In the shadow of the misty mountains
Wow, a whole new country to explore. Phil (who i’d met in Oz) picked me up from the airport and drove me round Christchurch. We went to ‘New Brighton’ which felt strange and went up into the hills . It was beautiful.
It felt odd to leave Perth, knowing I may never see it or the friends I’d made again. On my last day I met a girl – Jenny, who had spent a few weeks as a Jillaroo (cowgirl) in the outback, something i had been thinking of. We made rough plans to meet on the east coast and be Jillaroos together. Leaving Perth there was a dramatic firework display as if to say farewell (but infact marking the end of a cricket match).
On the plane to NZ I met a girl who’d been travelling for 4 years, this would be her first christmas at home for a long time. She was an interesting girl. On the plane I read an article about introverts and extroverts and how their minds actually work differently – different neural pathways are used to process things. Introverts use longer pathways so take longer to process things but do so on a deeper level, they feel exhausted by social contact and need time alone to recuperate. That makes sense, I don’t get much time alone except when I’m on a bus going somewhere – my favourite part of travelling.
I also met a photography teacher who told me australia was the land of ‘F11’ because the light level is higher, different fileters are needed. Well, I thought it was interesteing even if you don’t!
I stayed a couple of days in Christchurch, met up with Jaz and James who i’d also met in Perth. Also, writing this now (in Queenstown) Steve has just walked into the internet cafe (who I also met in australia!). Christchurch is very similar to England, English place names and a pretty river. It DID make me homesick to be in familiar surroundings and yet on the other side of the world. In my hostel i briefly met an Israeli guy who in the space of 2 hours gave me: his lonely planet book, a raincoat, nuts, chocolate, pyjamas and sushi. A generous guy.
In Christchurch’s pleasant, quiet town centre there is a man they call ‘The Wizard’ who delights in heckling the religious loonies who shout at the crowd. Needless to say the wizard gets all the attention much to the bewildered irritation of the other ‘street-shouters’.
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Had a strange dream on my last night in CC, a large man was threatening my neighbours so I decided I would taunt him, tell him what I thought of him and run away. Run away I did and he was too fat to catch me. I have never been chased like that in a dream. strange to initiate trouble and ask to be chased like that. He eventually cought up with me and i woke myself up by shouting…
Stopped off for a night at Lake Tekapo, it is very beautiful. When I was taking this photo a little bird very kindly agreed to pose in the bottom right hand corner…
The drive was my favourite part, through the Southern Alps (or Misty Mountains if you like lord of the rings). I had another strange dream that night, having shown the producers of the antiques roadshow around a village and taken them to lunch i popped upstairs to perform in a small Moulin-Rouge style production. At the end I was presented with an old-fashioned french lipstick by Clint Eastwood as apparently I had done rather well. What does all that symbolise I wonder? I haven’t watched hardly any TV since I left uk… who knows…
I get a rush from being in the mountains, from not knowing what is aound the corner. I LOVE getting on a coach/bus/car and driving off somewhere new. it makes me glad to be alive. The foothills of the mountains are like Rohan from the films. But sadly there doesn’t seem to be any Rohan warriors.
QT is a good town, lots of extra people here for the holidays. I have an amazing view from my room.
Perhaps I will make friends here. Maybe I will bump into Thorsten. Spoke to mum last night, she has booked her flight to Sydney. How exciting. We are going to hire a car and drive up to Brisbane then got to Alice. I can’t wait.
I’ll put some photos on when i get a chance. Happy Christamas by the way! Yesterday i saw a Maori woman playing christmas songs on the bagpipes…an interesting mix of culture…
Tags: New Zealand, Queenstown, Travel
wanderingdeb
Deb! It is wonderful to have found your website. I am kind of looking around at travel blogs at the moment, as I am a traveller myself, and I will definetly keep up with yours. So …. how come there is no pics from broome? I was there most of this year. I am in the NT now and will be dropping by Tasmania in the near future. I look forward to seeing more on you!
Merry Christmas Princess, as you will undoubted be called at some time in NZ.
Am suffering today as the east coast is exactly as people describe – far too much partying, far too much drinking and far too much sunshine. Ohh well someone’s got to live it!
Am loving reading your entries, especially the NZ ones as they bring back so many great memories. I would defo start going to bars alone – with your winning smile you won’t be alone for long – guaranteed. If this inspires you to just go up to randoms, today I wanted a pic of the Sydney Opera house, so asked a random and ended spending the afternoon together touring the house and having drinks in the park – sweet as!
Have fun honey
Lindsx
Adam, you are right, not many Broome photos. Perhaps because it was too hot to do much photography! Thanks for your comment. I will check out your blog too when I get a chance. Hope you are enjoying the NT.
Your work is what I would call food for the mind. It makes me reflect about the topic all the time. It is something worth remembering.