Sittin' underneath the putukawa tree...

It was holiday time. I met Barney and Susie in Wellington, and we took this little jet to this little one-roomed airport in a little town of Kataia, a place you blink and you've passed it.


The bach (beach house) we stayed at was in a stunning place. A staircase led straight down to the sandy beach, where we swam in the mornings, and afternoons and whenever else the urge overtook us. A lot of reading, walking along the beach, napping, lounging, holiday-making. The beach is lined with putukawa trees, which bloom with red flowers around Christmas, making them the "Kiwi-Christmas Trees."

The "town" nearby was called Manganui, made up of a few small shops and restaurants. Barney took me out for awesome Thai food one night, an early birthday dinner, and some lovely gifts. :)

We drove to Kerikeri, about an hour away, to visit a yoga studio that Bexie had WWOOFed at her first month in NZ, with Louisa. The studio was beautiful-made out of an old church. The class was Iyengar and very strict (Louisa had studied with Iyengar's daughter and had learned yoga in a painful and tough way), but also very apt and huge into alignment.

After the class, Susie had a private session, so Louisa invited Barney and I to check out her house and make a cup of tea. I loved this house--big and open, with a mural on the wall and surrounded by gardens and chickens, geese, llamas.


Another day was the long drive up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand. So beautiful, and such a cool feeling to have reached one end, knowing that across that ocean lay Samoa, Australia, and eventually the rest of the world.


We visited Susie's friend Fernella, who lived in an isolated valley and was trying to become as self-sufficient and eco-friendly as possible. Her line of work was building coffins that break down over time and become part of the earth. Her house was beautiful, a little octogon surrounded by trees and garden, with a composting toilet and a waterhole.



After a rough patch in the social dynamic, the group ended up in Auckland, and I ended up in a hostel. Being back in the same big city 4 months later felt really bizarre, almost like I had never left. But there were a few things that had changed about me. I knew how to take things slowly and pleasantly, I knew what I could spend money on (like food), and Barney was with me most of the time. We hung out and read and explored.


It was Christmas there. It's hard to convince yourself into the Christmas spirit when it's 75 degrees and the flowers are blooming. But in Auckland it seemed to be a little easier...


I went to this cemetary on my own, and was surprised at how peaceful it was. All the gravestones, mossy and crumbling and sitting quietly in the dappled sun under the trees. They didn't call for your attention, they just sat. These two were my favorite, leaning together like companions.Cute store. Stores like this kind of suck for travelers, because you can't afford much in it and you wouldn't want to carry it anyway. That didn't stop me from looking, anyway. One of my future projects is making bunting--the flags.
Before Barney and Susie left, we went to her friend's house for lunch. These people were in the business of traveling to France and buying things from flea markets, then selling them in New Zealand. Their house was beautiful. Especially the window seat. And the computer sitting next to the sewing machine--something I envision for myself when I have a craft business in the future.


After Barney left, I busied myself wrapping and sending presents. The ugly hostel was not the ideal setting for such a festive thing, but I guess I can't be picky.


Then, thank goodness, Bexie arrived. We spent an evening wandering around, we found a Japanese store where everything was $3, and had some fun there. We also went to a tattoo parlour-art studio-tea shop-radio station, where an opening was going on, and got some free food from the refreshments table. I loved the idea of combining those 4 things though--it made for such a cool and interesting place to hang out.

Here's our findings at the Japanese store: pens, oragami, a lunchbox, ribbon, a sewing kit, galore...

The next morning (my birthday!) we high-tailed it out of the city, taking the ferry across to the Coromandel Peninsula. We did stop at Muffin Break before we left, and Anne and Megan, I thought of you!


The hostel we arrived at was %1000 better than in Auckland--here there were no locks on the doors, random art everywhere, and such a relaxed atmosphere.


I felt so special on my birthday. We had some relax time to read and drink tea, and Bexie bestowed me with presents, which we let the elephants in our room guard as we went out for the day...


To Driving Creek Cafe. This is such a cool place, very laid-back, very comfortable, great food. A little bungalow, with local art on the walls.
I loved the screenprinting that was being showcased. This one was named "Root Cellar".
We had the best lunch of tomato soup and a huge sandwich of greens and chutney and goodness. Everything was delicious!!


After lunch we walked up the road a bit to the Driving Creek Railway. This was a little train that was built to haul clay down the mountain for the pottery at the bottom, but has turned into a little touristy place, where you can see the art and pottery, and then take it up to the view at the "Eyefull Tower" at the top. The pottery was awesome, and so was the scenery. Along the way, there is walls of wine bottles and sculptures hidden in the forest- all very cute.Bexie and I at the top. She's such a lovely traveling companion. Afterwards we stopped again at the cafe for a pot of tea, and bagged our truffle and cookie to eat after dinner. Sitting and talking for a while.


When we stopped at the little grocer's to buy veggies for our pizza that night, we grabbed this, and enjoyed it in the park--soo yummy. And where else but in NZ can you get kiwifruit ice cream?
We pride ourselves in becoming expert-chefs of hostel-kitchens. We managed to make pizza that night, with flat bread and sauteed veggies, and it turned out beautifully. Paired with a Marlborough wine and finished with our treats from the afternoon, which became my little birthday cake...I had such a nice birthday. I felt so blessed to be turning 19 in such a beautiful place, with a good friend to share it with.

enter: Nelson

Nelson is the arts-and-crafts capital of New Zealand. No surprise then, that I loved this place.

We arrived by a windy bus-ride, and were spit up at the station with time to wait. I was so eager to explore the city, but turns out carrying large backpacks asnd duffels makes it a little hard. We did get a coffee, while we waited to be picked up by Gwenny, our WWOOFing host.

Originally from England, very matter-of-fact, Gwenny was a character. She lived in this 150 year-old house, with many of the original decorations and tins from when her parents had moved in during the 1960's (she admitted to us that she didn't like change.) But we found another side of her when we met her partner, Jace, an American with a common passion for Latin dance. Our first night there, we tagged along to join the Roeta class Jace was teaching, a type of salsa. We learned turns and partner changes in a small restaurant (I think we were good entertainment for the other customers.)

Our main jobs as WWOOFers were weeding thistles and foxglove in paddocks, cleaning porches, and stacking firewood. The land was nice, with lots of fruit trees and some sheep. We daily shook grapefruits from the tree, though these were very sour grapefruits. We tried baking them, with sugar and butter and cinnamon (I had seen the recipe before), but they didn't turn out very good. Way too sour.



Our trips into Nelson were nice, we saw a lot of art galleries, watched a man blowing glass, and stopped in the many bookstores, yarn shops, etc. The feel of the city was really nice, very laid-back and walkable.


This is Zippy's Vegetarian Cafe, just one of the more colorful ones we stopped in. Found out that ginger-oat slices are a very good thing.

We did stop in a few Asian markets, too. Hi Megan, I thought of you. These Japanese snacks were so cute! They had like, ones blowing bubbles and skipping rope, and behind the cupcake one there's a spatula.

We got baby carrots (and rosemary-infused honey) at a small market. Organic and fresh and oh-so-tasty. Photographed here with the packets of tea we had picked up at their Green Grocer.



The Market on Saturday made Nelson light up. The market itself was full of wood-workers, soap-makers, seamstresses, painters, bakers, coffee-makers, jewellers, potters, and knitters.


I was especially inspired by the screen-printing and sewing I saw, like these bird wallets. Bexie and I each bought one of the badges on the right.

And origami. The mobile on the left is kiwi-birds, and the guy told Bexie he would teach us how to make it, if we found origami paper to learn on. So we searched, but couldn't seem to find any. So we went online at the hostel and tried to learn. The ones we made weren't as good, though...


After the market we caught a bus back to Picton, and got straight onto a smaller ferry ( making for a much more bumpy trip than the first time), but had a good picnic of Nelson-market buys; gluten-free seed bread, the rosemary-honey, and really salty and good feta.

I think Nelson would be a good place to start a business, or raise a family, or start an action group. There's so many artists and alternative-thinkers there, but at the same time it's a really calm and close-knit feeling. Even though it's the sunniest place in New Zealand, it did rain half the time we were there. But rainy days make for good reading and knitting days, so I don't particularly mind...

Double Cove, lazy days

We waited at the Picton harbor, searching for an orange boat.

"How big do you think it's going to be?"

(We pictured a big, orange boat. Not so.)

Turns out 'orange' is also a good indicator that the boat will be small. And small it was. Trevor convinced us that our bags and selves would snuggle in, and we jetted off across the sound, to their little home tucked into the trees.

Lynn and Trevor had had a holiday "bach" (beach house) in Double Cove for 30 years, before retiring and deciding to build a home next to it. Bexie and I stayed in their old bach, and walk over for mealtimes and tea. The bach was still decorated from the 1970's and really awesome. We were excited to have a whole house to ourselves. I was especially jazzed by the wallpapered bathroom.

They didn't have much work for us to do. We were supposed to be painting the bach, but it rained the first day, so after breakfast and chatting, they let us just hang out in our bach, where we spent most of the day knitting and reading and doing yoga, and in the evening we lit the fire in our little stove, put on Bexie's honey-cinnamon-nutmeg face-mask and listened to podcasts. It's nice to travel with Bexie.

Trevor took us out on little explorations around the cove, to see other bachs, and to see blue cod and sting rays, and collect mussels from docks (to later steam for afternoon tea).


I thought these flowers looked like forget-me-nots (Alaska's State flower, of course) and was happy to see them.


The sun did come out the next day, though, and after some light cleaning, we were allowed to lay on the dock, and them go swimming. The water was full of jellyfish! But Trevor told us they didn't sting, and proved it by picking one up with bare hands. Still apprehensive, we initially screamed every time we'd bop! one on the head while swimming, but after not being stung, decided he must have been telling the truth.

Here's a jellyfish, on the right of the picture.
And a weka came to visit our home! They're like small hens with very sharp beaks, and apparently have a taste for WeetBix. It did accept this VitaWheat cracker that I fed it, though.



Before we left, we made an origami fish mobile for the bathroom. They emailed us later to tell us how much they liked it, and how much they enjoyed us staying with them. Bexie and I agreed it was really lucky to have a few easy days to just hang out in such a beautiful spot. The whole trip felt a little like staying with our grandparents, and I don't think we minded that one bit.

Thanksgiving by the Sea

A beautiful day in Picton. Bexie met me at the bus stop and showed me around the incredibly cozy hostel, Sequoia Lodge, that is by far the best hostel I've ever stayed in. With free internet, free hot tub, free breakfast, and free chocolate pudding every night, it was like a mini-vacation from all the WWOOFing.



On Thanksgiving day, we hung around the hostel in the morning (free breakfast!) and then slathered on sun screen and strolled around town. Checked out a Dutch "Bakerij", poked through some clothing shops, and then plopped down in the grass next to the sailboats and had a picnic.



We did stop in a great second-hand store, that had a good collection of glass bottles, antique postcards, and amazing salt-and-pepper shaker sets.


We took a 3-hour hike up "Queen Victoria's Viewpoint", and it totally deserved it's name. It gave us a chance to see all the way up into the sounds--I love how the hills become lighter shades of blue as they're farther away.


Hungry and tired, we threw together a rice, chickpea, carrot, red cabbage, and yellow pepper salad with avocado. We figured it had all the colors of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, anyway.


I was thankful to be traveling with Bexie, and to be in such a nice place, to have a yummy dinner, and to be headed to Nelson the next day.


And for the free chocolate pudding with ice cream, for dessert. :)