Dec. 28/10 6:38pm
We are now down in Christchurch where more earthquakes rocked the city on Boxing Day and damaged buildings that had made it through so far. Last night we decided to go fishing on our last night at Kd and Max's place. It was a sunny day with few clouds and we drove about 30 minutes north to find the wind just howling. To get to this fishing spot you have to 4x4 in through a now-clearcut forest area and across some train tracks. We might have been able to drive right down onto the beach but we got to a spot that was looking pretty iffy so we parked and walked across the rocky river banks to the ocean. The sand was whipping up and stinging our skin and the wind was not quitting. You could see a rain squall working it's way down from the mountains. Kd, Max and Dustin only got a few casts before losing their lures! The wind was phenomenal so we ended up leaving pretty quickly. I don't think anyone would think fishing in what must have been 80km winds We did see a penguin though, unfortunately he was dead on the beach. It was pretty funny but we made it back to the car before the rains poured down.
At their place they have this outdoor, fire-heated bathtub. So you fill up the concrete-encased tub with water and there's a spot underneath where you can slide an iron tray under which is where you build the fire. It warms up within about an hour so you sit and have a beer and relax and keep the fire roaring. Once it's warm enough you pull out the tray and let the coals burn out. Then under the stars (or under cloud cover) you have a nice hot tub. I was pretty exhausted so we didn't stay in super long but it was nice because we realized that we haven't been in a bath since back in Canada of course. Our flat only had a shower and we hadn't been to any public pools for the hot tubs. Just as we headed in it started to get windy and rainy again. Overnight the winds kept going and in the morning we woke to find it took down a willow tree out near the ponds. So we spent the morning cleaning up the boughs and bringing down the rest of the branches so they didn't fall the other way into the ponds now that the main branch was broken. Using a rope, their SUV and a chainsaw, the 4 of us managed to get most of the branches broken down and cut up and cleared. Then we had a nice lunch and repacked the car before heading south to Christchurch.
We just got into our next WWOOFing stay which is just on the outside of Christchurch, near the airport sort of. We are just the second WWOOFers they have had so far but it's a lovely home. We hit some rain coming down so as long as it goes away we'll get to work tomorrow! Not sure what's on the bill yet but we'll find out soon enough! Then on Thursday we're going to a cricket match - New Zealand vs. Pakistan. It's the shorter version of the game called 20/20. Other than that we have a bit of sightseeing planned and I imagine some shocking visions of what the earthquake has done. On Sunday Pete flies in and then we will head south down the middle of the South Island. He'll be with us until the 10th when we have another WWOOF planned way down south.
We are now down in Christchurch where more earthquakes rocked the city on Boxing Day and damaged buildings that had made it through so far. Last night we decided to go fishing on our last night at Kd and Max's place. It was a sunny day with few clouds and we drove about 30 minutes north to find the wind just howling. To get to this fishing spot you have to 4x4 in through a now-clearcut forest area and across some train tracks. We might have been able to drive right down onto the beach but we got to a spot that was looking pretty iffy so we parked and walked across the rocky river banks to the ocean. The sand was whipping up and stinging our skin and the wind was not quitting. You could see a rain squall working it's way down from the mountains. Kd, Max and Dustin only got a few casts before losing their lures! The wind was phenomenal so we ended up leaving pretty quickly. I don't think anyone would think fishing in what must have been 80km winds We did see a penguin though, unfortunately he was dead on the beach. It was pretty funny but we made it back to the car before the rains poured down.
At their place they have this outdoor, fire-heated bathtub. So you fill up the concrete-encased tub with water and there's a spot underneath where you can slide an iron tray under which is where you build the fire. It warms up within about an hour so you sit and have a beer and relax and keep the fire roaring. Once it's warm enough you pull out the tray and let the coals burn out. Then under the stars (or under cloud cover) you have a nice hot tub. I was pretty exhausted so we didn't stay in super long but it was nice because we realized that we haven't been in a bath since back in Canada of course. Our flat only had a shower and we hadn't been to any public pools for the hot tubs. Just as we headed in it started to get windy and rainy again. Overnight the winds kept going and in the morning we woke to find it took down a willow tree out near the ponds. So we spent the morning cleaning up the boughs and bringing down the rest of the branches so they didn't fall the other way into the ponds now that the main branch was broken. Using a rope, their SUV and a chainsaw, the 4 of us managed to get most of the branches broken down and cut up and cleared. Then we had a nice lunch and repacked the car before heading south to Christchurch.
We just got into our next WWOOFing stay which is just on the outside of Christchurch, near the airport sort of. We are just the second WWOOFers they have had so far but it's a lovely home. We hit some rain coming down so as long as it goes away we'll get to work tomorrow! Not sure what's on the bill yet but we'll find out soon enough! Then on Thursday we're going to a cricket match - New Zealand vs. Pakistan. It's the shorter version of the game called 20/20. Other than that we have a bit of sightseeing planned and I imagine some shocking visions of what the earthquake has done. On Sunday Pete flies in and then we will head south down the middle of the South Island. He'll be with us until the 10th when we have another WWOOF planned way down south.
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