Monday, January 14, 2013

Do the Makara

Monday Kirsten and the girls came to get me to bring me out to the farm in Makara. Tammy had prepared a lovely potato & leek soup, along with some biscuits so we all enjoyed lunch together and then a little play with Freya before we headed out on our drive.

Kirsten had to do some groceries so we stopped at another grocery store - they are much smaller here with less selection overall, but more organic and salt/sugar free options. And they sell wine in the stores so I picked up a bottle of white sauvinoun blanc to enjoy before supper, and some ice cream to enjoy after! NZ is famed for its dairy - the cows are all "free range" grass fed beasts, with none of the giant commercial dairy farms.



And then the drive... first we were on a road a tiny bit like the 417 that wound along the valley floor, then a turn to the left or was it to the right and we were zooming over the mountain. And by zooming I mean travelling at 50km and whipping around "curves" (90+ degree turns) as we went over and around. That was nothing. Kirsten's road is maybe 1 1/2 lanes wide and just as curvy if not more so. I can't imagine that she drives a horse float (trailer) down it. For sure though our camper wouldn't make it. I asked her what happens when another car comes along and she said one of them just pulls over, but I was hard pressed to see exactly where they might do so as the edge of the road crumbles off into a deep ditch. The kids ride their ponies along this road. GULP.

I took a video of part of the drive - when I'm somewhere I can upload it to Youtube I'll share.

Kirsten's place is a giant hill, and by hill I mean almost a cliff, with a little flat area where a creek flows and the house, barn and "garage" is situated. It is very pretty. We quickly unloaded the groceries into the house and then wrangled my luggage into the "garage", a fair sized out building with a large family room type area, and a corner with a comfy bed. It will be my little haven for the next 30 days. (I'm writing this after my first night's sleep out here - very comfy). The girls had put a bowl of fruit and chocolates by the bed, as well as some NZ hand creams :-) and my bed was made up with lovely fluffy pillows and blankets with a warm down comforter and white cotton sheets. I felt pretty special. Oh, and there are some visiting budgies out here to make me feel at home.


We had supper and then Nissa showed me some of the video productions she has made. I see a budding director! In some of them Shenna did the camera work, but on others Nissa was both camera woman and director and actor. They were pretty cute - Tilly the cutest little Jack Russell had a starring role in each one.

Finally at nearly 10 pm I headed off to bed - exhausted but happy.

I had to take the photos out as they weren't uploading...


Happy Tails!

No comments: