28th Feb 2002 @ 9:00:am

Who: this lil weeb
What: Proposal for Justin's Trip/Mileage Giveaway
Where: Southern New Zealand
When: Sometime this year when I can afford it
Why: The sheep. the glaciers. clear blue lagoons. camping huts. you can squat and camp anywhere. and the big heavy birds.

ever since i was 2, teething on a ring shaped like the southern island, i've always wanted to visit New Zealand. sharing my secret tea recipes with the hippies in Nelson. riding my bike under the cool wet shade of giant rainforests and the next day climbing over roads enclosed by glaciers. ride ride ride, stop, pitch camp, eat, take pictures, make little shrines to links.net, and in the morning over hot cereal and maple syrup, continue on to the next sunset.

yes, it is this beautiful.

i have a sturdy bike. a tent, a bike sleeping bag, tofu jerky, and a rough outline drawn with a magic marker on a map of new zealand. i'll be journaling in a paper journal instead of blogging from the road. if i'm going to be on the internet all the time, i might as well be at home. also, it's going to quite a distance between outposts out there. nope, instead of sitting in a frigidly air-conditioned internet cafe, i'll be doodling under a tree, sniffing/smiling/singing and pedaling. lots of pedaling.

it's a loose plan. i'm also taking my WWOOF book with me. it will be so nice to have the option of staying with a family, sitting down to a hot meal and sleeping under a roof. WWOOF is a work exchange program with organic farms that will feed and house you in exchange for some farm labor. in case i get tired of listening to myself talk, i will have a network of surrogate families close at hand.

you will get over 50 pages of drawings, essays, notes, assorted melange-y sound files. some spectacular sunsets, i'm sure. guaranteed sprinkling of laughs. measurements of the changing circumference of my thighs. and just general yogic and tantric goodness will flow over you as a reward for making my dreams come true. in a way, you already have. someday, this will happen.