I'm gone as

What a flurry of activity. After a lot of hitchhiking and a lot of driving of shitty pink rental cars, I'm in Christchurch, poised to leave this little rock in the sea. I barely know what to write because I have so much to write. I hitchhiked to queenstown to get a stupid pink car that uses very little gas after selling the white lightning to a toothless maori sheepshearing lady (no joke). I was late getting home the night I was supposed to sell it, so Ange, my flatmate had her over for some coffee to kill time, and while they were shooting the shit, Susan (the buyer) asked "So where's Marcus going next?" Ange told her I was going to Vietnam, and her reply was "But isn't there a war going on there?". Once again, no joke.
This second shot is the Kiwi trucker who gave me a ride to Queenstown. There were 3 characters involved in that process. We had a lot of conversations really, about everything from Maori history to how humans are not involved in global warning. Don't judge, we have those idiots in Canada too. Also, as a sidenote I'm sure if I asked the trucker about it he'd say " 'reckon we cocked it up all by ourselves mate." This is him checking his map while driving about 80. Also the whole cab smelled like deer, cause that's what he was hauling before he picked me up.
After I picked up my pink bubble car, which is called a Toyota Vitz (which means joke in German - again, no joke) I headed back to Te Anau where I lived for one last hurrah. After a long haul up to christchurch, here I am. Funny how things work out. One day I decided I was going for a hike on the coast, about an hour and a half away. On the way out I picked up a hitchiker from Belgium. Tom and I got along so well that I decided to forget the hike and drive him all the way to Invercargill, where we had a couple of pints. I dropped him off and looped back for home for an afternoon of driving. On the way I saw a dejected looking american dude sitting by the roadside, who I again picked up. Taylor and I got along so well we went out for beers after I dropped him off at a backpacker's in Te Anau. The next day a girl named Helen, who met Taylor here and keeps running into him, coincidentally was in the same dorm as him. Helen was on my kayak tour the day after that, and knew who I was because she talked to Taylor about how he got to Te Anau. We became friends also and that night we all three went out for beers. Here I am 5 days later, in christchurch, over 400 k's away. I was walking to my backpackers here, and I look across the street and there is Taylor. He's staying at the same place, and we're both leaving the country in a couple of days. We agree to go out for drinks. 4 hours later I'm in my room getting dressed, and in walks Taylor. Why wouldn't we be in the same room in a huge city with like over twenty hostels in it? Well, okay universe, you only have to yell so loud, I hear you, I will go have drinks with Taylor.

On the 6th (your 5th) I am getting on a plane to Oz. When I get off that plane I will get another one to Malaysia. When I get off that one I will go into Kuala Lumpur for a day, and after that I will get on another plane which will land in Hanoi. When I get there I hope to see Dan Naiman.

Let's see how this goes.

The last shot there is of a hike I was on the other day. CC, the other guide at my company made friends with a girl from Barrie (of course) and we did a hike up to this saddle. I was shocked to see into a place called Milford sound, which I thought I might never see again. That's the ocean in the background, and if you look close you can see it to the horizon too. In that direction is antarctica.

Bye New Zealand, it's been real.
Good on ya mate.