Day 3: Jumping off of bridges and temporary homelessness!

Today! A day in which Much Has Happened! (But relatively little has progressed...)

This morning, Claire and I did a Kiwibus day trip, which was really a glorified advertisement for the rather more expensive tours through New Zealand. Despite the commercial aspect, it was interesting. We got to walk Bay Harbor Bridge, which required a hard hat, a safety line, and a few more layers of clothing than I had on. (Things I did not expect about New Zealand: July is, in fact, winter. It's not cold in the sense that you need a down jacket, but it is chilly in that you generally wish that you had on another sweater.)

Anyhow, at the bridge, I can't quite tell you what happened, but everyone was watching one of the guides bungee jump off the bridge, then a Canadian named Trevor decided he was going to jump, and then I found myself trussed up and diving off myself.

I've never bungee jumped before, but it was fun. The worst part, as you'd imagine, is the moment when the guide tells you to stand with your toes off the ledge, and you realize just how high above the water you are. Trevor our intrepid Canadian had balked just as the guide counted down from three, and then he had everyone count down from ten. That seemed like an awfully long time to be waiting with only half your feet on solid ground, so I opted to just launch myself out after three- two---

And down I went.

I'm not quite sure what I expected, but bungee-jumping is pretty zen, aside from hurtling towards a possible sudden death. The rope is designed to let you bounce, rather than jerk at your feet, and that makes for a pretty comfortable up-down. I managed to fail at releasing my legs, so I tugged at the release a few times, gave up, then just dangled feet up until they reeled me back in. It was quite nice.

After that, we drove to Devonport for a lunch of fish and chips and, in Claire and my case, our first (only?) deep fried Mars Bar. We ate with Trevor and a lovely lady named Helen, and it was a nice way to spend some time. We also drove over to Mt Victoria where Dave our tour guide expertly took jumping photos while we launched ourselves over Mario mushrooms.

Then it was back to Queen Street, where Claire and I hopped on over to the IEP office to pore over flat ads. We were supposed to meet up with our couchsurfing buddy, but that turned out to not work, so for a few unsettling hours, we were without a place to sleep at night.

This whole experience is making me realize how much I depend on having a home base. This morning, when we thought we were going to be couch surfing, we had to decide where we were going to keep our big bags. Our new friend's place was about a twenty minute walk away, and neither of us were looking forward to the prospect of lugging 50 pounds worth of stuff up and down New Zealand hills. In any other situation, you'd just pack a day bag and head over, but because we'd checked out that morning, we were between places. So we had to have a conversation about where we'd keep all our life belongings and decide in whose hands we trusted them most. It's just a very strange thing to be so transient and to literally carry everything with you, especially when you weren't really planning to do so. Having a place to put your stuff and to trust that it would be there when you return is unbelievably comforting. (We both want to be at that point soon.)

Anyway, we're back at the hostel, and we've decided to stay here for a few more nights. It's convenient and just easier to deal with. In the ideal world, we will have a place to stay starting next week, and we will be able to bus it over there and gloriously unpack. In the real world, it depends on persistence and some luck. We're following up on a few leads, and I know that things will work out.

We've met quite a few other people who are in various points of their working holiday, and the sheer range of experiences is staggering. No one's story is quite what I was expecting, so it'll be interesting to see how things play out. I mean, I trust that Claire and I are both smart and adaptable enough to make do no matter what, but there is always that niggling voice of doubt going AAAAH AAAAAH AAAAAAHHHHH.

We shall see.

Tomorrow: Nothing interesting planned! We're mostly going to be dealing with logistics and grand planning, but we did buy our first round of groceries (oof, produce is pricey here!) so we'll be making some sort of meal in the hostel kitchen.



Random notes:
+ Here, flipflops are referred to as "jandals." Pronounced like "sandals" with a "j". According to Pip at the reception desk, it's a truncation of "Jesus sandals."
+ NZ phone numbers can range from six to eight digits long. There doesn't appear to be a standardized spacing, which is strangely difficult to adjust to. I think they just add spaces whenever they feel like it.
+ The Really Useful Box that my sister got me is, in fact, really useful! We've been using it for all sorts of things. :D