Nomad Backpackers

Greetings from Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. First off, it took us a few days to get over jet lag and find a constant internet connection. Now that those issues have been surpassed, the various stories that details our travels will continue.

Currently Natalie and I are on Great Barrier Island which is a 4.5 hour ferry ride from Auckland. Great Barrier Island (GBI) is populated with somewhere between 800 and 1000 people and it functions very much like a small town. Everyone know everyone and no one can keep a secret for very long. Hitching a ride (getting a lift as they say in New Zealand) is both common place and relatively  safe on the Barrier. It is an excellent way to meet the local population. For the rest of my time on the Barrier, I will be devoting my posts to the many amusing experiences that I daily encounter.

More Fuel For the Driver

After hiking Tk 19, Te Ahumata, Natalie and I took to the road in an attempt to catch a lift back to Tryphena (where we are currently working for our lodging and meals). As Track 19 ends in the middle of nowhere, we were lucky enough to catch a wild ride down the mountain in the back of a boat. It was cold, but it got us to Claris. No complaints right? We were able to catch another lift to Medlands but there, our luck ran out. We spent the next 60-90 minutes walking up a 25% grade hill with cars passing us every few minutes. In retrospect, I imagine that we were not able to catch a lift because it was not safe for the drivers to stop on the many blind turns that characterize the road from Medlands to Tryphena. Eventually, an old man with a long gray beard (hanging to about the middle of his chest) stopped in a pull off heading in the opposite direction. The old man sprang out of the car with an empty beer bottle in his left hand and popped open the hatch. Digging around in a cooler, he came up with a fresh beer as he caught site of us slowly laboring up the hill. Holding the beer over his head, he winked and hollared out “more fuel for the driver” before scampering back to the driver’s seat and peeling off down the mountain. As I watched him speed away, I began to reflect on the safety of hitching rides from strangers in a place where drinking and driving are expectable.

About 30 minutes later, a pick-up truck responded to our frantic waves and pulled off the road. Upon discovering that we were headed in the same direction, the driver invited us to hop into the truck bed with his 4 children. The driver’s 4 children (3 daughters and a son) were positioned along the cab of the truck with the oldest child clocking in at around 13 and the youngest at about 3. As Natalie and I positioned ourselves along the tailgate the driver sped off, racing up and down mountain roads and flying around hair pin curves. (In his defense, all drivers on the Barrier seem to navigate in this reckless manner no matter the state of their sobriety.). The roads on the Barrier are only 1.5 lanes wide and it is necessary to hug the side of the road (read: the cliff) at all times. Natalie and I were holding on to the truck with white knuckled grips.

Suddenly, the driver yells out the window “BEER” while sticking his right hand out the window. His daughter, the second oldest, quickly unzipped the cooler (located in the back of the truck) and handed him a Heineken, which he quickly passed to his wife. So far, so good. The drivers wife however, cracked open the beer and handed it back to the driver. (Seriously, why would she do that?) At this point, I was starting to grow a bit concerned. Needless to say, the driver began to drink his Heineken. Enthusiastically. While accelerating down windy mountain roads. With his kids happily chatting away in the truck bed. All apparent dangers aside, the truck arrived in Tryphena about 10 minutes later without incident.

Of course, this whole experience left me a bit more cautious about catching lifts on the Barrier. However, it is the best way of meeting locals….