Southern Hospitality

I knew sheep would be omnipresent here. I knew there would be hills and beaches, seals and the Southern Cross, but no one ever mentioned to me how incredibly hospitable Kiwis were.
Perhaps they pitied me standing on the side of the road with my thumb to the sky holding an insincere smile as best I could. Maybe they saw my collared shirt and combover and thought, "hey, I bet this one doesn't smell as bad as the others. Let's pick 'em up!" Whatever the reason, Kiwis will happily go out if their way to help someone out and show them a good time. And not just in the hitch hiking world either.
For the last nine days or so we've been staying with what we deemed "The Brighton Community." We rented a room for 5 nights in a small seaside community 15 minutes outside of Dunedin. Our host, Jess, only let us stay because she was afraid of the dark and needed someone to watch movies with while her man, (and as we later came to find out is THE man) Gareth was away on a camping trip. We kept telling her that we are only in NZ for a short time and didn't want to spend all our time watching chick flicks but she insisted. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
Jess was friendly enough to take us out for a night on the town to meet some of her close friends. She introduced us to her friend Keara who lives with Ritchie next door to Barry and Lana who are hosting their son Anthony's good mate Monty. You can see how this might get confusing, hence the title "The Brighton Community."
Keara let us borrow her car and some gear for a camping trip, gave us a lift out of town and made some f*ckin killer hamburgers (I forgot to let you know how delicious those were Keara). Did I mention she spent 6 months biking from India to Ireland?! Kegan and I were humbled. When we picked the car up we met the neighbors, Barry and Lana. The respected patriarch and matriarch of TBC, (The Brighton Community incase you aren't piecing that together) are both quite hilarious and were kind enough to invite us to their St. Pattys Day party. When we showed up at said party we shot the shit with Ritchie who is a decorated couch surfing host and a suspiciously talented percussionist. Thanks for the couch Ritchie!
Now what would a party be without live music? Not a very good one is the right answer. Mr. Monty Bevins, the latest member of TBC, set up shop in the garage and pumped out some really good quality and seemingly right-for-the-occasion tunes till the wee hours. For those of you who know me, I usually don't endorse music unless it's Dispatch, State Radio or the Chadwick Stokes solo album which you should all check out, but it didn't take long for me to become a fan of Monty Bevins and buy a CD. I even volunteered Kegan to make him a website.
Ya we saw sea lions and penguins and surfed and camped and partied and went to a rugby test and a comedy show but to be honest, that's not how I'm going to remember Dunedin. It's all about the people who made it happen.