tramps

over the last few weeks we've spent almost half our time on trail, which is a pretty glorious way to spend your time in new zealand. here's the first of them: the raikura track on stewart island, the 3rd island of new zealand.

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after wwoofing and the rail trail, we traveled down the coast from dunedin and through the caitlins to get to invercargill and bluff, the ferry point to stewart island. there was some beautiful country on the ride.

From kiwi tramps

From kiwi tramps

lkm cold and looking pissed about it.

From kiwi tramps

a penguin that seemed to be lost in a cove we hiked to... he was stone cold like a statue and didn't budge when we got close.

From kiwi tramps

we took a tumultuous high-speed ferry ride over (with everyone one good jolt away from barfing) and met up with ksenya (who visited us in thailand in khao sok natn'l park), quinn, and max, a very industrious frenchman who we had been crossing paths with often.

the hike was wet... constant precipitation of some sort, be it mist, light showers or heavy downpours. besides occasional coastal sections, we were under a thick green canopy of ferns... nature's umbrella. here we are all decked out in rain gear like a bunch of dorks.

From kiwi tramps

From kiwi tramps

the trail was pretty fun and slippery at some points.

From kiwi tramps

From kiwi tramps

found a random phone on the road/trail. there was talk of ordering pizza delivery but found the phone stripped of its guts.

From kiwi tramps

there were tons of water crossings. new zealand's got some great trail bridges... some all wood, some all steel, all very shakey, and most feel sketchy.

From kiwi tramps

From kiwi tramps

one of the huts we stayed at was near the water and had a great (and safe) dock.

From kiwi tramps

From kiwi tramps

this little kid caught more fish in 10 minutes than we did while fishing in two continents. he's gonna be a badass.

From kiwi tramps

yus front-flipped into the frigid waters... the southern most point he's ever swam. we all felt content enough to just watch.

From kiwi tramps

beautiful sign on the road... unfortunately i didn't capture the bottom line of it (did i mention my camera screen stopped working?). it read: survivors will be shot again.

From kiwi tramps

we ended the hike with a feast of fish and chips. i'm back on that wagon again.

From kiwi tramps

wwoorking on the farm

From new zealand shevanegans

kim and yu did some wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms) in australia and convinced us of its merits enough to give it a go in new zealand. we got hooked up with a great couple in the dunedin area and after a few days of work we can now say that we have:
-collected fields full of cow shit by shovel and pitchfork
-harvested potatoes
-weeded at an old folks home
-built a car-sized compost pile
-moved a 1 ton playpen
-converted biomass into charcoal, on purpose

here are the migrant workers

From new zealand shevanegans

the farm itself sits near the coast... here's the view from the frontyard.

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

annie, our host, raises beef cattle, amongst other things, so we ate 2 meals a day of steak. also had fresh milk, just hours after it had been squeezed from a dairy cow.

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

annie's partner dennis also has a farm. we helped out on his farm for a while and got involved in his new venture: turning wood chips into "biochar"...

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

the idea is to lock carbon away in the form of chips for fertilizer, thus reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere when organic matter decomposes. its not a bad idea, but hard to put into practice. dennis is interested in selling carbon credits for his work... something i'm not altogether a fan of. regardless of the environmental benefit, it was fun burning shit.

we were on this farm a few weeks ago now... haven't been getting much internet time lately, so there's a delay in posts. there are some new pics up on picasa though... like this beaut:

From new zealand shevanegans

salt lake city

From new zealand shevanegans

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right outside middlemarch is land right from out of the lord of the rings movie. there's lots of farmland (sheep!) but also lots of open countryside littered with car sized rock outcroppings.

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

we stayed a night at the salt lake reserve outside middlemarch. passed through lots of deer herds to get there, then hiked a short distance to get to the lake. found this fantastic dried lake bed.

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

rail trail

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

the otago rail trail is a ~160 km mountain bike trail that used to be a railroad it runs through central otago, near the south end of the south island... some of the prettiest country we've seen yet.

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

From new zealand shevanegans

we did the ride in 2 days, leaving from middlemarch and going to alexandra. passed by millions of sheep, through small one-horse towns and over a few bridges. lkm and i were on a tandem for the ride and yus and kim were going solo.

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we ended in alexandra... a pretty little town

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kim and yu did find a new tandem a few weeks ago in dunedin.

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monteiths

From n zed invasion

its the best beer in N Zed by far. and since we were passing by greymouth we went on the brewery tour.

its a relatively small brewery, with a full time staff of 6 and a crunch-time staff of double that. they have 6 brews in constant production and a handful of seasonals or specialty brews... all of which are delicious. lkm even found one she liked... the radler, a beer lemonade mix.

the tour was great- we walked the entire brew process.

From n zed invasion

From n zed invasion

From n zed invasion

From n zed invasion

From n zed invasion

this is dusty's seat... he's been working for monteiths for 40+ years and he's the only one who knows how to fix the boilers. they treat him well.

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the best urinal in the southern hemisphere.

From n zed invasion