Category Archives: New Zealand

New Year’s Eve Eve As I was sitting in Judy’s comfortable leather chair typing away, Kasey said, “Are you writing about how hard it is as adults to make friends?” I wasn’t. But she’s right. It has been hard to make friends, except for the hosts we’ve been staying with. We met Irish Joe andContinue reading “friends.”

We’re currently in Wanaka on the west coast near the Southern Alps. It’s a town we’ve been anxious to get to and it’s living up to every expectation so far. The only negative part is the work we’re doing: killing rabbits. I’ve loved rabbits since Ms. Zaremski’s 4th grade class bunny named Hershey. I beggedContinue reading “wabbits from wanaka.”

We left lovely Golden Bay to head down the west coast. We took the scenic route along the water (next to huge mountains) in order to see a rock formation dubbed the Pancake Rocks. We stopped at the one hoppin’ restaurant in town and ordered the cheapest things we could find. 54 minutes later, weContinue reading “pancake rocks with a little bit of sunset on top.”

Wild Bill is as cool as he is wild. He lives on top of a hill overlooking the bay, surrounded by a porch with no railings that makes the view look even larger. Him and Linda have an outdoor bathtub that they use every day to get clean and I imagine, to be reminded howContinue reading “golden.”

I’ve been made fun of for saying, “Oh that person reminds me of my friend from Mast (an outdoor store I worked at in Asheville).” Kasey finally said, “everyone here reminds you of someone from Mast.” But our new host, Kris, is truly like a Mast model. He wears the plaid shirts and the floppyContinue reading “grapevine.”

Jonathan Kenneth is a world champion cyclist and the head of NZ cycling trails. He has written many books about the best cycling in New Zealand. He rode up this morning to help on the trail. He is impressive in many ways. Over a cup of tea, he said, “It’s such an amazing thing toContinue reading “last of the ghost lake saga.”

The fog takes over quickly up here, and today that added to the fairytale feel of the forest. Kasey was made “Rock Design Director”, I was named “Transplant Director”, and Brittany was named “Director of Landscape and Aesthetics”. Our resumés will be impressive. Brittany and I were digging up beautiful flax that was on theContinue reading “ghost lake hut cont…”

I am currently sitting by a fire in a cabin made entirely of pine–the deck, dining room table, bunk beds, benches, and shelves. Because of this, everything not in pine sticks out. The 2012 bottle of Silverstone merlot, one red bowl, a yellow dust pan, and a green map on the wall of the veryContinue reading “spec-track-ular.”

While driving from one place to the next, I get this overwhelmingly euphoric feeling. Like my dreams are coming true and my whole life is ahead of me and I also wonder if the next host will have smooth peanut butter. While on the ferry to the South Island, I felt like the “about me” sectionContinue reading “headin’ down south.”