Jan. 12/11 7:14pm
Lately it's been light out until about 10pm! So we've been going to bed late and getting up early because we hardly notice it's so late at night. Right now we are staying at Stonewood farm. It's way way way south on the south island and they run a few thousand sheep and cattle. We're wwoofing with a family of five with the children being 12, 17 and 20 or so. They have been very happy to have Dustin do a bunch of fixes on doors and around the sheds and I've been helping get the family photos organized and into albums. The house has a stunning view from the kitchen and living room area - it's a few hundred metres from the ocean but it's up on a cliff so you see their paddocks and then the ocean. Just lovely!
When we left Manapouri the other day we drove into Invercargill because the small bays and towns we passed on the way were all but deserted. We tried to stay at Colac Bay because it was gorgeous and Pete comes from a town called Colac in Australia. It was super windy that day and when we tried to knock on the holiday park/pub's door, nobody was around. The only other place in town that was open was a cafe who had consequently turned us down as wwoofers a little while ago because we "didn't seem to fit the place somehow" so we were not giving them any business! We continued to Riverton and stopped to make some sandwiches for lunch at the beach. The wind continued to hound us and just as we finished eating a rain squall came in so it was good timing!
We stopped at the visitor centre in Invercargill which is a city of somewhere around 50,000 people. From there we decided to head to Bluff which is probably the southern-most town in New Zealand. They are famous for their oysters and it's the ferry departure point to get to Stewart Island which is an island to the south that's covered mostly by a National Park. Bluff is now famous for being terrible as well. haha. The town is basically a big industrial area with an aluminium (yep, that's how they spell it here!) smelter across the bay. We figured we'd stay in the hostel there but the doors were locked and there was a for sale sign up - although we had just spoken to the owner an hour previously to check on vacancy. So we went down to the signpost that tells you how many km's to cities around the world and there's the shortest lighthouse any of us have seen. A related side note, back at the visitor centre they had anchors from 3 ships that had wrecked at Bluff in the past! There was a nice looking walk but the wind and rain kept threatening so we didn't go for it. We went back down the main street to try the hostel again with no luck so I phoned and nobody answered. We wandered around a couple other hotels and it was like stepping back into the 70's or something and both were over $100 a night! Our plan to stay there was slowly changing so we decided to try the hostel once more before heading back to Invercargill. This time the door was open but nobody was home so Pete and I peeked inside and the rooms were honestly laughable with old old styling and old old bedspreads. There were no other guests and we tried ringing the bell but didn't get an answer. We were just heading out and the owner walked in so we asked about a room for 3 and he showed us one that reminded me of an office in a gymnasium because it had interior windows and it was off of the laundry area. The bedspreads weren't much better. Luckily we left Dustin with the car running for an easy getaway. And on top of it all we're way out of oyster season which doesn't start for 2-3 months! Darn.
Invercargill seemed to have some of the same story as the first hostel we tried also was locked even though I had called a little while before. We were keen on some shelter because it had been rainy times through Milford and Manapouri and Pete's swag was still wet despite drying out a bit at the Possum Lodge. We just kept laughing at the weirdness of it all - we're here at the peak season of summer for tourism and all these places are closed or make it very difficult to stay there. We finally found a very nice cabin at a holiday park on the south side of the city. Pete treated us to a yummy pub meal and then we rented a movie called "The World's Fastest Indian" which is based on a man from Invercargill who set world records for speed on his motorcycle. Pete is a keen motorcyclist so he was shocked that we hadn't seen it before. There is a hardware store with all sorts of bike and Burt Munro memorabilia that we ended up visiting 3 separate times for Pete. He had to go back to buy extra stickers. I fell asleep before the movie ended but that was ok because I wanted to be well rested for Saturday.
We had seen in the newspaper a story about a town about 40 kms northeast of Invercargill called Browns and that on Saturday Jan 8th they were holding their 113th annual sports day. They are one of the only sports days that were not interrupted by war. So, naturally we wanted to be a part of this history. We drove out for the start at noon - after driving by Burt Munro's old house (Pete took the wheel and he was the tour guide that day.) The sports day consisted of several events. Some of the main ones were woodchopping events, axe throwing (sometimes barefoot), running races and there was a bike race from Invercargill to the Browns domain and then others around the grass track through the day. There was also a baby show, a magician, Browns "ideal woman" contest, sheaf tossing, a hole in one contest, kids' races like three-legged and egg in the spoon race, a guess the sheep's weight contest and something called chainstepping that even when we asked we weren't really sure what it was. Phew. The ad we saw said 12pm till late! We watched lots of the wood chopping events for the first while and it was so random because two BC folks were competing. We didn't end up chatting with them so never found out what city they were from. There was fried food and we tried "hot dogs" which here are a wiener dipped in batter and deep fried - not quite a corn dog as the batter is more like fish and chip batter. And what sports day is complete without a donut! Though we left those for everyone else. Later on they finished the main running races and started having goofy ones including a married woman race where I placed fourth! They came around cajoling people to join in. No prize though as that was for the top three. Then shortly after that all of a sudden the announcer is noting that there is a swarm of bees coming through and for everyone to be calm. I didn't completely obey and backed away from where I was sitting. Dustin was at the car and Pete was down the field so we all had different vantage points of this weird occurrence. It took a few minutes for it to move down the track and it kept going. Most people just waited it out without moving although one guy got into his camper and locked his wife out accidentally. As soon as the swarm cleared the track, they continued with the racing. The boys were trying to get me to enter the ideal woman contest but once it was going I'm glad I didn't. The event was a relay of sorts where the women had to set up a length of electric fence, back up an ATV with a trailer on it, shovel dirt into a wheelbarrow and take it and plant a tree, skin a rabbit, answer some general knowledge questions (they read some out and they were very NZ and farming based so I would have bombed them) and throw some hay bales onto a trailer. Not quite my forte. We ended up leaving before the sheep shearing unfortunately because we were hungry for dinner and didn't want more fried food and it was 6pm or so. It looked like it was going to be a boozy night at the ol' Browns domain (not only were you allowed to bring your own booze but they had a beer garden that started to get busy around that time as most other events had wrapped up.) Fun was had by all and we even got to see this 83 year old fella named Charlie run in a race - he was one of the few people who had been to probably the most sports days of anyone there.
We found a new holiday park north of the city and camped up for a couple nights. It was really quite nice actually and on Sunday afternoon we went into Invercargill to this big central park called Queens park. (Not before visiting the Sunday market for some banana bread!) There was a small zoo and an aviary as well as heaps of walks and gardens. Even a winter garden set up in a greenhouse that was huge. It's probably one of the nicest bits of Invercargill which is a town we found to be a bit ho hum. Pete left on Monday so we took him down so he could catch his bus back to Queenstown to fly out. We had lots of fun on the visit and it'll be great to see him in Australia again in April.
This farm is about an hour from Invercargill so after a few errands - Dustin got a haircut, I got online for a bit - we head down to the farm. It's been a taste of real farming so far I'd say! There's lots of mustering and sheep dogs over their 1330 acres. They have about ten dogs for moving the sheep. They also use an ATV and a couple small farm vehicles because the paddocks stretch for ages. Dustin is gaining experience in the kill process and the rough cuts of a bull that was injured and had to be put down. They keep the meat to feed the dogs when something like that happens. Unfortunately there was another bull they found yesterday with a broken leg so it sounds like he'll be shot tomorrow and Dustin will help gut it and all. Certainly an eye opener in the farming life. The family is very good humoured and we've been eating lots of lamb which has been delicious. We're here until the 17th and then head towards Dunedin. We have to try to arrange our other wwoofing stays for the south island as we hope to do more. There's a huge wine region on the north part of the island so that might be good wwoofing grounds.
The farm is near a nice surf spot called Curio Bay (about 20 minutes) so Dustin went out yesterday even though it was very very small and blowing onshore. That bay generally has dolphins and penguins that reside in the area so we hope to head over again and hopefully see some wildlife. We've been told you can be up to your waist in the bay and the dolphins will be within metres of you! Should be cool!
Lately it's been light out until about 10pm! So we've been going to bed late and getting up early because we hardly notice it's so late at night. Right now we are staying at Stonewood farm. It's way way way south on the south island and they run a few thousand sheep and cattle. We're wwoofing with a family of five with the children being 12, 17 and 20 or so. They have been very happy to have Dustin do a bunch of fixes on doors and around the sheds and I've been helping get the family photos organized and into albums. The house has a stunning view from the kitchen and living room area - it's a few hundred metres from the ocean but it's up on a cliff so you see their paddocks and then the ocean. Just lovely!
When we left Manapouri the other day we drove into Invercargill because the small bays and towns we passed on the way were all but deserted. We tried to stay at Colac Bay because it was gorgeous and Pete comes from a town called Colac in Australia. It was super windy that day and when we tried to knock on the holiday park/pub's door, nobody was around. The only other place in town that was open was a cafe who had consequently turned us down as wwoofers a little while ago because we "didn't seem to fit the place somehow" so we were not giving them any business! We continued to Riverton and stopped to make some sandwiches for lunch at the beach. The wind continued to hound us and just as we finished eating a rain squall came in so it was good timing!
We stopped at the visitor centre in Invercargill which is a city of somewhere around 50,000 people. From there we decided to head to Bluff which is probably the southern-most town in New Zealand. They are famous for their oysters and it's the ferry departure point to get to Stewart Island which is an island to the south that's covered mostly by a National Park. Bluff is now famous for being terrible as well. haha. The town is basically a big industrial area with an aluminium (yep, that's how they spell it here!) smelter across the bay. We figured we'd stay in the hostel there but the doors were locked and there was a for sale sign up - although we had just spoken to the owner an hour previously to check on vacancy. So we went down to the signpost that tells you how many km's to cities around the world and there's the shortest lighthouse any of us have seen. A related side note, back at the visitor centre they had anchors from 3 ships that had wrecked at Bluff in the past! There was a nice looking walk but the wind and rain kept threatening so we didn't go for it. We went back down the main street to try the hostel again with no luck so I phoned and nobody answered. We wandered around a couple other hotels and it was like stepping back into the 70's or something and both were over $100 a night! Our plan to stay there was slowly changing so we decided to try the hostel once more before heading back to Invercargill. This time the door was open but nobody was home so Pete and I peeked inside and the rooms were honestly laughable with old old styling and old old bedspreads. There were no other guests and we tried ringing the bell but didn't get an answer. We were just heading out and the owner walked in so we asked about a room for 3 and he showed us one that reminded me of an office in a gymnasium because it had interior windows and it was off of the laundry area. The bedspreads weren't much better. Luckily we left Dustin with the car running for an easy getaway. And on top of it all we're way out of oyster season which doesn't start for 2-3 months! Darn.
Invercargill seemed to have some of the same story as the first hostel we tried also was locked even though I had called a little while before. We were keen on some shelter because it had been rainy times through Milford and Manapouri and Pete's swag was still wet despite drying out a bit at the Possum Lodge. We just kept laughing at the weirdness of it all - we're here at the peak season of summer for tourism and all these places are closed or make it very difficult to stay there. We finally found a very nice cabin at a holiday park on the south side of the city. Pete treated us to a yummy pub meal and then we rented a movie called "The World's Fastest Indian" which is based on a man from Invercargill who set world records for speed on his motorcycle. Pete is a keen motorcyclist so he was shocked that we hadn't seen it before. There is a hardware store with all sorts of bike and Burt Munro memorabilia that we ended up visiting 3 separate times for Pete. He had to go back to buy extra stickers. I fell asleep before the movie ended but that was ok because I wanted to be well rested for Saturday.
We had seen in the newspaper a story about a town about 40 kms northeast of Invercargill called Browns and that on Saturday Jan 8th they were holding their 113th annual sports day. They are one of the only sports days that were not interrupted by war. So, naturally we wanted to be a part of this history. We drove out for the start at noon - after driving by Burt Munro's old house (Pete took the wheel and he was the tour guide that day.) The sports day consisted of several events. Some of the main ones were woodchopping events, axe throwing (sometimes barefoot), running races and there was a bike race from Invercargill to the Browns domain and then others around the grass track through the day. There was also a baby show, a magician, Browns "ideal woman" contest, sheaf tossing, a hole in one contest, kids' races like three-legged and egg in the spoon race, a guess the sheep's weight contest and something called chainstepping that even when we asked we weren't really sure what it was. Phew. The ad we saw said 12pm till late! We watched lots of the wood chopping events for the first while and it was so random because two BC folks were competing. We didn't end up chatting with them so never found out what city they were from. There was fried food and we tried "hot dogs" which here are a wiener dipped in batter and deep fried - not quite a corn dog as the batter is more like fish and chip batter. And what sports day is complete without a donut! Though we left those for everyone else. Later on they finished the main running races and started having goofy ones including a married woman race where I placed fourth! They came around cajoling people to join in. No prize though as that was for the top three. Then shortly after that all of a sudden the announcer is noting that there is a swarm of bees coming through and for everyone to be calm. I didn't completely obey and backed away from where I was sitting. Dustin was at the car and Pete was down the field so we all had different vantage points of this weird occurrence. It took a few minutes for it to move down the track and it kept going. Most people just waited it out without moving although one guy got into his camper and locked his wife out accidentally. As soon as the swarm cleared the track, they continued with the racing. The boys were trying to get me to enter the ideal woman contest but once it was going I'm glad I didn't. The event was a relay of sorts where the women had to set up a length of electric fence, back up an ATV with a trailer on it, shovel dirt into a wheelbarrow and take it and plant a tree, skin a rabbit, answer some general knowledge questions (they read some out and they were very NZ and farming based so I would have bombed them) and throw some hay bales onto a trailer. Not quite my forte. We ended up leaving before the sheep shearing unfortunately because we were hungry for dinner and didn't want more fried food and it was 6pm or so. It looked like it was going to be a boozy night at the ol' Browns domain (not only were you allowed to bring your own booze but they had a beer garden that started to get busy around that time as most other events had wrapped up.) Fun was had by all and we even got to see this 83 year old fella named Charlie run in a race - he was one of the few people who had been to probably the most sports days of anyone there.
We found a new holiday park north of the city and camped up for a couple nights. It was really quite nice actually and on Sunday afternoon we went into Invercargill to this big central park called Queens park. (Not before visiting the Sunday market for some banana bread!) There was a small zoo and an aviary as well as heaps of walks and gardens. Even a winter garden set up in a greenhouse that was huge. It's probably one of the nicest bits of Invercargill which is a town we found to be a bit ho hum. Pete left on Monday so we took him down so he could catch his bus back to Queenstown to fly out. We had lots of fun on the visit and it'll be great to see him in Australia again in April.
This farm is about an hour from Invercargill so after a few errands - Dustin got a haircut, I got online for a bit - we head down to the farm. It's been a taste of real farming so far I'd say! There's lots of mustering and sheep dogs over their 1330 acres. They have about ten dogs for moving the sheep. They also use an ATV and a couple small farm vehicles because the paddocks stretch for ages. Dustin is gaining experience in the kill process and the rough cuts of a bull that was injured and had to be put down. They keep the meat to feed the dogs when something like that happens. Unfortunately there was another bull they found yesterday with a broken leg so it sounds like he'll be shot tomorrow and Dustin will help gut it and all. Certainly an eye opener in the farming life. The family is very good humoured and we've been eating lots of lamb which has been delicious. We're here until the 17th and then head towards Dunedin. We have to try to arrange our other wwoofing stays for the south island as we hope to do more. There's a huge wine region on the north part of the island so that might be good wwoofing grounds.
The farm is near a nice surf spot called Curio Bay (about 20 minutes) so Dustin went out yesterday even though it was very very small and blowing onshore. That bay generally has dolphins and penguins that reside in the area so we hope to head over again and hopefully see some wildlife. We've been told you can be up to your waist in the bay and the dolphins will be within metres of you! Should be cool!
skin a rabbit!?! like for real skin a rabbit!!?? ha ha. gross.
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