Wanaka Working Man

...that's what I am. Or will be, come bright and early tomorrow morning.

I've covered a little over 1700 km since I left Auckland on Tuesday. I certainly didn't break any land speed records on my drive, but I've covered a lot of ground and left a lot of sights unseen. I only stopped a night each in Taupo, Wellington, and Kaikoura, and two nights in Twizel. I could easily have spent several days, if not weeks, in each of these places, but I needed to reach Wanaka by Sunday so I could start my new job Monday morning.

Taupo:

Lovely lakeside town, and adventure capital of the North Island. Arrived rather late and planned on leaving early the next morning so I didn't see much at all. Stayed in a dreadful hostel that I later read in Lonely Planet caters to the young hedonist--wish I'd read that first and found another place to stay. My room was directly above the attached nite club. Eurotechnopop bumping til 2:00am. Then, at 3:30am, a drunken British backpacker comes crashing into the room, awakening everyone in the process, and struggles up to his top bunk, only to come crashing back down ten minutes later in a desperate race against the reappearance of his dinner. Thankfully he made it out of the room, but not quite all the way to the bathroom before spewing. Despite my alarm being set for 8:00am, when I awoke at 7:23 I decided I wanted no more of this place so I got up and gathered my stuff. The vomit stench in the hallway was as bad as you might imagine! So long Taupo, hope to see you again under better circumstances.

Wellington:

New Zealand's capital. Not as pretty as I thought it would be, but not a bad little city. Found a nice relaxing hostel and confirmed the lack of an attached nite club before checking in. Then walked over to the Capitol Building, named The Beehive both for it's distinctive architectural style and for the buzzing flurry of goverment activity that takes place within. Next scoped out the waterfront and watched a few rowing races taking place in the harbour, while enjoying a nice gelato ( it seems my complete inability to pass a gelato stand without purchasing a cup has followed me from Auckland). Turned in pretty early as I had had such an early start in Taupo and had an even earlier start scheduled for the following morning in order to checkin in for the first ferry to the South Island. Slept very well.

Kaikoura:

I've already talked about the drive from Picton (the South Island ferry terminal) to Kaikoura in my "South Island Drivin" entry. Gorgeous! Famous for it's whale watching, and dolphin and seal swimming adventures, Kaikoura is a charming little community on a charming little peninsula. I'd definitely like to go back and spend some more time there--perhaps I'll look into whether I can secure a job there sometime later in the year. Trivia Night at the Whaler was a lot of fun. Didn't find Kim and The Big Wakas (they must have taken the night off) but joined up with a nice Dutch couple, to make a team of three. Our team name: The Bandits. Despite repeated efforts to tell me their names, my brain was just not wired to understand the sounds that were coming out of their mouths (Dutch people talk funny). So, for our purposes, we'll just call them Nooney and Girt. Bless em, Nooney and Girt were sweet enough, but absolutely no help at trivia, so I was, for all intents and purposes, a team of one. We (read I) came in fourth. Not bad considering every other team had at least seven people. No prize for fourth place, but it was fun nonetheless.

Twizel:

When I consulted my trusty AA South Island map, I discovered that in between my current location in Kaikoura and my destination of Wanaka lies Twizel. Twizel is the home of Bruce and Jane White, the parents of a nice Kiwi fella (Chris) I know back in Dallas. I decided to give them a call and see if they wouldn't mind putting me up for a night or two. They kindly said they wouldn't mind a bit. When I arrived the following afternoon I profusely apologized for dropping in on them with such little notice. I mean, I hadn't even confirmed with Chris that they were even aware of the possibility of a call from me. They summarily dismissed my apologies as wholly unnecessary, and the famous hospitality of the Kiwis I had heard so much about came shining through. Jane is the sweetest thing ever, and the consummate hostess. Bruce is an absolute character, and quite the tour guide.

On Friday night, Bruce and Jane had plans to go to a friend's 60th birthday so they left me to my own devices. I walked down to the town center and had a lovely dinner at Shawty's. Then bellied up to the bar next door to drink a cold Speight's for Brad. Then two more for Chris and Haley. Then, just to see what all the hubbub was about, I had one for myself. I can definitely see why Speight's is the "Pride of the South." Even though I only drank one of the four for myself, the effects of the entire lot were mine to enjoy. Good thing I was walking home. Bruce and Jane were home upon my return, and we all settled into the living room to drink a cup of tea and watch a footie match on telly. Bruce, a former rugby player, provided quite the education, and my understanding of the game increased ten-fold over the course of the game.

On Saturday morning I was treated to a nice breakfast and then a tour of, first the White farm, and then the surrounding countryside and lakes. Bruce is absolutely the best tour guide you could ask for. He can provide an education on so much more than rugby. I learned quite a bit about, among other things: sheep farming, fishing, rowing, and hydro-electric power generation. Did you know that over 70% of New Zealand's total power needs are provided by completely renewable hydro-electric and geothermal means? After the tour and a lovely lunch back at White Manor, I headed over to Mt. Cook and the Sir Edmund Hilary Center. New Zealand's highest peak, Mt. Cook stands a little over 12,000 ft. Because of it's relatively short stature (as far as mountains go), Mt. Cook is continually underestimated, evidenced by the eight people on average that die each year trying to climb her. Sir Edmund himself called it the perfect training ground before tackling Everest, and considered it one of the mountaineering world's great challenges. Unfortunately clouds completely obscured the peak the entire day, but it was neat anyway.

Saturday night, Jane and Bruce took me with them to a neighbor's barbeque. About 30 people in all were there, and we cooked enough food to feed 60. It was easily the most enjoyable evening I have had in New Zealand. It reminded me of Peachtree Lane Potlucks back in McKinney so long ago.

My Job

I said farewell to Twizel, and my most gracious hosts, on Sunday morning (after another lovely breakfast, of course) and arrived in Wanaka by early afternoon. I drove around the town to familiarize myself with it's layout, then headed over to my new workplace (Rippon Vineyards) to meet my new boss (Charlie Mills). Charlie is the vineyard manager, and her brother, Nick, is the head wine maker at the winery. Charlie hired me over the phone a couple weeks ago based solely on the fact that I know one of the Texas Boys who worked for Nick back in 2004. Good on ya, Brad, for working so hard back then and earning such a good reputation. I promise to work my tail off so as not to tarnish the Texas Boys' good name. Charlie did admonish me not to fall into the bonfire at the Harvest Party though. Is there a story there, Brad?

I'm looking forward to doing some good, hard, manual labor. I need to work off the few extra kilos I seemed to have packed on in my gluttonous search for Auckland's best gelato. Plus, it will be nice to staunch the bleeding of my bank account with a transfusion of fresh funds.

Cheers!