Category Archives: Nature

Ecuador Bits

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I’ve been in Ecuador for almost 10 days so I guess it’s time to tell some tales…  read on!

It's not a poster it's the view from the window!

It’s not a poster it’s the view from the window!

Nature in Ecuador is beautiful. The long bus drives are filled with amazing views that can compete with New Zealand or Switzerland. So much untouched nature between one human settlement to the next. Taking that into account the roads are surprisingly good.

Spot the nickle?

Spot the nickle?

Like all third world countries there is a vast difference between the cities and the villages. The cities are cities, Guayaquile could just about be manila or even Tel Aviv. But the villages are a different story. People look different, they talk different, there are no fast food chains and almost no one speaks English.

Ecuador uses dollars which makes things more expensive than some other places in South America but still cheaper than Colombia. The strange thing is they use a mixture of U.S Coins and local coins (and they use a lot of coins!) but don’t use $50 bills! I guess this is the best proof that the whole money system is a belief system like any other.

Sandwich Sandwich

Rolling the boat on the log into the ocean. simple human ingenuity.

Rolling the boat on the log into the ocean, simple human ingenuity.

Canoa is a strange little beach village in the center of Ecuador. It is dependent on tourism but is still a fisherman village with families rolling their small boats on tree logs into the ocean every day casting their nets for fish and huge shrimp! Not all families are created equal, some have many young men and boys helping, others had old women pushing. It was strange to see that the boat engine itself is carried each day from the house and connected to the boat, theft is a big issue.

Boat loads of dead sardines are dumped back in to the ocean by the 'corporate' boat because there is no demand for them. At leas the Pelicans enjoy this feast :(

Boat loads of dead sardines are dumped back in to the ocean by the ‘corporate’ boat because there is no demand for them. At leas the Pelicans enjoy this feast 🙁

My well documented sea sickness prevented me from joining a local fishing boat that my friend managed to get invited on to. He came back with the most hilarious tales. The fishermen spend the day smoking weed while laying their nets. Then they head out to a larger commercial fishing boat were they begin to negotiate with the ‘corporate’ fishermen. The men manning the large boat stay at sea for days at a time and for a fresh can of soda or some chips will throw some fish into the local fishermen’s boat. When all valuable goods had been traded for fish the local fisherman commanded my friend “Make me a sandwich sandwich”.

“What’s that?” My friend asked.

“Two pieces of bread with another two pieces of bread inside”.

“Oh, you have a sandwich sandwich” said a ‘corporate’ fisherman and traded some more fish for it.

After trading the fisherman return to their nets to collect the day’s loot.

Surfing Vs. Climbing

Art or destruction of nature?

Art or destruction of nature?

Ecuador is known for its surf but a ‘professional’ surfer I met wasn’t happy with the waves. “They are all mushy,” he said. “And there is no easy path out into the ocean because the waves break everywhere.” The biggest surprise for me was how much your ribs hurt after a day of surfing. Laying on the board and battling the waves gets your chest and ribs scratched up and banged up!

The climbing so far has been surprisingly good. It is a new young sport here and the rock was well bolted and local climbers were at both crags we arrived to. One of the crags just outside of the city was covered with graffiti which I had mixed feelings about.

Ecuador Vs. Thailand

The beaches I’ve seen were not as good as Thailand but this is not the high season so the sky is always cloudy. The coconuts and fruit shakes can give Thailand a good fight but they are more expensive here so once more Thailand is at an advantage.

Only in Ecuador?!? Yes the shrimp is bigger than the fork!

Only in Ecuador?!? Yes the shrimp is bigger than the fork!

It also feels a lot less safe. Bags are stolen (including my friend’s) and locals warned me not to sit outside the backpackers with my computer or a camera at night. The buses are easy to use and cheap but not nearly as fancy as Thailand buses. I guess for these reasons and more Ecuador is a lot less touristic than Thailand. I have also been using Couchsurfing here which I never did in Thailand. From the locals I learnt that I just missed the Gay parade which had thousands of people marching in it. Although tolerance here is not close to the strange status gay and transgenders have in Thailand it’s nice to know things are getting better (While in Israel the minister of education said that a Jewish state should tell Gay couples they are not a family).

Children playing football on the beach all day, every day.

Children playing football on the beach all day, every day.

 

 

 

Peace AND Love?

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Tamera is a community in Portugal which focuses on bringing peace to the world through free love and a sustainable ecological model of living. I Just came back from an introduction week there and It was nothing like I expected it to be! Read on…

One of the many water retention areas.

Entrance to Tamera

My first impression of Tamera was of a German retirement home. There were many 60+ year olds strolling around the 150 hectors and everything was calm, beautiful and… German! I knew Tamera was founded by Germans but I had no Idea that even today, more than 30 years later, it was still a little German colony in the heart of Portugal’s farm land. The main spoken language is German, most people are German and the culture is most definitely German. There are schedules and time tables and task lists. Not what one would expect from a ‘hippy’ community. The upside was that there was almost no ‘mushy’ fake hugging and the usually endless introduction and farewell circles were limited in time, with each person getting exactly 2 minutes to speak, exactly!

The best compost toilets ever! Notice the piece of wood preventing the toilet lid from hitting the wall. German engineering!

The best compost toilets ever! Notice the piece of wood preventing the toilet lid from hitting the wall. German engineering!

I came to Tamera asking myself what enabled this community to succeed for more than three decades when so many other communities broke apart. There is no doubt in my mind that the ‘German’ management is part of the answer.

 

Daily Life

My daily life there was very different from someone who is a member of the community. In fact, we were kept quite apart from the community. This was another surprise for me. If I were living in a closed community and there were some newcomers coming I’d run to see who they are, but I suppose it might be expected with the amount of guests Tamera gets.

Breakfast was at 7:00 a.m!!! And from 8:30-10:30 we were asked to join Karma Yoga. What the hell is that, you might be asking yourself. Luckily I had heard of this new and improved way to manage slave labour from friends who came across this. You are asked to work for free in order to better your Karma and advance your spiritual being. At least Tom Sawyer had the decency of tricking people to believe painting the fences was fun. Needless to say, I didn’t join the garden work and went back to sleep after breakfast, or read a book, or practiced Karate. I figure my Karma is fucked beyond salvation anyway.

It wasn't easy finding a small area that wasn't squeaky clean

It wasn’t easy finding a small area that wasn’t squeaky clean

From 11:30-13:00 we had a ‘geistic hour’ about one of the core values of Tamera. Geist is a big part of the language of Tamera, along with words like ‘vision’, ‘coherence’, ‘pilgrimage’ and others. It means something between philosophic and spiritual. Basically someone was talking, quoting all these German scholars and then we could ask questions. Somehow my questions always managed to create the most upheaval. “Do you have any proof of the ‘inner goodness’ of humans?”  “Are you aware that you sound very heteronormative and seem to ignore the whole queer community?” were some of the issues I brought up. But don’t worry, the instructors from the community made sure things didn’t get too exciting, telling everyone to take a deep breath and calm down. God forbid I have some fun.

At 13:00 we had lunch and then Siesta time until 16:00.

We then met for another 3 hours doing more practical things, such as community ‘trust’ building exercises or experiencing their unique type of group psycho-drama therapy they call ‘Forum’. In ‘Forum’ one person brings up a problem or questions through acting it out and being guided by the Forum ‘leader’ after which others can become mirrors helping that person see parts of himself he might be missing or give him advice.

19:00 was dinner time.

At 20:00 the small bar opened and we could get to know the different members of our interesting group. This went on until 24:00.

And so life went on.

Free Love

Let’s admit it, this is most likely the reason you are reading this piece. As a champion of open relationships, polyamory or anything not monogamy, this was one of the main issues I was specifically interested in Tamera. How do things not get terribly ‘messy’ and complicated in such an ‘open’ community?

Well, part of the answer is they talk about it… a lot! From my prodding questions they seem to talk about it way more than they actually do it. In fact, I wasn’t the only one who felt that the whole environment was far from being ‘sexy’, even to the point of experiencing a libido decrease. Part of this might be due to the underdeveloped practice of movement methods, no morning yoga, no Contact improvisation jams (except for the one I created) and no communal sports games. Instead, their communal time is spent in lectures about current ecological issues. Their Sunday ‘church’ is used to update the community on projects that are going on and sings peace songs (one of which was in Hebrew which was super strange for me). As you can see there isn’t much that might get the ‘juices’ flowing.

Probably the 'sexiest' picture I could find. Check out those solar panels!

Probably the ‘sexiest’ picture I could find. Check out those solar panels!

“There can be no peace on earth as long as there is war in love”

This is the statement from which Tamera’s philosophy of free loves arises and I’ll admit even I like it. But their solution is quite the opposite of personal ‘freedom’:

“We must ask ourselves if each of our actions will create more peace or not and act accordingly, creating an environment of complete trust and openness between all members of the community”.

If you have to get the whole community’s agreement before you can go have some fun with someone, well you’re not going to have much fun are you? Actually, the whole ‘process’ of exposure to the community sort of takes all the spontaneity, fun and excitement out of sex and love.

Autonomy

solar 'oven' for use in crises areas.

solar ‘oven’ for use in crises areas.

Tamera aims to produce 80% of all their energy food and water they need. They claim that in a time of crisis a change in behavior patterns will reduce their usage by 20%. So far their greatest and most inspiring success comes from their water retention and soil management plan. They have built a set of dams to collect rain water and through planting support plants and nourishing their land they have managed to stop the desertification process that is taking place in nearby farms. They currently supply 100% of their own water and have managed to replenish ground water levels, creating actual abundance. Their permaculture gardens are well on their way and in a much better state than what I experienced in Australia. They have horses and pigs that do the digging for them (and tractors) but none of the animals are used for food as it is entirely a vegan community. For energy they mostly relay on massive solar panels but they also research and create methods that can be used in third world countries or disaster zones. For instance, creating biogas from vegetables or an ‘oven’ that is created by mirrors collecting, focusing and directing sun light.

One of the water retention areas created.

One of the water retention areas created.

Compared to these advances it was quite disappointing to hear about Tamer’s financial situation. They are is far from being autonomous. 60% of their money comes from guests and seminars, 20% from donations and 20% from people in the community that work outside. Although there is no rule about having to give your money to the community people working outside the community give around 50% of their income. There are no rules about how many hours one needs to work and community members trust that others are working to their best of their capabilities.

The bottom line is Tamera is in debt of 1.8 million euro. I thought that was really a lot but I guess if you divide it by 150 members it’s ‘just’ 12000 euro each. Compared to their vast knowledge of ecological issues, (which was sometimes seasoned with strange beliefs like prayer reducing radiation!?!?) I found their knowledge in economic issues lacking. For instance they live with myths about the Kibbutz model being successful while the truth is that all the Kibbutz’s in Israel were always supported by the Israeli government or the Jewish agency and their debt had to be reduced and erased time after time to prevent bankruptcy. To be fair, the myth that ‘take what you need and give what you can’ is a good idea probably comes from one relatively new and unique Kibbutz that seems to be making this work. The name of the place is Samar (sorry for the Hebrew link but there is very little information about them out their) and on my next visit to Israel I’ll be sure to check them out.

It was especially sad for me to see how they used one of the sessions to try to get us guests to donate more money. I myself ask for donations or ‘crowd funding’ for my free self defense books for children so why did this bother me?  Perhaps, as George Orwell explained in a brilliant article ‘Why Are Beggars Despised?’ (a link Amanda Palmer thanked me for so it’s worth a look!), it’s because of their failure to earn a decent living and the disparity which was present in their asking. This reminded me of the regular ‘ritual’ that accompanied every meal were those who prepared the meal ‘begged’ for people to come help wash the dishes. To me this is just bad management. This is obviously a very subjective feeling. If I would whole heartedly agree with Tamera’s vision and project I would probably be happy to donate money, just as I’m happy to donate to musicians I like (Amanda Palmer again) or the guy from the Free walking tour of Lisbon who was awesome. On a second thought, it might just be the phenomenon my favorite behavior psychologist Dan Arieli speaks about. There are two separate pathways in the brain, the empathetic-social one and the calculating one. We were already paying for our introduction week and thus the whole week I was already in my ‘calculating’ mode. If the whole week had been donation based the situation might have been different. I would have probably donated and participated in the garden and kitchen work much more.

 

Like Attracts Like

The Founders (pic from Tamera web site)

This is probably my main realization after a week in Tamera. Tamera’s history started out with two very strong and charismatic leaders (Sabine Lichtenfels, Dieter Duhm). Only after there were enough people with the same mind set the community ‘democratized’. Joining Tamera is a very slow process that takes at least two years (in which one must also pay for their stay), thus weaning out all those who are not of the exact same mindset as the rest of the community. Every new ‘electron’ added to this community ‘atom’ must fit in without exciting the rest of the electrons to a higher energy level. So if you want to join you better be a careful, meticulous and calm person who chooses to believe in the ‘inner good’ of humanity, romanticize the ‘harmony’ of nature and refuse to accept any violence in your life. I might be generalizing but I can see definite WWII post-trauma syndromes in this behavior. As for me, as one of my favorite writers put it:

“Violence is a language, perhaps the most primitive and primal language of them all.” Forgetting this language will likely cause part of ‘humanity’ to atrophy, much like a muscle that needs to be hurt and destroyed in order to trigger new muscle growth. If this is the ‘new human’ Tamara people are attempting to build and if this is their ‘heaven’ people like me don’t have a place in it. But we already agreed I’m going to Hell right?

Despite all my criticism I am very curious to see how they develop and hope their experiment does survive because I’m all for variety which makes for a more interesting reality, just as long as they don’t become the stifling majority.

Permaculture 101

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I set out to spend between two to three weeks on a permaculture farm in sunshine coast to discover whether permaculture was a hippy thing or if there was some real science behind it. Between the ticks, mosquitos, rain, cold and hard work I felt that I was on a survivor T.V episode from which I voted myself off after only 11 days. I still came back with some answers… Here’s my story.

The chickens were supposed to be my 'tractor' not the other way around!


The chickens were supposed to be my ‘tractor’ not the other way around!

Permaculture is supposed to be a unique way of doing agriculture by linking different systems together (animal, plant, energy, water, building…) in order to create a sustainable mega system which conserves energy, manpower and the earth. So why did I find myself waking up at 6 a.m. cutting grass for the chickens in the cage behind me? Good question!

Slave labor, collecting gravel for the gray water filter

Slave labor, collecting gravel for the gray water filter

It turns out this particular farm’s actual income was teaching Permaculture courses. That meant there was a need to display all aspects of permaculture on the farm, composting, animal systems, nursery, garden, food forest etc. Yet, there wasn’t enough manpower or smart design to link these systems together. So there was actually a very high work load for very little produce. The upside of this was that I got to see all of the aspects at play and learn a lot. So how does it work?

 

The Compost Toilet had to be dumped into the compost heap manually.

The Compost Toilet had to be dumped into the compost heap manually.

Maybe to you it seems obvious but I learned that growing things means you need good soil, especially the first few meters of the soil which should contain a lot of humus. Don’t get confused like I did, that doesn’t mean the chickpea paste we eat in Israel, it means organic matter that has broken down into the ground. That’s where the linkage with animal systems is supposed to come in play. Animal waste is actually good for the ground. It also means there were a million earth worms wriggling around every time I planted something and that we had to deal with, literally, a lot of shit! Animals are also supposed to help with weeding and eating bad slugs that eat your food.  Organic matter can also come from other plants so in permaculture some plants are used as ‘support plants’, you chop off material from and drop on the ground as mulch. These plants can also be used as food for the animals linking the system back into itself. Unfortunately, this was not really done on the farm, and I was working much harder to feed the animals then they were working to feed me.

Just some of the strange insects around the farm

Just some of the strange insects around the farm

Another system that is closely linked is the water system. For instance by digging out water drainage swells one can preserve rain water and force it to go into the ground slowly. This seemed a little redundant on the farm when I was there as it was constantly raining! I have to say I felt cheated by the name “Sun Shine” coast.

Poisonous?

Poisonous?

Despite the fact that the farm was far from producing all its food, the managers were almost obsessed with eating ‘healthy’. So for the first time in., well forever, I went for more than a week with no processed food. No Tim Tams, no peanut butter, no chocolate bars, no coca cola, no granola bars, no corn flakes! The first few days I was really craving chocolate, but that did pass and I noticed one tea spoon of organic whatever suger was more than enough in my coffee. In my first supermarket visit since I managed to resist the temptation to buy a chocolate bar, any bets how long this will last?

Harvesting human urine had never been so amusing

Harvesting human urine has never been so amusing

Anyway, I was lucky enough to have stayed there with 3 other woofers (volunteers who get fed for their work), who made my time on the farm a little less harsh and more amusing. And from the Italian guy’s stories, it could be much worse, we could be in Africa.

Complexity of the farm!

Complexity of the farm!

We spent our nights watching permaculture videos in a converted bus that was filled with mice, spiders, moths and mold. I also managed to go through 100 pages of a basic permaculture book. These obviously don’t make me an expert but here are my conclusions. Permaculture can never be a replacement for modern agriculture unless we all go back to growing our own food (which I personally don’t see a point in). The complexity of the system means it has to be constantly supervised and maintained, and although smart design leads to robust systems, harvesting the food for actual use in this system is complicated and time consuming because the place actually turns into a forest! You have to scavenge and gather it (which as yet no machine is able to do).

Despite that, I am convinced that Permaculture is not a ‘hippy’ thing. In fact, I’d say hippies are giving it a bad name. There are villages in Africa and India where permaculture has saved people from growing hungry. It has nurtured soil destroyed by modern agriculture (that doesn’t put nutrients back into the ground), thus enabling them to grow their own food. It could also come in handy for families or small communities wishing to get some good fruits and vegetables and some eggs without too much effort. Finally, modern agriculture could learn a thing or two (or three) from permaculture about preserving soil and water. So that’s about it, the good, the bad and the ugly!

 

 

 

Hunter Gatherer

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Zach is driving the car down a dirt road at 60 kmh beside him Shaun is holding the hunting rifle, both of them belong to the Walkatjurra Rangers, an organisations  dedicated to preserving nature along with the ancient aboriginal knowledge and culture. I’m sitting in the back between Rosaline an aboriginal elder and Bon Bon a young female ranger. All four are looking out of the windows utterly focused. “Stop!” Rosaline shouts and the car halts in a jerk. We all run out to check out the iguana tracks Rosaline somehow managed to see as we zoomed by. The hunt is on!

Iguana tracks

Iguana tracks

We didn’t catch anything that day but the passion for hunting and the love of meat is apparent at every dinner. The camp food is mostly vegetarian which the rangers are keen to supplement with meat. I asked Kato, a Wongatha elder, who explained that the traditional diet of aboriginals was indeed high in protein, but it was actually mostly vegetarian coming from Nuts that grow on local trees. The hunting and meat are for the glory!

Hunting is not the only way to get meat, the next day I try to help Rosaline and Bon Bon collect Witchetty grubs from roots of bushes. It’s hard work, digging at the base of the correct bushes and taking the worms out of the roots using a stick, but I have to say that the cooked grub is a delicacy. The crunchy outside with the fat meaty inside remind me a little of shrimps cooked in butter.

Gathering Grubs!

Gathering Grubs!

Surviving outdoors isn’t only about meat. Kato demonstrated how to find clean water and explained about medicinal herbs and just as important poisonous plants.

Kato looking for clean water.

Kato looking for clean water.

It only looks like a watermelon, don't eat!

It only looks like a watermelon, don’t eat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s wasn’t only the Ranger’s survival skills that I was fascinated by; their belief system based on what they call ‘dream time’ was a great mystery to me. From what I gathered dream time is not only creation stories of the land (that used to help people navigate as the whole village used to sing the songs every morning). It is much more; it is the disconnectedness of the whole of creation, a little like chi in eastern philosophy. In the ‘dream time’ characters had animal aspects as well as a landscape, a snake could be a person could be a chain of mountains.

Ceremony in part of the land that has "dream time tales" and historical significance to the aboriginals. It was saved from the mining companies due to the local's struggle.

Aboriginal ceremony in part of the land that has “dream time tales” and historical significance to the aboriginals. It was saved from the mining companies due to the local’s struggle.

Even today many of the aboriginals have totem animals that are chosen for them at birth as well as places that represent them. There is also an aspect of reincarnation in the aboriginal religion. How does that coexist with their love of hunting? Well I asked that and got a very interesting answer from Zach. An aboriginal who has a totem animal will usually not eat his animal but there’s more than that, he also has the responsibility to take care of his animal along with the power to restrict its hunting if the population of the animal is shrinking.

A left deep deep deep hole the mining company left after collecting samples.

A  deep deep deep hole the mining company left after collecting samples.

Unlike many of those on the walk, I don’t think that the fact that someone’s ancestors happened to be on some land before (or after) mine has any relevancy to who the land ‘belongs’ to, but the idea that man and nature should live in symbiosis as was practiced by the aboriginals is something we should all adopt. This is why the thought of mining the land without any consideration of sustainability and long term implication is so vile to many aboriginals. Although some have settled with the mining companies, many because of the fatalistic belief that the government will back the mining company anyway so it’s better to make some cash while they can.

The smoothest stone i ever touched. used to be used by aboriginal women to grind seed on. For some reason (guess) It is not recognized by Australian authority to have archaeological value.

The smoothest stone I ever touched. used to be used by aboriginal women to grind seed on. For some reason (guess) It is not recognized by Australian authority to have archaeological value.

There are many aspects of aboriginal culture that still remain a mystery to me, some of which I think I would totally be against. The segregation of men and women is one of these. I tried digging but got very few answers. There are separate areas in the land that are for “men only” or “women only” where secret ceremonies were held, whether this is still practiced today is hard to tell. It also turns out that a didgeridoo, the traditional musical instrument of some tribes (not the tribes I met), are forbidden for women. I heard many different reasons from “it’s harmful for the womb” to “it’s considered the extension of a male sex organ”, none of which I would ever accept.
I also tried to understand more about the way the Ranger’s organisation is managed. It is based on the traditional aboriginal tribal organisation which includes elders and community members each having some type of say. Can’t really say that I got it. On one hand it seemed the power was dispersed wonderfully but on the other I understood that there are complex hierarchies based on tribes and lineage. Well, it’s always great to learn that you have more to learn.

Coming up next: The walking not dead

The Anti-Uranium League of Superheroes

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I’ve survived the last 8 days in the harsh environment of the western Australian desert walking and camping alongside nearly 100 people from all around the world; I’ve come to call them, ‘The Anti-Uranium League of Superheroes’.  Here are some but by no means all of the superheros I’ve met.

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I’ve done a fair share of activism and been to many protests but the ‘Walkatjurra Walkabout’, was nothing like any protest I have ever participated in. At the beginning I thought the activists were overreacting. The government has indeed given a first approval for the uranium deposit in Yeelirrie to be mined but Toro, the company trying to develop it, still has to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars and get a whole lot of other approvals before anything can go forward.

Proposed Site of Uranium mine. No one was there to protest against!

Proposed Site of Uranium mine. No one was there to protest against!

I also didn’t understand how walking 250 km in the desert and camping in the wilderness could be an effective method of protest. But by my last night there I had realized the organizers ingeniousness and the foresight they had. As Kato, a Wongatha elder, had explained, they were using the strength of their community, bringing people into their space, where they were strongest, allowing them to influence even cynics like myself by connecting them to the land and the culture. Unlike all the protests I’ve been to, they aren’t waiting until the problem comes knocking at their door, they are using the time that they have to create an international network that will be ready to act in their favor if the time comes.

In the next few days I’ll try to share with you the story my Journey and what I learned. The walk is still happening as I write these world and will go on until the 29th of May so if you are keen to join try contacting the organizers.

bus

Imagine two days in this bus!

The Swarm

It started with a bus drive, a two days bus drive! Gemma (Aka Ultrabus) was our driver in a bus we nicknamed ‘Patches’ or ‘bardi’- an aboriginal word for worm, as it had seen better days, maybe sometime in the 70’s. We had so much stuff with us I doubted it would all fit, but luckily we had David (Aka Packman) who managed to get everything in place.

 

Pekka with laced underwear, me with a shoe bag and alex with an orange bag, all to keep the flies away!

Pekka with laced underwear, me with a shoe bag and alex with an orange bag, all to keep the flies away!

 

Finally after setting up camp in Yeelirrie I awoke the next morning and exited my tent. Suddenly I was attacked by a swarm of flies, thousands of them everywhere assaulting all of my senses. After trying the Zen approach of becoming ‘one with the flies’, as many of the League suggested, I ran back to my tent and tried to think of something more practical. I was inspired by MacGyver, and used a pillowcase and my climbing shoe bag to create the ‘Desert Walker’ suit! Finally I could go back out and explore camp life.

Coming up next: Camp life

The walk as featured on the news in Australia.

Adventure Racing

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You’ve probably never heard about this sport and you definitely should! I stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning with volunteers and hard core fans and met the world champions on the last leg of their crazy race – read on.

From the GodZone Media kit ( My pictures are not so good)

It all began when I asked, J who I climbed with in Wanaka, if I could catch a ride with her.
“Sure, I just have to stop on the way to encourage my friend who is racing”. I happily joined just to discover this crazy sport. Adventure racing is a group race of a combination of navigation, trekking, mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing and sometime other disciplines. The participants race across huge distances in a race that last several days, deciding for themselves when and where to rest. As we speak one of New Zealand’s best international adventure races is taking place (although the winning group already finished). On a feminist note, each group has to have at least one female participant and I was pleased to discover that there were groups with a majority of women.

The Godzone adventure race was designed by a close group of friends and family members who enlisted many volunteers to help with the logistics of the race.  The volunteers take their job very seriously and try to take into account every small detail, for instance if the light in the shed where the participants were changing their gear and building the mountain bikes should be left on or off.  They decided to keep it relatively dark as to not destroy the night vision of the participants who were going to have to mountain bike in the darkness.

Volunteers and fans Checking results

Volunteers and fans Checking results

The volunteers themselves are usually into some type of outdoor sport and a lot of them have family and friends that are racing.

The volunteers and fans obsessively check the online map which is updated with the GPS coordinates of the participants. I quickly found myself drawn in to the action checking the online map and observing the horizon postulating when the group J was rooting for, who were second place, would arrive to our point. Some of the real hard core fans and the photographers have an adventure race themselves trying to meet up with the participants at as many way points as they can. The fans are not allowed to give the participants any information about the other groups or navigational tips.

results

Map of results

 

 

First the world champions arrived, their head lights appearing at a distance like strange alien beings. Two and a half hours later J’s team got to our point. They went to sleep for the whole of half an hour before continuing on the whole night up to the finish point! You could see how tired and worn out they were after three days of almost no sleep and constant strain yet they were determined to continue.

 

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The world champions building their bikes for the last leg of the race

 

It’s not only endurance of the body, they also have to stay focused, navigate and build and take apart their mountain bikes. One of the participants even wrote on his arm every step of taking his bike apart because he knew his limits. Tactics and deception are also part of the game. Last year’s winners were closely followed by another group so the leader shouted out let’s put our jackets on and made as if they were slowing down then suddenly all the grouped dashed and ducked into the bush to get rid of their followers.

Another leg of the race I saw after some sleep

A team just reaching a previous stage of the race after the winners finished.

This sport is not endorsed by the government in any way and the groups have to find themselves sponsors varying from computer hardware companies to manufactures of oats. The price for entering is quit steep around 6000$ for the group of 4 while the prize money probably won’t even cover all the costs (around 10000$ for the whole group). So what brings these people to push themselves so hard for so long?

Don’t get me wrong I’m all for pushing one’s limits and I would love to go on an adventure race myself, but I would like to do it with a good night rest and some decent food between each leg. Anyway, even though there is a wining team, the race is still going on so check it out.

 

Serendipity and Beyond

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My whole trip in new Zealand has been threaded with one unbelievable coincidence after another, so much so that I’m not even sure were to begin this story…

Serendipity?

Serendipity?

I’ll start it in wellington, with a man sitting in the rain outside of the museum. This struck my curiosity but I was too shy and too unwilling to get wet to start a conversation. Only after I ran in to him again inside the huge museum did I muster the courage. He was from France, just back from the south island while I was heading that way.

“What is the one place in the south island I can’t miss?” I asked him.

“Curio Bay,” he said a name that meant nothing to me.

“I swam there with dolphins. It’s the best place.”

I wrote this down in my very random ‘to visit’ list.

 

 

Three weeks later I find myself in Dunedin being hosted by a couch surfer I actually saw in the Kiwi burn festival, meeting a friend of his friends, who just 5 days earlier appeared out of nowhere at a lake I was camping out with my climbing friends. Back then this guy, Charlie, had sung us his song, “a dollar for a pie”, and we joked about this becoming the next great hit. 5 days later I hear Charlie, singing it in open mike night and by the end of the song the whole crowd was singing the Corus.

On with the story… on the phone the women at the Curio Bay backpackers told me it would be nearly impossible to hitch hike to the place because it was so remote, needless to say there were no buses. Knowing that this time I was really stretching my luck I decided to try it anyway.

Sun Set in Curio Bay

Sun Set in Curio Bay

 

Not that I ever trust my good ‘fortune’, in fact I always prepare and expect the worst. Stoking up with emergency rations and a map I created with accommodations I could spend the night in I head out with the bus to Balclutha.

From there it was on to hitching. At the junction I met a guy that was on the bus with me. Anyone that has hitched knows that this is a big predicament. If I stand with him we both have a lesser change of being picked up. If I stand before him I’ll have a better chance, especially being a ‘girl’ but I’ll be ‘cutting’ in line. So being the gentle women that I am I headed on further down the road giving this guy a fair chance. He was nice enough to say that if someone picks him up he’ll try to get me on board. Sure enough 25 minutes later a car stops for me. Dan, the other hitchhiker, is inside it.

The driver is heading to Owaka, my backup plan for Owaka is to stay with a Couchsurfer, but he has two profiles which seemed a little fishy, so paranoid me wasn’t sure if to try and keep on going. Then Dan says he’s heading to that same exact Couchsurfer! So off we are, our ride taking us straight up to the farm.

Steven, our host, turns out to be an ‘old style’ new Zealand farmer, who’s just not very good with computers so he lost his password for his CS profile and created another.

My ride to curio bay

My ride to curio bay

Next morning I have to hike back to the main road, more than 6 km with all of my bags. Not one of the 5 cars that passed me by even slowed down. Not a very good sign. Finally I get into town. The only café I was hoping to have a break in is closed. At least they had a public toilet I could use. Coming out of the bathroom I noticed a car with a caravan standing on the curb of the road so I used a little ‘Hutzpa’ and asked them if they are by any chance heading my way. Turns out that they are on holiday going all the way to Curio Bay! I shared the back seat with their parrot which was in a huge cage because, they couldn’t find him a parrot-sitter.
So here I am, at one of the most remote places in New Zealand and definitely one of the most beautiful, and that means a lot as this whole country is so fucking stunning.

Of course  the backpackers was fully booked and because I wasn’t sure I’d make it I didn’t have a reservation so I had to pay for a private room and the dolphins never appeared… but what can I say, you win some, you lose some. I don’t think this is where the story ends but i’ll pause it here for a while…

Can you spot the penguin in the petrified forest?

Can you spot the penguin in the petrified forest? Sorry bad camra

No dolphins but did see sea lions

No dolphins but did see sea lions

 

Attacked by a massive herd of sheep on the ride I got out of the bay (first people I asked in the backpackers... got to invercargil in time for a free concert my host was performing int)

Attacked by a massive herd of sheep on the ride I got out of the bay (first people I asked in the backpackers… got to invercargil in time for a free concert my host was performing in)

Connected?
Spending time in Dunedin with some super talented people made me remember a song that more or less popped in my head one day in high school, when I was waiting at a red light returning home. I realized I was more or less living this song right now which I found sort of cool.I’m a little embraced by this but I’ve recorded my god-awful voice trying to sing it. Don’t worry I’m not going to ask you to listen to it but if anyone out there wants to collaborate to make it listenable I’d be super keen.
I just want to go-go down the road to get away from all of this
I want to travel all alone alone with no one to miss or kiss 

But where should I go? I don’t know

Why should I care where I go?

When the light is green I just go, I just go.

 

But where should I go? I don’t know

Why should I care where I go?

When the light is green I just go, I just go.

 

I throw the dice in the face of fate

Let it come, give or take.

If some hardship shall become me

I’ll gladly take it upon me.

Yeah yeah.

 

But where should I go? I don’t know

Why should I care where I go?

When the light is green I just go, I just go.

But where should I go? I don’t know

Why should I care where I go?

When the light is red I stop… Sometimes.

I Survived Mt. Doom… Just Barely!

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After 3 days of bad weather I finally managed to get to the Tongariro crossing trek, unfortunately I wasn’t the only one. Buses filled with tourists filled the nearest parking area and made for quite a strange experience. Since New Zealanders are not very capitalistic and prefer to spend more time at home than at work the last bus back to town left at 4 even though the sun only sets at 9 p.m.

so many people!

so many people!

This created a sort of frenzy at the beginning of the trek since people wanted to make sure they had time to see it all. Politely, I tried passing as many people as I could to get to somewhere that didn’t feel like a German school trip. Luckily enough the meek quickly fell behind. Some couldn’t control their obsession of taking pictures, others needed to pee or drink or eat. Not me!

 

Smoking!

Smoking!

Since the volcano erupted the trek can only be walked halfway then one has to turn back the way they came. My plan was to sprint to the end and take all the pictures on the way back. So it was, that by 10 a.m. I got to the midpoint of the trek which meant I could either turn back and wait for the bus for 2 hours or attempt to conquer Mt. Doom.

Guess what I chose?

 

DOOM!

DOOM!

Group of elderly hikers

Group of elderly hikers

Starting up Mt. Doom I met a guy coming down who had completely lost the trail. That was not a good sign for someone with no navigation skills like myself. Then an elderly group passed me by. They were led by a smiling old lady (I like New Zealand feminism!). ‘How hard could it be?’ I thought and tried to follow in their footsteps. 20 minutes later there was no hint of a trail not because we had lost it, there simply was none. People were on all four trying to scramble up the mountain. For the first time I understood why a walking stick could help! Not that I had one.

There were two options, try to edge yourself up the slippery volcanic ash and pebbles or try to boulder up the rocky side. For me there was no dilemma. But let me tell you, this was real climbing, not that game with ropes I sometimes like to play; Jagged rock tearing at my hands, large boulders coming loose when I put my weight on them, stones from climbers above crashing near my head. I tried inventing some story to motivate me, but someone already wrote that story. A new found appreciation for Frodo kept me going for a while.

Remembering that most accidents happen on the way down I kept on asking myself if I have enough strength to climb down. ‘Hell no!’ was the answer my body was giving yet my feet kept climbing on as I got a glimpse of the famous obsession to reach the peak.

As I got close to the peak freezing wind almost blew me away and icy patches appeared in the shade but the real crazy thing was the hot misty vapour that was coming out of the volcanic mountain. There were stones that were hot to the touch!

The most beautiful view i'v seen!

The most beautiful view i’v seen!

mtdoomtop

At the top!

Finally I was there. I don’t know if it was because of all the hardship but I had the feeling it was the most beautiful view I have ever seen. It literally took my breath away forcing me to pause my constant cursing. But that wasn’t the end because up at the top people were talking about a volcanic crater just a little further. So I kept going, down and then up again crawling on all four again.

The crater!

The crater!

Then came the way down. I thought about creating a new sport, ‘mountain skating’, one tries to skate down the mountain attempting not to bring the whole mountain down with them. Using your butt is allowed!
Somehow, with my traction-less sneakers I managed to skate down to the rocky side again and began the long climb down, the bus deadline getting ever closer. At this point the ankle I sprained a month ago became the bane of my existence. Not that the rest of my joints hurt a lot less.

Eventually the mountain became less steep and the trail reappeared. The sign on the bottom read 2.5 hours to the car park. I had 1 hour before the bus was supposed to leave. All I wanted to do was crash on the ground and never get up but instead I gave the order to my body ‘go’ and somehow it still listened. Then there were just 5 km left. That doesn’t sound like a lot but every step I took was pure pain. I remembered from Karate special training that the suffering always ends and that it usually happens faster than you think and you are left with the feeling of “that’s it? I could do more”. This was not the case! Every turn I took I prayed to the god I don’t believe in that I’d see the car park, then I cursed him when the path just went winding on. Then I heard it, the beautiful sound of a marvellous car engine. It was pure music to my ears, civilization! I arrived at the bus at 15:55.

 

Some unrelated stuff:

The Cup!

Almost connected: One of the cool CS hosts I encountered is behind this great idea. The Tiki Wai cup which comes with an application that shows all public drinking fountains in new Zealand so people don’t buy bottled water that is very bad for nature and also give cool discounts in coffee shops/ pubs/ attractions. If you are coming to NZ check it out here.