The Circle of Life (in New Zealand)

After our two weeks in Punakaiki we made our way down to Queenstown, with overnights in Franz Josef (staying at the Rainforest Retreat as a guest this time, which was surreal) and beautiful Wanaka. We arrived in Queenstown on December 3rd, and remained there since then.

Once we'd reached Queenstown, we went straight to Addstaff, the temp agency Mariah and I had worked for back in February. They got us both shifts for the following day, and since then we've been working various event staff and cleaning shifts, managing to break even in a town notorious for making your money disappear with dizzying speed.

It was awesome to be back -- especially since we were sleeping in a quiet van this time rather than a noisy 6-person dorm room. Being in Queenstown again reminded me that it really is my favorite place in New Zealand in terms of natural beauty. The weather was fantastic, although it is extremely odd to see Christmas decorations in the early summer.

After a 7-hour bus ride, I am now in Christchurch (thus completing my full NZ circle), and I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for my first flight. As luck would have it, Kate (the other American wwoofer at Te Nikau) is also staying in Christchurch -- even more coincidentally, we're staying at the same hostel! So it's turned out to be a great first day of traveling home.

By the way, the scenery during the bus ride wasn't bad either:

I would say this is my last post for a while, but I happen to have a very exciting layover coming up that I am certain I'll be writing about.

Until then, it's all up in the air!