In the morning we paid four dollars for half an hour of internet, which was resourcefully used to email Amanda’s mom and say happy birthday, and for me to finally check my myspace, which I’ve not done since leaving. I was briefly on at the hostel we stayed at in Oamaru, but the internet there was so slow and we were pressed for time, I only had time to change my status to "in New Zealand," which was something I’d intended to do before leaving. Paying for the internet also got us some change that we desperately needed, because some of the laundry had not completely dried the night before and we needed to run another dryer cycle. We packed up, we got gone. Then we had some fun.
We first checked with a place for swimming with dolphins, but they were pretty heavily booked up, so instead we went down to another place where you got to swim with seals. Seals! How cool is that? It was really awesome. We got decked out in wet suits and everything. Then we got on a bus, which took us to a boat. We cruised out to a rock formation out at sea where there was a seal colony. We were advised not to get too close to the rocks or the seals, and actually touching the seals was expressly forbidden. The water was cold, but after the initial shock of getting in, it was ok. The wet suits kept us pretty warm. I had started hyperventilating a little bit when we first jumped in both from the cold and because I have not breathed through a snorkel in many years. I took the snorkel out and took some deep breaths, then put it back in, and was ok, although I’ve not had to pee so badly in a while. There were several times as we swam that I felt warm suddenly and hoped that I hadn’t just wet myself. Judging by the waterfall I unleashed in the toilet when we got back, I’d say I remained continent in the water. Amanda theorizes that I was swimming through other people’s pee. Comforting.
After we’d been in the water for a while the seals started coming up to us and lazily swimming around us. At one point I was face down in the water and a seal swam directly under me, so close I could probably have touched him. Seals are really cute up close. Sea water is really gross. Alyssa accidentally swallowed a bunch of it and returned to the boat because she felt sick. One of the ladies that was with us on our swim also returned to the boat, and they talked for a while about all the basic stuff. They were a family of four from Maryland. One of their daughters was in New Zealand on a six month visa. She didn’t say what for. I guess there are a lot of veterinarians that do extended stays in New Zealand for school, because they have a really great program here. I wonder if that’s what she was here for. Aside from the group of us three and that family of four, there was also a couple on the tour with us who, I believe, was from Shanghai. I know they said they’re going to Shanghai from here, but I’m pretty sure the guy said "back to Shanghai and back to work."
We were in the water for probably two hours, and then we returned to base, where they had hot showers and I had an unpleasant experience. The father in the family broke all the most important man-laws known to men. So, there were four showers all behind the same shower curtain. I went in first and took the farthest one, and left my swimming suit on. The guy from Shanghai came in next and took a shower, leaving an empty one between him and I. The farther shower had a wet suit lying on the floor in front of it, so I suspect that’s why he didn’t take it. He also had his swimming suit still on. Then suddenly, I look up from wetting my hair and there’s this butt naked old man standing right next to me. And then he starts talking to me. Talking to me! Naked old man talking to me!! Right, so when you’re at a urinal, you don’t talk to your closes friends while you’re peeing. When strangers walk in and take the urinal next to you and start talking, that’s a horrible breach of man etiquette, but unfortunately a relatively common one. So if that’s the case with peeing at a urinal, what do you think you should do when you’re naked in a shower next to a man you’ve not known for more than three hours? SHUT UP.
So, being as I was blocked in to the shower by this naked old dude that I could not get around, I just waited until he left the shower, but it was getting hard to find things to do that didn’t look like I was obviously just waiting for him to leave, so I ended up just kind of staring into the corner and absently running my hands through my hair. When I exited the shower, he was standing butt naked in the middle of the changing room, talking to the guy from Shanghai. What the hell am I going to do here? Fortunately after a moment in which I was toweling off, Amanda yelled into the men’s room that she and Alyssa needed the soap and shampoo, which I had, so I brought it out to them. When I walked back into the men’s room I locked myself into the stall and peed, and waited for the old guy to leave.
But we swam with seals! It was fun. They also let us pay in American dollars, which saved us the conversion fee that we’ve got to pay for just about everything else.
We ate at the Why Not Café, and I’ve realized that the answer to the question (Why Not?) is because they have expensive shitty food.
We continued to drive north. We stopped at a café in Takaka. We had actually stopped to use Takaka’s public restroom, which was across the street, but heard music and followed it. There was a guy with a guitar and a guy with drums and they were playing folky music. I thought they were pretty good. I saw a sign indicating that it was open mic night. Alyssa and I went to the bar to get drinks (Alyssa, screwdriver; me, rum and L&P, which was damn good; Amanda, apple juice). After a while the guy got off the stage and someone else went for it. He introduced himself as being thousands of miles from home, which was Ireland. He then used the time to tell stories of he and his wife traveling across America. While they were just stories, he spoke in a tone that seemed like poetry recital. Then he picked up a guitar and played some songs. I thought he was really boring. We discussed leaving. I got up to find out more information about the open mic. I didn’t have to walk far, the guy who’d been playing guitar when we’d first arrived was standing near the bar talking to another guy and I heard the words "house guitar" mentioned. So instead of leaving, I got Amanda and I another round of drinks (same) and we waited my turn to play. I played "The Meaning of Life" and "Old Man" and then was asked to leave the stage because "some of the locals wanted to play." I wasn’t sure if that meant they didn’t like me or what, but realizing that the guy who’d been up before me only played two songs and, aside from his stories, the Irishman before him had played only two songs, I guess that was just what was allowed, although being as the guy running the open mic night, who was that first guitarist, had played at least six songs after we’d walked in and who knows how many before that, and since he was the one taking the stage after me, I just think he’s an asshole with a big ego. Instead of calling it open mic night he should just say that he’s playing a show that night or something. We left before he started playing again. I’m not bitter though, I’m just glad I got to play. I’ve been itching for it. Although I really wanted to play four or five songs, I was going to slip in "Smile" next, the last song from the Doodle Taintstein EP, which has never been played live. Eh.
We kept driving until we got to Farewell Spit, which is this big spike sticking off the top of New Zealand’s south island. We parked in the lot at the café at the edge of the spit, and slept in the van.
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