kia ora !
that be hello in Maori
Aotearoa !
that be New Zealand in Maori
ahh wizards, sorcery, fairies and dreams......
Just wrapped up a reading session with my cousins. harry is reading (more accurately being read) the 5th Harry Potter book, something about Oracles. I read a bit last night too. I haven't even so much as read the leaf of an HP book, but I maybe a late joiner to the fan club. I mostly like the names of people and the fact that it seems to be a different world. I guess me and the cousins are having a magical theme today, cuz this afternoon we went and saw the new Peter Pan movie at the local cinema. (the local cinema is connected to the recreation centre and i think could only hold about 80 people). Peter Pan was excellent. It took me away to Never Neverland that's for sure. I think I enjoyed it more than the kids.
Lots of magic over here in NZ, just waiting for me :)
speaking of magic are any of you tuned in to how well NZ is doing at the movie awards???? Lord of the RIngs (LOR) swept the Golden Globes, and 3 NZ made films are nominated for Oscars (LOR, Whale Rider & Last of the Samuri). People across this land are very excited. And yes, having a LOR obsessed cousin helps keep me up to speed. My Granny keeps saying people will know where we are now? Funny Gran. (on a side note my Gran and uncle Barry hate George Bush. thanks goodness. Supposedly some AMericans are going to be moving on to a farm up behind my uncles orchard. HE said he plans on flying an Afghani flag and an Iraqi flag. Guess I know what he's getting for a pressie?)
now for all my mish-mash observations**
Nelson & Motueka area --
this place is so unique. it has a climate combination of the Okanagan, the westcoast if BC (but with clear blue water) and the people of the Kootenays. i guess it is subtropical. oh ya and there are these amazing trees (what i call palm ferns) they are trees that look like palm trees but they are actually ferns --- hence the palm fern. they are soo cool. Motueka is full if hippies. i swear i have seen more heads with dreads here than any other place i've lived. Nelson is a pretty arty communuity and this whole region I think is seen as the 'alternative liviing' place. I have heard rumors of Motueka Gold too, but I have yet to get a wiff of any. The herb is illegal in NZ. It is hard to trylu describe, but this littel town opens on to an amazing natioanl park and it is all sandy beaches and gorgeous tourquois sea.
Maori--
it is neat, most of NZ has Maori place names. and it has taken some time to figure out how to say them correctly. For example, Whanganui is pronounces Fung-a-newie. Wh are F's. and in general all vowels are pronouced. Then there are the ones that sounds like curses, Whakatane . You figure it out!
I am learning more about the treaty process and some of the history related to current government and all. NZ has a proportional representation system, I don\t fully get it yet but I am keen to know how it works exactly. (seeing BC is reviewing its electoral system and all). I may visit a Maori church with my dad.
Oh ya, and us white folk are referred to as Pakeha (even in the news paper).
Oh ya and kids get to learn Maori in school. That is one thing we could not realistically do in BC thats for sure. BC has the highest concentration of different First Nation languages in all of Canada. Not just one.
I guess that would be all. I always think of things I want to share after I've logged off. I have been taking advantage of the free internet at my Grannies (my dad has it set up while he is in NZ). Internet cafes are pretty dear and the public libraries are even more expensive.
If any of you punks out there have questions or want me to look up anything, report of specific stuff, just say the word. Maybe these are boring to read, let me know I can spice them up somehow.
to all a good night
c.a.r.a
this entry is all about the last week, mostly fmaily hoo ha.
next post will include fun observations about nz life.
you chose the adventure.
hey all,
i want to say thanks to all of you sending comments. it is so nice to read your words and hear your voices over here on the other side. and steven how did you guess! not in vancouver, but actually i am hiding in whalley. i can't wait till the 6 months are up.
anyways, when i last left off i was awaiting the arrival of my SISTER!!!! MAREN!
for all you that don't know Maren is my step sister (from Trevor, my (adoped) dads first marriage). here are the stats on maren: we are the same age (i am actually 6 months older hehe), she is tall, blond, and a fox, she is a navigator with the new zealand air force, has grown up in nz, lived in canada for 1.5 years when we were 19. and we are bonded like real sisters even though we have only known each other for half our lives (we first met when we were 15). okay enough of that....
we headed off for a FISHER SISTER HOLIDAY. we stocked up and head to a place called the Queen Charlotte Sound, about a 2 hour drive from Motueka. She had a friends 'bach' (aka summer house) in a beautiful spot called Ahuriri Bay (near Picton --place you catch ferry to north is). it was rustic and had stunning views of blue bays and the Sound itself. over three days we drank lots of delicious nz wine (and there is heaps), read trashy magazines, eat yummy food, sunned ourselves thouroughly (no real sunburns yet), crafted and read tonnes. one day we had a water taxi come pick us up in our very own bay (only 4 other 'bachs' in the bay), it took us on an hour boat ride out in the Sound, where we got dropped off and tramped (the nz term for hiking) for about 3 hours. The Queen Charlotte Track is long, linking many bays with campsites, cottages and some resort style places. You can hike either about 3 hours between or about 6 hours between each spot and it is not really that tough of terrain. Anyway the FISHER SISTERS had an easy 3 hours fast walk from one cove to the next. Upon arrrival we had lunch at Punga Cove. No sandwiches for these high rollers. We had a lovely lunch, parked on teh balcony looking over the Bay, over not one, but 2 bottles of wine!! Oh yes we treated ourselves. The Punga Cove Resort had these cabins people can rent, a restaurant, boat rentals, kayaks etc. After lunch we made use of their spa pool (hot tub). we swam in the ocean and soaked in the tub till the water taxi came back to retrieve us around 3:30pm. We literally ran down to the boat when it arrived! A very funny site i am sure to the serious trampers onboard. It was so fun, a truly deluxe day. Our time together was great. Full of relaxation and catching up (we last saw each other 3 years ago). She says HI to the vancouver kids she met while there!!!
We picked up Maren's beau (Scott) on our return trip to home. He is a pilot in the RNZAF and this was my first time meeting him (they have been dating for 3 years and live togeher in Auckland). He is a great guy and they seem a good match.
Last Saturday night was our BIG FISHER FAMLY REUNION!!!!!!!!!
There were about 17/18 of us all togehther. We had a fun night at the farm/orchard. Lots of champagne, food, laughs, and tonnes of famly photographs. (AND YES I WILL SOON SORT OUT POSTING SOME PHOTOS FORYOU ALL. I NEED TO LEARN HOW, BUT I HOPE TO IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS). The night was capped with a few home movies, and a shared cigar under the stars. I think there was about 7 of us puffing away! Pretty funny smokin a stogie with the uncles et al.
Some of you will know of the "Appleby's" -- the family in west van i am close with who i house and dog sit for. Anyway, they are here in NZ on holiday. They planned it to coincide with my folks holiday here, as they wanted to hook up and meet the rest of the Fisher Clan. Their daugther (Ava, 12) is doing an 2 month school exchange here in Nelson (40 minutes from here). They were at the famliy gathering on Saturday. And to my surprise they are giving me their rental car for a week while they are off tramping. Naturally I feel funny about using their car (especially considering the ozone hole is worse over NZ), but i am shamefully going to take advantageof it and head to places I would not be going on my bike (way down south). May as well take advantage as it will be me and the bike the rest of the way. I will take off at the end of the week with the car and bike and see where i get. I figure I'll put up some notices in the local backpackers and find me some company, fill a seat and share some gas money to the next major urban centre (Nelson to Christchurch and Christchurch to Queenstown). Those plans need to come togther in the next couple of days.
I am having a couple of days getting to know my 2 cousins I do not know -- Molly 11 (almost 12) and Harry (9). They live in Wellington ( city on the north island) and are here with out their folks for a few days. We spent much of this afternoon playing at a park, bouncing on a trampoline and trying to fly a kite. Off to a matinee tomorrow. It is nice to have some one on one time with them as they don't know me and with all the family around, we haven't, until now, warmed to each other. They are 100% Lord of the Rings fans and they are teaching me tonnes. (Molly covered all her school books with LOR stickers yesterday).
As of next week the Fisher FamDamily will be all apart, back to work, school, on with life, and Cara will finally begin her solo adventures.
let me say: IT IS SUMMER!! HOT AND STUNNING!!!!!!!
hi ya!
well after the exciting 2-4 days travelling ( not really sure with all the date lines and time changes) i arrived in New Zealand!!!!!!!
after getting thru customs no problem i set about getting my bike together at the airport. i had planned on riding into Christchurch from the airport but i took the easy route and caught a shuttle. glad i did after all -- they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road and have many roundabout intersections (which take a lot of getting used to). i would have had a hell of a time getting into town had i not taken the shuttle. just picture a mr. bean episode with a cyclist going round and round holding up traffic.
i spent my first night in Christchurch at a hostel. as i walked the streets of Christchurch it actually sunk in that i was indeed in the world of the "traveller". it has been almost ten years since i last travelled overseas on a solo journey and it feels great being out in this big ole world!
i caught a train early the next morning and headed north. the train trip was absolutley stunning - up the west coast of the south island. train travel here is really efficient and super affordable. i boogied up north to get to my family.
for all that don't know all my dad's (Trevor's) family live in NZ. The area i am in now (Motueka) is where both my Granny & Uncle Barry (trevor's brother) live. My folks are here on holiday now, so they came and fetched me from the train station and we drove 2 hours west here to Motueka. my aunt and family (trevors sister) are holidaying here. so the Fisher Family is almost complete. My sister Maren will be here in s few days. let me say: IT IS SUMMER!! HOT AND STUNNING!!!!!!!
this area is soo beautiful. it is similar to the Okanagan in that it is orchard and vineyard territory. but it is different in that it is surrounded by the ocean and gorgeous blue water. Motueka is a quiet seaside community, but it is also a gate way town to a big National Park (Abel Tasman). If you are looking on a map we are at the giant bay at the top of the South Island.
i have broken out this winter body and i am easing my way into the sun. the ozone hole above NZ and Oz is very big, so this scaredycat must be careful. i am swimming pretty much everyday (will head to the beach once i am finsihed here).
my uncle Barry's farm/orchard is so amazing. high up with views of neighbouring orchards. Barry has apples and lemons (recently harvested) and we will begin work on the apples mid-Feb. last night we harvested the apricot tree and i have will set out to make apricot jam -- a first!
so as you can hear it is amazingly beautiful. i am enjoying being with family. grannies, cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins and parents. it was so nice riding down country roads this morning, birds chirpping,realizing that this will be home for a while. i will head off in about a week for some touring (once all the family leave) until i need to start work. if ever in NZ there is plenty of work (hravesting fruit) this time of year in this neck of the woods.
bike news: there have been lots of letters to the editor in local papers about touring/cyclists. a swiss woman was injured while riding a few weeks back after someone 'yawbo' threw something out the window of a car. cyclists in the nearest town/city Nelson are carrying digital cameras to capture bad drivers and are creating a website. i am not worried and see tonnes of tourers around this area.
oh ya one last thing. there is a great article in the Jan/Feb issue of Bicycling Magazine (read it on the plane) -- an articel about Bike Town USA. The magazine and Trek bikes had a contest and gave out free bikes to people for 3 months to see how a bike made a difference in their lives. It is a great article as it rings true to why bikes and cycling is so important and fun. I am so used to reading bike magazines that are all about performance, gear and fitness. It was a nice change to read something about bikes and community.
I hope you are all so great and happy and healthy.
Love to you all,
cara
p.s. rusl thank you so much for helping get me this blog set up!!!
i have great advice for those leaving on a super long journey. sleep deprivation!!!
Hey All, well it has been a week since i set sail from canada. and at last i am getting a chance to learn about this bolg and to let you all know how the adventure is going thus far. vancouver to singapore my first flight was 10 hours - vancouver to seoul, south korea. we stopped here for about an hour to take on more passengers. then another 6 hour flight to singapore. got into singapore after midnite and headed to a hotel (thankfully included with my ticket). i got to have a whole day wandering around singapore. i only found out little bits about sinagapore before i left, things like: its illegal to spit and illegal to chew gum. yikes! the state is a mix of malaysians, indians, and chinese. and ofcourse all the foreigners. i walked around the city and hoped on and off this tourist bus that cruised the city( taking people to different shopping centres.) nuts. the architecuter in different parts was neat. the 'little india' was probably my favorite. narrow streets, markets hidden away, good smells, nice. chinatown was one giant air conditioned mall after another. not malls like ours, but multistory (tall). the chinatown was not like ours -- sidewalk/ street based. impressions of singapore: it was super humid and hot, it is geared towards shoppers, lots of cars, and a nice place to visit for a day if you are not shopping. i thought i was getting the wrong impression that it was really geared for shoppers, but others have confirmed it for me. it is a major intersection when travelling south asia. it was funny - food was really expensive (bottled water $4, breakfast at hotel $15) but clothes were super cheap (t-shirts $5) bikes: people ride around old model mountain bikes and sort of bmx style bikes. pretty old and beaten up. no one wears helmets and there are fast car drivers all over. i had taken my helmet with me on the plane so i was toting it around with me for the day and i felt a little out of place seeing no one seems to wear them. on the bus back to the airport i spotted a couple of 'roadies' on slick road bikes doning the spandex gear. i have great advice for those leaving on a super long journey. sleep deprivation!!! my flight from sinagpore to christchurch new zealand was 9 hours. so upon arrival in NZ i spent roughly 26 hours total in the sky. yeeowzers! staying up all the night the night before i left and getting minimal sleep the nights before that helped heaps. i slept on every flight and arrived with little or no jetlag. who woulda known??!!