Here we've got Ashley checking the brix(sugar), a machine harvester on a nearby vineyard and pictures Ashley took of the Sauvignon Blanc.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Home Stretch
That's right, I'm returning to the U.S. exactly one week from today, on April 23rd. The last few have been a great time to relax and little and start thinking about heading home.
After finishing with apples we took a short trip to the Abel Tasman national park. We spent one day sea kayaking along the coast. While paddling around a small island we came upon a blue penguin and we followed it for five minutes or so as it swam and jumped in the water ahead of us, very cool. We paddled for around 4 hours then pulled onto the beach and took our stuff to the hut(park accommodation, bunk beds, bathrooms, and a kitchen). The next day we walked back along the track, then hitched back to town. After spending a day packing up our stuff, we took a bus back to blenheim on easter and helped cook a great meal. It's nice how we've been able to make it back to the vineyard for holidays.
I didn't stay in Blenheim for two long. On that thursday I took a bus down to Christchurch where I stayed for a week and half. I was practicing with the Christchurch ultimate team in preparation for the national tournament. I stayed with three American ultimate players for the week and had a great time there. I tried to repay them for their hospitality with my own, cooking whenever I could including two apple pies.
I flew up to Wellington on April 3rd and met Ashley's ferry arriving there. We checked into the hostel and the next morning headed to the fields. It was a cloudy morning and it didn't take long to start raining, which would continue throughout the day. My team started well, then lost two really close games to a team from Australia and one from Wellington. We somehow managed to pull out the last one despite being down 12-7 in a game to 13 and having 5 players out with injury. The next day we lost our first game to another australian. We won the next two, but only finished 5th which was disappointing. We did, however, win the spirit award. It was a little tough saying goodbye to everyone there, some of the best friends I've made in NZ, but the ultimate world is a small one and I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into each other down the line.
While I was in Christchurch they harvested the Sauvignon Blanc here at the vineyard. It was too bad I missed that one but we got back to Blenheim just in time for the harvest on Tuesday. There actually wasn't too much to do. The winery brings in the harvest crew so I mostly just took pictures. At the end of the day we went to the winery and watched some of the grapes being proccessed. It's amazing how fast it all happens.
Since then Ashley and I have been hanging out at the vineyard, helping with some jobs to get ready for pruning and getting ourselves ready to head home. We even did a practice pack and it looks like all of our stuff will actually fit in our bags(we'll see).
Hope to see everyone back in the states very soon,
Brian
After finishing with apples we took a short trip to the Abel Tasman national park. We spent one day sea kayaking along the coast. While paddling around a small island we came upon a blue penguin and we followed it for five minutes or so as it swam and jumped in the water ahead of us, very cool. We paddled for around 4 hours then pulled onto the beach and took our stuff to the hut(park accommodation, bunk beds, bathrooms, and a kitchen). The next day we walked back along the track, then hitched back to town. After spending a day packing up our stuff, we took a bus back to blenheim on easter and helped cook a great meal. It's nice how we've been able to make it back to the vineyard for holidays.
I didn't stay in Blenheim for two long. On that thursday I took a bus down to Christchurch where I stayed for a week and half. I was practicing with the Christchurch ultimate team in preparation for the national tournament. I stayed with three American ultimate players for the week and had a great time there. I tried to repay them for their hospitality with my own, cooking whenever I could including two apple pies.
I flew up to Wellington on April 3rd and met Ashley's ferry arriving there. We checked into the hostel and the next morning headed to the fields. It was a cloudy morning and it didn't take long to start raining, which would continue throughout the day. My team started well, then lost two really close games to a team from Australia and one from Wellington. We somehow managed to pull out the last one despite being down 12-7 in a game to 13 and having 5 players out with injury. The next day we lost our first game to another australian. We won the next two, but only finished 5th which was disappointing. We did, however, win the spirit award. It was a little tough saying goodbye to everyone there, some of the best friends I've made in NZ, but the ultimate world is a small one and I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into each other down the line.
While I was in Christchurch they harvested the Sauvignon Blanc here at the vineyard. It was too bad I missed that one but we got back to Blenheim just in time for the harvest on Tuesday. There actually wasn't too much to do. The winery brings in the harvest crew so I mostly just took pictures. At the end of the day we went to the winery and watched some of the grapes being proccessed. It's amazing how fast it all happens.
Since then Ashley and I have been hanging out at the vineyard, helping with some jobs to get ready for pruning and getting ourselves ready to head home. We even did a practice pack and it looks like all of our stuff will actually fit in our bags(we'll see).
Hope to see everyone back in the states very soon,
Brian
Sunday, February 17, 2008
PICTURES AT LAST!!!
There are way too many pictures for a slide show, so check out the whole album here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/wernerba/GlaciersAndWildlife
http://picasaweb.google.com/wernerba/GlaciersAndWildlife
Migrant labor
So cherries turned out to not as hard as I expected. Because of rain and a Waitangi I ended up working less than five full days each of the last two weeks. Picking cherries is physical, but not bad and I got fairly fast at it pretty quick. It was nice being in the same place, with the same people for two weeks and getting to know a lot of people from all over the place, including four americans, some guys from vanuatu, chileans, new zealanders, israelis and of course, germans. On Waitangi day we spent the morning listening to a concert by a group of Vanuatuans then went swimming/jumping off rocks in the afternoon. Unfortunately the cherry season ended a little sooner than we expected, so it was time to hit the road again, this time with our new friend Ignacio, from Chile.
The first thing we did was head to nearby Queenstown, which is known for it's BUNGY JUMPING! We decided to jump at the Karawau Bridge, which was the first commercial bungy site in the world. It was pretty fabulous. You can choose whether to touch the water or not. Ashley and I both said we wanted to just barely touch it, but both ended up soaked from the waist up(or down rather). It was great. One amazing rush at the beginning, then crashing into the water, then on the way back up to start to regain the power of thought again. Very cool.
We spent the next three nights driving up the west coast, seeing two glaciers along the way. It's hard to convey in pictures just how massive they are. We stayed one night in what is our favorite backpackers, the global village in greymouth where Ignacio played a game of tennis and we all enjoyed a nice dinner and an evening in the hot tub. The next day we drove all the way to Motueka, where we're staying now. It's a fairly small town just north of Nelson. Motueka is known as a launching pad for the Abel Tasman National and its many apple orchards. The packhouses are all pretty full, so Ashley has to wait a few days to start working, but I had no problem finding a picking job, with my first day on saturday. So far it seems a lot more difficult than cherries. I was picking over 110kgs(242lbs) of cherries a day. We're expected to do 4-5 bins of apples a day, each bin being somewhere around 400kgs(880lbs), so it's definitely a lot more to carry. We'll see how it goes.
For those of you keeping track at home, we've been here nearly 8 months now, with just two left, not long now at all.
Cheers
The first thing we did was head to nearby Queenstown, which is known for it's BUNGY JUMPING! We decided to jump at the Karawau Bridge, which was the first commercial bungy site in the world. It was pretty fabulous. You can choose whether to touch the water or not. Ashley and I both said we wanted to just barely touch it, but both ended up soaked from the waist up(or down rather). It was great. One amazing rush at the beginning, then crashing into the water, then on the way back up to start to regain the power of thought again. Very cool.
We spent the next three nights driving up the west coast, seeing two glaciers along the way. It's hard to convey in pictures just how massive they are. We stayed one night in what is our favorite backpackers, the global village in greymouth where Ignacio played a game of tennis and we all enjoyed a nice dinner and an evening in the hot tub. The next day we drove all the way to Motueka, where we're staying now. It's a fairly small town just north of Nelson. Motueka is known as a launching pad for the Abel Tasman National and its many apple orchards. The packhouses are all pretty full, so Ashley has to wait a few days to start working, but I had no problem finding a picking job, with my first day on saturday. So far it seems a lot more difficult than cherries. I was picking over 110kgs(242lbs) of cherries a day. We're expected to do 4-5 bins of apples a day, each bin being somewhere around 400kgs(880lbs), so it's definitely a lot more to carry. We'll see how it goes.
For those of you keeping track at home, we've been here nearly 8 months now, with just two left, not long now at all.
Cheers
Monday, January 28, 2008
Had the fun, time to work
This might be the last post I can do for the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning(at 6:20am) Ashley and I start work at a cherry orchard. It's the prime picking and packing season so we'll be working straight through without days off for the next three weeks or so. It should be a good chance to bolster our bank accounts.
The last two weeks have been pretty full on, seeing a lot of the South Island. We traveled with the German couple, Philip and Anja for two weeks, parting with them only yesterday. We weren't able to look for penguins again on the Otago Peninsula do to rain that night. We did just catch a short glimpse of an albatross over the hill. The next day we travelled south, camping next to a lake in some real tall grass(being in a vehicle we camped in some out of the way places, basically anywhere that had room for us to put the tent down). From there we headed to an area called the Catlins and hit some beaches that were rumored to have sea lions. Though we didn't see any we did see some baby seals, and some playing in the water up close. After checking out some waterfalls we pulled into a campsite for the night and took a walk on the beach where we almost ran into two sea lions half buried in the sand. They weren't very interesting at that point, but later in the evening one of the them charged the other and they had a brief fight before returning to their spots in the sand.
(regretfully I haven't been able to put up pictures for a while and can't until I get some time at a good computer. When I do get them up it should be worth the wait.)
The next day we travelled to Curio and Porpoise Bays and spotted some Hector's dolphins in not far from the beach. Hector's are a very small type of dolphin and only found in New Zealand. That night we went penguin watching again and got some great views(and hopefully pictures and some video) of two yellow eyed penguins. We stayed at a backpackers that night and the next morning while having breakfast saw the dolphins surfing in the waves. We quickly popped on our swimming suits and ran into the water. It was quite cold but well worth it. From there we had a great view of the dolphins popping up all over the place, jumping over one another and getting as close as 20 feet away. After a much needed hot shower we headed towards Invercargill, the biggest city in the far south, before heading to nearby Riverton, where we encountered some car trouble. After swerving to avoid some straying from their lane, the van starting maybe an odd creaking noise and after closer inspection you could see that a piece where the wheel connects to the frame was broken off. We were deciding what to do when a women pulled over and asked about it. She said that she owned a backpackers in town and that we could camp in the back yard and only pay 3 dollars apiece for showers. Soon after arriving there some guys from the bar came out to have a look at it. One of them offered to weld it back on the next day, saving them from having a lot of expensive repairs. The next day he welded it back together, asking only for 20 dollars and a case of beer. This was a pretty amazing example of Kiwi hospitality. That afternoon we took a walk on the beach. I noticed some women going through the rocks in a tidal area. I started talking to them and found out they were gathering pipis, a small shell fish similar to a mussell. She pulled on out of her back and cracked it open for me to try right then. It tasted pretty good so i picked up a few of my own to have for an appetizer that evening. We stayed a second night in Riverton, then drove to a campsite at Lake Monowai, which was very nice even with an abundance of sandflies(this would be the case for the whole next week). Swimming in the lake was a little chilly, but a nice change from the cold southern pacific. We drove a little further the next day-heading north now- and camped on Lake Manapouri. It rained all night and most of the morning and so we threw our wet gear into the car and travelled to Te Anua which is the staging point for most excursions into the Fiordland. We stayed there two nights drying out our tent and waiting while the van got some more repairs(this time for the brakes) and took a day walk on part of the Kepler track, one of the most popular big walks.
With the breaks fixed and a full tank of gas we head into the gorgeous Fiordland. A Fiord, as we later learned, is a river carved by a glacier that is then filled from the ocean, which results in incredible scenery. The mountains rise straight up out of the water. After camping next to a mountain lake(which had some big eels in it) we headed to Milford Sound(actually, it's a Fiord). Milford is the most popular Fiord because it is accessible by car. We took a 2 hour cruise around the sound which gave great views of the mountains and waterfalls. The best part, we came upon a pod of bottlenose dolphins heading out to sea. We got sweet views as they swam right under the boat. A few miles back down the road we took an afternoon walk up Key Summit, and took in the scenery from above. That night we camped again on the Milford Road in a site along a mountain stream and with mistletoe growing all around.
The next day we departed from the Fiordland and headed into the central-south part of the island. After camping another night, yesterday we split up with Philip and Anja who were heading towards Queenstown, which we'll see later. We spent a night in Cromwell, then today hitched to Alexandra, where we found accomodation and a job.
Heaps of pictures-and maybe even some video- to come, but for now you'll just have to trust that I'm not making it all up.
Best Wishes
The last two weeks have been pretty full on, seeing a lot of the South Island. We traveled with the German couple, Philip and Anja for two weeks, parting with them only yesterday. We weren't able to look for penguins again on the Otago Peninsula do to rain that night. We did just catch a short glimpse of an albatross over the hill. The next day we travelled south, camping next to a lake in some real tall grass(being in a vehicle we camped in some out of the way places, basically anywhere that had room for us to put the tent down). From there we headed to an area called the Catlins and hit some beaches that were rumored to have sea lions. Though we didn't see any we did see some baby seals, and some playing in the water up close. After checking out some waterfalls we pulled into a campsite for the night and took a walk on the beach where we almost ran into two sea lions half buried in the sand. They weren't very interesting at that point, but later in the evening one of the them charged the other and they had a brief fight before returning to their spots in the sand.
(regretfully I haven't been able to put up pictures for a while and can't until I get some time at a good computer. When I do get them up it should be worth the wait.)
The next day we travelled to Curio and Porpoise Bays and spotted some Hector's dolphins in not far from the beach. Hector's are a very small type of dolphin and only found in New Zealand. That night we went penguin watching again and got some great views(and hopefully pictures and some video) of two yellow eyed penguins. We stayed at a backpackers that night and the next morning while having breakfast saw the dolphins surfing in the waves. We quickly popped on our swimming suits and ran into the water. It was quite cold but well worth it. From there we had a great view of the dolphins popping up all over the place, jumping over one another and getting as close as 20 feet away. After a much needed hot shower we headed towards Invercargill, the biggest city in the far south, before heading to nearby Riverton, where we encountered some car trouble. After swerving to avoid some straying from their lane, the van starting maybe an odd creaking noise and after closer inspection you could see that a piece where the wheel connects to the frame was broken off. We were deciding what to do when a women pulled over and asked about it. She said that she owned a backpackers in town and that we could camp in the back yard and only pay 3 dollars apiece for showers. Soon after arriving there some guys from the bar came out to have a look at it. One of them offered to weld it back on the next day, saving them from having a lot of expensive repairs. The next day he welded it back together, asking only for 20 dollars and a case of beer. This was a pretty amazing example of Kiwi hospitality. That afternoon we took a walk on the beach. I noticed some women going through the rocks in a tidal area. I started talking to them and found out they were gathering pipis, a small shell fish similar to a mussell. She pulled on out of her back and cracked it open for me to try right then. It tasted pretty good so i picked up a few of my own to have for an appetizer that evening. We stayed a second night in Riverton, then drove to a campsite at Lake Monowai, which was very nice even with an abundance of sandflies(this would be the case for the whole next week). Swimming in the lake was a little chilly, but a nice change from the cold southern pacific. We drove a little further the next day-heading north now- and camped on Lake Manapouri. It rained all night and most of the morning and so we threw our wet gear into the car and travelled to Te Anua which is the staging point for most excursions into the Fiordland. We stayed there two nights drying out our tent and waiting while the van got some more repairs(this time for the brakes) and took a day walk on part of the Kepler track, one of the most popular big walks.
With the breaks fixed and a full tank of gas we head into the gorgeous Fiordland. A Fiord, as we later learned, is a river carved by a glacier that is then filled from the ocean, which results in incredible scenery. The mountains rise straight up out of the water. After camping next to a mountain lake(which had some big eels in it) we headed to Milford Sound(actually, it's a Fiord). Milford is the most popular Fiord because it is accessible by car. We took a 2 hour cruise around the sound which gave great views of the mountains and waterfalls. The best part, we came upon a pod of bottlenose dolphins heading out to sea. We got sweet views as they swam right under the boat. A few miles back down the road we took an afternoon walk up Key Summit, and took in the scenery from above. That night we camped again on the Milford Road in a site along a mountain stream and with mistletoe growing all around.
The next day we departed from the Fiordland and headed into the central-south part of the island. After camping another night, yesterday we split up with Philip and Anja who were heading towards Queenstown, which we'll see later. We spent a night in Cromwell, then today hitched to Alexandra, where we found accomodation and a job.
Heaps of pictures-and maybe even some video- to come, but for now you'll just have to trust that I'm not making it all up.
Best Wishes
Monday, January 14, 2008
On the road again
We did get a chance to hang out on some great beaches last weekend as we spent a few days driving around and camping north of Auckland. The highlight was definitely our afternoon at Goat Island, which is a Marine Reserve just off the coast. We rented wetsuits, flippers, masks, and snorkels and spent two hours swimming around. The wet suits were buoyant and so it took very little energy to stay afloat. We saw a host of New Zealand fish, along with sea urchins and a stingray.
We camped out that night close to the beach and the next day drove up the coast to Waitangi, which is the sight of the first Treaty signed between the British and many Maori Chiefs. It's one of the countries foudning documents, so it was good to go there even though the museum and displays there were not all that interesting. The day after we drove through a number of Kauri forests. Kauri are a native species of tree that can be very longed lived. The oldest, named Tane Mahuta, is anywhere from 1200-2000 years old(the business of estimating tree age is not very exact). We also visited the Kauri museum which is all about the history of logging in the area and offered quite a different perspective of the trees. After some more camping on the beach we headed back to Auckland for a few more days at Matt's house. We cooked Mexican food for them two nights- black bean burritos and portabello fajitas.
From Auckland we flew back down to Christchurch, spent the night then hitched out south to the town of Oamaru(including a ride from a great guy named Ben, a Maori concrete truck driver who also plays bass guitar). That evening we caught a bus tour to the two local penguin colonies. The first was the yellow-eyed penguin, which is very rare. We saw 4 of them, but they were quite far away. After that a short ride to the blue penguin colony. Blue penguins aer the smallest, only about 8 inches tall. They come ashore each night in 'rafts' of 15-50 penguins at a time. Watching them struggling through the waves and hopping around on the rocks is hilarious. Hopefully today we'll get a chance to see even more. In Oamaru we met up with a German couple and are traveling with them for a few days. We drove to Dunedin this morning and are going out to look for penguins and other wildlife today. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good picture this time(they didn't allow photography at the blue penguin colony).
That's all for now. I'm going to try and keep up to date with more frequent, shorter posts.
Peace
We camped out that night close to the beach and the next day drove up the coast to Waitangi, which is the sight of the first Treaty signed between the British and many Maori Chiefs. It's one of the countries foudning documents, so it was good to go there even though the museum and displays there were not all that interesting. The day after we drove through a number of Kauri forests. Kauri are a native species of tree that can be very longed lived. The oldest, named Tane Mahuta, is anywhere from 1200-2000 years old(the business of estimating tree age is not very exact). We also visited the Kauri museum which is all about the history of logging in the area and offered quite a different perspective of the trees. After some more camping on the beach we headed back to Auckland for a few more days at Matt's house. We cooked Mexican food for them two nights- black bean burritos and portabello fajitas.
From Auckland we flew back down to Christchurch, spent the night then hitched out south to the town of Oamaru(including a ride from a great guy named Ben, a Maori concrete truck driver who also plays bass guitar). That evening we caught a bus tour to the two local penguin colonies. The first was the yellow-eyed penguin, which is very rare. We saw 4 of them, but they were quite far away. After that a short ride to the blue penguin colony. Blue penguins aer the smallest, only about 8 inches tall. They come ashore each night in 'rafts' of 15-50 penguins at a time. Watching them struggling through the waves and hopping around on the rocks is hilarious. Hopefully today we'll get a chance to see even more. In Oamaru we met up with a German couple and are traveling with them for a few days. We drove to Dunedin this morning and are going out to look for penguins and other wildlife today. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good picture this time(they didn't allow photography at the blue penguin colony).
That's all for now. I'm going to try and keep up to date with more frequent, shorter posts.
Peace
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