To Nelson

The first guy to pick us up was an Australian, taught us some history about the place

2^nd- Finish man, French girl

Walked around the town, down to the end of the harbor, turquoise waters, sand banks

Hitched back with a guy from Israel, long hair with bangs and a pony tail, tan w/ blue eyes, down to earth, then with a woman who owns a campsite, they had to evacuate during the flooding, then dropped off somewhere else and caught a ride with Roger and his granddaughter, Jordi, small button nose with wispy blonde curls, he usually doesn’t pick up hitchhikers, but didn’t want us nice ladies to get into any trouble. He gave us three options; to get dropped in Blenheim, to get dropped in Havelock or to come home with them and have dinner and he would drop us off later. Immediately I said, “the third option,” so we drove back to his house which was surrounded by vineyards and met his wife Heather who was also lovely… of course! We had some of their wine, pinot noir. They grow the grapes and sell them to different wineries While they were making dinner we watched the “Sevens,” which is a huge national rugby tournament. The rugby guys I had met at the pub the night before were on their way there and said they were going to wear monk costumes so I tried looking for them. Basically, if you don’t dress up, you’re the odd one out. It was just as entertaining, seeing the crowd as it was to watch the game. For dinner we had steak with scallops (that they caught on their boat), zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, beans, carrots, cauliflower and potatoes. It was better than anything I would have made at the hostel. They gave us their address and phone number and told us we could return any time, stay as long as we want and bring any friends. We could learn about the vineyard and go on the boat. After dinner, Roger drove us back to the hostel and told us to call him if we wanted to come back or if we needed any advice on anything.

This morning we left the hostel and took the bus to Christchurch. Then took another bus to the outskirts of town where we will be working on a farm and in the family’s café. Today we picked a huge bowl of plums for dessert and played with their “wee” boys. I jumped with them on the trampoline, swung on the rope swing and played tag. I forgot what it was like to be a kid again. Boys are so funny. They always try to be the most impressive, saying “I’m the best runner in my class, I’m better at climbing trees, watch me do this all by my self…”

Last night was unbearably hot and this morning I woke up to pouring rain. It rained most of the day, but wasn’t too cold. We just did chores inside and watched the younger boy for the day. I love to cook and bake so offered to make a plum cake from one of the cookbooks they owned. It was lemon, vanilla with plums.

I’m thinking about buying a car on Trademe.co.nz because I’ve been told by multiple people that it is pretty essential and you can usually sell it back for the same price. The public transportation really only takes you to the main cities so if you want to go anywhere else it would just be a hassle finding a ride. I will wait and see once I get to school.