Seeds of Thought Grow Well when Watered

oh me oh my, it's been a while.
here's what i'm thinkin: abbreviated version of the past few weeks and then maybe, maybe i'll be mostly caught up! this whole bloggin thing is fantastic but terribly time consuming and requiring of that crazy internet dealy bobber!

so, a recap of ahunui farm (means 'sacred mound'...quite nice eh?)
while melissa and francesca left for a horse riding competition (and someone at TAI please tell Gary that yes, dressage is the main type of riding here...and i hope Tucker is minding his manners ;) I stayed at the farm and took care of the animals and plant life (as previously noted). Lucky for me, Burton was around much of the time as well. And so, I had most excellent company and a tour guide to the area's most fantastic offerrings! And what might these include i'm certain you're asking yourself in this moment...

For starters, we toured (with another couple) the valley's local glow worm caves. The best i can describe them is to say it was like staring at your ceiling at the age of 8 or 9 after randomly sticking glow in the dark stars all over the place...only they were a blue hue (not glow in the dark green). It actually reminded me tons of walking back from campfire the last night of the week at Kitaki and seeing the forest plants painting with ...let's just say magic (b/c magic is way more environmentally friendly that whatever the hell they actually used).

Also, we walked through the river up the limestone chasm and explored little crevices and saw amazing rock formations include stalagtites and mites and Andy Goldsworthy formations (google that one as well ;) During the course of the walk I was also chased by a river eel, which bared its gnarly teeth at me. But I was brave and shreiked like a little pansy girl...and that seemed to frighten it a bit!

Also (yeah again i'm gonna use the word), Burton and I got to discussing some of his books and writing and symbolism in relationships which was quite fun! When i'm back, ask me about some of the 'little tests' he's created, they can be quite telling and interesting.

Ok, cutting myself off, moving on. So the girls arrived back and with smashing success! Frankie won 6th in one division and her entire group did superbly! Good on ya mate! That week was full of good fun and hard work and swimmin in da riva!

And, fantastically, for my birthday, Melissa took me vino tasting at Ata Rangi winery and we very daintily sipped from lovely glasses and played the posh role ;) flippin fantastico! And that evening we made a lovely dinner with the new WOOFers who had arrived, quite memorable. thanks melissa, couldn't have been better (granted i could have won the lottery, but i gotta save something for next year right?)

Anyhow, since the gals were headed north for another horsey competition in taupo and i was headin north toward tongariro national park, I hitched a ride with them! perfecto~
We spent the morning...whole day...speaking with our 'o-so-practiced' italian accents and listening to the radio speak of the 'gloomy' economic situation and how it is "engulfing the world"
That's right yall, engulfing! Run for your lives, the economic black hole consumes all!
Anyhow, it was a great trip north and an amazing WOOFing experience once again. What can I say, I am damn near the luckiest person i know...(touch wood!)

Ok, so that was not a bad synopsis but hang on folks, there's more...but first, some tea ;)

Farm Livin is the Life for Me!

Once in Martinborough, I met "the ladies" of my current family at the Pony Club area, where Francesca (15 y/o) was having a jumping lesson. Before we had even arrived home, knew i had lucked out once again! One of the first good signs was that we stopped for ice cream and by the time we'd been in the car 10 minutes, Melissa and I were already engaged in some kind of real conversation. Love it!

As we drove further from town and closer to the gals' home, the land became more often dotted with pine trees and bush and the valley grew deeper as we followed the river to the spot where i have been for the past week-plus-ish. Later that night, I met Burton (the other piece of this fantastic family puzzle) and we all shared an amazing dinner (brought to us by Head chef Melissa) with friends of the family. interesting how not only engaging with people, but also meeting their friends, and observing their interaction with them can tell you so much! In any case, i was easily convinced by the end of the evening that i had found a stellar group of folks.

Day One began with some slightly unconventional herding techniques as we needed to move some cows and rearrange some sheeps ;) With Melissa in the truck, Francesca on horseback, and me on a bike (yeah go figure) we managed to steer the cows in the right direction...mostly. Next order of business was separating the yews from the more mature sheeps and bring them back to a closer paddock (pasture). Quite impressed i was at Melissa's sheep wrassling ability, i can only aspire to one day do so well :) Lastly Francesca and I attempted to herd a different cow back toward home, however this little bastard of a cow was less accepting of its new locational fate and gave us quite a run (literally) for our money, even nigh attempting suicide at a cliff's edge! Eventually, Olive (the family milk cow and day's savior) was used to lead the young cow homeward.

Day Dos was entirely different. I was sent of with Burton to Wharekauhau, a beautiful spot on the coast where he is establishing the world's first golf cross course (google it yall). Spent the day finishing the goals, talking about creative elements of life, and eating lemons fresh off a tree. delish.

The next day was a scorcher and it was spent (as is customary) feeding hungry creatures and watering things; but also the gals packed up to ship off for a riding competition, so chaos prevailed! Somewhere in there i snuck down to the river for my first swim. The deepest spot is at a bend in the river beneath a tall slab engrained with lines/layers of shells and bone from different geological times, so rad! At one point i suddenly heard a group of voices come over the adjoining hill, a group of trail riders from next door. Doubt they saw me enjoying the cool waters, but if they did then we'll just call it part of their 'scenic' tour... because there's only one good way to swim in a river (back me up here Greg) ...atleast they got their money's worth, eh?

A general description of the farm and its inhabitants (not including the mammals who are bipedal): 4 cows (one Jersey cow for milking named Olive who has become quite fond of being scratched behind the ears and who has endeared herself to me), sheep...of some number greater than 15 raised for eatin' since wool is not terribly profitable unless in humungoid quantities or of the merino type (those are the fancy-pants sheep and they require quite specific climate...picky picky), 16 chooks plus one larger than life rooster (i have grown quite fond of these ridiculous birds whose bodies it seems are far too large for their brains, so funny to watch them run towards me each time i get within shouting distance with the possible expectation of food, but also they just look so ridiculous when they run...simply imagine a human with WAAAAYyyy too long and spindly of legs, kinda a chunky body, and no arms. there you have it), 2 horses, and last but certainly not least Jasper the kitty who is, while slightly wild and crazy, a total rockstar and excellent hang out buddy.

On the elements of life without heartbeats: orchards with many different species of plums, apples, apricots, nectarines, cherries, peaches, olives, lemons, and feijoas (feijoas Amy, feijoas!) The veggie gardens include beans, sugar snap peas (oh delight!), zuchinnis (which are courgettes here), squash, corn, carrots, potatoes, artichokes, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce for africa....yeah.

So just like silly parents say to children with food left on their plate, "finish that, don't you know there are starving children in china!" here when something is in excess, well, they give it to Africa instead.

The sun is bright, the hills are dry, the river is cool but not freeze yer toes off cold, and the people are lovely.

I quite like it here, it's a-nice, very nice ;)

On the road again

Wowsers, how in the name of all things organic has such a long time passed since i've blogged? seriously folks, time does fly when you're...thistle grubbing?

So after leaving kaikoura, land of seals and whales galore, i hitched north to picton (rode with a lovely older couple whose truck i feared at first may fall to pieces, but later was more concerned that neither could see too well and it was raining...oy, also a school teacher with whom i had a fantastically upfront conversation with regarding views of the Maori population, a group of wanna be psuedo hippies in their 20s *it was so classic they were even in a VW bus* and last, but not least an old curmudgeon military driver in his 70s, whom i only managed to win a smile from towards the end of our short car ride)

Picton was a drag, stormy and less friendly than other places...and fittingly i ended up at a backpackers called the The Atlantis (the irony here is that this is also the name of a large casino in reno, the biggest little city on earth that i generally loathe...) From picton, i took a ferry (and by ferry i mean really large enormous boat) to the north island en route to wellington and my next WOOFing farm stay.

Wellington...wellll, it actually reminded me quite a bit of Ptown, set into hillsides with fantastic parks and lovely rail system (AKA MAX). Plus their was a hilarious street performer from Canada juggling fire while skateboarding ...etc...AND what really REALLY made me feel at home...(have i built enough anticipation yet?) was seeing this crazy weirdo riding a bike that was far too creative to be an efficient mode of transport AND he was wearing a cape to boot!

So i went to Te Papa, the country's national museum and had nowhere near enough time to see it all (they kicked me out at 6pm...seeing as how it was closing time...doh!) the next morning i spent walking around Wellington's botanical garden with my life...that is my backpack..strapped on nice and snug. The gardens were incredible! My botanically nerdy nature again took over with full delight! Everything from the endless native bush trails to the greenhouse creations and generally amazing plantings...were grand. My favorite was seeing a Cork Oak, with whose bark old school corks are made, without hurting or killing the tree at all because its cambien layer remains fully intact!... super rad, big dork, fully embracing it.

After spending the morning at the garden, i decided to head out of town. as much as i liked wellington, after a few hours of walking around the city, i decided i'd had enough. The country suits me and i prefer it. Twill be interesting to see how i react once again to streetlights when i get home ;)

So i spoiled myself and bought a train ticket (instead of hitching) north to the little town of Plimmerton just a quick 15 min ride away where i'd heard there was a nice little backpackers. And dear lord does it every pay to follow intuition! The moment i arrived i instantly felt better and more sane than i had in wellington. Plimmerton is on the coast, slightly protected and the backpackers i hiked over to (Moana Lodge) is run by an amazing couple. I had been there all of 10 minutes and was asked if i'd be interested in going out sailing....hmmm, lemme think on it....no wait....little more time....pondering almost complete.....i'd say......fuck yeah :)

So the owner took me and another inhabitant from germany out on his beautiful self made sail boat (it was a decent size, but really couldn't comfortably hold more than the 3 of us plus a small underfed child). Super fun, was quite windy and we got quite wet from the splash and the spray as the boat turned on its edge and we got some good speed; by the end we were tacking quite well and having a blast! That evening was quite lovely and i spent a considerable amount of time with this incredibly intelligent German couple who were also staying at the backpackers. The next morning i woke up early and went for a run in the sun under a brilliant blue sky. Felt amazing....to digress, i decided that on this trip i am not allowed to run more than twice a week and many weeks i haven't run at all...and i must say i feel quite good and am able to run a hell of a lot longer without any ridiculous orthopeadic problems in awesome terrain...ah shit, now what was talking about?

Ohhhh yeah, so i basically dawdled around the backpackers (AKA heavenly hostel) all morning, not wanting to shove off so quickly, but i had promised (ok maybe not promised...or pinky sweared...but agreed) to meet my new WOOFing family in martinborough (land of vino tasting).
So back on my pack went and i bid adieu to the most wonderful hostel i have yet to experience. After 2 trains (with lovely scenery) and a bus, i was in little martinborough, once again in search of my next destination, my new home, and my unsuspecting family ...surmise what you will....mwwWWAA ha haa!

Seals, not quite the navy type

So, here i am in kaikoura! Another amazingly beautiful itty bitty teeny tiny town. Love it. The city of Kaikoura is located on the tip of a tiny pennisula on the eastern edge of the south island. The area is famous for its whales and seal colonies. The water here is much colder than up north and the waves are big...Oregon coast style! My intention was to swim with dolphins, but due to their uber popular nature, i swam with seals instead. Pretty rad.

The group of us donned full wet suits (we were all lookin pretty sweet in full garb on the hottest day the east coast has seen in years, walkin like penguins for lack of movement). We headed down to the seal colony area on the point where there are hundreds of seals just chillin like villains. We snorkelled out a ways! And once again totally botany buff me was enthralled with the enormous different types of kelp that grow along the reefs here! Seriously, prehistoric in size folks!

So the seals finally decided to stop sunning themselves (lazy bastards) and come play! Apparently alth0ugh they are territorial on land/rock because it is their mating ground, they are completely playful in water! i had seals turning circles right in front of me and swimming directly below me, their big round eyes following mine the whole time! Also i spotted a big squid which our guide dove down and brought up for us to hold...so gooey without being slimey, sea creatures are so amazing! while holding it one of its tentacles attached nicely to my snorkel...everybody just needs some air sometimes ;)

Anyhow, that little trip was the highlight of kaikoura for me. The backpackers i've stayed at has been grand, last night met a crew from Whales who were beyond fun and few other folks with whom i shared one of the best Kiwi sunsets ever from the top of a grassy hillside.
but today, i'm headed north (probably she says with intention ;) towards Picton and then to ferry across to Wellington. I'm going to WOOF near the town of Martinborough and hopefully apply a bit of my hippotherapy knowledge (Paul i can see yer face now ;) at a medium size family farm there. Alright, I'm so done spending my money on internet here in Kaikoura. I've had a WHALE of a time though. Bon voyage!

First Week o' 2009...Kiwi style!

So, after new year's i decided to take off towards Christchurch with a probable stop at Mt. Cook to climb to the Mueller Hut for a night. A quick word on Kiwiland's amazing accessibility for backpackers: flippin rad...ok that was two words ;) The whole country is packed with tracks (trails) and most have some type of hut, anything from a simple roof to full kitchens in the most travelled areas. Anyhow i digress.

Back to the scene, woke up to dumping rain...a hitch hiker's dream come true...pause...NOT! (everyone who's seen Borat should be laughing now) but the show must go on! After 'water proofing' my pack ..which consistst of using all my grocery bags to psuedo guard stuff i don't want to get wet... i headed to the streets , my thumb feeling strong in the wet wind!

FINALLY (ok really i only waited 20 minutes) I got a ride out of queenstown with a couple of Aussies and there friend from Germany; next ride was with a younger guy on his way to pick up his daughter in his beat up 4WD something that was just barely hangin on; and next, as i watched a new set of pure downpour roll towards me and my thumb, a big black Chevy truck pulled over for me. Knew i was in luck the moment i got in the truck...it almost felt too familiar, then i realized it was because the passenger's seat was in the 'right' place...on the right. I had stepped into an American Chevy, and go figure, it's driver spends quite a bit of time working and travelling in the states, guess where y'all? Tigard (outskirts of Ptown).

So as we approached Mt Cook, the weather became more an dmore dismal. After a mental debate of approximately 6.7 seconds, I decided to continue on with my new chaufer instead of getting soaked and ending up in my bivvy sack on the side of the road headin up to the mountain where NO ONE in their right (of left) mind would be headin for the next few days by the looks of it.

but the rain has its way of working out the kinks. Ended up travelling all the way to the north end of the south island with my new friend (Kezza) in style...nothin like a Chevy truck for luxurious travel ;) And, the sunshine poured down over Kaiteriteri beach when we arrived!
The next morning I headed out for a 2 day tramp along the Abel Tasman Coast Track. Took an acqua taxi to the north end of the track and then began my walk. Dear lord, can i tell you how amazing this area is? Let me answer for myself, no. The water is crystal clear green blue beyond words, comparable to the Greek Isles I'm told. The walk was a beautiful mix of walking through bush and along beach (the only barefoot backpacking i've done). The bush in this region is dominated by enormous crown ferns that look like palm trees on first glance. Knew i was a plant nerd post haste when i realized i'd taken more photos of the ferns than of the beach ;)

Anyhow, the walk was not too challenging and was punctuated with little swims along the way to cool down. Now let's be honest the water was not warm by any stretch of the imagination, but fantastic for some brisk swimming all the same! So the first night I decided to plop myself in my fantastic camping condom on the end of a private spit...right next to a big sign that said...well something about 'no camping' and blah, blah, blah... and so glad i did because the nearest campsite was all full and so ho-hum! seriously i had the whole spit to myself and sunset and sunrise over the ocean! Anyhow, walked out the next day with a bit of swimming and rock jumping, seriously ridiculously beautiful.

The next day I went kayaking with Kezza along the coast line, it's been great to get to experience the Abel Tasman coast from all different persepctives: up high in the hills, along the coast, and in the water. We kayaked to Split apple rock and then had a swim and a few games of hangman (which is not a popular game here in New Zealand); upon headin back off the beach we managed to flip the kayak, but otherwise our sea travels were completely un-calamitous ;) That night we went to ...the only bar...The Beached Whale, where there was a local caberet singer whose audience integration and performances were uber fun, twas a night of pure karaoke for the whole bar! Nice.

Next day, Kezza was headin back to Queenstown so i caught a ride south with him to Kaikoura, where i now sit typing (oy the finger strain!) The ride down, just like the ride up, was grand! Amazing to see how the land formations and rock types change in this country! Plus the conversation was stellar; Kezza does stone work all around the world and has some excellent stories, historical knowledge, and interesting viewpoints. Cheers mate!

Oh yeah, so the WOOFing i was going to do in the Christchurch area fell through, but i suppose you just can't plan yer fun, eh?

My hat's off to this country and it's hitchin' friendliness. I have met interesting people from all over the country, of different socioeconomic status, younger and older, in old beaters and nice new Chevies...all willing to give a bird from the states a ride ;)

ATTENTION

FYI, added some pictures to my beginning blogs...workin on the rest crew, workin on it.
There's only so much time a girl can spend in an internet cafe! Seriously!

Climbing at Hospital Rock: 3 pitch climb...up this first rock...nice one!

Who wouldn't wanaka be in Wanaka?

Dear friends, many apologies for my ridiculous lack of blogging. Y'all can punish me by some creative and enjoyable means when i'm back in a nearby zipcod :)
So, Christmas was grand for this jew and pushin toward the new year got even better!

Post Xmas, i had many adventures in wanaka! went for a fantastic hike in the pisa conservation area with a friend from the hostel. The hike itself was quite the tramp as there was no trail, only markers now again and thick bush to fight through, most exciting were the stops along the way to examine sheep skeletons (yeah i'm a nerd!) and attempt to bareback ride some grazing horses...the sheep didn't want to be ridden so much.

Next day i hired (that's rented here) a mountain bike and pedaled 25km out of town to a closed ski area and headed up to the top (14 km flippin straight up hill). Twas a long pedal up and mackenzie i was wishin you were there so we could distract each other from the climb by talkin bout poop and farts or something equally ridiculous ;0 gotta say though, pedallin that far up (to the snow baby!) can only mean one thing....a sweet fast ride down! Was an awesome day on 2 wheels and playing on a bike makes me realize how much i flippin love it!

The following day i headed off on a climbing adventure! Me, another climber, and our fantastic guide headed out for Hospital Rock area (no pun intended i'm sure). After a morning of single pitch top rope climbing, we breaked for lunch. After discussion of government, world bank structures, and other relatively evil establishments...we decided we'd better start climbin again :) For our final venture we completed a 3 pitch climb that was up pretty damn high...no exact measurements for yall...but, let's just say if you spit, you might count to atleast 15 or 20 before you lost sight of your projected drool (this is of course a post haste estimate). Twas a sweet day out on the rock and only made better by the company! cheers to Eric (just back from afghanistan) and Rich (our guide originally from the UK)~

Awoke to brilliant sunshine the next day (can i tell you my weather luck has been unbelievable and has guided my trip amazingly!) Headed out for a run around the lake trail (sounds like a rough start already doesn't it:) Ran, literally almost, into barbara (whose husband i'd hitched to wanaka with). i had tea...and wine...and almost dinner...with them, what a wonderful pair;) ok i digress, so back to the sunshine element. Seemed a good day to be on a boat....
So, a friend from the hostel 'acquired' a boat from his friend and the 3 of us headed out of the lake to a slightly hidden beach (which we named Dead Sheep Cove for the ...yeah you guessed it)
Anyhow, some quick swims in the crystal clear water and some chatting with bonnie rait and lucinda williams in the background....not bad ;)

Then we headed back into town to pick up Amy and Andy ISAACSON (these are grand friends of mine from eugene who are/were honeymooning in NZ and were headed through wanaka!)
So how rad is this scene, in a boat with great people in a beautiful area, hangin on the beach...not too shabby! Camped out the next few nights to save some bucks and to avoid the hoards that were flocking to wanaka for the new year. That was nice, very nice (please read using borat voice).

Andy and Amy and I rode acqua bikes the next day, which i wouldn't recommend for efficient travel and the turning radius on those bad boys leaves something to be desired...;) we also went to THE PUZZLING WORLD in wanaka which i full of visual illusions that make you feel like you're in an MCEscher drawing...so flippin cool! Then we braved the maze...whcih i was disasterous at! Amy and Andy managed to find all the towers...yeah, i found 2...but i laughed all the while at each dead end i found....and found again....ummm, and again to be honest :)

Decided to head out of wanaka with A&A the next day back to Queenstown for New Years Eve. Although i think i would have preferred wanaka for the eve, i knew i was getting attached to this town, its surroundings, and amazing people. There's nothing wrong with comfort, but if i had intention to see anything else I knew i had to jet. Once again, in travelling you must forego all attachment and yet approach each encounter fully, hold nothing back and experience every person and moment as the best you will ever meet, right Pi ?

Whewwww, so now we're caught up to new years eve in good old queenstown. A, A, & I had an amazing Thai dinner downtown overlooking the water front and perusing the people as they gathered for the music and celebration of the evening! Following dinner, we joined teh masses (us in our raincoats...score! and many scantilly clad...cuz what else is there but looking cool?) and danced to some nondescript DJ till midnight when the sky cleared and the fireworks were lit! New year in queenstown, and it rather felt like home to be pelted by rain all night and have it snow in the mountains...oh to be within your comfort zone...right ;P

My first day of 2009 was unremarkable really, but also lovely ;) Decided to head towards Christchurch where i was psuedo scheduled to begin my next WOOfing job (farm stay). Mmmmm, we'll leave it at that for now. I will rest my fingers and head back to the hostel i'm staying at...in Kaikoura. I'm headed for the ocean today, to swim with some seals...the dolphins were booked out for the next few weeks! I tell ya, those mammals are too popular for their own good ...or more likely mine! that's ok, i think i can talk seal pretty good too, wonder if they have a kiwi accent here ;)