Blogs from Blenheim, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

So I'm in Blenhiem now, which is basically where I started my trip of the south island. Over the last month I have driven around the entire south island, I have been to the most northern point (Cape farewell) and the most southern point (slope point/Curio bay). I have been to both the glaciers ( Frans Joseph and Fox) and to Milford sound, which was beautiful. It was interesting traveling with two girls how's first language is French ( it would have helped if I had tried a little hard in high school French) and sharing the van's small space for a month. We laughed, we cried and nearly killed each other, but it was fun. I'm sorry that I have not been keeping up with entries, but I've been busy traveling and usually don't have ... read more

I wanted to just do a little update since nothing much has been happening, except for the grape harvest. It seems that I have one more week of work here, and then the grape harvest is officially over. My boss is then going to throw an end of harvest party which includes a hangi (meal cooked in the ground). I'm looking forward to that, but I will miss the nice people Í've met here in Blenheim. My harvest partner Corin is a fellow Canadian, and attended Guelph University for BioChemistry. I haven't had any bouts of homesickness because it seems we talk about the things we experienced when we were young. I tend to burst into song especially when discussing TV shows. Like, The Polka Dot Door, Fables of the Green Forest, The Racoons ect ect ... read more

Well time sure flies when you are driving as much as we have been. Fortunately we have been marking on our claendar what we have done so I can give you all a little briefing. Immediately after our last blog entry we went to the Royal Albatross Colony near Dunedin. We watched the Albatross return to roost for the evening and these birds really are gigantic. If you have seen California Condors you can understand the scale. if not, then just imagine a graceful seagull that is as tall as a five year old!, with a six foot wing-span!! We got some good information from the folks at the Albatross center and we decided to hang out until sunset to watch a group of Little Blue Penguins come ashore for the night. It was nearly pitch ... read more

Well, my crossing of the Cook Straight went well and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. It took 3 hours to cross so I was able to get in a movie on the way over. It was cold, I thought about how much this reminded me at lease of a winter day in Canada. I decided that I wanted to see what working on a vineyard was like. So I stayed at a lovely hostel called the Grapevine and contacted a contractor to get a job picking grapes. I get picked up every morning (unless it's raining) and get driven out with about 50+ people to several different wineries. Once there, you partner up with someone (a nice fellow Canadian for me) and you both work on sections of the vines, cutting the bunches of grapes off. You ... read more

Well hello to ya all out there! Since last we wrote, we have travelled to South Island - up the north coast to Nelson and the Golden Bay, chilled out at Rabbit Island, played with Helena's big kite; which suffered a puncture or two after dragging Helena accross the beach (luckily Mrs Targett was ok and Mr Targett (whoever he is!) was able to repair the kite. Basically the Sun has been out most days, the weather hitting a tasty 20 degrees or so and bringing us both out in a case of smiles and tan lines. We are now at Blenheim (east coast) and plan to head along this for more fun with maybe a bit of surfing (I need the practice!) and lazing around. I will leave Helena to tell you about some of ... read more