Back

Back to reality. Actually I hate that saying. So constricting. But back to NZ-focus. After all that planning-mind work, I realized that if I need 6 months to do NZ proper, I need at least as long in SE Asia, not just a few weeks.

Interesting, the temptation to have a vacation from what's already vaca. I suppose lovely scenery, sleepy small towns, extremely friendly people, the ability to leave a duffel bag full of all my possessions on the sidewalk for an hour without worries, and more alone time than I ever thought I would choose make for a cocktail of something that might be mistaken for boredom. Of course it is not; don't think I don't appreciate my situation here. In fact why am I spending time typing when I could cross the street and watch the sunset over the Bay of Islands?

Once I find remedy my missing camera->computer cord situation I'll deliver a report on the Tongariro Crossing, Taupo, Auckland, and now Northland, where I just finished a WWOOFing stint in Kerikeri (an orchard with all sorts of incredible trees - macadamia, avocado, peaches, tangelos, bananas, insanity!) Tomorrow morning I leave this beach town of Paihia, head back to Auckland (courtesy of a free ride from Captain Bob, who runs the such-named backpackers -- I think he's hooking me up because he's Scottish and so is my surname), and on Sunday it's a boat ride over to Coromandel for a month's WWOOF gig @ a veg cafe.

Def was a good move to leave Wellington -- it's nice to be where I belong, in the subtropics where palm trees reign. And I'm still on the hunt for vaca partners -- I've brought it down to a more reasonable (from NZ) trip to a close island like Fiji or Samoa, say in mid-Feb?

Happy 2010. My new year's resolution was to be more silly - what was yours?