Our holiday during the Easter break…

Hitchhiking down the West coast, Wanaka, Queenstown and the Bach at Arthur’s Pass, our first earthquake experience, our first glacier experience and lots of walking up mountains, all in the space of 10 glorious days.

Our first hitchhiking experience was inspired by the many positive stories we have heard about it from other travellers here in New Zealand. It is relatively safe and as it turned out, it was a great way to see the UNESCO World Heritage site of the West Coast of the country in super quick time. It also afforded us the opportunity to meet some truly unique and generous people, all of whom gave up their time and the petrol money to help us on their way. ‘It would never have happened in the UK’ I hear you cry – and you’d be right! That first day, we had to wait 3 hours for a lift as we waited next to the sign on the outskirts of Richmond which simply reads ‘HOPE’ as that is the name of the next town. Ngaire Warner had given us a lift, suggesting that anyone going passed that sign would almost certainly be heading south, and so it proved.

Our first hitch-host was a guy who lived in Christchurch and was on his way home. He drove us a bloody long way, through Murchison to Springs Junction. He was an interesting guy, with some harrowing tales of the great February earthquake to tell. On the way we stopped in Murchison so he could get something to eat from a café there. Mel and I went to the Supermarket and bought bread roles and crisps, enough to keep us going. He even stopped at Mariua Falls for us to see the beautiful waterfall that appeared after an earthquake 50 – 60 years ago.

At Springs Junction we only had to wait for a further 5 minutes before 2 of the most terrifying men you would ever want to pick you up offered us a ride to Reefton. One of the guys in the front of the car had a possum for a hat, complete with tail and only one arm. Him and the driver, who Mel and I think was his dad, driving chatted on to us about all sorts of stuff, none of which we could understand as they were both so stoned. We had no mobile phone reception out there in the wilderness either; it was proper horror movie type stuff. How we laughed!

20 minutes on the side of the road in Reefton and we were picked up by another very stoned guy who was on his way to Greymouth for a cup of tea from Blenheim. I think that’s like driving from Manchester to Norwich for a pie. Hmmm.

Once in Greymouth, another lady offered us a lift to the YHA. As it turned out, she is the director of a local gallery there and she once studied ceramics in Brighton. Small world. As it turned out, Greymouth had a very clean YHA which we checked into for the night. We were both very tired by the time we arrived there, so we treated ourselves to a curry at a local place. It turned out to be brilliant food and very reasonable – 2 curries, 2 rice and a couple of rotis for $35. So, day 1: 5 lifts, great times!

Day 2 turned out to be another great day of travel for us. We waited unsuccessfully for a ride just down the road from the YHA.

It was raining a little bit and lots of really lovely classic cars kept driving passed no good for us though. We made our way up to a local BP garage to use the facilities and whilst I was outside waiting for Mel, a little kid came up and offered us a lift with him and his dad to Kumera Junction, roughly 30 kms further on. We weren’t even thumbing a lift at the time!

At Kumera Junction, a couple of New Yorkers in a hired car picked us up and drove us to the Franz Joseph Glacier. It was a great ride, sharing travel stories and getting the inside gossip on life in Brooklyn, New York. We stopped in Hokitika on the way to visit the ‘Sock-Making Machine Museum’. This amazing establishment houses the largest collection of vintage sock making makers in the world. I can smell your excitement!!

At Franz - Joseph Glacier junction we had a crisp sandwich and managed to get a photo of the Glacier or at least a little of it, as it was behind some mountains.

We had decided already to hitch on to Fox Glacier as we felt it would be a little less touristy there, and so it proved. We were picked up after a short wait by an emigration expert and he left us with his card in the small township of Fox Glacier. We decided it must be where the mints come from (although it seems they don’t sell them in NZ…. Also no polar bears to be seen!). We checked into the only back-packers in town and headed off on foot to visit the glacier. It was a long 6 km through rainforest to get there, but it was worth it for the experience. The scale of the glacier and the surrounding valleys is extraordinary.

We even saw some glow worms on the way back into the town, as it was nearly dark at that point in the evening. We enjoyed a hot-tub, a movie on our complementary DVD player and had an early night. We needed to be up early in the morning to keep an eye on how Norwich City were doing against our bitter rivals Ipswich Town. We beat them 5-1 incidentally and we have subsequently been promoted to the Premier league of English Football. So how does it feel Ipswich Town?? (I don’t expect anyone to actually reply to this blog as they haven’t yet learned how to read and write down there)

2 German lads picked us up in the drizzle that morning and as luck would have it, they were going all the way to Wanaka, which is where we wanted to go. It was such a good trip. They were great hitch-hosts, with great music and funny stories, including one about their own hitching experience which I don’t feel is appropriate to divulge here. Let’s just say it involved a very, very lonely truck driver who got the wrong idea.

Once in Wanaka, it felt as if our holiday had really begun in a lot of ways. We checked into yet another YHA and set off to Mount Iron.

View from Mount Iron down towards Wanaka

Not the longest of walks, but you get a good view over the area. It was lovely. We reserved the big one for the next day.

View from Roy's Peak down to the lake

We were up early, enjoyed a good breakfast and headed off on what would eventually be a 25 km walk – 6 km just to the base of Roy’s Peak – then 12 km up and down the 1600 metre high peak - before the walk back via the lake which makes up the rest. Magnificent views, unrivalled by anything I have experienced at home in the UK. Although the landscape is very Scottish all over that area.
That evening we went ‘Cinema Paradiso’. It is a lovely little novelty cinema with sofas and even an old Morris which you can sit in and have hot food delivered to you as you watch the movie. We saw ‘Black Swan’ which I thought was excellent.

The next morning was Easter Sunday. We got a lift to Queenstown from a lovely couple who even took the time to drive us through neighbouring Arrowtown. We were staying with some Couch Surf hosts at their place in Fern Hill. Laila and John, from Scotland and Ireland respectively were simply the best hosts. So generous and welcoming. It was a shame we couldn’t have spent more time with them in the end. But we did have time to pick up some very intriguing tips on travelling through Borneo, learned a new board game called ‘The Settlers of Cazar’ and went for dinner with them to a really good Thai restaurant which has
 lunch for $10 deals.

We climbed up Ben Lomond Mountain whilst we were there, more epic views and self-satisfaction a-plenty.

On the summit of Ben Lomond

I tried ice-skating for the first time (Mel is so good by the way), we learnt how to play Frisbee golf, had nice pub food, ate the best ice-cream and sampled some of John’s really nice single-malt whiskey; Talisker, incidentally the name of their cat! Cool name.

In order to get back to Nelson we were going to have to drive. Mel had managed to find a website which lists car rental companies in need of cars and campervans being returned to their bases up and down the country. It just so happened that a 2-birth campervan did indeed need re-locating from Queenstown to Nelson. We offered our services and were duly sent to pick it up from an American couple who were staying at a nearby hotel. 2 perfect fake-white Californian smiles later and we were on our way. It was a long, long night drive to Arthur’s Pass, where would be spending the next couple of days. I ended up driving us the entire way, which I enjoyed, but we didn’t arrive until 12:20am.

We were staying at Ngarie and Tom’s place, the same generous people who let us house-sit the Beverly Hills place back in the New Zealand summer. Tom’s family, the Morton’s, have a stunning bach (a bach is Kiwi for Holiday Home – oven describing one that can be as little as a shed with no power, right up to a mansion-type second home) there, simply called ‘The Beeches’. We spent an idyllic few days there. It was freezing, but the bach is brilliant – see the pics on Flickr – we did more walking to ‘Avalanche Peak’ and the ‘Devil’s Punch Bowl’. We even saw some Keas, a type of mountain parrot. On our final morning, just for good measure, we experienced our first ever earthquake. It measured 5.3 and hit the house pretty hard. Nothing and nobody was hurt.

We arrived back in Nelson last weekend to house-sit at Sue and John’s place again. It’s been yet another amazing chapter in our travels. Onwards!!

‘Brassed Off’ and ‘Terra Nova’ with Theatre Alive and Body in Space respectively…

Mel and I really enjoyed our time working together in ‘Brassed Off’. We have made some truly great mates; we performed to attentive and generous audiences and generally drank in the experience. Hugh Neill directed the show with a very strong overall vision which was communicated with passion and dedication during what was a very intense rehearsal schedule. I played the character of Phil and this enabled me to take trombone lessons for a month in the lead up to the show – this was great, as I was able to learn almost all the music for the show – after all there is nothing worse than an inept performer who hasn’t even taken the time to make some sort of an effort with their instrument when the role demands it. In fact, all of the actors who took on the roles with brass instruments did really well. I got to self-indulge completely with the hanging scene – which is on Youtube now by the way, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUOcreOn9h8

Mel got to play a small bit-part and was instrumental in me getting in and out of my costumes and putting make-up on me when required. I don’t ever want to have to do a show without her from now on. I would like to mention every other cast and crew member by name but it would take too long and they already know how much we think of them. How rare it is to perform without any neurotic cast members in such a large ensemble. Great times!

As ‘Brassed Off’ was drawing to a close I somehow managed to find my way into the much coveted read-through for Body in Space’s ‘Terra Nova’. This is the story of Scott of the Antarctic, who, along with his party, died during their race to be the first men to march to the South Pole 100 years ago this year. I have been cast as Captain Scott which has been an honour thus far, such is the calibre of the rest of the company and opening night is just couple of weeks away. It will be performed in a marquee on the lawns of Fairfield House over 9 nights. After that, I think I’ll concentrate on teaching for a bit, but we’ll see!

Fiarfield House 10th May 2011

It’s been 2 months since I last blogged. That’s quite a departure from the many and frequent blogs that appeared in the early part of our travels. It’s fair to say that a very great deal has gone on since we arrived back in Nelson from those quiet days out at Cable Bay. I have decided to break the blogs up into three areas; our subsequent travels, including hitch-hiking down the west coast, ‘Brassed Off’ rehearsals and performing in Nelson’s stunning Theatre Royal and everything else. I have decided to start with everything else, so here goes…

We made our way up to Fairfield House feeling excited about finally being able to settle in one place for more than a couple of weeks, maybe try out a few of the recipes which have picked up on the way, rest those weary limbs after so many thousands of kms of cycling, that sort of thing. It quickly became apparent that this would not be the case over the first few minutes of our time in our WWOOF accommodation. It was a sunny day, as usual in Nelson as we made our way up through the gardens to our hippy, happy, bach type home feeling excited at its rustic exterior. We found the key and unlocked the big, wooden front door and stepped inside. The filth we met was only matched by the stench of at least one rat which had been living freely in the space for at least a couple of weeks. Urine, droppings, stains, not to mention mountains of dust, squashed bugs all over the walls and ceilings, grease, soil and spiders a-plenty. It looked like it had been uncared for not just weeks, but years. Mel and I spent 20 hours over two days, cleaning everything, floor to ceiling. We didn’t even start on the cooker, the holes where the rat had been making its way in and out from, the windows which we though must be there under the blankets of dirt. Now, 2 months on, it looks like it always should have done, and probably did in its earlier life. It is spotless and comfortable – a lovely little home which we have started to call with a great deal of affection, ‘The Shed’!

Fairfied House has been great for us. The lovely Catherine Brosnahan has allowed us to WWOOF here for a long time and she has even given us time off to go away hitch-hiking! We work hard mind you, gardening, cleaning and setting up for functions etc. We enjoy the exchange and it has given us time to consider what to do next in our lives, as we continue on this amazing adventure into life in NZ. We will make sure we put more pictures of ‘The Shed’ and the gardens that surround it, as well as Fairfield House itself in due course.

We both work 15 hours each a week here, we combine that with our theatrical commitments and our ‘real jobs’; Mel at Lush and me at Sound Stage, both of which have been simply brilliant. We both love the people we work with and on behalf of – and my students continue to impress me on a daily basis. I have also been teaching in mainstream secondary schools in the area, as cover for absent drama teachers – Waimea College and Nelson School for Girls. All good experience!

Brassed Off Rehearsal now on YouTube!

We had the cameras in on one of our rehearsals recently, you can go on YouTube to see a sneak preview from Brassed Off - with a certain Charles Hindley featured early in the clip. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLLTdupMMQ

10th March – Cable Bay

Cable Bay: As stunning as any vista we have enjoyed since our arrival in New Zealand. All the elements which make up the world around us can be seen from the chair I’m currently sitting in. The many shades of blue and green, reflecting up through the windows from the sea and the hills follow us around as we go about our daily business. It is possible to feel the change of the seasons by paying close attention to the landscape just outside the broad windows.

Looking over the sea and island

The Island we look out on 

Each day the sun gets a little lower in the sky as summer drifts slowly away and autumnal colours are beginning to appear in the leaves of the plants surrounding the house. The nights too, are cooler; we have needed to put on the wood burning stove a few times in recent days in order to warm us up after our long cycles to and from town, sometimes late at night. I don’t think that there can be a more enjoyable cuppa than that produced by freshly boiled kettles from wood burning stoves at night, listening to the cold winds blow just outside the windows.

Our friend James came to stay with us for a few days last week. It was so nice to have him here with us. He made sure that he contributed to the WWOOFing duties left to us by the owner, Zoe, and we spent lots of time enjoying each others company, eating lovely food, cooked by both Mel and James before he headed back up north again last Saturday.

James helping tackle a 'weed' tree

Mel got to spend a little more time with him than I did, as I have been at work or rehearsals every day since we have been here. We’re both very pleased that he survived his terrible ordeal, lost in the national park for 6 days and we wish him well until we meet again.

We made marmalade together from 'Gold Fruit' given to us by the neighbour here, Julie. The fruit are a cross between an orange and a grapefruit and make a fine marmalade!

I have been enjoying work immensely at Sound Stage. The team are brilliant to work with, as are the students. There will be a show at the end of term which will be the ideal opportunity to show everybody connected with the academy a chance to show what we have all been working on this term. I know the students will provide a real treat for everyone.

‘Brassed Off’ continues to evolve as well, with rehearsals ongoing and the opening night just a few weeks away, tickets are selling well, thanks to the efforts of certain cast members. Mel and I have only managed to sell 2 tickets so far, so I don’t think we’ll be winning any prizes for that, but there is still time…

It’s our final day here at Cable Bay. We have just had some lunch; more lovely, fresh baked scones with New Zealand honey on them. They should give us enough energy to kayak around the bay whilst the tide is high. It’s a little bit windy, so I can’t see any sting-rays in the shallow water at the moment. They come in with the tide and we can see them sailing around, searching for food from up here most days, but there are a few too many white horses today.

Tomorrow we move to Fairfield House and onto the next chapter.

The earthquake

View Larger Map

New Zealand has suffered one of its worst earthquakes in living memory; Mel and I are currently living a few hundred kms from the city of Christchurch, which has been hit hardest. I hope all those who are affected by the quake can take some comfort from the fact that the world stands with them. Something that has been made abundantly clear by the media coverage is that New Zealand has stepped up to the plate and has already begun to help in any way they can. Some of my new colleagues at Sound Stage have been talking of their friends who live there and also of the impact of loosing so many beautiful old buildings, so many of which have collapsed or are completely unstable. It’s not the first time Mel and I have been so close to such a disaster. If nothing else, it gives us greater perspective and resolve to continue on our adventure, as none of us know what the future holds.

The earthquake came at a time when almost everything has been going very well for us here in Nelson. We have enjoyed house-sits, I have started new jobs and we have both been enjoying working on ‘Brassed Off’.

We finished house-sitting at Sue and John’s towards the end of last week and we moved to a hostel called ‘Shortbread Cottage’ which is on Trafalgar Street, opposite the Nelson sports arena which will house a few of the Rugby World Cup matches this year. We have been cleaning there in exchange for free accommodation, in this instance, a campervan parked at the front of the building. It has been ok. Mel has had to brave the hairy shower plug holes and endless washing far more often than I have, as I have been combining my Sound Stage teaching with supply teaching at a secondary school in nearby Richmond, called Waimea College. So between us we have been really busy – lots of cleaning, teaching, rehearsing and still the constant search for jobs and long term accommodation of the WWOOF variety have kept us completely occupied. I’m starting to feel as jaded as I did before we left the UK.

We have found time for one or two pleasures during the last week or so. We went and had dinner with Hugh and Judith Neil, directors of ‘Theatre Alive’, last Friday. Judith had cooked up a magnificent meal which included our favourite – Thai Green Curry. Mel and I made some plum and apple crumble which we all enjoyed for dessert, topped with coconut cream. And to finish it all off, a large tot of single malt whiskey. Needless to say; we slept all the better after that.

Life cleaning at the hostel was to end rather more quickly than we had perhaps had anticipated. During our search for longer term residency, we came across Fairfield House. A superb Victorian property, quite close to Tom and Ngaire’s place which is now used for all sorts of corporate functions and community events. Catherine Brosnehan is in sole charge of the day to day running of the place, which sits on a few acres. She has the help of her daughter Shannon and also other WWOOFers. We touched base with her and she invited us up to meet her on the Saturday following dinner at Hugh and Judith’s. A chance to meet us and rope us in to helping to set up for the Brazilian night being held there that evening. We duly obliged, and although we didn’t get to see all that much of Catherine, we were treated to great music and good company. Mel met a lady named Zoe, who offered to let us stay at her place out at Cable Bay, in exchange for a few hours labour a day. As you know, we love Cable Bay, so within the next few days we had seen the property, a 3 bedroomed, timber structure with extensive views of the surrounding bay and mountains. Zoe explained which trees needed felling, which weeds needed whacking and here we are.

It is now Sunday evening, the 27th February 2011, 7:15pm. Mel is in the kitchen cooking scones and a Moroccan tagine on the wood burning stove whilst I sit, typing away on my first proper blog in around 3 weeks. I have been very busy though! The sun has started to lower behind the house, which is set into the side of a hill, just of the only road in and out of the bay. I can see sheep across the water on the other side of the inlet, scampering to catch the last warmth of the sun before setting down to sleep under the clear skies on what looks to be another picture perfect night to come. The view is somewhat less impeded than it was since we severely chopped back a particularly vociferous Jacaranda tree which had been threatening to engulf the entire house until we took to it with a chain saw.

I can smell the spices of the tagine, sweet and aromatic, and I can feel the squeaky clean wooden floor boards against my bare feet, a reassuring feeling of a job well done – I scrubbed the floor just an hour ago. Opposite me on the table is a glass with rosemary, thyme and pink rose buds, all freshly cut from the garden that steeply slops away from the house, down to my left where it joins the rising waters of a near high tide.

We went kayaking a couple of hours ago. Zoe has a small boat shed which houses a few seaworthy vessels, and a 2 seater kayak among the score. It was windy, but we both still enjoyed it.

Mel loves Kayaking, almost as much as sitting in the sun, so to be able to do the both together must equate to Norwich City winning the FA Cup to me. She is tired now, having been working so hard in the kitchen since we stowed away our boat and made our way up the winding path to the house. I better go. I think dinner will be ready soon. I’ll write again very soon.

House-Sitting

We’re really enjoying life in Nelson, the weather continues to be hot and sunny, the people are still friendly and our life/work aspirations are looking pretty good just now.
I have started teaching at the very impressive Sound Stage professional performing arts academy and rehearsals for ‘Brassed Off’ have taken a very interesting turn in that Mel is now a member of the cast!

The week began with Tom, Ngaire and their children arriving home from the holiday down south and despite their son, Oliver, contracting pneumonia, they were in high spirits and pleased to come home to a clean house and home cooked soup followed by carrot cake, courtesy of Mel’s culinary skills. We stayed with them for a further 3 nights before reluctantly heading off to our next house-sit; such had been the pleasure of our time at their property.

Sue and John live in another stunning house, with views of the entire Bay. You can see Takaka Hill from their balcony, way off in the distance, a sharp reminder of the distance and gradient of our travels on the bikes.

The house itself is not an easy place to get to in that it is up a steep climb on the bikes, it is worth the effort though. Sue and John stocked the cupboards with all sorts of food and wine for our enjoyment during their trip up north. They have a very productive veggie patch with all sorts of stuff in season and they left us with strict instructions to water twice daily and enjoy the benefits should anything be ready to devour. We have been given the privilege of looking after ‘Puss’ as well, an aging tortoise shell cat who has travelled half way round the world from Ireland to spend her twilight years here. She is very much the apple of Sue and John’s eye. It is so nice to come home to a cat again in the evenings, always so nice to have the purring on your lap whilst you consume a well deserved beer or two.

Another interesting quirk at Sue and John’s has been the daily visit of ‘Gully’, a massive black backed gull who arrives on queue, each morning to be fed the last of the unfinished cat food from the previous day plus a slice of bread.

Viola has been in town this week, armed with lots of photo’s of her Kayaking trip with Gary, our ‘warm showers’ host from Wellington. Viola and Gary spent a week on the water cruising round the empty beaches and inlets of the many islands dotted around the northern tip of south island. It looks like she has had a great time.

Mel and I are unsure as to what to do next with regards to our onward travels. It seems like a good idea to try and stay in Nelson for the long term, especially as things seem to be going very well with my work. All we need now is for Mel to find a job and all will be well. I have been asked to cover some classes at Waimea College over the next week or so. One of the drama teachers has been offered the chance to go to Australia and perform at the prestigious Adelaide festival. I have accepted the offer, it is a chance to go and see what teaching at a secondary school in New Zealand is really like.

We have learned that another of our cycling mates, James, has been lost and found whilst out hiking in one of the national parks near us in Nelson. He was missing for several days and is lucky to be alive. It has been front page news. It must have been terrifying for him. The report I have seen, suggests that after a couple of days he had to remove his contact lenses as they hurt so much, so for 3 days he was basically blind. It is such an easy thing to do, get lost in the wilderness. But it hasn’t stopped all those idiots who have no idea what they are talking about from posting up critical statements on Facbook and the like. “Stupid Pome, wouldn’t have happened to a Kiwi!” etc. I can hear the wise amongst you yawning in unison with me.

On our last day at Sue and John’s we managed to find hostel to work in, in exchange for our accommodation, so it’s off to ‘Shortbread Cottage’ for us and we’ll catch up again soon.