I guess I should spare everyone from one my most recent New Zealand discoveries, but I can’t help it. In these past few weeks of working with sheep I learned (and witnessed) that a live sheep can have maggots living on them. This can be caused from a special fly that has come here from Australia, bites the sheep, burrows into it, somehow causes the skin to rot, and the maggots to appear. I guess the only saving statement from this situation is that shearing them allows this issue to eventually become resolved. I think everyone who is reading this now knows more than they wanted to about maggoty sheep, myself included.
Having been here for 3 months now, I am becoming more familiar with the Kiwi vocabulary and accents. I can only describe these friendly people as a mix between British hospitality and a laid back, “no worries” island attitude. Many would describe the Kiwi as procrastinators, no hurry to do today what can wait until tomorrow, or the next day in fact. This is reflected in the way they speak as well, their favorite word to use is “as.” I am in no way great with vocabulary and probably couldn’t cut it as a copy editor, but to me this sentence structure is odd. What they do is add this to the end of a sentence, directly following a noun, verb, or adjective, their coined term is “sweet as.” I found this very confusing at first, especially when I began hearing it with other words, “hot as” “cold as” “clean as” “tidy as.” I thought this was some of way of making the word more extreme, exponentially “hotter” by adding “as.” However I finally came to the conclusion that this is simply the laid back lifestyle of an incomplete metaphor, it must be simply too tiring or boring too come up with a comparison. Where we might say, “It is hot as fire,” or “cold as ice” they would say, “it’s hot as.” Another observation is that people here could put a weathered sailor to shame with some of their vocabulary (and amount used). They also use such pretty words to describe food, such as “it was a beautiful dinner” as opposed to an ugly one or “go to the store and get some nice potatoes” which is much better than ugly potatoes if you ask me.
Tony celebrated his 36th birthday in a foreign country, without familiar food, friends, family, or dogs. We did however get to have another day with sheep, of course. After work we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner with one of our good friend here, Menis. It was absolutely wonderful food, with even better company, a small but happy birthday gathering for Tony. On the upside of this we are going on a three week camping/fishing trip, maybe he will catch a fish that will make up for it. After taking a break (or holiday in Kiwi lingo) for a few weeks to do some hiking, fishing, and sightseeing, we will return to
“the sheds” to make some of our money back. We are heading to Fiordland National Park on the southwest coast of the South Island. This is a pretty big national park with very little civilization around it. Many tourists fly, jet boat, or take water taxi’s to get to/from trailheads. One of the treks, Milford Sounds, would literally coast us about $500 each to hike. The Hollyford track would be about the same, with a $100 round trip per person shuttle to the trailhead, 5 days of hiking to the coast, backcountry hut passes of $50 per night per person, and a jet boat ride back to said trailhead to meet your shuttle, this is simply outrageous. Needless to say we are planning on just finding a good scenic river trail, tramping in with all of our stuff, and making our own trek for only the cost of fuel and food. One of our biggest price sticker shocks of late was an email response Tony received from a tiny fly fishing shop near the national park. Tony had emailed Stu’s Fly Shop to get some info on which rivers might be good to camp along with scenic views, what flies are working right now, and that we would be stopping by his shop soon. This was the response. “It’s Ela here as Stu is busy guiding. Thank you for your email. Stu is doing consultation where you can ask him your questions, his rate is $19 for 3 min, $29 for 5 min, Skype consultation by appointment also available.” Seriously. This topped the Pizza/Thai restaurant that had internet for $4 an hour, with a power outlet charge of $1 an hour. Nothing is free in New Zealand.
“the sheds” to make some of our money back. We are heading to Fiordland National Park on the southwest coast of the South Island. This is a pretty big national park with very little civilization around it. Many tourists fly, jet boat, or take water taxi’s to get to/from trailheads. One of the treks, Milford Sounds, would literally coast us about $500 each to hike. The Hollyford track would be about the same, with a $100 round trip per person shuttle to the trailhead, 5 days of hiking to the coast, backcountry hut passes of $50 per night per person, and a jet boat ride back to said trailhead to meet your shuttle, this is simply outrageous. Needless to say we are planning on just finding a good scenic river trail, tramping in with all of our stuff, and making our own trek for only the cost of fuel and food. One of our biggest price sticker shocks of late was an email response Tony received from a tiny fly fishing shop near the national park. Tony had emailed Stu’s Fly Shop to get some info on which rivers might be good to camp along with scenic views, what flies are working right now, and that we would be stopping by his shop soon. This was the response. “It’s Ela here as Stu is busy guiding. Thank you for your email. Stu is doing consultation where you can ask him your questions, his rate is $19 for 3 min, $29 for 5 min, Skype consultation by appointment also available.” Seriously. This topped the Pizza/Thai restaurant that had internet for $4 an hour, with a power outlet charge of $1 an hour. Nothing is free in New Zealand.
Our second to last day at work was enough to make a good person cry. The high point was that we rode on a boat across a lake to work to a ranch with no road access called Halfway Bay. This was one of the prettiest places I have ever seen, with a vast lake and personal mountain views on all sides. The downside was that these sheep were the most filthy and fowl things I could imagine on such a fluffy little animal. Tony’s hands were full of thorns and my stomach was turning. I will spare you from any more details, I am left speechless other than they were simply, “nasty as.”
