Entry 35: New Zealand Part I

I’m back and I’m ringing the bell,
A-rockin’ on the mike while the fly girls yell.
Vanilla Ice, “Play that Funky Music”, To the Extreme

I’m back from New Zealand. Actually, I’ve been back for a few days, but this is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and crank out an entry. I have so much to write that that I'm breaking this up into two entries, lest my readers get intimidated by the uninterrupt sequence of prose, and decide not to read the entry altogether.

My trip was great. The conference was good, the people were nice, and Auckland is a cool city. My initial impression of Auckland was better than my initial impression of Sydney, but who can say? I really like both cities, and I haven’t spent nearly enough time in either of them to make a definitive decision.

My traveling companion for most of the trip was a tacit German coworker T. Saying T is a man of few words is like saying Toni Basil is an artist of few hits. T is primarily a man of one word, “yep”. He uses it in almost any context and always with the same matter-of-fact inflection. You could explain to him the meaning of life, and he would just nod his head and say “yep” as if he knew it all along. T is a great guy and despite (or perhaps because of) his terseness he’s good company. He also loves math and drinking beer, which helps.

[Auckland as seen from the summit of Rangitoto.]

Our first night in Auckland, we wandered down to a pub near the harbor where they had a celebration to end Movember. T and I were the only men in the bar who didn’t have mustaches, and we were the only people not in costumes (I’m not sure what the connection is between costumes and Movember, but everybody had them on). Two people were dressed as insane asylum inmates and had on actual straightjackets. Despite having to drink beer through straws they both seemed quite intoxicated, which leads me to wonder, how did they pee? If you’re pounding beers all night, you’re usually making what, four, five stops to the restroom throughout the night? They either did a lot of unlacing and re-lacing or they have some very helpful mates. I mean, I used to have trouble getting my friends to rub sunscreen on my back – this is a whole new level.

[A distant shot of the volcanic island Rangitoto near Auckland, NZ. It is only 600 years old.]

The next day we took a trip to the volcano island Rangitoto. It’s a beautiful place and has gorgeous views of Auckland. I’ve posted some pics from the Internet. For some reason, I didn’t bring my camera on my trip. I thought of it before I left, and then thought, “Nah, I’m already packed. I probably won’t need it anyway,” which is stupid because I had plenty of room in my bag, and it would have taken me, literally, fifteen seconds to pack it, and because of course I’ll need it. When is a more appropriate time to bring a camera than on a trip to a country you’ve never been to before? I do this sometimes and I don't know why. Like, I'll leave behind my umbrella even though I know the forecast is bad, and then when I'm walking home in the rain, I'm thinking to myself, "Wait, why didn't I bring my umbrella?" I never have a good answer.

[A tree-filled crater on Rangitoto. It doesn't translate great to photograph form, but this was one of the most bizarrely impressive landscapes I've ever scene.]

We spent about five hours walking throughout the island, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend the day. The weather was beautiful and scenery was better. Oddly enough, the way the landscape was chiseled, the way the islands jutted out from the water, reminded me a lot of certain views from my hometown Tacoma, WA (the colors were different though, Auckland’s environs are a brighter green, Tacoma’s a darker green). It made me think that Tacoma is largely underrated in terms of cities with beautiful views. (Although, maybe this is because such views are too often obscured by grayness.)

The hiking was great, but we were sort of underequipped. There is nothing on Rangitoto except plants, rocks, a few birds, and other tourists. There are no shops nor cafes nor vending machines. We had some water, but nary a crumb of food, so we were extremely hungry by the end of our hike. We also were on the pink side. I brought a small container of sunblock, but it was only SPF 15. (Does that even count as sunblock? It's more like sun-slight-impedement.) It kept us from getting utterly fried, but fell short of complete protection. I also got a really bad blister on my toe that could have been easily subdued with a band-aid, if only we would have been smart enough to bring some.

The last hour of the hike was a bit on the montonuous side. There were no more great views, just miles of dry, hot rock. Still, it was a good ending, because it made you feel like you accomplished something. When we finally sat down and had a snack on the ferry back to Auckland, it felt to me like we had earned it. I got a bag of cashews and a bottle of water. T got a king-size Snickers and a Heineken. I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, I should have got what he got."