Blogs from Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

20/4/10 - Flying tomorrow Auckland to Christchurch - have been in Kerikeri for a week to catch up with family, end-of-financial year stuff etc. Here's an update, and will get onto the gap between Easter and now as soon as I can..............going back to...... 24/3/10 - Drove to Albury via Opiha then over the MacKenzie Pass, Hakataramea Pass Road to Cattle Creek, then through Old Kaiwarua Rd to Waimate. Repairs were required for Al and Sue’s Safari after strange noises in the rear wheels. We stayed in a cabin in the camping ground after a sudden deluge of hail. The whole group endulged in a lovely meal at the Waimate Hotel - GREAT value. 25/3/10 - Mt Dasher Station was our next destination, inland from Oamaru, where we would attempt the Dunrobin Rd track. Wayne and ... read more

Sorry its been awhile since I've posted. I've been working for about a month straight. I've had three days off since Easter Weekend. Today was one and the previous one was 17 days ago. We've been working 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week. Over the last 5 days we've each had one day off. I don't think we will see another day off until we are done here. We will finish in a week from today. Then its off to traveling. I've been well, no injuries or colds. I've been learning a lot about wine making, working in the cellar, and grapes. I'm having an awesome time even though I'm working ungodly hours. Actually many wineries here work longer days and have less days off. So I can't complain. So next Friday is my last ... read more

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 ... read more

A cheap shot but who can resist taking the puss out of the keewee accint? It's not so easy, in fact well nigh impossible, to be cynical concerning the South Island's environmental backdrops. For a bloke normally averse to sitting behind the wheel, I've taken quite a shine to slowly cruising amongst New Zealand's majestic alpine scenery. Every bend in the road leads to the requisite oohs and aahs from the front seat. One easy hour out of Christchurch and the full roll call of scenic boxes are being ticked off: . precipitous mountains - tick. . waterfalls that hang like strings of spaghetti from those mountains - tick. . babbling brooks/creeks/rivers - tick. . thick, verdant forests - tick. . deep blue mountain fringed lakes - tick. . craggy glaciers - tick. . Lord of ... read more

Well it has been a while since the last update, but as no one has chased us (all getting bored now??) we thought we would wait till we had lots to tell. Well we left you just after Ian’s parents left us. After saying goodbye in the airport, we headed south to Central Otago on the work trail. We had already confirmed some work in Queenstown, but had trouble finding reasonably priced accommodation, so found another job on arrival in the area, it was working on vineyards mainly in a small town called Cromwell. We also managed to stay on, one of the vineyards, so it was a good money saver. Here we did some bud rubbing - clearing trunks, shoot thinning - picking the best shoots and clearing the rest and we also did some ... read more