Perfection and Majesty
We are in some strange kind of paradise, a little bit of a combination between tropics (weird plants) and Scottish Highlands (rolling hills and sheep), and Yvoire or some other blindingly picturesque town of small buildings with climbing vines and fish N' chips shops and doorways that the giant Kai cannot fit through and doorknobs that come up to her knees. It is called Akaroa.
We stayed illicitly at a campground over the hill in Okains Bay (which helps if you are a lazy lowbagger with no reservations who are driving around in the dark up and down giant precipitous rolling hills of majesty), and then stayed there for reals the next night (like, we payed). Everything is very well-equipped around here, campgrounds and trails have huts to stay in which are often very swanky. We are well equipped too, our van in small, and being in the back feels like being in a fort made from couch cushions. We have some little stoves, and coffee, and our zip-together sleeping bags on a matress in the back. NO I have not yet driven. It is very perilous and windy, and we have been driving almost exclusively on narrow "tourist drives" that run along the very top of giant hills. Everything is breathtaking, including the drop over the edge on each side. I really really hope the brakes hold out. Hah.
It seems like we will be taking a boat cruise on the Bay today (we are on Banks Penninsula-look it up) for too much money, and then going back to Christchurch to pick up some wacky ice folks tomorrow. Later on we will be getting very burly (Mykle)/tired (Kai) by doing a bunch of tramping. It's not like it sounds. It means a long backpacking hike. Wish me luck. As we all know, I am more made for lying languidly around on a chaise lounge, knitting and smoking opium and teaching my parrot French. Just kidding. When pressed, my youth of slogging up and down mountains and through swamps with my outdoorsy family pays off and I realise I have amazing stamina, even if I have no muscle.
I hope you are all well. Do something lazy for me.
love love love
posted by The Sensualist @ 4:12 PM
5 Comments:
i have finally started to miss you, officially on tuesday. i pretended you were away for the weekend, but now you arent coming back for a while.
i was wondering how you were doing-- it sounds quite romantic, being too tall for tiny doorways and living in a van with your love.
If you go further north, I recommend Kaikoura... The sea floor drops off really close to the land, so all the dolphins & whales are right there. Since I was spending my trust fund while I was there with my girlfriend, we went swimming with dusky dolphins a few times. But if you just park by the side of the highway, you can watch them from the road. They flip and jump over & over... it's really entertaining.
I spent 5 months in NZ & had a fantastic time!
I had a dream about you the other night and realized that I already miss you. I'm so glad that you are posting so we can live vicariously through you while you are in that strange piece of paradise.
Keep the updates coming when you can, but more importantly soak it all in.
everything sounds really amazing, and i hope the smart family penchant for walking around in nature serves you well.
i listened to the proposition soundtrack at work the other day and thought of you. in case you were not aware, it is composed by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis for a movie based on a screenplay by Cave set in Australia. it all sounds very dark and at the same time wide and sweeping and sort of desolate. much like i imagine the outback to be.
of course i realize that you are not actually in australia, but you are much closer than i am. so therefore i think of you.
actually i think of you and mykle a lot more than that. and you will both be missed come sunday night. i will play a song with you in mind.
love,
bro
OOoooo. I hear you on the languid preferences. I too come from a nature-y family. There was lots of "just a little further!" in my childhood memories, and many icy morning water bottles that as the day wore on turned into hot water bottles. Happy travels! Cheers
Joy
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