Magical Mackenzie Country

After leaving my beloved banks of Diamond Harbour, I journeyed on to remote farm country-the Mackenzie district of New Zealand. Here, I soaked up the high-country farming lifestyle, spectacular night skies, and was awed by the surrounding majestic mountains. I was introduced to a new type of kiwi culture on my second day when I attended the annual Easter Mackenzie Highland Show.

This fair was worked towards all year by the local community and showcased the best sheep dogs, cattle, llamas, ponies and horses, sheep wool, best locally-grown produce, best baked goods, local art work, highland dancers, and my favorite-a log-splitting competition performed by huge, burley, New Zealand farmers I would not want to get in the way of when angry.



My host family also had 4 highland cattle, 12 chickens, and bee hives on their property, that when I wasn’t helping upkeep, I spent my time frolicking around being the city girl that I am (Ithaca constitutes a major city to NZ standards) taking pictures and soaking the splendors of simple, self-sufficient lifestyle.





I also spent a day drooling as I ventured to nearbye, Mt. Cook- New Zealand’s tallest mountain 12,316ft (still has nothing on the Rockies). Nevertheless, I was blown away by the beauty of this mountain and humbled by its continuous threat of avalanches and the loss of countless mountaineering lives taken on its summit.





MT. Cook’s base is also home to New Zealand’s biggest glacier with iceburgs and all. The Tasman Glacier extends in some places 600 metres deep, but of course is slowly melting like most glaciers in temperate climates. This was way cool, as I have never seen glaciers before (by the way kiwis say, glah-see-ers…weirdos). Also stunningly beautiful in the Mackenzie basin area, drawing hundreds of tourists and drawing myself to take hundreds of photos- was Lake Tekapo, an aqua marine, crystal clear, glacial lake perfect for taking mermaid photos (am I right?)


But PERHAPS most majestic of all for me was the unbelievable, crystal clear, night sky that loomed above each night, taunting me saying “look what you’ve missed out on your entire life.” I had never seen a night sky so beautiful and was humbled to experience such a sight so many people on the Northern Hemisphere never will.

The area around Lake Tekapo has been deemed a world heritage site for its night sky, as it has the perfect atmospheric conditions for star-gazing and is also located in the boondocks with the nearest NZ city being hours away. It was my visit here that it was confirmed to me that I really, really like stars. And even better, the Southern Hemisphere’s stars are COMPLETELY different leaving me just about speechless every time I looked up into this foreign and other-worldly, astronomical land.

I must admit I spent many of my evenings in the back paddock with the cows -camera propped up on a stool trying to capture the stars by long exposure. I don’t have a tripod and don’t have a cable release or remote control to hold my camera shutter open, so I obtained many shaky photos-but its cool. Unfortunately the one night I stayed in watching movies, the best Aurora Borealis in 7 years shined bright all night unknown to me. Oh well, you take what you can get I guess-and New Zealand is doing nothing but giving, giving, giving. It is so beautiful here, I am in a permanent state of awe.

I made my way back up from the South Island to Wanganui, and am headed next to Waiheke island off the coast of Auckland. Here I will be a nanny, get to experience island life, AND get payed! I am doing quite well on my spending, but to find a WWOOF host that pays-that’s like finding the golden ticket! Four months down, and still having an unbelievable time. Seeya on the other side of island life!!

Home Away from Home

Alright, I’ve FINALLY gotten around to writing. Life over the past month has left me almost forgetting that I’m a tourist here and that I partake in the cheesy act of blogging. I have spent the last month living next to the ocean in a place called Diamond Harbour on the Banks Peninsula in the South Island. I have entered the life of a Kiwi family and transitioned gradually from a new WWOOFer, to a favorite WWOOFer, to a super nanny, co-outdoor ed instructor, and family friend. My original plan was to stay 3 weeks and I am leaving after 5. While my jobs started out as washing windows, cleaning, and weeding, they quickly became more family-immersed after we found we all meshed together so well. Charlotte, the often “problematic” 4-yr old with an attitude and personality as sophisticated as most adults I know, has a history of telling visiting WWOOFers to go back home every moment of their stay. No one has ever been trusted with her, as she throws rip-roaring tantrums and has the alter-ego of a ferocious little troll. But after hours of fairy picnics, Dora the Explorer parties, reading stories, piggy back rides and other adventures, I've tamed into her to a model child and made myself a lovely new 4 year old friend. Growing up with international visitors in her home, she is very interested in language and we are constantly comparing our different words for things and our accents. She'll say "Phoebe, how do you say grass in your language?” “Grass,” I’ll reply. “No, it’s grahs!!!” she’ll say. And I'm learning new words from her such as lollies for candy or plasters for band-aids. I’ve become a regular chauffer, taking her to pre-school (left side of the road, stick-shift I might add), which can also include neighborhood kids and frequent ear-shrieking sing-a-longs on tape. Sometimes I ask myself how I got here-driving along ocean-side cliff edges and through mountain ranges as pretty as postcards chauffeuring local 4 yr-old, Middle Earth children around in the back seat. But I love the continuous spontaneity my life has now taken on and have learned to feel at home with whatever I’m doing. When I am not reading aloud stories, playing Harry Potter, or cooking dinner for the family, I join my hosts Pete and Kirsten at their outdoor education school. My time spent at the school varies from taking publicity photos, doing odd jobs around the park, gliding through trees strapped in a harness through their high-ropes course (helping foreign exchange students named Pedro safely make it to the top tire), putting on hundreds of harnesses onto hundreds of kids, showing kids how to repel, and working as a coasteering guide for students from the city high schools of Christchurch. This consists of leading groups of 13 and 14 year olds along jagged ocean rock edges, picking up starfish, and supervising cliff jumping into the ocean. Even New Zealand which is gung-ho for the outdoors, has kids who have spent little time in nature. I happily watched these city kids explore the coast like a new playground and find the courage to jump off cliffs into the sea; something most had never done before. Speaking of not doing things before, I have virtually no coasteering experience and laughed when I had to lead groups swiftly over huge volcanic boulders and along cliff edges telling them to trust me and guide them along the safest path. Head-to-toe in wetsuit, helmet, goggles, and a huge pack full of first-aid and emergency gear, I shimmied across 1-inchwide ledges high above the ocean hoping to God I didn’t fall over while leading these Christchurch kids. These crazy experiences have become routine and I receive these situations with open arms-you never know what WWOOFing will lead you to!

The in-between-moments when I am not working at the camp or driving children around, or making dinner or lunch, or mopping floors, hanging laundry, reading Harry Potter aloud, or drawing mermaids and doing other wwoofing “duties,” I spend my time exploring the ocean, going on amazing hikes and bike rides, swimming and snorkeling, and rock climbing. Also living with the family while I’ve been here, is a 19-yr old who is a family friend and works at the camp. This has provided a nice balance of when I am tired of dance parties with small children, John and I are able to blow off steam by jumping off high things into bodies of water or going rock climbing. Just as much as I feel close to this Kiwi family, John has also become my Kiwi brother, with arguments over doing the dishes and all. Pictured right is our documentation of my severe rock climbing injury. New Zealand brings the extreme adventure side out of anybody! Some other fellow-adventuring friends made a pit stop at Diamond Harbou. A van-full of my fellow Ithacan/traveling NZ buddies pitched their tents in my hosts’ yard and frolicked for a night with me on the beach and in the ocean. This surreal, fantasy, Kiwi-life of mine was made reality as I introduced Ithaca kids I grew up with to my beloved new New Zealand family. My friends cooked dinner for my host family and performed several reenactments of Little Red Riding Hood with Charlie the 4 yr old to the pleasure of us all. (pictured below is Ithacan Alex embracing the magic and splendor of Diamond Harbour).
After 3 months in New Zealand and 5 weeks spent with this family, I finally feel that I truly am LIVING here. My brain is no longer racking itself with lists of cultural differences. I am less cautious about my “Americaness,” and I am completely comfortable and feel fully assimilated to this new country and culture. The only American accents I frequently hear are on tv. I have unconsciously adopted Kiwi language and figure of speech into my own vocabulary. I am asked where I’m from a lot less frequently and was even asked if I was from Invacargill-a city down South apparently where there are a lot of hicks that role their r’s. Even with the hick reputation and all, I was pretty pleased to be thought of possibly being a New Zealander. The most exciting part of it all though, is the intimate connections I am making with the people and the land. This is the longest I’ve lived near an ocean and am awed by the tides, storm swells, animals, shells, and the way the sea changes each day. I am humbled by the ability to fly across the world and find families that take you in and feel like your own. There is so much more of New Zealand to see, and I am thrilled I get to do it my own way. “WWOOFing” is my ticket in, but from there a whole lot more can unfold. Next I head inland to the Mackenzie countryside where I am staying with a family on their farm for a week or two. Think cows, sheep dogs, New Zealand’s biggest mountains, and some of the clearest night skies in the world. See you there!