Around the World: "Sense of a Place"

Riddle: McDonald's in Queenstown offers 1 hour of internet (unlimited data). McDonald's in Blenheim offers 50 MB of data (unlimited time). Which is better, when you want to upload a blog post, check email, and update Facebook?

Answer: Queenstown.

[Don't judge us for McDonald's. Finding "internet free with purchase" in New Zealand is really hard, and it's not advertised on windows/menus/websites. McDonald's has been a "sure thing". But we only order coffees, I swear.]

So, I tried to post this earlier today, but hit 50 MB before I got a chance. But we should have pretty good internet access for the next few days; we're hoping to catch up on our posting, in between partying with the Kuzmiak/Jones/Prier Clans.

What is life like for the residents of the Central/Southern South Island? First, you must appreciate that this part of the South Island is pretty deserted. Like, more deserted than the drive from Rochester to Washington, DC (through central Pennsylvania). Every 40-100 miles, there is a village/town (these range from “small” to “very small”), usually centered around some tourist activities (scenic lake, river for rafting/kayaking, hiking trail, glacier walks, etc.). There are accommodations (hostels/motels/hotels/sometimes resorts), some eateries, a tourist information center, possibly a gas station, and, in the larger of the small, a grocery store. There are also houses for the residents, most of whom manage and operate the hotels/motels, restaurants, gas stations, and tours. Many residents are seasonal (young, college-aged students), either domestic or international, who work for the summer season, then head home or do some traveling of their own during New Zealand’s winters. In the winter, the primary attraction in this area of New Zealand is skiing, and I can only imagine that these places become ghost towns.

As I try to convey what it’s like to drive through this area of New Zealand, we come to one of my greatest challenges as a tourist/blogger (besides finding internet that operates at a decent speed and won’t cost us our first-born). One thing that I always struggle with as a tourist is how to convey the sense of a place to those who’ve never been there. I’m not talking about the coolest tourist attraction, or the most gorgeous scenic overlook, or the best statue in the center of town. Rather, I’m talking about how to capture and share how every day life looks: How the towns are organized, how and where people live, how they get around, what they do, and how life flows.

My photography skills are, as you have seen, quite limited (I’m practicing every day, but my progress is slow & unsteady, and so my attempts at snapping buildings, streets, and homes usually end up feeling dead and lifeless by the time I return home. A picture is supposed to be worth 1,000 words, but mine never capture the richness and depth of a place. This was true when I traveled to Spain, and even truer when I was in Eritrea. By the time I started going to Singapore with Kee-Min, I stopped trying to take these kinds of photos.

I can’t really explain why I feel so compelled to accurately capture and share this part of my destinations with my friends and family. But over the next few months, I’m going to be exploring lots of different places, people, and life rhythms. I still don’t know how to capture them adequately.

But I will persist! [At least I learned SOMETHING from all those years as a Ph.D. student.] Ever the scientist, I decided to try an experiment on Friday evening. I was jonesing for a run, but we’d just returned from kayaking, Kee-Min was still recovering from his cold, and it was nearly time for dinner. But I grabbed my camera and headed out for a 15 minutes out/15 minutes back easy run. On my way out, I stopped every 5 minutes to snap a photo. Thus, the only bias in these shots is that I moved to the nearest safe spot before pulling out my camera. I don’t know if this is any better than my previous attempts (and neither do you, since very few of them have ever seen my Spain or Eritrea pics), but here goes.

The start, at the Fiordland Motel, just before the town center: