Welcome Home

A funny thing happened in Laos. (Right now you're probably thinking, "What does Laos have to do with anything? She's not there anymore.) Well, I'll tell you. One morning I woke up in my hotel and had to repack my backpack to move on to a new city. And I didn't want to. I didn't want to get out of bed. I didn't want to leave my hotel. I wanted to put my toothbrush next to the sink and know it would stay there. I wanted to hang my clothes on hangers and make friends with people I would see day after day. I wanted to be able to wash my clothes somewhere besides the sink. I wanted to decorate my room. And the little green backpack that has been my best friend for so many years: I wanted to shove it under the bed and not have to use it for a while.

I dismissed the thoughts as just being tired and a little bit sick before a long boat journey. So I moved to Australia and decided to stay in one place for a while. I found a room to rent in a house with 4 other girls. Soon similar thoughts started dominating my thinking. I wanted to paint the walls different colors. I wanted to start a food storage program but knew it was pointless because I wouldn't be able to use it. I wanted to plant a garden. I was tired of people drinking my milk. Instead of dreaming about the next trip I started dreaming about interior decorating. I noticed I kept thinking the words "well, I'll do that someday when I get home." The thing was, all this time I never knew where home was. But I always pictured myself back in Utah when I said 'home' so I got thinking one day that maybe all this time I've been looking for a new place to live but all it's really done is make me appreciate where I came from. If I had never left, I would never have realized this. Of course, I couldn't just go back without seeing what I came for, and in a last ditch effort reapplied for the working visa in New Zealand. When I arrived at customs there was no record of any working visa. I took that as a sign and after my two week visit I came back to Utah.

Even before I left Australia I had been looking at houses for sale in Salt Lake. One caught my eye but wasn't in my price range. A week after I got home the price dropped subsantially. It seemed fate was working after all. So after a long process and a few miracles and a lot of help from those around me, I've finally found a place to call home.
I can now put my toothbrush down and leave it there.
I can paint the walls. (Although I kind of like the way they are for now.) But the option is there if I feel like it.

I can start my garden and food storage.

The backpack is in a box where it will stay until the need to travel brings it out again. And then it will be much more appreciated when it does come out. And even though there are times when I get worried about the commitment I've made, I think this will help force me to put down roots somewhere and live life instead of saying, "Why bother? I'll just be leaving soon." To help me get started my aunt Nancy threw a housewarming party. Sorry some of the pictures are a bit blurry.

It's so much fun being around friends and family again!

Transitioning to Reality

I know it's been a while since the last post, and I've been home from New Zealand for nearly two months now, but I thought I'd at least post the last few things I saw there. I went up north to a town called Whitianga, which is a jumping off town for Cathedral Cove. I wanted to see Cathedral Cove even before I knew where it was in the world. Some fellow hostel members and I got dropped off to start hiking along the cliffs and down to the beach on a beautiful day. I would like to imagine that the name of that boat is "The Dawn Treader."

Cathedral Cove is where the Pevensie children return to Narnia in the second movie, Prince Caspian. It's an awesome rock tunnel onto a sparkling beach that was completely deserted that morning. That's the beauty of going to New Zealand in the winter. (The water was pretty cold, though.) The view from the other side is also nice. I'm glad I got to see so many movie sights while in New Zealand. I knew that was one reason for wanting to visit, but I didn't realize how much I would enjoy seeing all the different sights. After the cove we decided to go to a place called "Hot Water Beach." I'd seen lots of signs pointing the way and brochures in the tourist offices but I didn't really know what the big deal was. The taxi driver told us it's a place where at low tide the geothermal activity under the beach heats the water and if you get a shovel and dig a hole you can make your own hot tub on the beach. Then he let us borrow his shovel so we could make our own. It was fun but almost too hot in some places. Here you can see the steam coming out of the sand.The next day I took a bus to Auckland and had a day to relax, buy some last pieces of my favorite New Zealand candy, and get a lot of sleep before the long long flight home. I did not expect to come home so soon but it felt like the right decision.

It was fun to be with family again, and to see more of southern Utah. While I was in Torrey my parents and I drove the Hell's Backbone Ridge Road and this cliff was anything but relaxing. I also went over to Escalante to visit my friend Matt and we drove down the Hole in the Rock road to do Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Canyons. Unfortunately my claustrophobia prevented me from finishing Spooky but they were still awesome to see. The last time I hiked these canyons I was only a child and it was easier to squeeze through.Amidst the job hunting process I took a break to go with my brothers to San Francisco to watch them do the "Swim from Alcatraz." Of course we visited places like Chinatown, Haight and Ashbury and Ghiradelli Square.Seeing them swim it made me want to swim more, too.Of course none of the prisoners who tried to swim from Alcatraz ever made it because they were probably still wearing chains and being shot at. Clay and Jed made it just fine, though.

And now I haven't mentioned anything about the latest news, but I'll save that for the next post. Maybe I'll name that post "Transitioning to Realty."

There and Back Again

It's a long way back to the Shire - and it's a long way to travel the length of New Zealand. I made my way up the coast from Queenstown but first I took a detour to the famous Milford Sound. The weather was nice on the way there and the mountains were beautiful.

But on the way it started raining and was even snowing through the high mountain passes so by the time I got on the cruise it was hard to see anything. It reminded me a lot of Alaska but without all the wildlife.

The waterfalls were really beautiful and were coming down hard from all the rain. The trip up the coast was beautiful and the bus driver planned the break-time stops at scenic viewpoints which was nice.I stopped at Fox Glacier which flows out just below Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in New Zealand. If you follow this blog at all you know I like glaciers. Then I hired (or rented if you're American) a bicycle and rode down away from the mountains to get a better view. The peak on the far right is Mt. Cook while the one in the center is Mt. Tasman. I don't think these sheep realize what a good view they have.

I rode 6 kilometers to Lake Matheson which is famous for its reflective views. Photographers come here to get their postcard shots. A cloud rolled in just as I got there but I wasn't complaining since it had been covered with low-lying clouds the day before and then was covered the day I left.

I have to admit I liked wandering through the ferny forests as much as I liked the beautiful views. I felt a bit like an elf.

And then it was further up the coast with a stop at the pancake rocks. You can't really see in the picture but all the rocks look like stacks of pancakes. The special at the local cafe across the road was pancakes. I think it's the special everyday.

After a night in Nelson I took the ferry up to the North Island and stopped in Wellington. Wellington has a couple of nicknames, including Windy Welly (it was rainy and windy the whole time I was there) and Wellywood from all the movies filmed from here. Since I was on a Lord of the Rings theme I had to wander past the Embassy Theater where The Two Towers and The Return of the King premiered.

I also took the bus out to Miramar where the people at the Weta workshop do their magic. It was more of an art gallery and shop but it was cool to see the short film of the history of the company and some of the other things they have worked on.

"Give it to us rrraw and wwrrriggling."

It was still raining so it was the perfect time to go to Te Papa, the national museum.

The next day I was tired of the rain and wind so I continued my journey up the North Island to Rotorua. There is a lot of geothermal activity here so it smells like eggs and steam comes out of various spots in the ground and from the gutter drains. There are fences around spots in the park where boiling water comes out of the ground.

I thought these boiling mud pools were fun to watch. It reminded me of when I was learning to cook.Rotorua is also a special place for the Maori people so I went to see a cultural show while I was there.Then I eventually made it to the Shire. The Alexander family sheep farmers probably had no idea that tourists would flock to their little farm in years to come. New Line Cinema wouldn't let them keep the hobbit holes the way they looked in the movie due to copyright laws but you still feel like a hobbit when you are there. Here is Bag End - where Bilbo and Frodo live. It's also the only hole that you can actually go inside (about 6 feet of darkness). All the inside shots of the house were filmed in a studio in Wellington. When they were filming all the flowers and vegetable patches were real and had been planted a year before to look natural. After they were done they were under contract to return the farm back to its natural state so everything they had planted was uprooted and all the buildings were torn down. But now it is exciting to see they have started planting again. Any guesses why? Yep, there are rumors that they are working on The Hobbit but that it will be directed by Guillermo del Toro instead of Peter Jackson. “Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."