Coming to the End of Things...

So I came to a realization recently the past week and a half, when I visited Mt. Doom, was amidst the volcano farts and thermal awesomeness of Rotorua, enjoyed the "eau de South Island" of Coromandel, and in the raininess that is currently the Bay of Islands (I'm sure there are some islands out there somewhere, I just can't see them...) - I'm almost done with this trip. I have 6 more days in NZ, the country that I've come to know as something like home for the past three months. After that, two weeks in Australia, which in a previous era of my life would have seemed like a huge amount, but now I'm reckoning will be barely enough to scratch the surface of the tip of the iceberg of Aussie culture. (Yes, I've gotten supremely spoiled having such a long period of time off.)

I've enjoyed my life in New Zealand, and there is a long, long list of things that I didn't manage to do while here that gives me a huge incentive to come back (in warmer weather!). There's a part of me that could even see myself returning at some point to Wellington, Dunedin, or Nelson in some sort of full-time employed position. But not at this point in my life.

When I first moved to NYC in late 2004 and very, very unsure about what I was getting myself into, I was given a sage piece of advice by a guy whose name I can't remember now, but he was one of Daisy's former roommates in Williamsburg, anyway - "The key to loving New York is leaving New York." I've been away from the city long enough to have a better grasp on why I would choose to live in such an expensive, dirty, crowded, prone-to-shitty-weather place to live.

1. A great group of friends and potential friends that are always around at any point that I choose to seek them out. By potential friends, I mean that person sitting on the subway across from you that's reading Sandman right after you got done reading it. Something I never realized before I moved to the city is that there is a HUGE amount of people out there with the same interests as me, and that often that Venn Diagram of interests intersects in many, many places. Seeing this, I became much, much more confident in myself and allowed my interests to flower in ways I never would have living in a rural area.
2. Living in NYC is the static equivalent of travelling. Travelling allows you to discover many new things about the world and about yourself, and meet lots of new people. NYC allows you to do lots of that as well to an impressively high extent. It's important to get out once in awhile, but you can almost always find something in NYC that you've never seen before, or meet someone who completely changes your perspective on life, if you're looking for it. So while travelling is maybe the best thing in life for figuring out things, NYC is the next best thing (that I've discovered) if you need to stay put and make money.

So, that's why I'm putting an end to my time in NZ for now. That, and winter has arrived, even in the "Winterless North" where I'm typing this blog post right now (it's warmer than the rest of NZ, but rainy as, as they would say). I need some warmer weather.

The plan from here, to finish up, is to head up to Cape Reinga, one of the northermost points in NZ, then to head to Auckland day after tomorrow to see some things, sell my car, then fly out to Melbourne. From there we'll head to Sydney via either the outback or the coast, depending on how much Tadhog wants to drive. On the 29th of June, I'll fly to LA, see two of my favorite redheads in the world for a few days, then be back in NYC in time for the 4th of July. I sure hope someone's having a party then...

Kia ora, mates...