Back in Straya

Hi!

After a very gentle poking from James' mum I've been reminded that I haven't been keeping this up to date. Whoops. So here I am again.

I left you 4 weeks ago just as I was about to take on 2 weeks of Conservation Volunteers New Zealand (CVNZ). What a marvellous two weeks it was. I was picked up from the rather dire Base hostel in rather lovely Christchurch on Monday morning by a chap called Sam in his minibus. Along with Sam were Bruno (French) and Andy (English). Sitting behind Sam I couldn't help but notice his 'interesting' haircut, but didn't feel like I could comment on it so left it. We drove out of Christchurch and headed over to the West Coast via Arthur's Pass. What a fabulous drive. I was also lucky enough to get my first sight of wild Keas at Arthurs Pass village. They certainly lived up to their 'cheeky' reputation, as one stole something from a group next to us causing a chap to leap from his seat, run across the road, jump onto a bin and haul himself up onto the roof of a bus shelter to rescue whatever it was that was taken. He came back triumphant, but I have the feeling that it doesn't always work out like that!

So anyway, after a few hours we made it over to Punakaiki. Luckily Andy (who had already been there a few weeks) asked Sam about his hair and it turned out that he'd dropped his hair clippers, picked them up, and continued to shave without realising that the guard had slipped off. Hmm. I must say I was glad to find out that the short patch of hair was not the result of brain surgery or similar. Waiting for us at the volunteer house were Laurie (also French) and James (a different one, also English, and according to him, the coolest guy I've ever met. Arrogant). It didn't take long for us to all fall into a routine of taking the mick out of each other =) Clearly we were going to work well together.

The work? In the first week at Punakaiki we ended up doing an assortment of jobs, ranging from building stoat traps, to painting, to planting native shrubs and trees. One of the aims at this project site is to return some land that was previously used as pasture to native bush. I must say it felt good to do something so worthwhile. The project only started about 4 months ago and already a lot has been accomplished. It would have been brilliant to spend more time there but alas one never knows these things until it's too late! Evenings at Punakaiki were spent on the beaches watching fabulous sunsets and then enjoying the food prepared by whoever felt like it. As I love french food, it was a real treat to have Bruno and Laurie there as they both prepared some first class meals. Sam also made us confit on a budget (chicken thighs instead of duck) which turned out to be fabulous.

The weekend was free time, and we decided to venture down to Hokitika to take in the Wild Food festival, something of a phenomenon in New Zealand. Originally intended as a celebration of all the food that can be found in the bush, it's now turned into something of a drunken event and an excuse to dress up with the food somewhat pushed into the background. There was some first class people watching to be had (where else could you see teletubbies mingling with oompa loompahs, while a man wandered past with a giant inflatable dolphin?), alongside the opportunity to try some more obscure tasty treats. Worms, huhu grubs, worm larvae ice cream, testicles.. you name it! I did think that $2 for a worm was a bit steep mind, could've just dug one up myself.

The next week we headed down to Okarito, just north of the glaciers. We stayed in the YHA, acutally a turn of the century schoolhouse, a remnant of the goldrush that took over the town. What a gorgeous little building. Unfortunately, this week wasn't to turn out quite as planned. 100m before arriving at the school (after driving about 5 hours) a lawnmower threw up a stone which smashed the back window of the van into a million pieces. Poor sam then had to try and make arrangements to get it fixed. The nearest place that could do it was 4 hours away... we'd passed through on our way down. Not so good.

The main objective in Okarito was to help clear away the gorse that was ruining a recreation area and also threatening to take over the beach. Not the most pleasant job in the world, and hard work, but quite satisfying to see what a difference a few hours with the loppers could make. We only managed to get a day and a half of work in, as the weather rained us off for a full day, and we had to leave a day early to get the van fixed. Andy, James and I went for a swim in the lagoon on the beach, getting eaten to death by sandflies in the process. Good times =)

Memorable quotes include:

Sam: 'I didn't realise Rudyard Kipling was so racist'
Katy: 'Well, he was brought up in colonial India.. maybe that had something to do with it..'
James: 'His apple pies are insane though!'

James: 'Is tuna made from dolphin?'

and other such amusements...

I haven't much time left on the internet meter and so much more to write about! For another view of the 2 weeks check out the blog of team leader Sam (http://wonderfulworldofsam.blogspot.com/2009/03/non-merci.html).

We were dropped off back in Christchurch and I spent the evening with Bruno and Laurie saying goodbye. I flew to beautiful Queenstown the next day to meet back up with James. What a stunning setting. During our few days there we made friends with a Canadian golf pro called Dan, and a fellow Geordie lass, Rachel. James, Dan and I went up to Deer Park Heights, a private farm which you could drive through and feed lots of different animals (kept me happy) and also the setting for many scenes from Lord of the Rings (kept the boys happy). Absolutely fabulous views from up there. Like true ecology/zoology graduates, the animals couldn't get enough of us and kept trying to break into the car. Donkey teeth look quite scary when pressed up against the window! A particularly perseverant goat took a fancy to James, and wouldn't stop trying to get into the car with him. I'm sure the hire company won't have been too impressed with the goat and donkey spit on the door handles. Oh well.

The 4 of us decided to go the ice bar in Queenstown together, that was pretty cool (pun very much intended =O) and had a great time decked out in the attractive parka jackets provided. None of us had ever been to one before and we all enjoyed the novelty of drinking out of ice glasses.

From there, we drove to Te Anau, a base to explore Milford Sound. We managed to visit the sound when there hadn't been any rain for 7 days (this area gets 7m annually!) which is unheard of. Apparently the waterfalls were mere trickles compared to usual, but they were still pretty impressive. We saw dolphins and plenty of fur seals. The drive there was almost as stunning as the sound itself. More Kea were spotted at the entrance to the Homer tunnel so we amused ourselves taking pictures of them.

From Te Anau, we went down to Invercargill for a couple of days. Not much going on there at all! We took a daytrip down to Bluff, because we'd heard about what a horrible little rundown town it was.. actually it wasn't *that* bad, and we took the obligatory pictures next to the famous AA sign there.

We had a rendezvous with Larnach Castle waiting for us, so we decided to take the Southern Scenic Route along the Catlins Coast to Dunedin. Due to the useless signposting we ended up going the wrong way for over 100km (whoops) before we realised our mistake. Thankfully we didn't have to backtrack too far, and cut across country to join the road, but it did a wee while to get to where we should've been.... We had lunch in the least friendly cafe in the entire world: I think the woman was offended that we dared to come in and try to spend money, and then made our way along. We stopped at one of the beaches along the way as my guidebook said that we had a chance of spotting a rare Hooker's sea lion here. Well.. we certainly did spot one! We headed on down the dune not really paying much attention and suddenly this massive head reared up infront of us. We had nearly walked straight into a fully grown male. He wasn't too happy about it and started lumbering towards us menacingly... hearts beating we ran backwards not taking our eyes off him (they can outpace us over 30m!)and went in separate directions. He decided that James looked more threatening than little old me (who wouldn't?) and so went after him, leaving me free to take photos and laugh! James beat a hasty retreat to the car. Another car pulled up, and the couple inside decided to take a closer look at him. James warned them that he wasn't a very happy sealion, but the man was having none of it. Only when the sealion let out a massive roar did the guy appear to wet his pants and scramble back to the safety of his car. Unfortunately his reatreat was hindered by a rather large puddle which caused his legs to pedal in a cartoon fashion, until he finally beat gravity and vaulted over the bonnet. Most amusing from my viewpoint!

Once the sealion had clambered up the hill and away from the car park we continued on our way, with many stops to admire the stunning views, and one stop to spot yellow eyed penguins coming out of the sea! We managed to see one a fair distance away. This was the first that James had seen, but I'd already seen them with my mum. Beautiful birds they are. One notable stop on the journey was at McCracken's rest, where we had to stop to take the infamous picture. We'd just got all posed with cameras on self timer when a bus pulled into the car park full of smirking faces. We retreated sheepishly as they got out and laughed all the way down the road =)

Well.. the journey to Dunedin took much longer than anticipated and we were pretty hungry when we got there, so we called Larnach to say we'd be arriving at about 10pm and went for some scran (i.e food). After dinner, we jumped in the car and drove along Otago peninsula. We pulled up to the castle gates and James pressed the buzzer. 'Is this my late check in?' asked the receptionist in her very strong kiwi accent.. James, not really thinking, heard 'chicken' (kiwi's have the vowel sounds all mixed up..) and responded with, 'Oh yes, I am your late little chicken!' He turned to me 'Oh, wasn't that so sweet, sounds like something mum would say!' When I told him what she had actually said we both dissolved in fits of giggles and he was so embarrassed he could hardly speak to her face to face! Luckily she hadn't realised his mistake... =) Most amusing.

We were staying in the castle as past of James' birthday present from his parents (thank you both!) and what a fabulous setting it was! I had really enjoyed the short time I spent on Otago peninsula with my parents when they visited and was eager to explore it a bit more. James wanted to visit the Cadbury factory in Dunedin for his birthday, so we had a short tour complete with free chocolate =) In the evening of we had a meal in William Larnach's very own dining. The meal was served 'house party style' and so we were sat with 8 aussies (who says australians don't visit NZ?) Good food and good conversation in a gorgeous room made for a memorable birthday evening for James and we both had a fantastic time, complete with chocolate birthday cake (YEAH!).

Our explorations of the peninsula uncovered loads of wildlife! I took James to the Royal Albatross Centre for his birthday present and we couldn't stop making exclamations about just how big and impressive they are. Incredible birds! This is the only mainland breeding site for Albatross in the entire world and it was such a privilege to view them nesting. We also managed to find many more photogenic Hooker's sealions, some fur seals, some more Yellow eyed penguins and some gorgeous Little Blue penguins. We enjoyed some more good food at 1908 restaurant (one evening I went in with soaking shoes and trousers having got a little too enthusiastic in my photo taking efforts and getting stranded in the sea without realising. Whoops) and generally had a pretty spectacular few days.

We flew back to Wellington, sorted some stuff out, posted some things home... Strange to be there and not see Anne and Ian (they're over here in Oz on hols at the moment). A couple of days ago we flew out here to Sydney.. both of us have struggled to adjust to the noise, people, dirt etc associated with city life after the tranquility of NZ! Yesterday we went to Sydney Aquarium which was just fabulous. A real highlight for me was seeing Platypus underwater and also Dugongs. What beautiful animals they are!

Tonight we fly to Melbourne, hopefully we'll meet up with Dan who we stayed with over xmas and new year. It would be great to catch up with him

Finally.. I've caught up. *exhale*

I hope all is well back home for everyone. Neither of us can believe that we'll be home in under 8 weeks. Crazy. Still, I'm sure we have a lot more adventures in store before then!

xx