Tales and Tails

Two days of travelling between islands has passed in a blur, made memorable only by our stop in Blenheim where we went to see The World's Fastest Indian, a New Zealand-made film about Burt Munro, whose 1967 land speed record for his class of motorcycle is as yet unbroken. It's a great movie--catch it if you can, even if you don't like either motorcycling OR New Zealand!

Well, I DID remember to keep my camera with me when I went topside on the ferry this time, and was rewarded by a dramatic sunrise over the Queen Charlotte islands that made it clear why the Maori word (Arotearoa) for NZ means "land of the long white cloud."


By the time we were driving north from Wellington, however, the clouds and fog had cleared and it was sunny and HOT by the time we reached our home for the next month: Saddle Creek Farm Retreat. Our hosts David and Joy live in the nearby farmhouse, and have built this large 'barn' as a retreat centre. It has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big kitchen and living room, a library, plus a huge 'meeting space' and it's all ours for the month! There's also another outdoor bathtub, that quirky NZ specialty!



We were both exhausted from the drive and 'sleeping' in the car in the ferry line-up, so we barely appreciated the rainbow windmill (to the right in the above photo) and the views from our balcony and terrace before tumbling into bed.

This morning, opening the door to the terrace, I was greeted by two peacocks and a turkey, and the braying of Emily and Rodney, the friendly donkeys! This is really country--but only 20 minutes from the nearest town (and beaches) of Waikenae, and only an hour north of Wellington.



We'll relax and settle in for a day or two and then start to plan our activities at the local unis and polytechs. Onward!

Shore Nice

Friday, January 27

Our last day here was again dazzlingly sunny, so we spent much of the afternoon on the stony shore of Lake Coleridge, all alone but for one distant jetboat. The Harper River runs into the lake not far from where Frank is standing, and creates a beautiful mixing of textures and colours in the clear waters of the lake. Mesmerizing!


Tomorrow we must head north again, and begin to think about doing the work that has brought me here. I look forward to meeting more of my NZ colleagues in education, but we will look back very fondly on our South Island weeks and anticipate our return here in May.

The Road Goes Ever On and On...and Off!

Thursday, January 26

Yesterday was a very quiet day, recovering from Tuesday's activities, made memorable by an evening walk down to the Lake where I was amused by the sheep, and enjoyed a dramatic sunset and the colours of the lupins along the shore.
Today, however, we were ready for another adventure and signed up for an offroad trip with another (American) couple. Our driver Jason piled us into the Toyota Land Cruiser and off we went through the farm gate, "into the wilds." It really felt like being in one of those TV ads for SUV's as we splashed through streams and powered up steep hills.

Eventually we reached our main destination, an unusual geological formation locally called the Pinnacles, where soft gravel has eroded away from spires of hard rock to reveal this dramatic landscape:

We stopped here for tea that Jason brewed up in his trusty billy (that's what is by his feet, above), and homemade muffins. The grandeur of the scenery here is difficult to capture on film--it's all wide sky and towering peaks, with no sound but the rushing of the river or the overhead cry of a hawk--or perhaps the less romantic bleating of sheep! We've decided that the near constant exchange between ewe and lamb is the sheepish equivalent of "Mummy!" "Yes?" "Mummy!" "Yes?" "Mummy!" "WHAT!!??" "I forget..."



I also very much enjoyed the many varieties of alpine flowers that grow a mat of tiny leaves close to the ground, then burst into delicate bloom in summer.

On the way back to the station, we stopped at a highland mountain tarn, where the Ryton's daughter is getting married next month. Apparently all the guests have 4-WD vehicles. I can see the appeal--great view!


Our final stop on the way back was beautiful Lake Ida. The family has constructed a big flat square that they flood from the lake in winter for skating and hockey, a new sport for NZ.


As we approached the station, Jason pointed out a mark on a nearby mountain and told us it was an earthquake faultline. When he told me that it didn't have a name, I christened it "Nobody's Fault"--sorry, had to get that in!

Fantasies Fulfilled (rated General Audiences)

Tuesday, January 24

Well, today was a very special day for both of us. Frank got to spend all day out fly-fishing with Kim. They caught two good trout (and released them) but they tell me that it's not about catching--it's about fishing! They look happy, anyway:

For me, today brought the fulfillment of a dream. I went on a 4-hour cross country horse trek with Noel Stanger, who runs High Country Horse Adventures. Besides being Australasia's Marlborough Man twice, Noel played a rider of Rohan, right in the front line of the charge with King Theoden, in The Return of the King! Here he is in his LOTR gear (this is a photo of his photo):

When I learned this on the day we checked in, I jokingly asked to be put on the horse that he rode in the charge, but Noel said that she was " a little tricky" and didn't take to many people, so I didn't really expect anything. However, when I arrived this morning for my scheduled trek, there was Duchess, all 18-hands of Thoroughbred/ Clydesdale cross of her! (A hand is 4" and horses are measured at the shoulder--Duchess is a VERY tall horse!). Noel told me to get on and he'd see whether he thought I could handle her--after a few minutes up and down the paddock, he decided that she had taken to me and off we went.

There were just the two of us plus a pack horse, and we covered every kind of terrain including grassy plains, streams, rocky hillsides, and narrow cliff edge trails. After about an hour, I was wondering if I had seriously overestimated my stamina, and shortly after that point we stopped so Noel could brew up a 'billy' of tea for us. When I went to dismount, I discovered that my knees no longer functioned and it took several minutes of leaning on long-suffering Duchess before I could hobble over to my tea. Here's Noel firing up the billy, and Duchess posing majestically against the incredible scenery we travelled through.


After about twenty minutes we remounted and Noel asked me if I was ready for a gallop. Inside I said "NO!" but somehow my mouth said "Yes" and off we went, across a flat grassy plain. Noel let me go ahead, and Duchess really stretched out, so it was very cool--really like something out of a movie. Yahoo! Afterwards, I felt a little looser and the rest of the ride was more fun and less ache--a good thing, as the second half involved a number of very steep gravel hillsides that the horses needed to run up. That was the fun part--going down, with their hooves slipping and sliding was somewhat more nerve-wracking!

I managed to wrestle my camera out of my saddlebag in the last mile to take a few photos to prove that I really was UP on the horse. Here's one (but you can keep your comments about horses's asses to yourself, ok?):

I was both glad and sorry to have Ryton Station come into view after 4 hours. This is an experience that I will treasure, and be so 'chuffed' to tell people I rode one of the horses that took part in the charge of the Rohirrim, but my almost-50 year old body is not as resilient as it was when I rode regularly in my teens! Every muscle in my body (and who knew I had muscles in those places?) hurts, and my pelvis feels near shattered--but I wouldn't change a thing. The aches will go, but the memory will stay forever. Duchess said goodbye with a loving rub of her head --all over my white shirt--as I left. I am glad to have been worthy of riding her, as she is a lovely horse.

Frank is feeling almost as knackered as I am, from walking about 15k up and down and back and forth in the streams, so it's an early night and, I suspect, a quiet day tomorrow recovering from today's adventures!

Lookout...LOOK OUT!

Monday, Jan 23

Another wonderfully sunny and clear day here. After a 'wake up slow' breakfast of pancakes (here these are called pikelets--pancakes are like crepes), we decided to tackle this mountain lookout behind the house. The switchback trail was extremely steep, inducing breathlessness almost immediately. I konked out about 3/4 of the way up, but Ranger Frank made it to the top--doesn't he look the part?


The view from up there was indeed marvelous and worth the effort.


Afterwards, we went for a long explore in the car, along the gravel tracks surrounding our cottage. We had gotten so used to having the road to ourselves, and gawking at the amazing scenery, that we were both terribly startled to suddenly find ourselves almost head-to-head with an Isuzu tracker! In a natural (Canadian) reaction, Frank swerved...RIGHT!...to avoid a collision. Luckily the other driver was paying attention and easily avoided us. Then we had to drive alongside to apologize and explain, and met Kim Tribe, a Welsh fly fishing guide who spends every winter in NZ. We got on so well that Kim ended up coming back to the cottage for a beer, then dinner, and eventually stayed with us overnight. He will take Frank out fly fishing tomorrow in return. Nice guy to (almost) run into!

Finding our Station

Well, I had been writing journal entries in Word all last week, supposing that I could simply copy and paste them into the blog--but it seems not! So, here goes, retyping it all...this could take awhile and may not all appear at once--be patient with the 'ol two-finger typist here...

Sunday, Jan 22

Today was a driving day but the scenery was so spectacular that the day went by in a flash. The mountains of Arthur's Pass are more varied than those of Lewis Pass. Much of the land here is loose gravel scree, crisscrossed by braided rivers. It's a drive requiring concentration, but is frequented by lots of vintage cars like this 1938 Bugatti we came across at a lookout point.


It was a spectacular view back along the mountains at that point, but I think the term 'lookout' was really directed at the tourists in relation to the keas, a large member of the parrot family. I had no sooner put my foot out the door and one hopped up and searched my jeans' cuff for food! The sign says "Please do not feed the keas" but if you have food out, you get little choice.These smart little devils are a menace to backpackers, I'm told, managing to undo the most tightly-laced sack and wreak havoc with the contents. I also hear that they have a fondness for the weatherstripping around car doors!


We made the mistake of thinking there would be a regular grocery store in the village of Arthur's Pass, which is the last one before the wilderness of the sheep stations, but instead there was one cafe/ grocery/liquor store charging King Arthur's ransom for everything! Our week's supplies cost us much more than we had intended, but we pushed on and soon forget about it in the excitement of getting closer to Ryton Station.

Along the way we began to see lots of lupins, an English flower that has escaped to colonize this area and become a pretty pest. For those who have commented on the few photos of me on this blog--here's one of me with a lupin.


There's only one sideroad leaving the motorway on Arthur's Pass Road, and that's the gravel one into Lyndon Lake. Twenty-two kilometres along this road, we reached the Ryton Station homestead and checked in, then drove for another 20 minutes to the top of Lake Coleridge to find our cottage. Imagine our surprise at finding this three bedroom suburban home! It has everything we could want or need EXCEPT TV, CD player and radio reception--or neighbours--it'll be a very quiet week.


The Harper River rushes by the cottage, and water is crystal clear, as you can see...

Within 2k is beautiful Lake Coleridge, looking like a setting for a fantasy novel. Despite all the LOTR-driven tourism hype, much of NZ is still an undiscovered gem.

Go fly a kite

We've had a few interesting things happen in the past few days, so I thought I would get one more blog posting up before we head into the wilds where there is no internet!

Yesterday, we headed out for Farewell Spit, but never did make it that far. There is a thriving arts community in this area, and they publish a very comprehensive studio tour booklet. Using this, and my copy of Gardens to Visit in NZ, we meandered northwards, stopping at various artists' studios and gardens along the way. At the studio/gallery of Marion Towns, I fell in love with a pastel called Soul Watching over Poverty Bay, and Frank has arranged for it to be copied to a high quality giclee (printed on canvas) for my fiftieth birthday--lucky me! You can view it here: http://www.mariontowns.co.nz/art-gallery.php?id=18 Today we went to meet Marion at her home (a lovely house high above Nelson with stupendous views of the sea) to make the arrangements, and she was also kind enough to spend considerable time giving me feedback on some of the pastel paintings I've created in the past few weeks along the way. Pastel is a new medium for me and I have lots to learn, so it was very helpful and generous of her. The painting will be a wonderful souvenir of our time here.

We also visited the home and studio of Anne Bannock, and nearly had to send up a flare to be rescued from her hedge maze! Fun. Anne is (besides being a painter of wonderfully colourful, joyous landscapes) a textile artist, and participates yearly in Nelson's annual "World of Wearable Art" show for which local artists create fabulous costumes. Pictured below is one of Anne's creations, from several years' ago, called Tall Poppy. She also had a gorgeous costume based on Birds of Paradise, and another with a Time theme--wacky but marvelous. What a creative person, and so warm and welcoming as well.

Today we also went to the Saturday morning market in Nelson, and enjoyed the colours and activity. I was sad that we are travelling tomorrow, as they had buckets of magnificent golden yellow and mango orange calla lilies (see below) for $5 a bunch! As well, I was astonished to find cut gentians (fellow gardeners will know that for us these are a rarity, to be coddled into bloom) for $4 a fistful! Incredible. When I expressed my regret at not being able to buy either of these, because we were leaving, the vendor promptly broke off a spray of gentians and a calla, and gave them to me, telling me to enjoy them for the day. New Zealanders! They are amazing people.

Just a block from the market, I visited the studio/shop of the maker of the actual "One Ring" for Lord of the Rings, Jens Hensen--actually, they had to make about forty of them in various sizes. The largest one shown below (about 8" across) is the one filmed revolving in the opening scenes. Pretty cool.

On the way back to the cottage, we came across a kite flying festival, with handmade kites in every imaginable shape and size, including the seductive mermaid below. There were penguins, pandas, fish, frogs, seahorses, two scuba divers chased by sharks, and even a pair of legs kicking a soccer ball! At the same venue, young men were racing kite-powered skateboards and dune buggies. As wind is the one thing you can count on in NZ, they have found lots of ways to enjoy it.

Our slightly strange final dinner here tonight included pork chops (cured--all pork products here are cured like ham), corn on the cob (a bit closer to cow corn than you might like...) and cauliflower (did you know that, when you run out of butter, and you only have whole wheat flour, you can still make a cheese sauce with olive oil? looks very odd, but tastes ok). We will be sad to leave here, as we have enjoyed the area very much--but Arthur's Pass beckons!

Oh, and in response to a question posed in a comment on an earlier posting: there are no screens on windows here, and everyone keeps all windows and doors open. The only insects are bees (which never come in) and enormous 'house' flies, which look very menacing but in fact almost never land--they just buzz in, take a reconnaissance flight around, and buzz right back out again. So, sorry, no trouble here in Paradise!

"A three hour cruise..."

C'mon, you know the rest..."There's Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire and his wife..." Bet a loonie you'll be singing this theme song for the rest of the day--sorry! The connection is that we indeed took a 'three hour cruise' today, to Anchorage Bay in the Abel Tasman Park. This park is the most celebrated tramping track in NZ, with good reason, as it borders some of the most beautiful coastline in the whole country.

The day started off a bit slow...

Our cruise boat picked us up from the beach at Kaiteriteri, about 20 minutes' drive north of our current cottage, and paralleled the coastline in and out of beautiful bays, with the captain giving us the history of the area, for about an hour. This is the area where the first European, Abel Tasman (a Dutchman) came ashore on NZ in the mid-1700's (before Captain Cook, contrary to popular belief). Eventually we were dropped off at the Anchorage Bay beach (see below) where most of the others hoisted packs and disappeared onto the tramping track. We, on the other hand, spent a lovely hour having our picnic lunch and enjoying the sensation of being on a deserted island!



Then our water taxi arrived, dispelling the solitude, and we had an exhilarating ride back to our point of origin. You can see what Frank thought about it all...

Here are a couple of other photos from this week, one of a lovely Japanese garden that is just outside of the central shopping district of Nelson. It is a public park created to honour Nelson's partnership with a sister Japanese city. Very lovely.

And here's Frank enjoying the parasailing on the beach earlier this week...


And another gorgeous sunset that followed yesterday's rain (which this area desperately needs--it is unusually dry this year, we are told).

Not much more planned for this area this week--a drive up to Farewell Spit (the northernmost tip of the S. Island--and I promise not to spit) tomorrow, perhaps. It has been a wonderfully relaxing week. Next week is our time at a working sheep station atop the Southern Alps, so stay tuned for more vigorous news!!

P.S. I have finally mastered rotating and re-sizing my photos prior to posting them (thanks to John's ever patient tutoring!), but please let me know via comments if there is any decrease in quality from your end, or any other problems--thanks!

Riding the Ridge

Having driven almost the length of NZ in one go last time, we decided to take it a bit easier this time and break our drive to the north end of the South Island into two days. Along the way we stopped for lunch at the pretty public gardens in Oamaru, where I snapped this charming Chinese bridge. I have told Frank that I can see one just like it spanning our lake from the penninsula to the south shore. What else does he have to do, now that he's retired? ;)

We were very lucky in our choice of overnight accommodation, chancing upon a B & B just north of Christchurch. We had a huge bedroom with an ensuite, plus a large living and dining room all to ourselves, with a view over the adjoining golf course. Dinner in the small seaside town was the BEST Indian food I have ever eaten, in a tiny restaurant called The Spice of Life--yummy!! A bonus was this beautiful sunset. Great first day.

The next day's weather was quite different, having changed to cloudy and recurring showers, but this just made the drive through the Nelson Pass more dramatic. Our morning coffee stop was at a hot springs resort run by a Japanese family. Although we didn't indulge this time, we plan to come back here when we are again nearby in May. It's only $10 for an hour in these thermal pools, surrounded by gorgeous views of forested mountains in this nature reserve. The photo below shows the view.


We ate lunch beside this roaring waterfall before continuing north to the Nelson region.

Our cottage is on Manuka Ridge Farm, which sits high above the tiny village of Upper Moutere, just north of the city of Nelson. Matt (a pilot) and Dee Needham and their two daughters share space here with two Jack Russell terriers, four 'chooks' (hens), and eight horses. Our cottage, screened from their house by apple trees and roses, has a commanding view of not one, but two, mountain ranges, and a glimpse of the sea. It has a huge bed which faces out the front door to the view, a kitchen, small living room, and an all-blue bathroom complete with washing machine (not blue). Again, perfect! The best bit is the wide wraparound verandah from which to enjoy all those beautiful views.

Today was a very quiet day, recovering from the driving. I did a painting of the view from the house, and Frank connected with a couple of local woodworkers, and has ordered some panels of NZ woods to practice carving on later this week. Other than that, our toughest choice was which four wines to try out at the local winery (the late harvest reisling was wonderful!) and which natural fruit ice cream to try at the local dairy (banana is surprisingly good!). Life is good (even if you are a chicken on your side).

Wandering after Wargs

Early Wednesday (Jan 11) morning we left our cottage on the Otago Penninsula for a 2-day trek up to the Queenstown area, in search of a handful of Lord of the Rings filming sites and the spectacular scenery that surrounds them. It rained on and off for most of the day as we wound our way north through incredible mountain scenery, made very mysterious and awe-inspiring by the mists and drizzle.


Along the way, we stopped for a pint at The Cardrona Hotel, one of the oldest in NZ, and the inspiration for The Prancing Pony pub in The Fellowship of the Ring. See my own mysterious Ranger deep in thought (about his beer, I think!), below.

At Wanaka, we stopped for several hours to allow Frank to get his fill of vintage aircraft at the WWII Fighter Plane Museum. As he was almost the only patron, he had the chance to chat to the mechanics and really get a close-in look.

Passing through the busy tourist city of Queenstown by late afternoon, we continued in the rain, now heavy, along a 40k series of switchbacks to reach the village of Glenorchy at the head of Lake Wakatipu. In sunlight, this lake is a brilliant turquoise (like Lake Louise) due to suspended minerals in the water. At our first look, however, it was a sullen gray. We escaped the rain inside our tiny cabin at the holiday camp (two bunk beds, a lone lightbulb, and a heater!) and then spent an enjoyable hour cooking our supper in the communal kitchen, surrounded by a United Nations of young 'trampers' all trying to dry out and catch the weather forecast on the miniature TV. We also met a professor of law from the University of Auckland (and his charming wife who reminded us very much of Margaret Cunningham, Barry Moore's mother-in-law) who 'lectured' us for a half hour on the need to maintain the autonomy of the universities (NZ is moving quite strongly towards standardization of curriculum). It all sounded quite familiar, but we feigned polite interest and learned a lot! We both slept surprisingly well to the sound of the rain drumming on our roof, but woke to brilliant sunshine and a scattering of puffy white clouds--hurrah! Coffee in a tiny cafe, complete with a resident pussycat called Latte who allowed me a cuddle (to family: he looked just like our old Clove), a quick visit to a possum fur product shop (possums are an introduced menace in NZ), and we were ready to roll south again.


After a brief stop in Queenstown, enough to convince us that tourist towns are pretty much all alike, we proceeded to the REAL adventure--a trip up to the top of Deer Park Heights, an animal reserve/park about 20 minutes outside of Queenstown proper. Apart from the interest provided by the animals (red and fallow deer, goats, llamas and alpacas, highland cattle, tibetan yaks, miniature horses, and bison, almost all ranging freely) this park is the site of a major sequence in The Two Towers (LOTR alert: non-fans skip this section!).

Most of the sequence involving the retreat of the people of Rohan to Helm's Deep was filmed here, including the scene of the long train of people and wagons rounding a mountain tarn (see me on the exact spot below), Gimli's fall off his horse, Eowyn's 'stew' conversation with Aragorn (extended version only), Hama's death by Warg, Legolas' first shot at the Wargs and then his amazing leap onto his horse, the Warg battle, and Aragorn's slide over the cliff; as well, it is the site for the exit from The Paths of the Dead in the extended version of The Return of the King. It was amazing how small each film site is! We watched the Rohan sequence again after returning from the site, and the background is definitely recognizable, but looks so much bigger on screen--the magic of cinema! However, the Remarkables mountains in the background are just as majestic in real life. We spent more than two hours here, watching planes and para-sailors as well as marveling at film sites, and enjoyed it immensely (as my 100 photos attest--only hard-core fans will be subjected to these upon my return home).

This site is extra-special to me because it was LOTR producer Barrie Osborne's remark (on the DVD documentaries) that this scene required no touching up or digital changes, that it really was exactly as it looked, that was the beginning of my determination to come to this beautiful country and see this place for myself. A long road from that spark of an idea about three years ago to today--I can finally cross that item off my 'life list'!

We took a different route back south to the Otago Penninsula. A few miles down the road, we stopped at Hackett's, the original bungy-jumping site. Neither of us was tempted to 'take the plunge' (literally!) but we did enjoy watching the other intrepid tourists bouncing wildly by their feet from a suspension bridge over the Kawarau River. My interest, other than marvelling at their daring, was that this river was used as the Anduin, approaching the Pillars of the Kings, in The Fellowship of the Ring. Unfortunately, the exact site is not visible from the roadside, but enough can be seen to recognize the general area. It is also the river that Aragorn falls into when he slides over the cliff--that shot was intercut with the rock edge at Deer Park Heights, where more grass and rocks is really what is below that ledge.

The rest of the drive took us through gorgeous upland grasslands, filled with flocks of sheep and red deer herds, ringed by ranges of mountains. We both said that, should we ever really think about emigrating, this would be one of the areas we'd consider (just fantasizing, family, relax!). The only other stop was at one of the area's many fruit stands (it's a big apricot, cherry, and grape growing district) where there was also a surprisingly beautiful formal rose garden--an unexpected treat.

'Home' again to Silverlea cottage, with plans to relax Friday and pack up for our next move, to the gentle fruit and wine country near Nelson (top of the South Island), near the famous Abel Tasman Park.