these are journal entries unedited from the hand-written. often, these were scribbled out during the last few minutes of daylight; carefully budgeted moments  that capture the stop-and-go pace of hitching. smoother reading might be recollections of past adventures, as also exist in later pages. south island of new zealand is a treasured memory.  

A Day in the Life

4 Feb. inangahua junction. 8:30 pm. long day. i'm camped on the river just down from the junction. much relieved, i might add. the water is on for dinner-oats and honey with coffee. meagre, but adequate fare for kiwi hitchers. 

got up at 6:30- woke before the alarm. packed quickly and a bit before 7:00 i was walking down from beautiful franz josef glacier. feeling very good. nice view of the mountains just as the sun was coming over the ridge and striking the glacier and snowy peaks of mount tasman. gorgeous. 

made fast time on the hike out. took fifteen minutes to get to the sign that said 'view point-1 hr.' booked down the road. got a good snap of the valley on the way out. reached the road in no time; six km. went very quickly and i was nearly to town by 8:00. a group of hostelers, many of whom i'd seen on the glacier yesterday, were inside waiting in the front of the store for the bus to queenstown. 

went in for a coffee. bought my ticket and a couple post cards and sat down to wait for the bus north; due in at nine. wrote tracey baby and saved the other card for joe or maybe d&k. the bus arrived shortly and i was off to greymouth ( again ). 

got some great views of the mountains- tasman and cook- majestic as could be. they were in the clouds on the way down so it was quite a treat. good reflections in lake manapouriki...the ride zoomed right by and soon we arrived in hokatiki to switch buses and have a 30 minute layover. no worries, though; i mailed the card had a look at the hotel across the street and browsed quickly for books. nothing interesting, especially for the price. 

water's hot. time out. 

off for greymouth at 1:00. after a quick stop or two on the outskirts, we pulled into the station. got my pack, looked at the map and off i went. stopped at cobb's tavern and got a schedule for the delta bus run for tomorrow. quite helpful. walked out to the highway to reefton and took my usual stance by the side of the road. aahh, traffic. a nice change.

presently, a little old lady in a yellow car stopped. she was only going to the nelson creek turnoff, but that was fine with me. she  was quite friendly; told me about the gold and coal mining in the area. we arrived at the road shortly.

" thanks."

was stuck there for two hours; looking at a lumber mill but not getting frustrated. the weather was fine and hot; almost uncomfortable in my jeans. got tired of the place. checked the map and found the town of ahaura not far up the road from ngahere. i'll walk. got on the pack & only took a few steps when a bloke in a toyota flat bed picked me up. 

typical kiwi. jolly red face. thick accent-very thick. nice guy. took me 10 miles down the road to ahaura. pointed out a campground in case i got stuck.

"thanks."

was only there briefly.. was thinking there was a nice spot to camp by the creek when another car stopped. local guy. hardly remember his face even now. took me up the road to ikamatua, a little nothing town.. we chatted about deer farms and such on the way.. he said there was a river i could camp at not far up the road.

"thanks."

walked past the last house. should i stop & stand? nah, kept packing. in about a minute, a new looking car with three blokes stopped. alright. 

oh, you should see the full moon that just rose over the hill... spectacular! sky is all purple. how wonderful. 

-threw my pack in the trunk & got in. nice car. john in the back seat next to me; mark in the front passenger seat-somewhat polynesian looking , and denver, the driver. nice blokes, the lot. very chatty, interested in oregon. helpful with information on deer farms, etc. talked about pine plantations, also. some 20-foot pines were only 7 years old, they reckon. amazing. he has a diamond, club, heart and spade tattooed on the fingers of his right hand. tattoos seem popular over here.

they were going to reefton. alright. they drove quickly, so we got there fast. dropped mark off in town, and then took me up to a motor camp in case i needed it, then showed me where the bus stopped. very helpful. took me just out of town and dropped me. 

"have a safe trip."

"thanks."

was there almost an hour, i reckon. was going to give it till the sun went over the hill, then was going to go down to the river & camp. just then another car stopped. yeah. 

"going to inangahua?"

"yeah-i can drop you there."

alright. off we sped. he was going to westport from christchurch where he'd been for a couple of days to sell his bike. nice guy. a quick ride; he drove fast. 

so, here i am on the riverbank in a nice grassy spot beside a small paddock. feel very good. dinner was almost tasty with the added honey tonight. the sand flys are out and i just used the rest of my repellent, but it's not doing much good. beautiful moon. 

well the bus gets here at 8:30 am. so i did good today. saved nine bucks on the fare to picton and found a nice camp, too. tomorrow: picton-wellington and north. righty-o. more later. out. 

it's 2009 on the computer. in the journal, it's 2 Feb. 1985 ...it was a decent ride; St. Arnoud was nice, Nelson Lakes N.P. would have been a nice walk, but for the rain. picked up a german chap just out of town and an aussie from melbourne around the corner. full car. we only chatted a bit then they both fell asleep. the country got very mountainous and nice. the buller gorge was nice. narrow winding road and one-lane bridges. let the aussie out at murchison where he was meeting a mate. it started to rain harder. i considered my luck. off we went.  soon enough we came to inangahua junction where he was heading off for westport. it was raining lightly. hmm...to continue to the coast or get out here? i got out. no worries. positive mental outlook. the driver-never caught his name- said there would be a bus  through from picton if i couldn't catch a ride. said it left picton at 3:00. i thanked him for the ride and the tip and got out. off he went. 

the last entry is dated 12.22.04

the entry before that is dated 11.28.99

don't leave yourself standing in the rain that long. 

my buddha sits in repose

in the herb garden

bad thoughts i pull out like weeds

hello i'm michael. let's get blogging. it will be lots of music, poetry and a bit of editorializing as well about life, politics (egad! ) and whatever pops into my ancient yet fertile brain. writing for me has always been cathartic, therapeutic and relaxing. a few quiet moments to clear the cobwebs and allow the ink to hit the page. posting to the web is a new tack for me; usually it's an old notebook which is fairly well hidden and often forgotten even by me. so, to grease the skids and keep  the old cogs turning, i'm writing for all the world to see. please do not hold it against me.