"Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed."
Over 7 months now. I guess the length of this trip has just recently really struck me. 7 months behind and yet still over 3 remains...thats almost one third still remaining and I already feel like there is way too much to digest. It's funny how human memory work. I remember picture clearly my last evening in Finland like it was yesterday, sitting in Kaisla and having beer with my mates. In same time I try to remember 2 weeks in Darwin, it feels like it happened ages ago. And there is just so much after Darwin as well. That's also one of the reasons for this blog, its here not only to tell my mates what's going on and what am I doing, its also here to document this trip so I have this amazing travel story to read years and years forward. This blog is also for myself.
I told in couple of earlier entries how this is getting tougher...it is. But in same time I have to say that every single day I have enjoyed it, and life. I can say that I have enjoyed this experience every single day. 211 days so far and counting, how many days in a row I was(or will be) able to enjoy life back in home?
Ok, I'm getting all mental now, time to jump back to reality. I was ment to write entry 2 days ago when I last was in Christchurch but I ended up getting stuck in TV room watching Australian Open instead. So now I'm back in Christchurch and I have 1.5h before Nadal is playing :-)
After Mt Cook I spent 2 days in Lake Tekapo. I had heard how beautiful, calm and chill that place was so I decided to stop there for 2 nights. Oh my, it was pretty!
In Tekapo I was struck again by New Zealand's peculiar weather. First I am in Mt Cook freezing and having snowball war and after 1h drive, I am sunbathing in +32 weather! Overall Tekapo was maybe even too quiet for my taste...weird, few months ago I would have propably loved it more but now it's different. I guess these quiet, beautiful locations need good bunch of people around you, that is if you want to spend more than 2 days in one location. It seems it wasn't a problem in Australia to find such people, but it's almost impossible to do same in New Zealand. I'll get back to reasons little further...
After Tekapo I arrived to Christchurch for 2 days, what a dreadful and crappy city again! It's clear pattern now. New Zealand is very pretty on the outside, it has gorgeous landscapes and stunning scenery but every single city is just worse than previous. It really doesn't make it too appealing to move here permanently cause I couldn't imagine myself living in any of these ugly cities. It looks like none of the big cities in NZ have had any kind of design. So you have mixture of every single style built by the lowest bidder(clearly!). It looks like New Zealanders don't even care how their cities look, as long as buildings get the job done and are cost effective. That's also what is so different with Aussies and Kiwis. 2 days ago in news some officials in Australia announced that they are going to rebuild Melbourne Tennis Park into best Tennis Park in entire world! Knowing Aussies, they will do that. Kiwis...they just don't care or wouldn't have the will to do it. In short, I love Austalia :-)
Oh, no pictures from Christchurch so far...couldn't think of anything so far which was worth the space in my memory card :-D
From Christchurch I booked a trip to Banks Peninsula nearby. Now, this is sort of interesting peninsula and it looks weird as hell if you look at it with Google Earth. 9 million years ago Peninsula was big volcano, but these days it's crater looks like this:
I had booked 2 nights in a sheepfarm hostel right in middle of nowhere. I spent 2 days in authentic Australian farm back in September so I figured I should see what the farm life is like in NZ as well. Experience _almost_ turned out to be great, but just almost. Settings were amazing, just look at the view from farm's terrace:
...and views around Peninsula were amazing, again:
...but, hehe there always seem to be but when speaking about NZ. Place needed right bunch of people to stay longer than 2 days and there lies the problem here. People aren't staying anywhere long enough, everyone is just madly rushing from place to place and mostly spending 1 or 2 nights in one place, max. You don't get to know people because they are gone the next morning.
There are couple of reasons for this, but mostly it's logistics. Public bus network is very limited and cover's only major locations. Why? Because there are no travelers in public buses! Majority of travelers use either their own rented car(which btw is cheap) or take one of the 3 major backpacker buses(Kiwi Experience, Magic or Naked). Backpacker buses are in general cheaper than public buses, but they bind you to certain route and to certain timeframe which mostly is way too short. Travelers mostly take one of this backpacker bus passes which for example allow you to travel predetermined South Island circle in 2 weeks. After buing pass you are bound to that route, you can't retrace your steps and you have to finish the route within 2 weeks...which is why people just madly rush from place to place. New Zealand is not traveling mecca, this is holiday country...sadly.
Oh and these backpacker buses, they organize everything for you. Bus drivers hand out lists where people can check accomodation list where they want to stay in next destination and activity list where people can choose which activities they want to do in that destination. After everyone has checked those lists, bus driver makes phone calls and makes all bookings acting like any travel agent. So in essence, people on backpacker buses are on a package trip where every destination is told to them, where every booking and activity is made for them while they can just sit down, relax and get drunk. Sound like typical holiday? Yes, and typical holiday is exactly what I am NOT looking for. Having someone do all the work for you and telling you where to go next takes away all the fun. I enjoy the hassle of finding out destinations by myself, do all the bookings myself and having freedom to choose my next destination independently.
Jesus, I have been ranting a lot in this entry :-D Nah, it's just that I'm trying to explain what I feel is wrong with New Zealand and why traveling through this country seems like a struggle sometimes. Anyways, even with the rant, I have enjoyed New Zealand a lot. Fantastic scenery, but it's very unlikely that I will return here as a backpacker again, not alone at least.
Now I have another day to spend in Christchurch, was hoping to catch some movie while I'm in big city...and trying to find a shop that sells swimshorts. Some jerk decided to steal my swimmers in Mt Cook, go figure...
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