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Published: March 14th 2018
Rafting
w/ Christoph, Michelle, Kris, and Jacob. Pics in this entry have nothing to do with the words. Just some great memories that I didn't get around to adding to previous posts. And there are far too many to post them all on here! In the morning some folks were a little worse for wear after the previous evening’s “last hurrah!” and also from the ever persistent “Top Deck Super AIDS” cold. I for one deny the notion that my own sickliness is a result of spending half an hour in an ice bar with no jacket and jumping in a glacial lake. Our day included some scenic stops at Lake Tekapo and the Church of the Good Shepard; a shrine to the working dogs of New Zealand. Here I was suckered into paying a dollar for a public toilet, though I could take solace in the fact it was a damn nice public toilet. My standards for public washrooms are usually “I hope the last person flushed and the graffiti is tasteful”, but this one had automatic doors, a fresh scent, and bird noises playing... a real classy sort of joint. But I think it was 50 cents worth of classy, not a whole dollar. I’ll be following up with a stern trip advisor review shortly.
Afterward we made a stop at Morelea farm. Here we were treated to morning tea and biscuits and a quick tour of this working sheep farm. The
Ice Bar
w/ Bec and Lewis dogs rounded up some sheep for a feeding, with a big black orphan cow tagging along as well. We then watched a bunch of sheep get weighed in the barn. They would scramble off the scales bleating and jumping around like a bunch of toddlers. After this display I think some people left Morelea not wanting to eat lamb ever again.
We left the farm with a sense that the trip was reaching the end of its final chapter. Melancholy was in the air and the rest of the drive back to Christchurch seemed muted. Our last pit stop was half an hour in the sleepy town of Geraldine for lunch. Not having much time to eat I joined the Scottish lads at a Chinese/Deep Fried Anything You Can Think Of take-away place. The proprietor had a child strapped to her back and sternly informed me they didn’t accept credit cards when I tried to pay for a slab of blue cod and one scoop of chips. Lewis graciously offered to cover me when I opened up my now empty wallet to search for some cash. What better to cure a cold than cheap fried food? Probably anything else.
Another picturesque day
w/ Luisa, Charlotte, Dave, Mike, and Masaki In Christchurch we dropped off the first group of people downtown. Here we said some goodbyes, not sure who was all going to come for dinner later. The second group, including myself were dropped off about a 20 minute walk from the city centre. We rounded up everyone we could from both hotels to meet at “The Little Eatery”, a sort of high class food court ordeal. Dave, Mike, and I were more or less instantly gratified by ordering ramen and dumplings whereas most people had to wait for their burger or pizza. The timing for Thai was somewhere in the middle. But the delay didn’t matter. It gave us more time to enjoy talking together. Most of us went to the Rockpool pub to hang out after dinner before going off on our separate ways. Slowly the group thinned out as we all said our goodbyes. Being in a foreign city, I was glad Lara, Sally, and the Emma’s agreed to be Lewis, Dave, and my security detail on our walk back to our hotel. We grabbed one last selfie together (as customary to do in the 21
st century) before going off to bed. Lara bunked with Emma
and Sally since her hostel room-mates were rather naked upon her arrival earlier in the evening, though at the time they were at least polite enough to say hi. I splurged on a private room that night to be able to cough and hack in peace. I’m pretty sure I was smiling as I drifted to sleep; the last 3 weeks had been some of the greatest days of my entire life.
Okay. Time to be sentimental to wrap this all up. Or at least as much as a mining engineer can be. To my fellow Top Deckers it has been my privilege getting to know you and to enjoy this life experience with you. And thank you to everyone on the trip and at home for supporting this blog. I would have written it either way but I really appreciate that it brought enjoyment to others as well. Special shout out to those who provided additional photos on Facebook as I've never been much of a photographer myself.
To close, I implore you to give me a shout if you ever find yourself in Calgary. I always love a chance to show off what Canada has to
offer. Come in the summer we can “go out for a rip” in the ol’ Mustang! It was an absolute pleasure, a “slice” as it were, to have met you all and I hope I had a chance to make you laugh.
Best and until next time,
Tyler
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