New Zealand Travel Comics
I went to New Zealand for 5 weeks. I finished a 60 page travel comic that consisted of little sketches and thumbnails of all the stuff I noticed along the way. 2 weeks were spent with Caryn and her folks exploring Christchurch and Kaikōura with 6 days of rafting the Clarence River (relentless class II/III). Caryn’s parents are adventurous people. Her mom was a professional raft guide for 20 years. Her dad has a PhD in Hydrology. I learned so much about river navigation from them. They rafted the river about 15 years ago. An Earth quake in 2016 completely changed the river so we got some tips from the company we rented the rafts from and then committed. One of the most dangerous sections was a class II/III rapid right at the end before the take out caused by a bridge collapse from the earthquake. There was just raw rebar strainers sticking every direction. Kiwis are comically relaxed about safety. Love it.
2 other families were on the trip that were friends with Caryn’s parents. Overall a good crew! Three other academics and their kids. A geologist and a cognitive scientist. I asked an absurd amount of questions. They were captive if I was rowing.
One morning we woke up to a bird chorus lead by the bell birds. They have a low to high song that when synced up with many of them it is almost like there is a bass line. Bird recordings don’t do the morning chorus justice because they were all roosting in the trees directly overhead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhvCsYFZ0vQ
The remaining 3 weeks I traveled around in a camper truck exploring different alpine zones and finding rare endemic alpine plants. I had a plan, a purpose, tons of time, and fresh uphill legs. I ran through sheep paddocks, parted a herd of sheep while bombing down ridge (Biblical vibes), ate too many meat pies from small town shops (the tacos of NZ), did a 60km trail run with 2000m of gain/loss, and got drunk (a rarity!) on free beers for sketching at a bar and giving the owner the picture. On the long run I hung out with some alpine parrots (Kea) on a windy AF ridgeline. The time traveling alone was good for me. It had me clarify some things I have been working on. More on travel insights soon!
