It’s day 19 in NZ and I can’t believe how fast time is going by. We have made it to the Coromandel Peninsula and we are camping at a beach called Sailor’s Grave. There’s a nice, small hippie/surfer crowd that’s also staying here and surfing, and during the day the locals drive in to surf as well. The beach is at the bottom of a hillside, and a really cold freshwater stream cuts through a valley and runs into the ocean. The sun is really strong and hot but the land and air isn’t- when I’m sunbathing and a cloud goes by its chilly. Its just getting to be the beginning of Fall here now but the weather is still summery except for at night.
Tomorrow we are due to arrive in Auckland for a Pixies show at the Vector Arena in Auckland which is a few hours away from here. We’ve been away from cities and towns almost the whole time and the idea of going back into that world seems strange… but we are excited about the show.
A few of the places we have freedom camped are in Maori territories with tiny town centers and miles of empty beach. The Maori are the indigenous people of NZ and in comparison with Australia’s Aboriginals they really are culturally and socially intact. It’s a beautiful thing to see that almost all the territories, schools, and roads have Maori names and there is also a lot of Maori art in public areas and on signage. It seems that in the rural areas the towns are either predominantly Maori or not, but in the cities its all mixed. The Maori communities feel close knit… its like you can tell just from shopping in the grocery store and seeing everyone chatting in the parking lot.
We are hardly going to campsites at all now because we have a converter for recharging batteries from the cig lighter, and we just snaggle water from the gas station spigots. I think we love living in a camper.
I feel as if I’m saying less in my blogs than usual but we are really taking it easy and doing the same things day after day, beach, camping, driving to the next place for beach and camping and good surf for Jas. Everywhere we go is different but with the same feeling of open uninhabited spaces, cliffs and mountains and hillsides with beaches of yellow or black sand. And wind.
Our fellow campers at the moment are from Malta and UK, and one girl from Oklahoma that has been living out of the states for years and traveling. The Malta group is really into fishing and seems to be living off of fresh fish and rice which smells really good when they are cooking. Jas and I don’t have it so bad ourselves, last night we ate gnocchi and ceasar, the night before chicken burritos with all the fixings.
We made a stop a few days ago at a beach parking lot for a phone call where there was service, and suddenly about 20 flies had come into the van and weren’t leaving. We have brought them with us to 2 different campsites now and there are only 3 left. We got a flyswatter and Jason is having fun with it I think.
I paddled out for a try at surfing Mount Manganui Beach with Jas but it was too big and speedy with the sets really close together. I ended up really frustrated not being very good at duck diving with the board yet and just getting tossed around. It kind of seems pointless to try learning on Jason’s short board as well but I’m going to give it another go when the conditions are right.
I am now reading the Bhagavad Gita (contemporary translation) and I am desperate to find Lost season 5 which so far in my travels appears to have not been released here yet.
Getting excited for Bali in 10 days, but will miss this and Jas, and have not made any plans or arrangements for my stay there yet. Life without internet!
Xoxoxox K
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