When It Rains, It Pours

Tonight’s blog will be short. Really short. And quite frankly, not interesting at all. I didn’t do much today except drive. And cry. And drive some more.

The weather was still awful when I woke up; cold, windy, and raining hard. As I decided I was set on doing, I tried to change my Christchurch flight to earlier. But alas, the flights were all sold out! That’s what happens when the planes only hold 60 people. I was not set to fly out of Invercargill until that evening and really didn’t feel like wasting a full day basically in that town. Then I had an idea, to hell with it, I’ll drive! It’s about a 7.5 hour drive and would give me the chance to see half the east coast of the island! I consulted with Kyra, my friend who did this drive in February, and confirmed that the roads weren’t bad, it was a fairly easy drive. As soon as the decision was made I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders; I am on an adventure after all! I texted my boyfriend to let him know my change of plans, “sounds like you ;-)” he said, telling me to make sure I take breaks and drive safe. I did zero research on the route – except to ask Kyra if there anything noteworthy, loaded up my car, and pulled out of the driveway for my 350 mile trek to Christchurch.

There was a gas station right by the house where I stopped to fill up. As I was pulling out of the gas station I got a text from my boyfriend. It was the kind of text that made me immediately call him. I’m not going to go into detail, and I hate putting my personal life out there, but it turns out to be a big part of my day. Basically, I was dumped, pretty much via a text ultimatum, while 7,298 miles from home (give or take a couple, those are to the city centers). Yup, after telling me to drive safe, five minutes later he drops a bomb on me. Must’ve thought I’d already be out of cell phone reception zone for the day. And when I called, made me feel even worse, as I was crying on the side of the road, by trying to make it a me issue – apparently I’m pushy, aggressive and hard to communicate with. And that wasn’t even part of the ultimatum. We’ve only been dating about 2 1/2 months but regardless, it hurt, and I was devastated as this was completely unexpected. I don’t think I saw a thing around me at all the first hour of my drive.

I texted a few choice close friends for support. I am a lucky person to have some really amazing people that care about me in my life (and I was super lucky to have so much cell coverage today, there was none while I was driving down the west coast). The supportive texts, and even voicemails that came through this evening, meant everything to me and I am so grateful. The rain had never let up either. I spent about the first 90 minutes of my drive staring straight ahead and crying off and on while driving through the pouring rain. The weather was perfect for how I was feeling. In the past I have had a really bad habit of becoming interested in emotionally unavailable men where nothing would progress. A friend who knows me well once theorized that I did this intentionally, even if subconsciously, to avoid getting hurt. I’d thought about that a lot over the last couple months as I was proud of myself for actually finding someone available and letting myself be vulnerable and care for them deeply. And here I was, hurt. I thought about how, regardless, I must not let myself slip back into that old pattern. This person was obviously not meant to be my partner. I wished I had grabbed Kleenex and not just paper towels from the AirBnB before I left because my face was starting to hurt from dabbing it with the scratchy paper towels.

Occasionally I would see a sign for a turn-off to some point-of-interest but I followed none of them. The weather was so terrible I knew I wasn’t going to get out of my car anywhere. I even passed up a sign pointing to a penguin colony. I was sick of all the penguin false advertising signs anyways. I’d seen so many signs this trip and the only penguins I’ve seen were in the Milford Sound. The drive along the east coast, Route 1, is really pretty uninteresting. Mostly flat farmland and LOTS of towns. The towns on the east coast are way way way larger compared to the west coast and so often the speed limit slowed to 30-50 km/h as the highway passed through them. At times the ocean would appear against the green farmland. So many sheep. So many cows. The rain never let up. In many places there was some pretty bad flooding, like the water whooshing up over the top of the car as I drove through at a snail’s pace begging the car not to stall (thankfully I have an SUV). One town I drove through had a great sign, it was four lines, very simple. “Drive Careful. No Doctor. No Hospital. One Cemetery.” They know the roads here are filled with crazy adventurers like me so often signs warned folks to pull off and rest. One cafe had a sign even offering free coffee – the Driver Reviver. I was on the road for FIVE hours before the rain ever let up enough that I could turn my wipers down from the fastest speed. I was on the road for 7 1/2 hours, just a half hour out from my AirBnB finally, when I saw blue skies and got to turn the windshield wipers off for the first time today. The drive took me a solid 8 hours. During the entire drive I only stopped for a cumulative total of less than 10 minutes; once to get gas and twice to pee on the side of the road (hey, even upset I still drink a lot of water).

My AirBnB in Christchurch tonight is perfect for my career. It’s in an old government building that’s been converted into little apartments. It’s super warm and cozy and I feel more like I’m in a hotel. A great contrast to the musty house I had last night. There is a stack of magazines on the coffee table, and an old Time magazine on top. The cover story is about Syria! Talk about coincidental; did they know a Syrian was staying here tonight?!

Getting the keys to the AirBnB was a bit different… it involved going to a convenience store in an atrium across the street and asking the clerk for the right set of keys. No verification at all or anything. Apparently he keeps the keys for many homes in the area. Interesting.

I struggled to find a place open for dinner in the City Centre where I’m staying. It was only 8pm but most places nearby had already closed for the day. Christchurch has been very heavily devastated by earthquakes and much of the area around the City Centre appears to be still rebuilding – both infrastructure and physical structures.

I found a self-proclaimed Asian fusion spot open a couple blocks away. I needed a cocktail, after today, I really needed one. They only had finalndia vodka but said they had a great gin collection so I asked that they just make me an herbaceous gin cocktail. I received some more text support from friends and my sister and tried not to cry into my gin. No more tears allowed over this one. My dinner was, again, eh at best. I had to order their California roll and see how they did it! And I had some dumplings. All I’ve eaten today has been nuts, date bars, and a protein bar while driving but I didn’t have much of an appetite, especially for food that wasn’t great. They didn’t even have oysters on the menu.

Tomorrow I will get on a morning flight to Rotorua, on the North Island. Rotorua is the only town I have visited before that I am returning to this trip and I am even staying at the same AirBnB as last time. I am really looking forward to being somewhere that feels familiar and comfortable. I’m hoping that I can get down to Hell’s Gate for a mud bath and to the Polynesian Spa for a massage. I will definitely go to Te Puia again and revisit the sites where New Zealand’s geothermal wonders first took my breath away. The Rotorua stop couldn’t come at a better time. But this means my trip is beginning to wrap up, only three more days and I’ll be starting my way back home.

Time so start thinking through where to for my next adventure. I have a week in Mexico already planned for February, over Valentine’s Day, but since I no longer have a companion for that trip I must decide if I keep that and still go or if I find another grander adventure for that week…