April 25 - 8 pm

Strangest feeling, this being my last night in New Zealand. After all the build up, dreaming about coming here, talking about doing it someday, a few times having plans fall through, and then an opportunity and perfect window of time opening up, and everything falling into place, making all of this possible. I don't know exactly when or why I developed an infatuation with New Zealand, but now that I've traveled almost every inch of the country, it seems even more alluring. And that there is so much more to see here. I hope I can come back again someday.
It's been hard traveling the past 8 weeks on my own. I knew it would be, but it was even harder than I thought. I hoped it might change me into more of an extrovert, but it actually just made me realize that I am an introvert, and that's just me. I have no problem talking to people. I just feel more comfortable in my solitude. That being said, I have missed my friends and family heaps and I can't wait to be back with my people in about 41 hours.
I very much enjoyed my last full day in Queenstown. It is ANZAC Day here - a national holiday in NZ, similar to our Veterans Day. So at 9 am I heard the faint sound of bagpipes getting closer and closer. There was a parade right outside my door! Not exactly a parade, just bagpipes and pretty much the whole town marching along with the bagpipers through town. All the shops were closed until 1 pm. I walked around by the lake and laid in the sun for a long while deciding what I wanted to do today. The weather was perfect. Mostly sunny, warm, fall day. I decided to hike up to the skyline gondola. It was a good climb, close to an hour to the top. Worth it for the view. And it saved me $26 for hiking instead of taking the gondola. It felt good to get one more big walk in before I have to sit on an airplane or in airports for 22 hours.
I had my last spaghetti meal here for dinner. And I've been going through my stuff, getting rid of food and junk that I've been carrying around all this time. I should have room for everything I'm bringing back! Barely!
I can't believe I leave tomorrow! It's not weird packing my stuff. I do that almost every single day, and move on to the next town. But this time I'm packing up for good! Leaving the country. Flying over the ocean, the equator, and the international date line! And I don't know when I'll be back!
When I think like that, it's hard to leave, but I'm ready.
Not sure what I'll do tomorrow morning. I have until 2:50 pm. Maybe I'll go bungy jumping again.
Ha, yeah right.
Time for the Mario kart competition in the tv room.