Working in the City, Christchurch that is

The beautiful spectrum of fall colors is here and the tourists are thinning out. We made our way up to Christchurch a few days ago, driving away from a quick overnight jaunt at Mount Cook. It is stunning from afar and up close with the glaciers nearby.

We had been keeping in touch with our WWOOFing friends from the KB Brown Trout in Motueka area. Heather said Dood would be at their rental place in Christchurch fixing it up to sell and could use some help so just swing by if we were up for it. It was quite strange for us to show up unannounced at a random address, but Dood greeted us with a warm smile and happily showed us around. We had a place to stay (private accommodation even) and meals if we wanted to help out for a few days, so that's just what we've been up to.

It's not exactly organic farming as WWOOFing should be, but we are happy to help our friends in need scrape, sand, paint, clean, etc. to get their rental house in selling condition. It felt like the 914 all over again! It's been nice and rewarding to work for a while and enjoy Dood's company along with a couple other hired helpers. Christchurch is quite an English town and we have made our way around on foot checking out the historic Arts Centre and even happened upon a Sunday night church choir service in the gargantuan Gothic cathedral in the main church square. This is another city like Dunedin that feels very European with the 18th and 19th century architecture.

Dood cooked us Bonnie for dinner a couple of nights, and boy, was she delicious! We even met Bonnie the cow while we were WWOOFing at their place a month ago (already, wow). Beef does have a deliciously different flavor here since the cows are grass, not grain, fed. It fresher, leaner and I even venture to say grassier in flavor. I discovered a yoga studio and we went to a wonderful Hatha class last night. Little did we know that the class comes with a free vegetarian dinner (sorry Bonnie) at a place down the street. We were bummed to have missed it, but we already had dinner waiting on the table for us. In fact, we are attending again tonight I am writing to you from an Internet cafe just down the street as classtime nears.

Yesterday we worked a full day and made some serious headway; however, the only bathroom was covered in a wet oil base paint and we were covered from head to toe in griminess. So, Dood set up a night in a motel for Andy and me and I was up until the wee hours watching the movie "The King of Scotland" on Sky TV. Yes, a satellite network that has a whopping 12 channels up from the regular three. By the way, that's a very well done movie so check it out if you haven't. Quite an upgrade to have an en suite, let me tell you!

Today we ventured out to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula, a wee town that reminds me of Avalon, Catalina. We strolled the streets and enjoyed a warm day before the clouds rolled in like giant blankets shrowding the mountainsides. The cities on the east coast are interesting, but clearly our heart and passion lies within the mountains and the forests. Next we'll be heading up the east coast to Kaikora, Blenheim and finally back to Picton where we will venture on a multiple-day backpacking trip on the Great Charlotte Track, one of New Zealand's Great Walks covering 72km.

We extended our time here in NZ so now we depart for Cairns, Australia on May 9. Yeah!