Just back from two weeks in New Zealand with Alfred, Kat, Michael, Jessie, and David – and I’m still unpacking it all, literally and emotionally. We wound down the South Island, where NZ revealed itself as California’s grander, more dramatic cousin – sheep everywhere, skies wide open, mountains showing off. Queenstown was peak mischief: paragliding and the Shotover Jet were both sold out (spring break, I see you), so we pivoted to a two-hour hike up Ben Lomond with Lake Wakatipu shimmering below and fall colors blazing – easily one of the best hikes of my life. Dinner at Saigon Kingdom sealed it with what I’ll now insist, unprompted, is the best pancake on the planet.
The middle stretch slowed me down in the best way. Impossibly blue lakes – Hayes, Dunstan, Pukaki – then the tiny Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo, where a single plate-glass window frames the lake and mountains like a quiet prayer. An Air Safaris flight over Mount Cook followed, then dusk in Timaru watching the world’s smallest penguins (40 cm!) waddle home. Christchurch gave me a glorious rest day -Botanic Gardens, a solo cocktail at Gin Gin, and a line from Serene Hodgman at the Art Gallery that’s been living rent-free in my head: “Maybe the moments where we think we’re doing the least actually add up to making the best of what little we think we have.” Eight days and 890 miles later, we flew north for five more days and another 543 miles.
Tauranga and Rotorua were pure joy – obscenely large rib plates, a geyser erupting on cue at Te Puia (a stunning living home of Māori arts), a 15-month-old kiwi chick that nearly undid me with cuteness, and 41°C thermal pools at Waikite Valley that melted the world away. At the Agrodome, David got plucked on stage to milk a cow and earned a “Certificate of Udderance” – deeply earned, minimally enthused. We ended in Auckland, where between the Sky Tower and marina I finally visited the resting place of my dear older brother George – not by blood, but in every way that mattered. His wife WW drove us through pouring rain to get there, and just as we arrived, the sun broke through. I could almost see George’s old smile in it. A chapter I’d left open too long, quietly closing. New Zealand gave me kiwifruit, feijoas (aka pineapple guavas), alpine lakes, penguins, and a little peace – and I already know I’ll be back.
新西兰之旅 – 2026年4月7日 – 4月20日
结束了两周的新西兰之行刚回来，同行的有Alfred、Kat、Michael、Jessie和David – 到现在我都还没整理完，行李是这样，心情更是。我们一路向南穿越南岛，新西兰在我眼前像是加州那位更宏大、更富戏剧感的表亲 – 漫山遍野的羊群、辽阔无边的天空、肆意展示自己的群山。皇后镇尽是小插曲：滑翔伞和Shotover激流喷射艇都被预订一空（春假，我看到你了），于是我们改成了两小时登顶Ben Lomond的徒步 – 脚下是波光粼粼的Wakatipu湖，四周是燃烧般的秋色 – 那是我此生最棒的徒步之一。晚餐在Saigon Kingdom画下完美句点，我现在要无端地宣布：那里有全世界最好吃的煎饼。
中段的旅程以最美好的方式让我慢了下来。一连串蓝得不真实的湖泊 — Hayes、Dunstan、Pukaki – 然后是Tekapo湖畔小巧的”好牧人教堂”，祭坛后那扇大玻璃窗，将湖光与雪山框成一幅静默的祷告。接着是Air Safaris的小飞机带我们飞越库克山；黄昏时分则在Timaru耐心等候全世界最小的企鹅（仅40厘米高！）摇摇摆摆地回家。基督城给了我一个无比惬意的休整日 – 海格利公园、植物园、在Gin Gin独自小酌一杯鸡尾酒，还有美术馆里Serene Hodgman的一句话，从此在我脑海里挥之不去：”也许那些我们以为自己最无所事事的时刻，恰恰让我们把那些我们以为微不足道的事物，活出了最好的样子。”八天890英里之后，我们北上又走了五天、再多543英里。
陶朗加和罗托鲁瓦是纯粹的快乐 – 大到夸张的肋排、Te Puia如约喷发的间歇泉（那里也是毛利艺术鲜活的家园）、一只15个月大的奇异鸟雏鸟差点把我萌化，还有Waikite山谷41°C的天然温泉，泡着泡着外面的世界都融化了。在Agrodome，David被请上台挤牛奶，赢得了一张”挤奶达人证书”（Certificate of Udderance）- 实至名归，热情有限。最后一站是奥克兰。在天空塔与码头之间，我终于来到了我亲爱的小原哥哥的安息之地 – 不是亲生的兄长，但在每一个真正重要的意义上，他都是家人。他的妻子WW冒着倾盆大雨开车送我和David前去，而就在我们抵达的那一刻，云开日出。阳光里，我几乎能看见George那一如往常的笑容。一个我搁置了太久的章节，就这样静静地合上了。新西兰给了我猕猴桃、费约果（菠萝番石榴）、高山湖泊、企鹅、和一点点平静 – 我知道，我一定会再回来。
