I am long overdue for a new blog entry, so here it is.
Last we heard from me, I was wwoofing with Fay north of Wellington. Fay has about 200 chickens and is planning to build a house out of tyres. Yes, that's how they spell tire. She and her past array of wwoofers have started a tyre wwoof house that I got a chance to pound a few tyres full of earth for.
The idea is that earth filled tires contain a lot of thermal mass and are therefore excellent at storing heat, as well as being a good way to reuse what would otherwise be in a landfill. If this whole tire/tyre house thing intrigues you (or if you want to be intrigued), I recommend the documentary Garbage Warrior about New Mexican Mike Reynolds who started the whole thing building "earthships" out of tires (and other stuff). Earthships are so called because they are meant to be self-sufficient, supplying their own utilties and food. Pretty neat and inspiring, dontcha think?
I left the tyres and chooks behind for the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. It was windy. And cloudy and rainy. I watched Avatar in 3D at the theater. Very good movie. There's a moral or something.
Hopped on (actually drove on) a very large ferry and was off for the South Island!
Time for my second Great Walk, the Heaphy Track. I thought it was more of a Nice Walk really. Or a Long Walk, 84 km. Met some nice people though. There was an 81 year old guy hiking along with us. This is what it looked like.
The cicadas were so loud that I put in ear plugs to keep from going deaf. 
There were plenty of beautiful beachscapes and limestone rock formations to admire, as well as fur seals and lots of birds. It's considered the easiest of the Great Walks, and you don't need hiking boots. Unfortunately the shoes I did wear are too small, and I ended up with painful blisters and toenails that are still discolored weeks later. Hopefully they don't fall off. After nine days of tramping, I headed over to the Tui Community, where a permaculture design course awaited me. The above links do a better job explaining these things than I can or am willing to. I will say that the Tui Community is full of pretty cool people and seems like a pretty sweet place to live, and that permaculture seems to me like a pretty damn good alternative and/or solution to industrial agriculture, suburbs, overuse of fossil fuels, degradation of the planet, etc. Anyways, the course was 19 days long, and was kind of like a cross between summer camp and Evergreen (State College). I got to learn with an interesting mix of nationalities and backgrounds, slept in a teepee, listened to lots of lectures, watched movies, learned practical skills, went on field trips, and produced a permaculture design plan for some locals' new piece of land in the bush. I will unleash my new knowledge and skills upon Olympia in a month's time. Right now I'm going to be a tourist.
I said goodbyes to my new friends, and drove off to see
Pancake Rocks
Christchurch - Biggest city in the South Island.
Saving the best part for last:
My car has been causing a bit of worry. On the way down Takaka Hill (a very big steep windy hill), I felt and heard a strange clunking coming from the car. I got out a couple of times to try to figure out what it was, until it actually felt like the wheel was coming off, which it was. I managed to jack it up and screw the lug nuts back on, but it was a slightly traumatic experience.
New Zealand requires every car to have a Warrant of Fitness, which you need to get every six months from a mechanic who checks various things that might be unsafe with your car. My car failed. (Leaky cylinder, door panel rust & worn tire tread.) The mechanic tells me the repairs would cost more than the car is worth. He says it's safe to drive though. So, I'm going to just keep driving it for the next four weeks and then probably sell it to a wrecker for nothing. If I get caught without a WoF, I get fined $200. I just have to avoid parking on the street where a meter maid might see it.
Tomorrow I visit Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ. Then I travel further south for some more tramping, including the Milford Track, "The Finest Walk in the World", which I mananged to get a booking for. Stay tuned...
All da pics here.
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