nelson update

Greg spent most of last week in Nelson meeting with accountants and employers, looking at housing options and walking around our 40 acres.  He came home brimming with information and excitement.  

One of the first things that he did was head off to Blenheim to meet up with the faculty of Onsite Viticulture.  All three of them.  They are an independent learning provider based in Blenheim, but moving into the Nelson area.  It sounds like things should work out well.  They want Greg to develop and teach their vit. program for Nelson.  They try to work their classes around the students' work and harvest schedules... meaning night classes.  Their catch phrase seems to be "work while you learn."  It should work well for Greg.  They are basically offering him as many hours as he wants.  Nice.

I am also looking for work in Nelson, but not having as much luck.  I'm hoping that things will happen once I get down there.  I would like to do something semi-related to my field, but may have to simply take what is available.  Such is life!

Greg also looked at numerous rentals around Upper Moutere.  We would love to move straight onto our property, but things aren't quite set up for that just yet.  Greg looked at a number of houses - some cute, some rather scary.  Then came across a furnished place, right in the heart of Mapua, a sweet little port village just 5 minutes drive from Upper Moutere.  Mapua is quite the tourist haven in the summer, but dead in the off season.  What we will be staying in is one of the cabins that is rent out for $200+ a night in the summer.  Although it is the nicest place (by far) that Greg looked at, it is also the least expensive and closest to where we want to be.   We have it until mid-December.  We hope to be living on the land by then - even if we need to do it in a tent.  (Remember, December is summer here, so that isn't such an extreme idea.)

And speaking of the land...  it's lovely!  

Greg spent something like 3 hours walking all over the property.  He came back with heaps of pictures - and it took us at least an hour to go through all of those!  The property is HUGE.  There are a few areas that need draining put in if we want to increase planting area.  He found 5 ponds - 1 that can be drained away, 3 small ones full of tadpoles, 

(TADPOLES!!)

and one large, man-made dam (we knew about this one).  I have to admit, the dam looks lovely.  I can just picture picnics on the bank, Burg paddling around on a raft...  

I don't know how realistic it would be to keep it, though.  With the various sprays that are used on an orchard, I'm not sure how healthy the water would look after a few years (think algae muck and lots of insects).  Yet another thing to look into.  It is just sooooo pretty, though!

And then there are the olives...

... so many olives

We are starting to think that maybe we should consider keeping some, if not all.  About half the property is planted in these young olive trees, the other half awaiting grapevines.  Right now, the olives are small enough that we could just mow them down if we had to.  (We'd prefer to sell them if we can.)  But, it's a shame to just get rid of them.  Someone put a great deal of effort into putting them in.  So, we are going to investigate the New Zealand olive industry a bit - see what the market is like and if it might be worth our while to keep them.  Time will tell.  Our heart is in a vineyard, but an olive grove might be nice to.

Only in... New Zealand?

Anyone who has lived overseas for awhile can tell you about the frequency with which the phrase "Only in America" is uttered; usually accompanied by an ethnocentrically disapproving headshake.

Well here's some recent evidence that speaks otherwise.

First up - we have a clip from last night's Boy's Night Out attended by Greg, Burgess, and his best friend Braeden.  (This clip is technically from the previous year's carnage; but the location, unique concept, and unusual aromatic mixture of high-test fuel and testosterone were the same.)

Extra credit points if you can figure out the driver's costume when they zoom in at the end.

Really, this went on for a good 15 mins, by the end you could barely see the track from all the smoke and dust. However, my favorite part came at the end when they announced that there would be a free barbecue the next day for those who want to come help clean up the devastation. Ahhh, what you can't accomplish in this country with a free sausie.

.. this went on for a good 15 mins. Afterwards they announced that there would be a free barbecue the next morning for volunteers that wanted to come and help clean up the devastation.

Next up is my favorite story from this week's papers...

Hate the snoring, but PS I love you

1:37PM Friday March 07, 2008

A Christchurch man was less than enthralled by the movie 'PS I Love You' (pictured). He fell asleep and his annoyed wife left him in the theatre. Photo / Supplied

A "chick flick" movie proved so boring for a Christchurch man he went to sleep in a Hoyts cinema last night - and his wife was so annoyed she left him there.

But when he hadn't arrived home by 3am, she panicked, returned to the cinema in Northlands Mall, and called him on his cellphone.

When the man woke up and tried to find an exit, he triggered a motion alarm in the cinema and police were needed to unite the highly embarrassed couple.

Northlands Mall manager Brian Bell told NZPA this morning he was short on detail and seeking an explanation. It was a Hoyts operational matter, he said.

Hoyts management didn't return calls.

And the movie? - PS I Love You.

Gone walkabout... in the house!!!

Thursday, Greg was working in the yard and found this HUGE walking stick insect!  It is so cool!  We brought it in the house so that Burgess could take it to school on Monday morning for class news.  I put some manuka and pahutukawa (NZ trees) branches in a vase for it to munch and live on until we let it go, but found the guy walking across the top of our living room window shade the last couple of mornings.  

Anyway, this morning we get up to get ready for school and the walking stick isn't on his branch.  He isn't up by the window.  In fact, we couldn't find him anywhere.   And still can't!   Greg's convinced the cat got fed up with all the attention the bug was getting and went all Fear-Factor on it.  Burg was able to print off a couple of the pictures that we took for his class, so he wasn't fussed.  We're kind of used to this sort of thing - bugs walking around the house.  We also seem to keep praying mantises on our house plants.  They look neat and I like to think that they help keep the annoying fly population from overthrowing us.  However, this walking stick is really big.  I just know we are going to plop down on the couch one of these days and hear an almighty crunch.  Or I'll flip out a blanket to cover myself with only to have this guy land on my head.

Shocked house shopper:  "Aaaah... What the hell is THAT?"

Nervous real estate agent: "Uhhhh..."

Name that vineyard!

Nothing much to talk about as far as the property goes.  Although... we are trying to come up with a name.  Want to play along?  

We want something witty, but not egotistical.  We love the idea of something Spanish, but no one will ever be able to pronounce it correctly here.  Something playful without being cheesy.

So far we've thought of:

• Tin Shed vineyards  (Good, but probably more fitting to a winery.  Also the name of a winery in Africa, I think.)
  
• Titan Hill (This is Burg's suggestion.)
• Provecho vineyards (Spanish, but relatively easy to pronounce.  Good meaning - advantage, benefit, profitable. It's what you say before digging into a meal in Mexico.)
  
• Pywacket vineyards  (No real meaning behind it, but playful... and we just like the sound of  it.  Greg had a cat with that name at one time.  Props Nan.)
  

Currently, we are favoring the last two. 

We need to come up with a name before we register as a business; we need to register as a business before we do anything with the property.  So, this is an important step.  We'd love any new ideas and/or comments!

The author of the winning name will receive:

1. Our undying appreciation.
2. Worldwide fame and recognition.
3. A case of our wine.*
4. Loads of self-satisfaction.

* The fine print - Winners must pick up their prize in person, preferably sometime around 2011.