Oh great ocean, oh great sea

I crossed the Pacific for the second time just five days ago, and still don't know if I've really had time to process the big adventure. However, time, tide, and basement shows wait for no man ... as the saying goes. I think I'd better get this done before the weekend.

On one of our last days in Auckland, Paul and I were discussing our answers to the question, "What was your favorite thing?" I protested that I hate questions like that, while Paul argued that even so, it's kind of a pussy move not to give some sort of answer. (Paraphrasing mine.) So, here's some sort of answer.

The beaches in Sydney, the cliff walk from Bondi to Bronte, and swimming in the Bronte rock pool. Looking up at the sky at the end of our walk back from a late dinner in Te Anau, actually exclaiming "Holy shit!" and stopping in my tracks because I couldn't believe how many stars I could see and how dazzling they were. We even tried to take pictures of them with our point and shoot digital cameras. We knew they wouldn't turn out, but we had to try. The beaches near Whitianga - Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. Realizing that when they say "hot water" they are not kidding. Belting out "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" at a Split Enz concert in their home country, along with an arena full of bouncing Kiwis. Giving a kangaroo a drink of water at a farm outside Melbourne, and seeing the penguins come in later on Phillip Island. Spending the night on a little boat with eight wonderful people on Doubtful Sound, which is numbingly gorgeous. That's true of Fiordland in general. Your jaw is on the ground for a few hours, and then it's as if you just can't process it anymore. (Actual quote from Paul a few hours into our cruise: "Ugh, all my pictures are just going to be waterfalls and rainbows.") Visiting One Tree Hill, about which I once wrote an English class essay.

I'm proud of many things about the trip, too. Proud that I survived a month of travel and even managed to duck the overweight baggage charges on domestic flights in NZ. Proud that we planned and booked this entire trip from the ground up back in January, and our choices were overwhelmingly good ones. Proud of driving the winding mountain roads between Auckland and Whitianga on my first day in New Zealand, most of the Southern Scenic Route and Milford Road later on, and actually passing other cars on the road by the drive to Queenstown. Proud that I bungy jumped with no hesitation whatsoever. (Interestingly, although it was a very cool experience, for some reason bungy is not one of the things that stands out most in my memories of the trip.)


Other things I learned in Australia and New Zealand:

• You never know who you'll bump into on the street or in an airport. Just one example: Paul and I attended a bone carving workshop in Christchurch with two other people. Nine days later I spotted them waiting at the gate at the Auckland Airport - we were on the same flight from Auckland to Los Angeles.
  
  
• Whitcoulls: they're everywhere!
  
  
• Not that Heidi didn't tip us off, but New Zealand dairy products are far superior to ours. And I live in Wisconsin.
  
  
• People in Southland pronounce the "i" in words like "fifty" or "bit" in a unique way. Fush and chups!
  
  
• I could have explored the lanes and alleys of Melbourne for at least another two weeks. Also, eaten at a different awesome-looking place at every meal for two weeks and still barely made it off my street.
  
  
• People in Australia and New Zealand are serious about their coffee, and they do it well. They made me into a coffee drinker for a month. I never drink coffee in the U.S., but I was averaging at least one flat white per day.
  
  
• Sheep are awesome. Galloping sheep are awesomer.
  
  
• Children and teens in Wellington are crazy for skateboarding.
  
  
• You can buy the Best of Split Enz CD at virtually any petrol station in NZ.
  
  
• If I could bring any bird back from extinction, it would totally be the giant moa.
  
  

My trip by the numbers:

Planes, beginning with my flight from O'Hare: 17
CDs I bought: 1
Books I bought: 5
Shirts I bought: 9
--For myself: 7
Promotional concert posters I nicked: 2
Kilograms my suitcase weighed at the end of the trip: 29
Times we heard a random Split Enz or Crowded House song in a store, restaurant, or on the radio: 7+
Pavlovas I ate in NZ: 2
Times Paul or I randomly said the word "peninsula" with a NZ/Sean Connery accent: 50+
Times since I got home that I've been walking along and veered to the left instead of the right when faced with oncoming traffic: 5+
Pictures I took (including duplicates and duds): 1739

And here is a sheep sticking out its tongue: