So much to say

First things first..i have many amazing pictures that will be coming soon but i can't yet get them onto the computer. once i do though, i promise you will not be disappointed.

Wow so a lot has happened since I last posted. Basically I have had little access to any sort of electricity or running water the past week, let alone a connection to the world via the web, so here is a quick summary of how my life has been going since I peaced from Auckland.

I met Brett...we bought a car...a sweet beater from 1989...yeah subaru legacy. he bought some camp gear, we took off from auckland last saturday morning. oh but wait...that friday night we went out and got pretty sloshed in good NZ fashion, met a guy named Neil who rang his mum for us and gave us her number so we could call her when we neared their town. (more to come on that later).

so we took off North to the Waipoua Kauri forest...essentially a rainforest with some of the last great Kauri trees on earth. The biggest tree we saw was 15 meters in diameter and simply breathtaking. I have photos that I will upload eventually, but until then, I can't even begin to describe the majesty of these trees. So Brett and I camped out at Waipoua, in this rainforest for two nights. And of course it rained the entire time. But we suffered through because hey, this is NZ and that is what you do. Besides, things are so amazing you don't really realize it's raining. You just realize that it's the coolest place you have ever been and it's a little wet. oh well.

So after Waipoua we took off towards 90 mile beach...a long stretch of straight sand along the western coast of the nothern peninsula. our goal was to reach cape Reinga, the Northmost point of New Zealand where the Tasman sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. Rumor was that one could see the two colors of the different oceans mixing together at the point. So that was our main goal, but we decided to take our time and stop in Ahipara, this tiny little town with nothing but a post office, a school and a little takeaway restaurant. So we set up camp at this lovely little spot which had the most fantastic view of the surrounding mountains (again pics will come later.) so we stayed there for a night and then headed up to Cape Reinga the next morning. We were going to drive right on 90 mile beach bc it is ok to do that, but the tide wasn't out far enough and it is very common for cars to get caught in quicksand, so we opted against that one. the last thing i needed was to lose my beater car in the surf. i guess one can still see the roofs of unfortunate cars sticking out from the sand.

so we reached Cape Reinga along highway 1 (we'll call it a highway but this is the furthest thing from a highway.) yes, highway one is nothing more than a two-lane, twisty road that took us all the way to Cape Reinga. Funny that this 'major highway' turned into a dirt road the last 20km. this is totally nz baby. so we get to the cape and it is just awe-inspiring. we climbed to the top and looked out over the sea...and it was better than anything i could ever have imagined. In Maori myth, it is said that the spirits of dead Maori leave the Island at this point so it was a very sacred spot as well. we stood, breathing in the beauty of this magnificent place for a good long time and then set out for our camp site at Topotuputu Bay, 10km south of the Cape. We got to the bay and realized that we were basically staying on a deserted beach for two nights as there was really no one there. so we set up tent and fell asleep to the sounds of waves crashing against the sand. we also woke to these sounds the next morning, laid out in what little sun we had, tramped up a nearby mountain to get a better view, brett swam in the ocean while i tanned on the beach a little more. we made dinner, read books, did nothing except exist in this paradise that life had afforded us.

after our second night at the bay we packed up and drove to the bay of islands. things were getting a bit shaky as many of our contacts had bailed on us, making us nervous about spending too much money, etc. the bay turned out to be nice..for a tourist trap type of town...and much too expensive for a couple of backpackers. so just as we were about to give up hope and go find a crappy place to stay, my lovely little nokia phone rang and surprise surprise it was neil's parents asking us to come stay with them that night. they also wanted to take us to a little 'function' which turned out to be the opening of a bar/restaurant. we arrived in their town (Whangerei) and showered (finally) and left for the bar. we spent the evening with a group of lovely people, tossing back rum and cokes, scotch and waters, and tasting some of the most gourmet pizzas you can imagine (pizza here is not just cheese and sauce, you cannot in fact get just 'plain' pizza. it has to be complex and it is mighty tasty in...for example: i had pizza last night with cashews, spiced chicken, bananas and mint yogurt on it and it was fantastic.)

so we drank the night away with neil's parents, stuart and jo, and had a lovely evening. it was wonderful to sleep in a soft, warm bed, take a hot shower, eat some good food cooked on a stove instead of over a random little gas flame under a tent flap. and jo and stu have invited us to stay until monday, when we plan to get back into aucks before heading south, so that looks to be the plan. jo and i plan to go shopping tomorrow for warmer clothes as it is much colder here than i anticipated, brett may go fishing with stuart, we are going to cook dinner together on sunday night...it is like having a little kiwi family. And Whangerei really reminds me of Binghamton for Jo and Stu live very removed from town in a lovely house on a hill with a huge stone wall at the end of their drive. But town is only a ten or fifteen minute drive and it is not so big as to be overwhelming, but just big enough to be perfect. Much like the Bing.

So here I sit, in this amazing home, of these amazing people, simply dumbfounded at this country. I have learned so much already...I have realized how small we are in the face of nature's beauty (and wrath for that matter). i have seen that this world is full of decent, kind, trusting people who want only to make life wonderful for even the most random of strangers. I am humbled by this country, by the sights, the culture, the people...I am realizing just how lucky i am to be here and i could not imagine being anywhere else right now. i have realized that in life, we need to love life for the things we have, instead of worrying about life for the things we don't have. and right now i have this kiwi life...and i couldn't be more deeply in love with it.

-Nic