Exploring farm stays and laboring in fruit packing
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
1
40
157
Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Central Otago,
New Zealand
Sunday, May 1, 2005
The Banks Peninsula looks like a volcanic thumb sticking out into the Canterbury bight; Akaroa is picturesque and french influenced on account of its first settlers who arrived from France
Hokitika - Horse race
. I discovered boysenberry ice cream in Akaroa and love it. The best ice cream (made by tip top)came from the Terenne store. Here, I learned about 4 earthquakes that happened within 2 days(read about it in the newspaper). On my day off, I went to the dog trails which could be considered a NZ institution. Dog trails take place in all regions and take about 2 or 3 days. The huntaway dogs hunt the sheep up the hill for about 500 yards through three sets of cones or poles placed in a zigzag form. The heading dogs head the sheep and bring them back to their masters, then hold them in a ring or put them into a small yard. The open event is open to all dogs, the district event for dogs of the district only, and the district maiden for dogs which have never competed or won a price. There is a wonderful account of dog trails and life on a high country sheep station written by Mona Anderson who lived for about 35 years on the Mt. Algidus station. I can recommend her book "A river rules my live" to everyone interested in learning about life on a high country sheep station during times long gone.After Akaroa, I went to stay with Lesley and Kevin in Hokitika, the green stone capital of NZ. It was a wonderful stay with walks along the beach, learning about the history of the people who lived and died in Hokitika through Kevin, a former major of Grey, and going to the horse races. This was my first horse trotting event I went to
Hokitika - Horse race2
. From there, I headed via the Arthur Pass to Geraldine where I stayed at the Rawhiti backpackers which is run by a couple from Holland. Geraldine is a small gem with lots of art galleries and cafes. From Geraldine, I went on to Alexandra where I spent the first 2 days at a backpackers before renting a bike for three days and exploring the Central Otago Rail Trail by bike. I passed many deer farms and it came to my mind what a tour guide once said about deer exports, namely, that Germany is the number 1 importer of venison from NZ. Unfortunately, it rained 2 out of three days but it was sunny the last day which was the most beautiful section of the trail. Back in Alex, I stayed with servas host Kay who told me all about the yearly Otago Goldfields Cavalcadein which hundreds of horses and riders, waggoners and walkers follow the old gold trails throughout Otago and Northern Southland, in a re-enactment of the discovery of gold on which the Otago province was founded. And so, my travels came to a halt as I decided to earn some money to refill my slowly depleting travel budget. Central Otago is the fruit bowl of NZ with about 90% of the fruit coming from this area. Lots of the fruit is exported all over the world. I started work at Darlings Fruitpackers in Ettrick at the end of March.
