I almost died today. Seriously! So this semitruck decided to not check his mirrors while getting on to the highway, and even though David moved to the fastlane, he decided to move to the fastlane too. He eventually sandwiched us right in against the concrete barrier, so David had to slam on the brakes. He still took out our sideview mirror and left a whole bunch of paint damage along the side of the car, and then didn't even realize that he had hit us! Keep in mind this is all going on at arounfd 90 km/hr or so. So yah that's the exciting story for the day!
On Sunday we had teh family BBQ, and it was really cool to see all my Dad's cousins who I'd never met before. They were all really nice and we all ate a great amount of food (think steak... lots of it) and by the end of the day everyone was quite content. I finally managed to fix up Alyth's computer, but with the 56k bandwidth it was quite a chore! The next day Alyth dropped me off outside of Waihi around 8:30, and I was quickly picked up by this radio jockey guy named Dave who was going straight to Tauranga. Coincidently he did teh morning show in Blenheim for the last six months and then gave me hsi info and the info of a sailer down in Blenheim for when I get down there (who also happens to make great moonshine.) By the way, it's legal in New Zealand to make your own moonshine, and they also sell over the counter party drugs that contain PCP and all sorts of other stuff. Anyway, I got into Tauranga, climbed Mount Monganui(sp) and then hung out on teh beach the rest of teh day before going to David and Kay's.
Moving on, the last couple of days I spent at David and Kay's which is just outside of Taraunga in a little place called Te Puna. They have a bunch of avacado trees and were planting more, so I helped out on tuesday with some tree planting and stuff like that; it was really nice to do some work again! The afternoon I spent whizing around on a little 250 cc Suzuki motorbike, which is something I've never done before. It's quite a challenge, shifting with your feet and braking and accelerating with your hands! I didn't fall off (which I thought was quite impressive) and even managed to go 40 km/hr!
Today, (after the semi incident) I managed to get to Rotorua after hitching with 4 different people. One was a Maori lady who took me all around the maori village and told me all about the culture, and then dropped me off about 1km farther along the road I was originally on... The next lady gave me teh number of her daughter in Rotorua, but I was onyl with her for about 3 minutes in teh car so I didn't feel to comfortable calling in. The next guy was Indian and hardly spoke any English. I got understand Canada.. and that was about it. It was a little awkward but at least it got me down the road! The next guy picked me up at the gas station (best spot to hitch by the way) and was really cool and gave me his card and we had a great time conversing on the trip down. Once I got here I just chilled around town taking some pictures of the boiling mud and what not, and then it was now!
Tomorrow I am planning on going white water rafting as well as maybe zorbing (rolling down the hill in a huge ball... crazy kiwis.) Then it's off to Charles' on Friday ( I think) for a little caving action and maybe black water rafting!

Nov 24

So once we got back from the hike, Devon and I decided to make a stir fry which turned out to be really good! We met this English girl named Victoria, and had a wide-ranging conversation with her before we watched Seabiscuit! The next day ( Nov 22) we decided we'd all go travelling together up to the very north part of the Coromandel and go camping up there. The drive was actually pretty frightening, considering Victoria has had her license for 4 months, and has never driven on gravel roads before. The important thing is that we made it alive, and we hung out at Port Jackson for a couple of hours, before Victoria decided that she didn't want to pay 9 bucks to camp and wanted facilities... So considering it's her rental car, we drove all the way back to Coromandel Town, and then stayed in a little campground anyway... with pay showers... I was not impressed, but she was my ride so I had to go with it.
On Thursday we drove over to Whitianga, and then after checking in at the hostel, drove a little more east to Hot Water beach which was just a gongshow of tourists. I hated it. The hot springs at low tide were pretty cool, but it had been totally commercialized with rent-a-spades for digging holes to sit in and there was just too many people. We saw a couple people we recognized from the hostel, and then sat on the sand making disparaging remarks about all those around us! We then went up the beach a little more and explored around some more, and I finally got a chance to drive on the other side of the road! (Two beers in too :p) The worst part is shifting with your left hand, but I quickly got used to it. That night we went to a pub for dinner, Victoria decided she didn't like anything and went back to the hostel, but Devon and I stayed for a while drinking 3.50 pints (backpacker special) and hanging out with the locals. They were true blue collar workers, but we went dancing and they kept on buying us drinks so it turned out to be a really fun night.
This morning was a little rough from the bar, but a huge serving of bacon and eggs quickly solved that problem. It's a beautiful day outside right now, so I am about to go kayaking (and maybe swimming if it isn't too cold) but Victoria brought a laptop with her, so I'm able to update this and email people without being pressed for time. It's a luxury one misses when they don't have their own computer!

The coromandel

ALright now that I finally have about 5 minutes to type and the connection is holding fairly dteady I can give a little update. I had lamb for the first time... in an Indian restaurant!.. Not how I expected it would happen but it was good food nonetheless! After Norman's I went to Auckland, and chilled there for a couple hours, going up the sky tower, and then realized that it's pretty much like Vancouver, complete with the Asian shop keepers, with a little bit of Seattle thrown in, aka the space needle. I stayed at Chris' place, and he was very nice , giving me a wicked good steak and a couple of beers. I gotta admit, I've become a fan of New Zealand beef, the flavour is absolutely amazing. I woke up and caught the ferry over to the coromandel, then met up with this American guy named Devon and we hiked around a couple logging roads, got lost and hitched around for teh afternoon. An entertaining time, sthough a little sketchy at times. And my time is up so I will have to continue this later, but everything is going alright, I'm set up to return to Alyth's on Saturday, so hopefully I will be able to make a bigger update then. This coasts have been absolutely beautiful, and I've got some amazing photos. I'm still (slightly) on budget, but I hope all is well in all your respective places!

November 18 - Waiheke Island

Well I'm finally here at Norman and Jill's, and they've been very nice to me, fedding me very well. It's horrible weather here though, very Vancouverish, except for maybe a bit more wind, so I've just been sitting inside all day planning parts of the trip and reading. We might be going to see a movie tonight, but pretty much it's miserable outside. Tomorrow we are planning on going up to see the old World War 2 Tunnels, and up to the sheep/cattle farm that Norman works on. Hopefully the weather will be a little nicer!
The last few days have been quite relaxing. I didn't get up to much at Pete's, but did manage to send off some emails and update things. He has a really nice house and a couple of animals, so I was able to keep busy for most of the time. Yesterday we drove into Auckland, and after a little site-seeing around I caught the one o'clock ferry over to Waiheke Island. Norman met me at the ferry terminal and then he had to do some work, so I went down to the beach and into town for a couple hours. Nothing as exciting as almost being smooshed against two Kauri trees, but a good day nonetheless!.

rawr

Well after 4 nights of camping and 3 days of driving around with former Austin Mini Race car drivers I'm finally in Warkworth and able to access a computer. I'm at Pete Bailey's, but he is at work so I am finally ableto catch up on e-mails and all that stuff.On Saturday I caught the bus up 90 mile beach and then gor dropped off at teh quicksand stream. After a hike of about 4 hours I made it to Twilight beach, which was completely empty. It was absolutely breath-taking. Then the next day it was off to Cape Marie Van Dieman, and Cape Reinga. The scenery is pretty amazing; you'll have lush green grass, right up against sand-dunes, right up against the Tasman Sea. Cape Reinga was incredibly touristy, so I just took a picture and got the hell out of there. IT was quite cool seeign where the Pacific and Tasman Sea meet though. I had way too much stuff in my pack, so was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day, but I managed to meet up with some English guys who were quite funny the entire time. THey loved the gravel roads, but only once was I afraid for my life, when we passed right between two huge Kauri trees after they missed the corner. Ah well, all in good fun! The water was warmer then it is in Canada, so I had a nice swim on the monday. I headed back down south that night with the English blokes, and we eventually decided to stop in Kerikeri. I have NEVER seen so many bugs in my life. We were completely covered in them. It was a beautiful campsite though. There were little pagoda's (sp?) and buddha's everywhere, and it was quite peaceful.The next day we wondered around town then went to a pub and sampled a couple of NEw Zealand beers. THey were really quite good! I had a 10 inch high burger, then we made our way to Uretiti (say it out loud) took a picture of the beach name and then camped in Waipu, which is a about 2 hours north of Auckland. I finally shaved my beard (i have got to admit, it was quite impressive) and then got dropped off here in Warkworth around 12:30. I'll go into more detail later, but this is really to let everyone know that I didn't drown or get lost in the sand dunes and I am indeed alright.EDIT: To see if this actualyl went though

I'm Alive!

Well after 4 nights of camping and 3 days of driving around with former Austin Mini Race car drivers I'm finally in Warkworth and able to access a computer. I'm at Pete Bailey's, but he is at work so I am finally ableto catch up on e-mails and all that stuff.
On Saturday I caught the bus up 90 mile beach and then gor dropped off at teh quicksand stream. After a hike of about 4 hours I made it to Twilight beach, which was completely empty. It was absolutely breath-taking. Then the next day it was off to Cape Marie Van Dieman, and Cape Reinga. The scenery is pretty amazing; you'll have lush green grass, right up against sand-dunes, right up against the Tasman Sea. Cape Reinga was incredibly touristy, so I just took a picture and got the hell out of there. IT was quite cool seeign where the Pacific and Tasman Sea meet though. I had way too much stuff in my pack, so was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day, but I managed to meet up with some English guys who were quite funny the entire time. THey loved the gravel roads, but only once was I afraid for my life, when we passed right between two huge Kauri trees after they missed the corner. Ah well, all in good fun! The water was warmer then it is in Canada, so I had a nice swim on the monday. I headed back down south that night with the English blokes, and we eventually decided to stop in Kerikeri. I have NEVER seen so many bugs in my life. We were completely covered in them. It was a beautiful campsite though. There were little pagoda's (sp?) and buddha's everywhere, and it was quite peaceful.

The next day we wondered around town then went to a pub and sampled a couple of NEw Zealand beers. THey were really quite good! I had a 10 inch high burger, then we made our way to Uretiti (say it out loud) took a picture of the beach name and then camped in Waipu, which is a about 2 hours north of Auckland. I finally shaved my beard (i have got to admit, it was quite impressive) and then got dropped off here in Warkworth around 12:30. I'll go into more detail later, but this is really to let everyone know that I didn't drown or get lost in the sand dunes and I am indeed alright.

EDIT: To see if this actualyl went though

November 7th

Well yesterday I started my great long hitching trek... at 6 in the morning. After about an hour of failure, I realized i was on the wrong side of the road.. (nah, just kidding, I'm not American or anything... Oooooh). First I was picked up by a Mauri by the name of Bob Clark, who loved hockey (by the way, all Kiwis know Wayne Gretzky, and that is pretty much the extent of their hockey knowledge) and kept on going on was quite nice. Then after another 30 minutes of walking, a really nice guy by the name of Richard picked me up and took me all the way up to Bombay (yes, I realize that is the Colonial name of a city in India; however, I am not in India). I chilled at a gas station for a couple minutes, then asked a trucker if he would be able to take me up to Auckland. He was actually able to take me all the way through Auckland, to Orewa, which is 30 minutes north. I decided I'd spend the night there, and went for a big long walk on their 3 kilometer long beach and in a small nature reserve. The climate is almost tropical, so there were a lot of unknown trees. The hostel was alright, there were a bunch of antisocial guys who hung out by themselves and then went out to the bar, so I had an early night. I also met this Hungarian family, who were staying there and looking for work. It's puts it in perspective how lucky we as westerners are.
Today I got picked up in the first 5 minutes by a guy named Chris, who was driving a utility car, which is half car half truck and has a corvette engine. We flew right up to Whangarei, where he bought me a coffee, and then gave me his number and contact info for when I'm in Auckland. It was really cool. However, he was meeting this guy who he was going to buy some land from, and the guy said it was a magnificent area, so Chris invited me along. I thought 'why not,' so we went to Tutukaka, which is a magnificent area, and then we headed up to the Bay of Islands. Chris bought me lunch, which was wicked generous of him, and now I'm in Paihia at the Mousetrap Hostel, which is really nice. Anyway, my internet time is running out, so see you again in a couple of days.

November 5th

I’m about to head off for three weeks, but I’ve had a great last couple of days. I’ll try to update a couple times while away, but no promises. Yesterday my cousin Charles came over with his girlfriend Donna, and we had a great Barbeque of a whole bunch of meat and other food. Then we headed down to Karangahake Gorge and went for a little walk around the old mining operation. Some of the shafts looked absolutely terrifying. They really must have lived a hard life back then.

Today we went down to Te Puke (Pookie not PUKE) and met my other cousin Davey. Bob’s got a very nice Subaru WRX STi which absolutely flies down New Zealand’s back roads. We hit 180 km/h a couple times; it was an absolute blast (he wouldn’t let me drive it though, saying I’d probably kill us.. I’d be inclined to agree). Bob used to be in a band, Majority One, and was telling us stories about sitting down with The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones and the Beetles and all about the clubs in London. It must have been an absolute blast. You should look up the music, it’s pretty good, and they are re-releasing a couple songs for Christmas. It was Cody’s (Davey’s son) 2^nd birthday and I had my very first taste of New Zealand beer. Not bad!

Tomorrow I’m going off for three weeks, going North of Auckland, as well as maybe visiting a family friend in Warkworth, and then heading to Waiheke Island and up the Coromandel. The goal is to be back here in Waihi at Alyth’s on the 26^th for a family barbeque, and then to work my way down the North Island over the next three weeks to make my way to Auntie Judith in Blenheim. I’ll be hitching most of the time, so it should be interesting to see if I make it through in one piece. A little worried about Auckland, but hopefully everything will turn out fine. Updates will probably be much less frequent, but wish me luck!

November 4th

Yesterday I met my Cousin Ann and went around Katikati, which is a mural town like Chemanius on Vancouver Island and was quite a lot of fun. Before that we went to Dickey Flats which is just down the road from Alyth’s and is an old mining and camping area. It was really beautiful and is dotted with random 4 foot high 200 meter long tunnels that you can go through. It was all quite amazing. Then we went to this waterfall which is by the main road and I took a lot of pictures of that. Some should be uploaded on my pictures site. We had steak and eggs and fries for dinner, which was so good and it’s nice to see that the whole world hasn’t gone all silly North American diety-like. I spent like 3 hours on the computer trying to get things all together which made me feel guilty, but hopefully all should be well now. My new email address is nick.baxfield@gmail.com because UBC has decided they want to charge me 90 bucks a year to use my old one… so yeah. Anyways, I got to keep these shorter so I have more time to enjoy the country, instead of sitting around trying to email and talk to everyone. I’m to meet my Cousin Charles today, and his two children so I’ll get back to this probably tomorrow.

Nov 3rd

The flight from to Singapore was rather uneventful. Singapore Airlines however were absolutely amazing though. They were so polite, and they all wore cool little Asian uniforms and kept on calling me ‘sir.’ It pwned. Seoul was cool, but they made us basically walk in a big circle while they replaced the air crew. I guess at least it got us exercising. We arrived in Singapore at 11:30 on Halloween night, and then after wondering around the Airport for a while I eventually realized my hotel was way out in the city and I had to clear customs. I arrived at the hotel around 1:30, and thus way able to get about four hours of sleep, though I kept on jerking awake from dreaming about bed bugs! Bus was late in the morning leaving me thinking I would miss my plane, but I sailed through immigration and even had time to buy a thirteen dollar watch!

The flight to Auckland left around nine, and I was seated next to two rude Chinese men who slurped their food and only grunted when spoken to, and generally ignored everything the stewardess told them. Mothballs too. :p You know what I mean…

. I got in at 11:30 on Wednesday but didn’t actually get out of the airport until 12:30 due to the random lines that airports make you stand in just for a bored looking customs agent to stamp or sign whatever piece of paper they’ve deigned it necessary for you to fill out (/rant). Alyth immediately recognized me and we started off to her place which is by Waihi. The truck started making a funny noise from the back but we put it down to the exhaust and Alyth arranged for it to be looked at the next day. Got back to her place around 2:30 and promptly fell asleep.

The next day, after waking up at around 10:30 we decided to go into Waihi where they have a huge open pit gold and silver mine which is really quite impressive. Eventually they are planning on filling it with water once it’s been mined out, so it will be quite a nice little lake. On the way to town though, the noise that the wheel had been making became worse, until you know… the entire wheel fell off. Luckily it didn’t completely roll away, and the truck came to a rest on it, but it was still a frightening experience. What it turns out has happened is that in the airport at Auckland while Alyth was waiting for me, some punk kids must have come up and tried to remove the wheel, because they are chrome. The locking nut however stopped them from being successful though, so they left two nuts on, which slowly wore away over the drive back from Auckland. So it was an eventful day!

Everything here is so colourful and absolutely contrasts with each other. It’s beautiful. I don’t know if the pictures I will eventually upload will do it justice, but it has left me speechless on more than one account.

November 3rd

Off to Dickey's Flat today, which is this old mining and railway area just a couple minutes drive away. Was woken up this morning by the 'cow chorus' which isn't something one gets in Vancouver, but it's quite funny to listen to the cows calling back and forth to each other. Then it's off to Katikati to see my cousin Anne and to see the murals. Not really sure if all this is working as I can't seem to view any of it but I will update later!

November 2nd Continued AGAIN

I have no clue why this isn't updating on teh webpage but it updates in my template... ANyway. Had a roast beef dinner today that was amazing, after we went into Wahai to go for a walk and see the 200 meter deep gold mine and to take teh truck in after it lost it's wheel. We were lucky nothing bad happened, as the wheel actually fell right off and the truck was resting on it until I jacked up teh truck and it just fell over. Auntie Alyth and Uncle Bob are very nice and have been absolutely fabulous. Still quite jet lagged at teh moment, SO I will end now, and work on actually making these post.