We have taken a picture of the team and will have bios up for everyone shortly. Here we all are at the Sydney Opera house…
Photos
By Steven Shoppman in
March 18, 2007 – 8:12 am
We have new photos up!!!
Check out some photos of Franz Joseph Glacier in New Zealand.
Check out some photos of Sydney Australia.
New Zealand highlights by El Chapitan
By bchap in
March 18, 2007 – 6:44 am
Hello everyone,
Brian Chap here and this will be my first official TWBR blog entry, and I would like to tell you a little about my experience so far with “the Steve’sâ€. When traveling generally there are many introductions. You are always meeting people for various reasons, and have to tell people your name over and over again. With us it is funny because the repetition of their names is always double. So occasionally during an introduction a fun interjection is to refer to myself as “not Steve.â€
There are very few places that cater so well to the backpacker, tourist, traveler, or explorer as they do here.
When it comes to adventure tourism destinations there is no doubt why New Zealand is the acclaimed capital. This place has just about anything an adrenaline junkie like me could ever dream of “and then someâ€. The moments of excitement are prolonged due to the islands diversity in natural environment. Even a drive is exhilarating, as you never know what it will look like around the corner. You might leave a tropical beach in the morning and drive through an alpine pass by noon.
On our first adventure activity we went river surfing with “Serious Fun River Surfingâ€. These guys were great. They made us feel as if we were part of the crew verses just clients. Todays adventure was a journey down the Kawarau River on some boogie boards.
The river is classed from a 1 to a 4 plus.
Now, I have spent a lot of time in and on the water. But I usually had a lot of control in what I was doing.
In this case you are going down some serious rapids on a boogie board “if you’re lucky enough to hold on.†I had such a great time doing this although it did take a little getting used to. After awhile the “Serious Fun†guys had me doing barrel rolls and duck dives through the rapids.
At a couple of the rapids we would stop and ride the face of a wave. It’s pretty hard but with a little coaching I was able to ride a few. It’s weird because it feels like your going really fast. When in actuality you’re sitting still and the river is flowing under you.
The next day we went to the AJ Hackett Kawarau bungy bridge. This is the first commercially operated in the world. It opened in November of 1988 and now jumps an average of 35,000 people a year at this site alone.
This is a 43 meter jump off of a restored 1880s railway bridge.
On my jump today we strapped one of the cameras to my hand to shoot me as I fell.
I really dig the gravity sports. For me as I take the leap it is like my whole body just leaves its tension behind. The further away from the beginning the more peaceful the feeling. It’s not until the recoil that the adrenaline hits my system. From that point on and for awhile it is permagrin time. It would take a lot to wipe the smile off of my face and force the bounce from my step.
Today was like a doublemint day “you know double the pleasure double the funâ€. Not only did we go bungy jumping in the morning but we also went on the largest canyon swing in the world.
There are about ten different ways to do this. Anywhere from just jumping forwards, tipping back in a plastic lawn chair until you fall over the edge, being pushed off with a garbage bin over your head, to being hung upside down 109 meters over the rocks below then they release you “that’s what I did, it’s called gimp boyâ€, just to name a few.
Just to quote another’s felling “even my shit was scared.†That pretty much sums it up.
I don’t even know how to explain how twisted this is…. I love it!
You begin with a 50 meter freefall, another 60 meters in an arch to the lowest point just above the canyon floor. Just when you think you’re going to be a stain on the canyon floor you start to swing up. Wheew!
THAT IS A VERY LONG WAY DOWN!
You end up traveling 200 meters in total.
The wicked thing about it is that you accelerate until you reach the bottom unlike bungy jumping where you are slowing down. Ultimately you reach a top speed of 150kph.
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
We had thought the next days traveling to Christchurch would be pretty uneventful. Especially after the last two days we just had. Some bad weather had rolled in and as we were making it to Christchurch. The alternator died in the rental car 350 kilometers from where we needed to be that evening. We could barely keep the car running over the pass and it died just as we pulled into the nearest gas station. Fortunately this was the only AAA garage for many miles. We lucked out getting there. Steve B. called the rental company and they wanted us to get the battery charged and drive it the rest of the way.
Huh come again?
Then they said we could get a new battery. Ok, that helps but it won’t get us there.
We wanted to get another one for when the replacement died.
No going, they said we could go heaps of miles on a new battery and we should be able to get to Christchurch. If that didn’t work get another battery on the way and not to use the headlights after dark. Only if a car was coming.
Uhhh, what?
Fortunately as we were backing out of the garage the rental company called to let us take another battery with. The mechanic waved us to stop, gave it to us and sent us on our merry way.
It lasted about half way, we put the other in and it got us to Christchurch.
I think out of all the “scary adventure activities of the last few days.†The thought of missing our flight the next day due to an alternator and sketchy advice was what worried me the most.
But hey it makes for a great travel story. I bet it will pale in comparison to what is to come.
Other than that “and even including†this has been a wonderful beginning to an incredible experience. I’m looking forward to everything I have to observe and offer to make this mission a reality hoping to also entertain and enlighten a few readers along the way.
I really enjoy being part of the team. I love having the opportunity to focus on some of the humanitarian aid organizations and to get my adrenaline fix on the sporting side from time to time as well.
Safe travels, Brian Chap
TWBR Team has Grown
By Steve Bouey in
March 18, 2007 – 5:55 am
The World by Road is now currently in Sydney, Australia. It is hard to believe that we have been gone for nearly a month. Fiji is a distant but prominent memory and we hardly had a chance to catch our breath after the Canyon Swing before we had to leave New Zealand. I wish we could have spent more time in both of those places but obviously we can’t. I think that a recurring TWBR quote is going to be “wish we could have stayed longer.” However, there are always new places to look forward to and new people to meet.
Speaking of meeting new people, The World by Road crew is now up to 6 people. Brian Chap has been with us for about a week but our arrival in Sydney also introduces Kira Horvath, Elena Evans and Kaki Shay. Kira and Elena will be on the expedition for a while, or at least until their money runs out and Kaki joined up for the sole purpose of visiting the home country of Steve Erwin and Crocodile Dundee.
We are in Sydney for another day or so before we head down to Melbourne and Tasmania via the Great Ocean Road. It is quite the drive we hear and in other exciting news, we should have the ability to edit all of the wonderful video that we have been shooting!
Thrill ride of a Lifetime
By Steve Bouey in
March 16, 2007 – 12:38 am
I have done a few crazy things in my life and have been known to push the edge a little bit from time to time when prompted, but I have to say that today presented one of those thrill seeking moments that truly struck fear into my core. Queenstown New
The swing consists of a 50 meter freefall (that’s over 15 stories) and then another 60 meter controlled fall before swinging through a 200 meter arc. Now you might be saying, it is a swing and it is not so bad, but the staff at the Canyon Swing do their best to ensure that even the most courageous at heart get weak in the knees. There are several different options each jumper has available to “assist” you off of the platform perched high above the Shotover river canyon floor. Here are just a few:
Bin Laden– Staff tie your hands behind your back and put a bucket over your head before they push you off.
Cutaway– While hanging from the rigging in your harness, staff cut a small piece of rope holding you back… your weight determines how long you suffer.
Gimp Boy– You are hanging upside down ready for a fast rush of ground speed before staff send you on your way.
Elvis Cuttaway– Hanging from your back, your feet are crossed over the harness and you emulate the king on the way down.
Pin Drop– Staff “assist” you sideways off the platform with your hands behind your back.
The Chair- You are strapped to a chair and lean backwards until gravity sends you on your way.
Indian Rope Trick– You leave the platform and use your own strength to hang from a rope for as long as long as you can while being heckled from the crowd.
Off course there are several different variations and the boys at the platform are willing to let you try pretty much anything within reason… and reason has a whole different definition down here.
Wanting to totally freak myself out, I chose the chair release method. I guess I figured if I could not see it coming, it wouldn’t be as bad. I would eating those words with hot sauce on them in about 10 minutes time. Not knowing when you are going to drop or how, your mind starts to play some serious mental tricks on you. You know that you are going to be o.k., but there is a little part of your brain, that part that has been genetically programmed to ensure your survival, that reminds you that what
you are about to do should theoretically kill you. This, compounded by the fun loving staff who are trying to convince you that they are also going to kill you makes you wish you had used the bathroom before you hiked down to the platform.
Sitting in the chair trying to get the “balance point” right and build up my confidence to lean back took about 6 or 7 minutes. When I finally got the nerve and leaned back, the staff caught me shouting “oh no, oh no!” as if something were about to go terribly wrong. I immediately looked up just in time to watch them let me go so I thought I was done for. Like I said before, I had never been more terrified. The freefall that followed is just that, and unlike bungy, you actually accelerate as you drop on the swing and by the time you hit the arc you are going about 150km. Once I realized I was not going to smash my body on the rock face below, I caught my breath and enjoyed one hell of a ride.
The pics do it some justice and the video is hilarious (stay tuned) but you had to have been there to truly understand what happened today. It was hands down one of the scariest yet amazing things I have ever done. On the second jump I did a superman leap which wasn’t as climactic as the chair, but just as fun. No matter what you do, the Canyon Swing is hands down the thrill of a lifetime.
We all can learn from A1 Scuba.
By Steven Shoppman in
March 13, 2007 – 6:07 pm
Since this whole thing began a couple of years ago we have dealt with many different companies and people. The interactions have been concerning matters from sponsorship to media to shipping of vehicles. As I have stated in some previous entries, many of these interactions have been far less than satisfactory.
When we have our hands out to sponsors and media, it is easy to understand why they are not getting back to us. However, some of the people we contact work at places that we trying to spend money with, and sometimes it is very large sums of money. For us to ship the vehicles it took over a month to just get a quote, for insurance we generally cannot get a response at all, instead we have to call them over and over.
It is extremely frustrating when you have to bang someone’s door down to get them to take YOUR money. Our new friend Shane at A1 Scuba is exactly the opposite of all this. We have been trying to get A1 Scuba on board as a sponsor for quite a while. They help us get our certifications for scuba and helped us out with a few of the costs. We always wanted them on board as we have had a commitment to get local sponsors on board from the beginning to keep a tie to home.
Everyone there has been good to us, but since we started working with Shane, things have been nothing but great. We met him about a month before we left and he agreed to up the level of help that we were getting from A1- he agreed to get us some of the scuba gear that we needed. All we were really asking for was a couple of sets of fins and a few other simple pieces of gear. Since A1 is a small business we knew that we could not ask for too much from them.
After an afternoon talking with Shane he agreed that he would contact the gear companies and get them to sponsor us through A1. As he proceeded to work on this for us, he ran into some trouble and ended up with no companies interested in getting on board. Shane gave me a call and told me the news and I appreciated his efforts and figured that we could at least get a discount on the gear from A1. To my surprise, he told me that A1 would still get us the gear on their tab because he did not want to go back on our agreement.
The gear is now on the way to us in Australia and the bag has at least double the amount of gear promised neatly packed and ready to go. Shane did not fulfill the original agreement, he went far above and beyond. This is the way business should be done. Enough said.
Thanks a ton Shane.
You can go to the A1 Scuba website and purchase all kinds of great products from their site, learn more about Scuba, get certified, and even dive in the Shark tanks at he aquarium in Denver. Support their shop, they are good people.
Some Aotearoa Music for you.
By Steven Shoppman in
March 12, 2007 – 5:04 pm
The Maori name for the island that is New Zealand is Aotearoa, which means "The land of the long white cloud." I personally think it sounds much nicer than the European name, but you can make up your own mind while you listen to some traditional Maori Tunes.
Km’s and Cops
By Steve Bouey in
March 11, 2007 – 5:14 pm
We have been here in
The end of my string. – From Hokitika
By Steven Shoppman in
March 11, 2007 – 2:35 am
"Things just work differently here, things just work differently here, things just work differently here," I continue to remind myself.
The difficulty and benefit of travel is that you have the opportunity immerse yourself in other cultures, traditions and general systems of existence. These days I have become very used to the spoils of home. In the United States we have many amenities that have not even made their way to some ends of the earth. I know deep down this is a great thing. The slower pace at which many other places move is something that we can all learn and benefit from.
I certainly enjoy the warm hello and willingness to have a conversation before the transaction of the day here in New Zealand. Whether you are about to check into a hotel or trying to purchase a new shirt, Kiwis are generally interested in what you have going on. I would expect at least double to triple the time to check into a hotel here, many times due to a lengthy conversation with the owner (most hotels here are privately owned) about where I am going and what I am up to. I appreciate this. It is a much nicer way to handle business by exchanging a few kind words instead of just exchanging money.
There can be a downside as well. I am frustrated, I will admit it. The general response to the question "Do you have wireless intenet access?" is a puzzled look. I am in a hotel and have a ton of photos and blogs that need to go up on the internet, and I cannot even find out if there may be somewhere in town to connect so that I can upload content. In the end I know that I am just tired. Since I started the day trying to deal with the final painstaking details of shipping the vehicles then climbed around on a glacier all day and finally drove for three hours only to have this response, it is very difficult to keep a positive attitude. Worn down and tired, the last thing you want is more adversity.
The answer that I want as an American is, "Yes sir, we don’t have that, but I will find out what it is and get it right away." After a good night sleep and the Wildfoods Festival ahead of us tomorrow here in Hokitika, I am sure I will return to being charmed with the culture surrounding me. For now, I will go to bed with a grudge like a little baby…and that is that.
We are on the South Island now.
By Steve Bouey in
March 7, 2007 – 8:39 pm
Hello everyone. It has been a few days and a lot has been going on. We are currently in Hamner Springs in the heart of the Southern Alps on the South Island of New Zealand. We have been on the South Island for a few days after having crossed over on the Cook Strait ferry with our Mazda wagon. We spent a couple of days in Kaikora and met some awesome people, learned more about Maori culture and heritage and saw a giant sperm whale off the coast from the window of a small plane.
We still do not have codecs for the Panasonic or the Sony so it will still be a little while before any of our video can be edited and uploaded. We do however, have some great news on the auto front… our carnets arrived at the shipping company finally and we were informed that we can probably export the cars tomorrow with the carnet even though we still have not received the title from the DMV yet… those people have now exceeded even my expectations about how stupid and ineffective people can be.
We are now on our way over to the west coast and the Hokitika Wild food Festival this Saturday. We were informed that is is a great event and quite the atmosphere. We are also going to probably meet up with the first member of our expedition crew Brian, so that will also be sweet. All in all New Zealand, even though it is more expensive and a little more crowded than last time I was here, is still amazing. the country is truly beautiful and the people never cease to amaze you with their kindness and hospitality. time is flying by however, and Australia is just a week or so away with a lot more excitement and maybe even a few Toyotas waiting for us there.
The photo above was taken in a plane on a flight with a company called Wings Over Whales out of Kaikoura. Click here to find out more info about doing this yourself. It is an amazing way to see some really amazing creatures.
This evening we will be going through our pictures from our time in New Zealand so far and get them up in the web for you by tomorrow. Right now we are off to drive over Lewis pass to Franz Joseph.
