I have found it difficult to comprehend the reality of what
I am about to embark on. 1 month in
NZ! It can’t be. But, there I found myself in the Winnipeg airport about to start my
journey. My flights from Winnipeg to
Calgary, and then to Vancouver all went well and the following are just a few
thoughts from that time.
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| Rocky Mountains |
- I was inspired/pleased with the consistent joy/pleasantness of the airline workers, even when they had to repeat themselves (“Hi, welcome aboard” or “Pretzels?”) dozens of times.
- I couldn’t help but feel like we are all in kindergarten
when it was "snack time" on the plane and we all got to choose our juice to go
with our snack of the day.
- I really like the international terminal in Vancouver, but
boy is it large.
- I have seen the 2 extreme sides of humans in the
airport.
On the one side there was the lady who saved an elderly
woman her seat. When the senior asked if
she could leave her bag on her seat as she went to the washroom, the wonderful
lady replied “If anyone takes it they’ll have to face me”. I just thought it was cool to see the lady
caring about a stranger like that.
I also witnessed a group of girls aged 20ish be incredibly
rude and self centered as they requested someone move over so they could sit
together, but not before giving the individual a nasty look. (seemed so childish)
Then began the international leg of the day. I boarded the Air New Zealand flight, and
continued my streak of getting window seats.
Nothing much to say about the flight, it was pretty good. The chicken
curry for supper was delightful, and I watched a movie and then slept for most
of the 12 hour flight. I made it through
the various customs stops and had officially arrived in NZ!
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| I'm unsure of what the salad contained, but ate it. |
I arrived in NZ at 6:00AM, on Sunday, Jan 6. Due to the international date line, I
completely missed out on Jan 5. But, I’m
guessing it wouldn’t have been that great anyways. It’s been a bit of whirlwind of activity and
it feels like I’ve been here much more than a day. We (We being me and Chuck, his wife JL, and 5
year-old daughter Gibson) had a 2.5 hour drive from the airport to the camp,
Tui (pronounced Tewy) Ridge . Along the
way we stopped at McDonalds and I had my first meal in NZ there! (just a
regular bacon and egg mc muffin) I also stopped at the starting sight of the
Hobbiton Tour. Its rather expensive, so
I don’t know if I’ll end up going, but I took a photo that makes it look like I
may have. We then proceeded to drive to the camp (I can’t get used to the way
they drive on the opposite side of the road, but more on that later). I then settled into my cabin (it’s
wonderful), ran/explored around the camp (I’m looking forward to getting in
shape), visited a beach (careful, the sun is hotter here due to a hole in the ozone
layer because of the US nuclear tests), went shopping (nothing to add), and
went back to camp for a birthday party
bbq for one of the camp staff. At the
BBQ I met most of the other staff who I’ll be working with for the next 2
weeks, and they are wonderful. I love
all the accents that are present (Kiwi, Aussie, Czech).
Really the only downer of the trip so far happened this
evening as I was driving (there’s your first tip that it’s gonna be bad) at the
camp. I was doing great, getting used to
being on the left side of the road, when another car came from the other
direction, so in efforts to make sure I wasn’t in their lane, I drove off the
edge of the road and took out a couple of 2 foot high marker poles and smashed the car up
slightly. It’s hard to know which was
hurt more, my pride or the car, but needless today, my first job tomorrow is
fixing those poles. Oh, and did I
mention it happened in front of 3 carful’s of the camp staff…yeah, wonderful
way to introduce myself. It earned me
the nickname “poles" or something like that. Again, great. Just great.
Things I’ve learned in NZ so far:
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| Huge waves at the beach |
Casual Greeting – How you guys going?
Proper pronunciation of the town “Te Puke” is “Teh Pucket”
Well, that’s it for now, stay tuned for more of the daily happenings
of a Canadian prairie boy living with Kiwi’s!
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