The Te Anau Report

My, has it really been 10 days? Sometimes it seems like less, sometimes a lot more. Given the nature of the trip (and the cost of net access), 10 days is a reasonable interval between updates - so now you know what to expect.

Location

Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand.

Singapore

Singapore has some nice attractions, and lots of good shopping, but the best thing about it is surely the food. For the price of a falafel you can get a light meal from India, China, Indonesia, Thailand etc - and all of it is authentic, tasty, and very clean. Most of what we ate we can’t pronounce, some of it we couldn’t identify... We had the feast of our lives. So mom, next time you want somewhere to get new cooking ideas - Singapore’s a good place to look.

Four Seasons in One Day

You can’t expect NZ weather to be anything, not even unexpected. This year they had almost nonstop rain from mid-December to end January, so look out to seeing many disappointed NZ travelers coming to a university campus near you. Then there were 3 weeks of so-called “fair weather” - kind of like Tel Aviv in the summer but with occasional rain. Three days after our arrival it reverted to the state that I remember from the previous visit, i.e. nobody knows what the weather will be like two hours from now, and they’re not sure what the weather is like this very moment, either.

Israelis

We run into quite a few Israelis here. One of the first ones we met is Dani, who was my TA in CG (that’s Teaching Assistant in Computer Graphics). Then there was another fellow, Raviv, who Dana recognized from the Technion, and who turned out to be a friend of the aforementioned Dani. He (Raviv) was surprised to hear that he (Dani) is also in NZ at the moment.

This place hasn’t been colonized yet like some places in East Asia or South America (and with prices here being what they are, it’s not about to be), but in Wanaka you can get falafel, hummus and tehina (tahini) at the famous Cinema Paradiso.

The Trip in Numbers

  • Socks provided by Singapore Airlines: 8 (4 purple, 4 red)
  • Visits to McDonald’s: 0
  • Car breakdowns: 1 (dead battery)
  • Photos taken at Lake Pukaki: 43
  • Japanese tourists in the tiny church at Lake Tekapo: 43

Route (for those who’ve been here, mostly)

  • 3 days in Singapore
  • Christchurch (just getting organized)
  • Wanaka (did the Rob Roy and some other stuff)
  • Te Anau (got here last night, starting the Milford track in two days).

Bye for now,

Ron (Sign of the Dragon) and Dana (Sign of the Goat)