Boothbay Harbor native Brian Papineau recently spent almost six months on a film set in New Zealand.

He was working as a special effects tech for a company in Auckland, but that wasn't the reason he decided to leave the northern hemisphere and head south. “I was planning to move to New Zealand permanently. I wanted an escape plan. I really needed a place to run away to.”

Papineau said the decision to move to New Zealand began after the 2011 earthquake in Japan. The earthquake triggered a tsunami that precipitated a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant. “It was truly devastating to me. I understand what a nuclear power plant needs to maintain a minimum level of safety.”

“I wanted to escape the northern hemisphere,” he said. “The hemispheres don't transfer much mass between each other. The air and water in the northern hemisphere pretty much stay in the northern hemisphere. Knowing this, I understood that the nuclear material that was spewed into the air and Pacific Ocean would stay there.”

Papineau said climate change was another impetus for going. “I was leaving to try to build a refuge from not only the nuclear fallout but the climate disaster. Global warming will manifest in a larger severity in the northern hemisphere because that is where the vast majority of human activity is.

“So I was looking for a refuge in the southern hemisphere that I could grow some roots in,” he said. “The issue of climate change manifested itself in a very real, very emotional outcome.”

Papineau, who graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in electrical engineering, said he has been fascinated with New Zealand since he was young.

He began reaching out to people in New Zealand through Facebook. “I wanted to meet some local people, or Kiwis, of like mind, to get a feel of what it was like to live in New Zealand,” he said. He came in contact with a man, Kevin Hester, who offered a bunk for a couple of weeks upon arrival.

Papineau boarded a plane for New Zealand on Thanksgiving Day in 2014.

He bought a van shortly after he arrived in Auckland, which he said depleted him of a good chunk of his savings.

Hester introduced Papineau to the owners of Film Effects LTD, a special effects company. “I had a technical background and they were looking for technical people.” The company gearing up for a very big production called The Shannara Chronicles, an MTV series., based on a series of books written in the 70s by Terry Brooks. Papineau was offered a job.

But the job wouldn't actually begin for a month. “For a few weeks before Christmas and after New Year’s the whole country goes on vacation,” he said. “Everything except gas stations and supermarkets close down.”

So he did what any young adventurer would do, given an impromptu free month in the country known as the 'Adventure Sport Capital of the World.' “I bought a mountain bike. It would have been stupid not to have gone for some adventures.”

Papineau biked through what he described as beautiful mountainous country to Lake Taupo, known as 'Nature’s Ultimate Playground.'  He spent a couple days in Rotorua, the 'adventure capital of the North Island,' and a destination for mountain bikers, and wrapped up his adventure on New Year’s at the Rhythm and Vines Festival, a three-day international music festival in Gisborne. “I was probably one of three sober people there,” he said.

In early January, Papineau settled into his new job. He said the first couple of days were 17 or 18 hours long, lugging heavy equipment up a 100-foot hill.

“I considered it boot camp for film-making.”

His job entailed live actual special effects, like fire, rain, smoke, fog, snow and wind. “We dealt a lot with fire,” he said. “We had dozens of fire extinguishers. It's a very demanding, labor-intensive and dangerous job. If you don't have the aptitude or the common sense to cut it you get booted. I'm team-oriented and safety oriented. I knew I could cut it.”

Papineau has a history in special effects. “My uncle Scott (Rittall) used to run the Halloween haunted hay ride at the Salt River Farm. As a little kid I was running LPG (liquid petroleum gas) through a life-sized fire-breathing dragon.”

Papineau said some of the sets at the Auckland Film Studio were mind-boggling. “There was a magical tree that was part of the main story. The tree, that held the souls of demons, was dying, and every time a leaf fell, another demon was released back into the real world, and raised hell.”

A man named John Towe, or JT, was Papineau's supervisor. JT's career started with “Zena, Warrior Princess.”

“He was a huge mentor to me,” Papineau said. “I learned more from John in the six months there than I had from any other past manager or employer.”

The show wrapped in May, and Papineau returned to the northern hemisphere. “It was great to come back,” he said.

“I decided to move to the other side of the world because I foresaw a terrible catastrophe coming, and I still do. I moved back because of my resources here — family and friends who I couldn't just leave behind. You don't really know what you're missing until you lose it. Fortunately for me I didn't lose it.”

Papineau is currently working with Ryan Leighton, of Channel 7, producing a series called Era Man. “I hope to continue working in the film industry,” he said. “It's an amazing adventure. It's unlike any real job. It's a calling for me. Once you get a taste, you can't get enough.”

Check out Papineau’s New Zealand Facebook page.

See more photos from Brian Papineau’s New Zealand adventure here.