Krista's Travels

Tropical Rejuvenation?

kristamrome — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:22:00 GMT

I arrived at the Kona airport on Sunday at 2pm. It's a small park-like airport with an outdoor picnic-under-palm-trees feel in the arrivals area. EJ stuffed me and my bags into her car and we drove straight to a beautiful beach for a picnic and swim. Pretty nice after a bumpy plane ride. I've been at her house for a few days now, just settling in before doing any larger adventures. I've been enjoying the fruits here in magical ways. My first night a ripe mango fell onto my tent (EJ had said they were all over with, out of season). The next day I climbed the big, beautiful tree and found two more! We had a massive wind storm my second night, and some coconuts fell. I machete'd open three so far and enjoyed the green coconut juice. And then there are the mouth-watering tangerines that we stopped for on the way to a hike, at the home of a previous neighbor of EJ's: a 96 year old japanese woman who still gardens!

Yesterday was a fascinating hike down into Waipio Valley. The steeped road in Hawaii: some idiot just offered Lance Armstrong $10,000 if he could bike up the road. It's only a mile but it's a 45 degree angle (25% grade) and I don't think my knees would have made it down if I hadn't turned around and started walking backwards! I must have walked half the way backwards, and it was both surreal and amazing! Waipio Valley is a lush, beautiful paradise but we truncated our journey due to the start of a heavy rainstorm. The swimming in the multi-tiered waterfall will have to wait until next time.

Woven among the mini-adventures and fruit-projects, I am doing a lot of job-searching. I'm trying to keep it balanced between the three prongs: fun adventure/outward focus/social, rest/relaxation/meditation/inward focus, and practical necessity: work search. So far so good but it will be a challenge.

A Perfect Day

kristamrome — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:34:00 GMT

…we hopped the bus out of Old Town for the 30 minute ride along the beautiful winding coastline road to Boca de Tomatlan (mouth of the Tomatlan river) the morning of February 21st, where we were meeting up with our friend Jaime from Vancouver. We found Boca to be a tranquil, picturesque fishing village, sleepily preparing for the Sunday onslaught of mostly Mexican families enjoying their Sunday outing. The river flows into a small protected bay here where many small boats were slumbering and many more large brown pelicans were perching on their sides and bows. Locals were knee-deep in the water casting their handlines, cute dogs abundant, restauranteurs setting up beach chairs and umbrellas in preparation.

We followed the masonry steps and dirt pathways curving along the hillside past ramshackle houses, tiendas, and pretty stone cottages. Here and there a stone dock or path led to the water´s edge with a few folks swimming or fishing. A few others on the path: a runner, a lanky swim-trunk-clad dude returning from a swim, an American lady and her friend from Spain who live there all winter. Otherwise alone on our lovely hike, heading into the serene “bush”. Many birds, at least 6 types of butterflies, and a large iguana who posed with me for a photo for only one peso (I left it on the rock for him). We passed 2 adorable beaches on the way accessible only by the path and totally deserted. Lovely white sand and turquoise crystal clear water tempted us but we pushed on to avoid the heat-of-the-day hiking. After sufficient resting and gawking and lingering at each one, of course.

Just before Las Animas, we came upon a compound of thatch roofs, a multitude of stone steps, terraces, verandas, piers. A previously glorious but now defunct resort with a sign “Fantasy Paradise”. Now with water still in the pool and one chained up barking dog but otherwise clearly not operational. The pier and stairways were lovely to wander on: basic and rustic but beautifully crafted.

Las Animas was 2 beaches separated by a headland of residential homes, horses, and construction projects. Beach 1 was deserted, beautiful, palm-lined but too rough to swim when we returned for a dip. Beach 2 was lined with restaurants, local, open air style where you can order a drink and plop down in one of their beach chairs or under a thatch roof for a spell. A pier-dock and many boats parked out front with swimmers to and fro. Mostly Mexicans enjoying a Sunday afternoon, most had arrived on a large, funkily-painted old ferry-converted-to-cruiser-boat. Only an American family with 2 kids had hiked in as we had.

It was a good feeling to be soaking up the rays and salty water with the locals rather than the time-share folks who turn up their noses to the local vendors and avoid the ocean. It felt Real. A guitar and accordion player offering music (they always tried La Bamba for the whites), but we had no extra cash. Sweet men, like street musicians the world over: hard to make a buck and get the respect they deserve. My coconut was bottomless but not cold, so it didn´t refresh me from the long hike (an arduous 2 miles, haha!), but the swim in the ocean was ultra-lovely as was the short nap on the sand following. My favorite combo of refreshing wetness and warming sunshine on my skin, closing my eyes in pure bliss to FEEL completely with all my senses the joy of being human and of being alive.

Photos: Puerto Vallarta

kristamrome — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:07:00 GMT

Puerto Vallarta 2010

kristamrome — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:51:00 GMT

Just back from 12 days in Puerto Vallarta, thanks to my good friend Lynne and her Mom's generous offer to let me crash with them at their time share. For once I didn't feel I needed a vacation, as my work schedule has been super slow this winter, the weather absolutely divine, and my new home a happy and comfortable one. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable time, and I especially appreciated the chance to spend so much time swimming in the ocean, feeling the warm sun while napping on the sand, eating tacos and tamales and fresh squeezed orange juice, and speaking Spanish again. Oh how I adore Latin America and all its colors and friendliness. Alas, my weight-gain plan of gorging on avocados, tamales and tortillas, greasy roasted chickens, and pina coladas did not work: I came home with the exact same 122 pounds I left home with 12 days ago.

We mostly stayed near the city, but if you read in between the lines of all the extravagance and waste of the rich white tourist culture that is so prevalent there and at such a contrast to the local poverty, there is so much beauty to behold. We encountered so many interesting birds, iguanas, flowers, and sunsets. The Malecon walkway along the waterfront is chock full of neat sculptures and people making amazing sandcastles. The indigenous artwork of the Huichol people is wonderful and intricate. And I get a silly pleasure from bumping along in a crowded bus down cobbled streets, something I just don't see enough of here!

We did a few really wonderful day trips in search of quieter pastures (beaches and forests, birds, trees, and serene wind and waves) and wandering grounds. We visited the botanical gardens, a dear little pueblo nearby named El Nogalito, where our good friend Jaime was staying for a week, Sayulita (a sweet beach town an hour north), took a water taxi to Yelapa (which sadly got electricity 7 years ago but is still a wonderful little place with no cars), and hiked from Boca de Tomatlan to Las Animas along the shoreline mainly through the forest.

I wrote a long entry on the day we did the hike, so I'll include that as a follow up entry to this one. I won't go into detail about the rest, because I won't be able to do every moment the same kind of justice as I did for the Las Animas outing. Do feel free to ask if you want to know more about anything in particular.

I'm happy to be home and ready to dive into the woods and the garden, foraging and planting. It is so beautiful here at home and I'm happy to be back! It's just as exciting as landing in an exotic land, the coming home to a place that you love. I hope you are all well!

The Way Home

kristamrome — Tue, 5 May 2009 13:25:00 GMT

I'm Home! Finally! Relieved, Exhausted, Sore, Happy, Full of Memories, Enjoying the Company of my Family!

Six months is a long time to be away from home. I don't know how so many backpackers do it for longer. I was ready to be home after about 4 months. But the thought of winter back home quelled my desire to be there and I was able to continue enjoying myself while I bided my time until my plane ticket and the arrival of Spring.

I've been trying to think of how to summarize my insights and lessons learned or to provide you all with some food for thought as a result of my travels down under. I've mostly failied, but here are a few tidbits, totally unrelated to one another:

1. Wilderness is not Wilderness without bears, cougars, wolves, moose, or other largeish and/or intimidating animals potentially lurking in the bushes. The predator's role in the ecosystem, or an animal's ability to pose a threat to us humans, is part of what makes wilderness an awesome, alive place for me. Even thought Australia's poisonous animals don't fill the same role, they are just plain scary. The giant but endangered cassowary up north was the only one that made me feel as I do in bear country. And New Zealand is just plain TAME.

2. I find that riding escalators gives great insight into where a society falls on the laid-back-o-meter. Do people just stand on the thing or do they walk up or down it to go twice as fast (like we do here). This I found to vary as expected, according to how big of a city or small of a town I was riding the escalator in.

3. Those folks in new zealand just think they are environmentally conscious and are really good at attracting tourists with that angle. But guess what I found? Tiny farmers markets with very few organic farmers, tiny hard to find organic shops with very expensive food (a large majority of the packaged food was imported), enormous commercial farms (non organic), rampant clear-cutting, everywhere that wasn't in a reserve or a national park was pasture or at least cleared grassy field, cattle hogging up a large majority of the land (sheep down south), and enormous fish-processing plants as well. Mostly 5-10 years behind us, and seemingly on the exact same path to destruction that we took. Australia was much worse, although Tasmania showed some promise.

4. It's interesting to meet people from all over the country, but just as difficult to find like minded people as in my own backyard. However, travellers seem to be disproportionately liberal and didn't usually agree with the war-mongering, abusive governments. My theory is (and has been for awhile) that those who are interested in other cultures are more likely to be liberal minded and open hearted towards others. Not everyone travels for this reason, but many do.

5. I'm so happy to see my family again! And the brand new Co-op is open and I was in tears to go down its isle and see all the good foods again! And I have all of season four LOST to catch up on, haha! Good times. Thanks for reading, all. Hugs to you.

Krista

Gallery: The Way Home

kristamrome — Tue, 5 May 2009 13:05:00 GMT

Hokianga Homecoming

kristamrome — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:19:00 GMT

Well, here I am, nearing the end of my trip and I land in a very very small town named Omapere, in the Hokianga Harbor area. I was picked up by the owner of Globetreker's Lodge, a lovely lady named Sue, and promptly given the quick tour of the area, complete with opinions on which of the two miniscule shops to patronize and which to boycott, where the hiking trails are, and where to get a cuppa. The hostel was comfortable (complete with hammocks), happy, relaxed, and full of really great people. I had great conversations with an older guy, John, who had been there since last december, with the owners, with other travellers. It's a good thing everyone was so nice, because we all got stuck there most of a day when a monster windstorm was hammering us to bits.

That afternoon I walked along the beach out around the point to where the Tasman Sea comes into the harbor. Rugged, not many people, achingly beautiful, with gorgeous sand dunes across on the other side. Waves crashing mightily into the rocky shoreline, complete with blowholes and arches, dunes and verticle cliffs.

The first night (tuesday) I went on a night tour of the Kauri forest nearby (Waipoua Kauri forest) with a Maori guide. He sang and prayed in Maori the most hauntingly beautiful sounds ever to reach my ears, echoing through the forest, and you knew the massive, ancient trees understood and responded through vibrations in the air. With spotlight he showed us two of the largest remaining Kauri trees, the giants of North NZ. Only 4% remain, but these two they estimate at 2,000 years old! GASP! The size impressed me immensely, and I have spent much time in the Hoh, seen the redwoods, and the rest. The 4 hour tour was a spiritual experience and I felt very bonded to the other 11 on the tour by the end.

Wednesday I went bone carving. This is something you can do in several places in NZ. Bone carving necklaces are popular at the souvenier shops and at the outdoor markets, a traditional Maori artform, often used to carve a family or tribe or personal history but nowadays usually it is one of several stock symbols: a fishhook, spiral, tiki, etc. My instructor James, and his wife, Charlotte, welcomed me into their home for the day, and I spent from 9am to 3:30 pm working on my necklace, was fed lunch and all. James took me to the beach and he fished while I sanded on my piece. All in all very loving friendly hospitable folks and a great experience. Most other places you do bone carving, you don't get much time and you don't get to design your own piece, just pick from some stock designs already hacked out of the bone and you just sand it up. Also, you could be in a workshop with 30 other people. I had James and Charlotte all to myself. I decided to extend my originally planned 2 days to 5 days at this point as I was already in love with the beautiful and peaceful area.

Thursday brought me up to a waterfall and kauri tree hike in the hatchback part of a prius driven by none other than FOUR americans and a fellow backpacker (Kyra from Holland) who had met them the night before. I curled up there in the back for the short ride and we all had fun. We stopped at a puzzle place after the hike and I bought some raw kauri gum to polish and smaller pieces to burn back home. The guide on the footprints tour had burned some and I loved the smell.

Friday I hopped back in James' van when he arrived to pick up 2 more friendly Irish: Steve and Nicoloa, to use his sandpaper to shine up my raw kauri gum I'd acquired the day before. A good excuse to see him and Charlotte again and to talk to Charlotte about her love of country music (she performs in a group locally). She invited me to come with her sunday all day to a nearby town where they'd be performing. I ended up leaving sunday morning so I didn't go, but how nice of her to invite me! Friday afternoon the wind picked up and a massive windstorm hit that night. I couldn't sleep because every big gust tried to lift our little cabin up and fly it away to OZ, I swear! Our little hostel pearched on a relatively bald hill, by the rugged coast, being absolutely hammerred by the wind.

Saturday torrential rains joined the wind and neither died down until mid afternoon. I really enjoyed the excuse to do nothing but chat, sip tea, read, and nap. I got a text from James at 3 and we all lept at the chance to go fishing with him and Charlotte. He'd beem talking about it all week and I'd already missed out on an oppurtunity when I was galavanting around with the Americans and Kauris and labyrinths at puzzle houses, so I wasn't missing this one! We acquired a few more souls on the way to the beach, just tourists looking interested in all our fishing poles and being folded into the family by James and Charlotte as seems to be their habit! We all had good fun, catching plenty of red snapper and everyone caught something. Even those who had never fished before. And me, WA-HOO! I finally got to learn to fish with a handline! And even casted it myself and caught two fish! Ok, so both were too small to keep, but just barely! We all went back to their house for a fish fry for dinner and went home oh so satiated in so many many ways.

Sunday (today) I returned to Auckland, but I will never forget my time in Hokianga or the people I met there.

Gallery: Hokianga Homecoming

kristamrome — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Gallery: Paihia and Bay of Islands

kristamrome — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Gallery: Auckland and Surrounds

kristamrome — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:55:00 GMT

Auckland and the Bay of Islands

kristamrome — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:32:00 GMT

I'll cover Auckland in a couple sentences: I had a brilliant day at an island bird sanctuary called Tiri Tiri Maatangi, a day trip on a boat out of Auckland harbor. I enjoyed the museum, hiking to the top of a neighborhood volcano for a view of the city, and browsing the cafes on Parnell avenue in the peaceful neighborhood where my hostel was located (30 minute walk from downtown). Auckland is a crowded, busy, and a bit dirty city with poor public transport. I didn't enjoy it much but I loved my hostel and there are numerous lovely islands you can scoot over to on a ferry for a day trip. Thus, not altogether horrible to be here a few days.

From there I headed up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands on yet another backpacker bus (Magic Bus this time). This is because a) I discovered my driver's license has expired (oops) and b) Magic is now the ONLY public bus to serve Hokianga on the west coast of northland, which I wanted to visit due to the nearby Kauri forests. So, Paihia. I did an overnight boat trip on an ex-car ferry named The Rock. It was surprisingly wonderful and not to drunken or loud when I wanted to sleep. We did all sorts of activities: snorkeling, fishing, bbq dinner, beach visit and hike to a gorgeous overlook, and everyone's favorite: the night kayak with the phosphorescence. WOW, so cool! And really weird to have waves coming at you and not be able to see from which direction, ie which way you ought to face your boat not to get swamped. All good fun, though. After that, the weather turned to hell and next few days were torrential rains and I was sick. So I never made it up to Cape Reinga, the tip of the north island, which is supposedly a fabulous trip.

Instead, I enjoyed laying around drinking tea, took the ferry across to Russell, New Zealand's first town (and a cute, peaceful little waterfront village these days), hiked to some cool mangroves, and chatted with some friendly irish backpackers. By the way, the Irish always seemed to be friendly wherever I ran into them, and I ought to visit that country someday.

Paihia being a tourisy town, it wasn't as idyllic as I'd hoped, especially since due to bad weather I wasn't sunbathing to soak up the rays for my trip home back to probably another few months of bellingham rain. I happily headed onwards to Hokianga Harbor (next story!).

North Island Roadtrip

kristamrome — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:13:00 GMT

I just finished a 9 day roadtrip in a small minivan decked out as campervan with my buddy Ramona. She flew over from Sydney to meet up with me for a week and I was thrilled to have a friend to travel with for a bit! We had heaps of fun and the following will just be a brief wrap-up of the highlights.

Day 1: We both flew into the Auckland airport and took a taxi to pick up our cute, bright orange "spaceship" named Aries (see photo). We drove 2 hours to a campsite near Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula and set up camp in the dark. We slept peacefully to the sounds of the river.

Day 2: We drove up the gravel road from our campsite and took a few short bushwalks in the reserve, seeing our first massive Kauri trees. We then drove up the west coast and over the spine of the Coromandel, with beautiful views all around. We hiked to a beautiful beach then camped in teh parking lot for Hot Water Beach.

Day 3: We got up early and rented a shovel from the store. We hiked 5 minutes down the beach to an area where you can dig in the sand and make your own natural geothermal hot tub. This was WAY COOL! Even though we eventually were sharing the experience with at least 50 other people, it was so much fun. Even the older folks in the crowd had smiles like they were being kids again. It was a whole bunch of adults and a few kids doing reverse sand castle building. Every once in awhile a wave would destroy your progress and cave in your hole and you'd be back to a 2" pool again. No matter, what a cool, er, HOT thing to do! We went just down the road to Hahei beach for lunch before continuing a few hours done the road to a campervan park near Whatakane that had it's own geothermally heated pool (complete with heated floors in the changing rooms). We were eaten alive by mosquitoes that night, but enjoyed having a hot shower and kitchen to cook in.

Day 4: we woke early to get ourselves to Whakatane and on the boat for WHITE ISLAND: new zealand's most active volcano. We hiked around the crater area for 2 hours, put on gas masks for the acidic volcanic gases, and really enjoyed the otherworldly environment. It was an astounding, unforgettable day but I kept wondering where I would run if the bugger decided to blow its top again (like it did only a few years back). Afterwards, we drove to Rotorua and camped on the north end of the lake at a little grassy park with public toilets (not exactly a designated campsite but it was lovely all the same, and I collected lots of falling chestnuts to roast later).

Day 5: We spent the morning at the Polynesian Spa, enjoying lake views from our rock-lined pools of geothermal waters. Ahhh, Bliss!!! We were like jelly afterwards. That afternoon we got a tour of Whakarewarewa (that's the shortened version of the name) Thermal Village, where the local Maori tribe still live amongst the steaming vents and boiling mud pools. This was SO COOL! They all cook in the cooking area, where they stick their dinner in a wooden box set into the steaming ground, or put it in a bag which is lowered into the more than boiling waters (I think he said it was 150 degrees celsius coming out of the ground), so everything cooks much quicker than normal. They also bathe in communal hot tubs which are cleaned and refilled on a daily basis from the hot river. Very basic housing, but with so many of your needs provided by nature, it doesn't need to be much more! We camped that night at a DOC campsite on a lake south of Rotorua.

Day 6: Woke up to a gorgeous frosty sunrise over the swampy lake shore. We visited two great Yellowstone-esque parks today. The Rotorua area is pockmarked with separately operated thermal parks, each of which charges about $30 entry fee (that's about $18 US). Unlike Yellowstone, all the area inbetween is farmland or logging land. Still, the sights are similarly impressive, even thought the geysers are a bit smaller and less of them. We went to Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland first. Despite the name it is incredible. Then we went to Orekai Korako, which is accessed by a quick boat ride across a lake. Both had boiling mud pools, colorful pools, terraces, geysers, and lots of steaming vents. The only thing missing were the buffalo, moose, and wolves. We drove to the edge of Tongariro National Park that night and camped at a small DOC campground.

Day 7: Ramona tackled the Tongariro Crossing today. What a Champ! I enjoyed her pictures but decided not to test my knees on that 19km (12 miles) hike over hill and dale across Volcanic alpine mountain passes. The track goes between two volcanoes, one of which is Ngauruhoe, otherwise known as Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. The other volcanoe nearby that takes up the skyline on all the hikes we did is Mt. Ruapehu, which blew its top in 1995 and 1996. The Tongariro Crossing is touted as the best one day hike in NZ. I believe it. Ramona knocked it off in only 6 hours or so. I on the other hand took a leisurely 2 hour stroll through alpine and forest, waterfalls and mountain views, then napped for a few hours, and later hiked another hour to take more pictures of Mt. Doom. We spent the evening in the sauna of a lodge at the ski village we were basing our hikes out of (Whakapapa) and returned to camp again at the DOC camp down the road to freeze ourselves silly for the second night in a row. Did I mention it was arctic in Tongariro, despite the off and on sunshine? Gloves and hat and fleeces and raingear for wind protection even at mid day!

Day 8: We did a 2 hour hike to Silica Rapids, another one with amazing mountain views. Mt. Doom finally showed its top for about 5 minutes (the clouds incessantly hide the tip). Silica rapids are a really pretty yellowy terraced section of river. We soaked up the alpine vegetation and expansive views one last time and headed down. We drove to Waitomo Caves mid day. We toured the glowworm caves there, where you get to walk through the caves with 50 other folks, then at the end they stick you in a boat and you travel through the pitch dark cave down the river gazing in awe at thousands of glowing insects that look like the starry sky in an area free of light pollution. The glow worm is actually a maggot that uses its light to attract river insects that then get trapped in its many hanging sticky "fishing lines" that it weaves and drops from the ceiling. Real cool, despite the touristy nature of it! We camped at a hostel for our last night so we could clean and pack up and enjoy the shower and warm, log fire in the lodge.

Day 9: A sad day, I dropped Ramona at the Auckland airport, dropped off the rig, and made my way into the Parnell neighborhood of the city to rest up and plan the last 2 1/2 weeks of my trip. Thanks Ramona, I had a blast!

WWOOF Host #8 : Riverside Community

kristamrome — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

I spend three days at the Riverside Community, which I believe is New Zealand's oldest intentional community (commune). It was started in 1941 as a Christian pacifist community in opposition to the war. Nowadays it is non-sectarian and has about 75 members with perhaps the same again number of folks who live there as residents or long-term visitors, but who have not yet applied to be members. The community supports itself with a dairy (not organic), cafe, orchard, and mechanic shop, and has two very large organic gardens to grow produce shared by all members. All members must either work in the community or contribute their wages from an outside job. All earnings are divided up equally. (I'm sure there are exeptions for elderly, disabled, children and the rest for the work requirement). Everyone gets the same amount of money to live off of each month, regardless of their job. They also run a hostel that was full of wwoofers and travellers working offsite in nearby orchards and vineyards (the hostel is cheap and nearby to alot of farm work). I stayed in the hostel and helped out in the garden in exchange for room and some produce, joined in cooking for and eating the community lunch on my last day, and then went merrily on my way to explore Abel Tasman National Park. The community was interesting, but I didn't fall in love with it so I was ok to just have a few days there. The garden was amazing, however!

Abel Tasman is a stunning coastal park with gorgeous bays and a popular hiking track along the shoreline and another route further inland. I only spent one day there, on an all day sailing trip. It was a beautiful and calm day out at sea but unfortunately the wind was far too arctic to entice me into the calm clear water at the pristine sandy beach we lunched at. It had been quite cold that week with very cold wind, even though it was beautiful and sunny. So I eventually made my way up to Auckland to meet up with my friend Ramona (who lives in Sydney) for a week camping trip further north, where the weather (I hoped) would be warmer!

Before that, though, I did spend a few days here and there in Nelson, a great little town that has a sweet farmer's market and nice shops downtown, hiking nearby, and an overall peaceful atmosphere. It is growing too quickly, just like Bellingham, though, and the traffic is horrid during certain times of the day. The surrounding hills are being logged and expensive houses are popping up all over. It is a city of contrasts, just like my hometown, with the best and the worst of what happens when people and magazines decide to label a place a "desireable place to live". I also went to a music day at a buddhist center nearby and had a great day in the sun dancing and visiting the meditation hall where they still had the seat set up from where the Dalai Lama taught when he visited a few years back. I learned a bit more about tibetan buddhism and recognized things I did and didn't agree with and realized that it's in line with every other religion I've ever studied: some parts work for me and some flat out don't. There is no perfect answer, just like there is no perfect place to live.

Gallery: North Island Roadtrip

kristamrome — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Gallery: Riverside, Nelson, and Abel Tasman

kristamrome — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:43:00 GMT

Riverside, Nelson, and Abel Tasman

Gallery: WWOOF Host 7 - Karamea

kristamrome — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:26:00 GMT

WWOOF Host #7, Karamea

kristamrome — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:22:00 GMT

I travelled from the retreat center on March 18, to a very rainy very cold day on the northwest coast of the south island. Hamish and Margaret, my hosts, aren't in the wwoof program either, and in fact are good friends of my ex-housemate Lynne. It worked out that I stayed for a week and worked with them all week and they fed me and housed me so it was pretty much the same as wwoofing, except we got to gossip about Lynne (just kidding, Lynne). I'd been looking forward to this visit for a long time but put it off until my arms had healed enough to do light work and be of some service. Hamish and Margaret have a lovely farm right on the edge of extensive estuaries that lead to the open ocean eventually. I had a few great walks on the mud flats right out their back door with the dog Fern as my companion. They have sheep, which I got to see sheared, an impressive feat if you've ever seen it! They have many chickens and sell eggs to the cafe. They have cattle on a different property, which I never saw, but ate the predecesors of in several meals (yum). They have a beautiful garden for home consumption and an orchard. Since it is that season, we were processing pears and apples and asian pears like crazy (and eating them, my favorite was making baked apples and drinking the fresh pressed pear juice). They have two main commercial crops: tea tree oil and feijoa fruits. The feijoa weren't in season but I ate quite a bit of it from the freezer, a very delicious orangy pulp that reminds me of a kiwifruit. By the way: you can't say kiwi here...I made mistake of telling my bus driver I needed to eat my kiwis (they were getting too soft in my lunch sack)...and she said "kiwiFRUIT! kiwis are people and birds!"

The tea tree was really what I was so excited to see. It makes a wonderful essential oil that is one of these miracle plants with cure-all properties, or so it seems. Mainly it is used as an anti-biotic, anti-fungal, good to relieve the itch on mosquito bites, good to put on cuts and scrapes, etc. I use it a bit at home but now I'll use it much more because I've fallen in love with the plant. I got to help harvest and distill the oil, and even bottled up and labelled some bottles of oil. I think I would be quite content doing such all summer long if they lived next door to me! The distilling process is basically thus: you pack a large metal drum as tightly as possible with the small tea tree branches, and strap on a tight fitting lid. You have a fire heating up a large hot water boiler that pipes hot steam into the bottom of the drum of plant matter. The steam works its way up and up, and out the top is a pipe that collects the oils and steam water and travells sideways. Cold water comes into that pipe from the other end and mingles halfway, and at the end you get all this liquid dripping out. After an hour of maintaining the right hot steam to cold water balance and feeding more and more wood into the fire, you get a big bucked of liquid. You decant off the oil, which sits on top of the water and do a few more little steps to just make sure you've got all the water off the oil, and bottle it up. Viola! And then you start all over again, until the sun goes down. Very fun.

I didn't get to see any of the sights around Karamea, which was a disappointment, but only a minor one, because I had a great time at the farm and getting to know my new friends and their crazy dog. They seem to be quite well liked in the community and have people stopping by every day (some days many people in and out) and usually end up having tea or coffee or lunch with them. People that came to do work for them ate lunch with them also, rather than sitting with their own sack lunch or going into town. I don't know if this is just the new zealand hospitality way or just that everyone working for them were their friends, but it was nice nonetheless!

I returned to Wangapeka Retreat Center after that for another 8 days. I did work trade for 5 days and a solitary retreat for 3 days up at one of the cabins. That was a very meaningful experience for me. I had a chance to completely focus on being mindful in everything I do for three entire days. It helped that the weather was fantastic and there were no distractions from other people, and that nature was all around me. Still, it was challenging hard work and I feel there is lots to learn from this sort of work. I went on slow walks every day, meditated, did my yoga routine, ate my meals without multitasking, appreciating every bite slowly, read alot of buddhist philosophy, and wrote several letters plus a fair amount in my journal. There is so much to share and say but I feel it might be more appropriate on a one-on-one basis since not everyone is interested in meditation, buddhism, and yoga! I'll just end by saying I am in a lovely space right now, very in the present moment, and really enjoying myself. Cheers!

WWOOF Host #6, Sort Of, Wangapeka Retreat Centre

kristamrome — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:58:00 GMT

Wangapeka Study & Retreat Center is not an official WWOOF host, but for the sake of convincing those at home that I am back as a productive member of society earning my keep, I'll just stick with the title. I stayed at Wangapeka for about 6 days recently and will be returning there for at least another week, in the near future. Wangapeka is a Buddhist-oriented retreat center that tries to be non-denomenational and inclusive. Here's a snippet from their website:

"Wangapeka Study & Retreat Centre...owned and operated by the Wangapeka Educational Trust. We are located in the foothills of the Southern Alps overlooking the Wangapeka River, about an hour and a half drive SW of Nelson, New Zealand. Wangapeka is a place to study and deepen the process of Buddhadharma, the teaching of Compassion and Awareness. Our Centre is available for individual healing and meditation retreats. Group activities cover topics such as Meditation, Healing, Therapy, Art and Craft work and various types of Body work. Courses range from weekends to courses five months in length. Many visitors comment on the peaceful and healing atmosphere at the Centre. This is undoubtedly due to the natural beauty of the place and the great amount of meditation that has been done over the years. Possibly even more important than this though, is the fact that so many people have given freely from the heart to build a place that would be of benefit to all beings."

It's truly a beautiful place and there are so many projects that have been completed though loving volunteer labor that make the place special: the solitary retreat cabins, stupa, labyrinth, meditation hall, and many walking paths on the property. I joined in on a 2 day writing retreat which was really nice, and got me reinspired to write more again in my journal, poetry, and writing down my dreams". The other days I did work trade, primarily prep and clean up for the retreat, cooking, cleaning and a bit of wood-stacking and gardening. There was plenty of solitary time to practice my yoga and meditation (and loving buddha statues and tibetan bells to help me be inspired). The library and book exchange are crammed full of interesting books (which I can't wait to dive into upon my return), and the kitchen is well-stocked with healthy food.

It was a welcome respite from the backpacker busses and hostel life that had been mine for the last 5 weeks or so. To finally have my own little room is like a gift from the angels of mercy!! I really am most at home when I have both a garden and a peaceful space for spiritual contemplation in my day to day life. When I am lacking either, or both, for more than a short length of time, it feels like I disintegrate bit by bit, on a little downward spiral towards stress and intolerance that creates bad habits in me that I don't like very much. I get annoyed with others and myself more easily, and I think a bit depressed also.

The weather has been a bit like home. Gray, cold, and wet. It appears to be improving a bit, however, and I am looking forward in spending April in the north portion of the north island, hoping for a more tropical feel, although I've heard it's quite "changeable" up there also.

I'm currently "WWOOFing" informally in Karamea, on the northwest coast of the south island, for some long-time friends of Lynne (my friend and housemate back home). I'll be here about a week before returning to Wangapeka on March 18.

North of the South Island

kristamrome — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:31:00 GMT

Sorry it's been so long since I made an entry: computer access has been difficult as of late. After leaving Christchurch for the second time, I looped north along the east coast to the top of the South Island and then counter-clockwise along the north end to Nelson and surrounds.

My first stop was the touristy seaside town of Kaikoura, a beautiful setting with mountains (snowy at the tips due to recent precipitation) inland and a gorgeous windswept coast along the town's edge. Kaikoura's tourism claim to fame is the fabulously rich sea offshore that attracts record numbers of whales, dolphins, and other critters often sought by boat-going tourists. Kaikoura is a renowned place to swim with dolphins, and I had my sights set on that activity since before I even bought my plane ticket last summer. Alas, as with pretty much every plan I've had on this trip, it didn't transpire (too windy and rough water cancelled the boats the 2 days I was there). Instead, I enjoyed a great half day (land-based) Maori cultural tour (see photos) and did a lovely hike along the bluffs that follow the edge of the Kaikoura Peninsula - lovely views. The tour was great, we visited a sacred site, learned a song in Maori, learned a bit of weaving with the flax plant (different from our flax), visited the tour guide's home for tea and snacks and conversations, planted a tree with a couple who were on their honeymoon, walked in the forest learning traditional plant uses, and got a little woven basket at the end of the tour. After learning about and meeting the Totara tree during the culutral tour, a tree with many common qualities to my beloved redcedar, I went to the info center and spent $20 US to buy a tree to be planted as part of the Trees for Travellers program. A great idea, the tourists can buy a tree and they get a number for their tree. The money goes to buy the trees and to jobs for locals who are planting them, I think. When they plant your tree in the planting season, you get a postcard in the mail. You can then go online and keep track of how your tree is doing, really cool. Sort of like an adopt-a-starving-child-in-africa for the tree-huggers.

I then continued to Picton, a lovely small town with a different sort of waterfront. While Kaikoura was exposed to open ocean, Picton is sheltered by the many undulating points and bays created by Marlborough Sound. Snuggled amongst forested hills and sporting a nice little harbor, Picton is so far #1 on my list of places I might be happy living, if I were to have to pick a place. I'm not planning to move to NZ, by the way, I'm just saying it felt real cozy and nice. And since the interisland ferry comes in and out of Picton, it doesn't feel isolated, even though it's quite a small town. And it is supposedly one of the sunniest parts of NZ, although I only had one real sunny day out of 4. I took a water taxi one day with a dutch girl I met (Florentine) to do a 15km hike on the Queen Charlotte Track. Very nice! It follows the water a lot of the way, and ends at a lodge where we had coffee and played dice games while waiting for the boat home. On the day I was to leave Picton, the backpacker bus I was on was overfull, by 2 people. As the driver took an hour or two to sort it out, I ended up on the sunny grassy lawn watching the locals set up for a concert-in-the-park. Up walks my friend Lotty, who I spent my Stewart Island time with, with an offer to join me in her rental car for a few days (she was headed the same way). So relieved to be off the backpacker bus, which was truly wearing on my nerves by then, I happily gave my seat to another traveller. We stuck around an extra day and enjoyed the music with the locals among other lovely activities.

Next stop was Nelson, the place I had most looked forward to in New Zealand, because it is touted as the most livable city there, I had read a book about it, and also it has a progressive reputation (so I was anxious to check out their natural food store, haha!). Nelson turned out to be a nice town, but it appears to be rapidly expanding (I think there are about 40,000-50,000 residents) and traffic is horrid at peak times. The natural food store was still small and expensive by my standards. Still, a nice location, near to many explorations. And so we did. Lotty and I spent one day driving to Golden Bay, checking out gorgeous beaches, stopping at overlooks in the mountains, and checking out "Pupu" springs, the largest natural freshwater springs in australasia, the freshest in the world, and (get this) 14,000 liters per second (they say that's 40 bathtubs full) bubbling out of the ground! Ack!! Also, they were really beautiful with all sorts of colors of plant life growing beneath the very clear waters. On the way we did an awesome cave tour, and saw moa bones (now extinct) from moa who fell through sink holes and landed in the cave and were trapped. We also spent a day hiking in Nelson Lakes National Park with a third traveller, Judith from Germany. Again, very nice.

My onward travels from there have been of a less touristy nature (finally), so I'll address them in the next blog. Praise to the lord my arms have finally recovered enough to do light work and be of some use in work trade again so I am relieved of the duty to spend copious amounts of cash seeing every unmissable thing in the country. Cheers!

Gallery: Wangapeka Retreat Centre

kristamrome — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:56:00 GMT