Stalling......

So much to write,

Ok, as for the what and where, I have remained in the north criss-crossing the North Island. I remained on the Coromandel Peninsula for a few extra days as the weather was great (highs in the 60s and clear). After driving much of the peninsula on wednesday I settled into the seaside town of Hahei. Hahei is off the beaten track with a winter population in the hundreds. Although not an island, it sticks out on a mini-peninsula that is a 35km drive from the nearest 'town'. That being said, there is a ferry crossing that takes you from a port near Hahei across the bay to Whitianga. The ferry trip is about 2 minutes and the Whitianga town is reminiscent of your standard beach town, it swells to a population of 35,000 during the summer. Before taking the ferry to town, I drove to a place called hot water beach, aptly named for hot springs that lie directly under the beach. Prompted by guide books and tourist manifestos, you have the awkward if not somewhat amusing scene that consists of tourists walking out to the beach at low tide (which was 8:30AM) in 50 degree temperatures and cold ocean water, spades in hand, eventually congregating at a 20 x 20 stretch of beach to dig holes in the sand, which theoretically releases the hot springs and creates a natural hottub for you to lay in.

In practice, it does not really work so well. The springs are indeed hot, in fact, the water is scalding which is quite crazy when you think about it. This water mixes with freezing cold ocean water generally creating a great habitat to pick up a head cold. I conceded to the masses and started digging, and in fact it was a fun experience. The best part was that I met a nice couple who live in Blenheim on the south island (Mike and Kendra). They invited me to their house to watch rugby in a few weeks, so that will be a nice stopover. After the beach, I drove over the ferry and headed into town for a quiet day. I did succumb to the intrigue of taking a boat cruise around the coastline, largely because the coastline is so amazing. The boat guide was young, probably younger than me, but he did give me some good information on the volcanic history of the coastline, and the native species, and we saw a seal.....I have a feeling it won't be the last seal I see based on the reports I am getting from the south island.

I need to spend a moment on my lodgings, most of the backpackers lodges/hostels offer various rooms (dorms, singles, doubles, and triples). In the last week I have had the luxury of paying dorm prices (i.e. roughly $15 US/night) to stay in a room by myself. Not only that, but the lodging here is so competitive with online write-ups outting the party hostels and dirty ones that some brief research allows you to know what to expect. The hosts are all extremely amiable and the facilities border on what new englanders would deem "nice" B&Bs. This was much more of what I expected. Fairly quaint, rather empty, clean, and spacious facilities. To be sure, I am getting a bit lucky doing this traveling in the off-season, and as I will get into in another entry the rest one gets in backpackers lodges is not quite like sleeping in a hotel, its just hard to truly rest in these places. But as Americans generally associate hostels with co-ed fraternizing and general lack of personal space, I feel obligated to dispel that stereotype. Certainly these places do exist, but they are the exception rather than the standard. My last night in Coromandel was spent with a Tazmanian guy in his forties who was on leave from being a school principal outside of Cleveland (weird), and a great couple from Hamilton, Ontario who were traveling the north island after living in the south island for the past 9 months. We talked hockey, and they gave me a good heads up on places to go.

That all brings me to my present location which is Raglan, a small surfer town on the westcoast of the North Island. I woke up yesterday to more sunny skies and basically did not want to head into the southern mountains, so I chose to drive the 200km across the entire island to this town which is apparently known worldwide as having the best left-breaking surf. The drive was simple enough, and although I am not yet confident on the roads, I'll say that driving on the left is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The lack of cars on the road helps, I have seen two traffic lights in total, which are replaced by the somewhat confusing clockwise revolving traffic circles.....which test my ability to navigate reversed traffic patterns. Gas is expensive, not terribly so, but to the point where even with the favorable exchange rate, its more expensive then in the States. Raglan is what you'd expect from a surf town, laid back, artsy, lots of herbal stores, and quiet cafes. I got in yesterday and immediately took a sea kayak into the bay for an amazing trip extra the bay to some rocky shoreline. I came a bit too close to some sort of bird nesting area and was attacked by birds. The kayak paddle became a weapon which almost made contact with some very aggressive sea birds.

The backpackers lodge here is a bit more crowded, but as luck shall have it the owner, Suze, granted me the beachhouse accommodation for the price of a dorm room last night. This meant I had a beach house, two stories with an outside balcony overlooking the bay to myself for $20US. Two brazilian guys ended up in one of the other rooms and we went out for a few drinks, but all in all, I had another restful night to myself in accommodations that would be steeply priced in the US.

Today I drove over to the surfer areas and watched the show. Impressive. A front is moving through and Im going to take it easy as its warm here by the wood burning stove in the hostel, but quite raw outside (50 with a mist and wind going).

Tomorrow I will probably lounge around here before finally making my way to the first mountain area of the trip, Taupo. Taupo is located smack dab in the middle of the north island and is within an hours drive of several key hiking areas as well as wine country. I'll be there from this Sunday through Thursday before heading down to Wellington next weekend, thus completing a 20 day tour of the north island.

Apart from what I feel to be an incoming head cold, I feel pretty good. As I alluded to before, even with the car serving as a quasi-storage facility, the general lack of a home wears on you. I think its unavoidable, and the only thing I can do to help with the lingering weariness is to stay in each location for about 48 hours. You meet travelers who run around day after day, driving countless kilometers to hit up as many sites as possible. I prefer to move slower, I certainly sacrifice a few days to sitting in cafes and wondering around aimlessly, but mentally I find the slower pace necessary.

As for the financials, which I know all of my hardworking NYC brethren are curious about. Between the car and nightly lodging, my fixed daily expenses average around $30 per day (13 for the car, and 17 for the lodging). Add in food, gas, and whatever other tours/rentals/drinking I may do and ultimately Im at about $50 a day. The more hiking I do, the cheaper my days are. I cook about 75% of my meals, and groceries are slightly cheaper here provided you buy local products. So financially, its not terribly expensive, but admittedly I indulge as the coffee here is uniformly amazing and, well, I like to eat well, so a night out for lamb is becoming a too frequent occassion.