"Traveler in New Zealand: A Return to Nature"

John Tucker Bowe


"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more." – Lord Byron

This is a quote that is affiliated with Into the Wild, the book by Jon Krakauer because it captures the essence of what Christopher McCandless believed. After my experiences abroad, I have been inspired to see the rest of “our” country, like the parts explored along McCandless’s adventures to Alaska. It saddens me to know that a free spirit like Christopher will never get to explore more places outside the US because if he were to ever visit a place such as New Zealand, he would be mesmerized. I am by no means nearly as renegade or an extreme traveler as Mr. McCandless because what he did actually blows my mind. After graduating college, Christopher, burned all his money, destroyed all forms of identification, making him basically a nomad. Carrying only what he could fit in his backpack and a huge sack of rice, he hitch-hiked across the country into the unknown. Now most people would consider these actions to be incredibly stupid or ridiculous, but as a student nearing my last few semesters in college with not the slightest idea of what I want to become, I find Christopher’s actions radical and courageous. No matter how inspirational I found these adventures, as a now worldly traveler, I am just starting to relate to the extreme adventures that my own family has been through.
It’s hard to picture some people, especially my parents, as intense world travelers. However, I had the privilege of growing up being inspired by my family’s love for the outdoors. In many ways, I find it a blessing, but also I know that it will be nearly impossible to top what they have been through. I grew up with my parents telling me the stories which they encountered while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is one of the tallest mountains in the world. They hiked over the course of a few weeks through steep inclines, harsh winds, extreme altitudes, and fought off near frostbite. Could I ever see myself doing something like that? Probably not. After medical school, my father spent two summers, one of which my mom accompanied him, in Africa with one of his best friends who grew up there and spoke fluent Swahili. There he camped out having to fall asleep with the sounds of lions and hyenas hidden in the night, to hunt wild game for food, and to fend off native rebels from stealing his car. Do I think that I will ever get the chance to spend a summer in Africa doing what they did? Probably not. Finally, ever since I quit Scouts I have had to look at pictures and hear about my brother’s excellent adventures camping across the country, including spending two months in Philmont, New Mexico. I’ll admit that while listening to the stories of his experiences, I thought that it sounded incredible; however awesome the kayaking, fishing, camping, hunting, and nature sounded, the one drawback for me was that I didn’t know if I could hike a few miles a day with forty pounds on my back. Do I regret not trying? Of course, but I know that my chance at camping with the Scouts has passed.
Now, for once, I am the person in my family with the stories to tell and experiences to share. I’ve been very close with my family, but I guess I was kind of always the outsider when it came to the love for the outdoors. Over the last few years I have become inspired by nature and adventure, which propelled me to study on the other side of the world. Through this experience I have learned a lot about my limits and the kind of traveler I am. Spending five months in a different country no doubt changes people. For me, living basically out of a suitcase for the entire time only added to the adventure. Yes, I had a small crappy dorm room that was probably smaller than most jail cells, but I never felt like it was my home base. After the week trip to the tropical Bay of Islands, which occurred right when we got into Auckland, I jumped at the opportunity to join the ski club. Because of this, I was able to spend two different weekends at the UASC house, meeting new friends from foreign countries while skiing on dormant volcanoes. This was a place I am sure that I would have never seen if I hadn’t joined the club. Numerous weekends I rented a car and traveled to places outside of Auckland, which I would have definitely regretted not visiting if I had just stayed in the city. I went white water rafting over the tallest commercially rafted waterfalls in the world; I drove down to see where Peter Jackson filmed the “Shire” scenes from the first and last Lord of the Rings films--they were actually reconstructing some of the sets in preparation for The Hobbit. I traveled across the beautiful beaches along the Coromandel Peninsula and saw first-hand wild orcas rush the shoreline trying to catch fish a few feet from me.
If I had known better, I probably would have brought a tent and a sleeping bag, but I didn’t have either of the two, so nearly every night away from Auckland I spent in hostels. Now the hostels in Auckland varied. They were by no means luxurious and clean, but some were better than others. I remember in one hostel in Wellington, I found a bloodstain on my pillow; needless to say, I slept without a pillow that night. Most hostels were usually nice, convenient, and cheap, but I think if I were able to camp out more often, it would have been a wilder, more Boy Scout-like experience.
I traveled to New Zealand’s South Island for two weeks on two separate occasions, and they were completely different experiences. My first trip was in the beginning of September with fourteen other friends. We rented three cars and drove from Auckland to Wellington, took the ferry to Picton, and then traveled the west coast all the way down until we finally came back up and ended up flying out of Christchurch. I had a great time, spending the nights in hostels, hiking the Franz Joseph Glacier, horseback riding between mountains, and going on a few Lord of the Rings Tours, which took my breath away. My only regret was when I saw two of my friends skydiving and bungee jumping videos; it looked so cool and even though I knew that in a right mind I would never do something like that, a part of me felt like if I left New Zealand without pushing my limits, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
My second trip to the South Island was different because my parents had come to visit me and were paying for this part of my trip. Like I said before, my parents are outdoor enthusiasts, so they had our whole trip planned out. We were in a program called “Active New Zealand,” and like the name indicated, we were always doing something crazy. First, off the coast of Kaikoura, we went snorkeling with huge seals swimming literally feet from us. I was terrified of the seals, but I was even more on edge about actually seeing something that would eat the seals. In the Queen Charlotte Sound, the three of us went on two arduous day mountain biking treks and then went kayaking the last day. Over the next few days we went kayaking again, exploring caves, and jumping off cliffs, but when we got to Queenstown, the trip escalated. November 2nd and November 3rd are probably the most extreme 24 hours of my life. On 3 o’clock on the 2nd , my dad and I jumped off a 43 meter bungee at the site of the World’s first bungee jump.
The next day there were no clouds in the sky and the temperature was in the 70’s. I skydived from 12,000 feet into the Remarkable Mountain Range, which is the location where Peter Jackson filmed all of his Misty Mountain sequences in the Lord of the Rings. My reaction to this was pure jubilation, and to this moment I cannot imagine doing anything cooler in a more beautiful setting. Afterward, I was running solely on adrenaline, so I immediately signed up for the Nevis Bungee Jump. This jump was 134 meters, which is over three times as high as my first jump and one of the highest in the world. Was I crazy? Yes, and I immediately knew it when I saw where I was jumping off from; it was a little gondola hovering over a huge valley of rocks--absolutely terrifying. One of the things about bungee jumping is that you cannot hesitate, or you’re done. Therefore I didn’t. Once I completed the jumps, I remember feeling of overwhelming accomplishment, like I have never felt before in my life. It’s like after a big test or finally solving a looming problem, only escalated.
Now I would be kidding if I told you that these experiences didn’t change me--they did. For Christ sake, the next week when I got back into Auckland, I bungeed backward off the Auckland Bridge and loved it. The best thing I can say about my time in New Zealand is that it pushed me. I know it’s probably irrelevant, but while I was there I even watched scary movies like The Sixth Sense, Signs, and Paranormal Activity--when I was younger I was scared of Batman the cartoon!
Lord Byron's quote at the top of this writing tells of a person who truly appreciates nature. I tried to emulate that philosophy, along with the simple pleasures that Christopher McCandless loved, during my time traveling New Zealand. When looking back at my time abroad, I know that I have come back a changed person. I have done and seen activities there that I only dreamed I would be able to do. I pushed myself by facing my fears and surpassing all of my expectations. I know that I will probably never have the chance to do all the crazy things my parents did when they were younger, but now I know, if given the chance, I will be jumping all over opportunities. Most importantly, however, I was able to truly appreciate nature in New Zealand. If I were to describe myself as a traveler in New Zealand, I would probably say that I tried to see and do everything; in that sense, I am an accomplished traveler.