I am sitting in the car at my sister's volleyball tournament, waiting for the first game to begin. I thought I'd go ahead and write one last update before I finish this blog. At the moment I am sad. I recently discovered that most of my photos from new zealand were destroyed because the picture cd's are scratched. It is a great loss, but I suppose I'll live.
When I left Te Anau and said good-bye to my tramping community I headed to Queenstown and spent one night in Dunedin, home of the Cadbury chocolate factory. I stayed with a tramping friend and went to a High School Billy Holly play. While wandering around Dunedin I ran into two other groups of trampers I knew. I also walked up and down the "Steepest Street in the World" according to the Guinness World book of records: Baldwin Street. So that was pretty special. After one more night in Queenstown I made my way to Mt. Cook Village to spend one last night in a hut. I walked up to the famous Mueller Hut, which is well-known for its fabulous views of Mt. Cook. The hut was surrounded by the first snows. I stayed with 4 other people and we spent the night listening to avalanches and walking in the snow my moonlight. It was a lovely last hut but once I had descended I felt lost. With no more tramping left in my itinerary I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I ran into another tramping friend before taking my final bus to Christchurch where I spent my last week wwoofing for a lovely family of 5. My jobs included gardening, sawing stakes, mixing and laying cement, and collecting pine cones. I enjoyed the family and was sad to leave them but I was also anxious to get home. My hosts wanted me to stay an extra month to build an outdoor earthen pizza oven. Next time. I spend my last two nights in Christchurch staying in a college flatt with another tramping friend I met in Queenstown. I did all of my last-minute shopping, broke down and bought a macpac day pack and I even carved my own bone necklace. Sweet As. And then suddenly I was home. I already have a list of over 20 things I'd like to do the next time I go to New Zealand. It is strange not to be traveling now but who knows when my next trip will be?
Thank you for reading!
