After a morning swim and breakfast, we walk up the hill that overlooks the campsite and provides a great view of the beach, Bowentown and Waihi.
On the other side of the hill, we discover an equally fabulous view and some stairs leading to a secluded beach where there are afternoon anglers and a man named Neil with his two dogs, Holly and Poo (for Poodle).
Talking to strangers is something I am working on getting better at. Jenn seems to have no problem doing this - sometimes I have to remind her to leave people alone! I have noticed that my default response when encountering someone is to either ignore them or quickly acknowledge with a nod or wave and then immediately look away, carrying on with my very important business of doing nothing.
I would like to change this.
Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to be the unofficial campground greeter. This entails waving and smiling at everyone who enters the campsite to let them know that they are welcome here. Ironically, I leave it to friendly Jenn to give them the evil eye that keeps them moving along - no camping beside us, thank you! I always feel scrutinized by unfriendly, suspicious eyes when we enter a campsite (maybe it's something to do with twenty minute ordeal of choosing the very best site for our van which tips them off that we're trouble... more on that later).
In order to change this tradition, I greet everyone who enters with a friendly wave in hopes that I will receive the same greeting at another site.
I am still waiting...
We have met a lot of people who have dogs, because we gravitate to the animals ourselves and then start chatting to the owners. We have met a lot of fishermen and fisher ladies as we always have a million questions about the catch, the bait and the equipment. We have met a lot of Germans because, well...they just seem to be everywhere here! Someone in Germany is doing a remarkable job of selling NZ as a tourist destination.
Today we meet Neil (because he has dogs) who is originally from London, England and who moved to NZ in 2002, fed up with the sheer number of people in his country and the twelve hour work day he was keeping. He spent some time in Australia before coming here and taking a contract job as a toolmaker in a firm outside of Waihi. His partner is Laura - school teacher/equestrian instructor/cat breeder. Work is not always so steady, but they manage. They have a 5 acre farm with a riding ring, vegetable garden and a bach which they rent out. Neil likes motorcycles, cars - all things with motors. He really wants a boat.
A perfectionist and artist, he struggles with the New Zealand mentality that "everything here can be fixed with No.8 fencing wire." It's like duct tape, put a little No.8 wire on something and it's as good as new. Here, they call this, "'New Zealand ingenuity," he says.
Neil finds this outlook at all the places he's worked over the past nine years. "New Zealand is still stuck in the 70's, 80's work mentality with bosses that look over your shoulder and question everything you do". It is because of this, he says, that no one seems to care much about doing a quality job.
It is usually three quarters of the way through a conversation before we exchange names. We are both working on remembering to do this earlier. It is funny how you can get into a fairly involved conversation with someone here and not even know their name.
Neil invites us to his place just outside of Waihi, near the Karangahake Gorge. His invitation is very generous and reminds me of what can happen if you go a little further than a nod and a wave.
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