Auckland II

Well, I really am no longer used to the idea that it might rain, and then all day on top of that. That is why I no longer even look at weather apps. I have become that arrogant by now, and this refusal to plan, well, today it unfortunately did not pay off. Rain day. And on what was actually supposed to be my last day in New Zealand, I had still planned to do Waiheke Island. Ferry ride, villages, idyll, beach and wine, greetings to Nine and that New Zealand blog from fifteen years ago, though I would have skipped the wine, and now? I spent almost the entire day in cafés or in my room. Actually in my room, doing exactly what people call work. This and that and this and that. Plus organizing various other things, and just like that the whole day was full again. And it rained the entire day, as if New Zealand wanted to tell me that it was now time for me to leave. And I will. I need a bit more adventure again, I need things a little rougher. Now I move on, and somehow I am really looking forward to it. I had the idea for it already thirty five years ago, and tomorrow I make it real. Once again I am taking the longer road.

What else did I do? Yesterday I of course still visited Rangitoto, the volcano that rose out of the water in the bay around 600 years ago. The island is pest free and predator free, so special safety measures have to be taken at the ferry terminal. Cleaning your shoes at installed brushes, and they do look at that more closely too, and then I was already on the ferry and, in heavy swell, twenty minutes later on the island. Off the boat and straight up the hill. It said one hour, 2.2 kilometers. By now I seem somehow to have discovered the goose step for myself. Thirty minutes later I was on top. Good path, broad, passing cooled lava fields. Information boards here and there. Rangitoto feels like a geological latecomer right in front of Auckland, young, black, barren and yet full of life, and that is exactly why the plant world there is so fascinating. Between lava fields and rock, an astonishingly dense native vegetation has gradually established itself, crowned by the largest pōhutukawa forest in the world. Here too, evolutionary biology at its finest, and since I am tired, google it yourself. An interesting piece of nature, unique, delicate and protected.

Rain kept setting in, followed by sunshine. You can still walk around the upper crater, the view out to sea is good, but you can barely see into the crater itself. Then on to the lava caves over rock and root. There I was, standing in front of a few holes in the wall, and an older couple were talking in German. They were instantly unlikeable, the Katharina and Hoscht type. “Is HE going in there,” she asked her sweaty fat husband while I was inspecting the holes. “No, I am not doing that.” I kept walking along the path and left them there and then saw what I had actually been looking for, the real lava caves, the ones you could actually walk through, which I then did. Very nice. And when I came out again after fifty meters on the other side and walked back over the top, the two charmers came toward me. “Where does that go?” “Down to the harbor,” I lied and walked right past them. “Nothing spectacular.” The two turned around and followed me. Yes, I can be an asshole too, definitely, no problem. I should probably do it more often, being nice does not get you very far these days.

I wandered around the island a bit more. At some point the rain became too much for me, and since a ferry was just sitting in the harbor, I jumped on it. Heavy swell again and back to Auckland. After that there was not much more, just a movie and then off to bed.

Now I could still write a whole lot of blah blah and recap New Zealand or compare it or whatever. I will put it this way: I do not think it is such a big deal that I did not do the island today. I will do it next time. New Zealand is great, I will come back. That says enough.

Besides, I wrote far too much today. Emails, essays, applications, mandates, job applications, yes, job applications. One small distant goal is to get back to regular work, to have a small apartment, and to make a bit of art again as a hobby. I have ideas and plans. What am I looking for? I am completely undemanding. Somewhere I do not get yelled at every day would be a start. Anyway, you become modest when life punches you in the face, or you become an asshole. I am still deciding. In that sense.