Category — New Zealand

Oriental Bay – Wellington

Before going on with the stories of our round the world trip I’m going to quickly update where we are now and what we have been doing.

We’ve been back in Wellington (NZ) for two and a half months but we are so settled that it feels like we’ve been here for longer!

During the first week, still on holidays, we could enjoy a little bit of what had remained from Summer and went to the beach.  But just after that Winter rushed and passed over Fall.  That Fall, which generally is great in Wellington, dry, sunny and not so windy simply did not exist this year… the Winter came with everything, strong freezing winds and rain, a lot of rain.  I confess that this has been a bit depressing lately.

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Acordei domingo às 7:15 com o sol entrando pela janela, olhei pra fora e já tinham alguns veleiros na baía, um vento bem fraquinho.. depois de  uma semana de intensos frio e chuva, Wellington nos trouxe um maravilhoso domingo para se despedir.

Felipe já estava acordado há tempos, trabalhando no computador.. “são 7 da manhã, você acordou cedo hein?! está ansioso?” … “um pouquinho”, ele respondeu.

Depois de deixar tudo arrumado em casa para só pegar as malas e partir, fomos caminhando pela beira-mar com Sven, Lagi e Cam (que veio nos encontrar pra dar um último tchau) até uma cafeteria deliciosa que fica a uns 20 minutos de casa para nos encontrarmos com Carine, André, Lina, Dulce e Decarlos para o café da manhã e depois seguirmos para o aeroporto.
Enquanto estávamos lá uma surpresa: Lagi e Sven nos presentearam com lindos colares de Jade, com pingentes em forma de Koru, que na tradição Maori significa o ciclo da vida, reinício. E um cartão que deixamos pra ler no aeroporto. Na volta pra casa, seguindo as crenças Maori, fomos até o mar para a Lagi benzer os colares e ter a certeza de que vamos voltar para a Nova Zelândia. Thanks darling.

Voltamos pra casa também caminhando, conversando e admirando a paisagem. Nos despedimos da Carine, do André e da Lina, pegamos as malas. Dei uma fitinha do Senhor do Bonfim pro Cam, que está indo para a América do Sul no fim do mês pra passar 1 ano, com os 3 nozinhos e 3 pedidos. Carregamos o carro do Decarlos com as malas e pranchas e fomos de carona com o Sven e a Lagi até o aeroporto. Como é bom ter amigos como vocês! Obrigada mais uma vez!

A caminho pro aeroporto comentários de como o dia estava lindo e como é difícil descrever a sensação desse momento. O coração batendo mais depressa e a cabeça um pouco tonta. A casa, o caminho para o trabalho, os amigos, as lindas paisagens, o inverno, a rotina ficando pra trás. O aeroporto, os próximos destinos, as novidades, o desconhecido, a realização de um sonho chegando mais perto a cada minuto.

On Sunday I woke up at 7:15 am with the sun entering by the window, I looked outside and there were a few sail boats at the bay, a light breeze… after a week of intense cold and rain, Wellington brought us a beautiful Sunday to say goodbye.

Felipe was already awake some time ago, working on the computer .. “it’s 7 in the morning, you woke up early, aye? are you anxious?” … “a little bit”, he replied.

After getting everything tidy at home and ready to only pick the bags up and leave, we walked by the beach with Sven, Lagi and Cam (who came to meet us and say a last goodbye) to a delicious cafè which is about 20 minutes from home, there we met Carine, André, Lina, Dulce and Decarlos for breakfast and then from there to the airport.

While we were there, a surprise: Lagi and Sven gave us beautiful Jade (greenstone) necklaces, with Koru shaped pendants, which in Maori tradition means the cycle of life (being very brief). And a card that we kept to read at the airport. When we were going back home, following Maori beliefs, Lagi got the necklaces to the sea to have them blessed and be sure that we will return to New Zealand. Thanks darling.

We went home also walking, talking and admiring the landscape. Said goodbye to Carine, André and Lina, got the backpacks. I gave a little traditional (supersticious) Brazilian gift to Cam, who is going to South America at the end of the month to spend 1 year over there. Decarlos’ car was carried with our bags and boards and we got a ride with Sven and Lagi to the airport. How good is to have friends like you! Thank you again!

On the way to the airport comments on how beautiful the day was and how difficult it is to describe the feeling of this moment. The heart beating faster and I was getting a little bit dizzy. The house, the path to work everyday, the friends, the beautiful landscapes, the winter, the routine, staying behind us. The airport, the next destination, the news, the unknown, a dream becoming reality, in front of us, getting closer at each meter.

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Os dias estão passando e estamos cada vez mais perto da nossa viagem. Semana passada fui fazer snowboard com uns amigos e encontramos um californiano (nascido na romênia mas com toda a pinta de californiano), que morava há uns 5 anos aqui e falou como gostava de tudo e porque ele preferia morar aqui que nos estados unidos, o que ele fazia etc, etc, isso me fez parar pra pensar um pouco, pela minha perspectiva, o que eu iria sentir falta quando fosse embora e resolvi fazer uma lista das dez coisas que mais vou sentir falta da Nova Zelândia quando estivermos fora:

1 Esportes

Desde que me mudei pra cá tenho levado uma vida muito mais saudável, vivendo mais o dia que a noite e fazendo muita atividade física. Para os que não sabem adoro surf, e essa foi uma das razões pra eu ter escolhido a NZ pra uma experiência fora do Brasil, as ondas são perfeitas, com uma variedade imensa, sempre bem perto, com muitos picos quase desertos. Além disso agora vou pro trabalho de skate sempre que o clima ajuda, vamos mergulhar a 10 minutos de casa, no inverno vamos pro Ruapehu que dá umas 3h e meia  daqui. Isso sem contar caiaque, treking e outros.

2 As Paisagens

Lembra do Senhor dos Anéis, pois bem feito tudo aqui, e é um lugar com uma beleza natural muito exuberante que está em todos os lados.

Nós aqui somos classe média, e da janela do nosso quarto temos vista pro mar, uma ilha e montanhas que no inverno ficam cobertas de neve, e quase todos os nossos amigos têm uma vista espetacular. De ponta a ponta do país numa extensão de mais ou menos 2000 km você pode ter dunas, pântanos, baías, praias, lagos, riachos, cachoeiras, ilhas, vulcões, montanhas, florestas, fiords e geleiras.

The days are passing and we are closer to our journey. Last week I went snowboarding with some friends and found a Californian (born in Romania but with the whole Californian mood), who’s been living for 5 years here and said how much he likes living here and why preferred here than the United States, he spoke for a while and made me think a little, from my perspective, what I would miss here, then decided to make a list of ten things I will miss most of New Zealand when we are out:

1 Sports

2 The Landscapes

Remember the Lord of the Rings, all those gorgeous locations were here, and it is a place with a very exuberant natural beauty, that is everywhere.

Here we are middle class, and we have a gorgeous view from our bedroom’s windom and balcony, an island, the Wellington harbour and in winter the mountains get all covered with snow on the background, and almost all of our friends (those who want it) have spectacular views as well. From the top to the bottom of the country, a distance of about 2000 km, you can have dunes, swamps, bays, beaches, lakes, streams, waterfalls, islands, volcanoes, mountains, forests, glaciers, hot springs, geysers and fiords.

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Our initial idea was to travel for 1 year, something like “let’s do it now, before we cannot do anymore”, it would be 1 year full of every kind of experiences and then back to the typical life ‘house-car-dog’… But one thing I’m learning is how to adapt and change plans, and I am loving it! In early May we got our New Zealand residency, but so it turns permanent, we have to stay here at least 6 months of each of the first 2 years. Well, traveling for 6 months is not bad too.. And we started seeing the good side of it.. actually we don’t have to take 1 year of our lives to do this and then stop, we can travel for 6 months now.. other 6 months later.. And looking closer, we’ve been on the road for more than 1 year, since we left Brazil, and we still have no idea when we are going back home.

We both work under permanent contract here and we were decided to quit. As soon as we decided the date we wanted to leave, we spoke to our bosses, well in advance. We’ve been bosses before and we know how important it is! To our surprise, their answers were very similar..

“Are you coming back to New Zealand? Would you like to continue working with us? Then you don’t have to quit.. just let me know the dates you’re leaving and returning.” What??! But it’s 6 months! In fact I would never imagine this happening in Brazil, but here it seems to be even common! Something that Phil (Felipe’s boss) called “sabbatical leave”.

Yes, we will be tied here, but we would be coming back here anyway, and it will be nice to return with a guaranteed income and to jobs that we both like!