10 Jan Update
HELLLO!!
Nate here, and I am back in the USA. Very sad to be finished with holiday, but nonetheless thankful to have had as much time as I did, and somewhat glad to be back at work. Since last we heard from Jill, she was travelling around the south end of the south island, and she is still doing that (having quite the time of it, too. I spoke with her on the phone last night and she is really getting to see some beautiful stuff, which she will I am sure report here soon). I can only echo her 7 January commentary of the time we had in New Zealand. It was SPECTACULAR. There was so much scenery that completely baffled me. In all the time I've spent trying to see as much of the globe as possible, I have never born witness to the likes of the incredible landscapes New Zealand possesses. The forestlands are not just verdant and diverse, but pristine as well. It is as though civilization has not yet discovered and exploited this area, and thankfully, much of the land is preserved so that this majesty will not be lost to the name of progress. Fiordland national park alone (home of the Milford Track) represents fully 3% of New Zealand's total acreage. Yes the land there is rich and big and scenic. It takes your breath, and it rights the spirit, and I hope that I will again be able to witness such natural beauty before my time runs out. I has really been the trip of a lifetime, and luckily for Jill, it continues (though we do miss her).
As for me, I left Dunedin on the seventh and flew to Auckland, where our friends Adam and Katherine live. As those two are currently liesurefolk (read jobless), they gladly picked me up from the airport, and let me stay the night with them, which was really nice since I had a day to burn before my flight to the states. We picked up a rollaway bed from Kath's grandparents, and then ate at this large strange asian foodcourt with all kinds of food and all kinds of people. Katherine and I walked about town a bit while Adam practiced his Thai boxing (kickboxing. Apparently he is really good. His brother is currently UK champ, and they have trained together for years). Then we went to the grocery and home for a cooked meal of sausages, onion and mushroom on rolls with fried potatoes. Those two are living like real bohemians over there; I gave them my fork and spoon from my pack (doubtless hijacked from some or other public eatery along the way or long estranged from my own silverware drawer) because they had nothing but plastic flatware. We chatted away the rest of the evening over beers, and the next day went to the Auckland Domain ('Domain' over there is like 'city park') to see the botanical garden (quick tour due to rain), and the Auckland museum (quick tour due to my flight schedule). Very enjoyable.
And then my day stretched out. I departed Auckland Intl airport at 415pm on 8 Jan, having already done a good bit that day. Then I flew to Los angeles, and over the dateline which means I arrived on US soil at 715am on, thats right, 8 Jan. One of the airport staff in auckland encouraged me to get into as much mischief as I could before I left since it would all be wiped away when I arrived in LA several hours before I had departed. From LA, it was Southwest Airlines to Phoenix then Birmingham, where I arrived at 455pm, for a total of 40 minutes flight time from New Zealand to Birmingham, not counting the 18 time zones I managed to take the quick way around while airborne.
And now it is back to work, back home, back with the same old jolly friends, and another year begun in graduate school. Trips like this always send me in two directions at once. On one side I am So very glad that my lifestyle can tolerate such a vacation (I really appreciate the opportunities I have to get out and see things), that at journey's end I am glad and ready to get back to work or school, and keep my career on the up and up so that many more such opportuities will make themselves available as time wears on. And then of course there is the other side of the coin. It always crosses my mind. Not usually for very long any more (I must be getting old) but the voice still says to me, "you know, Nate, you really don't HAVE to go back home". I see these kids my age out working as guides and teaching English abroad and vonlunteering for the parks service and more and more and more, and I think, well gee that really wouldn't be so bad really. I mean its not cush, but you can make a living out here at large. And I am often driven to wonder just what it is about North American culture that keeps the youth chained here against the exploratory potential that exists for an affluent citizen of the planet these days [and to tell the truth, nearly any american is quite affluent on this planet]. It seems that the bulk of these teachers and guides and merrymakers I encounter are citizens of the commonwealth of Britain, which still knows no sunset and seems to engender a wanderlust long since lost from the American psyche. Maybe because most of those on the commonwealth are island dwellers (Australia is more desert than Island I suppose, but it is nonetheless a place many are glad to leave), and thereby itching to cross the sea. I cannot say for sure. I still wonder. I will continue to wonder as I work away at my American Lifestyle and continue the career path I most enjoy, travelling when the schedule permits.
Back to work for me. I'll post some pics of the south island soon.
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