Working Travel: Realizing a Dream in a Year

Chapter 13 A One-Month Tour Around the Island

Saying goodbye to the cherry orchard, my lover Sophie and I started a month-long journey around the island.It is a memory that will never be forgotten.The beauty of New Zealand is astounding.

The first stop of the journey around the island: Dunedin (Dunedin)

Second stop: Moeraki Boulder Beach

Third stop: Oamaru (Oamaru)

Stumbled into a tiny radio studio in Oamaru.For Sophie, who used to work in music radio, this was a surprise encounter.The members of this station are all elderly volunteers.

Old Man Wayne said that he believed in God, and this was his church.

I don't know if I can convert to my own religion in some way when I am old, so I am particularly envious of his flying spirit when he talks.

In the middle of the broadcast, the red light for "Broadcasting" came on and went off.I haven't seen any lighthouses in New Zealand yet, although they are all over the coastline, but in this small room in Oamaru, I can feel the breath of lighthouses, the kind of brightness in the dark ocean and salty air. the warmth.

Old piers, abandoned warehouses, rusty rails, and golden lights illuminating the long-standing stones, these lifeless buildings seem to breathe again.On the far dark sea, there is a long dike, and the lights on the long dike are lit up one by one, which is an image that is enough to warm all night sailors.A person's life is like this seawall. No matter how long the unsatisfactory night is, there will be a light of hope strung together for a long time.

"Do you know that there are four major night scenes in the world?" I asked Sophie in the driver's seat.

"I don't know, what are they?"

"Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, Hakodate in Japan, Las Vegas in the United States and Naples in Italy. I don't think Oamaru will be inferior."

Fourth stop: the coastal city of Invercargill (Invercargill)

It was the New Year's Eve when we arrived, and we cooked two dishes, two meat and two vegetables, which was the first New Year's Eve dinner in a foreign country.Although not rich, it is very warm.

Fifth stop: Stewart Island (Stewart Island)

The sea on Stewart Island looked more like a lake, and the tide lapped the sand with an unusually gentle rhythm.Sophie's knees hurt a little, so we stayed at the Wilhelmshaven camp, looking at the sea very leisurely, and feeling the wheat ears grow inch by inch over time, into little happiness.

Sixth stop: Te Anau (Te Anau)

Seventh stop: Queenstown (Queenstown)

Eighth stop: Alexandra (Alexandra)

Ninth stop: Wanaka (Wanaka)

Our car broke down and we met a family on vacation by the lake. We asked the host to help fix the car. He not only helped us fix the car, but also invited us to play on his jet boat.

A month passed quickly, and this flight-like light trip came to an end, and we had the most carefree romantic memories in our adult life.

We parked overnight by the highway, on the trails in the fields, and in the shade of the trees by the lake.We drink water from the toilet sinks in the cities we visit, and make coffee by the sea. There are so many meteors in the sky that we feel that it would be too greedy to make a wish.We wandered happily.

In wandering, the adventure and surprise are impressive-this is what every wanderer looks forward to, but it is the ordinary life that really travels through time.

I remember on the evening from Te Anau to Queenstown, there was very little traffic on the road. We stopped in a small town called Athol. There was a small green grass on the side of the road. For a bench, I boiled two pots of boiling water and made noodles and pumpkin and egg porridge.While waiting for the water to boil, we took a few photos.

Although it was already 8 o'clock in the evening, the sunset that day was astonishingly large, as if it was going to engulf us.The shadows of pots, stoves, and tableware were stretched out on the blurred tabletop, and we all dared to turn our backs to the setting sun.

I have never seen such a dazzling sunset.

(End of this chapter)