Twilight in Rotorua

[rogerdoger]

I love the twilight hour, that time just as the sun has set, those last moments of daylight and the beginning of night. I have a walk I've done a few times out of the campsite and down to the lake. I can walk through the native bush of Cabbage trees, palms, and tree ferns, as the waves from the lake breaking on the volcanic sandy shore. Do these waves know their brothers in the ocean, is that the sounds they make calling out to them? The light starts to fade and the clouds turn from every shade of white and gray, to pinks and golden yellows. The trees are all bare now, nature sleeps, waiting for the earth to turn. Limbs and twigs reach out and scratch the sky. Birds that use to hide here, now flirt and flit in thickets on the ground, their song still calls and echo's through the air. 4 geese in formation, black silhouetted across the sky, float in the air across the lake. As I walk out towards the parking lot 4 girls are getting out of a car, a collie bolts for the lake, another collie takes after the first. "Charlie, sit, lay down, come back" the dog pays no heed, the water and open land is just too much for all the pent up energy, to hell with orders. The girls all frantically call to other dogs that keep exiting the car, some obey and lay down, only to crawl on their belly as if to be out of ear shot, dogs run wild in all directions, owners giving firm commands that fall to desperate pleas. "sit, heal, lay down, stay, stay! come back!"

Stars are appearing in the indigo sky. Across the lake the yellow twinkle of street lights and homes, scattered along the shore and climbing up the mountain.


This is how small New Zealand is. My driving license i applied for a couple of weeks ago didn't show up. This one guy at the bike shop at the address Id used was sorta acting a bit cagy whenever Id drop in to ask about it. Maybe thats my paranoia, but I go round to the AA to ask about if they can find out anything about the license. I tell them Im not really that worried since I have my international now and thats all really wanted. "oh no" she says, now your in the system as having a NZ license you can get a fine for driving without it! The temp on I have is about to expire, so she writes a new one of those and calls DVLC to find out about the license. It went out on the 30th, so it must have gone missing. They are going to issue a new one and send it to the campsite. The next morning I get a call from DVLC! The license has been returned and where can they send it! Holy shit, can you imagine DVLC calling you about your license? How amazing that they take that much care here. Of course its because its a country of 4 million people, but still pretty amazing service. Oh and so I was probably right about the guy at the bike shop, the ass must have sent it back to fuck with me.

Comments

[jessacord.livejournal.com]

Here in CA we'll soon be lucky if the DMV is open all five weekdays, much less get a call about a returned license. The state is in so much financial trouble that the governor has considered closing all non essential state offices one day a week.

[rogerdoger.livejournal.com]

Poor ole CA, what do they do with their tax money? When i lived there it seemed like every year they went through the same thing of threats of the government about to go broke until the last second when the feds would bail then out or some treasury bonds issued to cover the short fall.

[jessacord.livejournal.com]

They're sitll doing the same thing, only this year they're getting money from the fed via the economic stimulus money. CA never learns...