Cape Reigna

I spent this weekend up at Cape Reigna. Cape Reigna is almost the northernmost point of New Zealand. There is actually another point that's a couple kilometres further north but people don't go there as often. There are two reasons that Cape Reigna is special and people go there instead of the actual northernmost point.

The first reason is that it is of special significance to the Maori tradition. There is a hill on Cape Reigna that is said to be the place where spirits pass from the world of the living to the spirit world. It's a very religious place for the Maori. Actually, I found it quite moving and peaceful as well. It was a place that I would have loved to sit and meditate. It's one of those things that is difficult to describe, but the area had a special feel to it. All you can see on three sides is ocean except for a few tiny islands in the distance. There's something in the air that makes you feel almost reverent. As much as I love travelling with my friends, I almost wish I could have gone by myself. Just let my mind wander. I could see immediately how it could come to be a place of importance to the Maori.

The second reason that Cape Reigna attracts more people is because it is where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea converge. Normally, this wouldn't be that cool. You would just know that's where two oceans meet. However, here you can actually see it. The currents of the two bodies run together and create waves in the middle of the ocean. It's similar to the way they explain the creation f mountains in textbooks. Two pieces of the Earth's crust push against each other and force the land upward into mountains. That is what this looks like, only with water. It is way up there on the list of coolest things that I have ever seen. We were there on a pretty calm day but I have heard that on very turbulent days the waves can get up to 10 feet high. Pretty amazing. And I thought we just named bodies of water for our own sake, needing to give things meaning by naming them and such. It was nifty.

On our way home from Cape Reigna, we stopped to see the largest Kauri tree in New Zealand. Which pretty much means the largest tree in New Zealand. It is something like 13 metres in girth and 52 metres high. Absolutely huge. It was a good stop. Especially for the people getting car sick. There was some pretty knarly driving. Probably the most difficult driving I've ever done. It literally curved a different direction nonstop. You would pull out of a curve just to hit another one in the opposite direction. All while going down a 10% grade. While I was driving, Scott was coaching me through and he said, "Just pretend it's one of those racing video games with the crazy curves." Bad idea. I usually crash a lot in video games, so I just decided to pretend it was real life and focus on not running off the road. That was the weekend in a nutshell. It was a lot of driving, so we didn't necessarily do as much stuff as we usually would. But I enjoyed it.

So... I have a job for everyone. I found myself getting slightly homesick today. Homesick? Weird. I haven't been what I would call homesick for a while. Culture shocky, yes. But not really homesick. And I was thinking about what was making me homesick. And I came up with one major thing that I now can't get my mind off of. Hugs. I am pretty sure I have not gotten a hug since I was in the States. The Kiwis are not very touchy feely at all. It's actually a really space-bubble sort of culture, which is surprising to me since they're so chill about everything else. Me and my friends from the States don't really hug either. This is very different from home. In San Antonio, there's my family, Quakers (who are natural huggers), and my friends, amongst whom hugging is the typical greeting. At Adrian, between Jordan, ASA's, music majors and theatre people, my life is basically a long series of hugs. But not here. So I miss my hugs. So, your job... When I get home, everybody owes me hugs. I don't care if I haven't seen or spoken to you in years, you owe me a hug. People who usually see me on a regular basis owe me extra. That's what I want for my birthday, hugs and Tim Tams.
Peace.