Halfway around the world

I spent the last three nights in a town called Lake Taupo. It's a large and very beautiful lake in about the center of the North Island. Originally I went there to then see the Witomo glow worn caves, but I modified my plans once there. It took me about three and a half hours to drive to from Auckland and the drive took me through some beautiful farmland. After a number of hours driving on the left my brain has slowly gotten accustomed to it, but I continue to try and get into the passenger door nearly every time when I'm ready to go.

After finishing the drive I checked into the Rainbow Lodge. This is my first hostel since I went to one in Italy in 1999 and I sure felt a lot older this time. I was not, however, the oldest one there as one of my bunkmates in our three bed room was 67. She and I spent a couple hours chatting over the course of the stay and on more than one occasion she validated what I'm trying to do and that it's nearly impossible to overestimate the value of self exploration. Her husband died a few years ago and she brought some of his ashes to distribute on the trip, which she had done days before. I could tell it helped her reach some kind of peace.

The first activity I did was visit Huka falls. It's a stretch of river that is forced to narrow because of how hard the rocks are in that spot. The water was loud and powerful, but also as one of NZ's top attractions, crowded. It was worth visiting, but relatively unimpressive.

I was drawn to a sign I had spotted on the way onto town that declared, "brewery." This would be the first of two visits to the Crafty Trout, an Austrian themed bar that served a variety of delicious beers including an imperial IPA that was around 13.5% ABV.

There weren't too many patrons so I sat at the bar and chatted with Ellie, a scotswoman that ended up there after her friend put in a good word for her. By my second beer I had also met Rebecca, the co-owner and wife of Anton, the brains behind the beer.

By now I had nearly finished my pork belly burger and second beer and Anton showed up. He's a portly man with a thick Kiwi accent and a mustache that was so amazing it probably has its own name. Anton was extremely chatty and very smart which made for what ended up being a couple hours of great conversation. If you ever wanted to know how to remove the alcohol from something without taking it out of the keg, or how earthquakes and beer production are related, he's your guy. I really thoroughly enjoyed the chat and stumbled back to the hostel with my mind, and to a lesser degree my head, spinning. Just prior to my departure Anton invited me back to tour his brewery. Given how unique his process sounded I couldn't wait to check it out.

Sleep came quickly that night.

My second day there had me with no plans.

I found a breakfast of a salmon omelette, coffee and juice. It tasted great and I ate it outside on a patio.

Satisfied and recharged after some good sleep and breakfast I went and got fishing licenses for the remainder of my trip. License in hand I needed to immediately get on the river to fish.

It was very hot outside that dat. My first attempt at fishing was fairly unsuccessful, but at least I SAW some fish which was a good start. After putting my rod and reel away I picked up my guitar and practiced a bit. Nothing sounded perfect, but I still can feel the improvement each time I do it. I can't wait to get better.

When the sun and bad music became too much to bear I sought food and drink which brought me to a nice restaurant where a couple women were playing guitar and singing outside. Having no agenda is still a weird feeling for me, bit since that was the case and since I was enjoying myself I decided to just hang out there for a while. There wasn't anything in particular special about the singers or their playing, but I cracked up when one woman played C Low Green's , "Forget You." Which was originally called, "Fuck You." and I asked her if she always played the, G rated version. Her response was, "I don't know what version I'm playing." I laughed at not only her response (because anyone who knows that song knows there's a different version), I laughed at myself because nobody in the world knows what "G rated" means except Americans. Duh.

At any rate I finished my beer, took a walk and found my way back to the Crafty Trout a few hours later. Anton was there and showed me his beer brewing operation. Without going into too much detail he basically has partnered with a world class beer judge to come up with his recipes. The Wort is actually made elsewhere according to his specifications and then he, or other brewers can use it to create their own beers by adding their own hopps and water. Interestingly, the water itself has nearly as much to do with the flavor as the other ingredients.

The tour was great and I scarred gown a pizza and a couple more beers before returning to the hostel for a nap and shower.

I capped the night off with a bit more guitar practice on the shore of the lake. It was pretty windy and had cooled significantly, so I didn't practice much. For the first time since leaving I felt a little homesick. Maybe not a good sign given how many weeks I have left, but it's something I want to face sooner rather than later. Honestly, though, who can blame me? My friends, job, family in Austin are amazing so instead of yearning for them I decided to redirect my energy to simply appreciating them more.Read more