The 110 days that I spent traveling around New Zealand exceeded my expectations. I'd heard about miles of beaches, rolling mountains, layed-back locals, but I didn't expect to experience so much love and admiration for the country and it's people.
The hospitality and openness was incredible. On Friday Olivia and Christina, a local mom and daughter, picked me up hitchhiking my way to the Ocean Beach. Our conversation exceeded the limited car ride, so the pair, along with the girl's father, met me at the beach a few hours later. After a swim they invited me to their home for dinner and offered to board me for the night. Their lovely home with a sea-view was tempting, but instead of a bed I requested a lift back into town where my Kiwi friends in Whangarei were awaiting my return.
Life in New Zealand was cruisey. I met people like Olivia and Christina who went out of their way to make my stay here incredible.
Friends here became family and they will remain dear to me. Sam, Ben, George and Franky gave me space in their Whangarei flat (I rotated between their place and John and Robyn's, which was a bit out of town), dinners with their families, countless rides to the highway, and looked out for my safety. Lucky for us facebook exists to help maintain long-distance friendships. I'm even staying with Laura's (Ben's girlfriend) mom while I'm in Australia and she's arranged for her friend Helen to take me surfing. The plans keep rolling out for me, and they are far better than I could have ever arranged on my own!
John and Robyn took me in for two whole weeks, loaned a car to us (the seven of us travelers who they met in a Northland art gallery back in October -- During the past months we have rotated possession of the vehicle.) and acted as New Zealand parents, checking in on my whereabouts, making sure I was eating enough, giving me access to the washing machine and unlimiited shower access. Their only request is a invitation to my wedding someday; they obviously don't mind waiting awhile for this reimbursement.
For these folks and the hundreds of others who contributed to making my New Zealand experience sensational I am eternally grateful.
Showing posts with label Whangerei. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whangerei. Show all posts
Monday, January 18, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Waning Motivation
Cradling my second cup of coffee, and staring out the gloomy sky that has put a gray haze across the ocean and mountains, blurring their edges and fading the horizon line, I'm trying to “get my rear in gear” as my grandma would say.
I don't have any appointments or external motivators to move me, but laying around and wasting my final few day in New Zealand would be a sad ending to an exciting chapter in my travels.
The last couple weeks have found me lacking my usual go- go energy and exploratory vigor. I've seen all the places around Whangarei that I wanted to see, and I don't really have the time to hit the road again since I need to be at the Auckland airport by 3 a.m. Wednesday, which is 6 days away.
Part of my “slow-down” is due to the fact that New Zealand is familiar territory and the quest to conquer a new land has concluded. I've learned the lingo, weather patterns and roads. The adrenaline of survival and discovery isn't necessary anymore. As one guy who picked me up on my way to town yesterday put it “When you first arrive somewhere you know nothing when you need to know it all and by the time you leave you know every trick and none of it's useful anymore.”
After nearly four months I feel less like a foreigner here. So I've become slow about getting out of the house in the mornings, lingering over one, two, maybe three coffees before heading into town or finding a hike or beach to spend the day. All the wonderful possibilities have lost their initial novelty. Plus John and Robyn have provided the comforts of home and I'm no longer fending on my own resourcefulness.
It's nice that I can acclimate quickly to my surroundings, but I don't ever want to take a day for granted. So even though it's started to drizzle outside I will put on my jandles (the Kiwi word for flip-flops) and go for a walk because there are always things to see and do and I don't want to miss out on any possibilities.
After all yesterday when I'd rolled my bum out of bed I found a hike to a beach where I was swimming 20 ft from a school of dolphins who were jumping and frolicking about in the waves.
New Zealand still has a few tricks up her sleeve to discover, and there is always beauty in the familiar to rediscover.
I don't have any appointments or external motivators to move me, but laying around and wasting my final few day in New Zealand would be a sad ending to an exciting chapter in my travels.
The last couple weeks have found me lacking my usual go- go energy and exploratory vigor. I've seen all the places around Whangarei that I wanted to see, and I don't really have the time to hit the road again since I need to be at the Auckland airport by 3 a.m. Wednesday, which is 6 days away.
Part of my “slow-down” is due to the fact that New Zealand is familiar territory and the quest to conquer a new land has concluded. I've learned the lingo, weather patterns and roads. The adrenaline of survival and discovery isn't necessary anymore. As one guy who picked me up on my way to town yesterday put it “When you first arrive somewhere you know nothing when you need to know it all and by the time you leave you know every trick and none of it's useful anymore.”
After nearly four months I feel less like a foreigner here. So I've become slow about getting out of the house in the mornings, lingering over one, two, maybe three coffees before heading into town or finding a hike or beach to spend the day. All the wonderful possibilities have lost their initial novelty. Plus John and Robyn have provided the comforts of home and I'm no longer fending on my own resourcefulness.
It's nice that I can acclimate quickly to my surroundings, but I don't ever want to take a day for granted. So even though it's started to drizzle outside I will put on my jandles (the Kiwi word for flip-flops) and go for a walk because there are always things to see and do and I don't want to miss out on any possibilities.
After all yesterday when I'd rolled my bum out of bed I found a hike to a beach where I was swimming 20 ft from a school of dolphins who were jumping and frolicking about in the waves.
New Zealand still has a few tricks up her sleeve to discover, and there is always beauty in the familiar to rediscover.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Karma, Sam and Andy, our first hitchhikers
Leaving Taupo, Katie, Brian and I were driving along the highway looking for hitchhikers. We were cruising toward Mercer where Katie and Brian would drop me off with John and Robyn (the couple in Whangerei who had housed our group of seven back in October and given us the car to use during our stay in New Zealand) and then Katie and Brian would continue on to the Coromandel peninsula for the weekend (Katie was taking Brian to Karuna Falls where she and I had wwoofed with Stephanie).
We were keen to find hitchhikers because we owed the universe a debt. After dozens of rides and thousands of free miles we needed to repay the favor and continue the cycle of good deeds.
An hour into our drive we spotted two young guys, overloaded with bags, sitting on the side of the road.
“Are you two hitchhiking!” We all cheered.
“Um, yeah.” They said, a bit taken aback by our enthusiasm. They got in the car anyway.
Sam and Andy, two Kiwi guys in their early 20s, were heading north after spending the holiday with their families. Sam was returning to his job in Whangerei as a boat builder, and Andy was staying with cousins in Sandy Bay in order to improve his surfing skills.
Coincidently I was heading to Whangerei with John and Robyn to see if I could volunteer as a crew member on any sailboat heading to Australia or the Pacific Islands (I've always wanted to learn to sail and many boats leaving the Whangerei marina will take on novice crew-members to assist the skipper, or so I had been told by a French girl who picked Katie and I up in the South Island. I was motivated to follow my dream through, so I was planning to stay with John and Robyn in Whangerei until someone took me aboard).
Sam offered to show me around the harbor and ask around on my behalf.
Unfortunately all the contacts in the world couldn't get me on a boat. My timing coincided with the hurricane season and no one was planning a trip across the Tasman until April. I networked at every major harbor north of Auckland , but nothing was to be found. I've enjoyed my search, however, thanks to our hichhikers.
Andy spent the day with me while I toiled around Auckland's massive marina, which is the largest in the Southern Hemishphere. And Sam and his friends here in Whangerei, where I've been crashing at John and Robyn's for almost two weeks, have included me in on nights on the town, jet skiing, wakeboarding and BBQs. They have done many more favors for me than the hour drive they hitched with Katie, Brian and I deserved.
I don't know what I did to deserve such good fortune, but it will be a challenge to repay in this lifetime
We were keen to find hitchhikers because we owed the universe a debt. After dozens of rides and thousands of free miles we needed to repay the favor and continue the cycle of good deeds.
An hour into our drive we spotted two young guys, overloaded with bags, sitting on the side of the road.
“Are you two hitchhiking!” We all cheered.
“Um, yeah.” They said, a bit taken aback by our enthusiasm. They got in the car anyway.
Sam and Andy, two Kiwi guys in their early 20s, were heading north after spending the holiday with their families. Sam was returning to his job in Whangerei as a boat builder, and Andy was staying with cousins in Sandy Bay in order to improve his surfing skills.
Coincidently I was heading to Whangerei with John and Robyn to see if I could volunteer as a crew member on any sailboat heading to Australia or the Pacific Islands (I've always wanted to learn to sail and many boats leaving the Whangerei marina will take on novice crew-members to assist the skipper, or so I had been told by a French girl who picked Katie and I up in the South Island. I was motivated to follow my dream through, so I was planning to stay with John and Robyn in Whangerei until someone took me aboard).
Sam offered to show me around the harbor and ask around on my behalf.
Unfortunately all the contacts in the world couldn't get me on a boat. My timing coincided with the hurricane season and no one was planning a trip across the Tasman until April. I networked at every major harbor north of Auckland , but nothing was to be found. I've enjoyed my search, however, thanks to our hichhikers.
Andy spent the day with me while I toiled around Auckland's massive marina, which is the largest in the Southern Hemishphere. And Sam and his friends here in Whangerei, where I've been crashing at John and Robyn's for almost two weeks, have included me in on nights on the town, jet skiing, wakeboarding and BBQs. They have done many more favors for me than the hour drive they hitched with Katie, Brian and I deserved.
I don't know what I did to deserve such good fortune, but it will be a challenge to repay in this lifetime
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