19 Jan– 9:15pm– Mag 4.6 Mercallii V
Just when I thought they were over. I was having a housewarming dinner with some coworkers. A game of “Settlers of Catan” seemed like it was getting a bit heated. Or perhaps everyone was just figiting and tapping their legs under the table… wait a minute… BAM! The whole house shook.
Nothing like a 4.6 earthquake to warm a new place.
They’re following us….
Aaron and I were escaping NZ and the christchurch quakes… or so we thought. We were settled in to our resort on Moso Island in Vanuatu. I have to admit, everyone I talked to who had been there immediately followed the acknowledgement of how great it was with… “There was a 6.X earthquake when I was there!”
Luckily this wasn’t anything that big but I didn’t want to be totally left out of the shake action.
I was napping in our Fare, and Aaron was in the bathroom when it hit. Just a single jolt and then a resonating vibration. Aaron exited… Did you feel that I asked? Nope.
I was willing to write it off as a phantom quake until it came up as a topic of conversation with some of the other guests… First earthquake outside NZ.
(Not giving this one a number because I’m reserving that for the ChCh Count. Also don’t know the magnitude or location… but I would get it was in the 4’s)
Holy Cow! Managed to sell Gimley in less than 24 hours. Farewell Gimley… you were a terrible car and always broke down at the worst times in the worst places. Still, somehow, I’ll miss you anyway.
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Kepler Track– Fjordland– Christmas 2012, a set on Flickr.
This year, Aaron and I set out with 5 other friends to walk the Kepler Track, one of New Zealand’s great walks over the Christmas Holidays, we set out on Christmas eve and spent 4 days total on the trail, walking approximately 60 kms in total with 1250 meters (4100 ft) of ascent and descent. The weather rewarded us for our efforts. It was the perfect way to spend the holidays.
A coworker that has recently arrived in Christchurch was asking me what I’d done in my time here and if I could come up with a list of the top experiences not to be missed. So here it is Dave….. two lists, the first is a top 10 list I’d give to anyone traveling in New Zealand. Plus five more experiences that I’d recommend for anyone living here for a while.
The Top 10
1. Mount Cook/Aoraki National Park on a clear day– particularly the Hooker Valley Track.
2. A lazy day on the beaches and at the wineries of Waiheke Island in the gulf off Auckland.
3. Watching the sunrise on the Pacific and Driving over Arthur’s Pass to see the Sunset on the Tasman Sea.
4. Stay at a kiwi Bach. (or book your own at bookabach.co.nz)
5. Stewart Island including the ferry ride over foveaux straight– but only if you can stay at least two days.
6. Bungee Jumping or skydiving in Queenstown
7. Hike a Great Walk. I did 3 (Abel Tasman, Rakiura, and Kepler Tracks)
8. Golden Bay and Farewell spit– with a stop at the Mussel Inn
9. A boat ride through Milford Sound
10. One of the out of the way hot pools such as Hotwater beach, mariua Springs, or the welcome flats hike. There are others too if you research.
And 5 more for expats…
1. Go back to the same place more than once. Aaron and I have enjoyed being able to visit our favorite places over and over again…. likeThe Alpine Lodge at Nelson lakes, Pegasus Bay Winery in Wairapapa, and the banks pennisula town of Akaroa
2. Spend a weekend in a town off the beaten path. Aaron and I spent a three day weekend in Oamaru, everyone asked us why we were going there but we enjoyed the time to see things you don’t see during travels… the cheese wasn’t bad either.
3. Drink and Eat Local– stop at the wineries and the breweries, have a pie at the Te Anau Pie Shop, a burger at Fergburger, cheese at the whitestone cheese factory, cherries from the roadside stand in geraldine, and a moa in marlborough.
4. Take a tramp to one of the thousands of huts on the south island that are not part of the great walks system.
5. Leave without doing everything…. this is one you won’t be able to avoid.
Within the first two days of Aaron and my farewell tour of Southland New Zealand we had already said it too many times… “Why are we leaving?”
In fact it was too depressing to even utter those words. So, in classic kiwi form, we decided an abbreviation was necessary and W.A.W.L. (pronounced “wah-wol”) it became. Hearing your partner uttering wah-wol was sort of comical and allowed you to take a moving moment, and make it a bit lighter. We could mutually recognize the feeling of cherishing that place without decending into a spiral of deeper thoughts about why indeed you were leaving and, perhaps, second guessing a decision that has been made too many times already.
It’s only natural that you start to romanticize a place once the end is in sight. I know that our time here will only get more romanticized once we leave. But the reality is, New Zealand has become part of us even if Christchurch didn’t always feel like home. Aaron and I have always loved traveling here and there is a lot we still have left to do.
It surprised me sometimes, the times I found myself saying WAWL. Most of the time it was the beautiful jaw dropping moments but often times it was in the simple everyday kindness of the kiwis we would meet and the comfort we’ve grown accustomed to traveling around here.
The quality of our life here has been higher than we realize. As I haven’t been back to the US in over a year and a half, I am terrified I’m not recognizing the true value of what we have here. I guess there will always be a part of me asking “why am I leaving” but at the same time, I know I need to go.
Aaron and my time in NZ is drawing to a close. And although our “OE” (oversees experience) hasn’t been as long as most kiwis, I still feel like it’s been long enough to gain a new perspective on my country.
Aaron and I have enjoyed our sojourn to a country that a significant portion of the rest of the world would struggle to find on a map. They’d be more likely to point to Tasmania and view New Zealand as some little island just a short ferry ride away from Australia.
And because of that, New Zealand lives a peaceful and somewhat sheltered existance away from it all. Most kiwis treasure that, and most expats living here crave that. Indeed, it’s something I’ll greatly miss. But Aaron and I have decided it’s not for us.
I have mixed feelings about returning to america. See here trust and honesty and a person’s “word” still exist. There is still a moral code in society and a bit of a pioneer spirit. “She’ll be allright” and “keep calm and carry on” are the kiwi mantras and the population is used to putting their head down and carrying on the face of adversity. The economic market too is small and simple, the cost of living is high, rurality exceeds the urban existance here and a local celebrity is a national celebrity. You can order coffee behind the mayor and drink at the same bar as the prime minister.
But i miss my country and the standard of life I had in the US. I miss my friends, my family and a truly urban existance. But I have to admit, when I hear news from the US, when I see our celebrities and most recently when the news of the Sandy Hook shootings reached me I found myself seriously questioning why I was returning to america.
It’s relavent to note that Aaron and I have been living abroad for around 15 months and in that time the kiwi international news has reported over half a dozen mass shootings in the US. The batman shootings, the oregon mall, most recently sandy hook and I believe there were one or two others in there… is it horrible, I can’t even remember them specifically? I’m even pretty sure one of those was in seattle.
When the jewish federation shootings happened a few years ago I remember standing at the front windows of my office watching the swat team run down the street thinking… “I wonder what’s happening at the homeless shelter down the street?” After living here 15 months I’d be terrified to see a gun, the police don’t even carry them.
I’ve found myself crying several times ready about sandy hook. I’ve affected more, I feel it more.
It’s true the US population size is much larger and that must be considered in a comparison but, even so, there is something really wrong here. The US needs to fix itself or its going to go down. The rest of the world is saddened by this news but then shake their heads. Because it doesn’t happen here, at least not with the same frequency and violence. But they’ve come to expect it in america.
America is a land of an exceedingly high standard of living, and extreme poverty. One of the most dangerous and one with a wealth of opportunity.
The news of Sandy Hook is on the front page of stuff. And while browsing facebook I came across this quote by Morgan Freeman.
“You want to know why {these shootings keep happening}. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
CNN’s article says that if the body count “holds up”, this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer’s face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer’s identity? None that I’ve seen yet. Because they don’t sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you’ve just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.
You can help by forgetting you ever read this man’s name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news.”
And I can’t help but feel there is a lot of truth to what he’s saying. America’s sensationalistic media may be a significant cause. I have been shocked to watch reality tv down here. On my favorite, The block, the contestants applaud each other, congratulate each other and give up opportunities to get ahead at the other contestants expense. When the fan favorite of The Block NZ didn’t earn a single dollar after the show, the people of new zealand opened up a fund and raised over $600,000 for the family. Then, even more shocking, the contestants chose to give all the money they earned in excess of the next contestants (around $200,000) to charity, because it wouldn’t be fair. And then I watch an episode of survivor and watch contestants vote out any and all able bodied contestants because they are a “threat” and so the finale is left with the most evil and backhanded to the contestants rather than the fitest and most honorable.
The lack of access to Mental Heath Care also certainly doesn’t help. I just recently had an unexpected surgery and all it took to get it set up was a 10 minute phone call. I was able to stay in a single room in the hospital and I had 24 hour nursing care at the call of a button. I have a minor sprain on my ankle and have been given 14, yes 14, physio appointments to rehabilitate myself. And this is all on the national healthcare system. I have no private insurance. Oh, and the fact that I have now quit my job and am unemployed… it makes no difference to my coverage.
But I do have to think that stricter gun control certainly wouldn’t hurt ether
Wake up america, How many more people must die?
It’s weird now that the reality of our departure is starting to sink in. This has been my first real expat living experience and as it is drawing closed I already find myself waxing a bit nostalgic about the things I’ll miss here… and also distinctly noticing the things I WON’T miss. So, in the spirit of reflection, I’ve added a new post category… Things I’ll miss… or NOT.
Tonight I was reminded of a thing I’ll miss when I called Air New Zealand to see about changing my flight to Sydney to make it one day earlier. When I got an answer a kiwi recording thanked me for my call but informed me that “due to unusually heavy call volumes, the approximate waiting time [was] 3 minutes”. Less than 30 seconds later I was speaking to an obviously young kiwi woman rather than an offline call centre in Mumbai. Ahhh… New Zealand.
I thought a few of you (especially friends and family) might be interested to know our/my travel itinerary for the next couple of months. For those who know me it will come as no surprise that it’s pretty planned out, but I HAVE tried to keep some leisure time in the mix.
And for those of you who think I have it all planned out, I most certainly do not. I’m using this final travel time down under to reevaluate my life direction. My career plans are a bit uncertain moving forward and I’m using this time to do a bit of self reflection. My masseuse called it my own personal “EAT PRAY LOVE”. “Without the love part,” She said, “because Aaron is so cool.”
We’ll see I never made it past the first Chapter of that book.
Dec 14-15 Aaron and I Jet off to Wellington for an end of work celebration. We’re going to see Morrissey!
Dec 17-Jan 2 Aaron and I are traveling the extreme south of New Zealand. Journeying through the Catlins and also doing two great walks… The Raikura Track on Stewart Island and The Kepler Track in Te Anau
Jan 5-13 Aaron and I are following in Karl Pilkington’s footsteps in Vanuatu… including a trip to Tanna for some arse boarding on the volcano. (Well we’ll see about that part).
Jan 15th– Aaron heads back to the states to start work. And I sell our stuff and move out of our Christchurch Home.
Jan 29th-Feb 4th– I’ve rented a relaxing bach on the Banks Pennisula in Port Levy.
Feb 5th-Feb 15th– Katy comes to visit! We travel around the North Island together.
Feb 16th-26th– I tour around Northland and the Bay of Islands, including a weeks stay in a tree house in Russell.
Feb 27th-March 12th– Off to OZ! A few weeks in Sydeny and melborne –And (fingers crossed for) Nick Cave at the Sydney Opera House!
March 15th– Home Sweet Home, I finally head back to Seattle!
Learning is Living 