Our New Zealand holiday continues. We arrived in Queenstown yesterday afternoon and today we saw our new house for the first time. It’s exciting, and terrifying all at once. I am no longer worried that the house will be falling to pieces or will have rats in the bedrooms (I worry about some strange things – I know!) but now I am worried about not being happy here. It’s a silly thing to worry about, happiness is so subjective and so dynamic too. It’s not really something that can be measured or compared. I’m just a worrier I guess, always have been, and that’s not likely to change overnight!
I was able to tally up a few partial completions on my 101/1001 list today which is great. Hubby and I ate burgers on the shores of Lake Wakatipu today. It was bitterly cold, but wonderful and refreshing at the same time.. we discussed whether or not the meal could count as a picnic (Hubby thought it could – his definition of a picnic being a leisurely meal outdoors, but I decided that it was probably cheating.. a picnic for me includes either one or both of the following: a meal eaten outside on a blanket, or home made meal eaten outside: our meal today included no blanket and was burgers and chips from the local Fergburger restaurant), in the end it was decided that since it was my list then my interpretation of ‘picnic’ was most valid and so lunch today didn’t count as a picnic, meaning it couldn’t work towards #22 on the list (Have 2 picnics by lake Wakatipu, one during the day and one by moonlight), but it did still count against #99 (Eat 101 meals outside)so I’m still happy with that. Once we had finished with our meals we fed the ducks which was fun, they swarmed around us fearless and flocking.. it was eerie and delightful all at once.
Today, I was also able to put a mark against #42 (Visit the ocean at least 4 times) when, while driving from Franz Josef to Queenstown yesterday afternoon we turned a corner leaving lush green rainforest behind us and found ourselves face to face with the most turbulent ocean I have ever seen.. it was a gray day yesterday, overcast and rainy and windy, and the dark beach with the gray waves crashing violently on the sand really was a sight to behold. Strangely enough the length of coastline, about a kilometre in length was framed with piles and piles of pebbles and rocks, columns balancing precariously in spite of the crazy wind and the crashing waves.. it sure was something! I like to imagine that it is some kind of strange freak of nature that puts them there, the wind picking them up in the black of night and stacking them high.. though more likely it is bored children and thoughtful travellers. Either way it was quite beautiful and absurd.
Tomorrow we head to Twizel, and then on Friday back onto Christchurch for our flight home on Saturday. I thought I would be feeling sad about going home, but I’m feeling quite good about it. Not much need to be sad I suppose since we’ll be back in a matter of weeks. In the meantime there is lots of packing and paperwork to do.. I think that is the main thing to do when it comes to an international move; packing and paperwork. I’ll probably get a bunch more photos in the next couple of days, but until then, here are a couple of my favourties from the past couple of days.
learning how to be me... 