The Big E: E for Eleven

Pictures from this post will soon be put in the “New Zealand: Coromandel, Auckland, Northland” album. The ones I already put in are captioned now!

• Friday, 11 Feb: Awoke in Nomai’s place to find Nomai and the twins gone; packed up, left a thank you note, headed into town; spent a few hours at the library using internet; hitchhiked to Paiha, got picked up pretty quick; had picnic lunch and went to beach; swam out to a boat and got invited to sail around and spend the night on the boat by Paul, owner of Shalom Alec; bought food for dinner and rowed stuff over on dinghy; sailed to Roberton Island (Big E) and anchored for the night.
• Saturday, 12 Feb: Swam to Roberton Island, explored, swam back to boat; sailed around in Bay of Islands, saw dolphins, swam around, basked in the sun; got dropped off in the afternoon in Russell; ate lunch in a cafe; took ferry over to Paihia; hitchhiked to Kaeo with Maori lady whose sister recently joined Couchsurfing and who is a traveler herself; and got picked up by our Couchsurfing host, Ben, twenty minutes later; spent the night at his house and had a huge barbecue of lamb, sausage, corn, potato and salad.
• Sunday, 13 Feb: Slept in! Went to the beach, tried surfing on my own; went to another beach with Ben, watched Maria learn to kitesurf, did a bit more swimming at surfing attempts myself; went fishing, caught tons of snapper (mine was biggest!); got back to Ben’s, cooked up fish two different ways and feasted until midnight.
• Monday, 14 Feb: Slept in again; puttered around until 1pm, doing laundry and internet stuff, then headed for Kaitaia and wandered around town for lunch and grocery shopping; then to a beach for kitesurfing (Ben) and kitesurfing lessons (Maria) and lazing about on the beach (me and Bob); back home around 8pm, Bob, Maria and I cooked dinner: salad, fish two ways, and spinach and cheese ravioli in alfredo sauce; feast; slept on couch because Bob was bitching about it.
• Tuesday, 15 Feb: Up around 7:30am; ravioli for breakfast; waited for a ride to Taipa from Ben, then Maria and I hitchhiked north; first with a big freight truck, nice Maori driver who took us as far as Kaitaia; next with a honeymooning couple doing a day trip to Cape Reinga; spent the day with them at the Cape and at a beach, then back to Taipa; called Mike, a couchsurfer who had offered to host us, and got picked up twenty minutes later; more beach time, failed attempt at surfing, meeting a couple of kitesurfers we’d met a few days ago on the beach; back to Mike’s place for a barbecue and party.
• Wednesday, 16 Feb: Slept in; watched hangover; went to Taipa and grocery shopped; made homemade pasta and shaped gnocchi to cook later for dinner; went to a lake and out on a boat, watched others wakeboard; cooked dinner, watched “Once Were Warriors” and to bed by midnight.

 

It’s been a fun five days since meeting Bob and Maria and deciding to travel north with them. A kindly woman named Nomai heard us talking about sleeping in the park while we were eating at her cafe in Kawakawa, chatted with us for a moment and then told us,

“You’re not sleeping in the park. You’re coming home with me. First we’ll pick up my twins and then I’ll take you home.” As we waited for her to finish up at work, cleaning up and closing down and refusing to allow us to help, we noticed a wood-carved statue in front of the shop next door. I started admiring some of the work through the window, and soon Woremai came out to chat, a Maori man with long, curly and unruly hair and a perpetual expression of helpless, cheerful confusion on his face. He taught us that there are several kinds of greenstone found in New Zealand and just two other countries in the world; that much of the greenstone sold to tourists is actually jade from China; and that one can really find what they love to do, like him: crafts with stone and wood. He offered us each a chip of true New Zealand greenstone as a gift. Mine is still in my pocket, awaiting inspiration and materials to be turned into a necklace.

After waking up on Nomai’s couches Friday morning, the three of us packed up, went into town for breakfast and internet time, and made our way northwards. We managed to catch a ride after only a few minutes of holding our thumbs out and were taken up to Paihia, a beachy touristy town on the Bay of Islands. We immediately had lunch (an odd mix of granola bars, nutella on bread, fruit and pita with hummus) and then headed for a beach. After swimming for a bit, Maria declared that she wanted to be on a boat and, to aid this desire, she would swim out to one of the many anchored boats in the bay to see if they’d let her on. This she did, and I trailed along after her while Bob chatted with some guys on the beach. No one was home at the sailboat we visited so we swam back to shore to join Bob. Awhile later, Maria clapped her hands and strode back into the water, pointing at the now occupied sailboat. This time I stayed behind and Bob swam with her.

Half an hour later, they were rowing back to shore in a dinghy, full of laughter and glee: Paul, owner of the sailboat, had invited the three of us to come aboard, sail around the bay and spend the night on his boat. First Bob and Maria did a bit of shopping and then we wrapped our packs in plastic and rowed back out to the boat. Paul, a beer-bellied, wild-bearded and gruff-voiced guy, watched silently as we clambered aboard. He then offered us each a beer and told us to make ourselves comfortable. For the next twenty-four hours, we helped sail or motor around the bay, watched the stars after we anchored in a bay of a small island, and swam in beautifully blue and clear waters. I named our island “The Big E: E for Eleven,” because in Paul’s navigational book that was the number that went with it’s description. “The Big E” seemed a much better name than Roberton Island…  We swam to “The Big E” and climbed to it’s highest lookout point, collected shells for necklaces and swam back to the boat. There were dolphins in nearby waters, playing alongside tour boats motoring past.

Paul dropped us off at the pier in Russell, where we had lunch and then caught a ferry back to Paihia, where we stuck out our thumbs again and caught a ride with a Maori woman  whose younger sister had recently joined Couchsurfing. She brought us to a bridge near Mangonui, where we were soon picked up by our host, Ben, a quiet, cheerful blonde guy. We went to his house, which looked out over Doubtless Bay and had such man-toys as boats, off-roading vans, big screen tvs, computers, kites and kiteboards, windsurfing equipment and so much more. During our three days with Ben we went fishing and brought home a cooler-full of snapper (I caught the largest one!), visited several beaches with surfboards and kiteboards, cooked up tons of fish and in general lived it up.

Maria and I decided to head north so Ben dropped us off at a good spot on the highway and within thirty minutes, we were riding in a huge freight truck with a talkative Maori driver who dropped us in Kaitaia. Another fifteen minutes and we were in the car of a honeymooning Kiwi couple on a day trip to Cape Reinga. We were with them until late afternoon, visiting the Cape and then a nearby pristine, white-sanded beach with crystal clear, aquamarine waters. They dropped us off in Taipa several hours later, where we bought a few things at the superette, ate a slap-dash lunch, and waited for Mike, our Taipa Couchsurfing host, to pick us up. When he arrived, he brought Elodie with him, a French couchsurfer-turned-girlfriend, and we all went to a nearby beach. I attempted to surf on his board but the waves knocked me over before I could make much of an effort to stand, so I clambered out and sunned for a bit.

For the next two nights we beached and slept in and barbecued and made fresh pasta (Maria’s and my ‘thank you’). Now we’re on our way to another host’s place in Dargaville, on the west coast of Northland. We already caught one short ride with a guy who works at the Kaitaia airport and who offered to come get us and take us a bit south. Woo!

The only negative during this week of travel was my interaction with Bob. The first day or two was fine, but when he didn’t get anywhere with Maria, he started taking out his frustration on me. He seemed to think I was purposely blocking him getting to Maria, when any moron could tell that she wasn’t romantically interested in him. It got to the point where whatever I said, he would mock or react negatively to it, and it was really irritating. I was thoroughly relieved when he decided to head south from Ben’s. He put a real damper on my mood and made me feel completely left out when he would talk to Maria and make plans with her as if I weren’t sitting two feet away. (“So Maria, you and I will make dinner tonight?”) It’s amazing how immature a guy can get,isn’t it? While almost everything Maria did or said was gold to him, he did spend two straight hours pouting one day when Ben gave Maria a kitesurfing lesson and there was “nothing for [him] to do.” We were at a gorgeous beach and had surfboards to play with, but because he wasn’t in the mood for the beach, he refused to talk to anybody and hid in the van with his iPod. He also refused to help set up the kites when asked. In any case, good riddance to him and his negative vibe! (Maria didn’t seem too sorry to see him go either!)

On to new adventures!

--Z