Jun 9-12: French Pass - Last Outing in the South Island

We had the ferry crossing back to the North Island booked for June 12, so one more tour on the big and beautifull South Island. There's not much left we haven't seen, but French Pass was a must-see. It's a different side of the Marlborough sounds, a little harder to get to, a little more out of the way. But the long drive sports incredible views.
French pass is a treacherous narrow channel where the tide rushes through with speed. It also happened to be some of the best fishing I found on the South Island.

In the evening the wind whipped-up at French pass, and had our van rocking back and forth.
We spent the next night at Elaine Bay, a nice campsite nearby, and a little more sheltered.
This place was deserted as it was off-season, but we had a nice sunny day and walked the Archer track from here- which showcases the Sounds' glorious scenery.
We didn't see another person on the track, it really was the quiet season!

May 20-June 9: Workstay in Ward at the Olive Grove

Our next workstay was at an olive grove in the Marlborough region, a place with a good climate for grapes and fruit growing.
We stayed with a wonderful, easygoing couple who recently bought the place, we had a great time.
There was some building work, but we happened to be there for the annual harvest, although it was the world's smallest olive crop!
It was just a bad year and there were only a handful of trees worth harvesting. It was good for us, because we got to see the whole process with no pressure, we picked some by hand, some by machine. The previous year took 6 weeks of work to harvest, this year it took one day!

After the olives are picked, they go into a machine that grinds them into a paste, then the paste goes through a centrifuge to separate the oil. It's a cold-process, so the oil is pure as! There's nothing like fresh oil off the press- its delicious, fruity, and very strong- it burns the back of the throat.

In the end they only got 7 liters or so, which is hardly anything, but it was still fun.
And Jill learned to ride a 4-wheeler!

The best part was they got their new chickens while we were there- we got to name the 2 Araucanas after ourselves: Chicken Jilly & Lee Chicken.

NZ Fishing

Over the months I've taken up surfcasting- a method of fishing off the beach with a 13ft rod. It was cheap to get started.
It took me a while to get the hang of it, but lately we've been having some good fish fry-ups.
It's been awesome to fish beaches in every corner of the country, and to taste different species of amazing fresh saltwater fish, some only found in this part of the world.

The species in the pictures in order: Snapper, Kahawai (Australian Salmon), Blue Cod, Red Cod.

Seal Pups

It's seal pup season!
In the summer, the baby seals won't leave their mother's side, so you can only see them from a distance. But starting around may, the seal pups, which are now like seal teenagers, are old enough to go off on their own.
They are very playful and curious compared to the adults. One even jumped out to get a closer look at Jill.
We've seen cute pups in tide pools on the west coast near Farewell Spit, and at Abel Tasman while kayaking- but the best place to see lots of pups is Ohau Waterfall near Kaikoura. They hop up a stream 300m inland, up to a waterfall where they play in the pool. There were around 30 pups when we were there, but no adult seals allowed! The pups spend the winter playing up there in the stream and then return to the sea around November.

May 5-7: Wharariki Beach

We drove a little further west from Abel Tasman, went through Golden Bay and on to Farewell Spit. Just south is Wharariki, a rugged, scenic stretch of beach that more resembles Britain. There were windswept trees, seals, and peacocks in the parking lot! We also found a load of Tuatuas (small clams) which make for a great meal.

April 29-May 4: Abel Tasman & Area

For Jill's birthday we went to Hanmer Springs, a hot spring resort town. It was chilly, with snow on the surrounding hills- great time for hot springs!
We were only in Hanmer for a couple days, then drove Lewis Pass, over the Alps again, to the Abel Tasman region.
Abel Tasman is a national park on the northern end of the south island. It's sheltered by headlands on either side, so even though you're on the sea, it's flat and calm like a lake, without the swells you see at other beaches around the country. This, combined with orange sand/golden beaches, crystal clear water, and the warm climate, makes this area resemble tropical beaches like the Carribean. In the summer, people flock to this place, and its one of the busiest places in the country.
We left this area until Autumn on purpose, as its mostly deserted now, but the weather is still nice. We stayed in holiday parks and campgrounds with 1000+ capacities, yet only a few campers this time of year.
One of the best ways to explore Abel Tasman is by Kayak, so we rented a Kayak for the day and it was a great experience. We were given a quick instruction and then sent on our way. This place is all about secluded coves, and we also paddled out to explore a couple islands. We found some groups of seals, and lots of seal pups- so much fun when they swim under the boat and check us out!

The area surrounding Abel Tasman is packed full of places to explore, a place called "The Grove" was a short walk through limestone jungle.
Rawhiti cave was an open air limestone cave, with more stalactites than you can count.

April 12-28: Workstay in Fairlie

We had another workstay booked at a farm just outside of Fairlie, which is near Tekapo and the Mt. Cook region. This was a large working farm, with 100s of sheep, cattle, and deer. But we were selected to work here for for a different reason, to build a garden playhouse for future grandchildren!
The project was built mostly out of recycled materials and with a curved roof (modeled after a birdhouse!) so it took more work than we originally thought. We had to come back after our trip for Jill's birthday to finish it off, but it was worth it, it turned out great and our host Lyn really loved it. I even learned myself a few new things out of this one!

We stayed in a beautiful self contained cottage separate from the main house. The farm was extremely scenic, with mountain ranges in the background.
We shared the cottage for some time with a couple French helpxers, they were on 1 year visas like us. It was nice to share some travel stories.

Jill's job every day was to feed the 2 chickens, and feed Morgan the pig his slops.
They also had a friendly Jack Russel named George.