I read a quote recently that said "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." I think there is something to be said for that--to embrace the unexpected and often pleasant surprises of traveling. We came to NZ with a set plan, and when we realized it wouldn't quite play out that way, we decided to just go where the wind blows, so to speak, and let our journey unravel as we went along--it was a much better choice.
After getting back from our day hike to the waterfall, we returned to our hostel with the expectation of having a quiet evening, eating some left overs, and just relaxing. Well, around 6:15 we heard a large group of people come down the hallway, the door to our room opened, and in walked a new roommate for the night. His name was Stu and he was in town from Palmerston North with a group of friends for the long weekend. We exchanged pleasantries for a bit, learned a little about each other, and then said he and his friends were going to grab some dinner and invited us along. We decided to accept because we know a huge part of traveling is the people you meet and it would be a nice opportunity to enjoy some company--especially with native Kiwis.
The group was a diverse bunch--some from NZ, one girl from Ireland, another from France--they all worked at a huge milk company called Fonterra located just outside Palmy. Well, except for Stu--he was part owner of his own irrigation company and has actually been to Georgia before for work--though he had been to such small towns that I had never heard of them! What connections we already had! (Well, mostly thanks to John due to his European and NZ family connections). They were friendly from the start, and we first decided to walk to the local grocery store to get some wine as the restaurant we were going to allowed for you to bring your own alcohol, plus the group had just done a wine tour and wanted to apply their new knowledge for wine selection! John and I chose the cheapest, locally made red we could find and it actually turned out quite tasty.
The restaurant we went to was a steak and seafood place right next to the hostel but it was quite delicious. We sat next to Stu and a friend of his named Matt and talked the whole time about Americans and stereotypes, our cultural and language differences with New Zealand, similarities, etc. On top of that we had a delicious meal (duck for me and Angus fillet for John) and by the end I think everyone had finished off their wine! It was a great time and we were happy to socialize with new people--I believe we ended up spending 2 1/2 hours at the restaurant--we were the last patrons to leave. But, the night was still young! So we decided to venture to a local bar, which was also rather empty, but we enjoyed some more drinks and played some pool games. It turns out Stu's company was trying to get a website up and they may be looking for someone to complete the website as the girl they have now can do graphic design but not websites--so Stu offered to take a look at John's CV (which he would give to him before we parted ways). We're not banking on anything but it was so nice for him to consider John! On top of that, Stu mentioned that when the summer rolls around (which is January for us) he and a lot of friends take a few trips up to Rotorua, a town about 2 hours north of Napier, for some waterskiing trips and said we were more than welcome to come along when the time came--he would usually just post upcoming trips on Facebook and ask people to respond. See, Kiwis have a reputation for being very friendly people and we can now personally attest to that fact. We had known these people for less than a day and they were already treating us as friends!
After a while, we left the bar to go get a late-night bite to eat and Matt, the other person we got to know during dinner, introduced me to meat pies. I believe they are typical British food, and it's bascially meat with others sorts of fillings inside a pastry--but he assured me they were a good choice for a late night snack and he was correct! After the snack we decided to hit the sack, although a few went to another bar, but we had to rest up for our tramp the next day! The next morning before we left, we assured them that we would give them a call the next time we ventured to Palmerston North to meet up once again!
To think our night could have ended so differently--we could have chosen to stay back by ourselves and spend a rather boring night in the hostel--but we chose to go with the unexpected, the unplanned, and we got a great night out of it and new friends!
Unfortunately, we took no pictures that night but there will be plenty to come in the next post!
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