Barrytown

(Mel) We stayed in a place called Barrytown for 2 nights, in a pub which hired out Bob the Builder duvets (!). Again a place in the middle of nowhere with beautiful scenery and lots of interesting things to do. We enjoyed hanging out in the pub with the proper Kiwi locals and 5 or 6 dogs.

We had a great morning designing and carving a necklace each out of bone. 2 of the local guys in the town (of 45 people) have set up a little workshop and helped us to make some really cool (if I do say so myself) Mauri style neck gear. Lots of fun had using the machines and getting to know the guys.

We went to see the 'pancake rocks' - cool rock formations that look a bit like stacks of pancakes. Pretty impressive. Then some of us went for a walk along the beach for a couple of hours which proved to be a great idea. Saw a beautiful sunset, Rich found a nice bit of greenstone (Jade) and we came face to face with a friendly seal which flopped up in front of us.



(Rich) We've been really lucky with wildlife in New Zealand after the whale watching trip got cancelled. Seen native birds in the wild like the Kea (Alpine Parrot) and Pukeko, plus the penguins, and saw some Kiwis in captivity. New Zealand has no native land mammals so birds have thrived, at least until the introduction of deer and possums in the 19th century. We went to a very strange museum all about how all the deer have been shot or rounded up for farming - a process which involved shotguns with nets attached and crazy people jumping out of helicopters to wrestle stags. It's been more difficult to decimate the Possum population (now estimated at 80 million) but the locals have made a national pastime out of trying, usually by trying to run the critters over. Had a possum pie. Tasted like lamb. Nice.