drowned in wellington!?

huh. silent for a long time. not without a reason.
first, tried to concentrate and do my writing. with poor results.
had a great time a week ago when i challenged a dutch guy - of course i lost the rollerblading race and got two enormous blisters. we also did a big pizza party, which ended up in shoving heaps of it in our mouths, getting everybody full to the brim so that i'm not even considering getting any pizza-like food in the nearest future.
and just when i made up my mind to leave, things started happening. i started working at the hostel and then got a temp job at a local restaurant. so i decided to linger.
wellington is a place among hills and water which makes me more than happy. people at the beethoven come and go and part of me is already restless, screaming to move on.
but there are days like today that make me stay for another night, another breakfast. sunday, 9am, fire alarm as a wake up call, alan's porridge and good morning rituals, then a cleaning run round the house, people saying their goodbyes, guys fighting weed in the bushy garden, alan getting crazy with the hose... this is an extraordinary place.
it seems to be a break. but now i'm travelling with my mind.
by the way, let me know if you all got the postcards, some of them seem to be getting ages to reach you!
wyspa! the islanders! drop me a line, will you?
cheers!

sunk into wellington

so there i am, still in wellington. trying to catch up with city life, waking up to fire alarm every morning (thanks to alan, the hostel owner who's trying to get everybody downstairs before the porrige gets cold), doing my best to make up for the delay in my writing, which results in consuming hectolitres of excellent latte, meeting kiwis nextdoor and squeezing the meaning of life during our evening terrace conversations.
last night, the ever present wellington wind kept me awake almost all night. i think it's my punishment for the spreading laziness that has overcome me. therefore, i came up with a monday resolution - no further travel unless i do the writing. motivation level has already gone up :-)

anyway, i went to this concert in botanical gardens last night, sat there among cheering crowds and thought i really liked them KIWIS. they ARE a different people. laid back and relaxed. i'm constantly tempted to try on their way of being, in fact, i have noticed patience crawling behind me...
so. i'm not trying to push things. what will come will come.

down the river, up the mountain

jogging at midnight and then dancing myself away at a local pub to some groovy 70's hits - that's how i greeted new year, hoping that it will bring constant movement as i explore the downunder. changing plans every few hours due to capricious weather finally resulted in getting to whanganui river for four days of paddling and scratching as we'd been slowly but surely eaten up by mosquitos. my longing for the mountains was soon to be blurred as we were put in a canoe on swollen river waters, eyeing our first rapid to come just a few strokes ahead. the first day turned out to finish with a giant struggle against the current of a raging stream which we had to go up to get to the hut. after being washed down three times, screaming and cursing, paddling like a machine gun, we finally got somewhere 'close' to the landing...but on the other side :-) which meant dragging all the barrels up through the bush...barefoot! well, at least i got to feel what it was like for the first explorers who came to settle here...
the second day was a whirlpool surprise, when we got spinned twice almost tipping over but miracously managed to paddle out, spending the rest of the day admiring the steep mossy walls of the gorge and passing a few dead animals floating down the river. brrr. we met a bunch of cool people, mostly middle aged outdoor devotees and even an aussie couple five months pregnant, with whom we chatted evening hours, travelling with our minds all over the world.
i must say that i gladly left the canoe when we finally got to pipiriki, our pick up point. four days on a boat made me even more desperate to get into the mountains...
we went back to ohakune, muddy and stinky but smiling as the snow capped mount ruapehu loomed in the distance. next morning i set off for tongariro circuit, nina joined me as she gave up on the idea to go west for her last few days in new zealand. we hitch-hiked all the way to the tongariro circuit track, the weather getting worse every step we took towards the mountains. our three day trek was cut short by nature's rage. just before we got to the first crater we met people walking down to call rescue service as there were hikers stuck up on the ridge, unable to walk down. an english guy and i decided to go and help them since we had the gear and we knew the people there were freezing. however, when we started climbing up the ridge, i got swept off my feet twice (later on i discovered that my bottom was covered with bruises!), the wind getting stronger every minute so that we ended up crawling, not even being able to look up as our faces got hit with an extraordinary force by rain. we finally had to turn back, hoping that the rescue guiys will get there soon. as we later found out, it took them almost three hours to crawl up the ridge and get the people out. as we were getting warm flocking around the heater in a hut, i realised how small and petty little things we human beings are, trying to go against the elements. the nature always gets it even though...
anyway, i'm down in taupo, safe and still craving for mountains. i'm heading south to wellington, where i'll probably take a deep breath and then get down to trekking all the way down the south island.