New Zealand...Like Lord of the Rings!

So here we go, continuing on the update journey, and making up for lost blogging time. Next stop: plans for next year. Which with today's economy, let me tell you, is a very exciting topic for the casually employed. Now if you've kept abreast of all the waffling I've done in the past months (and bless your little deeply-unimpressed-with-my-decisiveness heart if you have), you know that I've had some trouble zeroing in on exactly which of my many travel wishes I was going to make a final commitment to for next year. But what I've settled on is: a short-term job somewhere in the U.S. for the fall, and then leaving for New Zealand in January. Why New Zealand, you wonder? First, because...


Yes, it's true. My fascination with New Zealand does suspiciously coincide with the first time I saw Fellowship of the Ring. I may or may not be listening to the soundtrack as I write this post, but I'll leave you to your own conjectures as to the actual extent of my nerdiness. In any case, ever since I saw those gorgeous landscapes on the big screen, I've been itching to see them for myself. And, since every Kiwi I've met has been so warm, laid back, and fun-loving, and every backpacker I've talked to who's spent time in New Zealand couldn't wait to tell me how incredible it was, time has only made me more and more keen to go. So I figured...



And indeed, why not? When I made my list of "Places I Absolutely Have to Go or I Will Regret It During My Mid-Life Crisis," New Zealand was at the top of the list. And even though living there for a few months won't really add any shining gold stars to my C.V., if I'm ever going to do something just for the sake of it, throwing responsibility to the wind, now is quite possibly the last chance I will get. So what exactly will I be doing while I'm there? Well luckily...


...for temporary work visas. O.K. that transition was a lot less brilliant than the others. But bottom line: New Zealand allows Americans to enter with a 12-month holiday work visa, which will permit me to pick up odd jobs during the three or four (or five?) months that I'm there. And I hope that a lot of those jobs will be through an organization called WWOOF, or Willing Workers On Organic Farms, which hooks volunteers up with organic farms/orchards/ranches who are looking for temporary workers. The host feeds and houses you, and in exchange you do whatever odd jobs need doing. I've had a couple of friends who have done it in the past, all with great results. And I will also have quite a few people to visit: a Kiwi assistant I've befriended here in France (and, through her, a smattering of other locals), a young French woman I met here who has since moved down under, and my good friend Alicia, who's with Peace Corps in Tonga. So I don't think I'll have any trouble keeping busy. And if I have some extra money, I'm going sky diving and learning how to surf.

And that's the long and short of it, folks. I hope you recognized those lovely New Zealand tourism posters from the incredible television show Flight of the Conchords. If you didn't, you're missing out, and you should really check out this little sampler video, in honor of New Zealand and Lord of the Rings...

Frodo, Don't Wear the Ring