Entries in "Nelson/Marlborough"
The real Kiwi experience, Sun Jul 16, 2006
If you are considering travel to New Zealand, you have no doubt heard of the Kiwi Experience bus service (even if this is the first time.) Buses travel organized routes and you can get off and on whenever you want. Bus drivers help suggest activities and buses drop you off at "approved" backpackers. It all sounds really great. All the hard work is done for you. You just ride around the country with a bunch of other backpackers and enjoy the scenery wherever the bus stops.
It's a total crock. Almost everyone on these buses is 18-19 year old British kid who is probably more interested in getting pissed at the pub than really experiencing the country. We (regular backpackers) call them bratpackers. Buses drop you off at YHA hostels that are sterile, rigid, and lack character; people there aren't really interested in meeting people outside of their clique.
Why am I ranting? Because someone has to, and so I can compare my experience to some other standard, even if that standard is lacking. For example, this weekend I went camping in the freezing cold next to a river in the middle of nowhere and stayed up all night trying to catch eels with a spear. The week before I went to the eastern coast of the South Island (White's Bay) and went diving for paua (that's Maori for abalone.) Which sounds better?
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(Mis)Adventures in the Sounds, Thu Jul 13, 2006
I drove two hours over bumpy one lane gravel roads, with hardly a tree to stop my car from flying over the edge into the sea if I missed the next turn. Big puffy clouds floated along amidst sparkling waters and land rising quickly to hundreds of meters. Sounds too good to be true, I know.
And it was. The people there weren't the nicest I've met. The HelpX website says you should work about 4 hours a day in exchange for room and board. I also expect to get something else out of my stay, something unique. I can work my butt off somewhere else and get paid; I want something special here.
All I did was dig up earth for 6 hours for a silly rock wall. I didn't even get a "thank you" or a "good job", just a dinner at which me and my friend worker were ignored the whole time. I was treated like a guest, but rather an itinerit worker of little consequence. I was supposed to stay until Sunday but I left on Thursday morning...and I forgot my $200 boots. I want to drive my car off a cliff.
I also got sick from working in the wind and cold and I've spent the last week getting better. Now that I've healed up enough, I'm taking off for a week in the wilderness to clear my soul, as Emerson would have done. Ben will be here next week. Gotta get ready for nonstop travel again. It'll be hard now that I feel like I live here and not just passing through.
Port Ligar... That's right, the magical lion/tiger, Sat Jul 1, 2006
So I'm told that it actually rhymes with "cigar", but its still funny. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you need to rent Napoleon Dynamite--right now. Don't worry. I'll wait...
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Got it? Yes, now laugh with me. Good. Moving on!
I finally quit the vineyard on Thursday. I don't know how much I made, but I have over $1200 in the bank and a few hundred in my pocket. I really should have made more, but my hands are big balls of cramped muscle, so I couldn't work as fast as I could for 8 hours straight.
But the real news is that I'm leaving for Port Ligar. It's way out in the sounds, on the northern tip of the South Island. I'm staying on a farm/bed and beakfrast about 2 hours on a windy one-lane road (check out the pics). It's a big family that runs the place and there is also a japanese and kiwi girl working there.
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35 Days (and the coal ran out) in Spring Creek, Sun Jun 25, 2006
My apologies to everyone who doesn't get the obscure phish reference. I think only Big Nate and Amy will appreciate it...
My fifth week working the vines... I believe I said I would be on the North Island soon, back on June 5th. Not so. I still wear my secateurs low and back on my right hip, backpack full of food and water, and loppers hung under my arm. I feel like a cowboy; a "vine-slinger". Ripping through plants at a blinding speed of 20 per hour. Well, its good enough for more than $100 a day.
I've decided this is my last week. I've had some great times and made a bit of money, but my hands are constantly aching and I wake up with useless claws. I've also lost sight of my orignal goal for this trip: to experience life in rural NZ. I've only been on one farm in all this time. I met a great Kiwi and Maori, but really don't know much about the people of this country or the lives they lead.
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In Hell, you prune vines for $50 a day, Mon Jun 5, 2006
I can't believe it has been a week already. I work everyday at the vineyard, pruning vines. It's crappy work, but at the same time, I like it to some degree. You start the day before the sun is out and the ground is covered in frost, and then the sun blazes over the mountains and in one hour your sweating as you work. I'm determined to make money...because I'm totally broke. There was a hiccup with my online credit card system, so I found out I spent more than I thought. I might have to call up my credit union and see about getting a general purpose loan.
I'm typically scientific in my pruning. I'm always watching others, asking questions, and testing theories--in addition to working my butt off. I've also met some interesting people. Of everyone here, Grant is by far the most newsworthy. He's a real Maori. He knows the language, the songs, and the history. My favorite activity so far is to listen to him sing traditional Maori songs and listen to stories about his people or explain some aspect of their culture. How better to learn about the nose press, the haka, or the prophecies of the Waitaha people who predated even the Maori in NZ.
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Abel Tasman is my buddy, Thu May 25, 2006
I am north, but not North (as in North Island.) Nelson today, Motueka yesterday. I feel better, like I'm starting to surface after holding my breath underwater for too long--the further up the world I go... I ventured up to Abel Tasman National Park and spent 6 hours on the famous coastal track. I decided against a multi-day hike--rain, cloud, and cold made beach-walking seem silly--but I took a water taxi out to Bark Bay and walked south back to my car. It was nice, but I wasn't moved to tears. The scenery is probably better appreciated from a kayak, which would account for the popularity of kayak companies here (at least 5.) I think I'll try the Queen Charlotte, too, if the weather ever clears up.
Nick and Nicola--very nice English from England, Reading (I think) to be precise. We walked together on the track and I stayed at another hostel at their recommendation. I forgot my camera, so they took pictures for me. Maybe there will be new pics to look at! The first ones in weeks. Had a great time at the smaller hostel, flirting with a Japanese girl named Mami. Small, cute, typically Japanese expressions and interjections ("US A OK")... Will you marry me? I ask her. Not on the first date, she says. What about tomorrow? I think I'm going to learn Japanese.
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The Art of Travel, Mon May 22, 2006
I am struggling with a problem. I feel stuck, in a slump, somewhat isolated, adrift amid a flotsam of 'friends', bored yet overwhelmed by too many options for adventure, strapped for cash with too much time left, but not enough time to find work even if I wanted it. Should an overseas holiday, the so-called trip of a lifetime, be plagued with such nagging worries as this?
There are two issues: dislocated from everything I know, I no longer am sure who I am--and with such a constant uncertainty as my own identity, how am I to connect with others to form a meaningful experience out of such transient relationships? And thirdly, why am I using such a complicated sentence structure? I think the stress has gotten to me...