Hare Krishna, John Herbison embarks on a year long pilgrimage around New Zealand.
By John Bisset
When John Herbison said goodbye to his wife before setting off on a walk, he didn’t say “I’ll see you later”, it was “I’ll be back in about a year”.
The devout Hare Krishna of 30 years has set out on a pilgrimage to mark the 50th anniversary of the Hare Krishna Society’s arrival in the western world.
He left Christchurch 10 days ago with a stroppy horse named Samson and a restored 100-year-old wagon, intent on travelling the length of New Zealand.
Yasoda Dulal with his horse Samson.
The first leg of his spiritual journey will see him walk from Christchurch to Bluff via Queenstown, and then from Bluff to Cape Reinga. His journey will end in Auckland next July as a finale of the 50-year celebrations.
Also known by his religious name of Yasoda Dulal , Herbison visited Timaru 25 years ago during a three-year expedition around New Zealand, walking with oxen. The trip was co-ordinated with followers throughout 100 countries and has inspired him to celebrate that feat as part of next year’s festivities.
Waitaki Valley born and bred, Herbison has always enjoyed a challenge. He has worked as a mountain guide and was involved with search and rescue at Mt Cook in the 1980s before getting married and joining the Krishna group.
Travelling with just the bare essentials, Herbison believes in living a simple, but ‘high-thinking’ life.
He relies on the generosity of others for food and shelter while on his journey. The vegetarian spent the last two nights camped in a paddock at Fairlie. He cooks on an open fire and uses a camp oven to make bread.
“I sleep wherever I can. Sometimes it might be under a tree, sometimes it may be in a hay barn,” he said. “I also use a roll-out Australian swag made of canvas that keeps the frost off me.”
Samson has a bit of an attitude and has been known to wreck wagons. The trip was nearly thwarted when he pulled the two hardwood shafts from the cart soon after leaving Christchurch.
Herbison’s wander involves meeting Kiwi people in remote places, rekindling the simpler and slower way of life that our pioneers shared.
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