New Zealand? More Like Best Zealand

Hiya from Christchurch, quite possibly the youngest, drunkest city in the whole world!
Possibly not, too.
Regardless, IT'S GREAT.

The layout of the city is not so different from Adelaide in South Australia; everything is very close to everything else because it's pretty small but also, pretty absolutely gorgeous.
There are squares and parks everywhere and the botanical gardens are just beautiful.
And I don't even like flowers!

There's a city tram that runs through the center of town (there's a place called Cathedral Square which more or less is the center of town) and on a day like today (Saturday in February), it's almost a shame to use such a convenience.
The weather isn't much cooler than it was in Sydney but it is virtually dry, as in, not humid, and that makes everything that much more tolerable/prefered by those with curly hair.

So far, I've spent my time in New Zealand strolling through the gardens and street fairs and listening to so many street musicians.

Oh and meeting absolutely hilarious characters:

-Iraqi man who told me he was Chinese ("You believe me almost! Because my body is very small! I kid with you!!!!!!") and who had a travel journal of all the friends he's made while living here, and took a picture of me and told me he would call that page "Girl from the United States of New York," and I did not correct him.

-very hairy, skinny guy from San Jose/Santa Barbara who was here on vacation after working for 6 months in Antarctica "doing science." I asked him if he knew where my hostel was and he said he was on his way there but first NEEDED to get a Big Mac, so I accompanied him with a new friend I had made on the plane from Lincolnshire-near-London and we took his picture as he bit into his first Big Mac since 2007.

-then while we were in the Mackers (that's what McDonald's is called in the Southern Hemisphere), two extremely drunk and friendly older gentlemen approached us to ask if we could show them where the line to order was.
Punchline: they were already in line.

Finally, I made it to my hostel and promptly fell asleep.

Of course, this was all after a VERY eventful airport experience.

I was randomly selected to be late for my flight. They made me open every compartment of everything I own, and then they asked me to produce receipts from when I purchased my pear and banana. When I said I didn't get a receipt since it only cost me $1.20, they asked me a minimum of 5 times why I was leaving Australia and if I spoke and undersood English.

But, all in all, I have nothing but good things to say about my experience.

Some travel updates:

As it turns out, I will be here (in NZ) until March 22nd.
(As it also turns out, you can't just go places. You need to have a visa or a ticket of departure. The customer services representatives all over the airport will be happy to reiterate this information ad nauseum.)

Then I fly back to Sydney and fly back out of Sydney on March 24th, to Hong Kong, then from Hong Kong to Istanbul, then from Istanbul to Tel Aviv, where I end my flight on March 25th at 9:40am.
Plans are to be in the motherland, working on a kibbutz and reliving the summer of '07 until about June something.

And then!
And then!

ITALIA!!!

Maybe.

Looks like I'll be meeting up with Meg and Mere (and MiLF and LRN in spirit) sometime in mid to late June and then Bridey in the wee days of July.
How exciting!

I'm really looking forward to this leg of the journey, not just because New Zealand is Middle Earth, but also because I've been traveling for about 3 months now and it's just occurred to me how much me-time that's been. I really love my own company, but it can get a bit much when you're the only one laughing at your jokes and also the only one making jokes at all. Tom's been working in Sydney while I've been galavanting around, and though I've met some great people and had a lot of fun, you (I) forget how necessary it is to have a real friend around sometimes. It's been nice to go back to Sydney and recharge my batteries and reconnect with Tom and the barefoot shower and trustworthy beds, but the fact is that 3 months of traveling by yourself can get very lonely. I had a little breakdown when some of my plans got screwed up so I saw "Up in the Air" and that made everything worse before it got better. The good news is, my breakdown is over and I'm back on the horse, so to speak. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to see some of the most beautiful things anyone has ever seen. I'm also excited to have a change of pace from Australia; I really love that country but it's also put me through the proverbial wringer and I think it's time to break it off between us.

In sum: I'm in New Zealand! How great is that! SO GREAT.