Yet another lengty dispatch:
Now I’m in Rotorua, but many good things have happened since I last wrote.
16 Mar: Only one night in Auckland, done with the city scene for a while, plus Auckland is kinda bland. It hasn’t really developed it’s unique attitude toward being a city. Melbourne is cruisey cafe, Auckland is white bread in bland sense. Too big to have nothing happening, not big enuf to have anything going on. Uf. So, off to surf school! Took the bus to Raglan, a surfing cove on the world tour. A beautifully set camp in the thick forrest. So many bugs making noise, so many birds singing, just much natural life. The beach is black sand, very new to a land lubber. The hostel doesn’t use locks, they’re very friendly and calm. Also ecoconscious, recycling their food scraps in the compost, growing their food, hosting hens, so good! At night, so many stars! They’re in a different pattern, and so it looks like 3 times as many stars. Also, saw my first glow worms (or maggots as they really are). I made Tacos with Ingrid, and she invited Anne (the Netherlands) to join us. Anne was travelling by campervan, but she wanted a shower and surfing, so she bunked here. Fortunately, she offered me her duvel to use while I was there. So I stayed very warm those nights in Raglan.
17 Mar: Woke up, and got a lift to Raglan - the surf school and lodge is actually 8km from the town (and 5km from the beach). It’s isolated and quiet, and very meditative. Raglan is so small, few hundred people, no traffic lights, 6 cafes or so. Ate with Ingrid and Anne at a place called Tongue and Groove - brownie and smoothy! In the afternoon, I finally got to the beach and got in the water. Rented a boogie board, and swapped with Anne for her surfboard for a spell. I had fun - it’s really easy to catch waves on the learning boards. They’re light and wide, but I was only balanced enuf to get to a knee and foot (no standing).
18 Mar: Sleep in, do laundry, just basics. Finally, an hour hike in the forrest behind the lodge. Full and lush forrest, cool birds, good views of the beaches from the hills. The woods feel prehistoric: the plants are big but simple.
19 Mar: Enuf of the beach bum culture, move on! But the bus had a flat tire, so we had an 1.5 hour delay. Wish that could’ve been used for sleeping. Rock up to Waitomo by lunch, and I went black water tubing - tubing in a river underground in the Waitomo caves (with glow worms of course). It was great, and the guides made it very entertaining, certainly played the part of the back-woods Kiwi very well (in fact, I think he really was…). In a cave, the glow worms look like the night sky, some are brighter than others, and they’re randomly arranged. But that’s how they survive - their guise fools bugs who happen to get blown into the cave into flying up to the ’stars’, but they quickly get caught in the worms’ sticky webbing and eaten. The adults don’t have mouths, so they live just long enuf to leave more larvae. Once out of the caves, we continue to Hahei in the Coromandel - the holiday distric for the Kiwis. Hahei sin’t on the motorway, so very few people stay there. The town is even smaller than Raglan: just 3 cafes, and one general store. I try Nutella for the first time and love it - a hazelnut spread with chocolate infusion.
20 Mar: Tramped to Cathedral Cove this morning - a calm beachy spot only accessible at low tide. Another stop on the NZ beach tour - Bay of Islands, Raglan, now Hahei. More beautiful and different scenery - blue and green and clear water, white white sand beaches, fish swimming around your legs. Came back and made a cold pasta salad for dinner - is good. Hung out and talked with the new Stray people that arrived that day.
21 Mar: Tramped to another prominent point near Hahei - a Maori Pa site. I got mesmerized watching the water sparkle in the sun and seeing the ocean breathe in its swells. Just afer lunch, I get back on the bus and head for Maketu - a Maori farmstay tonight, Uncle Boy’s Place! When we arrive, I walk to the beach for the sunset and return to the farmhouse for dinner. It was a traditional hangi meal - chicken, beef, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin all cooked together. Really tasty. After dinner, Uncle Boy (half Maori) told us about his tribe’s history, and his own story. He was very entertaining and told stoies like the granddad in Big Fish. Later, a school group came by and performed a cultural show, similar to the ones in Whale Rider. The boys (14-17) did the Haka, and the girls (5-17) did a dance with Poi (NZ originated!). Then, they took us outside, and taught the men the Haka (so now I can intimidate others) and the women the Poi dance. It was really fun! Everyone was really warm and friendly, and once everything was finished, we mixed for a while. The students were so curious about what Colorado was like, and how I got here. That whole experience won’t fade quickly at all. I crash in the living room of Uncle Boy’s house, falling asleep to Spirited Away.
22 Mar: Get up and head out to Rotorua, jump off the bus and decide to stay here for a few days. Rotorua is in a caldera, so it has mud pits, geysers, and hot pools like Yellowstone. I went to the hot pools for 3.5 hours today and was completely rejuvinated. Ingrid and I ate Japanese food and had a Korean ice cream sandwich for dessert. Heidi, a German at the hostel, joined us later and we three went to a pub for beer and wine, but not before the bartender made us walk back to hostel to get our passports, we look under 18 I guess. We talked so much about differences in culture and language and shared many stories.
So that’s been my week, or something. I never know what time it is, or what day of the week it is, or what day of the month it is. Very nice, very loose, can be tricky at times. I’ve gotten used to the breathtaking scenery, and I’m taking as many photos (like parents do with the 2nd born). All of the people I meet, and all of the stories they tell about their travels, keep me wanting to travel. I want to get to Thailand and Cambodia and Vietnam, SE Asia, I guess. And extreme places - I met a firefighter from Lafayette (CO!) who lived and worked in Antarctica for 15 months! I wanna apply for a job as an EE to live in Antarctica for a spell, crazy. And other places, too - South America, the Far North, Africa, everywhere.
Stray is pretty organized, and they tend to organize a lot of things for you. Good because you don’t have to spend time researching and booking things; bad because it’s sorta handed to you - you don’t do the work.