Kia Ora

So, I've been here about a week and a half so far with still no rain....I think this country might love me.

Been working fairly hard in the garden. I usually work afternoons when it's hot and sunny (as opposed to mornings when its sunny but cool). UV rays are out of control here. But, I'm pretty ok with that. I work for about 4 hours each day doing miscellaneous things around this 2 acre garden/farm area. It's pretty sweet and not too bad. Then I go hiking or swimming in cool river/ocean combos, or just lay out on the deck and listen to music watching the Tasman Sea be a beautiful badass ocean. Over the tops of wild jungle trees of course and listening to the incredible birds. Apparently New Zealand, never developed/evolved any native mammals, and so there were no natural predators on the islands. This is why so many birds have evolved to become flightless here (i.e. the Kiwi bird). So, yeah, and in John Cook's captain's log when New Zealand was first discovered by the bastards of the planet he described the place as a cacophony of bird noises. A gigantic aviary. So, while many of the birds have been lost or decimated by introduced species, the native bird and birdsong here is pretty freakin unbelievable.

Last night a possum (which is like a small tree climbing mix between a bear and a marmoset here) kept me up all night. And although I knew it was a teddy bear sized little pipsqueak I was completely freaked out, because a) tin roofs amplify sound like whoa b) it was jumping from the nearby tree onto the roof making a sudden loud noise and then would scramble around producing such a clamor that I'd bolt up out of my dozing sleep and c) when I started banging on the roof and walls of the hut to try to scare it away, it simply started hissing at me. In fact, by the end of the night, it was climbing to the edge of the roof, hanging down and looking in the window at me and hissing. Mind you, this hut is about 5ft by 6ft, so 2/3 of it is my bed/me when I'm in it and the walls are sheets of particle board nailed together with sheets of tin over them and some pieces of glass that serve as windows, but I wouldn't describe as air or watertight. So, needless to say, I didn't feel all that protected from this menace, in fact I felt as though it were jumping on me and hissing in my face. Sweet. it being nocturnal and me being...well not. I felt as though I was at the extreme disadvantage. So, sleepless night for me. Fuck the possums.

This morning I spoke with my hosts about the possums and apparently they are huge pests, introduced from Australia (where they are endangered) and people in New Zealand go to great lengths to kill the stupid buggers. Amen. I should've got up and tried to kill it. Although, this one seemed quite feisty and not in the least bit scared of me. What a bastard. But I'm cool, i'm cool.

Otherwise, I think I may be moving on. The west coast is quite amazing, but I'd like to explore the rest of the country. I will be moving on to Picton which is on the north coast of the south island either tomorrow or Friday. I am pretty excited to attempt getting there on my own and quite excited about a new host. Although, I will be sad to leave my current one. This is such a cool way to meet people. The other WWOOFer here, Jack, has left. He left on Tuesday. Which has been alright. I was a little put off by staying here all by my lonesome, but it's really not bad at all. Welp, I think it's dinner time. So I better get going. Hope everyone is enjoying winter (except for the fellow Southern Hemisphere-ers.