I just spent the last 2 week of my mid semester break visiting my parents on the west coast of the south island.
It was magical. It has been a long time since I have been there and I miss them and the beautiful area so much.
it is home to me. even though Ive put down my roots here and have no intention of going back down there to live, it is where my heart and soul resides.
the days were spent hand washing our clothes, bringing in wood for the fires, feeding and shifting the chickens, collecting their lovely eggs and poaching them for breakfast, gardening and harvesting garden produce for dinner, running on the stunning bush trails, building fires at the beach, whittling on pieces of driftwood, drinking home brewed beer and conversation in front of the fire.
as an added bonus, my sister who is staying in Christchurch about 300kms away, came over to stay for the second week. I havent seen her for about a year too, so that was lovely.
we had absolute crap weather leading up to our sailing, but on the day it was clear, crisp and calm. a super crossing and a stunning drive to get there, no traffic on the roads, no ice, blue day and my fave music on the stereo.
I took lots of photos of my nanas embroidery for inspiration. her needle work is simply beautiful.
the brand new fire! this fire was installed and lit for the first time 5 mins before I arrived. for the first time in my life, we were toasty warm throughout the entire house. this is mum with the first soup..
taken from the Mokihinui river mouth looking up the valley. The farm is about 2 kms up this valley on the rivers edge. Thats Mt Glasgow in the background, it is the main view from my parents house.
looking north along the coast from the river mouth.
Ev with nana, heading over to the chook house.
working in the garden, this was garlic planting day..
the one that got away..
My big sis, Dawn..
the view of Mt Glasgow from the farm, complete with fresh dumping of snow. For my vox neighbors in parts of the world where you have snow at your doorstep, i apologise for complaining about the cold... this is mid winter for us! Brrr.
Evelyn and I had been planning to go on a 2 night hike into the Heaphy track with Dad, but unfortunately, he had a wee accident and sprained his ankle rather badly the day before we were to set off. We considered going by ourselves but really I didnt want to miss out on spending time with my parents, so we postponed that trip for a future visit and went for a consolation day walk instead. this is the view looking north up the coast about 3k north of the river mouth.
its a stunning part of the country. the sea is rough and wild and drops straight down deep. the waves crash onto the rocks at the base of the mountains, and the only route is a few meters of sand which make it totally inaccessible at high tide.
the Piwakwaka are so friendly, this one was almost brushing me as he flew past. he kept us company all the way down to the beach. At my parents place, as soon as they see you in the garden, the start making a complete nuisance of themselves until you finally go over to the compost bin, lift the lid and give it a bang on the side to disturb all the little midgie flies.
looking north for the other side of the bluff. we stopped here, brewed up a billy and had miso soup while we watched the waves and whittled on our pieces of wood.
ahm whittlin' a spoon mah!
my spoon is starting to take shape! I recently learnt how to burn out the bowl with embers from the fire so ive been right into whittling spoons recently! This will eventually become my tramping spoon. Next project will be a dual purpose bowl/cup, also for tramping..
also this is a good shot of my new/80 year old knife. It was hand made by nicks (evs dad) grandfather in 1928. It got passed down to Nick who used it as his fishing knife. I became the custodian of it when he died to eventually pass on to Ev. just recently I dug it out of eternal storage and gave it to ian to have a look at. Nick never took especially good care of it fishing, and the salt had badly corroded the blade, there was paint on the handle and the scabbard was dried out and cracked. as you can see, Ian has done a beautiful restoration job on it, and it is now once again a stunning knife. the scabbard too has been restored and now Im using the knife as my main knife. its as sharp as a razor, and moulds beautifully to the hand. Its officially my tramping and whittling knife, but Im also using it in the kitchen as my main chef knife too. Its been so nice to talk to ev about this knife, and to revive it and use it as the treasure it is, and she is really looking forward to being old enough that it can be passed to her and become her own tramping knife.
from the top of the bluff on the way back, looking south at the river mouth.
another day, another trip to the beach. this time its at the northern side of the river mouth, setting up a tarp as a wind break.
you can see ev in the background, still intently whittling away on her piece of wood.
Thats dad building the fire while mum gets the important things sorted- like who wants a glass of red wine?
pretty much the only meat I ever eat these days is what comes off my parents or sisters farm. its been hand raised in stunning conditions, and hand killed. my dad always told me that if your not prepared to kill it, you shouldnt be eating it. I believe the world would be quite different if more people thought this way. most people are happier to see their meat simply as convenient food nicely packaged for them on supermarket shelves than real animals whos life has to be sacrificed so you can eat it. Ill stop now, its in danger of turning into a rant. anyway- thats some lovely homemade sausages cooking in that pan.
the wood bin my dad *knocked up* as the new fire needed a new wood holder. its hard to see her *rustic charm* here, she got loving nicknamed Molly the Trolley and immediately became the butt of a few jokes... The fact that you can wheel her to the door is pretty good though, as is the amount of wood you can load into it..
dawnies turn to cook.. all the cooking is done on the old coal range (well wood range really, as they never burn coal). it also heats the water as well as the kitchen..
off to feed the chooks at my other big sis Bev's farm..
Bev and beauty- her new calf.
Family portrait time! 3 generations of girls here, mum, sisters and I and ev.
A precious photo of mum and I.
Well that pretty much sums up the photos I took of our trip really. I wish wish wish Id taken some of the trails I ran. My camera is large enough to be a real pain to carry on a run, but I should have done it anyway.
our trip back couldnt have been more different that the way down, with loads of ice and grit on the roads and wet and cold to boot.
on way home :(
The mokihinui River is under threat for a massive hydro scheme proposed by meridian energy. this river is ranked the 7th most important river in NZ for is biodiversity and is habitat to over 16 native species, some endangered and many others threatened.
the water is re-newable, but what they will wipe out is not. I am very sad. apart for my submission against, there is little more that I can do, we await now to see how the decision makers of our country value our wilderness. In the meantime, it is dividing the community and turning friends and neighbors against each other.
bum, I didnt want this post to turn negative. maybe I will write another about this issue. Not today though, this one has already taken me almost an hour!!
not today though.
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