Justin Was Here

From where I stand, poised with a Phoenix palm tree on the shores of the Tasman sea, things in the world seem to be looking up – at least things in my world… well, mostly. So here is what’s happening in my world…

Yesterday I took a day trip into Hamilton to pick up a friend from the Hospital (long story) and to do a bit of much needed shopping (I was running out of wearable underwear, if you must know). Hamilton is only a 45 minute drive from my quiet little home in Raglan, but…

It was my second day surfing Narunui Beach in Raglan. The day before I had taken a lesson with Zen and Debs, local pros who liked to pass on their love for surf by teaching eager young learners the ropes. Under their expert tutelage, my big foam board glided through the crashing whitewater and I popped up on my first wave.

It was Sunday morning in Auckland and I had to drag myself out of bed at an all-too-early hour with a slight hangover and an impending sense of having to be responsible. I had a lot to get done that morning, and not a lot of time to work with.

It’s all coming together now… or at least it’s going to have to start coming together soon or I’ll find myself out in the gutter somewhere, or on a street corner juggling rocks for spare change. But don’t despair just yet, as I said – it’s all coming together now..

So Mimi and I have been cruising around the North Island for the last 2 weeks (almost) and everything was going very smoothly up until the other day…
So here is the latest update:
We left Wellington and cruised randomly around the North, visiting weird country townships and awesome cruisy beach towns. 
We landed in New Plymouth for […]

The alarm on my cell phone started to scream out its obnoxious and terrible song. A combination of pulsing vibrato and too-cheerful music – the only thing that can really wake me up in the morning. I stumbled out of bed and fumbled to the kitchen to brew myself a cup of ambition.

We’re all running from something. It’s a conversation I’ve often had over a glass of cheap wine in some strange city with a group of other international runaways. Why do we choose to live life on the road? Why do we force ourselves into a life where we are constantly making and breaking social connections – it’s exhausting. Mentally and emotionally draining. And yet we totally fucking love it.

Blenheim is one of those towns that doesn’t really need to exist. It’s like the service station / rest stop / roach motel encampments that spring up at the halfway point of a long and dusty road. These towns only exist out of necessity - like a trade-route settlement in the middle of the desert.

Back in my norcal days, Taco Tuesday was my favorite drinking day of the week. There were almost never any tacos involved, but we didn’t mind — we were out to destroy our stomachs and livers with booze, not cheap Mexican food.