Highlights in no respective order

kite-related
1. Adlib intellectually stimulating conversation about peak oil and Derrick Jensen with kitemaker Ted Howard, who later show me his chooks and permaculture garden
2. Kitelady Julie reopening her shop so I can take a look at various specimens while she combs her database and books for information and contacts that would be of help to me
3. Finding raupo.


culture-related
1. After missing a hitching point and returning once again to Rotorua confounded, I stumbled into someMaori kids from the bush and got invited to their village. I had foresaken "assumingly farfetched" interest in seeing that part of the country and people who still subsisted on the bush (not even knowing they really existed) . After letting go to discouragement, I found my enthusiasm revived.


2. Sheepfarmer, spiritual therapist, free lance photographer, McDonald's manager, journalist, schoolbus driver, ex-thai boxer, violin teacher, child psychologist, family doctor, pacific islanders, teacher, travelling salesmen, jewelery artisans, bee balm makers, post office driver, dept of conservation workers, maori locals, builder...others who have offerred me rides, invited me into their homes, played tour guide, and entertained me with their funny kind of humor and generosity, from all whom I have gain insightful eye into kiwi life. Some random occassions I can recall: a heart pulse treatment from a lady returning from a workshop in the alternative therapy, treated to hokey pokey ice cream from a bus driver remembering a happy salmon dinner in the Pacific Northwest, ...

3. Experiencing traditional Maori food, both in preparation and palette as well as ceremony at birthday hangi. Peeling bush vegetables the day before and seeing the Maori appetite for sweets the day after(diabetes is high amongst Maoris ). Some of the most interesting food include rotten corn ( left fermenting in sugar bags in a running stream for months), wild boar, Maori yeast bread, raw fish in coconut juice, steamed stuffing and bread pudding, and crab salad.

4. Listening to the haunting melodies of Tu Hoe songs sang by the schoolchildren

5. Playing with the kids of Ruatahuna (exchanging scary haka faces, basketball, netball) and placating their endless curiosities and telling them for the upteenth time I'm not Japanese and no I don't know Yoko (a Japanese man fluent in Maori who made origami with the kids several years ago).

6. Venturing deeper into the ancient Te Ure Were bush to say hello to a rata tree (which resembles very much my old friend Metrosiderous polymorpha "Ohia")

7. Teaching a child and Tu Hoe elder how to play mancala.

8. Turning my hosts on to pumpkin gnocchi.

9. Eating Marmite spread on toast with cheese-thick slabs of real butter.

10. Trying the various fish and chips. i.e. pineapple fritter, snapper, groper, blue cod, kumara chips ...

11. Buggying through streams.

12. Discovering a place where horses and rivers still roam wild.

13. Finding out the best places for certain foods. Best oven baked muffins serve with fresh cream at little known govt cafeteria. And the most amazing falafel with tabouli sauce at Kebab diner.

14. Watching a special screening of 'As In Heaven' after closing time.

15. Shoc-Chocolates. dark organic chocolate in various flavors: lime, paprika, strawberry and black pepper.

16. Kia Ora! Be Alive! My two favorite Maori words.

17. Reading the stories of Pukenui ("puke=stomach" nui=big) and his adventures (inc. that of kitebuilding) in Wellington and Rotorua's library Maori children section.

Overall travel 1. coincidences 2. how things can work out so perfectly 3. how just being open to the possibilities leads to realities that defy doubts and discouragement 4. intimate connections and exchange of stories, having someone who initially seemed unfriendly warm up to you, to learn that more often than not the wariness stems from shyness 5. a full on discussion about 1080 to a physician from time he gave me a lift to when he dropped off, we're still debating through window as he is driving off 6 . running into old friends 7. finding my way into the heart of strangers and them into mine 8. the raw pure magic of being absorbed in a moment so endorsed with beauty