third time’s the charm

Posted on October 3, 2013 by karenula

my days in Aotearoa were coming close to an end.
I had finally reached what I thought would be my final destination before flying back home. but I got there on Tuesday, earlier than I expected, and obviously I didn’t want to be a pain with my Kiwi family staying in their house for the whole time… AND for the third time… but of course, mom Ali said that there was no problem and that I could stay there as long as I wanted!

notice the “Mexican maid” note there…

I really didn’t do much in Wellington this last week and a half.
I met at Te Papa Museum with Andrea, Angela, and Jimena my Mexican friend that lives in Melbourne (she was travelling all around NZ by bus).

I met with Jeronimo and Anna who came all the way down to this city just to say goodbye. we went to the Te Papa Museum, again… but to be honest I could never get tired of this place. every time I go there, I find something new, it’s like the never ending museum! the Aztec exhibition was about to be open, so there were ads all around the entrance… and I found an old friend of mine among them…

Mictlantecuhtli and me

zee Germans!

then we walked around the city, had dinner at my favourite mexican place Viva Mexico, and finished the night at my favourite pub Molly Malones.

I gathered once more on Saturday with my Funky Green friends to say goodbye to Andrea who was leaving the next day. so we walked around the city, we had dinner at Burger Fuel, and then ended up at Four Kings to have a couple of beers.

next day I was going to have the Mexican Night with my family. so early in the morning Mark and I went to the Sunday market on the waterfront. we bought all the ingredients, and on the way out I saw my friend Bruno once more! third time in three months… we talked a little bit and then said goodbye for good, chances of seeing him again this last week were very low.

after the market we went to their real home, which is being remodelled, for me to see the changes since last time. then he took me to see the Wellington sign near the airport, a sign I hadn’t been able to see and really wanted to have the cliche picture of it.

we went back home and I started getting things ready to start cooking. Mark’s daughter, Anna with her husband and kid were going to join as well and Tasarla’s boyfriend, Josh, too. so it would be full house for the Mexican night!

I started doing the dough for the homemade tortillas, and then started cooking the main course. everybody started arriving, and I started feeling a lot of pressure, the good thing was that they ALL started helping me, so while I was doing the sauce and the chicken, they became my tortilla making army.

it was a fun night! we laughed, and talked, and drank some wine. I was for sure going to miss them once I left.

the next day I stayed at home all day, writing and setting things for my departure. I was leaving on the 6th of October to LA from Auckland, so I had to find my way back up there. I found one of those relocation sites where you can rent cars for free, and there I found a car I could pick up in Wellington and return in Auckland airport after two days… so I decided to drive up to Rotorua, stay there for two nights, and then leave early on Sunday morning directly to the airport… the tricky part was that it would be a manual car, and it has been a WHILE since I’ve driven one… oh shit!

the next day I met with Angela. we went for a big walk and had some lunch together. we printed a couple of the “Funky Green Biatches” photos to give to the hostel owners as a thank you gift… she wanted to hang out a lot before I left, and I really wanted to do the same, but I just had a lot of things to do so I decided to be with her that whole day, and then see her on my last night… I was going to miss her for sure!

next day my driving lessons with Tasarla started. we went op shopping together along with Josh. I found this very cute outfit to wear the day I would meet with Robert, and other than that, nothing. in fact, I couldn’t really buy stuff, I actually had to get rid of my winter clothes because where I was going, was not as cold as NZ.

almost every day since I got to Wellington I had been texting and skyping with Robert. when I was in Napier, Robert and I had decided to go to Mexico. but I didn’t want to go back to Mexico City, it would not be fair to enter my comfort zone with him, specially if he doesn’t speak the language. I already had my ticket and I couldn’t afford to lose that, I was running out of money and buying a ticket to go somewhere else was not the best idea. so he agreed to come with me. we would fly to LA along with his friend Sebastian, stay there four days, then say goodbye to Sebastian and go to San Diego for a night to take the plane to San Jose del Cabo the next day. in Mexico we would start working for a guy from the States in Cabo Pulmo where he has some kind of hotel, a place that seems wonderful. we also had booked some work in exchange for accommodation with another couple in a ranch with horses, but that was not until the end of December. we decided that, because it would give me the chance to find a job to save some money and travel some more, if that’s what we wished for in the future. he was coming with me! he was being the sweetest guy ever, comforting me because I was really nervous with the road trip, and the manual car… he really cared for me, and we were both very excited to start this new adventure together!

on my last night in Wellington, my Kiwi family invited Angela and me to have a farewell dinner and drinks. this time, was the real goodbye… until they go to Mexico again, which seems more possible than me going back to NZ. we had dinner in an Indian restaurant, and then had some beers at a pub called Laundry… a pretty cool place!

next morning, Tasarla took me to where I had to pick up the car… I was VERY nervous… of course, I took the wheel and the engine stopped like three times right there in the car rental company… in front of everyone… terrible! Tasarla tried to cheer me up and helped me feel less nervous… we said goodbye with a big big hug, and we both drove away…

I was sad to leave my family… but I’m sure we’ll meet again someday… that’s what families do!

note for the road… may the Gods be with me and the people around me while I drive…

more northland

Posted on August 23, 2013 by karenula

I left Ahipara on Monday, August 12th.
Riah gave me a ride to the hostel where Chris had stayed in Kaitaia. and with a big hug, we said goodbye.

I had booked the Harrisons Cape Runner tour for that day along with a night in the hostel. when I arrived there, two other girls were doing the same: checking in for one night, doing the Cape Reinga tour, staying in room number six. their names: Cally (from South Africa) and Sara (from USA).

we hopped into the bus, which was full of cute, older people. most of them part of a group of friends from Wellington.

we started the tour stopping at Ancient Kauri Kingdom, a coffee shop with lots of souvenirs and Kauri wood stuff… FYI Kauri trees are the largest (by volume) but not tallest species of trees in New Zealand, standing up to 50m tall in the emergent layer above the forest’s main canopy. It has been estimated that before 1840, the kauri forests of northern New Zealand occupied at least 12,000 square kilometres. today, there is only 4 per cent of uncut forest left… SAD!
after this, the tour took us to Houhora Heads, a very small town mostly occupied by people living in trailer homes.

then they took us to Rarawa Beach… a beautiful place that might be super cool for camping in summer!

then we had the biggest ice cream ever in Te Kao before arriving to Cape Reinga.

The name comes from the Māori word ‘Reinga’ that means ‘Underworld’, referring to the belief that the cape is the point where the spirits of the dead enter the underworld. it’s also the point where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

we then had lunch at Tapotupotu Bay, where a group of dolphins was waiting for us riding the waves.

we headed after this to Te Paki Stream & Sand Dunes, where obviously the only ones to do tobogganing where us three… we had SO much fun!

and then to ride along the Ninety Mile Beach in the bus from north to south.

we returned to the hostel and the three of us decided to go have something to eat and buy some wine for the night… the night went smooth with some card games and talks… they invited me to join their roadtrip, and that was good for me because they were going south to Auckland through the west coast, and I really wanted to see that. so I agreed, thinking that maybe I could get dropped off at a very nice beach.

next morning we woke up very early to leave Kaitaia.
we drove all the way to Kohukohu to take the ferry, but we missed it by two minutes, so we returned to the town to try and use the library’s wifi… but oh surprise… no wifi.
so we just sat there relaxing for a couple of minutes and then we went back to the port to hop on the ferry.
I had three options to be dropped off at: Opononi, Omapere, or Dargaville.
I thought of staying on Omapere because it seems beautiful, but since we drove past it to get to the “Labyrinth Woodworks, Maze & Puzzle Museum”, I thought it was too much driving for the girls to take me back, and I really wanted to see this huge Kauri tree called “Tane Mahuta”… so I told them that I would stay in Dargaville instead… though I had the feeling it was going to be a VERY boring town…

so, we saw the maze place first. to be horribly honest, I would’ve saved those four dollars for a good pie or something… it’s not worth going… it’s not even a maze! it’s just a zigzag thing where you cannot even get lost…

we then drove to Tane Mahuta… it’s a very short walk, but it is pretty amazing to see a tree that size! Especially after knowing that they are sort of extinct because they used them all for construction and other things.

after this I got dropped off in Dargaville… and as I thought, it was a town with nothing interesting (there’s not even a McDonalds!!!)…
I went to the Greenhouse Backpackers, which used to be a school where the current owner attended… I asked Daren (the owner) if there was someone else staying here, and he said that there was only this guy called Bruno… I froze… “Bruno?” I asked… “yes, he’s a Maori guy that is selling his book”… “whaaat?! I’ve met this guy in Auckland! and I’ve met his daughter in Kerikeri!” and sure thing, Tuhoe “Bruno” Isaac was in the dorm, and of course he recognised me and greeted me happily telling me that he had seen Whai, and that she told her we met!

I went out to town – first to the library to use the wifi and tell mom and dad that I’m still alive, then to grab something to eat, and then to the supermarket to buy some things for dinner.

then I just relaxed in the hostel. writing, and talking a little bit with Bruno and with this other older guy called Willy, who is originally from Croatia. the evening passed, and I finally bought Bruno’s (very expensive) book… I thought our “friendship” history gave me the right to have a long and beautiful dedication and autograph along with our picture taken… but all I got was:

To Karen
ch…
Tuhoe Isaac
Best Wishes
13/8/2013

damn! after all we’ve been through…

next morning I took the shuttle to arrive in Whangarei and went directly to the YHA… I still had to kill some time to go serve in the Meditation Centre a week from that day (on the 21st), and I still needed to figure out how the hell I was going to get there…

I wrote a text message to Paul the Dutch to see if he was still living there, and he told me that Chris had arrived that day and was staying with him. in the hostel I met this really cool girl from England called Emma, with whom I went to the supermarket and had dinner back in the hostel.

next day I met with Chris. we walked around town and then decided to go up the mountain, where the YHA is, to the lookout… but stopped in the hostel for a cup of tea. there we met a Maori guy called Chazz who offered to take us up in his car. we walked down and went to Paul’s house, where Chris was going to cook dinner for him and his flatmate. So the four of us were hanging, having some wine, talking, and eating… fun times!

on Friday I got picked up by John, my kiwi mom’s brother… or in other words, my kiwi uncle… I was going to stay with them (John, Shireen, and Patrick) in their beautiful house in Ngunguru until the meditation course started.

my time with them was happy and relaxing. uncle John took me on a rowboat to the beach the day I got there, we went to see Patrick play football on Saturday, I cooked Mexican breakfast on Sunday and then went for a walk to the lighthouse on Kukutauwhao Island and a visit to the beach in Matapouri.

Kukutauwhao Island

the following days I basically stayed at home. I was getting tired of travelling and spending so much money. I thought of changing my flight to go back home when the meditation course ended, but the “penalty” for changing dates was something around NZ$300… so I decided I’d better spend those dollars in something worth visiting… and besides, I was already in this part of the world and I would definitely regret not visiting more places once I got back home.
I gave up on serving in the meditation course as well. it was just difficult to get there without a car. I needed to go to Auckland to take another bus that would drop me on a town between Auckland and where I was now… just stupid… instead I found a job opportunity on the BBH website: Rotorua’s Funky Green Voyager needed a cleaner in exchange for accommodation, wifi, and laundry… “well, I’ve never been to Rotorua… from there I might be able to go to Hobbiton! ooh! and get into one of those stinky hot pools!… and just for cleaning? bitch please! I’m THE Mexican maid! ok… I’m calling them NOW”… I got accepted immediately, they had just posted the ad when I called, so I took it as a sign… I even got a free bus ticket from a Brazilian guy that is now in Spain and is definitely not using his “nakedbus passport” with seven trips left… everything was set… I was arriving in Rotorua on Friday, and even my uncles let me stay with them until that day! Orsome!!!

so I just relaxed and enjoyed the days in beautiful Ngunguru with this beautiful family! I cooked a Mexican dinner for my uncles and their neighbours. Shireen gave me a recipe for making TORTILLAS… that’s right, an English woman teaching a MEXICAN this! outrageous!

on Thursday I went to visit another kauri tree, his name: Tane Moana. it turned out that this small walk is part of the Te Araroa Track that the Swedish were walking… so before going there I did the math in my head and I thought that I was right on time to meet them face to face in that forest… if that happened, I don’t know what I would think or do… I was breaking with my meditation vows of not generating new cravings, but for some reason I could not stop thinking of that cute, very blonde guy…
of course, I didn’t meet anyone, and I didn’t hear anything other than the pīwakawakas that were around me… the meditation “guru” in my head said “see, I told you… now you feel miserable because your craving turned out to be just that, a craving”… and although I did have my hopes high, I didn’t feel miserable like my imaginary teacher said… I knew I would see him again, though the fact that they are WALKING made things very complicated in times and stuff…

I said goodbye to the family that night, and next morning Shireen took me to the bus stop in Whangarei.

my favourite place

Posted on August 11, 2013 by karenula

the moment I met my new host Riah, I knew I was in for a good treat!
she had a very positive vibe since the very first second.
She’s a Maori girl that actually SPEAKS Maori. she works in the local radio station in Kaitaia and she and her dad, Ricky, live together in Ahipara.

first we went to pack n’ save in Kaitaia, and I bought stuff to make dinner that night: quesadillas. and then we went to her sister’s house to pick up her dad.

Ahipara is a 15 min drive from Kaitaia, and it’s the very beginning of the 90 Mile Beach (which is actually 55 miles long).
when we got to the town I couldn’t really see much of the beach and stuff, but from Riah’s house (which by the way was a beautiful house and one of the cleanest I’ve ever been to) I could see why I wanted to come here… I’ve been wanting to go to a nice beach ever since I got to the Northland.

I started making some ham and cheese quesadillas for dinner, teaching Riah how to flip the tortilla… so the last ones she did them by herself, and she called them “great party food”.

flipping the quesadilla

after dinner we went to visit her friend Trudy taking her the last quesadillas, which she also thought they were “great party food”.
then we had some drinks with her in the toolshed in the back. Riah had taken a couple of bourbon and cola cans, so I had one… terrible mistake!!! after I finished it I started feeling sick, I excused myself and went out to the garden to throw up, while I tried to shoo the cat away (THAT would’ve been even MORE embarrassing!). I came back in, not being able to look them in the eye and apologising ALL the time!

back in the two bedroom house, Ricky offered to sleep on the couch and gave me his room… I didn’t want to take it, I thought it was enough for them to have me staying in their house, and I really didn’t mind sleeping on the couch at all! but he insisted, so I gratefully took it.

next day, while Riah went to work, Ricky and I set off for a big walk in town. I had contacted the hostel from Ahipara because they needed someone to work there in return for accommodation, and I really, really wanted to stay in Ahipara for a while. so Ricky took me to the hostel, and then he went fishing on the beach while walking back home.

the hostel, Endless Summer Lodge, is just beautiful! a lovely old house with a huge garden on the front and just a couple of meters away from the beach. there I talked to the owner to see if they still needed someone, but unfortunately the guys that were working there were going to stay for another week or so. their names: Anna and Jeronimo (any guess where they are from?…correct! Germany). I talked to them a little bit, and they seemed like very cool people. so before leaving I asked them for their phone number and gave them mine, in case they had a plan and wanted to hang or do something.

Endless Summer Lodge

I walked back home on the beach, met with Ricky who was not far away fishing, and then arrived to the house where I had some lunch.

then Riah came and took me for a drive on the beach. it was an amazing feeling!!! then she took me to Shipwreck Bay and to a sort of lookout on the hill… Ahipara, I love you!

on Friday I went down to the beach to walk and take some pictures… I got a message from Chris telling me that he got tired of Kaitaia and was now in Ahipara. he was staying at the backpackers I had visited the previous day, so I told him I would visit him after lunch. then I saw from far away two guys with their backpacks walking towards where I was standing… I was a little bit curious to see who the hell would be walking on the beach at this time of day. I was starting to walk back home through the main road, but I realised that the only way back I knew was through the river and the park. so I walked back to the beach to take that path and came across the two backpackers I had seen from the distance: two very tall, blonde guys that were even carrying their tramping poles, seemed like they had been out on the beach for quite a while… “Germans…”‘ I thought. we just looked at each other and said “hi”.

so I went back home and had some lunch. then went down to the beach again and started walking towards the hostel to meet with my friend and “ex-husband” Chris.

I was happy to see him. I came into the hostel to have some coffee with him.

there I saw the backpackers again, cleaning their tent and getting rid of all the sand. I was interested in them, so I started with the now well-practiced ice-breaking questions:

me: “sooo, where are you guys from?” (expecting the obvious answer, I thought I should’ve asked “so, what part of Germany are you guys from?”)
them: “Sweden”
me: “oh (well, that’s a surprise)! I know just one word in Swedish: skit!”
them: “ha ha ha”
guy 1: “we just saw you when we were coming in from the beach, right?”
me: “yeah! that was me… sooo, why were you walking… where have you been?”
guy 1: “we came from Cape Reinga we are walking all the way down to Bluff”
us (Chris and I): “walking?!”
them: “yes!” with a big smirk on their faces
me: “wow! so, how did you get to the Cape, then?”
guy 1: “we hitchhiked”
us: “nice!”

it seemed as if they were not really interested in having a conversation, so we left them and went to the front lawn to have a cigarette with Jeronimo and Anna.
I went back in, and met the Swedish again. I really wanted to talk to them (the fact that one of them was really cute had NOTHING to do with that… yea, right!)
me: “sooo, what are your names?”
guy 2: “I’m Sebastian”
guy 1: “I’m Robert… and you?”
me: “I’m Karen”
Robert: “have you been here for long?”
me: “I arrived in Ahipara on Wednesday, but I’ve been staying in a house near where I saw you first”
Robert: “cool! so, I’m going to go look for my sweater and buy something to drink… are you going to be here to have some beers at night?”
me: “yeah, I think so (I hope so)”.
and he left riding a bike barefoot…

the sun was starting to set, and I had been told not to wander around alone at night, so I started to worry a little bit and decided to walk back home along the beach, watching this beautiful sunset… sadly I was going to miss those beers with the cute Swedish guy…

next day I went to visit Chris again. it seemed like no one else was in the hostel… so we walked to the fish & ships shop in town to have lunch. that night Riah’s sister, Ann, was having a housewarming party and we were both invited. so after eating we went to Riah’s house to see what was happening. she told us that we were not leaving until eight, so we asked her if she could pick us up at the hostel. so we walked back again.

the Swedish and the Germans were playing monopoly. I sat next to them while Chris sorted his things. Anna lost first, then Sebastian… Robert seemed to have a good method to make everyone owe him money… then Chris came and asked me if I wanted to play chess with him in the common room, but ended up playing backgammon. Anna and Sebastian went out for a smoke, so I joined them.. and I learnt my second word in Swedish: tack (thank you).

when eight o’ clock approached we came to say goodbye to the rest. it was the Swedish’s last night, they were leaving next morning at 4 am to continue their walking odyssey… I wanted to ask them for their emails or phone numbers, but for some reason I thought “when I meet them again…”. so with a big hug I said goodbye wishing them safe travels, and went off to the party with Riah.

we arrived to Kaitaia and went directly to the liquor shop. then to Ann’s house where the party started with drinking games. we were six girls and Chris was the only guy there (lucky bastard). we drank and played ALL night… all kinds of games, the goal was to get pissed fast, and we achieved it (some more than others)… and at 12 Ricky came to pick us up. a fast but REALLY fun party!

next morning Riah left very early. I tried to go to the beach but the wind was very strong and I was getting blown away, so I just returned home to watch some TV with Noah (Ann’s son) and Ricky.

when Riah returned from town, we went down to the beach on her truck to pick up some pipis (clams) for dinner…

pipis

back home I made some of them as Mexican style as possible, with the lifesaving just-add-water salsa that Sandra gave me in Australia. the rest of the pipis were cooked by Riah with some veggies, noodles and curry, she also made some mashed potatoes… is was all yum! then I packed and sat with them to watch some TV before going to bed. I was leaving next morning to do the Cape Reinga tour and I would stay in Kaitaia with the hopes of finding a ride back to wherever…

more goodbyes…

Posted on June 4, 2013 by karenula

the drive from Queenstown to Christchurch was amazing! I was completely alone, doing whatever I wanted (speeding, obviously), with no worries about having another life in the car to look after…
the weather, on the other hand, was not as pleasant… the closer I got to Christchurch, the worse the weather turned (Mother Nature seemed to be reading my mood change and putting it right on my face)… gloomy, rainy, windy…

482 km

I wanted to stay with Mark and Kristo, but unfortunately they were hosting a German guy… I tried to get a couch with some of the couch surfers I met at the weekly meetings, no success… since I had to pay one more day for the car (because even by speeding I didn’t get on time to return it) I decided to call the YHA to see if they had parking and a bed for the night… they did, and so I drove there…

in the common room I met a very nice guy called Sam (UK/Australia), we were talking about the shitty movies they were playing on TV, then another guy called Scott (USA) and his friend Niklas (Germany) joined our sarcastic little talk… the four of us were making fun of everything on TV, so it was nice.

next morning I payed for another night in the hostel. I felt alone in Chch, I was supposed to have a lot of friends there, but I felt completely alone… I didn’t want to bother Mark and Lizzie again, I was going to see them one of this nights to catch up and pick up the stuff I left behind, and maybe that was enough for them… I didn’t want to push it. I had already contacted Mark and Kristo, and I didn’t want to be a pain. I didn’t feel like calling Claudio either because I thought that if he knew about my hostel and loneliness situation, he would have offered his house and all his attentions in order for me to feel better, and I think that would have made me feel like I’m using him or something. my friend Didier was not helping at all either, I didn’t feel any signs of a welcoming person towards me. and the other people I knew, I felt as if I didn’t know them THAT well as to call them and see if they wanted to have a coffee with me…

so, alone I was…

I saw Sam again during breakfast, and we took the car to go buy some groceries… drove back to the hostel to leave them… then I drove to return the car to the agency, and walked back to the hostel… there, while skyping with Citlalli, one of my friends from home, Scott appeared behind me with just a towel around his waist… he had left his key inside his room… so, my friend saw him, he got closer to chat and explain why he was almost naked, and, well… long story short… the three of us skyped all afternoon (Scott dressed of course), and we became: a family!

we skyped every day with Citlalli from that moment on. I got so attached to Scotty that I stayed in the hostel for two more nights. he became my Little Brother – as I called him.

and we would hang every night until late with Nik and Phillip (another German) too.

I caught up with Mark, Lizzie, and Didier on Tuesday night. after having dinner in the hostel, Didier picked me up to go visit our friends, and then he and I went to a bar to have a beer and talk about my travels.

I sent a couch surfing request to Julia, one of the kiwi girls that go to the weekly meetings at Smash Palace. she usually doesn’t host during weekdays and not more than two or three nights, but since I’ve met her before, and she hosted Jon, she made an exception, and we settled that she would pick me up on Thursday night.

so Wednesday was my last night at the YHA… in the morning I went to deliver some CV’s and introduce myself in different architecture firms. no success, I couldn’t talk to any of the CEO’s in any of the three firms I visited. so I went back to the hostel. unfortunately, Scotty was working that night until late. so Phillip, Sandra (a German girl we met that morning) and I went to buy some beers to be prepared when Scott came home. when he did, we started playing happy king… when we were beyond soberness, we decided to call Citlalli via Skype…

next morning I went to the other two firms I had yet to visit. the second one was my favourite of them all, and, lucky me, one of the CEO’s was actually the one to greet me the moment I entered. we then had a little chat about my background and why I was there. he told me they were not looking for anyone at the moment, but that I should give him a call when I come back from Australia to see how things are going!
I went back to the hostel with a great grin on my face!
I didn’t see Scott that evening, so sadly I couldn’t say goodbye to him properly, and at night Julia picked me up to take me to her house where she lives with her flatmate Jacek, from Poland.

after a little chat, a couple of cigarettes, and some wine, we went to a couch surfing meeting that she organises at Revival. there I met some of her expat friends, among them, a Spanish girl called Lucia.

her story and mine are very similar. we come from spanish speaking countries, we are around the same age, we both came to NZ to apply for the working holiday visa, both our countries only have 200 places and release them once a year, we both didn’t get it for the same reasons, we are both architects, and we are trying to apply for architecture jobs in Chch… the only thing I’m missing is a German boyfriend and then we would be identical.

Julia and I organised a Mexican night at her house for Friday night, so she invited some of this friends I met.

so next day I woke up, cleaned the house (here comes the Mexican maid again…), Julia then picked me up in the afternoon and we went to the supermarket to buy all we needed for the reunion that night. got back home and started cooking.

Julia’s friends started arriving. Lucia with Björn (her boyfriend), a girl from The States, Arjan from Holland, another guy from Iran, a French girl named Fleur (I think), and of course Jacek and Julia.

the night went smoothly and the food was a success – in case you are wondering, I prepared tinga de pollo and molletes! yum!

next day I went to the library to have some free wifi. I then ate at a place called Samurai Bowl (which btw is pretty good). I received a call from Yin telling me that she was in Chch, so we decided to see each other on Sunday and go to the beach.

I met with Arjan at the restart mall that evening. we went to the Earthquake City, an exhibition where they have some of the region’s history on earth tremors. we then walked to a bar to have a couple of beers. there we met two of his ex-coworkers, one from South Africa and the other one from The States called Albert.

Albert was born in The States, but his mom is Kiwi and his dad Mexican, so therefore he is a “chikiwi” (as in Chicano and Kiwi)… we were laughing all night! he’s such a FUN person. in the end he and his mate left to go to another bar near their hostel, but we exchanged numbers because he lives in Napier, and when I come back from Australia I will go there and I surely want to hang with him.

after that, Arjan and I went to Revival to meet up with Julia and some other friends. I then took Julia’s car back home because I was tired and she was taking a cab.

next morning I met with Yin at the library and we took the bus to Sumner. from there we hitchhiked (for the first time in our travels) to get to Taylor’s Mistake.

this is a very beautiful beach, Mark and Lizzie’s favourite. we sat there for a moment, had our little picnic, and then walked up the hill following the trail… but we didn’t do the whole thing… we were to lazy so we just sat off the trail, near a cliff.

we then walked down and started our way back to Sumner.

back in the CBD we went to have something at the Samurai Bowl… and, like it always happens with Yin, we had food comma.

at night I received a message from Didier asking me if I want to have lunch with him on Monday.

so on Monday I took it easy, doing nothing really, and I went to meet him at a deli place 5 blocks from where I was staying.
we talked a little bit about my plans and what he was going to do next weekend. it was going to be Queen’s Birthday Weekend and we had said before my road trip that we might do something together, but in the end he was going with some friends to do some mountain biking, which was perfect because I really wanted to stay in Chch to sort everything for my departure to Wellington and then to Australia.

he offered me a ride to the CBD, and when we said goodbye he said “safe travels” when I still had a week or so in Chch… “fine!” I thought, and I just had to laugh inside my head… after all the time we spent together he says goodbye with a “safe travels” and almost putting his two thumbs up.

so, after that I went to the library… again (I know, I sound like a bookworm), and there I saw Yin, which was a very nice surprise. we talked a little bit, and said goodbye… she is travelling a bit more and then she goes to The States, so I was not going to see her again.

on Tuesday Joel told me that he was coming to Chch for the weekend.
at night I had planned to have dinner with the Latin American community. I had a few days left now that Joel was coming, so I had to say my goodbyes to my friends… so we went to this fantastic place where we had been before when I was staying with Claudio, Chopsticks!
some friends of this group were out of NZ, so only Javier (Mexico) and his brother Rodrigo, along with Claudio were able to come… still it was very nice to hang with them and speak some proper Spanish (with the Mexicans)!

on Wednesday I did nothing interesting… at night I went to Mark and Kristo’s house to have dinner… Kristo made this BEAUTIFUL pizzas, with salmon and sweet chilli sauce… they were just amazing! we talked about what’s been happening in our lives, their jobs, my travels… they offered me to stay with them my last night in Chch, and Mark even offered me a ride to the airport! so I happily said yes!

the next day I stayed home all day reading The Alchemist, a book recommended by Jon, and that I borrowed from Lizzie… and honestly, I highly recommend it as well! it’s interesting, entertaining, easy to read… I finished it in one day…
later that day I said goodbye to my beautiful hosts… I will be moving to a hostel for the next three nights.

Friday came, and with it laundry and Joel…

Saturday morning we had breakfast and went to the Farmers Market in Riccarton, went to the supermarket, and then we had lunch at a noodle place near by.

at night I took him to CBD Bar and Pizzeria (to not break the tradition), and after that we went to Revival to meet up with Julia, Jacek, and the rest of the gang… there I said goodbye to all, I will no longer see them unless I get a job offer in Chch and need to fly back after Australia…

next day we went to a town called Lyttelton, which is the port town of Chch and where the English disembarked when they started moving to NZ. it’s a cute little town, and there are several ways of getting there, one through the tunnel built under the mountain; the other is up the mountain (my favourite), where you can see Christchurch from above on one side, and the peninsula on the other.

we got there, walked around and then stopped at a little caffe shop to have some dessert and coffee.

then we headed back home through the tunnel, and we cooked a beautiful dinner!

next morning we packed our stuff. Joel gave me a ride to Mark and Kristo’s house and we said goodbye for good… I honestly don’t think I will see him again, at least in NZ… but who knows, really.

I spent all day with Kristo, talking and watching TV. then in the evening Claudio picked me up and we went to have a cup of coffee to talk and say goodbye for good as well.

next day Mark took me to the airport at noon, where my flight was delayed almost two hours… and I was off to Wellington…

the great zigzag

Posted on May 11, 2013 by karenula

my road trip with Jon started one Sunday evening.
we weren’t sure where to go first… we thought of passing through Akaroa and then drive towards Timaru to spend the night there, but the guy from the car rental company suggested we go towards the lakes (inland Canterbury) because it would take us 3 hours driving to and out of Akaroa and then a couple more hours to get to Timaru, when driving directly to Lake Tekapo would take us 3-4 hours.

so that’s what we did in the end, and since we needed to get to Queenstown to a party on Saturday, apparently we had a LOT of time to wander around before getting to our first final destination.

225 km

it would be my “second” time driving and Jon’s first. I had been in Chch for a little over a month which meant I knew the city a little bit better, so I was the one in charged of taking us out of it.

I was so tense… and the steering wheel was not aligned so we had to hold on harder bending it a little bit to the right… the weather was not helping either, a storm had started so it was raining quite heavily.

we got to a small town called Ashburton where we filled up the food stack and switched places in the car… bad idea (Jon is going to hate me for this if he reads it)… I was panicking… not that I am Fittipaldi or anything, but a 23 year old KID driving for the first time on the wrong side of the car, and on the wrong side of the road, while it was raining was a terrible mistake: one hand on the wheel, looking at the scenery, stepping on the white lines of the left side (my side) every now and then, sort of afraid when another car came the other way… he actually drove out of the pavement a couple of times stepping on the roadside grass… he was just very confident and that’s what freaked me out the most! so on next stop I told him how I felt and I continued driving for the day… and yes, like an old woman!

we got to Lake Tekapo at around 7. we drove to a backpackers where we got a tween suite with two beds and a heater… we went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, sat to decide where our next stop would be, and then used the computer to send couch surfing requests to people in Oamaru, where we would be arriving on Tuesday.

next morning we took our time to leave the hostel. we went to the small village to have coffee with our new friend from Ireland, Rachel. she is travelling by bus through the South Island and was leaving soon towards Wanaka and then to Queenstown. we then went back to the hostel to grab our stuff and check the couch surfing requests before leaving. we had one reply from a girl that seemed very cool, but she said she could not host us those days but that we should ask her friend, whom we will call Ursula, and so we did! then we drove to the parking lot of the hot pools to make a small walk up the hill and “see” all the lake and its beautiful surroundings… but, the weather was still shitty so we couldn’t really see much…

after this we drove towards Mount Cook.

103 km

Jon was driving all the time, he was more concerned this time which made me very happy.

we stopped on the iSite of Lake Pukaki to ask for info and admire the sort of turquoise colour of the lake… simply amazing!

then took the road towards Mt. Cook Village, we got there around 5:30 pm and it was already dark.

the YHA hostel there is beautiful! it’s a huge log cabin with lots of rooms and an enormous kitchen and lounge area.
after having dinner we sat in the lounge next to the fire. there we met 3 girls that were working there, one German, one French and one Estonian; there were also two young people traveling together like Jon and me, Tin (21, Danish) and Freddy (23, Swedish); and in our room was a very nice Italian that I brought to the international meeting in the common room, Gian Lucca.

next morning, after a shitty weather, we woke up to this:

we grabbed our stuff and got prepared to do the Hooker Valley Track. this track gets you to a lake on the skirts of Mount Cook, and it’s not really a track, it’s a walk… even my grandmother could do it, but it’s really nice.

we did the track with Gian Lucca. he is such a NICE person!!! I enjoyed every moment with him… great talks, good jokes, having fun taking pictures! I really, really liked him!

at the end we just sat down and enjoyed the view…

then we went back to the car with a new friend from the states, his name is Joe and he has been travelling all around the world… 43 years old, with a young spirit and mind, he doesn’t look his age AT ALL!

back in the hostel I checked my email and saw that Ursula had replied YES, but that she has no phone, no internet at home, and she forgot to give us her address. so I sent her another message with the hopes of her reading it on time asking for her address. we then said goodbye to our new friends, I was sad to let Gian go… he is travelling the opposite direction that we are, but we gave each other heads-up on what to see and we exchanged emails because we are both going p be in Melbourne the same dates! so hopefully I will see him again!

we then started our way towards Oamaru. I was driving this time.

210 km

we took a small detour to the Clay Cliffs, place recommended by Gian. it’s a crazy place, where the mountains have been sort of carved out creating stalagmites of mud. the Clay Cliffs are the result of millions of years of erosion on layers of silt and gravel that were exposed by the Osler fault line.

we didn’t stay there for a long time because we were afraid of the sun setting and not being able to see the elephant rocks near Oamaru.
so we continued our way…

when we got to the detour to go to the elephant rocks we started following the signposts… if there where any… and Jon was supposed to be the copilot, and read the map to get us to the different places we wanted to visit… after driving for a while we did a U-ey (U turn) because we didn’t seem to be getting anywhere and the signs were starting to get confusing, and then we got to a bigger road that seemed to be THE one, but now Jon was sleeping, the sun was setting and I was driving through the exit to the freaking elephant rocks because we were not going to be able to see anything, and I really wanted to get to Oamaru.

in Oamaru we stopped at the McDonald’s to have free wifi, and why not, a burger now that we were there… after all, accommodation was going to be free… or was it…
Ursula had NOT replied anything!!!
we texted the friend that recommended her to us, we sent several last-minute requests to hosts in the city, I even texted Lizzie because I knew that Mark’s family was from Oamaru, so maybe they could find us a place to stay? NOTHING… NADA… we were homeless… so we had to drive to a hostel and pay… after spending more than $10 in McDonald’s…

the hostel was nice, but I was gutted and tired, so I didn’t even try to socialise this time… everybody, including Jon, was watching a movie in one of the common rooms… antisocial karenula went to the empty common room upstairs.

next morning we got a message from one of the last-minute requests we sent. she asked us to come as soon as possible because she might have to go out… so we went to her house, which is quite near the centre, and saw this beautiful blue house with a garden that needed some care, but otherwise very pretty… we knocked on the door and waited for her to come open…

[here comes the good part (part one of the good part)]

she greeted us happily and with a big hug (I’m also a hugger so I found that really nice of her… kiwis don’t usually do that with strangers). she’s a nice lady with half her teeth missing, crooked nose, and what seemed to be her somewhat-fat belly was something else that has been hanging there for a looooong time (if you know what I mean)… we entered the house, the first thing I saw was a box of rotten apricots right next to the main entrance, the smell was intense but it didn’t only come from that box… it was the house’s smell, of humidity and dust and fungus… there were boxes with stuff everywhere, all kinds of stuff… this woman is a hoarder! every room, every corner had something… many things… papers, books, old things, new things, antiques, clothes, fabrics, boxes, boxes, and boxes… we had to jump over things to get to another place… I remembered that on her profile she mentions she’s got a cat… well, I was afraid that the cat might be under the pile of sh…tuff! maybe the smell was not of an old house, might be from the cat rotting somewhere!!! I sort of didn’t want to stay there, but she had kindly texted me and it would’ve been very rude to visit her house and say no in the end… so we toughened up!
we went to the car to get our things and we tried to tell her we wanted to go to the centre, walk around, go to the supermarket and all, but she started talking about so many things… I honestly missed half of the conversation… I just got certain key things like “the Chch earthquake was a terrorist attack”, ” I don’t know if the earthquake set off the bombs or the bombs set off the earthquake”… “aura”, “reiki”, “light”, and “healing”… and all this time getting a step closer to the door to go out and do our stuff in the city.
when we finally got out of the house… we met the cat!!! I was so relieved!

and off we were to walk around Oamaru…
the town is beautiful! the architecture is very old, the buildings are made out of stone, so it’s a big change from what I’ve been seeing all around New Zealand – except for the broken buildings of Christchurch.

we stopped at the Salvation Army family store gym favourite stores in the world) to look for a cassette with cord to play our iPods in the car (yes… a car with cassette player)… and we couldn’t find one there, but we did find this (our new companion):

after a walk and lunch Jon decided to go to the movies, but I didn’t feel like it, so I went to the library to use the computers and start sending more couch surfing requests for Dunedin, where we would be arriving the next day. I then went to get the car to pick Jon up and go to the supermarket.

we got home and cooked for ourselves because our host had already had dinner, she had two friends there, one using a computer, another one watching TV, and our host using another computer too… we asked her if we could use her kitchenware to cook and she said “yes, but only if you clean them… and if you can clean my dishes too would be great”… no comments… then we sat and started talking more with her, I then made some tea and asked her if I could use her milk, she said it was her friend’s milk (the one watching TV), that I should ask him… so I went to ask him, saw that he had already a cup of some hot drink, he said I could use some of his milk, and when I came back to the kitchen I got told off “you should’ve offered a cup of tea to him too”, and I said “yeah, but I saw he already has a cup of tea”, and she said “well, next time you should offer”… again, no comments… she was a very nice lady but somewhat patronising, she had great stories to tell, about herself and the imaginary world she lives in, but she could be a little pain now and then.
after this, we didn’t want to be there anymore, so at 9pm we said goodnight with the excuse that next morning we were going to get up very early to see the sunrise in the Koekohe Beach.

[and here comes the other good part (part two of the good part)]

we got into the room, it was a 2X3 room with a small bed and barely any place on the floor (due to all the collection of stuff)… Jon had a sleeping bag so it was I who had to sleep in the bed… I honestly didn’t want to do that! we took a mattress out from the pile of mattresses that were my bed, and put it on the remaining spot of floor for Jon. then, when Jon was already tugged in his bag, I lifted the covers of the bed to get in, and… well… the dead cat would’ve been better… it was full of dust, and PUBES!!! they were not chest hairs, nor any kind of facial hair because they were right in the middle of the mattress… I started laughing madly! Jon had to get up to see it for himself! I could NOT believe this…. who knows how long those sheets had been there without being thrown into the washing machine… if she ever does that… if she even has one! and again, the whole smell of humidity and fungus was all around the room and the blankets and sheets… call me pedigree girl if you want, but THOSE are not sanitary conditions to live in… I toughened up… again… and decided to grab another cover and sleep on top of the bed not getting in it… but it was so early!!! we would have to pass out for nine hours not to notice where we were… but NO! Jon (aka Mr. Pee-Pee) woke up at TWO am to go pee and woke me up… he came back and he started snoring!!! I could not believe it! I was not able to sleep at all! with his snores and my imagination going to places where I could see the spores in the atmosphere going into my system… it was just too much… I started snapping my fingers to make Jon stop, but I only woke him up and made him grumpy haha… it serves him right, I thought… after four hours of making friends with the spores I was asleep again…but, o shit… it was time to wake up!

I grabbed my stuff and ran out of the house… I couldn’t stay there another minute… got into the car and started coughing… I felt ill, like if I had smoked three packages of cigarettes the night before… my lungs were whistling, my head hurt… it was bad! when Jon came into the car he just said “you don’t really realise what you are breathing inside the house until you come out and breathe AIR!”.

Jon drove this time.

38 km

we got to see the sunrise next to the Moeraki boulders.
I started feeling very nauseous, I really wanted to throw up… this was not right, how can that lady live there?!
the sunrise was beautiful! lots of beautiful colours, and is very interesting to see the boulders, naturally made by the ocean more than 60 million years ago… so beautiful!

we drove again and detoured to see Shag Point… oh yes, it exists, and no, we didn’t shag… it’s a beautiful drive next to the coast, and there were supposed to be penguins and seals, but we didn’t see any.

16 km

again we drove taking now and then the scenic routes marked on the map or on signposts… on one of them, we saw the signs of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary so we decided to visit it and see what it was all about.
it turned out to be a beautiful place! the building was amazing, combining wood, and steel, and containers… it was brilliant! the light that came through the windows and the orientation of the building to have the view to the park… it was all perfect! so perfect that I asked the woman from reception if she knew who the architect was… she gave me his name, phone number, and even told me the office is in the centre of Dunedin… very accommodating!

we then drove to Port Chalmers, which is the port city of Dunedin.

61 km

and then we got to the main city centre.

14 km

our first stop was the library to check our couch surfing requests… several people had replied that they couldn’t host us… we started sending requests to people in Queenstown, it was already Thursday and we were getting there on Saturday, so we’d better do it then.
while in the library I got two messages from two hosts in Dunedin. the first was from a girl named Maud telling us that she was able to host us, and gave us her address. the second one from a guy named Dan, a local kiwi that was willing to host us too, though he had a couple of surfers in his house at the moment. we said we already had a host but that we were in the library, so we asked him if he would like to join us for a coffee, and he accepted…
we met with him in the octagon, and he took us to one of his mates’ coffee shop. after that, he took us everywhere… he toured the city with us being a great guide! he would tell us curious facts, history facts, showed us his flat, inside the cathedral… he was awesome!

after our little tour with Dan, we went to the supermarket, bought a little snack and some things for dinner, and headed towards Maud’s house…
since we arrived there early we went to the beach to sit, have our lunch, and watch the sunset…

we then arrived to the house… it’s a beautiful little house on the hill with ocean view and an amazing garden. they grow their own veggies, have chickens, fruit trees… everything! I loved it!

and Maud is just awesome! she is a beautiful person in every aspect, I felt as though I’ve known her for a long time and that was a very nice feeling!
she prepared dinner for us with Jon as a helper… I didn’t do anything to be honest, but because I was told that everything was ok…
after dinner one of her flatmates came home, Dave. he sat with us and we were all chatting and drinking together all night!
they are both very pleasant people, warm, caring… it’s just delightful to be with them!

the next day we went to the city centre again…I called the architect’s office, and I was told that he was in a meeting but they took my name and number and said that HE will call me back. Jon wanted to be in the library all day so we went there. at around three pm I got the call from the architect… karenula had a date!
so then we had a quick lunch and Jon went back to the library and I walked to meet with Architect Tim Heath in his office.

I knocked on the door and the architect himself opened it. he greeted me shaking hands, and invited me to sit down… it was a very small but cosy office, apparently the only people working there are the architect, Hannah who was in the office too, and someone else that was not there for the moment. the three of us sat down to talk. Tim said “Hannah, this might be the closest we’ll ever get to Luis Barragan” I wanted to hug him!!! we started talking about a lot of things… I wanted to ask them so much of what they do and how they do it, but mainly I was the one being asked questions, about my travels, my life as an architect back home, what my plans were… they seemed to be very interested in this peculiar being from an exotic land that could speak their both languages: English and architecture. they started giving me advise on what to visit and where to stop in this trip with Jon. they even gave me a map where they highlighted all the routes I should take! they were very nice and I was very grateful for that. in the end we talked little about architecture, but enough to understand their design process and ideas… I REALLY liked them and what they do!

I met with Jon again. we went to the supermarket to buy dinner, it was our time to cook for Maud. we were going to make a typical kiwi dinner (and my favourite): stake with a side dish of pumpkin, kumara, and potatoes!

after dinner we grabbed the car with Maud and went to a bar where a local band was playing, it was the last gig of the band because the lead singer was going back to The States to live. the band was amazing! and the lead singer was sooooo cute! I fell in love a little bit… he had it all (even wife and kids)!!

with Maud (and my love on the back)

after that we went to another bar where they had a Latin Night… so of course I was singing with all my strength “la vida es un carnaval” and all the Juan Luis Guerra y sus 4/40 songs… after dancing, and singing, and drinking Corona, we went back to the house to sleep.

next morning we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts! I didn’t want to leave, though Dunedin is not my favourite city (maybe because of the weather we had all the time: cold, windy, and cloudy), I did love what I lived and saw there for two days! I guess I would need to give it a chance… and, we drove to Queenstown to get to the party…

316 km

overall, this is how we moved in seven days:

983 km

chch-changes

Posted on May 5, 2013 by karenula

after a little more than a month, I’ve finally decided to leave Christchurch (aka Chch).

it took me a while, not because I was working or because life is so busy that there’s always something to do… no, in fact Christchurch is now something like a huge ghost town – and I’m sorry if any Christchurchean is reading this, I say it with a lot of love and respect – the CBD, now called The Red Zone, is closed because of the earthquake that took place here TWO years ago… I know, shocking… so everything that used to be in the CBD is now distributed all around the city, making something like small centres in different suburbs. this causes the city to look a wee bit empty most of the time. so, that and the fact that they are still working on demolishing or holding old buildings together gives you a feeling of being in a planet of the apes movie.

just for you to know why the city has not been completed after two years (which is something I didn’t understand until I was here): apparently there’s a huge conflict of interests between civilians, government, owners, and insurance companies… they just can’t decide what goes, what stays, who pays and all that stuff, and this makes the city look like it does… the saddest thing of this, is that people don’t have a reunion and/or social spot anymore, like Cathedral Square used to be back in the days… like Il Duomo in Florence, a lot of people told me this “I used to go and just sit down to enjoy a coffee and watch people pass by”… it’s also very sad that it has turned into a morbid freak show. you can actually pay a tour guide to show you around and say very dramatically in every destroyed spot or corner “can you see the damage done to this shop… look at the hair dryers left on the floor… people just ran and left everything as you see it now”… pretty sad, they are making profit out of a tragedy… the whole CBD feels like when you go to the zoo: you can’t get close enough to the buildings, but they give you enough “windows” for you to see the content.

the red zone “museum”

cathedral

back to the first point… it took me a while to leave Christchurch because it did captivated me. this is one of the two cities that I was able to visit ten years ago, back then I immediately fell in love with it… my memories take me back to a place where people were happy sitting next to the river and walking by Cathedral Square, a place where the sun was shining, the trees were green, and the air was smooth. and though I didn’t get the same sensation this time, I started liking the idea of staying and contributing with the rebuild of the city, I felt as if this is a place I could someday call home (when the work is finished and the birds sing again).

I stayed with Mark and Lizzie the first week, they are friends of my Kiwi mom, Ali. I felt at home right away! they are near my age, so it was easy to be around them. they too gave me my own room, own key, and invited me to have dinner with them every night! we had good talks about almost any subject too… they made my stay easy and pleasant.

Lizzie introduced me to many new fruits and edible plants I had no idea existed or how to cook them, and to some other things that I will describe next.
first mention goes to: rhubarb. looks like a red celery but tastes completely different. I had tried rhubarb before when Ali’s mom made a cake with it, baked like that tastes like a sour apple, very yummy!! Lizzie cooks the rhubarb in a pot with water and sugar, the result is something I cannot describe with words (I have tried and erased many lines), so I decided to put a picture:

ruhbarb in its natural state

cooked ruhbarb

second mention goes to a fabulous kiwi invention: easiyo. this marvellous thing makes one litre of the yogurt of your choice (from the packages they sell, obviously). all you need to do is mix the yogurt powder with water in a container, put the container in another container with more water, leave it for 12 hours and you are done! my favourite flavour (actually the only one I’ve tried), was the Greek style yogurt!

now, a little parenthesis… this two discoveries have changed me completely… this two things mixed with some muesli (preferably toasted with dried fruits and nuts) have made breakfast my FAVOURITE meal of the day… when I go to sleep all I can think of is that breakfast will be the meal I will have when I wake up, and that thought makes me very happy! back home I would just have a package of biscuits (cookies) and coffee… not healthy at all… now breakfast is healthy, and beyond delicious!

third mention: feijoas. this things have a weeeeird but amazing flavour… if rhubarb cooked the way Lizzie does is not within my reach, feijoas are my second option as a complementary fruit for the muesli… of course that rhubarb AND feijoas together are THE best option for breakfast… but I can’t be greedy, can’t always get what I want…

fourth mention: pumpkin (squash). I had never tried that! and just baked with a little oil is fantastic!!! here they mixed it with pumpkin seeds and red capsicum (bell peppers).. pretty amazing the mix of flavours and the simple way of doing it!

fifth mention goes to two fruits that I only tried once just to see what they were all about: quinces and tamarillos

and of course kumara is on this list, although Ali was the first one to introduce me to it… this is an endemic sweet potato, which also baked with a little bit of oil (and with potatoes) is a delicious side dish for dinner!

I’m starting to think this will be a LONG entry (makes sense after a month) but I’ll try not to expand so much…

ok… so, remember how my body ached after Avalanche Peak? well, guess what? it was sore for SIX complete days! but that did not stop me (much) from tramping a little bit more… so one day Lizzie and Mark took me with a group of their friends to do a small walk on a hill near Christchurch: Kaituna Valley/Packhorse Hut. they are all VERY outdoorsy and sporty people, so it was a little bit difficult to catch up, specially because I had a sore body.

on that week I also went to the Couch Surfing weekly meeting that takes place every Wednesday at a very cool place called The Smash Palace. there I met a pair of locals, some travellers, and some expats, all of whom were very friendly! on the table next to us were sitting two guys, and one of them looked like someone from my country… so I approached them and just told this guy straight forward “you look like somebody who speaks my language”, and so it turned out that he does speak my language, but he is Chilean. we had such a great time that night that he even offered me his couch to stay the next week with him… and so, I accepted.

so I stayed with Mark and Lizzie for two more nights, and on Friday they gave me a ride to Claudio’s (the Chilean) house. we said goodbye but with the promise of doing something again soon.

Claudio is a chef that now works at the Mexican restaurant in Christchurch… since I stayed with him in his transition from one job to the next, he had almost all days free… so we did several things. he introduced me to the Latin American community, we had a BBQ at Mika’s (French friend) house, we went to the beach, we walked along the city, went out at night, etc…

Claudio tasting the air

the day he started his new job I went out with Cameron, remember him? the guy I met in the ferry… well, I went with him and his cousin out for a couple of beers and to have dinner… so much fun!

and the next day (Friday) I went with Lizzie, Mark and some of their friends to Hanmer Springs to a bike race they were doing on Saturday, so we slept at a house on Friday, socialising a little bit… and next day we were at a gazebo (riders and cheerleaders) socialising a lot!
we were eating, and drinking (water), and soooo cold!!! but it was very entertaining, and I met some nice Kiwis!
Didier is one of this nice Kiwi friends, he’s also an engineer working in the same company as Mark. of course we had the architect vs. engineer jokes, and we even took them to a party we went later at night in Christchurch. I had a great time with him! we said we would meet again to go out and do something…

Lizzie and Didier

Mark

the next week I stayed with a couple I met at the Couch Surfing meeting: Luke from the States and Aletta from NZ… they were really nice, also with a spare bedroom.
while staying with them the weather was really shitty, so I practically stayed in the house all day not even wanting to leave the bed!
at night I would try to go out and catchup with friends, so I saw Claudio a couple of times to have beers. I went out with Didier to have pizza and beers at the CBD Bar and Pizzeria. on Friday I saw Amit (Israeli guy from Punakaiki), we met for beers at the Smash Palace and then went to celebrate Aletta’s birthday at the Pomeroy’s Old Brewery Inn, a bar with great live music (one-man-band) and great beers! that night

Luke, Aletta, me, and Amit

Aletta and Luke were a little bit over the alcohol limit, so I had to drive… oh yeah! scary shit! but it was great and fun. it was a manual car and I was struggling with the stick (TWSS), so Luke was changing gear, and I was doing the pedal and wheel job!

on Saturday I saw Amit again, we went to the movies and then to have dinner at the CBD Bar and Pizzeria (yes… I love the place), and then on Sunday I had to change house… again… so my new host picked me up and took me to my new home!

Kristo and Mark were my new family, and for four days I felt ABSOLUTELY at home. they gave me my own room and my key to the house. they are one of the most amazing couples I’ve met!
Kristo is from Estonia and Mark from NZ, they met in Ireland while they both lived and work there. they’ve been living in NZ for five years now in a small and beautiful house located in the “snobby” area of Christchurch.
I could talk with them about anything, and I immediately felt like I could confide anything to them, so this was a nice feeling for a change… not just the usual host-surfer relation… this was more, this was family and friendship…

Wednesday was my last day there, and that actually made me very sad… I had gone with Didier for dinner on Sunday, and we decided to do a little trip for the ANZAC long weekend… so, we went to Kaikoura from Thursday morning to Saturday.

I thought I was not going to be able to see Kaikoura because it’s located between Christchurch and Picton, and since I came down from the west and I’m flying back to Wellington, I thought I was going to skip it for sure!
Kaikoura is where the whale watching takes place all year round. beautiful little town with snowy mountains (in winter) and surfing beaches… it’s weird to see all that in one place.

there we did a little bit of tramping on a track called Mount Fyffe. it was VERY steep but Didier, knowing about my horrible experience in Avalanche Peak, took all precautions to make it easy and pleasant… so as we walked we took lots of breaks to take pictures, and to have food and water too… so nice!
the track is beautiful, it takes you zigzagging up the mountain changing the view constantly from ocean to Southern Alps.

we got to the Hut on the top and had lunch there… we decided not to continue to the peak because it would take longer and we didn’t want to come back down in darkness… so we came down and got to the hostel after buying some beers and got into the hot pool to relax!

on Saturday we started returning to Christchurch through another route and we stopped to have lunch next to a river on a road called Lake Sumner Rd which takes you to a couple of lakes, which we didn’t visit… maybe next time.

on Sunday we were back in Christchurch and went to do another walk just outside of the city on the Crater Rim Walk. from there you can see the city from above, Littleton, and the other side of the valley near Christchurch.

after this small vacation in the vacation I went back to live with Lizzie and Mark for another week. there was really not much to do in the city anymore, so I kinda dedicated my time to arrange my CV and make some cover letters to start knocking on architectural doors, all with the help of Lizzie, Mark, and Didier.

one of those days I received a text message from my friend Jon (who I met in Picton), saying that he will be coming to Christchurch very soon. on May first, I received another message from him saying that he had arrived in the city.

for those of you who do not know, May First is my birthday… so it was a pretty nice surprise to have my friend Jon here. I was kind of alone that day because all my friends were working and they wouldn’t be home until late. so, having Jon by my side changed things!
we were walking around the city, and since it was Wednesday we decided to go to the weekly Couch Surfing Meeting at Smash Palace.
it was fun to celebrate a birthday with a bunch of unknown people from all around the world!

i’m not being rude… it’s a 31
toru tekau ma tahi

Jon

Julia and Sebastian

the Swiss gang and an excentric Chinese

the next couple of days we walked around the city and went shopping to the outdoors stuff stores. we talked about renting a car together and go travel to the rest of the South Island (the southern half: Otago, Southland, Fiordland…)

on Friday I had a small birthday dinner with Lizzie, Mark, and Didier… I stayed home cooking a Mexican dish called tinga de pollo and a chocolate cake (Betty Crocker, of course). it was also a sort of goodbye and thank you dinner because the road trip with Jon seemed to be becoming more and more real every day, and Saturday night Lizzie and Mark had already plans, so it was now or never!

on Saturday night I went with Didier to have a couple of beers and then to a show called The Scared Scriptless. this is an improv show, a variation of Who’s Line Is It Anyway where there’s a moderator, and the audience participates too… REALLY funny!

next day I packed my winter clothes, met Jon at the Restart Mall, and walked towards the car rental company… it was a fact, we were leaving that afternoon towards a new adventure on the south… on this baby…

novaeseelandiae

this is basically what I'm living, take it as an update, novel, or travel guide…

Tag Archives: couch surfing

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