Hello all, well not knowing exactly when i last wrote anything, lets just say that beverly and i have been having a ball now that we have moved from the rainy north island to beautiful Golden Bay on the north end of the south island. Beverly and i have spend a week right on the bay spending time with a family who bought 100 acres off of the Tui hippie commune five years ago. They have built what has been recognised as the most sustainable house in all of NZ. They also have the original hippie house which is a wierd house that is built on levels with no 90 degree corners, lets just say that i did my share of walking into walls and missing steps on the bizarre staircase.
We were asked if we could come back and spend the whole month of Feburary with them, which is the best time of the year-cant wait!
Next we came to the sunny Motueka Valley staying with a very nice family. Hear Beverly has learned how to butcher a goose. After deciding that we did not want to spend 60 dollars on a 12lb turkey an option to kill and butcher one of the pet geese was given, Beverly jumping at the thought of learning something "new." So after it was killed beverly helped with the plucking and gutting while i hid in the kitchen washing dishes. Beverly is glad that she learned how to do it, now she can do it in the future after the apocolypse.
Well hope all is good, have a happy turkey day-we'll be eating goose!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Mt. Doom
So, I realize that is has been almost a month since our last post. We are still in Erua and are having to pay for internet. Right now I am at the library in a nearby town. Jesse and I are in town getting the remaining fixings for the lasagna that i am making for us all tonight. Pretty much the entire time that I haven't written we have been under heavy cloud cover and it has been raining non-stop. Today is the first time in a while that we've seen the sun. Tomorrow is also supposed to be nice. We are planning on hiking the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow, which is a 17 Kilomoter hike up a mountain and through a valley. It is supposed to take about 8 hours. We will see!! There is another American couple help X-ing at the lodge and also a Japanese male. Compared to our first lodge experience I would have to say that I would like to leave. Jesse wants to stick around until we find a job. Due to the unseasonably cold weather and heavy rainfall finding a job in an orchard or vineyard may be troublesome.
Well, as it has been many times before, my time online is now up. Hope that you all are well and I will write again (sooner than last time=:) )
Well, as it has been many times before, my time online is now up. Hope that you all are well and I will write again (sooner than last time=:) )
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Leaving =:(
This morning we are leaving Ngaruawahia. That means that we are leaving Chance, Dallas and Martin. Very cute and well behaved kids for being 3, 4 & 5. Actually they are probably better behaved than most kids twice their size. I am going to post a video of Martin and Chance singing a New Zealand song on my facebook. It is soooo....cute. Tear jerker this morning, Dallas asked me if we could bake tonight and I had to tell her that we were leaving. I think that she was okay with it, at least more than I was. I did have both her and Martin help me pat the cookies in their hands when I made the peanut butter ones.
Yesterday Jeff, Jesse, Rebecca ( an English woman that just came to the Derecourts) and I went to thermal hotpools in Waingaro. They were nice and warm and it was fun to sit in the rain in a large spa. They didn't smell to badly of sulfur either. Actually you couldn't even notice the smell, which was great. We then went into Hamilton and ate lunch at a noodle house. Today is the third day of rain and it is starting to get on my nerves. It goes back in forth between a downpour and a heavy rain. Good thing I woke up early and got the car ready to go.
We are heading south a few hours to Erua Lodge. We are going to be helping there in exchange for accomodation and food (same thing we've been up to so far). We looked the place up last night and it looks really interesting. The scenery is supposed to change drastically, which is a wonderful thing as we've felt like it all looks the same so far. All the way from Cape Rienga to Ngaruawahia the scenery is the same. The lodge that we are headed to is advertised as the foremost location to learn backcountry skills on the North island. Should be interesting. Of course, for those of you who don't think that is enough, there is something else. A little thing that some nerds like to call Mt. Doom. Just kidding about the nerds thing I liked The Lord of the Rings trilogy enough. But seriously we are heading to Mt. Doom. I just hope it doesn't live up to its name.
On the way the plan is to stop and visit a Kiwi (bird) sanctuary. Although it is the official bird of NZ we have yet to see one. We've been told that unless we see it dead on the side of the road we probably won't see one. Sounds like we better head to the sanctuary.
Arivaderchi (imagine I am saying it like Brad Pitt in the Inglorious Basterds movie).
Yesterday Jeff, Jesse, Rebecca ( an English woman that just came to the Derecourts) and I went to thermal hotpools in Waingaro. They were nice and warm and it was fun to sit in the rain in a large spa. They didn't smell to badly of sulfur either. Actually you couldn't even notice the smell, which was great. We then went into Hamilton and ate lunch at a noodle house. Today is the third day of rain and it is starting to get on my nerves. It goes back in forth between a downpour and a heavy rain. Good thing I woke up early and got the car ready to go.
We are heading south a few hours to Erua Lodge. We are going to be helping there in exchange for accomodation and food (same thing we've been up to so far). We looked the place up last night and it looks really interesting. The scenery is supposed to change drastically, which is a wonderful thing as we've felt like it all looks the same so far. All the way from Cape Rienga to Ngaruawahia the scenery is the same. The lodge that we are headed to is advertised as the foremost location to learn backcountry skills on the North island. Should be interesting. Of course, for those of you who don't think that is enough, there is something else. A little thing that some nerds like to call Mt. Doom. Just kidding about the nerds thing I liked The Lord of the Rings trilogy enough. But seriously we are heading to Mt. Doom. I just hope it doesn't live up to its name.
On the way the plan is to stop and visit a Kiwi (bird) sanctuary. Although it is the official bird of NZ we have yet to see one. We've been told that unless we see it dead on the side of the road we probably won't see one. Sounds like we better head to the sanctuary.
Arivaderchi (imagine I am saying it like Brad Pitt in the Inglorious Basterds movie).
Sunday, September 20, 2009
In Ngaruawahia Now
Well, we are currently in Ngaruawahia. I learned an acronym trick that helps me to remember how to spell it, otherwise I would have to look each time. It is: Nine Guys Are Resting Under A Wharf And Here I Am. Not the most cleaver but it works. It is pronounced Near-Ah-Wa-He-A. We arrived here on Friday afternoon. They are a couple in their fifties who have adopted 3 young kids after raising 4 of their biological children. They are aged 3, 4 and 5. I could do the work that they are asking us to do all day, not that they ask us to work more than a few hours a day. The thing that really tires me out is: "read me a story, jump on the trampoline with me, build me a fire engine house out of lego's, etc...." They are really well mannered kids but just so high strung. Of course they are as they are 3, 4 and 5!
I planted some strawberries, did some vacuuming and hemmed a curtain yesterday. Jesse and Jeff dug out a garden so that it can be planted soon. Don and Davina are a really nice couple who are laid back and very down to earth. Like me she has a ton of projects that she has started and will finish some other time. They have 3 cats: Pepper, Safron and Cinnamon and two dogs:Reisha and Zola. Jesse is really taken with Zola. She is a four year old Italian sheep protector of the breed Maremma. She doesn't smell like a dog and if she gets dirty (she is white) her hair falls off. She has a very nice temperment=:) They also have chickens (plenty of eggs to eat!) and roosters that cocka-doodle-do at all hours of the night. They had them at our last place, Solscape, but it is better here as we are in a cement basement as opposed to a thin tent.
We will be here in Ngaruawahia until Friday morning. At that point we are heading south to a lodge (Erau?) where we will be setting up for a concert/rave. I think that we will be staying there for at least a week and a half or two weeks. Jesse and I are going to start trying to find jobs soon after that. Wish us luck!!
I planted some strawberries, did some vacuuming and hemmed a curtain yesterday. Jesse and Jeff dug out a garden so that it can be planted soon. Don and Davina are a really nice couple who are laid back and very down to earth. Like me she has a ton of projects that she has started and will finish some other time. They have 3 cats: Pepper, Safron and Cinnamon and two dogs:Reisha and Zola. Jesse is really taken with Zola. She is a four year old Italian sheep protector of the breed Maremma. She doesn't smell like a dog and if she gets dirty (she is white) her hair falls off. She has a very nice temperment=:) They also have chickens (plenty of eggs to eat!) and roosters that cocka-doodle-do at all hours of the night. They had them at our last place, Solscape, but it is better here as we are in a cement basement as opposed to a thin tent.
We will be here in Ngaruawahia until Friday morning. At that point we are heading south to a lodge (Erau?) where we will be setting up for a concert/rave. I think that we will be staying there for at least a week and a half or two weeks. Jesse and I are going to start trying to find jobs soon after that. Wish us luck!!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Chillin' In Raglan
Well, I am at the library in Raglan. I decided to walk to town and it took about an hour twenty. Nice walk that took me through a jungle and then a desert. We've decided to spend another 2 nights at Solscape and that means that we don't have to pack up our tents and carry on to another location today. The place we are staying at is very eco friendly and they have taken old train cars and converted them into sleeping quarters. We've decided to camp because it is cheaper and we have all the equipment that we need. It is a beautiful day today and the ocean is very soothing. I am getting a little nervous about where we are going after our next helpx experience but I am sure something will turn up. Jesse and I had the conversation yesterday about how we came to NZ to be nomads and so we shouldn't really stress about it because this is exactly what we wanted!! AND IT IS!! I am so relaxed and he has been reading a lot. You would think that spending every single minute together would not be a good thing for a newlywed couple, but it seems to be the oposite for us. We are doing great=;) Gonna go and check out a cool jewelry shop. My time on the computer is done but I will post more when we get a chance at our next helpx site. -Beverly
Monday, September 14, 2009
On the Move
Jesse and I are currently in Raglan with Jeff. We left Warkworth on Monday morning at 6am and have been on the move ever since. We met up with Alicia and her mom yesterday (Jeff met them online) in Hamilton and they took us on a nice tour of the city. We saw some awesome ornamental gardens that were really cool. After that we came to Raglan and camped near the beach. The sand is black and we went polar bear swimming this morning. Well two of us did, Jesse didn't want to. It was more like polar bear plunging. A quick in and then jumped out. We are staying at a place caled Solscape tonight in raglan and then will have to find accomodation for two more nights as we are expected on Friday to our next helper place.
Just ate a burger at an organic burger place. It was alright: again with the beets on a burger?! Gotta go! Beverly
Just ate a burger at an organic burger place. It was alright: again with the beets on a burger?! Gotta go! Beverly
Friday, September 11, 2009
Made the Best of It
Well, Jesse and I are back in Warkworth. We left on Tuesday to go up to Liz & Geoff's vacation home (bach) in Rawene. Rawene is a small town on the north west coast that was actually the 3rd European establishment. We stopped and picked up the keys and made a copy because our plan was to drive back a different way. A cut key cost 8 dollars here. We had to make 2 of them. We arrived in Rawene in the late afternoon and had a bit of trouble finding the house. When we got there and made our way down to the bach it was suddenly apparent that we would not be staying there as it literally smelled like poo. Long story short, a pipe had somehow ruptured and the place has actually been put on a condemed list (that happened yesterday). We left and found an I site (information) and got some info on a mobile park.
We ended up staying at the Rawene motor park in a cabin that night. Jesse and I played caps and had a nice time drinking a bit of wine and watching the beautiful sun set over the bay and the mountains. There were an older couple there that were kiwi's traveling around for a few weeks and they were really nice.
We went to the Four Square (grocery store) and on the way we passed a group of teenager toughs and they yelled at us and called us 'White People'. We didn't feel really comfortable being in town after that. I mean, for the first time in our lives we were on the receiving end of the slur. Weird.
All in all though we had a fun time in our cabin and we got up early and got the hell out of Rawene! Took the ferry across and discovered that Jesse is a bit closterphobic and was worried about the ferry going down and us being trapped in the car unable to get out. We arrived on the other side 20 minutes later unscathed. There was a huge ferry in Tonga that sank and nearly everyone on board died. That was a few weeks ago and I think he may have been thinking about that.
Made our way up to 90 mile beach and actually drove the car onto the beach and sat there for a while. I snapped a photo and was ready to get the heck of the beach. Didn't feel natural to be able to drive a car on the sand. The sand was as stiff as concrete. People actually drive their vehicles all the way up the beach. I prefer the road!!
We made it to Cape Reinga, which is the northermost part of NZ that you can drive to. As we didn't bring any of our camping gear with us we couldn't really do any tenting or anything. Lesson learned, next time we leave for any reason we bring all of our tenting gear with. The Cape is cool. You can actually see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meeting. They come together and there are really cool waves and the color is a spectacular bluish green that really is choice. There is a lighthouse there and I was expecting it to be huge and of course it wasn't. Jesse, the voice of reality, said that it was smaller than the ones in New England because it was much newer and the technology had gotten better. Makes sense. I am proud to have such a smart ass for a husband! No, but seriously...sometimes he reminds me of a Skip junior!!
We saw some awesome sand dunes that we had to run around on near the cape as well. We played in the sand and then ate our lunch. As we were sitting there eating our lunch a huge tour bus came flying down the road and drove straight onto the water and crossed it and continued driving down the beach. There were quite a few of tour buses at the cape but besides that we haven't really noticed tourism too much yet. I think that is because it is still only Spring.
We spent the second night in Paihia. It is a tourist town on the bay in The Bay of Islands. Slept at a hostel and treated ourselves to pizza. The next morning we went out and tried to kayak in the ocean. It was a really cloudy day and the waves were really big. The kayaks were more like a lake kayak than an ocean one. They were short and stubby and they had holes in the seats and so you were destined to get wet no matter what. We were out for maybe15 minutes and then we gave up soaking wet and cold. We will try again with proper equipment=:)
After the kayaking adventure we drove back to Kerikeri and met up with the couple that had been working at the lodge when we first arrived. They were working at another hotel and it was a really swanky place. It was very nice to go somewhere and know someone. They (Rob and Dallas) are really nice people and it was a fun visit.
Today we went to the bank and opened our first joint checking account as a married couple. That was exciting!! We have exactly 0.00 dollars in it. Not so exciting any more is it? Is it?? Just kidding, it's still exciting.
All is well here. We will update prior to leaving Warkworth, which is happening on Monday morning. We are going to pick up our friend Jeff from the airport. Excited to see him!
Beverly
We ended up staying at the Rawene motor park in a cabin that night. Jesse and I played caps and had a nice time drinking a bit of wine and watching the beautiful sun set over the bay and the mountains. There were an older couple there that were kiwi's traveling around for a few weeks and they were really nice.
We went to the Four Square (grocery store) and on the way we passed a group of teenager toughs and they yelled at us and called us 'White People'. We didn't feel really comfortable being in town after that. I mean, for the first time in our lives we were on the receiving end of the slur. Weird.
All in all though we had a fun time in our cabin and we got up early and got the hell out of Rawene! Took the ferry across and discovered that Jesse is a bit closterphobic and was worried about the ferry going down and us being trapped in the car unable to get out. We arrived on the other side 20 minutes later unscathed. There was a huge ferry in Tonga that sank and nearly everyone on board died. That was a few weeks ago and I think he may have been thinking about that.
Made our way up to 90 mile beach and actually drove the car onto the beach and sat there for a while. I snapped a photo and was ready to get the heck of the beach. Didn't feel natural to be able to drive a car on the sand. The sand was as stiff as concrete. People actually drive their vehicles all the way up the beach. I prefer the road!!
We made it to Cape Reinga, which is the northermost part of NZ that you can drive to. As we didn't bring any of our camping gear with us we couldn't really do any tenting or anything. Lesson learned, next time we leave for any reason we bring all of our tenting gear with. The Cape is cool. You can actually see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meeting. They come together and there are really cool waves and the color is a spectacular bluish green that really is choice. There is a lighthouse there and I was expecting it to be huge and of course it wasn't. Jesse, the voice of reality, said that it was smaller than the ones in New England because it was much newer and the technology had gotten better. Makes sense. I am proud to have such a smart ass for a husband! No, but seriously...sometimes he reminds me of a Skip junior!!
We saw some awesome sand dunes that we had to run around on near the cape as well. We played in the sand and then ate our lunch. As we were sitting there eating our lunch a huge tour bus came flying down the road and drove straight onto the water and crossed it and continued driving down the beach. There were quite a few of tour buses at the cape but besides that we haven't really noticed tourism too much yet. I think that is because it is still only Spring.
We spent the second night in Paihia. It is a tourist town on the bay in The Bay of Islands. Slept at a hostel and treated ourselves to pizza. The next morning we went out and tried to kayak in the ocean. It was a really cloudy day and the waves were really big. The kayaks were more like a lake kayak than an ocean one. They were short and stubby and they had holes in the seats and so you were destined to get wet no matter what. We were out for maybe15 minutes and then we gave up soaking wet and cold. We will try again with proper equipment=:)
After the kayaking adventure we drove back to Kerikeri and met up with the couple that had been working at the lodge when we first arrived. They were working at another hotel and it was a really swanky place. It was very nice to go somewhere and know someone. They (Rob and Dallas) are really nice people and it was a fun visit.
Today we went to the bank and opened our first joint checking account as a married couple. That was exciting!! We have exactly 0.00 dollars in it. Not so exciting any more is it? Is it?? Just kidding, it's still exciting.
All is well here. We will update prior to leaving Warkworth, which is happening on Monday morning. We are going to pick up our friend Jeff from the airport. Excited to see him!
Beverly
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