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Published: August 9th 2007
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THE PILOT:
After hearing that South Island was so much more beautiful than the North one, it was time to see it for ourselves. So, me and my Scottish sister booked a flight on a tiny 9 seater (or so) that was going to take us there. It turned out to be the best beginning of the South Island chapter - the pilot who flew our teeny weeny plane was just so damn hot!!! And I mean it!!! (I also think you boys should skip this paragraph. No offence but you might not understand its importance anyway). You know ladies how you always think that pilots are really cool and handsome and then you get to see one and they are always old? Well, this time it was different. This time it was the way it should always be! I got to sit in the cockpit (one of those moments you start believing there is a God) and the only thing preventing me from leaping onto him was the fear of a plane crash.... So, Billy is officially the hottest pilot in the world, plus he was a gentleman too! What more can a girl ask for?!
IT’S CLOSE TO
THE ANTARCTICA, PUT THAT HEATING ON!!!!
After the whole 20-minute flight, we got to the South Island and noticed it was a bit more crispy out there. Yes, we were up for some proper winter! I'm sure I mentioned it before but I'll say it again: New Zealanders have this thing of believeing they live on a tropical island and as a result, they believe central heating would be just over the top!!! Well...it wouldn't be as it's so damn cold in here that sometimes, you were able to see your breath...inside a building! Tropical island my a*se!!!
GREENPEACE REDISCOVERED:
Now, south of New Zealand is home to absolutely spectacular views and as someone once said: people go to places like Singapore to see what a man has created and they go to New Zealand to see what a man hasn't messed up! And it is true: this place is so pure and it does still look like it's untouched by our stupidity. You have to give it to the New Zealanders, they are very much into the environment and its protection. They never drop litter on the ground and have a strong no waste policy when recycling. And
walking on the glacier
very humbling experience... it makes a huge difference, especially because a lot of creatures we have been lucky to see are simply close to extinction because of us! If you want to be more knowledgeable about who's extinct in NZ and who's not there yet, check this out: http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Kids/NZBirdsAnimals/
DEER THINGS:
I don't know whether you folks know about that (I didn't) but apart from the ubiquitous sheep, there are quite a few deer farms here! Apparently, long time ago, when men were men and sheep were nervous, a couple of species of deer were introduced to NZ from Scotland and they started to multiply so quickly that they managed to affect the environment and not in a good way. At that point, New Zealand people got hold of their guns and started to hunt all those deer. However, they were not able to keep those numbers under control. So, they came up with a new idea: they jumped into helicopters, flew to the areas where deer were hanging out, hovered above them and jumped off the before mentioned helicopters onto the unfortunate victim. Obviously, it was all happening pretty fast, so it was pretty dangerous too and some people even died
doing this. However, they managed to catch quite a lot of the animals and put them in farms - and that's how a multi-million dollar industry started. Pretty neat, hey? I know, people in New Zealand do get bored but when they come up with new ideas how to kill the time, everyone else wants to follow, and so Americans were known to try the helicopter trick with their buffaloes (these guys always go big, don't they just?)
SCENERY GONE MAD:
As everyone knows by now, the scenery in New Zealand is absolutely spectacular and it gets better the more south you get! Don't get me wrong, the north is still stunning but it's in the south where you have snow-capped mountains being reflected in crystal clear water of the very many lakes that are there. And that's pretty much everywhere you look! That's also where is the most spectacular drive you'll ever get to cover: Queenstown to Milford Sound and further south down to Stewart Island. Seriously beautiful! It is really nice to know there is a place on this planet that we haven't destroyed yet, although, not sure how long that's going to be the case...
KIWI FAVOURITES:
Traveling in New Zealand makes you wonder why people compare this country to Australia - just because it's in the southern hemisphere doesn't cut it, so, why then?! Even better, some people out there think this mysterious New Zealand is...IN Australia. I can only imagine how it must make the Kiwis feel... So, in order to avoid any further misunderstanding, they want to give people a bit of a perspective, and so they keep on feeding us with stats such as: Lake Taupo, the largest lake in NZ is the size of Singapore; or another one: there are more people living in Auckland alone (just over 1m.) than in the whole South Island (400,000!!!). Some of the stats are a bit useless like this one for example: 25 years ago Auckland was 3rd largest city in the world. Great! However, my favourite is the one about the ratio of sheep to men (something like 12:1). Oh and another one: apparently, there are 60 million possums over there!!! No wonder all Kiwis say: "good possum is a dead possum". So, can you see what I mean by stats now? You don't even notice your head is full of them
until you start giving others a little bit of that perspective yourself...
EMIGRATION?:
After seeing most of the country, I started to think that it would be quite nice to move there for a while. It'd be so much easier to explore the whole place properly and visit Oz and a few other places that are nearby. Maybe not Antarctica - that would be against my travelling theory saying that we should travel to cold countries when we are old, and do the hot ones when we are young and beautiful. Makes sense, doesn't it? So, I'm giving myself a couple of years in the new job and after that it's either going to be New Zealand or more traveling. Of course it all will be revised when the time comes :o)
RANDOM:
Yes, it was a wicked trip with lots of crazy things to do and it will feel slightly weird getting back into the work mode. Well, my new company made sure I was prepared for it - I actually went back to Auckland a bit earlier to finish off that bloody Excel assignment! Is it me being a bit blonde or is it simply hard
to learn the whole Excel in 2 days (including creating array formulas and pivot tables)? I do wish I had had more time to do this but then again, travelling was much more fun, so I can't complain much there. Thank God my friend Louise who lives in Auckland was able to help me. Otherwise, I would have been stuck for good. Thank you ever so much Lou - I owe you big time my dear!!!
Other than that, it was fab and it was a sad day when I had to get on that flight to Dubai. This is definitely not the last they have seen of me there! I'll be back, maybe even for a bit longer - let's see how my life unfolds. Well, it's an option ;o)
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