Adventuring

Happy Canada Day! A day early really, but I wore some red and white nonetheless. A few people with great memories even remembered to wish me a good one - how cool is that! I sought out the fellow Canadian turned kiwi who works at the Council, and we shared a happy moment and a quiet celebration after work (including a ride in her vintage cooper mini - wheeee!).

 

Canada Day aside, this week was Maori language week! We celebrated it at work with many activities, phone greeting contests and more. We had a great lecture by a local language historian on local Maori  place names and stories and how they related. I've found that I've picked up quite a few Maori words while here, I can hardly pronounce most of them, but I know what they're supposed to sound like! Our week finished with a workplace social 'boil-up' - a traditional Maori dish which involved boiling pork bones, potatoes, a bunch of other things, and a local vegetable a lot like watercress called (and I know the spelling's wrong) poha. The poha was prepared to perfection and the dish was very yummy! Later that evening, I watched a New Zealand movie, 'Once We Were Warriors,' for another perspective on kiwi life and had a chance to admire the beautiful Southern stars under a really clear sky. I don't think I have ever seen so many stars!!

We had absolutely fantastic weather for the weekend so, I went for an adventure! I went up to a huge sheep and beef farm, aka 'station,' with a friend from work. There, a group of about 10 of us young folk went to bring home the bacon, old-school style. We drove through a beautiful countryside for about an hour out of town to the Station, which was even more beautiful countryside.  There were great views of those huge and terraced hills that are so common in this part of the world and I never tire of admiring.

The hills, which also happen to be darn hard to take decent pictures of...

 

The main part of the farm included a beautiful old farm house surrounded with a lovely lawn and a few fruit trees (fijoah, mandarin, lemon, etc.); shepherd's quarters where about five or so  shepherds live full time and look after the sheep; dog's quarters where there must have been over 30 energetic sheep dogs living the good life; a shearing shed; and a few storage sheds. When we arrived, we decided to go to the Rere rock slide - something I'd heard I had to try, but hadn't been brave enough to without being equipped with a wet suit and inflatable tube/boggie board. Now, I had no excuses and we all went to the giant, natural, slopped rock face which made an absolutely amazing slide! Other than the mid-winter chill of the water and the slippery rocks, it was a lot of fun!

Me raring down Rere

 

We cleaned up and packed up to head out to the cabin in the woods of the farm. The cabin was quite nice and we started a great, roaring fire, no need for torches (flashlights). 'The boys' brought home their catch of five deer and we had a delicious 'tea' (that's what they seem to call dinner over here) of roast lamb and veggies and a great evening of socializing. Yummm.

A shepherd's dogs-in-waiting

 The next day we made the  exciting trek back to the main station via ute-back (the back of a truck) and bike (4-wheelers), divided the catch up into chilli-bins (coolers), checked out the farm a bit more, and parted ways. Great weekend, and hopefully some kiwi visits to Canada to come! When back home, I just couldn't ignore the perfect weather, and went for another walk around beautiful Wainui beach neighborhood, across the bridge to neighbouring Okatu, up the local hill at the end of the beach (Makarori headlands), checked out the Okatu scenic reserve, and returned home for tea. Tonight,  tea was a good mix of kiwi and Canadian with bacon and egg pie (kiwi), complimented by a Julie-made pumpkin pie. Yum!

The view of Wainui from the Makarori Headlands