The hitching hits a hiccup..

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Umm, the map server isn't working right now, which I tried to use after I wrote everything below. So sorry if I say something is on the map and you don't have one. I'll make a map, as well as add pictures, with the next blog.

Hello, from paihia, i'll try to give a quick rundown of what I've been doing.

Umm, I last checked in, I believe, talking about monday the 26th... that night, I hung out in the hostel because it was simply pouring outside. Met some cool people from Belgium, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. It was pretty relaxed. I also played Chess with the arabian kid, and won, taking my record here in nz to 18-1. The only loss was a german kid in taupo and i really messed up the game, he wouldn't play me again which really pissed me off. I also learned some curse words in Arabic, but they are extremely difficult to pronounce. Their whole language is one of throaty, gutteral sounds, if that makes sense.

Tuesday, the 27th..

I woke up around 8 30, and got on the road by 9. I talked to my parents for a bit, then after about 15 minutes, I got picked up by a painter who was heading north to a town I have since forgotten.. It began with a K, its on the map I posted in the last blog. It was about a 30 minute drive and we talked about hunting and fishing. He dropped me off literally n the middle of nowhere, just a country road, and I walked on, hoping to get picked up. After about an hour of walking, I got a ride from a guy heading to my first destination fo the day, Cormandel town. He was a pretty cool guy, and told me some stories about his hitch hiking days, and even took me up to the local peak where I could look out over the Firth of Thames. (sounds like something out of a fantasy story, or the middle ages, doesn't it?). He dropped me off at this touristy train ride outside fo Cormandel town, and I took it up the mountain. Apparently, some dude, a potter, just decided in the 70s to start building a train track up a mountain as a hobby. He kept expanding it and stuff, until now it goes like a half mile up to a peak with an amazing view. At the peak he built this tower, which they called the "eyefull tower". The view was amazing- you could even see Auckland across the water, but the whole thing was a little corny and I wasn't really feeling it. After that, I walked down to the road and hitch hiked back to the main highway so I could get south to Thames. A woman picked me up for the short ride, and she had a pug in the back seat which did NOT like me and kept trying to bite me. I got dropped off just south of Coromandel town, sat down, ate lunch (sandwiches I had packed), and then got a ride from a maori guy working for the streets department down to Thames. That ride was breathtaking, as bay after tiny bay, and beach after beach were visible as we took the coastal ride. The water was just breathtaking. I got to Thames, watched a couple movies, had a burger, and went to bed.

Wednesday, the 28th..

I'm gonna run through the next couple days pretty quickly to catch up. Wednesday I got picked up by a woman heading to Auckland, and on the whole 1.5 hour drive we talked about religion, politics, philosophy, and all sorts of stuff, it was cool. She dropped me off at a train station, and I got a ride into the city.

Thursday, the 29th..

I woke up pretty late, and got a ride out of town by the 11 o'clock bus to the northern suburbs, and was stuck on a desolate part of highway 1 for a while before this HUGE Tongan picked me up and took me a part of the way to my destination, whangarei. We talked about polynesian sports and culture, it was pretty interesting. He dropped me off in this town who's name I have forgotten (It will be in the map), but from there I got a ride up to whangarei with a girl who was driving htere. She dropped me off at a hostel downtown, and I immediately made for the local pub. It was a round 4 15, and I knew the cubs were on the ESPN channel, tape delayed. I caught the final 6 innings of the game, including the 10th, where I saw an Alphonso Soriano walk off single. I was really into the game, and the locals thought it was pretty funny that I was reacting so animatedly (is that a word) to the events on the screen, events they didn't understand, so during the final 3 or 4 innings I was trying to explain the details of baseball as the game unfolded.

Friday and Saturday..

I pretty much just hung around Whangarie and got drunk at night. Literally. It was awesome.

Sunday, the 1st

I hitch hiked up from Whangarei to Paihia (in the beautiful bay of islands) with two Maori girls yesterday, and the dropped me off about 15 kilometers from the Paihia, where I was picked up by two Maori guys who were heading into town. Yesterday I just hung out.



Thats a rundown, sorry its so brief and sucks. I've run into a couple problems, though. I am running out of money. I am down to about $470 NZ and about $1000 American, which means I also have to start looking for a job pretty quick. I was gonna do that in Whangarei, but Whangarei was pretty dreary, and I was going to here in Paihia, but there are no jobs open. So, we'll see.

Tomorrow, I am taking a bus trip up to Cape Reinga (the northern point of NZ) It is one of the few places in the world where you can watch two oceans collide into each other (the Tasman branch of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific), and I have heard that is pretty amazing. Hopefully I will get some great pictures. Hope all is well!

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