Found

I wrote this on the plane ride back in July. It just resurfaced on my computer so I'm posting it.

After years of saving up mileage with United Airlines I have finally taken a return. While in New Zealand I decided I would use my mileage for the plane ticket home. Unfortunately for me I didn't yet know all the necessary details about award travel. Each plane allots only a handful of seats to customers using miles. I am unsure if the route between Nadi, Fiji and San Francisco, CA is just a really popular trip for July or if the allocated seats are just precious few. Either way, there were no seats available on my initial call. I was told that reservations are constantly changing though and I should try back the next day. The next day I was able to put a hold on a flight. It wasn't a pretty itineray, but at least I found something. Finding this fast change heartening, I continued to call back every day for the next two weeks. Even though my flight wasn't for another six weeks, absolutely nothing else came up. I even tried for them to give me longer layovers. I was stuck with a schedule that had me at airports at 37 hours. Oh well...

When the day came to fly, due to bus schedules in Fiji I found myself at the airport an hour earlier than I would have liked. I found a friendly woman from Illinois to pass the time. Fortunately for me she was paying a bit more attention to the airport announcements. As we were talking the time was passing more rapidly than I realized. Before I knew it they were calling my name on the intercom and I swiftly making my way to the gate.

My flight was a late evening flight with Air New Zealand. With only 36 passengers it may have been the most empty flight I have been on yet. An easy four hours brought me to Wellington, New Zealand at midnight. After stowing my bag in the storage room at the airport I hitched a ride with another traveler in a taxi. It seemed so natural, with a tinge of strange, to be returning to my former home of five months. I got spend the next four and a half hours with four friends. We played a board game, drank tea, chatted, traded a few massages and watched Rocky Horror Picture Show. When five am rolled around the movie was just ending. Perfect timing. We piled in the car and headed back to the airport. After checking in to my 6:45 flight there were many hugs and fairwells. I count myself fortunate to have such good friends. This was definitely the best layover I have ever experienced.

Time passed quickly at the Wellington Airport. Going through security and browsing the duty free shelves ate up a good portion of the 80 minutes before my flight. Wellington has some comfy couches to sit on while waiting too. From Wellington I had a four hour flight to Sydney, Australia.

A six hour layover is such an awkward amount of time. It isn't enough to do much exploring because you need to be back with plenty of time before your next flight, just in case security takes a while plus they always board about half an hour before scheduled departure. In Wellington it worked alright because I had friends there, plus the airport is located pretty close to the city. Already having a valid visa helped too. Six hours in Sydney however was another story. I'm not close with anyone that lives even remotely close to the airport and public transportation is time consuming. I wasn't sure how long it would take go through customs, nor did I feel the inclination to bother with getting Australian money just for a few hours in a city I have already seen. I decided I would just stick it out at the airport. Having my own laptop to watch videos I decided to continue with the series The Wire. And what luck! Sydney Airport has free wifi.

The United Airplines plane I rode from Sydney to San Francisco was huge. I suppose it was the same size as planes I have been on before when I have flown to and from Australia, New Zealand and California, but before I didn't notice the stairway up to the second level. My seat was an emergency exit seat, meaning plenty of legroom. Thank you kind United lady for offering it to me. The vegetarian food was actually not bad. Though I had no idea what the mash they served me for dinner was suppose to be, perhaps gnocchi, it tasted alright and had a pleasant enough mouth feel. Breakfast was surprising good, consisting of cook spinach, tomato and scrambled eggs with a croissant on the side. Between sleeping, watching The Wire, eating, more sleeping and a bit of writing I found the 13 hours flew by (har har har, “flew” by).

I know flying isn't the most environmental way of traveling, but when people talk about that are they also including the waste that is involved in the food service. Every change they got they tried to give me another cup. Even with efforts to reuse my cups I still managed to use eight. Mostly due to the fact that they left things for me while I was asleep. I wonder if they started doing that due to complaints. I recall a flight years ago on which I missed a meal because I was asleep. It was disappointing. The cups are plastic, so they could be recycled, though I'm not sure they are. It seemed so wasteful to me. Then there is the question of unused condiments. When they take the tray there are often unused, perfectly clean items; such as butter, packaged toothpicks, packaged breadrolls, salt and pepper. What happens to those things? Are they thrown away too?

as of May 7, 2011

I left Wellington the morning of April 2^nd. The ferry ride to Picton is just over three hours. From the ferry I drove to the west coast then enjoyed the coastal views as I headed south to Hokitika. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stop and explore any of the numerous walking tracks along the way. I injured my foot about two weeks before leaving Wellington so extended periods of walking or standing range from uncomfortable to painful. After two nights couch surfing in Hokitika I drove on to Wanaka. The section of road between Haast and Wanaka is beautiful, especially at this time of year.

When I left Wellington the weather felt like Summer was coming to an end but it didn't feel like Autumn quite yet. Heading south I am reminded that Autumn is well under way. Autumn is has been busy transforming the colors from luscious green to a spectral of yellows, oranges and reds. Wanaka is particularly beautiful right now. The lake, the mountains with a sprinkle of snow, the trees with their various colors, the crisp air. It isn't quite freezing yet but it is definitely chilly.

I stayed one night in Wanaka then headed on to Invercargill. My initial plan for the south island included a lot of hiking. However my foot was still bothering me so I reluctantly came to terms with the fact that this idea was not going to come to fruition. When the friend I was visiting in Invercargill offered me a house sitting gig for a couple weeks I figured it would be a opportune time to let myself heal. The next two weeks were entirely uneventful. I stayed off my foot as much as possible and went to the hospital twice. Once at the beginning to be told it should get better if I stay off of it for a few days. For the next week I put practically no weight on my left foot. I didn't have crutches but I did have a chair with wheels that I put my knee on and used as a leg substitute. When I didn't notice much improvement I decided to I return to the hospital to get an x-ray. It was confirmed that no bones were broken and I was told that foot injuries just take a long time to heal. How fun. Oh yeah! I also went to the world's most southern Irish Pub, located in Invercargill.

When the house sitting gig was up I went to Queenstown. I had previously thought about living there, but after a weekend I am glad I decided against it. It is a beautiful part of the country, but the feel of the town is entirely different from why I like New Zealand. It is very touristy. In Queenstown my friend Rien met up with me so we could travel together for a bit:

I found the Cromwell/Alexandra area pretty, but very different from Wanaka/Queenstown. The hillsides are covered with small shrubs and a lot of rocks. Bluff supposedly has the best oysters in the world, if you're into that. Lake Hauroko is the deepest lake in New Zealand. Clifden has a neat cave system, glowworms and flash floods warnings included. Gore is the brown trout capital of the world, a fact they proudly let known with a huge statue of a fish.

Due to my recent change in hair style I have been thinking a lot about hair. The hardest part of my decision to cut off all my hair was my concept of beauty. Hair on the top of your head is often connected with beauty. I finally had to decide that I didn't care if I was less attractive with less hair on my head. I am happy that I decided to follow through with this idea. I am also glad I chose to keep half my hair long and the other half shaved for three months. The only reason I am sad about not being able to grown a beard is that I can't do the half shaved, half full beard look. I would definitely play with my facial hair styles if I had a beard. Not that I want a beard, I don't. Instead I can play with the styles of hair on the top of my head. It was a fun hair style. Many interactions and conversations were sparked. From this experience I started to think more about hair. There are many strange views having to do with hair in our culture.

Hair on your head is acceptable, but as soon as it leaves the body it is gross. Hair in the drain, hair on a plate, hair on the bar of soap: these are often met with disgusted reactions. Then I started thinking about the various places of hair on one's body, especially associated with gender. Why are we so accepting of leg hair, arm pit hair, and facial hair on men but not women? From these thoughts I decided to try to change these ideas within myself. I made this my April resolution; this included the ceasation of using a razor. It didn't work after one month though so I am continuing into May. I don't think a couple decades of being ingrained with social norms is going to be eliminated by a couple months without a razor. We'll see how I feel in a few weeks.

Notes on Skipping

Couple things to think about when dumpster diving. Have a look around the dumpster for cameras. Finding out when they empty the dumpster is good to know. Some places do it every day, some don't. If you go the day after it is easier to sort through because there is less in the dumpster. The dumpsters here almost always have real trash burying the "treasure." So we have to take out the rubbish bags, put them next to the dumpster, get the good stuff then clean up. Clean up is VERY important. If the dumpster isn't already locked they will start to lock it if you leave a mess. You mustn't make it obvious you were there. Even if they know people dumpster dive employees often don't care as long as they don't have to pick up after you.

Knowing when they empty the dumpster is also good to know because then you can go when it is fresh. This is particularly important when the weather is hot. Imagine it like an oven. It can get REALLY gross with meat and even more so with seafood. They usually put stuff in bags but not always. Depending on the dumpster it may or may not matter how big of a mess you make inside the dumpster. Sometimes they just throw stuff in there so ripping open bags doesn't matter. But perhaps they are careful to put everything in bags to keep down smell or whatever. In that case you should try to untie the bags, look through them and retie afterwards. BE VERY CAREFUL not to open a bag with seafood in it! You might vomit from the smell. Then you have to sort through your vomit as well. Not fun.

It is best to bring at least one other person with you. That way one person can be in the dumpster finding the goods while the other person is the helper. The helper takes the stuff from the diver to pack it in the bags you brought. Remember not to put bananas on the bottom, especially when you find canned goods. Sometimes we put a large plastic bag inside the backpacks so they don't get REALLY gross, but they still get dirty. There is always something broken in the dumpster, be it shampoo, yogurt, lotion, or something unknown. Therefore when you get home you have to wash everything. Be careful not to just put everything into the bathtub or sink of cold water because some things are open. For example, maybe someone in the store opened up a container of hummus, then didn't buy it. The store throws it away. It is still suitable for eating, but the container isn't sealed so you don't want to submerge it. And naturally you don't want to submerge bread in water. I'm sure you know that though.

We haven't figured out a best time to go. The grocery store we go to is open till midnight. We were going sometime past 11pm. Employees often don't go out the back door so late so we weren't worried, though we did keep an ear open for anyone stumbling upon us. Then we got caught a couple times. The have both told us to just take what we needed and get out and they have made us put the food back. Of course, we still cleaned up before we left. You must not forget to clean up! Even if you get excited or afraid or whatever. Last time I went someone came out while I was in the bin. I froze, the helper hid and we waited until the store employee was done with whatever he came outside to do and went back inside. As soon as the door shut I jumped out, we hurriedly cleaned up, grabbed the goods and swiftly walked away.

When I was walking home last time I was thinking about how much skipping is a part of my current life. I wondered if I would continue when I leave my current house. One thing though, it sure will be strange when I go back to shopping for ALL of my food. At least for a little while.

100 Seasons

I haven't been feeling motivated to sit down and write lately. There is plenty to write about, but taking the time in front of a computer to put it to words in another thing. Though I do feel like I have been out of touch with many people that I would like to catch up with; know that you are in my thoughts and feel free to drop me a line. I'll try to get back to you without too great of a time gap. Admittedly though, I recently responded to an email over a month old. It isn't that I don't want to talk with you, it is just that I don't want to sit in front of the computer for copious amounts of time. Even now I am antsy to stop typing and go do something, anything but sit here and type. I will do my best to continue this update though. It may take a few sittings, be unorganized as who knows what, and/or be not quite as thorough of an explanation of the splendid things that I have been up to lately. But hey, at least it's something... right?

Wellington is wonderful. I like it here a lot. The house I am living in makes it particularly enjoyable. We call it the feral house. This name was coined by a neighbor. I liked it, started using it and it wore off on the other flatmates as well. On afternoon of Halloween I heard childrens' voices, trick or treating, so I went to the front door excited to give them candy. I had never been on this side of trick or treating. Sadly though I found that they skipped my house. Boo! It must look too scary, but not in the Halloween sense. What's wrong with having a pond in the front yard?

The feral house is like a constant treasure hunt. Every time I set to cleaning up a certain space I find cool stuff. I cleaned and organized/labeled the spice rack and found not only lots of useful spices to cook with but also a tea-baller. Now I can drink tea made with loose leaf tea without getting the tea leaves in my mouth. As I cleaned other bits of the kitchen I found the various pieces to a food processor. Some of it was in the kitchen while other pieces were in the lounge. Go figure. I decided the the dresser cabinet in the lounge was a good enough place for it and put all the pieces together there. Hey! It's a small kitchen. I was pretty excited about this find and have since used it many times! I also found the pieces, again in various places, to a juicer. Sweet! One morning my flatmate Hugh found a travel sewing kit on a shelf in the lounge. The house also has a genuine junk drawer. There is all kinds of stuff in there, from felt pens to tape, screw drivers to stickers, labels to foreign coins.

Aside from the house providing things that I didn't know I even wanted, Wellington in general has been generous in offering me basically anything and everything I have desire or need for. A few examples. One week I was really wanting some wine. I couldn't buy any because it was January (see below for further explanation) so I figured I would just have to wait until February. Then one night while skipping I find a nearly full bottle of Merlot. And it was good! Another evening I was walking home from work. I decided I would walk through the bus tunnel. Some would say this is a very risky thing to do. I have been told that there have been cases of people getting badly injured. I figure as long as I am aware and not drunk I'll be okay. I'll even go so far as to say that I reckon it is actually pretty safe. There is no lighting and no side walk, just enough space for the bus to go through with a small buffer on each side. There are however alcoves every 48 strides when I am walking at a swift pace. These alcoves could probably fit three people in them, as long as no one is wearing a backpack or carrying bags and stuff. I don't use a light though I do have a cell phone if need be. So long as I stay aware and count my steps, I'm good to go. Also, in the evenings the buses only come through every 15 minutes. Anyway, this one evening I decided I couldn't be bothered to walk over the town belt but would rather walk through the bus tunnel to get home. I start to walk through and think to myself that I have never seen a bus while walking through and it would actually be pretty cool. There have been a number of times that a car driving on the road on the other side shined its headlights into the tunnel, which psyched me out enough to run to the next (or previous) alcove, but no bussed yet. But what is this? About 100 paces before the end I see the lit up front of a bus coming my way. I quickly pop into an alcove and anxiously wait for it the pass. And you know what? I was right, it was cool :-)

In regards to the above comment. I decided that for the month of January I would not purchase any food. It worked very well. Sure there were a number of times I would have liked to buy something, but really I didn't need those things. It was a fun experiment. I am buying food again now. Not much because we still skip, but sometimes we would like to consume things that we didn't find in the bin.

For the month of February I chose to leave Hataitai every day. I found myself getting sucked into my house. Time goes by so easily here. I realized that I should really be taking advantage of living in Wellington. February was an excellent month to do this as it is summer and there were heaps of things going on. Unfortunately I caught a cold for the last week of the month, but I still managed to follow through with my plan. March starts tomorrow...

8 December 2010

Last night was great fun.

We were seven in the lounge: a Swedish flatmate Martina, an Irish soon-to-be flatmate Hugh, an American former flatmate Ben, a Canadian former flatmate Alex, two Canadian temporary flatmates Tristan and Ana (they surfed our couch while on a bike tour through New Zealand), and myself. After dinner, while waiting for Tess, Tegan and Jake to arrive (three more couchsurfers from the states due to stay at our place) we played a few verbal games (i.e. Never Have I Ever). This is an interesting way to quickly get to know other people, or at least find out a few things they have and have not done.

Around 10pm we finally got to the playing of Mafia; something that multiple of us have been excited about for days now. If you have played this game before you know things can get pretty exciting and people can get really creative. If you haven't played this game yet, you may want to look into it. After an hour we had played three rounds and it was time to go skipping.

A skip is also known as a rubbish bin, or a dumpster. Before I came to Wellington I was open to the idea of dumpster diving, I had even done it a few times, or at least, I had done something of the sort. In Santa Cruz, California there is a bakery that throws out SO much bread (heaps of bread, as they say here). When I found out about this place I never purchased bread again while I lived in Santa Cruz. At that place it was only bread, and it was neatly placed, easy for picking out what you wanted to take home. Many people knew about this spot, which was okay because there was copious amounts of bread virtually every night. For the remainder of the bread that wasn't adopted by starving students a fate of pig stomachs was in store. I also participated in a freegan trash tour in New York City. That evening a woman took a group of about a dozen along the streets of Manhattan to the "good spots." The businesses put their rubbish in bags on the sidewalk to be picked up by the garbage trucks. We would carefully untie the bag, sort through to find things that are still good enough, then retie the bag, being very careful to not make a mess. That night someone found a pair of shoes are a shoe store that were still perfectly fine. I walked away with something like: eleven free range organic eggs, a couple pieces of fruit and veggies and some yogurt. The extent to which I go skipping here in Wellington is very different.

The first night I accompanied a skip adventure I was amazed. A case of beer!? Heaps of yogurt cups! Vegetables! Fruit! Canned goods! Rice! And other things. So many times I have wondered by the store threw away something. A lot is obvious. The pears are overripe, the cans are dented, the bag of rice has a hole in it. But why is this unopened jug of orange juice that doesn't expire for another two weeks in the bin? I have no idea. Part of me thinks the wastefulness is a huge shame, the other part of me is excited I get to eat such great food for free. We are liberating these less than perfect food items from a fate of a landfill and placing them back in line for the fate of human consumption.

Back to last night. Six of us got ready for the adventure. Backpacks, check. Bags, check. Gloves, check. Headlamp, check. We were ready to go. It was about 11:10 when we left the house. The walk there was filled with talking and laughter, but as we got closer we quieted down. As I said, I haven't been skipping much, but our spot seems ideal for it. There is a little alleyway where all but two people wait, and pack when it is time. The other two go to the dumpster. It was my third time going in. I would have been revolted, completely against getting into a dumpster a few years ago. Not anymore. Now I can honestly say I enjoy it. I think it is fun, and exciting.

First we remove the bags of rubbish from the top. The treasure is always at the bottom, beneath the real trash. Once we take out enough to be able to sort through what's left, I hop in. I start from one corner and work my way around in a counterclockwise fashion, making sure to dig to the bottom all the way. At first I don't see much, and then--PEARS! A whole flat of them! Now we're talking. A couple bags of veggies, from which we take eggplant, bell pepper, leek, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkin, potato, tomato, carrot, kale... Then more digging. Yogurt! The good stuff, and a lot of it! Plain unsweetened yogurt. "Mmm... I'm going to make a delicious fruit salad," I think to myself. I'm always doing this; thinking of what I will make with the these I am finding. I'm in the dumpster physically but in my head I'm already in the kitchen. What's that? A whole unopened case of bacon? Why? Not even expired, yet thrown out. I don't eat bacon. I don't like the taste of it and I don't even like the smell of bacon. I do know that other people love it though. I ask Andris how much we should take. At first he just says "Take!" Then he sees how big the box is and we decide that half is plenty. Tonight Andris is the one who is taking the goods from me over to the other people so they can pack them in the bags.

I continue to search. Milk. Of course I find milk. I have been living here for a month and we have yet to find milk. I even said to someone just a few hours prior that we don't find milk so we buy it. So it just figures that I would now find multiple jugs of milk. And now--Beer! Hurray! We are always happy to find beer. A case of beer gets dropped, or something, a couple bottles get broken and they throw out the lot. Lucky us. When Andris sees the beer his eyes light up.

"Be quiet!" says Andris and runs away. I freeze and listen to the sound of someone coming out the back of the store. I switch off my headlamp, and wait. A few moments late Andris comes back, letting me know we're clear and I continue searching. Canned tomatoes. Some sort of meaty-jerky product. Chocolate! Sweet! I love chocolate! Andris rapidly taps me again and runs away. I switch off my headlamp and hold still again, listening. More sounds of people coming out of the store, moving things around, talking. I am thinking of possible occurrences. " Are they going to throw something into the bin on top of me? I wouldn't mind a bag of light trash, oh but please don't throw in a bag of meat! A big bag of chicken, like the one I saw last week in here. They probably wouldn't even look before chucking it on and I'm on the closer side to them so it would land on me. Would I fall over? Would I make a sound? Would it matter? Would Andris stop them before they threw something in here or just hope that I'd be fine?" So many questions were going through my head. I wasn't scared of them catching us. Maras has been caught in the act before and he was just told to take what he needed and get out of there. So I figured they would just do the same with me. But I still didn't want things to be thrown in on top of me. The sounds stop. Andris comes back and I'm almost to the last corner. More beer! And more sounds. Andris taps me again and runs off to. This time I hear a forklift start up. Quickly I start to wonder how that could affect me. "Would they put anything in here that needed to be lifted by a forklift? No, nothing is ever that big or heavy in here. Would they move the dumpster?! No. No that's silly because it has been in the same place every time we have come, they wouldn't move it tonight, at 12:15am." A minutes of waiting and aching in my legs from holding still in not the most comfortable of positions and silence returns. Andris returns too and says we should hurry up and get out of here. I get the beer, another milk and hop out. We replace all the trash we took out, making sure that we didn't leave any kind of mess and leave. All six of us are carrying full loads on our backs and/or in our hands and smiles on our faces. An excellent catch. I am happy we have so many people to help carry.

The walk back always takes longer than the walk there because we have to stop a few times for rest breaks and trading of loads. When we got home it was party. Three people hung out in the lounge while we went skipping. One of them had never even heard of this lifestyle before, and he was amazed at the things we brought home. We drank the beer as we washed, dried and put away all this treasure: milk, beer, bacon, yogurt, pears, pumpkin, cauliflower, eggplant, kale, tomato, bell pepper, radish, apple, banana, potato, canned tomatoes, teeth whitening product, hummus, tortellini, ravioli, sausage, cream, creamy pasta sauce, chocolate, jerky, cheese.

Yeah, I like skipping :-)

Paradise, then the Shining

After two weeks in Auckland I continued on to visit a friend in Opotiki. It was like I had never left. Even though it had been nearly a year and a half since I had been there, walking through the door felt so familiar, just like something I had done the day before. Everything seemed to be as it was before, including, to my great delight, the outdoor bathtub. I have written about this bathtub in the past, as it was one of my favorite things during my last trip in New Zealand. A bathtub in the yard, with an excellent view of the sky creates quite a delightful evening.

I decided to take full advantage of the outdoor bathtub. The first thing I needed to do was go to the beach to collect wood for the fire. I danced with joyous abandon while I collected drift wood. I needed a lot for a fire big enough to warm my bath water. Two buckets full looked good enough to get me started. I packed the hole in ground underneath the half full bathtub and got the fire started. Now we play the waiting game. I found that an excellent way for me to pass the time was a glass of wine. When it is ready, I lay in bath for well over an hour. The coals that still burn in the fire pit underneath keep the water warm as I star gaze to my heart’s content. I go to bed with a smile on my face.

I enjoyed my week in Opotiki very much. With walks on a beautiful beach, outdoor baths, cooking up a storm and good company, how could I complain? I even got a day of paid work, though I could hardly call it “work” per say. My last day there was the Motu Challenge: a race including mountain biking, kayaking and road biking. I set safety on a rapid for the kayak section.

The day started with a coffee while watching the competitors bike past the house. As the rain drops started to lightly fall, my enthusiasm waned; I wasn’t looking forward to sitting by the river in the rain. We had a few hours before the kayak section of the race so we went to a café to drink a coffee and meet with the rest of the river safety crew. While drinking our coffee a man tells us about a river safety course coming up soon. His name is Nick; he is part of NZRA (New Zealand Rafting Association). Even though the weather didn’t look much better, it was time to get moving.

I was assigned to cover the lower most rapid. It was conveniently located beside an access road; however my spot for best coverage was on the opposite side of the river. I am not a river kayaker, so thankfully the river was flat below the rapid and I was able to paddle across without trouble. I knew I had some time still before the competitors were due so I gathered wood for a fire and read a book. The weather wasn’t sunny, but at least it wasn’t raining the entire time. As it turned out, even though my rapid had the most action, I was hardly needed for assistance. The rapid was barely a class II and the river afterwards was flat and not very deep. Even though they didn’t need saving while in the water after flipping over, they still appreciated help with emptying the water from their long boats (5 meters/15 feet plus). When late afternoon came we joined the party on a field in Opotiki, drinking the free beer that was offered to us for being part of the race. It was quite an enjoyable day.

The next morning I began my New Zealand hitch hiking experience. I had only hitch-hiked maybe three times before: once in Hawaii when I was 16, and twice in California, one time being because we ran out of gas. I was excited and nervous. After ten cars blasting right past a truck stopped. He was only going to the other side of town, but that was better than nothing. Getting the next ride took an hour of waiting. A woman finally picked me up who was luckily going all the way to Gisborne, also my destination for the day. Now is where I must admit that driving makes me sleepy. Let me correct that, being a passenger in a car makes me sleepy, when I am the one driving I stay awake just fine. It is an odd thing, I will be fully rested, not tired in the least, then I get in a car and I can’t keep my eyes open. This doesn’t happen all the time, more so on long trips. This was one of those trips. I literally could not stop my eye lids from dropping. I was trying to stay awake, trying to be good company, but I just couldn’t. At one point, as I was drifting off, my mind noticed that she had just asked me a question and replayed the last few words to my conscience thought. It was something like, “Have you ever seen that?” or, “Have you ever done that?” and I answered “No” without thinking. After the word came out of my mouth I realized that I had no idea what I just said no to. I tried to make my brain replay more of what she had said while I was drifting, but nothing came arose. I was better at staying awake after that.

In Gisborne I visited two friends. The first being a woman I met last year, Biddy. The second was someone I had met recently in Auckland, Stephen. Biddy lives in a house with a garden; Stephen currently lives in a room at his parents’ hotel. While I was at Biddy’s the sun was out and it was beautiful. I enjoyed watching ducklings waddle after their mother. When I went to visit Stephen the weather turned unpleasant: rainy and cold. With weather like that I stayed indoors a lot. Even then however I was still so cold. There was one day that I was so cold it took half an hour in a sauna to warm up. After twenty minutes my feet were still cold then at thirty I was finally warmed up enough to start sweating. I’m not a big fan of the cold. Yeah, I’m from California and I like the sunshine.

So, the Shining. Have you seen this movie? I have only seen it once and that was about four years ago. From what I remember of it this hotel I was staying at reminded me of the Shining. It was only one story, not as big as the one in the movie, but something about it, maybe the décor. Or maybe it was the fact that there were no guests. All the doors to the rooms were kept open and each room was decorated differently, creating an interesting, sort of ominous feeling as I walked down the hall to the room I had chosen. I was allowed to pick any room I wanted. My choice was narrowed based on the décor, then determined based on the comfort of the mattress. It was fun checking out all the rooms.

When the weather finally cleared up I hit the road to hitch-hike to Taihape. I was heading to River Valley to visit Arnie, a friend from California. I drank a coffee in preparation for the long hours in the car. It took five rides, including Stephen driving me to the edge of town. The second guy had a dog and was on his way to a hot spring. There is something… odd about the people that frequent hot springs, both in California and in New Zealand. At least, that is what I have encountered. This guy spent almost the whole 30 minute drive talking about “lump heads.” The third ride was from two guys who travel around for their job doing something for the military. They drove me from just south of Gisborne to Bulls, five hours or so including lunch. Once again I felt the pull of drowsiness. Why wasn’t that caffeine working?! I ended up allowing myself to nap, but it only lasted half an hour. I wonder what the social etiquette is for sleeping hitch hikers… The fourth ride was the fastest ride I had gotten so far. As I was getting my bag out of the car, before I even set it on the ground, my next ride was pulling over. Yeah, he was hailed by the guy who was dropping me off, but it was a pretty sweet switch. He drove me the hour north to Taihape, where I only had to wait ten minutes before a friend of Arnie’s picked me up and took me to River Valley.

after dinner

A handful of people have inquired about the rest of the evening after the Thai food dinner. So here's the end of that story...

We walked along looking for a bar that they fancied. When we choose one the doorlady told me I had to take off my horns because policy is "no costumes." I didn't mind, so I took them off. Once through the door the guys demanded that I put them back on, besides, there were girls with flowers in their hair! Before drinks were ordered I mentioned that if I didn't leave at that moment I would miss the last bus. They promptly offered one of the three spare beds they had (each of them had a room with two beds) or even one of the rooms if I wanted. My condition for staying was that I get a toothbrush, and preferably floss too. They agreed, so I stayed. While drinking my third and last glass of wine for the evening I stood in a very crowded bar chatting with one of the guys I came in with and another fellow with golden front teeth.

Two of the guys had to work in the morning. (How do you like thinking about the possibility that your pilot may have a hangover while flying your plane?) We hopped in a taxi and went back to their hotel around midnight. Unfortunately the night crew couldn't (or wouldn't) supply me with a toothbrush :-( But they did bring one up in the morning. Each of the guys went to their respective rooms and I slept in the spare bed in the room with guy who I knew was for sure married, based on photos I had seen hours prior.

In the morning I went to a farmer's market. Oh how I love farmers markets! There was a booth there with tasty hummus (WAY better that the garlic spread they called hummus at a restaurant I went to a few days prior) and a delicious dip he called Tahini, in which he put lemon juice and spices.