His/Hers

The longer I am married, the more I realize how different boys are from girls. Now don’t go blushing on me – I’m thinking of our differences in communication styles. I recognize that I am generalizing and stereotyping (and probably perpetuating a whole plethora of other “isms”) – but I believe that the differences between Adam and my blogging styles is case and point to support this position. I’m also going on record right here and now as saying one is NOT better than the other – I adore Adam’s writing. But while Adam blogs with maps and facts, my thespian-wanna-be inclinations lead my interpretations towards the dramatic and emotional sides of the same story. Allow me to demonstrate (or simply stop reading now because you already have the specifics from Adam’s previous post and this is really no new news):

Adam and I escaped the winds of Wellington on Tuesday morning in a very last minute decision to “get out of dodge.” We made our hostel reservation at 8:30 at night on Monday and were out the door to the ferry terminal by 7:00 am Tuesday morning. It was a gorgeous morning – a fact completely lost on me the moment the ferry started to move. Long ago I learned that the fastest way between Point A and Point B is with your eyes closed – and nautical travel is no exception. In my defense, I wasn’t assisted by the extremely comfy couches (we all could have our own thanks to low tourist season) and the gentle rocking motion of the boat. Adam did manage to pry my eyelids open just long enough for a walk around the boat and some glimpses of the breathtaking surroundings.

Finding our way to our hostel was remarkably easy thanks to a great transfer system in Picton. Our host was quite the character, as you’d have to be if you spent your days with wandering twenty-somethings from across the globe. As Adam mentioned – we pretty much threw a dart at a map of town hostels at first – but the availability of a puppy to walk put The Villa heads waggy tails over the rest.

Having dropped our day packs in our room and figured out how to work the electricity (controlled by an incredibly high-tech seashell hanging from the ceiling :)) we headed out to lunch. Sausage rolls are a delicacy around these parts - and Adam had quite the sausage roll experience. This thing was probably 3 inches in diameter and surrounded by puffed pastry. Mine wasn’t much healthier - but it’s hard to complain when eating a chicken and brie pot pie. Kiwis have a much greater appreciation for the combination of chicken, brie, and cranberry than we do in the States. You can bank on the fact that I will make a personal campaign effort to bring this affinity back to Seattle.

Once our bellies were full (and Adam had absconded with our diet cokes secretly purchased from the grocery stores for dollars less than the cafe) - we set out to the town. Full disclosure laws dictate that I admit that I had NO idea that the “walk” we were going for was indeed going to turn into a 4+ hour wilderness adventure. The map was quite deceptive - and it certainly didn’t visually demonstrate the elevation changes. Much of the trail was either 45 degrees up or 45 degrees down. If we were lucky then the trail was just soft. In places where we weren’t so lucky the path was invisible beneath piles and piles of muck. Seriously - Adam mentioned a bit of mud - but we were quite lucky to escape with all of our bones intact and our shoes on our feet. About 2/3 of the way down the track we crossed paths with a very kind Irishman who was returning from The Snout. He tossed his huge walking stick at me and told Adam he was going to need to get his own if we had plans on continuing to the end. If it hadn’t been for these “3rd feet” I’m quite sure we would have merely slid down the mountain (and quite possibly directly off a cliff and into the ocean). What a joy, though, once we reached the point and looked over the edge (carefully...the wind was crazy blustery!) Four or five seals were just having a ball barrel rolling through the waves, enjoying the current and the empty bay area. If it hadn’t been a sheer rock wall straight down to the water I would have tried to get a closer look. I could have sat and watched them for the rest of the evening, but the weather had taken a turn towards the worse while we were hiking and it seemed like a good idea to try and be back in town before dark. We hadn’t reached the Queen Charlotte View point on the way back when I noticed my day bag was vibrating. Thank goodness we’d decided to buy cell phone plans with the widest coverage area provider available because I had a short, unexpected phone interview right then and there at the top of the trail in between raindrops, Tui bird calls, and wind gusts. (Good news - the interview was successful - but more on that in a future post).

Home at the hostel (and after our Haggis escapade as Adam previously noted) – the first priority was to warm up and dry out.

We turned our small hotel room into a drying heaven in attempts to keep the mud contained. While we had been fairly sternly warned at the I-site visitors center earlier in the day that the likelihood that we would get out to do some sea kayaking the next day was unlikely due to poor weather conditions – a late night phone call turned our luck around with the great news that Wednesday was forecasted as being the nicest day in the week. The good news just kept coming (and I can’t believe Adam didn’t think to mention this) when at 8:30 on the nose our hostel hosts opened up the real-wood fire oven to bring out the homemade apple cobbler and ice cream. This treat is reserved for the heartiest NZ adventurers (aka – they only break out this delicious snack during the slow winter months). Delicious doesn’t do the cobbler justice as it warmed us from the inside out in an enormous portion too big for my tummy. I would have slept in it if I could have! Seriously – you can keep your fancy bed and breakfasts – I’ll take a quirky hostel with hot homemade cobbler ANY day :)

Adam did a fantastic job of mapping out our journey in the Sea Kayaks. I’ll just fill in a couple of details about our guide and some of the wildlife we encountered. Our guide, Wally, was an awesome older gent who has been chasing summers for the past 25 years.


With the exception of the last five years when he finally settled down in his native NZ with his Canadian wife and family, he had experienced 50 consecutive summers leading high adventure tours throughout the world. He was a great source of knowledge about the local flora and fauna. Just as we put in our kayaks – we were greeted by a beautifully clear bay in which you could see straight through to the bottom full of starfish and sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers have been appropriately identified – it looked like a big farm truck just came down and dumped their produce into the water! The birds were full of character and the fish were jumping. We came across some very lazy seals soaking in the sun after lunch as we battled our way against the wind and currents towards our put in point. Adam failed to mention just how much work it was to cross that channel. The waves were great fun to play in…though it’s just a tad nerve wracking as the waves start to break well over the top of the kayak and you start to envision the details of a “wet escape” from your sea vessel. I just have a hard time imagining myself staying calm enough to grab at precisely the right place while bobbing upside down in the frigid, rolling sea. Guess you don’t know till you’ve tried, though! I was so thrilled to have spent the day out in the beautiful sun on the water. I’d been concerned about staying warm (surprise, surprise) with our somewhat inappropriate adventure gear but the company was great and provided us with everything we really needed. Lunch was delicious and I feel like I actually learned a lot about the area and its local inhabitants.

We actually finished our sea adventure a little before 4 in the afternoon, which left Adam and I just over 3 hours to wander the tiny Picton village, eat dinner, and meander over to the ferry terminal for a late night voyage back across Cook Strait. While the view may not have been quite as gorgeous in the pitch dark – the view from behind my eyelids was pretty similar to our inital crossing:) We reached our warm and comfy apartment just before midnight in time to fall into bed and wake up for a full day of interviews, job hunting, and lots of his and hers laundry the next morning.