Dans Life

To keep the balance, although it’s slightly belated, I want to send good wishes to the dads out there, and again a special consideration goes out to mine.

My days down under “the down under” are numbered and I’ll be heading back to the states soon, but before I leave I plan to pack in some more adventures and will be weaving some new stories shortly, plus I have some photos that tell better than I could of what I’ve been doing over the last month and they’ll also be up soon.
Best wishes to all.

Sunset near Pancake Rocks. Taken on Eric’s and my Easter trip around the country.

As the memories from Easter Break were fading, I was preparing to set off to Australia to make new ones. On the 20th of April Arista and I burned a trail to Christchurch and then took a flight to Sydney. After running a sprint worthy of a Hertz commercial and losing our pocket knives through security, we met my mom and made our connecting flight from Sydney to Uluru (Ayers Rock).

At Ularu we walked through the Aboriginal cultural centre, wandered around the monolithic structure, and started a routine of going to the “sunset viewing areas” to finish the day. After the sunset we enjoyed the sounds of Australiana music (think classic rock with didgeridoos and Aussie accents) and feasted on the all you can eat salad bar at the Lodge Resort. The next day we woke early and went to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), the less popular but equaly beautiful rock formation near Uluru and enjoyed the sunrise. Then we took off in our rental Hyundai for Kings Canyon. There we hiked around the ridge of the canyon (think Grand Canyon with a thyroid problem), fought off the incessant flies, enjoyed the sunset, and ate pizza topped with fresh slices of parmesan at the Kings Canyon Resort. The next day we drove to Alice Springs, went to Standley Chasm, and visited the School of the Air and learned how the school teaches 113 children from all over the western part of Australia using radio, high speed internet, and the mail. That night we did some much needed laundry and enjoyed the sunset from atop Anzac Hill.

The next morning we boarded our flight to Darwin where we were greeted by our guide/bushman/friend, Mike and cinematographer Brandon. After filling up the Toyota we drove to Katherine. In Katherine we checked into Janis’ Bed and Breakfast, had dinner at Dingers Restaurant, and enjoyed a good night’s rest. The next morning started with a marvellous/large breakfast compliments of Janis. After “brekkie” we loaded into the Toyota with our 6th companion, Janna, an art professor, and set off for the bush. After about an hour of paved road we turned onto our host’s, Bill Yidumduma Harney, 1.5 million acres of Aboriginal land. Over the next two days we set bush fires; swam in creeks and found traditional Aboriginal ceremonial “make-up,” a fine mixture of hematite and quartz; and went to art sites where Bill told us the symbolism of the drawings and how they related to the “creation-song.” Nights were spent around a campfire enjoying bush-tucker (food), bush-tea, and the musical talents of Mike on guitar and vocals and Bill on Didgeridoo and vocals, truly a unique experience. On our way out of the bush we went into Bill’s little community which was little more than housing for his extended family. There we met Bill’s grandchildren who could throw a spear dead on and knew more American Rap artists than most Americans. As Mike put it, “this is the stone age hitting the nuclear age head-on.”

After exiting Bill’s land we went back to Katherine and had a “civilised” dinner at the local workers’ union club, then went spotlighting and Mike caught a baby croc which caught my finger. After the Steve Erwin experience we retired for the night at Janis’ B&B. The next day we took canoes up and down the 1st and 2nd gorges of the Katherine Gorge.

After canoeing we loaded back into the Toyota and drove through Mataranka, made popular by Jeannie Gunn’s book ‘We of the Never, Never,’ and went onto Mangarayi land and set up camp by the Roper River. That night we went spotlighting for prawns and caught a few small ones, then after dinner we had Brandon’s Golden Syrup dumplings while soaking in the semi-warm thermal pool nearby. The next day we visited the school for the Mangarayi children, and picked 5 or 6 kids, plus our tour guides-in-training and went to the local water hole. At the water hole the three 12-14 year old tour guides, kitted in Eminem and Fubu shirts, baggy shorts and bare feet, took me on a walk and pointed out animal tracks, turtles, bushes that could heal and others that could kill, razor sharp rocks hidden beneath the flowing water, barramundi scales, and a poisonous snake, which one guide accidentally stepped on, then they all proceeded to try to kill with rocks and sticks, it was all pretty intense. After the tour all the kids loaded onto the Toyota and we returned to the Mangarayi town. We said our good byes and went back to Katherine then to Darwin for our 1 am flight. At the Darwin airport we said goodbyes to “Brando” and Mike and boarded the plane to Sydney. In Sydney we had a bit of a layover then boarded the plane back to Christchurch.

Well, 10 days and over 800 words and yet I feel like there’s so much I left out. But if a picture is like a thousand words, hopefully with this and some pictures everyone can get a fair idea of how Australia was or maybe get inspired to take or share their own trip and fill in the holes that my account left.

Best wishes to all the mothers reading this, especially mine. I hope you enjoy your day, you deserve it.
p.s. the Aussie trip update is on the way, stay tuned…..

Here it is the moment you’ve all been waiting for….
The long delayed play by play of my Easter break.
First it is important to note that I have been unable to write a worthy update due to the busier than usual schedule of the past couple of months.
Now getting on with it.
On March 24th, a friend, Eric from St. Joseph, Michigan, and I began our whirl-wind trip around the south island. we rented a Nissan Sunny, think maxima, and left Dunedin around 7pm en route to Nelson, think Cheyenne to Durango, we arrived in Nelson at 6am, we slept in the car for about 3 hours, got up and had delicious burritos at The Vegetarian Cafe and raced to meet our shuttle driver who took us from car park at the end of the trail to the start. Due to torrential downpours and subsequent flooding the day before the end of trail was inaccessible and we had to leave sunny about 5 miles from the actual end.
At 2pm we were dropped off by our concerned driver and set into the first of what was supposed to be 7 nights on the Leslie Karamea Trail. We trekked to Salisbury hut by 5pm and were the last group to arrive, which meant no beds, but thanks to some kind Canadians we slept sweetly with the support of 4 sleeping pads below each of us. March 26th started early and we covered a lot of ground reaching the planned third nights hut by 5pm. along the way we tramped through Florida everglade swampland, grasslands of the Serengeti, and forests of northern California. Due to the amount of rain on previous days, erosion played in real time as we watched entire sides of mountain give way to new rivers and waterfalls. The various terrain led Eric and me to trade our boots for Chaco’s, a decision we would regret after 91 kilometres.
March 27th was our 2nd full day and we used every bit of it, making it to the 5th nights hut on our 3rd night. The terrain was ever changing and the different areas we passed through felt like completely new worlds with each one having its own interesting plant and animal life. We saw 30 meter tall trees, and prarie; bright blue, green, and Mario bros. micro-sized mushrooms, and large Kea birds.
March 28th was our most intense day on the trail. After “hiking” 20 kilometres and fording 3 rivers, we were faced with the decision to call it a day or continue. Hmmm….Obviously we chose to continue, the next choice was to either go on a gruelling path that would be shorter or take the longer safer route, and again the choice was clear to Eric and me. Not to disappoint, the shorter route proved to be demanding. After ruining my tendons and Eric’s battle with heat exhaustion we arrived at the hut for the night.
The second to last day was easier but longer. We planned to reach the final hut 20km away. The weather was calm as was our moods, but our bodies were screaming. The first hour of hiking was slow and as we entered into the second hour we began to forget our pains and started to enjoy the surroundings. Unfortunately, due to a lapse of judgement we got to enjoy the same surroundings again after discovering we were on the wrong trail. With that error our original 20km day turned into 25+kms. Good Stuff! After getting back to the right trail 3.5hrs later we were warmed up and ready to start the day. The tramp included 5 mild river fords and a long but very gradual ascent and decent. Upon our arrival at the final hut we were greeted by “Black Mac” and Ignacio, two 60-somethings who defected from the US to New Zealand during the Vietnam War and hadn’t made it back yet. Black had found work in the Antarctic for the past 20 or so years and gave Eric and me small tin from McMurdo Station in exchange for some stove gas. Ignacio was the comedian and entertained the hut until we all retired for the night.
The next morning Eric and I said our goodbyes and set off for the trail-end and Sunny(the car). By afternoon we had arrived at the end of the trail. Along the way I jumped off a cliff into the freezing Karamea River and we both posed for pictures. Since I felt a bit more spry than Eric it was decided that I would run down to the car and drive back. With sore feet and tenderized achilles I set off for what I though would be about a 2km walk/run. An hour later I was still hobbling along and didn’t feel any closer to the end, thankfully a friendly couple drove by on their way out of the park and took me the additional 7kms! to the car. I drove Sunny across the little creek that 5 days before was a roaring river, fought through some thick traffic, and picked up Eric.
We had completed a demanding 91km hike in 4 days and still had 6 more days until we had to be back in Dunedin. Eric had his list of New Zealand things to do, so we started at the top and began to work our way down the list and the island.
We stayed at the coolest hostel on earth, Rongo(Maori word for peace) and went to the 200 meter long Limestone Arch in Karamea, paddled sea kayaks through the inlets of New Zealand’s largest un-modified estuary in Okarito, watched the sun set on Mt. Cook and Fox Glacier in the reflecting Lake Matheson, visited the Hector Country Music Heritage Museum, and played NZ roulette on the one-way/train track/bridges all along the west coast. 10 days and several thousand kilometres later our 10 day adventure was over.
My Easter Break ended on the 3rd of April at which time I had to address my other pursuit, education. In the several weeks between Easter Break and Mid-Semester break I went to Mt. Cook and hiked a nearby ridge on the Mueller Hut Trail, did a swim workout with the New Zealand U-23 national triathlon team at Christchurch’s wonderful Common Wealth Games Complex, and quietly celebrated a birthday.

Although everyone has seen this kind of landscape on postcards and TV I couldn’t resist the urge to show that views like this do exist outside of gift shops.

Sliiiide!!!

This is one of the 40 endangered yellow eyed penguins that are trying to survive on what little forest is left. A little history on NZ forestry; before the Maori came to NZ 80% of the land was forest. When the Europeans came 70% was forest. Now only 23% of the island is forest, and about 5 percent of that is used strictly for farming foreign trees like pine and eucalyptus. Although NZ is often thought as having expansive rolling hills with sheep running around its is important to remember that there were many other species that are no longer around because of the irresponsible, non-sustainable acts of some profiteers. Thankfully the NZ government funded, Department of Conservation works hard to maintain and in some cases, like at the Catlins reserve, take back the land that so many other species depend on. I helped out by volunteering the weekend of March 12th and 13th. During that weekend 7 American students and I were hosted by Mary and Fergus Sutherland, who own and operate Catlin Wildlife Trackers. Mary prepared every delicious meal from scratch and made sure we ate well while Fergus took us out to the reserve and led us in our work. We cleared noxious foriegn grasses from native plants, cut back trails, and set traps for non-indigenous predators such as the possum and stoat. Our efforts last weekend are small when compared to Mary, Fergus, and the many others working to protect what so many take for granted, but it is important to remember that every bit counts and everyone who helps out can make a difference. I realize that last bit sounded naive, superficial, and like a military ad slogan but I think it’s true.
Amen, the sermon is over.

This is the score card for my first week.

The firing range is indoors, targets are 20 meters away, the 22 cal. rifles are fired from the prone position(lying down), and we have 12 minutes to take 13 shots, 3 of which don’t count towards the score and for practicing purposes only.

This last week I: volunteered my weekend to help restore a section forest in the Catlins(south-eastern part of NZ) for the Department of Conservation, paid 10$nz each to see two excellent movies, The Life Aquatic and Finding Neverland at the Rialto Cinema, gave the Otago Museum 4$nz to see the Sir Edmund Hillary exhibit, cant really remember but I think I split 26$nz on libations, specifically car-bombs, and celebrated St. Patrick’s Day/Kyle’s birthday in Irish-American fashion by drinking at house parties and the two local Irish pubs, Dicey O’Riellys and The Woolshed, shelled out 6$nz and shot with the Otago Small-bore Rifle Club, was given a choice to pay 2$nz for a book on socialism I got at the university’s Socialists Club meeting, got worked for free by the 3 meter waves at St Clair beach, went in half on nothing at Long Beach when a I co-attempted to lead a 20nz rated(about 5.9 USA) sport climb and failed, but settled for top roping a 19(5.10a) and bouldering . I’ve been listening to Radiohead, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Nine Inch Nails, Jack Johnson, Wu-Tang Clan, AFI, Donavan, A Perfect Circle, and The Leith River and Ross Creek which flow along-side the trails I run. I finished reading The River Why, a fine book, thanks Jed, and Socialism From Below, worth the 2 dollars. I’ve started to read Land of the Lightning Brothers. I also keep E For Additives close by.
Although some things cost less than others I can say my time here has been priceless.