<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day, I spent the morning in Picton, having stayed in the Picton Yacht Club Hotel for a single night. Picton itself consists of what amounts to three streets for the town center, with a number of bars, restaurants and tourist shops like jewelry stores. A cruise ship had come in unexpectedly and its passengers were arriving via water taxi. They had rerouted from elsewhere on the South Island because the weather was undesirable. In Picton, however, the weather was picturesque. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After eating a large breakfast (that, admittedly, I\nregretted a bit since I wasn\u2019t even particularly hungry) I decided to go for a\nwalk. Having checked my bags at the\nhotel, I set out to the large reserve nearby that was dotted with bike and\nwalking paths. The temperature was nice\nin the early morning, and I was able to make an excellent pace. After about 40 minutes of walking, I began\nthe ascent up a particular trail that, despite the switch backs, got me\nsweating pretty good. By the time I\nreached the top I was regretting not having brought my water, or applied\nsunscreen. However, despite this, the\nview at the top was quite worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took some sweeping panorama shots of the sound, including\nthe cruise ship, and was joined atop the hill by a local kiwi named Pat. I struck up a conversation, we chatted for a\nbit, and after a time, feeling the heat of the sun (and still sweating), Pat\noffered to drive me back to town. I was\ngrateful since I wanted water, but I had hoped to hike out further since I had\na few hours to pass before setting off for the InterCity bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bus ride itself was nearly six hours to Christchurch. During that time, I spent some time to\nreflect on my objective – job search, because the more time I spent in\nNew Zealand, the greater sense I had that the life offered here is the one that\nwe would not only enjoy, but thrive in. \nThe locals that I met have reinforced all my hopes thus far. Even hearing their \u201ccomplaints\u201d (i.e. it\nisn\u2019t all roses) just blew me away, because it would be so very nice to be able\nto have concerns on the level that they do (\u201cdon\u2019t sweat the small\nstuff\u201d). At home, the pressures of\nsurviving even in a middle-class life can weigh so great that it feels at times\ndifficult to care for others and to pursue interests outside of getting by day\nto day. It can be frustrating to feel\nlike an absolute jerk when arriving home after spending more 2-3 hours in\ntraffic to have little people vying for your attention when all you want to do\nis punch a wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We stopped in Kaikoura on the way, after seeing the\ndevastation to the road on the way. It\nis quite amazing to witness how far the ground shifted at once. At the break time, I took the opportunity to\ngo to the coast and just enjoy the sound of the rolling waves and the\nbirds. It was incredibly relaxing to\nconnect with the earth beneath me, the rocky beach, while admiring the majestic\nsnow-capped mountains in the distance from the shore. After about 30 minutes, we set off again for\nthe final push towards Christchurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christchurch was a different experience altogether. I arrived at my AirBNB to stay with Noleen, a\nlady who was quite social. She promptly\ninvited me to sit for a beer and crackers, which I welcomed because I had not\neaten much throughout the day. We had a\ngreat conversation before heading off to bed after perhaps 45 minutes. Tomorrow was laundry day, I had a mission for\nwhich I needed rest. After hanging my\nclothes, I set off to see the city center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christchurch suffered devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 .\u00a0 The aftermath of those quakes resulted in new height restrictions on all new buildings \u2013 as a result only a single tower remains (which admittedly looks a bit weird), but means that Christchurch will be forever resigned a bit to sprawl.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t to the detriment of the city, however.\u00a0 The city itself is laid out in a grid fashion with neighborhoods that connect in a bit of a spiderweb to the city center.\u00a0 This creates an incredibly low-congestion model where businesses are nearby to housing out in the suburbs and disperses the traffic fairly evenly.\u00a0 Even in \u2018peak\u2019 rush times in the morning, it is said that you can make it from one side of the city in 30 minutes rather than 15.\u00a0 In addition, the rebuilding of all the roads presented the opportunity to put in cycle lanes throughout the city, creating a rather extensive network that means it is fairly easy to get around on bike, helped by the fact that it is exceptionally flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took advantage of the flat terrain using the Lime\nScooters, where I took the opportunity to scooter around various neighborhoods\nto take a peek at what was offered. They\neach had their little shopping center, food options, markets and various\nservices such as barbers\/hair salons and other services you\u2019d expect from a\ncity. I applied for more jobs and\nreached out to several recruiters, ultimately only getting a chance to meet\nwith one who kindly gave me a bit of information on South Island companies and\nthe general culture \/ size of company. \nAfter our chat he said that it seemed like I\u2019d be a good fit for the\nSouth Island and overall kiwi culture. \nHe was kind enough to give me a lift back to Noleen\u2019s, which I was\ngrateful for because the uber was about $30NZD one way to get there from the\nAirBNB. That evening, I went to Bailey\u2019s\nbar for dinner and beers, where I had a 2-hour conversation with a man named\nKenny from Scottland. We talked about\ntravel, the world, politics and people. \nIt never ceases to amaze me that when you meet someone who is travelling\nyou often find they are so well informed about the world and care about making\nit a better place. It is a far cry from\nthe anti-intellectualism that seems to be expanding in the United States, where\npeople are content to see the world burn for future generations if it means\nthey save $1.50 off their energy bill for the month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After Kenny left to go meet his flight, I slid over and\nbegan chatting with Dennis and Ben, locals who worked in construction. We talked about the same thing I\u2019d been\nsaying for almost 2 weeks now \u2013 family life, living with kind, caring\ncommunity, safe inclusive culture, and natural beauty. Dennis was quite adamant that the South\nIsland \u2013 specifically Christchurch \u2013 was for me, much more than the North\nIsland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On my last day in Christchurch, the big day came: My meeting with Inde. The night before Ralf had messaged me saying\nhe couldn\u2019t be there, but to attend the meeting anyway. I was a bit apprehensive at the sudden change\nin plans, but knowing that Rik is a capable and from what I had read about the\ncompany, I wasn\u2019t overly concerned. Ralf\nwas going to meet me for drinks at 4:30 at Bailey\u2019s when he returned from\nDunedin. I dressed in my slacks, shirt\nand tie and set off to Inde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The meeting with Rik went quite well. We chatted for almost an hour and a half\nbefore he had to attend a meeting. We\ntalked culture, technologies, backgrounds, families, and a bit of\nlogistics. He let me know that Ralf had\nmore information on the position itself, and that he\u2019d be back in town later in\nthe day. After the meeting I set off to\na local caf\u00e9 for some coffee, having felt very proud for the opportunity to see\nthe Inde offices. Things were looking\nup<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 4:30 I headed over to Bailey\u2019s, just up the road, to\nmeet Ralf. I grabbed a beer, he grabbed\na glass of wine, and we went outside to chat for almost 2 hours. The conversation followed a similar cadence\nto the one I had with Rik, but we talked quite a bit more about the culture of\nInde and the practice they\u2019re building, as well as some of the successes and\nchallenges. Throughout our chat, I tried\nnot to seem overly eager, but it was pretty hard because what Ralf was\ndescribing was a culture and company that sounded absolutely wonderful to work\nfor. The position itself is based in\nChristchurch with some travel from time to. \nRalf said that very few of their customers do the on-site work, but when\nit does, a bit of travel isn\u2019t bad. Who wouldn\u2019t want a business trip to\nQueenstown for a few days? We agreed\nverbally that there\u2019d be a job for me, and that if I\u2019d accept, I would be\nwelcomed \u2013 I HAD DONE IT! WE WERE MOVING\nTO NEW ZEALAND (Visa pending)! <\/p>\n\n\n\n The following day I packed my bags, said goodbye to Noleen,\nand headed to the city center via uber to catch my bus to Tekapo. The opportunity to sit on the bus and to enjoy\nthe countryside was allowing me a chance to let go of a lot of stress that\nprobably has been building in my mind and body for years. Each minute that went by, I could feel myself\nmelting into the seat, enjoying the rolling green hills, the peaceful looking\nfarms with sheep and cattle, and ultimately the drive into the mountains. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leaving Wellington, Continuing South The next day, I spent the morning in Picton, having stayed in the Picton Yacht Club Hotel for a single night. Picton itself consists of what amounts to three streets for the town center, with a number of bars, restaurants and tourist shops like jewelry stores. A cruise ship had come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avtempwp.azurewebsites.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/20181105_171759-1024x576.jpg\")
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