Golden Bay

After our lovely tramp in the rain and delightful soak at Maruia Springs, we hopped into our car and drove up the island to Golden Bay. One of the teachers Stephen teaches with has a house up there and had invited us to drop by and visit. We drove past flooding rivers and green, green pastures, up mountain roads and through little towns with names like Paenga and Pokororo. We drove and we drove and finally we had one more pass to go. This one was in fact a surprise. We certainly hadn't expected such a steep and winding and seemingly endless (the thick fog didn't help) mountain pass just before our final destination, but we persevered and eventually popped out on top of the hill, blue skies above us, thick soupy fog behind us and a clear view to our final destination.

We arrived a wee bit late for dinner, but our lovely hostess had waited and after a short walk on the beach, we tucked into a true British curry at 9pm. Then it was quickly off to bed and dreaming of sunshine and sand.

And that is exactly what we got the next day. Pancakes for breakfast, then off down to the beach to collect mussels for our dinner. Wainui Beach is one of the boring beaches (or so we were told), but just off-shore was a mussel farm and on one side of the beach there was a collection of boulders that provided home to the more wild mussels. So we wandered on down, picking up seashells and sand dollars along the way.

Eventually we found ourselves in amongst the rocks. The mussels however were about the size of a quarter/Kiwi dollar/British pound - they were very small. Certainly too small to eat. But we kept looking and eventually found some edible looking ones tucked deep into the crevasses of the boulders. So we picked a few of them and wandered on back to the car.

On the way back to Pohara, where our hostesses house was, we were dropped off at another beach (Tata Beach) so that we could enjoy the lovely day by walking home along the coast.

Tata Beach is another beautiful example of the large and plentiful beach found in Golden Bay. We threw the disc around - until I tossed it out into the ocean and Stephen had to go up to his waist to get it back. Eventually, we made it to the end of the sand and the start of the headland that would bring us around to the next beach. This is where our awesome rock-climbing/scrambling skills came into play.

Up - over - around - under - ooooo, cool bug - up again - hmmmm, over or under . . . under - and finally, the last wade through the sea to the beach - oh, that not the beach, there's still a lagoon in the way. . . with very sucky mud.

But finally, we made it (another one of Stephens teacher friends pointed a safe way across the mucky-bottomed lagoon where he and his daughter were fixing their boat). We wandered down Ligar Beach and up towards the road (the next head land looked somewhat more daunting than the last).

We walked back along the road, with a quick stop in at a little coffee and ice cream boat to fuel up and finally made it home. It was suggested we all head out to the nearby fish farm and catch ourselves some salmon to go with our mussels for dinner. It is more than somewhat difficult to say no to a good idea, so we hopped in the car and drove down to Anatoki Salmon.

Anatoki Salmon Farm grows Chinook Salmon for distribution to restaurants all over New Zealand. It also invites people to come by, borrow a fishing rod and net and catch their own fish. Once caught, you can take your fish to their fishmonger, who will clean them for you and if you like, hot smoke them with the flavouring of your choice. We opted for a cilantro-garlic rub for one hot smoked salmon and the other to be simply cleaned for BBQing later. Then it was back in the car and home to rustle up some dinner.

Dinner was delicious - if a little surprising. After a good clean and de-bearding, we steamed our lovely mussels in some white wine with chillis and ginger, then topped them with some beach picked fennel. Stephen, sliced and boiled some potatoes to grill up on the BBQ. And all this was served along side our yummy hot smoke salmon caught just 30 minutes prior and the only two lemons on our hostesses lemon tree. It's always a joy to be able to make up a dinner from the land around you and we thoroughly enjoyed this one - despite the unanticipated extras found in some of the mussels.

Who knew that tiny shore crabs and mussels had a symbiotic relationship, wherein the mussel provides shelter and the crab eats any unwanted rubbish that comes inside.

Tramping in the Rain

Last week marked the start of Stephens' two week spring break. So we figured we should take advantage of the time and take off somewhere, see some of this great country in which we've lived for almost 2 years.

Our first destination was a little tramp just past Lewis Pass (where the St. James Walkway is that we did last year) to a little hut on the shores of Lake Daniels. This was perhaps not the best time for it as the big storm was still hammering that side of New Zealand, but now was when we had time. So we packed our rain gear and lots of chocolate.

Having left home at about 1pm we didn't arrive at the parking lot until about 4pm. But with a short 2 hour walk ahead of us and our recently saved daylight hours, we weren't too worried. We threw on our rain jackets, pulled on our packs and squelched down the track. It wasn't raining really badly, just sort of misting (which we all know is actually worse) so we were soon soaked. Fortunately, the temperature was warm and the trail was easy to follow. We heard loads of birds and even had a close encounter with the South Island Robin - a friendly little bird I hadn't yet had the chance to see. He seemed very intent on inspecting us before letting us pass.

[On the trail to Lake Daniels]

[http://resources.edb.gov.hk/biology/english/teaching_source/bird.html]

After passing our inspection, we happily rambled down the trail towards our destination. This however did not last too long, as we soon encountered some rather deep and rushing water - coming down the trail. As far as we could see. In fact, the whole last third of the trail was submerged below about a foot of water. There were the random boardwalks, appearing to float in the midst of the flooded forest, but these were more ridiculous than they were helpful. Despite our feet having been the only dry part of us before, we soon succumbed to the fact that we were to arrive completely waterlogged. And what a relief it was to arrive when we did. A lovely dry hut to strip down in and warm up . . . . or not. At least not with four noisy teenagers already there. I had a little giggle at poor Stephen's expense, thinking how we were out in the Southern Alps bush to escape the raging hormones, constant showing off and parading of teen angst and here it was right in front of us. Ah, the irony. But they had a fire going and were really very nice kids, so we just skipped the stripping down and went straight to warming up.

[Momentary dry ground]

[The view from the hut, looking across Lake Daniels]

The evening went relatively quickly, seeing as we had arrived at about 6:30pm and the sky was already dark with clouds. Some dinner and a couple games of cards and it was off to bed, where it was off to the land of dreams in a breath.

The next morning, we lay in bed listening to the kids getting all packed up and heading off back to meet their ride. Stephen brought me jumbalaya eggs (read leftovers mixed with eggs to make it breakfasty) in bed and I slowly emerged to get myself ready too. Rain pattered down on and off as we packed and had stopped as we emerged from the hut ready to start walking. Unfortuanately, with all the rain last night our trail swamp had deepened and parts of the trail came well up to my calf, so we were not to escape without getting wet. On the other hand, we did find ourselves lucky enough to see a couple of Kakariki, or yellow-crowned parakeets. We watched them pull at bark for their breakfast before moving along back to our car.

[http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/kakarikiyellow.html]

[The 90-degree tree - photo opportunity]

As we arrived at the parking lot, we were met in force by some early sandflies. Quickly stretching and unpacking we clambered into the car and drove 5 minutes up the road to Maruia Springs, a japanese bath that uses a natural hot spring (http://maruiasprings.co.nz/pools.php).

Tjonnstaul

Tjonnstaul is a small homestead some 4km from the tiny village of Morgedal in the Telemark district in Norway. Morgedal has a population of about 200 people, mostly farmers and seasonal home owners. Before coming to Norway I had looked online for a cheaper place to spend my four days before my conference in Oslo, which is notoriously expensive. I found this "wilderness cabin" on a well developed site for the township of Morgedal (http://www.morgedal.com/en/accommodation/wilderness-cabins) and sent them a note. It was all set up before I left Christchurch, all I had to do was figure out how to get there from Oslo when I arrived.

After a 16 hour journey, sick as a dog, I arrived in Oslo from Singapore. In fact, with the public transportation system they have established here in Norway, I easily found my way from plane to bus to bus to Morgedal, where I was picked up by the local baker and dropped off at the homestead. What a lovely location. But frankly, after all that travel all I wanted to do was fall into bed. Which I did as soon as Inger-Maria (the baker) left. I didn't wake up until the next morning. Sicker than ever.

Unfortunately, the next four days were spent mostly in a state of recovery from the cold. The lovely sunshine outside and the brilliant wildflowers called me out periodically, but mostly I spent my time in bed. One day, I managed to get out on the little lake below the house and paddle around looking at ducks and tussock islands and watching the sky.

Later still, once I could breath again, I made the 4km hike over the little range of hills between myself and Morgedal, and explored the little ski museum they have set up there for Sondre Norheim, the local ski legend who ended up being the father of modern day skiing. Most importantly, telemark skiing. It was a lovely museum, put together with a lot of thought. I wandered from Sondres' birth place (which is actually one of the other wilderness cabins you can rent here), to his workshops to the South Pole, where another local hero helped Admunsen get to. After that, it was a wax factory, an Olympic exhibit and a roller ski show case. The museum ended with a 10 minute video following two men down a mountain on the traditional telemark ski equipment.

But beyond these two exciting adventures, I spent most of my time in bed, outside on a blanket or hovering over the table finishing up my conference presentation. Various different community members came out each day to check and make sure I was still alive and before too l was being picked up by the famer/bakers husband and dropped off at the bus stop. He very graciously waited with me until 20 minutes after the bus should have been there and then called the bus company. Apparently Saturday is a different schedule than in the little booklet they gave me, there was still another 2 hours to the bus. So we drove back to his house, where his daughter, who speaks english, made us lunch and then drove me on to the neighbouring town with a bus depot. I was very well taken care of at Morgedal and enjoyed myself despite my cold. Hopefully I'll be able to come back some day when I'm feeling better (and maybe when there's snow).

Now I'm in Oslo at the International Polar Year conference, hob nobbing my way with scientists, teachers and researchers from various disciplines (including Bob Sharp). Soon, it will be London to see family and then Hobart for another conference. I am most certainly looking forward to eventually getting home and falling into my own bed, but until then, there is a world to explore and stories to share.

Learning to deal with the heat

This is not what I am doing. Although I have started taking a light cotton shirt around with me to mop up my face and neck, and I'm not the only one doing it. Otherwise, I always bring water and make sure to step into air conditioned malls and shops every once in a while.

My experience in Singapore has been wonderful. Despite my family leaving for Canada part way through I've felt so welcome here. I mean, I'm staying with Aunt Lay See's mom right now and she's great. It's like she wants me to taste absolutely every food here. I am so stuffed full of delicious chinese cooking I can hardly move (the heat doesn't help either).

Some of my other highlights have been visiting the Jurong Bird Park and seeing so many different birds from around the world (and being hot).

I visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens and got a personalized tour from Steve, a local man who didn't seem to have anything to do so he took me around the park. Including a very important visit to a medicinal tree when he found out I had arthritis.

I also got very, very hot here.

Oh, and I saw a very cute little bird in a ginger blossom.


I had a lot of fun visiting the different cultural districts in town;

Little India - where I went through the ritual of buying a sari




The Arab Quarter - where I ate Egyptian food and shopped in Japanese boutique stores

And Chinatown - where I wandered through the Heritage Centre and visited the Bhuddist Temple






And I was extremely lucky to join Lay See's mom on a trip to her Bhuddist Temple on Sri Sakya day to celebrate. Everyone was very welcoming and again, stuffed me so full of vegetarian noodles and rice and yummy lotus cakes I almost had to roll away.