An Unexpected Adventure Turns Into An Education on New Zealand’s Native Flora

The sheep shearer that I met on the beach called me “a legend” when he heard my story. I don’t know if I would call it legendary or pure stupidity but the situation at hand was definitely a result of traveling with the universe, a term that I have begun to use to describe when the universe has another plan for my travels then I do, and often a more adventurous path than the one I had planned. This is a story about traveling, adventuring and the unexpected lessons that I am finding about food and agriculture in the least likely of places…

Five days ago I set out on a short hitchhiking mission to get from Te Anau, a small town at the edge of Fiordland National Park, to Queenstown to meet up with friends to travel around for my final couple of weeks in New Zealand. I had already delayed my departure two times due to changes in plans and the weather. On my third departure date I figured third time is a charm and I set out with my backpack into the pouring rain. Several wrong turns due to my incredible sense of misdirection and 40 minutes later and I was already soaking wet and hadn’t even stuck my thumb out to get a ride. 

I figured my hitchhiking luck would go one of two ways that day. People would either take pity on me because I was a girl with a big grin on her face and a brightly colored yellow rain coat that was stupid enough to hitchhike in a “state of emergency” because of all of the rain and flooding. OR they would look at me soaking wet, with 9 months worth of a backpack that was also soaking wet, and consider giving me a ride with the same amount of enthusiasm they would as if I were a wet dog looking for a ride in the back of their car. It definitely turned out to be the latter. As I stood outside the gas station I could feel people actively avoiding eye contact. The closest I got to getting a ride in a 45 minute time span was a sad shrug of shoulders from a man driving a full car. Finally, once my hands were nice and numb and the shivers were starting to set in, a van towing a caravan pulled over. The driver asked where I was headed and while we didn’t share the same destination, he could get me 30 minutes closer to my destination and to a major thoroughfare en-route to Queenstown.

About 10 minutes into the drive we were diverted off of our planned route due to a washed out bridge. About a 40 minute detour later we were finally back on the main road. I began to mentally prepare myself to head back out into the cold rain. However, just as we got into town we saw a line of cars stopped in the middle of the road. Still in cell phone service, I booted up my phone to find out what was going on. It didn’t take long to figure out that the entire stretch of road between me and the friends that I was meeting was closed due to flooding. At the same time I got a message from them that they may not be able to get to me because a landslip was blocking their road into town as well. As I slowly started to de-thaw, I considered my options. 

My hitchhiking savior, whose name I learned was Lauri, had plans to head south where there was supposedly better weather and a beach with some fish to catch off the rocks. He offered me a ride there if I wanted to join and stay in the extra self contained caravan attached to the bus that he had been living in for the past 15 years. I knew that by going south, it meant doubling the length of my journey to get to my friends the following day. But there was also no guarantee of the roads opening up either. Or, I could get out of the van and stay put in the small town we were in, but that wasn’t much of an option. The only campground in town was right by the river that was flooding and it was still pouring down rain. Lastly, I figured I could get out and try to hitchhike back to where I came from, but there were already points on the road that we had crossed that were likely underwater by then…. So this is how my travels with Laurie began; a 30 minute journey turned into a five day adventure.

As the rain continued to pour down in sheets and more roads closed down, my hopes of making it to my friends before they had to head North were quickly dwindling. The promise of good weather on the coast was a farce and it continued to rain all day and night. By the next morning, rather than more roads opening back up, there was even more flooding and road closures. My way to my friends that I planned to travel with, as well as my ride to the other side of the South Island, was blocked by Mother Nature’s power. 

My time traveling with Laurie looked quite different than I was expecting. I wasn’t with two other friends romping around on the West Coast of the South Island. Rather than late night chats, hikes and wine nights I filled my days with writing, quietly wandering beaches and hearing stories about Laurie’s life. I met Toni, the guy that makes a living panning for gold on the beach morning and night, rain or shine. I met the sheep shearer that was in between jobs and waiting for the weather to dry up so that he could go to his next farm. And I was making homemade pasta and cooking fresh fish on the wood-fire oven setup in Laurie’s van in the evenings. I was having conversations and hearing stories about New Zealand from someone that had spent much of his life working on different farms and had been living in his van and traveling around for the past 15 years. 

With all of Laurie’s travels and living, he had a wealth of knowledge to share about everything from deer farming to what plants you can forage, to making homemade pasta. I enjoyed what I learned about how he cooks his food while living on the bus and the plants that he commonly forages in the country side. Over the past five days I learned a lot about New Zealand plants, which I have shared below both from my walks with Laurie and from reading “Simply Living: A gatherers guide to New Zealand’s fields, forests and shores.”

Foraging in New Zealand:

The following plants are just a few of the plants that I learned about over the past several days. It was neat to spend time on the coast and learn about some of the edible algae and coastal plants as well as the inland plants that I had learned a bit about in my earlier travels.

• Venus’ Necklace / Neptune’s Necklace: A common algae in New Zealand coastlines. It is best eaten raw and is typically found on coasts at the low or mid water mark. It has a similar taste and consistency to celery but without the fiber. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan because of its slimy texture but it was a first for me to try this plant after months of walking the New Zealand coastline. 

• Koromiko: A scrub from lowland to sub alpine areas. Koromiko is commonly used medicinally and is an herb frequently used to cure an upset stomach. The young leaf tips are the best to dry and turn into teas. This is a common herb used among the Maori people for various ailments. 

• Chickweed: A plant that is commonly found in gardens and cultivated land. It is rarely found without little white petalled flowers and it is one of the few readily available plants with rich copper content. It can be used in salads, soups, stews or casseroles. I ate a fair amount of chickweed at one of the previous farms I worked on during my time on the North Island.

• New Zealand Flax: A plant with course, sword like leaves that are dark green in color. The flowers of the plant have a sweet nectar inside of them that can be eaten as a foraged treat. While New Zealand Flax isn’t much of a food crop, it has medicinal properties and can be used as a fibre to weave baskets. 

• Watercress: A creeping plant with small hollow stems. It is a wild herb that grows beside running water throughout New Zealand. It is high in vitamin C and is good raw in salads or cooked with vegetables. This is also a plant used in traditional Maori foods.

The plants above are just a peak into what I learned during my unexpected adventure. When I initially set out to travel through the lens of food and agriculture I expected most of my learning to come from farms and organizations that I worked with, but throughout my journey I have found a wealth of knowledge in the people that I have met by chance. I share this story in hopes that it expands the places that we all look for new experiences and learnings. The universe may have a better idea on where we should go than we do.

So no, don’t go hitchhiking after three days of torrential rain, and yes be wary of taking rides from strangers, but do go out there and embrace learning from the least expected places. You never know what you will find.

Closing Note: Yes, the title, Travels with Laurie, is based off of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. Except Laurie is a Kiwi man and has been living in his bus and traveling the New Zealand countryside for 15 years.