words around

Spinning wheel

2007-03-13T05:11:00.000Z

Early evenings are most pleasant here, at Vic Uni. Especially with southerlies bringing the wet and cold of Antarctica. The silence of the floors, sporadically broken by a murmuring lift, sometimes the sound of closed door reminds me that I am not all alone here. Fourth floor is high enough to separate me from today's reality. The blue-green harbour city life looms in the distance. My mind is quiet as if with a click of the door handle my world was sucked in by linguistics. I like those evenings when I can give myself some more knowledge. I am slowly putting on layers and layers of language on me.
My state of mind is only recent. Coming back to New Zealand (I think of it as 'mine' and it is such in a sense - I acquired it in my dreams as an idealised life here within a nanosecond of spontaneous decision) means starting anew again and again and again.
The last five months have been a series of cycles, drastically ending and beginning. There is and there was. There is my own space with lots of sun and a big wooden wardrobe. There's no work. There's room to live and there is work. There is work and suddenly there is no space that belongs to me. There is no wooden wardrobe and there is no bed to sleep in. There is romance. There is romance and there is no space. There is suddenly space and there is no romance. There is no work but there is a new space to live. There is a space and there is work. There is work that I have been dreaming of. There is a cat. The cat happens suddenly,all black with a tiny white spot. There is the cat and there is no romance. There is a space to work. There is peace and quiet. For now. What a spinning wheel it is.

Back to the Future

2006-12-23T05:56:00.000Z

Christmas this year will somewhat happen in the future.
When You will be helping yourselves to all that herring-carp-veg salad-borsht with dumplings goodness of the Xmas Eve, I will be already suffering through the effects of uncontrolled indulgence. I am not even dreaming of the above treats though - I will have to make do with a home-made KUTIA and anything that can be tossed on the barbeque. You will be ripping through your presents when I will have already satisfied my Christmas curiosity (my magic x-ray vision has already revealed the contents of an unsuspectingly bottle-like packaging of an excellent South Island cabernet merlot). Some of you are more than certain to still be humming the last verses of Silent Night when I will have woken up with a post-Xmas Eve stomach rumbling and even more possibly dehydration caused by red bottled immoderation.
Colorful fireworks will be cracking above my head inducing a fleeting thought of ...ehhh TIME FLIES ... when you will still be trying to squeeze one last breath of this year by trying on the sixteenth fabulously stylish outfit for tonight or by nervously flicking through TV magazines in search of New Year's Eve tv crap.
Finally, when you will be slowly dying on the verges of the sofas, stairs, corners and under the tables, I will be beating my feet rhytmically against the ups and downs of Wellington's hills in an attempt to revive bodily functions and OUT-run Christmas self-indulgence.
It seems that I am going to be ahead of everybody this year. It is a pleasant thought indeed to find myself in a twelve-hour future from which I wish all of you Darlings and Beloved Merry Christmas and a bit of fluffy snow. And maybe some new Xmas tree decorations. And whatever you desire!!!
Ho Ho HO!

Airline-d-ventures

2006-10-05T08:41:00.000+01:00

I'm not too enthusiastic about any animal form that has more than four limbs. Even less so when it is inside a pillow case on which my sleeping head is resting. The awareness of the presence of a tarantula spider only few inches away is more than disturbing. Especially when for some reason I reach out to touch it and the hairy ball starts throwing itself around in panic. SQUEAK! it's stung me! Why don't I feel any pain then? I open my eyes. For a moment of dreamy desorientation I don't know where I am but the humming sound of a spring rain outside makes me realise it must be New Zealand.
Auckland greeted me in a wet fashion. Leaden clouds were frowning at landing planes, livid with anticipation to transform the runway into a lustrous surface of water. The moment the plane touched the tarmac the sky spilt itself onto the green landscape painting an impressionist picture. The weather, istead of melancholy, filled me with elated satisfaction. After two months backpacking in China and a sisterly visit to Malaysia I've got here at last. However, the last leg of my journey east from Singapore to Auckland via Hong Kong wasn't as unadventurous as I'd expected it to be...
Two weeks of Malaysian home comfort had put my backpacker's alertness to sleep which made me get to the airport 12 nonchalant hours before the departure hoping for an early check-in and a night of free luxuries of Changi Airport. The only thing I do remember from somewhat longish negotiations with Jet Star Asia crew is that "they are sorry to inform me that it is not their policy to do early check-ins" and that "I can find 'left luggage' desk on level 2B". Well, I went to 2B and then back to Bugis Junction. I decided to be philosophical about the fact that the hostel where I was hoping to catch a few hours of sleep was situated in the very centre of the bustling Ramadan night market (it was as if one was trying to fall asleep at a market stall full of excited customers). Six sleepless hours later I philosophically let myself be ripped off by a taxi driver who, in a very Asian manner, demanded $5 more than decency allows and which I enthusiastically gave him (keeping in mind the fact that my last post was about bargaining, i'll leave the above without any comment...). Another 12 hours later I found out at Hong Kong airoport that I cannot be checked in for the flight to Auckland until my visa has not been given an all clear from NZ immigration office. Since we live in a technologically advanced world it took them just over five hours which I spent wondering if the Polish embassy had sent it through at all. With collywobbles in my stomach I got to the check in desk for the fifth time, nervously trying to read my fate from Cathay Pacific stewardes's smile. A grin meant a success. It was not the end of it though. No sooner than I'd heard a sweet 'Gidday meete' in Auckland, than my passport disappeared for an hour. After another sleepless night (had to catch up with the movies...) my imagination started gallopping with a front runner's zeal - they forfeit my luggage in which they find heaps of illegal fresh food, a deadly leech, four rabbits, dozen of mice and a kilogram of crack. My visa turns out to have been forged and I get thrown into a claustrophobic cell full of refugees from Bangladesh and latino drug traffickers. Oh well, not this time. I got my passport back, got another all clear and am now officially a legal student.
It is still raining in Auckland. It's even better in Wellington, the rain complemented by super sea storms. AHHH, Kiwi weather....

Sino-business

2006-09-06T14:22:00.000+01:00

Chinese tycoons. Infinite numbers of street-vendor Donald Trumps, Richard Bransons and Bill Gates'. The world of Chinese street markets is ruled by the principle of a ruthless rip-off. The price is always surreal and the goods less than genuine. Avoiding a wallet crisis is not impossible though. Taking into account the fact that laying a total embargo on tourist goods rolling into your suitcase is unreal, it is probably a good idea to acquaint oneself with the local business etiquette:
First of all - BUSINESS DOES NOT DO ITSELF. Since the competition is tough and the language barrier even tougher, the only thing left to attract your attention is to use some more unconventional sales methods. Shoving souvenirs down passer-bys' throats or following them (sometimes it turns into a long distance hike...) are among many. The so-called 'broadcasting'- a home-made commercial played over and over through the megaphone - seems to be quite popular too. Those on a tight budget have to resort to a live performance. If any of the above manages to get your attention, there comes an exciting stage of bargaining...
There is one major rule here - a potential customer showing no features particular to the locals falls into the 3*3 category which roughly means TRIPLE PRICE, TRIPLE BARGAINING TIME, TRIPLE AUDIENCE. Thus, one can expect humongous profit margin on not so genuine souvenirs whose purchase will require much more time than doing weekly foodshopping. Local audience is a crucial element too since it is more than willing to take active part in settling prices and working out Chinese numbers.
Bargaining is hard work that requires lots of determination and a bit of cunning. Most of all, expressing delight and excitement is highly inadvisable. Goods should be looked at with overt suspicion, turned and examined for any possible defects. Contemplation and discontent are, on the other hand, very expedient.
All of the above leads to the first unveiling of the price - most often being a surreal one. Now, there are two ways of reacting: one of them is to smile ironically and repeat the price many times with astonishment slowly leaving at the same time. Those less temperamental should stay calm, put the thing away and rush out of the shop. Any of the reactions will definitely lead to the second unveiling of the price - most often making the desired product only a bit cheaper but at the same time giving scope for presenting one's bargaining skills. Saying "tai gui le" (too expensive) combined with proposing a drastically reduced price is the key to success.
It is the most extreme stage when one can expect open agression and even outrage which evaporates with the first step one takes towards other market stalls. This can be repeated many times and often also means familiarising yourself with wider choice of goods offered to you "by the way".
Once you've spent a quarter of an hour (or more) haggling hard, laughing (or being laughed at), patting (or being patted), swearing and chinwagging you're ready to finalise the deal. It is quite simple - if you agree to pay more than half of the original price, you voluntarily get yourself ripped off. It has its advantages like free extras and some more friendly treatment.
Bargaining skills are what you can't travel without around China. Taking into account the fact that you can get a discout even at a grocer's, it might be useful to practice at your local stall beforehand...

WALLnut

2006-08-28T14:01:00.000+01:00

No one knows how long it is. Its location is sometimes based more on a compromise than on empirical evidence. On the map it looks like a broken chain - meandering along mountain ridges, sometimes with its legs astride, popping up in an unexpected spot. Most of us will recognise it as the only man-made structure visible from space (some even go as far as claiming it can be seen from the Moon!). David Copperfield's fans will remember his graceful passage through it. It is not just a wall. It is the GREAT WALL.
My knowledge of it was limited solely to the above when I got the idea of China Challenge . As it came closer, my mind was filled with a more and more romantic vision of a solitary randez-vous on the Dragon's back*.
When I finally got the Great Wall within reach, I pounced on it while scouting Beijing's surroundings. Shanhaiguan Wall turned out to be a renovated shred of time- worn eastern wall. The greyness of the clouded sky concealed it and only colorful T-shirts of the few tourists climbing giant stairs seemed to give it away. Above a modest temple veiled in incense smoke there was only a thin winding skeleton of the once great WALL . Observed by a few monks I tried to 'camouflage' my wild walk by frequent photo stops.
Such efforts weren't necessary on Huanyaguan Wall which , beside the touristically poor renovated part, quietly offered a longer encounter with its COARSE BACK barely visible through thick vegetation and foggy ridges.
Slightly discouraged by the adverse weather of northern summer I gave the Wall one more chance. Hoping for a bit more extreme experience I climbed the SIMATAI WALL. Before I could even get breathless a line of slanting-eyed hawkers created a shadow that was to follow me for the next few hours. The weather was almost perfect, however, so I could satiate my eyes with a picture-like image of the winding Great Wall. To my delight I managed to leave all human element behind when I reached GUBEIKOU WALL , where I spent the night in one of the watch towers in a discreete company of bats. The red sunset and the orange sunrise were for sure the highlights of my China trip.
Great Wall is a peculiar phenomenon. Silent and absent-like for centuries, it was just an insignificant element of the landscape, cut through by developing infrastructure, often providing free building material to local farmers. A few dacades ago Chinese propaganda started making up for the years of negligence by giving some of the Great Wall stretches an extreme makeover. Today it resembles Frankenstein - majestic and awe-inspiring yet somehow lacking authenticity by its patchwork character.

* My dragon association turned out surprisingly adequate - the place where the Great Wall plunges into the Yellow See was of a dragon's head shape - nowadays completely ruined, recognisible only by name - Dragon's Head

Chinese character

2006-08-17T16:01:00.000+01:00

It is Chinese character - said RONG LI , and, as if wanting to prove it, a bag full of apples appeared with an encouraging nod urging me to take it. As if helping me to get out of a godforsaken place called Tangshan was not enough a proof for local generosity. For a seemingly easy task of travelling around provincial China sometimes turns out to be challenging even for the natives. Rong Li, whom I briefly met on the train, was extremely effective - after a dozen phonecalls, one wrong station and a taxi escort I got on the bus to Panjiakou and the driver was given instructions concerning the destination of my trip (Great Wall submerged in Panjiakou reservoir) along with all other personal information that I had revealed to Rong Li so far.
The bus was wobbling around on a dirt road with a skating elephant's grace while CI LU , who had been appointed my Guardian Angel by Rong Li, was entertaining me with some information on the local infrastructure. In fact, it was a conversation lead by his phone - on its screen appeared some of the most interesting English phrases I've ever seen so far generated by a mobile dictionary. Our Chinglish chat was regularly enriched by Ci Lu's wife, who had to be texted every single sentence either of us managed to produce, which resulted in a Chinese homemade dumplings feast. My chopstick skills were put to test by Ci Lu's mother - beaming with smiles she unloaded the fridge's contents onto the table and with an encouraging gesture pointed at less and less 'grippable' dishes. Unlike most of low-mid-range restaurant chopsticks that even rice sticks to, the home edition can be quite massive and horribly smooth which makes eating a real challenge. Thus I provided my hosts with a highly entertaining 'veg-drop in the soup' and 'peanut plate chase' performance.
Close encounters with the natives are unavoidable in China since a foreigner is still quite conspicuous and classifies as 'valuable goods'. Not always for his financial dimension though. Visiting less touristy places usually means great show for the whole local community. A symphony of delighted "HELLLLOOOOs" can be heard almost everywhere and you will always run into an English geek asking you "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" with a cheerful "Lao Wai!" (foreigner!) in the background. Same applies to provincial hotels - staff members from manager to cleaner throng around the reception making it look as if there has just come a Polish-guided Chinese tour. I experienced such phenomenon in QING DONGLING (Eastern Ming Tombs) both in the MAO-style hotel lobby and the restaurant. Mass WAITRESS invasion got even to my room.
Privacy or personal space is a relative term in China, treated mostly as some kind of impoliteness rather than basic need. Thus I had to get used to "train snuggling", staring, communal Lonely Planet China guide reading (often having the book 'borrowed' to have a better look)and endless marital/child status enquiries.
I have come to accept the fact that in China it is not possible to melt into the crowd. A tourist will always be a tourist...

PS. Have a look at the GALERY
Great Wall experience coming soon.

TRAINing China

2006-08-07T08:23:00.000+01:00

Travelling by train in China has some charm to it. First of all, there is the train station frenzy - I got my baptism of fire in Guanzhou (Canton). Buying a ticket is itself an enterprise that requires endless wandering around the hall that is similar in size to London Heathrow as well as determination and good elbow bump technique which would make it possible to push your way through to the only counter with an English sign above it. Needless to say, it does not mean you will be talking to an English speaking person, and more often than not, you get yourself into a lengthy negotiation using your pocket Mandarin dictionary. In the meantime, regardless of all above, there are locals who constantly push money through the hatch demanding tickets. When you eventually reach some kind of an understanding resulting in a pink card (on which only the train numer and departure time seem to be intelligible) there comes an even more exciting stage of the journey - the boarding. Chinese railway stations can fit in a population of an average European country and that in practice means a huge building crammed with countless masses laden with tonnes of luggage. Their numbers are never decreasing since once a crowd spills onto the platform, another is already storming through the waiting hall's door. Announcing the train is a signal for another elbow-punching round for the Chinese get on the train as if it was the last one ever to leave the station.
Travelling on the train is like a garden party during which private conversations spread around the whole carriage and the stewardess is paving her way screaming and clanking against her metal trolley on which there pile different delicacies. While you're there, you might as well do some exceptional shopping - vast choice is colourfully presented (in song, verse or a mini-show)goods - and buy a pair of heavy-duty socks, all kinds of toys and above all, a super plastic American commando crawling on the table giving "Fire!Fire!" commands (it has the most striking effect somewhere around 13th hour into your journey).
My Chinese railway adventure meant three days, three trains, two grey cities, lack of sleep and numb limbs. What initially filled me with resentment turned out to be an interesting experience. If I hadn't been given wrong information in Hond Kong about a direct train to Shanghai (which was fully booked for the whole week anyway) I wouldn't have visited a great Han Dynasty TOMB in Canton or climbed the seven-storey PAGODA. I wouldn't have peeped at a night badminton game on Shamian Island (Canton) or met four Chinese teenagers whom I promised to find Polish girlfriends and I would have never tried a genuine Chinese breakfast for only 10Yuan (1Euro - all made of rice) in Nanchang.
Thus, my China railway adventure is to be continued...

qin qian qong in hong kong

2006-07-29T03:45:00.000+01:00

Kopee woach? kopee henbaak? heer, kopee byee kopee(copy watch, copy handbag madam? here copy buy copy)- 'original fakes' business is going well in hong kong - I can see the effectiveness as my roommates are sporting shiny Rollexes on their wrists (it's for my brother but I need to check it out first). Hong Kong Kowloon is a place where the east is at the west's feet, all that shopping glitz goes for a head-on crash with delapidated stench of narrow streets, but where everybody sweats no matter where they come from in a painfully still air of local summer.
You would think that a metropolis like that would timidly try to hide its stinky interior. KOWLOON, however, shamelessly does full monty - one glance up and you're flying among the shabby blocks, one step aside and you're with the poor of a side street.
Here you waltz through the day: one, two, three, please buy meee. Blinding is the sparkle of a new mobile phone, tempting is the fetish of a super fast laptop. It's so hard to resist...I give up and after a hard haggle I go downtown straight away to check out my new photo toy.
Looking at China through HONG KONG perspective makes it a soft landing in Mao's reality successfully blurred by the hubbub and consumerism of Kowloon. That's why it wasn't long before I felt the pressure to push on towards THE WALL. It seemed so easy - just buy a Hong Kong-Shanghai sleeper, get enough reading for a 24h journey, stretch on the berth and gaze at the horizon looking for the shadows of Shanghai skyline. Well, things that are thought to be easy might be very misleading since they're often based on coincidence. In my case it meant a 72h patience lesson that had to be humbly taken...

NEW ZEALandOUS cha cha

2006-07-18T16:54:00.000+01:00

the earth, the wheel, our heads*, time and space, the sun and the moon, our lives, even a smile - everything seems to have a conceptually round shape**. things seem to be continuous even if they happen once. but even though we seem to be going in circles, it's never the exact trail that we have followed before, the river is always flowing. the idea is the same, it's the circumstances.

so i am going to complete the full circle soon and start doing it anew at the same time. I started in New Zealand and am going to finish there. with a year gone by, however, I'll be looking at the place through a uni window. all that is to come makes me realise how dangerous silly ideas can be :-) once it gets a chance to become a thought it becomes a nagging one, a numb spot that spreads all over. same thing as with the CHA-CHA*** (CHINA CHALLENGE). one place. china. two words. great wall. one innocent pastime. running. result? i don't know what i'm doing but am going there to see how far i can run, how frustrated i can get not knowing the language, how tough i really am, how much control over my life i can lose.
it's now all guessing. but in two days it'll be all happening.
yeyeyeyeey!!!!!
i do realise how naive/obvious/dull/popular words these are but:
I LOVE TRAVELLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so i am thus bringing WORDSAROUND back to life.

and here we go again

2005-11-22T10:12:00.000Z

i don't know why i run.
stop. go back.
the moment i saw it written i realised it's not true.
i DO know.
i run to free my mind by focusing on a single thing - to go further. i run because it gives me a sense of control - mind over body. i run to kill negative thoughts and a never diminishing longing to travel. i run to give the whole thing some meaning - making the time spent in Jersey worth remembering. i run because it makes me stronger.
and after my first HALF MARATHON on Sunday i know i can do better.
time flies when i run. week after week i just look at the mileage and it feels as if i was running back towards New Zealand. it's an awfully long way but i know that every time i put my training shoes on i get closer...

jersey cow

2005-10-25T11:06:00.000+01:00

what would you do if you lived on a very small island just big enough to be a spot on the map that looks like a pimple that somehow came off the face of the British Isles? Why, of course you'd do anything to prove it is worth the attention - what better way to do it that by luring greedy wallets with a tax eden? or, even better so, by bragging about a local breed of cattle to such an extent that it ends up on the local pound NOTE (next to THE QUEEN!)
Jersey.
it's already been a month since i started dancing with the plates, swinging with the coffee machine swirling-whirling thoughts missing the mountains, feeling my feet itch ready as ever to set off. alas, another eternity has to pass before i'm ready to go back to new zealand...
sometimes i feel like a jersey cow. grazing patiently day in day out. i just hope i won't end up as sunday roast!
by the way, keep your fingers crossed for my first half-marathon ever! hoping for a mass telepathic energy support on November 20th!!!
cheerio.

(un)conditional

2005-09-18T13:42:00.000+01:00

it's been a long and a short journey. a long one in terms of discovery a short one bacause time always flies when you're having fun.
and a journey like this one will always leave you want more, new destinations will pop on the map in your head...once you've travelled to the other side of the world no escapade is too long anymore. it's a big step and a small one at the same time, making you realise how big and absorbing a place it is. there is no life long enough to get everywhere and see it all. and once the world starts expanding in your mind it's an endless source of possibilities.
possibilities are in their nature conditional. there's an IF here and an IF there, one thing determines another and so on.
and so it is now for me. many IFS, very little certainty.
therefore, even if just in writing, i'd rather change 'IF' for 'WHEN'.
and that's why i've decided to go to Jersey once again and work hard, as hard as i can. because if you really want something you will get it.
and what i really want is to go back to New Zealand. i've been wanting it even before i left it. that's why i'm not going back to Poland to finish my studies, spend another year feeling my feet itch and then wonder why i've ever done that.
unrealistic. silly. childish. irresponsible.
well, i'd rather risk than regret not doing so.
i'd share a few more thoughts but i reckon that by the time you get to this paragraph you've already had more than enough and you're right. time to stop talking and start doing!
goodbye downunder. see you next year.

on the run...

2005-09-02T13:46:00.000+01:00

ok. not that i want to brag about my fitness level huhuh. or that i am proud of myself for participating in my first timed race. but then again, yes i do want to brag and i am proud of myself for : a/ getting to the finish line b/doing it despite the weather c/wanting more!!!
so what am i mumbling about? CITY TO SURF one of the biggest charity events in the southern hemisphere. 26,000 people doing it every year. wow, i thought. a must-do for me since i've been stuck in perth for almost two months now, trying to keep myself sane by punting around in trainers, swimsuit and on the bike. call me PINK PUNTER from now on.
so i got to the start line on sunday, raved my engine and went off to the finish. all that for a simple moment of glory to see my NAME among thousands. yeah.
anyway, i guess i'll see some of you soon as i'm most probably spreading my wings again in a long journey back to europe...in a couple of weeks.
and then? who knows.

Baby bliss or baby blues?

2005-08-19T14:26:00.000+01:00

ok. the clock is ticking. for me it's just struck 26 past birth. and here are some thoughts that have occupied my mind recently. for those who are more than done with reading my splashes of demented wisdom, feel free to miss on this post :-)
******************************
So you have a baby. After almost fourty weeks of watching your belly swell and finally burst from the sexiest pair of jeans you could only dream to fit in now (ahh, those cravings…), THE ONE has arrived, landing on your chest with a natural suction drive of a powerful vacuum cleaner. Now, those who have already damned me to burn in hell for the heretic account of what is commonly known as the MIRACLE OF BIRTH hold your horses and read on.
Apparently, I am not a mother. What’s more, I haven’t had children yet (thanks god or whatever supernatural being that I should be thanking). I even wasn’t there when my sister was giving birth (double thanks for that – I wouldn’t ever face a theatre full of masked faces cutting, slicing, splashing in blood, etc.). But I’ve seen what’s after. And craving irony as usual, I can’t wait to tell you what it’s like to watch and sometimes even participate in the hardest job on earth – BABYING.
But let me make myself clear here – I do like babies, I do think it is a miracle, one of the greatest things that can happen to you. But I also want to see the other side of what is taken for granted so often – the less than perfect life of a mother, working father and a full-time baby.
So. We’re back with the suction. Instantly, from the very first moment, BOOBs become the ultimate source of almost everything: food, comfort, peace and QUIET. In fact, since you’ve become a milk machine operating 24/7, it’s highly economic to simply keep your BOOBS out at all times. With an appealing prospect of at least six months of breastfeeding there’s also an issue you simply cannot ignore – the POO. It comes in all possible kinds of colours and consistency – but most often deliciously runny and almost always with an accompaniment of a freshly squeezed bottom burp. If this doesn’t sound chunky enough, there’s all sorts of spewing and upward peeing while being changed (mind you, it’s the baby doing all that). Basically, if you haven’t experienced any of those –it’s time to check if it’s not a baby-doll.
Some say that the first three months are the hardest. And even though normally it would feel like (just) a blink of an eye, time seems to be suddenly all messed up – days and nights all melt into a grey matter that, as my sister insistently claims, seems to have been vanishing from your brain with each drop of your milk, leaving an ever-expanding hole.
And then, there is BOOB REASONING. Yes, it’s not only men who’ve been blessed with two thinking organs. Once you’ve become a mother, you are more than certain to discover a whole new cognitive world within the undulated area below your neck.
The boob-like nature of it is as unreasonable as it can get – the least to say is just that the moment you leave your baby for more than a quarter of an hour, a milky exodus is set off in the vastness of your bra changing into a deluge of nutritious goodness – the result of your breasts presenting a more than slightly exaggerated vision of your baby in trouble – starving to death (even though it’s just fallen off the boob and is still spewing), plunging into the pool (doesn’t matter you don’t have one and your newborn baby can hardly sit up let alone run around), or simply not recognizing you after an eternity of two hours apart. All in all, you end up with a panic attack spraying milky fireworks thinking you are definitely going nuts this time – all that provided you ever GET the chance to go out, of course. For some reason you usually seem to have missed that chapter in which they tell you that for the first twelve months even a dash to the local dairy transforms into a fully-blown expedition on which you zoom among the shelves grabbing anything on your way just to make it to the cashier ASAP and call it a success when you manage to get home without a grand mal of an ear-piercing scream that will definitely make you a local star aka NOTORIOUS (B.I.G.) M.U.M.
Well, you might think, that’s not too bad, eh? (the ‘eh’ thing, yessss). Wait till you get to the stage when your baby starts talking and walking…

Three cripples and a siren

2005-07-22T13:43:00.000+01:00

Let me start with the SIREN Wailing, eating and sleeping with an occasional toothless grin, turning the world upside down for the two of the cripples – her back-broken dad and her tummy-sliced mum :-) . The third one has yet to recover from an inevitable date with the dentist. And the setting couldn’t be more accurate. Winter in Perth.
So it’s been two weeks since I flew over here to practice the art of being a good auntie. I reckon I’m doing pretty well considering any future chances of throwing myself into the chasm of maternity – nappies, cuddles, silly talks, silly lullabies, swings and twists with little Sofia yet to be put to sleep…and I think I’m more than happy to wait a bit longer for my turn…
So it was somewhat a rapid change from a solitary backpacking cyclope into a domesticated one. It’s nice to have your own room, a kitchen and a bathtub. But the price is high – a routine that reminds you of a daily life, no laughing kookaburras over your head, a feeling of lying at anchor, same faces same places, and the biggest enemy of all – your own very private boredom that creeps behind.
I’m still trying to be on the move though. I’m swimming again, doing my little ‘exploration’ runs and rides, making my mind up as to what I’m going to do next, when I get back home…and I still believe that if you really want something, you will get it. And if it still seems to be too high to reach, you just have to work a bit harder…

floody deluge

2005-06-30T01:42:00.000+01:00

rain.
not a shower. or a drizzle.
rain. genuine downpour without a single break. day in day out for the last week. banging on the roofs, tents, heads, trees, streets, cars.
in everybody's minds, thoughts, conversations. rain everywhere.
we go to sleep silently hoping that it WILL stop. but it never does.
and today, as if going for a grand finale, after a long crescendo, it all came to a FLOOD
there's no campsite anymore. just water. tents and peoples' belongings floating helplessly around. little dramas of sinking cameras, clothes and no sleep. people laughing, people crying. chaos.
and all that with an ever present accompaniament of the rain banging on the roofs, tenets, heads, trees, streets, cars...

a thought or two from byron bay

2005-06-19T01:54:00.000+01:00

travel is not always cloudless days when time flies cause you're having so much fun.it's not always people and events bringing smile on your face.there are times when all that called 'adventure' becomes 'nuisance' and as frustration swells within this less-than-ok day, you suddenly realise that travel can be not an alternative you desire.
so what could go wrong on a day that starts with rain, another boring bowl of porridge and two black cockatoos screeching their ear-piercing greetings as you pass them on the bike? one, two, five punctures, a driver that gives you a lift in a van full of money when your own pockets are nearly empty. another puncture when in a desperate move you decide to get somewhere despite all that. and when you finally give in and take the train it runs late enough to make your miserable wait on a cold deserted station an eternity. so when you finally get there just to see your pick up van's back lights disappearing into darkness you're most probably just one step from madness...
that was Tuesday, the day when my odometer showed the first triple zero in Oz. after a thousand kilometres i felt i deserved a break. the place happened to be Byron Bay - where a hippie meets a yuppie, even dogs are taught to surf and where after a series of yoga, meditation and massage workshops you can dine in a vegan organic cafe among dreadlocked locals or slightly stoned modern version of flower-power generation.
so what would i be doing in a place like that?
first of all, take it easy. then, learn to surf (i'm still worse than the crappest surf-dog), let the cyclist' tan spread up, watch the whales passing on their way north (wonder who will get there first...), indulge in lengthy conversations leading to somewhat alien conclusions, play pictionary on a rainy sunday...
in short, i'm giving myself a chance to get restless again. which will happen soon...

oz pozz to the north - sydney to port macquire

2005-06-11T07:16:00.000+01:00

are you mad?!
that's the most frequent comment that i've heard so far. apparently, bikes are not the most efficient way of getting from A to B over australia. no wonder, after five days of restless cycling i've moved a mere two centimeters on the map! frustrating? demoralising? demotivating? and what about the scenery? so far? bush, bush, bush, sea, bush, roadkill, bush...
but i'm somehow still into it. every day i wake up and like it.even though the scenery is utterly boring, the dead kangaroos extremely stinky and the drivers less than tolerant.
every day turns out to be a mental challenge.
a challenge of eating another bowl of porridge for breakfast. a craving for a decent hill (yes, australia IS pretty flat). a nagging thought that NORTH is still pretty far away.
but every now and then there comes a day like today.
a hot shower. a bed. strawberries and oranges. and a fellow cyclist (American-Korean 50kg load!) to share the experience. luxury that will keep me going for another week :-)...not to mention a piece of kangaroo meat that i was offered by the afore-mentioned biker. very chewy. very last time i've tried it. :-)
keep on going - that's my mantra

no wonders in oz

2005-05-31T11:13:00.000+01:00

the first thing in oz? a russian shuttle driver BORIS. so very eastern european, a chain smoker, with a mobile proudly protruding from his chest pocket. pointing his finger at me saying: 'and you? your name?' with a familiar accent.
the second? tokyo village. a hostel run by a german full of japanese. i'm the only one without slanting eyes. the cheerfulness of the place should be contageous.
the third? the heart of the city, the icons, the opera, the bridge seen from a two-wheeled perspective. cycling is the only way i can enjoy sydney if there is anything to enjoy here. massive concrete giants, the endless flow of cars and people, the seedy streets of the suburbs...with all that around there's just one thing i want - to GET AWAY FROM HERE - from an elderly Aborigine with white strikes of traditional painting on his body sitting idle by the quay - a fake?

kiwi farewell

2005-05-23T23:32:00.000+01:00

My mind seems to be working like a GPS – it only works properly when moving. And since crossed Cook Strait again, I found myself inevitably close to leaving a country that has been feeding me with magnificent adventure for half a year, spoiling me with its generosity – so little effort one has to put in to get more than one can take...
Auckland is a place where you feel alien no matter where you come from. everyone's rushing minding their own business, it's like an anthill full of workaholics. and at the same time, it's the first encounter for many of the backpackers coming to new zealand to experience 'the kiwi'. and i remember how struck i was myself six months ago, when i climbed one of the volcanoes right in the middle of the city, popping out like pimples everywhere. i remember how much i wanted to get away, how impatient and hungry for adventure i was. and even though my expectations had grown to a full scale blast, new zealand still managed to be as unpredictable as its weather.
And once again, I looked at the map and realized how much I HAVEN'T seen or done. That’s because, being no more than a size of an average European country, New Zealand seems to be the great Southern Continent which all those explorers were looking for when they first sailed the seas of the Southern Hemisphere and which was thought to be there to balance the earth. It seems to be one in terms of its volume of nature, beauty and mystery. One can spend a lifetime exploring it. And to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t mind spending mine doing so...
But now there’s a new adventure ahead of me. Soon, I’m hoping to let Australian outback dust cover my bike...

autumn in wonderland

2005-05-06T06:45:00.000+01:00

i didn't find LUCINDA . she found me as i was cruising around otago peninsula, just on a day trip from dunedin to the albatross colony, where you can peek at their chicks (that are of a size of a large washing basket!). and there she was, staring at me longingly, sitting on a shelf. so off she went with me. at least there'll be one kiwi sheep that has seen a bit more than passing cars and grass :-)
anyway, even though full of doubt if it comes to carrying on with cycling, i hit the road again. and the moment i climbed my first hill i'd already forgotten why i wasn't sure about it...it is an addictive feeling of achievement and satisfaction. so i turned inland towards mt cook and right away, for two days i managed to pedal against the wind, cursing it as if it would help :-). i basically managed to refresh my somewhat rusty polish collection of @#@%@^!? and *$%#%#@@!!! :-)))
and just when i was getting closer, a cyclist caught up with me, a local racer (or a racist!? :-)), so i pushed on as we had a cycling chat. but the moment he left me behind after an hour or so, i got a bloody puncture! but this time it was a nasty one. i got a big hole in the tyre that resisted my amateurish attepts of sealing it with a bit of tape. oh well, i thought and jumped on the bus. cheating you may say. but after two months, i did start feeling a bit tired. not physically. but the amount of motivation one has to draw from within is not limitless...
and so, after two days in christchurch, hospitalizing the bike and swallowing smog...i jumped on the train. i felt i needed a change. and it worked more than well! now i can't wait till i get on the bike again!
and so i'm leaving tomorrow for my final ups and downs along the coast...
but before that i just had to have my last wildlife mission completed - this time it was the DOLPHINS . this is a whole new story and chain of thoughts though...

kiwission

2005-04-27T05:28:00.000+01:00

cobwebs on the bicycle were the best sign i should leave fiordland at last. so i packed my stuff, said my goodbyes to the hosts at barnyard backpackers and hit the road again, hoping for some adventure doing mountain biking around doubtful sound. a long steep gravel road and a final climb to the saddle carrying the bike sounded more than exciting, so when the sun started to mellow, i turned off the road towards borland...the odds were against me though. next morning an army of heavy grey clouds was hardly holding on to the sky and the frost covered window panes. so instead of a mountain challenge i made it a record breaking day getting all the way to invercargill (150km! yey!), a gloomy industrial square-hearted city.
and then, i got KIWISSION - an obsessive thought of spotting a kiwi - a kiwi mission - there's no better a place to do it than stewart island. so not thinking much i jumped on a plane, then a water taxi took me across the inlet on a wild ride against giant swells, and there i was, all ready to experience my very own wild kiwi...24 hours later, after a night spent listening to their screeching calls and walking around in total darkness, i gave up on my hope to see one. and just when i least expected it...there it was! my very first genuine real live KIWI ! hurray! with my mission completed, i went back to invercargill just to make other kiwissioners green with envy :-)
one mission followed another - soon after i was cycling down the catlins, a fierce tail wind pushing me forward to see the abundance of sea life. the weather put me on hold for a day though, with snow and hail regularly banging on the roof. so when the sky opened one eye, i jumped on my karakoram and soon after...got more of that frosty welcome cycling all day with hail chasing me. but it was worth it. next morning i completed another mission - spotting a SEAL fooling around on the beach, showing off and posing like a pro.
as days get shorter and colder though, i'm already chilling out in my mind on a beach somewhere in australia...

milford wonders

2005-04-16T07:30:00.000+01:00

picture this: i'm standing by the road to milford, all sweaty and still somewhat mesmerised by what i'd just seen up the saddle, diving in my backpack hoping to catch a ride back to te anau. it's getting late and there's more wildlife around than cars. after a ten minute complete road silence, there they are - two cars! but my hands are busy digging out a fleece, so i let them go. but they stop anyway, making me think how nice of them and so on. but apparently, instead of offering me a ride they jump out of their cars and start a discussion in...POLISH!!! at first i wasn't at all sure what language i was listening to, but suddenly it dawned on me - after five months in here with hardly any signs of any Poles...i got six of them at a time! in the middle of nowhere, not even hunting ones! i started laughing histerically and when they started to give me anxious looks, i finally spoke : ALE JAJA! that was one of the most amazing days...one that came without any warning. they just happen. and i thought i'd had all of its volume when i scrambled up the rocks to Gertrude Saddle and got this amazing view of MILFORD SOUND that left me literally sink in it. i stood there for nearly thirty minutes, all that miracle to myself, and thought how lucky i am to be there.
and then, just when i was stumbling on my polish chatting by the road, a couple of friends from the hostel came up...and gave me ride straight back to my room. perfect.
and that wasn't all. the pancakes last night were better than usual. and I had company in bed...a cuddly hostel kitten purred me into sleep. what else do i need to feel on top of the world...?

kepler challenge

2005-04-12T05:41:00.000+01:00

my feet are sore. i mean, REALLY sore. after all, the weather got crap, so without any view of admiring the scenery, i still wanted to get out as much as i could out hose hills on kepler track, so ... even though i would still get disqualified from KEPLER CHALLENGE (it took me a bit over 12h), you have to start with something, right? so i caught the sunrise with KEAS frolicking around and set off hoping to get at least a glimpse from the ridge...well, that day i had to use my IMAGINATION rather than my eyes, but with every nanosecond that the cloud lifted it felt as if a piece of a secret had just been given away...
and then, even though i ran for the last hour i still managed to miss the last bus. but again, my ambition to be really TOUGH won over sore limbs - i did not hitchike :-)
if it comes to views,however, last weeks' rees-dart track was a completely different story... it all started in glenorchy, in a dodgy campsite kitchen, where i met two israeli guys. i know that life is a vicious circle and some even say that if you hadn't learnt your lesson, you'll have to go over it again and again. well, the moment i accepted their offer to give me a lift to the track, i sort of felt another chain of silly adventures coming...(for those who haven't heard my story from last year's australian adventure accompanied by an israeli tandem, it was a chain of everyday 'somethig-went-wrongs' :-))))...and we got lost on the way! huhuh! and even though AFIK and NOAM were trying hard, they still proved my theory about middle eastern 'everything is a process' right :-). anyway, we had a great four day tramp with an awesome cascade saddle views of mt aspiring (again!), playful keas teasing us as we were walking up the valley, and evenings filled with heated discussions.
and now, spoling myself with a piece of deliciously sickly chocolate melting on my tongue, i'm giving my feet a bit of a rest near te anau, at barnyard backpackers, a peaceful deer farm with awesome views over the fiords. i've been missing cycling and so i'm going east soon. my days in new zealand, though extended, are coming slowly but surely to an end...as the fall makes it all rusty and wet, i'm already starting to get ready for the heat of oz...

aspiring for more

2005-04-04T00:04:00.000+01:00

again, just when i'm about to leave a place with a sigh of relief, it starts to rain.
my somewhat flying visit to aspiring national park left me with a strong resolution to do more in terms of mountaineering. for hiking on a well-beaten path is what i'd call doing 'window shopping', looking but not touching, being on a real experience diet. i feel it's not enough anymore. my heart nearly sank as i was climbing up the french ridge and suddenly, out of nowhere, there was this huuuuge glacier coming out of the cloud...and i knew that just behind the corner there's even more... mt aspiring. the feeling of envy that overwhelmed me as i was sitting in the hut that night in the company of mighty mountaineers who'd just been up there... aah.
i challenged myself again somewhat making up for the mountain hunger - i climbed the highest highway saddle in new zealand - almost 800m up...and then down. yet it might be my legs getting really strong or my head craving more - it turned out to be much easier than i'd expected it...bugger! :-)))
and now, i'm trying to leave queenstown and get into the mountains again...
and all sorts of plans are now littering my messy mind...but shhhhh.

wild wild west

2005-03-26T08:08:00.000Z

oh yes, new zealand has its wild west as well! as soon as i hit the road cycling towards greymouth and the alps, i came upon all those typical signs of godforsaken places in the middle of nowhere...
...that often left me with a feeling of awe as i was moving slowly down the map through valleys with rumbling rivers, gorges, along the rugged coast, up and down the hills until the mountains enclosed me in an icy embrace .
this hidden and still somewhat underdeveloped part of new zealand has many secrets of which a few were revealed to me - its 19th century gold rush left the whole place literally dug through. as one of the locals told me, it's not an uncommon thing to find a tunnel just under your own lawn!
i resisted the temptation to dig looking for my own gold vein :-) and kept on cycling restlessly... until one day i saw this...
this time i could not say 'no' to the craving for getting the feel of the 'glaciered' alps and went on a day trip up fox glacier. the feeling of the rock hard ice and its chilly welcome made me imagine how it must have been a good few thousand years ago during the last ice age...brrr.
after my swift foxy love affair i jumped on the saddle again and pushed the pedals, this time spinning the wheel all the way to wanaka. the weather had spoiled me for too long and so the last two days nature was trying to talk me out of getting through to the mt aspiring national park by the notorious north-westerly wind and endless buckets of water thrown at me from the sky. but I AM BLOODY TOUGH!, i thought, gritting my teeth as i had to pedal even going on a steep hill...down!
and finally i made it to wanaka. cold and wet but now all happy as i'm sitting in the wanaka bakpaka lounge staring at the darkening grey sky over the mountains.
so, check out the latest pics and envy me! huhuhuh!
by the way, happy easter folks!

through bogs and rivers

2005-03-17T04:59:00.000Z

a shower! a washing machine! a takeaway store and coffee!
this was yesterday, whispering under my breath as i was getting out of the kahuragni national park after six days blessed with cloudless sky, fording numerous streams and rivers, sinking into bogs, sliding in mud. all that topped with nosy possums scratching at the hut's window at night and predatorous (?!?!?!?) sandflies indulging in big bites of myself. but even those evil vampires didn't manage to stop me. i walked and enjoyed my solitude, meeting only a few trampers on my way, splashing in ice cold streams showing off my white bum (!!!?!?) and getting to feel a bit like female version of robinson crusoe. on the fourth day i ran into chris, the scott, who came to nz to catch the fish of his life (he didn't realise how stubborn the local trout can be though...) and joined the three men party of him and two swedish peters (unimaginative mothers...?) one of whom had strained his ankle and was granted the luxury of flying out in a helicopter (while it took us twelve hours to get out :-)))). smelly but happy i finally got back to tapawera, where i left the bike and hit the road again today. this time i'll be pedalling hard to get south before it gets really cold to jump onto more trails and do more treks.
all is good.
by teh way, i updated people around the words, check it out! :-)

a sandfly romance with tasman

2005-03-09T04:06:00.000Z

my legs are swollen, my eyelids heavy, i've just had my firts shower in four days...
but i'm a happy dirty, bitten, smelly (not anymore) tramper. three and a half days in abel tasman, walking, listening to rain banging on the tent all night, helping out the hut warden with whom i spent a day shovelling one of the tracks, and finally crossing the tidal flat just before dawn just to get on time for the magnificent sunrise backed by seagulls' squeeks. magic. this all filled with the emerald blue water and topped with a cool bus driver that gave me an extra ride around the area telling me all about the history of golden bay.
now i'm back in motueka. tomorrow i'll make up my mind - either to stay and do some fruit picking or moving south...
by the way, some more fresh pics in the gallery. i also started a new project called braceletting new zealand - the outcome you can see for yourselves...

up and down in the sounds

2005-03-05T23:06:00.000Z

an extremely sunny week this was.
not a single drop of rain. lots of fun and long missed solitude.
i cycled from picton into the sounds, rolling over hills to portage where i based myself for two nights doing a full-on day of mountain biking (with road tyres huhuh), or to be more precise...half day of biking and another half spent on dragging it up and admiring the views over the sounds...
i melted into a quiet evening as i was sitting on a jetty watching the sky say goodninght, devouring solitude and serenity of the place.
my ambitious plan of getting to nelson next day fell through as i lingered in havelock chinwagging with mika and alan, the long termers in beethoven, as i ran into them sipping a latte. i ended up somewhere on the way in a ghostly backpackers with a crazy poodle stalking me for hours, assisting me while i was painting the fence (wooofing stuff).
some 24h later i finally got to nelson, my arms all burnt by ruthless sun as i climbed a few hills. spent the evening drinking chilled white wine, making a bracellet (my new hobby) and chatting with folks at the hostel.
and now, i'm in motueka, just minutes before i set off for abel tasman tramp. and it is going to rain. just when i'm about to get to a place said to have the best weather in nz...
by the way, i've just downloaded some new pics, and rearranged the albums so that it's a bit easier to browse through them.
cheers!

juggling in picton

2005-02-28T05:57:00.000Z

yes! i have made the move south at last! after seven weeks of decomposing in beethovenian wellington i'm moving in space and time again. and i'm not on my own...the karakoram, my beloved red two-wheel beauty - we're reuinted! just when i got the bike, i took it for a couple of nice road and off-road rides and it all came back! the landscape slowly changing, the slog up a hill, the fun and sweat... again, i'm just about to turn a new traveller's leaf after a looong break...
so i took the ferry, packed the elephantine size panniers and took off.
such a simple thing as that got me back on the track - a stream of thoughts started running down my spine immediately after we went into sea. here's one of them:
the shape of the landscape was an immense workload for nature - how do we know about things being shaped up? how do we understand the place we leave in? we use our imagination, the power of our tiny minds - we see the earth as a huuuge piece of fabric being shaped by unimaginable force, creases and patterns changing in an everlasting process - howcome do we realise that? and so on.
yes, i'm definitely back to normal :-)
and now, lounging in a lovely backpackers called jugglers' rest, just about to make my dinner and watch a juggling performance, and then plan my 'tomorrow'. i'm finally looking forward, impatiently waiting for more tomorrows...

Beethoven House story

2005-02-15T03:52:00.000Z

And so that was Ed's big Friday virgin porridge. That was also the morning Allen, the owner, left for Singapore to take some vacation and most probably curse the weather over there, the cabs, the service at the hostel and whatever that would dare be different from his own vision of the world. The frozen lump of butter had also disappeared from the freezer, most probably melting and spreading all over his suitcase while he was flyling over Tasman Sea. Nothing could go wrong with the breakfast as we had been instructed over and over for the last few weeks - how to make tea, how to cut the apples, how to pour the hot water over the oats, finally how to diligently sweep the porridge bowl so that we needn't wash it anymore. We only smirked at the offensively strong morning sun and soon after we were all in the kitchen feverishly getting at The Big Cleaning . As I was chopping the iceberg in the freezer I felt the rush, the uneasiness again, the restlesness after being in a state of hibernation. The familiarity that I had been so feverishly seeking finally changed into oppressiveness. Again I feel it! The drive to make my own way down south, the mini-Columbus in me is coming out at last! There is something puryfying and relieving about it, as if I was getting my better side back. Running down the Oriental Parade in the evening, flogged by wet ghastly wind, I couldn't help chuckling (?!?GUFFAW), getting excited by the thought of recharging myself with adventure. Even more was to come later on, as a British cyclist Simon came to stay for the night. My adrenaline rose to a level when I could not sit still anymore being literally ready to set off any minute (I bet I was pedalling in my dream that night!). And so I am leaving.

drowned in wellington!?

2005-01-29T23:26:00.000Z

huh. silent for a long time. not without a reason.
first, tried to concentrate and do my writing. with poor results.
had a great time a week ago when i challenged a dutch guy - of course i lost the rollerblading race and got two enormous blisters. we also did a big pizza party, which ended up in shoving heaps of it in our mouths, getting everybody full to the brim so that i'm not even considering getting any pizza-like food in the nearest future.
and just when i made up my mind to leave, things started happening. i started working at the hostel and then got a temp job at a local restaurant. so i decided to linger.
wellington is a place among hills and water which makes me more than happy. people at the beethoven come and go and part of me is already restless, screaming to move on.
but there are days like today that make me stay for another night, another breakfast. sunday, 9am, fire alarm as a wake up call, alan's porridge and good morning rituals, then a cleaning run round the house, people saying their goodbyes, guys fighting weed in the bushy garden, alan getting crazy with the hose... this is an extraordinary place.
it seems to be a break. but now i'm travelling with my mind.
by the way, let me know if you all got the postcards, some of them seem to be getting ages to reach you!
wyspa! the islanders! drop me a line, will you?
cheers!

sunk into wellington

2005-01-16T22:48:00.000Z

so there i am, still in wellington. trying to catch up with city life, waking up to fire alarm every morning (thanks to alan, the hostel owner who's trying to get everybody downstairs before the porrige gets cold), doing my best to make up for the delay in my writing, which results in consuming hectolitres of excellent latte, meeting kiwis nextdoor and squeezing the meaning of life during our evening terrace conversations.
last night, the ever present wellington wind kept me awake almost all night. i think it's my punishment for the spreading laziness that has overcome me. therefore, i came up with a monday resolution - no further travel unless i do the writing. motivation level has already gone up :-)

anyway, i went to this concert in botanical gardens last night, sat there among cheering crowds and thought i really liked them KIWIS. they ARE a different people. laid back and relaxed. i'm constantly tempted to try on their way of being, in fact, i have noticed patience crawling behind me...
so. i'm not trying to push things. what will come will come.

down the river, up the mountain

2005-01-06T23:17:00.000Z

jogging at midnight and then dancing myself away at a local pub to some groovy 70's hits - that's how i greeted new year, hoping that it will bring constant movement as i explore the downunder. changing plans every few hours due to capricious weather finally resulted in getting to whanganui river for four days of paddling and scratching as we'd been slowly but surely eaten up by mosquitos. my longing for the mountains was soon to be blurred as we were put in a canoe on swollen river waters, eyeing our first rapid to come just a few strokes ahead. the first day turned out to finish with a giant struggle against the current of a raging stream which we had to go up to get to the hut. after being washed down three times, screaming and cursing, paddling like a machine gun, we finally got somewhere 'close' to the landing...but on the other side :-) which meant dragging all the barrels up through the bush...barefoot! well, at least i got to feel what it was like for the first explorers who came to settle here...
the second day was a whirlpool surprise, when we got spinned twice almost tipping over but miracously managed to paddle out, spending the rest of the day admiring the steep mossy walls of the gorge and passing a few dead animals floating down the river. brrr. we met a bunch of cool people, mostly middle aged outdoor devotees and even an aussie couple five months pregnant, with whom we chatted evening hours, travelling with our minds all over the world.
i must say that i gladly left the canoe when we finally got to pipiriki, our pick up point. four days on a boat made me even more desperate to get into the mountains...
we went back to ohakune, muddy and stinky but smiling as the snow capped mount ruapehu loomed in the distance. next morning i set off for tongariro circuit, nina joined me as she gave up on the idea to go west for her last few days in new zealand. we hitch-hiked all the way to the tongariro circuit track, the weather getting worse every step we took towards the mountains. our three day trek was cut short by nature's rage. just before we got to the first crater we met people walking down to call rescue service as there were hikers stuck up on the ridge, unable to walk down. an english guy and i decided to go and help them since we had the gear and we knew the people there were freezing. however, when we started climbing up the ridge, i got swept off my feet twice (later on i discovered that my bottom was covered with bruises!), the wind getting stronger every minute so that we ended up crawling, not even being able to look up as our faces got hit with an extraordinary force by rain. we finally had to turn back, hoping that the rescue guiys will get there soon. as we later found out, it took them almost three hours to crawl up the ridge and get the people out. as we were getting warm flocking around the heater in a hut, i realised how small and petty little things we human beings are, trying to go against the elements. the nature always gets it even though...
anyway, i'm down in taupo, safe and still craving for mountains. i'm heading south to wellington, where i'll probably take a deep breath and then get down to trekking all the way down the south island.

happy new year!

2004-12-31T06:30:00.000Z

the weather here? unpredictable.
that's why instead of doing the circuit around tongariro national park we're now in ohakune, a small mountain village, celebrating new year and tomorrow we're setting off for the whanganui river - kayaking for the next four/five days.
anyway, have a great time partying wherever you are and hope to hear from you all!
cheers!

wild pigs in the east cape?

2004-12-28T01:28:00.000Z

napier, that's where we've just got today, after four long days of struggling with the muddy tracks of lake waikaremoana, an extremely scienic and misterious place, where christmas spirit evaporated into the misty air as we were following the path, hoping to spot a wild pig or a deer within the thickness of the forest...
the remoteness of the place together with its magic made all of us people doing the trek somehow closer, time seemed to have stretched so that by the end i felt as if i'd been there for ages...now being back among people does make me feel a bit panicky, that's why our next destination will be tongariro national park - another week away from civilisation.
sadly, our time with the bikes is coming to an end, after cycling for almost a month i have to leave my karakoram - dearest friend on two wheels...
anyway, there's a lot to tell after doing the east cape - one of those most remote places in new zealand, where the majority is still maori (a lot of them wearing genuine face tatoos!), renowned for their hospitality and openness. although the weather did not spoil us, we had a great time cycling for a few days accompanied by a mad french guy - a real hardcore cyclist, then beating our distance record (over 100km per day) and finally spotting our first possums as they came to visit one evening.
there is so much happening every day that i can hardly follow it all with my mind, but this it what makes me feel happy. this is the challenge that i was missing.

ho ho ho!

2004-12-23T06:08:00.000Z

merry christmas everybody! just managed to get to gisborne, we're going to spend christmas trekking in waikaremoana lake (yeah!)
i hope you're having great time celebrating!
cheers! the santa is with me huhuh!

wrinkles in the south

2004-12-17T06:21:00.000Z

wrinkles - that's what our cycle guy calls hills in the coromandel, which, after doing five days there, we dare call them too. huh! our muscles are like stone now and getting up another couple of metres is not a deadly adventure anymore :-)
so. our first day in coromandel was a surprisingly succesful one after we managed to go almost 60km and get over three 'big mamas' even though we started cycling late afternoon. incredible views were a great excuse for taking breaks and pictures. the serenity of the place called new zealand, again, filled us completely.
next couple of days was a chain of what i'd nicknamed 'antisuccess events'. well, there it comes:
- i don't really know how the scientists know that, but it IS a fact that women can't read maps. at least some of them. we really wanted to do the coastal walk so next day we set off happily for the very tip of the coromandel peninsula. three hours (and climbs) later we realised that we're only halfway. being very determined we didn't give up though and decided to leave the bikes and hitchike the rest of the way there. so we did, catching a nice ride with a canadian-american couple...
- after damaging my phone by getting it in the ditch i hoped the new one i had just bought would last me for a while. apparently, after walking seven kilometres to get to our destination, i realised i didn't have the phone. well, instead of seven we did twenty, going all the way back to look for it cause i might have lost it in the grass when i chased wild turkeys with my camera. it wasn't there...
- we did tha walk (which turned out to be a very scienic and pleasant)and only when we got to stony bay did we realise that this place was completely deserted and the only means of transport we could count on was our own legs. fortunately we were spared a thirty-something walk thanks to a DOC (Departament of Conservation) park wardens who threw us onto the back of their pick up and got us out of the place...

well, there's always something good to happen to make up for the bad you bring on yourself. i got my phone back - i left it in the car of the couple that gave us a lift the other day. somehow i managed to target them so me and my nokia were reunited.
we managed to complete the coromandel circuit within a few days (some of them quite adventurous :-)))) and headed for rotorua this morning.
i hope all of you are having fun. see you soooooon!

heading south

2004-12-10T22:41:00.000Z

ok. so you get our ass sore. then you get some pain in the back, along with it comes your knee saying 'no' to climbing hills. and finally, there are those bitchy little bugs that suck on your blood so that you wake up at night just to find yourself scratching your legs frienziedly. yes. these are the best moments of cycling the northland :-))). oh, i almost forgot about being swept off the road by the wind and getting completely soaked while pedalling in the rain that never seems to stop...
we all know that once you've had it, it could only get better. and it WAS the case for us. nina, the urugwayan cycling maniac and me - we actually got hooked into doing some more of it so now, after a short break in auckland we're heading south. this means MUCH more steep climbing (what i call DOING DA BIG MAMAS)and rough, unsealed roads. but this is the price we'll pay for awesome views, serene beaches and trekking in two national parks. not bad, heh? i just hope we'll make it. with me bossing around...
anyway, i'm doing my best to download some more photos.
i'm also starting a new LINK called PEOPLE AROUND THE WORDS which is basically going to be a gossip site about all those crazy or dodgy folks i have met downunder.
i imagine there's lot of snow back home :-)))

northland on two wheels

2004-12-05T02:20:00.000Z

we're finally leaving! that's what i was just thinking when the bus suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere, just 45 minutes after we left auckland. we were going to brynderwyn, north, from where we were to start doing the loop called 'twin experience'. after two minutes or so, the driver realised that he forgot to ....put the fuel in! nobody wanted to believe him but apparently, he'd run the engine so dry it took him another...three hours to start it again! huhuh.
anyway, we finally managed to get where we wanted and even got to cycle a bit that day. so far it has been five days full of pedalling in the wind, sun and rain, meeting all sorts of animals and people on our way, trying to learn a bit of maori, exploring kauri forest... i even managed to throw my bag (with all my id stuff, phone, voice recorder...) into a ditch full of slimy and smelly stuff - had to dive into it which left my shoes ans feet deliciously stinky throughout the day...
yesterday, after a whole day of cycling in the rain we got to a tiny village, where we got the shop opened especially for us, and the guy told us about a cool place nearby. so we went there, got a nice place under the roof, got invinted to a birthday party, got fed, got some drinks and sang some birthday songs in our languages. what amazingly laid-back people they were! and today we got to kaitaia and arranged a trip to cape reinga, the furthest northern point of new zealand. a bit strange feeling to be among so many people again after a few days of floating on the green surface of serene northland...

six days in auckland. way toooooo long a stay

2004-11-30T09:46:00.000Z

well. it was a bad luck saturday for me - almost five hours of struggling with pc's all over the place just to get a few pictures downloaded to the site and almost lost all of it. fortunately i was saved by a handy flash drive. to make myself feel better and get the flavour of what new zealand is best at,i went canyoning on sunday - over five hours of going down a mountain river, jumping into pools from 10m or so, abseiling the waterfall, sliding on my bum and chest....that was SOOOOOOOO cool! the instructor had the funniest kiwi accent ever and i shared a few laughs with two dutch girls. actually, i quite landed on my face doing one of the crazy jumps and got this horrible earache, and possibly a bit of a shock so all the way back on winding road i felt sick and i literary collapsed once i got to my room.
the thing is - every day brings surprises when you're travelling. and so monday turned out to be a spontaneous decisions day - i met nina, a girl from urugway who's dangerously keen on cycling, and after a bit of a talk i just thought - well, why not? soooooo....
we spent the whole day today browsing auckland for bike rentals and stuff and we finally got to that cool store, hedgehog, and after almost an hour of small talk we got ourselves two nice bikes with all gear. we're leaving tomorrow for brynderwyn to cycle around the north and then heading south. how cool is that , heh???? i am sooo excited. even though the back of my bike feels as if i was giving a lift to an elephant...
by the way, i downloaded some photos

auckland a gateway for a get-away?

2004-11-26T23:05:00.000Z

been here for a few days...
getting from the airport was dead easy as this place is like an over-protective parent offering to do anything for you as long as you have money huhuh. at first i felt a bit lost after so much time on the plane, but just minutes after i settled in the hostel i went to explore the nearby volcano, mt eden, to admire some of its heavenly views. well,first thing i saw were...other volcanos! and of course, Skytower, doomed to be the highest building in southern hemisphere. wow. gotta go there at dawn one day.
anyway, so far i have managed to explore most of the heart of auckland, along with impressive Rangitoto Island, which was created by a...volcano eruption! god, this definitely IS a hot place. generally, every day brings news and information load i need to process. one thing for sure - got to leave this place asap.
today i moved downtown to this huge hostel, a real backpacker factory, a multi-storey nest in which i hope to find my way out of auckland.
i signed up for FHINZ which basically means i got a booklet of farm addresses around new zealand so that i can work there for accomodation. well, i've already found some cool places to go to...
it finally cleared up a bit so i'm gonna check out a few shops for hiking equipment. see ya soon.

hong kong transfer

2004-11-23T11:20:00.000Z

well after over 11 hours on the plane i am more or less halfway to auckland. i'm on a mission here looking for a tripod for my camera, but the number of shops here makes it almost impossible to find anything! damn! well, again, the breathtaking view from the plane window made me speechless for a while (a rare experience of mine :-))...

gone so soon...

2004-11-21T20:50:00.000Z

two days in London, packed, crammed, jammed with people everywhere around. i've managed to fly through a few bookstores though, in search of new zealand and australia guides. i must say 'wow' for the supply and the amount of literature on any god forsaken place in the world. i spent over two hours flicking through all those travel journals. maybe i should consider my career options since, as i noticed, there are absolute zillions of travel writers :-))) anyway, i found an excellent guide by trailblazer - great walks in new zealand (we used the trailblazer guide doing transpyrenees ) apart from four other books that i couldn't help putting in my shopping basket...well, all of them about the australasia region so i now feel excused :-))

contact details

2004-11-18T22:18:00.000Z

all those wanting to stay in touch [brrrrrrgh]:
my gady gady number: 3283127
my skype profile: ewrakej
my msn profile: ewrakej
my email: ewrakej@gazeta.pl

my website IN POLISH : www.wordsaroundpol.blogspot.com

hope to hear from ya!

yes, i'm off!

2004-11-18T21:47:00.000Z

finally, after over a month of waiting and constant hesitation i HAVE LEFT. however, my journey has been doomed from the very beginning. i woke up this morning and saw trees bent down almost to the ground. then, on the plane i could feel the tiniest stone on the runway as the plane ascended into the sky in the storm. the flight was delayed two hours and when i finally got to heathrow, it turned out that my backpack never got on the plane. with a nice bottle of zubrowka (special polish vodka, especially bought for my friend living in london) and presents for my moisturiser freak sis and her husband...i can see it with my mind's eye - a bunch of airport staff turning on the delicacies...arrrgghh! anyway, i hope to get my luggage tomorrow and in the meantime i can imagine using toothbrush sipping wine and planning my bookshop ride for tomorrow.
i spotted a poem on the tube , printed among other adverts. if i find it tomorrow, i'll post it here cause i reckon it couldn't be more accurate.
i think i already feel all this doing me good. travel makes you think. it makes you appreciate things you'd probably go past normally, it makes you alert as never, alert for all those signs of the world passing by. it also makes you jump into the current. i hope. this is what i want to experience.

2004-11-06T17:18:00.000Z

this is what happens once you turn 25!

the old boy. revenge?

2004-11-05T22:04:00.000Z

'korean men are not attractive', my friend's words jingled in my ear as we were driving back home from the cinema. 'old boy' was the film. i've been thinking. what is revenge and where does it take us? i've been trying to remember any case of my personal 'getting even'. and what have i found? not much. is it just because i'm not vindictive? or is it because a payback requires bravery, malice...or any of the other shades that make us get it 'right'? do animals do it? is it human property exclusive?
anyways, who is to decide but us.

waiting

2004-10-31T14:16:00.000Z

this is getting longer than i would expect it, too long not to start doubting it is all going to happen. i am still waiting for my australian visa, and since i want a long term one, i need to prove what an awfully rich person i am. which i'm not, certainly not.
i think it's the longest time ever spent waiting for something without having much other stuff to do apart from catching up with a few mates and hunting with my camera for...shoes for my dearest oldie sister huhuh. it's actualy quite funny how suspiciously you look taking pics.
there's a saying that a habit is a human nature. after quite a few years of working and studying, not having much time to spare on nothing, constant battle with time and trying to live up to the pace i imposed on myself, this waiting, has become close to torture. i need to learn to be patient.
but there's a good side to it. i've got plenty of time to read. i've already swallowed most of the books that had been waiting in line, always secondary to those scientific wisdoms that needed instant gulping. recently, i have dug through the pile of old national geographics and found quite a few intriguing articles, most of them about australia, only two (within the period of 6 years!!!) about new zealand (giant insects, mainly pictures!) and some about the middle east. i've just finished one about the palestinians and can't help feeling happy that sharon (whatever his reasons may be) made up his mind as to removing israeli settlements from gaza strip. it may not be best solution but at least it could be a step towards peace. there was one sentence that sticks to my mind - this is the war between children - 18-20 year olds that are trained to kill. tad schulz, the author, was just right, i reckon.

2004-10-22T23:34:00.000+01:00

a routine of life. is it what we're born with? are we all pre-programmed sets that develop, function and eventually die of LIFE - Lethal Infectious Fertility Effect? of course. there is not more to it than a simple YES.
as a human being shall i then succumb? shall i weave myself into the pattern? what if i DO want to malfunction a bit?
well. i'd like to hear what malfunctions YOU have. as human beings.

2004-10-22T19:23:00.002+01:00

so. felt my bottom itching again. after a few months of silence i speak again with my voice still full of this 'somewhere else' feeling. this was spontaneous. the decision to go to Israel and to have a real piece of what the media feed us with. yet again, the image of rioting terrorists setting bombs in any spare public place, had to be challenged by what i saw throughout those two weeks. a small land painted in so many colours where the culture is vivid by its variety, its constant movement, impatience, uncertainty. i just opened my eyes and tried to grab a handful of its life. the north. vast landscapes of juicy green, mild in its look and feeling. somewhere in the distance looms mt hermon, my temptation but not realized ambition. even the ever present military trucks seem to melt into the background of the green hills.the south. the land where only the rocks burgeon. at first shy in its appearance, becomes more and more decisive about its looks, changes into sharp features, layers of millions of years old stone and sand. here the sunset is the whole nature and colour performance leaving me with an open mouth and a craving camera for its purples and reds. the silence of a cold night somewhere above the crater. the road to Israel's shpitz of Eilat along the rough line of the desert's mountains. finally, the nature's best just below the Red Sea's surface...but it's not only nature that makes this place a million dollar lottery. it's the history, the religious spirit of the place that spills all over you. it's the people and them being different.

time

2004-10-22T19:21:00.000+01:00

some say time is your worst enemy. others claim directly opposite. what is time for me? when not travelling - time is the one that brings painful joy of anticipation of ever making plans of vivid images of what you're going to see what you're going to experience what you're going to LEARN it shrinks as each day fades away to become a tiny dot that eventually marks my departure into the other state of being a dynamic sphere in which you never stop exploring.while travelling, however, time is a fast runner that chases you chanting in your mind endless numbers of days left, hours to come back.so more and more i think of making my life and myself travel in/with time. this way it would stop following me like a humid shadow. i'm not a tree - i don'r have roots holding me down to the groundi'm not a rope to be tied up

mountain remedy

2004-10-22T19:19:00.000+01:00

it always helps, a single thought of going up, gasping for breath, carrying all gear on your back, feeling your body when even a single thought seems to add some extra grams to all your always-excessively stuffed backpack. and when it actually happens i always find myself utterly happy so this is the remedy. mountains. and i have sensed that coming. this longing and desperate need to jump in my shoes and set off. soon, very soon...

anywhere but here

2004-10-22T19:14:00.000+01:00

travel .to be moving in space, in time, in yourself , what always comes is never enough and when you feel you can't get any more it's time to move again whenever travelling, always write letters in my mind that are never to be posted and received, i print postcards with my memory and store them...try as i might, they fade away but never completely. there is this ever lasting craving for more.