After a few days, our time at the 2nd beach house was up so it was time to start the long drive back to Christchurch. Usually I would find a long day in the car pretty daunting but I was surprised at how content I was, squished in the back of the Nissan Pulsar, listening to country music (Katie was our DJ)…with the exception of my solitary little walks, it was actually the most relaxed I had felt since we left Christchurch. We stopped outside of Maruia Springs and considering there weren’t a whole lot of accommodation choices between there and Christchurch (and the rest of the group didn’t want to head to Chch til the next day), we decided to camp at a little Department of Conservation campsite right off the side of the road. I hadn’t camped in New Zealand yet so usually I would be pretty into this idea but Katie and I were kind of ill-equipped for the situation, having no camping stuff with us. The GAs had a couple of extra wool blankets for us to use (Andrew hospitably tried to make one of us take his sleeping bag, but we both figured we’d be warm enough) and Tirzah offered to share her 2 man tent with both me and Katie. However, I decided we’d all been close enough for the past week and opted for the car. Because there was a burn ban in effect we couldn’t do a camp fire and because Tirzah was the only one with a flashlight, there wasn’t a whole lot to do after it got dark except go to bed…I thought about trying to read using the little light on my watch but after the first attempt I realized how ridiculous it was. So, as I curled up with my wool blanket and llama hat in the front seat of the car at 9:30 at night I had plenty of time to reflect on the trip. I guess I kind of wondered if it had been a huge mistake, but when it comes down to it, I think it was really just a misunderstanding…if that makes any sense.
When Katie mentioned “beach house” back in January I totally assumed “vacation” but what I didn’t realize was that I was going with 3 first year people (who were totally excited to see New Zealand) and Katie (who only got to spend a few days in NZ year and hadn’t gotten the opportunity to go outside of Chch yet). So while I was thinking “vacation”, they were all thinking “trip”, for them it was about travel and seeing NZ, which I understand but just didn’t see when I signed on almost 2 months ago. Hence my error in judgment, one that was both expensive in time and money. But shit happens, that’s how things go. And it wasn’t a completely fruitless little journey, I saw some really pretty scenery and finally got around to reading The Life of Pi. There were some good times, I was just totally out of sync with the rest of the group.
I never thought I would be so happy to see Christchurch in my entire life, it feels like I left here a million years ago. Almost 2 weeks after last flight the place is kind of emptied out of ice people (realtively, there are still a bunch left), which feels kind of weird, but at least it’s familiar and affords me some autonomy.
The fact that I have a date with a plane tomorrow makes me very happy. I’ve been gone for almost 7 months and it’s time to go home
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