Just curious.

Does anyone read this thing anymore? Or is it now a private corner of the internet?

Hello Blog, it has been far FAR too long since we've last chatted. How have you all been? I am currently on Stewart Island, waiting to see what the weather decides it wants to be like today. So far, we've had a good drop of rain first thing this morning, now it's windy and partly cloudy. Who knows what's in store for late this afternoon. I spent a good long time on Banks Peninsula, regarding which I have every intention of doing at least one solid entry. I had many adventures there, walked to many beautiful places, met some really awesome people, made some really great friends, lost some-not-so-great-ones. Worked weekends, managed a hostel, “vice-managed” another hostel, got conflicting information from various immigration office representatives (don't worry, I'm here legally, and shall remain so until the end of May)

Doubtful Sound overnight cruise April 29-30

I think most folks just go for the day cruise, but considering how long it takes to get there without a car, I'm glad that I splurged on the overnight boat cruise. We started off with a bus ride from Queenstown to Manapouri (~50) with a stop at the Five River's cafe near the half way mark. At the visitor's centre, we boarded a boat to get across the lake, then hopped on another bus to get us to the 'cruise ship' for the next ~24 hours. It was a pretty good deal, the meals were prepared on the ship, there was lots of complimentary warm bevvies to be had and the commentary provided was quite good and informative.

The journey continues...

Excited Nicki is excited!

Once we'd recovered, Nicki and I set off to explore more of the South Island. We debated various forms of transportation, but ultimately decided upon the InterCity bus service. Our first destination was Christchurch. This is an interesting city to explore. It is still very much under construction, there are cranes dotting the skyline in every direction. We figured two days would suffice for exploring and hitting up the museums/galleries/botanical gardens/street art that we were interested in seeing.

Wellington, Picton and the Queen Charlotte Track

Travels with Nicki

Red Rocks along the aptly named
Red Rocks Walkway.

I met Nicki during my last two weeks on the farm, and we made plans to go hiking together before she settled into work over the winter. I felt I had earned a vacation after 6 months of wwoofing.

Krumm-Jury farm conclusion.

Holy smokes! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown during my stay with the Krumm-Jury family. It's the first fully properly organic place that I've come across (makes you wonder about who's running this wwoof organization, don't it). I've had the opportunity to do all sorts of different tasks and I believe I've learned a lots of new skills and gained a lot of insight into how much work goes into keeping a place like this going (and why macadamia nuts are so goddamn expensive).

Jinkies! First month on the Jury farm in Tikorangi, Taranaki.

Greetings and salutations one and all.

Time just keeps slipping away from me lately and my current host has lots of different jobs that need doing and is a lot of fun to chat with that I just don't seem to get around to writing up my missing posts!

I arrived at Mac Snack world headquarters on the 8th of January, after spending some time with familiar faces over in Australia. It was simply lovely to spend Christmas with J-Bo and New Years with the ladies Lahey.


This is the first fully organic farm that I've stayed on, and it's a beaut! It's been in the family for generations (since it started to be settled by Europeans), and is the site of the first (legally) imported macadamia nut trees.

Blue dot is the farmhouse, their property is pretty much
bordered west and south by the roads, and north and east by
the trees.

Not much to say about this vid...

I'm afraid the last thing I want to do in the evening is sit at my computer, so updates are pretty slow and few.

Enjoy a time lapsed video of this morning's sunrise in the meantime.

http://youtu.be/li_8fBjr_Og

Swanson, Auckland, New Zealand September 19 - October 3

My very first WWOOF hosts were located just west of central Auckland, but it was very much the bush. I loved it. There was a new little sleepout building for up to 4 of us to sleep and cook in. There was even a flatscreen tv and cable. I was blown away by the amenities, actually.

Northland Road Trip October 3 - October 6

Sue and John sent the 3 of us away for the long weekend to enjoy some travel in Séb's car.

We zipped up along the West coast, stopping briefly along the way to check out a few sights, like the biggest/oldest Kauri tree, some beautiful lakes and had a peek at 90 mile beach (which is only really about 55 miles long. LIARS!). Our goal the first day was to get as far North as we could (all the pretty stuff was along the North and Eastern coasts, we'd been assured by several people before we set out). As it was still spring, we did get a fair share of showers as we made our way down the highway, but thankfully it was never enough to completely ruin our trip. The first day, we made it from Swanson to Ahipara Holiday Park.

Rawkin' the River City

I swear I haven't forgotten about you!

The last few months have been quite the blur, between winding down life in Japan, catching up with friends and family in Winnipeg and planning my next excursion.

I have something in the works, I just want to do it correctly.

Soon. Soon. :)

Fukaura: Sunny Solstice Edition

One final road trip across Aomori before I leave. I needed to complete this last destination goal of mine, as it's a much more affordable one than trying to get down to Okinawa at this point. Next time, Gadget, next time.

Now you're cooking... with KANJI!

What can I say, I'm on a roll. A combined effort of Google Translate (about time they added that 'draw' function. Jeebus.), Denshi Jisho and Weblio has unlocked all the information. Every appliance is different, so, I figger the more pages we get with this information for frustrated folks, the better.

Tuck in!

Rice Cooker (炊飯器)

Let's enjoy... heating and cooling!

Here's the remote for my "ルームエアコン" (ruumu eakon).

Bathing... Japan-style

Here is the control panel in my shower/tub room.

運転:Power

お湯はり保温: Fill with hot water

わかす保温: Fill with boiling water

呼出: Call button (HELP! MAYDAY! I forgot my rubber ducky~!)

浴室優先: Bathroom Priority (washing the dishes won't mess with your bath water)

あつめ: Hot

ぬるめ: Lukewarm

たっぷり: Fill

給湯:Water supply

ふろ:Bath

湯量: Amount of hot water

Spring is ON!

Needed a little spring, it wasn't coming up north quickly enough...

... so I went down to Tokyo.  The Fantastic Mr Flynn offered to put me up at his new Tokyo pad, but was at work during the day. I stowed my pack in a coin locker at one of the stations near his place and set off to amuse myself. My initial plan was to get my nerd-on in Akihabara. Buuuuuut the near constant deluge all day made this feel rather uninviting. I was having some trouble navigating the area anyway, possibly due to the lack of sleep from riding the highway bus down overnight. Yes. We'll blame that. :D

Chicken soup with rice

Believe it or not, it's been almost spring-like 'round here... but winter just won't release her kung-fu grip... or Mother Nature is going through menopause or summing. I dunno. But it's frustrating, to say the least.

In an attempt to retain/regain (I'm not sure quite what my status is right now... which is part of the problem, I suppose) my sanity and to reduce my cabin fever, I do my damnedest to get out for a nice long walk when the weather takes a break from raining and snowing. If I can, I take the long way around to get to the grocery store on my way home from work. I noticed that Charley, my jade plant, has roused from his wintery slumber, and that some of the other plants are trying to do the same.

... my iphone is not exactly the best at focusing on up close pictures, but, you can see the buds breaking through... You can do it, little buddies! I believe in youuuuu~!

Ginger and Beef recipes

Hello all my buddies! For those of you living in Canada and northern Japan, hang in there, this winter thing can't last forever! We'll get through this!!! Here's a simple, delicious and warm entree I came up with, somewhat inspired by what Jade and I created to help Flynn clean out his fridge before his big move.