April 5th, leaving Dunedin...

Up at 5am to catch the planes to Gisborne. Thanks, Rod, for being so gracious and waking up so early to take me.

First there was the flight to Wellington, where we spent ten minutes on the ground before we were back in the air to Auckland. Now, where except on Air New Zealand would you find a boy of twelve or thirteen walking behind the steward, holding a basket of Cadbury Creme eggs, smiling, offering each of the passengers an Easter treat?

I grabbed a "take away" sandwich in the Auckland terminal for the flight to Gisborne. I was counting on getting right into the surf, despite the damn forecast of windy swell.

OMG, it's a prop plane! I hate the prop plane. The pilot looked like a child, all of probably nineteen. But, he was so nice, and seemed quite confident. There were only about twenty passengers. That's how small the plane was. Luckily, the clouds were no problem. Wayne would soon tell me his tale of the same flight last week, when all the passengers flew out of their seats and their heads nearly touched the ceiling when the pilot hit a cloud bank.

There was Wayne, in the tiny garaged-sized Gisborne terminal. He was smiling, and we hugged. I told him I knew it was bad news about the waves, and he nodded. I asked him if I should just get back on the plane. He said that actually that would be smart, because Ragland would be offshore right now. Dang! I decided to check the forecast and consider my options. He said he knew a family that was going tomorrow that I could probably hitch a ride with... despair.

When we got to Wainui, it was a heart sinker. It looked like home after a front goes through. A real Nor'Easter. CRAP! My luck is usually good on surf trips. He blamed El Nino. I resigned myself to days of onshores, like he was predicting. We'll check the maps, he said. At least there is swell. It looked pretty big to me. Crap. This is not what I expected for the best time of the damn year.

We went inside, and Diana came downstairs and gave me a welcoming hug. We all had a rousing discussion of politics, school issues, and that was really great. I told them Rod had crushed my dreams, and Wayne said Rod doesn't know everything! Wayne tried to defend the issues, it seemed as if he wanted me to still believe. I learned a lot from talking with him and Diana, but it wasn't enough to swing me back into believing that I had a chance of immigrating here alone. There are jobs for Parapros, he said, but not full time.

He drives me to the supermarket to get stuff for my stay. He is such a nice chap!
He does his best. On the way, he has a happy inspiration and says, "Let's do a Logan!" This meant we were going to drop in on the famous Logan Murray! I asked, are you sure, I mean just drop in without even calling first? Sure! he smiles almost naughtily.

Logan greets us at the door and welcomes us in. I finally meet his girlfriend and her son, and their little wired haired terrier. Nice! We talk about waves, and Logan says, oh, no, the waves are going to clean up in two days, just you wait and see...

Hope comes back.

I met Silas, a young surf photographer who is staying for a few days. Such a nice guy! We talk about the surf and boards and Dunedin. I told him about Aramoana, and he lit up. "Oh, wow! That is probably my favorite wave in New Zealand!" he says. "I love the way the way it A-frames and peels off!" he said. Me, too.

Logan has been doing some odd jobs to survive, and tells me about them. Corn inspector? Orange and persimmon picker? Artists live the tough life, sometimes. He takes us over to his computer to show us some recent line up shots he has taken. OMG. Too much to be believed.

We come back later, and we look at the waves. "It's too fussy," Wayne says. Fussy, indeed. I sink down even deeper and retreat to my room downstairs to unpack. He is checking out my board. "Rod wants one, now," I say. Wayne laughs. Goodnight...