Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Road trip, a real treet

So I took off and drove north. I didn't have much of a plan. Just to eventually make it all the way north to Cape Reinga and back down, to camp, and to see all the trees and beautiful things.

I had a fantastic time. It took 11 days and I camped every night except one. I went on a lot of really excellent day hikes. I saw so many amazing trees; I'm a bit obsessed with them. I saw a bunch of beautiful beaches. Too much general greatness has happened for me to share it all, but here are some pictures and a few of my best stories.

A really friendly Asian tourist took this picture. He didn't speak much English, but he really liked Gary.

This giant dog barked a lot and I thought it might eat me.
I love these trees!!






I went to a Bird Recovery Center. It didn't seem like a very visited place; there were no other people. When I arrived, the man working there, Robert, came out to greet me. He told me I could walk around the back and look at the birds they had. I was just looking for a few minutes when Robert came out and fed the birds and told me about them. He was really great and friendly and eager to show off all the birds they were helping. He then said I could go into one of the pens and he would show me something special. I, of course, agreed. Although I did realize it was a bit strange that I walked into a dark cage with a strange man and no one else around. But it turned out great. There were two adorable tiny owls. They looked surprised and stared at me, trying to steal my soul.


I didn't realize this was not what Robert wanted to show me. He then turned around holding a baby kiwi! It was 18 days old. It had been found in an unsafe location and was there for a few weeks before it would be set free. I got to pet it. It was great. He rubbed its ears and it closed its eyes; if it had been a kitten it would have been purring. I also pet Sparkey, the 14 year old, one-legged, kiwi who lives there. 

Robert holding the adorable baby kiwi.

I camped two nights on the Karikari Peninsula. One day I was walking along the northern beach. There were a few people on the beach where I started, but after that I saw no one else for the four hours I was walking. It was really pretty, with dunes one side, then beach, then ocean. I took off my shoes, clipped them to the back of my backpack, and walked with my feet in the water.


After I had walked about an hour, I saw dolphin fins just in front of me. Dolphins! (Dolfins!) I actually jumped for joy. Never have I been happier to be a dork, than when I pulled binoculars out of my bag to see them better (these were little binoculars I bought a year ago before seeing The Nutcracker with my mom. Who am I?). I walked and jogged back down the beach to follow my new dolphin friends for awhile. Then I continued on my merry way.

There were 5, but I take terrible photos.
About half an hour later I realized that my favorite shoes were no longer attached to my bag. I figured they must have broken off in my jump for joy. I was very sad and knew I had sacrificed them to the ocean. But I had walked into the dunes a bit and convinced myself to go back and make sure I hadn't lost them there. I had not.

I decided just to continue my sad march back to camp. After walking a bit further, I noticed something black washed up further ahead. There, straps coated in sand, clearly tossed around by some waves, were my shoes! I still can't believe it. The ocean gave me my shoes back. There may have been secret dolphin magic involved.


On my way driving south from Cape Reigna to the campground on Spirits Bay, I passed a man hitchhiking. Then I felt bad and turned around to pick him up. He was a 20-something Australian who was not doing terribly well. It was his first day hitching rides and he'd been a bit too ambitious. He also lost his shoes and did not have a tent (he must not have had dolphin magic). It seemed mostly normal, but thinking about it afterwards I realized I'm a real weirdo. Here are the main highlights.

When he first got in, he asked if I pick up hitchhikers often. I replied that I didn't really but today I was (I had picked up a group of three that morning). Then I said that if I had gotten a weird vibe, I wouldn't have let him in, but he wasn't going to murder me. Right after I said it, I realized that I still didn't really know that. So I wasn't really paying attention when he said that he was the one concerned about his safety and me possibly being the murderer. So my response was merely a shrug, not reassurance that I was not a murderer.

I had told him that I was camping nearby, but could take him to the turn off of the highway. For some reason I could never properly remember the name of Spirits Bay and told him I was camping at The Bay of Lost Souls. That's what I thought it was at the moment. That's probably where I belong. There was a sign to Spirits Bay at the turn, so he knew I lied about that.

We talked about other random things and were passing through great scenery, rolling hills, and sheep and things. Then we were quiet for a bit and my mind wandered again. I was thinking about the sheep and remembered someone telling me about a sheering competition he had attended. Someone had told him that something like 1 in 500 sheep get a major artery cut and bleed to death (I have not verified this statistic). So I, seemingly out of the blue, shared this story with him. He gave me a strange look and said that was awful. For some reason I replied that it wasn't that awful, you kill and eat sheep anyway. He ignored this and asked why I was thinking any of this. So...yea. He was concerned.

Moral of the story: picking up hitchhikers is safe if you're the crazy one.

Other things of note so far:

  • I've decided that pictures cannot convey what I want and have started to take a lot of crazy person video. Which I'm working on compiling, so watch out for that. 
  • I am now comfortable driving here.
  • Not having a definite destination and reading signs instead using gps leads to a lot of me yelling 'No rules driving!' Then doing some kind of drastic turn.
  • Living out of a car makes it difficult to stay or feel clean.
  • After sleeping in a tent and constantly being outside, a cold shower is not usually what I want.
  • Sometimes nature is great and quiet and peaceful. Sometimes birds are very loud. Sometimes I don't think there will ever be a time that I will not hear waves echoing in my head.
  • If I hug a tree and hear a loud noise, I should not assume it's talking to me. I'm probably just squeezing the valve of my camelback. Also, after five times of this happening, I should start remembering it.
  • Gravel roads lead to greatness.
  • Trees

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