Rural Life

Well, it's been about a month since we posted anything- Sorry! We have been in the same place, house sitting on a farm. The jobs we have been doing include gardening, painting, and taking care of the seven working dogs.  Weslie has been working at the cafe, too. The weather has been frustrating, one day its sunny and warm (we went to play golf and wore shorts and short sleeves), and the very next day it's cold and rainy.  It's been raining on and off for the last few days here so we can't do much work outside. It'll be sunny for about 30 minutes, then rain for 30, etc. all day.  Not good for painting. Can't really complain though, because when the sun's out it's amazingly beautiful here. Totally different landscape than what we've got back home and we're enjoying it.

Our beautiful home for a month.

View from the house

having fun in downtown Waipawa! (that's pretty much the whole town behind Chris)

This is Bronte. She likes long walks, chasing bunnies, and taking flying leaps into the creek. She dislikes being on her leash.

making a pizza feast

Yum! Salami and cheese, Sweet chili chicken, apricot and brie, caramelized onion and mushroom, egg bacon and spinach!

My birthday dinner with everyone from work

Yummy Thai food- sizzling lamb dish for Chris-- we miss fajitas now.

$15 green fees and sunny days. The best.

on the four-wheeler

We're practically professional painters now!

Farmer Chris

I'm gonna assume that this is Vic and Alicia's reaction to Chris' magnificent beard.

My time at the cafe has been really great. I'm getting pretty good at making coffee the 'right way' now, and I'm really enjoying the baking and cooking that goes along with working here.  I'm going to keep a recipe book of all the things I'm learning so I can share the awesome food with people at home.  Yummy salads, wraps, sausage rolls, slices, cakes, homemade dressings and aoli.  

Puff pastry roasted veggie tart- balsamic maple glaze.

Lollie log- crushed malt biscuits, melted butter, sweetened condensed milk. Mix, stir in cut up marshmallows, roll into a log and press coconut flakes into the top. Chill and slice.  

Birthday muffin from Trin, at work

Opened up the cafe by myself, made blueberry muffins and cheese scones to start the day.

The large cup is almost 20 oz- I've gotten so used to the smaller sizes here that it just looks rediculous. (it also costs $7 and has four espresso shots)

I'll be sad to leave the cafe, but it's been a great learning experience for me and I'm going to find more barista jobs as we travel (hopefully). 

Next month we will be in Feilding, where Wes was an exchange student in 2003. We'll be house sitting for her host parents, but we will be making trips around the area while based there, starting Sept. 20.

We have been enjoying relaxing and earning some money, before summer comes and we're off to the South Island to travel a lot more.  But it's been nice staying in one spot for a while and meeting some local people. We've enjoyed our time here, but we leave in two weeks and it'll be good to move on and see the rest of the country. 

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Hawkes Bay -->Taupo --> Hawkes Bay

This week we finished up our exchange work at Otane (30 minutes south of Napier), where we've been staying with Gwen and Neil on their farm. We spent the last two weeks repainting their farmstay accommodation, which included some paid hours, and Wes has still been working at the cafe over the weekends and is learning lots of yummy recipes both there and with the family.

Lavosh, hummus, and mussel dip on crostini

Gwen and Neil serving up roast dinner

Sticky Date Puding

Pavlova!

The boss hard at work (Anna)

shop at the cafe

 On Monday we finished up the painting job, and decided to take a mini vacation (from our vacation!).  We went to Taupo (2 hours northwest) for three days.  Taupo is on the north end of the lake (Lake Taupo is the biggest freshwater lake in Australasia).  It's a beautiful town, with tons of restaurants, shops, and lots of nature-y things to do.  We did a hike to Huka Falls, went to some mineral hot pools, and I (Wes) went skydiving (spur of the moment)!
We drove through some mountains on the way, lots of pine forests, which is of course not something unusual for us to see, but then you can see all the trees are in perfect lines covering the mountains.  All the pines are planted by logging/foresting companies. They grow them up to 25 years and then clear the forests and plant more.

the hostel- Base (a NZ/Aus. chain)

We also went to the local museum where they had quilts on display from a recent fabric arts show.

There was about a 30 minute gap from when Chris said I was allowed to go skydiving and when the company picked me up (in a limo!?) from the hostel.

View of Mt. Tongariro (Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings)

not horns, just the eye mask

got my game face on.

Chris tried his luck at the "Hole in One Challenge", where you try to make your shot into one of the three holes, top prize $10,000. Needless to say we did not win anything, but he came pretty close a few times.

 We also enjoyed some of the many local watering holes in town, including one that had quiz night when we went.  Didn't win anything, but we did take part in a 'couples' contest where I had to stick as many clothes pins as I could on Chris' face in a minute. Wasn't allowed to clip them to the beard and we only got 15 on, for second place.

quiz night visual round

Huka Falls is the most visited attraction in New Zealand,  220,000 liters of water every second goes over the falls. Apparently it can fill 5 olympic pools in a minute.  On the hike there we also passed by a natural hot spring that flows into the river, which is free to soak/swim in.

crystal clear Waikato river

 Now we are back near Otane, and are staying with some friends of Gwen and Neil's.  They also have a sheep farm, and we are going to be house sitting for them for four weeks while they go to a wedding in England.  So, there may not be much to post for the next month or so but we'll see.  Meanwhile, we will be taking care of the house and dogs here, and Wes will be working at the cafe still.