TE PAPA TONGAREWA

As mentioned in a previous post, Te Papa is the National Museum of New Zealand, located in the capital city of Wellington.  Since I had several extra days in town I visited 3 times total, spreading out my visits so as not to overdo it.

The majority of my time was spent in the Gallipoli exhibit, as it was largest, but it had many other fascinating exhibits.  I don't know what it is about war exhibits, but I find them so interesting.  I enjoy history, and the exhibits make it far easier to stay engaged, they're also usually full of stories from the people living through the war.

There was a small exhibit on the New Zealand Wars (Rā Maumahara), fought between the Māori and European settlers in the 1860's and early 70's - it was quite sad to see the map of the Māori land lost:

There was also a fun section with New Zealand "trivia" which I found helpful.  I knew that Kiwi's called flip flops "jandals" but could never figure out why, or from where the name came.  Here were the ones I found most interesting:

• Vegemite: Invented by Australian Fred Walker, to compete with the British "Marmite".  You probably hear the product name and don't think "New Zealand", but it turns out that Kiwis eat more Vegemite per person than Aussies.
• New Zealand: So where did the name come from exactly?  "In 1642, Dutchman Abel Tasman charted our west coast.  Dutch officials named this country Nieuw Zeeland, in honour of a province in Holland.  Soon English, French, and Latin translations of the name appeared on maps in other European countries.  By the early 1800s, our British settlers had adopted the English translation... Today we often call this country by its Maori name 'Aotearoa'."
• Jandals: "At the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne, a Kiwi importer was inspired by the Japanese team's footwear.  The first jandals were made in an Auckland garage... Japanese + Sandals.  Today more people buy blue jandals than any other colour"

As an American, one of the strangest things about the celebration, or perhaps glorification, of the conflict in Gallipoli is that Australia and New Zealand (ANZAC) were defeated at Gallipoli.  Defeat is not something usually memorialized, but it has been said that "the Gallipoli Campaign is said to be the reason for New Zealand's birth as an independent nation."  You can read more about why it is so culturally important here.  The exhibit progressed chronologically from the start of the offense in April 1915, to their eventual evacuation on December 15th.  "For eight long months, New Zealand troops, alongside those from Australia, Great Britain and Ireland, France, India, and Newfoundland battled harsh conditions and Ottoman forces desperately fighting to protect their homeland." There were a total of 2,779 New Zealanders that lost their lives in this particular campaign.  Compared to the 86,692 Ottomans who died (there were 130,842 deaths between all the countries fighting in the battle), one would assume the Turks had lost.

26 year old Private Jack Dunn (Wellington Infantry Battalion Machine Gunner)
"He was a Wairarapa lad and keen athlete, who'd rushed to enlist with his brother.  Despite being fitter than most, he came down with pneumonia after the first brutal month of fighting.  When he returned from hospital - still pretty crook - the poor bugger fell asleep at his post and was sentenced to death for endangering his unit.  It could've been any of us.  Jack was game to the core, unflinching in the face of fire.  The General eventually took his reputation and illness into account.  On August 4th, Jack was sent back to the front line."

Te Taua Maori, 1914
"This prayer book saved the life of Private Hone Tahitahi- literally.  It stopped a Turkish bullet in its tracks.  Tahitahi (Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri) was struck above the chest and knocked unconscious.  The bullet rested under this verse: 'Kia manawanui; ko ahau tenei; aua e whi' - 'Take courage! It is I.  Don't be afraid.'"

As demonstrated by the photos above, the exhibit also highlighted the war efforts of the native Maori people in the campaign.  They had a beautiful end to the exhibit as well.  There were rocks from the beach at Gallipoli below a 1934 quote from Kemal Ataturk, the commander of the Turkish 19th Division at Gallipoli (he was also founder of the Turkish republic): "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives...are now lying in the soil of a friendly country...and are in peace...they have become our sons as well."  The last larger-than-life statue was standing in red, paper poppies on which visitors had written prayers and left behind in remembrance.

Additional Gallipoli sources quoted:  The Gallipoli Campaign

Wellywood - Day 7

A full 8+ hours of sleep was very nice!  I had to check out by 10am because of my booking snafu, but it worked out fine because Te Papa (the National Museum) doesn't open until 10am.  I headed there with Don, Andy (not the tour guide), Michelle, and Irwan for a morning visit before our Wellington tour with the rest of the group.

It's a very large, well done museum, but with only a few hours we certainly didn't manage to see everything.  We spend a lot of our time in the exhibit on Galipoli, which meant we then had to rush through most of the other sections.  Lucky me, I have several more days in Wellington, and the museum is free, so I will absolutely be coming back to finish the Galipoli exhibit and see some others we skipped.

It was raining all day, so I'm glad I brought my rain coat on this trip.  We made a drive up to Mount Victoria where there is a nice lookout spot.  Unfortunately for us, because o the weather the view wasn't as lovely as it would be on other days.  Wellington is incredibly windy, which when coupled with the rain, doesn't make for fun outdoor activities.

We did get to see several things from the warm, dry bus though, so it was ok.  Our main stop of the day was the Weta Groups workshop.  Prior to the visit I had no idea what Weta was, but Wellington, sometimes nicknamed Wellywood, is known for movie making in New Zealand.  Once again, if I had been a Lord of the Rings fan, or into film making in general, I might have heard of them prior to this trip.

Those in the film industry know Weta quite well, the list of projects on which they have worked is incredibly impressive!  If you're interested, you can see the list here.  I had chosen not to do the tour of their workshop, but those of us who had not got to watch a short documentary on how they do what they do, and how the whole group originated.  It was fascinating, even for someone like me who isn't into most of the sci-fi or non-reality type of movies on which they often work.  The technical aspects of what they do and create, along with their costume and prop departments, certainly employ some very talented and creative individuals.  While chatting with one of the employees, while waiting for the documentary to start, I learned that Weta had done the sculptures in the Galipoli exhibit we had visited at Te Papa.  He said the exhibit is the largest one ever done by Te Papa and they are hoping to have it travel to some other commonwealth countries that took part in the campaign (such as India, Britain, and Australia).

The Crossing Challenge

Touted as New Zealand's best One-Day Hike, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is not for the faint of heart.  Although only 19.4km (12 miles), the terrain of this trek is rather difficult and quite steep in a lot of places.  In 1894, Tongariro National Park was established and it was the first national park for New Zealand, and only the fourth in the world.  It was also the first place in the world be be added to the World Heritage List in 1993 (after the criteria was revised to allow cultural landscapes to be included).  "The park has active and extinct volcanoes, a diverse range of ecosystems, and some remarkable landscapes."

We were originally to do the crossing on Tuesday, but Andy felt that the weather forecast looked better for a Wednesday hike (the weather at the top can change quite rapidly), so we changed days.  We caught the bus at 5am to make the trip up to the starting point of the hike (it was about an hour and a half drive).  I had heard it estimated that it takes between 7-8 hours to do the crossing and it had been raining our whole ride to the mountain.  Thankfully, the rain had let up by the time we arrived so although it was still quite dark at 7am, we weren't getting wet.  The bus driver advised us to get to the top of the mountain, enjoy a lunch break at the top, and then hurry back down the other side (it's a one-way hike) before the rain in the forecast arrived in the early afternoon.  There were 9 of us total from our tour and we hadn't really made any sort of plan to stay together as a group.  At this point in the tour we were aware of who naturally walks at a faster pace and we'd basically agreed to just split up naturally as things progressed.  Mary-Kay had told us about her son's visit a few months back and how he'd done the trek in under 5 hours (I think it was closer to 4 hours, but that's inconsequential I suppose).  Knowing absolutely nothing about this hike beforehand, except that you get to see Mt. Doom (that's from LOTR if I remember correctly), I had no idea what I was getting into with this decision to make the trek.  I digress.

 Teagan and Gary, the couple from Australia, did not stop at the first bathroom, but the rest of us did.  Knowing I would walk faster than most of them, and seeing that they were all waiting for everyone in our group, I just decided to carry on without them and assumed we'd meet at the top or something.  Knowing that it's possible to do the crossing in 5 hours I sort of challenged myself to do it in under 6 hours.  And then the endorphins kicked in, or something, and it became like a race.  I'd pick a person in front of me and they became my mini-goal.  Pass them.  Choose a new person, and then pass them.  There were tons of people on the trail in the beginning, so it really wasn't hard to find people to catch up to.  I eventually caught up to Teagan and Gary, but decided not to be the third wheel and kept on moving.  The first hour, according to the map was an easy walk, and then came the difficult ascent up to the South Crater (including a section known as Devi's Staircase).  Once you get to the South Crater  there's a notation on the map (and a large sign on the trail): "POINT OF NO RETURN: If you are having trouble or difficult for any reason, or the weather has closed in turn around."  I carried on.

"Going from the South Crater to the top of the Red Crater is the steepest part of the track.  Caution is required as this section of track is steep and has a big drop on either side."  Now, mind you, I didn't read any of the little map they gave us before I started, but I have common sense so I didn't get too close to the edges anyway.  The top of the Red Crater is the summit of the main track and it was sure cold on the way up there (all the wind didn't help either).  This is the highest point on the main track at 1,886 meters (6,187 feet).  Despite clouds often blocking large portions of the view, it was still quite stunning.  On a clear day I believe you can see coast-to-coast.  Although the driver had mentioned eating your lunch here (and the map mentioned "natural underground heating, as the crater is active and there are hot spots to sit on"), I arrived about 9:30am so I ate an apple and headed down the other side.

The "hike" down the Red Crater was rather intense (the map lists it as  "easy ascent" but I'm not sure I totally agree with that).  It's mostly just loose dirt and rocks on a very narrow ridge.  It's extremely difficult to not lose your footing.  You think you're taking a step but your foot keeps going and you lose your balance a bit, and yet some people were nearly running down it (rather risky, both for them, and the people they were rushing past).  By surviving that section of track you are rewarded with views of the aptly named "Emerald Lakes".

Gary took this lovey shot

Once down to the Emerald Lakes you are inside the Central Crater so you get a nice, flat, and easy walk with just a small climb up to the Blue Lake.  After the lakes there really wasn't anything  more of supreme interest.

The last 3-4km were definitely the worst (which sounds a bit odd considering it was 85% downhill, on a nice path), but as I said, there wasn't much to see and there wasn't much to look forward to, except being done.  It didn't help that because of the clouds and incoming weather I often couldn't see more than 40 feet in front of me (honestly, it could have been 100ft, I am terrible at judging distances).  By this point I had been walking mostly by myself with very few people around, it was quite nice to just hear the sounds of nature and the occasional stream or waterfall.  The very last leg of the trip is a huge zig-zag down the mountain and all that downhill walking bothers my right knee something terrible, so I was definitely looking forward to sitting down, but the trail seemed to never end.  Of course, it did end, but not without walking through the woods and the 'Lahar Hazard Zone'.  The large sign says "You are entering a 700m higher risk Lahar Hazard Zone.  Move quickly through, no stopping.  If you hear a noise from upstream, do not enter."  It can be raining higher up the mountain which often produces flash floods down below.

I made it to the car park by 12:30pm, achieving my goal with a time of 5.5 hours.  Of course this now meant I had to sit and wait until everyone else from my group arrived back.  It did give me plenty of time to stretch, and I was able to almost judge how soon the others might arrive by seeing people I had passed at various stages of the trail make it to the car park.  Everyone was back down by about 2:45pm and all but Teagan and Gary had endured some rain on the last leg.  We all caught the bus back to the Burger King parking lot where we met up with our non-hiking tour mates.  We had a long drive to Wellington the rest of the evening, so we passed the time with playlists that most of the group had created, picking songs from 5 different categories such as Guilty Pleasure, Reminds Me of Home, Classic, or Karaoke.  You had to tell a story or reason why you chose each song so it was fun and made the four hour drive pass much quicker.

Taupo and its Lake

They say that it was the world's largest volcanic eruption that left the North Island with Lake Taupo; apparently "the eruption was so dramatic that records indicate the sun became hazy in China."

The McDonald's has an airplane in which you can enjoy your meal

It was a nice relaxing morning in Taupo, walking around town visiting some shops, and grabbing some food before our cruise.  We spend the afternoon aboard a sailboat enjoying some of Lake Taupo (it's the size of Singapore).  Our main objective was to see the Maori rock carvings at Mine Bay.  Although I originally thought they were ancient I found out from our Captain that they were done quite recently. Five artists, led by traditional marae-taught carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell, spent four years, from 1976-1980, carving the tattooed face into the alcove.  It is now one of the largest attractions at Lake Taupo.

At some point later in the afternoon I realized that I had made a rather large error, well, errors, in regards to the end of the tour.  For some reason I had it in my head that it was a 10 day tour, so the extra night's accommodation that I had booked for the night the tour ends was not on the correct date.  Thankful for free wifi and time to correct the mistake I hastily attempted to correct my errors.  The YHA was now sold out for the nights I wanted, but I was able to book another hostel down the street for the three nights before my night at the YHA on the 25th.  In correcting the accommodation error I realized I had made another, larger error.  I will be house sitting in Christchurch after the tour ends in Wellington, but it would seem that when I bought my airline ticket (in December) to Christchurch I had no idea where the tour was ending.  Either that or I thought it those extra days took me back to Auckland?  My plane ticket was from Auckland to Christchurch, but the tour ends in Wellington.  After calling Jetstar they told me it was going to be cheapest to just buy a new plane ticket.  If I had more time I would have done some checking to see if it would have been cheaper to just buy a ticket from Wellington to Auckland so I could still utilize my first ticket, but since I'd already booked extra accommodation in Wellington I figured I should just buy a new ticket and move on with life.  One of the downsides to all the re-bookings I was making was that I was missing out on the group BBQ preparations!  On the plus side, I managed to get everything done before dinner so that I didn't have to miss the party.  The food was delicious, but several of us are doing the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow, which means we have to be up at 4am - so we weren't able to sit around too long chatting afterwards.

Rotorua - Day 4

Everyone else on the tour had booked an optional tour (either whitewater rafting or the visit to Hobbiton), so Andy gave me a map of town and I got to explore on my own.  Since it's Sunday afternoon back home I used the alone time to call folks.  Since Rotorua is known for its geothermal activity (it has the smell to signify the name), Andy had told me about some local "foot spas" I could utilize.  Certainly makes talking on the phone more pleasant when you're feet are soaking in a nice hot pool.  After the first phone call I found a coffee shop and ordered my beloved 'Flat White' - despite the $4 price tag I am taking advantage of their rampant existence here.  I wandered through town and found a book shop having a sale.  I managed to buy only one kids book, mis sobrinos will have to enjoy it at my house.  I had not been following my usual travel rules (to prevent me from getting lost as I wander aimlessly), but still managed to figure out how to get back to the hostel in time to meet up with everyone else before lunch.  Back on the bus we headed to Waiotapu to see some beautiful sulfur springs and even some boiling mud!

Boiling Mud Video

Our last stop before arriving in Taupo, where we would spend the night, was Huka Falls.  The water was so incredibly clear, it was nearly unbelievable!  200,000 liters of water per second - enough to fill five Olympic swimming pools in 1 minute!

Huka Falls Video

Disclaimer:  You might have to view the blog post on the web, not in your email, to view the video - I'm not 100% sure.

The Famous NZ Glowworms

Day 3 started with a visit to the famous glowworm caves in Waitomo.  They're technically not glowworms, they're a fungus gnat, but glowworms is a much more marketable turn-of-phrase.   Similar to a spider, they create these little webs that act like fishing lines.  They wait until they feel them vibrating from a catch and then pull them up and eat what they caught.  Our guide Ruben smacked the water really loudly with his inner tube and it made all the little strings vibrate so the "glowworms" all lit up a bit brighter (it's an old tour guide trick he said). They are luminescent until they go into their cocoon (about 9 months I think), then once they come out as a fly/gnat they only live for 2 more days.

The glow worms are the blue dots and the blue 'lines' are their
fishing webs - the giant bug you see  is something they caught.  

We did our tour with Tube It, and although I really wasn't sure what to expect I had a great time.  Josh, Sally, Irwan, Mary-Kay, and myself were the only ones on the tour - everyone else chose to stay dry and just do a walking tour inside the cave.  We put on our wet suits, boots, and mining hats and hopped in the van.  I anticipated being driven to the entrance of a cave, but no.  We stopped in a field and our guide led us through a gate and into the pasture.  We're all traipsing through this cow pasture, walking up over a hill and heading towards a small wooded area - we certainly looked like we were inappropriately dressed considering our surroundings.

As we were walking we found out that we were actual on top of the cave system.   There are three caves in the area made accessible for the tourists, but even the parts we visit are only a small portion of the entire cave system.  I believe 85 km of caves and passages have been surveyed so far and we only went through a 1 km section.

We climbed down into the cave and all had a seat and the guide told us to turn the lights off on our helmets.  We sat there in the pitch black talking about the caves and the glowworms for a bit and then he told us to switch our lights back on and off we went.  He told us a bit later that they do that to figure out if anyone is going to freak out later on inside the cave.  He said kids especially turn their lights right back on because they're scared of the dark.  If you can't sit in the dark for 5 minutes you'll never make it through the cave.  We started out walking and eventually got to the point where we needed our small tubes.  At one point we had to climb up this ladder and then he had us turn around, holding our tubes to our behinds, and just sit back - dropping a few feet into the water below.  Not my cup of tea, but thankfully it wasn't a along drop.  Towards the end there was a water slide too so that was a nice end to the tour.  After being in the dark cave for so long the greenery outside the cave when we emerged was quite spectacular with the sun shining through.

On our way to Rotorua we stopped to so Josh, Shirley, and our guide Andy could do the Zorb.  Some of you may have heard of this odd Kiwi invention, it's the "recreation or sport of rolling downhill inside an orb, generally made of transparent plastic."  It was fun to watch, but not enticing enough for me to pay money to experience for myself.

Shortly after settling into our accommodation we headed to Mitai Maori Village for their dinner and cultural show.  We had a quick tour of the  traditional village they had built, showed us the food they'd prepared (an authentic hangi meal that is cooked in the earth oven known as ‘the hangi pit’), and then headed to the cultural show.  On our way there we stopped in the woods and saw the warriors, in traditional dress, traveling down the Wai-O-Whiro Stream as was done many years ago in a 'waka' (ancient war canoe) hand carved by the Mitai family.  In the "auditorium" the family took us back in time to see the ancient Maori customs and traditions that were part of their lives.  The presentation included the retelling of legends, a display of weaponry and combat, an explanation of 'ta moko' (their tattooing - it demonstrates heritage and social standing), and even a poi dance and haka.  It was a fascinating show, but left me wanting to know more.  Andy told me that if I visit the Te Papa museum in Wellington I can learn more about their culture.

Coromandel to Waitomo

From the tour pamphlet: "It's no secret that many blockbuster hits have been filmed in New Zealand due to its incredible landscapes."  From what I have seen so far in my trip it is indeed stunning.  Just the scenery along the drive yesterday was amazing.  Today we visited Cathedral Cove, which might be recognizable to some from "The Chronicles of Narnia" movie.  There's also a spot in this area where a music video was filmed, but I've never seen it either.

As you can tell from the photos, it was rainy and overcast, so I was thankful for my raincoat.  It was a lovely "hike" down to the cove, and I'm still always surprised by how many little islands are always out in the water.  I suppose for so much volcanic activity in this area I shouldn't be surprised.

Our next stop for the day was the town of Hamilton, where Andy, our tour guide, grew up.  His family all still lives here and he showed us where he went to high school and played rugby.  Then he took us to his favorite spot in town, Hamilton Gardens.  About 50 years ago the location of these gardens was actually the town garbage dump!  They have made quite an improvement since then.  I appreciated how the garden was subdivided into smaller, themed gardens; I thought it was a very good idea and they did an excellent job with each theme.  The rest of our afternoon was spent traveling to the town of Waitomo where we would spend the night.  The area is famous for its glowworm caves, but that's a story for tomorrow....

The Hamilton Gardens

Touring the North Island - Day 1

I slept marginally well, but was awake at 5am due to jet lag anyway.  It ended up being an extremely stressful morning here in Auckland.  It could have mostly been prevented I suppose, but "hindsight is 20-20", as they say.  I attempted to use the Uber app again in the morning (it wouldn't work the night before), but had no luck.  I called two taxi companies, but both said it would take half an hour before a car could get to me.  I called Haka Tours and warned them that I would probably be late since I was having trouble getting to the meet up location.  She told me which bus to catch, but of course that was not simple either (I waited at the wrong stop and attempted to wave down 2 of the buses but they waved me off - I finally got to the right stop to be picked up).  Once I finally got on the bus, and was almost to the stop I needed, I got an email from the tour company.  Apparently I was heading to the wrong meet up location!  They gave me the new location and the number for a taxi company.  I arrived 40 minutes late to the tour orientation, but they didn't have to wait for me and I still got some breakfast so I guess it ended well.

The group is a nice mix of ages, couples, and solo travelers.  We spent most of the day driving, but we did stop at Mount Eden on our way out of Auckland for some lovely views of the city.  From there we headed towards the Coromandel.  We stopped at Thames (they pronounce it Tims), the largest town in the Coromandel, for a lunch break.  I had a mince meat pie, how I've missed them!  From there we continued the drive, it's extremely winding, following the coast and going up over the mountains.

  The town where we're staying the evening is called Whitianga (but it seems a WH is pronounced as an 'f' so that was odd).  Here we got to "carve" our own tiki pendant from bone.  In reality we were mostly sanding, they had already cut the shapes out for us.  There were 3 choices and I chose the Koru for my pendant.  It was a very interesting task and the gentleman was incredibly talented; some of his pieces were amazing. 

Arturo is a master carver!  He explained the process and
would fix any mistakes we made.

Touchdown in New Zealand

I made it (as most of you are already aware).  Despite the length of time it takes to make such a trip, it was uneventful, thankfully!  It had once again slipped my mind to make sure I knew how to get to my hotel.  I booked a bus from the airport but didn't know if it would drop me at my hotel or if I needed to figure out the closest point and walk (every city is different and I probably should have researched these details beforehand so that my jet-lagged brain didn't have to work so hard).  As it happened, God sent me a nice young Chinese man on the bus to help me out.  He gave me his bus map and showed me where I needed to get off.  He was the same age and also doing the Working Holiday Visa.  A couple beside us over heard our conversation and told me of a possible job opportunity opening up in Christchurch in May.  I think sometimes we have our lives so planned out that we never give God a chance to show us how He's looking out for us.  Despite not knowing if this tip will pan out it was encouraging.

Auckland, New Zealand

As I had imagined, Australia and New Zealand are similar in many ways.  A lot of the chains I knew in Australia are also here in NZ, such as Harvey Normans, Woolworths (although they call it Countdown), Jay Jays, Bunnings Warehouse, etc. so it makes it feel less foreign.  I've also come to realize that I can't tell the Aussie accent from the Kiwi one - at least not yet.  My first full day had me setting up my bank account and getting my debit card, purchasing a phone plan and getting a mobile number, applying for my IRD (tax number to be able to work), and the like.  Not much excitement, but I'll finish this out with some trivia for you --

1. What is New Zealand's highest mountain (either the Maori or English name is fine)?
2. Name the largest city in New Zealand.
3. What is the capital of New Zealand?
4. What sea lies between Australia and New Zealand (hint: it's a variation of the name of an Australian state)?
5. Name the country's international rugby team.
6. What does the Maori name of New Zealand - Aotearoa mean?
7. It is one of the three countries in the world that has two official national anthems of equal standing.  One is "God Defend New Zealand", what is the other?

1.  Mount Cook or Aoraki
2.  Auckland
3.  Wellington
4.  Tasman 
5.  All Blacks
6.  Long White Cloud
7.  "God Save the Queen"

Another Grand Adventure

It’s hard to know where one should start when writing a post about embarking on a new adventure in life.  For me, the process was painstakingly slow.  I can still be an extremely slow decision maker, despite my best efforts to become better at making decisions.  My return to Australia in March of 2017 was probably the beginning of my thoughts on New Zealand.  In my original, big-picture plans I would have returned to Australia for a visit and then headed straight to NZ for a year.  The opportunity for a promotion and a pay-raise at work changed that exact plan, leaving me to contemplate if I even wanted to move to NZ in 2018.  As I’m sure you’ve now surmised, I am moving to New Zealand, but it took me about 7 months to decide.  Turning 29 and realizing that if I did not go in 2018 that I would forever lose my chance at the Working Holiday Visa certainly played a factor in getting me motivated to bite the bullet and buy that one-way ticket (cue the LeAnn Rimes lyrics).  Unsurprisingly, a lot of turmoil at work in the weeks following my decision to leave did not help me feel as if I had made the right choice.  Lots of prayers from friends and family have helped with the anxiety of such a big move, but I still have my moments.

So what, you may be thinking, is my plan exactly?  Who buys a one-way ticket and heads into the unknown, just because they can?  In my head this all sounds so reasonable, but when I see the reactions on the faces of others as they hear me say it out loud I sometimes wonder…  New Zealand is made up of two main islands (the North Isalnd, Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, Te Waka-a-Māui), so I’m flying into Auckland (the largest city in NZ) and then taking a 10 day tour of the North Island.  For the month of April I’ve taken a home and pet-sitting assignment in Christchurch, which is on the South Island.  The “plan” is to be able to find some sort of employment while I have a roof over my head.  If I can’t find a job, I’ll then need to decide if I stick around Christchurch and keep searching, or move on to another city and try again.  I've got 6 whole weeks planned out; not much when you think of an entire year, but it's more than I had when I moved to Australia.  I’ve applied with some temp agencies in Christchurch and I still receive notices of potential house sitting assignments, so I have some opportunities.  I ultimately have no idea how it all will pan out.  Trusting God to take care of me when I don’t have a plan is certainly not easy for a type-A personality like myself – I prefer to have everything planned out, my ducks in a row so to speak – but He showed me time, and time again, while in Australia, that He is far better at planning than I am.

♫♪ Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey ♪♫