Last day....

I'm in Auckland, after taking the night bus from Wellington. 8 pm to 7 am, woohoo! I only slept from about 3 am to 6 am, so I'm a wee bit tired. Also, there is NOTHING open that early in the morning on a Sunday, so I was wandering around for a bit just trying to find a place to have some coffee! I finally had to settle on Starbucks, which I hate going to, but it was the only place open. Luckily I was able to lock up my bags at the bus station, so it's not like I have to cart those around with me. There's several shuttles that run to the airport from downtown Auckland, so it's not hard to get form one to the other. I can't believe my time is up! Two months went by so fast. New Zealand has been great, what I've been able to see anyway, and I know I'll return sometime in the not too distant future. I feel like I only scraped the surface- and I spent the whole time on the South Island! Still so much to see and do. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed for a change though, and not have to share things like the kitchen and a bathroom. Ah the simple luxuries in life.

Picton

I'm in Picton now, the "gateway" to the South Island, since both ferries that cross Cook Straight go to Picton. It's a cuter little town than I gave it credit for when I first got here, but that's probably because I just hopped on a bus and drove right through. I'm staying at a really great place, called Juggler's Rest, except it's full tomorrow night, so I have to leave for a night. I'm in Picton for 5 nights, then Wellington for three, then Auckland for one then home! Crazy. I'm definitely leaning towards coming back next year with a work visa, that way I'll really get to see it all (I hope!). I'm not looking forward to the ferry ride back, today I saw a picture and heard stories about a few years ago when it was so rough the ferry took 10 hours to cross and tipped to 42 degrees (45 and you're in the water). The ride is supposed to take 3 hours. It destroyed the ferry, which carries cars/campervans and freight cargo for the trains, and the Interislander didn't run for something like 5 days. People were literally stranded here on the South Island unless they wanted to fly. Pretty crazy. Anyway that's what I'm up to now, just hanging out on the South Island for as long as I can, before I have to leave this wonderful country!

Last night wwoofing

Tomorrow I leave Windsong Orchard, and start making my way back up to the North Island. I think I'll stay in Picton for a few days, do some day trips into the Marlborough Sounds, and then Wellington and then maybe Raglan and then home! I'm sad to leave such kind and wonderful hosts, but I'm ready to start moving again. Jennie and Bob Crum are about the nicest wwoofing hosts you could ask for, and I feel spoiled. We all had dinner together tonight, Jennie made roast veggies (all from her garden) with feta and couscous, with green beans and a dressing, I'm not sure what was in it. I wasn't all that hungry but it was very good. Elizabeth, my fellow wwoofer left on Sunday, so I've been alone since then. It's been nice to be in the better bedroom and have space, but we got along really well so I was sad to see her go.

It's been almost a week...

On the farm and I'm still really liking it. A little sick of picking blueberries, but still really liking it. What's not to like? Work for 4 hours, eat a yummy home cooked, home grown lunch, chill out/read a book/bike around vineyards/swim at the water hole, eat a home cooked, home grown dinner, repeat. Life is not hard here at Windsong Orchard. Yesterday for my birthday they made me a blueberry crumb cake thing that was super delicious, with blueberries picked by yours truly. I can't believe I will be in VT in just over 2 weeks. It feels like I just got here. I will definitely be back. This place gets under your skin. Also, congrats to Amigos de Pablo for their amazing fundraising efforts!!

WWOOF, take 2

Yesterday I arrived at Windsong Orchard, in Renwick, to try my hand at wwoofing again, after a week of pretty much just vegging out in Nelson (but camping!). Ok I guess we'll cover my lazy week in Nelson first. I didn't really do much, except walk into town and read. I did end up going to the Founders Brewery, but there weren't tours, but I did get to sample their organic beers, which were all really good. It's in a place called Founder's Park, not unlike Shelburne Museum, with old buildings, people dressed in period costumes, etc. It was cute, if aimed at a slightly younger audience. The new wwoofing farm is night and day above the other. First off the wwoofers have their own cottage (blueberry cottage, since it butts up to the blueberry field) and our own kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and a computer with internet. It's myself and a girl named Elizabeth, from New Jersey. We work from 8:30 to 12:30, have lunch together in Jennie and Bob's house, and then we have the rest of the day free. It really couldn't be more different, and better, than the last place. Tomorrow Elizabeth and I are going to go explore some of the vineyards, since we're absolutely smack dab in the heart of New Zealand wine country. Also, I posted all my pictures from Milford Sound, Franz Josef, etc on Flickr so it's updated again. As of now I've been too lazy to title them all (I uploaded around 250 so I just didn't have the energy) but I will try to get to them soon, so they make a little more sense. That's all that's new for now, but I'll try and be better about updating.

Nelson- again.

I know. I just can't stay away. I got back to Nelson on Monday? I think. So far I've just been hanging out, sleepin in the tent, saving some money. I'm going to go to Abel Tasman National Park this weekend to do some hiking/kayaking, and then on Monday I start WWOOFing again. At a place called Windsong Orchard in Renwick, which is the heart of wine country in New Zealand (but it's not a vineyard, unfortunately). I will stay there for at least a week, possibly two. If I stay for one week, I will spend the other at a vineyard, but the vineyard is in the same town as the last place I tried WWOOFing, which I feel like is a bad omen.

There's a very eccentric book seller here in Nelson, where I've now bought two books, but I just cannot figure out how this man makes any money. It's a used bookstore, and he said that he'd buy back some of my books (I hoard the books I buy, hoping I can sell them back somewhere since the book exchanges at the hostels have all been horrible). Right now I have 6 books to sell back. Ridiculous I know. I counted today, I think I've read 10 books so far since being gone. It's also nice to be back in sunshine finally. I have been rained on in almost every city I've been in, for around 2 weeks straight it rained on and off throughout the day.

Yesterday I hiked to the geographical center of New Zealand. There's just a little plaque and sculpture to denote that someone at some point calculated it out, and that is the exact center of New Zealand. It's a short hike, 45 min round trip, but STEEP. I went at 4 in the afternoon and it was still super hot. Tomorrow I think I might do the extended version of that hike that takes you out to the bay, and my favorite beer so far in New Zealand is brewed here in Nelson so I'm going to go check out the factory. Other than that things are pretty mellow, I can't believe I've been here for over a month now.

Franz Josef Glacier

Firstly, I just discovered today that I've been spelling it wrong this whole time, it's Josef, not Joseph. So anyway, this morning I woke up at 7:30, super super tired, and considering bagging the whole 'climbing a glacier' thing- except I'd already paid for it, and it wasn't cheap. I chose the half day hike, versus the full day hike, and I'm very happy with my choice. There were 50 of us, split into 4 groups, according to fitness. I chose to be in group 3 (1 being the most fit) because I'm tired, and it's not like once you're up there you can just be like, oh you know what, I think I'm going to turn around and go back. So in group 3 (the fast-slow group, as we called our selves) I was very comfortable, and there were several people far slower than I, which I was glad about (you never want to be the one holding everyone up). It was supposed to rain all day, but it ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day. Aaand I didn't get a sunburn! Miracles do happen. My camera died about halfway up the glacier, and I still managed to take around 20 pictures. I have got to get this picture taking thing under control. I took around 200 in Milford Sound (which I have since whittled down to around 100) and I know if my camera battery hadn't died, I would have been somewhere around that again with the glacier. Franz Joseph (and Fox glacier, a bit south of Franz) are one of only two places in the world where a glacier is receeding into a rainforest, the other in Patagonia, Argentina, so it was quite a special thing to see. All in all the hike was around 4 or 5 hours, and about 6 miles (10 km). I chatted with a nice young Irish couple for most of the day, they were on their honeymoon. Tomorrow I leave for Greymouth, which I've heard from A LOT of people sucks, but it's a stop over on the way to I think Takaka, possibly Nelson again but I'm trying to avoid that since I've already spent so much time there. I decided to forgo the train because it just requires too much backtracking, and I can feel the money/time slipping away as it is. I start camping tomorrow too- hopefully the rain will stay away for a few more days. I'm excited to get the tent out and put it to some good use! I'm also trying to line up some couch surfing and another wwoofer placement- I'll keep you updated!