Belated post, I know. It's been a busy week. We were gone from Friday-Monday (silly me, thinking I'd have any free time to be alone - quite the opposite), then got slammed with work, then I contracted something that gave me a consistent fever and the ability to hack up things that vaguely resembled melted cacti. It's been fun. So I sort got the alone time I was hoping for (if fever quarantine counts?).
BUT the silver lining: what better time to update my blog than while on bedrest?!
the weekend
On Friday we drove several hours up to the Bay of Islands (region north of Auckland), climbed a pā with insane views (see left) and spent the evening wandering around the weird little town of Paihia, which is basically just dive bars, fancy bars, and a beach. We spent the night at the world's rowdiest hostel, complete with a shirtless French manager who liked to inform people in the politest of tones that 11pm was "time to fuck off, you fuck off please" from the common area (or as we more cleverly dubbed it, Fuck Off O'Clock).
Sunset in Paihia the first night.
Saturday we went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which was basically a propaganda-fest BUT we did see a really cool performance of haka and poi dancing (Ruined by the upsetting realization that these dancers were being payed by the government as the previous troupe, which was Maori-run, had gone out of business. So not so great. But it was still cool to watch!)
We went to the town of Russell after, which was awesome. They had a small museum that had a bunch of historical stuff about the region as well as some taxidermied NZ animals (All I wanted was to put a monocle on the little blue penguin they had. It killed me that they missed such a perfect opportunity). They had two sets of shark jaws that I stared at for a while, too. I think I was supposed to be learning about Russell and its history so this blog could be informative but to be honest those jaws were HUGE AND THERE WERE SO MANY TEETH and I couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to watch them eat something giant.
Afterward we had the rest of the day to ourselves so a few of us went on a bushwalk on this awesome trail (through a mini-jungle! And it even had views of the bay! I wanted to scamper there forever) which led us to a secret little beach. The rest of the group found us there eventually and we spent some time crawling around the rocks and swimming there before grabbing some Thai food for dinner (and we're just gonna skip over the part where I got chili powder in not one, but BOTH OF MY EYES and went blind briefly). On the way back to the ferry to Paihia, when I regained sight, we saw a giant stingray in the water! The picture isn't great but it was definitely at least a 3-foot wingspan.
Views from the bush.
Terrible picture of the trail (I was too busy running around like a dog off the leash to take anything decent.)
Our wondrous little cove.
Me, the awkward mermaid (cracken).
The next day we got up bright and early for a day that had some of the most significant highs (feeling fulfilled in the depths my soul) and lows (feeling so carsick I thought death was imminent) of my life. We went to 90-mile beach, which is actually a 90km long beach that's protected from development, so it's totally empty as far as you can see. It was unreal - not something you'd ever see in the US. There are some massive dunes nearby off the beach, and we went sandboarding there, which is basically boogie boarding down the steepest hill of sand you can find. SO MUCH FUN.
Stingray!
ready2shred
90 Mile Beach
The highlight of the day was going to Cape Reinga, which is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific at the very tip of New Zealand. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. The tides are crashing together in crazy patterns, and it's all green cliffs and golden sand as far as you can see, with the exception of a small white lighthouse at the tip. I couldn't believe how incredible it was. I kept hearing echoes inside of me, soft but clear - I had found the place my soul loved. I spread out on the grass and watched the Pacific swirl around itself and felt so lucky.
not to fear, I am wearing pants
My happy place.
The day ended with terrible carsickness so no need to describe that. The next day we went to a weird museum about kauri trees and how they used to cover this island and how cool all of the machines were that the British used to destroy them, which made me sad. We also got to see Tane Mahuta, the ancestor tree. It was so massive - I can't even imagine the landscape being covered in them. It's funny how we think of New Zealand as such a natural and wild place, but in reality it's a very cultivated wildness - rolling hills covered in species of plants that aren't native to here, with animals grazing that never existed before the British arrival... all of that was once covered in a dense forest of trees bigger than the California redwoods. It's so hard to picture, but it must have been unreal.
Hooray for fever delirium!
It was an awesome weekend. The disgusting illness I came down with after all the sleep deprivation of this week might have been worth it. I spent the majority of my time this weekend trying to sweat out the fever from my bed and kept trying to go back to my happy places (the bridge on Causeway Street, Noonhill Reservation Trails, beach days in Osterville -- and now Cape Reinga too!). It helped. As did the obscene amount of Vitamin C I consumed + watching the entire final season of 30 Rock. Next weekend I'm heading on an overnight bus to Wellington for my 21st, where I'll hopefully get to do a 21-mile run with Terence and then check out the museum, waterfront, and craft beer scene I've been reading so much about. Send good vibes my way for my sickness to disappear in time! I need it.