Finishing up

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With just two more days to go here in NZ I thought it was time for some general thoughts and reflections on the experience. I'll start off with...

...the people

The Kiwis are most definitely as friendly as everyone says they are, and in a completely genuine way - you don't feel that it's put on at all, they seem to be really interested in where you're from, what you're up to what you've seen and done etc. People here are also very helpful - like when I asked someone in Picton harbour whether there was any way to get to my ferry terminal without going round the whole port (as I'd been instructed to do by the signposts) the guy just jumped in his car and pointed me to the passenger seat. "No worries, mate"...which brings me to my next point...

...the lingo

Unlike in America (sorry to the americans, this is a take-it-with-a-pinch-of-salt paragraph the language spoken in New Zealand is fairly easy to understand. They say rubbish and bins, shop, biscuits, holidays etc. but when they do have their own words, they make the most of it. Like "jandals", known to most as "flip flops", derived from "japanese sandals". Trundlers are trollies, chilly bins (doesn't that sound cute?) are cool bags. The best of all is "sweet" which is used in the meaning of "cool". "No worries-that's sweet!" was the answer I got when asking the bus driver whether the bus would call at the hostel anyway or whether I had to ring up for the pick-up! "Choice!" (with a stress on the "oi")

...world famous in New Zealand

This is a well loved phrase often used in advertising, most "famously" for Lemon&Paeroa, an infamous lemonade "invented" in the small town of Paeroa near the Coromandel Peninsula. Most of the folk are probably aware of the tongue in cheek aspect of this line, but the driver on one of my numerous bus journeys seemed to be very genuine about it when he commented on the fact that we were now coming into "sunny Paeroa, that of course was made world famous by the world famous drink L&P" - ehm, yeah....but it is really very tasty (I had to try some after that of course, and it's fast becoming my fave refreshment). Quite a few other things seem to be world famous in New Zealand, but today I even read about a restaurant which is "world famous in Rotorua"! How about that!

...what I've learned from this trip

Girl, go for it at last and do your blinking driver's licence!!! It was so frustrating not being able to get to half the places because of the one-a-day buses etc. I really need to buckle down and learn how to drive at last, then come again and go to the really wild and rugged parts on South Island. I've seen some stunning things, but I know how much more I could have really "gotten into" them without worrying about catching my buses and carting luggage about.

...reasons for going home

No mistaking here, this is a fantastic place, but there are a few things that I'm looking forward to:

Big number One: handheld showers!!! I hate having to have cold or boiling water go all over me while I'm trying to regulate the temperature with these overhead contraptions!

no 2: I think I probably have the most comfortable bed ever at home-my back is looking forward to it.

no 3: paper towels in public toilets! Not keen on these blow dry jobs (oops, really no pun intended!)

no 4: seeing a house that was built in the 19th century and considering it as a fairly new building, not an ancient one.

no 5: tall houses - I've seen enough bungalows to last a lifetime ;-)

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