Sunday, March 07, 2010

New Zealand: Queen Charlotte Drive (Feb 15)

From New Zealand


We debated taking a clockwise vs an anticlockwise path around the island. One of the things Kevin was most keen on doing was to swim with the seals and maybe, too, the dolphins in Kaikoura. If you've forgotten your NZ geography or you just have trouble keeping track of which vowel heavy name is which, Kaikoura is located only a few hours South of Picton - in a clockwise position.

So, lets play a game. I argued for a counterclockwise trajectory because 1. I try to make Kevin's life less pleasant whenever possible 2. we'd be too late to actually do anything today and then we'd be staying overnight and spending another half day or more without having actually gained much ground in our "we will see everything" 11-day tour of the island 3. Why not? we did Australia in a clockwise fashion - we wouldn't want to over-wind the Southern Hemisphere or 4. I was secretly terrified of freezing to death in the water and wanted to postpone death or catching some chill-born disease until our journey was concluded - and maybe we'd even run out of time.

That was too easy, wasn't it? I wish I could say the answer was #2 - it makes so much sense now. Maybe Kevin accepted my argument (#3) because he subconsciously understood #2. We'd only know if we asked him - and it is too early on a Sunday to do that!

So, against the flow of the clock hands we drove. Stopping at look outs and enjoying the view from the road - water, hills, and lots of clouds.

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