Quarter-Life Crisis

"The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure." - Joseph Campbell

My dear friends,

Scatterbrainedness (that is a word as of now) seems to be a common theme with my entries here. I hereby apologize and hopefully that, along with the cheeky grin I'm currently flashing, will be enough to make amends. Since it has been over two months since I've written anything besides Facebook status updates, I think I'll have to break up my adventurous goings-on into two different segments. The first segment will comprise of my final weeks in Tekapo (lovingly christened "The Po"), birthday festivities in Queenstown, and my subsequent party/departure from The Po. Commencing... now.

I continued working at the lovely and charming Tekapo Tavern right up until the day before I left, trying to earn as much money as possible before the adventure I knew was shortly to begin. And as much as I was ready to move on and see more of New Zealand, my last weeks were great because I was already looking back with nostalgia. I spent a lot of time with the incredible friends that I made and did all the last minute things I'd not found the time to do yet. On Easter Monday I drove down to Dunedin with a few friends and we spent a couple days there, staying in a hostel called... Hogwartz. Judge if you like, but we thought it was amazing. Went to the Speights Brewery, "the pride of the south" apparently, and the Cadbury's Factory (the highlight = chocolate waterfall). We also spent an evening in this cool pub where they had karaoke (read: one weirdo guy's attempt to have a solo concert, all while dressed in the most hideous of 80's clothing), and toasted at midnight to the beginning of my flatmate's birthday. Dunedin is really a very cool city and sort of reminded me of Germany. Except of course for the different language. And the different people. And the different hemisphere. More things that happened: spent an evening ice skating at my former job, The Po was coated in snow after a huge storm, I got a ridiculous cold that wouldn't leave me alone, and a friend in America popped out a child.

On 24 April I hopped on a bus and headed down to Queenstown. The drive was incredible, going through all these passes, and passing by a place called "The Wrinkly Ram Shearing Station", and up and down mountains, and driving alongside steep cliffs and a gorge at the bottom of which was a gorgeous and vibrantly colored river. I stayed at a place called The Last Resort which was actually anything but, being well situated and filled with very nice people, apart from that one backpacker who is a total weirdo. There's always one, wherever you go! Anyway, I spent a day in Arrowtown, which was a gold rush town back in the day and also a location that the illustrious Peter Jackson chose for those little films that he made. Actually, most of Queenstown is rife with "Lord of the Rings" locations. The geek in me was in geeky heaven.

The 26th of April was commemorated in a fairly dramatic way (come on, it's me. Of course it was dramatic...); you've probably seen the photos already. That was one thing I promised myself when I decided to come to New Zealand: I would go skydiving on my 25th birthday. Not the day before, not the day after, but on my birthday. My wonderful family was nice enough to give me money towards that for my gift. So the day dawned, I filled out my I-won't-sue-you-if-you-maim-me paperwork, got suited up in my feisty little jumpsuit, and hopped in a tiny tiny TINY little plane with teeth painted on the nose. See? Even the plane was badass. Now, it was slightly windy on the ground. Add 15,000 feet to the mix (although because Queenstown is already at an elevation of 1,200 feet, it was technically 16,200 feet), and that little breeze becomes a ridiculous gale that blew us all to bits. And now a little math.
massive turbulence + me + massive penchant for motion sickness = SICK
And so (keep this equation in mind), I jumped. The first bit of time, which feels closer to 6 hours than the 30 seconds it really is, was too exhilarating to think about anything besides breathing and the fact that I had just fallen through a cloud. My stars and garters, what a rush! But then, when the cord was pulled and the parachute sprang blessedly free, the real fun started, because then we began to paraglide. This is when we floated along, gazing at the breathtakingly beautiful scenery, and enjoyed the playful breeze that batted us around like the Furies from the underworld. It was at this point in time that I asked my tandem instructor for a sick bag (remember the previous equation), which I was promptly given, which I promptly made use of without spilling a drop. Or rather, a chunk. And so it was that I landed back on the earth with a smile on my face and a neatly folded bag in my hands. Happy birthday to me.

The rest of my time in Queenstown was wonderful, peppered with drinks with a friend from The Po, a visit from my flatmate, burgers the size of my head from the incredible Fergburger, the winning of a free 15,000 foot sky dive at a karaoke contest, and a generally fantastic few days that added up to a fantastic birthday.

When I returned to Tekapo, I spent that last couple of days working, packing, and spending as much time as possible with friends. My last night at work was followed by a really fun farewell party, attended by most of the people I had met during my time there. A great send-off, filled with lots of photos, lots of drinking, and lots of hugs. 2 May saw me on a bus to Christchurch and the morning of 3 May saw me at the arrivals gate in the Christchurch Airport, impatiently waiting for my mummy and the start of our Australasian Adventure! See next entry for details.

*Olivia