In Which Destiny Bids Kat Farewell and Proceeds to be Awesome

So after waving Katherine goodbye as she sallied forth to join her family for the holidays, I set to work making my Christmas as memorable (read: awesome) as possible. It was a complicated game plan, requiring many long, sleepless nights at the drawing board. Or you could also say that it just sort of happened. 

Phase One: Bluff Hill

At the end of a long day of work at Napier Prison, the staff, which consists of several nationalities of backpackers, usually likes to unwind in various ways. (Have we mentioned that we are living in a prison now? Stay tuned for a future blog post with the details.) One of our more recent ventures was to the top of Bluff Hill in the dead of night, hauling backpacks full of snacks. Now Bluff Hill has the best view of Napier, but being a hill (and quite a large one at that) it takes a jolly bit of effort to hike it. The feint of heart use the sidewalks that zigzag through a quiet neighborhood, but those of us with a taste for adventure like to cut straight through the woods. As an Alabama girl, I’ve done my share of midnight wilderness tramps, and I found myself very quickly at the forefront. I tried to explain to them, as patiently as possible, that as there are no snakes, wildcats or bears lurking about the New Zealand woods, then there is really nothing to worry about. And after you’ve hiked in the Alabama backwoods, which are replete with all of the above, anything less just seems like a Sunday stroll. Someone pointed out the possibility of a murderous hobo, to which I replied that in the case of an ax-wielding maniac, I was probably not going to be able to protect anyone, so perhaps one of our strapping young British gentlemen might want to take the lead. Our resident strapping young gentlemen politely and vehemently declined. 

We spent several hours enjoying the night lights, counting cruise ships on the horizon, and swapping stories. If you’ve never spent time in a motley group of internationals, you should find the opportunity as soon as possible. It is quite a singular experience. We all wandered back down the hill in the wee hours of the morning, but a few of us weren’t ready for Bedfordshire quite yet. A stray suggestion from Alex the Welshman set Phase Two into motion. 

Phase Two: Climbing the Waterfall

Across from Napier Prison is Centennial Gardens, which boasts a 120-ft manmade waterfall. Now, I could go into tour guide mode and tell you all about how the gardens came to be, but I will save that for the blog post about the prison. For now, all you need to know is that there is a massively tall and extremely obvious waterfall visible from the front steps of the prison. 

Annabel, from Oregon, had somehow never noticed this waterfall before. In fact, as we described it to her inside the prison walls, she stoutly refused to believe us. Hence Alex’s suggestion that we take yet another (way, way past) midnight hike. So four of us set out—Alex, Annabel, Danielle the Canadian, and myself. We stood on the bridge and admired the waterfall, which is splendidly lit up at night, for about two and a half minutes. Then Alex mentioned that it was possible to climb halfway up the side of the waterfall, and obviously after he mentioned it we had to accomplish it. Alex went first. I was close behind. Danielle made it halfway, and then, quite suddenly, all the lights went out. Danielle fell five feet onto her backside, and Alex and I had to scramble down the rock face with only a cell phone’s light to guide us. 

After that we decided it was indeed time for bed, which I really ought to have decided much sooner, because it turns out I had a bus ticket for 7:45 that morning. Which leads us to--

Phase Three: Jumping Out of a Plane

This year, with the help of my lovely and generous family, I bought myself an unforgettable Christmas present. I took a bus to Taupo, about 2 hours away from Napier. I hopped in a white limousine that drove me to an airstrip. I strapped myself to a skydive instructor that looked an awful lot like Viggo Mortensen. Then we jumped out of a plane. Fifteen thousand feet, sixty seconds of freefall, several minutes of parachute time.

They tell you that you’re so high it doesn’t feel like you’re falling, and that’s absolutely true. The sensation of falling lasts about two seconds, and then you feel like you’re flying. The air is rushing past and though gravity is hard at work, you feel utterly weightless. It’s absolutely one of the best sensations in the world. Below was the gorgeous Lake Taupo and New Zealand’s ever-stunning countryside, and at the start of the jump, I could see both the east and west coast of the North Island. The jerk of the parachute is rather painful, but the sudden sensation of floating is almost as good as the flying. It’s all so fast and loud, but somehow peaceful at the same time, because for that brief amount of time you are literally high above your troubles. No debts or diets or disagreements. All you have to do is fly. 

Phase Four: The Celebration

Christmas with the Kiwis was a delight. I spent it with a family that I know really well. We had a fantastic brunch and then played Secret Santa. It’s odd how a Christmas celebration on the opposite side of the globe can be so very different and yet somehow exactly the same. There were family and friends and laughter and an enormous amount of food. There were Santa hats and gag gifts and Christmas carols playing in the background. But there were also shorts and jandals (flip-flops) and sunglasses and sunscreen. After brunch we all went to the river. The adults basked in the sunlight on the shore while the little kids splashed in the water. Try singing “Jingle Bells” while wearing your togs (swimsuit). It doesn’t work. 

In Retrospect:

So I have officially termed Christmas 2011 a memorable (and awesome) success, but to tell the truth, the old adage is accurate. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Something about Christmas, no matter how full of thrills and good friends it may be, just isn’t right without family. Those traditions that seemed silly or boring suddenly feel indispensable, and even the smallest joys, like the warmth of the fireplace on Christmas morning, are suddenly the greatest loss imaginable. 

I know that Christmas is about remembering Christ’s birth, but it’s also about remembering everything with which we’ve been blessed—the chief of which is family. I’m so glad I had the experience of a Kiwi Christmas, because I’ll never take “home for the holidays” for granted again. 

So I’ll see you in the New Year. I’ll bet I get there first. 

Love from sunny and warm Napier, 

Destiny

In Which Kat and Destiny Do All The Fun Things!

Fun Thing #1: So, in Dunedin, there’s this graveyard, and jutting out from the graveyard, which is on a little peninsula, is this little bit of land that would be an island were it not for a little stretch of dirt a few hundred yards long and a meter or so wide. Along this land-bridge is what certain fun-loving adventurers might mistake for a footpath. It’s not actually a footpath; it’s a walk-crawl-scoot-almost-get-knocked-over-by-the-wind-oh-no-I-think-I’m-gonna-die- and-thrown-into-the-bitterly-cold-water-below-is-there-room-in-the-cemetery path. But on the island…well, there’s two trees and a bush that can protect you, at least partially, from the crazy cold wind. But the walk-crawl-scoot out to the island is fun. Well, it was fun for some of us. Some of us (Clare (Constant-Is-The-Lord’s-Love Huxtable)) sat down halfway along the land-bridge, crossed her arms, and refused to go any further. So, maybe not so much fun for her, but still a great deal of fun for our two daring adventurers.

Fun Thing #2: Also in Dunedin, there’s this SECRET TUNNEL that leads down to this cool as beach with big rocks you can climb. Fun.

Fun Thing #3: Arachnocampa Luminosa. No, it’s not a spell you can learn at Hogwarts—it’s a glow worm! And not just a glow worm—hundreds of them, all hanging out in the trees by this stream, like a dark sky full of green stars close enough to reach out and touch.

Fun Thing #4: There is such a thing as an aardwolf. Look it up.

Fun Thing #5: We spent three nights in a crib (more or less a cabin) on Lake Wanaka in Central Otago. We explored Arrowtown and Queenstown and paid exorbitant prices for fish and chips (not a fun thing) and went swimming in a snow-fed lake (which was fun once you lost feeling in your limbs).

Fun Thing #6: “Have you ever found your way through darkness to the crown of the hill, stood in the lap of the statue of Time and shouted Shakespeare to the city of lights below?” Why yes, we have. It was fun. And probably disturbing to the couple enjoying the view.

Fun Thing #7: We visited the Weta Workshop, where they create props for various high-budget films, most notably Lord of the Rings. We got to see their mini museum of replicas and pieces. We also got to hold cool as steam punk handguns. Still not sure why they were there.

This is why Kat and Destiny will never be responsible grown-ups. There are too many fun things.