The heart of travel

I’ve had a revelation, an epiphany.  

Riding a helicopter for the first time in my life was not the highlight of my day.  I love having new experiences and trying new things.  It brings me great joy to be in a place that I’ve never been before or have have an experience that is completely new.  But what put a smile on my face today, what made me beam, was an hour and a half visit with a friend.

This morning I went to work feeling down and quite seriously tired.  I’d had a rough night with little sleep and I was really not in the mood to work.  I ran into Chris before I even made it to the office.  He said, “Go get your jacket and a camera.”  Now that was a surprise!  What on earth would I need that stuff for?  “Why?” I asked.  “I booked you a helicopter ride to the glacier for 8 o’clock,” he responded.  Oh, okay.  That wasn’t on my agenda today!

Nevertheless I headed back to my house and grabbed the required materials and Chris sent me down to the helicopter headquarters.  I was thinking to myself, “I don’t feel like riding a helicopter today or seeing the glacier.  I’m tired.”  But I’m never really up to doing something that wasn’t planned as my friends will tell you.  When the boss says he did you a favor like this you go and do it--especially when it is free to boot!

When I got to the headquarters a group of Asians were checking in.  They were loud and rambunctious and once we got into the van to take us to the helipad, they wanted to know all about me.  They were so friendly, especially Sally the only female in the group.  They laughed and joked and helped me relax about it.

They kept me distracted so much that I didn’t really realize we were lifting off until we were already in the air.  I have to admit that I wasn’t that brave about taking a helicopter.  It’s not like they are the safest things in the world, but I had been swept into it by my boss and now by this group of enthusiastic Thailand tourists!

I can’t really describe the views, but it was fun to see the landscape from the sky.  I enjoyed seeing the little river running through the fields. The mountains began to dwarf this little helicopter.  The pilot came very close to the mountainsides.  I hadn’t realized just how steep these rainforest-covered mountains were!

What surprised me the most was that Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, was literally right there.  It was just right there!  Mt. Cook is over 12,000 feet high and we were hovering right next to it!  You can see Mt. Cook from the lowlands down here in the township, but I hadn’t realized how close we really were to it!

We landed on the neve’ of the glacier, basically right on the snow above the glacier.  The pilot let us out and we got to walk around the top of this mountain in the bright sunshine.  My Thailand tourist friends took a billion pictures and kept offering to take pictures of me.  I think I was quite overwhelmed though and only let them take a couple pictures.  They even had me get into a picture with them.  I can only imagine them showing this photo to their friends and saying, “Oh and here’s the American girl who came with us!”  Although Sally admitted to me that she doesn’t really look at her photos she just takes them for something to do!

On our way back to the township the pilot went down the face of the glacier.  He twisted and turned like crazy.  I felt like I was parallel to the ground.  It was beautiful, but I was grateful when we were back on solid ground!  I’m very glad I had this experience and I look forward to doing a heli-hike in the future.

But what really made my day was getting the courage to go knock on Maureen’s door.  I really wanted to visit her for two reasons.  One was that she had stopped by my house earlier in the day for a visit but I was not feeling well so we just said hi.  The other is that she just moved into a nicer, cuter place and I wanted to see it.  I’ve never been one to just go and knock on a person’s door without calling first so I was feeling a bit of trepidation.  What if she wasn’t there or what if I came at a bad time?

Everything turned out wonderful.  She was glad to have me.  We never ran out of anything to talk about.  Our discussions ran from guitars and music to travel and the winter olympics!  Maureen is quite musical.  She showed me her travel guitar and played me some songs.  I love her enthusiasm for music and instruments.  Maureen clearly not only loves music, but she loves the instrument.  She is very careful about not taking it out into the heat and has even purchased equipment to keep her guitar from warping.  I was just enchanted by her passion for it all.

People are truly what make travel wonderful.  I can visit all the most amazing sights in New Zealand and participate in all the awesome tourist activities, but if I don’t get to know the people what’s the point?  The way I felt after talking with her was so different from how I felt after taking the helicopter ride.  I’m not ungrateful for the experience, but I know that the elation I felt from getting to know Maureen far outweighed the excitement of flying in a helicopter.  These experiences today have just reminded me why I love to travel for months rather than a ten day trip.  I want to know the people and know the land.  I want to live among and be a part of this country.  I feel like both my experiences today have been a chance to do just that.  But somehow the time with Maureen meant more to me than any helicopter ride.

Dream Board Photo

I just wanted to post this image because I talked earlier about the picture of this girl on the airplane and I wanted to show you what it looks like.

The Sunset

December 7, 2010

I have the most beautiful view of a sunset from my bedroom window.  It is nearly 10 o’clock and it is still light out.  From my room I can see the expanse of the dark blue sky. As I lower my eyes the sky fades to a highlighter yellow.  From yellow it quickly fades to apricot and then the sky touches the low lying clouds over the Tasman.  I can see the huge Southern Alpine hillsides to the left and I know that beyond that lies the Fox Glacier.  Hanging just to the right of the hills is the thinnest, sliver of a moon.  The moon hovers just above the highlighter yellow in the softer blue sky.  It is cupping up toward the sky which according to old wives’ tales means it will rain tomorrow so I’d better enjoy the clear sky while I have the chance.  

The moon shines golden-like over the whole scene.  It may be only a sliver, but it makes this sunset that much more powerful to behold.  It is understated, but that understated attitude is the icing on the cake.  I can’t keep my eyes off it and every few moments I turn back to the window to get a glance at the tiny little moon hanging above a New Zealand sunset.  How marvelous our Creator is, that he would make a landscape so lovely and cover it in the shades of light that I see before me.  

I’ve just come home from my first New Zealand barbeque and made myself a cup of real New Zealand tea.  The barbeque was a birthday celebration for the cook at the restaurant in the hotel.  Her birthday is tomorrow, but since most of us had today off we celebrated today.  Josh created a lovely meal with four different kinds of meat and we had salad and potatoes and potato chips.  It was mostly the gang from the hotel plus the house of folks that live next door who work at Fox Guiding.  (Fox Guiding takes people up onto the glacier since it is too unsafe to go alone.)

It was absolutely roaring hot when we got the barbeque started and I loved it!  I was so cold yesterday and so cold this morning at work that when the sunshine came out I felt like I was defrosting!  The barbeque was a good chance to get to know Cookie, the birthday girl, and Maureen, who works in housekeeping, as well as the folks who live at the Fox Guiding house.  I just enjoyed the company.  Maureen is incredibly friendly.  She is older and has worked at a lot of hotels in Australia and New Zealand.  I really like her a lot.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon playing rummy with Josh.  He was bored because it was his day off and I offered to play cards with him.  He loved it and now he wants to learn to play poker.  I told him I have no idea how to play poker.  He’ll have to learn that from someone else!

We played at the kitchen table until I said I just had to go outside and enjoy the hot sunshine.  So we played on the front steps.  We don’t have any outdoor furniture which would be nice on a hot day like today, but unusable on a day like yesterday when it rains all day long!

Caroline has moved out of our house and into a tiny little one on the other side of this housing “commune”.  We really are a bit of a commune stuck between two roads.  On the main road is Caroline’s new house.  Behind that is the house that the guides live in.  Cookie’s house is next to that, and between the guide house and Cookie’s is a tiny little house.  I haven’t met the people that live there yet.  Caroline says they stick to themselves.  Then my house is next to their house and the quieter road.  Our house will seem quieter without Caroline who kind of holds us all together.  But I know she will be over all the time visiting and we all work with her so it won’t be that big of a change.

It is almost dark now and the moon has dipped a bit lower.  It is just barely suspended above the hillsides.  Now the hills are in a sharper focus and are sharply silhouetted.  I think it’s about time to turn in for the night and hope that tomorrow’s sunset comes close to tonight’s!

An uneventful day turns eventful

December 6, 2010

I worked this morning until 1 PM and then I came home for lunch.  I was working on ordering some food for delivery while I sat at the kitchen table.  I got up to look at something in my bathroom.  As I was walking through the kitchen I suddenly saw that there was water all over the floor of the laundry and some on the kitchen floor.  I panicked!  I had never seen anything like this before and I had no idea what to do.  I just moved into this place last week!  I didn’t know if there was a mop or any extra towels to clean up the mess.

I went to my roommates’ doors to see if they were home and could help me, but it was just me.  I decided to go to the hotel and ask to borrow a mop.  I ran into Chris right away and he helped me find a mop.

Caroline said that probably the drain in the sink next to the washer had become clogged and then the water just overflowed since the washer drains into the sink.  Well, that’s exactly what happened.  I started to clean things up and then Josh came home and helped me.  When I started cleaning part of me was thinking, “Well at least this gives me something to do with my day!”

This really is the kind of place where you wish you had some other interest or talent like sewing or knitting or drawing or musical talent.  No wonder Elizabeth Bennett walked so much!  That’s what I did this afternoon.  I took a walk.  

I walked out to Lake Matheson in the rain.  The rain didn’t worry me too much.  I’m a tough Seattle girl.  I can handle it.  In fact the first part was wonderful, but I soon found out what a city girl I am!  

Just after I took the turnoff of Cook Flat Road to Lake Matheson I passed some cows.  Now these weren’t the first cows I’ve ever passed in my life, but these ones kind of freaked me out.  I don’t think cows here are used to people.  I was about half way past them when they just started running my way.  I could hear them!  Their heavy feet pounded the ground in my direction.  My heart started pounding too.  I was sure they were going to somehow plow through their fence and stampede me.  Well, I started picking up the pace a bit and praying under my breath.  Next thing I know I hear some sort of squawk from a bird and the cows start running the other way.  

Needless to say I was not eager to walk past the cows again, but if I ever wanted to get home I’d have to.  Fortunately on the way back a car passed the cows almost at the same time I did so there was no stampede.  I have to say I like sheep better.  If they notice me they run the other way!

On my walk I passed several of the B & Bs and hotels.  There are a lot in this town!  I’ve walked this way a few times already and I always notice the hotel that advertises the alpine views from every room.  I have often looked around and gone, “Well, duh!”  Everywhere you look there are mountains!  You could stay in any place here in Fox and have a view of the mountains.  Well, that is until today.

Today we have been covered in a thick fog-mist since about 9 AM.  There are no views of the mountains anywhere.  So I chuckled to myself again over the “alpine views from every room” sign only for a different reason.  Then I noticed the hotel next door that is perhaps more aptly named “Misty Peaks”.  Today I kind of feel like Misty Peaks Motel is more honest about what they offer!

Well, this is about as eventful as my day got!  We’ll see what tomorrow is like.  I can tell you I won’t be going near any cows any time soon!

The beach

You can’t believe all the things I’ve done today.  I worked, did laundry, went out for coffee, walked for two hours, and went to the beach.  I was so tired last night too and I didn’t sleep all that well.  I did not want to go to work, but I knew it would only be for a short while.  They just wanted me to get the hang of checking out a group.  

I came home exhausted, but I put my laundry in right away because I wanted it to dry in the sunshine.  Then I sat down in the sun at the kitchen table to devour some breakfast/lunch and read an old OK! magazine laying about the house.

Caroline and Paul (a glacier guide who lives near us) invited me to go bike riding with them but I just couldn’t.  I didn’t want to move.  After their ride they came back and Josh (another roommie) joined us and we just chatted.  Living in a small town consists of just a lot of talking and saying the same things over and over again.  At least this is what I’ve learned in my first few days in a small town.  You basically look for anything to fill up your time with.

Caroline invited me out for coffee so we walked down in the sunshine to Cafe Neve.  We sat on the front porch and enjoyed the scenery and the people watching.  It was lovely and the coffee gave me the energy for the rest of the things I did today!

Caroline and Paul told me about the path that they biked on and said I should check it out.  It isn’t finished yet, but you can walk on it on the weekends when the workers aren’t there.  The walk was so beautiful and I look forward to doing it again.  It was just a good place to think and sing.  I only saw one other person on it.

I almost turned back after half an hour, but I think the coffee kicked in and I just wanted to see all that Caroline had described to me.  I eventually made it to the carpark for the view of the glacier.  It was another few minutes until I made it to the actual view.  First I had to cross a suspension bridge with a sign that said maximum 5 people on bridge! 

The view was really nice with the bright blue sky, the rainforest, and the glacier.  By the time I made it there I was truly tuckered.  A sweet tourist couple offered me a ride back to the township, but I declined.  I was kicking myself for that though.  They were also going to take me up to the area closer to the glacier if I had gone with them.  I decided I had said no too many times!  No to bike riding and no to this offer.  I decided I needed to start saying yes.

I was almost back home when someone called out to me from their porch.  It was a man I had met earlier when Caroline and I were having coffee.  He and I talked for a bit while I played fetch with his dog. His name is Chad (the man’s, the dog’s name is Sprocket) and he rents out his house and does roadwork.  Chad invited me to come to the beach later in the evening.

I’ve really wanted to see Gillespie’s beach but I have no way of getting there.  It’s a bit too far to get there on bike.  I would have said no, but because of earlier I decided I should say yes and go.  I just told him maybe.  Then I went to ask Caroline if she thought it would be OK.  Caroline encouraged me to go and since I really wanted to see the beach I decided to go.

When I got to Chad’s house later I played with Sprocket again and then Chad and one of his boarders, Christoph, and a friend of Chad’s piled into his vehicle and headed to the beach.  Christoph was a nice man from France.  He and his wife are on a nine month honeymoon!

The drive out to the beach was a bit wild because it isn’t paved and it has a lot of loops and turns through the forest.  But I actually felt really safe because Chad is the one who fixes the road so he knew it like the back of his hand.  I thought we’d just get to the beach, park, and walk around.  But Chad drove up onto the beach and stopped just to turn on his four wheel drive.  Then we went roaring onto the beach.

The only thing is the beach isn’t really sandy.  It’s not like driving on the beach at Long Beach.  The beach has large, perfect orb-like rocks on it.  We went tearing all about.  We almost got stuck and it was quite the adventure sitting in the car while he tried to move on the rocks.  

Eventually Chad parked and we just walked around and enjoyed the waves.  I love being near the water and this felt really good.  This beach has black sand with gold flecks in it.  I didn’t see any gold, but it was still beautiful.

The ride back was pretty uneventful.  I stayed and had tea with Chad and his friends.  They are kind of a wild bunch, but friendly.  They love to tell people about New Zealand.  They talk a lot about the birds, the sea life, and the plants.  The whole way back to town Chad’s friend told Christoph all about logging trees and sawing them up.  I kind of just sat in the front seat and wondered how I had gotten to this place where I’m roaring through the rainforest with a Kiwi in the back seat explaining the ins and outs of lumber to a honeymooning Frenchman!  This is what travel is all about I guess!

I wonder what adventures tomorrow will bring!

Settling Down

December 2, 2010

Today I started my job. It has been about a month almost to the day that I finished my job in Seattle.  I’ve really enjoyed traveling for such an extended period of time, but it is also great to be settled down.  I kind of felt strange going back to work as I prepared this morning.  It just felt weird and I found myself wishing that my time was my own.

But I didn’t need to worry about my time so much because I only worked for three hours in the morning and then another two or so in the evening.  The computer system they use here at Te Weheka Inn is quite different from what we used in Seattle.  It makes the Marriott system and the St. James Place system seem old and decrepit.  But it being so different also means that I have that much more to learn.  I think I can do it.  It’s just always awkward when you start a new job and have to figure everything out.  I don’t know how so many things work and I hate that.  You’d think I’d get used to it since I’ve had so many jobs!

Chris, my boss, says that Te Weheka Inn is the nicest and best accommodation in Fox Glacier.  This makes me feel really good that I’m working at a top notch place.  

In the middle of the day I read some of a book and ate a very unhealthy (but delicious) lunch.  I was so cold!  This morning was cold with low lying clouds so I couldn’t see the mountains very much.  It was depressing after such a beautiful day we had yesterday.  I even warmed up some hot water just to stay warm. 

I decided to take a nap and curled up in my bed which was wonderfully warm.  Eventually the sun came out and warmed up my room.  Ah, it was lovely.  I’ve always loved to sleep warm and it was really, really warm.  When I woke up I was shocked to see the clouds were pretty well dispersed and the sun was shinning.  

Unfortunately I had to go back to work and learn about the evening shift. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I started off with a cup of tea!  The hotel holds a reception with a free glass of wine for guests and I joined Chris in this.  It’s just a time to meet the guests, encourage them to eat in our restaurant, and tell them about the area.  I met a couple from New Jersey and the wife had lived in a small town in Washington state when she was a young girl. This was great!

After the reception I had dinner from our kitchen.  The chef here really goes by Cookie!  Cool, huh?  My dinner was great and then Chris taught me a little bit more on the computer and I went home.  Easy enough!

I took an evening walk.  It wasn’t as warm as last night, but just as beautiful!  I walked out toward Lake Matheson through the valley and the farms.  The views of the mountains out there is tremendous and in the setting sun there just isn’t anything like it!  I took my camera and I took a lot of pictures.  You just can’t help yourself.  Everything here is so poetic and photogenic!

I love this little house I’m staying in, especially my room and the dining area.  My room has two windows that overlook the valley and the mountains beyond.  I can watch the sunset from my room!  It’s just gorgeous.  A room with a view.  The dining area is lovely because it has three large windows in the corner of the room.  I’ve always loved corner windows.  It looks out to the street and the rainforest beyond.  I can sit there and eat and watch the occasional car or pedestrian go by. Or I can just sit and listen to the birds or the meowing cat or barking dog.  It is really nice.  I think I’m really going to like staying here in this house in Fox Glacier.

December 1, 2010

I came back to Fox Glacier today.  I slept a good deal on the bus.  I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.  The driver kept trying to point out interesting things to me like the trees with the fungus or where a landslide had occurred.  But I just kept sleeping and waking up.  I probably needed it.  

My stay with the Short family was tremendously wonderful.  I love them all so much.  Penny and Marc are amazing parents who truly care about their children.  Jeremy, Sophie, and Alice welcomed me into their home like true friends.  I hope I can stay with them again before my journey here in New Zealand ends.

When I got to Fox, much to my surprise, it was warm.  So warm that I had to change out of my jeans almost right away into my shorts.  I went for a jog/walk and reveled in the mountains, the clear blue sky, the snow on the mountain tops, and the sunshine.  I’ve never spent a December 1st quite like this one!  I fell in love with this place today.  It is just what I’m looking for.  There are mountains in almost a 360 view.  The only place there aren’t mountains spreads out to where the Tasman Sea is.  You can’t see the Tasman from here, but it is only 22 kilometers away.

The sunset tonight was beautiful.  The sun goes down very late.  So even now at 9:45 PM I can still see the pink tint out my window.  My bedroom window looks out on a beautiful view toward the mountains and the sunset.  I’m truly blessed.

Every now and then I just think to myself “I’m in New Zealand!”  I’m still not over the idea, and I find myself wanting to shout out, “I’m in New Zealand!”  If I had just gone with this fancy I would have been yelling out on the bus ride today!  Somehow I hold myself back, but just barely.

This is what it is like to have a dream come true.  You just want to shout with joy and exuberance because something that you wanted so badly, but could only just barely believe could happen, has happened!  I’m not quite sure I’ve ever felt exactly like this.  It is a wonderful feeling though and I want to hold onto it the entire time I’m here.  I don’t want to take New Zealand and this opportunity for granted.  Dreams really do come true.