...I find that 13 can sometimes really be unlucky but everything depends on the point of view
...I am about to climb the mighty Mount Taranaki, but I wake up to milky fog all around and give up. I decide to tend to laundry and other pressing affairs
..,after breakfast it clears up and there's beautiful blue sky all around so I drive half an hour and 1000m up to the trailhead only to find the same milky fog up there, which apparently has no intention of letting up. Forget the mountain, I mean I can't even see the bloody thing!
...I take a short walk in the forest and drive to the city. I consider such alternative time fillers as a museum or surfing classes but instead...
...I do the laundry and go to a nearby lighthouse described by the guidebook as "scenic". It's pretty ordinary but the rocky beach is clam and soothing and I end up reading a book for a few hours and it's just the best evening ever.
...I muse on the beauty and durability of kiwi money. The bills are all made of plastic. You can tell it's a surfer nation. A few bills in your board shorts pocket and you can head for a few brewskis directly out of the water.
...I find that New Zealanders have a day off on Monday 2 Jan because New Year's Day falls on a Sunday. Cool!
...I can't help but wonder why some card machines make me insert the card then swipe it then insert it again and then possibly it'll go through (or not). Go figure.
...I muse on the government internet domain of NZ - it is the first that I've seen that's govt rather than gov.
...the famed Mt Taranaki, which I was supposed to climb and which "played" Mt Fuji in Tom Cruise blockbuster "The Last Samurai", all day covered in clouds reveals itself graciously by the evening. Small comfort but still - it's beautiful!
...I check the weather and it'll be s***ty for the next few days so I change my plans - no point I'm trekking here, I'm hopping on the ferry tomorrow. South Island, here I come!!!