Christmas and New Year have been and gone. We hope you are all enjoying the holiday season.
I can't believe we've been away for 2 months!
The last few weeks have flown by! Most of it has been spent in a at a small beach town called Kakanui on the east coast between Christchurch and Dunedin. We stayed in a beach house with Lauren's Auntie, Uncle and two cousins with great views of a long sandy beach. We had good weather for the most part which allowed us to make the most of the sea. Surfing, snorkelling and sunbathing were on the agenda for most days, with a few hours fishing in the evening off the rocks just outside the front of the house. To begin with Lauren led the pace with 4 fish to my 0 (even though I set up her lines!) but I soon caught up with 5 fish in one day [Lauren: even though they were much smaller than mine ;)].
Between Christmas and New Year Lauren's uncle and cousins were kind enough to invite me on a 3 day hunting trip in Waimate, while the girls stayed home and shopped. The setting for the hunt was fantastic, rugged hills, steep valleys and winding rivers made it enjoyable enough before we even got to the hunting. We were after wallabies, a huge pest to sheep farmers in New Zealand. I was given a rifle and two boxes of ammunition and told to shoot stuff. Each day we would slog up steep hills and sit for hours at a time on ridge lines hoping to pick up a hint of movement. Then after dark we would jump in the back of a pick-up truck and endure a dusty, bumpy ride back to the hut we were staying in for a cold beer. The hut itself was more of a shed, and the tone for the weekend was set by the fact that I found a small owl under my bed. There were 7 of us altogether in the hut and by the end of the hunt we had killed 46 wallabies (only 3 by yours truly). This was all of course much to Lauren's disapproval.
Lauren: Whilst Robin was away slaughtering innocent, cute, fluffy, hoppy animals, me and my auntie Hilary enjoyed a relaxing few days at the beach house, with the occasional shopping trip in between to break up the sunbathing. The day the boys left we were sat on the decking enjoying a nice glass of Baileys when Hilary spotted what looked like a shark swimming in the Bay, on closer inspection with the binoculars we realised that right in front of us in the bay was a pod of 8 Orca. We couldn't believe our luck, we knew the boys would be jealous missing out on this experience so just to rub it in we grabbed the video camera for evidence:) We couldn't wait to show them...
We left the beach house on the 2nd day of the New Year to head for Central Otago in an attempt to find an orchard in need of two pasty English fruit pickers. After lots of ringing around and a few days in various towns around the area, we eventually got a result. A family run orchard called Webb's Fruit in Cromwell was after a few pickers for their maze of peach, plum, apple and cherry orchard. Much to our delight it came with accommodation and permission from the owners to pick as much fruit as you can eat! We start on the 9th and will keep you updated on this next step in our travels.
Speak to you soon.
x x x
I can't believe we've been away for 2 months!
The last few weeks have flown by! Most of it has been spent in a at a small beach town called Kakanui on the east coast between Christchurch and Dunedin. We stayed in a beach house with Lauren's Auntie, Uncle and two cousins with great views of a long sandy beach. We had good weather for the most part which allowed us to make the most of the sea. Surfing, snorkelling and sunbathing were on the agenda for most days, with a few hours fishing in the evening off the rocks just outside the front of the house. To begin with Lauren led the pace with 4 fish to my 0 (even though I set up her lines!) but I soon caught up with 5 fish in one day [Lauren: even though they were much smaller than mine ;)].
Between Christmas and New Year Lauren's uncle and cousins were kind enough to invite me on a 3 day hunting trip in Waimate, while the girls stayed home and shopped. The setting for the hunt was fantastic, rugged hills, steep valleys and winding rivers made it enjoyable enough before we even got to the hunting. We were after wallabies, a huge pest to sheep farmers in New Zealand. I was given a rifle and two boxes of ammunition and told to shoot stuff. Each day we would slog up steep hills and sit for hours at a time on ridge lines hoping to pick up a hint of movement. Then after dark we would jump in the back of a pick-up truck and endure a dusty, bumpy ride back to the hut we were staying in for a cold beer. The hut itself was more of a shed, and the tone for the weekend was set by the fact that I found a small owl under my bed. There were 7 of us altogether in the hut and by the end of the hunt we had killed 46 wallabies (only 3 by yours truly). This was all of course much to Lauren's disapproval.
Lauren: Whilst Robin was away slaughtering innocent, cute, fluffy, hoppy animals, me and my auntie Hilary enjoyed a relaxing few days at the beach house, with the occasional shopping trip in between to break up the sunbathing. The day the boys left we were sat on the decking enjoying a nice glass of Baileys when Hilary spotted what looked like a shark swimming in the Bay, on closer inspection with the binoculars we realised that right in front of us in the bay was a pod of 8 Orca. We couldn't believe our luck, we knew the boys would be jealous missing out on this experience so just to rub it in we grabbed the video camera for evidence:) We couldn't wait to show them...
We left the beach house on the 2nd day of the New Year to head for Central Otago in an attempt to find an orchard in need of two pasty English fruit pickers. After lots of ringing around and a few days in various towns around the area, we eventually got a result. A family run orchard called Webb's Fruit in Cromwell was after a few pickers for their maze of peach, plum, apple and cherry orchard. Much to our delight it came with accommodation and permission from the owners to pick as much fruit as you can eat! We start on the 9th and will keep you updated on this next step in our travels.
Speak to you soon.
x x x
 |
| More Pictures Coming!!! |
What a glorious beach house, found you on google maps, streetview on corner of Anderson St./Harbour Terrace. We are very envious but very happy that you're having such a wonderful time. Enjoy the fruit ! xx
ReplyDeleteCan't believe you have been gone for 2 months already. Great picture of Robin, sorry Lauren:(
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your fruit picking, hope the weather stays good - Don't eat too much fruit :)