Girls Love Dirt

It was the six month anniversary of our arrival in New Zealand just a few days ago. Robert and I arrived on the 15th of February, and I left Canada on the 27th of January. I was going to write a bit about how it doesn't feel like six months, etc., etc. But what is six months meant to feel like anyway? Time constantly seems to be either dragging or speeding by, and usually whenever I'm looking back it seems to have sped along at a shocking speed. This last period in my life is definitely a bit of a blur. I've done a lot, but Auckland has afforded me a fair amount of down time that I don't expect that Sydney will. As a result I feel like I've been a bit lazy with my explorations. I'm excited at the prospect of moving on to the next adventure, but at the same time I feel a little sad too. Some friendships that felt like they were just getting started might now be ending, or perhaps just going into stasis. Auckland is not an ideal city, but I've certainly grown comfortable. Maybe I just shouldn't write blog entries while listening to melancholy music...

Some people mark the periods of their lives by occupations, friends and lovers, family situations, or perhaps hobbies. Cities seem to be the defining marker and shaper of the chapters in my life. I've been trying to guess at what this period of my life will look like in retrospect. At this point, I'm having trouble hazarding a guess. Perhaps because this whole chunk of my life seems a bit random. I made the decision to come to New Zealand about 48 hours after Robert put it to me as an option. Within months I had scraped together the financial resources I needed, compartmentalized my life into little boxes left in various locations around Ontario and put myself on an extremely long flight to parts unknown. I've always admired my friends and family who were able to put their life into a few pieces of luggage and whisk themselves away to far away places for long periods of time. Now that I've done it too, I find myself every once and a while wondering why and if I am perhaps, insane. I think I've been feeling a bit homesick this week. Although I am already about halfway through my time in this part of the world it feels like it's going to be ages and ages before I am in familiar surroundings again with the people that I love. I could go home at anytime, but I'm not ready yet. I'd regret leaving so many things undone. I just have to ride this wave of unsettledness and wait for it to pass. In six to eight months from now, I'll be looking back on this upcoming chapter and wondering how it passed so quickly.

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That's better. I've put on some upbeat music and am drinking some ginseng tea. Time to share a few more photos.
My last day skiing in the South Island was spent at Treble Cone. The most beautiful and most difficult slopes in NZ. I'm very glad I went, but an unexpected trip (tumble) down an icy black run has left me with several bruises that seem to have no desire of fading. Luckily, the views were worth it.

The below photos are of Lake Wanaka (in a town called, Wanaka, surprisingly enough). Hardcore Queenstown fans attempted to dissuade from spending a few nights in Wanaka by appealing to the "trip the lights fantastic" girl in me. I'm glad they failed. Wanaka is an extremely friendly and cozy little town that has the best movie house I have ever been to. Instead of regular collapsible seats they have a plethora of tiered couches and a full menu including irresistible fresh out of the oven cookies. Yum...