Sustainable travel? How do we get that?

A socially isolated contrail
Socially isolated contrail

Change?

In the middle of the city, I passed a dishevelled man. He crouched by the wall of a big, inner-city shop, holding out his cap. He called out, ‘Change?’ He had no expression on his face. He did not look at anyone. His gaze was straight ahead. ‘Change?’ He did not sound hopeful.

Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/236614-lord-grant-me-the-strength-to-accept-the-things-i

It is the time of Covid-19. The virus spreads quickly. Different measures in different places attempt to contain it. Medical staff are under extreme pressure in every hospital.

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Brisbane to Melbourne – the slow way is the only way

Back in Australia! My father’s land. He was born in Kalangadoo, South Australia. By sheer chance, Roly Parks, a famous author, also hails from Kalangadoo. We’re not going there. We start in Brisbane, Queensland to continue my sustainable travel! Onward!

Painted on the wall of YHA Byron Bay
On the wall of YHA Byron Bay – Coronavirus learning curve just starting

I disembarked from container ship MV Ontario II on the 22 February 2020 at The Port of Brisbane and caught a train to the centre of town. Brisbane, the third biggest city in Australia, has good bus/rail/ferry links for city travellers. The local Translink system – together with nifty app – works well. You get a GO card and set your course. Thank you, dear friends, who looked after me during my stay in Brissie! (We all kept our distance.)

Brisbane is subject to flooding
Brisbane straddles the River Maiwar (Brisbane River). Sign taken in Ashgrove, a hilly suburb!

During this trip I was not interested in tourist sights – you will have to seek other blogs for things to do in Brisbane – rather, I was a commuter, focussed primarily on my journey south to Melbourne.

Brisbane to Melbourne as the crow flies
Brisbane to Melbourne as the crow flies – I’m not a crow

As you may know, I recently travelled overland across Europe and a corner of Asia with only a hiccup between China and Taiwan, mostly on fast trains.

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Sustainable travel in a menu

What I did on my holiday …

Extinction Rebellion poster

Welcome! I hope you enjoy exploring my 2019/20 blog about three months of planning while based in the UK, two months of overland and sea travel over the Channel, through the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, Russia, China and Taiwan to New Zealand. Plus, three months of travel around NZ, five days on water from Tauranga to Brisbane and three weeks overland from Queensland to Victoria. And, finally, I have some conclusions about how we travel and our appetite for change.

My experience of sustainable travel was not fast. It was not cheap. It was not convenient. But it was the trip of my lifetime!

Heading towards Queenstown

Some of you may have already seen some of my photos, experiences and reflections. Here’s a chance to catch up with all the missing pieces! Please comment along the way, share your own sustainable travel journeys and CHANGE!

Gondolas up and down outside the Skyline Centre

Overland from UK to NZ overview – planning and travel stages over five months – menu

Mongolian train logo

Transports of delight NZ – the North Island

Kiwi Rail waiting at Welly Station

Transports of delight NZ – the South, Stewart and Ulva Islands

Stewart Island ferry at Bluff Wharf

Container ship from NZ to Australia

The Ports of Auckland and CC Coral

Brisbane to Melbourne – the slow way is the only way

Train link bus to Casino

Conclusions – how to make travel sustainable? Change

Bon voyage!

More shipping news – NZ to Oz – Tauranga to Brisbane – Ontario II

Is this a rata or a pohutakawa on Mount Maunganui?
Anyone know if this is a rata or a pohutakawa on Mount Maunganui? Big, isn’t it?

All in all I spent three months in New Zealand, seeing friends, family and reinforcing memories. I found the experience, although unplanned, grounding. As a person in transition it was helpful to look back and see the schools and the university I attended, plus workplaces where I’d wielded rakes and scythes, mixed mercury into lead for fillings and shelved books into the evening. I was a passenger in buses, private cars and taxis, ferries and I drove my own 15 ton digger. Still digesting my Kiwi experience, it was time to head back to Australia to see my son in his native habitat. And, OF COURSE, I would not be flying!

Passenger number two beside my second container ship docked at Port Tauranga
Passenger number two beside my second container ship docked at Port Tauranga
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Transport of delights through Aotearoa New Zealand Part II The South

Find Part I The North Island here.

MULTI-PAGE long read!

Bluebridge Ferry parked in Picton
Bluebridge Ferry parked in Picton

SOUTH ISLAND of New Zealand

My “home” whirlwind tour continued south, zooming from Picton to Stewart Island. (Well. It took two months. Is that zooming?) I visited familiar landscapes, discovered new beauty spots and felt honoured to be among my hosts, beloved friends and family. Tena kotu! We were able to reminisce (with much tears and laughter) about those who have gone from this land and celebrate fresh youth, chubby babies, surrounded by hope and love.

I hope you enjoy reading through my journey, finding places that might interest you and become reassured it is more than possible to make your way around NZ by public transport. As you will see, it really is a relaxing way to travel.

And again, as I revisited places known as an adolescent, I considered the possibility of returning to this place to live. Where was my ‘home’? What was the attraction that might make it so again? What could the future hold?

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Transports of delight through Aotearoa, New Zealand, Part I The North Island

Part I – Read about The South Island here.

New Zealand fades into the horizon
New Zealand fades into the horizon

That was the view from MV Ontario II, my second container ship, as we farewelled the Northern tip of New Zealand in February 2020. It spelled the end of my journey to reconnect with ancestors and elders, friends and Aotearoa herself, the land of the long white cloud.

“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”

― Pascal Mercier, Night Train to Lisbon

goodreads.com/quotes/tag/home

I am a person in transition, from one status to another, and checking places where I grew up has been restorative. During the three months I travelled between Auckland to Stewart Island I not only revisited my past but also contemplated the future. As I watched landscapes roll past bus or train windows, I asked myself: Is NZ my home? Could I return here to live? Where? Is it possible for a soul have a connection to any one place?

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Stage Eleven – Shipping news! CC Coral from Taiwan to New Zealand – overland from UK 2 NZ

Up the gangway of CC Coral at Port Kaohsiung
Up the gangway of CC Coral at Port Kaohsiung – see any reevers?

LONG READ!

Please note this is a multi-page post recording a 14 day sea voyage. I was the only passenger on CC Coral, a container ship travelling between Taiwan and New Zealand, in November 2019. It was an alternative to flying. But was it any more sustainable?

If you’re new to my sustainable (?!) journey across the world, here is a menu to help you find your way: https://ourrelationshipwithnature.com/overview-overland-uk-2-nz-without-flying-eleven-stages-in-fifty-days/

For fellow travellers who might notice errors and omissions, please add your comments. In fact, all comments welcome!

The Port of Kaohsiung as seen in the Immigration Office
The extensive Port of Kaohsiung seen in the Immigration Office late at night

Friday 8th November night into Saturday morningThe Port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

First night at sea. Mr Wang, my driver, had been a shipping agent for 25 years. He couldn’t understand why this giant of a company, CMA CGM, wanted to take passengers. Why? Other freight companies did not bother.

Well, Monsieur Wang, I was glad they did for they offered exactly what I wanted; a no-fuss way to travel without flying. I also felt comfortable that CMA CGM wore their environmental aspirations on their website. Mr Wang swooped the car around the grand driveway of the Excalibur hotel, lined with a small city’s worth of sparkly blue and white lights, and parked. We were there to pick up the new ship’s reever-electrician. (Whatever a reever is – it’s super important – I’ll find out later.)

Looking over the Port of Kaohsiung from the wing deck outside my cabin
Looking over the Port of Kaohsiung from the wing deck outside my cabin.
Wonder if there’s a reever in this picture? There, look …
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Overview – UK 2 NZ without flying – eleven stages in fifty days!

From October to November 2019 I travelled from England to New Zealand to join a family reunion in the South Island. This blog series details my thinking, decisions and then the stages of the actual trip. It took much more money, probably more emissions, and a lot more time than flying. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures, perhaps reading some of the account, and researching your own train/ferry/ship journey!

Find a CNN article recounting the story of a young man who took twenty-four trains from UK to Ningbo. What was he doing? I only took six! As a sidebar of the article, you will also find a comparison of carbon efficiency in some of the biggest airlines.

Blog Series MENU

Planning Parts

Part I: Is there any other way to get from UK to the Antipodes without flying? Why not fly?

Map of the world showing route across Europe towards NZ

Part II: Should you book your freighter cruise first?

wing deck entry door

Part III: What reasoning to avoid flying? What is the English environmental movment? What do Totnes, Transition Town and Extinction Rebellion have in common?

Extinction Rebellion Flag

Part IV: Is Real Russia a good support system for ticketing and visas? How far should I plan ahead?

Real Russia sandwich board

Part V: What’s the best way to organise Visas?

Better view of queue outside Chinese Visa Application Service

Part VI – What do Science, Politics and Spirituality have to do with travel?

King and Malone, Baroness and Sister on stage at the arena.

Travel Stages

Is your emission really necessary?

Stage One – ferry from Harwich to Hoek of Holland and visiting Rotterdam

Rotterdam harbour reminds me of Hong Kong

Stage Two – train to Germany and exploring Hamburg harbour

Hamburg Harbour

Stage Three – train to Berlin to visit memorials and consider humanity

Where is the S? Or the U? The answers reign on high

Stage Four – train to Warsaw and considering a different kind of memorial

Central train station

Stage Five – overnight train from Warsaw to Moscow

Our compartment manager and her carriage

Stage Six – visiting Moscow to marvel at metro stations

First look at Belorusskaya Metro station

Stage Seven – multi-page post TransSiberian – TransMongolian Railway from Moscow to Beijing

Our Russian Engine on electric for now

Stage Eight – visiting Beijing and the Great Wall of China

Given my recent train life I was keen to commune in 798

Stage Nine – out of China: trains to Ningbo, Fuzhou and Pingtan and ferry to Taiwan

There's a lot of ships in the Taiwan Strait

Stage Ten – train travel through Taipei, Tainan and, finally to Kaohsiung, the largest port in Taiwan

Tainan Train Station with Kaohsiung train approaching

Stage Eleven – Two weeks shipping with CMA CGM Coral from Taiwan to New Zealand

Quick phone movie

Flyskam: flight shame – to Tågskryt: train bragging!

Stage Ten – Taiwan – sea to ship to sea – overland UK 2 NZ

encouraging train at Kaohsiung metro station
Get on the encouraging train at a Kaohsiung metro station

If you’re new to my sustainable (?!) journey across the world, here’s a menu to help you find your way: https://ourrelationshipwithnature.com/overview-overland-uk-2-nz-without-flying-eleven-stages-in-fifty-days/

For fellow travellers who might notice errors and omissions, please add your comments. In fact, all comments welcome!

FERRY TO TAIPEI

I had no idea how long I clung to my potentially slidy bench in the CSF ferry to Taiwan. Given my overheated and nauseous position, clinging like a limpet, I was going nowhere. Flat hands, straight arms, I was stuck with all my spidey force to that window seat. I stared down at the heaving sea. The horizon, and watching the rising spray as the prow smashed through the waves, kept me anchored against the giddy sickness that threatened to swamp me.

The horizon behind us, because we were moving into darkness and stronger forces, was tinged with light beams over the surface far away as the cloud cleared. I kept hoping it would light up ahead but there it was only getting darker. The past horizon was a line of misty magic with constantly moving gleaming, as though a spotlight played upon a shining stage. It was disconcerting when that steady thing to pin hopes upon, that faint, distant horizontal line, kept shifting and then, horrifyingly, disappeared entirely into the dark.

Soon enough lights of habitation appeared on the coast. My arms began to ache with their suction work upon the bench surface. I leaned on the cool glass. Presumably, as we neared the coast, the swell worsened for there were some hefty bangs and heaves that reminded the ship was man-made and would not last for ever.

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Stage Nine – Out of China – Ningbo, Fuzhou and Pingtan – the BIG FERRY SHOWDOWN

Arriving into Ningbo
Arriving into Ningbo

If you’re new to my sustainable (?!) journey across the world, here’s a menu to help you find your way: https://ourrelationshipwithnature.com/overview-overland-uk-2-nz-without-flying-eleven-stages-in-fifty-days/

For fellow travellers who might notice errors and omissions, please add your comments. In fact, all comments welcome!

Ningbo

Different ticket prices for different size children
Different ticket prices for different size children

Ningbo had only just built a subway system. Very easy to use, clean and straight out of the train station, I soon found myself walking unfamiliar roads toward my hostel, thank you, maps.me. I’d chosen the hostel for its proximity to the Ningbo port. Now I no longer needed that connection it was far from Ningbo proper. Began to have misgivings as I walked in the busy highway to get around the construction zones. When finally broached, the hostel was better than many I’ve met (particularly on the Camino!) and had lovely pods in which to shut yourself away. The common-room was filled with young people intent on their devices, the boys mainly playing League of Legends on screens that varied from huge to tiny. Couldn’t see the kettle.

I need not worry about my onward travel. Real Russia had sorted my ticket to Fuzhou and it would leave from where I’d just come from. I’d collected both paper tickets at Beijing South Railway Station. So I could relax in the slightly grubby shower and prepare to find food.

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