The month that I graduated High School and College, my Birthday, the beginning of Summer, and something great.
May was jam packed with adventures; skinning possums, climbing mountains, permaculturing, exploring new zealand with friends, and enjoying the hell out of life.
After the convergence, I hastily made my way back to Wellington, to explore the city, and work on a film "How to meet girls from a distance". One big reason I had to come back was to see "American Superhero movie BANG BANG"...or the "Avengers".
There was the team leader Iron Person, who espoused the values of economic progress, and was very snarky.
There was Flag Man with Shield, who, along with Jesus, cried on 9/11.
Then there was other folks, such as Green Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson spy., and Australian with Hammer.
They fought aliens from Space.
I have to say, I'm most excited to see the midnight screening of "The Room":
The Room is pure, raw cinema. A must see for those who respect the art of film.
So I left Wellington on May 1st with Maria, who, with cold german persistance, convinced me to do the Tongariro crossing with her. I was actually quite excited to come back to Turangi. This time I could go to Awhi Farm, and then go on a spastic bing of adventures.
After being told by the I-Site not to do the Tongariro crossing, we decided to take the opposite way over the mountain, because I'll be dipped if I bow before the tremblings of beauracratic office dwellers.
The Tongariro was a blast, it was a 7 hour hike up around Mt. Doom, but was surprisingly warm and not filled with American tourists. Lots of Germans though, but at this point, I have come to understand their words.
It took 5 hours to get to the top, but t'was well worth it.
The best thing about Turangi is the sheer amount of amazing places, if you know your way around. You can spend a day climbing Tongariro, go back and have an amazing meal at Awhi Farm, and then head off to a secret hotspring in Lake Taupo. My favorite place was Butchers Bridge hotspring, where you could sit in a half hot/cold pool, while grabbing some spa-like mineral mud. You go in stressed, you leave more relaxed than a sloth.
It was hard to top Turangi, but we headed off North to Ragland for one last night before having to go to Mordor (Auckland). Ragland is a beach town, a town of waves...I can't really come up with any puns so I'll just say it was cool. The best aspect about the Solscape retreat was the AWESOME Earth-huts, which were designed by Jo and Bryan at Awhi farm. They stay ultra-insulated, cool in summer, warm in winter, and these crazy Dr. Seuss like Huts cost about $5,000 to build. The technique is called "Earthbag", and all it needs is people, sand, concrete, and wire framing; if you want to be extra flash you can stick bottles in as windows. My dream would be to have these huts all over the world, shit would be awesome. Imagine these build into the side of a hill...BOOM, hobbit hutt.
After I almost burned down the pizza oven at Ragland, we finally got some decent bread. (note, fire is lit IN the oven, not UNDER).
Bread goes in to flaming oven...
Ah shit.
Anyway, we headed off towards Auckland town, and Maria went off to her Bird Sanctuary, while I slept on Cheyne's couch and edited 1 month no regrets.
After that, I was extremely excited for my next big adventure, the Permaculture Design Course at Te Moata :O
