Hey, everyone! The weeks continue to be busy, as is the trend lately. So many things to do and so little time left – strangely. Jasper mentioned to me today, “I was reading your blogs and I realized… you actually do something every week!” That’s the idea. One hike/adventure a week, and I’d say it has been fairly consistent since, mmm… probably since I landed in Perth all that time ago.

Last Hurrahs

Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday were pretty much: Abby. As mentioned in last week’s post, Monday was our farewell dinner at Juanito’s.

After work on Wednesday, we met up at Momento’s for dinner. We ordered calamari, a huge lamb shank, and some patatas bravas (yummmm!). This time, it was just family. Yvonne, Abby, Jasper, Tiago, Victoria, Taiyo. It was a combination of a farewell for Abby but also to celebrate Yvonne’s birthday since Abby, Jasper, and Taiyo won’t be around for her actual birthday. The food was delicious but tapas can be a bit cumbersome when split between seven people. NOT ENOUGH FOOD!

We were still hungry so we got dessert at Fergbakery. I don’t think I’d been there since my friend Jose left. The cheesecake there is perfection.

Abby and Tiago were staying at the hotel that night. Before we went out dancing, we squeezed all seven of us into their hotel room. It was around 9pm at this point and surely we were being slightly disruptive. Listening to music, talking at normal if not excited levels. The poor people in the rooms next to us!

The group is a combination of millennials and Gen Z so of course we decided to have a photoshoot. I think in many ways, we were also trying to immortalize our last moments of fun together as a group. Yvonne has a polaroid camera which always for some reason take the best photos. There is something about not having the ability to delete the pictures and retake them. You’ve got one shot to get a good photo. And usually, somehow, they turn out way better than digital ones haha.

We sure love taking photos together.

Abby and Tiago stayed behind for a moment for some quality time together. The rest of us went to Silent Disco. I decided to bring my own headphones this time. I figured – everyone’s just wearing headphones listening to music. I should bring my own and dance to the music I want to listen to haha. It was fine but my headphones weren’t loud enough to drown out the sounds of people singing and talking. Alas.

I was feeling slightly under the weather. Abby and Tiago still hadn’t arrived to go dancing, so when Jasper said he was leaving, I decided to go with him. I needed rest! Yvonne and Victoria were disappointed but apparently Yvonne and Taiyo ended up staying out late(ish).

It was a fun night!

Final Moments

Jasper and Yvonne had taken off work on Thursday so they could take Abby to the airport. I didn’t want to take an unpaid day, so I started a little earlier and cut my breaks short so I could go with them. Around 2pm, I hustled to the hostel where Jasper was picking everyone up.

Emma and Rose said their goodbyes to Abby outside the hostel. Then it was Jasper, Tiago, Yvonne, Abby, and me squeezed into Jasper’s car on the short ride to the airport.

Along the way, I asked Abby what her rose, thorn, and bouquet of her time in Queenstown was. Her bouquet was – of course – the people. She repeated what she’d vocalized a few nights before, how lovely it was that she got to meet, connect, and bond with people from all over the world that shared common interests.

We made tentative plans to meet in the Philippines together in spring of 2025. Abby is supposed to go there with her sister in March. (Later in the day, Yvonne and I talked about it more and it seems timing and weather-wise, early May would be a better time to go and would align with my travel plans as well. I’m not sure if it would work with Abby. To be discussed.)

Suddenly, we were at the airport. Jasper parked the car and we walked Abby to the entrance. We waited for her to get her tickets. Yvonne and Jasper started to cry and hugged each other. I hugged them, too. It was a pretty powerful, somber moment. Abby glanced over and saw them crying. She came over to us and hugged everyone individually. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her I love her, and said we will see one another soon. She thanked me for being such a good listener along with some other things. It was emotional and a bit of a blur so I can’t remember everything. And then we had a group hug.

Tiago stayed behind – he wanted to be the last one to be there with her. He said he would take the bus back. I was really feeling for Tiago. While he was doing a good job of keeping it together, I had a feeling it would be incredibly hard for both of them to part ways. I told Tiago earlier in the day to let me know if he needs anything, that we’re here to support him and that he’s not alone, etc.

Jasper, Yvonne, and I walked back to the car. I got one last glance of Abby, who was smiling at us from the check-in area.

Once we’d gotten to the car, we all started to cry some more. “This sucks,” I said while crying and then started to laugh. They agreed. Yvonne shared how Abby’s departure was affecting her and how she knows it will also be continuing when I leave and potentially if Jasper leaves in November. It is a difficult thing. Goodbyes (FOR NOW!) are tough. And yet they are the price we pay for having these lovely friendships while traveling. At some point or another, we will all probably leave Queenstown. But still – I agree that it is sad. I told Yvonne, it’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to cry. It means that the friendships meant something to us and that’s a beautiful thing.

Jim Farewell

Farewells continued on Friday with it officially being our General Manager Jim’s last day at work. Between Cure Kids, the new hotels, and tying up loose ends at our hotel, he had been super busy the last few weeks.

While I have only been working at the hotel since November and not thirteen years like my boss Jen has, it was still weird to acknowledge Jim’s departure. He has been referred to as “The Mayor of Queenstown” – everybody knows who he is, he has heaps of local connections. He’s been really involved in spearheading charity fundraising, community volunteering, etc. I see him every day at work since we work in the same office area. And now he is off to work in Fiji, overseeing three hotels. Wild.

(On Monday, I spoke with Jim and said it’s been a pleasure to work with him at the hotel. I expressed interest in keeping communication open in the future, etc. A few minutes later, he came back and showed me a scrapbook of the 1999 Queenstown floods, where the hotel was massively affected by flooding. Crazy!)

At the end of the work day, Jim went with the other Heads of Department into our lounge area to have drinks. Once I’d wrapped up my work for the day, I came over to say goodbye to him. I expected a brief handshake, but he actually pulled up a chair next to him and we talked for some time. About how he’s feeling about going to Fiji, what his wife’s plans are (she is staying behind in Queenstown for a few months), etc. Around 6pm, he announced he had to go because his son was waiting for him outside. I asked for one final picture with the HoDs to commemorate the moment. Jim certainly has a good team at our hotel to continue on his legacy.

I gave Jen a big hug – I knew Jim leaving was hard on her and she had been feeling emotional about it lately. And I placed my hand on Catherine’s shoulder since she was really bummed about it as well. I gave Jim a hug and then that was that. I told Jim I’d be seeing him in Fiji come October. It would be nice to meet up somewhere warm for a tea!

Jack’s Point Track

Saturday was an EXTREMELY lazy day on my end. I volunteered at Kiwi Park – which always somehow kicks my ass. Upon finishing, I went back to the hostel and proceeded to nap for FOUR HOURS lol. Needless to say, I had a very hard time falling asleep that night. The rest of Saturday was really chill. Jasper and I went for Vietnamese food which was super yummy. His friend was working there and she actually gave us a discount which was much appreciated!

Afterwards, I decided to revive Jasper’s American Iconic Movie Education with Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. He enjoyed that.

We made plans on Sunday to go on a walk. Earlier in the week, we were contemplating going to Arrowtown or Alexandra to see the frozen lake but the temperature had warmed up a bit. We made a last minute decision to go to Henley’s Farm and walk along the Jack’s Point track.

Funnily enough, the Jack’s Point track was one of the first walks I’d heard about when I came to Queenstown and I’m only JUST getting around to it. I thought – eh, it probably has similar views to Queenstown. Surely it isn’t that nice. I actually ended up loving it!

From the very start of the walk, the track offered wonderful views of The Remarkables but even more special for me was seeing Queenstown with Ben Lomond as the backdrop. From town, it’s not possible to really see Ben Lomond. When driving in to town from Kingston, you can see it but it’s far away. The closer you get to Queenstown, the more other small mountains block the view. This track gave us great views of the tallest peak in Queenstown. Really lovely!

The walk was a piece of cake. Super easy with minor inclines and declines.

Jasper and I talked the whole way, sharing about how we got to Aotearoa New Zealand, how long we initially thought we’d stay (for Jasper and I both, it was only six months. Jasper has been here four years!). We didn’t complete the track since it was an Out and Back trail, an hour and forty each way. I hadn’t eaten in the morning and was feeling hungry, so we stopped about 40min short from the end. The views seemed to be pretty much the same for the duration anyway.

We made a small detour to the beach and sat on a boulder for a while, admiring the views and chatting. That was our “summit” of the track haha.

And then we walked back! I was pretty blown away by how nice of a track it was. Great views, great company, great time. Yay!

The rest of the day was spent chilling indoors. I have been very busy lately, and next week that trend continues. But busy is okay. It’s all good things.

Miscellaneous

Before Abby left, she snuck some gifts into our room. She left me a satin pillowcase (it’s so comfy!), a packet of hot chocolate and popcorn, a paua shell and a postcard. The paua shell has “been revered as a magical offering from the sea by New Zealand Māori. It is said to stimulate intuition, sensitivity, and imagination.” OKAY!!!

The postcard was incredibly sweet. The front of the postcard had a mountain range and a kiwi in the front. Jasper later commented how all of the postcards she got for us were different. Jasper’s postcard was from Wānaka, where he once went with Abby. Yvonne’s was from Coronet Peak, where we all went recently on the adventure. Katie’s was Lake Tekapo, where she had gone on a weekend trip with her, etc. I imagine she picked mine with the kiwi since I volunteer at Kiwi Park and love my wildlife haha. Very thoughtful!

Love you, Abby! You are missed already <3

Speaking of kiwi… one of the cutest things at Kiwi Park this week. I can’t remember if I mentioned it last week because it happened then too. When I was going to feed some of the kiwi, one of them (Kahukura) was popping its beak over the little fence where I enter the enclosure. It would pop its beak, seemingly sniff, then pop back down. Pop back up, sniff, pop back down. So cute! When I went to put down her food this time, she was overly excited and even ran into my leg haha. These damn kiwi are adorable, I tell ya! I love them <3.

Heavy Metal Ducks at Kiwi park, shown above.

I also haven’t mentioned this yet but when I got the service done on my car, they told me some other things that probably need to get fixed too. Sigh. One of them is the timing/cam belt because it’s overdue. Unfortunately, that is expensive. $1,400 NZD. AHH! Luckily, I shopped around to a couple places for quotes and one of them is just shy of $1,000. Okay – that’s doable. And necessary for my safety! I’ve scheduled that service in two weeks. After that, I should actually FINALLY have all the money saved that I need. For two months traveling (accommodation, food, fuel), any tours I’m interested in doing, and a little backup money for in case I do need any more car repairs. Otherwise, that money will go towards my time in the states or in Asia. I’d say I’m in a good spot!

More about cars. Renee had me cracking up the other night when I saw her Instagram story. She had taken a screenshot of her car and typed up all the money she’d had to spend on it so far. She posted, “I came to NZ to travel, not to repair my car!” haha. RELATABLE, RENEE! We’re not the only ones. I heard from another coworker recently that he just had to spend $1,500 on repairing something on his car. So expensive! It’s crazy. But really nice for getting out of town. I would not have liked to have been stuck in town all these months without ever going on road trips. I love those road trips and am looking forward to the upcoming major road trip in less than eight weeks.

Art of the Week

Loving the new earthquake-y, technicolor theme. I haven’t added this to my RedBubble site as I’m not sure many people would want this on a tea mug or a hat LOL but if interested, do let me know! There is already a nice selection of items on my site if anyone is interested in some merchandise with my art. Link is on the sidebar!

Reflections

Oof! Another week gone by. And only seven left in Queenstown as of this coming Tuesday.

What’s on the agenda? Here is what I have cooked up.

-Mount Cook & Lake Tekapo
-Doubtful Sound
-Kiwi Park Double Days
-The Remarkables
-The Catlins
-Return to Milford Sound
-Farewell Party

Each of the above activities correspond with a weekend. The weekend after Doubtful Sound will probably be my final week at Kiwi Park. I want to keep the rest of my weekends open prior to leaving – just to sleep in or to spend more time with friends/adventuring/etc. It will be a bummer to leave Kiwi Park but I figured I’d volunteer on both a Saturday and Sunday and spend as much time as I can with the birds before I go.

This week, I have Rose’s birthday party on Monday, yoga and tea with Liv Tuesday, Cena con mis chilenas los miercoles, and on Thursday my friend Rey comes to town from Australia. He’ll be going on some adventures while I’m working, but we’ll meet up for dinner and over the weekend we’re going to head up to Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo. I’m excited for that because I have heard only the BEST things! Lots of pictures to share for next week’s post!

Busy, busy, busy. When will I rest?!

Until next time – sending you all my love. xx