The "chain" leaving Bluff...

The "anchor" on Stewart Island

They have a wonderful sculpture down here – that starts at the bottom of the South Island (near Bluff) and finishes in Lee Bay on Stewart Island.  It as a giant chain and anchor that gives the impression that Stewart Island is the anchor of the South Island!   Awesome!

 

I have wanted to walk the Stewart Island’s North West Circuit ever since I heard about it.   Do you think  the fact that it is “hard” “challenging” “muddy” and “remote” have anything to do with that?  Hum??   So I  set my self the goal of completing this hike on this trip – after all, I’m not getting any younger!  It’s a 10 day trip and 120 kilometers all told.    I was a bit apprehensive as to doing a 10 day backpack trip – that’s a pretty heavy pack to be carrying.   But I now have a wonderful new pack designed by a Kiwi – an Aarn Body Flow Pack.   It is designed to support all the weight on your hips and not on your shoulders – and to distribute the weight so that your center of gravity isn’t compromised.   I love my new Aarn!!!  (You can look it up at:  aarnpacks.com)

Stewart Island is the “third” New Zealand Island – it is South of Bluff, which is South of Invercargill (if you are looking at the map).   I drove down to Bluff – and put together everything I would need for 10 days (that’s a lot of food- 10 breakfasts, 10 lunches, 10 dinners!).  I left Yanqui in the ferry carpark in Bluff and basically started my trip by walking from the carpark to the ferry!

The ferry from Bluff to Halfmoon Bay (which is also called Oban) takes about an hour to get across the Furneaux Strait.   The Strait is usually fairly rough (even on a good day), and one of  my new friends next to me on the ferry turned a little “green around the gills”, and several people were using their “little white bags” (like you find in the seat packet in front of you on an airplane!)

Once I got to Stewart Island, I walked to the DoC office (Department of Conservation) where I signed an “intention sheet”.   The local DoC offices down here request that trampers sign an intention sheet so if something happens to you “out there” they have a “panic date” and know whether to come look for you or not.   Since I am usually “out there” on the trails solo, I also carry an “EPRB” (Emergency Personal Rescue Beacon) – that way if I break a leg, I can call in the helicopters (one would hope….)

So from the ferry and DoC office, I had 5 kilometers to walk on the paved (they call it “tar sealed”) roads.   I tried hitching, but it was a Sunday morning and there wasn’t much traffic on the roads.    So after my 5 kms, I was finally on the track!

The first few hours of the track were pretty easy – it is part of the Rakiura Track which is one of the Great Walks.   But then after leaving that section, it was into the mud!   Some of the muddy areas you could go around – but usually even the surrounding area was pretty boggy.   Mostly you just had to slog on through.   It was every kind of mud you could imagine – slippery, icky, gooey, mucky  (do I need to “go on”??) .  But then I knew what I was getting into!  The mud did slow you down somewhat – and after a while you just stopped trying to get around it – you just plowed right on through.

But what was beautiful about this whole track was the incredible rain forest, the beaches, the birds, and the solitude (for me at least!)   My first night (Bungaree Hut)  I was in the hut with 3 young men from Spain (they were hiking out the next day); the second night (Christmas Village Hut), a man from Switzerland (he was hiking out also); and the third night (Yankee River Hut), two DoC workers.   From then on, I didn’t see another person till day nine (Long Harry Hut, East Ruggedy Hut, Big Hellfire Hut, Mason Bay Hut, Freshwater Hut).   The two hardest days were day 6 and day 7 – they were the longest days, and of course the most rainy days.   I do have to admit that there were times on those days that I did ask myself, “Now exactly WHY am I doing this??!!”  But the good part of those days was that by this time my pack was noticeably lighter!   The more I eat, the lighter it gets! Yea.  It is quite a “balancing act” though to carry enough food, without too much weight.   I have to admit about half way through the 10 days, I was finding that I could have eaten a lot more per meal (but I don’t think the first few days I could have handled the extra weight!)

Another one of the things that I was hoping for on this trip was to see another actual Kiwi in the wild (not the “human” kind but the Kiwi bird!).   There are some Kiwis on Stewart Island that actually feed during the day, and I think I saw some  of those in the ferns that were rustling around.  But they wouldn’t come out where I could actually see them.  However, on my second to last night, as I was doing my “after dinner, dusk, kiwi spotting walk”, sure enough a little guy came out of the bushes right in front of me.   He let me watch him rustle in the leaves looking for bugs for about 10 minutes!   Very fun.   It was too dark to get photos, so I just enjoyed the experience.

My last night (#9)  on the track was in the North Arm Hut.   It had been a pretty good walk to get there since I had to climb up and over a ridge (with the usual mud and roots and slippery rocks…).   That hut is part of the Rakiura Track again – and from  not seeing a single person for 6 days, all of the sudden I am in a hut with 8 other people.   Culture shock!   But one of the beautiful things about the North Arm Hut is that there are mussels on the rocks in front of the hut.  By this time, I was never quite getting full at each of my meals (I guess I was burning a few more calories than I was eating – remember the weight factor!) and pasta was getting old after 8 nights of it.   So I collected a bag of mussels, and luckily had just enough fuel for my stove to steam them open.   A wonderful German couple shared some butter with me, and I had mussels in melted butter.   I was in heaven!   And by the time I added my pasta, I was finally satiated.

On day 10 when I finally walked back into Oban/Half moon Bay, I was really happy to have survived and totally completed the Stewart Island North West Circuit!   I guess 64 isn’t too old yet…..

Yes, I really am a "Tree Hugger"!!

Day 1 - with my heavy pack!

The start of the mud!

Start of Day 2 - that's a Paua shell I am holding.

One of the many swing bridges!

The beach at Long Harry Hut

Long Harry Hut - My favorite hut on the track! I had my own personal beach front home for a night!

That is mud interspirsed with slippery roots and rocks! This was what the track looked like for many miles!

There were ferns everywhere! Beautiful!!!

Oops this one was a little deep!

Yep - It's muddy!

Just doesn't get much more beautiful than this!!!

One of the many beautiful beaches!

Start of Day 10, at North Arm Hut. Yea!

I am having so much fun down here!  I had always thought that the weather in November (which is springtime down here) would be a bit rainy – but this year it has been hot and dry.  Lots of sunny skies and only a few rainy days.

The flowers in Christchurch are always beautiful!

This trip I have found I am doing lots more of the little “off the beaten track” places.   So I have done some day hikes, some backcountry tracks where I haven’t seen anyone, and even gone into some caves (that’s a scary thing to do when you are soloing!)
As usual in my blogs, I think that pictures are worth much more than I can possibly describe, so I will have lots of photos here!  The words and photos don’t seem to match up once I go to publish – so you just have to use your imagination!
I started out going up the Waimakariri River. There was pretty much water in the side streams, so I couldn’t get up to explore them. (See, sometimes I really am careful!)
It was really beautiful weather and I was really enjoying the beauty of the snow on the peaks, the green trees, and the beautiful rivers!!

Waimakariri River - Doesn't get much more spectacular than this!

Up the Craigieburn Valley

From there I headed to the West Coast.   Again I was blessed with great weather!  I think I only had one day when I had to wait out the rains. I hiked up to a couple of caves. There is a lot of limestone in certain parts of New Zealand so there are some great spots with lots of caves. Some of the arches were pretty impressive.
A couple of years ago I did a back pack trip over here with Craig and Judy Pauley. It rained all along the Wangapeka and we never got to see the fabulous view from the pass. So I decided to hike up the Wangapeka just to the saddle to see the view. That actually entailed a four day trip with three nights in huts. And I was so lucky to be on the top of the saddle on a beautiful clear day (even though it was really windy and I couldn’t hang out on top as long as I would have liked!).

Little Wanganui Saddle

Tarn at Little Wanganui Saddle

From there I headed up to the Kaharungi National Forest. That area is in the Northwest corner of the South Island. Again I was blessed with beautiful clear skies and only had one day of rain.
I hiked into the Sylvester Hut and spent a whole day hiking around some pretty spectacular high mountain lakes.

Sylvester Hut

Iron Lake (above the Sylvester Hut)

Then I came back to Yanqui and parked her on the other side of Cobb Reservoir and headed out again.

I did get a bit of rain, but after spending the night nice and dry in the Mytton Hut, I headed up to Lake Peel under beautiful blue skies!   Then I hiked around the Cobb “Tablelands” and ended up spending the night in the “Dry Rock Shelter”.   That was an interesting place to “semi-camp” which just made it a bit more interesting than being in a hut.

Lake Peel - a great place to boil up a cup of tea!

Dry Rock Shelter - Had great mattresses!

After hiking out from the Mt. Arthur Tablelands, I headed into Takaka.   I met up with some new friends, Janet and Paul.   After some lovely organic salads picked right from their garden – Paul drove me up to start the Anatoki Track.   The first hut on this track (after crossing 24 side streams!), The Anatoki Forks Hut had a hot water system that was attached to the wood burning stove.    And to go along with that, there was a full on shower to take advantage of all that hot water!

Good thing there is a chain over this part of the trail!

Anatoki Hut hot water system

I spent another couple of days in Nelson with my friend, Christine.   And then visiting more friends, Barry and Jan.   Then I headed out for one more quick backcountry trip to a place called “The Mole Tops”.   What was so amazing about the Mole Tops was that it was like I looked one direction and I was looking over the Appalachian Mountains and when I turned around I was looking over the Rocky Mountains!   I keep saying New Zealand is some awesome country in a small package!

 

Looking on directions it was like looking over the Appalachian Mountains

Looking the other way - it's like the Rockies! Amazing!

So now I am back in Christchurch for a couple of days.   I plan on heading down to Stewart Island in a couple of days and do a 10 day backpacking trip down there…  This being my 6th trip to New Zealand, you would think I had seen it all, but there are so many more places down here that I haven’t seen yet!   And, like I say, I LOVE New Zealand!

 

Scroll down for more photos!

Around Castle Rock - near Arthur's Pass

A friendly (?) local

Bridge at the Otira Gorge

Yanqui parked at Lake Brunner

And when you aren't in the mountains, you aren't far from the beach!

My attempt at an "art shot" - Sunset through some Flax

One of Janet's delicious organic (and beautiful) salads!

This is some serious "tree hugging"!

Ok – so I know I have been a bit lax on my blogging (some of you are contacting me to see if I have fallen off the planet somewhere. Or if the earthquake has swallowed me up…) – so I guess this one will have to be a long one!  Well, at least lots of photos (but that goes with the territory!)  If the photos are not along side the descriptions, I appologize – but when I previewed the post they wouldn’t go in where I put them. Oh, well…

While the earth was still rocking and rolling in Christchurch with aftershocks from the September 4th earthquake, I flew up to Auckland and met up with my friend Dianne.   We then flew to Darwin, Australia.   Now I knew that Australia was big and deserted, but I my first hint was flying 4 hours over desert wilderness!  From Sydney to Darwin, there was nothing below up for most of the way!  Pretty amazing.

Dianne and I had arranged to rent a campervan for the month of touring we planned in Australia.   It was a cute little thing, just a little bit larger than Yanqui, but not much!   The beauty of this camper was that in the back there was a tiny refrigerator and a propane stove.   For me that was a bit of luxury.   Darwin was pretty hot (an inkling of what was to come!) and we drove all over town trying to find some sort of battery operated fans or something that we could use at nights sleeping in the van.   I was totally amazed that in one of the hottest places on the planet, there were NO battery operated fans!   And we spent hours going from place to place!   Oh, well….

It's a BIG place!

Darwin is at the top of the Northern Territory and is just 6 degrees below the Equator.   No wonder it is so hot there!   There were many nights when I really wished we had been able to get some fans!   (So what does a woman in Darwin do when she is having “hot flashes”???)

Little camper van with fridge in back, at one of our typical camping spots (just a little way off the road).

Eating Breakfast with the Mosquitoes!

From Darwin we drove South to Lichfield National Park –  beautiful waterfalls and rivers!   Then we drove to the Mary River for a tour along the river –  with birds, crocodiles, and water lilies!  Then we spent a day in Kakadu National Park.   Those are some of the “must see’s” while touring the Northern Territory.   It was sure hot and muggy and buggy – and I so wanted to jump in the water to cool off – but not swimming with crocodiles!   Not only are there crocodiles in the rivers, but these are salt water crocodiles – so they are even in the ocean!     I guess I would say actually the nights were the worst for the heat- during the day we drove with the AC on, but at night we slept with every window and door open, just hoping for the slightest breeze.   Not only would the breeze cool us off a bit, but it might even blow the bugs out of our sleeping area!

Waterfalls in Lichfield National Park

Amazing - there is NOTHING for miles and miles in every direction!

Bummer - and it is SO HOT I could really use a swim!

Oh, maybe I DON'T want to go for a swim right now!

They really are serious about the dangers of Crocodiles!

Some of the ancient Aboriginal Rock Art

Everything is big over here - even the Water Lilies

Even amongst the heat, there were so many beautiful places!  It was such a mix of desert and wetlands – rainforest and arid next to each other!

From Kakadu, we continued South till we got to Katherine Gorge.   There is so much desert out here – it is so incredible when you find water!   Katherine was beautiful – we even found a place where we could swim at Edith Falls – yea, NO crocodiles!  And then next day we rented kayaks and spent the day kayaking – and I could fall out of the kayak  into the water to cool off when I got too hot!

Edith Falls - YEA - safe swimming!

Katherine Gorge - all the shades of blue!

Now most of you know that I love a “road trip”!   I have often said that a long distance trucker actually lives in me somewhere.   Well this was a road trip like I have never been on before!   We had days and days of driving through nothing!   I mean really nothing!   What showed on the map as a little dot (one would think that was a town) – was only a petrol station, a camp ground and a roadhouse!  So we would just make it from one petrol station to the next before running out of petrol – then fill up and off we went again.  It is very hard to explain – but the word that kept coming up for me was “VAST”!  It is just so big!

Along the way you could see where the Aboriginals have burned off the underbrush.   I had always thought that fire was something that was a problem in the bush of Australia.   But what I have learned is that they burn off the underbrush with small fires and that helps prevent the huge forest fires that are so destructive.   The other thing I hadn’t expected were the termite mounds.   I had seen termite mounds in Africa, but in Northern and Western Australia, they are everywhere!   I kept saying if you could eat termites, there wouldn’t be any hunger in Australia!

This was the view for days and days - straight road. No interstate roads or motorways, just miles and miles of 2 lane road

You can see the burn marks on the trees and termite mounds out there. The burning also helps promote grass growth.

From Katherine we basically drove West till we got to Broome.   We did stop a couple of times – found a great waterfall (and pool to swim in at Emma Gorge). As we neared the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia, we found out that they would take away any fresh vegies or fruit at the border.   We were able to give some of it away to some people who were heading in the opposite direction.   But they not only took away the few freshies we still had, they also took our banana boxes which we had packed our food into.  They are pretty serious out there!

It took us days of driving to get to Broome.  I loved Broome !  It is on the Indian Ocean and the water is so very blue!   Beautiful!   And there aren’t salt water crocs around there – so I could actually swim in the water.   Yea!   The temperature of the water was perfect – and it was so salty, I could have taken a nap while floating in the water.   Way fun.   We went out kayaking again and were treated to see a mother whale and her calf surfacing not far from us.   And then, THE thing to do in Broome is to ride camels on the beach for sunset.   Well, of course we had to do that!   Very touristy, but also very fun.   Camels are such cool beasts!

Broome - Doesn't that scene look about perfect!

Kayaking in Broome - look at the color of the water!

Hey - Camels are tall!

After a couple of days in Broome, we headed back East.   To save $$ we had agreed to return our rental van to the same place that we rented it from, so we would need to get back to Darwin.

In Western Australia, there are some interesting rock formations call the Bungle Bungles.    Unfortunately to get there you have to go down a dirt road for about 3 hours.   Our little van was good, but not THAT good.   I was really missing GrayJay – a 4 wheel drive vehicle would have been really nice.   There were lots of things that we just couldn’t get to because we didn’t have 4 wheel drive.   Anyway, since we couldn’t drive to the Bungle Bungles, we decided to spring for a plane ride!   So we actually flew over the Bungle Bungles.  Not only were the formations beautiful, but it was awesome to see the country side that we had only seen from our little van.

That's rough country out there - the Bungle Bungles!

Since we had pretty much covered the things that we had wanted to see out here, we figured we had enough time to go down to Ayers Rock which is almost in the middle of Australia.   It would be another 1500 kilometers (one way) but we had the time.   The petrol costs put us over budget, but I was so glad we were able to get down there.

Ayers Rock, or Uluru as the locals call it, is pretty much in the center of Australia.   Miles and miles of flat desert and then there is this huge rock sticking out of the ground!   It is awe inspiring!    When we got to the national park for Uluru, the ranger told us that only 3 to 5% of people who visit the rock get to see it when it is wet.   We we fell in that 3 to 5%!   No sunrise or sunset pics for us.   But that was ok – I was still really happy and felt privileged to even be there!   It is so awe inspiring!    The rains held off long enough that we could walk all the way around the rock, but because of the rains, the hike to the top was closed.   Oh, well…..

I sure look small up there!

Yes, Mr. Tengu made it to Uluru too!

So from Ayers Rock, we headed back to Darwin – another LONG drive.   The center of Australia is having the wettest year they can remember  (I think that is relative though).   But because of all the rain, the desert was really green!   So it was a beautiful drive.   We stopped a couple of places to either go into caves or (happy, happy) to go swimming in some SAFE water!

Once back in Darwin, we remembered how how it could get!    Our last day, we decided to go to the “mall” (haven’t been in one of those for awhile!).   We knew there were some computers in the mall, and Dianne and I wanted to download our photos so we could share them.   And the Mall was air conditioned!   Yea.   But there really wasn’t any “yea” about it, because while we were in the mall and our little van was parked in the covered mall parking lot, someone broke into the van and stole my pack.  Oh, No!   And wouldn’t you guess that my passport was in it!  Aargh!!!!   So even with lots of mall security guards, police, etc., what was gone, was gone.   (Am I missing a lesson here or something?)   So here we go again – I had to go to Sydney (we were flying there that night anyway) but instead of going on to Auckland with Dianne – I had to stay in Sydney and get a new passport.   The US Gov Passport Agency isn’t very happy with me – that’s two passports in 10 months that have been stolen.   So now I can only get a 1 year passport ..  till I can show that I am a good little citizen again.  Well, I really can’t blame them.

But at least I had a day in Sydney to tour around and see that city.   I was traveling really light (everything but my day pack was stolen) so that was interesting…. but I went to the famous opera house, rode the ferry, and enjoyed the big city for a day.    Then I was back on track (with my new 1 year passport) and now I am back in Christchurch.   And, believe it or not, we are still having aftershocks!

We saw so much and did so much in a month that it is hard to cover it all – but here are more photos:

Now THAT is a termite mound!

Oh, yea - there are snakes in Australia!

A billabong near "Parry Lagoon" and those are Boab Trees

We saw lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets!

Can't forget these little guys!

Caving!

Getting ready to fly over the Bungle Bungles

A famous Australian "Road Train" - when you meet one of these on a 2 lane road it almost blows you over! It is actually 4 trailers long! If you want to pass one of these babies be sure you have MILES of clear road. Check out our little van next to it!

Can't forget the Kookaburras either!

And then there was Sydney....

Oh my gosh!!!   What a RUDE awakening!   No joke!   That was the most VIOLENT thing I have ever experienced.   It was 4:35 am on Saturday morning – and we were only about 10 miles from the epi-center of a 7.4 Earthquake!   It only lasted a minute – but do you know how LONG a minute is when you are petrified!   There was no way I could have gotten out of the bed -

They were straight when we went to bed on Friday night!

I would have been thrown across the room!   As it started settling down, I did get to a door frame which I knew was the safest place to be – but by the time I could stand up, most of the original quake was finished.   I called across to Myles and Margaret and they were fine – oh, we were SO lucky!   We were without power or water and it was still totally dark.   So we got our flashlights and transistor radio and then the three of us crawled into their bed to wait till it got light.  We did lots of texting and calling to let our kids know we were ok – and to check on M&M’s kids to be sure they were ok too.    The neighbors came by to check on us – but there wasn’t much anyone could do in the dark.   Once it got light we found that there were lots of thing fallen off the shelves, but only a few things broken – and all the pictures on the wall were askew!  I can’t believe that more things didn’t break. (Weird though – there was water on the bathroom floor because it had “sloshed” out of the toilet!)   However, the chimney was scattered across the yard outside!   It’s a hundred year old farm house and Myles had been talking about taking the chimney down anyway!   We were without electricity till 6 pm on Saturday.   Being “on the farm”, Myles and Margaret have well water – but the pump is electric – so without electricity we were also without water.   Myles was totally prepared though and had a 20 liter container with water in it – and we had plenty of food, batteries and warm blankets.   They had their camping stove and I had mine – so we were able to fix tea and soup.   So we were fine on that front.

What was left of the chimney!

It was SO amazing that no one was killed in this quake even though it was the same size as the Haiti quake.  It happened at 4:35 am on a Saturday – if it had been at another time of day, lots of people would have been injured or killed.    There were some injuries, but only a couple of critical ones.  The radios asked people to stay home unless absolutely necessary.   So we stayed home and tried not to create more problems for the emergency services.   The neighbors came over and we cleaned up the chimney bricks and patched the roof.   We took apart the well and got some water by manually pumping it.

The aftershocks are very disconcerting – 3 days later we are still having aftershocks that are 4.5 or 5 on the Richter Scale.   Mostly they are still happening every hour or two.   We are up to over 100 aftershocks.    And they take you by surprise!   Giving you an inner “jolt” when they happen.   All of the sudden you realize you are heading to the doorway!

I have learned several things about earthquakes that I didn’t know (I could have done without learning all this stuff though!).   I knew it was violent,  but I had no idea HOW violent.   And I didn’t know it would be so NOISY.   Just the sound of the quake is amazing!   Even some of the aftershocks you can hear before you feel them    –  Of course, there is the shock of it – It is hard to explain but do you know how a dog can get something in its mouth and really shake it back and forth – I felt like a dog was doing that to my room during the initial shake.

We were really lucky that we had phone service, and our cell phones worked.   But I didn’t realize that cell phone towers have a battery back up – and after awhile if there isn’t electricity you will lose the cell reception.   And when you are in the midst of a crisis, without electricity, everyone else in the world is seeing photos of what is going on around you but you aren’t!    All our information was coming to us via battery operated radios.

Lots of road work to be done!

Another thing that I didn’t realize happens in earthquakes is what they call “sand volcanos”.   There are these piles of sand that have been forced up from underground.    Of course the roads are all broken up too – lots of cracks and humps in the pavement.    So there is lots of cleaning and fixing that will need to be done.

I have also been really impressed with the New Zealand response.   The Civil Defense Team was activated, calm decisions were made, and things were dealt with.   To have most of Christchurch back in power and water by Saturday night was really impressive.   Of course, there are always some pockets that don’t have their services back, but things are being worked on.   And the road crews are all out fixing the streets as fast as they can. Most of the damaged buildings are historical buildings – older buildings.   I hope some will be able to be restored and not totally lost – but some buildings are already being pulled down because they are dangerous.   They estimate that 100,000 houses will need repairs and there are a lot of people who have moved into shelters.  I’ve offered to volunteer, but they haven’t called me yet.   And Myles, Margaret and I have donated mattresses and blankets for the shelters.

All and all I am thankful for being alive.   I am thankful that Myles and Margaret’s house didn’t have more damage.   And I hope I don’t have to do the “Earthquake Experience” every again!

That was a LONG time ago - and, yes, I am in a dress!

I don’t at all want to make light of “life and death” because a week ago my brother, Langdon, passed away – and that makes me sad.   Langdon and I were the last of our family since Mom, Dad and Craig have been gone for awhile.  Now it is just me.   I’ll miss Langdon and I hope that he is up there somewhere having a party with the rest of the family.   So I am sending blessings to all four of them!

Nicole, Langdon’s daughter, told me that Langdon had been turned over to Hospice, and I decided to fly up to see him.   It was a 2 day flight from New Zealand to Orlando, Florida, but I was able to be there for Langdon’s last 24 hours.   It was hard both physically, mentally, and financially, but I am SO glad I was there.   And then I flew back to New Zealand.

The rest of the life and death of this month has been the process of sheep farming and lambing.

Triplets

Lots of new life in the beautiful young lambs and the joy they bring to life.   And at the same time we had one more dead ewe and 5 dead lambs.   But we are doing pretty good with 32 ewes giving birth and we have 49 live lambs.   We have one set of triplets and lots of twins.   They sure are cute little critters.

We have two “pet” lambs that we are bottle feeding.   One of them was born to a ewe who couldn’t get up after the birth.   Thus the little lamb wandered off and the ewe never got a chance to “mother up” with it.   So when we finally got her up, she didn’t accept the little one.   Then the second one’s mother died a couple of days after giving birth.   We also were hand feeding a third little guy who’s mother had twins, but she only accepted one of them.   Unfortunately that little lamb didn’t make it.   The bottle fed lambs just aren’t growing as fast as their counterparts who can get milk from their mothers whenever they want, but they are growing.   They really slurp that milk down!  And I really enjoy feeding them.

It is definitely Springtime down here.   Days are getting longer,  the daffodils are blooming and the trees are starting to bud.   In a couple of weeks there will be flowers coming up everywhere.    The New Zealanders are very proud of their gardens, and I have been out helping Margaret get her garden cleaned up and ready for summer.   It is always wonderful to see the end of winter as the new life comes back again – and everything is SO green!   Monday (the 6th) is Labor Day back home, but Sunday (the 5th) down here is Father’s Day.

Spring Daffodils!

Trees are budding and blooming!

They are getting big!

This winter down here, I have been totally involved in watching New Zealand sports teams.    It is unusual for me to be watching so much TV, but I have been “hooked”.    In June, the World Cup of Football (Soccar) was held in South Africa.   Since the New Zealand team was involved in the games, there was lots of coverage over here.   The New Zealand team – The All Whites – were undefeated in their two games – but they didn’t get into the finals – because both games ended in a tie.   Then Rugby season started – there are lots of regional games and then the international games with the All Blacks.   Also we are almost finished with the Netball Season.   Netball is a national game played by women.   It is great to see the support the New Zealanders have for their women’s teams and their men’s teams.   I love the names their teams have:

Rugby:    All Blacks

Soccar:   All Whites

Netball: Silver Ferns

Hockey:  Black Sticks

Basketball:  Tall Blacks

Cricket:  Black Caps

Softball:  Black Soxs

Women’s Rugby League:  Black Ferns

Wheel Chair Rugby:  Wheel Blacks

Women’s Cricket: White Ferns

Ice Hockey: Ice Blacks

Women’s Basketball: Tall Ferns

Women’s Softball: White Soxs

Rugby League:  Kiwis

(What’s up with Rugby League – it isn’t a “white” or “black” or “fern”?? )

So with all these sports teams, you can guess there are always some sort of sports going on!   I have learned a LOT about Rugby, Rugby League, Soccar, and Netball.   It’s been great.

In a couple of weeks, Dianne and I will be heading over to Darwin, Australia.   It should be really hot over there this time of year, so it will be the real start of my summer down here.   When we get back, mid October, I’ll be ready to get out on the trails here in New Zealand!

Spring - everywhere!

Look at this - a bit of "Santa Fe" all the way down here in Lincoln, NZ!

I passed “Sheep Ranching 101″ just fine – but class 102 has been a bit more difficult!

One of the last things Myles told me before he left was, “When you have “live stock”, you also have “dead stock”.   Yikes – surely NOT on my watch!   But when a sheep is ready to go to the “paddocks in heaven”, there isn’t much stopping her.   So what I have discovered, sometimes a sheep just won’t stand up – even when I pulled her onto her feet, she just collapses back down into a sitting position.  (I knew something was “up” when Poppy went up to her and licked her in the face and she didn’t move!)

She just won't get up!

I tried everything to “prop” her up.   I used a “cloth” sling  (hey it is “trial and error” here) which I tied into a nearby tree – nope.   I tried a couple of boards that I propped on top of an old chair and some blocks of wood – nope.   Hum….     I would let her rest, and then try again – nope.   So when Jo (Myles and Margaret’s daughter) came out to say “hi”, she and I put Ms. Sheep into a wheelbarrow and carted her back to the shelter of the hay shed.  Poor sheep, it was very embarrassing to be upside down in a wheelbarrow (but she didn’t even complain).    For 6 days, I cut grass and put it in front of her (she is still sitting all this time) and put water next to her.   She would just sit there and look around, but I couldn’t get her to get up.   While this is going on, ANOTHER sheep out in the paddock sits down and won’t get up!   Yikes!  I decided to leave this sheep in the paddock and see if she did any better.   She had grass all around her (but she wouldn’t eat it), and I put water next to her.   So what did my little experiment prove?   The sheep in the paddock died 7 hours before the sheep next to the hay shed. There were multiple phone calls and emails back and forth between Myles and me (they were in England during all this time).   Myles says that some of the sheep are old, and they just can’t handle the physical stress of being pregnant and producing lambs.   They just sit down and die.   Well, I am a believer of that now…   Ah, the learning curve on being a sheep rancher is not always a smooth ride!

All those lovely green hedges in the summer, loose their leaves in the winter!

So other than dead sheep – all is well down here in New Zealand.   The days are getting just a little bit longer, and some of Margaret’s spring bulbs are starting to poke through the dirt.   On my walk yesterday, I saw my first Dandelions!    It still goes down into the 20s (Farenheit) when it is clear, but when it is cloudy it is not so cold.

My friend, Dianne, from Auckland will be coming down to visit tomorrow (7/31).   So I have lots of hikes and fun stuff planned for her visit.   We are even taking a train through the Southern Alps to the West Coast and then back again.   Hope for a clear day on Wednesday!!   And then the day she leaves (Aug 6), Myles and Margaret return.   That’s when the real fun will start – LAMBING!  

Here are more photos – visions of New Zealand in winter – Now WHY would I take a photo of a rainy day?   NOT!   So all my photos seem to be on sunny days!  :-)

School kids performing downtown in Christchurch

Forests that grow in rows? Tree farming in the hills!

Hiking the Bridle Path down to Lyttleton

The Southern Alps from above Christchurch

Poppy - Sheep Dog Extrordinaire!

Another beautiful day for a hike (notice I AM wearing my down vest!

Now I know it really is winter down here in July!   Even though, as I said before, the grass is staying green down here in Christchurch.   But “There is snow in them there hills!”   I have certainly “seen” snow in July in Crested Butte, but this is the first time I have been able to ski in July.   But let me warn you, it wasn’t “pretty”!

My friend, Annie, connected me with some of her Kiwi friends who are part of the Broken River Ski Club.   A “ski club” down here is definitely different than any ski club I have ever belonged to in the states!   Ski Clubs down here actually build and run their own ski fields!   It is pretty amazing – and with the way some of the ski resorts back home are doing – maybe we should take a lesson from them!

So Broken River is up in the range of mountains near Arthur’s Pass.   It is about an hour and a half drive from Christchurch.  Friday,  I had gone downtown and rented (“hired” they call it down here) some Telemark skis and boots.    John, Annie’s friend,  picked me up at 8 am on Saturday morning and we drove up into the mountains.   The paved (they call them “tar sealed”) roads were clear, but when we turned off onto the gravel road there was snow and ice on it.   I was glad I didn’t try to drive my beautiful Yanqui Girl van up here!   We finally got to a small parking lot next to a “passenger carrier”

The first ride up - Yikes!

which carried about 5 or 6 people and their gear and went STRAIGHT up the hill!   Well at least we didn’t have to walk up which used to be the case a couple of years ago.  At the top of this “finicular”, we still had about a 5 minute walk to get to where we could change into our ski gear.   But once we were geared up,  we had another 200+ steps to get up to the first rope tow.   When I bought my lift ticket, I also got a “nut cracker”  - Ok, now quit laughing!   A “nut cracker” down here is a two-part hinged piece of metal which is attached to a belt type harness.   You put the harness around your hips – grab (slowly) the rope tow, and once you are moving, you swing the nut cracker around the rope and hold on tight!   The nut cracker grabs the rope and you are pulled up the tow leaning into your harness (and, at least for me, holding on for dear life).   (I didn’t get a picture of a nut cracker , but you can see a video of it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjuhqGoxJ9U).

I was soon to learn that in club skiing in New Zealand there is NO warmup available!   You are immediately up on top of a pretty steep slope!   (At least if you have been able to figure out this rope tow and nut cracker deal!)    Ok – so now here I am – I’ve survived the ride up and am standing there with “new” rental skis and rental boots.   Yikes – these don’t act like my gear back home.   On top of that, they don’t rent ski poles, so I am using my hiking poles from the summer.   Well, I think I am a “decent” tele skier – these should not be too big of obstacles to me!   Well, think again, Talie!   I am flailing down this first slope.   Did I totally forget how to ski?   My quads are shaking!   I haven’t even skied down and my legs are already toast!   Yikes!  (Now, wait, what have all these 3 days a week at the gym been for?)  Well with several skid outs and falls, I make it down to the “day lodge”.   I take off my skis and go in for a cup of tea!  Whew!   Maybe, I’ll at least wait till the sun comes out.

After about 4 cups of tea….  Ok, the sun is out and I don’t have a legit excuse to sit in the lodge any longer.   After all, I didn’t pay all this money for skis and lift ticket, to sit and drink tea!   So I find a “transverse” tow rope to practice on – it is a little more managable – and after about 10 practice runs, I get the hang of it.   Ok – I’m ready for the big girl’s tow rope!   After about 4 tries, I finally hook onto the tow and up I go!   As I get to the top, I go past the group standing there, and pop my nut cracker off the tow rope.   I promptly FALL ON MY HEAD!  Yikes again!   “How to win friends and influence people” 101!     By now, I just had to laugh!   Now here I am at the top of the area – only one way down.

Looking down on the day lodge

I end up taking about 5 runs up and down this slope (it’s steep, but the rest are even steeper!)   And as the sun goes behind the hill, the snow conditions turn a “bit crispy”.   I have enough trouble with this gear without throwing ice into the mix.   So it’s back to the day lodge for me!     I spend the rest of the afternoon meeting lots of great Kiwi skiers and lovely people!   I don’t want to put a “per run price” on what I did today – it would be really sad!   I wait till John has had his fill of skiing for the day and we are some of the last to ski down from the day lodge.   Even this is a challenge for me – it is totally icy now, and there is no “gentle” about these hills!   But, life is good, and at least I don’t hurt myself!   Bottom line – I had a great day, met a lot of wonderful people, can now say I have skied (I guess I can call it skiing) in July, and the views from up at Broken River were awesome!  And as Annie says, “It gives new meaning to ‘Earning your turns!’ “

(So, I refuse to use excuses for my terrible skiing – but I will say that when I returned my gear to the ski shop, they said the boots that I had been using were “Men’s Racing Tele Boots” – so maybe that was why my legs were so shaky?)  Whatever…..

Here are more photos  - I can’t take credit for them though,   they are all from from the Broken River web site (www.brokenriver.co.nz).

All this stuff has been built over the years by volunteer club members!

That's from the top - NO that is NOT me!

I can WISH that was me!

Auckland Botanical Gardens

Here I am again in New Zealand – this time for winter!   Hum…  I’ve never been here for winter before.   Needless to say, being in the Southern Hemisphere, winter is June, July and August.   My friends, Myles and Margaret, are in the Northern Hemisphere visiting friends and family, and I am here housesitting at their place.   They have a small sheep farm outside of Christchurch in Lincoln.   It is a lovely spot and a wonderful farm house (definitely bigger than my truck!), and I have 40 sheep, plus two cats, a dog, and, of course, one ram to take care of.

On June 8th, I flew from LA to Auckland and spent a long weekend with Dianne.   My first impression was “Wow, is it ever GREEN in winter down here!”. So the green is incredibly beautiful; and, of course it comes from all the rain they have in the winter.   Luckily my first afternoon it was a beautiful clear day so I went for a walk around the Auckland Botanical Gardens – and not only was it green but some things are still blooming.  I was amazed at how fast the weather can go from pouring rain to sunny skies and then back to rain.    Ok, so it is cool and wet a lot of the time, but I don’t usually think of things blooming during winter!   I’m not complaining, just enjoying the beauty of it all!

Saturday morning, Dianne and I did what people all over the planet do on Saturday mornings!   They go to watch their kids learn and play team sports!   It was great – we went to see two of her granddaughters play net ball (along with kids on about 20 different teams – and that was only in one park!), then we went to watch her grandson play soccer.   It was very cute watching the little ones play so hard!   And it was great to spend the weekend with Dianne and seeing her new house!

Saturday Morning Net Ball Games

Rainbow over Dianne's new home

Then it was down to Christchurch to see Myles and Margaret.   I had 3 days to follow Myles around and learn how to take care of the sheep!   Along with the ins and outs of the house, cats and dog.

Electric Fence and "Grass Strip"

So, how does a person take care of 40 sheep in June in New Zealand?   Sheep ranching 101:   Myles has taught me how to do “strip feeding” for the sheep:   First I disconnect the electric fence, and move it a meter into the fresh grass.

Poppe helping me with the sheep

Then I let the sheep into that paddock so they can eat the new grass – and they know right where to go!   I leave them in that paddock for about an hour or two, then I get a bale of hay and lure them back into their other paddock.   They see me coming with the hay, and start heading to the gate – they know the routine and they get a little help from  Poppe (sheep dog extraordinaire!) but it has taken us a week for her to understand my commands –   The first day, I told her to “go out” pointing to the sheep, and she turned around and ran back to the house!   Oops!  So we had a little bit of work to do, but now she is working well with me!  A beautiful thing to see.  (Of course, I used a few doggie treats to get us on the same page!)

Yum - hay!

It's a little muddy - good thing I've got my "wellies"!

So winter down here isn’t bitter cold like it is back home,  but the days that are cold and wet are pretty miserable.  When it clears off, it usually goes down to a couple of degrees below freezing (remember down here I am using Celsius – so 3 degrees below zero down here is 26 degrees above zero Fahrenheit).  So it is a bit frosty on those clear mornings, but because it is clear the sun warms things up nicely and we get a beautiful day – usually going up to something like plus 10 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit).   So far, just when I get to wondering if I will ever see the sun again, a high pressure has shown up and given my mental state a reprieve!  So I am loving winter in New Zealand so far!

Hi I'm Ruby

And Hi, I'm Charlie

Gates and Steve in San Diego

This is going to be a “photo essay” of my two months back in the States.  ( Yes, that means that I am getting ready for my next big adventure! )

Gates and Maggie in GrayJay

Arizona Flowers in the Desert

Salt River Canyon in Arizona

Coming Over Red Mountain Pass - Yea it's Colorado!

Big Horn Sheep on the road!

GrayJay is happy to be back in Colorado Snow Country!!

Coming up the Crested Butte Valley!

Getting out to do some cross country skiing with friends!

It's SO Beautiful!

Crested Butte Mountain

Craig in the air!

Dakota in the air!

I'm definitely the shortest one in this family!

A week down to see my brother, Langdon, in the Florida Keys!

Langdon feeding the local wildlife...

Brother and Sister

This is what greeted me my first day back from Florida. Gotta love Colorado in May!

A little bit of biking in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Glacier Lilies are blooming in Crested Butte by mid-May!

Back through Utah to get to California

I got back to the US on March 15, stayed a couple of days in California with Craig and Steve, and then drove back to Crested Butte.   The desert was really green from the winter rains and lots of flowers were blooming!

Back in Crested Butte, I got a couple of weeks in skiing while the resort was still open and some cross country skiing when it was closed.   A couple of bike trips (down where the weather was a bit warmer!).  May was a pretty cold and snowy month in Crested Butte this year!

Then by the end of May,I was back in California visiting both my boys and their families!   Time is “short” and I leave tomorrow night to fly back to New Zealand for nine months!   I’ll have lots of entries letting you know what winter in Christchurch is like!

San Diego on Steve's Birthday

With Craig on Dakota and my birthday!

With only about a week left on my trip, I decided to go up to see Iguazu Falls.   Iguazu is way up in the Northeast corner of Argentina, so it makes it a little hard to get to, but what the heck, eh?   So from Esquel, where I just got back from Los Alerces Parque, I took a bus to Trelew (9 hours).    Somehow that bus transported me right into the middle of Utah??  Is this possible?   Sure looks like the desert Southwest USA!

Sure looks like Utah!Amazing!