Blog 22

Wellington is a really nice town. Thursday morning I didn't go for a surf, because it was rubbish, itwas cold and I longed for a hot shower. I went straight to the hostel: Rowena's Lodge. Well, some kind of hostel! The reason I chose it was because of the fact that I could park there for free. When I arrived there I even decided to sleepin my car instead of a dorm and saved 7 dollars, which is 3 euro's (for a warm comfy bed… well, I guess I took the budget-thing too far…). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that they had a grand piano in the living! After I put my laundry in the machine (cold wash… weird NZ people! You can't get any stains out of clothes with a cold wash!) I headed for the piano and I played it till the late afternoon, when I realized that there were some other things to do! I went to the Te Papa museum, a very famous museum in Wellington about the NZ history, nature, animals, etc. After that I went to the theatre. There were only three plays in town that evening;it wasn't really difficult to make a choice, since there was only one NZ text/ monologue with a famous NZ actor, called Hatch or the Plight of the penguins by Geoff Chapple starring Stuart Devenie 'one of NZ most accomplished actors'.

Hatch made oil out of penguins and in his monologue he defended himself, e.g.: 'sure many penguins were killed, but many pigs are killed for consumption every day'. I did agree with that statement (as a vegetarian :-). It was a very interesting play and it had everything to do with NZ, thus a good choice.

That night I did not sleep in my car… but in a bed… since there were hypes of empty beds in the hostel and I just curled up in my sleeping bag on one the beds… Same thing the next evening.. I did feel a bit guilty, but it was a really nice sleep!!

The next day I had a chat on skype with my mum when I realized that there was some surf going on! I jumped in my car and had a surf at Lyall Bay, near the airport. It wasn't too big and a bit closing out, but I caught hypes of waves and had a lot of fun. Some shopping (lol: so what I found in the supermarket: AH pindakaas and euroshopper appelmoes!! They had even more Dutch AH en ES products… funny… ) and lunch after that and more piano. Again to the museum, since I didn't have enough time the day before and after that I went to 'hot yoga - yin'. Yoga in a 38 degrees room, where you stay in the poses longer then usually. I experienced some poses I hadn't done before and it was really cool/ hot ;-)

For dinner I actually bought some potatoes and some corn, yes yes, a hot meal!! (just because my mum was really concerned because of the fact that I was living on jam and peanut butter-sandwiches for the past week. More music after that and even some jamming with some guys from the hostel.

The next morning I had a hot shower, all clean, and I took of early to be in time for the ferry to Picton (South Island).

On the ferry I met 2 nice couples (I had the best seat ever!: at the front window) an one offered me a bed for when I continued my travels from Brisbane - Sydney. I also met Saar!! A girl that once went on a Vinea surfcamp with me and a year later I saw her again at the Dalton. I knew she was going to Australia and I had a feeling I was going to see her, but in NZ?! Well, she fell in love with a kiwi and she went to visit him in Christchurch just before she went home. Unluckily I saw her on the moment of arrival, so it was a short meeting, but cool anyway.

That day I drove all the way to Kaikoura (had to go there since it reminded me . It was kind of cold and the surf didn't look amazing enough to go in. There was good surf predicted for the next day, so I had an early night and an early morning surf… although.. it wasn't really early.. I woke up 14 hours later (think I was tired) and had a morning surf. After the surf at Kaikoura's Mangamaunu , Janine (family from Wales - Adam - baby Conner) offered me a cup of tea and I really enjoyed that! Afterwards I checked the internet (for the surf) and decided to visit Abel Tasman NP in the North. It was supposed to be really pretty.. Well, that was quite a long drive, but because I had a good sleep, it was all good. Janine and Adam told me to go to Totaranui, where there was a cheap camping. When I was nearly there (round 9 pm) and I nearly killed a possum, I decided to go to 'bed' along the side of the road. The next morning, 6 am, I drove to Totaranui where I enjoyed the sunrise and went back to sleep. As I woke up 2 hours later, I ran into Duncan (Annika - Meef - Ella), a Dutch/ Australian family I met in Wellington. That morning I did my yoga on the beach and had a swim afterwards. Then I had a chat with the family and late in the afternoon 3.30 pm I went to do a nice walk to Separation Point. (4 hrs total). Really pretty beaches, forests, a couple of seals: all beautiful. In the evening a cup of tea with Niek and Duncan and I fell asleep to the sound of Duncans guitar…

The next morning I started driving around 11 am… at 4.30 pm I had a surf at Tauranga Bay, near Westport, a thick, mellow wave. Sunset at Pancake Rocks and sleeping along the side of the road again (there were 2 other vans).

Yesterday another day of driving with in between a little walk to the Franz Joseph Glacier. I slept somewhere near Queenstown, where I did a bungee jump today!!!! Needed to empty my head (too much thinking in the car during the day) Really cool: 134 meter!! This evening I had a nice shower in a hostel and now I'm in the internet café talking to 3 Dutch guys (Tim, Niels and Wouter).

Tomorrow Milford Sounds….