three stories

three weeks in heaven

Traveling with Beate around the South Island has been fantastic. We drove around a lot, picked up some interesting hitch-hikers, played a lot of chess and basicly just had a splendid time together. Some stories are worth telling in more detail.

In Christchurch, we visited Chancey (see last post). It was a happy reunion, and he gladly offered us to stay as long as we wanted in a wooden cabin in the garden. He also offered us to use his surf-board, which I tride to ride. It was a beautiful place, with a relaxed, somewhat hippie atmosfere. So we made ourselves at home and then went for a visit to the city. We went to the botanical gardens, where we helped ourselves to some herbes for cooking mussels. We were up for a nasty surprise however when we came back to the van. Or should I say, we came back to the placed where we had left the van. Indeed, the van was not there anymore, and since it was parked legally it could have only been stolen. So we went to a fish n' chips takeaway to call the police. Everything was in that van... There was nothing we could do but hitch-hike back to Chancey's place. 300 meters down the road Beate noticed a van which looked suspiciously like mine. Indeed, it turned out to be the queen bee. How lucky we were that someone was stupid enough to steal a van, and then park it just down the road ;-)

Before heading further up north, we went to Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch to go swimming with dolphins. The Hector's dolphins, who inhabite these waters, are the smallest and one of the rarest dolphin species in the world. They are also very curious little animals, coming as close as 20 cm to you and swimming around you. It was an amazing experience.

In Arthur's pass national park we arrived at night at a small DOC-campsite. In the shelter, some people from Israel had made a fire and were playing music together with a wide range of instruments. Most of it was improvisation, with made-up songs like 'the baked beans blues'. A Zappanian figure in the back seemed to be the most talented from the group, who called themselves the "Arthur's Pass Shelter Blues Band". He could play all the instruments, including the guitar, the ukelele, the flute, the drum, the kazoo, the harmonica and the melodica.
The next day, we spent another night in the shelter, but unfortunately the Jews had left. We met a French couple though, and made a fire, in which we cooked potatoes and courgettes in tin foil. That night we slept by the fire place.

Some days later, back in Nelson, our wonderful trip came to an end. Beate took the plane to Auckland, and after I saw that plane disappearing into a dot in the sky, I went looking for a job.

Apple picking

After two days I had found that job. It was picking apples. A bin of 400 kg earned you 30 dollar. The job was hard, but the company was right, so I figured I'd hang in there and stay for a couple of weeks. Almost everybody there pretty much hated the job, and in the evenings turend to alcohol to forget. Offcourse this meant picking less apples the next day, and consequently drinking more the next evening. This downwards spiral, combined with the fact that I was missing Beate and this was not the right environment to process that made me leave prematurely. The people were quite upset about my decision, which was a bit strange as I had only known them for 5 days. I keep good memories however of Jennifer (the fraulein), Micky (the confused Suud Afrikaan) and Hanza (the porn director). That's why I left them an applecake before leaving.

Blackball pt. 2

So the queen bee buzzed her way back to Blackball. Here I am working for a wonderful woman called Wendi, who runs a little crafts shop. She only makes me work two hours a day and gives me good food in return. This is great, because I dont have to spend any money that way. The rest of my days I spend reading, walking or playing chess with Paul. I will stay here probably a good two weeks, to regain my focus, and then find a job somewhere again.