My final days in New Zealand I spent taking in sites I was determined to see before departure. On a rainy Saturday, I went up to the Coromandel Peninsula again to see the praised Cathedral Cove and experience the naturally warm waters of Hot Water Beach. Even in a misty rainy, Cathedral Cove was beautiful – carved by the strength of waves to mold an arch resembling a house of worship. Along the approaching trail, I witnessed a lime-green spiral – the shape of the New Zealand silver fern before it unravels its frown. At Hot Water Beach, kids dug holes in the sand until they hit water, water from a naturally warm stream beneath the sand. (It is not the ocean water from which this beach gets its name.) I also spied a beached, baby hammerhead shark on the sand. It was dead, but it must have been recently stranded, as it had not begun to deteriorate and was an interesting specimen. With this final trip, I didn’t see every possible wonder of New Zealand, but I came pretty close.
My final days in New Zealand I spent wrapping up loose ends. I sold my car to a couple of Chilean girls who didn’t realize I understood their Spanish conversations. I wrote an article for the Kiwifruit Journal on vine training the gold kiwifruit – the thesis of the project which occupied my time at HortResearch. I brought scones to work for morning tea on my final day – to everyone’s delight, but there was a bit of dismay when we wrapped up my final lunch time volleyball game. Even my sarcastic officemate/boss expressed a bit of disappointment at the end of the day, saying he would miss my “American accent.” It was definitely a bittersweet moment saying goodbye to these people who had not only become my colleagues but also my friends. I only hope I made half the impression on them as they made on me.
My final days in New Zealand I spent relaxing and enjoying the company of friends. The weather was perfect in my final week – warm and sunny with occasional puffy clouds. I enjoyed running a few more times around and up Mount Maunganui, meandering along the beach, relaxing outside sun-bathed café patios, and relishing in the onset of spring. (After all, it will be quite some time before I actually enjoy a full spring.) I had dinner with a few people from work and bid a sorrowful farewell to my good friend Marcela.
And then it was time to go home. I boarded the giant Boeing 777 at 7:30pm on Saturday. After a movie and a meal, I slept surprisingly well, despite the two crying babies. I awoke to bright sunshine reflecting off the Pacific, and shortly thereafter, I saw land. “California here I come. Right back where I started from.” It almost seemed surreal. Was I really approaching my continent, my country, my state? When I set foot in the San Francisco airport, it was 12:30pm on Saturday. By crossing the international dateline, I had gone backwards in time. My whole family, minus my older brother who was busy harvesting tomatoes, was there to greet me. Welcomed faces for my welcome home. It had been a long time…
California is quite dry, as to be expected, at this time of year. The golden grasses were the antithesis of the endless green of the island country. The juxtaposition of spring to autumn will take some time to grasp, and I am still getting my head around driving on the right-hand side of the road. Tomatoes are being harvested as usual; my room is the same as when I left it. My mom still cooks the food I like just the way I like it, and my dad and I share in jokes and insightful conversations just as before. Most everything seems the same, but I feel slightly changed. My family said my hair looks darker; my skin is pale. Sometimes I blurt out phrases in Spanish or silly Kiwi expressions, but these are only on the surface. For anyone who has done a bit of world travel, I don’t have to say twice that the United States is an interesting place to call home. I am a patriotic person, but I now also have an outsider’s perspective. We, as Americans, are respected, and we are despised. We are viewed as powerful; we are viewed as intrusive. Some have ambitions of visiting our vast lands, some wish to move here, some will never set foot. There are stereotypes – some are true and some couldn’t be farther from the truth. People will hear what they wish to hear and believe what they wish to believe. I accepted some of these perspectives; I refuted others, but I absorbed all of these things. My travels this year will remain in my heart and mind forever, and I will continue to learn from them day after day. But, no matter the differences I may have encountered, no matter the changes I might have undergone, despite the different languages that we speak, the different lands that we come from, and the different waters that divide us, we are all just one people, and we have so much to learn from each other. It is so nice to be home, but home means so much more now.
There are a few more pictures to view from my final days in New Zealand at my Shutterfly account. And as for 'what next for this blog?', well, stay tuned. You never know how it may transform. After all, I'm still wandering...
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