Sunday 28th March 2004, Day 197/366 - Interisland Ferry, New Zealand to Cambridge, New Zealand.

In truth the 3 hour crossing wasn't too bad. I think I chose a good night for it. There was still a fair bit of sway, but not as much as I'd been led to believe. I considered staying in Wellington to watch the cricket, but decided to keep driving in the direction of Hamilton to hit up with Briggsy and get drunk.

On getting to the North Island I straight away got the feeling that I was in a much busier place. It reminded me of leaving Maui and going to Oahu. I stopped off for some fuel and I picked up my first ever hitchhikers. I say picked them up. It was more they picked me up. By the time I had walked round to the pump they were getting in the back of my car. They were heading to Paraparaumu (Pram).

Bloo - 'So what do you do in Pram?'
Hitcher - 'Get drunk, get stoned and have sex.'
Other Hitcher - 'Yeah, everyone has sex with everyone else'
Hitcher - 'If you can get your hands on some NZ weed, it's the best'
Bloo - 'Sounds delightful.'

They ate all the crisps that I'm not allowed to eat. I then dropped them off at their houses and then they were gone. It's fair to say that Angel and Becka brightened up my life for 20 minutes, but it made me feel that the tour was back online.

I took Highway 1 (the Desert Road). I wish I could say that the scenery was nice, but it was dark and I couldn't see a thing. I tried to play the ABC game with myself, but after 200 kms I'd only got as far as 'I'.

I arrived in Cambridge at 7am having been up for 24 hours and driven 1000kms. So forgive me if I find a motel and get my head down.

I only managed a couple of hours sleep, then I watched the cricket, hockey and Stuart Little 2, before I'd driven myself to madness and had to get out. I'd arranged to meet Briggsy at 18.30 so I'd thought I'd have a walk around and check out the delights of Cambridge. There was plenty of things about, but it was all shut. It struck me that people are here because they live and work here and not like the South where they want to see it. I immediately missed the quietness, serenity and beauty of the South. Maybe I am just a simple boy! For the first time on the tour I really missed my home and my friends and family. They all seem so far away. It's like there on the other side of the world or something.

Whenever I'm with people my mind freezes up. I find it hard to focus on all the issues at hand, but as soon as I'm on my own my mind explodes and everything starts making sense again. That's why I value the quiet times on my own.

So much for that thought, Briggsy' just showed up. Okay so what do I know about Briggsy. Well I've never met her. She's Stan's mate, but I've not got to the bottom of how and why. She's in NZ for a year working with horses mainly. She's off home soon and that's probably about it. This could be weird.

Of course it wasn't. We have far more in common than that and in no time we were gassing like there was no tomorrow. In fact we spent so much time talking that the kitchen closed in the first place and we had no time to get more drinks. There was nothing else for it, but to change establishments. Especially as the 'Speights no mates' fella kept touching my arse. It was either that or he was trying to nick my wallet.

It was nice to put a voice to a name and face. We had a good chat about blogging, the BBC and life in general. Sorry to keep you out so late. Bloggers of the world unite and take over.