Stoli and the Sad, Weird, No Good, Not Great Day and Night and Part of Another Day

Ok, I've hit another bout of travel sadness or depression or something. It's been kind of on and off for a week or two now. It's not the worst, but I have to try to convince myself to do things more than usual and I want to deal with other people even less. It's getting better. It may have to do partly with the weather; it's quite rainy here on the west coast. I don't need sympathy or worry or anything. I'm even still having fun and enjoying myself. I wouldn't change anything.

I have a lot of time to think (might be part of the problem). But I reflected back on a particular low spot and, in hindsight, I think it's pretty funny and would like to share. It may end up to be just a log of my day, but I don't care. You can stop reading if it's terrible. I just want to get it out, it's taking up valuable (probably not) brain space and I keep writing it in my head. So here you go:

Stoli and the Sad, Weird, No Good, Not Great Day and Night and Part of Another Day

I woke up and it was almost 10am. I really didn't want to get up. Not at all. Not even a little bit. I had been in my tent and mostly sleeping for almost 12 hours; that's not great. I wanted to just stay in my sleeping bag and tent for at least the rest of the day. I could tell it had rained a little, but had stopped for the moment. That wouldn't make packing up fun, but that wasn't the entire reason. I had just had a really good long happy streak and was hitting a valley I suppose. It was one of those stay in bed, call in sick, days; I've been there. But holing up in my tent isn't really a great option.

Eventually both parts of my brain lost and my bladder won. But once I was out of my tent I manged to convince myself to break camp. I had planned a long hike for the day and then camping at a small town a bit further south. I started walking, still heavily in a funk.

For the first hour it drizzled. Then it rained heavily for about 3 hours. Then it drizzled for my last hour. It was gross. It was what should be a great hike along the coast and partly in the edge of the forest. Every once in a while it jetted out to the coast and the wind was awful. At one of these clearings I saw a penguin on the beach. Just standing there looking like a sad penguin in the wind and rain. And I thought, 'I feel you penguin.' (This is strange. I feel like I saw a meme in the wild, some depressed penguin, and I totally related to it. Also, it's still ridiculous to me that this is possible, yet alone that it happened to me.)

I somehow ended the hike. All of me was soaked. Even my feet nestled in wool socks and hiking boots were just big puddles. Everything in my backpack was wet. I changed into dry clothes and drove to the campground.

It was a space in a small town, next to a rugby pitch. There was a very old building with a lounge area, kitchen, bathrooms, and bunk room. It was super windy and awful when I arrived. I talked to the caretaker, who was kind of bossy and I didn't even feel like dealing with nice people. He said it was supposed to storm. I decided to stay in the bunk room instead of putting up my tent in the awfulness.

The building was strange and little creepy. I went into the bunk room and picked a mattress out of a pile, plunked it on the ground, grabbed a pillow and blanket so I didn't have to deal with it later. There were two french guys that were also staying in the bunk room. They were in the lounge. We didn't really talk; it was kind of weird.

I ate dinner and had tea and read for awhile. But later that night I found myself sitting on a couch in the lounge area watching a home renovation competition show with four or five guys that were staying at the campground. None of us talked, we didn't even discuss if we should continue to watch that or find something better. It was good; I couldn't deal with real, talking, communicative, humans. Also, I could imagine if I were back in Wisconsin I could be at Lisa's watching Fixer Upper. It was soothing.

The expected thunderstorm kicked in. Then the power went out, of course.  It was after 10:00, so I took it as an excuse to go to bed (or foam mattress). I laid there in the dark. I took this creepy picture.

I did fall asleep, but didn't sleep well. Maybe I'm too used to camping. I need to be swaddled in my sleeping bag. At some point the frenchmen came in and went to sleep as well.

Early in the morning I woke up from a strange dream. I was camping with my parents, my sister and her family, and my brother and his girlfriend. We were sitting inside but I was looking across the table and out the window. I saw an extremely unrealistic earthquake coming towards us, I saw the ground rolling. I said 'earthquake' right before it hit us. Right afterwards my uncle Marty complimented me on seeing it before it happened, so I guess he was there too. I was proud.
Then I looked out the window again just in time to see a volcano erupt. It was dramatic. We had to evacuate. Then we came right back for our belongings. Then the volcano erupted again and we were told we had to stay put. My nieces were freaking out. I woke up. Natural Disasters, nice dream subjects.

I eventually gave up on sleep and went for a run. I ran through a deserted, calm, foggy, small town. I did not see a moving vehicle the entire time. It felt like maybe there was a natural disaster and I was forgotten. I ran to an estuary. I ran to a beach. I noticed a bicycle with a towel on it on the path. I walked over the dune. As soon as I got sight of the ocean I also found the owner of the bicycle, a naked man, coming out of the water. Luckily he wasn't looking in my direction and I was able to walk in to the other side and turn my back so we didn't have to make awkward eye contact. He was gone before I walked back.

Back at the campground I showered and then had breakfast in kitchen. That was actually kind of nice. There were people coming in and out and cooking and eating. It was kind of like being in a big family, busy and comforting. And everyone was friendly and kind, but also didn't really talk much. My kind of people.

That night it was kind of rainy again, but not stormy. I really didn't feel like putting up my tent, so I tried sleeping in my car. The back seats fold down and I was able to fully stretch out and it was actually fairly comfortable. I've done it a few times now. I have actually slept in my car down by the river. Living my dreams.

So that's all. A string of kind of mundane events, but interesting in my state of mind.

Other things to note:

• I keep climbing mountains. It's wonderful.
• The rain from this morning has ended. That's good.
• My stand-in for cuddling up inside and watching Netflix is cuddling up in the back of my car and reading Harry Potter. It works pretty well.
• I still love it here. I have less than three months left, yikes!
• I overheard two Canadians talking about bears...it checked out. 
• I wanted to end on a happy note, and this is hilarious to me and making me happy
  

Road trip, who even knows anymore

I've done a million things and haven't kept up. I've not been wwoofing at all, just hiking and tramping and camping and having mental breakdowns and existential crises and hiding out. Also, I'm not going back to figure it all out and come up with witty things to say. So here are some kind of random pictures. Also the ones missing from my previous post. Cheers,

Pretty lake I camped near in Lake Nelson National Park

What happens when the eels make the signs

A tree giraffe or antelope or something

The same lake from a mountaintop

Whiskey falls...I was disappointed.

I nearly entered a dumbed-down version of Lost

I can't recall, but it's great.

Clearly a moss seal...he was a fun guy.

Creepy cemetery in the woods from an old gold-mining settlement 

"Thy will be done"

This boot rocks!

Creepy, deserted old mine

Pancake Rocks!

More waterfalls

Always

There's a bird in there. I like it.

My new home.

Here are the pictures from my climb of Mt Haast:

Mt Haast from the ground.

Cloudy view from the top.

Gary was there too.

I was tired and gross, a common theme. There were a lot of rocks.

An easy piece of the path down the mountain.

I'M ALIVE

I climbed a mountain yesterday, Mt. Haast, and now I feel alive! It's not my first mountain or anything; it was just special. Round trip it was only 5k, but was estimated to take 6 hours (it took about 4.5). The trail was just straight up; there weren't even very many cutbacks.

The hike started out steep and muddy and impossibly.  After about an hour and a half, I came out of the brush-line exhausted and saw the crazy bit still ahead of me. It was all rocks and tough grass. The trail mostly didn't exist. There were some pole markers occasionally, but after awhile those desisted as well. There were a few cairns after that marking where others had found success.

I had acquired hiking poles awhile ago, but hadn't used them yet. For some reason I decided this would be hike to test them with, and I don't think I could have done it without them. It was ridiculous.

The top was beautiful and great and amazing and worth it. But I was actually afraid of the hike back down. I accepted that I would sprain an ankle, or break a leg, or break an arm. I was dreading having to drag myself the rest of the way down the mountain after hurting myself. I don't know; I remember contemplating what level of injury would cause me to end my trip early and what I would be able to cope with.

Miraculously I made it down without any serious injuries, just a few cuts and bruises. Again, thanks to those hiking poles.

The whole thing really felt like how I would imagine climbing a mountain would be. Not much of a trail, a huge challenge, and beautiful. I couldn't believe it was happening. Where am I? Who am I? How did I get here? What is life? I just needed to mark this great feeling. I have more stories and pictures and things to share from the past few weeks, just not the patience for it now...soon.

Road Trip, I can't think of a pun

I had another week between wwoofing hosts. You know what that means: car camping road trip! This one was mostly seeing beautiful nature and beaches and things. I drove around the east cape. It was lovely. Here are some pictures and my best stories.

Waterfall!

A lion? 

I don't recall why I was angry. Or why I thought a selfie was appropriate.

East Cape Lighthouse

It's called Ocean Beach. How thoughtful.

I settled in to a campground. After setting up my tent, I put down my blanket and sat on it. I colored in a coloring book and wrote some letters. I drew my parents a terrible picture of the scenery around me, complete with labels explaining what was a tree and what was a fence; I'm very talented. After awhile it got dark. I didn't really think about it, but i stopped writing because I could no longer see the page. But it was peaceful and nice and I was in my own world, so I just continued to sit on my blanket. There were two guys camped nearby, but I hadn't really talked to them. One of them walked over with a short string of twinkle lights and asked if I needed light. Then I realized that I'd just been sitting in the dark for at least 10 minutes, like a weirdo.

I had also been working on a bottle of wine, so I offered him some and he joined my picnic. His friend came over as well and we all talked for awhile. They were two Germans, probably around 19 years old (this is a very common demographic of backpackers around here). At one point one of them said he had a question for me, but couldn't think of how to say it, so he was thinking about it. A minute later he asked his friend a question in German. He responded, quite quickly, 'Donald Trump'. I chimed in with, 'Agh, no. I don't want to talk about it. Have you seen the stars? They're really clear tonight.' They then admitted the question he had asked was something like, 'Who is that silly American politician?' Accurate. They then made fun of me for turning to the stars for a distraction. In my defense, they were really great. And Trump is not worth discussing. Overall they were pretty cool people. They were hitchhiking and I gave them a ride in the morning.

Late in the week I arrived at another campground and decided that I was sick of moving around and should stay put for a day. So the next day I had the luxury of not packing up camp. I moved slowly and packed my backpack for adventure. I left the campsite at around noon. There was a trailhead pretty much right behind my tent. I walked a little, then read for awhile (still Game of Thrones). Then walked and read, rinse, repeat. The hiking trail was a large loop up a few fills, around a lake, and ending back at the front of the campground. It is meant to take about 2 hours. I got back at around 7:30. And then I didn't bother to go back to my tent, but sat in a tree next to the lake and campground and continued to read.

At about 8:00 a man came up to me and asked if it was my tent and car on the other side of the campground. I said yes was concerned that a sheep was eating it or something. This is entirely possible. He was relieved and explained that the couple camping nearby was concerned that I had not returned and was asking about me. This was something I had not considered, but I did go for a two hour hike eight hours ago. He went to tell them I had been found; I followed shortly after. The couple was not at their tent, but soon the woman returned. I went over to thank her for her concern and let her know I was fine. She explained that her husband had gone looking for me and she'd gone calling for him, but he hadn't heard. So now I felt bad and was concerned. I was also a little mad that I was made to feel bad for other people's concern about me. In her defense, she wasn't concerned about him, but she did hope he would come back soon, before it got dark. So then I got my camp chair and took it over to her tent. Again I  said I was sorry for causing concern, and said it was fitting that now I was concerned for her husband. We sat and talked until he returned, just before dark. Then I stayed and talked to the both of them for awhile. They were very nice. They have daughters around my age, which further explains their concern. Although I was in a cycle of being a little upset and upset that I was upset, it was nice to know that people notice and care about me. Humanity. Sometimes I have hope.

I got the oil changed in my car! Not really an exciting story, but I was proud. It's hard to remember that I still need to be a responsible adult. I need to eat vegetables and do laundry and take care of myself and take care of my belongings. It was a comforting situation. I sat outside the garage watching a man work. Oldies were playing on the radio. It smelled like grease and oil and real. I kind of wanted to stay after he was done with my car, but I didn't. 

Other things to note:

• I drank an entire bottle of wine writing this. I regret nothing. (I would like it noted I'm no longer doing wine induced facebook meltdowns)
• Cat Stevens singing 'The First Cut Is the Deepest' just played in my headphones. You know who you are.
• Every time I get a chance to eat sushi I do. It's delicious. It's becoming a problem.
• It got dark and I'm sitting in the middle of a field where I was running and rugby-ing. Now it's weird. Do I leave?
• Today I realized it's ridiculous that I didn't have a rugby ball. It was amazing to go into the nearest sports store and buy one. I'm never leaving.
• Now a wizard rock song is playing on my ipod. If you know what that is, I'm glad you're reading this.
• I didn't move. I'm now sitting in the dark in a strange location.
• This is who I am.

Camping and reading and Christmas, oh my

I took another road trip and camping adventure. It was over Christmas and New Year. I basically wanted to lay low until it was over. Which kind of worked, I suppose. I spent a few days on the beach, then a few days around Mt Taranaki. Camping and hiking, hiking and camping. It was very beautiful.

On Christmas day I hiked to Dawsons Falls, then went to camp at a boat club. I pulled in and an older group of people camping there noticed I was alone. They invited me to eat Christmas dinner with them, in the way that a grandmother offers you all the food and cookies in her house, more insistance than question. It was really nice and I had a good time talking to them and trying to be as interesting as they imagined I would be.

Here are some photo highlights and a Christmas video.

I then spent the few days around new years back at Tongariro National Park. I did more day day hikes there, it was great.

So many waterfalls

Somewhere in the mix of all this I began reading Game of Thrones. I have a collection of the five of them on my kindle. I've become a bit obsessed.

After I left Tongariro I was heading to a nearby campsite, that I drove past three times and failed to find. But I ended up driving much further to a more secluded site. It was pretty and peaceful and I was actually able to put up my hammock.

I ended up staying there three nights. It was perfect and I somehow read the first two Game of Thrones books. It was only mildly terrifying in that setting. So, that's about it. Nothing terribly exciting, but it's been good.

Hammock in a foreign land

Other things to note:

• Applying sunscreen should be a finite thing. At some point, your skin should be sun resistant. Also, how are uv rays getting through the layers of grime?
• I'm no longer being fooled by my camelback while hugging trees. I'm sad.
• Someone said to me, "Thanks again for your fire stick." I think that's a great quote.
• New Zealand seems to be proud of the Hokey Pokey ice cream flavor, but they sing hokey tokey, not hokey pokey. Weirdos.