoyable and relaxing last full day to be sure.
So, I am in the last couple hours of my trip here, trying to tie up some loose ends (like buying the things I've been planning to buy and figuring out how or if daylight savings in the US affects my flight times home) and then I'll be heading off to the airport this afternoon. Time to get into this last day!
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