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Published: June 19th 2006
Following a few more days of drunkeness and cultures in Wellington (my favourite NZ city so far) - where I meet up with a few guys from the orchard, and even the owners - I finally made it across the Cook Strait to the South Island. The crossing is well known as being highly dangerous, but also beautiful as you enter into the Marlborough Sounds. This means 'fijords' for those of you as uniformed as I. Alas on the day I ventured across its was very safe, calm, and hoggy as hell! You could literally see nothing and we were amused instead by the captain calling us on deck to see the dolphins, and realising that the island is not really south but in fact west of the north!
Getting the ferry across did fell like starting anew, like the South Island is a different country, with baggage checking and all that. The South Island (or Mainland as they say) is quite different, firstly because there's nobody here, i'm finally in that place 40 years behind the UK everyone promised me! NZ has a population of just over 4 million, with only 1 million in the South. The terminal is in a place called Picton, a few thousand people and the odd tat shop, a fitting contrast to Wellington, which has over 200,000 people and a CBD similar size to Ncl. Luckily i'd arranged a pick up and so got out of Picton's one street asap.
My first week on the South was spent with Julie and her family (daughter Lisa running a homestay, sons Hamish and Robert with a building firm and bees) along the Sounds. Besides the persistant fog, the drive to the farm was amazing and the place itself beautiful and professional. After just a few hours I was handed a knife and asked if i'd like to help skin the wild bore that was hanging half gugged in the back garden! Somewhat of a contrast to staying with veges in Wellington, I embraced another random Wwoof experience. The act itself was surprisingly not that bad at all, even considering I was covered in pigs blood and trying to help pull its head off with me hands! A couple of days later I was informed that I was eating said bore in my stew, lovely. Along with the possum jumping along the window that night I realised I was somewhere very special, not that this would be too easy to miss considering the view from the house. My first question was 'Does the view ever get old?', well it certainly didin't while I was staying. It was great to get to stay in an area that most people would pass by quickly and to get view minus the tourists.
Mostly my job was helping out on the building site which was harder than any pervious Wwoof task but very interesting and I was very well feed! One afternoon I even got in some 'uncle'practice, looking after Julie's granddaughter, thats going to come in useful when i get back considering the picture i've just seen of my sister!
From here I hitched to Nelson - 50,000 people, the big city in these parts - a quite pleasant little town with a nice coastline and a great Saturday morning market, that included the iron work stall of my new Wwoof host Red. Along the way to his place near Motueka we stopped off to see eels that were over a foot long and eagar for tourist grub. Red, and his wife Sarah, live on a life style blockwith its own river and small beach. While staying with them I learnt to milk a goat, keep a fire going and maintained my weeding skills. It was good to do some gardening after painting and building, and interesting to see their use of alternative energy.
On recommendation from, well everyone, I then embarked on the Abel Tasman National Park four day tramp (Kiwi for walk!). Its named after the Dutchman who discovered NZ and Australia, quite why Captain Cook gets the credit I don't know - and if you ask the Maori! I stayed over night in the park huts (just like the one my dad took me to in the lakes) giving that camping feel, and meet lots of great people. The path mostly follows the coast along amazing beaches tha would be great in summer. One day I was walking over 7 hours starting with a baeutiful morning moon and snow capped mountains, involving a serious river crossing, and ending with a view back over to Marlborough and Nelson with a purple sunset.
After a well deserved night of rest in Motueka I hitched over to Taraka in Golden Bay, the region to the North of Nelson and isolated by two national pars, a sand spit, and a very, very steep hill. Its been one of my favioute regions and is also hippy central! My frist hitch welcomed my with the words, 'Sorry i'm only driving with one hand but I had to beat someone up yesterday!...." I use the term 'welcomed' loosely. The second guy was a gold prospector who spent his spare time hiding cannabis plants from the government. I was quite amused when this story ended with him pulling over for a smoke, but less so when I saw Taraka hill!
I stayed for nearly three weeks in Taraka at Autumn Farm (www.autumnfarm.com) which is primarily a gay homestay run by two guys called Peter - a situation that I only added confusion to - until I was renamed PJ! There were three other Wwoofer Andrew from the States, Paul from County Cork and his boyfriend Spencer from the UK. The second day we went out to the Rawhiti Caves to see the stalegmites and all that which were very impressive and well wortht the llong walk up. Another day we biked out to the coast abd a few nature reserves, along the way passing the most bizzard memorial in the world, for Abel Tasman, it looks like that thing in '2001 : A Space Odyssey'. Golden Bay itself, a little hippy paradise, was very interesting with lots of co-op businesses and even its own curreny system!
Having realised that it was nearly June I made a quick stop back in Nelson to see my friend from Belgium then ventured down the West Coast to Punakaiki - pop. 40 (people!). This region really is the 'Wild West' with amazing coastlines, that very impressive in winter. I'm wwoofing at a backpackers in the rainforest (with my friend Jo from Hastings) its part of the Paparoa National Park. The local attractions being the Blowholes and Pancake Rocks, other than this Puni is really just this internet cafe and a TIC! The retreat, Te Nikau, is ran by a women called Lisa from Cardiff who is a great boss and even organised a small bday party for my first winter birthday yesterday. Its generally about 10 degrees or under here, but if you live in a garage thats quite cold, and thunder storms on the West Coast sound like nuclear explosions!!!! The rest of the country is having the coldest winter in 50 years, with massive snowfall, but i'm only going south from here so i'm sure to meet up with some of it soon! I just hope the poor folk of Christchurch have got power back before I get there. Still having a great time dispite the weather and so am not really sure when i'll be back in the UK..............
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Helz
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My big lil bro!!
Darling, Happy Birthday, surely you got my v mature greetings card! Are there gonna be penguins in the south then? Steal one i dare you!!! Glad to hear the randomness continues...bet youve not been anywhere weirder than Da Pool yet! Take care...well...love you loads lil 'un, helxxxxxxxx