Lew Zealand

Yes, this is quite belated. I’ll explain why in a sub­sequent post.

linux​.conf​.au this year was in Wel­ling­ton, New Zea­l­and. It just keeps get­ting bet­ter! It’s always great meet­ing people you oth­er­wise only know online. I was espe­cially impressed by the OLPC NZ team.

Imme­di­ately fol­low­ing linux​.conf​.au, I jumped on a plane to Christ­ch­urch to embark on a week-long tour of the South Island. Long story short, it was the time of my life! I made some amaz­ing friends. I also saw and did incred­ible things, includ­ing:

• awe-inspir­ing views of gla­ciers, gla­cially-formed land­scapes, tur­quoise-col­oured rivers and lakes, beau­ti­ful skies and more
• heli­hike: a heli­copter trip onto a gla­ci­er, then hik­ing on it
• a night on a boat on Mil­ford Sound, prob­ably the most beau­ti­ful place on Earth
• every extreme activ­ity I could get my hands on, includ­ing:
  • three bungy jumps (thril­logy combo): Kawa­rau Bridge (43 metres), Nevis (134m) and Ledge (47m)
  • two swings: two of the scar­i­est jump styles — Back­wards and Gimp Boy Goes to Hol­ly­wood
  • a 15,000ft sky­dive
  • the Triple Chal­lenge: a Shotover jet boat ride, fol­lowed by a heli­copter trans­fer to raft­ing on the Shotover river
    
  • a wil­der­ness safari along the Dart River, includ­ing walks through forests and a scen­ic jet boat ride

I have most of my pho­tos online now:

• 2010-01-24 New Zea­l­and hol­i­day, Day 1, pt 1
• 2010-01-24 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 1, pt 2
• 2010-01-25 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 2, pt 1
• 2010-01-25 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 2, pt 2
• 2010-01-26 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 3, pt 1
• 2010-01-26 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 3, pt 2
• 2010-01-26 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 3, pt 3
• 2010-01-27 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 4, pt 1
• 2010-01-27 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 4, pt 2
• 2010-01-27 New Zea­l­and Hol­i­day, Day 4, pt 3

I think what sur­prised me most was how adven­tur­ous I can be when I’m not in my ‘nat­ur­al hab­it­at’. I’m not nor­mally a thrill­seeker at all, but in NZ I made the decision to take a hol­i­day from myself as well as from work and home. I even made a con­cer­ted effort to not touch com­puters at all. My phone was off­line for most of the trip (I was using it as a cam­era). I nev­er thought that being cut-off could feel so lib­er­at­ing.