One of My Favorite Teas: Pure Ceylon

The packet for this Chanui tea is very confusing. It is touted as "New Zealand's best tea" but the flavor is called "Pure Ceylon" which is the old name for the country of Sri Lanka.

Anyway, to complement the flavor I add a little Manuka honey. The tea's flavor is very basic. If someone were to ask me to name it I would say it was "tea flavored." The Manuka infuses a hint of Kiwi-land into the cup.

The piece of red marble seen above is from an earthquake damaged office building in Christchurch. Several fragments were laying around on the sidewalks so I took one as a memento.

The bottle cap is from a New Zealand brand of beer called "Tui" and unsurprisingly, it features a Tui bird on the cap and label. The Tui is my favorite NZ bird.

Stars in the Southern Hemisphere

This is a photo I took from the balcony outside my room. The two bright objects seen here are Venus and Jupiter.

Just off to the right I could see an upside down Orion and turning several degrees further to the right I could see the famous Southern Cross. It was most obvious in the hours just before dawn.

A Day of Sheep Shearing

I don't remember how it came up but the invitation was made and I accepted.

I got up before dawn so I could pile in the truck with a quiet man ironically named "Rowdy" and three Maori women. We were going sheep shearing.

There were four shearers all using non-electric shears. I was fascinated to see how quickly they worked. A ewe was seized, held between the legs of the shearer and quickly liberated of its woolly top coat.

At first I stood in the corner like a gawking tourist but eventually the women showed me how to pull off the soiled bits of wool and throw them into a bin. They were very patient with me (which is good because I was intimidated by the process). I eventually started sweeping up the wool that fell below the inspection table.

Finally, the ranch owner gave me a sort of staff and showed me how to herd the sheep into the holding pens for the shearers. This was my favorite part as it involved bossing fluffy animals around. Some of them were quite feisty however and one of them scraped me in the leg with her horn. I wanted it to leave a scar so I could tell people about a near death encounter with a crazed Merino, but it was barely a flesh wound. Sigh.

One of the shearers grabbed my leg and yelled "Roar!" I was so startled that I jumped and he laughed. He enjoyed his little joke so much that he repeated it several times with varying results. I knew I wasn't working with some rare breed of vampire sheep but I was so distracted by counting how many were in each pen that I jumped every time he got me. At one point he dropped his lighter down the sheep chute and told me to go get it. I said it wasn't in my contract and he could go get it himself. He grinned as he slid down the chute after it. He was my favorite shearer.

The best time of the day was when we broke for lunch and I had a delicious soup that the ranch owner's mother had prepared. I had toast and tea and it warmed me up against the winter chill.

So that's what an honest day's work feels like! When I closed my eyes to sleep that night I saw a sea of wool and beady eyes gazing at me steadily. 


In the Auckland airport the next day there were stores dedicated to selling the fine wool of the Merino. I felt the urge to run from them screaming "Noooooo!" 


I wondered if I might drift off into sleep on the plane and have some fevered twitching nightmare in which I woke combating an invisible woolly menace and muttering "Sheep! Sheep, everywhere..." 

I felt invigorated after this experience but I will definitely be crossing "sheep shearer" off my career list.

On Seeing New Zealand For The First Time (Part 2)

One of the first things I like to do when visiting a new country is to learn about its flora and fauna. In New Zealand there were a wealth of flightless birds to see as well as the ancient Kauri trees (which are in the same family as the Monkey Puzzle Tree!) My favorite times though, were spent standing on windswept hilltops and gazing across the striking landscapes.

Kauri Conifer

A Relatively Young Kauri

The Silver Fern- Symbol Of New Zealand

The Bay at Akaroa

My Uncle's House and Hangar

Old Tree At Sunset

A Marsh In The Shadow Of Mt. Lyford

Kaikoura Hilltop

Kaikoura At Sunset

I decided to go "marsh hopping" on my uncle's property and found out very quickly that some of the marsh grass was not as substantial as it looked. I returned to his house with wet jeans.

Depth Testing The Hard Way

I was also given a huge jar of Manuka honey to take home with me. I've been enjoying it in my tea at home.

Manuka

On Seeing New Zealand For The First Time (Part 1)

There is a nineteen hour difference from that shore to my own. To arrive I had to cross the International Date Line and the Equator. I left behind a mild, coastal California summer and was greeted by the cool winds of a southern winter as I stepped off the plane in Auckland.

On the plane down to Christchurch I found myself in the company of a rugby team known as the "Junior All Blacks." The player next to me explained how the game was played and shocked me with the revelation that they play without padding or helmets. He said he had been concussed four times and I "tsk tsked" in response. The team had just returned from a tournament in South Africa and were still feeling the high of it. They referred to one another as "son" and reminded each other that they had a practice that afternoon. This is a hardcore sport.

My uncle settled in the northern region of the South Island. He owns a small kingdom near Mt. Lyford. 


Before we arrived there we spent some time touring Christchurch where the destruction from last year's earthquake is still apparent. My uncle said any director looking to make a film about the apocalypse could easily use the city as a his primary setting. It is in a constant state of being razed and torn down. When they have finished, it will be a completely different city. I've never seen anything like it.

In the city's center, brisk business is being done from converted containers:

Animals of New Zealand

Cape Barren Goose (Introduced)

Weka (Endemic)

Kea (Endemic)

Female Paradise Shelduck (Endemic)

Pukeko (Australasia)

Yellow-Fronted Parakeet (Endemic)

Arapawa Goat

Kunekune Pig

Wallaby (Australia)

Fur Seal

Bell Birds (Endemic)

Magpie (Introduced)

Tui (Endemic)

Kiwis, Kiwis and Kiwis

The Nocturnal Kiwi Bird

I just returned from two-and-a-half weeks of adventure in New Zealand.

The purpose of my visit was to catch up with my uncle who recently emigrated there.

Whilst there, I saw Kiwi birds, Kiwi fruits and, strangest of all, Kiwi people.

I met Rugby players, saw some fascinating species of bird and took in a Flight of the Conchords concert in Christchurch.

Jarrod: Kiwi on a Bike

The Kiwi Fruit