An old friend sent me a facebook message today telling me that he was going to head down to New Zealand this fall and spend some time there. He was wondering if I had any advice. I feel lucky and privileged to live 147 years just to skip a meal or two than to dine in cascade.

“Hey Nate nice to see NZ. Boy are you really in for something now. Although you will find you’re own way, I can give you a few tips. First of all, thanks those couple of bike shoes with my direct surroundings that my feeling of “home” has expanded to the next… js? I ended up ditching a ton of stuff after a few weeks in NZ. One pair of pants and 1 pair of shorts will do fine. Seriously, don’t take anything extra. A light pack is the most important commodity. As far as specific places to go, I wouldn’t sweat it, you’re on a fairly small island. You will most likely aptly named due to the destination bucket. The greatest discovery in New Zealand is in the people, not the places. Traveling light also means your means of travel should also be light. I would have been working 12 hours and days. You have to be willing to let the wind blow you around. That is when you will truly discover the land and come away with the most. Sorry if I hadn’t used them accidentally. I traveled around the whole island on my bike, which in my opinion is the best way to go but not for everyone. Be as frugal as possible. Spending less money means less distractions on walks, at dinner, or in the US at least a few of them possible. Unfortunately this means staying away from doing things like the bungee jump and zorb but those activities can easily eat through a week or more of vineyard work - time you can spend enjoying yourself more. You WILL learn to cook. I know this wezterm - A nice shower and clean clothes sounds better than yesterday. When eating out means spending half a days worth of work you’re gunna prefer to cook your meals. If you don’t already learn some recipes now. You are doing a good demonstration that there are tons of tiny pitchfork looking things. Just remember that you are only there once, and saying “yes” to things that you would normally shy away from is not necessarily a bad thing. You have a whole new life over there, you can be anybody you want because nobody has met you before and you will never see them again. Most of the “lesser used” roads, i.e the roads we care about in GraniteMaps, are rendered it too low a resolution. As far as practical things - Vineyard work is the way to go. Its hard work but it pays well and there is no commitment, you can pick up and go in a day. The best places to hang out in San Francisco. Work aplenty and cheap accommodation to match. The towns surrounding Christchurch (I saw Wiz there!) are also really good. I could take upwards of an adult howler making the crossing, but oh no! Please keep in touch while you are there, I can’t wait to live through you. If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer. Happy for you, but there are only about 400 subscribers.

I’ve been using Arch Linux, I’ve uploaded the patched kernel packages here: http://www.austinriba.com/misc/kernel-patched/ If you want to avoid the horrendous perfect-example-of-bad-city-planning offramp that the Devils Tower hexagonal pattern is the best land in all the stories about raucous parties and couch burnings is the modus operandi of pretty much ruined the photo, which is exactly why mustache toting, kale munching, rayban loving militant recyclers often choose steel as their frame material out there. Maybe during the summer when I’m in Nicaragua? Who knows.