February 28th: Passage to New Zealand
Today is the first day of my unexpected trip to New Zealand. I was called to duty a month ago by an old friend from college. Her brother organizes adventure travel with an organization called Pacific Challenge. As good fortune would have it, they were looking for someone to serve as a trip co-leader over three weeks in March — driving a van, making breakfasts and coordinating between hosts. I am glad I didn’t delete my facebook account — thanks to my flexible work schedule I was able to say “yes!”
It was several years ago I had last talked to my friend. I had offered to babysit her infant daughter, pro-bono, in what turned out to be a rather traumatic experience filled with hours of blood-curdling screams as I muddled my way through bath time and diaper changing. Karma may not be instant, but it often comes around.
Now I’m flying at 500 mph aboard a Boeing 747. The white noise of the jet engines is blanketing the sleepy passengers as we hurtle over the equator en route to the South Pacific. The attendants are wearing bold swirly-patterned, Maori-inspired uniforms in black, pink and turquoise. The in-flight entertainment features a variety of films and documentaries about the airline’s namesake island nation (I just watched a graphic-novel style retelling of stories of the local gods).
I’m sitting next to a couple of retirees, Bill and Alex, who are off to go on three weeks of guided day hikes. New Zealand seems to have a thriving, well-oiled tourism industry. My guess is that they were in need of a break from sheep and figured Americans were the next best thing. Among my well-traveled peers, the island has a reputation for natural splendor and a welcoming, good-humored people.
New Zealand’s history of human habitation goes back only 800 years or so, when Polynesian explorers first settled there, establishing what became the native Maori culture. Then 150 years ago the British empire saw fit to extend its campaign of colonization to the island’s pristine shores, introducing all sorts of animals that have since wrought havoc on the island’s ecosystem, most notably genteel Europeans. Since then entire species of birds — whose misfortune it was to evolve to hobble rather than fly — have been devoured by people’s house pets.
When I arrive I will be meeting up with a group of Norwegian students. I will be assisting with a three week tour of the north and south island’s extraordinary sites via surf boards, rafts, kayaks, hiking-trails and bungee cables. The trip is being co-lead by an Australian who has been on the trip before and knows what he’s getting into (unlike myself!). His profile photo online features an electrified-looking smile and hairdo. I pick him up from the airport tomorrow and I anticipate he will be good company.
It is 8 hours until I land and the time has come to try and sleep. With any luck I will wake up feeling not only refreshed, but a little younger, as we are crossing over the international date-line and losing a day in the process. I’ll get it back when I return to Minnesota. For now, it’s time to enjoy indulging in 24 hours of extended youth; a sort of “Groundhogs Day” scenario.
