If I had to create a slogan for this country, it might be: New Zealand -- cultivator of our better selves. The colors are vibrant, the mountains steep, the rivers clean, and the poached eggs and hollandaise plentiful. Just as important, though, the people are friendly, helpful, and moderate, in the best sense of the word. It's adorable that even punk teenagers call out "thank you" to drivers when exiting buses; it's inspiring to see people hiking with strapped-on babies and little kids, or well into their 70s. And I know it's a self-selecting group, but everyone that gave me a ride hitch hiking was interesting and open-hearted.
New Zealand is the metaphorical train station between Antarctica and the real world. You leave one behind and have to wait a bit before materializing in the other, because they can't possibly both exist simultaneously. NZ *feels* like the normal world, it has cars and restaurants and grass and kittens -- but it's far, far from home. And NZ *feels* like an extension of Antarctica, because Ice friends are around and we don't have normal-life responsibilities and can still live in our somewhat utopian-communal/cycle-of-virtue fashion.
Anyway, I did a lot of great hiking, camping, gardening, and eating. I saw crazy amazing night skies, ate so very much peanut butter, and surprised myself by being quite gregarious. I could tell you about it in greater detail but a picture is worth 10^3 words. So I’ll save you pages of reading:
walking along the ridge, Lake Angelus
hitching & camping extraordinaire, Farewell Spit
baybee seeel, Kaikoura
