I was picked up in Motueka by a guy we can call Mark. I retired farmer in his 60s, who now drives a 2008 BMW back and forth over the windy mountain roads between Motueka and Takaka. I told him that he had picked me up at the buzzer and that I was about to give up on hitching for the day. His response was, "Never give up on Takaka." I thought that was a great testimony about the place I will be spending the next month. We talked rugby, Obama, Aussie/Kiwi relations, and the diversity of Takaka. Takaka is home to the wealthy conservative farmer and to the bare footed, astrology reading rope heads. Although they may differ from each other drastically, they will defend the other from critical outsiders. "What you say 'bout my Momma?!" kinda thing.
The talk with my hitch got me stoked about my decision to lay down a few roots in Golden Bay. I had Mark drop me off at a backpackers called Annie's Nirvana. The owner Allan met me in the entrance with a line from a Beatles song. Showed me around and to my room and then asked me about my plans for Takaka. I told him I would be wwoofing with Alex from Dangerous Kitchen. He informed me of Alex's strong personality and proceeded to offer me a job looking after the Hostel for a couple weeks while he travels with his brother. So far so good in Takaka. 10 minutes after unloading my bags, a girl checked in who was from Eastern Oregon. I have only met a hand full of Americans on this trip and half of them have been from the OR. Good on us!
I walked across the street in the morning to meet Alex at the Dangerous. The cafe seemed like it had a great vibe. I wasn't sure what kind of work I would be doing, so I just sat down with my long black and day dreamed. Alex instructed me to throw my bags in the van where I was met by the pooches, Banzai and Floppy. We drove a few kilometers out to her 1924 farm house and the first thing I see is the other wwoofer organizing huge piles of foliage in preparation of the next days task... the wood chipper! The other wwoofer is a 19 year old dude called Charlie from England. The last few days we have been doing renovations to Alex's house. Pulling down wallpaper, pulling nails, filling cracks with stuff, painting things, etc. Hilarious conversations and really loud music help pass the time.
Some rich American who owns a beach house outside of Takaka gave another woman a bunch of money to throw a party at her house while she was away. Last night was that party. Charlie and I went halves on a 15 pack of Steinlager and Alex brought a bomb pizza from the Dangerous. Reggae music was the soundscape for the night. After downing my 7.5 beers I hit the dance floor and showed the middle aged locals how a drunk American in his 20's gets down. After sitting in the rotation for too long by the fire and watching Jim Henson's Dark Crystal on a projection screen, my body was telling me to go into the woods and sleep. I found Alex's van instead and did the same.
Today was a chill out day. No wwoofing on Sundays so I took the dogs for a walk on the beach while Alex visited a dead friend. Charlie still hasn't turned up home from the party. I'm sure he's fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment