Sheep Shearing

Sheep Shearing was a very interesting experience! There are about 30 sheep for every person in New Zealand. The family that we are staying with at the moment do sheep shearing as one of their businesses so they gave us the opportunity to go along, see how it is all done, and help for the day.

Wool compacting machine

When we got there, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It certainly wasn't very pleasant. After a few minutes I couldn't smell it so much, but every time I stepped outside and then back into the shearing shed it was overpowering. The other thing was the noise! 4 shearers going at once, music, and of course the unhappy bleating of a few hundred sheep.

I started out helping the ladies with the rousing, or wool sorting. It basically involved gathering the piles of wool from around the sheep as the shearers were working and then piling it all in the centre near the wool compacting machine.

Andrew herding sheep

 The other ladies there were mainly doing the sorting of the wool and grading it into the different qualities, so when they shoved a pile in my direction I would add it to the large pile. Andrew helped gather the wool and stomp it down into the compacting machine, which compresses the wool down into huge heavy bags.

After awhile, they finished the one batch of sheep and brought a new set in. They also had 300 lambs brought in that day, which was neat to see. The new set only needed their rears shaved, or crutching, so there wasn't  as much to help with. I decided to go help herd the sheep into the pens since the shearers were moving through them pretty quickly.

A rousing experience

The sheep are extremely docile and are much lighter than I expected them to be. To herd them, I basically had to walk behind them and wave my arms at them. Most of sheep herding seemed to be getting them pointed in the right direction and then walking around them so that they ran away from me and into the next pen. Occasionally there would be an extremely stubborn sheep that required grabbing the scruff of her neck and the wool at the butt and giving her a bit of a shove in the right direction. Andrew had a couple of the sheep try to back up under his legs a few times too, which was quite comical.

Tuatua Dining

Andrew picking  up the clams

Me with a full bucket of lunch!

Andrew and I have had the unique experience of doing the Tuatua dance down at 90 mile beach. It probably looks quite entertaining to those who have no idea what we are doing, since it involves wading into the water to about knee deep and then wiggling out toes and twisting our feet to get them to sink into the sand and find the clams that are buried about 4-8 centimeters below the sand. If we don't find any, we move a few feet down the beach and try again! 

It's a great way to gather some fresh seafood for lunch. Our hosts shared some of their recipes with us and we have made some of our own in the past week.

Tuatua in a bucket

 The first thing to do is to look up a local tide chart for the area and find when low tide is. Then wade into the water up to about knee deep or so at low tide and start wiggling your toes down into the sand. If you don't feel anything, then move on...it's quite easy to feel the clams with your toes. No, it doesn't hurt so you don't need shoes.

Next, put the tuatua (sometimes called pipi's by the locals) into a bucket with some seawater covering them. Leave them overnight or at least 6 hours. This will keep them alive and let them spit out all of their sand.

The hardest part is figuring out how to get into them! It took Andrew and I a bit of struggling and our host mom laughing at us a bit before she showed us the easy way to do it. One option is to simply steam or boil them until they just start to open. If you are going to just eat them, this works, but they can get really rubbery if you overcook them at all! The second option is to take a blunt knife (a butter knife will do) and slide it along the more open part of the shell towards the hinge part. This will slice the tendon that holds the shell closed and let you get them open easily!

Also, you can eat them raw. Seriously. I thought the locals were pulling our leg on this one but then when we were being showed how to open them I think more were eaten than went into the bowl to be made into lunch!

Tuatua pasta

Apart from trying them raw or just barely blanched, we made two recipes with our tuatua; pasta and fritters.

Tuatua pasta
3 cups dry pasta noodles (I used gluten free spirals)
1/2 cup grated cheese
5 cloves garlic - chopped
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup raw tuatua

1. Put pasta into boiling water and cook pasta
2. While the pasta is cooking, fry the garlic in the butter.
3. When the pasta is cooked, add the tuatua to the garlic and butter for approximately 45 to 90 seconds (depending on desired firmness).
4. Plate pasta, add tuatua, butter and garlic mix, then top with grated cheese.

Enjoy!

Fritter ingredients

 Tuatua fritters
These were a bit odd because they looked like normal pancakes, but definitely tasted a lot more savoury than sweet. More of an afternoon snack than breakfast!

1 cup flour (I used the gluten free baking mix)
1 egg
1 cup minced tuatua
2/3 cup milk (could substitute coconut or almond milk for lactose intolerant)
1/8 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl until a batter consistency is achieved. You can add additional milk if necessary.

In a medium frypan on medium heat, add olive oil. Once hot, add tuatua batter, approximately 1/8 cup per fritter. Once golden brown, flip. Once both sides are cooked, remove from heat.

Fritter batter

Plate of tuatua fritters

Frying the fritters

90 Mile Beach

Never-ending sand

Playing in the surf

 Andrew and I have been staying at the 90 mile beach holiday park for the last week. It has been incredible! Great weather, fun people, and a 2 minute walk to 90 mile beach. Well, it isn't actually 90 miles; it's only 88 kilometers long.

2 colours of sand

Ocean sunset from our site

The beach was used in the early 1930's as a runway for planes providing airmail services. It is also officially a state highway, but only during low tide. Andrew and I haven't driven up it yet, but it is in our plans to do so in the next couple of weeks. So far we have just been enjoying playing in the sand, relaxing in the sun, and gathering dinner (more on that later!)

R Tucker Thompson

The Tucker Thompson at Sail

Andrew climbing the rigging

 Today Andrew and I had the chance to sail on the tall ship the R Tucker Thompson. She is a gaff rigged, square tops'l schooner. It is operated as a not-for-profit organization that runs day sails for tourists in the summer and then educational youth sails in the winter.

We had an absolutely wonderful day for sailing. Beautiful and sunny with a strong enough wind to get all 8 sails up in the afternoon! We started off the morning relaxing on deck and enjoying a morning tea with scones and cookies.

Sails up

Looking down on the boat

The crew and volunteers then asked if anyone was interested in helping as they were starting to put their sails up. I, of course, immediately said yes. I have always wanted to learn to sail and, hopefully, living this close to the ocean for the next two years I can learn! I certainly enjoyed helping today. I helped hoist the sail and the first mate showed me how to 'make fast' or tie off the rope so the sail didn't come loose. She then asked if I wanted to help clean up the ropes and learn how to coil it. I was quite surprised that they were letting tourists touch the ropes! We were welcome to help as much or as little as we felt like. I decided to take the opportunity to help and learn as much as I could! Once the main sails were up, they asked if anyone wanted to climb the rigging to the top. Andrew jumped on that immediately and scrambled up like a little squirrel! The views were absolutely incredible from the top.

The bay of islands

Mid-morning we reached a little cove that had a nice beach. A few people took the zodiac to shore for a walk. Andrew and I decided the water was warm enough for some swimming...especially after the captain told us there was a rope swing on board! We took turns swinging into the water. I went for a nice swim further out to get a picture of the boat with the two main sails up. One of the volunteers then attached a trapeze to the rope swing, so of course we had to swing off the boat a few more times!

There was still some time before lunch so I took the opportunity to climb the rigging myself. There were a couple of long reaches for short legs, but it was a lot of fun. I spent some time sitting on the mast, just hanging out. Then lunch started cooking and I decided it was time to come down.

Lizzie climbing

Lunch was fantastic. Fresh-made potato salad, green salad, and BBQ chicken made fresh on the boat. They were very accommodating of food allergies and had no problems preparing something gluten free, which was awesome. The food tasted great and was a nice treat before the sail back to the wharf.

The wind was perfect after lunch to get all 8 of the sails up! They asked if anyone wanted to help with the rest of the sails and myself and a few others volunteered. We got the upper and lower top sails up, then the Inner and Outer Jib, then the Gaff Tops'l. It was windy enough that the captain decided to put the Course sail up too. It was a wonderful sight to see all that canvas above me. We tacked a few times as well. The first time, myself and another girl helped pull the lines for the jib sails. By the third time we tacked the crew was letting us do most of the work on our own because we had learned enough! It was so much fun. I was a little sad when it was time to take the sails down and go into port, since it was such an amazing day. Definitely a dream come true! I would love the opportunity to come back to this wonderful boat, either as a passenger again, or to volunteer on the crew. SO MUCH FUN!!!!

HMNZS Canterbury Dive

Me on the wreck

 Today I had the chance to dive the HMNZS Canterbury (F421) which was one of two Leander-class frigates. It was operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1971 to 2005, when she was purposely scuttled in the Bay of Islands as a dive wreck.  She was built in Scotland in 1970 and saw operational service throughout Australasia and the Persian Gulf.

Swimming under the boat

She is in about 38 meters of water at the deepest point, making it a very diveable wreck. The water is also usually quite calm, which makes for great visibility.

I was a little bit nervous since 113 meters of navy boat is a lot different than the 12 meter powerboat that was my first wreck dive. I was fortunate enough to get two dives on this wreck with the awesome instructor Katie, who did a great job making me feel comfortable and safe. The first dive we swam through the helicopter hanger, around the boat, and then through a corridor and up into the observation deck. It was really cool and I loved the dive!  There were dozens of fish and some really beautiful anemone.

The captain's chair

For the second dive, we started by dropping down the back of the boat and then swimming under the rudders and up the side. I then swam into the wreck and swam nearly the entire 113 meter length inside the ship! It was quite eerie, actually. A lot of it was quite dark, so peering into the engine room the fish were silhouetted against the light from a door further down the corridor. The thing that seemed the strangest were the toilets. Everything else looked like a wreck with kelp and sea life growing on it. The toilets looked completely normal though and it seemed so strange to see fish just swimming around them since that is something everyone can relate to and everyone uses every day.

We swam out past the captain's chair and out the front of the boat. From there we swam up and gradually shallower until it was time to end the dive. It was one of the most incredible experiences and makes me very excited to eventually get my wreck specialty. I would definitely recommend Dive North and the Canterbury to any diver! It was incredible!

Anemone

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Today Andrew and I went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand's founding document and was first signed in Waitangi in 1840. It was written in both Maori and English, making an agreement between the Maori chiefs (rangatira) and the British Crown. It was meant to secure British sovereignty over New Zealand, while still allowing the local chiefs power over their land.

Treaty of Waitangi

Especially for someone who is foreign to the country, it was interesting to learn about this important piece of history. In Canada, the rights and lands of the Native Americans were largely ignored until relatively recently, whereas in New Zealand the British Crown recognized right away that it was important for the natives to maintain their lands and rights.

The first stop at the Treaty grounds is the main building, where there were copies of the treaty, an interesting video, and lots of information. We then wandered through a nice forest down to the coast where the Waka (war canoe) was. It is the largest Waka in the world! It was beautifully carved. I would love to see it in the water on Waitangi day!

We then walked up to the flag where the treaty was actually signed. There was a nice big open field where a bunch of school kids were playing a game of tag.

Roses at the Treaty House 

We then wandered around the treaty house, which was neat to see. It was pre-fabricated in Sydney, then shipped here and assembled. Talk about the ultimate Ikea assembly! I could also see quite clearly where the original house stood and then where it had things added to it over the years. The original house is now almost completely enclosed. I also took some time to admire the beautiful gardens by the house before we went into the meeting house for the cultural performance.

Waka

Waka War Canoe

Meeting House

Haka

Before we could enter Te Whare Runanga (the House of Assembly), we had to be invited in by the local tribe. This involved a challenge by the local tribe (the performers), followed by the laying down of a token of trust, which our tribe leader then had to accept. If the visiting tribe kicked the token away or refused to pick it up, then they were essentially declaring war. Thankfully our elected tribe leader picked up the token and we were allowed to enter! We then passed under the legs of the goddess into the womb of peace and tranquility (so we were told). Once inside we sat down and saw a fun cultural performance including singing, dancing, poi, weapon's demonstrations, and the famous haka. It was really cool to see!

Ladies Dance at Cultural perfomance

Putahataha and White Reef Diving in Paihia

Andrew and I underwater

Andrew and I took the opportunity of being in Paihia to do some diving, which was FANTASTIC! Andrew is now a certified Open Water diver and we really look forward to doing many more dives together. We went with Dave, who runs Dive North, as well as Katie and Dan, two of the instructors. Andrew did most of his dives with Dan, and I did most of mine with Katie. There were a few other divers with us, but it was a fairly small group. Right from the start, everyone was really professional and friendly, making it a very personal experience.

We took a 90 minute boat ride through the absolutely stunning Bay of Islands to get to the dive site. Along the way we stopped at Cook's Cove, which is basically the cove where Captain Cook crashed into the rocks that weren't visible at high tide while he was running away from the Maori. There is a nice plaque on the rocks that he crashed his boat into, which I find enormously amusing.

Once we were at Deep Water Cove, we dropped the boys off for their Open Water Course and then us ladies went diving. We started with Putuhataha, which was an island featuring some great fish, a cool cave, and lots of things to see. Katie was very good at making sure everyone felt safe and comfortable, even though it had been awhile since a few of us had gone diving. We saw fish, and more fish, and lots of fish! I really wish I knew the names of more of them so that I could be informative, but suffice it to say there were lots of different types of fish! We swam into the cave, which was quite cool once my eyes adjusted.

The guys finished their dives and the girls went on to dive the Canterbury (more about this later!). Once we were finished, we enjoyed some hot tea and pancakes, a welcome treat after diving in the slightly chilly water. Now, I'm not going to say it was cold, but spending 45 minutes swimming in 16C water did leave all of us a little bit chilly.

The next day we rode out to the same area an the boys finished two of their three remaining dives while us girls relaxed and sunbathed on the boat. Definitely a nice start to the day! The Bay of Islands is absolutely beautiful. We then dove the Canterbury again, then finished up by doing our last dive all together.

Andrew relaxing after his dives.

It was a lot of fun having the chance to dive with my husband! We dove White Reef, which is an underwater pinnacle. We basically followed a cliff wall around in a circle until we had to come back to the surface. We saw a moray eel, a manta ray, starfish, lots of fish, and even a puffer fish! It was really cool. I'm glad that Andrew has his Open Water certification now, since it means we will have the chance to share many more dives! We really enjoyed our two days of diving with Dive North and would recommend diving with Dave, Katie, and Dan to everyone.

The Bay of Islands

A Day in Kerikeri

Manuka Honey

The largest beehive I have ever seen

 Today Andrew and I spent the day exploring the town of Kerikeri, NZ. We had no specific plans other than drive until we found something interesting or something that our dive instructor from the last few days mentioned.

We started with a visit to the Honey Shop, home of New Zealand's largest beehive. It was certainly a large beehive! About 1 story tall and home to thousands of honeybees. As soon as we walked into the shop we could smell the delicious scent of honey. Manuka honey, honey that bees gather from the Manuka tree in New Zealand, is supposed to have very beneficial health and medical properties. It is also quite tasty! They had samples of the honey, testers of all the honey-based lotions, and a tour of the beehive for those who are brave enough to step inside. Andrew and I, of course, had to do it, for all that creepy crawly insects make me squirm. It was actually quite neat. We could see the Queen bee searching the honeycomb for empty holes to lay her eggs, bees producing honey in the hive and, most interesting of all, the bee butt wiggle dance! Bees who have found a good source of pollen give directions to other bees in the hive by moving in circles and shaking their booty. Apparently how long they shake and the direction they move gives the other bees accurate enough information to find the exact same flowers, even miles away. It was neat to see.

From the Honey Shop we kept driving and stopped in at the Makana Confectionary, which sells delicious chocolates and treats. We also stopped at a small market that had some fun ceramics, some nice jewelry, and some delicious fudge.

Rainbow Falls

After all that shopping we were hungry so we decided it was time for a nice picnic lunch. We drove to the trailhead and then walked to Rainbow falls, first enjoying the view from the top, then finding a nice sunny rock by the pool at the base of the falls to enjoy our lunch on.

Picnic Lunch at the Falls

After lunch we decided to take the suggestion of one of the instructors and stop in Waipapa for ice cream. It's one of those little tiny hole-in-the-wall places that tourists would simply drive past and all of the locals would laugh at them. Fresh seafood, gluten AND dairy free fish batter, and home of New Zealand's largest ice creams. We were somewhat smart and went for the single and double scoops. My double scoop (I wanted 2 flavours and couldn't decide!) was actually closer to about 5 scoops of ice cream! Andrew's single scoop was about 3 scoops. Apparently they do offer a 'baby' cone that is one normal sized scoop. They also, however, offer the "Gut Buster", the "Death by Ice Cream", and the "Road to Hell", which are 7, 9, and 12 scoops of ice cream, respectively. I think you'd need a pretty large family or a VERY large appetite to take on their biggest cone!

Dairy Free and Gluten free battered fish!

Andrew with his single scoop

A 'double' scoop of ice cream!

Over a month! How is New Zealand?

I can't believe it's been over a month already!

I had meant to make a post when we'd been here a month, but the time has just flown by. So far we are loving New Zealand. The weather is great, the people are friendly, and the landscape is beautiful. There have been some things that have taken some getting used to though. Overall we have absolutely loved it, although there have been days that we have really missed our families and friends. Nobody is ever far from our thoughts and we miss and love you all!

The Lingo
At first I felt really self conscious about my accent, especially since a lot of people are slightly prejudiced against Americans and, much like we can't usually differentiate between the Australian and New Zealand accents, most of them can't differentiate between Canadian and American accents. For some reason I felt especially aware of it in the grocery stores. Other places, sure, most tourists go there and there are other people around, but the supermarket is usually the realm of locals. Everyone has been super friendly and helpful though and I've stopped being as self conscious over the past few weeks.

Mainly I've found that they tend to put the emphasis on different syllables than we do. Garage, for instance is pronounced differently. As are potato and tomato.

"Sweet As", "Cool As". Sweet as what? Apparently this is just the kiwi way of say "Cool!" or "Awesome!"

"Dairy" This is used to mean the local convenience store. So if someone's gonna take a pop down to the dairy, then they are probably walking down to the convenience store.

Prices
For the most part we have found that prices are mostly the same as back home. The main exception has been junk food, which isn't completely a bad thing. For example, a 1.5 liter bottle of Coke Cola is $4. A 350mL can is about $2.50. A pint of beer from the pub will run about $13, but we aren't much better off getting pop, since a pint of pop is about $7 and isn't refillable. Movies are also expensive, at around $20 per person to go out, or around $35 to buy a DVD/bluray. I guess that just means we have to eat healthy and enjoy the outdoors a lot!

Food
Food is great! Lots of good meat at good prices, organic vegetables everywhere, and tonnes of options for gluten free. Most of the gluten free food is also dairy free, so great for people with lots of allergies. It took me a few days to identify which food brands offer gluten free options and where to find them in the grocery stores, but I've had no issues since then. We have taken advantage of the abundance of farms to stop in and pick up eggs and produce directly from the farm a few times.

There are a few things that have odd names that took us a bit to figure out. If you want a bell pepper, look for capsicum. Also, if you want to find yams/sweet potatoes, look for kumara. No other oddities so far, but I'm sure we will find more!

Barefeet everywhere!
People here tend to walk barefoot. Everywhere! At first I mainly noticed the kids, probably because they are running around everywhere! Kids at parks, kids at school, kids walking around stores with their parents. I've rarely seen a kids under 10 years old here actually wearing shoes. I've even seen a number of adults walking around the streets, the grocery store, and everywhere else barefoot. It is completely normal and accepted here. I guess that our toe shoes won't seem quite so strange!

Andrew's Birthday!

Nguguru Shore

Andrew and his All Blacks Bear

Andrew is so happy he gets fireworks for his birthday! His birthday happens to coincide with a holiday here, Guy Fawkes Day, which is celebrated with a bonfire and fireworks. It is a celebration of a failed attempt at assassinating King James I of England in 1605.

A couple days before his birthday we went with our WWOOF family to the Nguguru school gala, which was a fundraiser, pony rides, go carts, performances, and general fun at the school, followed by fireworks and a bonfire on the beach. It was a lot of fun!

Guy Fawkes Fireworks and bonfire

 For those who don't know. We have been doing something called WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms). Basically we trade 4-6 hours of work each day for our meals and accommodation that day.  It's allowed us to get to know our host family, get a feel for life as a local in New Zealand, and have a lot of fun with less cost than we would normally have. It's been great!

For Andrew's birthday, our host mom was at work and the kids were at school, so we took a relaxing day at 'home'. We walked to the spring where the water for the house comes from, which is in an absolutely beautiful area. Once Sarah and the kids were home, we hung out. Andrew had an excellent birthday dinner cooked by Sarah, and then myself and the older girl presented him with the Goomba cake we had cooked the night before. The family got Andrew a really cute All Blacks rugby bear that, when squeezed, surprised us with a really good (and LOUD) recording of the All Blacks doing a haka! It's really cool and reminds us of watching the All Blacks win the 2015 world cup against Australia with the family.

After dinner and cake it was time to set off the fireworks that Sarah had picked up to celebrate Guy Fawkes day and Andrew's birthday! It was really neat launching them from her driveway and isn't something I have ever experienced. They were loud standing so close to them! We also had some fun playing with the sparklers and doing long exposures on my camera. We even managed to draw a glowing heart!

Andrew really enjoyed his birthday and was glad for the calls from family as well. Thanks everyone!

Nguguru Fireworks

Fireworks at home

Andrew at the spring

Goomba cake