Moving Right Along

While staying in the lovely adobe house, we had a number of people contact us with offers of house sitting.  Rumors of Kiwi kindness and generosity are not exaggerated.  We feel so lucky to live in a part of New Zealand that is not just physically beautiful, but also full of people who are so wonderful and caring.

We ended up accepting an offer to house sit for some previous employers of mine.  They are in Europe until September and have generously allowed us to rent their house until they get back.  

Mike and Britta are lovely people who live an amazing life.  Mike invented a game called Tantrix, which sells all over the world.  You can play it online at their website.  Apparently, their house was partially inspired by the colors of this game, but also by their love of rock climbing.  The house has incredibly high ceilings and incredible views, but the most outstanding feature is the two story rock climbing room!

Burgess likes to climb up two or three meters and 

launch himself off onto the mattresses below.  Greg makes it about one meter off the ground and decides that is high enough for him.  (Keep in mind his feet may only be one meter high, but because he is so tall, his head is three meters up!)  I climb occasionally, but get nervous if I get over two meters up.

A slice of Kiwiana

A kind reader pointed out that it had been a while since we last posted.  Sorry about that, as you will hear over the next few catch-up posts, things have been - well... tumultuous to say the least.  (Geez - you'd think living in a bus without power or running water would garner a wee bit of slack.)  So, what better way to get back into blogging mode, than to write an innocuous, fluff, travelogue-y piece on some of our favorite parts of life in NZ.  We do this simply for your edification (not some shameless attempt to re-summon our blogging muse...really.)

The greater Nelson region, where we live (Google earth link), among other things, is particularly known for it's horticultural prowess.  Besides producing world class wines (esp. aromatic whites!), Nelson is renowned for it's hops, amazing beaches, and apples.  Think Pacific northwest.  

Fall around here means a few things; 

The grapes are in -Phew!

Our view changes from brown to white.

Chilly Sat morning soccer games

And... the glories that are the roadside fruit stand!

Gypsy Living is the New Bus Living

OK, we’ve moved out of the bus. It was great fine for the summer, but by late February it was getting a bit chilly… and cramped. Plus, we heard of some friends that would be away for most of March and were looking for someone to house-sit.

Forget bus living. It’s time to move on to gypsy living! Whoo-hoo!

So, we packed up our basic necessities and moved on to our friends’ house. I have to tell you it is a very cool house. Daniel and Dianne (along with their two boys) used to live in yurts. (Yes, you read that right.) Which was fine until, one winter a few years ago, a big storm blew their yurts down in the middle of the night. This is when they decided to build a more permanent house. Daniel spent the next couple of years constructing… sculpting… their adobe house. This is the house that we stayed in.

It is beautiful work of love.  You can really tell that Daniel poured his heart into it. He even did carvings on some of the wood beams throughout the house, which are all beautiful. 

What we enjoyed the most, however, was the bathroom. The bathroom is separate from the rest of the house. (The unattached bit is the one thing that I didn’t really like about it. I mean, who wants to walk outside to use the loo at 2am?) 

It’s really quite big, with the shape of a yurt – but with built up wooden walls and a canvas ceiling. Half of the walls are floor to ceiling glass – including the whole wall of the shower... which means amazing mountain views, but also that anyone coming up the driveway can see you in all your naked splendor. Fortunately, this is pretty far out in the country and you don’t get too many unexpected guests. They also have a composting toilet, which is something that I always wanted to try living with. (My conclusion – I really like them. Not smelly at all and double as a composter for your kitchen scraps. Plus, compost for the garden!) The bit I enjoyed the most, however, was the piano! It was a quirky way to entertain each (and add dramatic effect) other while someone was in the shower. I don’t think the humidity did much to keep it in tune, but think of the possibilities!