My first weekend

Upon arriving in NZ I stayed with Guy at his parents place while his parents were still in Europe.  His parents' house is on the other side of the hill from Christchurch, about a 25 minute drive out of town.  The drive felt very much like driving up Mt. Tam (a mountain in Marin) with the sharp turns, high overlooks, and beautiful views.  I stayed at the house/farm for several days on my own while Guy was at work.  It was my responsibility to keep the fire going and relax.  Life is hard.  NOT.

I slept in, read, figured out how to watch Hulu not in America, and snacked.  There was constantly a chill in the air, which was worse at night, but sitting by the fire was lovely.  At the warmest parts of the day I ventured outside to explore a bit.  The house is high on a hillside, overlooking Governors Bay, with a small sheep population on the farm (Guy says there are about "30 head" of sheep on the property to keep the grass down).  The view looking out was lovely.  

Looking out from the front door

I talked to the sheep.  They just stared at me.  I promised I wasn't a predator.  They didn't believe me.

  

No houses nearby whatsoever.

A side view of the front yard.  On the left is the front grass area, on the right is the house.

On my second full day at this house with no one to talk to and waiting for Guy to come home, I ventured into "town" to the local pub.  Before I went in I walked down to the jetty at Governors Bay and was pleasantly happy that I did.  Despite the sky spitting and dribbling rain on me in sporadic outbursts I walked along the water as far as I could but had to come to a stop when a "slip" had poured lots of tree, dirt, and debris on the walkway making it impossible to completely walk the path.  The view was lovely.  No one was around.  It was me, the rain, the water lapping onto the rocks, and the very distant sounds of cars.  A new happy place and I cannot wait to see it in the Spring/Summer months.

A kea.  Not my pic.

On my first Sunday Dan drove Guy and I out to Arthurs Pass, a pass that connects Canterbury (where Christchurch is located) with the West coast of the South Island.  We left the Canterbury plains in a cold but sunny morning to drive up through the mountains which got increasingly more cold and rainy.  The views reminded me of the drive into Yosemite but with more rivers everywhere.  We kept driving and when it was time for a potty break there was light hail outside.  At the rest stop I met my new favorite bird, the Kea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea).  It's a cheeky bird.  Big, we're talking large parrot sized, and smart, like it knows how to charm humans for food.  One kea flew up onto the hood/bonnet of the car and stared Dan our driver right in the face, then hopped over to the side mirror on the passager side looking inside at the two boys.  I was coming back from the restroom and as it sat on the mirror watching me approach it was not scared at all.  I opened the passenger door as it was still perched on the mirror just watching and waiting.  It did not hop off the car till we were almost out of the parking lot/car park.  The kea now has my heart.  Damn cheeky bastard.

We continued to drive into the pass and the weather quickly changed for this California West coast girl. SNOW!  I even got out and hopped in it!  Then quickly hopped back into the car, it was COLD.  As we approached the pass we quickly contemplated having to put on our snow chains, it was that bad.  Soon we just chose to turn back when we saw a small car off the side of the road on its side.  Semi-fresh tracks too.  That made my heart beat fast!  Guy jumped out and went to check to make sure no one was still in the car.  Thank God whoever the car belonged to got out safely.  We turned around and not 5 minutes later the authorities closed the pass.  We headed home.  It was a long day out but a memorable one.  I commend the boys for showing me three weather patterns in one day.  NZ and I are off to a great start.