FRIEND OR FOE FRIDAY!!!

            Time for another round of FRIEND OR FOE FRIDAY!  Brought to you two days late due to blog difficulties.

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FRIEND- This guy from Kaikoura came to our rescue when our car battery had died.  Apparently you can’t leave headlights on for 4 hours at a time.  Thank you jumper cable man!

2) FRIEND- Jacky worked at the fudge factory in Kerikeri and, after offering me many free samples, she offered me her couch for the night!  I had been running low on options so her kindness was much appreciated.  She was such a nice woman and a great inspiration.  Who wouldn’t buy fudge from this woman?!  She’s adorable.

3) FRIENDS!  I started the trip alone, met Jay online and traveled to the Coromandel Peninsula, met Eric from Germany at the Freedom Farm, we all met an Israeli girl from the freedom farm, she met Armand and Benjamin from France at hot water beach, those guys had met Erik and John from Sweden when visiting Wellington.  Did you follow that?  Together we were one happy family traveling down to see the marvelous Cathedral Cove.

4) FOE!  I met Terry on gumtree.co.nz and travelled to the Bay of Islands with him for a day. Although harmless in the end, I was really uncomfortable with him and won’t be going on any other trips with him.

5) FRIEND!  Carli was co-owner of the freedom farm.  She opened up her home to us and every ounce of her was comprised of peace, love and happiness.  There were 20 nomadic family members living in the house on the second night.  Most of them were long term but they didn’t mind sharing their food, living space, and personal stories with us short term visitors.  I loved Carli’s outlook on everyone on this world being her family.  She wanted to share her home with all of her brothers and sisters and just had so much love to give this world.

6) FRIEND!  Sabina Wakefield is the wife of my incredible Melbourne host, Lindsay Wakefield.  Somehow I didn’t get a picture of Lindsay in the 4 days he selflessly toured me around the city center as well as their farm house outside of Melbourne.  Their three kids, Elka, Max and Reuben also put up with me and were really fun (and very smart).  This family is responsible for my first impression of Australia being an awesome one!  Melbourne is one of the best cities in the entire world and the Wakefields could arguably be the best family in Melbourne.  Thank you to my brother-in-law, Brian for introducing us. 

7) FRIEND! There I was browsing for clothes in a shop outside of Melbourne when I ran into Max Von Polnitz from high school!  This fellow Exonian (center) was golfing in Tasmania with his friend (left).  What a pleasant surprise to see a friendly face on the other side of the world.  I hung out with them for the afternoon on Alnac St!

8)  FRIENDS!  I went to watch this local team of Australian football players push, pin and throw each other down.  There seemed to be only one requirement for the team- you must be a hunk.