I got up at 5:30 and got by pack together and made my way to the train station to check in as the train left Auckland at 7:25. I was staying with a mate that I met at Equippers Church - Auckland named Ryan. To be honest, it has been quite humbling to see how the Lord has provided places and people for me to stay with since I've been here. He cares about the smallest things. Ryan and I actually watched a bunch of old episodes of the Dukes of Hazzard that he owned while I was with him. If you know me then you know how much I enjoyed that!
So I set off on that morning to go south to try and work my way down as I had some time to kill before the interview. It was a fairly eventful trip... I rode in my seat for a few hours (the train wasn't slated to get into Wellington until 7:30PM) and then went and camped out on the small open air observation deck for hours. It's just sweet to be riding on a train outside with that kind of scenery going by. That and I wanted to get a good look at the three volcanoes - Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu - of Tongariro National Park. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy but still sweet to see them. And for you Lord of the Rings fans Mt. Ngauruhoe was Mt. Doom from the movie. Locals think the original name sounds much better...
Not the best picture but Mt. Ngauruhoe is on the far left and Mt. Ruapehu on the right. If you care to look some pictures up online they're quite impressive. And here are some pictures from the train.
Near Te Kuiti - the sheep shearing capital of the world... I told you it was an eventful trip.
A picture of the coast just before we arrived in windy Wellington that evening.
After a quick stretch stop at National Park (actually the name of the town outside of the Tongariro National Park) we boarded the train again and I found my way to the back where there was a small lounge area. I ended up eating my lunch with people from South Africa, India, and England - you never know who you're gonna meet. I got to talking with the gentleman from India and as it turned out he was a worship leader and had just moved to Wellington a few months before hand. We had a very encouraging conversation about how he came to know the Lord and opportunities he had to lead worship different places. As it turned out his he was with his son who was coming home from studying in India - he hadn't been home for eight years (!). They were glad to be together. It was just very cool to be able to talk to him because his Love for the Lord just poured out of him. After talking for an hour or so we prayed for each other right there in the lounge area and exchanged some contact info. Later on he ended up giving me a ride to the place I needed to get to in Wellington after giving me a copy of his families own worship music on CD - cool guy.
I had tried to make some connections in Wellington before I left but things weren't working out so I left Auckland that morning without a place to stay that night - just praying and expecting that the Lord would provide. If push came to shove I could stay in a hostel for a few nights before I took off for the South Island. It ended up that I got a call from a friend of Ryan who I stayed with in Auckland who said I could stay with him that night and with one of his friends the next few days. Sweet :)
The morning after I got into Wellington I got a ride out to watch some local motorsport. Targa NZ was a competition of privateer racers who had been traveling all over the North Island for he last week racing on closed stages in an event sponsored by Dunlop. I had been following them a bit hoping I'd get to see them somewhere and it happened that the last few days of their racing was to take place around Wellington.
The spot we watched from was an old Air Force Base, which is odd because the landing strip was a few km's away... not a lot of room for error then or you'd land in the drink...
A local I was talking to couldn't believe I knew what this car was - an Renault Alpine. One of the best sounding cars there for sure regardless of the other Ferrari's and Porsche's...
This fella had a bit of a shunt and almost ended up in the harbour. It was only a couple corners past where I was standing and when I saw his headlights facing the wrong way for a second I knew something as up. Lucky he didn't roll it.
No joke, there was a group celebrating Captain Cook's birthday down on the waterfront. Yes, I did eat a piece of cake, and yes of course we sang to him.
There was no way I wasn't including this picture of an Italian made Fiat 500 Abarth. :)
Wellington from the Botanic Gardens.
Some fellas I was hangin' out with that I met through a local church. You can see the South Island and Marlborough Sounds in the distance just barely.
So yeah, just a few comments before I take off. First of all, this is an interesting position to be in - though I love it. I've only met about 4 other people from the states since I've been here, so it has been great to meet other internationals. I can't help but feel a bit ignorant though because most everybody speaks English - yet I can't speak their native tongue at all. Yes, I know English is considered the standard language of worldwide commerce, but I wish I could talk to them in German and Italian and Dutch.
This has been a humbling experience too - to be able to do these things and meet these people and see the Lord provide day to day. I didn't know anybody before I came over here, and a few weeks ago I bought a cheap mobile phone so I could contact employers and whatnot. Now I already have a good handful of friends numbers in there just from meeting people along the way - pretty cool.
Thanks very much for your prayers and encouragement along the way - I'll catch up with you all from somewhere in the Southern Alps...
Trust Jesus
you are awesome. jp4jc.
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