Journal Entry 34

June 24th, 2004

"Land of the Long White Cloud"

 

I arrived in New Zealand, from Australia, on May 7. I almost didn’t get in. My next year’s update should include a statistic on hours spent talking my way into countries on a one-way ticket. The problem in this case had to do with: my brand-new passport (issued in Australia), no outward ticket, no New Zealand contact, disbelief that I’ve been traveling two years without working (and skepticism that I don’t plan to work illegally in NZ), and a small plastic bag of assorted unlabeled pills that I keep in my pack for various ailments. All rolled together, they seemed to think I may be suspicious. In the end, I got through long after everyone else, largely in part because staff were at the end of the shift.

After a couple days in Christchurch, I began a one-month circuit of the south island of New Zealand. First stop was Abel Tasman National Park in the north. Took me seven rides over two days to get there. Notable characters: a guy who sold possum-fur hats, a dude who works in Abu Dhabi, a high school girl who drove like a nut, and the former hairdresser for the Jackson Five and Bette Midler. Anyway, spent three days on a hike across beaches and hills and tidal crossings, through near-constant rain.

From here, I headed west and south. Set a record: eight hitches in one day. Again, the notables: a stoner who claimed to have died in his childhood, a man who raises cucumbers for a living, and a guy determined to bring me closer to God. The west coast was nice. Saw two glaciers, nice coastline and wonderful views of Mount Cook. Spent some time hiking up the Copland Valley, visiting hot springs and spending solitary nights at cold high huts. Burnt a shirt and two pairs of socks on a wood-fired stove (drying them out). Not the first time I’ve done this.

Headed inland again, to Wanaka, then Queenstown, two spectacularly located towns. Both are on lakes with mountainous backdrops. I happened to be in Queenstown on May 19, my two-year anniversary, so I celebrated by jumping off a bridge. This was a really good idea. The site was at the Kawarau Bridge, where commercial bungee jumping began back in 1988. 43m/140’ into the river below. Nice: sit down, rope wrapped around ankles, stand, hobble to edge of platform, look down into river. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Jump. They adjusted the cord so that I hit the water (only up to my wrists). What an unnatural thing to do! What a fun thing to do! This was way better, in my opinion, than skydiving, which I’d dallied with a bit back in University days.

The next two days, I did two more jumps. One was at night, on a hill above town, with a running start off a platform, into darkness, with only the lights of Queenstown far below. Again, this concept seems inherently wrong. Cool. The final one was the “Nevis”, 134m/450’, off of a gondola suspended by cables over a gorge. Good freefall. I’m quite a fan of bungee jumping. I want more. But it’s expensive.

My next activity was another hike: the Routeburn track. Though short, only two days, it was one of the more spectacular treks I’ve done. Lord of the Rings stuff. Mossy magical forest and streams and cascades and valleys and towering mountains and clouds and mist. At the top of the pass, the ocean was visible in the distance, and a 360-degree mountainous panorama completed the view.

Unsuccessfully trying to hitch south for two hours in a miserable cold rain, I eventually got a ride in the opposite direction I was headed. This took me to the Milford Sound. Good idea. It’s a fjord, at sea level, with 1500m/5000’ peaks rising almost straight out of the water. Blue skies and sun made this quite a spectacle, and I was glad I didn’t skip it like I had planned!

I was trying to hitch to Dunedin, back across on the island’s east coast. But darkness was coming on, and I took whatever I could get. This meant I ended up at day’s end in Invercargill, at the far south of New Zealand. Though the guidebook describes it as a flat, uninteresting farm town, it was a good unplanned stop. I met a fellow backpacker with a car and we joined up and drove through the Catlins together. This is a nice region of empty beaches and forests and rolling hills dotted with sheep.

Dunedin, next stop, was my favorite city on the island. It’s a student town, with cool clubs and a nice campus. It’s built on a hill, and across the bay from a spectacular peninsula. Walked around, saw the world’s steepest street (it’s steep), and saw the New Zealand band “The Bats” play. One day more of hitching brought me full-circle back to where I started: Christchurch. A second day brought me to the north end of the island, where I hopped on a ferry and crossed to New Zealand’s north island, arriving at night in the capital city of Wellington.

Nice place. Stayed in a quirky hostel where the owner broadcast chirping birds and Beethoven music on speakers each morning, and gave anecdotes while he served breakfast to everyone: “eat these carrots and apples; they will help your miserable sex lives and flagging libidos”, or, “when you eat this toast, think of your mother”. Anyway, Wellington’s a bit of a cosmopolitan little city. I saw a play, visited the national museum, toured Parliament. Then left.

The next week I spent working on some local farms and staying with wonderful people. Lots of chatting and good food. And applying myself for the first time in ages actually felt good. An interesting side note is that one of the families had an electron microscope in the living room.

I moved across the island pretty quickly after that, making it up to Auckland in two days, splitting the journey halfway with a day at Tongariro National Park. Here, I did a brilliant alpine crossing amid volcanic peaks and hissing hot springs. Beautiful day. Knee-deep snow in places, me wearing running shoes. Blue skies, distant views, and Mount Doom (Lord of the Rings) looming in my face.

By the time I’d reached Auckland, I was thoroughly sick of hitchhiking (40+ rides in New Zealand at this point). After only being in the city for an hour, I ran into Nicole, a Swiss girl I’d met a month previous on the Abel Tasman hike (south island). We decided to spend our last week in New Zealand on Great Barrier Island. It’s four hours by ship from the city, and has no permanent power supply. It’s a big rugged island, maybe 15km by 30km, with only a couple roads and a permanent population of under 1000.

It was a wonderful week: we hiked and caught fresh mussels and biked and cooked great food and watched ducks and had brilliant weather. The island is amazing—it has large hills and forests and long deserted beaches and friendly, relaxed locals. A perfect end.

Back to Auckland. One night. Go to airport. Leave New Zealand. Headed to New Caledonia. New what? Caledonia. A little known place. It’s a French colony about three hours by plane, north of New Zealand. What’s there? Not a whole lot, but I arranged a free five-day stopover with my airline. So why not? It was a pretty solitary time for me: cheap wine and good walks and French-Riviera-like beaches (so they say) and lots of fresh baguettes. Every night, a nice sunset from the hostel where I stayed, which was perched on a hill above the capital city of Noumea (pop 100,000). My final night there was the day of the annual music festival, so venues all over town had free outdoor concerts, which was quite nice.

And that’s my last 6-7 weeks.

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There’s some interesting things about New Zealand to point out. It’s only been inhabited by humans for about 500 years, when it was discovered by the Maori people, from other Pacific Islands. At this time, it was a bit of a “Garden of Eden”–no rodents or pests (including people). And it was populated by the moa, a giant bird. I was at a museum with a skeleton, and this ostrich-like bird’s hip socket was at eye-level for me! Big!

It has other strange inhabitants as well, notably the tuatara, a dinosaur-like lizard that’s been around for ages. They live 200+ years. They can slow their heart down to one beat every 2-3 minutes and go ten years without food, in a bind. When males fight, they spar for 3-5 seconds, then take a mutually-agreed-upon 20-minute break. So next time you think you’re lazy, think of them. I got to pet one, because the museum curator was showing one to a group of children!

Of course, New Zealand is a bit different now. The moa is extinct. Rats and possums are big problems. Sheep are everywhere, ten for every human resident in New Zealand (a common joke is that you should never free a sheep who has its head stuck in a fence?the farmer probably left her there for later). But it is a beautiful place. My fondest memories from this country are all the drives through the spectacular scenery of mountains and lakes and rivers and hills and beach, my hikes, the bungee jumping, and my last week on the paradise of Great Barrier Island.

New Caledonia? A strange place. Half the population is Melanesian, half French, which everyone speaks. It seems quite segregated, which is weird considering the relatively even mix of people. Colonialism is a strange bird.

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I was ready to go. I needed to escape from these Western nations. Nice places, but I need something different once more.

Getting out of New Caledonia was a chore, again because of my one-way ticket. After 30-40 minutes, I talked the staff into typing up a special document, releasing them from responsibility for me (technically, they weren’t to let me fly into Tokyo on a one-way ticket without a visa). Arghhhh!

In the end, I got through relatively hassle-free. After a long plane flight, I landed in Japan on June 22, greeted by my friend Trupti (from University) and her husband Erik. And here I am, for a while.

“As usually happens when man is in a pleasant state of mind, everything went well and easily.” (Tolstoy)

 

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