New Zealand Bit by Bit

New Zealand, Bit by Bit
New Zealand

What makes someone pack up all their possessions and become a gypsy?

In my case, I had got ‘bogged down’ as an accumulator of worldly goods, and I felt I wasn’t going anywhere.

When I’d been much younger, I’d read about Aimé Felix Tschiffely, and how he took two horses off the Pampas and journeyed from Buenos Aires to Washington DC. That was in 1925. Reading his tales of adventure had inspired me to ride from one end of New Zealand to the other ‘one day’. And that ‘one day’ had come.

Brae and Jacqui

I had as companions and friends my faithful animals. Brae, my sheltie, was beside me all the way. I set out on Rosy, but she wasn’t up to the distance. My packhorse Kia Kaha (which means ‘be strong’) had spent his early life on trotting tracks, and when I bought him he was destined for the meatworks. He was plain and ugly, how he changed.

In Canterbury I replaced Rosy with d’Artagnan. He was old and very wise, and I wasn’t surprised to learn later on that he’d made similar journeys before.

I knew I’d enjoy the ’slow’ pace, 6 kilometres per hour, at which I was travelling. It’s better than riding a bike as I didn’t have to watch where I was going – I could enjoy the scenery.

I started out from Blenheim because winter was approaching and I had to get through the High Country before the tracks became impassable by deep snow and bad weather. I was advised to ride out to Nelson Lakes where I could meet up with a guide who would take me ‘over the Rainbow’ Station to St James Station and so to Hanmer.

Then I contacted an experienced mountain rider who would take me over the foothills of the Southern Alps into Canterbury, near Christchurch. From there I trucked my horses south to Bluff, and set out again through the Catlins, the very special part of the South Island, the south-eastern tip, beautiful barren beaches, wild weather and native forest – just Nature at its best.

Through Dunedin city, across the Canterbury plains and back to Christchurch. So far, the scenery had been amazing – one piece of advice I had always given every visitor to NZ is that you see a different landscape unfurled before you each time you cross a ridge and head downwards again. And there certainly are plenty of hills, mountains, and valleys in our country!

I knew the scenery would be beautiful. I had explored most parts of NZ – first with my parents and brothers, and then I worked with the Automobile Association in the Auckland Touring Department. About the same time I joined a Car Club and got involved in car rallies and trials, which took me to parts of the country that many people had never seen before.
When I married, we had travelled substantially around the country too – so I had an understanding better than many Kiwis of my homeland.

I also knew that I’d enjoy the riding, and I did. The close proximity to animals, the warmth of horse-riding feeds the spirit. You sit higher than you would in most vehicles, and you can see over walls and hedges. The soothing clip-clop of the hooves is medicine for the soul. I could hear other animals – wild and domestic – and sometimes many miles away, across a valley, the sounds of a drover pushing his dog to do the hard work of bringing in the sheep, or cattle.

The part that surprised me most was the helpfulness, the homeliness of my fellow citizens. They welcomed me into their homes, gave my horses the best pasture, and my weary dog a warm place to sleep and rest his paws. In return for the welcome, I pulled out my laptop computer and showed them around the internet. This was in 1996, and not many remote rural homes had modems in their computers – if they had a computer at all.

My son had agreed to host my website while I travelled, so friends around the world could check up on my journey, see my latest photographs. I updated my website, then called Jacqui’s Journey, each two or three days.

More than once I stayed at a remote location, hooked up my computer to the phone to chat with someone else around the world and found my e-mail friends knew someone in some way connected with the people with whom I was staying! The excitement and energy in the air just about exploded my laptop!

From the South Island the horses were trucked to Wellington and I spent some weeks finding a horse-friendly way out of that city – it was a challenge but we did it. Then we ventured up the beaches, with many rivers to cross and into the Manawatu. It wasn’t long before we were on the slopes of Ruapehu, then into the King Country, the Waikato, through Auckland and across Northland. It all seems so simple on paper, but the logistics of arranging our passage was part of the fun.

In romantic Russell, in the beautiful Bay of Islands, I settled down again to write my book, NZ, Bit by Bit, now finished and waiting on a shelf while I submit it to publishers. This can be daunting work, more daunting than setting off on a 100 day journey by horse! I am caught up again in ‘realistic things’ such as earning a living, paying the bills. So many people since my journey have read my diary on the internet and asked when the book will be published. They are excited about it; NZ publishers say our population is too small and it wouldn’t be viable to publish it.

I am sure there is someone out there who will believe in it. After all, there are people out there who backed Peter Jackson and others said he couldn’t do it (film The Lord of the Rings). I got to Cape Reinga. I’ll get my book published yet.

On my ride I met many people who had similar dreams but haven’t yet fulfilled them. When I set out, I didn’t know if I was a capable enough rider, or had the courage or dedication to complete such a journey. I took one day at a time and eventually found myself at Cape Reinga. I learned a lot, particularly about myself. Now I won’t be afraid to take on new challenges.

To those people who are still dreaming I say: if you really want something, all you need is the heart and desire to do it. Go for it. This is your life, live it. Enjoy it. Life is too short to sit around wondering what to do and whether one can do it.

Kia kaha. Be strong.