Huts and Such

I listen to the radio on my 15-20 minute drive to school. Every morning, the three broadcasters on one of the three local stations have a new topic of discussion, in which locals can call in and comment. The discussion topics so far have been:
- Why don't men receive engagement gifts?
- Why do only women go out walking with friends, whereas it would be a strange event for a male to ask another male friend to go for a walk.
- When is it appropriate to wear "active wear", besides the gym.
- How do you respond when your child says something about you in public that you might not want others to hear. The story behind this one was one of the announcers, Greg, took his 5 yr old daughter and her friend at a restaurant, and the children were singing the Farmer in the Dell. You all know how it goes, "the farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell, hi ho the dairy-o, the farmer in the dell." After a few verses, the daughter made one up, and it went like this, "the daddy drinks the booze, the daddy drinks the booze..." ha!

This makes for an interesting morning drive. The afternoon drives consist of this station playing late 80's-early 90's music. "I Swear" was playing as I rolled out of the driveway yesterday, bringing me back to my very first CD, All-4-One!

With a little research I discovered that New Zealand has huts you can stay in EVERYWHERE. And I mean everywhere. They are either $5 or $15 a night per bunk, or you can buy a 6 or 12 month backcountry pass, which I did. My first hut adventure took place in Nelson Lakes at Rotoiti Lake. A quick 3.5 hr hike got me into the Coldwater Hut on the lake, just 40 mins past the Lakehead Hut. What I had imagined being a sunny, quite afternoon on the lake with a glass of wine and noodly chicken dinner turned out to be a bit different. There happened to be a large number of extremely loud, drunk late-teens milling about the dock and cabin. Two older (my age) kayakers were having a cup of tea and informed me that I probably did not want to stay here, but should probably head back to the first cabin, where they would also be heading. I promptly did. Back across the river and I was back at the Lakehead Hut. The kayakers, Miriam and Amy, followed close behind and we all made dinner with the 6 other hut guests, all well behaved, and retired to bed early. Now I have spent many a night in Alaska huts, and NZ huts are even more amazing! They all have 12-24 bunks, kitchens, bathrooms (outhouses), outdoor sinks, stoves, and stocked firewood. Beautiful!

Lakehead Hut

Some of the bunks, all having their own mattresses.

Lake Rotoiti drawing at the visitors center

After breakfast with the hut mates, and an invite to watch rugby the following weekend and an invite to a local beer club, I headed back to the carpark and Nelson. So nice to be outside, nice to be alone, and nice to meet new friends. The moon was almost super, and the stars were glorious.

Scary part of the trip? The eels. There are fresh water eels in NZ, big, black, long, slimy, with gross faces, eels. Supposedly they lurk around in the water hunting baby ducks, and grab them by their flippers to pull them into the depths of the lake for a tasty treat.

Me hiking into the hut

View from the hut

Yucky eels. There were over 100 under the dock. Yuck.

View from the carpark

Hope everyone is well!

Christina

Learning in Place of Working

As we go about our days, usually filled with working, eating, and sleeping, we forget to adventure, learn new things, have fun, laugh at ourselves. This first week of fine woodworking school has been absolutely wonderful. Hand and shoulders hurt from hours of polishing plane blades, knife blades, getting the actual water stones ready for more polishing, by polishing. This is then followed by hours getting used to using the plane. 

"Bevel to the waste!" Torkle (our lovely instructor) reminds us with a thick Kiwi accent. This is not a sentence I had heard before this week. I learned all about the make-up of metals, the difference of wood depending on where the tree grew up. This is only after 2 days of class! Just the thought of everything I will learn these next 8 weeks makes me excited. Our brains have a much better time when we learn something new each day.
Here's some photos of my new classroomhome and my very first workbench.

My Workbench! Even comes with a toolbox for all my collected items.

Karen working away in the classroom

Additional workroom

Working away at my wood puzzle

Polishing room

Sunday before class started was a perfect time to get more comfortable with driving on the left side and also a little exploring. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

On Pepin Island looking back at the trails that are currently closed due to minisheep

MJ bought me a selfie stick! Heyyyyy! Me on Rabbit Island on a chilly morning.

Vineyard going out to Rabbit Island

Rabbit Island, pretty much have the place to myself!

Little town of Mapua, right on the water, little breweries and restaurants and amazing art stores/galleries.

Golden Bear Brewery, closed because I get up to early!

Motueka

What will you learn today? Off to class!

Discovering Nelson

Day 3 in Nelson: walked. Walked a lot. Up and over hills, through different neighborhoods, through town and many shops. 

 Went back to the church on top of the hill and gave myself a little tour. Beautiful inside. even with the hundreds of churches I have been in, I still love the stain glass, the massive organs, the religious mystery they all seem to possess. I always see if those little doors in corners or down secluded hallways, going into secret rooms, really open. I wait until no one is looking to check, but alas they and the mysteries within are always locked away. Next time. 

Selfie in the history museum 

After visiting the history museum, I went back to the beach yay! 

View from my sand dune

Tree on the trail to the beach

Tested of a few cars...have to be careful of odometer mischief (winding back 100,000 km), non-working items (the car), and such. Managed to find a decent car pretty quick. I am now the proud owner of a Nissan Lucino. I promptly gave my new friend a name, The Trusty Steed, and we were off! Now to learn to drive on the other side, the wrong side, the left side. 

The Trusty Steed

 The Trusty Steed and I decided to head out of town and visit the Center for Fine Woodworking, about 13 kilometers outside of Nelson The school is amazing, the instructors are amazing, I felt like it was Christmas and New Years all wrapped up into one knowing I would be a student in just a few short days. Turns out none of the other 6 students are from Nelson. Almost everyone is international, and I am hoping close to my age and want to be friends. I met one student named Leon from Brazil, and hear there is one other lady from Singapore. Can't wait!

Sheep outside the woodworking center

Pretty flower awwww

                                       

Sheep! Bahhhh!

Goal 1: Phone, achieved! New SIM card with NZ phone number. Boom done.

Goal 2: Car, achieved! Car bought and learning how to drive when everything is opposite. Boom, halfway done.

New Zealand

After 4 flights, 20 hours in the air, 11 layover hours, and 2 books later, I finally made it to Nelson, New Zealand!

My first layover in Seattle, had brunch with my lovely friend Shakira!

Last flight from Auckland to Nelson

View of Nelson 

 I found a home a few months ago (check out The Beach House, Nelson on facebook) and Angie, one of my hosts, picked me and my large bags up from the airport. We had a little tour of the house with her husband George, then set off for downtown. Grocery shopping turned out to be cheaper then AK! The house is wonderful, as Angie and George have been remodeling for the last five years. They have three extra rooms, two of which are rented out to other travels, a few ladies from Vietnam who are nice, and young guy from Germany who I haven't met yet. The house has lots of windows and doors that are kept open so you can hear the birds and feel the breeze. They have a medium sized dog named Coma, because he sleeps all day, and lots of chickens.

The Chickens :)

The Beach House

Downtown is pretty, lots of little shops and cafes to sit and watch people. We went to the center where there is a large church at the top of many stairs and had a long dark with a little milk (coffee with some cream) and chatted about the town.

View from the top of one of the hills, lighthouse is to the right and the long beach I live by is to the left 

Took a little nap, then ventured to the beach. BEAUTIFUL! I'm going back today. 

Goals for the rest of the week: 

1) Figure out how to use my cell phone with a NZ plan on a supposedly unlocked iphone. 

2) Buy a car...already have my eye on a few I'll be testing out this weekend. Wish me luck!

More stories to come, for now here are some beach photos!

Cheers!
Christina