B.C. / New Zealand Packing list

I'm heading off to British Columbia in 2 weeks. I'll be there visiting relatives and Wwoofing until mid-September, which will be early spring in New Zealand. The knapsack I take to BC goes to NWZ, so the packing has begun in earnest. I'm sending the list to a few gear-bare keeners. If you have a comment or opinion about the list, please let me know. I can argue gear lists all day. The knapsack is what I'm wearing in the blog profile picture.

The pack will weigh 8-9 kgs out the door, everything inside the pack, including water and day-food. Basically it's 2-3 sets of clothes, rain gear, spare shoes and the ability to sleep outside in NWZ seasonal weather (down to 8-10 C) and hopefully handle a bit of rain. I only intend to be sleeping on the ground here and there as circumstances dictate.

The plan is to fly to Auckland, hitch-hike up to the top of North Island (Cape Reinga) and start walking, hostelling and Wwoofing the 1000+ kilometers to Wellington. Drop in and visit Bob Russell for a few days. Then down to South Island and Sue Green's sister for a few days, then a bit of tourist action in Milford Sound. Then the decision is return to Canada or keep flying West --- Vietnam, India and/or South Africa on my way to visit David Young in Botswana and Brian MacDougall in Egypt. If I get that far, it's maybe Israel, but Ireland for sure, then home.

Nice simple plan, not a lot of logistics. Nothing booked in advance. Everything electronic and stored in some Google app. Carrying a GSM quad-band cell phone if someone needs to get hold of me. Will check messages every few days. I'll keep this blog up-to-date every few weeks, tho not with pictures from my camera. Too techie.

CARRYING

40 liter knapsack
Small waist pouch for camera

KNAPSACK

Sleeping bag Primaloft .5 kg MEC overbag
Sleepmat Thermarest .25 kg Shoulders-to-Hips, self-inflating
Tarp/poncho (8'x5' silnylon)
Drybag (15 liter silnylon) for knapsack contents
Drybag (10 liter good quality) for clothes and electronics
Drybag (1 liter plastic) for travel books and documents
Daybag (10 liter shapeless nylon)

KITCHEN / FOOD

Spoon, breadknife, can opener
Water bottle .5 liter \ Expanding 1 liter
Multi-vitamins
1 day of light food (apple, cheese, chocolate, nuts, bread)

CLOTHES

Rain shell / Pants
Black jacket / Green light fleece / Tights
Poly skull cap / Poly gloves / Poly hats (2)
Bathing suit / Mini-towel
Wool socks (2) / Poly socks (2)
Techie tops (3) / Nylon shorts (2)
Sleep top/shorts / Cotton underwear (3)
Sandals / Sneakers

MEDICAL

Moleskin, Band-aids, alcohol gel, compression wrap, gauze, tape
Murine, asthma inhaler, Ibuprofen, pumice
Poly-Sporin, Gravol, Chlorine tablets, tweezers, scissors

TOILETRIES

Toothbrush/paste, floss, vaseline, sun lotion, chapstick
Toilet paper, hair soap, deodorant, nail clippers

ELECTRONICS

Cell phone/charger/battery-backup (buy local charger there)
Watch, wrist compass, LED flashlight, whistle, plastic mirror
Camera, Memory chips, USB memory stick
Single cell AAA radio, batteries (2 AAA, 4 AA)

DOCUMENTS

Map, travel book, hostel lists, glasses/spare, pen/pencil
Diary, family photos, photocopies of passport and drivers license, spare passport pics, Passport, MSI card, Blue Cross, Intl and NS driver licence, Vaccine record,
Pictures of all documents stored in Gmail

REPAIR

Therma-rest repair, needle/thread, duct tape
Safety-pins, velcro, cable-ties

A time for all things

I just spent 2 weeks in New York with my in-laws. My 93 year-old father-in-law was dying in the hospital and the family was doing as much as possible to provide support, as my 79 year-old mother-in-law spent every day, all day in the hospital. I spent the 4 of the first 5 days in the hospital. The off day was spent upstate with the brother-in-law and his menagerie. My father-in-law passed just before Jewish Shabbat, finally getting some peace after 2 months in the hospital attached to the cold, impersonal tools of medicine.

If you don't have a living will, write one up today. Mine is nothing fancy:

Do not resuscitate if quality of life implies permanent unconscious state or persistent vegetative state
Do not keep alive if this requires extraordinary medical support
If in doubt, pull the plug

Lots of people flew in for the funeral, which happens asap. I was very glad that both my kids made it in time. Then the family 'sits Shiva' for a week and gets some closure.

Most of my time when I visit NY is taken up with family and making sure I see all the grandkids, nieces and nephews. I try to clear off at least one full day for myself. This trip was for 2 weeks, so I got in 2 full "New York" days. I also got in a bit of running and many, many kilometers of walking. As usual, I ate more than required and drank a fair bit of beer.

My 'New York' days go like this: up and out the door before 6:00 AM, breakfast in the city at my latest diner (currently the Seinfield diner at Broadway and 112th St., formerly the Roxy on John St. down by the World Trade site). Absorb a local paper and mucho coffee. Start the ongoing vigil for access to bathrooms (parks, fast-food places, bars, big book and grocery stores). I do a LOT of walking (8-10 hours worth), a little shopping, maybe a museum and for sure a few parks. Lunch involves pizza or pastrami and a beer, as does supper. I almost always get to either the East River or the Hudson, Times Square and Washington Park, As well, I almost always take in a concert or ball game and return to Queens after midnite.

This trip, I got to see Amadou & Miriam at Webster Hall. It was an amazing show. A husband and wife from Mali, both blind. I missed them when I was in Dublin in 2006 (all sold out, I hung around for hours trying to get a rush seat), so bought the ticket early in the day. I chose this over baseball at the new Yankee stadium.

I finally got to walk the new High Line elevated park in the meat-packing district of Manhattan. This made me very happy indeed. I have been following its development for years. It is a good example of what really talented people can do with a public space. New York is filled with so many beautiful parks. Another new one for me this trip was Morningside just above Central Park.

I also got to see game 7 of the hockey finals (yea Pittsburgh) by dropping into my brother-in-law's firehouse in the Bronx. Dropping in is a bit of a misnomer. It took 1.5 hours to get there and more than 2 hours to get back. This also meant that I missed getting to a baseball game this trip and both teams had new stadiums. Such is life.

An emotionally draining trip. Good to see so much family, altho the occasion was a sad one.