This has been another episode of Good Idea, Bad Idea....

Hana and I thought it would be important to demonstrate some construction safety videos and have put together a couple of videos showing the right and wrong way to do things...

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times...

Apres the visit to the North, we headed south (Right, hellooo Captain Obvious) towards ol’ familiar Auckland for a night on the town with Brad and friends. It started out as any good night would, with Hana taking hours to put on her makeup, straightening her hair, deciding which pair of heels would suit her new Dior top and Chanel miniskirt (I know! I told her they didn’t go either, but we all know she doesn’t listen when it comes to fashion as you can see). We grabbed a couple of drinks, and then started out to meet up with the rest of the gang. The night was heading in the direction of good times full steam ahead until Hana became the unfortunate victim of a rohypnol flavoured drink. From Hana’s recollection, it didn’t taste too bad. In fact, she says it tasted like delicious draught beer, but it did manage to taint the evening. The experience did have one positive side effect; Hana developing a habit of placing a hand on top of the drinking glass when not being consumed.

A couple of days of recuperation were necessary, and were spent exploring some of the interesting sites and beaches just north of Auckland. The drive up had many delightful surprises. Now I think I can speak for most when I say that it is EVERYONE’S dream to stumble across an awesome tree house in the middle of a forest… or at least one slightly visible from a highway. If there happens to be a magical tree wizard, or enchanted open bar in it then that’s just an added bonus, but you take what you can get, and this tree house that we found did not need anything else to make it fantastic. Hana happened to see it through the trees, and when we drove up we found that there was a large fence surrounding it, preventing the great discovery that we had hoped for. Fortunately, the owner had seen us pull up and offered to show us around. This tree house, it turns out, was part of a large media event that Yellowpages had put on a year before, and they had asked this nice couple if they could use their property to construct the elaborate $3 million dollar tree house. As it was on their land, they were entitled to it once the show was over. Best deal ever. From conception to finished product, the entire process took 100 days. So cool!

The rest of the day took us to a Bee Centre (I insisted we pull over and try honey samples. So many!) and then to a beautiful beach, followed by a stop off at a marine reserve. We finished it off by cooking thanksgiving dinner for our Auckland host, which wasn’t as thanksgiving-esque as I had hoped… I had wanted to make pumpkin pie, but they don’t have pumpkin in a can here! I was devastated, though it’s probably for the best as I shouldn’t subject too many people to my baking. Also, Hana made lamb sausages instead of a turkey. But it was the thought that counts, and it actually made me miss home a little… actually just the pumpkin… man that grates my carrot!

Can you spot the Ogasawara in this photo?

Tip Top of the muffin.. or country to you!

After an efficient and satisfactory departing statement from our German WWOOF hosts in Keri Keri, Hana and I ventured up about as far north as the land in New Zealand would permit to Cape Reinga, the northernmost tip of the country. This is a remarkable place for many reasons. First of all, it is the top of one of the longest beaches in the world, Ninety Mile Beach, which has achieved this grand title by having people lie about its length. The name is a misnomer as the beach is in fact 88 km, but we all know how much flashier imperial measurements sound, and how annoying conversions are. Whatever the distance, the views of a continuous stretch of sand and crashing waves for as far as the eye can see is pretty spectacular.

Secondly, Cape Reinga is where one can watch two oceans collide. The Pacific Ocean to the East and the Tasman Sea to the west confront each other in a fierce battle for the title of unstoppable force, and it appears as though they’ll be contesting for a little while longer. I’ve actually got my money on the Tasman Sea. Though he may be a little guy, he can still pack quite a punch…. That will leave quite a swell! (he he. Turbo pun!) Anyway, it is an amazing spectacle to watch, and easy to recognize how such a place could play an important role in Maori mythology as the pathway for departing spirits.

Finally, the cape had the biggest, gnarliest, raddest sand dunes I’ve ever seen! You could run, jump, toboggan, castle, laugh, cry, lost, dehydrate etc. all over them! And there were cows on the road up to them! Could there be a more magical place? If you answered yes or no, you are correct as this is a rhetorical question… the answer was eight.

The Germans say we ask too many questions...

Comparing the world’s languages, whether it’s universal proverbs, or discovering words that have no meaning elsewhere, never ceases to fascinate me. Not surprisingly, travelling around and meeting people from all over the world turns out to be a great way to explore this interest. For example, in the first few days that we were staying in Auckland, the other people in the hostel were complaining about our “Free!” meal fit for a midrange size ant, or America’s next top model. One of the girls said in German that it was wrong to look in the mouth of the horse that someone has given you. A Spanish girl said that if someone presents you with a quadruped, avoidance of gum inspection is highly recommended. Or something along those lines. I told them that ours was “If someone gives you a stupidly small plate of spaghetti, you look at it with disappointment and then tell them this is the most sorry excuse of a free meal I’ve ever seen” and then throw it at them. Amazing how we have the same phrases in so many different languages isn’t it?

When we arrived at the Eco Wellness centre, Inge took us around the property to show us the gardens and all the projects that they had been working on. Naturally, I was curious about everything they were doing. Later on, when Rolf came to introduce himself, he told us that Inge said we had put a hole in her stomach. Oh man, I really don’t remember stabbing her, but I hoped there was some sort of misunderstanding that could be made more understandable. Apparently, this is a common German phrase that means we asked too many questions. Okay…. No more questions for Sarah. Not all smiles and sunshine...

Later on at dinner, we were talking to the German WWOOFers (aka the field hockey playing couple Max and Julia, and future filmmaker Morritz) about the differences in our languages. Hana had thought that Inge didn’t seem too fond of me, but the Germans assured us that she liked me fine, it was just typical cold German demeanor. This began a conversation about the differences in the ways we express ourselves. They pointed out how funny it was that we had so many words for something that is excellent. Fantastic! Great! Awesome! (I did mention earlier that the dinner looked epic, and Hana described a band as legendary which they now use all the time to describe their dessert). In German there is a sliding scale that describes things and experiences as “good”, “very good”, or “really good” (although this last one is rarely used, according to Julia only once a year, usually around Christmas). That is all.

And now the question that has been on my mind is this. In terms of language and its relation to its native speakers’ persona, which precedes which? If the German people say they are generally not very expressive in their enthusiasm, is this due to the lack of words to describe such sentiments, or is there lack of vocabulary using fantastic, excellent, etc. a result of the cultural character? Sorry if that puts holes in anyone’s stomach, but any insights would be appreciated J

Why Would Ovens Operate Forward?

For those of you who are not familiar with it, WWOOF stands for ‘Which Way Opens Our Frontdoor’… no hang on, actually it’s ‘What Women Only Offer Fella…’ no wait now I’ve got it. It’s Willing Workers On Organic Farms. If you have ever heard of people “WWOOF”ing, that is what they are doing. In exchange for four hours of work each morning (gardening, building, sheep tackling, etc.), you are provided with three meals a day and accommodation. Pretty good deal if you ask me. Now of course not all places are the same. Some focus on sustainable building projects, others on raising organic vegetables or livestock, and some specialize in quackery – for example, one of the possible places to WWOOF was a dropped fruitarian. Now I have a couple of questions for these people. Question the first: how do they eat vegetables? Do they wait for them to throw themselves out of the ground in a beached whale fashion? Question the second: Did it hurt when you were dropped on your head? Oh that’s not nice… but neither are murdered apricots I suppose.

Hana and I have fortunately scored on the (somewhat) lower end of the kookfest scale. It is an eco-wellness centre in the town of Kerikeri called the OraOra resort. It is run by a German couple named Inge and Rolf, who are working as hard as they can to make the buildings on their property energy neutral, and provide Inge’s delicious kitchen with as much as possible from their permaculture garden. There are no guests at the moment as they are just starting to get everything prepared for the season which is where the WWOOFers come in. Hana and I are working alongside three German kids who are 20 yrs old and are spending the year travelling around as well. I spend my time removing large scary weeds from the garden (and the occasional edible plant… which I try to plant back in and prop up against something so they won’t notice… until I’m gone) and then they burn it. Good system. Apparently, the ash from the weeds mixed with water makes a good fertilizer for the rest of the garden. If I was lettuce I would find this really creepy, but they don’t have much say even though I’m sure they think it to be a ROOT cause of some of their problems (boooooo). Either way, I wonder how compatible producing large amounts of bonfire smoke is with their eco wellness principles. Oh well, they compensate by using paramagnetism to increase the fertility of their soil, oh and of course utilize the amazingly effective, 100% scientifically proven homeopathy. Hey I said it was at the lower end of the scale! Not totally void of kook….