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Thursday 5th April to Monday 7th May 2007
Where the bloody hell is she now?! I hear you ask!
Well, the Banks Peninsula is the sticky out bit to the right of Christchurch. Kinda like a New Zealand version of East Anglia! (Except not flat!) The main town in the Banks Peninsula is Akaroa. Now there are two stories here (bear with me as I know I'm not good at telling short stories!)... The first is that Captain Cook thought the area was an island and named it Banks Island after the Botanist Sir Joseph Banks. Later it was realized the area was connected to the mainland, hence the name Banks Peninsula. Story two... The area was 'claimed'/'agreed to be settled by the British' with the Maori's of the area. Not knowing they had 'promised' it to the French. But the French ship took a break in a near by cove and the British ship got there first and claimed it as British. Nevertheless, the French were given a section - Akaroa. So it's all very French there!
Oh one more story!! (you knew I couldn't stop there!!) The whole area was formed by one massive volcano
explosion so the edges are where all the villages are now and the center is a really blue inlet which is the hole left by the center of the volcano - gettit??! hope so!
Anyways... Onuku (meaning rainbow in Maori) is a tiny settlement, containing a Maori Church, Marae (a meeting house), a few houses and a few farms. One of those sheep farms is also Onuku Farm Hostel. My home for a month!
Yup I decided to go there for Easter and stayed a little bit longer! I got introduced to 'wwoofing' (willing workers on organic farms) not that I was necessarily 'willing', yes I was 'working' (cleaning toilets!!) and wasn't actually on an 'organic farm' (it was a sheep farm until they sold all the sheep whilst I was there!). So I guess you could say I was really the hostel cleaner!! he!he! Basically I worked a couple of hours in the morning for my accommodation. My accommodation was my very own wendy house! A little tin shack which had a window as a door! Very quirky! Under my two duvets, blanket, with my thermals and hot water bottle I was as snug as a bug!
Onuku Farm Hostel
Onuku means rainbow.Also had quiet sleeps once all the mice had been killed! Even though the dog would escape and come dig holes near my head and the possums jumping from the trees onto my roof woke me with a start occasionally!
Did a walk to the Nikau Palm Reserve, was introduced to 'pot luck' dinners, randomly decided to buy a pair of crocs, fell asleep in front of the fire in the afternoons, admired the views, laughed when the pigeons pooed on people, and learnt an awful lot of German 'hast du gefurst?' !! Even got myself a blue car - ready to move on and continue the adventures...
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mum
non-member comment
Actually Chloe, I thought your stories were quite short, but then again, you know I'm prone to ramble a bit........!