When the fog clears

2020, Feb 18    

Recent deluges in Australia may sound troubling but they have helped ease long droughts and quench some massive fires. As biblical as the headlines may have been, there is a silver lining. I believe it has been announced that all fires in NSW have been contained now. Yay!

After completing some urgent work tasks, which I was able to do at a bench under a haloed sun by the water next to the hotel (sweetness), I finally got around to getting out to the local golf course. I took a ~80min lake side walk to get there and also walked the hillier than predicted course. Was planning to walk back too but my feet were reluctant (27540 steps for the day!). Luckily a couple I played with drove me back to the hotel. Shot a mediocre score but no 3-putts and even snuck in a solid birdie. The course was pretty cool with The Remarkables and lake as backdrops, but not as spectacular as my built up expectations. There is a nicer course not far, but its twice as expensive and weather may not cooperate in the coming days.

Even tho I am not a fan of guided tour trips, I signed up for a “Funyak” day trip as I wouldn’t be able to reach some of the places they go to on my own. It consists of a scenic shuttle ride to Glenorchy followed by a jet boat ride up the Dart river, back down with inflatable kayaks, lunch stop, more kayaking, and finish with a 4WD bus ride back to Glenorchy and finally shuttled back to QT. Upcoming rain forecast forced me to take this trip a day earlier than I preferred, but thats why I love the flexibility of my work. And glad I did because it was a mighty fun time and absolutely gorgeous! Morning was very foggy (in a cool way) and I was afraid visibility would be impaired. But after riding the jet boat upriver for a bit (a very fun ride at that) we were rewarded with amazing views. I’ll spare you the play by play of the day and just show you some photos. Afterwards I spent a couple hours laying on a small grass patch listening to street musicians by the wharf… eating ice cream. Hey, I paddled my ass off!

Met up with another friendly CSer for the last couple of days in town and shared travel stories and experiences. It is cool to learn the stories of fellow travelers when you meet them. But it is also a tiny bit tiring to repeat your own stories multiple times for all those you meet too, specially when it happens frequently. Granted it is not like I tell all stories all the time and with some conversations do flow more easily than with others. It is still fun, but at times explaining the digital nomad thing to folks gets boring. So I’m developing an abridged version.

After spending way too many hours trying to find affordable lodging and transportation to visit other nearby towns and lakes, I got bogged and overwhelmed and just bought a ticket to Christchurch instead. Plenty of country left too see and I am not on vacation to efficiently hit every spot. I will figure other options down the line. I’ll see what Christchurch has got to offer, altho after QT I’m afraid anywhere else is going to feel somewhat less glamorous. Right now I think I would have rather stayed here for an extended time. I may need to slow down and/or just come back later.

Christchurch is of course a much bigger town than Queenstown and interestingly still going through plenty of reconstruction after the very destructive earthquake of 2011. Very different vibe here. I kinda like the less hyper touristy scene but also miss the bucolic beauty of Queenstown already. There are e-scooters everywhere. Fun! But gotta take my first impressions on foot.

While aimlessly walking around to scout my surroundings I ran into a cool modern looking building that turned out to be the the city’s main art gallery. Free entrance. Don’t mind if I do. As with most art galleries, most of it was meh, some of it was wow, and some was wtf is this doing here? But they did have one piece that seriously blew my mind. I had seen photos of other Ron Mueck’s sculptures before and they sure looked amazing. Seeing this one (called chicken / man) in person, however, was an experience. It depicts a 3:1 scale of an old man in his underwear engaged in a staring contest with a chicken on a kitchen table. Stay with me. At first I thought it was just a parodical/absurd piece as it didn’t seem to fit with anything else in the room. But as I moved close to it, the level of detail was increasingly astounding. Prominent spot in the gallery floor with a staff member present at all times. Priced display piece. Staring at it as close as I could get gave you the impression that the man was going to move any second. Photos with my phone camera can’t quite capture the details, but trust me when I say this piece is as close to perfect hyper-realism sculpting as it gets. Every crease and marks on the skin, fingers, toes, even nails and each individual hair are incredibly meticulously done. And I am including nose hair, lashes, unshaved beard, skin moles, everything. Chicken was also quite perfectly done. AMAZEBALLS. Unplanned visit to the gallery was well worth it just for this piece alone.

Checked into my hostel which, other than having the detestable creaky metal bunk beds, seems pretty decent otherwise. Wifi speed is quite fast which is very appreciated after having pathetically slow speeds at a high end hotel in QT (strongly resisting the need to rant about wifi in nicer hotels). Hopefully I’ll find a comfortable spot to work from here.

I predict a less picturesque and exciting time in Christchurch. Next post may be less colorful. But who knows…?

It appears possible I may soon be reducing my work hours a bit, at least temporarily. This would free me to frolic a bit more in my travels, but also will allow me to dedicate some time on a side project. It will stunt me financially for some time, but hoping it works out for the better on the long run. So gotta cut down on hookers and blow for a while. We shall see how this plays out. Besides, all my blog readers can Venmo me some sustainability funds… right? JK! 😀