Jul 2009

on my travel partner Ryan --

Lets start out with some humor, boy did I get myself into a bit of jam with this one. Mind you, I wanted a travel buddy, I had been on the road, alone, for 5 weeks, and the thought of a partner in crime, if only to defray the cost of the rental car seemed worthwhile. After 11 days on the road with him, I do not regret it. We get along just fine. He is more or less like a little brother. He is the type of person that needs the stars to align to get motivated to go out and experience the world. How many layers should I wear? What should I eat, my stomach doesnt feel great? I'm tired? I have a headache? Are we there yet? ----- yes, times that by 10 and you have a kid how would be better off sipping wine in france than backpacking through new zealand. I say that because he intended to go to europe but could not find appropriate work. He is not meant for New Zealand and he is actually leaving 3 months earlier than he planned.
He isn't all bad, he's a wine and beer wannabee expert and he plays in a band. He is a prep school educated, whiny jew from philadelphia, but he is just one character in my story and every store needs some characters, so I'm guiding him along with a mixture of disdain for his prevalent whines accompanied by motivation to get him moving.

on travelling alone -

So much to be said, but what I will say is that of all the decisions, the questions, the insecurities, and the fears that I had prior to booking my ticket, I never once thought that being alone, thousands of miles from my friends and family, was a reason not to go. I had friends come up to me, applaud my decision, and in the same breath tell me that they could never do it. Not for lack of finances or wanderlust, but because they could not be isolated and alone. Is the 'alone' factor, actually the non-factor I had assumed? My answer is a qualified yes. I have missed many people, Jess, my family, and a few close friends all come to mind. There have been countless moments I wish I could have shared with any number of you. And at times, the loneliness has, as it should, reared its ugly head. But.....am I functioning just fine, am I enjoying myself immensely, yes. Is the 'alone' aspect a factor, of course it is, and I am a fool for not realizing it before I left. Yet I made the right decision, I can handle myself just fine on my own, and while I do feel like a have a life that is waiting for me, a life that in some sense requires me to wander only so far and for so long, I am confident that 3 months, or 4 months is not too long.

on the backpacker circuit -

Germans; they are everywhere. I got into a conversation with a german about their social policies toward the university graduate crowd. Simply astonishing. I could be wrong, but basically Germany subsidizes both your education, but also your life after you graduate, meaning basically that you can get handouts from the German government akin to American unemployment benefits without ever having worked a day in your life.

where are the Americans -

I can go on forever about this. As my mind likes to wander, it often wanders back to all the decisions, all the pressure, and all the misgivings I had about taking this trip. I blame you. I blame all of you Americans. When I look at the way American society prioritizies life, I am left acknowledging the obvious benefits we stand to gain from our birth-school-work-(maybe live a little when you are 55-65)-death mentality. Sure its not so black and white, but generally, we are a nation of insurance hungry, fear of the future, worriers. If you give a 23 year old American $5,000 that he earned in his first job after school, the wise thing to do with that money is invest in a Roth IRA, get that retirement fund going early. You give a 23 year old German, a Canadian, a Aussie, a Kiwi, or any other westernized nation that cash and they book their round the world ticket and worry about the consequences later.
Do we have a higher standard of living then those nations I named? Yes. Is it worth it to basically sacrifice your 20s to prepare yourself for your 50s and 60s, you all know my answer.

In defense, I will say that Americans, unlike many international travelers, have the benefit of traveling in the states and seeing such a vast country that you could argue that you get the same experiences domestically as abroad. It would be a terrible argument, but I can understand why Irish people need to get out of their country, it's, from what I hear, rather mundane after awhile.

backpackers lodges -

No, I do not really feel well rested. Conversely, nor do I feel that backpackers lodges are a substandard way of travelling - a jab I often receive from my friends back home. You can't do what I am doing without these places, and I'd argue that there is no other way to see a country such as New Zealand other than driving around and staying in quiet towns. Could you double your nightly budget and stay in motels by yourself? Sure, you then have to eat out every night. You need the kitchen facilities. I see families staying in many of the quieter lodges, many places I have had rooms to myself. Is the communal aspect a bitter pill to swallow at times? Absolutely. So I then book myself into my own room, done and done. Its true that people are naturally distrustful of what they do not know, and I realize that in America we do not know backpackers/hostel accomodations. But they are not the devil folks.

Music down here -

Not as bad as originally thought. In the woods you have the weird allegience to death metal as all backwoods hicks tend to do, but in mainstream society the trend is to reggae and dub. I hear as much Beyonce and Eminem down here as I do local artists. If anything its amazing how strong the American influence is so far away. I was on the ferry to Stewart Island, literally 5 people on the thing, in the middle of nowhere, and MGMT's Electric Feel comes on the radio. For my parents and those not in the know, MGMT was an underground band from L.A. that struck it big about this time last year....just crazy to hear them on the radio down here.

Sleeping -

Nope, I dont need as much as most people apparently. Its now 10:52 at a semi-full backpackers lodge. I am the only person in the common area. People go to sleep earlier than me, and sleep later. Perhaps I'm still on lawyer time, which really only requires 6 hours of sleep a night, but I just do not feel great lying in a communal room for 9 hours. So I right non-sensical blogs instead.

Lots going on, big changes. In many ways, I am nearing a stage of completion. My rather innocuous plans to travel New Zealand were at all times anchored to the idea that I would locate myself in the southern alps to ski for at least a few weeks. Having now driven over 4,000 kilometers and devoted 6 weeks to touring both the north and south islands I approach my time in the alps with some hesitation. I could easily spend another 6 weeks touring both islands and I regret that I missed several noteworthy areas. At the same time, such additional travel would alter the feel of this trip, it would require me to find additional means of financing my travels, namely working. Over all, I am happy with how I spent my time so far. I could be accused of running around a little, especially these past two weeks. Now I am almost scared of the lack of movement I have planned for the next month. I will relocate to the town of Queenstown, NZ on Friday. If you can imagine hundreds of backpackers all heading to one town, Queenstown is that town. Its the adventure capital of the world, and it is the party capital of the south island during winter. I plan on relaxing there for a few nights before heading to the nearby ski village of Wanaka where I will base myself for at least two weeks. I have finally set my departure date for Labor Day weekend, when I will be flying to Sydney and onward to Cairns, Australia to meet Jess! Very excited about that.

As for the last few days, I will summarize Stewart Island as quickly as possible. Its the type of place that grabs you from the moment you step off the boat. With so few people (200-300), so few travellers (about 12), and really no tourism industry apart from a few water taxis and air planes to ferry people around the island, the island has remained relatively outside the realm of eco-tourism. New Zealand's own lack of personal riches has spared the island from becoming a Martha's Vineyard. Instead the island is 85% national park, the remaining 15% houses a mix of posh vacation homes and dilapidated cabins. The locals are fisherman and are friendly. The scenery was average, it was the isolation that was special.

From Stewart we drove about 150 kilometers across the southern coastline and up the west coast to Fjordland. Fjordland is home to the some of the most famous hikes in the New Zealand many of which skirt around Milford Sound, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. I spent today kayaking through the sound, it was my first real glimpse at fjords. The mountain heights were about 3,000 feet, rising straight out from water which was anywhere from 200-2000 feet deep, right below my kayak. It rains 240 days out of the year in the sound, and most people say that rain adds to the effect. I was happy with overcast skies and pockets of sun, the photography does not do it justice. It is an amazing place. Again, I somewhat marvel at how New Zealand either by way of lack of resources or by design has left its natural wonders alone. You can not get into Milford Sound without driving 120 kilometers from the closest town, and even then you need to either be prepared to hike a few days into the woods or pay for kayak or boat trip services. Much of why so much of the scenery here is special is largely due to its remoteness. A footnote to this idea is the benefit I have unknowingly gained by travelling in the off season. Today there were 16 people in the sound along with 2 tour boats. On a summers day there would 80 kayaks two dozen boats, and 400 planes flying in and out every day. This is only one example. The locals remark time and again how the roads are slower, the hiking paths are more crowded, and the boat tours are teaming in the summer. Balancing these benefits out are the problems with travelling in the off-season - many shopkeepers are on vacation, many nicer accomodations are closed, many outdoor activities such as multi-day hikes are unfeasible due to snowpack.
Like so many things its a double-edged sword, but the moments of tranquility that you get without crowds are hard to beat.

Thats the broad brush stroked story for now....

Im going to post another entry for random thoughts on travelling, travel partners, and additional new zealand thoughts.

Check my pictures, there should be new ones up.

What an up and down week, admittedly, there is nothing worse than the prospect of getting seriously ill while on the road. I am happy to say that my proactive approach to feeling somewhat ill has more or less saved me from getting real sick. Right now I feel fine and I question whether the local doctor in Dunedin properly diagnosed me with Shingles, but I'll keep taking the meds and resting and hope its all in the past.

In terms of the what and the where, I left Dunedin and basically traveled to the middle of nowhere, or as they call it down here, Southland. We stayed two nights in Catlins National forest which is home to more sea lions, dolphins, and penguins then people. Most of the terrain down here is relatively flat with bluffs and woodland extending out from the coast. Its more reminiscent of Britain then New Zealand. The weather has also reminded me of Britain, cold, damp, and rainy. We kept things rather tame the through the Catlins, leaving the paved road to adventure down unpaved roads and walking relatively short (20-40 min) paths to waterfalls or coastal bays.

Accomodations have been amazing in the sense that we have had mountain and waterfront lodges to ourselves. There are very few people down here, and during this season there is no one here. Several of the towns are nothing more than a gas station, a basic general store, and maybe a bar. The locals down here veer toward that backwoods, buck-toothed, horror movie vibe. I do not regret coming down here as the isolation itself is inherently cool, but it wont be the most memorable place.

Yesterday we walked through some pasture land to reach the southern most point in the entire country, Slope Point. The point is a rather wind blown, extremely rocky area with nothing but water separating you from Antarctica. From there we settled into Invercargill, the southern most city, for the night.

Today, I am in what may be one of the coolest places of the trip so far - Stewart Island. In size its a bit bigger than Martha's Vineyard, but its no where near as developed. There are about 300 full year residents on the island, and this time of year, I would guess there are about 100 people here. The town of Oban supplies the port, a bar, a grocery store, several fish n chips joints, and an amazing backpackers lodge that I am currently writing in.

Its actually warmer here as the island is a temperate rainforest. There is little to do other than hike, as my car is on the mainland and there are no roads here. We'll be here for two nights before heading to the west coast and fjordland for a week.

In terms of general timing, this is just about the end of my wandering period. I will be in fjordland and then the ski towns of queenstown and wanaka for almost all of august before flying out the first weekend of september to Australia. I am excited to finally call a region my home for the month as its been a whirlwind of driving and moving around the last 3 weeks.

Tonight Im heading to the bar for a bowl of some famous chowder, the owner of the lodge and I hung out a bit this afternoon and he gifted me a few pounds of venison to cook up for dinner tonight. Of random note, deer hunting is quite popular here, but the stranger thing is that deer farming is also an industry, seeing deer in gated herds is kinda strange.

So I left Blenheim feeling well rested and happy to be out of the backpackers lodges, but I also felt a bit weird, somewhat fatigued for no good reason. I drove a rather boring 100 kilometers to the east coast, for the geographic buffs, the east coast is the South Pacific, closest city is Santiago, Chile. My destination was the marine wildlife area of the Kaikoura Peninsula. The last 30 kilometers was along the water and featured the largest seal colony in all of New Zealand and one of the largest in the world. Hundreds and hundreds of seals all along the water and at times within 5 feet of the foot paths that led to the viewing areas. In the end, seals do not really care about us and after enough viewing are rather boring animals to look at.

I had a reservation to go sperm whale watching for 12:45 and made it to the dock with half an hour to spare. Kaikoura is just another ridiculously scenic area, as the Kaikoura mountain range rises less than 10 kilometers from the ocean into snow covered craggy peaks. The water itself is world reknowned for the Kaikoura shelf. Basically, less than one kilometer from the shore line, the ocean floor drops over 4,000 feet, something that is almost unheard of worldwide and is the sole factor for the wealth of sea life right of the coast. The whale watch was cool enough, if a bit overpriced. We got to see two sperm whales, and the boat captain deftly moves the boat around the whale so that the diving picture of the whales tail can be shot with the Kaikoura mountains in the background...check my pics for what I am talking about.

I got back from the whale watch, got some food and settled into a rather junky hostel for a quiet night. The next morning I was set to meet my travel partner Ryan in the city of Christchurch about 200 kilometers to my south. The drive went well and I met Ryan and continued another 200 kilometers south to his current hometown, the city of Dunedin. As you can see, lots of driving.

We pulled into Dunedin with the idea of spending the weekend preparing for two weeks in the real no-man's land of the south island - Catlin's National Park, Stewart Island, and the Fjordland. Basically, these places are some of the last inhabited, most pristine natural settings in the country. Its nice to have someone to go with, as we are going truly into the middle of nowhere. With that agenda, I pulled into Dunedin and went directly to the emergency room. I had developed some sort of welts on the side of my face and was experiencing a malaise with mild elements of vertigo. Not good, not good at all. The diagnosis was shingles, an illness my cousin just dealt with and something I was neither happy to deal with nor overly concerned about. As of now, I probably feel the worst I have felt since I left home. A bit feverish, and tired. We are still setting off tomorrow for the Catlins. I have my meds. and I promise not to do anything more than sit buy the woodfires and read until I feel better.

On a final note, I am now in winter. Dunedin's temperatures are hovering around freezing at night and ice and sleet have fallen in the city the last day. The killer with this country is that the homes have no insulation. Why, I do not know, as they spend 3 months of the year in freezing temperatures. What this means is that you can never really get warm. Some places have wood fires and everyone congregates in this rooms during the evening hours, but at night, you are in bed and the room temps are falling. Is it terrible? No, not really, but it does give some credence to the locals' bitching and moaning over winter.

So I'll put this in perspective a bit, I drove 1,500 km on the North Island in 18 days, I have now driven 1,200 km in the south island in 7 days. After my first 24 hours in Nelson and my day up in Abel Tasman national park I vowed to take it easy, as my body was hurting. Well I woke up on Wednesday to clear skies and warm temperatures, which naturally meant that I could not really take it easy. I ended up staying In Nelson and doing two relatively painless hikes around the coastline. I went out to the bars that evening in search of some life and found a public poker game which was one of the funniest evenings I have had in awhile; and yes I took some money off the locals.

I'll say this Nelson is probably the best place to live in New Zealand. Several travelers had previously gushed over the town and I can see why. Its got everything - wine country, beautiful coastline, amazing national parks, and a wide array of arts and galleries. Admittedly, the town has that pretentious undertone that comes with money, artists, and good scenery. I should also add that the town seemed more like a 40s-60s type place, not much youth or young professional opportunities from what I saw. I did see lots of law offices, and many real estate law offices, I got as close as the entryway to read the bios of some of the attorneys with the faint idea of going in to inquire about life as an attorney down here, but then I saw a reflection of myself in the window and realized I would probably would have been escorted out by the police as a vagrant trespasser.

The following day I vowed to finally escape Nelson. I know that should I want to, I'll have time in August to come back here if I want to cut my ski days down. I woke up and called one of the smallest vineyards in the areas in hopes of making a private reservation to visit a micro-winery rather than deal with the revolving door feel of the big wineries, something I already experienced in Napa Valley. I struck gold. I called Kina Beach Vineyards on a whim. After several rings, a guy named Dave picked up and told me to swing by in two hours. I killed some time by driving through the inland areas around Nelson. The place is full on wine country with vineyards everywhere. Due to the climate this area of New Zealand is known for its Sauv Blancs, Chardonnays, and Pinot Noirs, the hardier cabs and merlot grapes dont do well here. Over at Kina Beach, I found a dirt road and a hand marked wooden sign pointing me to a villa type house nestled about 4 acres from the beach. Dave, the owner met me and sat me down in his tasting area. We talked for awhile, he told me how he spent 35 years in the corporate world before going to viticulture school, and spending two years looking for the perfect 20 acres to start a vineyard. The results are pretty impressive. Since planting the vines in 1998 and bottling his first season in 2001, Dave and his wife have won annual awards for their Chardonnay and Pino Noir, both of which I tasted and feigned as much glowing praise as I could without sounding dumb. I mean the wine was great, but I just did not know exactly how to compliment it. Point is, I got a great hour with a guy who is living his dream and breathing his own blood and sweat into his wines, which he rightly describes as bold renditions of two often bland wines.

From the winery I hightailed it 150 kilometers to another wine center, the small town of Blenheim. Blenheim is in the middle of Marlborough County, which is the area that put New Zealand wines on the map. Blenheim is a shit town, filled with migrant grape pickers and b & b tourists thinking they are getting a bang for their buck by going to 400 acre vineyards. Not my cup of tea, I was in Blenheim to stay with a couple I had met on the road a few weeks ago. Mike and Kendy are a married couple, both 30, who are living and working in Blenheim. They invited me to dinner and to stay in their home, which for all purposes was a really nice time. We talked a lot about the difference in American and Kiwi culture and ate a great meal. Now I will say that they are both born again christians. Did I get any jesus talk? No. Did I get any faith based Christianity schpeils? No. I did get a good dose of Iran/muslim conspiracy theories and a few odd semi-racist comments, but nothing that I couldnt shrug off. In the morning, I got what I had assumed the whole time. Mike was a semi-pro golfer with a professional drinking problem. His now wife laid down the law and Mike turned from the bottle to Christ. Suffice to say, he forced me to take the bottle of Pino Noir I bought for him back.....how you live in wine country and don't drink wine boggles my mind.

As I have more to write....check the next post to see update for the past few days.