Jan 2008

It’s been a while since our last posting, but we have, indeed, left the wonderful Finch residence on Peka Peka Beach and made it to the south island. Colin's parents were amazing and they fed us well. It was nice to sleep in a real bed and eat real food. Guano has a gas stove so we can branch out from sandwiches from time to time. But she has no fridge so we haven't had cheese, eggs, yogurt, meat, etc. for a while. We didn’t do much of anything while we were in the Wellington area because the infamous rain (that we've heard so much about, but had not seen until this point in our trip) rolled in and stayed for a few days. We made it to the city one day by train. We went to the Te Papa museum, which was a multi-billion dollar project that was just completed within the last decade. It was a pretty interesting museum, with lots of hands on activities and historical information about NZ. It was nice to get a little background, since our Lonely Planet guidebook tells us little in that sense. The best part about the museum is that it’s free! Free is always a good work for backpackers. We also had a lamb burger - VERY tasty. I didn’t think I would like lamb (I've always convinced myself I don't like it). Other than that, our stay was pretty mellow. We drank lots of coffee and ate lots of cheese (both are pretty big here).

On Monday, January 7th, we picked up Guano from the mechanics and we were told that there was no problem. Apparently, with the weather being cold, the mechanic couldn't get the car to squeak. The upside is that since there was no problem, there was no charge. We still aren't convinced since it squeaked all the way from the ferry to Nelson, which is where we are now. The ferry ride was fun since the clouds lifted a bit and we were able to see some of the surroundings. The Marlborough Fjords were very beautiful and it was interesting to see the strait after reading the biography of Lynne Cox, an open water, long distance swimmer, who made it across the strait about 20 years ago. I can't imagine swimming it. The water is absolutely freezing.

After getting into Picton, the city on the south side of Cook Strait, we drove west to Nelson where there are many orchards and vineyards. A litte further north of where we are is the Abel Tasman National Park - which is supposed to be amazing. We have plans to head up there this weekend with a kayak our new boss has graciously agreed to lend us for the cheap price of nothing. The town of Nelson, itself, is a pretty little city right on the beach. Well, when I think about it, there aren't many big cities in New Zealand that aren't by the beach. And there aren't many cities that aren't pretty. The landscape is extremely varied - beach, forest, volcano, farm, mountain... and I keep thinking that if you took the prettiest parts of many of the states (California, Washington, Colorado,) and put them all together, it would be what New Zealand looks like. The best of everything.

We easily found work, landing an apple-thinning job with the first call we made. It's relatively easy, but we're on our feet all day, in the BRUTAL New Zealand sun (much worse than the sun in Colorado), and you start to lose it after a few hours. Our i-pods have been lifesavers. Basically, apple thinning is what's done before the harvest season to weed out the "bad apples." We go through the trees and take off apples that are too small, or bruised, etc. It is mind numbingly boring. At night we are staying at the orchard's accommodation. There are several other travelers staying with us, and we make up quite the unique bunch. There are a couple of crazy Estonian guys, a sweet Scottish girl, a spunky Irish girl, a quiet Belgian couple, a Kiwi couple, and us. The company also owns a kiwi orchard and some boysenberry patches (which are currently in harvest season, so I hope we can get in some good berry eating). The apples we're picking are Temptations and Braeburns, so if you see any in the stores in a couple months, you'll know they were picked with care. Harvest doesn't start until mid-February and then it takes the apples 6 weeks to get to the states (!) so I guess we might actually be back in time to eat our own apples.

We should be here for a few weeks (at least until the end of January) so we'll make sure and check in on and off until then!