So we had what for me was possibly the strangest Thanksgiving ever. It was nice, just a little odd. We decided to treat ourselves to a turkey dinner, but couldn’t find any turkey. I’m not sure they have turkeys here. SO we picked up a stuffed, roast chicken and some mashed potatoes, peas, rolls, and gravy. It was a really good meal, and perhaps the largest meal we’ve had since we got here. We ate at the bar downstairs in the backpackers we stayed at, and the mix of music that was playing went from reggae to Bob Dylan to disco to the doors to dance music…It was rather ecclectic. So like I said, it was strange, but it was also really nice. And then we shaved Sarah’s head. Now we’re having pie for breakfast, and we want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

Suck. That being said, we have met some nice people on our trip. There was the British couple in Taupo that we saw a couple of days in a row, who were doing a similar trip to ours. There was our hitchhiking buddy in Owaka. And there have been some short conversations with people that seem like good people.
Then there are the idiots and the assholes. Most of these have been either American or German. There was the German couple in Oamaru who left their dirty pots and food crumbs all over the kitchen. They also apparently took the large towels that were shared hand towels from the bathroom for their own personal use. They later claimed ignorance. On the penguin viewing tour in Oamaru, there was an American sounding couple who kept moving into our way when we were trying to see the tour guide. And there was another American sounding woman who started asking the tour guide questions about this ozone layer thing. It’s some kind of problem, right? And it’s worse down here? Why? What caused it? How do you people protect yourselves from it? Well, it’s going to fix itself, right? I mean these were questions she was really asking! And she wasn’t young, so I wonder where she’s been hiding that she had to ask a penguin guide questions about the ozone.
On our trip to Doubtful Sound, we were sitting next to a woman who was sitting with her husband and talking to an Australian couple. The woman was from California, and was complaining about her rental car. Apparently, she was used to driving stick, and the rental car was automatic, which combined with driving on the wrong side of the road, I mean other side, was throwing her off. Then she went on to extoll the virtues of American theme parks, especialy those in Florida, while we were boating past some of the most striking landscapes in the world.
It’s a good thing we’re Canadian.

Sort of. Nothing’s really free. We are in Queenstown, having been stopped by the allure of free wireless connection at one of the hostels. Of course, what we didn’t figure was that the place would be more expensive than we thought, there is no parking, and we have to use the computer in the lounge, where we get to listen to some American (of course) idiot talk to his friend back home about his various stoner exploits and bitchin’ stuff he’s gonna do here. Sigh.
Anyway, after Dunedin, we went down along the southern scenic route through the Catlins, the southern area of the island. We stayed a night in Owaka in a small place that was occupied by an entire one other person. He was a nice, pretty friendly guy from Belgium who was working and hitchhiking his way around NZ for a year. He had some good stories about rides he had caught, and amused us with his frustration at the number of German tourists. They are the greatest population of tourists we’ve run into, and he even goes so far as to ask places if there are any Germans staying there before he books a night.
After that, we went along the coast, stopping at some of the sights, including the southernmost point of the south island. It was pretty cool, a long walk across a sheep field to what might be the furthest south either of us ever get. There was a signpost there telling the distance to the equator one way, and the south pole the other way. We also stopped at the Niagra Falls of NZ. I only hope the pictures we took capture its grandeur. Then a night in Invercargill where we went for a beer at the Frog ‘n’ Firkin. It was dominated, like much of the culture here, with music and videos from the 80’s, mostly from the US. Weird.
Then we went on to the Fiordlands. We were going to stay in Te Anau, but the place we wanted was chock-a-block full. So we ended up at a place in Manapouri. It was pretty basic and cheap, and we had a little cabin room, but it felt a bit like camping. And the guy running it was very nice, he booked us on a tour of Doubtful Sound. We had a day before the cruise, so we drove up to Milford. The drive itself is beautiful, with the mountains and forests all around. Closer to Milford we stopped to do one of the short trails that leaves from the side of the road. Unfortunately, the Keas had other ideas. There were three of them, and two were making a meal out of a parked car’s rubber weather stripping and windsheild wipers. The third jumped up on our roof, then climbed down onto the hood. He wasn’t aggresive, really, but he sure wasn’t scared of us. He started climbing on Sarah’s hand, then bit her finger. Her knuckle, actually. She’s fine now. Then as other cars would pull up, the birds would go inspect them to see if they were tasty.
The stop was right before the Homer Tunnel, which is a steep, unlit tunnel that descends at a steep grade down through a mountain. Pretty Cool. Then down a steep, winding road to the town of Milford, which isn’t a town at all. It’s a hotel, and bar/restaurant/info center, and a bay which launches the boats that tour the Sound, which isn’t a sound at all, but actually a fiord. They were mistakenly named by the first European explorers who were mostly British and Welsh and didn’t know what a fiord was.
The next day we did our tour of Doubtful Sound. The company was small, just a husband and wife team, but they only took a max of 20 people, which was preferrable to the other company that took somewhere around 150 people. We got in a little boat and went speeding across Lake Manapouri. When we reached the other shore, he got the bus, and took us down into the steep tunnel leading to the underground power station. It was really cool, like something out of James Bond, but we only got to see it from the viewing platform, no touring around. After that, we went across Wilmot Pass to get on a slightly larger boat that motored across Doubtful Sound to the edge of the Tasman Sea. Then we took our time coming back, seeing the waterfalls, shags, seals, and crested penguins. Sarah pointed out that they were the third type of penguin we have seen in the wild. Very cool. It was a great trip, and it was also very long. We spent most of the nine hour day bouncing around on little boats. We decided to skip the tour of Milford Sound, which is much smaller, and start heading north again.
So we drove just a little bit today, stopping here in Queenstown to rest up a bit and do some internetting. Then we head out tomrrow for the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. We instantly decided we we don’t like Queenstown. It seems the typical tourist trap town. It’s billed as the “adventure capital of NZ”, and it seems that people are buying into it. I don’t think there’s anything here that you can’t do somewhere else, probably for cheaper. And for such a small town, it’s really crowded. Oh well, at least we’re just staying the night.

When Mike suggested that we do a farm-stay, I was all for it. A little hard work, learning about keeping animals and living off the land, how could it be a bad idea? Well, despite carefully selecting one, it just wasn’t what either of us had expected.

First, it wasn’t really a farm. Sure, they had some stuff growing in small patches of garden, but neither of these patches was the large fields that I’d envisioned. Honestly, they were the type of gardens someone in the suburbs might plant on a whim. There weren’t really any rows of plants, it looked as though it had be planted haphazardly, with absolutely no thought give to where things should be. My favorite was in the male pig and goat (one each) pen Alice pointed out a very small patch of green and said, that’s where the garlic grows. It was IN the pig field

The pigs weren’t that bad, actually. The littler pigletty ones were very cute, and enjoyed being petted. But while you were petting them the large, waist height scary pigs would come over. Remember that scene in the movie snatch? Yeah, I believe pigs would eat people. There was also an older pig that had trouble standing, and apparently had no teeth. Alice was certain she was dying, and seemed genuinely sad about it. Alice being a vegetarian, I naturally assumed these were pet pigs. Later on she’d decided it was time to put the pig down, and told us she could bring it to the butcher that did all their other pigs. Mike and I could help her load the pig in her car, she’d just put the seats down and that way she wouldn’t have to rent a trailer. Riiight.

Beyond that, there were the three jack russels. Killers. Buster enjoys finding and slaughtering rats. Betsy kills chickens (one while we were there) and has tried very hard to kill Sally. Sally, missing an ear from a Betsy attack, was 12, very sweet, and was kept tied up in the living room. Poor girl. Buster and Betsy we’re working on puppies, I shudder to think what sort of killing machines these two would produce.

Then there were the cats. Nice enough cats, until I caught sight of one pissing in the box Alice had set honeycomb and a knife in for mike to clean out. I saw her later by a puddle in the kitchen, god only knows where else it’d gone.

Apparently the farm was 50 acres, but it must have been all hill – vertical acres – because the land they were actually using around the house was maybe 5-6 acres. These steep hilly acres were where we had to drag the tree/logs. I’m sorry, I know that I’m not a very strong person, but expecting us to lift 2-3 ft chunks of tree weighing easily 40lbs down precarious paths was really just absurd. I wasn’t that much help, poor mike did the bulk of it, and though I tried dragging the logs around I had to give that up when I slipped and the log nearly pulled me down the hill with it. Yeah, not fun at all.

But really, it was the prospect of having to clean their bathroom. She’d given us a huge list of cleaning, washing floors and the like. None of which I would’ve minded, but it seemed she was just dreaming up chores that she’d never get around to herself. I missed the dog poo incident, but the kitchen floor smelled of piss as I washed it, and I thought I would never ever eat from it again. Mike and I waited until she left, and then unanimously decided it was time to go. Yeah, we fled, but we’re feeling pretty damn good about it.

So we didn’t do much of anything in Kaikoura; it was raining too much to do any walks, and the whale watches were something like $135! We did stop on the way there near Blenheim for a tour of Montana vineyards, NZ’s largest vineyard. And we got a tasting at the end, it was really good. After our night in Kaikoura, we headed south to Christchurch, and spent a couple of days there. It’s a nice little city, and we got some spectacular views of the city, the Alps in the distance, and the surrounding bays from a hilltop drive. Sarah climbed down one of the hills to get close-up pictures of sheep, then chased my hat down when it blew away. After that, we headed inland to stay a night by Lake Tekapo, where we wre close to the Alps, and MT Cook in particular. The next day, we drove up to the Hermitage Hotel, at the base of Mt Cook. It’s apparently a famous hotel here, but it was rather unimpressive. We did a two hour walk along a path to Kea Point, named after the green parrots in the area that are known to eat car tires and windshield wipers. Alas, we saw none, and didn’t even get to watch a possible far-off avalanche. It’s okay, though, because the views of the mountains were spectacular.

After that, we headed down to Oamaru, a nice little seaside town that is home to the Blue Penguin Colony. We signed up for the viewing and behind the scenes tour, and got to see over two hundred of the cute little bastards. There was even a rabbit that got caught in the tide of landward penguins, and it seemed to not know what to do. Every direction it hopped, it found itself surrounded. Unfortunatley, they don’t allow photography of any kind, so we have no pictures of the event. The backpackers we stayed at in Oamaru was a little farm just south of the city in a town called All Day Bay. It was a really nice, clean place run by a friendly couple who owned sheep and alpacas and a dog named Gus. We had the place to ourselves the first night, and sat by the fire, and felt very comfortable and relaxed. If we could have, we would have stayed there much longer.

Then came our farm stay. We signed up with an organization called wwoof: willing workers on organic farms. The idea is that you stay on a farm, work a few hours a day, and they give you food and lodging. Seemed like a good way to save some money and get a little experience working in a different setting. We looked through the book they sent us, and picked a couple of places that seemed good. The first one we calle was a place in a “town” called Henley, just south of Dunedin. The book said it was run by a couple who had some fruit trees, a garden, kunekune pigs, sheep, goats, chooks, cats, dogs, and bees. The woman was a teacher, and the man played celtic music. It sounded good, and they could take us at the time we wanted.

I guess the first clue that something was wrong should have come when the woman, Alice, didn’t email me back for a week, then emailed me without putting anything in about directions, and only saying we were expected, and she’d see us on Sunday. We pulled up to the house Sunday afternoon, and she showed us where we’d be staying. We should have turned around and left right then. When I say it was a hovel, I am not exaggerating. It was an old cottage that was as dirty as anyplace I’ve ever seen. The floors were dirty. The toilet was dirty. The shower was dirty. The bed was dirty. The walls were falling apart, and were water stained. The outside was crumbling. And she told us how the plumbing had just been fixed twice, because the sink and the shower had backed up with shit, they had “fixed” it, and a couple of weeks later it had happened again. So they replaced the pipes leading into the hovel. Great.

Why we decided to stay and try to stick it out, I’m not sure, but we did, and we lasted two days. It wasn’t the backbreaking work, like clearing firewood from the side of the hill with no sure footing. It wasn’t the idea of possibly digging a hole to bury the soon to be dead grandmother pig who would either be slaughtered or shot in the head. It wasn’t the complete lack of appreciation that they basically had a supply of indentured servants. It wasn’t even the dog killing one of the chickens when it got loose, or the other dog tied in a corner in the living room. No, it was the filth, the sheer filth of the place. The breaking point for me came when one of the dogs shit on the kitchen floor, and Alice picked it up with a paper towel and put it in the wood stove. Let me repeat that: the dog shit went into the wood stove in the living room, and would be burned later. That was it for us, so we packed our things, left them a note, and got the hell outta Dodge.

We have been in a very big, CLEAN, and friendly backpackers called Hogwartz, here in Dunedin. We are going to see NZ’s only castle tomorrow, and then we head south and then on to the Fiordlands. I think we just had bad luck picking a farm stay (not that theirs was an actual farm), and most places would be better. But we’re not going to find out.

Skully!

Originally uploaded by nutty bunny.

we got him in a bag of treats from Hell, along with candy and Hell trading cards. plus he’s full of eyeballs!

It’s about 12:30 in the morning and we are staying in a nice little backpackers in Picton. Picton is the port town in the south island that the ferries all go to from Wellington. You’d think a port town with this much traffic would be big, but no. It’s a quiet little town with a main street that’s about three blocks long. The place we are staying in is called the Juggler’s Rest, and sure enough, there are juggling batons for use out front. We have a nice little wood shack next to the house, which is actually nicer than it sounds. It is very new, and smells nicely of wood, and has a rather comfy bed. The house is fairly small, but very clean, and the guy running the place seems to run a tight ship, if somewhat informal. Checkout is 10:30, or thereabouts, if we run a little late, eh, that’s okay. We spent two nights here, doing some resting and catching our breath in this quiet, peaceful atmosphere. We finally got some wireless internet, but it took a day and a half to get it going. So there are some pictures up on flickr, although we have lots more that will have to wait. Too many to put up all at once.
The ferry ride over was not the most pleasant. The ship was really big, possibly the biggest ship either of us has been on. Despite this, the wind had it tilted at an awkward angle almost the whole ride over, which apparently is pretty normal. Although, according to the guy running this hostel, the sea was so bad once that the ship almost capsized and the 3 hour crossing took close to 9 hours. Can’t wait to take it back.
Tomorrow we head south, and maybe stop off in Blenheim for some wine tasting at one of the vineyards. Then on to Kaikoura, the whale watching capital of New Zealand. Will we go on one? Tune in to further episodes to find out!

Sort of how the landscape feels from the car. It’s really incredible, we pass these very green, gently rolling hills, then we turn a corner, and we are hugging the turns through winding mountain roads, surrounded by what looks like rain forest vegetation.

So after Rotorua, we went to the thermal springs of Hell’s Gate, so named by some English writer whose name currently escapes me. He called it that because it loked like the what his theologean friends warned him were awaiting him in the afterlife. Then we drove south to more thermal pools and springs in Orakei Korakou (not sure I spelled that right), also called the hidden valley. We walked through them into the hills, and eventually came to a cave with some of the clearest waters I’ve ever seen. Sarah almost stepped into the water, because there was no visible edgeline. Crazy.

Then it was on to Taupo, on the edge of Lake Taupo, a volcanic crater formed around 26,ooo years ago. We spent two nights in a nice hostel that gave us a three bed dorm just for us, and had a bar with a pool table right down the hall. And a hot tub. We also met a nice young couple, Rich and Em, from the U.K. They were essentially doing the same trip as us, but in revesre: they started out in Australia, then toured the south island of New Zealand. We spent our days in Taupo visiting the falls just up the road, viewing the dam opening to let out the rapids, and doing some short days walks through wooded paths. The last day, we went out on the Barbary, a yacht once owned by Errol Flynn, now used to take people out to some rock carvings on lake Taupo. We lucked out and got a beautiful, sunny day for the trip.

After that, it was south to a town called National Park, which is on the edge of Tongariro National park, home to the volcanic mountains Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu. Ngauruhoe is actually part of Mt Tongariro and was Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies. The hostel there was very nice and clean, and both the air and the water were amazingly clear and fresh. We went into the park the next day to skip the 4-5 day mountain hikes in favor of a two hour walk that went to an impressive water fall. The views of the mountains would have been spectacular, had they not been shrouded in clouds.

We then spent the next five hours driving windy roads down to Wellington, and spent the night in a dingy, dirty hostel, occupied by slovenly youths. We found a new place for today, and it is much nicer. We aslo spent the morning getting the brakes fixed (for free at the rental place) for Little Car, our rental. Apparently the right front pads were so worn down, they would have been gone soon had we kept driving.

Tomorrow we take the ferry to Picton, and on to the south island.