The Tale of the Nor’West Winds.

New Zealand showed me her raging seas, starry skies, and jagged peaks. I knew the impact of the sweltering sun and surging storms. But a strong wind on an otherwise perfect day? This was something I underestimated and hadn’t yet seen in action.

The Trip

I was several days into a 10-day bikepacking tour from Christchurch to the end of the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail, which is widely considered 200 miles of the best biking in New Zealand. It’s the longest continuous ride in the entire country and showcases some of its most beautiful scenery, passing through high mountains, epic lakes, clear rivers, and ocean views on the South Island.

Partway through a tough 40-mile day, my partner and I encountered a strong headwind near Lake Pukaki, a gorgeous crystal blue lake overlooking Mount Cook that should inspire awe and gratitude.

I should say here that I love my bicycle and was so excited to be on this journey. But this wasn’t just any wind. This was the type of wind that makes you feel like you’re pedaling backward on a bicycle and that every forward inch gained is a fight. And speaking of fights, my partner and I just happened to have the biggest fight of our relationship on this very day. The windy day. And it was over a cookie.

There was yelling and flapping arms and I daresay I might’ve even stomped my foot. My time spent learning to meditate seemed all for naught. This was a side of myself I had rarely seen before, and I didn’t like it.

A pannier broke. A tire went flat. Sunblock spilled all over our route map. We fought over a cookie. It was a bad day.

When, miracle of miracles, we finally made it back to Christchurch a handful of days later, the lovely Kiwi woman we were staying with looked at me with a knowing glance. “Ah, the nor’west winds strike again,” she said, giving me and my partner a nod that seemed to say she knew we’d been through some stuff on that particular leg of the journey.

Now that we were back and had experienced the rest of our trip wind-free, we could laugh about our ridiculous fight, and we were confused by her response and decided to do some research into these nor’west winds to see what they were all about.

The Wind

The power of the nor’west winds isn’t just a tall tale that Kiwis pass around or regale American bikepackers with. It’s not just the stuff of legend. It’s real.

According to Professor Katie Pickles of the University of Canterbury, the nor’west winds have been linked to elevated rates of domestic violence and even suicide. “Some research has also shown that about 10 percent of people feel elated when the nor’westers blow while most other people feel depressed, irritable and lacking energy,” Pickles writes. “People feel they can’t cope with everyday things. There is irrational anxiety and a sense of foreboding.”

But as I looked back, I remembered that none of the other bikers I passed on the trail (mostly men) looked as grumpy as I was. I wondered, is this wind like Seasonal Affective Disorder, where women are four times as susceptible to it as men? Did it only affect non-Kiwis? Or was I so caught up in my own grumpiness that I couldn’t recognize it in others?

As if I needed more evidence that the nor’west wind was a powerful force of nature, its Maori name translates to “the wind that devours humankind.” That was all the proof I needed. This wind was a monster.

The Spiritual Component

I spent a lot of time thinking about this particular leg of my bikepacking journey, my behavior, and how it related to what was going on around me. The experience showed me, once again, that often times travel is the best spiritual teacher.

To think we exist separately from nature is absurd. No matter how many walls we build between ourselves and our natural environment, we affect it and it affects us. The interconnectedness between everything in our world is impossible to ignore.

On one hand, a strong wind has the power to turn a good mood into a sour one. But on the other, a dark and starry night sky has the power to calm a wandering mind. We have to take the good with the bad and appreciate each for what it brings to our own mindfulness and self-searching.

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