Bay Leaves

I leave the wonderful world of Takaka tomorrow. I will be heading out in the a.m. with possesions in pack, bound for Nelson to stay with my fellow nationals for the night.

To everyone I met along the way, I will carry you with me.

To everything positive from my Portland life, I will laugh with you soon enough.

Porst! :)

Thought For the Day

Work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, 

and Dance like no one's watching.

30 Minutes in Ma Whai Whai Mahal

Charlie and I throwing down some base coat at one frame every two seconds in Takaka, Golden Bay.

Let's Talk Takaka

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.

Goal, Golden Bay

I set out from Nelson at 10 am on Monday. The owner of the backpackers dropped me off on the other side of town so I would have a better chance of getting picked up hitch hiking. I stood out front of some fancy condos for about 45 minutes with my thumb out and my tunes blasting when i heard some shouts poking through my Arcade Fire. It was coming from above my head and I looked up to see an older tanned couple asking me where I was headed. I quipped "Motueka!" and they volleyed "we are heading there in 5 minutes." That was easy I thought. I waited outside the parking garage and was greeted by a retired realtor, wearing Versace sunglasses. We talked travel, NZ, Obama along the way. I was dropped on the other side of Motueka to further my chances of getting a hitch over the hill into my destination town of Takaka. I waited for ages. a few cars stopped but were only going a fraction of the way and my chances would diminishing if i left Mot. I had to get into Takaka tonight because I had to report to The Dangerous Kitchen by 10am Tuesday. There was a shuttle leaving Mot at 4:20 but I couldn't afford to put it on my credit card so I wanted that to be my last resort. I set my phone alarm to 4:00 so if i didn't get a hitch I could run over and book the bus. I borrowed some cardboard and a Sharpie from a local business and made myself a "TAKAKA" sign. I stood outside the Police station of all places and prayed for my arts and crafts project to pay off........

Picton to Wherever

I ended my STRAY journey where it began in Picton. I knew I wanted to spend more time in the South so I stayed a couple nights at the Villa Backpackers in Picton to plan my next move. If I board the ferry to the North Island where I have peeps who can put me up, I know I wont be going back to the South Island. I was talking to Steve the Pirate from Toronto and he highly endorsed The Dangerous Kitchen in Takaka in Golden Bay. I called the owner and she said she had a spot available on Tuesday the 23rd. I decided to check out of the Villa this morning and try to hitch hike west. Steve said he may want to hitch with me so I waited around till he woke up and I asked him if he was still kean to go. He changed his mind about 4 times the night before so I felt compelled to ask him again if he was sure he wanted to go. He said he would pack his things and think about it while he was packing. I waited over toast and coffee, just to see him approach me during my last bite wearing the NO IM NOT FEELING IT face. He asked me if i could bring a tool set to some dude in a town along the way and I hit the road while he went to his room to look for them.

I walked across Picton to a popular hitching spot and laid down the thumb. It took about a half an hour before the first person stopped. I told him I was trying to get to Picton and he said that he wasn't going that far and said Id be better off waiting for someone who was. Two more cars and the same story. Finally some fancy pants named Nick driving a brand new BMW pulled up and was game to take me to a town half way there. He used the speed the car was built to display and we got to the crossroads prompt. I was at the Nelson/Bleinhem fork for only about 10 minutes when Neil picked me up. Neil is a Kiwi bloke in his late 40's. His first question to me was "you looking for work too?" I eased his competitive concern with a "no" and we were off. Apparently Neil has been driving around the South looking for some odd jobs. He lives out of his van and buys milk, bread, salt and pepper and hunts for the rest(possum, venison, trout, etc.) He talked about all kinds of shit i had no input on, so i responded with cordial "hahas and yeah totally." He was cool because he wanted to stop at all the photo worthy spots along the way. I wasn't sure if i should be concerned about Neil or not. He was a really nice guy, but I'm sure people said the same thing about Jeffery Dahmer. I was wide awake when i got into the van but within a half an hour I could feel myself getting really tired and my limbs started feeling all tingly. At this point I thought either I was being bored to death by Neil's childhood stories or he was gassing me with some knockout toxin. I instinctually lean towards the latter and as soon as I told myself that he was going to tell me that he was going to kill me he asked me, "I bet you get some pretty hairy drivers, hitching around NZ like this?" I told him that it hasnt been bad and I just have to go with my insticts. The city of Nelson couldnt have appeared soon enough. I had Neil drop me off at the info center and that ended that. I found a backpackers called The Green Monkey and that's where im at now. Chill place with free internet and ill be here until monday.

Sorry for the abbreviated tone of my writing. Peeps are waiting for the 'puter.

:)

South Island!

I have had a wonderful time in the North but the South summons me.
I catch the ferry today in Wellington and will arrive in Picton 3 hours later. I have had a wonderful time wwoofing and I have met amazing people in the process. I've decided to book a bus tour too see the South Island. I can get off and stay anywhere along the way and catch the next one coming through. I should be with Stray for about a month then make my way slowly back towards Auckland and catch what I've missed along the way.

Stay tuned for stories and images! :)

Love you all!

Below is the pass I booked. Im Stoked!
http://www.straytravel.com/new-zealand-bus-travel/19/

5/27 Cafe Last Day

Last night was Jess' last cooking class. There was a large turnout for the Middle Eastern themed food and the celebratory wine. The woofers(Trey, Danielle, Hen, & I) sat at the kids table and finished a couple bottles of wine and whatever was left over from the bottles on the adult table. The food was delicious and the night was fun. I woke up the next morning in pretty bad shape. I wasn't able to hold anything down and I woke up three different times and went back to bed, not finally staying out of bed until 6pm. :(

I was finally going to ride the Driving Creek Railway up the mountain, but hangover wouldn't allow it. Oh, well......NEXT TIME! :)

5/20 - Mirrored West

It was Wednesday and we knew we were going to head east, we just weren't sure how. I called Ashley and she was nice enough to let us use her car for the day. She informed me that it wasn't insured and that it was a manual transmission. Two things I didn't want to have to worry about while trying to learn the reflection of everything I knew about driving. As I hung the phone up on the receiver it gave the clouds the go ahead to release every raindrop it had in its grasps. Ashley called back in a matter minutes, explaining that she would need the car to run some errands, so we were force to create a plan B.

Henriette, Louisa and I had already toyed with the idea of hiring a car to see some of the Peninsula outside of Coromandel Town, so we made the appropriate phone call. Putting the phone down on the receiver again was the sun's queue to enter stage left. We walked into town and onto the road out of it. We were walking along the sidewalk in the middle of nowhere when we came upon 3 chopped fish. We ignored this omen and continued on to Strongman's Vehicle Rentals. We were greeted by two large Germans Sheppard guard dogs. The less relaxed of the two ignored the girls and watched my like a hawk. I wasn't sure what to do with my hands. If I looked too tense he would be sure to attack. I stood in scarecrow formation until the owners came out to greet us.

Because I was the one who was going to hire the car, I had to follow one of the employees into a caravan full of cardboard boxes, mixed paperwork and a 1987 computer. I helped her fill in all the required fields with my sensitive information, only to find out the one we were after had an expired certificate of fitness. Because of this alert, I had to sit on a stack of papers and refill all the proper fields. The car we were after this time was considered hired out by the computer, so of course it wouldn't let us hire an already hired car so the entry fields cleared again. I left my id and credit card with the lady and decided to join the girls in the kitchen caravan for cheap instant coffee and the opportunity to laugh at all the knickknacks on the shelves and walls.

They eventually cured the temporary y2k and handed us the keys to a studly silver Nissan with a slow air leak in one of the tires. Time to saddle up!. I entered what would normally be the passenger seat and pulled out of the drive way. To signal my turn out of the driveway, I warned with waving windshield wipers. The entire journey was like learning how to drive all over again. I had to forget all my instincts and pray that any traffic signs wouldn't ask too much out of me. We took an alternate route to the east coast town of Whitianga. A scenic,windy, unsealed mountain road that took us by waterfalls, deciduous trees reminding us of the seasons, and the occasional wild pig.

We arrived in Whitianga with the need of food so we grab some takeaway chips and headed for the beach. When buying chips(fries) who have to buy dipping sauce separate. This place didn't have ketchup but instead had a small tin can of tomato sauce. We took our various forms of chips and dipping canisters down to the beach and ate and discussed different English to German translations, German to American stereotypes(which I mostly found hard to argue against.) From there we drove over to Hot water beach to watch some surfers and realized the tide was too high to be mining for hot water in the sand. From there it was to Cathedral Cove. It was my second time hiking in to the Cove, but being with friends adds a whole new angle to it. The sun was falling to the horizon so we hiked with haste, getting there to enjoy Cathedral Cove painted with the magic hours palette of pinks and oranges.

I drove the Silver Mullet back in the dark with the confidence of a seasoned student driver. I signaled my blinker when I intended to and excused the rain from the windshield on the first try. But the sacrifice for this efficiency was seen on my speedometer. I was overtaken(passed) with regularity, but I delivered the WWOOFing staff to the cafe all in one piece and safe to wash dishes another day.

If.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
Is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
But to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
In your heart and in the world
Work for peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up

H.H. The XIV Dalai Lama

Wandering Thoughts #1

Even angry people are nice here.
There was a construction worker crossing the road in Auckland as a BMW driven by an Urbanite in a hurry almost ran him down on a left turn. The young blue collar who managed to avoid a young death stood firm in front of the vehicle and articulately yelled through the windshield, "If you are going to treat people like that, you deserve to be punched in the face!"

5/18 You've Been Served

Every Monday night Jess teaches a cooking class here at the cafe. A bunch of middle aged and older women congregate here to learn how to cook a vegetarian 3 course meal from start to finish. The girls and I usually sit in the other room and hang around the fire and take our place at the table to enjoy the finished product. The first Monday I was here the meal was ratatouille, polenta, and some fancy bean dips. Tonight it is winter sushi. I had the option of sitting in on the class, but the fire had me caught in its tractor beam so I had Henriette fill in and document it with my camera.

The best part of the evening aside from the food is sitting around the dinner table with a bunch of Kiwi women and listening to a variety of ridiculous, mundane and hilarious conversations. Last week there was talk of beans making you expel gas and this week we touched on the ethics of tourists smuggling in potential harmful critters. Tonight one of the older women was talking about one of her American wwoofers that brought in raw, untreated wool from the states in hopes of spinning it and making a hat. The two old women talked about how dangerous it was to bring raw wool into NZ in the fear up it carrying some parasite or disease that could take down the New Zealand wool industry. I tried to assure them that American put so many parasites on everything, so the chances of something harmful being alive were slim. One of the women, an obvious European descendant responded with a "damn foreigners!" where I casually inserted a, "So what Maori tribe are you from?" Then the conversation died...

5/17 - Man on Beach

I woke up and gave Jona(Yo-Nuh) a call to see if he wanted to hike up the river or maybe trek to
a beach. It is Jona's last day so I thought is would be fun to find some adventure. He recommended a beach called New Chums Beach in Whangapou. I walked up to his Aunt Petra's pottery studio and Jona, Petra, Holly, the dog and I all hopped in the car and headed east over the hills. You have to park at a beach and hike about 300 meters along the rocks and through some bush to reach New Chums. Passing through the beach front bush, I couldn't help but scout the trees and open areas to see where I would build my shelter if I was a castaway. The trail opens up onto an amazing beach with great cliffs, white sand and a nice break. There were four peeps sitting around an acoustic guitar so we said our "g'days" and walked up the beach to find our own plot. The women stripped down to their bikinis(eventually less, for Petra) and that's when I realized I had forgotten my shorts. I wasn't going to let whether or not I had the appropriate wardrobe stand between me swimming in the ocean or not. I stripped down to my knickers and swam in the big blue. The beach was amazing and to ourelves, and it made me glad I was here during the off season.

I got dropped off at the Cafe just as Mehow was setting up for movie night at the cafe. He sets up the white wall and projector and seating for the community come and eat dinner(Dahl) and follow that with some cinema. Tonight it was Man on Wire. You've all seen it and liked it so I don't have to talk about it. I enjoyed it as well and appreciated the passion Dude lived with. I wonder what additional loss he feels after the towers were gone. Seeing that he had a life long emotional connection and personal relationship to those structures.

5/15 - I'm Big in Japan

I was eating breakfast outside on the deck so the sun could find me. I was enjoying my book while i caught a very mature(old) praying mantis dragging himself to within 8" from my right hand. He stood there dazed for a bit and proceeded to lay his head down, pick it up for a few and lay it back down. It appeared he was just sharing the warmth of the sun with me until I noticed that he hadn't moved for about 15 minutes. That was is it. His life was over. I was both saddened and honored that he chose me as a witness for the end. I would have tried to revive him, but Ms. Louis didn't cover insect resuscitation in 5th period health. I also thought it would be classier to let him die with dignity in the warmth provided by that which gives all things life.....so i stayed on the sidelines and took photos and posted them to the web.

People around here don't seem to sweat the details so I won't either. A Japanese film crew and actors/hosts came into the Cafe today and ordered everything on the menu. It appeared that they were doing a travel food show on organic vegetarian cuisine. Before eating the dishes, they filmed each culinary delight in their makeshift set over in the corner of the room. Then proceeded to film everything little strange thing throughout the cafe. It was a wonder to watch and a blast trying to get in the background of every frame. Fingers crossed! :)

5/14 Day Off

Beautiful day and not working. There is supposedly a river/creek about 2 minutes walk from here so I found bank access and rock hopped upstream for about an hour before the channel became too narrow and by this time the good weather fairy had fallen asleep, so I headed back to the Cafe.

5/13

I was in the cafe today. There were a couple of times where it rained so hard, you drop what you are doing and walk to the nearest exit or window and just watch the wash. Today is Jona's birthday so Henriette made some lovely cupcakes. Louisa made a cake for him last night but we ate it all within a few hours of its departure from the oven. OOPS!

We were waiting for Jona to call us to go up the his place, so we killed time with wine and a board game. You would think I would have the upper hand in a game such as this when playing and English language game against two Germans. No such advantage present. If all Germans at the table played within the confines of the English language and the perameters of the game board, I would have dominated.

We got the call from Jona and walked the 200 meters up an unlit, unsealed, mountain road with a cupcake and a half enjoyed bottle of wine as a celebretory gesture.

5/10 Mission: Cathederal Cove

Today was a day off and I wanted to make the most of it. I got out of bed later than I wanted to, per usual. My first day off I saw what "downtown" Coromandel had to offer and I knew for this one I wanted to see something else on the peninsula. Everyone has been telling me to check out hot water beach and the pictures I have seen of Cathedral Cove have been telling my eyes to tell my brain that I wanted to go there. I was on the west coast and I know I needed to get to the east coast. Mehow drew me up a map and I walked into town. I was rocking the hitch thumb on the way in, but got no love. I was a little concerned about the time, because Hot Water Beach is only in its glory if you are there at low tide. Low tide was at 2:00 and you can get away with being there 2 hours on either side of that. I stopped in at the info center in Coromandel to see if there was a bus or shuttle heading that direction. The lady behind the counter advised me that there was a one-way shuttle heading to Whitianga leaving in 10 minutes. Whitianga wasn't quite where I needed to get, but it was closer to Hahei(home of both Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach) so I booked it. I met a couple of Vancouver, Canadians waiting for the van as well. They were staying in Whitianga and expressed interest in doing the Cove and the Beach as well. The van came and we did the windy, scenic drive over the mountains and into Whitianga. I had the driver drop me off at the info center and I asked Info to point me in the direction of the ferry.

I walked the couple kilos over to the pedestrian ferry and floated across the water to where I was suppose to hitch to my sites. I waited on the destination side for a navigation opportunity, but there was nadda. I saw a scooter rental place on top of the hill and decided that it would be a stylin' way to pull up to the Cove. I hired(rented) the beast for 3 hours and did my best not to kill myself along the way. It was about a 10 kilometer ride to Cathedral Cove. The sun was poking through the clouds when I got there. You can only reach the cove by hiking in, or by boat. I hiked the 40 minutes in and it was way worth it. There weren't many peeps on the beach. The people who were there were all coupled up and being all Hallmark with each other and shit, which kinda bummed me out. I spent about 45 minutes there, taking the equivalent of 2 rolls of film of amazing cliffs and years of erosion. It started to hint at rain so I decided to hike out. The entire time I was sorta racing the time trying to stay within that 2 hour window of low tide. By the time I got to the parking lot it was too late to drive the extra 8 kilometers to Hot Water and there was a storm coming for sure and I was not prepared wardrobe wise. I hovered back towards the ferry landing during mid storm, rain drops hitting my face like hundreds of miniature liquid fists. I squinted as much as possible to avoid unwanted eye drops. Just a notch above losing the important sense of sight. At this point it was getting dark and I was getting concerned about finding a ride back to Coromandel. I had to work in the morning and I knew they would start to worry if i didn't let them know I wasn't in a ditch somewhere. I got to the other side and scurried, soaking wet and freezing to the Coromandel turn off. The thumb went out and the first 8 cars that went by continued in the direction they were pointed. Tail lights meant they were leaving.

A local walked by and informed me that I was at a low traffic crossroads and would be better off about a kilometer up the road. I stood shivering with my arm out to the few and far between autos. After about 20 minutes a white van pulled over to save me. She was a young striking German women who was traveling from a cafe where she worked in Whitianga on her way home to Kuaotunu. A town about at the half way point between Whitianga and Coromandel. When I opened the passenger side door to get in I heard the sound of Justin Vernon singing the lyrics to Skinny Love. Music to my ears! She was only going as far as her home(Kuaotunu) so she dropped me off at a spot under a street light on a dark empty road in the rain. I was thinking I would have been better off just declining her offer for a ride and staying within the comfort of city light and my fellow man, but here I was in the hood of night. There were noooooo cars going by. It was a rainy Sunday night and no one passed me. A slight hiccup in the game of hitch hiking.

I waited for about a half an hour and decided that I didn't want to die of hypothermia or worse, so i felt my way through the night for a backpackers. I saw some lights in the distance and let its glow reel me in. It was a convenience store that was just about to close. I asked if she knew of any backpackers and she directed me to one that was just 40 meters away! When I got there the office was closed so I went to the side door and knocked on the sliding glass door to the residents surprise. They weren't really open, but I explained my case and they opened a room for me in their vacant abode. I called my hosts at the cafe and Jessica answered with relief and offered to come pick me up. I declined and told her I was safe and warm for the night and I would resume my journey in the morning. She switched me to the 10am shift and just told me to get there when I could.

I woke up bright and early to check out. I went back to the spot I was standing 12 hours earlier to hitch. Now dressed in sunlight, it might as well been somewhere entirely different. It took 4 cars before a man picked me up. I told him Coromandel and he agreed. We exchanged formalities and he asked what is typically the first question out of a rides mouth, "where you from?" It's also amazing how many people that have given me rides have connections to the American NW. His wife was from Eugene and he lived in Newberg way back when. He talked about the monthly trips he had to take to Auckland for his mother's cancer treatment and I listened. It is a cool thing to be in a temporary arrangement with a good willed stranger. People let guards down and real conversations flow.

I got dropped off at the crossroads in Coromandel and walked up the hill out of downtown and on towards the Cafe. Arriving just in time for work.

:)

5/9 - First Working Day!

So I woke up on time and walked the 30' from the sleeping quarters to the cafe. A seriously tough commute. The cafe was pretty slow so I mainly just did some dishes, cleared a few tables and brought some foods out to patrons. Most of my day was listening to Mehow(an owner) and the chef Ashley arguing about business philosophy, customer service, etc.

awkwaaaaaaaard.....

In the evening the wwoofers went over to an extension of the Art Walk and listened to some local live music and socialized with the locals. Beaver was the headliner. Apparently she played Woodstock back in the day, not bad.

5/8

My first day at the Cafe is my day off! I woke up at 6am and everyone was already out of the bunk house. I laid in bed till the clock said 7am. I went into the cafe and made myself some breakfast and sat at one of the computers to check my email. I looked at the computer's clock all squinty eyed and read it 11am! I had a mini panic and packed up my day gear and started walking towards town to see what Coromandel Township was all about.

5/7 - Arriving at the Cafe

I left the City of Sails today. The ride from Thames to Coromandel was a beaut! Sooooo gnarly though. If you never get carsick, you would on that ride. I was sure I was gonna spew. I had my Dixie cup ready just in case. Mehow from the cafe picked me up from the info center and dropped me off at the cafe. There were 3 other wwoofers there hanging out. Alaina from Alaska, Louisa from Germany and Henriette from Germany. They were doing some girly oatmeal facemask stuff while I got adjusted and tested my patience with some slow cyberwebs.

5/6 - Ink, Humps & Beats

I woke up today and decided it would be a good day to get a tattoo. I walked down to Ballistic Tattoo on Queen Street and payed $80NZ for a nice little piece. After walking around a bit, I decided to head back to the hostel. As I walked into the lobby I saw Vicki(a Fat Camel employee) wearing a camel costume. She immediately started pleading with me to help her out for a couple hours. I said "NO!" consecutively about 20 times, before I decided that saying yes would make for a better story. The first 10 minutes in that damn suit made me deeply regret my decision. "Baby" Jack was the head and the front legs and I was the back legs and arse. I couldn't see shit! I had to watch the back of Jack's feet the entire time. All I could do was hear the passing cries of laughter and the occasional drunkard poking his/her head up into the middle of jack and I. We did get some funny video of Jack getting fake beaten up on a busy intersection on Queen St.

At 8 o'clock I went up to Whammy! bar on K Rd. to see Matt & Kim. The astmosphere in that room reminding me so much of Portland. The bartender, Caroline was from Seattle and had been living in NZ for the last 3 years. She declared NZ being a lot like home, just condensed and mostly just the good parts.

5/5

When you check into the Fat Camel they give you a free city tour through Stray. I booked it for today. We started out by going up to the Sky Tower. The guide played a round of heads and tails amongst the passengers and the winner got a free ticket to the Sky Tower free fall. I was half jealous and half relieved when I lost my round. From there we drove to the top of an active volcano and stared down the loaded barrel of Ms. Nature's shotgun. We hit a pub for lunch and to talk amongst ourselves. I sat next to an English girl who had just arrived from visiting Portland. She talked about her favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie and I talked to her about bands that were better. We were short on time so we cut out the pier trip and headed down to the Harbour Bridge. There is a bungee company that operates a jump from the underside of the bridges pinnacle. We strapped on harnesses and walked out to the jump to witness one of the dudes on the tour take a leap. It was pretty sweet, but aderenaline costs 100$ for essentially 2 minutes under this bridge. When they asked if anyone else wanted to go, the word "yes" was on the tip of my tongue, but it hung on for dear life.

5/4

Today Micheal took me into Auckland, back to the Fat Camel where this whole thing started. I was in the lobby when some familiar faces walked by and yelled, "Ian Johnson is back in the house!" Auckland loves me.

Leaving the Sanctuary

It has been an amazing stay here in Matakana. I am hitching into Auckland with Micheal in the morning. I am thinking about staying in Auckland for a couple nights to catch some live music before I head up into the Coromandel. I'll be working at a vegetarian cafe called The Driving Creek Cafe in the Coromandel Township starting the 8th of May. I hear the whole peninsula is amazing. After that I am gonna start migrating south. Waitomo Caves, Palmerston North and Wellington before I jump the puddle to the South Island. I'm not sure how frequent my internet use will be so be patient and stay tuned! Love you all! :)

5/3-Into the Wild

Today I woke up and helped build a compost bin for all this shit I've collected. After that, I grabbed a paintbrush and applied some weather proofing to the stables. When that was done, I decided that I was going to find this waterfall that I had failed to track down a week previous. I passed Micheal on the way up and he gave me some navigation guidelines to prevent another mission failure.

It was a little sketch on the way in. The bush is really dense and the trail is marked by the occasional orange, spray painted dot on a tree trunk. It took about 45 minutes to get into the falls. My initial reactions was, "Yay, I found it!" followed by, "It's a lot smaller than I expected." It turns out, there is a baby falls above the bigger one, so the first one was just a teaser. I baptized myself, dressed as I came into this world in the chilled waters below. The sun was starting to duck towards the horizon so I decided to head back.

I followed the blue marker to the the orange markers and started heading up the hills through the forest. After passing a few markers I couldn't find the next one and I didn't recognize the terrain from that angle. I thought I could just use my stellar internal compass and keep the sun to my left. It didn't take me long to realize that I was lost. Climbing through densely vegetated topography, sometimes on all fours, breaking through spider silk ribbons, like finishing a thousand races. I knew if I hiked with the edge of the tree line in my sights, I would eventually come out at the trail head. The worst part is seeing where you need or want to go but not being able to get your body there. The problem was the deep, unscalable canyon that stood in the middle.

I walked along it until I came upon a fallen tree that sort of bridge the gap. I started walking across and I looked down past the log beneath my feet and it occurred to me how messed up I'd be if I fell that distance. I did some inventory on my footing and decided to turn back. While spending the next 70 minutes tripping over branches, slipping down embankments and narrowly escaping branch impalement every ten feet, I started to feel a sense of vulnerable desperation. I wanted to stop and regain some strength, but I knew if the sun set before I got out of there, I'd be screwed.

I eventually came across some shit from the cows I saw on the trail a week previous and I knew I was getting close, or at least I was on the right track. I was never happier in my life to see poo. I exited the woods just as the daylight was closing its eye. Happy to be alive. :)

5/2

Cold and miserable was the story of the day. I do love the rain though. The weather here is so unpredictable. I cut wood by saw until my arms were jello. I watched Back to the Future 2 and became grateful of how far special effects have come. During said film, I sampled some gorse wine, made from the yellow flowers it blooms. It was a tad syrupy, but good. The end result was me passed out on the couch so you be the judge.

5/1

Today I woke up and did another Manure Tour, collecting the black gold. I actually enjoy doing this. You just walk around the country side with a scooper, feed sack and the jams pumpin' in my headphones. My next task was to pull up some gorse. Gorse is a very prickly shrub/tree that some genius brought over with himself from Scotland way back when. This invasive species can stay dormant for up to 100 years before it sprouts, waiting for the right conditions. After I mowed the lawn(which is like zen to me) I tagged along with Micheal while he visited his client in Mangawhai. While he was doing his thing, I walked about a kilometer into town. I needed to kill some time so I found a pub and had a few quiet ones.

The bartender was a nice dude with plenty to talk about. He was from down south and despised Auckland, calling it a virus. Our hour long talk covered...

• Permaculture-When all of the resources are gone, will you eat your money?
• 9/11 conspiracies- He lost me on some of these
• The scariness of the American Bible Belt/his willingness to debate the bible with Christians
• Marijuana laws/the war on drugs
• Obama and the restored faith that the rest of the world has in the US
• Teachers from within "the System" teaching young ones how to be a part of "the System"
• Taking advantage of the opportunities life gives you
• How the victors write the history books
• The advantages of using a point system instead of money, etc, etc....

It was a very entertaining way to spend a couple of my hours. A few beers and a colorful local.

4/26-4/30

I'm still at the sanctuary. :) Last night Shawn, Micheal and I went into Auckland to have dinner with their daughter and her husband and Sara(from the Sanctuary) and her boyfriend. We ate some bomb Thai at a place called (cough, cough)Monsoon Poon. Shawn is leaving for the states in the morning so she is staying behind and Micheal and I heading back to the hills.



Other things I did with a smile these last few days were...

• Manure Tour '09-Picked up a lot of shit, aka black gold.


• Operation Take Too Many Photos of Animals. PS. With all the talk I've heard about New Zealand being loaded with sheep, I haven't seen one up close. I guess I'm just respecting that restraining order. ;)


• I've continued to eat a Vegetarian's diet. We had 2 for 1 pizzas at the Rusty Pelican in Matakana. PS. If you say "I'm a Vegetarian, but I eat fish sometimes." You aren't really a vegetarian, sorry. :(


• I filled potholes in the driveway. PS. When a road is gravel they call it "unsealed"

4/22-4/27

I'm at the Animal Sanctuary. The animals and my hosts Shaun and Michael are great. It is fun to watch the fauna and project human thoughts, feelings and dramas onto them and their interactions with one another. For instance...Max and Rouge are a parrot couple. Max is a bit more sociable, so it is common for him to hang out on someone shoulder for a stint. When he is returned to his home, Rouge gives him the, "Where the hell were you? Dinner is on the counter.....cold!" He knows he should have called to tell her he was gonna be late, so he does the, "Awe babe, don't be like that. Give me some sugar."

Here are some other things I did the last couple days....

• I got lost in the bush. Bronny and I were trying to find an alleged waterfall using a crude map that was artfully drawn with some Crayola product by Sarah. We never found it.
• I ran away from a hornets nest, screaming like a man and disrobing after disturbing it by accident. All I have to show for my discovery are 3 stings and a swollen arm.
• I've watched two full games of rugby on tv. Im slowly, but surely learning how it's played. It's amazing more of the players dont get hurt worse more often.
• I bonded with my roommate Timmy the turtle. He would climb onto my chest and stare at my face and analyze my movements and expressions as a human infant might do.
• I sat and listened to a Tui named Cassidy talk to himself in voices vey similar to C3PO and James Earl Jones.
• I've scooped chicken poop, pig poop, donkey poop, goat poop and duck poop.
• I've had a Lorikeet display to my foot and attack the same foot in a 10 minute period.
• I've witnessed Michael jam out to Eminem while working at his computer. He and Eminem are an unlikely combonation.
• I've witnessed an animal whisperer psycho analyze an array of beasts. She was suprisingly accurate.

Neadless to say, there is never a dull moment here at the Sanctuary. Good times! :)

Goals include.....Find the waterfall, use the pool table, learn all of the animals names.

Next host will be in the Coromandel. The Driving Creek Cafe. Stay tuned......

4/21

I said my goodbyes to Jan and Lucka. Angela and I drove them into Kohukohu and continued on to Whangerei. We stopped in Kawakawa for coffee/hot cocoa and to check out its claim to fame....a restroom. An Austrian artist with a really great style, created a great piece. It is his only work in the Southern Hemisphere. Hundertwasser is his name. I just googled it.

I caught the bus to Whangerei and got dropped in Warkworth by 4:15pm. Shawn and Michael were waiting for me. We stopped by the vet to pick an injured Cook's Petrel that someone had dropped off. We then drove through Matakana and into the hills to the Sanctuary. The house is huge and very modern. Quite the opposite end of the spectrum from Waiora. Equally beautiful...just different. It appears that it is going to be one of those things where, once I am comfortable with my surroundings and able to be myself, it's off to the next adventure.

Four Twenty

So apparently when it rains really hard at Waiora, the pond overflows on one side and pours down the hill. That's were today's WWOOF task for Jan and I comes in. The goal is to build the earth up on that side to block the unwanted watershed. We had to dig up some existing fence poles that had cement foundations that were deeply rooted in some crazy wet clay. The project took a couple of hours. Jan and I gave ourselves clay face painted warrior motifs and called it a victory. After that I straight chilled all day. The sun was out after 24 hours of on and off rain. Jan made Slovenian pancakes for dinner and we're about to play a competitive game of UNO(they have whack rules in Slovenia)

I leave Waiora tomorrow. :( I am hitching a ride with Angela down to Whangerei and then I'm going to hitch up to Warkworth, where Shawn from the Animal Sanctuary is going to pick me up. I'll be at the Sanctuary for the next week and a half or so. Wish me luck! :)

4/19

Sunday is a day off for this WWOOFer. The plan was to go pick feijoas with Jan and Lucka about 80 km away and hit the hot pools on the way back. "Smells like hell, and feels like heaven" our would be ride proclaimed. This plan took up the entire day and left a wide open hole when it fell through. So my plan is now to sit in the sun and read and watch the Blazers get their asses handed to them on espn.com. Booooo! :(

4/18

I woke up and made my self fruit and muesle. Angela gave me unique tasks while Jan and Lucka dug up potatoes. I had to get on the iron roof and seal some holes with silicon before the rains came. After doing that I joined the Slovenians in the garden. Collecting taters was fun. It was like lying on your back in a field identifying cloud formations as commen objects. We found butts, I found a Valentines heart, balloon animals, people, etc. After the potatoes were gathered, we laid them all out on a tarp and divided them by color(brown, yellow, red)and threw the green ones in a bucket to later be replanted, All the gnarly, worm eaten ones were set aside, to be cooked and fed to the chooks.

After all the the three of us sat around an outside table and cut out macadamia nuts from their green encasing. While al this was going down we witnessed two butterflies emerge from their cocoons. I feal really lucky to witness stuff like that. The cocoons have these really detailed metallic gold markings that accents the seams. I'm not sure what the significance they would have in nature.

Lucka is a message therapist, and she asked if she could use me to show Jan how to do it properly. After being super soar from yesterday, I wasn't going to turn down a much needed massage from a pro. I walked out of the Whale Room drunk on relaxation.

4/17

I woke up sorta late today. Must have been all that hard work from yesterday. Angela gave me the option of helping Depak move a shed and I obliged. We drove the 4X4 van up the drive with a trailer in tow to the work site. It was a huge metal shed with a wood frame, broken down into four walls and a roof. It was heavier than anything and had jagged sharp iron shards poking out each and every way and the frame was littered with protruding nails. A serious danger zone! The rode to the drop off site was sketch fest. Ruggedest of the rugged. Depak and his brother argued moving strategies the entire time. During one of the unloads the largest spider I have ever seen in nature fell out of the stack. We're talking huge! I saw another from the same species 10 minutes later, and another from a different species. We finished work at about 3 and headed home. My lower back was jacked, Depak's finger was nearly severed, and dude who's name i always forget had hurt feelings.

I went into the Whale Room and watched Chuck and Larry. I neede some crappy Hollywood to comfort me. When I walked into the kitchen, Angela was sitting at the table with my bunkmate Paul and the new WWOOFers Jan(Yan) and Lucka(Lootchka). They are a young couple from Slovenia. Lucka has been here a few months and Jan just met up with her a week ago from WWOOFing in Hawaii. We sat around the dinner table and chatted. Its nice to have some peers to yack with while working in the garden.

4/16

Today was my first day as a WWOOFer.
I made breakfast which consisted homemade yogurt, some oatmix with raisins, fig, apple, and about 4 fruits I've never heard of. Very good!

After breakfast, we went down to the garden and chopped the shit out of the weeds. Apparently NZ has the most species of weeds or invasive plants as anywhere else. I spent a couple of my hours today destroying them. Before that though, I dumped the food scraps from the kitchen into worm farm/compost bin, fed the chickens, collected eggs, moved the rabbits pen, and got Ned the goat's head uncaught from the barrier around the orange tree. I think he likes to eat the bark. I also photographed a praying mantis that landed on my shoe and I watched a butterfly hatch from its cocoon and tried my hardest not to interfere with that process. I learned that on Planet Earth. Goodnight!

Wiaora

We pulled up and the place looked like a tropical oasis in mostly evergreen hillside. No one was here and Tios disappeared somewhere, so I gave myself a tour of teh grounds. There is too much to explain here, but it looks way flash. Ill draw you a diagram when i get home. It then started to get dark and a little lonely so I tethered myself to the computer because the hum makes me feel at home.

Angela eventually got home. She is super sweet. A cute German woman who moved here about 30 years ago to buy some land and start a sustainable garden. SHe had been building it ever since. She made a delicious pumpkin soup and a bomb salad with red cabbage, avacado, sprouts, etc. Home made bread and butter. All grown on site. I feel healthier already!

Random Realization #1

The loud voice in the corner of the cafe is always an American. :(

4/15

I woke up early and checked out of Mainstreet Backpackers. Darren had cleaned his car out because it smelled like a foot, then we took off. The drive was gorgeous but crazy wavy. Silly straw status. We stopped a couple times to tour-ize the scenery. The drive took about and hour to get to Kohukohu.

Kohukohu sits right on the Hokianga Harbour and is the northern ferry town opposite Rawene(don't even try to pronounce these Maori town names.) I called Waiora, but apparently everyone was out except for some dude named Tios who was there for some Free Energy conference. He agreed to take the half an hour journey to pick me up. He eventually showed up, so I said peace to Darren and hopped into some strangers car. He was playing St. Germaines album Tourist, so i felt more at ease. While we were driving switchback roads deeper and deeper into the hills, it really sunk in how vulnerable/trusting I am over here. I guess I have to listen to that Maori janitor in Auckland's advice when she told me to listen to my gut.

Bus Tour

The bus arrived and it was full as advertised. A huge group of Japanese tourists boarded after Darren and I. Throughout the trip, the children of the group insisted on closing the curtains on their windows, which led to everyone on the left side if the bus to miss a few noteworthy landmarks. They eventually opened them.

The bus took us up north, first stop was the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, where we viewed massive kauri logs and stumps that had been extracted from from a local swampland. On th way we passed by a pine tree plantation. The second largest man made forest in the southern hemisphere. The bus stopped and we had lunch and a quick dip on Rarawa Beach. A beach with amazing white silica sands on a beautiful bay. We continued on to Cape Reinga, where there is a fancy lighthouse and amazing oceanic views. It overlooks the meeting place of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. You can actually see where the two meet. it's eerie. Huge whirlpools and angry waves crashing against each other creating a violent seam.

After leaving Cape Reinga the bus drove us through the Te Paki stream, which is essentially quick sand. Before pulling onto the 90 mile beach, we stopped at a steep dune and did some sand tobogganing. After that brief stop we continued on to the 90 mile beach. Not sure why its called that. I think it is actually only about 60 miles long. It must look better on a brochure that way. This beach is pretty surreal. Totally flat, no driftwood, practically straight further that the eye can see, and you're driving parallel to the ocean at 100kmh. The Canadian women sitting behind me couldn't get over it. She kept laugh/yelling, "Look at that! We are driving on the beach, eh!" As cool as it was, after 20 miles it looks like the DJ put the scenery on repeat and you fall asleep due to the hum of the engine and the crashing of the waves.

Throughout the tour, Darren had been talking to these two girls who were sitting behind us on the bus. By the end, Darnie and the American girl she was hosting, McKenzie, had invited us to go fishing for pipi(clam family) in Taipa. We got there just as the sun was setting. You get as deep as your knees in the river and dig your hand into the sand and feel around for these guys. Or 150 of them. That is the limit per person, per day. After that I went back to the hostel and crashed.

4/14

My options for today were..A. Spend the day walking along a road trying to find a hitch south, or B. Stay another day at the backpackers and spend my day exploring the north. After realizing that I may not be up this far north for the remainder of my trip, I book the Cape Reinga, 90 mile beach tour. There was only ONE seat left on the bus and it was set to leave in a half an hour from outside the hostel. While I was waiting outside, another dude(Darren, UK) who was staying at the hostel came up and initiated conversation. We talked about what brought as to NZ and the tour we were about to embark on, etc. I asked him where he was going next after Kaitaia and he said he was heading south, I asked east or west coast and he said west! I asked if I could hitch to Kohukohu tomorrow and he said no problem.

Kaitaia

I arrived in Kaitaia and walked across town to find a pay phone to call Angela. The town was pretty much dead due to the overly observed Easter Holiday. I called a few times but got no answer. The booth i was using stopped taking my credit card so I had to walk across town to use another. A guy staying at Waiora eventually answered the phone and informed me that Kaitaia was two hours north of of where I needed to be. After re-inflating I walked down to the Mainstreet Backpackers and got a room for the night. I woke up the next morning to a sunny sky and warm air, which created a fork in the road.

Heading North

I rode the bus from Whangarea to Paihia. Once again a beautiful ride. Not to sound over dramatic, but the scenery here makes your heart rush with warmth. A feeling that I guess you could compare with falling in love. Unfortunately landscape photos don't convey this.

The goal was to get to Paihia, hang for a bit, grab lunch, and hitch west to Rawene, then take the ferry across the Hokianga Harbour to Kohukohu where Angela from Waiora was supposed to pick me up. Finding someone to hitch with was proving unsuccesful. I asked the info desk and they said I could take a bus to Kaitaia. I recalled from the Waiora website that it was only 10 minutes away from Kaitaia(i was wrong), so I booked it.

4/13 Getting outta town

Took the bus out of Auckland towards Whangarei. The goal is to get up north to Kohukohu, so Angela from Waiora can pick me up. The bus arrived late to pick us up from Auckland so we didn't pull into Whangarei until about 9om. Too late to hitch anywere, and everything is still closed due to Easter. I was starving so I found the one place open...Subway. I asked the girl behind the counter where I could find a hostel for the night. The suggested a backpackers on the main strip so I followed her directions, but didnt find shit. I ventured back to subway to use the restroom and ask for better directions. It turns out the one they had in mind had been long closed down.

I was way tired by this point, so I went back to the park I had passed several times earlier to try to find a tree to sleep under. I laid in some bushes and had flashes of the NZ spiders i saw on google before I left the states. Not to mention the crown of mesquitos I was now wearing. I aborted operation die in a park and walked down the hill where I could see a few people standing around after they had taken down some sort of concert stage from a festival that appeared to have ended hours earlier. I asked directions to a backpackers and one of the fellas started giving me directions and the other guy said, "I'll take you." I followed him to his SUV and as he was loading my pack into the back I went to get into the passengers side. NO WAIT! that is the drivers side.

We drove to where he thought the backpackers was. I asked about the festival, he replied it was a festival for Jesus where a bunch of churches from different denominations get together and rejoice. By this time we had reached the hostel and knocked on the door. Some dude answered and told us it was no longer a hostel (maybe you should take down all the signs buddy!) He mentioned there was one up the hill about 8km, so Craig agreed to take me. He asked my name and claimed it was his middle name. He asked if I had gone to church and i told him about my mission trips so he wuldnt get too preachy. He dropped me off at the campsite and asked if he could pray for me. I told him he could and he put his hand on my shoulder and asked God to be with me on my journey and to keep me safe and help me to learn as much about life as possible, etc. Hey, I'll take all the positive energy I can get while im here. :)

I tried to find the campground hosts but the office was closed. I was dead tired so I just pitch my sleeping back in an empty space. I tried falling asleep, but the constant buzz of mosquitos and the over heating from an over efficient sleeping bag would let me. I went inside to the little community space (tv, games, brochures) and waited for the people who were in there to leave so i could crash on the couch. I felt strange staying there under the raydar, so i woke up at 630am and packed my stuff so I could hitch back downtown to try to find a bus up north. On my way out, I woman named Jill asked about my journey and insisted I take some fruit and coffee for the road from her family's stash. This isnt an exageration when I say that everyone I have encountered here has been genuinly nice. It leaves you feeling so positive. I guess when you live in a place like this there isnt much to be bitter about.

I headed down the road and checked out Whangerei Falls on the way. It was pretty sweet. It's about the size of Silver Creek Falls. I kept walking and everyone I passed on the way greeted me with a "good mornin'." Just as I was reading the mile marker that told me downtown was 5km, a van pulled up driven by a large dude in his 30s with a beard and a ponytail and asked If i needed a hitch downtown. I followed my intincts and he drove me downtown to the bus station where I booked my trip to Paihi.

Easter Sunday

Last night was fun. I went downstairs to the Fat Camel bar for the complimentary free nachos. They were ridiculous. Five nacho flavored Doritos with Salsa on top. No cheese! After I ate my "nachos" I sat in the corner of the bar and drank a couple pints and read the live music guide. over and over and over. There were only about 9 people in the bar at a given time. I went down to a club called Fusion where the dudes(Saq, Dan, and Kelvin) from my flat said theyde be. I walked in and Saq(aka Jihadi) yelled "IAN JOHNSON!" Tapping random people on the shoulder and yelling "IAN JOHNSON IS IN THE HOUSE! PORTLAND, ORYGON!"
Eventually he told the MC something and the MC yelled on the mic, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...IAN JOHNSON IS IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT!"

I checked out at 10am and began planning my trip up north. The chic at reception recommended taking Naked Bus to Whangerei, then hitching to Kaitaia, so that is what I shall do. Naked Bus leaves at 4:15pm so I'm just chilling until then. I went to Star Mart during my time to kill for a bottle of water and there were three peeps in front of me at the register getting a shit load of power bars and water. I noticed American accents and the dude wearing the hat turned around and it was Ethan Hawke! I was thinking about all the stupid shit I could say to him, "You in town doing a movie?" "You should probably buy a few more energy bars." I opted on saying nothing.

I semi stalked them down to the docks. I had this vision of asking if they could use some work on set. By the time I got down there him and his friends were already on the whale watching boat, so I just took a papporazzi photo so you skeptics would believe me. His friend waved at me while I was taking it whicj made me feel awkward, so I took photos in the opposing two directions so it looked like I was doing a panoramic.

April 11th

I woke up today at about 9am. I had a good nights sleep! The first thing I did was call Qantas to see "what up" but ended up sitting on hold waaay too long (roaming, yikes!) I went down stairs to the lobby to check emails and guess what was there....my bag!

Walked around Queen St. for a while trying to find The Ruby Suns EP and no one had it. :(

Sat at TRAFFIC and beers and read Sedaris in the sun. It was great people watching. Auckland has great diversity.

April 8th-10th

It's 8am and I'm sitting outside by the Hilton on the water.

I flew United from Pdx to Lax. I had a few hour layover, so Maderis was kind enough to power through LA traffic to come hang with me in the international terminal over Mexican beer and eats. It was great to see Rick in person. The phone isnt my strongest medium.

The flight from La to Akl was loooooong! Qantas is a super airline with FREE on demand new realease movies in every headrest(I promise this isnt a commercial!) I watched 4 movies to pass the time. The Wrestler, Quantum of Solace, Ghost Town, and Yes Man and a couple episodes of Little Britian in America(funny shit!)

9:22am

We landed during the wee hours of the morning on Good Friday. I eventually made my way through the gauntlet they call Customs, only to hear my name being called over the loud speaker asking me to go to Luggage Services, where I found out that my backpack was missing(since then it has been found and is supposedly enroute to the hostile.) I took the Airbus to the #5 stop downtown, the sun still hadn't broke the horizon so I had time to run down to the water and take some magic hour shots.

My hostel is called the Fat Camel. It is sandwitched between two humps aka stripclubs. One of them claims to specialize in massages. I'll take their word for it....

6:50pm
I took a power nap in my room....or tried to. I awoke an hour later to a Brazilian couple standing over me trying to explain in broken English that I was in their bed. The room consists of two adjacent bunk beds. When I checked in I naturally took the one that wasnt littered with someones dirty socks. Hating confrontation as I do, I apologized and climbed on a top bunk of the other set and tried to catch a wink. 15 minutes later im nudged by Tom, an Irish lad, who claims im in his bed. Long story short, they over booked the room and gave me my own room that has its own double bed! See...it always works out. Now Im off to go shoot some night shots with a tripod and theres no doubt that I will be downing some beer in Jesus' name. Peace!

Watched Requim for a Dream with the flat mates. They spent the entire time talking about who had the strongest accent(the Californian) and argued about who was the better checker player(unanimously NOT Kelvin!)

more later.......

New Zealand

Tomorrow I venture to the country of New Zealand. 

I plan to periodically update the world with my travels.  

Stay tuned!