Roadtripping with Molly and Josh

I returned to Auckland Monday morning at 6:30AM on the Intercity bus from Wellington, ran six blocks to catch the Link bus home in time to shower and get to work by 8:30AM. I'd left my car with Molly and Josh and decided I would go the environmentally friendly route of the overnight bus rather than flying. My conscious was clear and I slept even more than I would have had I been at home in my own bed. I'd planned to read, reflect, journal and listen to music. Instead I started to drool sitting up within an hour of take-off.


So backpedalling here...

Our first day out of Auckland was last Thursday. We drove down the center of the north island on motorway 1, seeing everything there was to see, on the clearest day we've had in months. I was mesmerised- one minute, we'd be in rolling countryside, then desert landscape, then a massive lake. The red station wagon with its ghetto (literally) blaster stereo kept us moving right along, even better when the ipod was rigged up. We stopped in various towns and overnighted in Wanganui before rolling into Wellington on Friday afternoon.

Wellington was lovely. Architecturally stimulating. Compact and walkable. People with dreads. Street musicians. Bookstores selling zines and alternative lit. It was a touch of Portland in New Zealand, (if Portland were only about 3 blocks long!) I'll definitely return.

Molly and Josh took the ferry to the south island and I hung out in Welly for another 6 hours. Toward the end of the day, when I felt I couldn't walk anymore, I talked myself into hiking up the hill to Old St. Paul's Cathedral, a wooden church that's no longer used- just a historical site. They were going to bulldoze it actually. I got inside and no one was there. Classical music played overhead and I just sat in the pew and listened and rested for about a half hour. I signed the guest book, then I flipped through and found "Shanta Schriever & Brian Starns, Portland, OR" on May 8th. I've started to think signing guestbooks is a record of my trails on this earth. (In case anyone should ever decide to research my life. Ha.) After my meditative experience, I emerged into the city, looking forward to my busride home.