Clothes dry, Colds get better, but Memories stay wet Forever

(editors note: i have gone on a strict non-capitalization diet.)

whangarei falls and alley caves, in whangarei, NZ.
the falls = sweet as. mate. at the hostel in auckland, i met a hawiian guy (definetaly a 'hang loose' type of fellow) and a german chick. he was definetaly putting on moves - cool couple i thougth, i can dig it. but when we were at the visitors center gettinginfo about our hike to the falls, i hear a yell. i turn around, and it is...none other than those two, who had hit it off so well that they rented a van together and were booking it through the country, sleeping in the back. what are the chances?

couldnt tell you, math has never been my cup of tea. but it was definetaly cool to do the walk with them. we zigzagged up this mountain, the native bush attempting to swallow the path up the entire way. ive never seen plants like this in my entire life. its like somebody dropped bombs, and where each little piece of shrapnell landed, a city of vegetation sprouted. and this is blitzkrieg people. it was like slums of plants, all piled on one another. but minus the negative connotation, as there is a very generous attitude found here. much like the people of nz, each plant has its arms open, welcoming any stranger into its home. there isnt a tree to be found that didnt have a bush harboring on one of its branches, or a vine snaking around its trunk. we strolled through a valley before finally reaching the falls. abraham (surfer dude) and i made the no-brainer of jumping into the falls. standing behind them was like planting your feet right behind a jet engine before it takes off. it was a powerful sensation, like the fall was saying, "go on, try it, i dare you to jump' - so we did. fa-reezing. awe-some. never have i felt more alive.human goose bump? check.

the little insignifcant spec? yours truly.

the caves = cool as. mate.

before we made it to the first cave, we (matt, the german bloke, and i) stumbled upon something called the 'rock forest.' there were these massive rocks in the woods, all eroded down, like a bunch of old country men sitting on the front porch, the skin on their faces the most helpless vicitms of gravity. they were mountains, with green forests of moss siding rivers that seemed to eat through the softer stone. or you could erase all the crap i just wrote, and simply say, "majestic." quite simply the most stunning thing that ive seen in NZ so far. and yes, i didnt bring the camera.
in the caves it was pitch black, but i was doing fine, we were crusing, climbing over that and ducking under this. me being a genuine genius, i didnt have any shoes, and as a result my toes were curled up like fried shrimp. frozen shrimp, shall we? every now and then one would get pried open due to a precise jab from a rock hiding beneath the murky water. but my headlamp was doing work, and it was all groovy until we had to wade through 'that' pool, where the water reached a certain level that would make even chuck norris yell uncle. seconds later we were up to our nipples in ice water. at this point they were quite reminiscent of the stallagtites above us. see, nature does things that pretty girls can do, only way better. there was a little neon green universe of glow worms above us, where constellations were formed in the crevices of the cave ceiling. sadly, i couldnt find the big dipper. we managed to drag our numb bodies onward, as there was light ahead. you want to talk about the light at the end of the tunnel...we ended up doing this in two of the three caves, which was dope, but by the time i was done with the second cave, i could have been classified as a three year old down low.

human goose bump? check. check.

foxton beach? just consider it a check. check. check.