New Years and my birthday. Huzzah.

Here goes the breakdown:

30th December:
Left Wanaka at 10am with Kanoa and Ashley. Accidentally drove to Treble Cone instead of taking the right road over the Haast Pass. We talked the entire way up. Actually the entire way. It was great talking to Kanoa, I learnt heaps and heaps during the conversation, generally set my mind at ease.

Nearly crashed twice driving up the West Coast, got to Nelson and accidentally locked my keys in my car at the petrol station. Talked some boy into calling the AA and pretending my car was his car so that the AA'd get my keys out. It was great. We then slept for two hours.

31st December:
Drove to Motueka to wait for Aaron and co to rock up and give Kanoa her ticket to Phat. They arrived at like, 5am and we headed up the Takaka hills to Canaan Downs. Pitched our tent and had a sleep. Which was nigh on impossible cos it was super, super hot.

Listened to some music, danced, wandered around and had an explore - found Julia and Michelle, Hayden from Arc, Dags and Hannah, Kitty and John...also found drugs. Yuss. Took drugs. Had a wicked evening. Was really happy all evening - just wanted to be with happy people and dance and look at the stars and laugh. Loved hanging out with Kanoa and Aaron who were tripping off their heads on the most amazing acid.

Met a boy from Dunedin who invited me to go for a sesh with him and of course I took him up on his kind offer. Realised when I got to his tent that his intentions weren't quite as pure as his and very politely left after the session. Realised I was super dooper fucked up. Tripping off my face and completely disorientated, experiencing face melts and seeing things in the trees and the dark. Made it back to the tent and couldn't deal with conversation due to the four bug eyes coming out of Aaron's head and Kanoa's face floating out of her hood. Slept.

1st January:
Woke up and headed over to the stage. Found Kitty and John and fell asleep on the grass next to them, cosily dosing in the drowsy heat with the bass beats from Kora and various other bands coursing through my spine.

Also found Ollie who had been Kanoa's obsession the entire time we'd been up the mountain and brought him back to camp. He procurred a nos cracker for us and when it got dark, he dropped some acid with me and we had a lovely time - ran around dancing to the amazing set shapeshifter played, went and got chai and chocolate slice, talked to ashley, lost my bag and went on a mission to find it only to be blinded by the pure unadulterated worship of a flare which blew over our heads and sparked out of existence the next moment.

Eventually we went back to the music and found Ashley. Ashley and Ollie left me at the music site without saying where they were going and, having no concept of time, I soon began to panic and started to look for them. Was unsuccessful in my mission to find them or anyone else and became overwhelmed with a feeling of loss, isolation and hopelessness. Sat on the grass in the dark and sobbed big wrenching sobs for what felt like a good hour, intermittently stopping, looking up and seeing couples and groups of friends and beginning the sobbing process anew. Started to get cold so went back to dance and found them being all couply again, couldn't deal with the fact they'd so casually abandon me and had to leave to have a breather but when I came back, they'd left again.

Ended up by the fire having to listen to some Scandinavian guy talk about how he wasn't gay even though some MC had said that he was. Eventually I got too annoyed by his idiocy and went back to the main stage to listen to Teebee who was amazing and stayed there for the rest of the night/morning, dancing by myself but reassuring myself by adopting some "eye contact buddies" who I'd make eye contact with whenever I felt like I needed some kind of reassurance. It was a fabulous unspoken bond which kept me sane until I found Hayden from arc and danced with him through the rain and the wind and pacific heights into the dawn. Ollie and Ashley came back and I told Ollie what had happened and he was sorry that he'd left me alone - didn't feel like Ashely was sorry though which really hurt. Had a wee snooze at some point and then danced as the sun burnt through the mist.

Ended the experience with a set by Klute who managed ot get me off my arse at least five or six times once I'd sworn I couldn't go on dancing anymore. Started to come doan and had to deal with repacking my car and packing up the campsite. Couldn't deal with the uncooperative vibe I was feeling from some of my camping buddies so took refuge in the boot of my car.

Eventually managed to get everyone to be adult and help out and finally hit the road with me driving - exhausted and coming down. Offloaded Ashley in Hope and then drove to Nelson feeling like a burden had been lifted off of our shoulders and fell asleep in a warm dry bed - slept for fourteen hours straight.

2nd January:
Woke up and drove to the place where Bill was staying to pick him up and then started the long drive home. Was going really well despite the rain and the length of the drive but then, about 20kms before Hanmer Springs, I went around a 55km corner and noticed my car was beginning to fishtail, went to correct it but the weight in the boot meant I had no control and we spun out across the centre line, slammed across a ditch and spun over this rough gravel bit on the side of the road.

Having ascertained that everyone was ok, we got out and discovered that we had in fact shredded two tires and destroyed one of the rims as we slid off the road. I was in the middle of a call to my Dad to get the number of a garage in hanmer who'd come and replace the tyres when ANOTHER car lost control and careered into the side tail end of my car, smashing a tail light and denting the body work. Luckily, no-one was hurt.

Hitched a ride with the dude into Hanmer and got the mechanic guy to go get the car from where we'd left it, settled intoa hostel for the night, went and ate dinner at a pub then came BACK to the hostel with a bottle of gin, watched forrest gump and got suitable sozzled.

QUITE the new years eve. Made it back to Dunedin unscathed on the 3rd, went to Poppa's and saw Bill and ate pizza with Aaron and Kanoa on the 4th.

So Happy Fucking New Years y'all. Beat that for soap opera drama why don'tcha!