Into the wild green yonder

So, the main reason I wanted to come back from Asia was because I missed the wide-open spaces of Aotearoa. I also missed seeing green and having enough room in my flat to swing a cat. Here comes the irony. I‘ve only recently moved out of a small, city apartment that was surrounded by concrete and noisy neighbours. I’ve also been made to think about the last time I went out of the city because a friend, who visited from England, 1 year ago, sent an email entitled “Has it really been a whole year?”.

It seems that the only time we make it out of the city is if we have guests to entertain. Why? Isn’t this why we came back to New Zealand…to be in New Zealand? Après epiphany, Mr. P and I decided that, since he’s being forced to take the holiday he’s been saving up, that we’d take off and do a bit of a road trip.

We’re headed south. Our original plan was to spend the week in the Tongariro National park skiing on the volcanoes, but when we found out how much they add on to accommodation prices for the ski season have thought again. We still plan to go skiing mid-week when we can get a cheap pass that includes a free lesson. I need it, he doesn’t. But first, we’re going to set off Saturday morning and try to get all the way to Napier. We’ve never been there and we were joking that it’s going to be a bit of a busman’s holiday since it’s the most art deco-ed town in NZ. But that’s not why we’re going. We’re going because we need a road trip. We need to get out of the city. We need to get far away from work, looking for work, and all the other stresses of everyday life. Most of all, we need to go to New Zealand. Don’t get me wrong, I L.O.V.E. love Auckland. It’s, in my opinion one of the best places to live in the world, but we need to get out and frolic in the rolling hills, so to speak.

I reckon we should pretend to be backpackers. We can shove all the needed accoutrements into our long-neglected packs, fill the station wagon with pasta, teabags, low temperature sleeping bags, and tramping gear, and take off. Zip off trouser/shorts and English optional.