NZ – New Friends, Hiking, Farming, School and Rain

Here it is, our long overdue first posting from New Zealand. Yes everybody, we still are alive and well. Just too many days at places with generators, no internet access and on the trail.

Landing in New Zealand after three months in South East Asia and India felt quite a bit like going home. Suddenly, we were once again in familiar western surroundings with the added bonus of English being spoken, a first for us after 5 1/2 months in non-English speaking countries. It felt great for us all and was a wonderful place to find ourselves. Our first meal out was to a local fish n chips shop where we were served the most amazing massive pile of perfectly breaded and fried fish with crisp chips all on large sheets of paper. It tasted even better than it looked and Eliot exclaimed “This tastes better than ice cream,” the days of dal, naan, pad thai and thrice daily french toast behind him.

Ainsley did a huge amount of the planning for our first few weeks in NZ, so we were very prepared. We spent the first two nights in jail, literally. Well, in The Jailhouse Accommodations, a former jail that was converted to a hostel sometime after 1999, the last year it operated as a jail. This was our base for our first few days of adjusting to the time zone, a 7 1/2-hour difference from India, and exploring Christchurch in general. From there we moved onto Nikki and Graeme Adams’ house. We met them only briefly at the K’s House hostel in Hiroshima, and they graciously offered to host us when we came to New Zealand. They have two grown boys, had traveled for six months with them in Europe when they were our kids ages, and know how much it means to a travel-weary family to have a comfortable place to call home for a few days. The kids enjoyed new “old” books, Nikki’s movies, a fabulous player piano, their boy’s old lego collection, and the joys of New Zealand’s favorite, Hokey Pokey (a caramel-like homemade candy and popular ice cream flavor). Nikki, Kelli and Ainsley watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice into the late hours many nights. Graeme and Nikki shared their tramping experiences, recommendations, and even some gear to get us fully outfitted for the upcoming Routeburn Track. I celebrated my birthday during our second stay with them, and Kelli prepared “Gabriel’s Chicken,” an all time family favorite, and a birthday pound cake with berries and cream for “pudding.” Believe me, everyone loved having a familiar homemade meal and Kelli liked having a kitchen to work in. What wonderful hosts and nice new friends they have become for us. We are extremely appreciative of their kindness and generosity. We didn’t take a lot of pictures. Here are a few, but we’ll be back and plan to take a few more. The view of Christchurch from their deck is beautiful and we’ll capture Graeme too.

We also met Billy O’Steen and his family in nearby Sumner, a beautiful, sleepy little beach town a whopping 8 km from center Christchurch (people here say it is so far out of town how can you live there?). Ainsley and Jack went to The Sumner School for a day and later went swimming, and we all enjoyed a “Sausage Sizzle” (NZ barbecue) at Billy’s house. Billy was previously a professor at NC State where he taught Matthew Ross, one of Ainsley’s favorite teachers at Friends School, and worked with the Head Teachers of the middle school. Renee, the current Head, visited with Billy and The Sumner School a number of weeks prior to our visit and plans are underway for a joint service project of some kind between the two schools. What fun it was to go to school again and see what life is like for a young American family in New Zealand.

After Christchurch we headed east and south to the Banks Peninsula and The Purple Peak Retreat for five days with sun and surfing in mind. If not for the daily rain and biting cold, it was a perfect plan. Thankfully, even in the rain the Banks Peninsula is a stunning visual landscape. We made the most of our time though, returning to Christchurch one particularly rainy day, spending time at the Akaroa library (books in English!) and finding other means of entertainment while we waited for a break in the rain. The sun finally came near the end of our stay and we headed out to Raupo Bay with wet suits and boards in hand. Surfing always looks so easy, but rest assured that standing up on that tippy board is much harder than it looks. (Not all of us can be like Eric Poncelet after all!) Everyone but Eliot gave it a whirl with varied results. Jack got the prize for the best surfer in the family, standing up and actually surfing a number of times. He had glee in his eyes and a huge smile on his face the entire time.

Our next adventure was on the much anticipated Banks Peninsula Track. Unlike the DOC (Department of Conservation) Routeburn Track, the BP Track covers primarily privately owned farmland and is offered by a small group of farm families interested in opening up their land for limited recreational use and to diversify their income. A maximum of 16 hikers start each day and stay in lovely and unique farm houses/cottages along the way. Fresh fruits, vegetables, steak, lamb, beer, wine and yes chocolate are available to purchase at two of the cottages so packing in four days of food isn’t required. I referred to this as “hiking on training wheels” which was a great way to get our legs moving again and prepare for the more serious Routeburn Track.

The first day entailed a hike into Akaroa from Purple Peak and then a bus ride to our first night accommodations at the Onuku Farm. The farm overlooked the Akaroa harbor and included a number of stargazer huts, basically wooden lean twos with plexiglass directly above your head. Jack and I snapped one up and enjoyed the stars on an extremely clear night. We got to know a few of our fellow travelers and also learned about Adrenalin Forest, a high ropes course that we would do on our next trip to Christchurch.

The first day of real hiking began the next day with a constant climb up to the Trig GG summit. Yes, we all talked about GG at the top, but not for long as we hiked most of the day in a cold rain with a strong wind as an extra bonus. Mick, one of our new hiking friends from England, saved the day for Kelli with a cup of tea at the halfway shelter. The remainder of the hike was mostly downhill and entered a more protected, forested ravine section full or waterfalls and extraordianry plants before we arrived at Flea Bay fully soaked. The wood fire and lots of room to hang clothing, along with a good hot meal, completed the day. A great one, even in the cold rain. Everyone was happy to be outside!

Flea Bay was a magical spot! Yet another truly beautiful bay on the peninsula complete with a great tour of their penguin conservation efforts, a sea kayak ride the next morning and an opportunity to interact with the sheep shearers in action as we set off for the second full day of hiking. We saw seals and penguins on our kayak ride and then Hector Dolphins in the bay as we climbed away from Flea Bay.

The hike from Flea Bay to Stony Bay followed the contours of the coast, climbing up and down through a few other small bays along the way. It was a very, very beautiful walk complemented by a bright, clear sunny day. We saw many young seals frolicking in the tidal surges at Seal Cave and numerous other natural wonders along the way. The hiking was relatively easy, especially compared to the previous day’s climb in the rain. We were also looking forward to our arrival at Stony Bay which veteran hikers described as magical. Mick also told Ainsley and Jack about a secret feature, which turned out to be the best tree swing they’d ever seen. In addition there were two wood fired baths, old cast iron claw foot tubs retrofitted with a wood furnace beneath them. You sat on a wooden board in the water to avoid being burned by the extremely hot surface of the tub. Jack and Eliot had a great time with their tubs. There was also a whimsical shower that took advantage of a large tree trunk for one of its walls. We had a great dinner too, from the well stocked store in the pictures below.

The last full day of hiking from Stony Bay to Otanerito Bay brought more familiar, but still stunning scenery along the coast. This day was a bit more special as we spent some time hiking with our new BP Track friends. They included Jonathon (a music professor from Christchurch, but originally from England) and his grown son, Mick (the veteran hiker of the group from England and Jack’s favorite playmate), Gemma (school teacher from England enjoying a year of travel) and Mary (fellow Quaker from the Adirondack’s returning from a 5 month stint in Antarctica!). They all made the trip even more special for us and we’re certain that we won’t enjoy the same camaraderie on the Routeburn. We did run into Mary again in Queenstown which was really fun and she is two days ahead of us on the Routeburn. After our night in Otanerito, we hiked back up to Purple Peak on our final day, again inside a shaded ravine following streams and waterfalls. Stunning all.

We spent one more night at Purple Peak Retreat after the BP Track, but as it was raining and raining hard again we decided to head back to Christchurch instead of staying on the Peninsula any longer. Back we went to Nikki and Graeme’s for my birthday dinner, the conclusion of the marathon version of Pride and Prejudice and lots of piano ‘playing’. We also spent many hours at the Adrenalin Forest, which was a ‘must see’ after the kids heard the description on the first night of the BP Track. It was great fun for all, except Eliot who was limited by his height to the first 2 of 6 levels, and Kelli, who is none too thrilled by heights. Jack and Ainsley were completely in their element and continue to this day to voice a strong desire to go back. They each, along with me, completed all 6 levels comprising over 100 different aerial pathways. The last level was more than 20 meters in the air. It was not nearly as beautiful a setting as the Flight of the Gibbon zip line we did in Thailand, but it was much more independent, more challenging and as a result more fun. Only 25% of all people complete the 6 levels, and only 1/3 of those choose to tackle the Adrenalin Max Jump, which Jack, Ainsley and I all did! So, A & J were thrilled that they are among the top 8% or so of all visitors to the forest. It was really amazing and odd considering that we didn’t even have to sign any waivers or paperwork. Gear, a bit of training and we were off on our own and on the cables. New Zealand has an interesting approach to legal liability, no wonder bungy jumping started here. Well, to the pictures now, but Kelli stopped taking them after level 2, we were getting too high for her.

Our next stop was a farm stay with the Braham family about 1 1/2 hours south of Christchurch, near the town of Ashburton. We connected with Robert, Sue and their three boys through a website called Farm Helpers in New Zealand, FHINZ for short. They provide a listing of farms throughout the country who provide room and board in exchange for 4 - 5 hours of work on the farm each day. I guess you can say that we worked for our supper during our visit with them.

They have about 80 acres of land, 9 bulls, one milk cow, 2 calfs, 20+ sheep and a number of pigs. They also raise about 400 calfs each season, but March is a quieter time on the farm. My contribution was cutting and splitting wood to prepare for the winter and help installing a new structural beam in the attic of the farm house. Kelli helped feed the pigs, cooked a bit (chocolate chip cookies) and did plenty of dishes. The kids learned a lot about farming, played with their three boys ages 8, 10 and 11 and Jack and Eliot went to school one day. We all went rabbit shooting one evening, although we hit only tree stumps much to the delight of our crew. Ainsley and Jack rode the small motor bike and we all watched with amazement as Don the dog man-handled the bulls to move them from paddock to paddock. Ainsley even said a few times that she would really like to be a farmer.

In the end the best part was how Robert and Sue welcomed us to their family and farm. We really were allowed to fit right into their daily routine, experience life on a small family farm and help out along the way. Their boys were so welcoming too, eager to see us each morning and excited to play with the kids when they got home from school. Kelli attended a rural women farmer’s group meeting where she listened to a presentation by a local veterinarian and heard planning work for the agenda for the year. At the end of the week I was a bit tired, but we were all sad to leave. Our time with the Brahams will most certainly be a highlight of our two months in New Zealand. We have another farm visit tentatively planned for the North Island time permitting.  We did take one day off from working on the farm to drive to Mt. Cook.  In fact, the lead photo for this article is from a short day hike we took on the Hooker Valley Track to the base of Mt. Cook, the top of which we never saw due to rain and clouds.  Hopefully we’ll see it when we go by later in our NZ stay.  We did love seeing glaciers again, and had many thoughts of Argentina, a similar landscape.

OK, at this point it is getting late and I’m honestly running out of steam. Not sure that I did justice in describing the farm stay, but perhaps more on that later. The pictures that follow are from our drive to Queenstown from the farm, along the East Coast of the South Island. The Moeraki Boulders are naturally formed stone honeycomb boulders just lying on a beach and in a hillside. They are quite a compelling and mysterious sight to behold. We had much fun climbing, jumping and dancing around. Enjoy these last pictures for now. Off to sleep before heading into the woods on our hike tomorrow.