rave in the cave and some mid-way ruminations

So you know how the subtitle of this blog is "rants, raves, and ruminations on antipodean adventures?"  Yeah, well until this point there has been much raving, the occasional ranting, but very little ruminating on my experiences. This post, being submitted on the first day of the second half of my time in NZ, will have but one story, and then some actual ruminating.  We'll see how it goes.

The Story:


Not long after landing in New Zealand, I began to hear tales of a party which was thrown in a cave not far from Dunedin.  One of the advisers from Arcadia (the program through which I came to NZed), a woman named Chandra who graduated from Denison randomly enough in '06 and who had spent her semester abroad in Dunedin told me of this uniquely-located party.  It took me two months and many "next weekend guys, rave in the cave is happening," before I actually got my so-called ducks in a line and it actually was the next weekend.  Planning for a party in a remote location like a cave -- which also happened to be on the beach, as if it weren't awesome enough already -- is a rather tedious experience.  Before starting to arrange for the hire (what they call rental here in NZed) I began to make a list of the items I thought I would need in order to ensure a raucous and joyful time was had by all attending.  Among this list were things as easy to come by as trash bags and matches for the starting of a cave-mouth fire, as well as items as difficult to find as speakers and a generator for the powering of said speakers and some lights.  Considering the success of the fete hung contingently upon the locating of the latter two items, I decided to make sure I could in fact hire them before announcing the event to my oh-so-(not)-extensive number of friends I have in Dunedin... oh, hold-up, I didn't wait, I announced the party before securing a single item or determining prices... in retrospect, kinda foolish, but it all worked out, so no worries.  Justin and I had checked out the cave, so thats some preparation at least.  The party was scheduled for Thursday night in order to avoid a block party being held a street over from my residence on Saturday, and my friends were informed.  I hoped that I had left enough time for word of the party to disseminate to a large number of people.

A generator proved easy enough to find.  Every time the Gus Bus made the trip to the beach, we passed a store called HireQuip which always had scissor-lifts, large generators, and other construction equipment for hire.  After a phone call to "Craig" (or maybe it was Greg, I couldn't tell through the accent) at HireQuip, I determined that was just about the only place in Dunedin to hire a small generator.  Speakers were not quite as easy.  I had been to a party a couple weeks past where a guy had a massive pair of speakers.  Luckily, Mellow Andrew plays soccer with the host of the party and was able to figure out where he rented his equipment.  We were pointed in the direction of a place called Strawberry Sound downtown.  On the Tuesday before the party Kiwi Justin and I headed in town in the Gus Bus to locate this Strawberry Sound place and figure out how much this was going to cost.  With Kiwi J holding down Baby Bey in a non-parking spot outside, I found my way to the office in the back of a large storage building.  Guy number one was on the phone engaged in a very strange yet humorous conversation, so I was directed to talk to guy number two who looked to be significantly more crotchety than guy number one.  This impression was confirmed.  I explained that I needed to "hire" speakers for a party, to which guy number two asked how big they needed to be, to which I responded (in error) something about they needed to be big enough to fill a large cave with music.  At this point the guy made it plain that he wanted nothing to do with renting speakers to a party with sand involved.


Lesson learned, we very luckily stumbled upon another speaker-hire place.  Long story short, I negotiated the hire of two 15" speakers with stands (to keep them out of the sand), two strobe lights, a music-reactive laser light, and a 4-color flashing light for the rather low price.  On Wednesday I headed out to the Home Depot-owned Mitre 10 MEGA to pick up a power strip and extension cord to stretch from the generator to the music station.


Thursday, day of, was a rather stressful day.  I roped Kiwi J into chauffeur me around while we picked up the speakers, lights, generator, and gas, all of which needed to be done before 4 PM, when I had to be back on campus for a test in my political science class.  With the test behind me (and feeling like I had done a pretty solid job), we collected those friends of mine unfortunate enough to be close enough friends that they were asked to help me set up and drove out to the cave.  When we arrived it was already dark.  Even the drive in had been pretty precarious due to a cloud that had settled heavily on the Otago peninsula.  We parked as close as we could to the path marked "Beach Access," unloaded Baby Bey (who had barely been able to power the five of us and all the equipment over the steep hills) and started the rather long trek towards the cave.  The speakers themselves were definitely not light, weighing around 40 lbs each, but the generator was a whole different matter.  Big Tim and Football Jacob, being the two strongest and biggest members of the set-up team had been volunteered to carry the generator.  Like champs they carted the well over 100 pound behemoth all the way into the cave where Scruffy E, Kiwi J and I had begun to lay out the lights and ironing board which would serve as an impromptu DJ table.  Once all was set up and wood had been collected for a fire all there was left to do was wait.  By 10 or so around 50 people had shown up, far more than I was actually expecting.  No official headcount was ever taken, but I asked people for small donations in order to help me recoup some of the expense and I ended up making a $10 profit, so there were a fair number there for sure.

Kiwi Justin getting his dance maybe a little too early... typical.

some fun with long-exposure in the lasers

 

getting my dance on at the appropriate time, naturally

rave-ing in a cave.  the light on the left is not the fire, just the awesome four-color lights...

Big Tim, DJ Jono the Kid, and Scruffy Ethan a.k.a. DJ Skeeter

For those who chose to stick around, the night was spent sleeping on the sand floor of the cave, which, surprisingly, is not as comfortable as one might think.  While the sleeping situation was merely uncomfortable, the cleanup in the morning was straight-up painful.  The speakers and generator had both gained a significant amount of weight and we had all lost speed.  The set-up crew minus Big Tim, plus Goofy Andrew hauled themselves and equipment back into Baby Bey and headed for home.  Equipment was returned to its rightful place, and I took up my rightful place in my bed for the rest of my night's sleep, but not until after Goofy Andrew Skaggs and I made a large mess of omelets and hash browns.

The Ruminations:

Rave in the cave was one of my favorite experiences in New Zealand; one of many that I have had with my best bro's - Ethan and Justin.  Before coming to New Zealand I had the same trepidations that a couple good friends from Denison had as they began their semesters abroad, that the friends we made would not be as good as the friends we had at home.  I was not concerned that I would make friends, I knew I would.  Being an easygoing, jovial, somewhat charismatic guy, I like people and make friends with relative ease, but I had worried that when I got to New Zealand the friends I would make would be friends of convenience and not true friends.  When one finds oneself in a long-term situation where one meets many people and has time to get to know them, one makes good friends by choosing among those who they interact with.  When in a situation like traveling abroad, there aren't as many people to draw one's friends from.  I am lucky that I found two great dudes who I thoroughly enjoy spending time with. 


It seems to me as though those people who choose to study abroad in New Zealand share some commonality that I cannot exactly identify within my own mind, let alone articulate clearly to someone else.  Most, but not all, of the internationals I have met here in Dunedin, and during my overlap with the kids I have met who chose Auckland are highly independent, adventurous -- not necessarily in an outdoorsy way though -- and fun people.


Some more about this place, Dunedin, in which I live.  Dunedin was founded by Scottish settlers in the late 18th century.  Its name comes from the Gaelic for Edinburgh and the main party of the city is actually planned according to the layout of its Scottish counterpart.  While the city is still clearly influenced by its Scottish heritage (there was a bagpipes competition held in the center of the city, a place called the Octagon, the first weekend I was in Dunedin) it is even more heavily influenced by the college-age population of the city.  According to the last census, and many Kiwis I talk to, one in four Dunedin residents is a college student.  That number skyrockets to at least three of four in the section immediately surrounding the University.  The Uni Flats area of Dunedin, is quite large, extending over a mile or so and about four blocks wide.  It is definitely a fun place to live for a semester, what with the occasional couch burning, the constant sound of music coming from no fewer than two houses within earshot at all times, and the outpouring of students on party nights, but it is definitely not a place I would want to live for all four of my college years, too chaotic.


Coming to New Zealand I had the expectation of meeting a lot of Kiwis and getting to be friends with a number of antipodean residents, but herein lies the biggest change from my expectation.  The Kiwis I have met, both Kiwihost and just regular student alike have been very nice,  very congenial, very welcoming.  I have become good friends with Kiwi J's host CrayCray Sasha and my host, Industrious Josh.  But as for the rest of the Kiwi community, I could not number any more of them among my good friends.  I do not criticize them for this, and it is not for lack of trying on the standpoint of international students, but when I reflect on the culture surrounding those students who come to Denison to study for a semester, there is no great effort to become great friends with them, because at the end of the semester, they leave.  At a college where international students are so common (there are about 400 of us in my Maori Society class), it is totally reasonable that Kiwis wouldn't spend their time befriending someone they view as a passer-through.

As a whole, Kiwis are an outrageous group.  The students are among the most boisterous, insane people I have ever met.  But individually, they are just like people I know back in the States, only they have really funny accents.  They also have what I would call very "hipster" clothing.  Girls wear, almost exclusively, skirts with black leggings, a loose-fitting top, and a jacket.  Guys wear either stubbies (short shorts) or dark jeans with flat-bottomed shoes and a t-shirt.  Colors do not seem to be a thing that Kiwis appreciate as far as clothing goes.  Needless to say, international students stick out just because of our fashion like a sore thumb. 

I will leave you with a few of the amusing/hilarious phrases and words that I have grown accustom to during my time here:

entree - appetizer
main - entree
coffee - I don't know what this liquid is, but it isn't coffee
pash - to make out with someone
coma - to fall into a heavy sleep due to anything, exhaustion, drinking, etc.
pin your ears back - RUN FAST!
the lounge - the living room
flat - apartment
_____ as - a good-for-anything compliment (sweet as, yum as, windy as, etc.)  the word after the "as" is implied
scull - chug quickly
stubbies - shorts
jandals - flip-flops/sandals
togs - swimsuit
Zed - Z
sneans - sneakers and jeans, a trademark of international (read: American) students
[more additions to this list coming...]