Speed Deamon

I rushed through town this afternoon. Hopping buses to get there fast. But i left my card at home and had to turn around, catch a bus back and start all over. So i went back to uni and picked up the bike i was borrowing and dropped it back home. Then got the bus into town, quickly ran to town center to exchange some money and then hopped on a new bus to ferry road.

Arriving at ferry road i walked in the wrong direction, but then realized it. Walking back I passed several second hand shops and then arrived at Around Again Cycles. on stating my price range I was promptly directed to a neat little 14 speed Baur. An old road bike, drop bars and shimano levers on the down tube. Plus the bike is New Zealand made! The seat is a bit old and hard so that worried me, but I reasoned I could always replace it. After a few spins I deemed her worthy and told the owners I'd take a walk and be back in a bit.

I moseyed down the street to the gluten free bakery I had seen. They had 5 for the price of 4 deal on their frozen pies so i was excited to stalk up. But then I saw the price and had to refrain. I bought a 5 dollar steak pie which they warmed up for me. I should say mmm here, but it wasn't That good. I liked the wheat and dairy free gravy filling, would make a great stew, but the pie combo didnt knock my socks off. bread was fine, overall just didn't seem all there... it was missing something. And it was expensive.

I stopped at the second hand stores but didn't find anything. I then went to a little stationary store and bought some wool and needles for knitting!

I walked back to the shop and bought the bike; to which they fitted pedal cages and a bottle holder. I also bought a light! I then road home, turning an adventurous 1 hr bus ride into a half hour (ish). But I stopped at the botanical gardens to watch the ducks in the river and admire some late afternoon light. wandering along the bank of the canal I took this shot of a large non native but none the less pretty pine.

I spent the last of the day in a park, in the sun. Letting the suns rays bath me in gold as I began to read a short history of nearly everything and looking down at my new golden companion.

Extra!

As the inquisitive sort I am, and having the affinity for the arts that I have, I decided to wander into the arts building one afternoon. I followed the trail of photos on the wall, went past a developing room and the dark room to the end of the hall. Well not quite. In a junction with a little kitchen-net I took some stairs up to a second floor. But someone noticed me and accosted me before I could explore that realm above. I got a glimpse of an unused - expansive - room; lit from above by multiple skylights.

"You cant be here. Who are you looking for? what are you doing?"

"Oh, no one. 'm just exploring, see whats around."

"Well you have to leave"

I try and see farther, but slowly - meanderingly - go back down the stairs as per his orders.

"if your not here for someone you have to leave, you cant just walk in to here with out talking to us."

Before my "didnt know you were here" remark could come out another chimes in: "Either help carry some things or leave."

So I bent down and to his surprise grabbed some things to carry. surprised but grateful for the hand we took the things out to his car and he asked a bit more about myself. Turns out I was in FIlm as in motion pictures and had passed all of photography. He then invited me to be an extra in the feature length film he had almost completed and showed me some clips of the film. Mostly uninspiring but I thought hey what the hell send me a text with the details.

Tuesday rolled along and with it the invitation to be an extra and bring others! I sent out a few texts to my Austra learn connections and showed up at the appointed time. I dont know if its film, showbiz, or just them but everyone was running late except for the extras. I took the time to catch up with Kyle and Emily et all who had showed up. And to meet the other extras, one of which has come back from professional life to study theater at uni.

Slowly things got rolling but things were scheduled to run late so my austra-learners decided to split. I stayed on and ended up staying through the endless 6 hours. I had fun being an extra and then they decided i was too enthusiastic and was in too many shots so I acted as crew and held the bounce for many shots. In between shots we had fun making sounds into the mic or just generally being unhelpful even though we wanted to get through it and finish.

I also was brainwashed as to the inner drama: told that so and so is a horrible person and is making this film infinity more difficult to produce. oh and some of the witnesses to my Film department intrusion were there and greeted me "oh hey intruder what are you doing here?" that was a fun one to respond to. Since it was a party scene they had filled two massive jugs with L n P (a fizzy drink) which we finished surprisingly quickly and since it lasted 6 hrs we demolished the chips. Someone had the bright idea to bring penuts as a snack and within 3 hrs they had all been cracked and there were shells EVERYWHERE! the amount of shells on the table will increase exponentially with time during in the final cut of the film, te hee.

theres being an extra. brought back memories of theater....

Work shop weekend!

This past weekend I stayed local and did a permaculture workshop. We learned the basic principles of permaculture, emphasizing that you start with what you have: the problem is the solution! We also did some functional analysis (after finding an artist who could draw a chicken) of chickens and wood stoves and such. What do these things need, what do they provide. Everyone liked the concept of Edge, the idea that things happen at boundaries, at the edge of shade, on the edge of pond, along the rock borders of paths, gardens, and stone walls. however I don't think we really learned what types of things we should put there...

We helped to build a herb spiral, which provides shade for shady plants and has sunny spots for those that like sun. So we learned how to lay bricks to make the form and then planted in leaf mulch (wonderful rich and black stuff). We learned of many interesting solutions and applications people had made in their own gardens and then walked around and suggested ideas for our hosts gardens (and chicken coop).

We were a lovely mix of people. Gardeners, students, professionals, teachers, vegans and omnivores, Hobbyists, die hards, and novices, all eager to learn, share, and help out. All of us eager to learn more and willing to share what we already knew. We all brought yummy foods to share for lunch. quiet a few raw vegan dishes and fresh breads and fruit also some sort of squash compote.

On sunday it rained so after finishing the herb spiral we decided to stay inside and I learned to knit! yay! now to make time to knit... Nicole taught me. She is a wonderful lady who lived in the netherlands and has been in Nz for the past 20, she reminds me of Alex Joslyn's mom. We then learned how to make sauerkraut and continued to share ideas on sustainability, gardening, diets, and health.

A wonderful weekend with great people. we've all exchanged emails so i look forward to staying in touch with them and we plan on doing some more workshops in the future!

The First Tramp

This past weekend I completed my first tramp in the New Zealand Brush. A fellow CU Boulder student by the name of Clayton (who I had met but never really interacted with in my Minerology class) told me of a tramp into some hot springs in Arthurs Pass. So we planned our trip to Otehake Hot pools, and a third fellow AustraLearn study abroad student (Tom) planned to accompany us. Unfortunately the Tramping club (UCTC) got word of our plans, and, since they are bad planners, decided to appropriate our lovely little trip.

So, myself and Tom caught the bus and then made our way to the trail head, while Clay followed a half hour later (after being denied a ride by the Tramping club). Tom and I, followed by some of the CUTC, then clay stepped out his metal head ride, and finally two vans of CUTC trampers arrived, all within 10 minutes, at the Taramakau River trailhead. And we started out - HOW! - over the fence and off past the cows to the river. Down into the river, or lack thereof as we first traversed the pebble shore/flood path of the Taramakau River, and then plunged our feet into its cool embrace. Once through the Taramakau River we made our way into the brush, spreading our eyes and jaws at the green plethora that makes the brush, the shafts of sunlight streaming and strange trees punching towards the sky. In our excitement (and desire to avoid the CUTC) we lost ourselves in the bush a bit, crisscrossing the trail and stumbling upon an amazingly clear stream flowing between blue-green greys in the soft midday shade of the brush.

Our quest to avoid the CUTC was pointless (couldn't outrun them or let them overtake us) so we eventually found our way back to the path and mingled. for a time we were on a farm road, near cows, and passing through streams that chilled our feet until the wool warmed us up again. Then we went back into the bush where we were continually distracted. Many large trees extending into the canopy above, spreading massive roots that push out from the base of the tree like steep mountain ridges and act as walls funneling us along our way. Moss grows like little flowers, or drips down trees like water.

we came to a lake and jumped up onto a log to bask in sunshine (trying to dry out our soggy feet) and eat some lunch. I had my favorite meal of peanut butter and banana between two rye crackers. on that lake we were looking up at the lower slopes of 1500m peaks. The sunlight was moving up out of the valleys and onto higher slopes, and with it we moved back into the bush.

At the end of the lake we descended a steep slope and came to the Otehake river. I made a quick run up another slope to cross the suspension flood bridge. It was a bit trying to first cross, swaying 20 meters above the river,

standing on wires and skinny metal rungs covered by chain-link fence, but crossing back over was cake. we marched up river, staying on the pebbly sides of the river, fording now and then in the glacier fed water. Until, near dusk, as the sun was blazing on the mountain tops, we arrived to find the hot pools swarming with many of the CUTC. I will say that having the CUTC there meant a livelier bit of fireside conversation. But the hot pools were polluted by their lights flashing every-which way as they cooked on their gas stoves. Bah! I had to go out to the cold stone and find shade from their lights and the moonlight before I could appreciate the stars above and see two shooting stars, one very blue and long. Oh, and there were many overly friendly possums which bothered us throughout the night and needed to be chased off.

We had an early start in the morning as we made our way to the northeast ridge of Mt. Pfeifer and bushed through the brush. What an Adventure aye, I broke trail all the way up: avoiding bluffs and going up others, breaking through dense brush and small trees, trying not to slip on moss or get caught in bogs. Sweet as! Slow going as unfortunately Tom was not at the same level as Clay and I. On finally reaching scrub line and breaking free of the bush we were immensely elated gazing out at the dazzling peaks, whose foothills we had seen before. Don't get the wrong Idea, the brush was almost more spectacular. To wander such a warm and fuzzy wonderland in winter is astounding. The moss covers all and the sunlight streaming in reveals amazing Russian hats on trees and long wise beards in the trees, or logs scattered like pickup sticks in what looks a comfy nest for hundreds of meters around.

After a few dense thickets in the scrub we made it to the tundra (about 1300m) where we were promptly greeted by a few gorgeous tarns, still water rimmed in what else but a light shade of green, and a goat on the ridge-line above us. Tom at this point was exhausted and the going got slower. on reaching a false summit (which we had identified earlier) we realized that we had a lot of ground to cover over steep and increasingly snowy terrain. Westerlies were blowing some clouds in and threatened to bring rain. we went on along the ridge to evaluate options, and had to abandon our hopes of reaching the summit and decided to descend the runoff bellow and make for bushline before night and rain caught us at elevation.

We made our way down a steep couloir, gently directing and encouraging Tom, onto some scree for some fun skiing and then into the george for a long and knee pounding final descent. I mean LONG! we made the bush but the banks of the creek were too steep and we couldn't find a campsite, so we kept on past the boulders left long ago by floods and desperately ripped out some trees to clear space for our tent. Just as dusk turned to dark we had our tent up, right over a nice rock. But tired as we were after the exciting, inspiring, and hard day we were able to contort around the lumps (smoothed by some ferns) and catch bits of sleep.

An even earlier start at dawn had us through the bush, along the creek and back on the trail. once back on the trail we had tramped the first day we made lightning speed and made it out and back over the Taramakau River by 11. We congratulated eachother on the amazing tramp and headed back to christchurch to get back our studies.

HOW!

overview

This is a blog from the depths of Nicholas Travers (aka nick travers) on his adventures and travel though new zealand. he is currently the only partner of stawa productions, which also makes footbags and a wide variety of photographic prints. Here he displays his writing prowess in an endless attempt to bore us all with trip reports, anectdotes, rants, descriptions, and ramblings. enjoy what nicholas travers blog nz has to say!