New Zealand Index

Auckland
Northland
Heading South
Wellington
Traveling again
West Coast
Picking Apples
Road to Qtown
Kinloch
Southland
Queenstown
Heading North
Queen Charlette Wilderness Park
to Taranaki
Central Plateau
The End

So I was in Queenstown to stay. First thing I did after George left was check into a new hostel. The room I got was 8-person, but it was separated into two rooms, with self-contained facilities in it. Then I met my roomies. There were four of us in the room who were all coming here to work, and we all became friends fast. They were Nicole, John, and Jo. this first week we were in this hostel were fun, we all hung out, with various others in and out of our group. This week ended with Jo and I each finding a place to live. It was kinda sad to see our little group dissipate, but that’s what we were trying for. The only Person I ended up seeing much was Jo, and the others kinda just disappeared into the town. So I found a place to live. It seamed nice, and it was cheap compared to a lot of other places around. Again I got a really small room, but that was just fine by me, as I didn’t have much stuff. So now part one was done, I had a place to live. Over the next few weeks I spent as much time as I could make myself do looking for work, but Queenstown just didn’t seem to have anything, and every one said to come back in a few weeks. So during this time, I got to know my flatmates better, and there friends. They were all peaty cool. Mark was the one who’s parents owned the house, and he’d been living there for three years. He was in the middle of starting his own tour company, and doing plaster while setting it up. Nick was the other flatmate, and he’d only moved in a few weeks before me. He was from Dunedin, and was a glassier. Two weeks after I moved in we had a Party, and it was mostly Nicks friends, but it was fun. WE had a huge bonfire in the back yard, and you could see it from town. It was a fun party, and I thought that I was going to have a good time in Queenstown in my time here. The next weekend, the first mountain opened, Coronet Peak. This is when I got back in touch with Jo, and we went up for opening day. Having the mountains opened at least gave me something to do, as I was getting really bored, doing nothing all day, not finding a job. I got up four times this first week, and it would have been more, except that it was this week I got my first temp labor assignment. Now this was not something that I really wanted to do, but it was work, and I really didn’t want to spend anymore of my savings. It ended up being three and a half days, and that was at least enough to live on, if not really do much. The next week I got two and a half days, and most of my day’s I wasn’t working I spent going up to the mountains. I had about a week off until I got my next call, which was for a one day job, but then I got a temp-perm assignment, and that was what I did for the five-six weeks following. All this time though, I kept looking for another job, and went and talked to places, and got my hopes up, and blah, blah, blah. Also, the snow really sucked. This was the warmest july on record, and there was almost no precipitation. So about the beginning of august, I started thinking about leaving. As far as my social life, I really only had two friends out side of my flatmates and there friends. I didn’t really like my coworkers, and I was not really enjoying my time in Queenstown. Also, I don’t know what I was expecting, but Queenstown was not what I had in mind. So all these factors put together, and the fact that the snow sucked, the one thing that really was keeping me here, made me think the choice to leave would be good. So I started looking at WWOOFing places, and agricultural jobs to find a place to go. Funny thing is that on the day I was going to tell my flatmates that I was leaving in two weeks, Me and Mark got into an argument about cleaning, and not to go into it, but we decided that I would leave at the end of the week. All of a sudden I was leaving Queenstown a week early. We tried to be amicable about my leaving, and for the week, it seamed fine. But it think it kind of just grew on me, and I really would be happy if I never see him again. This same night, I found what I wanted to do. There was a place in e Queen Charlotte sound that that needed a wwoofer, and so I contacted them, and after a few emails, It was set, and I was going to be going up there about a week after leaving Queenstown. Also during this week, I started to sell some things, as I figured I had to much stuff, and I was thinking about selling the car, and hitching for the rest of my time here. Well, I finally decided against that, but I did find someone to buy my snowboard, gear and pass. So that was the only thing I really needed to get rid of before I left, and with that done, I could just enjoy my last few days here. I actually moved into a hostel for a few days at the end, as I wasn’t quite ready to leave, and I wanted to acclimate myself to traveling again. I was planning on going down to Milford sound for a night before I left town, but then the road was closed for the three days prior to leaving, and I felt I needed to be on my way, so I finally set off, and as soon as I left Queenstown, I felt so good, and ready to take on the world.
Thinking back on those three months, I think I learned a lot about my self. I’ve never been in a place long enough to settle down, and not really like it, and I think that the experience was worth it. Now I’m saying that I was miserable the whole time, and in fact I had a lot of good times as well, but I think that over all, with all the circumstances being what they were, it wasn’t a good time for me. I think that the elation I felt the moment I left made that clear to me. And those first few day after I left I was feeling quite bitter about it, and now a time has progressed, I can look back on it more objectively. And now I see the good along with the bad. And if I had it to do all over again, I probably would choose something different, but those things are imposable to tell. And it all came down to the snow. But at least that chapter is now closed, and the rest can now come.