Characters

Yesterday was a lovely day but today it’s cloudy and raining steadily. I went for a run this morning along a couple of rural roads while the rain was really light. Last night was the best I’ve slept since leaving home. I’m laying low and giving myself a little time to just rest.

Deb is out in the rain working on tangerine trees. As a caretaker I don’t your going to find anyone who is more responsible and conscientious not to mention honest. The rabbit killing cat got another one today which gave Deb quite a scare as she at first thought it was a rat. I suppose most people have a phobia of one thing or another and Deb’s is rats. Rats don’t bother me at all. I’m not sure rats are an issue here but she seems to think they might be around.

In my last post I talked about the Indian yelling into his cell phone. He was just one of many characters I have met traveling. Sabbis was a tiny slice of India in the north of New Zealand but chill by Indian standards. Before Sabbis in Kaeo I was staying at a Hostel/Lodge outside of Kerikeri that was run by an older Swedish guy in his early 70’s. The lodge is a simple Scandinavian design originally built by a Dutch man who skimped on things to keep construction costs down which meant for thin walls. It’s called Relax a lodge and could potentially live up to it’s name if the owner didn’t like to stay up late drinking with guests. The place is surrounded by an orchard with a nice verandah and swimming pool. The downside is that it’s a little close to a busy highway but the noise is tolerable.

I stayed three nights. The first night wasn’t bad. The second night a middle aged Aussie showed up around 9 pm with wine. He and the owner drank and talked loudly until 1 am. Of course the Aussie snored like a freight train when he finally turned in. Remarkably I still got ok sleep with my ear plugs. I commented to the owner the next day that things were a little loud the previous night. He didn’t deny it at all and kind of apologized. He said he wouldn’t be doing that the coming evening but he did to a lesser degree and things got quiet around midnight. That night my neighbor in the room next to me was a young tattooed Chinese guy who checked in late. I don’t know if he was alone or not but the noises coming from the room were kind of odd. It sounded like he was sharpening or working on something. However, it also sounded like there might be someone with him and monkey business was going on. I slept poorly that night and actually banged on the wall a couple of times for him to quiet down which is something I never do.

In the morning I woke kind of tired and stressed so I went for a nice one hour run in the rain, showered, fixed breakfast, and got my stuff together. Around that time a few others started getting up. I almost left in time to miss an older Scandinavian guy with a big gut wearing nothing but a small towel and flip flops. He was searching the kitchen for stuff to make coffee and obviously felt perfectly at home.

I just needed to get about 12 miles down the road to Kaeo and asked the lodge owner if he knew of anyone headed that direction. He wasn’t very helpful so I just walked out to the road and hitched a ride. A divorced single woman about my age picked me up in a nice vehicle. She was simply getting away from Auckland for a few days and actually went out of her way to drop me right in Kaoe. It’s not uncommon for local driver to go a little out of their way to help a foreign traveler in New Zealand which is very nice.

So, who else have I met? I met a guy from Canada hiking on Great Barrier who had been living on sailboat with his ex-wife and her boy friend because he and his ex have a seven year old daughter. The kicker is that the ex wife also has a baby with her current boyfriend. Ex wife, new baby with boyfriend, and 7 year old daughter with ex husband all on a sailboat. Needless to say he was kicked off the boat. As he put it, “The experiment failed”.

While at the campground on Great Barrier Island a seagull flew down the vent pipe to a pit toilet and was stuck in the hold. An American woman staying in the campground became obsessed with rescuing the seagull. News spread around the island in no time. An older barefoot woman living on the island showed up with a net. The obsessed American was leaning over the toilet trying to fish out the seagull with some fish. A blue collar New Zealander from Auckland commented to me, “Bloody hell. It’s a seagull! There are plenty at the dump. Flying rats. Bloody Hell! It’s not an endangered species.” I kept my distance. I wasn’t getting involved. In the end the seagull was not rescuable and died in the toilet. Later I was to find out that the obsessed American woman was going through quite an ordeal at home. Her husband is transitioning to a woman. I mean seriously, I could right about someone everyday and maybe I should. You can’t make this stuff up. I can talk to anyone when I want to and people love to tell their story. I like to listen.

People travel for all kinds of reasons. The younger backpackers tend to simply be out for an adventure. Plain as that. The older backpacker type travelers are more of a mixed bag and travel for many reasons. Some are getting over a divorce or serious relationship, are between jobs, having a midlife crises or are running away to or from something. The older stable couples and those with money tend to be traveling more for the sake of travel and at a higher standard than I normally do. Occasionally I’ll fork out a little money and travel like a normal person my age but unfortunately I don’t meet many interesting people that way.