Not Quite So Happy New Year

I'm sitting on a warm rock at a black sand beach in Paekakariki. I'm sipping wine out of a coffee mug. The waves are lapping up close to my feet. Beth is nearby. The sun is about to set over the water. The light is warm and inviting. The air smells of sweet salt and life. This place is magical...I'm writing this piece in my journal as I sit in this beautiful spot, and will copy it onto my blog tomorrow.. Last time I wrote in this blog, Beth and I were in a small town just north of Auckland, we had some tummy troubles, and we were setting our sights on a visit with Hans. Our journey through Auckland was painless. Then after a few hours of driving, we stopped in a small town that took pride in the amount of corrogated metalic artwork it displayed. Below you can see Beth standing in front of the information centre which doubled as a wool store. In Tokoroa, Hans and Elaine were excited and surprised to see us and meet Beth for the first time. Even though my stomach was not well, Beth and I managed to drink the token glass of Guinness in the company of our tall German friend... But in the end, my stomach was revolting against any and all food or drink I tried to ingest. Tums didn't help at all, so I tried to distract myself by watching the first half of the newer version of King Kong. The diversion was welcome, but in the end I just had to go to sleep. The following morning brought somewhat better times for my aching belly, so Beth and I set off once again in our trusty and talented car (Bobbi's talent has yet to be discovered, but we know it's there). Next destination: Napier. Our drive was quite pleasant, with a stopover at Lake Taupo for lunch with the black swans. When we finally arrived in Napier, the art deco city, and were saddened to discover that we were not the only people trying to stay in Napier over the New Year holidays. EVERYTHING was fully booked: hostels, expensive hotels, sketchy motels and all. Following the wise words of my adorable brother who said, "I've never been turned away from a hostel in NZ" didn't seem to pan out for us this time. -- Time out: I'm still sitting on the beach and Beth is now making a sandcastle. So awesome. -- So it was past dinner time on the eve before New Year's Eve, and we were homeless with few options. What to do? We started to call WOOFing farms in hope that they would be kind enough to take us in on such short notice. After the ninth phone call with no success, Resourceful Beth (her new nickname) decided to check the information centre one more time, just in case... Does this story have enough suspence for you? What happened next, you ask? Did we try to sleep in our car down by the river?? No, luck was on our side because some girls made a last minute cancellation for their stay at the Criterion Backpackers on the main street in town. After getting to know the place, I think the criterion to be able to stay there was that you had to be under 20 years of age and eager to drink your face off. There were a group of young-ins hammering it up for a period of about 32 hours, with the most horrifying bit being their lame attempts to hit on Beth and me by trying to make conversation about tuna fish. I don't think so. Homie don't play dat. Beat it, and go back to your Rent-a-girl, and tell the icky, barfing, mullet-wearing friend wearing the T-shirt "Born in Hell" to stay away from us too, please. Oh dear god. Beth, are you sure we're still in New Zealand? The only comforting things about this place were the Starbucks down the street, the rainbow at the beach (see below), and the television set in the lounge which delivered me a dose of home on New Year's Eve when we watched an episode of Orange County Choppers on the Discovery Channel. The biker boys made a sweet, but somewhat ugly ride for Billy Joel. The television watching once again distracted me while my tummy was a-churning around like a hamster's running wheel, or a tape deck stuck on fast forward. Ugh... Bed time on New Year's Eve was about 9:00 PM, and the earplugs I brought from Canada came in quite handy to drown out the pathetic sounds of tuna-boy and mullet-man partying excessively with their possy of drunken schoolgirls. The fireworks exploding outside my window at midnight barely disturbed me, and I awoke the following morning feeling much better than most people in town. Beth and I had no qualms about being noisy or talking about eggs benedict and pickles and milkshakes in front of hung over suckers... No, not really, but I would have loved to have measured the total amount of headache pain in the building before we bolted outta town. We ended up driving south for twenty minutes to Hastings, a very cute little agriculture town. The lady at the info centre suggested two things that resonated well for us on that day: mochas and a movie! Beth and I spent too much money on coffee/hot chocolate, and then sat amongst the wee-kids and laughed while enjoying the movie "Happy Feet", a Disney flic about penguins with Robin Williams voice, among others. It was a perfect thing to do on a sleepy, rainy Sunday.... After the movie finished, we had to keep moving on to the mid-west and Tongariro National Park. There is an amazing stretch of road, mostly gravel, between Hastings and Waiouru. Heaps of sheep and fields, followed by deep and voluptuous valleys full of vegetation. The rain was a welcome addition to our drive. The hostel we stayed at in National Park (yes, it's the name of the town) had an indoor climbing wall with the entrance to our room being through the small hole on the right of this picture. We accidentally left Bobbi's lights on when we arrived at the hostel, so the next morning, we had to get the friendly manager to help us jump start the car. Whoops. Once, up and running, Beth and I went to Whakapapa Village, where we hiked up to the two Tama Lakes, with the ski hill/volcano in the background.The lunch time wind guard (rock wall) kept us a bit warm while we scarfed down some peanut butter and honey sandwiches, followed by a dark chocolate dessert. Mmmm-mmmm.... The waterfall on the return trip was pretty neat, and the rest of the trail was through forest, following a little river. Nice little 14 km hike. That night, we watched the second Lord of the Rings movie on television. How appropriate since Mt. Doom was just outside our door... The following day, we drove up to the ski hill on Mt. Ruaperi (I can't remember the real spelling), which kind of creeped us out. It looks like a ghost town, except with loads of volcanic rock surrounding the lame, depleated of colour houses. Further west, towards New Plymouth, we drove 70 or more kilometres on gravel, and went through the coolest gosh-darned tunnel I ever did see. New Plymouth itself is a nice place with about 50,00 folks living there. Beth and I parked ourselves at the Shoestring Backpackers for the evening and met Guy, a big-bearded dude from Fairbanks, Alaska. He told such great stories that we wished he would sit on the edge of our beds and tell us stories until sleep overtook us... But instead, Beth and I went to the local Burger King for a healthy dose of french fries and a complementary sundae (not complimentary as in 'free of charge', rather a sweet compliment to the greasy fries). To make our evening a bit healthier, we walked down the ocean front and watched kids chasing seagulls as the sunset over the water. Upon being sourly awakened by INTENSE SNORING MAN in our dorm room, Beth and I decided that we would try to do a hike on Mt. Taranaki (the volcano used as Mt. Fiji in movies like The Samurai). However, the clouds quickly moved in, and we missed the turn off to the park, so we decided we couldn't be bothered to turn around. Instead, we ended up in Wanganui for a lunch break by the river. The Christmas trees here were HUGE, larger than we'd seen anywhere else in NZ. After lunch, we watched a bunch of tourists hop aboard New Zealand's only working steam boat. Over the loud speakers I heard, "We burn coal to propel this vessel. It's not our fault if the smoke stains your clothes." And now Beth and I find ourselves in this lovely little hostel on the beach, where the owners served us tea on the deck overlooking the ocean when we arrived. The owners asked Beth and I to stay for a few days and clean the hostel in exchange for accommodation, which we couldn't pass up, so we'll be staying here until Tuesday morning and then going on to Wellington and the ferry to the South Island.... And this brings me to the present moment, my feet in the sand, the sun finally setting, and and my empty wine coffee mug.