almost there...

that's the thing about new zealand, everything is mad close. and in fact, it seems like my postings haven't gotten there yet, as i never finished the journey up north... nevertheless, we'll get back to that northland pilgrimage at some juncture on the path...

...this weekend, these three phd students from the university of waikato (know them?) and one english student made the journey to tongariro national park, new zealand's first national park. more than eleven years ago with a posse of carleton college students, i had completed this epic one day 19 kilometre crossing, through a wide magnificent saddle situated between two active volcanoes. although hamilton is three hours from the park, the "are we there yet" was wondered and mumbled as we initially couldn't seem to find the free d.o.c. campground where fires are permitted...

...eventually mon frere from bordeaux, a skilled navigator, found the road less travelled and my two european colleagues led the way for pedro and i...

...the drive was worth it and he hike even more so, though mimicking pirates and structural problems would mar our detour... more on that later... for now, some scenes to tongariro and making our way together to emerald lakes and past mt. ngauruhoe... ...some fotos from the future to the past...

love and health to all...

spirits bay...

a few days after christmas, pedro from sao paulo state and i stood 15 or so kilometres from spirits bay with our thumbs out, in the hopes of hitching a ride. we ate a couple bananas and we had sipped a touch of whiskey before throwing our packs on. it was probably two in the afternoon. it didn't take long and soon the both us were squeezed next to a young woman who was pregnant and her partner and her partner's friend who spoke with the thickest kiwi tongue i've ever heard. i could barely understand a word out his mouth and through it all, i could only imagine pedro must've been daydreaming in Portuguese.

we made it to spirits bay on a windy late afternoon. the campground was massive, though empty, the weather forecast must have scared folks. we set up our tent in the difficult wind and then headed down to the beach, el pacifico. we hopped in the ocean and soon two sting rays appeared right next to us.

a little later, we climbed a mountain and met a nice young lad, johannes, from france. the three of us climbed a saddle of green, high above spirits bay. the wind was whipping, the sea was crashing, the energy was vibrant.

johannes decided to accompany us for our first day hiking and tentless, he slept under his fly in a gazebo that was on the trail. we slept in the gazebo too, though in a tent. there was a tropical depression off the coast of queensland and it was seriously representing on our way to cape reinga... johannes, hitchhiking and woofing through new zealand, stopped by hamilton this week to chill for a couple days at pedro's house. it was nice to see him and catch up.

it's getting late here in n.z. and i'm listening to one of the dopest albums i had known about for years but never knew what it was - novos baianos, "acabou chorare"

songs on this album remind me of the sweetest of times, in the vista with mis hermanos, roaming long island shores, clambaking, and living...

those were the days...

love and health to all...

who'd a thought...

...that new zealand's largest sculpture park is a twenty minute drive from where i live.

true it is and this past saturday, two of my buddies from the university of waikato, raphael, mon frere from la ville de bordeaux and luke, born and raised near the meeting of the pacific and the indian oceans, hopped in the smooth riding corona and headed out to the sculpture park at waitakaruru arboretum for an afternoon of structure pondering.

we didn't know what to expect and we were surprised at how much fun we had in our two hours or so at the sculpture park, i have to say, it's mad cool and well worth a visit.

above are some highlights of our journey and at the bottom is a snap of some old nails on a rock that seemed to be the most beautiful unnoticed sculpture in the whole place...

love and health to all...

scenarios.

there are those times in life when you find yourself somewhere, perhaps confronted with a scenario that was once a moment but is now long gone where you wonder, damns, what went down? really what is seen is a scene, a fossil of a minute in time when, well, the people that were present at that time must have thought the same thing - damns, what should we do?

this was one of those fossils. what scenario could've possibly allowed this campervan to have been swallowed by the tides and time...

a question that will only be pondered and probably never answered, but a lesson for certain, visible and as clear as day...

miti miti beach, northland, new zealand, december 2011.

love and health to all...

stone holiday dinners & grains of sand along the tasman sea.

scenes from the small enclave of miti miti before after and during the christmas time. to be honest, it didn't feel much like christmas or the december holidays at all for that matter. the hope for a white christmas is a dream i've had since i was a little one and most likely will always have... but this small maori community took us in and even invited us to their home on christmas day for a traditional hangi, which as my flatmate said last night while we were watching gordon ramsey travel to nagaland on the telly (food was on our mind), it doesn't get any more new zealand than that... pedro getting some christmas eve dinner ready and the two of us exploring the long praias round miti miti... love and health to all...

the beach at miti miti.

miti miti early morning on christmas day.

love and health to all...

driving up northland...

the day before christmas, pedro and i packed the '89 corona up with mad camping equipment, heaps of water, dried fruits and the like (little did we know that the dried fruits would stay drier than we would during our 9 days camping under the stars and the long white clouds of this fine land). we were on our way north, to hike the cape reinga coastal walkway, a 3-5 day horseshoe trek around the northern tip of new zealand, from the pacific to the tasman...

the corona was fine and strong and so were we, heading north and out of the waikato, past auckland, soon to be entering the northland region of new zealand. the scenery from the car was stunning and the drive was a perfect preface of the natural beauty yet to come.

by proper christmas eve, by the time the sun had set, 5-6 hours on the road, we had crossed hokianga harbour and were on our way to the small maori community of miti miti

scenes from our road trip north - new zealand pride strong and true and always all black, hokianga harbour repping stunningly after coming round the bend in a northland road, scenes in omapere while waiting an hour for the ferry across the harbour...

love and health to all...