Farewell, Kiwiland!
Trip Start
Dec 14, 2004
1
11
27
Trip End
May 25, 2005
Christchurch, New Zealand
Monday, January 24, 2005
Since we last wrote in Queenstown, we have had a busy, yet relaxing schedule. After having the opportunity to go parasailing before leaving q-town, we headed for the east coast and settled into a nice hostel in Dunedin for a few nights. This was our favorite hostel yet... besides the fact that we were paying very little for a 2 person dorm room, the living area was filled with cozy couches and a lot of reading material. Made for some nice times when the rain came pummeling down with no mercy. Our evenings there were mainly spent in the living area, chatting and drinking boxed wine with new friends. It is great to find little havens like this one, and we were very content with our few days there. We should also mention a little trip to the Cadbury Confectionary... a small tour of the factory with a lot of chocolate to be eaten. mmmmm.
From Dunedin we headed up the east coast to Christchurch, our final city in this country that we have really grown to adore. We spent the first night in a hostel and headed for a new SERVAS host who offered us a generous four-night stay. (We must also mention that we departed with Nelson, our trusty little car, and he was well worth the investment.) Our SERVAS host is named Averil, and she is quite a colorful woman. She is in her late 40s and single, drives a taxi at night and was a lesbian for 17 years, until she met her current partner who is a man... and she definitely thought that we were a couple until we told her otherwise- I guess she just thought it was the obvious explanation. We spent a bunch of time with her at first- swimming at the beach, getting fresh fruit from the farm stands- though we've been a bit more independent as the weekend went on. She works from around 11pm-6am, then sleeps all day. She was excited to hear that we were Jewish, so when we offered to cook her dinner, she requested a kugel. Seriously. Turns out Rachel makes a mean noodle kugel, courtesy of Mama Heilbronner, complete with a frosted flake crust. I made a roast chicken and steamed broccoli, and Gilad (our Israeli friend from Dunedin) joined us for dinner as well with a tasty salad. Three Jewish kids, one Kiwi taxi driver, and voila- a "Jewish dinner". Averil left us to our own devices after dinner, and we got a bottle of wine to sit outside with (the sun doesn't set until 10pm, so we had plenty of time). I decided to grab the travel havdallah kit that Molly gave me before we left, and in the midst of a little backyard, in the middle of Christchurch NZ, the three of us made Havdallah... around midnight we decided to go out! it was a fun night all around.
So, it's Monday now, and we have a list of things to do before we begin our travels to Australia tomorrow... we've been gone now for 5 1/2 weeks, and it's strange and exciting to have finished our first country! New Zealand has treated us well--- it's a beautiful country, and we've really enjoyed our time here...but, we are ready to move on to our next adventure. Apparently Sydney (and the entire east coast of Australia) is 3 hours behind NZ, which means a whole new time conversion to figure out.
Lots of love from us to you... keep writing us email!
Jodie and Rachel
