Ride with Norman Reedus

Imagine a distant, extraordinary land.

Ruled by the impulses of mother nature.

Did you feel the earthquake here?

We thought we were going to meet the maker.

Really?

Where to survive at all means coexisting.

Alongside the extremes of the natural world.

- Power of the wind. - Yeah, baby!

Welcome to the south island of new Zealand...

It's pristine.

A singular escape...

On the other side of the planet.

- Yeah! - All right, hit it!

Here we go!

Yeah, baby.

Wellington...

A vibrant, artistic metropolis.

The southernmost capital city on the planet.

But I'm here because it's also the gateway.

To new zealand's majestic south island.

And after spending some time enamored by the people.

And the sights of the north island,

I'm hitting the ferry, and I'm heading south.

To experience one of the top riding destinations on earth.

So, have you been to new Zealand before?

- No, my first time! - Wow.

- Amazing. - That's Dylan mcdermott.

You might recognize him from "the practice,".

But to me, he's always going to be

"American horror story's" dr. Ben Harmon.

- I want to get a farm here. - Have you done farm life before?

I like to be away. I like to be in the woods.

- I agree. - You know?

I first met Dylan a few years back at a friend's wedding,

And it turns out he rides motorcycles,

So I hit him up to see if he was down.

For an off-the-grid escape.

After exploring wellington,

We'll park the bikes for a 100-kilometer boat ride.

Across cook strait to the south island.

Winding down the coastline to kaikoura,

We'll detour into sheep country.

Before meeting up with some local innovators.

In the city of Christchurch.

It's a three-day, 460-kilometer journey.

Through the south island, one of the most isolated.

Yet sublime corners of the world.

- Let's do it. - Let's grab a coffee.

Sure.

Hi! I'll have a kia or a with a little milk.

- Just an espresso for me. - Hey, I've seen you.

You're just pretty famous on vic deals?

- Have you seen the page? - Seen the what?

- What's flick gills? - So...

Did I say that wrong, too? Gills?

- It sounds like you swallowed the word. - No.

You're going to have to have subtitles for this episode.

Yeah. Totally. Vic deals?

- Yeah, vic deals. - What is that?

Vic deals.

You mean like a goofy meme? Is it that stupid one where I'm crying?

- No, no. - Never cry on camera.

Everywhere, like an ass.

Meh!

Like, "I don't want to wake up today."

"And go to school, mom." meh!

"I lost my driver's license." meh!

You're just like, "damn, I hate the internet!"

I know! Why? Why?

- It's so terrible. I had even a worse one. - You had a worse one?

- Yeah. It was called "crybating." - "crybating."

It was crying and masturbating at the same time.

That's kind of cool, actually. I kind of like that!

- I'm just going to check on your coffee. - Yeah, now you're blushing!

You're blushing.

- What was this for? - "American horror story."

- Which was awesome, by the way. - Thank you.

But Ryan Murphy, just being in his sphere,

His world, you get to do so many crazy things.

It must be fun to come back and play different characters on the same show.

- Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. - On our show,

Like, someone comes out of the makeup trailer,

And they have some big cut, you're like, "damn."

- Yeah. - "How did you get that?"

"Who'd you pay off to get the cool cut," you know?

- Two coffees. - There you go.

- Nice to meet you, by the way. - No worries.

- You guys are dope! - Yeah, you're awesome.

- Ka kite? Is that a new word? - Yeah. It means goodbye.

No. Yeah, that's goodbye.

- Ka kite. - Or say "chur."

- Cheer up! - Like, c-h-u-r.

Ka kite, I'm out. Chur.

How'd you get into motorcycles? When did you first start riding?

In new york, actually, I got this little Honda.

What was it, a rebel?

I think it was even smaller.

- Wow. - But it was bad ass.

It was like a hairdryer.

Here we go.

This is your next show.

- Swinging. - Swing.

I know you do a lot of movies, too,

- But do you like tv better... - Yes.

Or you like movies better?

I mean, it's kind of all the same now, isn't it?

In the '90s, television,

That was a signal that your movie career was failing.

Yeah. If someone got a tv show, you'd go,

- "that's okay. Keep trying." - poor, poor guy.

Did you always want to be an actor or...?

My dad's third wife was eve ensler,

Who wrote "the vagina monologues."

She was the first person.

Who said, "you should be an actor."

You just need that one person to believe in you in life...

- Yeah. - And she was that person.

And now you're a huge success.

The thing about show business is that.

The good news is people know you.

- The bad news is... - They're sick of you.

People know you.

Right. That's true. I hear you.

- A tear-jerker. - It felt good to be on a swing.

Yeah, that was fun.

- All right, you ready, Freddy? - Let's do it!

Look at this weird round building.

Like, what is that? It's like mordor.

This one? I know!

And look to the left. Like...

That's awesome!

Before we leave the north island,

A quick stop to fuel up.

The Maori, the indigenous people of this country,

Have long believed in a synergy between nature and humanity.

So we're off to meet a chef.

Who's bringing back the lost art of living off the land.

I'm excited to meet this lady.

They do, like, a... a foraging thing.

I can't wait!

This is pretty through here.

Yeah, it's nice!

- Hi. I'm Norman. - Monique.

Nice to meet you, Monique. How much stuff do you gather?

Just whatever you can put in your backpack?

Yeah, what we usually do, as a team, is we'll go foraging,

And we'll grab a whole bunch of stuff.

I have a bunch of backpacks and a few extra bags.

After several years at top new york city restaurants,

Monique fiso returned home to her Maori roots.

Her spot, hiakai, or "hungry" in Maori,

Specializes in traditional ingredients.

That you don't find in a local grocery store.

Today, we're just going to collect a few little things,

Cook a few bits and bobs.

- It's so peaceful in here. - Yeah, it really is.

Well, I grew up not far from here.

We used to just come for walks here,

And I never really, like, thought of it.

As, like, a food source.

Right.

But we have a lot of really interesting plants.

That do very fascinating things and have very unique flavors.

That, like, they can only be, um, experienced here,

Which I think is the important thing about.

What we do at the restaurant is just showing kiwis.

That there is a lot to new Zealand cuisine.

- Yeah. - We're gonna go get the supple jack.

- Let's forage. - Let's do it.

- Are we coming down with you? - All right.

You're coming down with me.

- Supple jack. - I've seen applejacks.

Is that the same?

So, on these vines...

- Yeah. - The young shoots are edible.

We're just gonna break it off.

Yeah. I would have never thought to eat that.

If you feel that, it's, like, super-tender.

- Yeah. - And you can eat them raw.

- Go ahead, eat it, Norman. - Do I peel it or just eat it?

Just

you're not going to die.

Yeah, it tastes like exactly like it looks.

Kind of like asparagus. Yeah.

- Kind of like asparagus. - It does. Yeah.

So we'll take that back with us.

What I want is a few pieces of pickle pickle.

- Pickle pickle. - So, if you see, like, a spiral pattern.

I've found us one, though.

- That's not spirally! - It's spirally. It's a little...

- No, it's not! - It's gone the wrong way.

- You can... yeah. - Like this? Okay, I see.

This plant's very delicious.

Yeah, right?

The Maori have always been very protective of the environment.

And particularly where their food comes from.

They are definitely looking after the future generations.

It's all about treating your land with respect.

And looking after it.

- This is the coolest thing ever. - So this is the supple jack vine,