New Zealand Rules

No, I didn't fall in love with this sheep. I did, however, fall in love with New Zealand. My friend Brian was a wonderful host. My first trip to New Zealand was for three weeks, and by this time, Brian had sold his house in Auckland and moved north to the Hokianga Harbor area to teach at Opononi School. In those three short weeks he had numerous barbeques with many of his friends invited, and we toured most of The North Island by car, from Cape Reinga to Ninety Mile Beach, to Auckland (where we had a lovely dinner with his brother and sister-in-law one night and with his Aunt on another night), Rotorua, etc. We were sipping a nice dark beer at the top of Mt. Ruapehu one evening and the next evening sitting in Georgie Pie across the road from Lake Taupo, watching smoke and ash flowing out of the top of Ruapehu (minor eruption).

In those three weeks, I learned to love Brian, and I do to this day, but while we make great friends, it quickly became apparent to both of us that we were not meant to be partners.

I enjoyed my first trip to New Zealand so much that six months later, I returned for a six week long vacation. This second trip, I was less of a tourist and more of a visitor, if that makes sense. I helped Brian build a chook-house, took hikes through the woods around his hobby farm. Friends and family came to the farm-let for Christmas, so many that there were tents on the lawn. Immediately after Christmas, we packed up Bries' trailer and headed to Port Jackson on the Coromandel Peninsula for a week of camping on the Beach. Brian and his friends had been camping on this same beach for many years, so every night folks walked around visiting neighboring tents, sharing food and booze... the Beach Master one night brought us two crayfish (kind of a lobster, but without the oversized claws of a Maine lobster), and we rewarded him with several beers and an invitation to come back later for crayfish, tua-tua (small triangular clam) fritters and fried paua (abilone).

By my third trip to New Zealand at the end of 2003, Brian had bought a house in Nelson on the South Island. Unfortunately, I was only able to get two weeks off from work for this trip... and so much to see since I'd not been to the South Island before.