My last week in New Zealand

OK, so I don't want to rub it in, really I don't. I know that it snowed this week in Montreal, and more snow is expected in the forecast, but the weather here in New Zealand has been seriously great these past few days! I've just spent the better part of today working on my farmer's tan and maybe a little bit of sunburn as well. It was 28C and not a white cloud to be seen. Pretty good for the end of November, hey?

I've continued to enjoy my time in New Zealand since the last post. I'd say the pace has definitely slowed down a lot from the first weeks of the Magic trip, when I was on the move to a new destination almost every day. I've had the chance to relax a bit more in a few places, and it's been great.

For those non-adventure lovers out there (there are bound to be a few!) , I did 2 excursions you might be interested in if you ever make your way to New Zealand. The first started from Dunedin, NZ's very-own Scottish town. The weather was not the best when I was there, and I had my coldest days since being in NZ (min 1C, max 8C. Brrrr!), which is saying a lot. I decided to do an "Animal safari", since it sounded good and was a nice way to spend my day in Dunedin instead of doing nothing but avoid the cold and wet weather. First off on the Animal safari was a stop to see some Royal Albatross, the largest sea birds around. Now if you're anything like me, you're thinking at this point: ooh, big deal, birds... I'm not into birds too much, so even if I did see a Royal Albatross, I could barely tell the difference between this and a normal "mouette", at least not from afar. But our guides were really excited that we got to see one, so I guess that means I'm lucky, right? Next up the guides brought us to a farm by the sea where we got to watch my new favorite animal (or bird?): the penguin. We walked through farmland to the beach to see the tiny little penguins return from a hard day at sea. Some of the older penguins are used to seeing humans, so they don't mind you so much, but the younger ones are a bit nervous. They would swim out of the sea, start waddling up the beach, then stop dead in their tracks. They'd look up at us to where we were standing still more than a 100 meters away and do a u-turn and head right back to the sea. Or stand very still and pretend to be invisible. Too cute! We were also brought to a shelter on a hill by the beach, where we could watch the penguins moving around without them seeing us. We saw some newly hatched penguins being protected by their parent, and other eggs just starting to hatch. Very cool!

The other non-adventurous activity I did took place in Lake Tekapo, this very small village that has a summer camp/cottage feel to it. Reminded me of the Laurentians. Anyway, the weather was so nice and a great change from the cold and wet weather of Dunedin, that I decided to stay 2 nights instead of just one. On my first night there, I did a star-gazing tour. Since I never get to see the stars even at home, being so close to all those lights emanating from Montreal, star-gazing is something I really wanted to do while in NZ. I was lucky enough to arrive in Lake Tekapo to great weather and cloudless skies. There is also an observatory up on a hill close by, so now was my chance to see the Southern sky at its best, plus get close-ups of the Moon and constellations via a huge telescope. The "tour" began at 11:30PM and lasted until close to 2AM. I got to see literally thousands of stars in a sky so bright and lit up that it looked fake. Brilliant!

Aside from that, I enjoyed spending a relaxing day sitting on the beach by Lake Tekapo, with nothing more pressing on my agenda then doing my washing and calling home. Since then, I have moved on to Christchurch, my last destination in New Zealand. I've spent a couple of days walking around and visiting, as well as thinking about my next destination: Australia. Even if I've enjoyed New Zealand tremendously and I think it was the best place to start my trip, I'm looking forward to moving on to a new country now. It's kind of like starting over on a new trip, but with a bit more "backpacking" experience under my belt. Not much, since NZ was so easy, but I don't have the same worries I did when I started my trip in October. I now know I can do this, and enjoy every challenge along the way. It has now been more than a month since I've stopped work, and I must say I am in no rush to get back. I have plenty of other things to do, places to see, people to meet, new "favorites" to discover...