Nicks Big Adventure

I was in Coromandel Town sitting in a coffee house ( the only place with wifi ) when I decided to meet up with some pals from Kiwi Burn. Hana Tuwhare has a cabin outside of Waitomo, a tourist town known for its glow worm caves. It was a long drive but worth the trip to meet with folks I liked and knew. As I sometimes do I picked up a hitchhiker outside of Thames. He was an older mauri dude who was crazy. He is a recovery diver and is trying to get some of the tribes to move folks into underwater containers so that they can lessen outside distractions and become a better community. He rode all the way to Hamilton with me where he was going to make sure the public computers at the libraries were not blocking information into what he was doing. I made it to Waitomo easily after that. I found Rich, Hana, Alex, and Squirrel at at the cabin. It hasn't electricity or running water. In order to flush the toilet u had to walk to a trough down the hill to collect non drinking water and haul it back. I had a great time, we had cooking fuel and drinking water. When the sun went down we had a fire and watched the stars and listened to the talking heads on my tape player. After a few days we went to Rotorua. I played tour guide and we found a place for the evening. We had a great time that night and ate dinner under the lights. Taupo was the next stop but when we got there the driver of the other car wanted to continue on to Wellington. I needed to stay for the disc golf tourney that weekend so again I was alone. I was not all that bad except that I found out that the series of books that I was reading is now out of print. That's that for the series for me. Friday I helped set up baskets for the tourney and upon returning to my nice campsite I found my picnic table gone and my personal table taken by my neighbors. When I told them of this fact they insisted it was a mistake and I have a beer and tequila with them. I obliged and they were fun people to chill with. The next day was doubles and I was partnered with a guy named nick from Auckland. We had a great time and found out we were camped next to each other. That night was a players dinner and I got to finally watch rugby with kiwis. The sevens tourney was on and I will tell you itis exciting to watch.seven men on each side and a total play time of 14 min with a halftime. It is a fast and fierce game. It came down to Fiji and NZ. The all blacks had a great game and blew Fiji away 24-7. Sundays golf was ok but I was pretty wiped out so I watched the super bowl instead of playing the final round. I drove to Whakatani today and will be here for at least 2 days. I was planning on heading to the Coromandel but got sidetracked to here and found out there isa good hike I can do in 7 hours tomorrow. Then when I stopped into the hunting and fishing store to ask about fly fishing in the area the guy offered to take me out for some pointers on Thursday. So I am here for a while. Things are great here and it's nice to get to some good weather. Taupo is and was cold due to its elevation and location. I hope everyone liked the super bowl. It was not the same out here. Instead of being at home with some buddies i was at a pub with a Canadian in my ear talking to me about how much he likes the pats. I ordered hot wings, they were temperature hot and had no sauce, I asked for some hot sauce and got a curry like sauce. Oh well at least I did not have to see any of those damn commercials. It was all soccer and rugby between the action. I am doing well and happy. Next week late starts the SPLORE music festival. Pura Vida,    Nicholas