(never mind the blue on the map)
Since I've last been on here we ended up staying something like 7 or 8 days in Queenstown. I loved every single moment in that city, the backpackers we stayed in started feeling like our home away from home. Bunji Backpackers was my favorite hostel we've stayed in so far. The friends we met there are actually people I will stay in contact with for a long time, we usually hung out with the same group each night of about 10-15 people, sometimes going downtown or sometimes staying in and just messing around, cooking and watching movies. Staying in backpackers is a really unique experience because everyone staying in there is from all over the world, everyone is traveling and offering eachother advice from their travels. Usually the cheapest methods of travel, where to hitch a ride from travels, what cheap travel agency to go through, what local food shops are best...etc.The longer we stayed at Bunji, the harder it was to leave, we got to the point where we settled down long enough where it started feeling homely,casual and part of a routine. The last night in Queenstown it was 3 other people's last night and 2 birthdays so we all decided it was best to go out and celebrate the times we had there and the birthdays. Our bus left Queenstown at 8 am the following morning and a friend Mr.Longbottom from the UK was supposed to wake us up because his bus left at 7:30 am. He forgot to wake us because he woke late himself and had to hurry, so I ended up rolling out of bed at 7:45 to use the bathroom and realized suddenly we had 15 minutes to find our bus. An intense scramble of packing ensued, trying to pack down our sleeping bags,and all our clothes. We jogged down to the city about a 7 block distance to see our bus and make it just in time, as always. We rode North East for 8 hours heading to Christchurch, one of the larger cities on the south island. On the way we passed Mt.Hood which is the largest peak in New Zealand, and a few other nice mountain ranges. We slept in Christchurch one night at one of the more commercialized backpackers that was huge and felt more like a cheap hotel, not a very friendly environment so I was glad to wake up there and hop on the bus towards Blenheim at the top of the south island. On our drive along the east coast of the south island from Christchurch to Blenheim we went through Kaikoura which is the famous city for spotting whale and many forms for sealife. We saw a few Sea Lions but that was about it, still a beautiful coast though. After about 4.5 hours that day we arrived in Blenheim where a ton of travelers are occupied in the vineyards pruning, which is much needed work this time of season around here. We are headed this direction to meet our WWOOF Hosts, where we planned to do work on a Lodge in the Marlborough Sound region. They picked us up the following day in Blenheim, arrived with a pet deer they got in Kaikoura. Our task that day was to load the pet deer in the boat and get him back to Tira Ora Lodge, where they live and work. Bambi was in no mood for an easy stroll, so we actually had to pin/tackle down Bambi and tie his legs for the ride. I had to watch over him in the boat as Feigum and the Tony rode back to drop off the trailer, Bambi was kicking his hind legs fiercly and trying to spring free, so I was basically fighting a deer for about 2 hours. It is a 50 minute boat ride from Havelock(just near Blenheim) to Tira Ora Lodge located in the Pelerous Sound which is in the Marlborough Sound. We arrived at dark to Tira Ora, loaded up Bambi who, when finally free would actually follow us around and enjoy the company of people, liked to be pet just like a dog. The land was unbelievable, they have 550 acres of land filled with animals and some big mountainous hilltops behind, with a big dock, about 4 or 5 buildings, one their main house, a few bunk houses, one camp they use in the summer to house and enterain camp kids. A few barn type buildings as well. They had 3 ostriches,sheep,horses,pet deer,cows,pea cocks,4 dogs, a few cats, geese,donkeys and maybe a few others I'm forgetting. It was awesome the first day we arrived it was rest day. So we had all day to mess around with the animals and look around the property. Monday we chopped wood for about 3 hours then painted 3 more. On our 4th day there we realized 6 hours of labor was too much for vacation so we decided to take it easy a bit. The owners realized this and we all decided it was a good time for us to leave, since Tony was bringing back 2 other guys back to Havelock who were there scouting the land to bring kids to. If we waited longer our next ride would be Tuesday (7 days) and would cost $40 each. So we packed up after 4 days at Tira Ora Lodge and came back to Blenheim, the 2 gentlemen gave us a ride back here free, so we arrived in Blenheim again last night and it appeared we would be taking the sleeping bags and sleeping in a park since all the hostel offices close around 8. After walking around and trying to hitch rides towards Picton/Wellington for 2 hours we finally found a hostel that was open, and they gave us a really good deal. At Tira Ora we came across some pretty crazy times, a small plane in the area ran out of fuel right near Tira Ora and were preparing to crash land in the sound, they came over the ridge and saw the air strip the lodge had, they had no idea it existed, they said they saw their lives flash before their very eyes. They magically had a safe landing, they were gliding at that point. The family had them in for coffee to ease the nerves a bit. The 2 on the plane stayed for awhile then refueled and did a few laps over the lodge to check if the fuel was efficient then took off. That was a pretty intense episode. Now here we are back in old Blenheim again, in contact with an organic bakery that e-mailed me saying they could use some help in Nelson, which pleases me. I've heard Nelson his very scenic, has many lakes and is only an hour and a half west of us right now. If that doesn't develop we will head to stay with Ben again up in Wellington which is a 30 minute drive, and 3 hour ferry ride north of us on the bottom of the north island. In wellington we will probably look for a good job around the city, keep our eyes and minds open.
Hopefully by the next time I make it on here we will be accomplished organic bakers or have reunited with Ben McLean.
http://www.tira-ora-lodge.com/
Kia Ora,
Kc
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