Author Archive for Samuel
Happy New Year to all of you!
This is just a quick note to let you know we have safely made it to Ozzy. I just marveled at the Sydney fireworks last night and am now already in 2008! Fancy that! And some of you guys are still hanging in 2007!
I don’t think there is a better place to be than Sydney for New Year’s Eve. But really what matters is who you spend the time with, not where you are. Luckily I even spent it with a loving family member, my cousin Beate. We had not seen each other for 3 years so we had plenty to catch up on!
By the way, the two tall travelers have parted ways at this point. Aaron has decided to go back early, for good and Chelsea reasons, and has headed up North to Brisbane on his own. He is counting his days to see his girl friend!
So from this part of the world I wish you that you are strong and courageous as you walk your journey this year!
New Zealand - what do you expect?
Honestly I expected a lot of sheep, lots of green (I love green - a meal without something green is not really a meal!), and friendly people. All of these were met in the first few hours upon arrival in Auckland. Even more than that:
The Hirschfelds (Ben’s family - my Kiwi friend and colleague in Salzburg) gave us the warmest welcome. Ben’s mother met us at the airport, took us on a “Tiki-tour” (tour of Auckland) the next day, Nick (Ben’s brother) sat down with us ad showed us New Zealand’s “must sees”, Leah cooked some amazing meals for us, and we had a home, a family and a spa. What a treat.
By the way, the tiki tour included a visit to our FIRST museum on our trip together - the Auckland museum, a tour of the local Lion brewery, and a walk up to the three extinct volcanoes of the city - Mt. Wellington, Mt. Eden, and … forgot the last one - Sorry.
Ben’s mum was fantastic!
After a few days with the Hirschfelds we picked up our van and headed north to the Bay of Islands. We might have hit the jackpot with this van. Great rate per day, reasonable mileage, pot, pan, gas cooker, chairs, table, and a comfortable bed that is longer than both of us!
In the Bay of Islands we went “swimming” with the dolphins. It was an incredible experience although we actually did not really swim right with them. The dolphins were actually swimming with us when we were still on the boat. Once we had put on our gear and jumped into the cold water they disappeared. We were left with a stunning view of the endless blue depth of the ocean, a number of jellyfish and plankton floating around. Too bad. But we were very lucky to have been so close to a huge pool of them with several baby dolphins.
Another highlight of our North Island visit was our stay with Kim on her farm. I had met her husband Steve over a Rum Coke on the boat as we were cruising from island to island in Fiji. When he heard that we are headed to NZ he invited us to stay at his farm, and so we did. We helped out a bit on the farm, tearing some old structures down, watering about 35 trees which took 2 hours, and looked after the beer in the beer fridge. It was again a great time with Kiwi locals.
I can say of myself that I have really enjoyed New Zealand! Especially the people!
And don’t worry, there is more to NZ than sheep, green, and friendly people!
(i.e. a bag of 20 odd Kiwis for 50 Eurocents!)
P.S.: Our apologies about the missing photos. We have to do some maintenance before we can put those up!
I’ll try to capture some of the scents I experienced on the Fiji islands here in writing. It’s probably a sorry attempt.
Sun baked coconuts - there is a pile of coconuts, and a pile of opened ones right next to it. For some distance I’ve been able to smell the sweet scent of something until I found the opened coconuts.
Pile of Compost - scents change with the wind. Mango trees are abundant, the fruit more plentiful than anyone could pick. So they fall to the ground, some will be smashed, open, then they rot on the ground. Millions of bugs and flies have a feast.
Tropical Green - With another breath I inhale the green plants of the tropical rainforest. Damp, fresh, earthy. The scent comes from the big leaves - coconut, banana, and lots of others I don’t know the name to.
More fruit- this time open papayas on the ground
Ocean - on top of a mountain the air streams up from the ocean. Not very salty, but distinguishably oceanic.
Viti cuisine - Someone is cooking a nice meal for us - it’s a faint smell because most of it is kept sealed unerneath the suface of the ground. Chicken, lamb shank, crab, bread fruit is all buried underneath, cooking slowly on hot glowing stones. The chicken and lamp are kept in a basket hand woven from coconut leaves. Banana leaves seal the underground-oven and lots of earth covers it, creating a mound - almost a miniature volcano.
Frangibani - Probably Viti’s national flower. A beautiful, strong, soothing, fresh vapour of the white flower that many Vitian ladies wear behind their ear.
Mosquito spray - there is hardly a chance for us whites to survive without the great invention of insect repellent. This smell frequently fills the air.
Before we are off to Fiji I want to express our thanks to those that have made this trip possible and also to the those who got us through our US tour:
Tony and Yola O’Brien, The handbell choir of the Salzburg Baptist Church, Aaron’s pastor Fred, Walmart, the inventors of Macaroni & Cheese, In-N-Out Burger, Comfort Inn for their free wifi, Exxon, and many of our friends that so graciously hosted us.
THANK YOU!! 
San Francisco. Golden Gate Harley Davidson Shop. 11:20. Shiny chrome, colourfully painted gas tanks and big cylinders meets eye in the parking lot. There must be more than 40 bikes. The big guys at the Harley store are having a Sunday BBQ. Most of them were about twice my size, had a long beard and leather jackets with enormous Harley Davidson emblems on them. And here I am, about to conquer a FLHX Street Glide - something like 1500 cc. Taking here out on a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco. A dream that comes true!
It was exhilarating, a rush of blood not just to the head, totally cool. Even for Aaron it was quite the experience, you will see why.
You can watch the ride here… just to warn you though, if you are not all about the bike, you might be bored (it is more than a minute long after all).
In this state we have met nothing but nice people. Of course this is just our experience. I have also heard some other stories too…In the past 24 hrs in Montana we have met 8 locals, who loved what they did, were truly friendly (not superficial) and helped us out in different ways. For instance, our war horse rolled into a Toyota shop at exactly 600 miles on the tank. Time for the oil change. The owner, a man seemingly content with his life and job, talked to us for a good while giving us tips on the car and charging a very reasonable price. Another one jumped to our register at Safeway when he heard that we didn’t have a loyalty card and gave us his! Saved us $3.50! Most enjoyable though was our cultural experience in a local burger place in an old gold town of roughly 3000 people. The girl serving was fascinated by our height, culture, language (we spoke German for the kicks), and stories…
We left Chicago at 9:30am yesterday. So we were on the road from 9:30am until 2:30am this morning. 900 miles of concrete passed under our tires and our warhorse is running on applesauce right now. Seriously, there is no telling what we put in the tank at 1:30 in the morning somewhere in South Dakota, since the gas station was closed (pay at the pump), and we filled up with 91 Octane that had an “out of service” sticker on it. We just stopped in Deadwood, South Dakota, in a pretty fall-stricken little park and we cooked our lunch. We should be in Yellowstone later tonight.
So far a lot of this trip has been spending time with significant people in my life. And significant people are like mirrors sometimes. Especially the ones who have lived with you. We are in Chicago now with our friend and my room-, apartment-, housemate Brandon and his wife Amy. We have already tickled our diaphragm many a times over dinner and a good glass of Bourbon as we shared stories from our times together. And that’s been just great. The reason he is a mirror though is that he shows me who I am. For some reason it is good to have some pointers in your life to show you around when you don’t know what to think of yourself anymore. So I am thankful for all those significant people in my life like Brandon who help along the way.
Some lines in Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller struck a chord on this theme of finding oneself. He took a trip like this and writes about sharing his plans and reasons to go with people.
“…plans were shared with friends, but few understood. “Going off to find yourself” was the standard interpretation. I don’t think that is really our point. We are shaped by our experience. Our perception of joy, fear, pain, and beauty are sharpened or dulled by the way we rub against time. My senses have become dull and this trip is an effort to sharpen them.”
I think for me it is both of these ideas. Sharpening senses and finding myself or rather my path set out for me. Jamie Cullum’s words in “Twenty Something” still ring in my ears too…
