Dodgeville Chronicle & Boscobel Dial Article
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From
the January 19, 2006 Dodgeville Chronicle Written
by by Jean Berns Jones After touring a sizable chunk of the globe for 14 months on a pittance of what travelers normally spend, Brock Waterman could write his own budget travel book. "I
wanted to go traveling so I researched the cheapest ways to do
things," said Brock (27), who is from Boscobel. In
fall of 2004 he quit his computer programmer job at Lands' End
to back-pack around Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Australia,
Bali, Thailand (Note: Japan too). The challenges and hardships
this type of travel entails did not deter Brock, since he has
always lived a thrifty lifestyle. "I'm
a person who doesn't spend much money," he explained. "I
don't use credit cards or buy things I don't need. You can save
a lot of money if you don't pay interest for things." After
high school, which he completed in three years, Brock went to
Southwest Wisconsin Technical College and then got a job in 1998
at Lands' End. During the six years he worked there, he first
rented and then owned a home in Dodgeville. He
developed relationships with people in Dodgeville, particularly
through the sport of basketball which he picked up after college.
He still feels ties to Dodgeville and comes to town every week
to shoot hoops with a group of friends. Brock
enjoyed his work at Lands' End but, in 2004, he realized he felt
too young to be settled down. At 25, he decided to take advantage
of the youth fares he could still benefit from on airlines. "I
always had a dream of going to Australia to scuba dive on the
Great Barrier Reef, and to swim with dolphins," he said.
In preparation for this, he became certified to dive. "I
talked to people who traveled backpacking and realized it could
be done." he said. "Until then, I hardly knew what a
hostel was." A
few months later, Brock had sold his house, his motorcycle, and
whittled his material belongings into what would fit on his back.
After
booking the cheapest possible flights on September 23, 2004 he
landed in Nadi, Fiji. Within hours he met a group of young men
and women from France, Italy, Sweden, the UK and Canada and he
joined them in exploring the islands. "I
also met Americans from California, Texas and all over the place,"
he said. "Backpackers are very friendly and open people to
get to know." Brock
flew to New Caledonia but his stay there was reduced from over
two weeks to only four days. The island, a French colony, is beautiful
but the people were not friendly to tourists. Perceiving this,
he and others staying in the hostel moved their flights up to
leave earlier than planned. So
Brock returned to Fiji and ended up spending five weeks experiencing
the mainland and groups of beautiful outlying islands. Fiji was
his favorite place on the trip, due to his cultural experiences
and the beautiful coral reefs for diving. One
cultural drawback is that Fijian salesmen can be aggressive and
intimidating in their tactics, which Brock learned when he let
a street merchant lead him into a backstreet room. Three men closed
the front door and three closed the back door. Three
others offered Brock kava, the traditional drink made from roots,
and expensive merchandise was shown. When Brock purchased only
an $8 necklace the merchant was not happy, but allowed him to
leave. One
day Brock hopped on a local bus and rode it out to Wailotua, a
remote village of about 50 people. A friend of his was living
in the village so Brock thought it would be okay to just show
up, a decision he now realizes was culturally questionable. The
Wailotua villagers were shocked to have an American arrive unannounced.
Despite his lack of decorum, Brock was welcomed by the chief with
a kava ceremony and invited to stay overnight in the man's home.
The chief and his wife owned the only flushing toilet in the village. "As
soon as I got off the bus, little kids grabbed my hands and walked
around with me," Brock said. "The people are very affectionate
and they have no concept of personal space, which takes some getting
used to." On
the bus, Brock entertained the other passengers by taking digital
photographs of them. Some had never seen their own image before. The
bus ride was hair-raising. The mountain road had collapsed and
a caterpillar was traveling in front of the bus, carving a precarious
dirt track for it in the side of a steep cliff. "No
other place I went was as relaxed as Fiji," he said. "It
was amazing to come from a place where everything is so hectic
and be able to lay on a beach or in a hammock or snorkel and just
relax..." Very
soon, Brock learned about "`Fijian Time." "This
basically means that something will get done whenever the Fijian
you're dealing with feels like doing it," he explained. People
who live in the islands' beach culture simply refuse to be rushed
or to be driven by the clock. "They
don't see any reason to hurry," Brock said. "I actually
don't think they are aware of what stress is. By our standards
they don't have anything materially, but they seem very content
and happy." The
hostel on the mainland slept 18-20 people on bunks in a dormitory
style room for about $5 per night. Hostels on the outlying islands
cost $12-$24 per night and the largest one he stayed at housed
about 240 beds. "You
get used to doing without a lot of conveniences," Brock said.
"When you're a backpacker in Fiji, cold showers are a way
of life." From
Fiji, Brock flew to Auckland, New Zealand. During his two months
in that country he had his most exciting experience -- sky-diving
at Lake Taupo. He
also packed in other New Zealand activities including bungy jumping
from the Auckland Harbor Bridge, a Milford Sound Cruise, a walk
on the Franz Josef Glacier, luge rides, sand boarding, Rotorua
wall climbing, a mountain trek and bike ride, Punakaiki Caverns,
and night life with friends. Next
came Sydney, Australia; Denpasar, Bali; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Wherever Brock went, he tried to live cheaply and make his own
food whenever possible. Street vendors' stands provided many meals. "I
would go where the locals were eating," he said. "In
Thailand you can eat at night markets for 50 cents rather than
paying $4 in a restaurant. I tried to save my money for things
I really wanted to do -- like sky-diving." "I
really worked hard at getting the cheaper things," he said.
"I was always working on cheap transportation, getting in
with people on rented cars and sharing gas." In
Australia (Note: I did spend 6 months in Australia, but Thailand
is where I road the third class trains & buses, Australia
does not have those):, where he spent six months, Brock traveled
on third class trains and busses. Then he and a German friend
got a deal on buying a 1984 Holden Jackaroo truck. In
it, the two of them and a female Japanese friend covered about
15,000 miles of Australia's sprawling expanse (Note: I traveled
first with Adrian from Germany, then Sayoko from Japan, not both
at the same time). They drove through the Outback and even harsher
regions, like The Kimberly, cooking over a propane stove from
coolers of groceries carried in the back of the truck. The
punishment of crashing through streams and over rocky roads took
a toll on the truck. When they sold it, two blown tires were replaced
and balding, it had a cracked windshield, a bent kangaroo guard
from hitting a kangaroo, was leaking oil, and had to be kept running
due to a battery/ alternator problem. Brock's
parents, Bill and Sheri Waterman, came to visit him in Australia
for their 40th anniversary last February. Together they saw the
famous sights of Sydney. Everywhere
he traveled, people were interested to talk to him, Brock said.
As soon as they learned he was American, people invariably asked
him about his political views. "I
don't think I talked to anyone over ten minutes where this topic
was not brought up," he said. "Everyone knows the U.S.
is the world's premier super power and they know what we do influences
everyone. The people I met know so much about America but we know
very little about their cultures." "The
hostility I encountered from being American was mainly because
of the war in Iraq and the fact that we re-elected our president,"
he added. Brock returned home last November on a flight from Bangkok to New York that took 17 hours. He
is now living with his parents and brother, Thad, and running
his own computer business. Titled GeNext Software (Note: www.genextsoftware.com),
it offers web hosting, site design, Internet consulting and venture
capitalism. I've
learned so much from traveling, I wouldn't know where to start
explaining it," Brock said. "Mainly it makes you hear
other sides of issues and look at things in different ways. It
broadens you." "People
have misconceptions about people from other cultures," he
added. "An example is that they have the idea, and I did
too, that Australia is really desolate with kangaroos hopping
all over the place. But it's so totally not."
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