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| On our way to Akaroa |
After our time at Antill Estate's Vineyard we decided to get moving while we still had time to see the rest of the South Island. We started with nothing but a loose plan to hitch hike clockwise around the island stopping from place to place when we found cool things to do and the expectation that it would evolve as we moved along. The more we travel the more people we meet, the more people we meet the more we learn, and the more we learn the more this traveling philosophy is reaffirmed as a sure way to see what you wanted, while still allowing yourself the chance to get caught up in the adventures that find you.
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| Akaroa |
Our hosts at Antill Estate are only too helpful and dropped us at just the right place to catch a ride towards Akaroa. We were picked up in the first ten minutes by a young girl who is studying to be a veterinary nurse. Then the second ride came from a practicing medical nurse. Notice the trend starting here? Anyways, we made it to Akaroa with no difficulty, in fairly good time and most importantly for us, with no money.
From here we moved on southwards towards Dunedin but I will get to that whole adventure on the next post. First I want to talk a little longer about hitch hiking and the type of freedom it represents.
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| Akaroa |
In the United States it is nearly inconceivable to imagine hitchhiking real distances with confidence and security in our modern society. Perhaps in the 60’s and 70’s this was still possible but now most of the country has outlawed it and we have taken up the perception that strangers are not to be trusted. They are dangerous because we know nothing about them. This can be true enough and there certainly are more than enough examples to support that theory. However, “What do we lose by making this assumption?”
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| Adriana and I in Akaroa. It was a nice view from camp. |
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| I'm not sure what this painter was thinking |
I believe that we have lost some sense of our solidarity as a nation. We are in the midst of a silent civil war waged with secret whispers and the rolling of eyes. Liberal vs Republican, Capitalist vs Conservationist, North vs South. Any way you cut it we stick to this dichotomous view of our own nation and miss out on the fact that we are a single great nation. We rarely find support from our own and tend to gravitate towards pointing out each others faults. The smear campaigns wrought by politicians are proof enough of that. Is it because our nation is so large, so spread apart that we attack each other? After all a man from Alaska could never understand the needs of one from Florida could he? Could he?
Nonsense. It is inevitable that we will argue amongst ourselves about the specifics but the heart of the issue lies in us allowing the argument to define our nationality, constantly looking for ways to continue the fight without considering the possible advantages of just seceding the point for once. Every man and woman needs a few of the same things including trust, love, empathy, compassion, and freedom. Instead we choose to become a nation of sarcastic, distrusting, apathetic, and vengeful prisoners to our unopened minds. That may sound strong, and it may sound harsh but it is the course in which we are moving. It is the path we have chosen as a nation… but it is also a choice that we will have to make as individuals. Which way do you want to live?
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| A well deserved Beer (Adriana Weil) |
In New Zealand the people have held on to the tenuous belief in good-natured humanity. They support common sense and hospitality as a way of life, not a thing of the past. The people I have met are educated and living well without feeling as though they are being taken advantage of. There are still examples of the bad apples destroying what could be a good time had for all. For instance “freedom camping”, the allowance for travelers to pitch a tent wherever they might get stuck at the end of the day, has recently been outlawed due to some rotten people littering and taking advantage of this beautiful country. The Kiwis hold strong to their beliefs but the government isn’t so sure. They have passed these laws to ban freedom camping against the will of the common people. The Kiwis want others to come and see their country. They know how rich in beauty and grandeur it is and they are willing to share if only we will be respectful.
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| We spent this night in Balfour camping at a park next to a public bus stop. |
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| Can you spot the oddity? It is quite common in New Zealand |
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| The Fly Amanita grows weed-like in New Zealand, Amanita muscaria |
We have this discussion time and time again with each new person who gives us a ride whether it is one kilometer down the road or a hundred. And each time the people that pick us up express their regret at the slide of the New Zealand government towards the direction of our own nation, the USA. In fact, they do not even see the reality as it is for us but they do feel their own loss of soul as a country.
I shudder to think of a time when there is no longer anywhere on our planet where you can throw just a few essentials in your pack and then head out to explore the land around you without breaking some law. Yet with increasing inertia we move that way without consideration of how much we lose in the process. This loss of freedom will be a slippery slope and 50 years down the line I do not want to look back and hear, “Where did we go wrong?”
"You’ve got to know where your towel is… because a man who can travel the galaxy and still hold onto his towel is a man to be reckoned with."
~Douglas Adams~
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