Parsley
19th November 2009, 11:11 AM
For those of you who want the full unedited version, follow the link at the very bottom of my post. I'm retrospectively blogging and am over half way through the trip write up.
For those of you who want it short and sweet:
I liked it. OH liked it. We climbed Rangitoto but there were no dinosaurs in the crater. Lava gets kind of boring after a while. Queenstown was great as always – I got to spend time with family which made me very happy. We did the luge up at the top of the Skyline, which I recommend to your inner child. Many different beers and wines were consumed in the interests of experimentation. I didn’t see Mt Cook AGAIN (the bugger’s always hiding in a raincloud). I surprised myself by disliking Christchurch – I thought I’d like it for some reason. Loved Akaroa. Whalewatching in Kaikoura was slightly underwhelming, but the Llama trekking flier made me laugh for days. “Llamas – Dolphins of the Land!. Fall in love with your woolly friend.” Blenheim was odd, but it was a Saturday afternoon and everything was shut. And it’s got a roundabout with a train track running through it. Between that, the roads with no crash barriers and the several loony drivers we encountered, I’m not surprised the population’s so low. Welly was as nice as I remember, and OH got to see the colossal squid which made him happy (a bloke thing). Doing wine tours with your mates gets more hilarious as the day progresses. We started off doing the whole “ooo I taste a hint of passionfruit” and ended up on “that’s crap. Next!” Strawberry Faire cafe/restaurant in Welly does amazing puddings. We had a mini-geekfest in the Weta Cave and got warned not to fiddle with the chainmail (I wear it; theirs is better. Enquiring minds want to know how/why). Cost-wise, nothing surprised us too much e.g. food , household and electrical items. Some stuff is more expensive, some stuff is cheaper. But generally overall more expensive as a proportion of your income if you’re earning NZ$. We liked the abundance of free car parking. I still don't know why New World call their shopping trollies "trundlers" but it entertained me. Don't do the 12hr Overlander if you have to get on a 28hr flight the next day. There were no huge surprises and I felt very at home, but I'm aware that I was in holiday mode.
Overall, OH is mulling things over and I’ll leave him be to do this. I’d happily move but I’m aware that in the current economic climate, one of us would need to secure a job before this happens. We’re considering our options and won’t be rushing into anything (not that the whole emigrating process is generally speedy anyway). But I’d be off tomorrow if I sold the house and won the lottery..........:D
Any questions/comments/witty quips......fire away!
P:)
For those of you who want it short and sweet:
I liked it. OH liked it. We climbed Rangitoto but there were no dinosaurs in the crater. Lava gets kind of boring after a while. Queenstown was great as always – I got to spend time with family which made me very happy. We did the luge up at the top of the Skyline, which I recommend to your inner child. Many different beers and wines were consumed in the interests of experimentation. I didn’t see Mt Cook AGAIN (the bugger’s always hiding in a raincloud). I surprised myself by disliking Christchurch – I thought I’d like it for some reason. Loved Akaroa. Whalewatching in Kaikoura was slightly underwhelming, but the Llama trekking flier made me laugh for days. “Llamas – Dolphins of the Land!. Fall in love with your woolly friend.” Blenheim was odd, but it was a Saturday afternoon and everything was shut. And it’s got a roundabout with a train track running through it. Between that, the roads with no crash barriers and the several loony drivers we encountered, I’m not surprised the population’s so low. Welly was as nice as I remember, and OH got to see the colossal squid which made him happy (a bloke thing). Doing wine tours with your mates gets more hilarious as the day progresses. We started off doing the whole “ooo I taste a hint of passionfruit” and ended up on “that’s crap. Next!” Strawberry Faire cafe/restaurant in Welly does amazing puddings. We had a mini-geekfest in the Weta Cave and got warned not to fiddle with the chainmail (I wear it; theirs is better. Enquiring minds want to know how/why). Cost-wise, nothing surprised us too much e.g. food , household and electrical items. Some stuff is more expensive, some stuff is cheaper. But generally overall more expensive as a proportion of your income if you’re earning NZ$. We liked the abundance of free car parking. I still don't know why New World call their shopping trollies "trundlers" but it entertained me. Don't do the 12hr Overlander if you have to get on a 28hr flight the next day. There were no huge surprises and I felt very at home, but I'm aware that I was in holiday mode.
Overall, OH is mulling things over and I’ll leave him be to do this. I’d happily move but I’m aware that in the current economic climate, one of us would need to secure a job before this happens. We’re considering our options and won’t be rushing into anything (not that the whole emigrating process is generally speedy anyway). But I’d be off tomorrow if I sold the house and won the lottery..........:D
Any questions/comments/witty quips......fire away!
P:)