Now the action swings back the other way....

  Queenstown, New Zealand
Sunday, November 18, 2007

Ok folks, this is Random again.  Yes you are on the correct blog.  After leaving Kuala Lumpur and getting to Auckland, I managed to swing back into my old stomping grounds of

hiking

Christchurch, NZ.  There I manged to purchase a subaru, get it stolen, recover it, (a story to be told at a later date.)  I wandered off into the backwoods of the south island to recover my sanity and relax a little bit and think of my life up to this point.

smokee

After meting a wide variety of people, from places far and wide, from Surinam to Latvia.... I ended up sitting in Wanaka, New Zealand waiting to meet up with a certain someone with Argentinian roots (though her ends may be

Home sweet home... queenstown :)

pink!)  After an exciting day of catching up and exploring Maia and I ended up hopping in Smokee (my subaru, yes two e's) and getting on to Queenstown our original destination,  two months ago.....

Ahhh it was a heavy moment, I'll admit, it took my dumb ass a few days, an overnight trek to some hotsprings filled with an amazing group of  people from all over.... I ended up shooting the shit with two American dudes, in a epic natural hot spring over a bottle of red wine,

Queenstown after hours...

discussing wine, women, politics and the merits of  ones job choices.... (him a seasonal park ranger, who at working six months a year is contemplating leaving it all..... so we have lots to think about)  It was good to talk to some

queenstown

Americans again who lived along similiar lines as I choose to.  I ended up hiking 20 miles in a little under 7 hours to make it back to my car and see if one Maia J had already written me off. 

FYI there is no cell reception on the west coast of New Zealand.  After a two hour drive, a hitchhiker/paraglider and some oil, I managed to get a hold of Maia.  She must have just written the last blog entry, she had had an exciting few days and had come tosimiliar

another apartment shot

conclusions.... That her and I have a lot of love for each other and we do not have nearly as much fun with anyone else as we do with each other.  I know, she knows, and you can all imagine, that we have lots to work out, but nothing feels more right than this...

As of now she is employed at two jobs, working quite a bitand I am hiking a lot.  I am getting

theme night at the bar...

into the shape I want to be in while Maia is sporting cheerleader outfits to her bar's theme
nights.  I am applying to jobs and Maia is looking over my shoulder telling me to tell you about our apartment. 

Its nice, better than anywhere we have ever lived, views of incredible mountains, lakes and we can watch the paragliders kick themselves off the peak right outside on our porch (one of

our luxury apartment... we weren't kidding!

three)   The place is super new, we have a room, with its own patio, and share the place with two other girls.  One a manager for a B&B and the other is a rarely-seen Japanese tour guide..... It is huge, furnished and has more amenities than I have everhad.  The shower has hot water, and doesn't require quarters, samewith the laundry.  The kitchen is fully stocked and is a joy to cook in.  We park right outside (Smokee and Maia's subaru, we can just call LOUD because it has a custom tailpipe, and yes, she managed to find the one car in New Zealand that has a car alarm as annoying as her gold civic), and are a 4 minute walk to town, (sounds quick but it is straight up coming home!)  Our room has a huge high ceiling and a large sliding french door that goes out to a patio with morning sun.  A huge closet, but who needs a closet ( right Maia!?) with all that floor space to throw stuff on!

There are at least three or four great hikes right outside our door.  One is a 5 hour round trip,

summit of ben lomond, 6000ft

straight up to about 6000 feet overlooking the town and lake Wakatipu.  We already enjoy living in town and it is small enough that you can walk everywhere and we also get to play ultimate frisbee on Wednesdays down the street.  The other major highlight in the area is the Ferburger burger place, open 7 am till 5am, and serves gigantic freshly made burgers.... one of a kind.....

Ahhh we are going to go find dinner now, and will pick up this blog at a later date, hopefully  I will be employed....



MAIA + RANDOM