Breathe In: Wide Open Spaces

February 5

We woke up this morning to Wes requesting any shelter he could get from the bugs. We figured the car would be a good option and, after he agreed, sleepily dropped the keys outside the tent and zipped it back up. Only hours later did we find out the car was not a good option. By the time he had gotten in and closed the door, dozens of (mosquitoes? sand flies? other? we've started having disagreements about what exactly has been plaguing our stay here) bugs had flown in. Despite a valiant attempt to slay them all, Wes had to admit defeat when they started fighting back. He opted for a swim and was drying off (after swim number 2) when we tent-dwellers groggily arose from our dozing.

It was quickly decided that we could not get on the road fast enough. After checking the tent for earwigs (we found about ten on the tent last night... I forgot to mention that yesterday), we threw it in the bag, the bag in the trunk, the swim trunks haphazardly into the backseat, and drove away. Kyle and grandpa had about the same assessment of the situation and left the lake at exactly the same time. We needed to find a safe haven somewhere to cook our oatmeal. As it was already past 8:00, we would be getting a later start to our day than usual, so we wanted the meal to happen as soon as possible. We pulled off the road at the first available picnic area and discovered that it was at best only a minimal improvement over the lake. But, only minutes after agreeing with Kyle that we would also be leaving to find a better spot, we opted to stay put and bear the bugs long enough to have our breakfast. The bugs were tolerable for the most part, though Wes, who had already had quite his fill of them this morning, still found them rather irritating. We had a full pot of the usual, I decided that I should put less brown sugar in mine from now on, and we left again.

I took my second turn behind the wheel today, driving the entirety of the road to Queenstown. We stopped for lunch at Lake Wanaka. As we prepared more PBJs, we realized that what we were missing in the peanut butter was sugar -- it's not sweet at all. Since this was just two and a half hours after we finished our generous helpings of oatmeal, a single sandwich was good enough for all of us. Zach wandered off to explore the lake, Ian and Wes followed, and I got distracted by the trees and climbed two of them before everyone came back.

We stopped for our second lunch at Lake Hawea.

Like our three scoops of oatmeal, our PBJs come in fixed quanta: two per meal. This mandatory second sandwich was enjoyed at a lake just as spectacular as the previous one, but at an even better vantage point. From where we sat, it looked as if there was a shear drop down to the water (there wasn't really), and we were high enough to get a really broad view of the body of water and its surrounding mountains. It was really a sight to behold. We've seen a lot of hills in New Zealand, but today we had incredibly grand views of mountains. The wide open space between them further accentuates their impressive size, and yet the vastness of the scenery does not sacrifice the aesthetic appeal of the details: the water maintains its unbelievable blue, the land is covered in trees, and the trees are covered in yet more plants. One of the really remarkable things about New Zealand is how green it is and how much life there is. Every single plant is covered in moss at the very least. Some boast multiple kinds of moss, while some of the trees seem to have whole leafy plants growing out of them.

We eventually wrestled our way back into the car and away from the grandeur of the lake. From there it was (more or less) straight to Queenstown.

We pulled in a little after 4:00 and it didn't take me long to fall in love with it. Here, near the southern tip of New Zealand, I have found a model for the kind of town I want to live in. It has just enough of the good elements of a city that I have come to appreciate, while maintaining everything I love about a rural area. City side: there are busy shops, people everywhere, a big park, and the general hustle and bustle of people going about their lives (but not excessively so). Rural side: there are trees everywhere. It is fairly spread out, particularly our hostel, and it is not unnecessarily large. The only thing keeping me from packing up and moving here is the fact that it seems to be a little over-touristy. Zach and Ian both believe that they have read somewhere or other that most of the people in Queenstown don't actually live there. This idea seemed to be confirmed when we walked along the beach area and discovered it to be flooded with teens and twenty-somethings. Don't get me wrong -- teens and twenty-somethings are great, but the lack of any other age group makes the town feel very fake. Fortunately, the older adult crowd came out in force later in the evening, salvaging my opinion of Queenstown's demographics. We had a great time today and finally got to catch up on some internet access.