Golden Bay and Other Adventures

Before I tell you about the trip to Golden Bay, I should tell you the exciting things I have been up to in Murchison lately. On Thursday, Felix took us out on the Maruia River for our first taste of New Zealand fly-fishing. The wind was howling, it wasn’t exactly warm, and my waders didn’t exactly fit, and I’m not exactly a pro at crossing rivers, but it sure was great to be out there! Needless to say, we didn’t catch any fish – YET – but our casting is improving and we’re getting our river legs. I’m hoping it won’t be long until I can post a picture of my first NZ brown trout.

On Friday night, we went out a bar (one of two) in Murchison with our new friend/ORL guest, a 28 year old Army helicopter pilot stationed in Afghanistan. We went to the Hampden, which is known as the locals bar, because the Commercial, supposedly the tourist bar, was already closed for the evening at 9:30. Picture this: Murchison’s finest senior citizens getting down to some 80s and 90s classics. We have been told that Murchison gets busy in the summertime because it is the whitewater rafting and kayaking capital of NZ – c’mon tourists!

This weekend Becky and I went on our first NZ adventure. We set out for Golden Bay, a region in the northwest of the South Island located on the Tasman Bay. Our first stop was for lunch in a relatively happening little town called Motueka – and we ate at Subway! The prospect of a turkey sandwich was too good to resist. You know how I love a good sandwich, and turkey is virtually nonexistent in NZ. Mary Charles, we wished you were there with us! 

Our next stop was Kaiteriteri Beach – oooweee so pretty. The water here is bluer than blue. Hopped back into our faithful Capsy, and headed up Takaka Hill, which was quite the driving experience. Capsy huffed and puffed going up the hill, but zoomed all the way down. Quite possibly the curviest section of road in the world. I was terrified that Becky was going to puke. Not recommended for people with any sort of motion sickness. We stopped at some cool lookouts on the way up, oh the views!

Kaiteriteri

Finally got to Takaka, which is a laid-back hippie town, saw a lot of dreadlocks and campervans. Went to Pupu Springs, which is actually the clearest stream in the world despite a name that would make you think otherwise. You can see straight to the bottom folks! Drove out to the Mussel Inn, which had been highly recommended to us. This is definitely a must-do, if you’re ever in the area. The Mussel Inn is a restaurant/bar/live music venue and is the place to go, both for locals and tourists. The brew all their own beers and ciders, which Becky and I were happy to sample. We probably spent a good seven hours here. First eating dinner (mussels for Beck, pie for me – New Zealanders love their savory pies), then playing cards and talking with an older couple who sat at our table – someone mistook them for our “Mum and Pops,” and then hanging out around the bonfire with the crew for the Hobbit movie. No big deal. Tried to get cast as a hobbit or elf or orc or anything, but they weren’t having it. Then back to our hostel, Shambhala, which is run by an older hippie Buddhist probably pot-smoking, mushroom-eating man. Had been a while since I had stayed in any hostels…let’s just say they are not trying to impress anyone with their housekeeping skills. But the location was perfect – on the beach!

Pupu Springs

Got up in the morning, took a quick walk down to the beach, drove to the town of Collingwood, not much to see there, and then out to Wharariki Beach!!! Amazing. Oh, I should tell you that “Wh” is actually pronounced “F.” Don’t ask me why. There is a 20-minute walk through some open farmland and some EXTREME COLD WINDS to get out to the beach, but it’s well worth all that. The beach was also quite windy, and the sea was very rough and choppy. I was expecting to see the rock islets with open archways (Google it) that I had seen in friends’ pictures, but was disappointed that the water was too high and rough to see this for myself. And I don't think we walked far enough to one end of the beach. I’ll be back! Then we headed to Farewell Spit, which is the crescent-shaped thing on the northwest top of the South Island. It actually looks like the beak of a Kiwi bird – and thus the surrounding area is called the Eye of the Kiwi. Look at a map and you’ll see.

Wharariki Beach

By this point it was getting late in the day, and it was time to head back – the nauseating drive awaited. But we will be back to Golden Bay as we have yet to explore Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks – there is great tramping (aka hiking) here, and we plan to return when we have a bit more time off to play.

Now we are back home sweet home and on the lookout for some new friends and some cute Kiwi kids to babysit!  Do let me know if you know anyone in the Murchison area.

Kaiteriteri

Hawkes Lookout

Hawkes Lookout

Hostel with a View

Silence of the Lambs

This is a former vegetarian’s tale of working on a sheep farm for a day. I didn’t take any pictures because 1) I didn’t want to feel like the idiot taking pictures while everyone was working, and 2) my fainthearted readers (Mama) might not want to see pictures of this anyway. But it is interesting, and the countryside is beautiful, so I might take some pictures another time.

I went over to Braden and Robyn’s bright and early, hopped on the four wheelers with the sheep dogs loaded in the trailer behind, and headed up a very rough “road” to muster some sheep. Muster means to roundup and push the sheep where you want them to go – the dogs are very good at this, and they are amazingly well trained to Braden and Robyn’s commands and whistles. We also had to walk down and back up some steep hills to make sure none of the sheep had been left behind. Once the sheep were where we wanted them, we brought them into a pen and sorted out the ewes from the lambs.

The order of the day was tailing lambs – there are over 5,000 lambs on the farm, so this is a task that takes weeks to complete. Tailing involves placing a tight elastic ring at the base of the tail, which does hurt the lamb a bit at first, but then it goes numb because the tail loses circulation and dies, and falls off in a few weeks. This is done mainly because sheep tend to get their tails dirty when going potty and they don't wipe properly, which attracts flies, making them prone to a disease called fly strike, which would kill the sheep in a matter of days. If the lamb is a male, an elastic ring is also placed on their boy parts. This is for several reasons: testosterone is bad for the meat, castrated rams are easier to deal with, and to avoid any unwanted sheep pregnancies. The lambs also have their ears clipped – males on the upper left ear, females on the lower right ear – to tell them apart. It's a bit bloody. My job was to pick up the lambs (average 30ish pounds, I think – less than a hay bale thank goodness – by the way they call the 4UR-size hay bales “idiot blocks” over here) and put them on the chute upside down with their legs in the air. The chute has rollers, so after Robyn finished clipping their ears and giving them a vaccine, Braden would pull them down the chute and put the elastic bands on, spray their tail area with a medicine of some sort, and then send them back to their baa-ing mothers. This whole process is quite loud because the ewes and lambs do not like to be separated. Not so silence of the lambs after all.

So that was essentially how I spent the day. Picking up lambs, riding around on four wheelers (called quads over here), entertaining Logan (Braden and Robyn’s adorable 4 year old nephew who is visiting with his parents for a few weeks), and being eaten alive by sandflies. Ah, the life of a farmer. Alas, I don’t think I am cut out to be a sheep farmer. I loved being outside and working with the animals, but I think I am more a crop farmer type person. I have all the respect in the world for Braden and Robyn and all farmers who treat their animals right, but I guess I’m too sentimental for the job. But don't get me wrong, I will be out there again next chance I get. But isn’t lamb the saddest meat? I have been bottle-feeding some pet lambs and sick lambs, and they are sooo cutttee and sweet. 

Owen River Lodge

Warning: long, rambling post follows.

The three hour drive to Murchison/the Owen River Valley was unbelievable. Becky was the driver for this trip and I was the navigator (I can read maps! No more GPS) and photographer. We have made a pact that we are not allowed to sleep while the other is driving, just in case…And actually why would you want to sleep anyway when there is so much to see. The countryside here is just so beautiful and green and sheepy and mountainous and hilly and curvy and rivery and just perfect really. Around every curve in the road, and trust me there are a lot of them, is something more beautiful than the last. I thought a lot about how I love driving on roads I’ve never been on before – anything could lie ahead and it’s so exciting not knowing what’s around the bend. But of course there are some familiar roads that I miss as well – Goose Creek Road, Kingsbury Drive, and St. Philip Street are a few of my favorites. 

We stopped in Murchison for a quick lunch before heading to the lodge. I think Murchison is roughly the same size as Creede (town closest to 4UR Ranch in Colorado, for those of you who don’t know), but Becky thinks it’s bigger. Or was it the other way around? Will let you know when we decide. As we headed out of Murchison for the 20km drive to the lodge, we had that feeling again of what are we doing?!? We were headed for a place more remote than 4UR, in another country, where we knew absolutely nobody, had no idea what our living quarters were like, and to a place with a tiny staff, aka very few ready-made friends, unlike at the ranch where we worked with about 30 people around our age. As we drove down our new gravel road – Owen Valley East – we were laughing to the point of tears thinking of all sorts of crazy/scary scenarios. Drove past a run-down place called Owen River Cottage, started to get very worried that it was actually the place we were looking for, which is Owen River Lodge, realized it was not the same place, thought every barn and shack was our house, stopped the car entirely because we were laughing too hard, drove about 5 km/hr also because of laughter and trying not to look too red-faced and teary when we got there, were greeted by three mean-looking cows and their herder (?) around one curve, and then finally saw the beautiful sign for Owen River Lodge. We have since timed this drive, which took us about 10 minutes the first time, but should only take about 2 minutes. Parked the car in the car park (not parking lot), and headed inside to meet Felix, our boss and the owner/manager of Owen River Lodge, who we had been emailing with for the past several months…

And all of our anxiety melted away! Of course. I don’t know why I even bother with worrying anymore, because it always turns out ok. He is just as friendly, welcoming, generous, and easy-going as could be, with a great sense of humor, as all Kiwis and Australians seem to have. The place is just absolutely stunning. The lodge and the 6 cottages are so elegant but simple and comfortable. The views of the Owen River and surrounding land are spectacular. The people who work here are just the sweetest people in the world. Lovely, lovely people. I want to write a whole post about each of them and have you all meet them and hug them and love them like I do. Please visit the Owen River Lodge website (www.owenriverlodge.co.nz) and come here as soon as possible.

After a quick tour, we followed Felix 6 miles up the road to our new home, the Shearer’s Quarters of a huge sheep farm. This house is by no means luxurious, as it has been lived in off and on for years by men – sheep shearers and fishing guides mostly. But now it belongs to me and Becky. The lovely ORL housekeeper Lily-Anne, Felix’s girlfriend Nikki, and Felix himself have spent hours and hours scrubbing it from top to bottom and making our beds and such. The house has three bedrooms, one of which is unoccupied and still very messy, Becky’s bedroom, and my bedroom. It has two bathrooms, one full bath, and one bathroom with just a sink and a tub. It has a small, cute kitchen, dining area, and living area with a wood-burning fireplace/stove thing, some 70s style velour furniture, and a small TV which gets 2 channels quite poorly and has no DVD player. The house has some cute wallpaper, some hideous wallpaper, and some half-painted over wallpaper. It also comes equipped with some interesting red velvet curtains and very dated bedspreads, although the sheets and towels are nice ORL guest linens that they have given to us. We are in the process of putting our touches on the house and making it a bit girlier. We get great cell reception, but don’t really have anyone to text or call locally yet, but no internet (we use wireless at the lodge). Now the truly interesting thing about the house is this: there are four doors off the front porch – one to the unused bedroom, one to Becky’s room, one to the bathroom, and one door to the main area with the kitchen, dining area, living area, half bath (with no toilet), and my room. Yes, we have to walk outside to get to the bathroom. Yes, it is a little scary that our bedrooms kind of feel like they are in separate houses. Yes, it is very quiet and dark here at night, and yes, we have slept in the same bed since arriving, because we are so used to living in the same room! Actually, I take back the quiet thing, kind of, because we have thousands of neighbors that baa and bleat and moo through the night. Yes, we are surrounded by sheep and lambs and cows. And YES, I absolutely love this house, love this farm, love our neighbors, and would not want to live anywhere else. We also have some human neighbors, Robin and Braden, who run the farm. And of course they are the nicest, most hard-working people, and I can’t wait to be put to work! Did I mention they are also giving us a pet lamb? We’re naming her Mary. I have always, my whole life, wanted to live on a farm, and now I do. I feel so lucky to be in this amazing place.

For the past two nights, we have been invited to eat as guests up at the lodge. The food is wonderful and you will be proud/shocked to hear that I have eaten a fish called whitebait (which is served as a fritter – kind of like a crab cake - with egg, so kind of like a little omelet - and there are about 20 fish in each cake because whitebait are very small and their whole tiny little fishy bodies, complete with eyes, are put into the fritter), prawns, and salmon. Can’t say I really loved any of it except the salmon, but I did eat it. Who’s a picky eater now?! Not me.

The maximum guest capacity is 12, but we are currently at 4 – two couples from the US. Most of the guests who come to ORL are American, Australian, English, or South African. One of the couples here right now is from Colorado and – this is for you 4URers – are friends with the Browns and have been guests at the Humphreys Ranch!! Small world. One of our guests is very Southern and says the funniest one-liners constantly. After dinner one night, Felix asked if she wanted anything else, and she said anything else she’d have to rub on the outside because she was so full. Bless her heart. Another guest decided to knit while out on the river and her husband was fishing!

We started work/training yesterday. Our jobs consists of hostessing (serving guests, hanging out talking and drinking with them), housekeeping, outside work – basically a little bit of everything. Things are done on a much smaller scale here than I have been used to at 4UR, simply because there are not as many guests (12 here vs 45 or 50 at 4UR). The kitchen at ORL is like a regular kitchen with a big refrigerator (no dish pit!), and the housekeeping room is like a regular laundry room. People come to ORL essentially for one purpose: fly fishing. Felix is taking us fishing on Thursday. Can’t wait. The guides here are mostly 40+ but I am sure the 4UR guides would get along with them just fine. They are mostly all native Kiwis, who have been fishing in this area their whole lives, and, knowing Felix and the whole culture of Owen River Lodge, they are the best guides in the area. We have already met some characters!

Still so much more to tell….but I’m sitting outside at the lodge and the sandflies are starting to get annoying. Pictures of the house to come later!

Snow on Lewis Pass

Capsy and a Curious Cow

Some Neighbors out for a Walk - a New Zealand Traffic Jam

ORL Garden

Keeley the Lodge Dog

ORL

Dining Room with a View

Christchurch

We spent a lovely three days in Christchurch with Rick and Lynn Vandertie. Rick picked us up at the airport holding a sign with our names and a picture of us! So sweet. Their two guest bedrooms were already occupied by Kieran, a twenty-something teacher who has lived there since the earthquake, and Lynn’s Uncle John and Aunt Barbara who are visiting from the States. But there was still enough room for me and Becky in the garage room! Rick and Lynn take in travelers that they know by word of mouth, and have three almost full guestbooks of everyone who has stayed there so far. This couple is so welcoming, generous, and truly an inspiration. The world could use more people like Rick and Lynn.

During our few days in Ch'ch, we spent a lot of time getting settled and doing various tasks we knew we had to do while we were in town. Also spent some time touring the city, and getting over the jetlag by going to bed at 9ish every night. It was a bit confusing to go from cool weather (or snowy weather in Becky’s case thanks to the record October snowfall in NJ) to spring weather, but also wonderful because it’s spring!!! We have seen all kinds of weather since we have been here actually, but now it’s starting to feel like summer.

Here is a list of what I have been up to so far. I have:

• Opened a bank account – a few simple steps to become the proud owner of a bank account with a balance of NZ$O! 
• Wire transferred funds over to said bank account so that the balance is no longer NZ$0. Have decided I may as well replace the $ with ? because I still cannot seem to understand currency conversion and exchange rates…
•  Received an EFTPOS (debit card) – they give you the card right away, so it doesn’t have your name on it – just sign the back and you’re good to go shopping.
• Bought a SIM card for our phone – poor Vodafone guy had to put up with two silly American girls  – “Can you explain that one more time?” ‘So, what’s my phone number?” “Are you sure this is best plan?”
• Applied for an IRD number so we can receive our wages (very important) - again, so easy!
• Learned how to drive on the LEFT/WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. Little scary at first, but not a big deal now. People just learning how to drive on the left side tend to have very clean windshields (or windscreens as they call them here) because the turn signals and wipers are reversed! Signals by your right hand, wipers by your left. But now Capsy (our car on loan from Rick and Lynn, Capsy is short for Capsicum, which is what the Kiwis call red bell peppers) has a dirty windshield, which is a good sign that we know what we are doing. I sat down in what I thought was the drivers seat once, but then remembered that the steering wheel is on the other side…oops. Other interesting driving tidbits: traffic in roundabouts goes clockwise, Kiwis really like curvy roads and I don't think there is a straight, flat road in all of New Zealand, gas is approximately $6 per gallon, but people tend to spend less on gas (or should I say petrol) overall because they don’t drive as often or as far and don’t typically drive big gas-guzzling cars. I find that I am now getting left and right confused sometimes because a left turn here is like a right turn at home…Becky has laughed at me a few times for holding up my left hand in an L to make sure… That’s all on driving for now.
• Stepped on a scale to discover I weighed 50-something pounds!! Oh no, wait…kilograms. Clearly I’m still learning to convert kilograms to pounds, kilometers to miles.
•  Went to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens with Rick, and Lynn’s aunt and uncle. So beautiful and Rick is the best tour guide and somehow knows the name of almost every plant. The park is the third largest central park in a city. Even has a nice public swimming pool in it. The whole thing reminded me a bit of the Secret Garden, of course, and I wished Mary, Colin, and Dickon were there too. 
• Spotted a trout in the Avon River! First fish I saw in NZ. Looked big. He had some friends with him too.
• Tried to go to the Antarctic Center, but then saw that admission was $65. I’d rather just actually go to the Antarctic (looking into this…)
• Walked around downtown Christchurch – or at least the parts that are still accessible. After the February earthquake, a large part of the city has been blocked off because the buildings aren’t safe. Apparently a lot of people have left the city, and tourism has significantly dropped. Will probably take a long time to rebuild. They have set up a “container mall” made of huge, brightly painted shipping containers. I think it is supposed to be temporary, but it actually looks really cool and modern. 
• Attended a make-your-own-pizza party hosted by Rick and Lynn. Got to meet some of their friends, including Amanda and Shannon – Laura and Erin, they miss you!! Hopefully we will get to host some of these people at our house at some point. 
• Went to a beach. There are so few people here. The most beautiful beaches with no other people there. It's amazing. 
• Not been able to figure out how to put pictures exactly where I want them in a post. I really am hopeless at formatting this thing. Also need to work on my photography skills and remember to take pictures of people. 

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Becky the Photographer

Rick! 

Container City

We left Christchurch on Saturday morning, which felt a little bit like leaving home again – have to admit was a little teary saying goodbye to everyone, including the two cute doggies Oliver and Wilma aka Boo-Boo. But hopefully we will be back there for Thanksgiving in just a couple weeks. We (nervously) hopped in the car and headed for Murchison and the Owen River Lodge…

I Have a Blog?!

This is the first sentence of my first post! What a start. I was supposed to post before I left per Laura’s advice, but I can’t build this blog on a lie and I must confess that I am already in New Zealand, deliriously tired but determined to start blogging. I have been assured I will find my blog voice eventually – which may or may not be as deep as my real voice – as I attempt to capture some stories from my New Zealand adventure. Here we go!

So let’s backtrack approximately 24 hours ago to October 31. And no, for the record, passengers and flight attendants do not tend to dress up even when traveling on Halloween. After a few days in LA seeing family and friends and my old house, eating too much (if you’re ever in LA – eat at Mozza), being overwhelmed by a city of 13 million people, and showing Becky the city for the first time, we headed to LAX with far too much luggage for Uncle John’s Ford Focus. $50 later for me, and quite a bit more for Becky, our bags were checked and thankfully out of our hands. And they all made it all the way here! On time! Not damaged! Nothing exploded! After all the talk about the trip to NZ, we were finally sitting at the gate waiting, making our last phone calls. Still didn’t seem real, are we actually doing this?! The 13-hour flight consisted mostly of zzzzs, thanks to a little free wine, and somehow skipping entirely over November 1, thanks to the International Date Line or something else I don’t understand. Anyway, it’s really a shame Air New Zealand doesn’t operate flights around the US. Best airline. The first glimpse of the North Island was unreal. After so many hours of flying over the Pacific, land was a welcome sight especially when it looked like this.

Customs in Auckland was a breeze, people working at airports in NZ are so happy. Seems to be a trend around here. We followed the green-lined road to the domestic terminal, happy to stretch our legs and breathe in some fresh Kiwi air. And then we were off to Christchurch, where I currently sit…I am here to tell you that New Zealand actually does exist (I wasn’t quite sure before I arrived), and I will tell you all about what I have learned and done so far in the next post.

Not sure if it is customary to dedicate a blog, but I feel compelled to do so. I don’t know if I would be here in the land of the long white cloud if it weren’t for a few people…Jesse, Laura, and Erin, thank you for blazing the trail and for the endless advice. After hearing your stories and seeing your pictures, how could we not come here? Most of all, thank you for introducing us to the Vanderties, quite possibly the most generous people in the world, who have already made us feel like we are coming home after traveling half way around the world. To Mama and Daddy, for everything. And finally, to my travel partner, Becky, I couldn’t ask for a better friend to accompany me on these adventures – Vista Verde, 4UR, and now Owen River Lodge! Thanks for always knowing the Friends quote I am referring to, for making me see the positive side of things, and for putting up with my neat-freakishness.