Author: goodwillfishin

So after being in New Zealand for about a month now I can honestly say it has been quite the ride. As I mentioned early in the blog I was fortunate enough to have a buddy living in Auckland and I wouldn’t know just how valuable this was. Over the past 4 weeks I have been scouring the Internet looking for a campervan. From all accounts I have read online this seemed to be a pretty easy task so I didn’t put much thought into it. Fast forward to my arrival and I was in for a rude awakening. After settling in the first week and getting my barring’s, I went to work hunting down a camper. I found several that looked promising and sent out messages all to no avail, so I continued. I stumbled upon an ad for an old ambulance up for auction that seemed like a really good deal. I decided to rent a car and do a little mini trip with the intention of looking at this ambulance on the way back home. The trip went well met some really nice people and caught my first New Zealand trout. Things were good!

So I arrive at the auctioneer and see her there in all her glory. I get the keys and take a step in side and think this could be the one. So I take some measurements and get to thinking about the interior. A lady comes over and asks me if I was interested in the ambulance I said I was and explained my aspirations of turning it into a camper. She said that’s a really cool idea and mentioned I should have a pre auction check done. I asked her how much it was and she told me so I said why not. Could save me a lot of money. This all happened on a Thursday. The Auction for the ambulance was scheduled the following Tuesday. I asked her if the check would be done in time and she assured me it was so I said ok lets do it. I drove the 2 hours back home thinking about all the cool things I could do with it. I was excited and from what I could tell, seemed like a really good deal. There was plenty of room in the price where I could cover any major mechanical issue. I got home and awaited the mechanics report. Friday came and went, as did Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So Tuesday morning I called down and asked them what the issue was and they assured me they would have it done before the auction. I had asked what time Tuesday if would be done and they said it would be done by lunch which was fine as it gave me enough time to determine if I was making the 2 hour journey down or not. Again lunch came and went I called again and she said the mechanic was coming over as we spoke to take a look at it. I told her that’s great but please call me as soon as you can with the results as I have to start driving now to make the auction. She agreed and said no problem and apologized for the inconvenience. I didn’t think much of it so I rented a car and headed down. I didn’t hear from her for two hours and luckily I arrived a bit early, however when I did I saw a few of the employees standing around the back of the ambulance pointing at something. So I wandered over and say that the whole back door was messed up. Confused I went over to the lady at the desk and asked what happened. She explained to me that someone had come taken a look at it and locked the keys in the car while running. I said that’s fine but what happened to the door. She then proceeded to tell me that instead of breaking a window they thought it would be better to use a crowbar to pry open the back door. Brilliant. So I asked for the mechanic report I ordered and immediately she turned bright red. She started apologizing and I knew she hadn’t done it but assured me there was enough time before the auction started. At this point I was on fire and just said ok. A mechanic came rushing over took the ambulance away and returned about an hour later. At this point I wasn’t expecting anything good and the mechanics report confirmed my suspicion. I walked out of there, without ever making a bid. Little did I know this was the start of a rough road!

This is what if looked like before.

This is what it looked like when I arrived.

I start driving back and just start laughing about how crazy that was and felt a bit of frustration regarding the complete waste of time it was but hey, it’s a good story. So I get back to Dale’s house and start looking again for camper vans. That night I find what looks to be the perfect one. It’s insulated, and lined with nice wood paneling so I shoot the guy a quick text expecting it to be gone. He texts back instantly and says its still for sale. I make him an offer and he accepts it. I’m pumped I feel like the day hasn’t been a complete waste and things are finally falling into place. He notes that he didn’t expect the van to sell so quickly and asks if I would mind picking it up the next Monday as they are still traveling back up from the South Island. I let him know it was no big deal and I looked forward to seeing him. I show it to Dale and he agrees it’s a good buy so we have a glass of whiskey to celebrate. As a thank you for their amazing generosity I offer to take them out to dinner on Saturday night. The whole week I am buzzing it finally feels like my journey is going to start. We head out on Saturday night have an amazing meal from one of the better steak houses in Auckland and some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had for desert. Sunday rolls around and I still feel like I’m in a food coma but I couldn’t be happier. Now over the week I have had a few brief conversations with the van owner and I shoot him a txt on Sunday letting him know I am excited to pick up the van tomorrow. He says he is too. Sunday night I’m laying in bed and my phone rings. Immediately my heart sinks I already know what’s happening. I look at the message and its from him. It says something to the extent of sorry man we got offered an extra 200 over what you did I wanted to come to you first and see if you would match it before we took it. I wasn’t happy but said that’s fine but please don’t take any more texts regarding the van. At this point I was already pissed because he gave me his word and we had agreed on everything. I was even nice enough to allow for the trip extension; regardless I was still excited about the van. I told him I would call him in the morning and we would discuss where to meet he said ok. I finally get to sleep as I was still a bit pissed but excited nonetheless. I wake up, give him a ring and he doesn’t answer. After our conversation the night before I am uneasy and about an hour later I get a call confirming my thoughts. He said he ended up selling the van to someone for more money and said I would do the same thing. At this point I’m pissed not only because he went back on his word but more importantly assumed that I would have as weak a backbone as he did. I text him back saying whatever helps you sleep at night and he explains how sorry he is and blah blah blah. Needless to say I deleted his number and again was back on the hunt.

A few days passed and I saw a nice van pop up again so I sent her a message and asked her if she would be willing to end the auction early if the price was right. She noted she could be persuaded so I made her an offer. At first she declined so I offered her a bit more to which she accepted under the condition that I would give her the money before the auction ended. Which was in about two days. Great, I was excited and again had finally found a van. I stared to look into transferring the money and it became clear that I wouldn’t meet the deadline. So I informed her and she said hey maybe you will get the van for cheaper via auction. I agreed and got ready for a bidding war. I watched the bids blow past the price she had accepted and ended up getting beat by 1 dollar. I was pissed but figured hey what’s meant to be will be.

So once again I get back on the hunt and find a van a couple days later. This one however is located in Wellington, which is to far to drive to. I ask the seller a bunch of questions regarding its mechanical and cosmetic well-being. She assures me its all good and after explaining to her my previous campervan experiences she says this will be a great find. I get excited again and figure out the logistics of getting down there. I realize I can get a plane ticket for pretty cheap so I pick one up and head down. I meet the lady at the Airport and we go through the logistics the van is a bit dirty but again its also pretty old so I say screw it. After sorting out all the legal stuff she asks if I can drop her off at the train station. It’s no big deal so she hops in and goes to put it in reverse and I hear the gears grind a bit but chalk it up to quirks. I drop her off of the sunset and get my first taste of being up in the open road. It feels good, it’s a gorgeous day and the sun is shinning. I’m driving up the coast and again I have that feeling of euphoria set in. Everything is finally falling into place. I get to driving the van and everything seems ok, it’s a bit hard to get into gear but nothing out of the ordinary. Fast-forward about an hour and maybe 60Km’s and I go to shift and can’t get it into gear. Luckily I pull over in a town just in time. When I arrived in New Zealand I went to grab a New Zealand license and the lady asked if I wanted to sign up for the equivalent of AAA. I said eh why not it never hurts. Thank god I did. So as I’m sitting there I start to work through all the things it could be. I have a feeling it’s the clutch but don’t want to admit it to myself. After exhausting everything I can think of I call a tow truck. They end up towing me to a town and putting me up in a hotel. I go into the garage the next morning and it’s like the scene form the ambulance. All the mechanics are standing around it, but this time they are all pointing at different things. I think to myself, ah shit here we go. So I walk over an introduce myself. He confirms my fears and says I need a new clutch, but stops, he then proceeds to tell me that’s the least of my worries. My stomach hits the floor and I ask what do you mean. He then goes on to tell me that van is in such bad shape rust wise it should have never passed its inspection. After 2 days, a long txt battle and a few phone calls I end up splitting the cost of the clutch with the previous owners and deliver it back to them to get my money back. At this point I am just devastated, tired, and a bit down. Just to ad insult to injury the cost of a ticket is 3x as much as it cost me to get down there.

At this point I got home and had to laugh, because if I didn’t laugh I would have cried. So once again I was on the hunt and at this point I knew I needed a new van and once again after some searching found one. It was a bit out of the budget but at this point I didn’t care. I just needed something reliable so I got a ride down, looked it over and determined I wanted to buy it. When going over the final price they asked if I wanted a yearlong mechanical breakdown warranty. With everything that had happened I couldn’t sign the thing soon enough. Drove it home and around town for the past week and it seems great. I headed out for my journey yesterday and about three hours into it I pulled of to hit the bathroom. When I got back in and tried to start it, it just wouldn’t. So once again I am sitting here waiting for my van to get out of the shop fortunately this time I have some insurance. Needless to say its been a tough ride so far but my Journey still awaits.

It’s been a while since my last post, and for that I apologize. I have been extremely busy getting thing in line for my trip while taking care of finances. I picked up a second job bartending, which allowed me to save some extra cash, and gave me a solid life skill to use abroad.

As the trip was nearing I was contemplating gear and what would make the cut. I figured the basics would do in terms of clothing and I decided on merino wool, as its properties are conducive to backpacking. Being natural wool they have an anti bacterial property already built in. They also dry extremely quick and keep you warm even when wet.

I also have several electronics I’ll be carrying to help stay connected to the world and share my story. I brought along my laptop, camera, drone and several other smaller electronics. To keep family and friends from worrying I did some research into satellite communicators and tracker. After debating on which to get I settled on a dual channel approach. Since the point of this trip is to venture deep into the back country and find water that may have never been fished before I figured this was the safest best. I will be carrying around a ResQlink ACR PLB (personal locator beacon), and a Garmin InReach Explorer +. The PLB will be used if a dangerous situation arises while the InReach explorer will be used to keep in contact and allow loved ones to track me on my journey. I must say I was a bit skeptical before picking up the Garmin but after using it for several days its usefulness has become apparent. It allows you to keep in touch with anyone, anywhere in the world. It also gives you a topo map, weather, gps navigation, as well as heading and bromic pressure. All in all this is a pretty handy device that comes with a hefty price tag.

Along with all the hiking/survival gear I have my most prized possessions, my fising gear. I have brought along 4 rods ranging from a 9ft. 5wt. to a 13ft. 6 wt. I have several reels to accompany the rods as well as several lines. Now before I headed out on my journey I reached out to the guys over at OPST. I explained to them my situation and they were absolutely awesome. They hooked my up with a couple setups for my rods.

It’s about 3am EST and I am 8 hours out from touching down in New Zealand. I have to say I am pumped to get my feet on the ground and start exploring. I just want to take a quick minute and put some of my feelings down on a page so I can revisit them after having a few weeks on the ground.

I have to get a few things out of the way before I start with the fun stuff. For those who are contemplating making a life change such as I did, I want you to know there are some hard parts to the journey. I have given up a lot and selfishly put a lot of stress on my loved ones. It wasn’t easy leaving my mother standing in tears or anyone else that I love for that matter. If any of you are reading this I just want to say I’m sorry. I took a risk and left behind a great job with great people all because I felt something deep in my soul. Some still think I’m crazy and to be honest, I am. However I will never be the one who says, “I wish I would have”. What I’m getting at is this. With every choice there is always a consequence and before you make the jump I want you to think about it as I did. There comes a point when you need to be selfish and when you follow your heart you’ll find out whom your true family is. I knew my mother standing in tears was a mixed emotion, she was excited, scared and sad all wrapped into one. I try to remind those I love that it’s essentially a year of college and was quickly reminded of all the reasons why it is far from that. However as she drove away I saw a smile break through the tears and a wave, its not until I write this paragraph that it really hits me. I am a bit teary eyed at 30,000 ft and anyone who knows me, knows I very rarely cry so this is saying something. All right now all that mushy stuff is out of the way and I’ve addressed that it’s not just a walk in the park to up and leave lets get to the good stuff.

I touch down in New Zealand at roughly 6AM their time so about 1PM eastern. I have several things I need to get done within the first couple days I’m there:

Set up a bank account

Secure a Campervan

Purchase a Scott Radian

Grab a Sim Card

Along with several other smaller things. I feel like a kid anxiously awaiting Christmas. Not knowing what type of presents your going to get, yet know that there is going to be something awesome there! It’s funny as I sat in the airport I sent out some messages to a few fishing buddies as well as my loved ones and amongst all the well wishes and good lucks there was a calm that seemed to come over most of them as they knew I was on the right path. They get it. They know me and realize that I’m a bit of wanderlust at heart. As I was chatting with a fishing buddy he mentioned a friend who lived in New Zealand. Now I had met this kid once but I figured I would shoot him a Facebook message and ask if he’d like to grab a drink when I touched down. He responded quickly and agreed to a drink and offered up a place to stay, which was FAR to kind. His name is Dale and the last time I met him we went to my buddy Dehmers camp and I watched Dale catch the biggest fish of the day with a fly rod in hand and not a single days experience. I wish I could say it was the teaching, but it wasn’t. It’s amazing how people are willing to lend a hand, with everything going on in the world today it revitalizes my faith in humanity.

So naturally after being offered this extremely kind gesture I went and grab some good whiskey, as I know he’s keen on it. Never had Japanese whiskey but I figured what the hell might as well give it a shot. Try something new in a new country, seems right. Now after Dale and I chatted a bit I asked if he was interested in fly fishing and he instantly responded “yes”. So I am hoping we will both get out and land a fish or two while celebrating with some Japanese whiskey!

So I had the absolute pleasure of partaking in a float trip with my long time fishing buddy Steve. For those of you that have read the blog you’ll remember him from the steel-heading and just as a quick refresher he is one fishy dude. When trying to iron out details on my Journey from New York to LA he mentioned I should head out to Colorado and we could do a float trip. In the beginning it didn’t look like it was going to happen but a couple things changed and I found myself driving the two hours out to Vail, CO. We chatted the night before about meet up time and he said 7:30am would work but I found myself wide awake at 3:00am that morning. I said screw it, I’m just going to send it. So I got up and headed his way. I sent him a series of texts expecting him not to be awake but got a response almost immediately.

It’s funny, you can go months without seeing certain people and when you see them next its like nothing has ever changed. It seemed like just the other day we were hopping in the truck to go chase steelhead on what was deemed to be a bad weekend. Needless to say we proved them wrong and the day coming up would be much of the same.

As I rolled into Steve’s complex I couldn’t miss the big guy out there with the neon green boat and big smile. I parked and we started bullshiting , mostly about our buddy Dehmer who wimped out, then headed out. Steve asked if I had ever done a float before and I told him I’d only been out on a skiff. He said floating was a bit different and he was right. We got to the river after taking some dirt roads and much to my surprise it looked like a small city at the launch. There were tons of people! Several drift boats but the majority was blow up kayaks. I was a bit nervous upon the sight of this but Steve assured me we would be fine and I trusted him.

We dropped the boat in and started to make our way down the river. Within 2 minutes I had completely tangled my line, this would become a theme throughout the float. I have to say it was pretty difficult getting the casting dynamic down when the boat is in motion and Steve steering the nose into the best fishing spots. Within 10 minutes I had landed my fist CO brown, close to a personal best for me. I was psyched and so was he! It wasn’t long after and I was onto a nicer fish, one which WAS a personal best, this happened 3 more times that day.

I found myself in that zone, the one where all outside noise and worry is muted. It was Steve and I just crushing the fishing game. The scenery was serene and I was impressed with Steve’s abilities. He was calm and told me to cast into just the right spots. Along with critiquing he was also teaching. He was explaining why I should cast here or there stuff that I will definitely put to use in New Zealand. As the day was closing we were in a race to beat some bad weather. We ended up running straight into it. For a solid 10 minutes it the wind was blowing so hard it was blowing us upstream. To accompany these hurricane winds rain was absolutely crushing us. Steve was rowing hard but I could hear him yelling get your line back in the water, I was like “yeah whatever dude” but did it just to appease him. Sure enough I had what felt like a rock on the end of my line. A five-minute battle ensued and I pulled in what ended up being some native fish that I’d never heard of. I was a bit bummed to be honest but it was something new nonetheless. Steve saw the slight disappointment in my eye and said there’s another take out right around the bend let’s fish to that bend instead of pulling the boat out here. Again, I was like yeah whatever dude and sure enough again I hook into a monster! This time I can feel the headshakes and immediately know it’s a brown, a big brown! My heart starts racing, Steve drops the anchor and hops out with the net. After a decent battle he nets what is surely the biggest brown I’ve ever caught. We pop the hook out and hold her in the water. He grabs the camera and as I lift the fish out of the water it squirms and I drop it. He snapped a quick picture of it but it honestly doesn’t do it justice, I know I know that’s what the all say but I’m serious this was a really nice brown.

We take the boat out right after that and we ride the high all the way back to his apartment. He asked if I had a good time and I truly did. He is an amazing guide and an even better dude. I told him needs to make his way to NZ so I can play guide, he laughs and says “ I gotta make it happen dude” I nod and say “ Yes you do”. After a celebratory beer we part ways and I drive the two hours back home with a big grin on my face. I text him when I get back already planning out the next trip. It was the perfect start to my year long fishing journey and I am grateful and apperceive of him taking the time out of his schedule to show me the ropes.

So what’s the plan? To be completely honest, there really isn’t one. I have a general idea of the things I want to do but nothing is set in stone. I will be setting off on my Journey the last week of September, by making my way across the US, stopping in an seeing all the sites I can(if anyone has any good sites they might know of, on or close to route 66 let me know).  After making it all the way across the US I’ll fly out of LAX over to New Zealand.

Now I’ve been doing a lot of research in regards to the norms and the customs of New Zealand and it seems as though one of the best ways to get around is via a Campervan. Apparently there are hundreds of spots around both Islands that allow you to park and sleep for free, as long as you are “self-contained” which just means you have a toilet in your van. After I read this and learned it wasn’t just a hoax I couldn’t think of a better way to travel around the country. I have a home, yet it’s still mobile and it will allow me to travel to all the different sights and rivers I want to see and fish. There’s some risk to this but in terms of finances it seems to be a pretty good option. I figured I would spend anywhere from 5-10k on my means of transportation/housing but when a hostel is roughly $20-25 dollars a night I’m sure I will spend a few nights there just to meet some new people and socialize.

Now you may ask “well if it’s that cheap why not just stay in a hostel”? The answer is somewhat complex. I do plan to stay in a hostel for a bunch of nights across my entire stay but with the campervan, even though it’s a big cost up front, I will be able to sell it when I leave recouping most if not all of what I spent on it. This means that I will essentially live in New Zealand for free with the exception of gas and any repairs done to the vehicle! It also allows me to go where I want like I mentioned earlier.

As for things I hope to do, that list grows by the day. To name a few, bungie jump, skydive, ride in a helicopter, learn how to surf and the list goes on.

It’s been a busy couple weeks with work but I plan on getting back to my normal schedule this upcoming week. Also I have a few things I am excited to share in the near future!