Monday, February 22, 2010

Operation Red Herring

Forget the excitement, it's fear, fear and more fear.  Who does this to themselves? I mean, really?!? I'm going to be over 8000 miles away.  Holy crap!  What am I doing?  If I don't cry in the first week at least once when I get there, I will be shocked...who am I kidding, before I even leave I'll be sobbing like a big baby.

Ok, this won't work.  So, to avoid completely breaking down and ruining the trip, I have a new plan - I'm going to arrive and live in a constant state of distraction.  That's right, I'm planning to mask the fear, the shock, and the stress with as many diversions as I can find so that I don't have time left to think about being homesick and sad. And eventually, maybe, I won't have to pretend at all. So, I've added new things to my list of to dos in New Zealand...(actually, I just want something to cross off after my first weekend.)

43.  Visit the Kai Iwi Lakes
44.  Camp on the beach

Distraction #1 - Weekend Camping Trip: After landing in Auckland, I'll have a day to sort things out before getting in a car and driving north for a few hours to the Kai Iwi Lakes.  It's there, that I'll spend three nights camping and playing on the beach. I personally can't think of a better distraction upon arrival.
 
Distraction #2 - Spending Time on a Boat: The Kai Iwi Lakes are three fresh water lakes, located on the Northwest coast just 2.5 km from the Tasman Sea. They have white sand beaches and are surrounded by farmland and pine plantations. Campsites are set up just off of the beach making it convenient to pull up a boat nearby, which coincidentally, we should have with us.

Distraction #3 - Easter with Fellow Heathens: There's talk of a group of people spending the long Easter weekend at a beach house in Omaha (on the East coast of New Zealand also north of Auckland).  BBQs, drinking games, beaches, fishing...not a bad way to spend the holiday.

...and so begins "Operation Red Herring."

About the pictures:  The first photo is an aerial shot of the lakes and the Tasman Sea just beyond.  In the second photo the people are standing near the campsites on the edge of the pine forest.

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