Monthly Archives: March 2013

The Queenstown Tourist Curse

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In my travels, up until now, thanks to the ingenuity of Couch Surfing and some effort on my part, I haven’t felt like a tourist. These past few days in Queenstown I haven’t been so lucky. Read on…

Queenstown, yes, there is a reason tourist flood to this place...

Queenstown, yes, there is a reason tourists flood to this place…

Way back when… me and my fighting stick in Japan

 

I never thought I wanted to go on one of these massive, around the world ‘trips’. Traveling always seemed to me like running from a constant state of boredom, having to decide each day where to go and what to do next. That’s why, after the army, when all my friends went travelling, I went to live in Tokyo, studied Japanese and got my ass kicked and my knees worn out by practicing martial arts. Thinking back I can postulate that my family’s holiday ‘trips’ have something to do with this early realization. The constant stress, being hauled from one ‘attraction’ to another (although I did love the amusement parks), was a tiring affair at best. But as circumstances have it, I’ve found myself on one of these so called ‘trips’ and up until these past few days I’ve been loving it. So why am I complaining now?

 

Look there's so many things you can do for some $$$$

So many things you can do for some $$$$

MANUFACTUREING A GOOD TIME

In his masterpiece, a Brief History of Humankind (It’s being translated to English as we speak), Prof Yuval Noa Harri, touches on the subject of tourism. It is only recently in human culture that people have started going away on vacation and seeking to collect ‘experiences’. If my memory serves me, he ties this ‘fashion’ in with the evolution of capitalism. After the last few days in Queenstown I have to agree.

Being one of the main sources of income in New Zealand, Tourism has shaped the lives of some of the small towns in the country, which probably wouldn’t even exist if not for this industry. There are many such places in the world, all of them trying to sell you ‘attractions’ and brainwash you into thinking that if you cough up some money you’ll have ‘the time of your life’ and, if not, go and buy a t-shirt so your friends think that you did.
Queenstown is one of these places. Built on a beautiful lake and surrounded by mountains, the town is overrun by tourist trying to have a ‘good time’, roaming in packs looking to get drunk and party or throwing themselves off some bridge/airplane, injecting instant adrenalin, in an attempt to feel alive in their otherwise mundane lives.

 

Look there's so many things you can buy for $$$

So many things you can buy for $$$ (even late at night when the rest of NZ is closed)

WHAT IS OUT THERE? CAN I HAVE IT?

Unlike tourism, I think exploration is deeply coded into our genetic makeup, ever since prehistoric humans went over the next hill or crossed the river seeking food, asking themselves ‘What is out there?’ and probably ‘Can I have it?’ These are the questions that have been leading me on my journey, without even noticing it up until know. In this blog I’ve shared with you some of the answers I’ve found.  These are questions tourists will never find an answer to as what they encounters is a simulacra, a fake with no origin, created in order for them to maxims money spending.

Help me not to be a tourist!

Help me not to be a tourist!

 

 

 

As the NZ part of my trip soon comes to an end, I’m spending the next two weeks on a quiet farm trying to work on some of my projects (hopefully you’ll know about them soon enough). After that I’ll be heading off to Australia with this old/new realization that I don’t want to be a tourist. If you have some smart thoughts on this subject or recommendations how this can best be done please share them with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Post Earthquake Christchurch

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Two years ago Christchurch was hit by a massive earthquake killing 185 people and causing mass destruction. I spent three days in the city trying to make sense of the post-earthquake city, truth is I failed.

Beauty and destruction. The view from my host's house which still has cracks throughout the place.

Beauty and destruction. The view from my host’s house which still has cracks throughout the place.

I tried talking to as many locals as I could about the quake and life after it. The responses I got were very diverse.  Some didn’t want to talk about it, while others claimed that the weeks after the quake were actually a good experience as everyone was super nice and a special comradery took place. Others yet said many of their friends had left and a lot complained about problems with the insurance companies and the local municipality that has taken a lot of power for itself and remains immune to criticism. The government is actually forcing some people to sell their property because the ground was deemed unstable.

 

CTV building site, 115 people lost their life.

CTV building site, 115 people lost their life.

 

 

 

I wasn’t expecting the destruction to be so bad after all this time. Trying to get to my host or the bus station I encountered whole sections of the city that were still blockaded which made walking with all of my bags an annoying mission. I was surprised to discover some suburbs still don’t have working sewage! There was even a toilet creating contest.

 

Road blocks in the middle of what used to be the city center.

Road blocks in the middle of what used to be the city center.

Christchurch is a city with no ‘heart’, as the whole center of the city was destroyed, which still impacts the lives of everyone. Small hangout places have opened up in the suburbs and some interesting shops built in shipping containers have been created. Still, people go out a lot less. I started out with saying that I failed to make sense of the city because beside these facts that I bring here, the city just feels strange in a way that I can’t really put my finger on. I guess you just have to go there for yourself. But take into account that tourists are still flooding the city but a lot of the backpackers were destroyed making in very hard to find accommodations. I was lucky to find some super cool Couchsurfers!