West Coast and Local Kiwi Music Adventures

Since most of our time in New Zealand thus far (in fact all of our time) has been on the East And North Coasts of the South Island, we felt we were past due to check out what the wonders of the west coast had to offer. Well…truth is, not too much, especially compared to the west coast of the states. On the itinerary, Greymouth, Punakaiki and Westport. Greymouth was quite underwhelming, with the exception of the beer tour we had at Montieths (the oldest brewery in NZ). John was probably most excited about the beer tutorial that we received (everything he already knew but probably wished I did)…well, I know now.

Our favorite part, the tasting afterwards, especially when they turned the taps over to us. Oh, did we mention we were the only ones on the tour? Yeah, 8 handles at our disposal. Watch out Greymouth, here we come.

Other Highlights of Greymouth:

1. The guy walking down the street in his shorts and gumboots, blaring "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie from the boombox rested on his shoulder. (Mercer, as you might remember this was my theme song prior to moving to Sea-town and I had a flashback of us singing at the top of our lungs this song one of my last nights on the way home from Macs xo)The guy might’ve been a few cards short of a full deck, but entertaining nonetheless.

2. The guy at the only micro brew bar in Greymouth who was pissed out of his gord and very interested in American lifestyle. Definitely a native local, he was so intrigued with the fact that all Americans eat doughnuts (especially cops), or so he advised us…

3. Last but not least, lemonade guy. Sitting at the bar at our motel, talking with the owner who pours Bays (yes, this trip doubled as a work visit for John) we witnessed quite the argument over what a proper lemonade mixer is. Well, let us tell you, we sided with the owner, who did in fact purchase “dearer” lemonade at the Warehouse previously that day…however, the patron preferred sprite, which in her mind was the premium lemonade alternative. Interesting. This conversation dragged on for what seemed like hours. Part in fact because the lemonade guy lost his lady over this debacle (which he felt the need to go on and on about – the substandard lemonade at the bar and how his lady went home because of it). Poor bloke, went home empty handed, no lemonade, no lady.

Bright and early the next morning we were off to Punakaiki, better known as Pancake Rocks. Allegedly, this day was supposed to be sunshine and rainbows, however, true to West Coast form…it rained, and rained, and rained. Oh and wind, wind, wind. Before we go into pancake rocks, we should mention that the drive from Greymouth to West Port is considered one of the ten most beautiful drives in the world by Lonely Planet. Think similar to Highway 1, West Coast, US. The drive was stellar, and along the way we ran into a roadside honey stop (Shmeegs, I thought of you)…these little roadside shack-shoppes are all over New Zealand, filled with fresh local product at awesome prices.  On your honor system, you take what you want and leave your $$ for the product, no attendant on duty. Works well in NZ…US, we think not (think Halloween, kids approaching a bowl of candy with the ever present “Take only one” sign. Yeah right.)

Pancake Rocks are a rock mass that has been wave and wind carved into various open ceiling caverns over thousands of years - absolutely breathtaking. At high tide, when the waves come crashing in and break against all the holes and cracks in the rocks, large spits of water shoot up meters above the rock level. This place truly illustrates some intense West Coast weather, where it’s beautiful to see, it’s hard to stay long as the whipping wind and rain make it almost unbearable to stand there and watch. However, definitely well worth a look! Back on the highway we ran into a herd of cows running up the road, no big deal…and then were well on our way toward Westport and yet another seal colony (Jim, hopefully you’ve been following what these are – just in case, we took another photo for you).

Quite honestly, we could’ve done without the Westport stop. Nothing much to share here, other than we drove out to the lighthouse, had our PB&J (thanks again Mama Sanden) and turned right around to head through the valley back toward Nelson. Another beautiful drive. Very similar to what you would find in Montana up the Seely Swan Valley, withe the exception of the baby lambs we came across, John just had to stop for a photo…

We hit a snow flurry on the pass after Murchison (everyone was driving half the speed limit, not a lot of experienced snow drivers in this part of NZ) and were thankful the Adventurship held tough, we made it home and prepared for another week of Rugby and Beer.

Friday was upon us before we knew it. A rail jam event at the Playhouse just outside of Mapua with the Flatmates…why not. $10 entry and big sharpie X’s on our hands we headed in to check out the rail and the band. The band was amazing and used 2 didgeridoos, those huge 6 foot wind instruments that rest on the ground used in Australia.

Photographer + vino = sub-par photographs

Great music, cool vibe, fun friends and wine flowing…sounds like a great Friday to us, and it was. Although (Shannon) definitely felt it on Saturday which turned out to be a very unproductive day.

We made up for it on Sunday when we headed up the Dun Mountain trail right outside of town to check out some uncharted territory (for us) and some new views of our amazing city. It was a great way to spend a beautiful sunny day, outside, walking through the forest and hillsides, waiting to see what’s around the next corner. A great feeling we experience quite often being in NZ, especially when it comes to our living situation!

Fast forward to Monday when we found out that the house we’re living in sold and guess what, we’re moving out! Yes, it’s true, yet another move for us…much much sooner than we were hoping, but something we’ve become quite accustomed to.

So, the next couple weeks have some exciting stuff in store… John’s birthday + ski trip with the flatmates and hopefully a new place to call home. Until next time…cheers!

New Zealand - You Know, Just L.I.V.I.N.

The past couple of weeks we have taken full advantage of the fact that we don’t have to worry about moving anywhere for awhile. Both of us are settled in our jobs, have a place to call our own (until it sells…and we all know what a long drawn out process that can be) and living reasonably normally as temporary residents in Nelson, New Zealand. I reckon if you had asked either of us a year ago whether we’d be living half way around the world anytime soon, we both probably would’ve told you that more than anything we’re working to make Seattle and Missoula meet somewhere in the middle. Well, as you all know, and have been reading about, we decided to take our long distance relationship to the next step with a huge head first dive into not only living together but doing it somewhere completely out of either of our comfort zones. And I can tell you confidently, ask either of us if we would’ve had it any other way, the answer would be NO WAY.
So, for this blog entry, rather than tell you about some fabulous place we have visited and share a million choice photos from an adventure…we’re going to tell you about New Zealand living for us…how the day to day is and what we’re still getting used to along with what we couldn’t live without.

New Zealand couldn’t live without or things we will miss once back in the States:

1. Electric Kettle. The easiest thing on the list to come up with…we use ours everyday at least 4 times. We will definitely buy one when we get back to the States.
2. Jazz apples, Kiwis, Mandarins and Lemons. These fruits grow literally EVERYWHERE and are cheap as chips, they are always present in of our fruit bowl.
3. Hot Tea. Where this was a constant in John’s life, I had been a devout coffee drinker until moving to New Zealand…now, I couldn’t do without my early morning, 10AM, afternoon and nighttime tea breaks. (Yes, these are considered part of a working day at the Nelson City Council, along with biscuits)
4. Fish and Chips. Fresh, piping hot, great portions, cheap, delicious.
5. Green Lipped Mussels. At around $4 a kilo, these delicious shellfish are a constant on our grocery list. (Kilo is approximately 20 mussels)
6. Saturday Markets. We rarely miss one, think Pike Street Market but smaller or summer Missoula Saturday Markets. We can find anything as far as local produce, eggs and most recently manuka honey (thanks for the tip Shmeegs).
7. Sushieze. A weekly asset we will take back with us.
8. The View of the Mountains and Ocean. You have already seen lots of this.
9. Access to 12 local breweries. Too bad the beers cost double or triple of that in the States, but John is working on getting more and more of them for free, as he does.
10. Access to several National Parks and Outdoor areas. We’ll be able to find plenty of this once we move back but it is great to have.

Weird how much of these involve or revolve around food and drink huh?

Nelson treasures we’ve come to love:

1. The smell of wood burning fireplaces in the city. I LOVE this about Nelson. Every winter night or early morning, if you walk outside, the air is filled with the smell of firewood. Unfortunately, we don’t have a fireplace, but at least we’re able to enjoy the smell of everyone else’s every evening!
2. Eragon the Swan. On the path along the river that I take to work, there is a spot where no matter what time you go by, Eragon, the notorious Nelson City swan is swimming about. He’s supposedly a mean bastard, but what swan isn’t?
3. Phenomenal Sunsets. We shared some when we lived at the pimpin pad, which, across the water, of course are amazing. Above’s a shot from the street we live on into the hills above town. Simply beautiful. 
4. Public Art. Along with all of the natural beauty of the town, Nelson embraces the fact that they’re well known for being the most artistic and creative region in New Zealand. No matter where you turn, it seems there is a different art installation to discover. Below’s a shot along the river that I took on the way to work…where normally I would think this is quite tacky – there’s something about it that caught my eye.
5. Running/Walking Paths. Yes, we have become more active around Nelson and take full advantage of the many paths around to exercise. We are planning on coming back a few kilo’s lighter.
6. Nelson Public Library. Not only do they have FREE, YES FREE internet daily, they also rent out movies for $2 a piece at 2 weeks at a time. We have found some locally produced gems. Check out The World’s Fastest Indian and Flight of the Concords Season 1 and 2 next time you get around to it. Whale Rider is still on the list.

New Zealand we’re still getting used to:

1. NO Clothes dryers. Sure they have them here, but not in any of the places we’ve lived…with the exception of the hostel for $4 a dry cycle. Laundry has taken on a whole new meaning in our lives. It requires no rain, a full day and hopefully a gentle breeze upon your clothesline.
2. Everything has a price. You want tomato sauce with your chips…$1 You want the trash man to pick up your rubbish…$2 per special bag required. Sure, they’re little things (and there are many more) but when you’re living on a budget, those things add up!
3. Single Paned Windows. Talk about killing any heat retention from running the heat pump (wall mounted heating system in NZ). These windows do nothing for insulation…making most buildings quite cold this time of year.
4. DRIVERS. I guess drivers are bad anywhere you go but come on mate. Tell me how this makes sense; in the States if you are taking a right hand turn at an intersection with no light would you ever consider giving the right-of-way to someone turning left in front of you? The answer is HELL NO, but yet that is a common practice here, opposite of course because they drive on the WRONG side of the road here.

Noteworthy dinners over the last two weeks:

1. Gramma pancakes. Ohhhhhh so good, thanks Mama Sanden again for the Homemade Raspberry Jam. We are out by the way; enter in your own expletive here.
2. Chicken Curry Pizza. We’re getting better and better at this homemade pizza thing.
3. New Zealand Crayfish with scallop and orzo pasta. First Crayfish in New Zealand. It looked like a lobster, minus the claws, add on some pokey snow crab legs and serve it to me fresh next time.

Hope you found the information interesting…the truth is, the Adventureship got sick and had to have some work done – hence the travel funds were spent elsewhere and we haven’t any new adventures to share, however, she’s back to normal now and feeling great. So, we’re back on the road this weekend to explore Greymouth, Punakaiki and Westport, a few small towns on the West Coast. Stay tuned for photos and commentary on how the trip went. Cheers!