MM: Cool Places Where I Have Eaten Lunch

I recently asked a good friend of mine if he had ever eaten lunch on top of a waterfall, to which he replied:

“Once. When I was in the Secret Service. We were in Hawaii, Maui actually, and we were forced to camp out in the jungle for about six days. By Day Six we were starving, unprepared for such a long stay in the heat. So finally, I whittled down sticks to spears and killed about two birds. They were tiny, but enough to sustain us. So that our fires weren't seen, we built them atop a waterfall and ate those roasted birds as if we'd never eat again. It was wonderful.”

So no, he hadn’t eaten lunch on top of a waterfall. Which got me thinking…Since I’ve arrived in New Zealand, I’ve been to so many places that I didn’t even believe could exist before I set off on my journeys. Sure, I had heard about the beautiful beaches and clear, blue waters and towering mountains, but I never thought all these things would actually live up to the expectations that I had set for them. The fact that I have perched on a rock on top of a waterfall in northern New Zealand and consumed a ham sandwich just does not seem real to me. Doing something so ordinary, something I have done every day for the twenty-one years of my life, in a place that was so extraordinary really hit home the fact that I was in a completely different world than suburban Philadelphia or Loyola. I don’t have to construct some far-fetched story about roasting birds in the Secret Service to answer the question of whether or not I’ve eaten on top of a waterfall, because I actually have. How many people can say that?

All of these deep thoughts prompted me to make a list of the cool places I have eaten lunch in the past month:

1. In-n-Out Burger – To Californians this may not seem so out of the ordinary, but for me it was quite the experience. For months before setting off for New Zealand, my friends and I had been looking forward to the nine-hour layover in San Francisco mostly for the opportunity to eat a legendary In-n-Out burger. The moment I sat down at the table outside the restaurant, my burger, fries, and Coca-Cola in front of me as I was surrounded by equally excited and hungry friends and the warm San Francisco air, I knew my adventures had finally begun. In the end, the burger wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, but it was a fitting last meal in America for four and a half months.

2. On a beach in the Bay of Islands – I wish I could tell you the name of the beach we ate at during our bus tour of the Bay of Islands, but all of the confusing Maori names blend together for me sometimes. Ignorant, I know, and I’m working on it. I remember it started with a T though. Anyway, it was surreal to be sitting in the grass slurping on strange fruit-juice concoction (New Zealand is all about combining apples and oranges and various other fruits into one drink) as breezes flew by and the water crashed on the beach right in front of us. It was nothing like having lunch on the beach in Jersey, where there are people every few feet and the sand has bits of trash everywhere and the water is gray. It was literally just us, on a beach, where the water was blue and the sand was spotless and white.

3. On top of a waterfall – As I mentioned before, I have eaten a sandwich on top of a waterfall, and I can only accurately sum it up as “unreal.” We almost seemed out of place, all forty Americans sitting on rocks and grass, munching away as the water rushed by. I felt like I shouldn’t be allowed to perch on the very edge of the waterfall, where one wrong slip could end very horribly. TSTLNer Jerry kept saying how he just wanted to jump into the pool below, which goes to show how out of our element we really were. Being in such naturally beautiful place messes with your mind a bit – it almost seemed a waste to be sitting there and not jump off the edge.

4. On a grassy patch on Queen Street in Auckland – A couple times I have grabbed a five-dollar kebab or some kumara fries on the main road in Auckland – Queen Street – and settled on a grassy patch just outside the Sky City Cinema. It’s not a particularly enchanting spot – it has a lackluster view of the construction of Aotea Square and of a Burger King, among other random restaurants and shops – but the atmosphere is something different for me. It’s a great people-watching place, as pedestrians bustle back and forth on their way to or from wherever they are going in Auckland. I think the appeal here is that I am sitting in the middle of a city I have anticipated coming to for so long, eating food and getting burnt by the unforgiving sun, like I belong or something. I certainly am starting to feel like I belong here as I become more confident in finding my way around, which is a comforting feeling considering I’m all the way on the other side of the world from my true home.

5. At a hostel on Waiheke Island – This one is technically dinner but I’m still going to include it. A couple weeks ago a bunch of TSTLNers (DK, Joey, Jerry, Chris), Britt (that really good volleyball player that Jerry blogged about a while ago), Pat (this kid from Georgetown that we have deemed worthy to join our crew) and I took a ferry to Waiheke Island, which is about 30 minutes away from Auckland, and eventually settled into a hostel by the beach for the night with fixings for a barbeque. Once all the burgers and sausages had been made and we were all sitting around a picnic table outside, a little buzzed off our drinks and getting our first glimpses of stars, I started to realize how lucky I really was. I was in New Zealand, just a five minute walk to a beach where I would be able to see countless stars, sitting next to a dog we named McBarkley. Had I not been given the opportunity to study in New Zealand, I probably would have been at home lazing around or preparing for a night out at the shitty bars on York Road. I became restless after a while, wanting to go experience everything at once. This place has that effect on me – I feel like if I sit for too long I’m missing out on something.

All in all, the point I’m trying to make is that I’m finally here in New Zealand, a place my friends and I had jokingly deemed a fantasy land before we arrived, and I still feel like it’s not real. Every day I learn more and more about the people and the places around me, but then things like waterfalls and volcanoes and star-encrusted skies get thrown my way and I start to wonder if this is all a dream.

Which is why I’ll end this post with a picture of graffiti on the Grafton Bridge, which I cross every day to get to classes and the city. When you read this, you also get a nice view of Rangitoto, a volcano near the city (I couldn’t capture it in the picture, but it’s there, I promise).

I’ll try to find some even crazier places to eat lunch to entertain you with in the future -- maybe eat a sandwich while chillin’ with a kiwi bird (they are nocturnal and so far very elusive so this would be quite a feat) or consume on Mount Doom (apparently this would involve hiking for eight hours so I highly doubt I will do this, but I won’t rule it out completely). Also I’m open to hearing about all the cool places people have eaten in their lives – I’m sure there are some secretly awesome spots at home that I’ve just never discovered.

Peace out!
Meag