I think it’s a good rule of thumb that anytime you see a man walking with a goat that you take his photograph. No matter where, no matter what. I met this guy, I think he is called Peter, just strolling around the town of Ross on the west coast. The goat is called “little one” and it was awesome.
Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand is as advertised. I’ve never been to a place that crams such a wide range of eco-systems and landscapes into a relatively small package. I can’t really compare the places I’ve been on the South Island with other parts of the world I’ve seen. The Southern Alps are a dominating force here, changing weather patterns, altering trade and commerce and causing mild vertigo whilst driving on their retardedly crooked roads. The west coast is wet, heavily vegetated and sparsely populated. The area between the Tasman sea and the Southern Alps is rainforest and Middle Earth as Pete Jackson would have you believe. The glaciers that exist here, primarily Fox and Franz Josef, exist nowhere else on earth at this latitude, roughly equal to that of Chicago. The terminal base of Fox glacier lies about 15 miles from the sea. Parts of the central South Island are as moon-esque as you’ll see anywhere, aside from the moon of course. The land there sees few drops of rain and even fewer people. To the east, the South Pacific ocean and at the bottom of New Zealand, when the wind is from the south, you’re quickly reminded that there is nothing but cold, cold ocean between you and Antarctica.
In three months time in Twizel (central South Island) I lived with seven Germans and two Chileans. There are alot of Germans in New Zealand, in fact, someone should check with Germany to see if there are any kids left there. Although the Germans themselves were quite nice as people, the language did start to have a certain mind numbing effect on me by the end. If French and Italian are romance languages then German must be like the hacking death cough language. That’s probably and exaggeration. With my contract at the salmon farm having ended on the 31st of March, I packed my bags and caught a ride with my friend Lindsey, from Twizel and headed south to explore a bit. The weather was turning cold and the first snows had fallen in the mountains already and I really didn’t want anything to do with winter. I decided to rent a car and make my way around on four motorized wheels for 15 days. I slept in the car, not comfortably, and froze my testicles off most nights (no joke, woke up one morning and the left one was rolling around on the floor). Sigh.
I’ve been hanging out in cemeteries after dark lately. It just seems right.
For the most part I’ve accomplished what I set out to do in New Zealand. I farmed a few salmon, made a few dollars, met some very memorable people and likewise, some forgettable ones. I saw some mind-blowing sights, heard some insane stories, skipped a few stones, picked a few bones and learned a few things whether I wanted to or not. I also realized that I’m not as cool or as smart as I thought I was. That could well be the most valuable lesson to come from it all yet. I don’t think we are ever as smart as we think we are, big picture wise, the amount of things we could possibly learn will never come close to the number of things we have the potential to learn. The more I move around the more I see how little the world actually needs me, in fact, it needs me none.
On the left, doing some washing in a river but I can’t remember where and biting the head off a salmon on the right, obviously.
So now I’m in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital. I’m trying to find a boat to Australia of which there would be many I would think. One option is take an all inclusive cruise for 10 nights that also stop in Fiji and Tonga. That is a pricey option and therefore not an option. My best, and cheapest, bet is to talk my walk into getting a ride on a private yacht or sail boat or somehow find my way onto a container ship bound for Oz. That’s what the next week or so has in store for me as I move up the North Island. I can afford to fly but its the whole “journey not the destination” thing. When and if I arrive in Oz I’ll work there for a bit then head north into Asia, slowly working my way back to the U.S. I hope to be gone for a while. Have a nice day!
Fox glacier, west coast, South Island.
Kids in the peace circle in Twizel. There was supposed to be a large earthquake the day I saw them. They were trying to stay in a safe place and there was a quake but it was small.
Lawn bowling at Gore, NZ. The guy on the right is awesome. New Zealand athletes have a slightly different build than U.S. athletes. It isn’t the most physically demanding of sports as you can see but the folks were rather nice.
Near Hokitika, west coast, South Island. Always be aware of the current tidal conditions when you park your car. They drove down in the dark and then got stuck in the wet sand, I don’t know who the lady is. The rocks are at Moeraki Boulders near Omaru on the east coast of the South Island.
