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.

What a difference a day makes

View from the flat
Originally uploaded by Shanti, shanti.

Well, a few days, but still! This is what I saw out my window on the day we were leaving the flat in Shibata. Talk about Seasonal Affected Disorder, it hadn't even been snowing that long yet but we were well and truly ready to get to the New Zealand summer.
Things have been really difficult. In fact, it's been the most difficult move I've ever made and that's saying a lot for me. I've made no less than 7 international moves, and god only knows how many domestic ones. But this one just seemed to drag on and on. I think the big difference is that Mr. P had to start work, and I had to start my course only two days after landing. We didn't even have a place to live yet! Every waking moment was focussed on getting us settled somewhere, and so we managed to find a place on about day 7 that we moved straight in to. There was nothing in the flat, and I mean not -a-sausage! So we slept on the floor a few nights until a kind person on my course offered up some foam mattresses for us to borrow. We also got into the storage unit and amazingly, after 4 years, everything was still in pretty good nick albeit full of dust. So we got the chilly bin to keep our milk in and started buying bags of ice so we could keep milk for tea. Finally things started coming together and we obtained a new bed and fridge. We now OWN stuff! Now there's a novel concept. We've just this week managed to get our stuff from the ship (from Japan) and clear customs as well, but it's pretty much box heaven round here. It can only get better, right?
All in all, it's been stressful as hell, but we are really glad to be back!
BTW, this is what it looks like out our window now.