Monstrous Media!

The following pictures are the photos I took for the police report. Gahh. That’s right, Ol’ Gerty got her face smashed in. Some asshole took it upon his or herself to treat my van like a free bin outside of a second-hand store after smashing my passenger window and breaking in. To answer the obvious immediate questions you might have before getting too far into the story: I’m perfectly fine, unharmed, and all they stole was my passport and my external hard drive I was traveling with. Bummer.

I arrived in Rotorua 3 days ago. It’s a respectable town with not too much going for it outside of the incredibly high concentration of geo-thermal activity in and around the city. The town smells of rotting eggs and everywhere you go someone is trying to sell you some mineral-rich facial mud or a questionably yellow cure-all sulfer pill.

My first night here I managed to make friends with some Kiwi locals and a few kids from the hostel I had checked into, Cactus Jacks. They were making moves out to the bar but I was exhausted from a day of travel and decided to call it a night a bit early. At 3am I was awoken from a blissful slumber by an Israeli named Ayal. He told me my van window had been smashed in and all my shit was out in the street. I had no idea what was going on. I pulled myself out of bed to figure out if what he had told me was true or if it wasn’t exactly what he was saying or if I was still dreaming. Unfortunately for me and my belongings, it was raining. Also, Ayal wasn’t lying. He had noticed my broken window on his way home from the pub and rushed in to tell me.

They had kicked in the door handle, jamming the door shut. They broke the window and unlocked the other doors. I had brought most of my stuff into the hostel with me earlier that day based on a hunch that leaving my van on the street might not be a great idea, but there were no other places for Gerty to sleep. In the van still was heaps of clothing, all my cooking gear, some electronics, my big backpack, and my passport. They had pulled all of the latter out into the street and made a big muddy, glassy, terrible mess. Bummer.

From there it was just a matter of seeing what was missing and cleaning up the mess. After all my items were re-cataloged it turned out that they only got my passport and my terabyte external hard drive. I still have my computer, camera, money, credit cards and all that crap. The door they bashed in was done for so I had to find a scrap yard with a full-on new door. No one had a grey door that matched so I had to settle for a gold one. Gertrude now sports a gold tooth.

It was a really crappy experience with tons of bullshit to sort through, hours of phone calls to police officers and insurance assholes (no they didn’t cover it), and not much sleep. It’s all over now and I’ll be back on the road in a few hours. The incident has left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to Rotorua that goes beyond the taste of rotten eggs. The one redeeming quality the town has to offer is that there are hotsprings everywhere. I spent the last day or so soaking all my concerns away and smearing mineral mud on my face to improve my complexion. I’m sweet as now and ready to move on.

Much love,
Andrew

Here’s something beautiful to leave you with. It’s a panorama I made from Hahei Beach up Coromandel way.

And here’s what I’ve been listening to:

Discovery – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (ft. Angel Deradoorian from Dirty Projectors)

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Micachu – Calculator

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