Part of the Family

I read a book this summer down in Corolla called "10 Simple Rules of Surfing" or something like that...some life-lesson guide that related being a moral, good person to surfing. And one of the rules I remember was "pass on the stoke", and I am happy to say, that I attempted to "pass on the stoke" to my City slicking, Paris-dwelling friend Sophie. We went down to the beach at Mangawai heads yesterday with Andrew's Longboad (7' 3"....longboard by NZ standards), and on the shittiest day possible for learning how to surf, Sophie and I had surf lesson number 1. Now obviously for those of you who know me, I am a pretty shitty surfer to begin with, haven't been doing it for that long, would definitely not qualify myself as any sort of knowledgable instructor, but, I was able to successfully shirade/mime my simple lesson of "paddle paddle paddle POP up, stay low!" to Sophie, or enough so that she was able to semi-stand up on a wave! Pretty cool I'd say, even though the water was about 60 degrees, sideshore wind blowing about 20 with 1 foot of chop. Not the most ideal conditions, but we grinned and beared it because, hell, we're in New Zealand. And it was pretty cool to be able to bestow some ocean knowledge to my city-living friend.

I have served my WWOOFfing time at the Mackintosh's, and I have to say that I feel like I have become part of their family. I was awaken at 7 am this morning by Amber jumping on my bed asking, "do you want to go on a beach walk?!?!?!?!" So I went on a vigorous power walk with the parents up the cliffs, came back and made crepes with Sophie for breakfast, and later helped Bianca plant her Kumara garden, she showed me how to pollinate zucchini plants (did you know there are boy AND girl flowers? Who the hell knew), and restrung Andrew's antique Gibson guitar (Thanks, Donnie :) ). Every night after dinner, we drink freijoa wine until the bottle is empty, and indulge in conversations ranging from Evolutionary Biology, to scuba diving, to travel stories, to wwoofing experiences gone bad, to New Zealand history, to learning French...

After our road trip this weekend to Poor Knight's Island, (more to come on that), I was going to leave the Mackintosh's and head to my next destination in Rotorua. When they found out I was leaving Monday, shit got bad. Their boat, which is fully equipped to go snorkeling, fishing, diving, barbequing, living the dream, has just been officially fixed tonight, and they want to take me and Sophie out scallop and crayfish diving on Great Barrier Island. If I leave, I will miss out on what will truly be a fucking real New Zealand experience. Imagine: diving for rich, juicy, plump sea scallops, cooking them on the boat and binge eating until your stomach explodes on their crustacianny goodness. But ahhh....the beauty of no plans and no itinerary...I think I may just stay a few more days here.