Going North

It's been a while since the last post, and plenty has happened in the meantime. I'm struggling to find places with free wifi that aren't limited to 50 MB's (that I burn through all too quickly) so I can upload pictures and video's and write posts, though I hope that will get better with time. My old tactic of sitting at a McDonalds sipping a Coke doesn't cut it here I'm afraid. Right now the local library is my best friend, because they do offer seemingly unlimited wifi and thus allows me to write this post and upload pictures and video's :)

Anyway, I got out of Auckland after a string of bus-rides that left me pretty confused, and even stranded out of the way (though the friendly bus driver drove me back to where I needed to be for free), but eventually I made it to the edge of the city and I managed to find a small road leading outwards and up North, though it was a small sideroute with not a ton of traffic. I could have gone for the #1 highway, but the map I had of Auckland didn't show the edges of the city and so I couldn't really see where I was headed, so I ended up on the 'wrong side of town', at a much smaller country road.

Thankfully I only had to wait for about 20 minutes untill my very first NZ ride showed up, and got me to Helensville. Calvin was his name, and he offered me a place to stay if I couldn't get another ride. Before he dropped me off he showed me where he lived, and then drove me to the edge of town.

It wasn't long there untill Michael showed up, who was a great help. Not only did he drive me to Orewa, but he helped me get a map of New Zealand's North Island with all the towns and roads on it. Because he was an AA member he could get me the map for free.

When he dropped me off I already had my next ride within three cars of passing me by. Jane was a woman nearing her 50's I think, who told me about her Dutch soon-to-be daughter in law, who she was about to meet for the first time at her son's wedding. Her and her son had gotten estranged, and it was clear it was eating her up inside. I hope that soon they will be able to mend things, whatever has occurred in the past. Jane dropped me off in Wellsford, and left me to go on my way.

Today's goal was the city of Whangarei, and though the day was nearing it's end I managed to get there thanks to Eamon, who I had a very interesting conversation with. He did studies in native Maori traditions and the like, and looked for ways to incorporate them into our modern society, looking for any way they could be of help to solve today's problems. We talked about different kinds of things like that and ended up talking about money and the importance we place on it, and I told him about the Alan Watts video I uploaded on my Youtube channel. He left me his card, and later on I sent him an email with the link to the video. He dropped me off in front of a small backpackers hotel, and it was here that I stayed for 5 more nights due to the rainy weather.

Not much happened in this time. I walked into town daily looking for internet, and trying to look for a job online that could keep me out of the bad weather for a while. Days are still short too, with the sun going down at 6, and going up some time at 6 in the morning too. That is quite a lot of darkness, and it would be nice to stay somewhere till the days grow a bit longer and the weather a bit better.

I found a potential job in Ahipara, and that was to be my next goal. We exchanged an email or two, and I was asked to call. But I couldn't use the local payphones as they didn't accept cash, and I keep only a small prepaid cellphone for emergencies that I wasn't going to use for this. So I decided I would visit personally.

After the 5 days of rain in Whangarei I was pretty fed up with the place, and so I was glad to head back out on the road again. I walked for a while to try and get to the edge of the city, which I thought I had found, and set my pack upon the ground to start hitching once more.

After about 15 minutes a car pulled over. In it was Pietta (not sure of the spelling there), and she told me I wasn't in the right spot. Turns out the city stretched out for a good while longer. But she could get me to the edge of town, and so she did. She dropped me off at a stretch of highway, with enough room for cars to pull over. It wasn't the best spot to be, but I made it work.

After a little while I was rescued from this place by Simon and Jo, and they were a great ride. An older couple from the South Island, they were going up north to do some house-sitting. They were very interested and enthusiastic, and we had a great time for as long as the ride lasted. They left me their card and told me to call them or look them up when I got to the South Island, and left me on a stretch of road close to a garage and gas station, with little else in sight.

Another 5 minute wait and I was on my way again. Hitchhiking has been incredibly easy so far! Even getting out of a big city like Auckland didn't take longer than 20 minutes. I might simply have been lucky there, but I'll find out soon enough. There's not a ton of places to go north of Auckland, and eventually I'll have to pass through it again on my way south.

Anyway, this time I got a ride from a girl somewhere around my own age, called Diana. She was a very cheerful person and fun to talk to, and soon I learned that her grandfather (who she called Opa, which is Dutch for grandfather) was an immigrant from the Netherlands who had moved here a few years after the second World War.

She was going to stop at his place for the afternoon and after dinner would drive on to Kaitaia, which was my goal for the day (or perhaps even Ahipara, which is only a 10-minute drive from Kaitaia, if there was still time). She offered to take me along and meet him and her sister, who lived in with her grandfather to take care of him. Being a traveler with no big plans and timetables I intend to make the most of every opportunity that is presented to me, and so I joined her for the afternoon.

She told me I could expect some jokes about her bringing along her boyfriend and similarly styled jokes, and indeed there were quite a few. It was funny though, and I had a good laugh with all of them. Her grandfather has dementia, and we had the same conversation for quite a few times. I didn't mind, I had a good time. In the afternoon we sat outside in the garden looking at the fish-pond for a while, and I helped repairing a shed door which was knocked out of it's sliders. Diana, her sister Mellanie and their grandfather were all very friendly. Unfortunately I can't quite recall his name anymore though. They gave me lunch and later on I met their parents who came over for dinner, which was great. I ate till I couldn't eat no more, and had a pleasant conversation with Diana's dad. 

In the evening Diana drove me to Kaitaia, and along the way I found out she had some similar interests to mine concerning videogames, us both having played The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and having great memories of it. When we got to Kaitaia she helped me find a hostel for the night (they felt uncomfortable leaving me somewhere to just camp as I had planned, and I figured I could use a place to do the laundry). It is days like this that make hitchhiking so great.

Next day I planned to get to Ahipara, but first I went to look for a store that sold Coleman fuel, having been unlucky in that regard in both Auckland and Whangarei. I managed to find some in Kaitaia and filled my MSR fuel bottle. I still had fuel left over though, and I couldn't take it with me. So I adressed the first two men I saw walking across the car park and asked them if either of them used that kind of fuel, and one of them actually did. So I gave what I had left over to him and hoisted my pack upon my back and set out to find the road to Ahipara.

It wasn't too far off, and I found a nice spot at a bridge with a beautiful view. I bent over to put my pack on the ground, and before I could have stood upright again a car had already pulled over.

Bob was retiree who already knew where I was going before I could say anything, and helped me put my pack in the back of his car. A 10-minute drive later, and we were in Ahipara, my only ride for the day. He helped me find the hostel that I had found the job offer of, and dropped me off at the parking in front of it.

This is the view when you leave Kaitaia towards Ahipara. Beautiful eh?

When I went inside and introduced myself I learned that the job had already been given away to a girl who had stayed there and had asked if there was an opening. I was too late, and though that was unfortunate, it also was very fortunate, as it led to the events of the coming few days. I often wonder while I'm hitchhiking if things turn out the way they should, as if things are led by a fate of some kind, as if things just had to turn out a certain way. Usually where one door closes, another opens, and great things happen.

I decided to make use of the good weather and find a place to camp for the next few days. The hostel was situated at the front of the 90-Mile Beach, which stretched off to the right, and could be seen for a great distance. To the left was a long stretch of beach as well, with a cliff-like corner at what seemed would be walking distance for the day, and so I decided to follow the beach and see what was up there.

Kaitaia Beach.

Fresh water flowing out into the ocean.

I had a pretty long walk but eventually found a nice hamlet at the beach that would give me protection from the high tide that I was warned about by a friendly man on the beach. I wasn't quite at the bend yet, but I decided this place was good enough, and so I set up my tent for the night. To the sides of my tent were steep hills covered in low-growing trees, in front the beach and the ocean, and in the back I had a big sanddune rising at least a hundred meters high. I did some more walking around at the beach, and before I cooked dinner I decided to have a look from atop the sanddune. Before I was halfway up my legs were dead-tired and I felt like I could collapse, and I had to take several breaks before I managed to get up there. My endurance has a long way to go haha, I've been too static at home. It was a good view up there from where I could see more of the 90-Mile Beach, but after a while I decided to head back down to cook my noodles. 

The sun was setting fast, and it was dark before I was done. I did the dishes in the ocean and set them out to dry during the night. The previous day I had finished a book called The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque, which is the sequal to All Quiet On The Western Front, one of my all-time favourites, and today I decided I would re-read Walden, Or Life In The Woods by Henry David Thoreau for the second time, the last time I read it being back in Canada. It is heavy reading, and back home I don't have the concentration to read it and properly absorb it. Too many distractions. But out here, all there was to distract me was the sound of the birds and the ocean in the background, and I read all evening. During the night the high tide set in, and the following morning I could see no cars or people would be able to reach this place untill at least noon.

My tent as seen from the sand dune.

The top of the sand dune.

I decided to go for a swim in the ocean. And with no people around, who needs a swim suit? 

So I stripped down and headed for the water. I looked and walked around for a bit to find a good spot, and that's when I saw them. Two people walking down the beach, heading my direction, with just a low dune between us. Apparently they had stayed the night a bit further down the beach, which is ofcourse just my luck haha. I should have kept walking and I would have passed them by, but instead I decided to take a quick run back to the tent. And so it was that when these people passed the low dune and looked to the hamlet where my tent was, they saw my beautiful white ass on a jog for cover. I know this because I heard one of them give a surprised shout. At this I decided I could just as well go for a walking pace, there was nowhere to duck and at this point, I honestly didn't care all that much anymore. As soon as they were out of sight, I headed back for the beach and went for a swim.

Apart from those two people, I didn't see anybody else for the entire morning, though I went on a bit of a hike along the beach. I paid for that morning of walking around that evening, because ofcourse I was very sunburned. My upper legs were red like lobsters, and so was my back, and I still feel them today (this was 2 days ago). That night though, I settled myself in my sleeping bag and watched a movie called Tracks, the true story of a woman on a two-thousand mile camel hike through Australia. As you might expect from a hiking movie it was a bit slow in parts, but it was a good and interesting watch.

Enjoying the cold ocean water and the fresh air.

The road to home.

Ahipara Beach.

Later in the afternoon when it became more crowded I went to the top of a small hill on the beach to do some more reading too.

The EReader I use now is very useful indeed. I can keep an entire library on me, and the battery lasts very long.

Sunset on the beach.

The next morning I had run out of food and water, and so I packed up my stuff and headed back for Ahipara. I was tired, not having slept very well the past two nights (getting used again to sleeping on the ground is going to take a little while), and so my pace was slow. I walked for maybe a kilometer or so when I heard a car pull up beside me. In it were two men, who asked me if I could use a ride to town. And that I could. 

They introduced themselves as the Natives, Kana and Honkee (I'm completely sure that you don't spell it like this at all), and they were on an emergency trip. That emergency being that they had run out of beer. And so ofcourse they had to brave the high tides back to town. Where I was the high tide was ok, with room to walk and drive. But further on their was no room left at all, and the ocean water reached all the way across to the cliff-side. Before we got to the town, the car got swamped with water and the engine shut off. Honkee tried pushing the car along and we got a few meters further and bit more out of the water, but he had to jump back into the car and close the door because there was a big wave about to hit the car. He didn't quite make it in time and much of the water got inside, flooding the car floor. It was all a great bit of fun, and the three of us had a good laugh. What's even better, I got it all on camera.

After a while of sitting there Kana got the car to work again and we manage to make it to Ahipara.

Before we got the beer I was already invited back to their place. They lived in a collection of shacks down at the beach, beyond where I was camping. This was another one of those opportunities not to be wasted, and of which I wanted to make the most. And so it was that I headed back to where I had just come from, to an afternoon of drinking beer and getting quite a bit drunk. I met their cousins who they hadn't seen for a while, and it wasn't long before the beer was gone. Kana and me headed back to Ahipara to get another case, this one on me. We got a bottle of something else too, Ruby something. 

We didn't quite finish it all off, but we got a long way! Sometime in the afternoon everybody split up, heading back to their respective shacks. I had been shown a place to sleep on a couch in one of them too, something that looked like a communal kitchen but which I didn't see anyone use. I went to lie down and relax a little bit as Kana (who lived right next door) went to sleep. It was around three o'clock and I hadn't decided on sleeping too, but I didn't wake up untill the sun was already going down. I got outside and saw nobody around, and it getting a bit cold, I took out my sleeping bag and went to sleep a bit more.

At midnight I heard someone stumbling around inside the shack. It was Kana looking for more beer, and he invited me to watch a DVD with him. That surprised me, because I had been told they didn't have an electricity line up here. It turns out he had solar panels on the roof that were hooked up to a battery, and the DVD player was a stereo-like device with a small screen that it was hard to seen anything on in any clear detail. The movie that was on was The Italian Job, and despite some hiccups from the DVD player it was fun to watch still. 

I had not eaten anything since some time early that morning when I had some slices of bread, and at this point I was very hungry. Kana was too, and despite not feeling like it he got up to cook some food. He made eggs with some type of meat that smelled like bacon but wasn't, and after a while he presented me with a plate covered in greasy fluid, poached egg and the meat, all covered in that grease. It didn't look very appetizing, to say the least, but not wanting to be a bad guest I started to eat.

I managed to get in most of it, but after one last bite of egg I almost had to throw up. I had to swallow back some egg that had come up, and I decided to pretend I was full. The rest was given to the dog, who ate it all with great satisfaction. After that movie I went back to sleep again, and didn't get up until it was almost afternoon again. Honkee was going to drive me back to Ahipara that day, but when I looked him up further down on the beach he told me he wouldn't go until the tide had come up and he had been diving for seafood, and so I had some time to kill. I walked up and down the beach, before eventually sitting down to read some more of Walden untill Honkee showed up to drive me to Ahipara. The weather was turning bad at this point, and it was starting to rain. I gave Honkee some gas money so he could get back to the shacks, and then he dropped me off at the edge of Ahipara.

The couch I slept on.

'My' shack.

The inside of Kana's shack.

My third sunset on the Ahipara beach.

With the help of my new inflatable pillow the couch slept extremely well!

On my last day on the beach I went to explore their ocean-side community a bit further.

Shacks really describe them the best. But it keeps them out of the weather and they all seemed more than happy to live there, even going so far as to call it Paradise with no hint of irony. It's not something I'm used to seeing but I can definitely see the appeal of living there, being free of taxes and other irksome obligations, and beautiful nature all around you.

By now it was raining steadily and I hastened to put a cover over my backpack and to put on my jacket before assuming my position at the side of the road. The first car to pass pulled over but could only take me as far as a junction further down the road, in the middle of nowhere. I declined, opting to wait for another car. That took a while, and I was gradually getting soaked, until finally another car pulled over and drove me to Ahipara. She was a doctor called Sarah, and she ended up giving me her and her mom's phone numbers for when I was ever down in Ahipara again. She pointed me to a potential summer job as well, which I'll look into further down the road. She dropped me off at an ATM because I needed to take up some more cash (I can't use my bank card anywhere except ATM's, so I always need to carry a sufficient amount of cash on me), and then I set off to find the other hostel in town. The one I stayed in previously was pretty good though the internet was very limited (to 50 MB's of data), so I figured I'd have a look at the other one. That one didn't have any internet it turns out, and it was kind of weird smelling and definitely dirtier and more run-down than the other hostel, but the guy running it was very nice, an old man with a long white beard and long hair and wearing a funky beanie hat, and so I decided to stay there. It was 7 bucks cheaper too, though that doesn't amount to much. I got myself a dorm room, and that's where I've been for two nights now. I will probably move on again tomorrow, to try and reach Cape Reinga, if the weather improves.

Untill next time!

The start of my New Zealand adventures

After a little longer than 2 years I am finally on the road again! Or, at least, will be tomorrow.
I am currently already in Auckland, New Zealand, and have been for 5 days now. But unfortunately the weather is extremely rainy, and this has kept me in hostels for the largest part of my time so far.
Tomorrow will be a pretty nice day, and the day after should be ok-ish, but after that it is another 5 days of forecasted rain. Where I will spend those days I am not sure yet. Tomorrow however I will try to hitchhike out of here, going up north from Auckland to try and get to the north-most tip of New Zealand for no specific reason other than that it is the complete north, and that will give me the added goal of reaching the utter south-end of the country. It should be doable within a day, after which I will camp there and await the weather of the next day before planning on where to go next.

But what have I been up to so far?
Despite the rain, I HAVE been doing things. The first day I slept through most of the day, as I had a very long trip to get here: I'd been awake for at least 30 hours, suffering through 24 hours of flying with a single 2-hour stop in Kuala Lumpur. I didn't feel great physically, as the weekend before leaving I've caught something or other giving me nausea and the runs. By the time of leaving on wednesday this had largely passed, but not completely. Airplane food certainly didn't help.
So on the first day I woke up at 15:30 and managed to get some food and a power adapter so that I can make use of the sockets here. I talked with some people in the hostel, and went back to bed pretty early in my single room. I spent two nights in the single room before having to switch to a dorm-room, but by then I'd recovered from the trip ok and the company was welcome.
On Friday I walked downtown to check out the stores and just generally have a look around. I found a small shopping centre, and while I was checking out the second floor I came to the conclusion all the stores were closed. Right before I was about to turn around, I saw a homeless man lying on the floor asleep, oblivious to the world around him. I decided to help him out.

I walked back down and started to look for places I could get him something to eat. I saw a convenience store where I bought a 2,5 liter jug of pineapple juice, and I ordered a pepperoni pizza at Domino's. Then I wanted to find two cups so we could share a drink, and set out looking for them while the pizza was being made ready. I checked out a store where they sold fruit-drinks and stuff like that, but they wouldn't give me any cups. I offered to buy two for a dollar or two, but I was told that wasn't possible and it would cost 7 bucks per cup. Hearing that I walked out, and tried somewhere else. I found another convenience store that had a coffee counter, which unfortunately was closed. I walked in to see if someone in the store could still help me. A woman somewhere in her 50's came over to me, and explaining what I wanted to do she gave me two cups as she carefully looked around to see if nobody was watching. Apparently giving me the cups could get her in trouble, but she helped me out anyway. Having all that I wanted, I went to give it all to the homeless man.
When I woke him up he was startled, probably expecting the police to send him off, but instead he got me. I gave him the pizza and poured the both of us a drink, and as he woke up we got to talking.
After a minute I sat down next to him, and thus we sat there talking for quite a while about life on the streets, what I had come to New Zealand for, and life on the road. An hour or so later I said goodbye to Inhaka (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly, but he told me he was also known as Big John) and went back to the hostel, fulfilled after having been able to pay forward some of all of the help I've been given during all my hitchhiking.

Yesterday I spent the better part of the day at the Auckland historical museum, which was really interesting. The ground floor was all about Maori life, and held the biggest interest for me. The second floor had exhibits about nature, the local wildlife, vulcanoes etc. and the third floor was about New Zealand's history of war: the New Zealand Wars, the Boer war, WW1 and WW2. I saw a small alcove about Vietnam and UN troops too. The biggest attraction there were the two WW2 fighter planes they still had, a British Spitfire and a Japanese 'Zero'. But overall, I liked the Maori tribal stuff the best.

The outside of the Auckland Museum.

Some Maori woodcarvings. Unfortunately the GoPro isn't all that useful indoors.

A house filled with great carvings.

A head bust of a Maori warrior.

Restauration work being carried out.

There were schools on a field trip too.

An old-school raft!

There were a lot of old weapons, armours, shields and tools on display.

Old armour.

These were put over doorways to ward off evil.

A long ship.

Weapons on display.

Shields and spears.

This was something very special: an icepick used by Edmund Hillary during his ascent of Mount Everest, where he became the first to ever reach the top along with Tenzing Norgay.

This one was rather weird to look at: it's a cast of a Pompeii victim. When he was discovered the excavators put a mold on him to preserve his shape and posture. This is a cast of that mold. He was discovered sitting up against a wall with his hands covering his mouth so he wouldn't breathe in the smoke.

Part of the WW2 exhibit, the uniform of a Japanese pilot.

And his 'Zero' fighter plane.

The Spitfire.

A display of weapons of the New Zealand wars.

Part of the WW1 display.

An artillery piece.

Hall of fallen soldiers.

Soldiers in Greece, WW2.

Today my habit of extending my stay at the hostel with a day at a time bit me in the ass, as it turned out all the rooms had been fully booked. That meant I had to pack up all my stuff and find somewhere else to stay. Thankfully I had seen another hostel just a hundred meters or so away in a little sidestreet, and I figured I'd try my luck there. I was in luck, there was still room in a 4-bed dorm room. When I entered the room someone was already there, a British guy called Scott. He's a very friendly and socially pro-active guy, and he immediately invited me along on a walk to Mount Eden, a local vulcano about an hours walk away. Our neighbour was going along as well, and before we left we got another roommate from Norway. Now we were four, and so we headed out.
It was a brisk walk that immediately taught me how out of shape I am as we headed uphill. I have some training ahead of me! Thankfully the way up wasn't too long, and the view well worth it.

The Mount Eden vulcano.

And to top it off, a video :)

After staying on the top for a while taking in the view of the city we headed back down. Along the way we decided we'd all pitch in some money for dinner. It turns out Leo, our Norwegian roommate, is actually a professional cook, and he was willing to cook us all dinner. So we went to a big supermarket to get our ingredients, and tonight we had a very good stew with potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, peas and all kinds of good stuff.
I had a shower before dinner and managed to do the laundry here, and now I am all set to head out tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some interesting stories to tell when I next return. See you all then!

Alan Watts - Money, Guilt and the Machine

So a while ago I came across a speech by Alan Watts called 'Money, Guilt and the Machine', and while usually I skip past these very long talks there was something to Mr. Watts way of speaking that was very appealing: a serious and very deep topic explored without any jargon, and laced with a bit of humour.
The topic he spoke about is one about how we view money, the outdatedness of our current implementation of money (value based on gold of which there is a finite amount, while goods and services are ever increasing), and the idea that we as humanity have of how we have to earn that money.

What he suggests at the end of the video is a very interesting idea: money no longer being based on gold, but on the amount of goods, meaning there won't ever be inflation or deflation, and no longer having a need for taxation. In fact, it would become the other way around: people would get a basic income as a human right, a kind of welfare check without any of the obligations and requirements we currently face.
Our industry would become automated, meaning a huge decrease in 'dumb labour', giving us more time for ourselves and our families, and time to pursue our dreams and wishes. The machine would essentially pay for itself, and by giving the people a basic income we maintain a healthy economy.
This is a very rudimentary explanation of what the video is about and I highly recommend watching it for a much, much better explanation. The ideas he puts to us are highly idealistic, but I feel that they are not unattainable. I believe that humanity can make it work, though it will have to be a world-wide decision which is not likely to happen any time soon (when have humans across the world ever agreed on something? :P), but what a wonderful world it could be...

The video I found had a very busy background that was very distracting to me, so I got a hold of the soundfile and added a more relaxing, easier on the eyes image to it. In addition I translated the English subtitles the video had into Dutch, keeping English as an option. If you've got 30 minutes or so to spare, I highly recommend watching it.
It starts off a bit slow with some religious undertones. This is the part where he introduces our concepts of guilt, and you'll need to listen to this as well to fully understand the actual message that comes later on.

Wolf in Agony (a short story by me)

Way back in May of 2011 (apparently, I didn't recall but Word says so, and thus it must be true) I was very bored and I felt the inspiration to write a short story in a fantasy world based on the old Vikings.

I recently rediscovered it on my hard drive and I decided that it was decent enough to be shared online with others, as long as I touched up the English a little. I can safely say that my English has become a lot better since then, and the story as it was was no longer satisfactory to me. It's improved though probably still by no means perfect, but I feel comfortable enough with sharing it (which gives me the added benefit of never being able to lose it again). 

The name of the main character is one I often use in fantasy games since I wrote it, and I always try to roleplay this character as much as I can. It's based on some old Norse I found online that I mashed together, so especially the full name at the end is very hard to read, but  I hope you enjoy it :)

Imagine him looking something like this :)

Original here: Bakarov's DeviantArt Page

Wolf in Agony

Snow was whipping across his face as he ran through the foothills.

A blazing snowstorm had been beating the lands of his clan into submission for two days now, and it wasn't helping the search for his newly sworn enemy.

With a look of agony and hate in his eyes he looked harshly at his surroundings, looking for signs of his prey. 

The wolves had to be around here somewhere. It had not been long since he found the remains of their own prey: his daughter Krystin. 

The entire pack set on his little girl as she walked through the settlement late in the evening, having spent her time at a friend's place.

Now she was lying in her own house under the care of his wife Ingnarin, but it had been to late.

When they heard her screams the men ran as fast they could, but she was already dead by the time they got to her. He would never forgive himself, or the guards who guarded the settlement.

It was a long winter, and many creatures were starving. The people had trouble keeping their guard up. It was too cold, and all they could think about was sitting inside by a warm fire with something hot to eat. 

Pre-occupied by their thoughts, they had been too distracted to notice the threat that had come hidden by the snowswept winds.

They had not noticed the small pack of wolves that snook inside, as white as the snow around them. Before anybody knew they were there, they had found their meal.

Normally wolves would not attack humans, let alone a whole settlement. But the long winter had forced them to undertake an act of desperation, and the small girl who just went home had become their victim.

And now Byrnghaer was out here, in search for the pack responsible for the death of his only child.

The guards shot several of them with arrows as the pack fled from the settlement, after they got startled by the noise of the entire clan awakening and rushing to arms.

But the six wolves lying dead back in the settlement had not been enough for Byrnghaer. He would not rest before he had seen the entire pack dead at his feet, had looked on as their life gushed out of their corpses, warm and melting the snow.

Before anyone could stop him or join him, he rushed past the small palisade with his bow and his handaxes.

He slipped to a halt, and took a look at his surroundings.

As the wind played with his long beard and hair, he found himself at the edge of a forest so big, cold and dark, he shivered under his cloak.

The trees were so big and high that he noticed no movements down below where he was standing. The treetrunks were simply to big. But at the top of the trees the wind had full game, and the tree tops shook around terribly, shaking off their snowy load.

This snow slowly fell down into the forest itself, where there was considerably less wind then outside or in the top of the woods.

He looked at the tracks by his feet, and saw his expectations confirmed: the pack fled into the woods.

Several pairs of yellowish eyes stared at the man standing on the forest edge.

The alpha wolf knew they outnumbered the man, but was in doubt about what to do. The lonesome man should be an easy prey, but he smelled no fear in the wind. And so he stayed hidden between the bushes of the forest, watching and waiting.

One of the other wolves in the pack began to get anxious when he started sensing the unexpected aura of rage that seemed to eminate from the man. He crawled further out of sight, but in his anxiety he moved too fast and brushed along a bush, causing it to lose the snow heaped upon it.

The wolf knew he had made a grave mistake, and with his tail between his legs he made whimpering, apologetic noises and crawled towards the alpha male to try and right the wrong.

The alpha male knew their cover was blown. An instictive sense took hold. In the wilderness a pack is only as strong as it's weakest member. Individuals that endangered the pack could not be allowed to stay. As the cowardly wolf approached, the alpha's anger took over and he bit the coward wolf in the neck, ripping it open. It had been too inexperienced and weak of will, and would never be given the chance to become a full-fledged member of the pack. He would have endangered the success of other hunts when they were most needed, and in a harsh environment like Nordheim every hunt was vital for the survival of a pack.

Although he did not justify it accordingly, the alpha male took out a weak chain under his command, securing the pack’s survival.

Byrnghaer heard the snow fall. Suddenly there was a whimper, followed by a snarl, then gurgling. He knew he had found what he was looking for. Slowly he took the bow of his back and put an arrow on the nock, and quickly took aim.

The alpha male spit out a tuft of fur from the coward wolf’s neck, wich was now lying on his side with his still warm blood soaking the ground beneath it. Though his action would have secured the pack's survival, he had chosen the wrong moment. He had not been keeping watch on the man outside the forest, and the other wolves in the pack were too startled by the sight of their leader killing one of their own.

In this moment of weakness, the first arrow hit home. It punched straight through the lungs of the wolf nearest to the alpha male, and it collapsed on the spot.

Byrnghaer quickly took another arrow from the quiver, and fired it into the bushes.

He heard something bark out in pain, and satisfyingly knew he had killed at least one of the wretched beasts that were responsible for the death of Krystin. Krystin would be avenged.

Suddenly five wolves burst out of the forest edge, and came at him full speed.

He quickly drew another arrow, and shot one of the charging wolves. The arrow pierced the chest and found the heart, and the wolf crashed rolling through the snow.

The pack was getting closer now. He threw down his bow and quickly grabbed hold of his two axes.

In the seconds the pack needed to reach Byrnghaer, the Viking touched the runes inscripted on the blades. 

“ODEN!” Shouted Byrnghaer, “Grant me strength!” 

As the first wolf reached him and jumped at his throat, Byrnghaer yelled in a savage rage and turned to evade his attacker, turning his body to be ready to strike.

When the wolf hit the ground and before it had a chance to turn around, Byrnghaer had already embedded one axe deeply into it's back.

The second wolf saw an opportunity when the man had his back turned to him. He jumped and bit firmly into his target.

Thankfully the cloak Byrnghaer was wearing was made of a thick cloth, and the teeth of the wolf did not get deep into Byrnghaer’s flesh.

The man let go of the axe that was planted in the first wolf’s back, and reached over his shoulder to get a hold of his cloak.

A strong pull forward with his strong muscles made the wolf on his back make a big swing around the man as it held onto the cloak.

Before it could react it was bashed in the head with the blunt side of Byrnghaer’s axe, and it fell down in front of the man. Quickly Byrnghaer turned the axe in his hand and rammed it into the neck of the creature, and yanked it back out. The circulatory system of the wolf would make short work of the rest. A big stream of steaming blood squirted up into the air.

He put his foot on the first wolf he killed and with a hard pull he got his first axe back too.

Turning around he saw the last two wolves circling around him in a careful fashion.

After seeing several of his pack being killed so quick by the furious man, the alpha male became more careful in it's approach, and following the alpha’s example, so did the other wolf.

Byrnghaer measured his position, prepared his body to act.

He measured his opponents. The biggest wolf obviously was the alpha male, and his biggest threat, but the other wolf circled around him and if he was not careful, it would catch him off guard.

Slowly he moved his axes around in his hands to get a better hold of them.

He looked at his foes more closely. The alpha male had a very white fur, and he could easily see the red stains on it's head and along it's jawline.

It was the blood of his daughter, of Krystin. In his agony and sorrow, his hate for the wolves became so big he swoar to take hunt down every wolf he could find. They would all pay for the day the wretched creatures chose Krystin ByrnghaersDóttir to be their prey!

His hate overcame his good senses and he charged at the alpha male.

“Krystin! Your vengeance is here!” He shouted.

The sudden developments overtook the alpha male for a split second. He was startled by Byrnghaer’s yelling. Realising he was in danger, he growled deeply and ran at Byrnghaer.

The sun was setting behind Byrnghaer as he charged at the big wolf. 

The sky became twilight, and it reflected in the wolf’s eyes, and on the glimmering on his teeth. The same teeth that ripped the life out of his Krystin. It gave him a devilish look.

He would wear those teeth around his neck, he would skin the corpse of this hated wolf and wear it in memory of his little girl, and he would hunt wolves where ever he found them.

All this went through Byrnghaer’s mind in the few seconds before Man and Wolf met.

In the next few seconds the wolf did something unexpected. Instead of jumping at the man’s throat he bashed himself into Byrnghaer’s stomach, causing the swing of his axe to miss.

All breath got knocked out of Byrnghaer, and the vengeful Viking fell on his back.

The damn wolf be cursed, to shame him so! Before he could try to get up, he got pushed back almost immediately by the alpha wolf who quickly had gotten up and was now standing over Byrnghaer in an attempt to bite him in the throat.

All Byrnghaer could do was to try and keep the wolf at bay. He had his hands under the wolf’s chest, his axes crossed so he could not strike.

The last wolf in the pack saw the moment of opportunity in this new situation. 

In the seconds the alpha male and the man charged eachother, the wolf had run around the fight and so it took him longer to get into the thick of it. But now he could attack from behind...

The situation was turning grimmer by the second for the proud Viking, as he lay on his back trying to fend off two hungry and angered wolves...

Byrnghaer was staring at the blickering teeth that were trying to reach his throat. 

The harsh environment of Nordheim grew strong men, but he needed all of his strength to keep the large alpha wolf at bay.

Then the second wolf reached him, and bit into his shoulder. 

Byrnghaer screamed in pain, and in his anger and desperation his strength grew so big that he managed to roll over, switching roles between him and the two wolves.

Now it was the alpha wolf who found himself on his back, locked in place by Byrnghaer’s powerful thighs which pressed his legs to the side, and with a sickening snap his front legs broke at the shoulder joints.

He howled viciously and snapped at the man who was holding him down, but his jaws could not reach him.

In the mean time, Byrnghaer disposed of the wolf clinging onto his shoulders. He let go of his axes and grabbed the wolf in the neck, and pulled him over his shoulders. 

He threw the wolf as far as he possibly could.

It landed on it’s feet and immediately rushed at Byrnghaer again but the Viking got hold of his axes in time. Right in the middle of the jump the wolf tried to stop and turn around.

If Byrnghaer had not been in so much pain over the loss of his daughter, he could have laughed at how the wolf suddenly stopped his attack in mid-air.

But now the beast was escaping from him, and he could not let that happen! In a rage Byrnghaer got up and charged after the wolf.

The alpha male could not get far on broken front legs. It would not get away. But he would be damned if he didn't get the whole of the pack responsible for his daughter's death.

The wolf was fast, too fast, and Byrnghaer ran as fast as he could. In his determination, he exerted himself like he had never before. His legs and lungs were burning. They could not deal with the cold air so well, and he started getting chest pains. The world went red before his eyes. Slowly the wolf was getting farther away from him. He realized he would never be able to get within striking distance.

”ODEN!” He yelled, “Guide my axe!” And with all the strength in his arm, Byrnghaer threw an axe after the wolf.

The wolf, in his fear, ran as fast as he could. He knew the man was coming after him and this terrified him more than anything else he had previously experienced

But when Byrnghaer’s axe hit home and plunged itself deep into his hind leg, it knew it was done for.

Howling it looked at the forest edge where he might have found safety, just a few meters away.

It crawled on it's front legs as fast as it could, but with the heavy axe embedded in it's body, it couldn't manage more than a slow crawl. 

When Byrnghaer reached him, the wolf was howling with such terrible desperation, it chilled Byrnghaer’s heart. But he would know no mercy. 

It was in the nature of the animal to hunt and kill, but Byrnghaer cared not. He would have Krystin avenged.

He took his remaining axe into his right hand as he fell onto his knees and quickly slaughtered the wolf that almost got away.

Then in a quick jog he got back to the alpha wolf.

It had been trying to get away as well, but since he could not stand upright, it had been trying to plow itself through the snow headfirst.

The man let his weapons drop, and walked over to the wolf that was now helplessly within his command.

He grabbed a hold of the wolf’s neckfur and pulled it up to his head, so it could face the man who would kill him and look him in the eye as he did so.

The wolf was in terrible pain and could not prevent itself from being lifted from the ground, and he could not claw at the man with his legs broken.

But he could put up a last defense, and that he did. In his desperation the wolf tried biting the man once more, even though he would never be able to reach him.

Byrnghaer looked the enraged wolf in the eyes. They were brownish eyes. Then he laughed at the wolf, but it was no happy laugh. It was a laugh as cold as the winterstorm they were standing in. It held all the sadness and bitterness in the world.

Then he spit the wolf in the face, even though it would mean nothing to the creature as it would have to another man. But he had to ventilate his resentment for the beast.

“So you are the one who killed my daughter”, he said.

“After I kill you, I will wear your skin in memory of my Krystin. The meat I rip from your bones will burn on the same funeral pyre that will take my daughter up to Valhalla, up to Oden where she belongs. Know that your pack is dead, wolf. Know that all your kind will be hunted by me. Know that I am your death, and that I am the death of your kind.”

The wolf howled at the man in answer, and with a quick powerful hit, Byrnghaer broke the wolf’s neck. It was over. 

Byrnghaer threw the corpse of the creature onto the snow.

For the first time after he had seen his young daughter dead, he could think of something other then hate and revenge. 

The sight of Krystin's mangled body covered in wolf-bites flashed through his mind and then froze in place. Slowly he fell to his knees, and tears rolled down his face and froze in his beard.

It was not common for a man to show his emotions so clearly, but he was alone, and he was not ashamed of the love he felt for his Krystin. 

In agony, he howled like the wolves that killed her.

“KRYSTIN! Krystin, my girl, my beloved little girl!”, he cried. “Why did they take you? Why did you take her Oden, Allfather? Why did she have to suffer so? Why could you not take me instead?” 

He wanted to sit there forever and not stand up. For hours he wanted nothing but to freeze to death. But he realised he could not allow himself to follow his daughter into the afterlife. He had to return to the settlement and comfort Ingnarin, his wife, who was caring for the body of their beloved child. He had to make sure she got the funeral she deserved, his daughter, sweetest of them all.

He took up the corpse of the alpha male and hung it over his shoulder, bound together the feet of the other wolves. As he dragged the wolves with him and set to return home, he thought of how much he’d like to cut them up, to grind them into a bloody pulp and leave nothing left of the wolves’ existance.

But he did not do so. He would skin them at the settlement, and he would make clothes of the pack. He would tear out the teeth that ended the life of Krystin, and he would wear them around his neck. And out of the alpha wolf, he would make himself a cloak, from wich the head would be placed on his head, and the paws would hang over his shoulders.

He wanted to let everybody know, to let every wolf know, that Byrnghaer was reborn into a new life. 

At the age of 28, he had all he had wanted in life: a beautiful wife, a daughter he could love. Now his family was torn apart, and his life would never be the same.

Byrnghaer the hunter was no more.

As time passed on, the people of his clan would call him by a new name in secret. They would not dare confront him openly, as all could clearly see the man was not the same anymore and feared what he would do. A darkness had come over him. 

His obsession for the killing of wolves would earn him a new name among his people over the following years.

Byrnghaer GyloirinSvioi was born: Wolf in Agony…

The Forest Prince and the Pig Man temporarily available for free!

Today I got a message from Craig Constantine telling me that for a short while his hitchhiking documentary called "The Forest Prince and the Pig Man" is publicly available.
Previously it could only be seen through Vimeo's 'On Demand' service, where it was 'rented' for a price.

The documentary goes into the history of hitchhiking while showing the current day travels of Billy Jack as he attempts a cross-country journey in the U.S. It asks the question: is hitchhiking actually dangerous, or is it not?
It provides a nice insiders view to my own experiences as I hitchhiked across Canada and the U.S and I think that anybody who follows my travels would also be interested in watching this!
So, without further ado here's the movie!

The full documentary:

Note that the movie can actually be downloaded through it's Vimeo page. Be sure to do so if you want to watch it again after it's no longer publicly available!

If you've seen the documentary and find yourself craving more, there is another hitchhiking 'documentary' that I can highly recommend for you to watch as well. In fact, it's called "Only Kindness Matters" and I've actually linked to it before: http://a-wanderers-soul.blogspot.nl/2012/05/only-kindness-matters.html
And if you want even more after that, there is also "This Time", which takes you through Finland, Norway and various other places!
http://a-wanderers-soul.blogspot.nl/2012/05/date-and-documentary.html