An itsy-bitsy Interim Report

Dec 5, 2015 | The Great Journey, Updates

Today it has been exactly one year.

Then I just stood there. In front of the airport of Wellington. And I thought by myself: ‘Well. So now I am in New Zealand.’

And now I am sitting here inside my small room in Dunedin and get rest after my (hopefully staying unique) 10 hour shifts at the car wash.

I indulged in a little retrospective and look at my past self as small and unfinished. I didn’t know about so many things. Now I saw many things and there is even more to bee seen yet. I have grown, I have evolved!

The Future

Nov 28, 2015 | The Great Journey, Thoughts

The croaky duet of the industrial vacuum cleaners ceases, I peel the black gloves from my hands, switch from headphones to cassette adapter and leave the airport towards the city.

I listen to ‘I Got a Name’ by Jim Croce, the sun slowly sets in the rear mirror and fills the atmosphere with its warm light. Even though my eyes are tired, I am not spent as much. The work is physically demanding, but you also have much time to zone out with music and your own thoughts.

I often think about the future, while cleaning the cars. For my time in Dunedin ‘just’ has to get me money. After that the future begins and the same I ponder much.

In January, the time in Dunedin will end. After that, in February, I will have the time of my life: My parents are coming to New Zealand!! 😀
Kids you hear exclaim quite often: ‘Look mum, look dad! Look what I did! Just look!’ Now my parents follow these cries in the highest form.
With them I want to travel all the places where I once desperately wished to have them around.
The people I owe the most of who I am I will have the chance to show the other side of the globe that was my home for over a year.
They will meet many people who I came to value and who have become an integral part of my New Zealand.

But that is only the February of 2016 of my future. Directly after that, my best friend will start his own great trip. With him, I will travel the North- and the South Island of New Zealand for the 3rd time and leave New Zealand after 16 months in the beginning of April.
We want to travel Australia for a few weeks and then part. For he will stay and I will fly home-bound. Possibly with one or the other stop-over, but I’ll see what will be in store then… 🙂

And then I am home again.
In what ways will I have changed? Will I have changed? How will I look at all the things I was thousands of kilometres apart from for a long time?
I am looking forward to see the faces who will have aged almost 1,5 years by then. Especially the kids will have grown incredibly. Most of them all, Vincent…

But also in the ‘real’ life I will have my tasks and objectives.
I will have to manage my life setting again. But with the trusty employment office that might not be the hardest nut to crack.

And I have left myself with all the options as I quit my job back in Germany. That was because I wanted to look at all the ways to life here without uninfluenced.

One thing is for sure: No apple picking!
But the once all neglected option to go to university begins to catch my attention. My flatmates ensured me that I could study here at New Zealand’s universities with my current qualifications. Not to think about in Germany with my technical diploma only!

Also the simple life, half work – half leisure, has its perks. At least until the concept of family applies and puts you on all different tracks. But all those things are just considerations, thoughts and contemplations.

First, I want to arrive at home, see all the loved ones, re-adapt to the right hand side driving and eat real bread.
Then we’ll see.

Dunedin’s Finest

Nov 24, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey

After the night I opened the windows this morning, as it was a little stuffy and warm in my 2×3 metres. But the temperature didn’t change, as I would have expected.
So finally summer is around the corner! And..we are just looking at the Advent season. That is strange, but at least it gets warmer.
You don’t think much about it and suddenly all shops are full of Christmas decoration, people are walking barefoot, it smells like sunscreen and the barbecue season aims for its peak. That’s New Zealand.

 

 

Some different kind of decoration…

As aforementioned, we discovered many different attractions of Dunedin with Lea…

 

 

At the cafe ‘Kiki Beware’ you’ll find Mexican Iced Coffee being served. Cold milk, vanilla-anise-syrup and espresso to combine by yourself.

In the Chinese Garden you can’t stop wondering, how these wondrous places can exist like this in the middle of a ‘bigger’ city.

 

 

This picture (one of 190 of its kind) I took from behind the waterfall in the picture above.

 

 

This cat had also looked at the street art. 🙂 Only she seemed to already have picked her favourite piece of art for the day…

The albatrosses also got graced with our attendance. And this time they got much closer than last time. See for yourselves:

 

 

In New Zealand there are more than lots of seagulls. Therefore, pictures of them are not that special in the end. Only mid-flight it all starts to look different. I just made it an exercise…

 

 

At Tunnel Beach we were lucky, so that no other person was there, despite the marvelous weather.
Windy, but great. I just had to face the challenge to condense my impressions to 15 images. My SD card was lying at home and I had to deal with the internal storage of my camera. Well, then you think twice about what to snap and what not to! 😀

 

 

Sadly, Lea already is over the hills (at least some of them) and far away on her most impressively packed bike and my work life continues. For another time there’s just memories and pictures left. And Christmas, I dearly hope. 😉

 

 

This time, the picture was indeed planned. 😀

 

 

As a ‘finish’, a picture of the moon. I like the moon. 🙂

Street Art in Dunedin

Nov 23, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Trips

I am sorry I published not much lately. That has several reasons.
Firstly, my life now follows a routine, called work life… You don’t do much exciting things other than saving money, going back and forth between work place and home and sleeping when all the other things get old. 🙂

Secondly, my last two days were filled by a visit. Which, on the other hand, means that there is a lot to share! This is going to get us a number of posts in a short time, so stay tuned. 😉

For Lea, the brave cyclist, had arrived in Dunedin and we spent some exciting days together. It was a good thing that it mostly fell on my days off, so we had room for some long spanning adventures.

One of those was all about the ‘Dunedin Street Art Project’, so street art, basically. More exactly, they are paintings on the sides of houses all over the inner city, created by a team of international artists…

I found it most appealing, to explore the city that way. For when do you purposely look into smaller alleyways and backyards?

You might just come with me for a little alternative route through Dunedin. 🙂

 

 

Authentic Kiwi Day

Nov 14, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Trips

Here’s another picture post. But what is worth more than a thousand words? 🙂

One morning Tina and I got going early. Early as in 4am.
Because we wanted to see the sunrise phenomenon at a very special place:
The Moeraki Boulders. They are roly-poly rocks at the beach. Explained as bluntly I want to point out that spherical rocks at the beach are indeed and unusual sight… 🙂

And oh, it was worth it!

 

 

As the magic of the rising sun began to cease, we went to a nearby spot at the sea and had breakfast in the most of authentic ways.

 

 

Tea…

 

 

…and an abundance of yummy things. 🙂

Pretty close by, wild animals roam the coastline. Unfortunately we didn’t see any penguins, instead we saw some other sweeties…

 

 

‘Now point at it.’

These sea lions were wonderfully curious.

Pay attention to the eyes of this one.

 

 

Up next on the agenda of an authentic Kiwi day is the visit at a café. And when having chosen right, you are presented with photo material.

 

 

Tina has taken this marvelous picture. 🙂

 

 

Another point on the agenda: Unwind. You go to the beach, place yourself there, munch something, listen to music, draw, read, nap, take photos and enjoy life. At least as long the battery lasts… 🙂

 

 

A battery you typically recharge at a Fish’n’Chips store. We went to one with a remarkable outside lighting installation.

 

 

After that we looked at the Boulders in daylight. In addition, we had the chance to observe one of those utterly rare Asian tourists in a larger formation this time. Exhilarating! 😀

 

 

Finishing with the grand prize (no prize, as saving comes first) question:
How many sea lions can you count in the next picture?? 😉

 

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