Feb. 20/11 3:44pm
We spent a couple nights just south of Hastings at a beachfront campground where there was actually some surf! And Dustin said the people were quite friendly too. We went up to Napier and Dustin got a new surfboard. This one is a mini-mal and it's got a lot more volume than his current board which makes it better to catch waves. It's the same length but it'll be more fun. After staying with that surf coach and talking to him about boards, Dustin decided that something bigger would suit him better. As the surf coach said, most people start on boards that are way beyond their skill and they spend so much time fighting to get waves and aren't having fun. He rides an 8 footer normally and maybe if we weren't travelling, Dustin would go for that length or longer. The surf coach also had a surf shop and said that the whole industry is so hyped up about long boards vs. short boards and that there's too much ego involved. So, already Dustin's noticed the new board is easier to get waves on so that's great!
Although it was raining north of the campground we stayed dry for a couple nights. We met up with Dustin's mom's friend's daughter who has been in NZ for the last few months. Unfortunately our travels routes are running opposite and we only caught up between her shift at work but it was nice to chat with someone friendly! We had actually run into a couple people the previous nights that we chatted with for a while which was a big difference from most of our travels so far. After visiting with Sarah, we continued north past Napier (Dustin was too keen on the city) and found a holiday park just north of the city. We almost didn't stop but it was great that we did because there was a group of people that were great fun! They lived near Wellington and were heading up to Gisborne for the National Kapa Haka Championships. It's a festival/competition of traditional Maori singing and dancing that happens every two years. The group wasn't competing but they sang for us and we chatted over dinner. It was really heartwarming because they were so genuine and one of the guys even gave Dustin a t-shirt. One couple had a niece living in North Vancouver who was working with the local native groups. They encouraged us to come up to Gisborne and go to the show but it was more than an hour past where we were going to be wwoofing in a couple days. So after heaps of back and forth between me wanting to go and Dustin wanting to stay and find surf, we ended up sticking around a place called Mahia Beach. There was some surf so that was alright but it was quite small. Enough to keep him entertained for a bit though.
En route we stopped in at a side road fruit stand and bought peacherines! They are a mix of peach and nectarine and pretty good.
Then yesterday we arrived at the farm we're currently at. It's massive! I don't know exactly how much but we hopped on a dirt bike yesterday and followed a track for about 15 minutes and we didn't even cover much of the property! He runs sheep and beef and also has an accommodation that he rents out. We've been working around the yard, pruning and cleaning up the garden. There are two sows that have both just given birth 4 days ago. One has a litter of 13 and one has a litter of 9 - the piglets are absolutely adorable! We haven't been on a farm with pigs yet and he doesn't always have them here, just until the babies are 6 weeks and then he'll sell them. It's a lovely stay so far with great views as it's on the coast. There are a couple cute dogs too who love to shadow you while you're working. Yesterday was scorching hot and today is chilly and rainy so we've been working inside mostly. Dustin had some hinges to replace on a set of doors and I've been dusting. It's such a contrast from the last place we stayed but definitely in a good way.
I think we've started to hit our limits of being on the move in some ways. It seems to crop up when we have made plans ahead of time without knowing exactly where we'll be when and we end up having to kill time before a planned stay. Since we're generally somewhere we'd be leaving in other circumstances it never puts us in a good mood. So far on this trip we haven't had as many tough spots as we did in Australia but given that we still have 6 weeks in NZ and another 4 in Australia, hopefully we can overcome the bad times. We've been super stressed out lately trying to make our plans for Australia while we're there as well as keeping in mind what we're doing until the end of March and thinking of what needs to be done before we leave NZ and the not to mention when we get home there's heaps to do with weddings and just sorting out where we're going to end up ourselves. The stress was too much for me this week and I was pretty foul even though there were more friendly campers we could have had a nice time with. And I wasn't looking forward to wwoofing again but now that we're here it's a welcome change. Sometimes after a time of travel you feel a bit useless and need more of a routine that doesn't involve setting up and packing up camp. So it's good to do something productive and have other company. Not to mention a nice comfy bed. Even with a new camp mat, I'm hitting my camping limit. Not that I have a lot of choice but to stick it out so that I will do. Hopefully with minimal whinging - for Dustin's sake. It really isn't one big holiday and we know better than to imagine it will be but sometimes people don't really realize how trying it is to travel. Yes we've chosen to do so with the knowledge and experience of what it's really like but you do find times where you just yearn for something stable. I think part of it is that we're not going back to anything the same - new jobs, a new apartment, likely in a new city - and all of which is unknown right now. Which we should be used to since we've been choosing to live in limbo since 2007 when we applied for our Australian visas. So, lately it's been one of those phases where the travel is more work than fun but it does turn around again and again. So it will be back up soon.
I'm quite excited about the region we'll be heading to next. We're just over an hour south of Gisborne right now which is on the east coast - about mid-island. It's a smaller city and up around the coast gets quite rugged and not highly populated. There's lots of surf, wineries and culture. Also there's a restaurant where you can get a hangi meal! Hangi is where they make an underground oven with hot stones and then put all the food in for a couple hours before digging in - literally. It's a traditional Maori cooking process and we haven't been privileged enough to experience it yet. You can go to a Marae in some cities where they run a Maori tour and often a hangi is part of it but we haven't been in too many places yet where it's offered. So lots of good things to look forward to! After that we'll be in a region called the Bay of Plenty which is a popular holiday area but since the kids are back in school I can't imagine it'll be as crazy as it was. We've seen some of the bay on our last trip but there is still lots to discover yet!
On the farm we'll still get a chance to mark ewes for drafting which Dustin got to do a bit of in Southland but I haven't done yet. There's still gardening to be done and Dustin made a pig trough today. We might take the dirtbike for the full tour of the farm but it's another few kilometres from where we went to and we will make sure it's a sunny day for it. The next season of rugby has started here so we've been able to watch a couple games here as our host is a rugby fan. And the cricket world cup has begun so that will be good to watch too!
We spent a couple nights just south of Hastings at a beachfront campground where there was actually some surf! And Dustin said the people were quite friendly too. We went up to Napier and Dustin got a new surfboard. This one is a mini-mal and it's got a lot more volume than his current board which makes it better to catch waves. It's the same length but it'll be more fun. After staying with that surf coach and talking to him about boards, Dustin decided that something bigger would suit him better. As the surf coach said, most people start on boards that are way beyond their skill and they spend so much time fighting to get waves and aren't having fun. He rides an 8 footer normally and maybe if we weren't travelling, Dustin would go for that length or longer. The surf coach also had a surf shop and said that the whole industry is so hyped up about long boards vs. short boards and that there's too much ego involved. So, already Dustin's noticed the new board is easier to get waves on so that's great!
Although it was raining north of the campground we stayed dry for a couple nights. We met up with Dustin's mom's friend's daughter who has been in NZ for the last few months. Unfortunately our travels routes are running opposite and we only caught up between her shift at work but it was nice to chat with someone friendly! We had actually run into a couple people the previous nights that we chatted with for a while which was a big difference from most of our travels so far. After visiting with Sarah, we continued north past Napier (Dustin was too keen on the city) and found a holiday park just north of the city. We almost didn't stop but it was great that we did because there was a group of people that were great fun! They lived near Wellington and were heading up to Gisborne for the National Kapa Haka Championships. It's a festival/competition of traditional Maori singing and dancing that happens every two years. The group wasn't competing but they sang for us and we chatted over dinner. It was really heartwarming because they were so genuine and one of the guys even gave Dustin a t-shirt. One couple had a niece living in North Vancouver who was working with the local native groups. They encouraged us to come up to Gisborne and go to the show but it was more than an hour past where we were going to be wwoofing in a couple days. So after heaps of back and forth between me wanting to go and Dustin wanting to stay and find surf, we ended up sticking around a place called Mahia Beach. There was some surf so that was alright but it was quite small. Enough to keep him entertained for a bit though.
En route we stopped in at a side road fruit stand and bought peacherines! They are a mix of peach and nectarine and pretty good.
Then yesterday we arrived at the farm we're currently at. It's massive! I don't know exactly how much but we hopped on a dirt bike yesterday and followed a track for about 15 minutes and we didn't even cover much of the property! He runs sheep and beef and also has an accommodation that he rents out. We've been working around the yard, pruning and cleaning up the garden. There are two sows that have both just given birth 4 days ago. One has a litter of 13 and one has a litter of 9 - the piglets are absolutely adorable! We haven't been on a farm with pigs yet and he doesn't always have them here, just until the babies are 6 weeks and then he'll sell them. It's a lovely stay so far with great views as it's on the coast. There are a couple cute dogs too who love to shadow you while you're working. Yesterday was scorching hot and today is chilly and rainy so we've been working inside mostly. Dustin had some hinges to replace on a set of doors and I've been dusting. It's such a contrast from the last place we stayed but definitely in a good way.
I think we've started to hit our limits of being on the move in some ways. It seems to crop up when we have made plans ahead of time without knowing exactly where we'll be when and we end up having to kill time before a planned stay. Since we're generally somewhere we'd be leaving in other circumstances it never puts us in a good mood. So far on this trip we haven't had as many tough spots as we did in Australia but given that we still have 6 weeks in NZ and another 4 in Australia, hopefully we can overcome the bad times. We've been super stressed out lately trying to make our plans for Australia while we're there as well as keeping in mind what we're doing until the end of March and thinking of what needs to be done before we leave NZ and the not to mention when we get home there's heaps to do with weddings and just sorting out where we're going to end up ourselves. The stress was too much for me this week and I was pretty foul even though there were more friendly campers we could have had a nice time with. And I wasn't looking forward to wwoofing again but now that we're here it's a welcome change. Sometimes after a time of travel you feel a bit useless and need more of a routine that doesn't involve setting up and packing up camp. So it's good to do something productive and have other company. Not to mention a nice comfy bed. Even with a new camp mat, I'm hitting my camping limit. Not that I have a lot of choice but to stick it out so that I will do. Hopefully with minimal whinging - for Dustin's sake. It really isn't one big holiday and we know better than to imagine it will be but sometimes people don't really realize how trying it is to travel. Yes we've chosen to do so with the knowledge and experience of what it's really like but you do find times where you just yearn for something stable. I think part of it is that we're not going back to anything the same - new jobs, a new apartment, likely in a new city - and all of which is unknown right now. Which we should be used to since we've been choosing to live in limbo since 2007 when we applied for our Australian visas. So, lately it's been one of those phases where the travel is more work than fun but it does turn around again and again. So it will be back up soon.
I'm quite excited about the region we'll be heading to next. We're just over an hour south of Gisborne right now which is on the east coast - about mid-island. It's a smaller city and up around the coast gets quite rugged and not highly populated. There's lots of surf, wineries and culture. Also there's a restaurant where you can get a hangi meal! Hangi is where they make an underground oven with hot stones and then put all the food in for a couple hours before digging in - literally. It's a traditional Maori cooking process and we haven't been privileged enough to experience it yet. You can go to a Marae in some cities where they run a Maori tour and often a hangi is part of it but we haven't been in too many places yet where it's offered. So lots of good things to look forward to! After that we'll be in a region called the Bay of Plenty which is a popular holiday area but since the kids are back in school I can't imagine it'll be as crazy as it was. We've seen some of the bay on our last trip but there is still lots to discover yet!
On the farm we'll still get a chance to mark ewes for drafting which Dustin got to do a bit of in Southland but I haven't done yet. There's still gardening to be done and Dustin made a pig trough today. We might take the dirtbike for the full tour of the farm but it's another few kilometres from where we went to and we will make sure it's a sunny day for it. The next season of rugby has started here so we've been able to watch a couple games here as our host is a rugby fan. And the cricket world cup has begun so that will be good to watch too!
Hi you Gypsy Gingers: Your Mom and I know about the stresses we put on ourselves when travelling. Especially when the expectations we have are not met. ie - accommodations, meals, the car etc. When we were living in Mexico and things seemed to be going off the rail we would look at each other and say, "Did we make a huge mistake by moving to Mexico"? Hang in there as things get better and you get a second wind so to speak. I'm sure you've recognized you get a second wind and all of a sudden things are going better. The trouble is when one gets short the other person gets dumped on as you have no where else to get rid of your angst. We enjoy your writings very much. Chin up and keep going as things will even out. That $99 airfare was a bonus as it will save you time and possibly from having more angst along the way. Thinking of you. Lots of Love!!
ReplyDeleteDad & Mom
Hey K & D,
ReplyDeleteThat hangi meal sounds cool! I'm all about the food. Can't wait to hear about it soon. Traveling is always tough at times, you sound like you are trying had to get past it, so I'm sure you will.
take care