I am still living in my own little apartment. I just put the cat out. He came meowing at the door around 11:30 last night. I was awake and took pity on the fact that he was probably soaking wet. I was right, he was.
Life here hasn’t been bad. I can’t say that I’m happy here, but at least I’m haven’t been spending money on food and lodging. Rob keeps saying that God must have sent me to him; in order to give him motivation to start his house projects and to teach him about his computer/camera/printer. It took me a while to figure out why serendipity had led me to Rob. He had just arrived home from being out of town the night I called, enquiring about his need for a WWOOFer. He was able to have me arrive the very next day. He had lots of projects and dreams. I could probably stay here for a month and still have stuff to do! Recently, though, I’ve started getting antsy again. I have vague plans to meet up with a friend or two in Rotorua and I still really want to find a job. Just the other day I was particularly antsy about my status here. I was wondering if I had wasted my last 3 months by not getting a job during the winter and travelling more in the summer. This annoyed me. I hadn’t regretted any of my decisions until then, why was I starting? Then, during our noon break, Rob mentioned he had a friend in Hastings (right near Napier on the east coast) that needed a dog sitter in order to visit Rob. He said he thought I was a very reliable and trustworthy person, he would recommend me if I was interested. Hmmm? I took the rest of my lunch break and looked over maps and routes. It really didn’t sound like a bad idea. I had originally planned to bypass the whole Napier/Hastings/Hawke’s Bay area, maybe not getting back to it until next year, in order to hit Rotorua directly from the Lake Waikeramoana track. This new idea, however, would give me an excuse to check out the art deco architecture of Napier, as well as burning some time until my couchsurfing hosts were available in Rotorua. The route up to Rotorua from Hastings would avoid metal/gravel roads and take me through Taupo – into snowboarding territory and where Andy has recently acquired a job……
So, I guess serendipity led me here for a reason after all – to encourage my continued exploration of the country. I’m really quite happy for this development, and it’s served as a good reminder that I really can’t worry too much about what is going to happen next. Sure, I could have gotten a job as soon as I landed in Auckland; but then I wouldn’t have had any of the awesome adventures I’ve had. If I had made any of the alternative decisions offered to me during my travels, who knows where I would be typing this blog from! I’m sure that if I had never flipped that coin 2 months ago, which led me to the Northland area over the Rotorua area, I would have had just as many great adventures and met just as many wonderful people. However, I am so pleased that I have met the people I’ve met and done/seen the things I’ve done/seen – particularly swimming with dolphins!!!!!! Okay – that right there is reminder enough that I am SO glad I haven’t got a job yet!!!! JAs for my antsyness about getting a job – I am back in the “it will happen when it happens” mentality. I have been fortunate that Rob lets me use his internet nightly (and I just recently installed his DSL upgrade for him; making it easier to multi task), so I can e-mail and job search quite often. I can’t say I have a job lined up yet, but I have a lead or two – one of which is looking fairly promising…..
The one thing I am still uncertain of is the Lake Waikeramoana track. A large part of me wants to do this “great walk” while I am in the vicinity (1.5 hours away). The other part of me thinks the weather is going to be so wet that I may not enjoy myself to the full extent the track has to offer. Do to my cheapness, I would want to use my tent on the track (huts are about $25 a night, campsite ~$15 – the track would take about 4 nights). The problem is, even though we are on the verge of spring, the mountainous climate could still produce a hard frost or two while I’m out there; not to mention that the weight of my tent would grow in proportion to the amount of water it has absorbed! The other concern I have is my fitness level. Despite working outdoors for the last week and half (and I have the farmer’s tan to prove it!), I don’t feel any fitter than when I arrived. It’s been weeks since I’ve done any walking, let alone serious hiking. DoC (Dept of Conservation) responded to my e-mail enquiry about the track – saying it was a 9 our walk to the first campsite! I happen to know that you have to go over a pretty decent sized bluff in that 9 hours! If I did the track, I would probably stay at a hut (5 hour walk) that first night and start tenting it from there. I’m just not sure. Guess I’ll see what the weather is looking like as I get closer to a decision. Hmmm, maybe I should ditch the “great walk” for now and do the shorter walk at the lake right next door – Lake Waikareiti.
I know, I know; I just wrote, in the above paragraph, that I shouldn’t worry over what’s going to happen next. But hiking a multi-day trail does require at least a minimum amount of planning and forethought. The reason this decision is taking up so much of my brain (enough so to write about it here), is that I had planned on leaving Rob’s place Saturday morning/afternoon. Today is Thursday (28 August). So I need to figure out what I want to do. I need to be in Hastings for dog sitting by next Saturday (6 September). Rob would be more than happy to have me stay a few days longer if the weather isn’t conducive to hiking – he has really enjoyed the inspiration he gains from having someone around (good thing his girlfriend will be arriving from the Philippines in the next month). However, I’m getting antsy. I don’t do well sitting in one place for too long, at least when I’m not actually happy (which isn’t to say I’m unhappy here either). It’s just that I want to start exploring again. I also want to meet up with Tracey in Mahia Beach before heading south (yes, it goes against my anti-backtracking nature, but it’s not that far out of my way). I guess what I’ll probably do is just head to the lakes area and go from there. I can camp near the road and just do day hikes or, if the weather looks good, overnight trips. Hmm, I like that idea……..
HEY – this is the first blog, in a long time at least, that isn’t broken down into a day by day account! In fact, I couldn’t even see a reason to make headings! That’s probably because my daily life hasn’t been full of constantly changing townships and sightseeing adventures. Life here on top of the mountain has just been life. I eat, I sleep, and I work. Work has included digging holes for plants that haven’t been put in the holes yet (well, 2 days ago (Tuesday, 26th) we did transplant 3 flaxes, 1 pear tree, and even, finally, planted that poor native tree Rob dug up (with very few roots attached) my first day here!), weaving a privacy screen through a fence (using manuka branches from the trees cleared during my first day working here), and yesterday we finished cleaning out Rob’s garage! The garage was an excellent project during the times of heavier rain, as it required stacking a lot of wood and moving a lot of hoarded building materials. For the first time in over a year Rob is able to park his car in the garage! It’s nice to see some really tangible (and useful) results from my stay here. Lord knows that the fruit trees, which I had been expecting to plant when I first arrived here, are not any closer to making it into the ground than they were a year and half ago – when Rob bought them!
Actually – I shouldn’t make it sound like life here is all work and no play. Last week, during a semi-wet day (Monday 18 August), we drove into Wairoa (the nearest town). We did some
errands there and then visited a couple of Rob’s friends – Tia will be moving to Wellington when she marries her boyfriend, so she gave me her number for when I am in the Wellington area (though she thinks my name is Bell J. Then, on Friday (22 August), after putting in a good days work of cutting up and moving the manukas, we drove into Gisborne. Rob had many, many errands to do in town and then we headed over to his friends place. Rob has a large bus there (as in greyhound style bus) that he has set up for touring - kitchen, couch, bed, etc. We had previously decided to stay the night on his bus, so after dropping our gear off we headed back into town. Rob shouted me an Indian dinner (shouting is buying a person/people something (usually a round of drinks) in the expectation that they will shout you back (generally in the same evening)– or, in my case, as expectation of continued hard work back home) and then we headed to his favorite nightlife scene – the Cosmopolitan Club. The club wasn’t a pub (which I just learned is short for public house! Man, I am so naïve in worldly matters ;), it was an actual members and guests only club. While Rob isn’t a member, he is regular enough to know the employees. Rob doesn’t drink, so I bought him his first ginger beer and bought my own beer. We only stayed for 2 drinks, but it was long enough to enjoy most of 2 sets by the band (“One, one, one”). They were a good band; like all the NZ bar bands I’ve seen, they pretty much just do cover songs; but there is nothing wrong with that. Just as Rob and I were ready to leave, we ran into Kevin and Isabelle, the friends who are allowing Rob to keep his bus on their property. They invited us back to their house for tea before we slept in the bus. They are lovely people who are very into their ballroom dancing –organizing weekly dances where people can learn and have fun. We watched some of their training videos, really quite interesting. They really wanted Rob and me to stay for their dance the next night – Saturday 23rd. Rob and I got up super early that Saturday morning and hit the local market and completed more errands. We both seriously considered staying the rest of the day and making the dance – since we ended up having lunch at Kevin and Isabelle’s – but in the end, we both opted out. I would have very much enjoyed going, but after a poor night’s sleep on a short couch I wasn’t sure I was up to 4 hours of exercise! I also was self conscious about wearing hiking boots to a dance! While I considered shopping for a new pair of dance shoes, I opted against spending my money and acquiring more things I would have to get rid of eventually. So, after making good progress on cleaning up the bus, Rob and I headed back to our mountain. I was very sorry to disappoint Kevin and Isabelle – as they are extremely lovely people who are very passionate about their dancing. I would very much have loved to try it, but……Life on the mountain isn’t all work either – as can be seen by the mass amounts of picture I recently posted on this blog. There isn’t a whole lot to do here during down time, but that has given me the excuse I needed to get some good reading in! In fact, I haven’t read this much in ages…. I finally finished an adventure novel I started weeks and
weeks ago (Black Arrow by Robert Lois Stevenson) , started and finished a decent sized (and very enjoyable) sci-fi novel (The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson), and (for the first time in years) finished a fun little “brain-candy” novel only 2 days after starting it! (Blah Blah Black Sheep by Maggie Gibson). I really shouldn’t be reading books that I’m carrying around with me. I should be taking advantage of my hosts library while I can – but it’s a little late now! When I’m not reading, I have my laptop entertaining me with music and pictures. My screensaver is set to display random pictures from my computer (post it board style – meaning 4 smaller pictures at one time, rather than only 1 pic at a time). This feature always fascinates me for a good 5 minutes or more. It brings back such good memories of people and places from the states (and Mexico sometimes too). While it used to make me homesick to see images of my past life – my family, my cat, or my best friend’s daughter – now I just grin at the memory with only a twinge of longing….. Speaking of pictures – I’m going to start resizing some more so I can add them to this post (a friend of mine gave me some dimensions to aim for in my resizing , so I’ll see if I can do it properly this time!). They will all be images of Rob’s home – since I didn’t take any pictures while we were in Gisborne.
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