Leaving Asia

I feel I am already leaving South-East Asia behind me when we enter the airport in Denpasar (Bali). The bars and restaurants lose character, they all look alike, offering a 'fusion' menu that is neither meat nor fish but includes a bit of everything (noodles, burgers, mie goreng). Obviously at prices to die for. I must admit, though, that the tiny fresh burrata with cherry tomatoes, olive oil and basil was a treat worth the 8€ and more that I paid for it.

The flight is not long, only 5 hours to practically cross Australia and arrive in Sydney, the in-between stop before our next destination: New Zealand. What a difference from the mode of travel we chose for (most of) this adventure!!! A few hours to cover a distance that in our 'overland' mode would have taken weeks, a considerable number of buses and/or trains, a good dose of dark circles under our eyes, and certainly some white hair! We land and we are on a new continent: Oceania. I am excited because after having set foot on every continent on earth (yes, even Antarctica), Oceania is really the last one I miss and I can now mark it as 'seen'.

After the initial excitement of arriving in Oceania, there is the thrill of finding drinking water fountains to fill our bottles with. Finally less plastic waste!!! And finally we leave behind the fear of being sentenced to three days on the toilet if we drink or eat the wrong thing. But these are not the only reasons to be happy with the drinking fountains as at the vending machine a small bottle of water costs something like 3€. The big slap in the face, however, comes when we approach the bar with the idea of having a continental (or rather Italian) breakfast with coffee and croissant: the 5€ for a small plain croissant makes my head spin! And moving on to other eateries the situation does not improve: 15€ for a breakfast of omelette and two slices of bread, 10€ for a mini mozzarella and tomato sandwich. Even the minimarket's 'great offer' consists of a sandwich + small packet of chips + drink (max 600ml) for 10€ or little more. We have just spent 8 months in countries where an entire dinner costs between €2 and €5. We pale and pretend not to listen to our grumbling stomachs.

Going to the toilet, however, I am relieved to encounter toilets where I can throw toilet paper without experiencing that anxiety that the toilet will overflow if I accidentally drop a piece of paper in it!!! The toilets are also easy to 'interpret', because yes, it has happened in a couple of countries, to enter the 'bathroom' and not quite understand what to do and where ...

Just after having rejoiced at being in a country where I understand the language 100%, where I am sure not to make mistakes with the customs because in the end what I find here are also my customs, and after having appreciated the cleanliness and comfort, comes the final slap. I approach the bar where they boast real Italian coffee (the bar is also called 'Peroni', the name could be a guarantee) and ready to sell a kidney for a hot coffee I ask to see the list of coffee products. They point me to the board where I read only 'coffee: small, medium, large'. Discouragement seizes me, we have arrived in those countries where coffee is just coffee. Crossing Asia, we enjoyed the privilege of being able to choose between espresso (regular, double, macchiato), mocha, Vietnamese coffee, Balinese coffee, coffee with milk or sweet condensed milk (I love it), café au lait, avocado coffee, and another myriad of related products: tea (hot and cold with or without sugar, Thai, ginger, a thousand other spices...), drinks with milk and taro (a real treat) or caramel or other flavours I would never have imagined. Every day the joy of a new discovery. But from now on, the choice will only be 'small, medium or large'.

The friendliest person: Margaret! Margaret is (just to put it simply) the mum of the boyfriend of the the mum of Peter's friend. The fact of the matter is that we found ourselves flying to Wellington just after the typhoon that hit the island blocking roads and ferries, thus creating a crowd of people in the New Zealand city. Plus we arrived on the weekend when the cricket tournament was being held. Moral of the story: there wasn't a bed available, even if you paid $200 a night. We were desperate and ready for the most inconvenient contingency plan possible (which included, among other things, trying to convince Wellington airport security to let us spend the night there even after the airport closed). While we were waiting at Denpasar airport (so still in Bali), ready to take off with a lump in our throats not knowing what would happen to us once we were in Wellington, Peter had phone call with the boyfriend of his aforementioned friend, just to have a chat. As soon as he heard about the problem we were in, he immediately put us in touch with his girlfriend's mum because she and her boyfriend were in Wellington visiting, indeed, Margaret! And so our 2 nightmare nights turned into delightful evenings chatting with Margaret in front of the fire, drinking wine and eating cheese with Kazza and Jordan, and then sleeping in a very comfortable warm bed! We must have done something good recently and the Universe rewarded us! Thank you Margaret, thank you Kazza and Jordan, and thank you Mark and Iona!!!

Food: finally cheese and wine!!!

Music: Poi E of the Patea Maori Club

Highlight of the trip: on the first evening in Wellington, we went out into the garden and breathed fresh, clean, crispy and fragrant air like we hadn't breathed in months

Lowlight of the trip: the wind, rain and cold of Wellington were not exactly a welcome ...