Recap...Sorta, plus some New Stuff

So I have left Christchurch. And Nelson. I took a couple weeks to travel and stay in hostels and really just not work. In Takaka, it was awful. In addition, I think I got a computer virus from the wireless there. I suppose that's what I get for spending so much time on an unsecured network. Or maybe it's not a virus, just something else. I don't know, but Microsoft Word and my Apple Dictionary are not working properly. So far those are the only two affected programs. Anyway. I spent a lot of time alone in Takaka. It is the gateway to the Abel-Tasman National Park, Golden Bay and several other areas of interest. However, they are all farther away than walking distance, and although my hostel host assured me hitching was really easy to get to all these places...I guess I just didn't feel up for it. I was just feeling blase and really, all I wanted was to sit on a beach all day and not do anything. But instead, I ran everyday from the hostel to the nearest cool attractions, were, I admit pretty darned cool once I got there. But the solitude was intense. The hostel was practically empty and anyone who checked in was in a couple, trio, or some other social situation. No other loners. So I was there. Plus, this hostel owner was somewhat insane and whether he liked me, or felt obligated to 'entertain' his guest...he hung around me a lot always, always, always talking. And mostly about how he has ESP. So yeah. Quality. It was alright I guess. Looking at him, no longer paying attention to the babble coming out of his mouth. His eyes enlarged by his thick glasses. Staring like a fish out of a bowl and talking excitedly about who knows what this time. It made my mind run around my empty skull only too aware of the echoing vacuum inside. I was alone with myself, listening to this man leaving middle age and latching desperately onto my youth, which the tighter he clasped the more and more I felt my youth as not my own. He made me feel old. So my mind and I sat back in my skull and watched this quirky show through my eye sockets, laughing to each other every now and then.

I left Takaka. initially I had planned to go down to Timaru (which is where I had plans to work) but my hosts informed me they wouldn't need me for several more days. So now I had more time to kill and a plane ticket home waiting for me at the far end of the next month. I decided to stop off in Nelson then. To kill a couple days. I had seen a suburb of Nelson that looked promising that I didn't get to visit last time I blew through Nelson on my way to the Marlborough Sounds. So I decided to check it out. I stayed at the Beach Hostel, hoping the namesake was close by. And indeed it was. So I spent a few days walking the few blocks to the sandy beach in the sunniest spot in New Zealand (they have the most sunny days in the whole country). this is what I had needed. I decided to go out to eat instead of cooking for myself...the chips and guac with rice and coffee of the past several days was getting to me and I wanted a real meal. So I decided to go out, to a restaurant that was probably too expensive, but I just ordered the seafood tapas which was, arguably appropriately priced and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, from the region. It was a nice wine and went with the tapas. Green mussels, calamari, prawns all in stunning sauces. Prawns and guacamole are surprisingly good. There was live music that evening which is what originally drew me into this attempt at Cuban flair. The Jazz Night, disappointingly was a man with salt and pepper crimped hair to his shoulders wearing a black leather beret and trying oh so hard to be jazz. He played on an electronic keyboard and sang awfully. Perhaps the wine and cigarette before his performance wasn't the best decision. Anyway, it was humorous enough until he murdered Billy Joel's New York State of Mind, cleverly, I assume, slightly altering the lyrics to a Nelson State of Mind. Shaking my head and sipping my wine I must have drawn the attention of two couples sitting at a table not far from me. I had occasionally made casual eye contact with them throughout my meal (when dining alone, without a companion to occupy your attention when not eyeing your food, you are forced to wander the other tables, especially if wall decoration was sparse, and to avoid looking quite strange staring at a plant...so, I had made eye contact with them a few times) and one man eventually got up came over (after we'd finished our meals) and invited me to join their table.

So I did, and they bought me several more glasses of wine. One couple was a brother sister pair both also leaving middle age. The brother, interrogated me about my schooling and why I thought teaching would be a worthy profession. I think he liked me. The other couple were middle aged and I learned had a 22 year old daughter at home that they jokingly were "trying to marry off". And that's how I landed a dinner invitation for the following night. Well the night drew on and on and finally we decided to retire. The brother lingered and after the others had pulled ahead and we were outside he tried to kiss me. I politely declined and turned to make my two block walk home. I couldn't help but find myself yet again, smiling broadly and slowly shaking my head. Where the hell was I?

The next day I went for a run and spent the day walking the beach, doing what I've become not necessarily better but more practiced in: killing time. At around 4 in the afternoon I wandered over to the address I had been given the night before, following the slightly drunken scrawl on the cocktail napkin to find my meal for the night. I walked up and up and up a hill, past wealthy looking houses and in and out of fantastic views of the bay and the beach below. Arriving at the numbered address I found myself standing in front of a large and formidable cherry wood gate connecting two imposing stone pillars. I pressed the button below the camera lens hiding behind thick glass. "Ah, yes, hello, come on in I'll be down" I heard through the intercom a few seconds later and the heavy gate began to slowly withdraw. I strolled along a stony path through impressive gardens and a multitude of exotic looking plants before coming upon a large expansive wooden deck with a beautiful large fat palm in the center. I walked up the steps to the deck where seated at the table was the husband from the bar the night before hiding from the Nelson sun behind dark glasses and refreshing himself with a generous glass of white wine. With sheepish grins on their faces the couple re-introduced themselves saying "Nice to meet you sober" with genuine but uncomfortable laughs. I smiled as large as I could, the words "My kind of people" hiding behind my large teeth. Then I met the daughters, there are four of them. The youngest two being twins. The eldest though, was in one of those crippling unfair summer dresses. And after being given an ice cold Corona and being abandoned to the deck while they finished cooking, I simply leaned over the deck railing and soaked up the sun and blue of the bay and the distant mountains and the golden brown of the sand on the beach below. Where the hell was I?

After a delicious meal and some extremely expensive bottles of wine, it seemed I fit right in and we all had another wonderful evening. The kind that seem to go well simply because it's summer, how could anyone be upset? It was such an easy going pleasantness that was almost identical with the gentle summer breeze. And so I walked home, tipsy and in the dark feeling, as I descended the steep hill, that I was on top of the world.

I woke the next morning alone in my dorm room with an overcast head and an overcast sky. I made the executive decision then, that I'd stay in bed. And so I did. The excitement from the evening had waned and I again was facing my plane ticket home. Feeling blue and sentimental, blaming it all on the overcast sky, I decided after a cup of coffee and some oatmeal to put together a photo movie from my time abroad thus far. So I spent most the morning and early afternoon working on the computer. I then got a call on my mobile from the daughter inviting me out to lunch at a cafe she wanted to try the next day. Sure! I said, knowing that I still had some time yes, still more time, to kill and what better than spending it with someone! So I put the computer away and went out into the clearing sunny day and walked along the beach before taking a nap in a pile of sand. That night. I had oatmeal for dinner.

Well, the lunch at the cafe, as I've said before, turned into a full day of hanging out in the brilliant sunshine. And what a day. It was great and by the end of it, I found myself invited to yet another dinner the next evening. This was going well, considering I had resigned myself to spending the money to stay at hostels and eat my own food. Here I was getting a considerable amount of free food. Well, at dinner the next evening, it was arranged, that since part of the family would be traveling to Christchurch the next day, that I was more than welcome to ride with them. This was so fantastic. Because, hitching, well, like I said, I wasn't feeling it. I had seriously considered shelling out the cash for a bus trip down, but no, here again, I found a free ride down, better than hitching or the bus. So I found myself staying in a nice hotel room in Christchurch, and it was insisted upon that I take on of the main beds instead of the cot in the living room. Feeling guilty, like I'm known to do I began to sabotage my enjoyment of this generosity. I began to feel trapped and after nice meals out, sleeping in the main bed and general concessions being made on my part I felt I needed to leave ASAP. I helped the daughter move into her new flat, lifting washers and dryers, fridges, couches etc. And drank more expensive wine and ate expensive food. Finally Sunday came and they were returning home, so after dropping me off on the south side of town, I bid my farewell to the departing car. With a new lease on life and unencumbered by debt, I strode with my extremely heavy pack with a bounce in my stride down the side of the highway looking for a decent shoulder from which to hitch south to Timaru.

I am now in Timaru and will be picked up by my new hosts shortly. I feel oh so excellent about being on my own again, even though I cannot begin to appreciate how much that family did for me. It was unbelievable, and I was assured I wasn't the first. Well phew. But now I'll be WWOOFing again and not only that, but my plane ticket home has started running to greet me. I cannot wait.

* * *

I have arrived at my WWOOF host's house. It was drizzly today so I haven't seen the farm yet but did a bit of house work (they're renovating) and chatted with the two American WWOOFers that are here, both living in Montana, one from Boston. The hosts are great, younger couple and vegetarians. Score. Plus, the woman is a cousin of the woman I WWOOFed with in the Marlborough Sounds. How perfect. We seem to see eye to eye fairly well already and it should be a nice place to spend my final weeks in New Zealand. However, since they are doing house renovations the lights are all not hooked up to the electrical system and I find myself once again living by my headlamp at night. It's chilly today and I'm sleeping in my sleeping bag until I move into the room the other WWOOFers are occupying (they leave tomorrow). It's a bit reminiscent of Ireland, except, not as chilly, dry, and I'm sleeping in a nice big bed. But the headlamp chilliness, sleeping bag, changing in the dark bit. You get the idea. More coming tomorrow with my first day of berry picking and perhaps more reflection on how I feel in my final days. Ta da.e eye to eye fairly well already and it should be a nice place to spend my final weeks in New Zealand. However, since they are doing house renovations the lights are all not hooked up to the electrical system and I find myself once again living by my headlamp at night. It's chilly today and I'm sleeping in my sleeping bag until I move into the room the other WWOOFers are occupying (they leave tomorrow). It's a bit reminiscent of Ireland, except, not as chilly, dry, and I'm sleeping in a nice big bed. But the headlamp chilliness, sleeping bag, changing in the dark bit. You get the idea. More coming tomorrow with my first day of berry picking and perhaps more reflection on how I feel in my final days. Ta da.