I woke up early for my last surf in Raglan for a while and caught some great waves. I had some good wipeouts too. The cool thing is, is that you stop being scared of wiping out. It’s just a little bit of healthy salt water up your nose and so what if you can’t breathe for a few seconds, you get back on your board and try again. I paddled out past the sandbar with the veterans and my French friend Guillaume. He gave me some pointers on paddling out and how a few millimeters can make all the difference in the world. The sun was shining and it was a great surf, but I knew I had to get back to the backpackers to pack. Maurice, Alex, and myself were all leaving together and we aimed to leave Raglan for Taupo at one o’clock p.m. By the time we all took our sweet time getting ready we got on the road at four. It was dark upon our arrival to the Rainbow Lodge hostel and we cozied in for a good night of rest. As I was about to turn the light off on my bottom bunkbed of the dorm room, I noticed on the slat above my head read, “I had sex in this bed while everyone was awake.” All I could think was, “good on ya mate,” and silently giggled myself to sleep.
This was my first time traveling with two other people besides myself and came to realize quickly how frustrating it can be. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the guys, but one can get cranky when all you want to do is eat and you have three people trying to make a decision on food. It was only for a few days however, so I didn’t mind the mood swings. Now I travel with just Alex for a few weeks and even still two people can be frustrating. Thankfully though I can tell Alex to piss off for an hour and then it’s refreshed. The pros are beneficial though, as it’s great to have company in the car for the long drives, lots of laughs and great conversations. During our time in Taupo we visited a place called Craters on the Moon where the earth is so hot from geothermal activity that it steams and bubbles up through the craters the heat created. We walked around Lake Taupo at dusk and returned back for homemade pizza. Made by yours truly. I’ve taken to the craft of making pizza dough from scratch and the recipe is embedded in my brain and feeling. How fun is that? The following day the three of us took a lovely walk to New Zealand’s most powerful waterfall. This cascade dumps the amount of water it takes to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools every second. It was as impressive to watch as it was impressive to hear. The further path took us past some nice quiet river bends, Lord of the Ring-esque landscapes, and a natural hot water pool ideal for sitting in at the most perfect bath water temperature. We said our goodbyes to Maurice the next morning as Alex and I were heading off to East Cape. The most eastern point in NZ. The is country folks. Like middle of nowhere, but claims the fame of the first sunrise in the world so we had to go. The rain diminished our plan to drive the 4.5 hours straight through to East Cape and sleep in the car for the night so we were forced to stay at the dingiest holiday park I’ve come across. However this was an incentive for us to achieve an early 5:30am arousal. The rain carried on through the night on to morning so we knew we wouldn’t physically see the sunrise, but we were so close we had to complete the task. The drive out to the East Cape lighthouse is a one lane gravel road edged with the roaring ocean on one side of the road and a crumbling steep cliff on the other. Parts of the road had fallen rocks on them but that didn’t stop my star car from fighting through. I swear this thing is like Hummer disguised as a hatchback. I love it. We got to the point safe and sound and walked the path up the hill to the lighthouse. Small wooden steps have been placed for convenience and we counted 749 up. The view was spectacular and we got a history lesson from signs posted about the past life of the lighthouse. On our way down we took a little detour into the woods for some photos and I spotted a huge bird that I still have no idea what it was. It had a dark greenish hue and a thick body. It flew away before I got a chance to see its face but my gut tells me it was the Morepork owl but I’ll have to do more research. The next portion of the day was spent driving to Gisbourne in the rain. Again. A fairly bland city but I was glad to get a shower and a cozy bed after the previous night’s digs.
This is when my day of torment began. Alex is a master of trickery, torment, and tomfoolery and being his only victim all stunts were directed at me. The worst thing is that the fools that he plays are of the most innocent breed. The kind like when you tell someone they have food on their shirt and in response to their look downwards you flick their nose. On our way to Gisbourne, one of our stops was in the small town of Tologa Bay. Here lies the longest wharf in the Southern Hemisphere and we made the 650 meter walk down the concrete dock. It was cool, sure, but the first, (and most extreme) in the series of events occurred on the walk back when Alex challenged me a race for the last 100 meters of the wharf. Never missing a chance to beat a boy at anything, I eagerly took up the duel and was winning for the first bit. Alex then passed me and began to cut me off when I tried to overlap him and then clash! Bang! I hit his foot and down I went. Sliding, yes sliding, across the concrete with my palms outstretched before me. I scraped my knee. Purely accidental. I instantly time warped back to a era when I was eight years old and tripped over the skipping rope to leave a crusty, bloody scab. In reality, I am 23 and have a bloody scab on my knee, scratched palms and to be honest it was kind of fun to get roughed up like that again for silliness’ sake.
After cleaning my flesh wound, the driving continued straight through to Gisbourne. It was a long sit in the car and my knees were stiff, I was starving, and I was in desperate want of a shower. Before finding a backpacker to stay for the night we pulled into a Burger King car park for a temporary food fix. I was too hungry to fight over the choice of restaurant so I gave in and purchased a very simple “hamburger with only ketchup please.”
“Only ketchup?” She repeats.
“Only ketchup.”
I unwrap my burger outside as we walk back towards the car and I notice gherkins on my burger. How can someone screw up the most simple order in the world? I was furious and all my memories of why I boycotted Burger King in the first place came rushing back to me. I angrily shook the top half of my burger to discard the gherkin slices, and what do you know, my whole patty lands on the pavement. Now this piece of bad luck, I admit, was clearly from my own stupidy and impatience and I’m pretty sure I scared the shit out of Alex as I proceeded in a rageful rant about my hatred for Burger King and why I will never ever go back to that toxic pit of doom. Chest cleared, hunger remained, but I was over it.
The backpacker we stayed in was a large yellow farmhouse with heaps of rooms, one in which I got a double bed all to myself. You forget the luxury of the double bed when you are forever sleeping in a single mat bunkbed. For the rest of night’s trickery, I was scared out of mind by a creeping Alex emerging from a dark corner like an alien coming to get me. Then I was tricked into believing that I lost Alex’s beloved transformer toys that he obtained from the dreaded Burger King’s kid’s meal. I honestly felt some pain of loss from losing the toys as Alex had been taking pictures of the toys everywhere he went like garden gnomes. In the end though, he had them the whole time and I was left feeling relieved that I hadn’t been the bad babysitter. And that was the end of that day.
Next the travels took us to a place called Napier. The Art Deco city. Most of the buildings and structures in the city are art deco design giving you the feeling like you’re in Gotham City. They have festivals throughout the year celebrating art deco and many people dress up in that old 1920’s type costume and we happened to arrive during a weekend festival. The town was crowded with antique cars and ladies wearing fur coats and small hats and men in their white gloves and top hats. The backpacker is really neat here too and has many Japanese visitors. I learned last night from a girl named Rumi how to make okonamiyaki. I practiced saying this name all last night so that I could remember it and write it down for all you to know. Okonamiyaki is a Japanese pancake made with egg, water, flour and a special salt seasoning that I am assuming is only available in Japan. Thankfully Rumi donated me a packet of the magic salt and mixed in with bok choy, spring onions and ham, I made my first okonamiyaki. It was delicious. Today I made bread with Alex’s help. Homemade bread, hot and fresh. The kitchen still smells like it and it’s glorious. My cooking knowledge is expanding and I’m really learning to appreciate the patience of cooking something good to eat.
In Napier we visited the NZ National Aquarium and got to view cool things like live sharks, seahorses, fish, rays, giant squid corpse, giant tortoise, long necked turtles, crocodile, kiwi birds, and the most common of NZ species: the die hard Lord of the Rings fan. The man who worked the front desk at the aquarium was mid 40’s I’d say and was reading the new Harry Potter upon our arrival to his desk. I got excited by seeing the book laying there and he instantly began into a conversation of the wizard boy which led into a conversation of his LOTR collectibles (in which he has hundreds) which further led into him showing up pictures of him at a LOTR convention and him standing next to the actor who played Gimley. Hard-core. The kiwi birds were the big highlight for me as I would prefer to see my underwater creatures in the wild. The kiwi’s as well I would prefer to see in the wild but until I am walking the forest at night time this was a great chance to see them. They are such funny creatures because they have no wings. They are just a ball of feathers with legs and a beak. They are especially cute when they gallop.
OK, well I’m sure I’ve written far too much for anyone to read in one sitting so if you’re still with me, thanks for reading! I have to get to the internet café before it closes. And for further travel details, I’ll be in the South Island in 5 days wwoofing on an olive and grape farm for a week! Love.
Rock and Pool is Nice and Cool 