AT THE AIRPORT

POUAKANI TOTARA TREE WALK

…four people went far away to visit with a loved one. It was a fantastical idea, the seed of which was the man’s mother who lived in the West.

HILARY'S BUST CELEBRATING FINN'S 5TH BIRTHDAY

She then was echoed by other loved ones who contributed to make this idea happen. They saw many beautiful wonderous things that made them grow and stretch, even though they got grumbly sometimes and lapsed back to the humans they were. They always recovered with Gravol and continued to move in this place so far away and yet so close.

WAITOMO STALACTITES

Sharp stalactites, one of which was 250,000 years old, growing a centimeter every 100 years, gave them pause to consider their place in time. The man said woolly mammoths had been around when this was already long.

OWEN, FINN AND JEN AT KAREKARE BEACH

Crashing saltwater waves were seen and played in, in their infinite cycle of thrusting forward, then receding, then forward again. Mindful of the undertoad, the four dipped their toes, then more, to laugh at the power they battled against, happy to be tossed by the white frothy horses of foam.

They slumbered after hearty meals of KD, eaten as if praying to the camp stove, huddled on jackets on the ground. Samples of their blood were taken by the local buzzing beasts, not to be analyzed but to create drunkenness amongst the tent intruders, many slaughtered and their bodies smeared and  left to warn others to stay away. Sleep was not optimum but what a cheap price to fall asleep, then wake to the crashing again of the waves.

They puzzled over the lack of animals. What verdant homes they could have here, moist, lush, vast forests…mostly empty of big beasties. Where they had come from there were bells, and yelling, and other fetish-type things to ward off the large meat-eaters, lest they be taken for a meal. No need here. Bells would not have worked here anyways as the cicadas, after 17-years underground had risen in masses to0 large to imagine, to fill the air with the clicking clamour, for the week they had to accomplish so much-to find a mate, to mate and then to die. A lesson in persistance perhaps. But they owned the airwaves here, could not be ignored.

TAPOTUPOTU TREE

WAITOMO TREE

LOMBARDI POPLARS AT WAITOMO

As the nostrils could not ignore the sulphur gases. Indications of the great power beneath them, looking for crevices to burst forth as lazy, heavy gray mud, or burnt match smoke or, a time long ago, as angry red flowing lava that covered so much with a shell that changed the world there. Bigger than Krakatoa it was. Much.But as a more tamed entity, people came in flocks to “take the waters” and find a “cure.” As if the underground was a god that offered goodness to those that prayed in the bathtubs and bathing pools.

ROTORUA BATHHOUSE

So the four were enchanted. Their eyes and minds made a bit larger with this new incredible experience. There love of the one that lived there made stronger, they returned to that that was familiar. You cannot dance continuously in the light of novelty. One must touch ground and resume, enhanced nonetheless.

WAITOMO FOREST EXIT

OWEN AND FINN ENHANCED?