To do nothing in Paihia

I've done absolutely nothing in Paihia, and it's been everything I hoped it could be.  It feels like I haven't stopped moving for the past few weeks - always doing some activity or going out drinking or recovering from going out drinking.  I haven't done any of that here.  I'm staying at the Mousetrap Backpackers, and if that makes me the mouse then the couch is the trap.  It's just too damn cozy here.  The place has all kinds of nautical nonsense stuck to the walls.  It makes me think I'm in a beach house on Martha's Vineyard.  The porch, where I'm currently sitting, has views out to the bay and a cool breeze keeping it around a comfortable 75 degrees.

The sun rises in the morning before six and many of the other people in my room have to get up to do things - catch a bus, go sailing or fishing, etc.  I go back to sleep for four hours.  Every day feels like I'm sleeping in.  It's warm in the daytime but gets pretty cool overnight, leaving me wrapped up in my comforter like Homer in the episode where he skips church.  I'm just a big toasty cinnamon bun.  I never want to leave that bed.

Now, I do get up eventually.  Much like Homer, it's probably because I have to take a whiz.  Then, for the past three days I've gone for a run down to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.  I haven't gone running in weeks and at the very least, it's giving me license to sit around the rest of the day being perfectly content watching old movies and eating salt and vinegar chips.

Tomorrow, all this will change.  I take the bus out of Paihia early enough to get to Auckland in time to watch the Giants' game at Mustang Saloon.  Then Tuesday it's off to Raglan for a week of (if it's anything like my first week there a month ago) surfing and partying over Christmas.  It hasn't felt like Christmas time yet and I'm not sure if it ever will.  The atmosphere is just too different.  I'm hearing there's feet of snow falling in New York and I'll be surfing or sitting in a hammock.  So I can't complain.  I needed this break, this complete contentment with doing nothing.  I think it'll prepare me for two intense weeks to come.

Wide Right Turns - The Beginning

Wide Right Turns should be a regular feature here from Tim, who is currently holding down the New York branch.  It is a free flowing conversation that occasional touches on mature subjects.

I have a headache.  It's one of those weird headaches where it seems to travel across the forehead from one side to the other, like it's going on vacation across the nation of the region between my lower hairline *the Italian eyebrows, now featuring...two of them!* and my upper hairline.  This is the Clark W. Griswold of Headaches.  It's determined to get where it wants to go, no matter how many twists and turns along the way.  

Why do I have this headache?  Well, it perplexed me too.  To understand this, you need to understand one of the most profound relationships in my life, bourbon.  Bourbon is my go-to liquor, and she has never let me down in times of need and always seems to bring with her a good time.  And I like me some bourbon.  I am a member of the Jim Beam "Brotherhood of Bourbon" (I believe that the meetings are hosted at whatever venue NASCAR is currently at).  -Ed. note - right after the AA meeting.-  So I can drink me some bourbon, or so I thought.  

See, I finished my fall term of law school last night and decided to go out and celebrate with a few friends, my buddy Eric, a paralegal from jersey, and my buddy Criss who works in the DA's office.  I always like to reference Criss by saying "my buddy in the DA's office" because it makes me feel a little bit like Sandy Cohen (Heart of Gold Member 1).  Well, I had 3 of my sweet lady bourbons accompanied with her partner, diet coke.  But they treated me poorly today on the way to work.  I woke up and almost lost my cookies on the 96th street subway platform.  3 drinks!  I am feeling like Superman at a red sun tanning beach over here, weak. 

So, it's ruined most of my day and instead of the usual spinning in my chair for an hour and then googling my name until lunch, I've been blah.  And I am blaming bourbon for this one.  I think she and I are in a fight.  Why do I explain this with my inaugural post?  Mostly because I am the exact opposite of Jim.  I am bizarro Jim.  Is there any reason more fitting for our names to be off one letter?  When we used to go out, Jim needed to introduce himself as James to prevent the "Jim Tim" thing.  So while Jim tells you yarns about the exotic women he meets, I will mostly tell you about my days.  I think It might serve a nice balance in the two worlds here.  And I tend to get bitter a lot.  So that's always good.  Italian rants are always funny.  Speaking of Italians, it appears I have started to amass an army of distant family members via facebook...but that's a story for another day.  So that's it for now but I got more to come, including Tim goes to the Opera.  Hilarity ensues. 

New York Giants:  24

Carolina Panthers: 21

A Whale's Vagina

I there are more Germans traveling in New Zealand than any other nationality.  It's a fact.  I'm sitting here in Christchurch surrounded by six Deutschlanders right now as I write this post. They're everywhere, but it never causes a problem.  Yes, it does create an interesting atmosphere when you're sitting around watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, but they're good people who speak and understand English just fine.  I just got pulled into their conversation about how to say "cheers" in different languages.  More accurately, I picked up on the girl next to me arguing (in German) with the guy across the table that "na zdrowvie" was the correct way to say it in Polish.  I wanted to make sure he knew she was right.  No, wait, I wanted her to know that I knew she was right.  She's quite cute.  That's another thing.  German girls are pretty.  All I need is a St. Pauli Girl/Heidi Klum type and I'll be set.  

I spent most of today riding in a 15 year old Mitsubishi wagon driven by an affable and incredibly generous German kid who, I later found out, was making the 7 hour trek from Queenstown to Christchurch to trade in some video games and buy weed.  And then return the same day.  Affable and generous, yes.  Rational, possibly not.  This was the guy, Matt, who couldn't resist handing a beer or cocktail or, on Thursday night, a glass of champagne to anyone with an empty hand.  One of the most genuinely benevolent people I've ever met.  So, I was provided transport across the country in exchange for finding his desperately lost car keys the day before (he had offered a reward of $75 to whoever found them) and buying him a handful of chicken nuggets at our lunch stop along the way.  I did get to drive for a few hours and listen to my chorus of internal monologue shouting "LEFT LEFT LEFT."

I've checked into a comfortable backpackers here, along with all the Germans, for the next few days to figure out my next move.  Mostly, I need to figure out if I'm going to buy a car.  It's quite common for travelers to buy cheap used cars from other travelers, drive for a few months and then sell it as they leave.  I'm thinking it could fit into my plans (or lack thereof).  I wouldn't have to deal with buses or trying to bum rides off of people.  I could decide at the spur of the moment to go just about anywhere.  It would especially come in handy when I go back to the North Island and surf again.  But, all this could change depending on what I find tomorrow.  It might be too much money or I could decide that I have enough time here and putting up with public transport isn't that big of a hassle.  

And in the meantime, I'll chat up the cute German girls with my knowledge of how to say "cheers" around the world.  Na zdrowvie!

Foreign Relations

Girl (no discernible accent) - Are you Canadian or American?

Me - American.  You?

Girl - Guess.  You can ask me three Yes or No questions.

Me - OK, Have you ever eaten ketchup flavored potato chips?

Girl - Yes.

Me - You're Canadian.

Corned beef hash

When in Wanaka, I can wholeheartedly recommend the corned beef hash at Kai Whaka Pai. I needed a big meal on this cool, rainy day before my ride down to Queenstown, and this thing was a steaming pile of glory. Corned beef, potatoes, asparagus, all piled high and topped with two fried eggs. A complete slice of fried gold. You'll have to take my word on quality of the presentation - I'm not Japanese. Why do they do that? I used to see that the most at the Ess-a-Bagel on 3rd Ave. They'd even have menus printed in foreign languages. Must have been written up in some guidebook. Took forever if you were behind them in line. BUT ANYWAY. Washed it all down with a tall, cold Brewski. The beer is actually called "Brewski," it's a local brew made by two guys out by the airport. I didn't make it out to the airport this time, though I was there once three years ago to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Stay tuned for the next post, in which I cash in all this karma accumulated from taking it easy this week.

All it needed to do was rain

Today's a washout.  Pouring rain all day in Wanaka and maybe that's just what I needed to get this contraption started.  Combine that with a bus to Queenstown that leaves in about 3 hours and there you have it - I've finally started a blog.  

So let's quickly bring you up to speed so this can be more about what's currently going on.  I spent October on many, many trains.  I think I was in every state in the lower 48 except Wyoming, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.  I saw tons of friends, two Canadian provinces, sun in Seattle, rain in San Diego and basically ate and drank like it was going out of style.  I got used to traveling by train, but at times it felt like living in a retirement home.  Everyone seemed to be 40 years older than me.  

A month ago, I arrived in Auckland and spent about 3 days too long in the city.  Auckland is a place where everyone is going somewhere else.  The streets are lined with travel agencies and tour booking offices.  The next two weeks were an immersion course in surfing (or so it seemed).  Everything was going great until I broke my toe, slamming it into the deck of my board.  Maybe it's not broken - not really the point.  It's going on three weeks later and it's mostly better, but I can still feel it.  

From there, met up with two 20 year old British girls who had a car and were nice enough to let me tag along to Kaikoura to swim with dolphins and Franz Josef to hike the glacier.  Left there Sunday, came to Wanaka and have basically relaxed for the past 4 days.  And it's been great.  There isn't much of a nightlife here and I've been sleeping until 10 or 11 every day.  Very comfy bed in this backpackers.  All of this (I think) is to prep for Queenstown.  I don't recall sleeping much the last time I was there.  It's a party town.  Adrenaline sports capital of the world.  I'll most likely be throwing myself off some cliff/ledge/mountain bike by day and then drinking in the afterglow with dozens of others eager to share their stories of the day's adventures.  Add to this that the sun sets after 10 and rises around 5 and it makes for a surreal location.  I'll be there through the weekend, and probably looking for some quiet corner to crash come Monday.

So there it is.  It's a blog.  I have no idea why I can't upload pictures to this, but I'll work on that.  All are welcome to comment.  This isn't really fun unless people comment.  Tim should have a running column (if you want).  And big thanks go out to Tom for deciding what the name for it would be.  We were in the back of a cab in Westchester being driven by a nice Thai lady to Kasey & Jeff's wedding reception when Tom read the printing on the upper right corner of my card's envelope.