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Published: March 15th 2010
You have a farm in New Zealand and you are plagued with an overpopulation of rabbits. You need to exterminate the extra creatures before they destroy your farm, and want the most efficient method of doing so. You would choose:
A. Trapping
B. Poisoning
C. Hiring a helicopter and a sniper to shoot the rabbits from the air
While "A" or "B" may seem like the most logical answers, some Kiwis do indeed pay a mere $500 an hour to hire a chopper, pilot, and sniper to shoot rabbits. Jeremy and I watched this take place last week when we went on our horseback ride in Cardrona. At first we thought they were joking, but no, sure enough...rifle blasts were coming from the low-flying helicopter and little furry critters were rapidly, if not ridiculously, being eliminated. Let me be the first to confess that I see nothing amusing about shooting rabbits...but shooting rabbits from a
helicopter? THAT I find hilarious! (I forgot that in our last blog and figured you guys would get a kick out of it).
Anyway. A couple days ago we had our first early-season snow that dusted the peaks of the Remarkables - spectacular,
though it all melted off by the following day. It's been Jeremy's turn to be homesick this week...yesterday I caught him vegetating in front of a photo of Denali. To cheer ourselves up, we headed aimlessly into town and ran into a whole group of our new friends from the congregation here. The evening passed in a blur of lattes, munchies, and a long tournament at the local pool lounge. It was an unexpected surprise but it lifted our spirits...especially Jeremy, who was in need of the boost.
Today was a much-needed day off, and it dawned sunny and much warmer than it's been the past few days. So we packed a lunch, filled a backpack, and headed an hour up the road to Glenorchy, where we've visited a few times but had not yet done any hiking. On the way, we did a truly Kiwi thing and (gasp!) picked up a hitchhiker. Now, before you all panic, let me assure you that in this country it is 100%!l(MISSING)egal and an
extremely popular way for travelers to get around. In any given town, you will pass at least a dozen people a day hitching a ride to their
next destination, and everyone stops to pick them up. It's a whole different world down here ha!! So as we were driving on the desolate 20-mile stretch of road between Glenorchy and the start of the Routeburn Track, a young Japanese guy flagged us down and asked (in limited English) if we were going to Routeburn. Poor guy had already been walking for three hours from Glenorchy that morning!! So of course we told him to hop in and gave him a ride to the trail head. We did our good deed for the day!
So we arrived at the Routeburn Track, where we'd stopped briefly for our anniversary in January to snap a few photos. Today, though, after bidding farewell to our brave Japanese hitchhiker, we headed out for a nine-mile hike along the trek (which ultimate is a four-day hike for the adventurous types) to Routeburn Flat, an amazing open valley floor surrounded on all sides by spectacular cliffs. It was a perfect day for a hike, and we're glad we went, as autumn is definitely here and the weather is only going to turn colder from here on out!! We had to ford a shallow river
near the end, and I can't even describe the horrific pain we experienced from wading through the frigid knee-deep glacier water. I have decided as of today that hypothermia would be a terrible, terrible way to die.
A couple days ago I had the delight of sampling Bluff oysters, which are only harvested in March down in the tiny coastal town of Bluff (where we went to the famous land's end signpost). To my fellow shellfish lovers...if EVER you see Bluff oysters on a menu, they are worth every single penny...widely regarded as the best oysters in the world. After chowing down on twelve of them, I can honestly say that I am ruined for life...they are the filet mignon of the oyster world. Tonight I also tried venison-and-blue-cheese-ravioli, which I know sounds strange, but it was the best meal I've had in five months. At last, food in this country that impresses!
We also had quite the adventure trying to get season ski passes. All our new friends here are avid skiers/snowboarders and have been trying to talk us pathetic Floridians into getting a season pass for the upcoming winter. We hesitated and debated for over a
month, as we weren't sure if we wanted to spend the money on a sport neither of us have ever tried and have no idea if we'll even like. At last, on Friday afternoon, we decided to just go for it (we'll need something to do for the long winter, after all!) and went online to purchase our passes. Unbelievably, we'd missed the early-bird special (which had been on sale for six weeks) by about 20 minutes...the price had almost doubled!! Terribly dejected, we emailed them to beg for them to make a special consideration, as we had no idea the cut-off would be 5pm on a Friday afternoon. Today, against all odds, we received a phone call stating that they would make a special concession for us, and we could purchase the passes at the early bird rate!! We are now looking forward to the change of season with much enthusiasm...all our new friends have equipment we can borrow and are willing to teach us to snowboard, so we're psyched!!! I'm sure there will be many, many ungraceful and humorous stories to come when the winter sets in...two Floridians spending the ski season in Queenstown. We are certifiably insane.
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anonymous
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Incredible Journey
I think the title says it all. You guys are incredibly courageous and lucky to have made this happen. Great memories, it will be hard to return to the real little materialistic world now. Love, Aunt Judy