West Coast Continued - Nov 27-29

Again catching up on some old photos:

We stopped in a little craft town of Hokitika and puttered around for half a day. Just as we were about to leave I spotted Sock World and asked Megan if she wanted to stop. Did she ever! She asked why it hadn't been in the tourist guidebook in big bold letters. Turns out the owner is semi famous - at least with sock knitters. She collects vintage sock knitting machines (largest collection in the world) and also sells a replica version. Megan knew all about her so it was fun to chat with her a bit and see how intricate the machines were. Megan also picked up a few skeins of felted marino yarn for some future project.

The west coast is known for its kayaking but much of it is steep creeking and requires helicopter shuttles. The Styx river is one that you can hike into (45 minute hike carrying your boat so still not easy). I didn't have a boat but we decided to scope it out just in case I made it back some time. A little more my size than the last one I scouted.

Lots of short little hikes to waterfalls throughout the area. Dorthy Falls was this one.

In Greymouth, the main attraction is called Pancake Rocks. They've been weathered by wind and water and look a bit like a stack of hotcakes.

Megan snapped this photo showing the sun just peaking through the clouds off in the distance.

And this photo of some goofy tourist.

We took a hike in Tauranga to see another seal colony. The terrain undulated a bit but was easy walking and offered up fantastic views. Along the way there was a light house, shipwreck replica, and an astrolabe (deivce for determining latitude while at sea).

And this time there were actually seals at the seal colony! Most of them were just laying around sleeping but we did get to see a few get in and out of the water. Quite a contrast watching them buck around on land and then seeing them slicing through the water.

Up at the end of the road on the west coast in Karamea, there were some more caves we explored. These had some special formations on the floor that looked like dried up mud but were actually sediments. They also had weta (large crickets) and spiders (6" in diameter). We saw both.

It had been pretty wet lately so we used the wind to help dry out our tent at one of the stops. Reminded me of playing with the parachute like we used to in elementary school gym class. Traveling around as we have been, you start to get an appreciation for the finer things in life ... dry socks, comfortable bed, and clean underwear.

In one of the small towns I popped into a tiny hole in the wall bar. I was greated by a little 8 yr old girl who proudly told me she was running the bar today. I ordered a whitebait patty (local delicacy) and she promptly took me back in the kitchen and started handing me bag after bag of frozen whitebait. Now I've never had whitebait so I didn't know but it seemed like more than we needed to make a patty. Luckily her mom ventured in and got it all straightened out. Whitebait are tiny (5mm long) transparent fish cought with a net or screen. They're the young form of fish that migrate back from the sea up rivers to spawn. There's about a month long season for catching them and they can sell for more than $75/kg. Luckily my patty wasn't that heavy.

Motueka - Nov 30 to Dec 7

After traveling up the west coast, we've been staying in Motueka which is a little town north of Nelson. We're WWOOFing with Maria and Gordon, a wonderful couple who have sheep, chooks (chickens), alpacas, cattle, and a nut orchard. The farm is only a 5 minute drive out of town, sort of a hobby farm that they're working to turn into a business. New Zealanders call these farms "life style farms" but Gordon says thiers is a work style farm since it is so much work. He actually runs an irrigation/equipment hire business and Maria does a lot of the farming.

When we arrived, Maria put us to work right away cracking nuts - macadama and hazel. I got a kick out of putting the nuts into the cracker which made a big "KE-CHUNK", shook the table it was bolted to, and spit out the cracked shell and meat. Sorting the shells from the nuts wasn't as much fun - much more manual. The next day was roasting the nuts at a kitchen in town and bagging them for the farmers market on Friday which we went to too. Different perspective than going as a shopper though.

Besides the nuts, we've also had the chance to do some wool processing. Megan is running the carder here while Maria looks on. It was interesting to start to learn about the different fibers and how to identify the guard hairs which are staighter and need to be removed.

Megan also did quite a bit of spinning and plying and received high compliments on her skills. She's been sort of the star WWOOFer, getting a lot of the processing done that Maria wanted to do but hasn't had time to do. I've been scooping up alpaca poo, spreading it in the garden, and driving the 4 wheeler around the farm. The work has been a little lighter than the last place we WWOOFed so we've almost been asking for things to do to feel like we're doing enough.

Maria has been great, taking us around and showing us things. On our trip out to pick up a new chook house, we stopped at Hallblacks. They sell wool yarn, knitting things, and spinning wheels which is what Megan was the most excited about. She tried a few out but the one she was the most interested in wasn't working quite right. So we left a request for them to keep an eye out for a used castle style spinning wheel which Megan things would be a great souvenir to bring back!

Another stop we made was at Rotocard which is a small scale carding business that is run out of a garage. They take fleeces, wash them, and card them for small orders which the big places wouldn't bother with. The photo below shows the carder running which was quite impressive. Just don't let your tie get sucked in!

The local A&P show (equivalent to a county fair back home) is this Sunday and Maria is actually the president. That is part of the reason she's been a bit distracted and really liked our ability to work on our own. They'll be bringing alpacas to the show along with some vintage engines which Gordon restores (he's got a whole double garage full of them!). Megan agreed to demonstrate spinning and weaving and just got the primer on weaving tonight. I'm looking forward to getting to watch the alpaca shearing - apparently they get put in a sandwich table, tipped on their side, have one half sheared, and then are flipped over for the other. A lot more complicated than the sheep shearing I've seen.

Gordon's garage of vintage engines (more behind me too!)

Monday we're off to hike the Able Tasman Coastal Track (north of Motueka) for a week so hopefully the weather will be beautiful and sunny for us. Our next destination will be Roxburgh which is at the southern end of the south island on Dec 15. We'll be WWOOFing there at Tally Ho Farm (www.tallyhowoolcarding.webs.com/) for at least a week.

West Coast - Part 1

To begin our West Coast trip the week of Nov 23rd we camped by Lake Hawea north of Wanaka. It was gorgeous but windy.

We crossed over Lindis Pass where there was a roaring river, the Haast maybe, that Jason proceeded to scout as if he were going to someday paddle it. It looked a little big for paddling, but he still went through the motions.

The West Coast is notorious for wet weather, and we were welcomed with it. It was rainy and foggy nearly the whole week. Visibility was low, which didn't mix well with steep, winding, cliff-on-one-side roads that never seem to have a shoulder. At least they weren't gravel roads, although we've had our fair share of those. (Meg's favorite being the ones that are already barely wide enough for 1 car and then there's a sign indicating that the road narrows. Fun.) We're learning how to use 2nd and 1st gears in the automatic transmission as well as when it's appropriate to engine brake. New Zealand driving has been a steep (no pun intended) learning curve for two flatlanders like us.
Thanksgiving was a busy day. We camped at Gillespie Beach the night before and then got up for a 3 hour hike to the Gillespie Beach gold dredge remains and Galway beach seal colony. There weren't any seals, just a great view. Of the nature...

and the naturist!

Then after lunch we headed to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.

After the glaciers we pulled in to a campground at Lake Mahinapu and made Thanksgiving dinner. With only one burner we had to plan carefully what order to make everything so it would all be hot at the end. Our great plan included making the gravy and then pouring it into an empty peanut butter tub while we used the pan to make the next thing. We didn't think that boiling gravy would melt plastic! Oops, but we saved enough to cover our potatoes.

Here's our Thanksgiving meal...typical midwestern fair...high in starch. Unfortunately no turkey present, except Jason. hehe.

Kayaking and Rock Art ~ Nov 21-22

Trying to catch back up on photos and notes:

Jason did another paddle with the Christchurch club on the Hurunui River (Jollie Brook & Maori Gully). We camped the night before at the put in and got devoured by sand flies but it was free!

There was quite a group on this paddle again (few beginners who'd just completed the intro class). More water too so the features in the gully were bigger/pushier and there was a wave or two with fantastic surfing. I'd borrowed a new boat for this trip from George but I've still got the green dry top and orange helmet (center of picture). Everyone seems to give me a hard time because the bill is in the back.

After the paddle we camped in Waikari at the town campground. It was empty though so we had it to ourselves. There was a short hike to some Maori rock art which was fun to do. The hike was through several paddocks (pastures) and quite windy at the top of the hill. Megan almost lost her hat.

After the hike we checked out a 2nd hand store in the same town and bartered some books we were done reading for some more cassette tapes. Jimi Hendrix, U2, and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince have now been added to our collection!

We've had several people ask if we were Canadian. At first we thought it was our MN accents (Jason's is pretty thick) but then we were told Canadians have soft skin about being called Americans. So some Kiwis play it safe and guess Canadian first.

North

Sorry for the long break, but we haven't had access to internet to update the blog. And now our online time is limited, so we'll have to upload pictures later when we get a chance.

We are currently in Motueka, on the north end of the South Island. We've spent the last week driving over the Southern Alps from Christchurch to Wanaka, and then up the West Coast to Haast, Hokitika, Greymouth, and Karamea before heading east to Motueka. The West Coast is typically more rainy than the East Coast, which has made camping more difficult and not so fun. Also, the sandflies haven't helped. But we're still doing some wonderful hikes everyday. We saw seals, and tried to see penguins, but they didn't show up on the beach while we were there.

For the next two weeks we plan to work on an alpaca farm for one week and hike the Abel Tasman National Park coastal track. And then on to Murchison for another kayaking trip before heading south again.

J has had a cold for the last week and M had a migraine one morning that cleared by the afternoon. Other than that, we're doing great, if a little soggy.

Hello, Baby!

Firstly, Welcome to the world, niece Ellinor. We can't wait to meet you! It's hard being away from family at times like this. Sigh...feeling just a little homesick.

Jason went kayaking in the ocean near Christchurch with a new kayaking friend, Adam. They were catching waves and surfing in to shore. They had a blast.

(Adam and Jason trying to scooch out to sea. Pretty funny watching them inch along like crabs.)

(Jason's in the middle. Adam is off to the left.)

We travelled back out to Diamond Harbour to stay one night with our new bowling friends, Morris and Christine. They have a rental cottage that we stayed in that was wonderful. We bowled the next day with some other bowling club members and had a great time.

We left Christchurch for a few days to visit friends of friends, Colin and Hilary, on their farm near Rakaia Gorge. They have 1400 deer, 9000 sheep, and I don't know how many cattle. It's a big place. We helped Hilary clean up the shearers' quarters (a 19 bed complex where the shearers sleep and eat when they are here that also gets rented out to various clubs or family reunion groups when not being used by shearers). It was a lot of work for just one person, so we volunteered to assist. There is another guest at the farm while we are here, an Englishman who comes to NZ every year to go fly fishing. It's been fun getting to know some new people and seeing a beautiful new place.

Rakaia Gorge is near Ashburton, the home of the Ashford spinning wheel factory. We popped in this afternoon to check out the wheels and tried unsuccessfully to get a tour of the factory. But I (Meg) did get a chance to test drive some of the wheels. No "souvenirs" were purchased at the Ashford store, but there's still plenty of time to find a spinning wheel to cart home.

Chasing a rainbow

Driving back to Christchurch after paddling this weekend we saw a vibrant rainbow spread across the sky. The cool thing was that it seemed that the end of it was only a ways up ahead on the road. We joked about finding a pot of gold and a leprechan but as we got closer, the end kept moving so now it was still just ahead and now it ended in the river. It made me think how it would look to be standing in the end of the rainbow bathed in all the colors. It also made me reflect a little about how it can sometimes be way more rewarding to sit back and enjoy the "rainbow" rather than racing ahead to try to find the pot of gold.

Anyway, enough philosophy. Here are a few pictures from the past few days:

A view of Diamond Harbor from the farm in Purau where we

WWOOFed for 4 days. Not a bad sight to look up to as you're weeding.

Surfing in New Brighton (suburb of Christchurch). That's not actually either of us but since we couldn't take our camera while we were surfing Meg snapped a picture of someone else's lesson. Meg did way better than I did and even got to standing up a few times. At the beginning she got pounded by a big wave and I was worried she was done but nope - she toughed it out and even ended up having a good time. I spent most of my time trying to paddle and catch waves and ended up with the nose of the board diving into the water!

This is really us (no stunt doubles for this shot) in

front of the surf shop where we took the lesson.

The stands erupt after Canterbury scores a try at the rugby union finals.

The campground at Pelorus Bridge (NE of Nelson) where this last weekend's trip was. There were 24 paddlers on several of the trips which is quite a big group to keep track of. Several had just finished the beginners course that the club offered but they all did smashing! It was a great opportunity to meet some more paddlers, tune up some skills, and have a good time. I paddled the Pelorus, the Rai, the Buller (Owens to Claybanks Creek), and the Middle Matakitaki (favorite by far). Also got to watch a group do the lower Matakitaki which I wished I would have asked to paddle on but with the new boat and unfamiliar rivers I'm still trying to get a feel for when I should and shouldn't paddle.

Some of the kayakers paddling on the Rai river near Pelorus (NE of Nelson, NZ). The Pelorus river is in the same area but the Matakitaki and Buller are by Murchison (SW of Nelson).

Myself, Stuart, Colin, and Meg (behind the camera) who all carpooled on the trip together. Meg didn't do any paddling but was the shuttle bunny which is always appreciated (saves on driving cars back and forth). Colin graciously let us stay at his house Sunday night after we arrived in Christchurch late so that we didn't have to find a campground. He's training for the "Coast to Coast" which is a big race over 1-2 days in February where participants run, bike, and paddle from Kumara to Sumner (~110 miles). And this isn't Minnesota so there are plenty of altitude changes along the way!

In Diamond Harbour we watched lawn bowling and met the local "mayor" - Morris. Morris explained the game to us and even let us have a bowl afterward. We're hoping to go back this Tuesday to play a full game and take Morris and Christine (shown in photo) up on their offer to let us stay at their place.

We went to a bee club meeting (Sat, Nov 7) where they were taking apart hives to check the bees. Very fun to watch and realize beekeeping is a whole lot more involved than we thought. We're hoping that we can be involved in more of it.

Watching fireworks for Guy Fawkes night on the
beach in Christchurch (Nov 5). It was cold and windy.