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Report
2.
Feb.
13-15. Flew to Christchurch
to begin a 6-day “holiday” (NZ for vacation) on the South
Island. It’s a busy
holiday time here, just before school starts, so it was hard to find a rental
car, but from a tour book I picked an off-airport (way off!) rental firm and
eventually we got our car and headed off to Akaroa. Christchurch
(Chch – their abbreviation) is about half-way down the east side of the South
Island and east of there is a protuberance called the Banks Peninsula. Akaroa
Harbor is a large bay
that opens to the south near the east end of the peninsula. The harbor is a volcano crater eroded away
on the south side which opened it to the sea.
Akaroa was an early English and French settlement and at various times
has been a center for lumbering, whaling, fishing, sheep-raising, and now
tourism. Some time in the last 10
years the city govt. decided to reflect their French heritage by renaming
streets – Rue de this and Rue de that.
Some local wags put up signs for Rue-Barb, Rue Matism and the like,
(For those who are familiar with the Shackleton antarctic adventure, Akaroa
is the hometown of navigator Frank Worsley.)
We decided to go to Chch because Susie had read that Feb. is Flower
Festival month. Christchurch is also known as the most
English of NZ cities. Somehow in
internet-surfing the region I came across the Onuku [oh-NU-coo] Heights
“farmstay” – a b&b located on a sheep farm near Akaroa (about 1.5 hrs.
from Chch), so that was our destination (www.onuku-heights.co.nz). (We were going back to Chch for 3 days
before returning to Auckland
next week, so we hadn’t forgotten that objective.) We were told to drive to end of the road,
then look high up on the mountainside and we would see our
farm-destination. There it was, so up
we drove on a very narrow gravel track.
The drop-off was on the left side, so Susie really enjoyed the view,
thankyouverymuch, as we ascended. At
one point we met a couple of cars descending – the farm workers who were
going into town for a swim – and they kindly backed up a considerable
distance to a place where we could barely squeeze by.
We
lolled away the afternoon, looking out over the harbor from lawnchairs (see
below) – the water is a beautiful shade of blue, then went back to town for
dinner and to pick up some vittles for the next day – because breakfast, ve
vere told by our German host, is the only meal they would serve and we
planned to spend the next day (2/14, though I should use NZ date-style, 14/2)
on the farm relaxing, reading, and working on class notes. Which we did, but I did a morning hike up
the mtn. and back before breakfast.
Weather turned cold and rainy soon after breakfast, so we were glad to
stay in. Some farmstays include
opportunities to help in the farmwork, but not here so far. The lambs were recently sheared and I
haven’t detected any urgent farmwork going on now. Incidentally, this farm is 300 hectares
(right now I don’t know the conversion factor for acres so you’ll have to look
it up) and has about 1000 ewes, plus their lambs and enough rams to keep the
ewes happy. We were the only guests
the first night, but another couple arrived the second. Turned out they insisted on dinner, because
it is offered in the farm brochure, so we did get a Valentine’s day dinner on
the farm. And, no, ‘twarn’t lamb;
‘twas pork. (Susie, ever the shy one,
had managed to let her anti-lamb feelings be known; also the fact that we
don’t do wine. “So, why are you in
NZ?” the other couple asked.)
view from the veranda
The
farm workers were known as WOOFers – Workers on Overseas Farms. Apparently there is a program in which kids
exchange farm work for room and board.
The young lady who served our meals was on a two-week assignment to this
farm. I also learned a little sheep
science from our host, Eckard. By
increasing or decreasing the ewes’ feed at certain times of the year you
enhance their probability of lambing.
Animal husbandrists have learned this through carefully done statistically
designed and analyzedexperiments, which is why I’m here, mate – one reason at
least.
Aside. Driving in the states, I’ve been interested
in how different states warn you that bridges freeze before roadways, so be
careful. E.g., in Texas, they have hinged signs approaching
every bridge. I always wanted to be
the guy who goes around twice a year flipping the sign up or down, as the
season dictates. In Michigan, the signs are fixed year-round
warnings. They have different
phrasing, too. Anyway, in NZ you see
warning signs with a cartoon of a car sliding around the road with the
caption: “WHEN FROSTY.” Cool. Also, at intersections, you are told to
“give way,” for yield. Carryout food
is take-away. We’ll let you know about
other language and cultural differences as we encounter them.
The
next day we went exploring. Spent some
time in the village
of Akaroa, including
browsing a crafts fair at the local Presby church. Susie bought a hat because the vendor told
her she looked “naughty!” Then we took
a harbor cruise, which focused on a breed of dolphins, unique to NZ, called,
if I recall correctly, Higdon dolphins.
These are small fellers, about 4ft. in length, and have a rounded fin. Some tours give you the option of swimming
with them. We also saw lots of bird
life living on the cliffs around the harbor and some pearl beds. After this we drove around the harbor and
down its west side (across from our farm).
Road twisted, turned, and climbed essentially to Land’s End – the edge
of the Pacific Ocean, not the catalog store.
For most of the year these hills are green, but in late summer the
long stems die off and go to seed, so the hills are mostly golden brown –
reminiscent of CA. After one more
night on Ohnuku
Heights we returned to
Chch.
Enough
for now. Love to you all
Susie
and Rob
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