March 2019: Campervans, Tragedy, and Mussels

Terminating tasmania

As our time in Australia’s loveably oddball island came to a close, we reveled in the connections we created. Tooting around in the camper of a hitch-hike-turned-friend on the Bay of Fire, hiking into the hills with our favorite Germans, and being shown the secret huts of Hobart by some very trusting locals (shh… we can’t say more).

And of course we went out with a bang, stealth camping in the forest next to the airport because our flight was early early in the morning and unfortunately the tiny Hobart Airport is not 24 hours.

A Serendipitous Arrival

We arrived in New Zealand on March 15, 2019. We landed at the airport and dozed groggily after our red eye. We watched as a Muslim couple quietly laid a mat down for Friday prayer. We grocery shopped, walked to the highway, and hitch hiked up the coast and away from Christchurch.

When we arrived in Picton, at the very north of the South Island, we heard the news. Christchurch had experienced New Zealand’s largest mass shooting in history, just hours after we had left it.

We sat shocked at the news, so familiar in the US. We applauded Jacinda Ardern and her quick action on gun control even as we talked to locals that didn’t want to give their firearms up.

It’ll be a day we forever remember, but hopefully not for the reason the gunman wished. Instead, for how we failed to keep our Muslim brothers and sisters safe. For how bad things can happen anywhere, but so can change. And how we need to come together to do better.

Post-Summer Nights

We were heading north to work for a short while at Hopewell Lodge.

If you ever go to New Zealand and don’t stay here for at least two nights, you’re doing something wrong.

It’s set in Marlborough Sounds, home to tasty wine and equally tasty mussels (though these were infected with a dangerous algae bloom while we were there 😢).

We had a marvelous time learning to take care of chickens and clean industrial kitchens, all while making lots of quiche, going for daily bike rides and kayak tours, and watching the stars in the hot tub.

Not too shabby.