I Actually Made It to New Zealand!

Hello and greetings from Dunedin, NZ – a town I actually made it to after something like 30 hours of travel and, all in all, much less confusion than I was prepared for given the number of connections and transfers. I had one full day here yesterday for shopping and preparations, and I’m catching a bus this afternoon for the town of Bluff, where the trail begins.

So how have I been spending my time here in Dunedin? Well, first I had to re-buy a bunch of gear since the one bag I checked for all my flights got lost. I had a feeling this could happen, so I packed only the stuff that couldn’t come on the plane with me in that bag – pointy things, like my tent stakes, trekking poles, and pocketknife – plus some heavy stuff like all the tasty dehydrated meals I got on sale and decided to bring with me. From what I could see when I got to the baggage claim area at the airport, I’m not the only person who’s lost a bag. The place was full of carts with hundreds and hundreds of suitcases on them, just sitting there in luggage purgatory. Or maybe luggage vacation? Super glad I had my tent, sleeping quilt, cook kit, and other important stuff with me in my carry-on! Luckily, Dunedin has a bunch of outdoor gear stores so I was able to get replacements for just about all the things I needed. And with any luck my bag will wend its way back to Pennsylvania, where it can relax in peace for the next 6 months.

Next was the supermarket, where I bought all the groceries for the three food parcel boxes I’m mailing to locations further up the trail. Packed those up and walked them over to the post office this morning! So satisfying to organize things in boxes… why is that? Listen, if you need any boxes organized just let me know, k?

Just look at how I put all that stuff in these boxes! Even looking at this picture gives me a glowy feeling of satisfaction.

But by far the best part of the day yesterday was a visit to the Dunedin Botanic Garden – what an incredible place! It’s huge, it’s beautiful, they have amazing gardens and plant collections, and admission is free! I wandered around in a stupor of horticultural appreciation for a few hours and then went to their (absurdly cute) cafe for a coffee and a sandwich. I saw too much cool stuff to even describe in words, so I’m just going to throw a few photos in here for you. When you look at these pics, you have to also imagine me crouching on the ground next to all the plant labels and muttering to myself. Oh, and talking to birds to ask them what they are. Tip: this kind of behavior guarantees a day to oneself, as people are going to avoid you.

This is me freaking out about some Acanthus. But look how tall and happy it looks!!!

A spectacular view of the Dunedin Botanic Garden.

Dunedin is a wonderful town, and I could definitely spend more time here. It’s been the perfect landing pad for my pre-trail preparations, and I hope I get a chance to come back sometime! I’m writing this blog post from the (free!) computer lab at the city library (thank you, library!) and my time’s about done so I’m going to wrap things up. Wish me luck on my first day on trail tomorrow!