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Published: April 2nd 2009
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On slopes above the Lowburn Valley, north of Cromwell, is an unusual and fascinating home. It is filled with art, and the laughter of its owners, Sally and John. It was a wonderful place to stay.
As we arrived, the angles and shapes in the house design stood out in stark relief in the hot late summer sun. Sally and John are enthusiastic about their art and they have some very wonderful pieces displayed, not the least of which is the house itself. The many corners and many roofs evoked the feel of a jumbled cluster of buildings. As the hillside on which it was nestled was dry and stoney, images of a Mediterranean village came to mind.
The house is in two sections with a path (road) running through it. We were housed in the upper section with our own bedrooms, bath and kitchen. It is here that John and Sally lived while they built the main part of the house.
Sally and John had laid a garden of native plants that they hoped would survive the climate's severities, and these needed the very aggressive and adaptable (and also native) weeds cleared from around them. We weeded
Sunrise on the Ranges
View to the West of Sally and John's place all day on Tuesday, pulling super-stubborn tap-roots out of the dry, extremely rocky soil; hacking at them with grubbers and hoes, piling them up next to a fence to dry out for burning later.
The sun was blistering despite a brisk wind coming off the hills, but Sally was pleased with progress.
On Wednesday morning we woke to see an early snow dusting the mountain ranges surrounding us and the air was chilly and damp. We took a planned day off, and drove to see Queenstown, a very well-known tourist destination, home of what may be the world’s only tidal lake, Lake Wakatipu. No-one has been able to explain why there appear to be “tides” here, though Maori legend says that the lake breathes. Chill southerly winds fanned the waters, waves spraying ice water onto the quayside walk, splashing passersby in a very sea-like fashion.
The steam powered ferry that runs here was built the same year as the Titanic, but has had better luck staying afloat. This day, for some reason, the pilot left the dock and steamed a good way out into the lake backwards, to the amusement of us and a few locals who were
Grace and her Pig
Found when we stopped for a photo op - and yes, its very dead. watching. The ferry was a smudge in the distance before he came about and headed off to his destination ‘sharp end forward’, leaving all those watching to puzzle why he had taken so long to perform this maneuver.
We walked around the town a while, but it was very cold and we weren’t sufficiently covered up to really enjoy the place. On our return to Cromwell we stopped to walk along on of the old bridges, and were then held up by roadworks. We didn't know then, but a show was unfolding on the hills just ahead.
Construction crews were blasting along one of the gorges we needed to pass through (a precaution against rock slides) and were stopping traffic periodically for half an hour at a time. We were able to watch, fascinated, as a helicopter carrying a giant collapsible bucket repeatedly dipped it into the river and carried it over to the rock face, dumping the contents over the blasted rock to prevent dust clouds masking the road. The skill of the pilot left us in awe, as he maneuvered very close to the cliff, and missed it by what seemed from our vantage point to
be only inches.
Finally we were allowed through, and could return to Cromwell.
The next day, Ant and Graci weeded while Paua spent the morning cleaning spider webs - ick!! There were plenty, and she swept them from house and shed with a soft broom. Spiders are very common all over NZ. We saw them on every surface that is left undisturbed for more than a couple of days. There are few poisonous ones here, though, and only one common type will give a bite that will sicken you - Whitetails - but we never saw any of those.
Later, Graci cooked for us all, plus two guests: a Dutch girl who was traveling around New Zealand; and a friend of Sally’s who was visiting to attend the NZ Golf Open. Graci made a delicious chicken curry and we all had a very good time learning about each other and sharing about ourselves over a great dinner.
Friday was another planned day away from work, so while Paua had a deep-tissue massage (hurt so good), Graci got to visit and spend time with the children in Goldfields Primary School in Cromwell, at the invitation of Sharon,
the school principal. There was time for her to present information about America and the life of Vermont school-age children.
The kids were so interested in what other children in America do. There were questions about how they live, what they eat, the kinds of animals they have, and so on. They were fascinated with Vermont also being on the 45th parallel as were they, except in the southern hemisphere!
Art and Music are as important here as other subjects, unlike so many schools in the US who have cut much of that from the school experiences.
Another aspect of the New Zealand school children’s experiences includes peer-mediation from kindergarten onward into the upper grades. The children learn to be effective at their own conflict resolution and help one another resolve problems they may be having with one another. It was really exhilarating to see how this can be practiced by even 5-6 year old children. Maybe it's something to bring home to America from here for our own school-age children.
While waiting in the town for Graci to finish her school experience, Paua and Ant met a young Maori man with his baby, and Paua
struck up a conversation with him, finally asking him about his tattoos, since she wanted one herself to commemorate her trip. He suggested a tattoo artist located in that very mall, so Paua practically flew over to the studio and set up an appointment for the next day. This tattoo artist designed his own tattoos, and he agreed to design a Maori one for her. Paua left feeling both happy and nervous.
That afternoon, Anthony and Paua went on a drive to Wanaka, a very pretty town on a beautiful lake about half an hour north. Paua drove their van for the first time in NZ, and did it well. On the way, Anthony got distracted for a time by Puzzle World, a place that sells all types of puzzles and brain teasers, and has set out tables with examples of their wares for all to try out. It’s easy to get involved and for hours to pass while one wracks one’s brain over this or that game or construction solution.
They also have a well stocked snack bar in the room, and a maze for those who prefer their confusion on a more physical plane. After a
posed picture with Anthony single handedly holding up the tower of time at a precarious angle - actually he used two hands, but why quibble? - they went on to Wanaka.
While Anthony remembers it as a sleepy little hamlet, Wanaka has had a tourist explosion and is enjoying a kind of boom when other places are going through a recession like most of the world right now. The lake is superb although this day it was difficult to photograph against the evening sun (better photo ops came along later). They wandered a bit, and found a lovely Italian restaurant to have dinner. It was delicious and leisurely and they didn’t get finished until after 10pm.
Saturday, they weeded until around noon, then Anthony took Paua for her tattoo appointment. Ok, it did hurt, sometimes like burning, mostly like being sliced, but it wasn’t horrible and it took only an hour and a half. When Anthony and Graci came back for her, Paua was sitting in a café with coffee in hand, and a grin on her face.
She proudly displayed her rather sore, but very colorful, left shoulder. Now she had her most desired NZ souvenir.
Cromwell Town
This looks down on the flooded old bridge - its somewhere under the water, and the old part of Cromwell is all gone. Once this was a wild gorge with rapids, and now its just a lake. And her most permanent.
That evening turned out to be our last with Sally and John. Circumstances in the States had demanded that we cut our NZ visit short and return home. We sat together on the bench seat that Anthony had built, the girls swinging their legs like kids, and ate the best fish and chips we had found thus far in NZ. We looked up at the starry Otago sky and made a wish to return soon.
It was a wonderful stay at Sally and John’s.
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