Getting Amongst It - Hard Out!

Finally making a 'pav' or pavlova,

officially invented in NZ, don't listen

to the Aussies.

And two more friends came all the way

to NZed to send me off with one more adventure


NZed, I'm really really gonna miss you
Mt Cook in all its glory

Finally got to Mt Cook with these jokers,

thanks for an amazing week you two, double high five!

And although you

can't see it in this pic, it is truly spectacular (on a sunny day)
Reba really wanted to go ziplining, well

this was more like riding a barca lounger through the sky =

the development of a new verb - getting skywired

Marlborough wine tasting never gets old
Mt Cook and Tasman glacier terminal face with

iceburgs in Tasman lake not as spectacular in the rain
One of many gorgeous sunsets in Coromandel

Two of my favorite Kiwiisms and yes I'm combining them. Get amongst it means get after it or something similar and Hard Out can simultaneously mean Awesome! and go hard after something. Now that you have the gist....

I know I've been missing from blogging, but I warned you back in December that it was going to get a bit crazy here towards the end and while I would normally do a pre-trip blog and post trip blog from my recent visitors - Regis and Ghighah (aka Reba and Gimple), I frankly haven't had a spare second and they don't read this blog anyway, so there.

So the next two posts are going to be a 2 part Finale as we're one week out till I exit New Zealand (yes there is a tear winding its way down my cheek as I write this).

I decided to live this year as a combo of an episode of MTV's Made - like it was the year before my wedding - my last year on Earth - and like I was turning 30. Yes, only one of those is actually happening - that I know of. But regardless I decided why wait for the other three to happen - might as well go hard out and get amongst it and go after all the goals I wanted to set for myself and push myself as hard as I could while also making sure to appreciate every moment (especially those moments of sleeping till whenever I wanted and never using a clock, taking a MeMoon, etc. and always remembering what TI said). And while I may not have become a pro surfer, solved climate change, or found a husband to sail around the world with, I'm more than happy with the way this year has gone. Here's a bit of a recap including superlatives, accomplishments, and a tallying of exactly what I've been up to this year in case you missed the last 40 posts-

-Trip/Visitor superlatives: You all have asked me how your visit/trip compared with the others, well I'm finally going to tell you. I can't believe how lucky I was to have so many of you travel all the way to the other side of the world to visit me and let me show you NZed, and I'm not lying or exaggerating when I say each of you brought a different adventure and brought something unique to my experience here (in no order of importance) -

-Best sampler/viewer/experiencer of Middle Earth: Bob, you saw more of Middle Earth and the randomness of NZed (Shantytown and Blackball for starters), and beauty of the South Island

-Best connoisseur and purchaser of Kiwiana: Laurie Beall, you brought home more of

NZed than even I am, and you did it with zeal and managed to find really unique, special

items that even I hadn't found before living here a year

-Best adventurer/embracer of the outdoors that NZed has to offer/Amazing Racer: Allison Beall, which was clearly going to be an easy category for you to win. Thank you for helping me get amongst some of the adventure items I hadn't bothered or tried to conquer before.

I will always want you on my team.

-Best co-captain/trip planner/navigator/early riser/schedule meeting/logistics CEO:

Stephanie Montgomery, you know I think I can plan/schedule a good trip, but you really

grabbed the sheep by the horns and made me feel like I didn't even need to do much, and

made me feel like the lazybones sleeping till 9am.

-Best one night stand and thank you gift givers: Patty and Mike, even though I only saw you

for one night, it was so relaxing and I really appreciate you including me in your

honeymoon and the UA gear for us all was over the top. First pair of shorts I've liked in

about 12 years

-Best road warriors: Reba and Gimple, you two made the car a party - literally, even in

bad weather and broken antennas, and were my best visitors at singalongs even without

music. A capella Sound of Music soundtrack anyone? (you all were great road warriors so

don't take this personal, reba and gimps had the advantage of a group)

-Best experiencers of my real life here - Laurie Beall, Allison Beall, Reba and Gimps, all for

different reasons - Wellington, Fulbright, Maori

-Best wine/beer tasters/samplers - Allison Beall and Stephanie Montgomery, god forbid

you two are ever on a trip together, cause I'm pretty sure it will end in wine enduced fistacuffs

-Best think on their feeters/getting amongst it on a whim - Bob and Reba and Gimps, your

trips were the least planned and it resulted in new unexpected places/adventures and lots

of laughs

-Best Kiwi accent/impersonation - Reba by a long shot

And I could go on and on, the moral is there wasn't one better than the other, they were all different and truly awesome. I know I'm a bit emotional right now, but you all really blew me away with what awesome friends/family you are (no slights against those that didn't make it, I know it is ridiculously far, and I love you just as much).

And now for the stats. As I've mentioned previously in this blog, I set a few goals for myself here, and here's a bit of a report card:

-Fitness: I don't know how long I said in DC that I wanted to get fit or work out on a

regular basis and never did it. I also was resigned to just never being athletic or being

able to keep up with people. The big joke was watching me run. In NZed I've still felt like

Phoebe on Friends, and it wasn't till my recent visitors and the last few months that I've realized maybe I've made some progress. We'll see what happens when I actually have to balance fitness with work again.

I've run 4 races and I wish I knew how many total kms this year, but it doesn't matter,

what matters is I can beat you up a hill :)

-Conquering fears: I've had a fear of edges (the cliff sort, not brownies) and jumping off

things since I cracked a rib jumping 60 feet off a cliff in Saranac Lake in college. In NZed

I've gotten over this - Five waterfalls jumped off to date, but no I won't be bungying in the birthplace of bungy before I leave. Some things I don't feel the need to check off.

Baking, conquered, I've explained this previously, and metric system you don't scare me anymore either

-Learning two new languages (Kiwi English and Maori) and neither fluently

-Fishing, learning to fish for my dinner and dive for shellfish. This is the life I always wanted

-Gardening: always liked it, never knew seasonality very well or pests or how to build a

worm farm and while learning all that I somehow taught it to little cherubs

-Traveling: I wish I had tallied my total kms, but I have seen almost every corner of this

country except for the far South and most places many times and yet just yesterday I got

jealous of someone going up North. NZed places just keep you wanting more. I also squeezed

two additional countries in this year (Samoa, Australia). Total of the 365 days that I have

been away, I've been traveling for approximately 175 days

-Wwoofing: Would have liked to have done more of it, especially since my first experience was so hilarious here, but maybe I'll have more opportunity in Italy to practice for my eventual farm owning

-Three of the Seven Great Walks done

-Approximately 60 wineries visited and probably over 200 wines tasted

-Ooodles (but never enough) blue cheese eaten

Unexpected occurences:

-Becoming more American, that sneaky bugger Senator Fulbright knew what he was up to

-Realizing there's always money to be found in Academia, you just have to look for it. I now finally understand why people do PhDs (other than the whole learning part). Its a pretty cushy life

-Actually giving up shopping and eating out

-I somehow came here with three email addresses and ended the year with seven

Things I never did and thought I would:

-Camping - I bought a fancy sleeping bag and pad so I could sleep on glaciers, and even

brought a tent all the way here. Tent never used, sleeping bag got used in maraes instead of on glaciers. Frankly, camping alone just sounds like a hassle

-Horseback riding - suggested to each of my visitors, but never happened.

-Never quite found Gollum

-Never made it south of Te Anau, I'll just have to come back to see you Dunners and

Stewart Island and the Caitlins

-Fact I'm most upset about - never snuggling a baby sheep

Part Two of this Finale coming your way shortly.....but first in a reverse 100 days of Beall edition, things I'm not going to miss in NZed -

1) Fighting mold constantly all winter

2) Towels never drying in winter

3) Living so far from friends and family

4) Fried pies, especially of the meat variety

5) Baked beans or spaghetti on toast for breakfast

6) Expensiveness of food, books, movies, clothes

And the real 100 days of NZed edition -

-Southeast Asian food of all varieties - I had to move to New Zealand to start to like Indian food and my favorite restaurant here is Malaysian

-The Wellington Waterfront - such good people watching, gorgeous on sunny days, and tons to do

-The amount that people talk/know about wind. Never in my life have I used the terms "Northerly" and "Southerly", and especially not on a daily basis

-No matter the time of year boots and floral skirts are in season

Okay, Part Two shortly....