Sailing back to the South

It's summer here, but I feel like it's more of a continuous fall/spring. The weather is cooler because we are pretty far south and the ocean water is pretty cold too -- like California temperature, but cooler.

Anyways... enough about the weather.

REUNITED & SAILING SOUTH:
The day has come that I say goodbye to my dear Emily and Sara and sail to the south island again to meet up with Cindy! Yay! Emily was sweet enough to get me to the ferry and then I got on board with a front row indoor view at the front of the ship. A lady sat down right across from me and had her back to me... and when she turned around .... guesss who it was..... MOM... Jk, but it was my adopted parents sitting across from me -- Karen and Frank from Wisconsin. They are traveling around NZ for about 6 weeks and I ran into them up in Bay of Islands when I did a tour. We realized that we knew eachother in a stare of 3 minutes where it was mumbles and speechless smiles/nods -- seriously, it was quite funny our reaction when me and Karen realized we knew eachother! I love this small world brings people together. We sat there and reunited about what has happened the past 3 weeks since we last saw eachother and we were shortly joined my a guy from Belgium (Marcus) who turned into there adopted son soon after.

......

(Family Photos Coming) 

HITCH - HIKING ROUND 1
After a great boat ride reuniting with each other, we went out to lunch and then Frank and Karen dropped us off on the side of the road so we could hitchhike to Nelson #sorrymom. We got picked up by a young couple from Germany and went in the direction of Nelson and then when they got to there destination, we hopped out and quickly hitched a ride with a lad from NZ in a business suit. Turns out this guy use to be in the Olympics for paddling in 1998 and 1994. So that's neat... now he loves to mountain bike and he is a financial advisor, living the life in Nelson! Yess!

HITCH HIKE EVALUATION:
HH #1:
Hitchhikers: Me & Marcus (age 24/25)
Wait Time: 10 minutes
Gender: 1 Male/1 Female
Age Range: 18-24
Car type: Van
From where: Germany
Hitchhike from: Picton to Havelock (1 hour)

HH #2:
Hitchhikers: Me & Marcus (age 24/25)
Wait Time: 3 minutes
Gender: Male
Age Range: 34-40
Car: Sports Car
From where: Nelson, NZ
Hitchhike location: Havelock - Nelson (1 hour)

NELSON:
Once I got to Nelson, I looked at my bank account... it was getting low. It looks like hitchhiking around NZ til I get back to Queenstown is going to be what I do. I will offer to buy coffee for rides though... and tell my cat jokes too. The next thing I did was text my friend Wulf, because I realized that paying $30 for a hostel... was just not going to work out. Turns out, Wulf's momma lives in Nelson and she was more than willing to host me and share her fresh made wine and cookies with me! Thanks Nina!

The next day I wandered to the beach and then made plans to meet up with Cindy in Motueka at last. I caught a bus this time, because it was $14 and that was worth it, because hitchhiking from my location would have been very stressful and I probably wouldn't have got picked up because it was rush hour and I needed to get to the other side of the city to get a good hitch. Ufff -- so bus it is.

REUNITED WITH CINDY: 

My bus slowly rolled in and I text Cindy in hopes of surprising her. She was still at Subway so I rush over with my backpack and swing open the door to see her eating food. Yayyyy! 

Last time I saw Cindy was only in September 2014, but when she left -- my forever long relationship was coming to a close and I was all sad poopy face :'( - so it was very much needed for us to reunite ... when I am doing better and in a happier place than I was when she left. Anyways -- REUNITED -- Yay! Us three (Me, Cindy and her Mom) drove on to the Abel Tasman National Park and found a campsite and then got all settled. Cindy and her mom slept in the van... and I slept in my tarp tent that I got from REI for $8 before I left. A tent would make sense in terms of camping, but I was perfectly happy sleeping in my tarp tent instead. It made me feel -- like "Wander Woman", it made me feel like a "cave women," and it made me get more in touch with nature. (If you know me, you know I think I'm funny when I say that... and clever... because I am).

My home:

"You're never homeless ... if you have a tarp tent." - Brooke