You’ve gotta slay dragons to win princesses…

Tara and I rented a wicked campervan while we were in the south. For 6 days we lived in it – it was our home. These wicked campervans are famous for their designs and graffiti plastered on the outside. The designs are loud and the vans are fun to drive. Our van was a Gene Simmons van. Hilarious. We named her Geena and she was a beaut. All you see on the roads in NZ are campervans. They’re everywhere – everyone here is traveling. We parted from Cecilia (Noel’s car who treated us well on our trip to the south) and Noel for that time. Noel decided to keep going further south. We hung around Queenstown area then our plans were to head to Christchurch and work our way back up the east side of the south island. I did most of the driving as I learned very early on that Tara doesn’t do well on the left side of the road! She was happy to do the small trips and so was I. Hehehe…sorry Tara you know I love you but it was a bit scary when you were behind the wheel especially the one time when you ran us off the road because something caught your eye – it’s like you forgot you were driving. Luckily we weren’t traveling fast. It was so fun to be out on the open road and park anywhere to sleep - Not so fun when you wanted to go to the bathroom or brush your teeth. Thank god for public bathrooms. No running water can lead to one stinky van and don’t let our pretty faces fool you – we smelled really bad. One morning in Queenstown we woke up to frost. I don’t think I’ve ever been that cold in my life. We didn’t have extra blankets. I woke up sore from being so tense from trying to keep warm in fetal position all night. Tara and I both couldn't sleep – it was too cold – that sucked. Ahhh, the open road…destination, anywhere.

as usual, check out my pictures…http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson#100283

Acing Queenstown

Tara and I were suppose to stay in Queenstown for only 1 or 2 days...we ended up staying for 5. This is the place where we fished for trout and jumped out of a plane. Enough said.

Check out some pictures from our Queenstown stay...http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson/100241

Ukulele Magic

Tara and I got the best gig ever…we cooked dinner for The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. They are a well-known band here in NZ and I was introduced to their music the 2nd week I got to this beautiful country – thanks Noel :) I was instantly hooked. You definitely need to check them out. One morning in Wellington while I was having my tea I met the band manager. We hit it off and she was telling me about the tour and a light bulb lit up inside my head. I had a great idea. A few days later I sent her an email asking her if it would be possible to cook the band dinner before one of their shows. To my surprise her response was YES…the band would LOVE to have us cook them dinner…all 16 of them! We decided to go to the Lyttelton show on April 21st. The venue, Harbour Light, was great. It was small and intimate and the show was amazing. My friend Will Kerner brought delicious wine from his vineyard (Kerner Estate) and drank too much of it (see pictures attached, he's the guy passed out at the show). Thanks Will for keeping our glasses full! Moving on to the delicious menu…

Honey roasted kumara and pumpkin soup (this was a very eco-friendly starter. we served the soup in small pumpkins and noel, being the crafty guy he is, shaped spoons out of carrots. It was brilliant. no dishes or utensils to clean) For the main we made polenta cakes served over greens topped with a veggie stew and an herb oil and for dessert we poached pears in red wine and topped it with a crème friache and goat cheese mixture. The menu had to be light, healthy and energetic. I believe we succeeded…the Uke’s loved it and we got a thank you serenade after dinner and a special thank you on stage. This experience was one of my highlights on my trip here in NZ. After all, this is what it’s all about - I got to cook great food for great people and in return I got to listen to great music. It doesn’t get any better then that. The Ukulele’s rocked it that night and so did we in the kitchen. We made magic happen. By the way, I bought a ukulele – I’ve been inspired by the band so I’m going to learn how to play. Pictures of that night...http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson/100202

Dinner is served...

I have mentioned before that I want to go fly fishing (didn’t get a chance in Wanaka) so I inquired about it here in Queenstown. I found this fisherman named Stu who took us fishing but we didn’t get a chance to fly fish here either due to the unfavorable conditions and lack of insects so instead we opted to go out and do a little boat fishing on Lake Wakapitu. Queenstown is known for it’s beautiful rainbow trout. I was hoping and praying we would catch some dinner that day. Stu mentioned that we can take our catch to a restaurant in town where the chef prepares the fish for you - now this is an idea I can play with! Not only were we fishing on a beautiful lake for beautiful fish, we were catching dinner and it was going to be fresh and healthy. Can’t beat that.

It was a beautiful afternoon – perfect for fishing. We picked a spot and as soon as I cast my line I got a bite! Stu couldn’t believe it. He said he’s been fishing for 14 years and no one has ever caught a fish that fast. (maybe he was lying to me - who knows but it made me feel special) I reeled it in with the biggest smile on my face - like a fat kid at an unlimited buffet. I knew this would be dinner for the night. I caught a beautiful salmon but trout is what I was really after since I don’t eat salmon. (no worries the salmon did not go to waste) A few minutes later I caught a brown trout. I was getting hungrier by the minute. We ended up having a great trip. After an hour and a half we managed to catch 1 salmon, 1 brown trout and 4 rainbow trout (I let one go – it was a female and I figured she plays an important role out here - we need to preserve these beautiful fish).

We went into town heavy handed with our fresh fish and met Chef Tim at the Pub on the Wharf. He was the man that would be cooking our delicious dinner that night. We quickly discussed the preparation with him and decided to roast them whole stuffed with herbs and citrus. Simple. We shared the wealth and gave some fish to the staff since we had so many. We also put one aside for lunch the next day (which was quite perfect with a beer;).

Tara and I returned that evening and ate like queens. It was so fresh and so delicious. To be able to catch dinner and have a chef prepare it for us that same day was a fantastic experience. Check out some pix…http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson/100225

FearLESS at 15,000 feet

Yup, that’s right…I jumped out of a plane at 15,000 ft. Queenstown is one of the only places in the world where you can jump out of a plane at that altitude. I stepped out the aircraft door and for 65 seconds I plummeted towards the ground at 200KM/H (125m/h). After the freefall (which is the best feeling ever and yes it feels like your flying) Ralph, my tandem partner, opens the chute and we fly over the lake and mountains to the landing for about 5 minutes. You can only imagine what the view looked like from up above. It was beautiful. He even let me steer the chute! I figured if I was going to do this then go all out and jump the highest I could. It was thrilling, scary as hell, and ultimately effing awesome! I let myself go, I let go of the fear and for a few minutes I was flying like a bird and nothing else mattered. It was peaceful. The world was silent. I dedicated this jump to my 3 little birds, who gave me the courage and wings that day to overcome my fear.

I must not fear, fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain

-Frank Herbert

check out pictures at...http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson#100194

Lake Wanaka

WOW. It’s beautiful. The color of the lake is a blue I can’t quite describe. I created my own color and called it zeal blue. Parallel to Lake Wanaka is its twin lake called Lake Hawea. These 2 lakes are the largest in NZ and they have some of the best trout fishing here. My dinner is definitely swimming in those lakes. I’ve always wanted to go fly fishing. This is the place to do it. I also want to paraglide (b/c I'm too chicken to skydrive but it's not out of the cards for me) so that’s on my list of things to do while I’m here.

We arrived to our new wwoofing home. I say “home” because this is the first kiwi family we are staying with. All the other farms were larger scale with many more wwoofers. This will be a nice change. Willie is an artist and her husband Bas is a sick musician but runs his own company selling tools to contractors. They welcomed us into their home with a bottle of wine. I've gotten sweet guitar lessons, which I'm super stoked about. They've made us feel right at home…the kiwi way.

So far we’ve helped Willie set up her “chef’s garden” which requires a lot of work. We had to pull everything out because she’s rotating all her crops and setting it up for the winter. We got to plant trees, which was very gratifying and do a little landscaping. She has a lot of land here so there’s plenty of work for us…speaking of which I’m heading out now to plant a few trees...here are some pictures of our drive to Wanaka.

http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson/100179

Glacier Galore

We made it to Franz Josef village and went to see the Franz Josef Glacier. It was really cool to be standing in a rain forest in the morning and then standing in front of a glacier later that day. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson/100169

The Fantastic West Coast

As we pulled away from wine country I looked back to the sea of grapevines and waved goodbye feeling thirsty. Hadn’t I had enough? I drank and tasted a lot of wine during my stay there but yet I still felt a thirst as I drove away. A thirst for more grape harvesting, a thirst to learn more about organic and biodynamic vineyards, a thirst to make wine and really understand the complicated and delicate process. What can I say? I fell in love with the place. That’s some good living the kiwi’s have there and I was happy to be a part of it even for a little while. I met some great people and had a lot of laughs. I also walked away realizing I really want to learn how to make wine. Another goal and project for when I get home.

We loaded Cecilia with our stuff and headed south towards the west coast, destination Wanaka. If you take a look at a map it’s a pretty far drive from Blenheim so we had a lot of ground to cover the next few days with some planned stops. Everyone has told me that the real New Zealand (all those beautiful pictures that you see when you google NZ) is the South Island and boy were they right. As soon as my eyes hit the Tasman Sea and the mountains along the coast, I knew what they were talking about. Route 6, the one major highway, (they don’t have many here) runs along the West Coast with amazing scenic views the whole way. I really enjoyed the ride except for the really windy roads through the mountains. I was car sick for most of the way but I have to give it to Cecilia she hugged those turns like a champ.

Our first major stop (I say this because we stopped a lot due to Tara’s weak bladder – that girl can piss - she’s no longer allowed to drink water while we drive or anything for that matter) was Punakaiki. We stayed at a retreat hidden in the rain forest right off the coast. You can hear the waves crashing on the shore just outside our window. A kiwi from the vineyard told us about it and it was a hidden gem so we were lucky to get the skinny on this place. We had a great walk along the Pororari River and went to see the fantastic Pancake Rocks and blowholes (I know, it sounds like a band – a very bad one) which was cool. We spent 2 days there and hit the road again…next stop, Glacier Country. Check out the pix...

http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson/100162

Aroma Therapy

We left Seresin Estate (was sad to leave as I fell in love with the place but must move on to bigger and better) and have been traveling south on the West Coast of the South Island for the last 5 days. Made some stops and saw some spectacular views. The West Coast is where it's at...breathtaking and so different from the North Island. I will post about my travels as soon as I can with pictures. We arrived at our new home last night so I need to catch up with myself (simple things like take a hot shower since I've been on the road and basically living out of a car for the last 5 days - the smell coming out of Cecilia is raw. 3 smelly people and all of our shit stuffed in that poor car - not a nice aroma and yes, she's still purring like a kitten. she got us all the way to Wanaka where I'm at now. she's been good to us.) so for now check out these pictures from my Seresin stay in Blenheim (some pix from a Katchafire concert in Nelson too) and a trip to Kaikoura where I was up close and personal with some seals.

http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson#100150

http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson#100133

Vineyard Yoga Sesh

I'm very lucky to be traveling with a Yoga instructor. Having Tara on this trip has been great (for a million reasons). Here's Tara teaching me a thing or two at the vineyard...

http://gallery.me.com/monicahutchinson#100154