Week 46 - New Zealand
Sunday we woke up to a coating of wet snow. We don't really have full winter gear, but it's also not that cold, right around freezing, so we can play outside for a while with layers then come in and get warm while everything dries by the fire.
We're at the southernmost point of our trip, so even though we've long since passed the half way point in time and are more than halfway around the world east to west, it's kind of another ending. Everything after this is closer to home. S is ready to be home and has been for a while, C is happy everywhere, J doesn't really say, but I'm kind of sad about the beginning of the end. I'm not ready to go back to the never ending monotony of farm and housework. Even though the plan is that it will be different with J home and me working elsewhere, I'm just having a hard time imagining any life in the US that's not constant stress and effort. Travel is work too, but at least it's varied and you're getting somewhere rather than just repeating the same chores day after day and week after week. I think I had hit a wall with teaching as well, it became a matter of going against society's norms to the point that the best I can offer isn't what folks actually want for their kids, and I'm tired of forcing it. Americans are just too committed to being miserable. Everywhere else we've been has had problems, and I'm sure the longer we'd stay the more we'd become aware, but Americans seem to take first place in self sabotage as a nation. I'm already thinking about the next trip. But for now, we're comfy and cozy with two nice fires and plenty of time to relax.
Monday we woke up to no power. We have a wood stove and a fireplace for heat, and a gas stove for cooking, so it wasn't bad at all. I took a short walk but decided to stay out of the woods in case any more limbs came down. The broadleaf trees here don't shed their leaves, so they just break when it snows. We did school work, and eventually, the power came back late in the afternoon so I did laundry. The laundry room still is out of commission, but there's a smaller Airbnb cabin on the property that has a washer, and the host said I can use that. We're actually going to be staying there for the weekend because this place was previously booked. The snow here is so beautiful.
Tuesday we finally decided to go out. This involved dragging several large branches off the road. We went to Glenorchy, where there's a general store which turned out to be closed, but also a petting farm. The idea was to get some groceries and have some fun. We had the fun, but I guess we'll have to go all the way to Queenstown for groceries.
We had a fun afternoon and were ready to relax by a nice warm fire.
Wednesday morning I had a zoom meeting so the kids and J did breakfast and school work together. Then we went back to Queenstown for groceries and some cold-weather gear. That pretty much took up the day, but it needed to be done and we enjoyed the drive.
Thursday was rainy and we stayed in and did school.
Friday we moved to the "hut." It's actually pretty nice. I think "hut" here is more like what we call a cabin in the US. It's small, just a living room/dining room/kitchen area plus two bedrooms and a bathroom, but that makes it a lot easier to heat. Moving took most of the morning, then we did school work. By afternoon it was sunny out, but J was ready for a nap so the kids and I just went on a walk and played outside. The farm workers were moving sheep around using dogs and that was really fun to watch.
Saturday we went up one of the mountains to go sledding. Originally, I wanted to just find some snow and we'd already bought a boogie board to use as a sled so we didn't have to rent one. The thing is, most of the mountains don't actually have roads to get up to the snow. We ended up at a ski resort. I was really impressed. It was busy but well organized. They didn't charge anything for sledding and gave us free hot chocolate from the coffee shop because the hot chocolate dispenser in the cafeteria was broken. It was a fun day.
