last post from aotearoa

this is weird. it's my last blog entry from nz. i feel like i've been here forever but not in a bad way, really. just that nz has become like home to me, with all the fun and the trauma that that entails, and now it's the right time to move on. i really do love this country. i would sooo move here if my family weren't on t'other side of the world. the people are laid back, the climate is to my liking (except it would be nice to be able to sunbathe without the immediate risk of melonoma), they have adverts with swearing on, they have crazy one lane bridges on all the major highways, everywhere is so goddamn beautiful. the pace of life is just great. not too much noise but not too much quiet either.

i got my bargainously-priced jandals (ten dollars! about three pounds fifty) and spend my last full day in nz wandering about in them in the sunshine. bridget and i slept for a hundred years the other night so we got up late but still managed to get to the antarctic centre, which was something of a disappointment. we did manage to go in an 'antarctic storm' room which, funnily enough, creates an antarctic storm which pushes the temperature down from minus 5 to minus 25. that was fun. we got rubber shoes to wear over our jandals and thick fleeces and we seemed to spend the whole time laughing hysterically at this chilled blast being blown in our faces. we hid in an igloo and everything. it was nice to feel cold, actually, as it's going to be a long while until i see winter. i miss the freezingness sometimes. it just doesn't feel right. and then we saw some little blue penguins which are TINY. they were so cute. i don't normally like cute things but you couldn't help but laugh at their silliness. i love an animal with a funny walk and that falls over a lot. but, really, the centre was just too small. bridget and i discussed on the shuttle bus back how there was so much more you could do with a place like that. they claim to be 'the best antarctic attraction in the world' but, really, we're sure they're not. not that there can be many antarctic attractions. anyway, our exchange on the bus reassured us, at least, that we're incredibly intelligent people who could run things better ourselves. phew.

so, yeah, i'm about to have a cheese sandwich and then get the bus to the airport. it was weird this morning sitting in the same seat on the same outdoor balcony in the same hostel where i was with rachael two weeks ago before she flew out. and now i'm doing the same thing, though heading to sydney, where i've just read it's 31 degrees. that's a little warmer than here. blimey. will be just like america all over again. it's interesting to think that, technically, i'm now on my way home as i'm heading nearer and nearer to the uk again. and, actually, it feels like i've not got long left. three and a bit months in ozzie and a couple of weeks in thailand. it doesn't seem long. i don't know. i'd love to come home to see my family and friends again but i just don't feel ready to stop travelling yet either. we'll see if this changes in the coming months.