New Zealand Travels (March 16th, 2003)

"A fairly lazy morning just sitting about waiting for the sea kayaking to start. I watched the Wedding Singer and then headed off to catch the ferry. Onice I got to the other side a minivan picked me up and took me to Cooks Cove on Mercury Bay where the kayaks were waiting. I joined a bunch of Japanese language students and together we were instructed in the art of kayaking by Nathan, Micheal and RT. These guys had their patter well sorted and we were looked after really well.

After I had got the hang of paddling myself and Rako (my Japanese co-paddler) found ourselves moving swiftly and reasonable confidently across the ocean waves. The weather was perfect, sea conditions were spot on and the scenery was amazing. We headed down the coast towars Whitianga from Cooks Bay. On the way we crossed a marine reserve and surfed some nice long waves. Finally, after a bit of messing about on the river, we beach and the guides brewed up a large variety of hot drinks with endless cookies to keep us warm. All in all a good day out.

So I made it back to the hostel and chatted to the crowd I met at the pub the previous night. Inma was there and I had a great time yakking away about this and that. There was one observation I made about myself: I tried to boost my ego by sterring the conversation towards topics that made me look good. This is something I need to avoid. Instead, it is better to get other to talk, and for me to listen far more carefully. I tend to listen for certain key phrases and then try to make a witty or insightful comment. This does little to help a conversation - it only serves to reinforce my own belief in being intelligent and knowledgeable thus strengthening my ego, not reducing it."