the leap: beach bach

the afternoon before i left for wellington, i was out at an agency lunch and started talking about my trip. the other american OMDer, ashley (who is also my friend by the way, but "the other american OMDer" was more fun to say), mentioned that she had an american friend living in wellington and gave me his number in case i wanted a buddy to check out the city with.

it probably sounds stupid, but every once in awhile and probably more often than i'd like to admit, it's really refreshing to spend time with another american. i can't even really explain it all that well, other than it's nice to know that no matter what you say it will be understood, they can probably relate, and they will understand all your pop culture reference jokes. so, knowing this i decided to scrap my whole i'm-spending-a-weekend-on-my-own thing and give my mutual friend a shot.

jason is originally from texas, and has been living in NZ for about a year an a half-ish. he moved from auckland to wellington awhile ago, and has made a big group of local friends that all call him "tex." he's definitely up there as one of the nicest people i've ever met, and offered to take me to a little bach (vacation house) that him and his friends hang out in on the beach for the rest of the afternoon for a little party.

inside of the bach

just your average bathroom photo.

outside the bach

the bach was on a beautiful stretch of beach that was basically impossible to get to unless you had a 4wd vehicle. we caught a ride with one of jason's friends, and drove along the beautiful coastlines until we reached the house. then we put our beer/wine in the cooler, turned on the music, and sat out in the sunshine while i got to know some of his friends.

it wasn't exactly like hanging out with a group of my sorority sisters back home. at first glance, i didn't fit in, but really i sort of did. i met ann who was so sweet and good humored, and sat most of the time with her dog, moe. i met sarah, who works at te papa and was interested to hear about my experience earlier in the day. i met stuart, who runs a tourism company in wellington with his best friend and gets every other week off work. i met one guy who had been to more of the US than i had, and i met a girl that i agreed to start a brunch business with, neither of whom i remember their names (names and dates have never been a strength of mine).

all in all, it was pretty random. but a really great day. and my calves got really tan from standing in partial sunlight, which is sort of good right? i'll look great in capris this week anyway.