It’s my last night in Fox. My car and guitar have been sold I spent the day packing the past 11 months of my life back into 2 bags. One really does collect a lot of things when you have a car. It’s like your hermit shell. Your traveling house. You pick up things along the way and just keep them in the boot of your car until you need them. So needless to say, I gave away a lot of stuff. The rest of the day was spent saying goodbyes to all the wonderful people who made me a part of their family while here in Fox. A lot of hugs were given and almost everyone said to me as I left them in my dust, “You’ll be back!” I have a pretty good feeling I will be in Fox Glacier again. Whether to live, work, or just visit, I know I will be back there again.
I experienced my first summertime Christmas as well. It was strange that’s for sure. Christmas is a lot less commercial here, and even more so in the small towns so I didn’t get in the regular Christmas mood at all. We arranged a secret santa amongst everyone at work and our bosses Lynn and Janelle, organized a party at their house for all the orphans. We had yummy finger foods through out the day and whiskey and wine and for the big meal we had a hangi. A hangi is the traditional cooking method of Maori culture. So our food was wrapped in weaving, buried in the ground on top of smoking rocks, covered with a sheet then covered with earth again and left to cook for 5 hours. There was chicken, lamb, kumara, potatoes, veggies oh my! It was glorious and the taste is like no other because it smoked in the ground! Smokey and earthy. Yum. As for presents, I got four!! I was so surprised to get more than one, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I got a box of chocolates from Milena, a nice piece of greenstone from Petey and his parents, Lynn and Janelle gave all the staff these really cool hoodies that say café neve, fox glacier and a wee little NZ silhouette on the back. Very very cool. As for my secret santa present, I was given a pair of fishnet stockings and matching fingerless gloves and a red g string. Oh and a pair of tongs. Interesting. I doled out handknit Canadian toques and silly homemade cards to as many as I could. The rest of Christmas day was spent around a huge bonfire, dancing in the pouring rain, flying remote control helicopters, mastering the fire pois (which I am bringing a pair home so y’all can try!), and attempting to float down the creek in an inflatable dinghy. Twas a merry ol’ NZ Christmas.
Now I’m Wellington. Twelve hours of my yesterday was spent on a shuttle driving from Fox to Picton. I have friends in Picton, conveniently, and I stayed with them last night and had a good catch up before heading off for the early morning ferry to Wellington this morning. I was starving, as I also had to leave behind my box of food that I’ve been toting around with me for at least 9 months now. The exact same box. The food came and gone, but that box, labeled ASH with a Sharpie marker remained the same. It ripped and got wet, but it was nothing a little duct tape couldn’t fix. So with only a little bag of fruit, prunes, and pasta I was aching for a good breakfast. The breakfast panini sounded interesting enough from the menu on the ferry’s café, but my god the Kiwi folk can make some strange concoctions. A panini with egg, bacon, and hashbrown all mushed together and then covered in BBQ sauce. Question marks were the only thing running through my mind, but I ate it out of hunger, and guiltily enjoyed it.
My body and mind both know it’s my last month in New Zealand. I know I am going to be home so soon that this last month is being spent re-visiting my favorite places and winding down. I slept for the remaining 2 hours on the ferry, reasoning that I’ve already been on it and seen the landscape so I wouldn’t be missing anything. So I arrive in Wellington, and immediately take a taxi to my friend Pam’s house. We worked in Raglan together and became great friends and now she lives in Wellington so we are meeting up for a couple days. She is away until tomorrow, but offered her house for me to have for myself until she gets back. Ultimately a friend was supposed to drop off the keys for me, but was unable. It was sunny out today though, so I hid my bags in the trees in the back yard and walked around the city hoping her friend would show up with the keys by the time I got back. Three hours later, still no keys. So I wait. I sat on the front step reading. Played some hackey sack. Read some more. Played hackey sack some more. I’ve mastered the hackey sack foot stall. I’m quite proud of myself. But two hours still no keys. I had decided to give it another hour before packing up and going to a backpacker for the night, but then an kind old man wanders out from the trees and asks if I am the Canadian girl who lives here. I explain to him my story, and he tells me he’s the landlord and that he thinks he should let me in. I promise to him that I am not a crook and he laughs and kindly opens the door for me. Luck be a landlord.
So in a few days time I’ll be back in Raglan, surfing in nothing but a bikini and a rash guard. No wet suit or booties!! Woo!! Soaking up the sun and attempting to get a tan so I can look sunkissed next to all of your pasty winter skins…teehee! 6 weeks to go till I’m back on my wee Island…
