Day 59- Our last day in South Island

So, our last day we left for Christchurch, but not before cleaning out my bottle. It was full of mud and rocks, which were easily removed. However, it soon became clear that one rock was too big to come out. That seems rather impossible: how could it have gotten in if it was too big to get out?

Turns out the rock was really a rock crab. The poor little guy went in when he was small, and grew inside the bottle. I tried to take him out, but could not. I decided I would take him with me, filled the bottle with water, and packed him up.

We went into Christchurch for a few hours before our flight, and wandered. We went back to Cathedral square (which has the most beautiful war memorial I have ever seen), and then down to old Otago university, where Ernest Rutherford worked on his theories about the atom (he was a Kiwi scientist, a fact they are quite proud of. He is also on the 100 dollar bill). Before we knew it it was time to go. We boarded our flight (where we got dinner and beer/wine free of extra charge) and were back in Hamilton before we knew it. Thus ended the last day in our massive adventure. As you can imagine, you are tired of reading and I, frankly, and tired of writing. What can I say in summary of this trip?

The trip acted, more than anything, as a sampler of South Island. I now have a list 4 times longer than when I started the trip of things to do. I feel like we traveled around enough to get a taste of the island, but didn’t get the time to really feel at home in any one place. I also feel like we really bonded- by the end of the trip I really felt like a family with these people I came to know. We did everything together- from cooking to traveling. Not once did someone snap at another, something I was fully expecting. There was almost no tension over 18 days.

Something else that struck me about the trip is how it kindled my passion for traveling. I feel like I know nothing about my home country, or even my state now. I want to return and go to Canada, to the Southwest, Louisiana, Utah, Montana, California, Alaska, Massachusetts… I want to see everything. My first thought when I saw those mountains on day 2, after ‘wow’, was ‘now I’m really living’. I still feel that way. It makes me wonder how much time I and other people spend wasting their lives on things so utterly unimportant to them. I am not saying that everyone should go out and see the world- I am just suggesting that you find a passion, and stick to it. Life seems so much better with it. I don’t feel like I am missing out on these experiences anymore, and that is a message I am happy to walk away with.