summer roadtrips

Friends make everything fun. Even if you're a grumpy traveler sometimes, like me. This weekend I went to Napier with my friends Keoni, Dawson and Michel (formerly "M," before she told me I could use her name on the internet. Now I've decided to use everybody's name, all the time.) We sat in hot pools under the stars and ate lots of delicious vegan food and walked along the beach by Cape Kidnappers and found fresh stone fruit and pet kiwi and tasted lots of wine and swam with sharks. Well, they swam with sharks. I hyperventilated on the side of the tank watching them.

This past week was the last time we all got paid from our grant, and we had a reunion in Wellington. It was really nice to see everybody again, but super sad that most of my Fbright friends are going back to the US, and it makes me really homesick to think of going home in time for Christmas. But only for a minute, because then I realize it's oficially summer here and my shoulders are sunburnt and I've finished the first draft of my thesis and accidentally got myself a nannying job, so I won't be broke. Staying in NZ definitely has its perks.


You can only get out to Cape Kidnappers by walking or riding noisy ATVs during low tide, but we didn't leave enough time to get all the way out to the cape and see the gannet colony. Instead, we walked along for awhile until we got sweaty and went swimming by these rocks. I was too lazy to take better photographs, and I'm starting to regret not bringing one of my slr cameras to get better images. But whatever, now I know never to leave for a year without proper equipment.

I let the battery die in my little car on accident during the trip, so we had to jump it like they do with the van in Little Miss Sunshine, which I never realized was a real thing. All you do is put the car in gear, hold the clutch in, and turn the key while friends push you from behind. Then, when you build up sufficient speed, you let go of everything and give it some gas and your engine roars. Magic! I felt pretty cool.

I love summer.