Down South

Kio Ora from South Island,

I have arrived safe and sound in the marlborough sounds, and am staying on a fine campsite a little outside of picton. The curvy, little road from picton to momorangi bay has been a whole lot of fun to drive, no fancy sportscar necessary.
I'm enjoying lots of luxury on this campsite, a hot shower for just one dollar, wifi, flush toilet and even a little house to cook in, with places to sit In and outside, a fridge and EVEN A FREZER!!! Definitely luxury if youre used to basicly just an outhouse and water that you have to boil to drink it, but I don't wanna complain, i love travelling in my car and being out and about so much!

After leaving raglan mid april I intended to travel the northland above Auckland. Only got till Shakespeare Beach though, took a look at the weather forecast and was devastated to see that it was supposed to rain 10 days straight about everywhere in the North Island. So after taking a nice walk around the Shakespeare regional park I decided to work instead of being trapped in my car. Cause I really don't wanna come back after a hike, being soaked in rain and then leaving the things to dry out in my car. I'm not one for a tropical climat inside my bedroom.

Soo I found some work near gisborne, in tolaga bay. Walking the dogs and helping around the house for food and accommodation. Was the first time I did that and I had an amazing time. Was a busy but really nice family, three wild kids and 6 even wilder dogs. I'm kind of sorry to say it but I just loved the dogs above all else. Although, they diiid give me more kisses than the family, so who can blame me, really😁

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot😂 two days before I got to that family, I stayed on the dickey flat campsite near tauranga where I kiiinda got lost during a little hike. To cut the long story 'short' I went hiking with just my rain jacket and my phone on 50 percent. Left the path, straight through the bush, crossed a wide river, saw gloworms, got lost on a track in total darkness and rain, walked/ran the 2 Kilometer track in both directions (because without the torch on my phone it was too dark to move so if my phone would have died, I would have had to stay in the spot and spent the night there), went through a scary mine tunnel that was closed further in because of danger of collapse, climed a fence and was actually in an area with danger of collapse, saw a landslide, thought about climbing over it but luckily being AT LEAST not stupid enough to actually do THAT -
because of course I landed on the track that was closed because of a landslide - and finally went all the way back, to the tunnel with the gloworms, which I should have gone through in the first place and that whole, stressful ordeal could have been easily avoided. But no, I was too much of a wuss to go through that damn glowworm tunnel😂 Wellll at least I learned my lesson, don't go wandering off the track and don't leave without some supplies like a torch, water and food and maybe even a powerbank😂🙈

On 30.04. I took off to take on the loooong drive down to wellington. Cause of the cyclones there are still road closures along the east coast so I had to drive back in the direction of tauranga and take the route through taupo.
Ten hours to drive in twentyfour hours was kinda long but good to know that I can handle it.

(Oh yeah, just on the side, I'm trying to learn a bit of Te Rēo Māori And I thought I could try to integrate some of the words I learned. So I can practise and share that part of the Kiwi culture with all the Non-Kiwis at the same time. I'm not actually sure if you can use the words in the sentences like I will, if that's grammatically right, but whatever😂)

It was kind of sad that it was so foggy during the ride on the ferry. The view over Wellington and ngā maunga (the mountains) was stunning but after that it got so misty you could only see a couple of metres. The ride through the marlborough sounds was really impressive, even though it was getting dark tino tere (very fast). Ngā maunga nearly seemed to be a bit threatening and hostile but in some kind of sacred and majestic way. I don't even know, but it was so quite and just a really, really special atmosphere.

Right now it's raining a lot, and it's supposed to rain for the next couple of days as well. But I had a great evening last night with a couple from the US and one from Germany. Was fun talking to them.
I feel like I'm finally able to relax a bit more in social situations with strangers and worry less. Just a bit less of social anxiety and that feels amazing and is kind of what the whole Kiwi attitude and vibe is all about. It's chill and open and social. Or at least that's the vibe I'm getting.

What else, I rode again with the family back in tolaga bay, that was really fun and also scary as fuck because maaan! Maybe I'm just scared of silly things? Because I know that manymany people ride but it's quite high up there on a hōiho (horse) and if they go faster with you just wobbling about on top, you don't even have anything to grab on. Because you need the reins to guide your hōiho so there's only the stirrups left.
Well seems to me there's room for improvement along the safety part of it, or maybe I just need to be less of a pussy and take the fall like he wahine (a woman) 😂😂.

Also i chilled with a new buddy on some rocks here at the bay yesterday. We weren't exactly on speaking terms so he basically slept all the time with me watching him. I know, creepy. He didn't give me a name either so imma just call him Billy the seal. At least I think it's a him and it looked like a him to me anyways.
It made me wonder though. I reckon I was most definitely a seal in a former live. Like honestly, always in and around the ocean, being silly in the water, stretching and chilling on the beach, finding some secluded rock to climb on, just watching what's happening around you and having a nap in the sun? If that doesn't sound like me then I don't know😂 damn they don't even have a seal as an emoji, I feel personally affronted right now. But they have two whales, of course they do, how ignorant.

I always get so distracted at the end of those footprints😂

Okay, so while I try to get over the ignorance concerning my spirit animal I wish you all a good day and just do as the seals and chill out🤙😁

P.S.: I'm gonna do a little extra post about the time in Raglan after this footprint, because I can't fit all the pictures in one anyway and I forgot about some of the stuff I did there until I saw the pictures hehe...Read more