Hitch-Hiking

(This is Liz):

Just got back from hitch-hiking to Kerikeri and back (it's only about 20 km one way) with a girl Julia from Germany who's staying here at Centabay as well. Hitch-hiking, it turns out, is a very reasonable, safe, and dependable form of transportation in NZ. It's like what they use instead of trains. It did take us two cars to get there and three to get back though, because everyone kept saying, "Well, I'm just going 3k, but hop in." There wasn't a single creep and they dropped us exactly where we wanted to go, the last ones. By about the third car, I had also stopped feeling totally weird standing there sticking my thumb out, which was a bonus.

Kerikeri turns out to be a super boring, small sort of industrial town, but they did have a big store where I purchased Jen and I black shoes for work for just $10 each. Score. (The chain is called "The Warehouse" but it's basically exactly like Target or Meijer.)

So besides hating cleaning, life in Paihia has been going pretty smashingly. I worked the last three nights at the Swiss Cafe, which went pretty well, although I never, EVER, remember to ask people if they want some freshly ground pepper on their food. I don't see the POINT. There's a pepper shaker on the table anyway! Anyway, Kelly (the manager) is very big into the pepper thing so I need to work on that.

We've been meeting a lot more people at the hostel and getting to know people in town, and the weather has finally turned sunny and warm again, so things are looking up. I'm planning another midnight swim for tonight...