WWOOF #8: Family Time

We arrived at the Squire's home after a bit of confusion with the directions just before dinner time. There were no doubts that we were in the right place since Nathan (8) had drawn us a little welcome flag of the US and a note with our names on it. John greeted us and told us to make ourselves comfortable since the rest of the gang was at the pool. The house was quite large with high ceilings and lots of wood, but very comfortable and lived in.  There wasn't a lot going on in their area. The closest town of Tapawera had barely more than a school, grocer/post shop, community center/op shop and that was about it. You'd have to drive about a half of an hour to Motueka to find much beyond that. But their property was beautifully set in a valley on the outskirts of the Kahurangi National Park. One could stand in their yard and have a 360 degree view of the mountains surrounding you as far as the eye can see. Steve and I both agreed that they had the best view out of all of our hosts up to that point.

John and Maree own about 50 sheep for their Lamborganic company, which is much less than they had on their prior property – 5,000 – from which they moved from about four years ago. During the past year they decided to start their dune buggy business, Wild Tracks, with only partial support from the neighbors. Many of them believed it would be too noisy and there would be too much traffic on their gravel road, kicking up heaps of dust. A few neighbors went so far as to take up their complaints with the local council, resulting in a hearing being scheduled for all involved. Fortunately for John and Maree, a law was changed just before the hearing, making it unnecessary. The new law stated that unless someone was doing something that could harm the environment, people's opinions were of no importance. Noise is not a valid complaint – especially in a farming area where machinery and spray-dumping helicopters are far noisier than a few dune buggies and their occupants playful screams. The council also remained behind John and Maree during the whole situation, so although unfortunate that it took so long to get started, they eventually opened and said that the extra time just allowed them to make the track that much better.

The Squires' gorgeous property and view.

John and Maree met when Maree was in her last year of high school and John went to his mate's holiday house during the summer. Maree just happened to be his friend's sister and, much to his mate's dismay, it was love at first sight. Apparently Maree laid it on thick according to John, and she didn't deny it, saying that she wasn't going to let him slip away. They had a long distance relationship for the next several years while she studied to be a teacher.  They wrote each other heaps of letters and sent one another cassette tapes that they recorded themselves talking on.  John said he loves her even more now than he did then. Their 14 year old son Matthew is very talented at a large number of things: graphic design, guitar, piano, mountain biking and others. Their other son, Nathan, was a ball of energy and imagination. His creative ideas were endless as we conjured up the plan to make a pirate movie! Definitely a leader, Nathan took pride and was very comfortale with directing others both in film-making and Nerf-gun battles. He was very fascinated by all of our suburban wild animals, especially squirrels who he begged for us to return to NZ with several times. He had a great sense of humor and enjoyed Steve's silliness.

Oops.

On our first day of work, after a bit of the normal weeding, John sent us to work cleaning the water troughs throughout the property that are used for his sheep. We had to empty them with buckets and shovels, then scrub off the mold and build-up and add a little concentrated hydrogen peroxide that basically sizzled off any remaining dirt. We stacked some wood and moved some rocks after a little debacle with a huge metal fork on the tractor piercing the rear tire of John's 4X4 ute (pick-up). Kelley and I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't us and Steve felt horrible, but John was great about it and shrugged it off since we all make mistakes.

Kelley and I in front of Split Apple Rock

The next day we had off, so we used it to do some hiking. We got our first taste of the Abel Tasman National Park by checking out Split Apple Rock and then a wild and windy walk along a long sand spit in nearby Motueka. It was nice to be out and about on a beautiful day. Some work that kept us busy throughout the rest of the week was cleaning out the chicken coop, some wood-staining, housework and helping organize their life-sized chess and checkers games at an outdoor movie in town.

We took another day off on Friday to meet up with Dylan and Amanda for a hike at Nelson Lakes National Park. It was recommended to us by quite a few locals and it lived up to the hype with beautiful views and LOTS of sandflies.  We did a short loop track before having lunch on the end of a jetty (dock) surrounded by eels, ducks and black swans. After lunch we went on a long uphill hike on the other side of the lake.  After about an hour or so we reached a great overlook of all of Lake Rotoiti and spent some time taking it all in. Kelley and I (as the least capable hikers) led the pack so our endurance had pretty much hit it's peak and we all headed back down after that with ice cream on our minds. After our ice cream fix and a bit of time hanging out, we headed back to the Squire's to begin filming our pirate movie!

Nelson Lakes National Park

Pirate movie cast and crew

After seeing Nathan's starring role as a heroic Knight in a trilogy made with a former French wwoofer, ideas started forming for a pirate movie and soon enough Nathan was hooked! Every waking moment was spent planning the sets, the lines, the costumes! Every time he saw you, he interrogated you about whether your costume was prepared and when we could start rehearsals. Finally the time came for filming and the whole family took part – each family member having anywhere between 2-4 parts each. Much of the filming process was a bit unorganized and confusing, but it was fun and I think Nathan was relieved to see all his hard work and planning finally come together. Matthew had a hand in filming and we just barely finished it all before daylight disappeared.

The next day we did our last bit of work on their property and then it was time for our much-anticipated buggy ride! Kelley rode with John, Steve drove the two of us, and Maree and Nathan brought up the caboose as Matthew and Jordan borrowed our cameras, literally snapping hundreds of photos. It was a blast – with steep hills and tight curves and a huge mud pool where we all got totally soaked from head to toe. The work that went into all the details of the track – with sprinklers soaking you at different parts and always a new animal sculpture or something interesting to spot – was obvious and very much appreciated. John is incredibly talented at not only dreaming up amazing things but also making them a reality.

In addition to the extensive and well-thought out buggy track, John had created an awesome remote-control tank course that was a lot of fun. There were two tanks, each with a pin at the end of a moving arm and there were several balloons throughout the course that the tanks had to pop as they maneuvered all the obstacles. There were bridges and ramps and moving bits and bobs like an elevator and merry-go round contraption that the tank had to climb on, roll across, and swing it's way to the other side. There were routes with different levels of difficulty and it really took focus and some walking around the track to inspect all your options. It was really awesome and great for problem solving and even team building skills.

While we were there, John explained that they ask for a gold coin donation for the life-size board games which they give to a local charity, usually the volunteer ambulance group. Rather than having a boring bucket to throw the money into, John wanted to make something that encouraged kids to keep asking their parents for another dollar coin to donate – something like those things in shopping malls that look like a huge yellow toilet bowl where your coin spins round and round until it falls through the hole in the middle. Instead, he drew up an extraordinary wooden track that would be over a story tall, involving weights and a spinning piece at the bottom where your gold coin would disappear. After watching a few YouTube videos to get some more ideas and perfecting his blueprintt, he got to work on it the next day. Within a day or two, it was complete and absolutely fantastic! It had a lot of moving parts and was beautifully carved out of plywood (his favorite material to work with) and stained. He has made several beautiful 3D puzzles that were very topographic, showing off all the different shades of plywood. He even made one in the shape of New Zealand. He made four or five incredible pirate swords for our pirate movie and Nathan let us each take one home, signed by the whole family.

Arthur

One of our favorite daily chores was feeding their baby lamb, Arthur, every morning and evening. Once when Arthur didn't come running when we called like usual, Kelley and I went looking for him in the paddock where all the pet sheep were, and all of a sudden they all started charging us – we totally freaked out. Fortunately they were just interested in the bottle and some attention.

We had a nice time with the Squire's and enjoyed the visit from their friends Ted and Sally and son Harry on their camper-bus which was super awesome! They definitely lived the vagabond lifestyle. But when our time came to an end, we were excited to begin our next adventure! We weren't able to do our kayaking trip like we had planned because the weather was a bit too rough and windy, so we changed our plans to spend two nights camping at Awaroa Bay in the Abel Tasman National Park. Little did we know about the adventure that was before us...

Ringing in the New Year

Picton harbour

Steve and I left the North Island on the afternoon of New Year's Eve and the ferry ride was magnificent. It was strange leaving the big city life of Wellington to arrive at the small sleepy town of Picton, but it seemed to be a busy place that night. When we stopped at the biggest grocer in town for some dinner and weekend supplies, they hardly had a loaf of bread on the shelves! We stayed at Atlantis Backpackers (recommended to us by our former host, Kerry) and it was a colorful place owned by a colorful ex-pat from Michigan. We had a low-key New Year's Eve after a lovely salmon meal, just sharing wine and champagne in our room while we played cards and talked. It made for a really nice New Year's, just the two of us, and proved the advice we got from Malcolm to keep your expectations low for New Year's instead of always being disappointed by a mediocre night.

Mistletoe Bay

In the morning we left Atlantis for the long, curvy drive to an eco-friendly holiday park at Mistletoe Bay along the Queen Charlotte Track. We stopped in Havelock - "Mussel Capital of the World" -  for some groceries and found an awesome op shop (opportunity shop, i.e. thrift store) that funded their local museum. For $5 we left with a bag full of some great camping & cooking gear and some old magazines. Then back through the windy maze to Mistletoe Bay where we were met by Dylan and Amanda for some good ol' camping. Because of the holiday weekend, the place was packed but it was such a beautiful spot that we didn't mind.

We made dinner at our campsite and soon enough our camping neighbors came by to share some of the mussels they had collected from some rocks nearby. They were delicious! Steve tried the biggest one in the pot (almost the size of his fist) and we all heard the big crunch on his first bite- most likely a crab or other creature that had made his way inside. But Steve crunched on out of politeness to our neighbor who chatted us up much of the evening. Afterwards he admitted it was disgusting. I guess sometimes bigger isn't always better! It was a good lesson since the next day we went on a little mussel hunting of our own.

Collecting mussels

We decided to go on a short hike in the morning to kick off our day and did an hour loop along the bay. It was a little harder than usual since a few sections of the trail were completely washed out from recent rains. We came across a Weka (a cheeky, flightless bird that looks a lot like a kiwi, except lacking the long beak), and Steve found a place to pop in the water and grab a handful of mussels to store in our handy Cookietime bucket (earned while busking in Wellington) for dinner later. Steve was beside himself with excitement that we were collecting our own dinner and wondered why anyone would buy mussels when they were everywhere – and FREE! 

After lunch we moved our campsite to the other end of the campground since some people were leaving and we wanted some shade. We rigged up a fabulous shade sail over our blanket between Vinnie (our car), Tranny (their campervan), and some nearby trees. Then we geared up for a longer hike, having no idea what was ahead of us. At first we planned to do another closeby loop but halfway through we took a detour to Hilltop Lookout instead. This was no hilltop according to my body, this was a mountain! It was rough! The rest of the group had much more endurance and stamina and I was constantly left behind, struggling to catch up, and eventually became miserable and pissy, declaring my hatred for New Zealand and my total lack of enjoyment for the experience. I was not a pleasure to be around (sorry about that again guys). Eventually we made it to the top and the view of the sounds was stunning. I didn't find out until about 10 minutes later when I finally caught my breath and dragged myself to my feet again from my collapsed position at the top. It was hard for me to switch to a good mood again after hating life for the past hour but going down was nice and ice cream was waiting for us at the camp store at the bottom. When we got back, Steve made mussel marinara which was yum! Then we all laid in the grass on our blanket looking at the thousands of stars, each of us catching a glimpse of a shooting star or two.

Hilltop Lookout

Steamy pot of mussels

The next day we decided to tackle some of the Queen Charlotte Track – 2&1/2 hours in, stop for lunch, 2&1/2 hours back. I considered staying behind since I didn't want to hold anyone back but Dylan encouraged me to come, promising that we would take it easy. Early on in the hike I made a deal with Steve that either everyone went ahead and I walked alone, at my own pace, or he walked alongside me so I didn't feel like I was constantly holding everyone up and struggling to keep up. He was pretty good about staying with me and I focused on having a positive attitude this time. The hike was really nice. There was a decent amount of uphill but also a good amount of downhill and flat parts, and at the peak of our walk you could see both the Kenepuru Sound and the Queen Charlotte Sound on either side of the mountain. We sat and had tuna sandwiches for lunch as we watched the ferrys float past on the Queen Charlotte Sound and the long rest was much appreciated. After we returned, another ice cream break was in order and Steve, Amanda and Dylan went for a swim to pick up some more mussels for our tapas dinner that night. The sting rays swimming nearby cut their swim a little short, however. The mussels were great with just a drizzle of a local dressing from Wellington called Rocket Fuel.

The next morning we packed up our things early and headed to Christchurch where our good friend from Columbus, Kelley, was due to arrive.  The drive down the east coast of the south island was nice, mostly around Kaikoura where whale-watching is quite popular.  We saw some seals and stopped for a picnic lunch overlooking the Pacific.  When we made it to Christchurch, we stopped at the hostel we planned to stay at the next two nights hoping for some available beds but they were full.  Instead we stayed at a place called the Small Kiwi House, a nice clean hostel with a lot of long-term guests (mostly Asian).  We stayed in a room with an older German guy named Hans who was doing heaps of tramping throughout the south island's most popular tracks: Queen Charlotte, Abel Tasman, Milford and Heaphy.  Hans showed us all of his hiking bits and bobs and told us about how you always want to make sure that the least capable person leads the group on the hike.  That made me feel a lot better about holding everyone else back!

Christchurch Cathedral with Kelley

Our stay there was nice and in the morning we took a quick walk around Christchurch before picking up Kelley at the airport.  Despite all we had heard about Christchurch being sub-par, we both liked it quite a bit.  The old Ennglish architecture mixed with the modern, the bustle of the central square,... it was no Wellington but it was unique and worth exploring!  Around 11am we headed to the airport to pick up Kelley.  We were both really excited and went in to find her.  It was an exciting moment when we finally spotted her and shared some hugs, but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows since the airline had lost her bag.  We headed to our new hostel and relaxed for a few minutes before heading out for burritos.  It was no Chipotle but it hit the spot as our first Mexican meal in months!  We spent a few more hours exploring the Botanic Gardens before free dinner back at the hotel.  We were all starving by the time dinner at our hostel was ready - sausages, rolls, and salads - not bad for free!!

Driving through Arthur's Pass

The next morning we set out for our long drive back north to Nelson, through Arthur's Pass which Steve was really excited about.  I took a stab at driving so he and Kelley could enjoy the scenery - plus it helped keep my carsickness at bay.  There were plenty of awesome views as we drove through the Southern Alps, although halfway through it started to rain - making driving around the tight curves and steep cliffs more than a little scary.  On the way we stopped for some meat pies and baked goods.  Meat and cheese pies are famous in New Zealand and can be found at every corner dairy, petrol station and regular Kiwi restaurant/cafe.  They're messy and chock full of fat- similar to a chicken pot pie.  Very tasty!  Steve tried the Kiwi staple steak and kidney while Kelley and I shared a mince and cheese.  I topped it off with a mini-boysenberry pie and Steve and Kel had some pastries of their own.  We continued the long drive, stopping for a few pictures along the way until we finally made it to Nelson.

Nelson

The Green Monkey Backpackers in Nelson turned out to be really awesome.  We had our own room with a double bed and a single with a TV and DVD player in our room!  They even had free cake for their guests every night!  After settling in, we headed out to Hell's Pizza to try out the famous NZ pizza joint and it certainly lived up to its reputation!  The next day we picked up Kelley's bag -  which miraculously made it to the Nelson airport - and spent the day exploring the city.  We had lunch at the park and checked out the beach before making the short drive to Tapawera for our next wwoofing experience!