Hey, everyone! I can confidently say that after many weeks of almost non-stop activity… it has actually been a pretty chill week! It has somehow gone by pretty quickly, but was enjoyable nonetheless.

Return to Auckland

After last week’s blog post, I was a little weirded out to have parted ways with Goldie. What am I going to do without my car? I felt I was… well, kinda STRANDED in Auckland. I was able to get around all over the country with that beloved van. And yet, it was time to slow down. My dad did say something wise regarding me feeling bad about selling Goldie for parts. He said Goldie will actually “live on” in many different cars – since they’ll be used as replacement pieces, etc. I suppose in a way, that happens with humans, too. Maybe our bodies are no longer here, but we’re able to live on in the memories other people have of us. Craaaaazzzyy.

When I’d gotten to my hostel, I ended up having a fellow American in my dorm room, Reed. We started talking and quickly bonded. Poor Reed had gotten his credit card, Ray Ban sunglasses, his socks (?), and cash stolen at the hostel. LORD! I have kind of let my guard down in hostels, because I figure everyone is in the same boat. We all are just hoping no one is going to steal our stuff. Now I will have to be on high alert again. The thievery happened during the thirty minutes he was in the shower. So insane. The hostel staff wasn’t able to do much, nor were the police. They let Reed move to a four bed room to appease him, which is where I met him. I couldn’t believe that this happened to him on the very beginning of his year long travel adventure. He was only JUST starting and immediately got his credit card stolen?! Although, he tells me he does tend to have bad luck.

I was only at that hostel for two nights but Reed and I decided to stay in contact. After I’d moved to my new hostel, we decided to meet up and go dancing. We went out at 8pm and it was literally just the two of us at a bar at first haha. We talked about our travels, our families, etc. Around 10pm, we went to another bar. This bar was KILLING ME with the music. It was so damn good. The DJ was a genius with his transitions from song to song. At one point he was playing remixes of “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child and then transitioned to Florence & the Machine’s “Spectrum (Say My Name),” which had me screaming.

There was also a stripper’s pole at the club so ladies were taking turns dancing on that haha. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a stripper’s pole at a club before. Because it was Halloween weekend, people were in costume. It made for a really delightful evening. Yay!

Reed and I ended up staying out until… 2am? I was overheated from all the dancing but it was an excellent time. So glad I had a dancing buddy! We went out for fries afterwards, having burnt lots of calories after three hours dancing.

Waitakere Ranges

I reached out to my friend Taylor once I’d made it back to Auckland. He and I had met when I was first down in Wellington about a year ago. He was there for work, I was LOOKING for work. Taylor was happy to catch up. He picked me up and we drove to the Waitakere Ranges – a spot I’d heard of my first week in Aotearoa New Zealand, but had yet to make it to. Taylor was kind enough to drive us there. We had really good conversation along the way.

We went for a short hike down to a beach. The sand was black but shimmered with what looked like glitter. The tide seemed to be coming in. It was a lovely area.

On the walk back up to the car, I noticed a flax plant that had the craziest stem. I’ve seen plenty of flex during my time in New Zealand, but can’t say I’ve ever noticed one that looped around quite like this (pictured above). It reminded me of some recent flourishes I’ve been using in my art pieces!

After the hike, Taylor took me to Piha to check out Lion’s Head rock. At first, I couldn’t see the lion, but as we started to approach it, it became very apparent. OH – there’s the snout, the ears, the mane, etc.

Before our hike, Taylor suggested we get some ice cream. The draw was that this was New Zealand ice cream made with real fruit. Allegedly iconic, and yet I’d never had any since being here! I had a hard time deciding between the three flavors – mixed berry, banana, and passionfruit. They all sounded so damn good! I decided on passionfruit and didn’t regret my decision. It was v. yum. Taylor got mixed berry and let me try it. Both were incredible.

We were going to stop for tea/coffee, but the machine was down so we ended up driving back to the city. We parted ways but made plans to get dinner before I leave. Thanks for taking me to the ranges, Taylor!

Rangitoto Island

I first heard of Rangitoto Island the week I’d arrived in Auckland. Rangitoto is the most recently active volcano in the Auckland area… recent meaning 600 years ago. Ferries take passengers over to the island daily and my friend Pau had told me there were some nice hikes. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it or not, but I’d already budgeted money for it and thought – alright, why not?

When out with Reed a few nights prior, I had mentioned the island to him and asked if he was interested. He was, so that morning I messaged him and asked if he wanted to get the 12.15pm ferry with me. We met on the boat and took the 20min ferry ride over.

In hindsight, we probably should have taken an earlier ferry because the last ferry back was 3.30pm. We didn’t have that much time to explore the island. Actually, though, it was the perfect amount because we saw everything we set out to.

Our first objective was to reach the summit. It was supposed to be an hour walk to the top. We made it in about 40min. Along the way, we had solid views. Lots of pōhutukawa trees lined the walk. And in addition to the trees was… LAVA! Not molten lava, of course, but old lava. It was all over the island. How cool to have this evidence of volcanic activity?!

Reed and I probably could have enjoyed a break or two during the hike to the summit, but we pushed through. The faster we got up, the longer we had to enjoy our time and see other things on the way back down.

Eventually, we made it to the summit crater. I had anticipated a crater similar to others I’d seen in Auckland or maybe Iceland, but nope. The crater was filled with TREES! Reed commented on the diverse variety of trees in the canopy. There were also many birds around. I made a point to show Reed the fantails and tūī as he maybe had never seen them before. His time in New Zealand is rather short (just on a visitor visa), so I tried to imbue him with some of the knowledge I’ve learned over the past year.

Since we’d gotten to the summit much faster than anticipated, we had a lot of time left to check out other things. We went to the viewpoint which provided some lovely views of Auckland City, the ocean, and some far off mountain ranges. Beautiful! Reed was quite taken with how blue the water was. It was, indeed.

We did the crater rim loop track which took maybe all of ten minutes. Before finishing, I was surprised to catch glimpse of a bird I’d never seen before. I still am not sure what it was. It seemed black with some slight white markings near its eyes and I think on its body as well. I tried looking it up online but to no avail.

After completing the crater loop, we took the trail to the lava caves. I stopped in my tracks, then, having spotted… a saddleback! I so wish I’d had my camera with me but even if I had, the experience was very fleeting. Such a beautiful bird! They are almost completely black but they have an orange-y brown “saddle” on their back, and the same color is also on either side of their beak. Beautiful bird! I’m hoping to see them again when I’m on Rotoroa Island next week.

It didn’t take long before we were at the lava caves. There were a few very narrow caves. You had to crouch down and pretty much crawl through, it seemed. I looked at Reed and was like “uhhhh, I don’t think I want to go in there” haha. We continued on the track and then we found the actual lava cave that we were supposed to walk through. The ceiling on that one was much taller and it had some gaps in the earth that shone light into the cave. I wish I’d brought my headtorch because it would have illuminated the entire cave. Instead, we relied on our iPhones. Reed’s phone had a much brighter light than mine haha so I needed him to shine the light above my feet every few seconds.

The walkthrough of the cave had a clear entry and exit and took maybe all of five minutes to walk through. Creepy… but cool.

After we’d finished the cave, we descended the track back down to the base of the island. We walked a trail that ran along the water for maybe ten minutes and then headed back to the wharf to make our ferry.

Overall, I’m glad I went to Rangitoto. The return ferry ticket of $58 was a little dear to me, but not too bad overall. I wish they’d had a hostel on the island because apparently there are kiwi and bats that live there! Alas.

After Rangitoto, Reed and I both took time to chill at our respective hostels. We’ve hung out a bit since then. It has been nice to have a travel buddy, and a travel buddy that’s actually from the States! We spent some time checking on the developing election results and then when things were seeming dire, we were commiserating. During our time together, Reed has been stuck in Auckland waiting for his credit card to arrive before he moves on. He was contemplating taking the bus down to Wellington and then coming back up if need be – but funnily enough, it ended up arriving today. We met up one last time and he walked me to the ferry. Since Reed has only just begun his year of travel, there is a pretty high likelihood we will be in the same places in Asia. We said we would stay in touch and wished each other well. I am now on Waiheke and in a couple of hours, he heads down to Wellington.

Miscellaneous

The morning after arriving in Auckland, I printed out my ballot and went to the U.S. Embassy in Auckland to mail it out. Not sure if it actually arrived in time but Illinois ended up being blue as suspected anyway.

I finally finished the delicious sweets from Makana Confectionery. Damn it! Last night, I looked up to see if they ship to the US but no, they don’t. I suppose that’s the last time I’ll have Macadamia Butter Toffee Crunch 🙁 NOOO!!!

I have had to part ways with many things recently to pair down my belongings. I just have TOO MUCH STUFF. The problem is that I brought some winter clothes with me when I stopped home in April… so now it’s just too much luggage. One of the things I parted with the other day was my beloved Four Square bag from Stewart Island. While it’s such a cool souvenir, the bag had been under a lot of strain and had the plastic on the inside flaking off, etc. Sad! Even with all I’ve gotten rid of (and it has been a lot), I still have my massive backpack, my small backpack, and then a huge tote bag stuffed to the gills with things lol. It’s just too much.

Back in October 2023, when I’d first arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand… I wasn’t really vibing with Auckland. It didn’t feel like the right place for me. And because of that, I have always kinda said to people, “Yeah, I didn’t really like Auckland that much.” But now I DO! I think it just wasn’t the right place for me to make a little life for myself, to find work, etc. But as a place to visit, I do really enjoy it.

Art of the Week

Reverting back to my sunflower-ness as always. Hoping to expand on it some more in future pieces.

In addition to my art, I wanted to share that after MONTHS of not working on my new book at all… I finally wrote a few pages. LORD have I been stuck on it! I’m hopeful that this week, I’ll be able to work on it some more. I’m also thinking I’ll have a lot of time while in the States to work on it. If anyone is interested in reading where I’m at so far, I would love to have feedback! Let me know.

Reflections

Earlier today, I boarded the ferry to Waiheke Island which took maybe forty minutes. I arrived at my hostel not too long ago and this is where I’ll be for the next six nights. It feels good to be out of the hustling, bustling city again. Steps from my hostel, there are picnic tables with views of the beach and the ocean down below. From this room, I am hearing birds calling out to one another.

I don’t have much time left. Less than two weeks before heading home. I think leading up to my departure, it will mostly be pretty chill. The only thing I really MUST DO while on Waiheke is go to Whakanewha Regional Park, because my favorite musician Amanda Palmer has a song called “Whakanewha”. So… obviously, I will be going there.

This seems like a short post for once. They’re always so full on LOL.

Anyway. Until next time, sending you all my love. x