From Kelvin and Paula’s I hitched to Motueka to stay a night in the Happy Apple back-packers before finding my way 10 km west up the Mot valley to my next host. Their drive starts at about 30m and ends after a kilometre and another 150m up (1:6 gradient), which I had to walk with my full pack. I chose this host because they are in the middle of building their own eco house, which really interests me as the works would involve construction.
I have just been under 4 weeks with them - Stephan and Natalie with Chloe (7) and Lotus (4/5 she had her birthday whilst I was there). The work was interesting and to my taste although most of the time I was there we were working on the roof in 30+ degrees. Which, satisfyingly, was finished on my last day with them after having stuck myself to every possible part of the plastic lining with litres of viscous contact adhesive.
My work involved layering the whole roof with ply board in preparation for the waterproof lining using 2000 screws - the plastic necessary as they were having a garden roof. And the roof was by no means simple, the house was interesting designed situated on about a 45 degree slope with absolutely stunning views for 50 or so miles down the valley to Motueka and across the Nelson bay to the Marlborough sound.
In amongst the 7 hours a day work were trips to a friends property on the hottest days where we played and lased in a beautiful pool and listened to jazz and ate organic home grown fruit and berries.
Despite this, life with the family was stressful at time, which was not in a health balance of positive and negative. With a relief my time there was terminated due to one of the hosts becoming ill. Fortunately I was able to move tot he host I’m with now the following day.
I had had my eye on this host as the Husband was a blacksmith, and I have always wanted to do some forging. Incidentally they are a really lovely family, who are interesting and musical and arty. The highlights have been learning to milk their goats! Which is great fun, so there is fresh un-pasteurised goats milk every day and gorgeous cheese most of the time. The food is also very good with allot of veggies coming from their garden. As well as this, Red, the blacksmith, is very open and i have now spent a few hours on the forge with him experimenting with making faces and doing a few other jobs, which has been so wonderful! I am also going to make a bushcraft knife which I have been planning for months and now have the opportunity to forge myself.
I may accompany Red and his son Angus to the Nelson market tomorow morning (6:30) depending on weather I can get up!
x
Friday, 13 February 2009
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Nelson, Tahunanui, Kaiteriteri
I had a wonderful 2 weeks with Dorothy and Joe doing a variety of things, and Christmas was good, spending it with their family. I kayaked down the Motueka River for a couple of hours, which was just stunning, it also gave me a feel of some light white water, and I'm hooked.
I also slapped myself awake at 6am to join James (their son) at a market in which he has his rock and fossil stool.
In some of my spare time I studied a few of Raymond Brigs sketches, and made copies, its interesting working out how an artist creates an image and trying to imitate their style, although he has many, so his skills are elusive to me.
I departed from Dorothy and Joe after 2 weeks for Tahunanui, a beachfront area of Nelson where I camped at, apparently the largest holiday park in the South Hemisphere... I had previously been approached by some Christians on the beach and had a really interesting discussion with them about religion, after which they invited me to join them in their free time (there was a large group of them staying at the holiday park on an Evangelical mission). I took them up on this for a couple of days and had a lot of fun in a really happy atmosphere. Sadly there were a number of things over those days that pushed me further away from finding god, through Christianity at least, but that’s another story.
On my last night in Tahuna I decided to live more like a traveler, and I made myself a Ray Mears style bivvy under a huddle to pines skirting the beach, and just before dark I lite a beautiful fire collected from the mounds of driftwood along the beach. Later a waning moon rose from the trees casting a strong shadow, and I swum in the sea without getting cold. It was magic.
The following day I woke up picking twigs and leafs from my hair and hitched an hour up the coast to Kaiteriteri, recommended to me for its beach, and WOW! The sand is Gold, and the water is a lush clean blue. The beach also had a really cool geography, when the tide comes in it fills an inland reservoir, and as it goes out the water rushes out under a bridge, which everyone jumped off to get carried on a lazy river down the beach, where you jump out and run back to the bridge to do it again.
Opposite me on the campsite was gorgeous family that decided to take me in, and I spent a couple of days with them and their 13 and 17 yr old daughters on the beach. On the second evening when it was well dark I was taken by Robyn to see the glow worms up in the woods, where at the beginning of the trail you turn off the torches and grip a guide rope (and other people occasionally) that leads you through the eerie, dark, cool, but sublimely quite woods to specs of heavenly blue light scattered along the stream and path. You are lead to a bench where you can sit and gaze at the stars through the silhouetted canopy and wonder where they finish and the glow worms begin. So you stare at them from millimeters, but they are still as far away as the stars. I think 'if I had been on my own I would have been scared, but the presence of some one else allows this to be one of the moments I am never, ever going to forget'.
I hitched a lift with my family back to Nelson, where I am now with Dorothy and Joes other son and his wife for a couple of night’s before I’m off to my next wwoof host to build an eco village.
x
I also slapped myself awake at 6am to join James (their son) at a market in which he has his rock and fossil stool.
In some of my spare time I studied a few of Raymond Brigs sketches, and made copies, its interesting working out how an artist creates an image and trying to imitate their style, although he has many, so his skills are elusive to me.
I departed from Dorothy and Joe after 2 weeks for Tahunanui, a beachfront area of Nelson where I camped at, apparently the largest holiday park in the South Hemisphere... I had previously been approached by some Christians on the beach and had a really interesting discussion with them about religion, after which they invited me to join them in their free time (there was a large group of them staying at the holiday park on an Evangelical mission). I took them up on this for a couple of days and had a lot of fun in a really happy atmosphere. Sadly there were a number of things over those days that pushed me further away from finding god, through Christianity at least, but that’s another story.
On my last night in Tahuna I decided to live more like a traveler, and I made myself a Ray Mears style bivvy under a huddle to pines skirting the beach, and just before dark I lite a beautiful fire collected from the mounds of driftwood along the beach. Later a waning moon rose from the trees casting a strong shadow, and I swum in the sea without getting cold. It was magic.
The following day I woke up picking twigs and leafs from my hair and hitched an hour up the coast to Kaiteriteri, recommended to me for its beach, and WOW! The sand is Gold, and the water is a lush clean blue. The beach also had a really cool geography, when the tide comes in it fills an inland reservoir, and as it goes out the water rushes out under a bridge, which everyone jumped off to get carried on a lazy river down the beach, where you jump out and run back to the bridge to do it again.
Opposite me on the campsite was gorgeous family that decided to take me in, and I spent a couple of days with them and their 13 and 17 yr old daughters on the beach. On the second evening when it was well dark I was taken by Robyn to see the glow worms up in the woods, where at the beginning of the trail you turn off the torches and grip a guide rope (and other people occasionally) that leads you through the eerie, dark, cool, but sublimely quite woods to specs of heavenly blue light scattered along the stream and path. You are lead to a bench where you can sit and gaze at the stars through the silhouetted canopy and wonder where they finish and the glow worms begin. So you stare at them from millimeters, but they are still as far away as the stars. I think 'if I had been on my own I would have been scared, but the presence of some one else allows this to be one of the moments I am never, ever going to forget'.
I hitched a lift with my family back to Nelson, where I am now with Dorothy and Joes other son and his wife for a couple of night’s before I’m off to my next wwoof host to build an eco village.
x
Monday, 22 December 2008
Queenstown - Nelson
In retrospect, sadly, I am glad not to be with the last WWOOF hosts. They were complex and challenging, and I was becoming exhausted, ending with me really doing my back in, at which point, anyway, I was traded with their friends WWOOFer for a few days. They were easier to be around, and didn't expect any huge amount of physical work. They were very generous to take me for 3 days whilst a lay on the floor recuperating. Fortunately I had some younger company for entertainment too (not that all you old folk are boring, just I need my fix of youth!)
I really wanted to see some of the night life and socials in Queenstown, so I stayed in one of many backpackers for 2 nights, and had a most relaxing time soaking in the (free) hot tub whilst it rained for the 3rd day in a row and I splashing about in my new sandals. The evenings were entertaining, as a group of Americans in my dorm were very funny and game for laughs, despite there being limited resources in town.
The last 2 days have been used to travel the 700km to Nelson where I am now staying with family friends for Christmas. I already have kayaking, fishing, golf, barbeques, cycling and cricket in the itinerary for the next few days!
I hope you have a very merry Christmas, and I will be thinking of you all as I have fresh tuna steak with Mediterranean veg for Christmas Dinner roasted on a barbeque on the beach.
I really wanted to see some of the night life and socials in Queenstown, so I stayed in one of many backpackers for 2 nights, and had a most relaxing time soaking in the (free) hot tub whilst it rained for the 3rd day in a row and I splashing about in my new sandals. The evenings were entertaining, as a group of Americans in my dorm were very funny and game for laughs, despite there being limited resources in town.
The last 2 days have been used to travel the 700km to Nelson where I am now staying with family friends for Christmas. I already have kayaking, fishing, golf, barbeques, cycling and cricket in the itinerary for the next few days!
I hope you have a very merry Christmas, and I will be thinking of you all as I have fresh tuna steak with Mediterranean veg for Christmas Dinner roasted on a barbeque on the beach.
Saturday, 6 December 2008
2rd/ 3rd WWOOF
I have just spent over 3 weeks with my last host, which is a real reflection on how wonderful they were, I had a really amazing time, and I had some great experiences in and out of the garden. They took me in and I really felt like part of the family. They even gave me a beautiful present when I left.
It is funny, I said in my last post I was feeling as though it was time to move on. I got over this over then next couple of days, I think it was just convenience why I stayed but I'm thinking I may get the moving on feeling on the border of when I stop having one kind of relationship with a place/ person and start having a deeper one. I am very glad I stayed on to make a stronger connection with them.
Finally the time did come around for me to make the next step, I caught a lift with Ben on a wet Thursday morning to Queenstown where he was running a couple of composting courses for the local council. I met up with my next hosts in the town after buying a New Zealand SIM card so calls are cheaper (my new number is: +0064 210599778). The hosts live on a large area of land that hides and appears in disjointed places around the hillside, on entry it is plucked from 50 years back with pieces of machinery serenading the drive including utes, upturned cars, an excavator or two and some large scale gold mining equipment. The house front is splayed with rusting tools and you currently have to walk under the excavator arm to get to the front door.
I’m even more in heaven as I have got to remove the tracks of the excavator, and do welding and grinding to re-attach the top rollers. Also its the kind of place where we jump in the back of the pick-up or on the trailer if we are going somewhere on their land.
x
It is funny, I said in my last post I was feeling as though it was time to move on. I got over this over then next couple of days, I think it was just convenience why I stayed but I'm thinking I may get the moving on feeling on the border of when I stop having one kind of relationship with a place/ person and start having a deeper one. I am very glad I stayed on to make a stronger connection with them.
Finally the time did come around for me to make the next step, I caught a lift with Ben on a wet Thursday morning to Queenstown where he was running a couple of composting courses for the local council. I met up with my next hosts in the town after buying a New Zealand SIM card so calls are cheaper (my new number is: +0064 210599778). The hosts live on a large area of land that hides and appears in disjointed places around the hillside, on entry it is plucked from 50 years back with pieces of machinery serenading the drive including utes, upturned cars, an excavator or two and some large scale gold mining equipment. The house front is splayed with rusting tools and you currently have to walk under the excavator arm to get to the front door.
I’m even more in heaven as I have got to remove the tracks of the excavator, and do welding and grinding to re-attach the top rollers. Also its the kind of place where we jump in the back of the pick-up or on the trailer if we are going somewhere on their land.
x
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