Sunday 4:10 pm Eastern daylight savings time
Greetings form the west coast of New Zealand. Very rural. Punakaiki, NZ
Previously one of our group questioned whether there was a tsunami warning system in use and the answer was no. Our motel in Kaikoura is directly on the ocean and we are on the ground floor. So when we were awakened by sirens (not the female type) at 6:15 this (yesterday) morning I was not concerned. We determined it was the beautiful sunrise alarm. We threw on some clothes and got some great shots.
We had three hours in Christchurch so we did some shopping, had come snacks and visited the gardens.
Part of our New Zealand experience included a Farm Stay where we stay in the home of a New Zealand family. In our case we stayed with Bill and Jan Stewart. We learned how small the world really is. You may (or may not) recall that one of my apartment mates at University of Florida in Gainesville was Bill Stewart (a different one) and the New Zealand Bill Stewart has a son living in Gainesville, Florida. They also have machatunum in the Philadelphia area, Villanova. Jan, Bills wife, works in a department store two days a week (sound familiar?). Jan had her work cut out for her preparing a dinner for Laurie as well as our one of our fellow travelers who had some food allergies. Jan had to look up “vegan”on google. Dinner was appropriate for all and delicious.
Jan and Bill have two dogs, one of whom was comfortably resting on my lap during the televised rugby match.
Speaking of rugby, it is a confused form of football. For one, these were major matches and the stands were half empty. Tickets are only $30. There are some other interesting differences between the games.
One, there were no commercials broadcast although they have company logos painted onto the field as well as ads flashing across a fence along the side of the field.
Players are not allowed to use any pads or helmets. Some players wore a device on their heads to protect their ears.
A tackle does not stop the play. Players must be tackled by grabbing them around the knees. A tackled player can toss the ball backward to a fellow team member who can then run forward with the ball. Players can transfer the ball to another teammate as long as they throw it backwards.
It seemed that nobody would touch a fumbled ball. I saw one player kick the ball forward then run and catch it himself after it bounced and he continued running forward.
There are a few more things I did not understand. To begin a play, both teams face each other, touch hands on command, then plow into each other and just keep pushing. Meanwhile the ball is not involved and is held by someone outside the pile-up watching. Also, there is what looks like a tip-off in basketball where each team holds the legs of a teammate and pushes him up.
The blue team won. There are team names like the All Blacks and the All Whites but I haven’t seen a team photo to see if they are discriminatory or something else.
They also have boxing day down here which is not what it sounds like to us. Everybody boxes up food for the poor.
Back to our farmstay. On the way to the house, Bill took us by some of his friends farms. The first farmer lives alone because his kids grew up and moved our then his wife moved out. He is raising deer. These deer have respect for the fence. A Pennsylvania deer woundn’t know a fence was there and could hop over it without a thought. The deer moved as a herd. They all came over to greet us, they all ran away, they all came back and so on. Plenty of deer exercise. Bill doesn’t care for the taste of deer. The farmer is breeding them.
Next was the Alpaca farm. Alpaca were more wary of us. There were some young alpacas in a separate fenced in area and they just kept running back and forth. The others just stood away for a few minutes but eventually came over. They were black, white or shades of brown depending upon what color sweater you wanted.
Next we visited a sheering shed and saw where the sheep came in, etc. Professionals do the sheering and can sheer a sheep in three minutes. The wool is put into a compacter and baled once it is off the sheep.
Sheep get shorn once or twice a year depending on the breed. He showed us the farmer’s pride and joy. He has a steam engine tractor which runs on coal. He has to fire it up a few times a year to keep it in shape. It looked like it just left the factory (although somewhat dusty it was probably the least dusty thing there) so it will probably end up in a museum some day. (My guess) He shared with us the farmer’s estate planning philosophy. He had four daughters, and only one grandson burt a few granddaughters. “I’ll live here until I die then let somebody else sort it out.” What a great way to foster hatred among siblings.
Our farm stay couple Bill and Jan are in the middle. Beren & Gill (pronounced Jill) are on the right. They are fellow tourists. The Millers are on the left.
I would love to tell you more but I am out of time. We are ubing through a cave to see glow worms today. Wetsuits are provided (more cold water) but cameras are not allowed. Sorry.
Regards,
Steve & Laurie
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