Unpacked

I'm at the place which is supposed to be home for the next long time. It is strange.
I think it will take some time getting used to this. I probably already have a temporary job. I sort of know where things are. I've been out rowing on the fjord. There's a nice park for running.
I can paint the walls whichever colour I choose. There's a kitchen. The shops are weird though. They're so Danish....
But there's rye bread. The sun shines and we have rainbows and August thunder.

We'll continue in Danish over at Hjem til Aalborg.

There might come a few last updates here.
Pictures. Book progress. Stuff like that. Next adventure.

Kontakt

Har ikke telefo endnu. Ring til Jes på 22851014.

flyver

Jeg er med ba 816 kl 12.50 fra heathrow, som er en ualmindelig ubehagelig lufthavn. i Kbh ca to timer senere.

This is why I do that

Finality

I'm leaving tomorrow. My bike's all packed in a box and I hope the girls in the lfight companies were right about me just strolling over to qantas and paying 120 aussie dollars for them to fly the big box home to Denmark. We'll see tomorrow. It's very interesting.
It's also very strange to be leaving, it felt so familiar to come back, or home to New Zealand. It's autumnal and recognisable and mountainous and might as well be Scandinavia, just with nikau palms and cabbage trees.

But I do look forward to home, to see my friends, my family, have a job, eat Danish rye bread and liquorice, hold hands with the loved one every day and sleep in the same bed every night, to not share dorm rooms with snooring strangers, to have more than two sets of clothes. It's also slightly scary. What if I forget how wonderful this was and don't go out again? If I just get a nine to five and have kids and tell about back when mum was cool and biked New Zealand and sailed to Fiji?
I don't think I will forget though. I'll probably remember so hard that there is no option but going out again.

Again, again again, I have to come back to this place.

West Coast

I've cheated by bus and am now at Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki. It's beautiful, and so are Nelson lakes. Got to come back some other time.

Last ride

I'm at Nelson lakes now, sneaking time to one last bike ride before I'm going home. It's cold, and dark early, and a lot of camp sites are winterclosed. It's nearing to cold for tent in many places anyway, and definetely up here in the mountains. Luckily there's still backpackers and friendly Kiwis. It's pretty rough biking with a load after so long time lounging in ships and on beaches, but very rewarding.The scenery is fantastic. I have to come back.

Practicalities

New Zealand is nicer in the sun. Actually so nice I'm trying to sneak in a last little tour before I have to fly back. Tomorrow the mission is to get my tickets finalized and bike to St Arnaud. I'll continue to Greytown and take the train across to Christchurch, then fly home. Hopefully it works.

NZ

In Christchurch. There's nowhere to sleep but airport. It's fucking cold and expensive and stuff doesn't work. I'd forgotten the downsides of NZ. Got a busticket to Nelson tomorrow, will then go to someplace called papamoa in the North Island to pick up more luggage and then fly out from Auckland ASAP. I'm so over travelling right now.

Moce Fiji!

I was absolutely certainmy flight was on the 24th af July, so me and Lou travelled like madmen from Savusavu to Nadi via Suva to have a chance to see Alex before leaving. It's closing in on 18 hours travel over two days, one of the days starting at five in the morning.

And when I'd well arrived in the airport, changed into the travel clothes and left behind the last sunbleched washed out dress in a bin, I wondered why the only flights to new Zealand went to Auckland. It wouldn't be strange if something had gone amiss. Turned out to be me. The flight is leaving at 20.25 on July 25th. In other words; I'd come one day early. Idiot me decided to go out with a bang and got a room at Raffles right across the airport. The basic model, but still, it was absolutely amazing to have an air-con room, a proper bathroom, hot water immediately, toiletpaper and a room to myself. And now I'm wasting the day in the patio with a view to bouganvilleas, pools and gardeners fussing around. It's overcast, but that's ok. It's nice here. I'm just about to go home soon. For the moment it doesn't even bother me that I've missed most of NZ South Island. I'd honestly rather just visit my father in Norway.

Hello Wolrd!

I'm in Sauvusavu again. We'vr benn in Nagigi, pronounced nagingi - try say that while drinking - which we are right now. It's the last day in Fiji. Calls for a celebration. See you soon with pictures - Nina

Savusavu & Labasa

We've gone on a roadtrip to Labasa. It's only 85 km, but almost three hours by bus over the misty hills of Vanua Levu. Labasa is very much Indofijian, in fact I'm shopping a sari here. I'm not quite sure where or when to wear a sari back home in Denmark, but it's very pretty.
Other than that we've visited the local temple and faffed about in town (there's no beach) and had a beer and sorted photos. There's not so much to do here really, and we're both starting to feel that we've seen what there is to see in Fiji,at least for the time being with our monetary resources.

Don't get me wrong, it is really really nice here, but after a while you realize that the guidebooks are using up every possible ressource to come up with things to do. And much of those things are rather much the same in most islands and places. Closing in on three months of hanging out by the beach or being in rather smallish towns that close down at 7.30 sharp, whereafter you have to entertain yourself is enough for me. I miss my bike and more space and changing weather and, well, ordinary stuff like my kitchen and having things to do in the day and less ordinary stuff like my friends and family and husband.

Tomorrow we're going out to a hindu temple with a growing rock that's shaped like a cobra where they do tricks with milk and popcorn we've been told. And then I guess I'm picking up my sari and we return to Savusavu to have dinner at Joseph's and listen to live music and sunday we go sailing an monday we're heading back to Viti Levu. And all that is not so bad.

Jumping ship - still here

I've jumped ship tih the cheaf, and it's over a week ago, but we've lolled about on a beach where internet is a thing of the future. After close to four months of sailing we had had enough  ship and gone on land. We hopped of in Taveuni and didn't get further than 100 meters away from the landing spot, before we found beverleys campground, which is a little slice of paradise. There's no hot water, only generator electricity, fantastic snorkelling right by the beach which you are at and you can kayak to the shop, various hidden beaches and villages. It's so fantastic we ended up staying for  week rather than a few days. Now we're in Savusavu, which is a little disappointing after Taveuni, but quite alright. It's just that all the other tourists are spoiling the feel and there's no beach to go snorkelling. And Fiji towns aren't that much.

Tomorrow we're heading to Labasa on the northern side of Vanua Levu, probably back to Savusavu and then I might go to Ba to visit mrs Kumar, on a tour into the highlands of Fiji, and back to SUva to say hi to Alex, get some souvenirs and send them home with all the other things I don't need and then fly out from Nadi the 24th.

Internet's back

It's pretty unreliable here in Fiji. We're reaching Taveuni today, and I'm planning to run away with the ship chef to a beach with warm water and cold drinks. We're tired of sailing. Here's the proejct newsletter. Read between the lines - it's prettified.

Honour Fiji Journey Newsletter

Suva to Moon Reef

In Suva Harbour

Alvei is anchored in Suva Harbour where the crew have been hard at work to clean up ship, get provisions and make repairs so the ship is all set for our two month long Honour Fiji Journey. Our already delayed sail date is Wednesday the 13^th of June, so we’re in a hurry to get things ready. After 43 days of sailing from Nelson in New Zealand to Suva there’s much work to be done, and unfortunately a lot of it is on deck, rust busting, painting and so forth, which can only be done in sunshine – and we have mainly had rain during our month in Suva.

 Our sail date keeps being delayed, due to weather systems in the wrong compass corner, meetings to go to and so forth. There are always a million things to do before setting out on a tour like this. We’re a mix of old and new crew, palagi (white or westerners) and Fijians, and in particular the crew members who have taken part in the six week long strenuous Nelson-Suva passage and been aboard ship since March are eager to get going and there are some frustrations aboard due to the constant delays.

We have meetings to clear the air and the communication channels. The proverb "being in the same boat" never makes as much sense as when you actually are on a ship and need to cooperate and maintain a congenial atmosphere to keep the ship in shape. The Honour Fiji Journey isn’t just learning about environment, but also learning to cooperate across cultures and expectations – in particular since the crew is very international and culturally differentiated with the only national majority being four Fijians out of a crew of twelve - so much we realize before even leaving harbour. In the end we have several good bye parties, last drinks and showers and three newly tattooed sailors before we go anywhere.

At last both weather and itineraries come together, and with a total of 10 crew members, Captain Evan and project manager Carrie we finally get going on Wednesday the 20^th of June, expecting to pick up our remaining crew members at Moon Reef.

Makogai Island

Our first stop is Makogai Island where we pick up young Giant Clams to be seeded by Moon Reef.

The clams are spawned in 500 liter tanks, and the baby clams are assorted in large concrete pools with flowing seawater according to age and size. We get over a hundred clams to place out on Moon Reef. Three of us don snorkel gear to see some the big ones out in their natural habitat only few meters from the beach and the huge clams are an impressive sight.

We also get the tour and history of the village; Makogai used to be a leprosy colony and was the largest in the South Pacific. It was run by a French catholic nunnery, and closed down in 1969. Today there's a hospital ruin, with large concretely slabs erected abruptly in what is now bush and farm land, as well as a cemetery with approximately 1500 graves. In total 4000 people lived on the island during the leprosy days. 

Moon Reef and Nataleira village

Moon Reef is our first official stop on the Honour Fiji Journey on Friday the 22^nd of June, where we have a week long itinerary, involving both marine ecology and cultural exchange.

The passage from Makogai to Moon Reef

We get up at break of dawn at Makogai to hoist anchor. The passage between Makogai and Moon Reef/Nataleira village is approximately nine hours and we don't want to arrive in dark. The sailing is demanding among the reefs, and the crew who has taken part in the NZ to Suva passage is also the navigation team, since we still are the experienced. We arrive safely at Nataleira near Moon Reef, where we anchor a few hundred meters off the village beach, snugly protected in the bay.

All crew have a swim and don their best land clothes, and we're received with a sevusevu ceremony by the elders of the village, being welcomed to the village. We introduce ourselves and the purpose of the Honour Fiji Journey. The evening continues with Fijian language lessons, and the last sailors are on back board around 10 in the evening.

Sevusevu ceremonies

For those who aren't acquainted with Fijian customs, kava or yaqona is a drink with mildly narcotic effect produced from the grounded roots of the Macropiper methysticum pepper plant. It is mixed with water to something which could be described as mixture in between used dish water and mud, and it pretty much tastes the same. The drink is tranquilizing and numbs lips and mouth of those who imbibe it. Kava is an important part of sevusevu rituals which are performed on events such as births, deaths, marriages, peacemaking or formal reception of visitors. Our sevusevu experiences are of course receptions of visitors, either held on board boat, where we welcome the local village elders, or on land, where the village welcomes us.

For ceremonial sevusevu there's a strict protocol of how the kava is mixed, who drinks first as well as clapping once with cupped hands before and thrice after emptying the cup in one go. Traditionally it is the elder men of the village on of the visitors who are offered kava, while women and youngsters don’t have kava until the official sevusevu is over. Foreigners are usually given instruction on how it is done, what is appropriate and also given a bit of leeway if they accidentally blunder a bit. It can also be drunk in a more informal way between friends, but there is almost always a ceremony master, who prepares the kava, and you always say Bula before drinking in one go. Even the most formal sevusevu usually continues in this way. If the kava isn’t much to your liking it’s ok to ask for a low tide, and politely decline after imbibing the first cup. If you’re fond of it (or its effect) then asking for a high tide or even tsunami should do the trick.

The Moon Reef Myth

Makalati or Moon reef is the spirit home of the ancestors of the local village Silana which is owned by the yavusa (clan) Lau. The reef is protected by two baby sharks, one named Bera A Ua and the other Bera A Lolo - faster than the waves and faster than the tide - hence no one may kill or harm baby sharks at the reef. The babale (spinner dolphins) that live by the reef are said to entertain the ancestral spirits. The myth has that the reef used to be a village site, occupied by the ancestors of the modern village Silana and hence the villagers must now protect the reef. The layout of the spirit village is known, with a playground, the rubbish dump, and a sandy stretch where the ancestors play veitiqa (javelin throwing). The reef is sacred and it is forbidden to throw rubbish at the site, make loud noises and in general behave in ways that doesn't honour the sacredness of the site.

 Before fishing on the reef, one must ask permission of the Silana village which is protector of the reef, bringing a sevusevu, offering of kava. A story is told of a wedding during hard times in the neighbouring village Nataleira; with scarce food to celebrate the wedding. A sevusevu of kava was offered to the Lau clan and permission obtained to go fishing and food gathering on the reef. Much food was caught, both shell fish and fish and even a turtle so large it took six men to carry it back to the village where the wedding fiest could now be celebrated.

Although it is nowadays seen as witchcraft it used to be the custom to bring food offerings in clay pots to the reef for the ancestors. Pot shards have later been found on the reef, possibly from these offerings. Fishermen tell tales of catching strips of grass skirts (liku vau), hearing voices and seeing fires on the reef during nightly fishing trips. The ancient belief is that spirits travel to their ancestor at Moon Reef via the Udukula point where the spirit of the dead dive to the Moon Reef.  Another sacred point is Ucuna i waka ni ivi (the point which resembles Tahitian chestnuts roots), where the villagers can see a fire lit when someone dies in the village. The Ivi tree (Tahitian chestnut) is the totem tree of the Lau clan.

Clam seeding

Early in the morning on Saturday the 23^rd our chef Lou and project manager Carrie make it into Korovou town, to do some very necessary food shopping and project planning.

The rest of the crew is sailed out to a nearby reef to seed some of the clams from Makogai. They’re young giant clams which are endangered due to their shells being very attractive, but nowadays export has been banned.  Unfortunately a case of Fiji time has struck, and we end up going in during low tide, and don’t get a proper instruction of how to seed the clams. The reef is circle-shaped, with no channels entering it, which means that there's no other way into the central deeper parts but over the reef in ankle deep water. Walking on reefs is a big no-no, and by each step you easily crush several years of growth. It also turns out that we’ve put the clams out wrongly; the clams have to be seeded in couples, one male (reddish) and one female (orange) clam together in order to make new baby clams. We’ve just put them out in random order and they have to be rearranged. We're not too happy feeling we’re wasting resources from the village, and agree to discuss the issue on our Monday morning meeting later.

Rest day

We keep Sundays resting days, sleep in and attend church in the village. Even for those who aren't of a great religious inclination it is a good way to get acquainted with the daily life on land and nice to meet locals. We're invited for lunch and more and more dishes keeps being sent over to the porch for us to try. The village youth has apparently been quite impressed with the ship and we're being put forward as a good example - if you work hard, it is possible to go out to see the world and learn a lot. In particular the fact that we're a mainly female crew has proven a novelty; "That big ship and they're all young girls sailing it!"

The evening is intended to be our quiet time off and just about as the majority of the crew is below decks for a bit of rest or quietly cooking in the galley (kitchen), we get boatload after boatload of sightseers. While it's great that people are interested, and we're happy to able to give tours the ship, it can be overwhelming with that many unplanned visitors, in particular after dark when it is difficult to do tours, since we do not have much light aboard. We make an agreement to have people coming out during the day time in order for us to have bit off time too and be able to give better tours.

The Foreigner Complex

We start Monday 25^th of June with a morning meeting, having a talk about the purpose of the project and what we wish to do and learn from the project. The concept of Fiji time (two o'clock might as well be four o'clock, depending on when people are ready) combined with ship time (6th of June might as well be 9th of June depending on weather, engine faults etc.) have been more or less annoying at points, both concerning the project itinerary and cooperation with land based partners as well as crew satisfaction. This year’s project being the first is to a great extinct a trial, error and learning experience to see what is actually possible to do.

We have a long discussion aboard concerning how and whether it is possible to come as foreigners and palagis to "change the world", and how to avoid just being another tourist believing that we're making a difference, while we might end up using more resources than we contribute. The conclusion comes to be that as foreigners visiting only shortly, it will to a large extent be us learning from the Fijians. What we can try to accomplish is getting attention to the issues that need addressing, to show that we have genuine wish of learning and exchanging knowledge and in particular to ensure that the Fijian crew members are put in front of the project, since they are staying and working with the Econesian Society and hence are those that really can make a difference in the future, while the palagi crew at some point will be leaving Fiji for their homes.

Moon Reef Diving

During Tuesday forenoon we're going to Moon Reef per outboard and are welcomed by the spinner dolphins who visit the reef on a regular basis, playing around in the bow wave. The weather is rather rough, but we still don snorkel gear and jump in with the clams. We're also taking pictures of the reef, to see which state it is in, and are happy to see a living colourful reef with lots of fish and shellfish and very few crown of thorn starfish. There are a few places where there’s some damage, and it is very obvious to see how much harm a single misplaced anchor can do to a reef.

After lunch and a change to dry clothes we go on shore for some mangrove tree planting, with Isoa, our main helper, instructor and contact, showing us the cigar shaped seeds of the mangrove trees as well as the desirable size of sprouted seedlings. We collect a big bunch and replant the seedlings at the edge of the mangroves and start a nursery for the seeds. They're placed in plastic cups filled with sands to protect the roots and dug into the moist, sandy ground with about half the seed sticking up. Once they've sprouted, they'll be planted out to cover a larger area with mangrove. The plastic cups can be reused for future nurseries and won't pollute the ground. The mangroves are very important to the local ecosystem, protecting against coastal erosion which is a big problem and can cause entire villages to have to relocate further inland. Furthermore, the mangroves also act as a filter, cleaning off excess silt from rivers going into the sea, and hence protecting reefs further out. If there's too much silt and erosion coming from land to sea, the reefs can be smothered in eroded material which simply put suffocates the reef polyps, keeps out the sun and causes the reef to die. The mangrove can also filter spill water from villages without a sewage cleaning system, which is hard to incorporate and maintain in most small island villages.

School and health clinic visits

Tuesday we're visiting the local secondary school, which serve two districts and 15 villages with only three class rooms and a handful of teachers. The school is quite new, built in 2006, and the vice principal tells of how he painted a piece of plywood with black paint and hammered it to a tree to give the first lessons outside while the school was being built.

The teachers live in the compound, while students take a bus from their village. Secondary school is not compulsory, but is encouraged by the state paying school fees and transport to the school and approximately 75% of Fijian youth attend secondary school. We talk with the students during their break, telling of the ship Alvei and the Honour Fiji Journey.  Once the students have warmed up a bit there's lots of questions about the ship and our project, quite a few of them having seen the ship for anchor by Nataleira village.

Our ship nurse Kanuk is visiting the local clinic and nurse. Working conditions are tough in the countryside, with only one nurse to the clinic, and she is on watch 24/7 all year round. She is responsible for the health care of 2722 people. During the past two years, the nurse has only been granted holidays once. Nurses and doctors are stationed where they are needed, which can be far away from family and friends, and there's usually no other transport than the nurses own feet for home visits in the local villages. Luckily health personnel in the area don't face too many grave health issues; the major problems being intestinal worms, skin infections, respiratory infections, diabetes and high blood pressure which can be treated in the clinic and on home visits. One of the bigger concerns is the appearance of dengue fever in the area.  Health education concerning nutrition, hygiene and the major local health issues are also an important part of the nurse’s job to prevent further health problems.

By bilibili down the river

After our school and clinic visit we go by bilibili (bamboo raft) down the river, where Isoa treats us to some papaya and tells about the importance of the forests. Fiji's landscape is volcanic and full of steep hill- and mountainsides, and rain can pour down in heavy quantities, making bare areas prone to landslides and heavy erosion. The forest acts as sponge, ensuring that this doesn't happen. Around the district where we are there's not much forestry and the high mountains are carpeted in indigenous trees. On lower lands there are fast growing spruces, an imported money crop used for building material. The river suffers some bank erosion, but is in general in good shape, with fish and bird life. The birdlife in Fiji is endangered, as on many other pacific islands, due to imported pests. In Fiji it's cats, rats and mongoose who take eggs and chickens. Luckily several islands are mongoose and rat free and have an abundant indigenous bird life; among those Taveuni, which is our next leg of the journey.

The raft tour is absolutely stunning and ends by the black sand beach where we can walk back to the village among drift wood and yellow beach hibiscus. The hibiscus flower adorns many ears and hairdos in Fiji, and if you're married the flower goes behind the left ear, while singles keep it behind the right ear.

In the village we have fish for lunch with dalo (taro) and moli (lemon) and rokete (chili) for dipping. The dessert is of course lolo - coconut. We’re thrilled to get some variation to our tins and beans and keep the scurvy at bay. Without a fridge nothing fresh keeps for very long and we need to replenish stocks of fresh food every second or third day or go without – hence one of our great pleasures is to share meals in the village.

There are still some days to go by Moon Reef with further school visits, a lovo (traditional earth oven meal) party, storytelling evening and a visit from Fiji1 TV before we continue to Taveuni. The visit to Moon Reef and Nataleira village has taught us much and we’re happy to have made new friends and had such wonderful experiences.

Words in my head

I'm writing untill my head is spinning with words and my sentences makes no sense. It's unfortunately all for newsletters, articles and proejct planning. The Fijian youth is on board and we've been promised we leave tomorrow morning. The tour is getting shorter and shorter for me since the delay is getting longer and longer. I miss Scandinavia, cool summer, mountains, good ice cream, my friends, my family, open air cinema in wollen blankets. Maybe I'm about to have travelled enough quite soon.

The things they don't tell you about sailing

I'm back on the ship, postponed my flight till 25th of July to do the Island cruising and environment project as well. It seemed like a better idea than biking NZ South Island during winter.
I should have met the ship at Moon Reef north of Ovalau a week ago. We're still in Suva. We might leave on Monday. Everything is not organized. We're supposed to both pay for sailing, and work aboard and now do project work as well as I've gotten to write about the project. That's three jobs.
The chef's considered leaving, I've considered leaving, I miss my husband and frustrations abound. We hope sailing will cler the atmosphere. Otherwise I'll go play backpacker.

Things to do in Fiji with your significant other

in a rather random order. 

Hike to the peak in Ovalau

Swim in the pool by the waterfall in Ovalau

Watch the local rugby tournament

 Go to Cangalai

Snorkel there

 Doggus sleepus is a very common animal in the fijian village

 Go to the market

Take a bus to Nananu-i-ra

Kayak  in a bath tub

 Watch the sunset from sunset point. Look for the green flash.

Go diving

Take a boat to the Yasawas

 Catch snakes with the locals

This is a banana flower

Get married on the beach

Our vicar's called Rabua (pronounced Rambua) and wears either all red or all white.

Kiss

This is for my parents and friends and such

Promising to forsake all other flesh and support and inspire in all eternity. That´s a long time.

 Lovo wedding dinner

Chill in the hammock

 Drink kava

Drink champagne under the full moon

Next day feed your husband to the sharks

Or just go for a hike 

Romance in Fiji

We're terribly busy being romantic on palm clad islands with fringing reefs and sandy white beaches. There's not terribly much internet, and anyway I'm too busy lounging about in hammocks, going diving in the equivalent of a live fish tank, reading books in hammocks, going on jungle trecks and having amazing meals with the beloved one.

It's beautiful, everyone is friendly, it's easy to travel here, the climate is great, it's cheap and I don't want to go home, so I changed my flight and am staying til 24th of July, continuing on Alvei rather than to bike about NZ in the winter rain and cold.

I promise pictures to come at some unknown future point, but it may possibly not be before another week's time.Now I have to go have muffins for breakfast.

Sincerely/
the world's most irresponsible blogger.

Local Fiji

We've spent some days in Suva, eating, shopping, showering and the like, which isn't that interesting to the rest of the world, but quite fantastic after six weeks at sea. I've been complimented very much on my local jembba dress.

Now we're at Ovalau, Levuka Town, which is the old capital. It's gorgeus, with superbly friendly people and not very visited due to a lack of white sandy beaches. Definitely still worth going here anyway.
Tomorrow morning we're heading to Canggalai, which is a tiny island with a few bure on the beach, run by the methodist church. Supposedly that's were the white beaches are, minus the  crowd of backpackers/horrible aussies.  There's not much to do but snorkeling, playing about on the beach and hang out with the locals.

Bonus info: kava tastes like soapy mud water. We had some with the local charity club at Levuka Club, which is the oldest membership club in the South Sea Islands.

In Fiji!

I'm alive! 43 days at sea plus two days waiting for immigration to let us into Fiji. It's amazing to finally be here hug the beloved one, and eat proper food. Everything is still swaying, and I'm amazed to be here. Update on sailing, Fiji , and everything will come. But first food, sight seeing and spending time with the worlds' best boyfriend.

Tomorrow's the day

Skipper alerted the immigration and harbour authorities, weather's been checked, kerosene oven's been fixed (I accidentally set it on fire), sailsetting's been practiced, extra warm sweater and seasickness pills been bought (and more chocolate) and we just want to leave. 10 o´clock tomorrow morning.

The girl who shouted wolf

Then the wind came and we´re still in Nelson and keep having last dinners and last drinks. 45 knots is to much wind for a new crew.
We hope the tasman storm will die down on Friday. We also hope that Fijian weather wont be too bad, they've had a pretty big storm and some nasty floodings.

There's gotten more crew aboard to a total of sixten, and the additions are Peggy from Holland, Dennis from Germany, Jef (or Jan-Erik as his real name is, though that dosn't sound as cool as Jef), and Hayden from Wellington. They're pretty young in many ways and it looks like it won't just be learing how to sail, but also conducting a psychological experiment of personalities as well. I do suppose we'll be allright, but I also suppose there will be some clashes on the way.

Anyhow, I will suddenly drop off the map, and that means I'm sailing to Fiji. If you want to know for sure that I've gone, check with Jes.

Hoist anchor, sailor!

We're going tomorrow. We're buying the last stuff today, scrubbing the deck, doing man over board practice and muster stations. I got a new cabin mate, Peggy from Netherlands. She seems very nice. I hope we can agree on our tiny space.
We had the last beer yesterday evening and everyone did like real sailors, getting drunk, dancing, flirting, someone ran out on a bill, someone got sick on the way home, someone got punched by a lady friend, someone showed their boat to a french guy, someone got lost and fell asleep on a different boat, and someone is still missing in action.

It's going to be fantastic. See you in a month.

Out to the big blue ocean

The big good bye party

We were told anything between nil and 200 people could show up to Alveis farewell party. It turned out to be a total of about 25 on and off during the night.  We had made four kilos of potato salad, so you can easily guess what we'll be living off the next days before the final departure. The ship ended up looking so clean it almost was too much, pretty much everything is put in the right place, and deck has been scrubbed, saloon and galley vacuumed and all table  and galley tops inside and out washed down.
I planned to take pictures, but realised my memory card had gone missing.

 Instead I drank pear scrumpy and red wine and danced on the deck  - we've made a crew dance as well, and added new disco moves such as haul up the anchor, climb the mast and scrub the deck. We also made the discovery that all of the male crew are quite the playboys with female guests flocking around them. It was pretty funny to watch and I guess that's what sailors are supposed to be like.  Hard working sailors do party hard, but not late - I wet to bed as one of the later at 00.30.

There's a fun story at the end

I was originally planning to write some posts ahead and have them appearing here. It didn't really happen; we've been to busy getting everything ready before sailing. Hence this space will be empty for the next month or so - there is no net on the ocean. I promise to return on Fiji and write fascinating tales of the sea and the islands. Deal?

Oh, the funny story: our kitchen sink outlet got plugged the other day. It turned out to be a dead fish, which had swam in there to gobble on our flushed out leftovers. I pulled it out of the outlet by the tail, sitting on our land raft.

Dirty sailors

Much less interesting than the title suggests, we're busy fixing up the ship still, grinding rust, painting, playing with phosphosric acid cleaing up the galley top, finding (or making) space for everything and gerneally cleaning up. It's starting to look nicer and nicer, though there's still a clutter of paint buckets and containers of all sorts to trip over on deck. It is coming together though, the inside of the ship is getting pretty neat and tidy, and even thoug it feel like we're adding one job on the to do list for each which is being done, it slowly shrinks.

The crew

In order of appearance:

Cap'n Evans, originally american, now a man of the sea around late fifties I guess. He's been sailing around for the past 30 years or so. He's a quiet man, who speaks more with his eyes than his words, but can pull out quite a few good stories I believe.

Will, 21, american, former studetn who got tired of studying and wanted to do something real. Looks scruffy, eand puts up an appereance, which hardly covers a really nice guy.

Kevin, 24, francais, palys guitar and mouth harp and dresses as a pirate and travels the world and has a jolly good time.

Lou, 27, kiwi as they come, chef, happy, likeable to the max.

Michael, belgé, 19, straight outta school and wanted to travel before university. I'm very supportive of the idea. Looks like a dark Tintin. Bright as few.

Dan, italian-spanish, the partyboy who accidentally spends three days on land, when going for a beer with his friends. A touch timid and also terribly nice.

Sibel, Turkish not German!, 22, taking a break from Germany, travelling NZ, very pretty, very nice, very good sense of humour.

Charlotte, German, has sailed on the Fritdjof Nansen from Germany, just returned from Abel Tasman Hike, definitely knows what she is doing. She's nice too.

Tawny, whom I meet in Takaka when roadtripping with Madeleine. She's a wilderness guide for troubled youth in Colorado, happy hippie, and I'd be deligthed to share cabin with her any day.

Canouck the wild card, french canadian nurse, not on board yet, but has sailed with Alvei and Evan before.

Update upate! An addition of Pepe from Italy has turned up, he knows how to sail, and smiled very friendly at me, while I was busy grinding the hell out of everything, then disappeared while I was in the shower. Well, we'll get time to meet while sailing.

Preparing the cruise

Alvei is a big boat. There's 187 ropes aboard weighing around a tonne, and I have to learn what happens when you loosen them and pulls. I also have to learn to tie knots, practice climbing around in the masts, grind rusty shackles and paint them, stowe away food, make maps over the food storing so we know where everything is, clean, and wash and out away. Luckily I'm not doing it alone, it looks like we'll be a crew of ten on board as well as Cap'n Evan.

It's pretty good and pretty busy, I'll try to remember to take pictures and update you guys. Most of all it's fun.

On board

I'm aboard the Alvei in Nelson and the crew is trickling aboard. I've already had my first galley watch cooking for everybody, luckily it was pretty good even if the rice burned at the bottom. I've also learned a few knots and fixed the netting under the bowsprit (google translate, don't blaim me if it's wrong) and then my bike decided to go for a swim. Luckily we could fish it up again, but there were a few moments of panic in my behalf. This is where I'll spend the next couple of months and I think it is going to be awesome

Golden string of perfect days

It's been an absolutely fabulous roadtrip aound the Golden Bay on the north west corner of South Island. We've kayaked and hiked in Abel Tasman, hitch hiked with great people, met new friends, played with baby seals, listened to world class violin concerts while drinking manuka beer at The Mussel Inn, made and eaten faboulous dinners,  rock climbed, celebrated St Pattys day around the fireplace and generally just had a magnificent time with fantastic people.
I'll post some pictures and elaborate further - in short, all is well, I'm alive and very happy.

Port Nelson

Nelson is a pretty sweet little place, with happy hippie kiwis, loads of backpackers, a nice atmosphere, a bustling and still industrial harbour, cute cafes, parks to hang in, walks to do, museums to visit. Quite the change from Havelock's population of 400 people.

We've been doing the tourist thing, the art museum is more recommendable than the local history, the japanese park isnice, so is the look-out point, and otherwise we recommend just strolling around. Accent on the park was the first place to be friendly and have beds, and we're quite happy.

And concerning that port that I mentioned, I've been looking for a ship to crew to go to Fiji in May. Trying out findacrew turned up a lot of lonely 40 and 50+ skippers looking for a queeze in the cabin of their nutshell boat, while I'm rather looking for a decent stable ship and an experienced captain who want sto swap sailing experience for good cooking and no further benefits.

Instead of looking for the needle in the virtual haystack I got lucky in real life and found the boat Alvei docked in the business side of the harbour. She's a schooner type, and her captains sails her as a non profit cooperative sailing school more or less. They're bound for Fiji beginning of April and need some more to crew the boat. I think I'm going to jump at that chance, and have already found a place to store my bike - the nice guys at Stewarts bike shops are saving the day once again. That means of course that the biking is postponed a bit, and I'll return to NZ sometime after Fiji in June or July. It'll be quite interesting to see what the weather is like then and if biking is even a remotely comfy option of transport.

Me and Madeleine will though first go for a little roadtrip, packing only the very basic - I feel rather intimidated by leaving both tent and sleeping bag behind, but there are hostels where we are gong and the plan is to hitch ride, which is a lot easier when you carry less. We've got a couple of days in Abel Tasman to kayak and tramp on daytours, then heading up to Collingwood and the Farewell sandspit, seeing where luck takes us , then head back to Nelson early next week. I'll board ship then and practice knots, setting sails, navigation and such on and Madeleine is going further down south to explore New Zealand.

Hotching with bikes

I've already had one bike break down - the derailer twisted itself into bits right after leaving Picton and I got it replaced and pedalled on. Betty the bike didn't seem quite happy though, and both me and a couple of English lads on bikes (Alan and Rob of the Possum Posse) fettled quite a lot around to fix her up to run smoothly. It didn't quite work out fully, and the blame was put on a slightly twisted derailer hanger in need of a change in Nelson.

I didn't make it any further than Pelorous Bridge, which is app. 15 km off Havelock. There I had a lunchbreak, went up the hill and heard a nasty crunching sound, which I recognized before I put my foot down as a broken derailer. This time it was the hanger snapping of, the gear wire breaking, and the rear tyre axle which holds Bob the trailer bending a bit. Not possible to go anyfurther anywhere. The ressourceful person runs up to the Kiwi experience bus full of kids with rasta hair, hangovers, purple harem pants and new SDI's and asks the driver if there are any free seats. There isn't. The driver's pretty cool, though, and checks if there are other buses passing by today. There isn't.

Pelorous Bridge has a nice little camp site, so there's no need to panick, apart from the fact that there's no phone reception, and I was supposed to call Madeleine when getting to Nelson. I can't even call to say I may be a day late.

The resourceful person then mills around the parking lot noting all the big cars that could fit a bike, asking if they are going to Nelson. No one is.

Then the ressourceful person stretches out a thumb, and several sympathetically stop to ask if they can help with a quick fix, they do have tools, but unfortunately not space for a bike and trailer.

I do another car park round and someone does have space, it turns out, and that's the NMIT having been on a field trip with the full Asian student body. I go in one car with bike, and the luggage goes in the other van, and all goes to Nelson, where the story ends happily at Stewarts bike shop, where everything damaged is straightened, replaced and fixed within a couple of hours. Betty the bike rolls smoothly on again, and I apparently wear out chain per thousand km.

Next stop Nelson

We're heading to Nelson tomorrow to see if we can get work as apple pickers. Considering the experience we already have from picking apples off wild growing trees, it shold be possible.
Otherwise there's the Abel Tasman national park to explore and grapes in Blemheim, that won't be ready for another couple of weeks though.
My panniers have not arrived yet, but I think I can make it to Nelson without strewing my belongings all over the highway. Neither has the mysterious package from the lovely boyfriend, but when it arrives I'm hitching back to pick up both packages.
I'm on bike, Madeleine gives hitching a try and then it'll be interesting to see who gets there first.

Pictures from Havelock

 

We try the picture theme once again

the possum hunting posse; Alan, Shane and Rob

getting ready to fly

flying!

the skipper. It's pretty far down

We calmed down after the excitement of flying (and crashing, all is well with the people involved, but not the glider) by playing cards, drinking beer, wine and cider to each own desire and sillygoosing around.

Geographic inspiration - places to go before I die

They have a huge stack of old national geographics at the hostel, some dating back to the fifties, but the bulk is from back when mama was a boy* and USSR and East Germany still existed. Ihave ofcourse poured over them, read about all sorts of animals from wolves over whales and head lice, natural phenomonons ranging from hot springs over desert dunes and perma frosts, as well as exotic people and places - the older ones with horrifying and horrifyingly amusing views on the wild africans/new guineans/native americans/Arab deserts/USSR collectivefarms/Patagonia etc.
It's still pretty inspiring, and aparting form wanting a subscription badly (pretty hard when you don't have a permanent adress) there's a million places I want to go. Then there's all the people going through here with some pretty fantastic stories to tell. They've given a few ideas as well.

• Bike around the Baltic Sea
• Bike & hike Eastern Europe
• Bike the UK; Dover to Dunnet/Easter Head (that's the northernmost point in Scotland according to Wikipedia)
• Kayak the Donau
• Go by motorbike (cause I'm not THAT sporty) from Patagonia and all the way up through Latin America
• Bike USA from coast to coast
• Get a work holiday visa to Canada because you can get that until you're 35, and be a lumberjack and travel by train
• Sail the Pacific
• Travel on the transsiberian railroad
• Africa - the places where you don't risk ending up in a war/civil war/pirate lair/gold mining conflict
• Bike the East Coast of Australia
• Ski from Kemi, Finland to Kirkenes, Norway with Papa Bear
• Learn dog sledding on Svalbard
• Greenland!
• Climb mountains in Central Asia
• To be expanded

How about you guys?


*Anglified Danish joke. Does it work in English?

Other things to do in Havelock

Sorry guy, I know the whole blogging thing came to a screeching halt here in Havelock and it's only me to blame. The internet has not agreed with picture upload, but it's not like I couldn't have written about what we have been doing and it's not like I've just been making beds and vacuuming kitchen floors.

so here goes the list of things to do in Havelock:

• go see the glow worms at night, bring a torch, up the street by the war memorial opposite of the hotel, find the track that's signposted 'track to water fall', head up there, continue, further, then you see a few glow worms, further still, and there's millions of them. About 20 minutes to walk and for free unlike so many other places.
• Check out the museums. The fish museum is five dollars and actually quite nice. The local history one is free and peculiar. It also features a lemon- and an orange tree in the garde, which may be of greater interest.
• Have fudge at the fudge place
• Drink beer in the bar of the hotel and play pool
• Go kayaking in the sounds
• Go hang gliding over Havelock (don't crash)
• Bike out to beaches to gather cockles, you dig them up from the sand at the tidal beach. They hide just a few centimeters down.
• Pool up your friends, load them into a truck,bring a power torch and a gun and go for a possum hunt in the hills
• Go deer/pig hunting by boat.
• Pick apples off road side trees
• Bike up all gravel roads you can find
• Hitch out to Pelorous Bridge to hike around
• Read loads of books and old National Geographic
• Do the Nydia or Queen Charlotte track (this is the only one I haven't done myself)
• Play cards and monopoly with other travellers
• Tell tall tales and have tea and apple crumble made from those self picked apples

Waiting for Godot (or bike panniers)

In any case it's a bit dull. I'm starting to feel that Havelock has been seen, but I do need to wait out the disappereance of my cold - at least it seems a bad idea to me to go out biking and tenting with a runny nose, stuffy head and really low levels of energy.
I'm waiting for a new set of bike panniers, the pair i bought on trademe are falling apart - never trust internet slaes unless it's an actual shop where you can send shit back if it's too bad quality. Also, the dear one back home has sent a letter and some Dansih licqourice that should arrive any moment now.
But I really don't have very much interesting stuff to tell about and every time I try to upload pictures everything breaks down. It took me five hours to do the illustrated deer hunting post.
There's really not a lot of pics on it. It's a pain in the bum.

Nah, got to sleep of the cold, go to new exciting adventures and get out there. Something's got to happen.

Deer hunter illustrated

Ok, if you're vegetarian you might want to look away, there will be pictures of large dead animals coming up. But it did have a good life in the forests of Marlborough sounds before we shot it, and we are going to eat it. Deers are pestst in New Zealand anyway, they don't originally belong to the NZ fauna, either does pigs or possums, which is why anybody may go ahead and shoot them.
If you do want to see the dead animals click on the post.

the young ones are locked up, so they don't jump boat

The rest keeps an eye out for piggies

admirable views, technically we're on a part of the Queen Charlotte track. We took good care not to shoot any german tourists. Though they do tend to be nice and fat

Deer hunter

Pig unting is big in New Zealand. I've seen loads of trucks driving by with men in big parkas, boots, beer bottles, and  a bunch of barking dogs and some dead pigs on the back of the truck.  They have at least three magazines solely dealing with pig hunting, pig dogs, guns, pig hunting tours etc. Of course I had to try that.
I mentioned to Shane, who owns the hostel I'm woofing at that I'd like to go pig hunting since it's such a kiwi thing. He immediately picked up the phone, called his brother in law and a arranged a pig hunting tour wo days after. Pigs are hunted with dogs, who roost up the animal and hold it until the hunter takes up on them, and then you usually stab the pig, because if you shoot, you might hit a dog and a good pig dog is quite valuable.

We went into the sounds by boat, up the track, and had the dogs nosing around while we were using the hunting voices and getting explanations on New Zealand wild life and what you can and cannot eat. We didn't find any pig, and agreed that it had been a nice tour anyway, and me, Shane and Madeleine headed back towards the boat. Two minutes after we hear two gun shots and  Billy called over the radio to tell that he shot a stag. We milled back down the track and there was a big beautiful eight pointer. Me and Madeleine waited there, while the guys got a hold of the dogs, that had taken off after a pig, and while waiting we entertained ourselves with a through study of the deer and quite a few pictures.

Guys back again, the biology lesson started, with us holding legs and Billy opening up the animal. Then the fitness challenge commenced, pulling the deer by the horns down to the beach and the boat and up in the boat.
Well back at Picton we had beer to celebrate, went back to Billy's place, weighed the stag in at 236 pound and drove back to Havelock, where we proudly showed off our deer to everyone who was still awake at the hostel. Then we had some more beer.

Poor Nina

I've caught myself a cold or flu or something, and I'm feeling very sorry for myself, being one of these horrible people who do nothing but complain of their misery while ill. I'm pretty sure I'm not dying though.
Anyhow, I'm still in Havelock, so at least I don't have to wear it out on the bike and in a tent. That would be quite horrible.

I'm sharing the wwoofing duties with Madeleine from Sweden and in the afternoon we entertain ourselves with apple picking, kayaking, bike tours, and making up recipes with apples (we picked a lot), glow worm tors and the occasional outing with the locals, even if night life isn't much to boast of here in Havelock.

The work of a wwoofer

In case it's slipped anybody by, I'm working three hours a day at my hostel in exchange for a free bed. The owners is a couple, Shane and Asha with Jack at three and Curtis the toddler plus Woody the dog.
We've already settled into a very nice routine, Paul from France, Madeleine from Sweden and me, being the willing workers, getting up at 7-7.30 unlocking doors and checking that no one has used up all the loo paper during the night or made themselves sandwiches all over the kitchen. Then we go for a brisk morning walk, speed set by Madelien, who's very determined to get in shape.
Then we have kitchen and bath room and guest rooms to clean, beds to make and laundry to do and hang. Last couple of days we've been painting the fence of the sun deck (and ourselves) as well.

Then we've determined that it\s the wwoofer's duty to toast themselves on sunny days, because girls in bikinis will attract more costumers. Or maybe go canoing or swimming in the river depending on Shane's daily plan for entertainment. If it's raining we read and write and occupy ourselves on the internet. Paul actually does some real computer-fixer-thingies work during the day.

Evenings are occupied by general silliness, and ensuring guests feel welcome by encouraging sharing of travel stories as well as making communial pancakes.

Things are pretty good around here, despite the unemployment situation. Who needs money anyway, if they rather can be happy?

Lazy Sunday lovely Sunday

It's raining gray mist over green mountains, we're drinking tea and reading random books from worn out shelves, traipsing out on little tours for milk & chocolate, meeting already familiar faces, hanging clothes to dry inside, everything is already sparkling clean, potatoes cooking on the stove, paint is drying, meditating on the movement of veil tails in the fish tank, quietly tapping away on silent Sunday.

Not a barmaid

Well, I quit my job because the boss yelled and swore at me. And I don't find that acceptable. I'm fine with people telling me how to do a job I'm new in, but I'm not fine with them giving me no instructions whatsoever and then abusing me for not doing what he wanted me to.

In any case, basic HR usually involves letting people now how you would like your business to be run, what the job of new employees involves and how you want that to be done. Then of course a bit is up to personal initiative and experience and such. When someone walks through the door saying "I've done this a long time ago, so I would need some time to get into it again, but I'll give it a good go, if you give me the opportunity" and you employ them, then you do that HR thing particularly well, don't you? Or is that just me?

Anyway, backpackers out there, stand up for yourself, don't take abuse -  and don't take a job at the Irish bar i havelock, it's called Lennys.

And daddy, I may very well need some money - not right now though - but if that's the standard of NZ employers, I hope you agree that standing up for myself  is better than being sworn at by the boss.
I'd like to pay it back, when I get home to Denmark at some point and can get a job where employers actually appreciate your work, cause travelling New Zealand isn't really an essential part of survival.

On the other hand the couple I'm wwoofing for managing my hostel are very nice. They support my decision and we're drinking a good riesling on that tonight.

Time out in Havelock

I did what I have been postponig for a really long time and checked the balance on my bank account. It's not quite in my favour. I'm by no means starving, but there's not quite enough money to both stay here untill May and buy a ticket going back home. Matter of fact, there's not quite enough to actually just stay here untill May. So I went and asked for some work, and strangely enough, the Irish pub in Havelock apparently was the right place to ask. At least they are giving me a chance tonight, despite that it's close to ten years since I was a waitress last, and I have no idea what a flat white is. Some kind of coffee with milk I guess. I know how to draught a beer and deal with drunk people, and I guess that'll count for something.
Havelock is by the way, the green lipped mussel capital of the world and has around 400 inhabitants. Well, 401 now. It's quite pretty and there's absolutely nothing to spend your money on, except going on a splurge at the local Four Square (superette for the non-kiwis) or going binge drinking with the mussel fishers. Eh, maybe I can even actually get around to send off some articles and get some money of that. We'll see.

Daddy, if you get a letter, you'll know what it'll say.

Queen charlotte track

Got food, map, bike, batteries, band aids for the sore toe - marlborough sounds here i come!

Pictures galore - from Napier to Wellington

Cape Kidnapper

The girl and the bike

Napier waterfront

Looking for dead Swiss heroes in Napier - we found him, his name is Jakob Lauper

Following the route of Scandinavian immigrants in NZ - Norsewood

Being stared out by the llamas on the road

the long road

Beware of the ghost house!

Old NZ

To hell with rules, sleep on rooftops! Wellington Station by night