South Island of New Zealand

April 21, 2017

Everything is just temporary. I am becoming very tired of this word. The temporary table in our temporary flat. When am I going to build something that will last a while? I know it’s the same issue over and over again. There are better days and there are worse days. And then there are days when you wonder if there will ever be a place where there are no doubts. Only occasionally there’s the day when I choke up on the drive to work when listening to some
songs from the old days. Who would have thought I would have to live so far away from home to start listening to Czech music. Obviously I have lived away from home for the last eight years, but never so far. You would think the
distance would make no difference but it does. The nine hour time difference ensures that it’s so difficult to get to the person I want to speak with.

To continue in a much more positive atmosphere, the trip to New Zealand was awesome. And I have learned that Zealand is spelled Zealand and not Zaeland as I kept writing it for some strange reason. We have arrived in
Christchurch at night into a forecasted stormy weather and slept at Luky’s old college friend’s house. Since he last saw him, Tom managed to get himself a family with two beautiful girls. Time runs fast. We woke up into the rain, the grey outside postponed our departure by a few hours. In the end we made it to the Castle Hill as recommended by Cass www.angelic-perfection.net, it was beautiful – like Scotland. That’s something I had to repeat constantly
because, it really WAS like Scotland. I felt like home. And guess who took a photo of us on top of the hill? A girl from Glasgow, I felt like we were best friends. Damn it, I miss Scotland. After that we have decided to go for a small
walk on the Peel Mountain. However not until we got the best steak pies I have ever tasted. After Cass has mentioned this in her blog, I thought it was a bold statement, but those WERE the best steak pies I have ever tasted. Our walk led to nowhere as we had no shoes to spare for river crossings; just as well, it was getting dark anyway. For dinner we pictured a cute little bistro or a family restaurant with character and a village feel … and that’s exactly what we’ve found. How lucky were we? The Running Duck and a town called Geraldine had everything that we wanted, great food served on hipster plates, super friendly staff and local ales. In the dark we drove a little further towards the famous Tekapo Lake and chose a cul-de-sac street as our refuge for the night. It was a rainy and a windy night and for the first time since I have moved to this part of the world, I felt cold. Turns out that you can also spoon in a sleeping bag, it’s nice… to be in love like this.

Breakfast at a local bakery, I got to feed their cat with my breakfast bun. And off we went to Tekapo. I have to say the next stop was terribly disappointing and I didn’t do well hiding it. But then again what did I imagine going to one of the most popular places on the South Island. In this aspect, I really prefer the Scottish countryside over New Zealand’s one. Not once in Scotland have I encountered crowds of colourful, selfie snapping Chinese. I just prefer soaking in the nature views in silence. The first view of Pukaki however was breathtaking. Since the sun has decided to fight through the clouds we walked along the shore and found a quiet spot, ate whatever food we had, shared a beer and took a very short nap. Everyone knows that napping in the sun next to a lake shore is the best type of nap. The views along the lake were amazing. We drove all the way to the Mt. Cook village where we had just enough sunlight for a short walk to the Tasman Glacier after that I got really hungry. So we ended up eating right in the village, which was very disappointing after the feast we had the night before.

Stargazing however made up for the tasteless quinoa burger… now that I think about it, it was a little bit of a gamble ordering that at a tourist joint. We have seen the Southern Cross and thousands of shiny stars that looked close enough to touch on the Milky Way. It was fantastically romantic. After the Moonrise (yes that’s a thing) we set off to find a place for the night. Again the dream of waking up somewhere alone, in the middle of nowhere with a view of the sunrise over the lake was shattered. (Oh Isle of Skye, I will visit you again, I promise) Even still the night was slightly better as this time Luky parked sensibly so our heads were higher than our legs this time. And the view in the morning wasn’t half so bad. The crowds of camper tourists were friendly enough. We decided to make it all the way back to the Running Duck for breakfast and it was worth it.

Next stop Akaroa. I believe the views from the hills would have been even better if not for the fog. Still pretty enough. We met with Luky’s friend and family and all had late lunch. This is getting annoying but Akaroa Village … just like Plokton in Scotland. Except (and I do realise I might be biased here), Plokton is so much better. Could have been the weather, I have basically been freezing since I woke up early morning on the lake shore. We chatted till late evening and woke up early to see the famous hill views of Christchurch. Again it would have probably been more beautiful on a nicer day.

After a quick airport breakfast, it was time to fly to Auckland – the city that has changed the life of my father and subsequently my life and Luky’s life. When I was about seven years old my dad has decided to move to NZ, learn English and thus ensure a better future for his little daughter. When he came back he told young seventeen or eighteen year old Lukas all about it, who went straight to the agency and booked a ticket there himself. Those good old times when you didn’t have to pay straight away and off he went to NZ with $100 in his pocket. So yes, this was an important city to visit and I am happy to say that I loved it. Could have been the beautiful sunny day, could have been the mood, but it was wonderful. The whole city had a suburban feel, there was no traffic and even on an Easter Monday there were no crowds of people and the views from the hills were everything that I could wish for. We
lunched on the shore in a cute little bistro, walked in town and had coffee across the bridge and made it to the airport just in time for our Gold Coast flight. Just a note for myself – do not fly with Air Asia unless you absolutely
have to. We arrived late and I almost cried in the morning when I had to go back to work. It doesn’t matter now because it’s Friday and I have a long 4 day weekend ahead of me thanks to Anzac day.

Maybe if I am lucky we will get a temporary couch for our temporary flat this weekend. I have to say I love the new flat. Oh I never actually mentioned that we have moved into a new house, well we did and we have a spare room now. I am just hopeful that it will be full of visitors, but maybe it’s just wishful thinking. This is the end of the world here. I don’t have a lot of photos from the trip, as it turns out Luky is the photographer in the family and he hasn’t shared his with me yet.

Cute little sheep on One Tree Hill