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. :)

Christchurch Part 2: The Sun and the Shops.

My next encounter with this city was the few hours walking around while I waited for my bus to leave. Luckily, it was hot and sunny, the market was in full swing, and so were the ice cream vendors.


There was a lovely park next to the river, where it seemed like half the city was camped out with their ice creams and books, so I joined them for a while.


There was one awesome shop I found, just a little boutique with a lot of handmade New Zealand things, jewellery, journals, home decor, etc.

And then I hopped on the bus, and wound through these lush, green valleys at sunset.

A stop for dinner in Kaikoura, a tiny town on the coast, known for it's awesome dolphin-spotting. I sat on the rocky beach with crackers and pumpkin-kumara hummus, and had a nice conversation with Joe, from Wales. Meeting people while traveling is different than any other circumstance, it seems like people are more honest and open, and you get to know their life story before you stop and ask "Wait, what's your name?".

Christchurch Part 1: Food and otherwise.

Over the weekend at the sheep farm, I went into Christchurch to run some errands and see the city, with 2 of the girls also working at the farm. We went to second-hand stores and the mall, and ate some yummy foods.

Megan, I ate this and thought of you. We started the day at a cute bakery in Darfield, a tiny town outside of Christchurch. I had a strawberry cupcake, and thought of our Saturdays, because we went to like, 3 Salvation Army's afterwards. I wished you were with me:

This next dish isn't particularly attractive, but I took the picture mostly to remind myself that pumpkin, chickpea, spinach, and red bell peppers taste mighty good together.


Christchurch has a lot of old architecture, because apparently it was designed to be a classic English town. I didn't see a lot of the city on the first stop in, but this was driving though.

In the morning we went to the Raspberry Cafe, a pick-your-own berries farm. Everything looked really yummy, but I landed on the Lemon-Buttermilk Pancakes, because I've been missing that particular breakfast. And they had raspberry coulis and whipped cream on top, not bad at all.

They're half-eaten in the picture though. Gotta eat 'em while they're hot, you know.

We also went to a chocolate lounge (Megan, again, missed you) and they chocolate in the shape of almost everything. I only sampled the dark hot chocolate, not that I regret my decision.

There was a really cute stationary shop in the mall. Everything in this store was just so darn cute (and unfortunately pricey). I loved the bicycle-planners.

And we watched The Boat That Rocked. It was a good movie.