New Zealand Road Trip – Part 9

(This is part of a multi part series – to check out the previous entry, click here!)

Epilogue

It’s hard to know how you’re supposed to feel when you leave a place, especially if you feel like you’ve really had a life altering experience during your time there. On one hand it’s sad to see it go because you’d like to keep on enjoying yourself, but on the other hand you know all good things must come to an end.

Just before we were about to leave, we stopped in to the Kiwi House in central Christchurch to see one of the namesake birds in a zoo-like habitat (it’s very hard to see them in the wild as they’re skittish, keep to the woods and are threatened) – such a cool thing to see. While staying in Christchurch we saw a lot of amazing architecture and beautifully designed buildings. The old history that New Zealand holds is written within the walls of ancient temples and churches. You can visit several of these sanctuaries all throughout the city. We took advantage of plenty sightseeing opportunities on our vacation here. Travelling down the streets we stopped at the vendors selling hats, coats and “touristy” souvenirs. We also walked by the Christchurch Cathedral – which not six months later would be virtually destroyed by an earthquake.

The thing about travel is you never really do know what you’re going to see and you don’t know if it will be around forever. There are no shortage of things out there that can blow your mind if you only get out there and look. I guess that’s what I like the most about travelling, is this sense of being a part of the story of these places and how they weave themselves into your own little narrative. For me, that’s the meaning of life.

I’ve said this many times to people – if there was a country I could move to and settle aside from Canada, it would be New Zealand. The people were incredible, the landscape was humbling and I enjoyed every minute of my time there – even struggling to figure out a standard camper van, I realize now, was a character building exercise. I have never met someone who had a bad thing to say about their time in New Zealand, and that’s surprising because even some of my other most cherished trips have had dissenters.

In total, we drove 2000 km from start to finish over 6 days of travel and were kind of glad to see the end of our camper van. I would love to revisit the south island again, maybe this time in the summer, and maybe in a rental car instead. The campsites along the way offer places to traditionally camp, park your vehicle and even stay in little rooms – talk about accommodating! It’s hard for me to take a road trip again when I think about what New Zealand has because from infrastructure to scenery, it’s not a fair competition.

Anyways, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my road trip through the south island of New Zealand. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and whether you have done the same. Take care!