Kia Ora from the most Southerly Civilization

One of the secrets to our travel is a blend of tourist activities, all the must-do’s, and getting off the beaten track. Many tourists think they get off the beaten track by walking a street parallel to the main tourist drag. True the street over will be less touristy, less ambiance, and probably cheaper, while often better food. Good on you. But to get way off the tourist track, our formula is house sitting. Today, we are way off the mainstream tourist track, except for some local campers at a place called Monkey Island. We have run across several monkey islands being tourists. Islands where monkeys are stranded on an island; uncaged, but still captive tourist attractions. That is not the case here. No monkeys, not even an island, except at high tide. Monkey island is a beach and a good spot for freedom camping. The name of the town is Orepuki, means crumbling cliffs; the cliffs are soft sandstone and erode. Just like Encinitas and northern San Diego beaches. 

Arrived here after a two day jaunt from our last house sit. Previously we were in Fairlie, in the MacKenzie district. Fairlie is farm country of rolling hills, nestled in the center of beautiful mountains. We were taking care of a small sheep farm. There was an orphan lamb to bottle feed; the sheep dog to keep exercised and stimulated, a german shorthaired pointer to constantly round up from her constant running and hunting (she was knocking baby birds out of trees – at least 6 to our count); and two elderly Jack Russell terriers allowed in the house. We arrived in gloomy, misty rainy weather, colder than we expected. After 2 days, the mist cleared and we were rewarded with the most gorgeous near mountain views: behind several rolling hills of farmland in different colored crops. Snow covered – no wonder we were cold.  

Now we are beach side. A south facing beach with nothing between us and Antarctica except the ocean we are looking at. Paua (abalone) is readily available (not at the store, but at the seashore), so is crayfish (lobster) and whitebait. Whitebait is a delicacy in New Zealand . It is a fish about 2” long at the most, 1/4” thick. Piles of it are made into patties with egg and fried. Expect it to be the most expensive dish on any menu.

It is windy here a lot of the time. Hedges are often made of pine trees in New Zealand. Really tall hedges probably 100 ft tall, They are shaved like a hedge and become really dense. The purpose of these is to baffle the winds. Well here, the hedges are bent like bonsai trees. The town used to be big because it was a gold mining town. We can still see the shafts and carved up topography. There is a beach called gemstone beach. It used to be called rocky beach and it used to have garnet stones. Now the main occupation is dairy or sheep farming. Sheep have been replaced by dairy farming to a big extent, all over NZ. 

We have three wee schnauzers and three chooks to care for. Small house that literally moves in the wind. The water we drink is collected from the roof. Not that uncommon in New Zealand. The booming town of over 3000 during the gold boom, is now 43 on a good night. We have met over half of those, many have interesting names like Possum and Pockets.

In Orepuki there is a pub that also is a hotel and campers are welcome to park campervans in the parking lot. It is the main meeting point. Our homeowners, George and Annette brought us to the pub to meet the neighbors. Everyone knew we were coming, but they probably would have been here anyway. It’s really the only game in town. We met several couples and others that promised to make us welcome, and they have. Tuesday was “Quiz night,” a fundraiser for a Christmas party and barbecue (Christmas is in the middle of Summer remember). They had a raffle and auction. The big sellers being a “sponge” which was a two layer cake, each layer about 3” thick. And a small snack-size ziplock of frozen whitebait. Each going for over $50.

On Thursday is another event, burger night at a pub at a neighboring hamlet, we are hitching a ride with another couple. They say they are aiming to get there (30 min away) at 6pm, so expect us around 6:10 or after. Orepuki time. Then there was the Ladies Lunch I was compelled to join. Mostly farmers wives talking about their lamb crop. The local cafe (pronounced “calf” in NZ) is really, really good, for any cafe, let alone one in the middle of nowhere. This cafe and the pub are the only businesses in the town. People can get milk, TP and other necessities from the pub. Otherwise the nearest small grocery store is 30 min away and the nearest large one and any retail other than farm supplies is over an hour away. We broke our coffee plunger (French Press) and needed to make an unscheduled jaunt to Invercargill. By the way, if I use any words and forget to translate, send me an email. We are getting so used to kiwi ligo, we are forgetting we are doing it. 

For the educational portion of this postcard, I thought I would cover a topic that is not covered by most tourist information about New Zealand and it is such a big part of the culture, it should be. The Maori influence. As tourists we always quickly try to learn basic phrases in the local language: hello, thank you their version of Good Morning, etc. Even in English speaking countries, these customs differ, like in Australia: G’Day. Well here in New Zealand, these will be in Maori. We also cannot help but learn some of the history that influences modern society. Like the USA and Australia, Europeans (mostly the English), claimed New Zealand as their own, to the exclusion of the native people that were there first. The Maori kings entered into a treaty with the British that saved a lot of the blood shed that befell the American and Australian native peoples. Therefore, Maori people did better than other native peoples in keeping their numbers and cultures still alive today. Maori people and their language are similar to other Pacific Island peoples like Samoa, the language is similar to Hawaiian with only about 11 letters. Every school kid learns some of the Maori language; most names of places, plants and native animals (birds all) are Maori names. The television news starts with a Maori greeting, some television programs are all in Maori. We hear Maori every day. Kia Ora is the main greeting for hello or good morning for kiwis. A haka is a performance that comes from the dance done by Maori warriors before war. It is still done by the All Blacks before a match. They bug their eyes and stick their tongues out to look fierce and crazy. Then there is the Ta Moko. This is a traditional tattoo that covers Men’s complete face and women’s chins. It tells a story of the person’s family. We see these nearly daily on everyone from gang members to politicians. It is hard to find pictures that I can pass on; people are protective about photographing them; this article has a couple good modern ones: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44220574. It is nice to see how the whole country still reveres  the Maori culture and has brought it into modern daily life. 

The giant marshmallow farm. This is actually silage. Silage is animal feed. It is grass cut at about 10” high, allowed to wilt a day, and then packaged up in these plastic wrappers. It ferments after a couple months in the enclosed environment. Then it is fed to the animals in the winter when they need a hardier diet to keep warm; think beer. When those bales are unfurled in the paddocks, a sweet smell of wet hay permeates the air. Cows here are happy.