Last Few Days in Queenstown

After returning from the Routeburn track, I just hung out in Queenstown for a few days, visiting some of my old co-workers and flatmates, and trying to sell my car. I had such a hard time selling that car. I don't understand it cuz it was a damn good car for a 1989! I drove it around NZ at least 3,000 km without a problem. But no one appreciated how much my car had to offer. Too bad for them! One of my old co-workers actually offered me NZ$500 for it, but that wasn't worth it to me. So I decided to donate it to a domestic violence agency. So hopefully someone will be able to make good use of it.

The day before I left NZ, I went paragliding near Queenstown from Coronet Peak. I always saw people paragliding around Queenstown, and it looked like so much fun. So I thought I'd try it out before I left. But man, I got some serious motion sickness from that trip. First, the van taking us up to the peak was going pretty fast on the windy uphill road. That started the motion sickness. Then it just got worse after we took off and started flying. We were in the air for a good 10 minutes or so. I was anxious to get down on the ground cuz my stomach felt like it had been turned upside down. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy. Oh well. I know not to do that again! It was a tandem paraglide, meaning the instructor was behind me controlling the flight. Here are some pictures from my paraglide. I'm smiling on the outside, but frowning on the inside.





On the day I left to come back to the US, my old flatmate Emma took me to the airport. I had seen her 2 days before and showed her my toenails, and the chipped nail polish from the pedicure she had given me 3 months prior. For Emma, that's just a disgrace to walk around with chipped nail polish, or no nail polish at all. So she insisted on picking me up an hour early on the day of my flight so that she could do my toenails, which I thought was really kind of her. So after doing my toenails, she took me to the airport and sat with me for a good hour while I waited to board, which was also very kind of her.

(Sigh.) It's been weird being back in the States. Most times it feels like I never left. But sometimes I realize how long I've been gone. Driving on the right side of the road again is confusing me. And when I go to turn on the turning signals, I accidentally turn on the windshield wipers instead. And when I try to put my car in reverse, or drive, or park, I reach for the wrong side. It's funny, though, cuz my 1999 Toyota is so quiet and new looking compared to the 1989 clunker I had in NZ. It was a good, reliable clunker, but a clunker nonetheless. So now I feel like I'm driving a brand new car.

I miss all the New Zealand talk, like people saying "cheers" instead of "thank you," "heaps" instead of "alot," and saying "hay" at the end of every sentence. I also miss being able to drive just a short bit and being surrounded by beautiful, grand mountains. But what I miss most about New Zealand is meeting heaps of new people all the time. I miss that when you spend just 5 days in the same backpackers with someone in NZ, you feel like you've known them forever because 5 days is a really long time to stay in one place! I got really used to the travelling lifestyle, and I never really missed having my own space to spread out my things or anything like that. Maybe I just didn't do it long enough. Next time, yes, next time, maybe I'll go for longer...