Weekend Trip: Akarora

As always the days of school slip by without much event to them. I will try and get a couple of posts up on just what exactly I am learning in the classes as it really is quite interesting.

The weekends on the other hand are much more exciting, well in comparison. It was a good adventure My mates and I had. We decided to head over to Akarora for the weekend as it was a close by destination but not in Christchurch. It was time to finally bust out of the good 'ol town and explore. And just that we did.

Due to the inability of driving our own asses around we went with the option which works well in New Zealand: hitchhiking. It may seem scary and dangerous and all, but New Zealand is like a giant teddy bear, or sheep, I guess since there are many more of them than humans. It's legal and a great way to chat with some Kiwis and escape this American block I live in.

The rides to Akarora were fairly easy going and we never had to wait more than 20 minutes. Our first was a mother of three who was hard to hear as she had her window down. The next guy was a good 'ol boater who showed us the shortcut to Akarora by going over the mountain instead of around it. He introduced it as the shortcut his wife didn't like due to the steep gravel roads and turns. For the trip we chatted about, yep, politics. Our final ride was the icing on the cake. It was a social cricket team who had come to play a weekend game in town. Little did they know that there was a giant bike race from Christchurch to Akarora that weekend and that the cricket field would actually be the end point of the race. It was a rowdy crazy time weaving down the road to Akarora. We got invited to hang out with them at the pub later that night and let me tell you there is nothing as crazy as a social cricket team at a pub.


The day we spent in Akarora was pretty chill as my mate Alice had stubbed her toe hard in the hostel when we arrived and was fairly immobile. We couldn't walk around all that much so we strolled through town to check out the lighthouse, cemetery, and then the action surrounding the bike race. The most exciting part of the day was that there was a farmers market going on and the hostel had a grill we could use leading to the logical conclusion that we should have grilled veggies for dinner. We bought corn, purple heart potatoes, squash, beans, onions, garlic, and rosemary all from the market. It was great because one of the ladies selling the food loved the enthusiasm that us youngsters had in veggies and what we could do with them so she ended up giving us some food for free.

I think we did her free food some good justice as we had a delicious meal of roasted potatoes and veggies soaked in a sauce of olive oil, honey, rosemary, and a few dried spices. It was so much fun to cook all the food on the grill and there is nothing like grilled corn on the cob. After dinner we finished off the night by going back to the cemetery and watching the stars for a bit. It was a pretty good day overall. A nice relaxing adventure from Uni.

The next day we ate at the bakery and decided that we had exhausted the capabilities that this little french town had and that we should head back. Since there was five of us we once again split into two groups so that the hitching would be easier and got out onto the road with thumbs up. The first group of people to pick us up was a friendly couple from Dunedin who went to a friends wedding in Akarora and was on their way back. They gave us a lift most of the way and were paying it forward since they would be hitchhiking themselves later that day down to Dunedin after they dropped the van off to those who bought it from them.


The last ride was a lady and her daughter that was on there way to bring her mum to the airport. It turned out to be a perfect match because Alice, and her sister who is currently visiting along with the brother, have horses back in the States. Now you may wonder where the hell this connects full circle but alas I have reason. It turns out the family has horses and were looking for someone to watch over them during the weekend when they went kayaking. They were having trouble finding someone who actually knew how to take care of horses, but they found someone, and that was us. So next weekend I will be farm-sitting two horses and dogs. How crazy is that? I am always up for adventure.

Photos in order: Alice and the sister Anna on a dock at Akarora, Some flowers in the hostels backyard.

A good Morning after a good night

One way to get to know a culture is through music as it opens a door into the style and way of life. I did not know entirely what I was getting myself into last night when I went to go see the Kiwi dub band of 19 years called Salmonella Dub. It turned out to be a great five hours of jamming with not one, but three opening acts that were just as good as the main act. I was dead by the end of the night when it finally came to an end around 3:00 am.

It started off with Soulsystem which was a local Christchurch band that played some high energy Kiwi dub sound. The next band was A Hori Buzz which just might have been my favourite act of the night. They were intense jamming dub with a hint of bad ass and sweet guitar playing style. The next guy, Dub FX was by far the most impressive act of the night. It was him and his loop pedals and nothing more. But with that he beat boxed and created some of the most amazing dubstep I have seen. It was hard to believe that what he was singing over was his voice. Make sure to watch some videos of it. Finally it was Salmonella Dub and they rocked the stage and kept the tired crowd going. I would have easily paid to see every act as a headline.

After the show everyone seemed to be on the same page of just having their mind blown and we all came out stunned by what we had just experienced. It was like being baptised into the culture. And none of that splash water on the face kind, this was full immersion. Amazing and tiring due to the amount of energy my body was taking in.

I finally went to bed around 4:00 and had a nice relaxing morning to just let the night settle in just enjoy the final days of summer and sun. Nothing like listening to Jimmy Smith with some incense burning and a cup of coffee in my hand as I bask in the warm rays of the sun. This is it.







Here is the myspace pages of the bands so that you can check out the sounds:

Soulsystem:
http://www.myspace.com/soulsystemnz

The opening act. Good typical Kiwi dub.

A Hori Buzz:
http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.artistalbums&artistid=42498087&ap=0&albumid=15076761

These guys are to cool for the internet I guess so you only get this one song. Try and do some personal digging for more. It is worth it.

Dub FX:
http://www.myspace.com/dubafex

This guy is crazy. Make sure to watch the videos on the bottom of the page. Also, you can listen to both albums on here. The album art is for the album so you can use the back and forth buttons on either side of the play button to flip through the tracks. Keep in mind as you listen to it that it is all just his voice.

Salmonella Dub:
http://www.myspace.com/officialsalmonelladub

Amazing band. Check it.


Jimmy Smith:
http://www.myspace.com/jimmysmithfan

Nothing like some cool jazz to listen to in the morning. Bliss.

Life is Good

(Almost a coke ad)

It is amazing how much time I have spent out in the sun recently. I would say that maybe only an hour a day, if that, is spent on the computer and what free time I have is spent out in the summer sun. That is partly the reason why the posts have been slacking recently.

Since the last post I have now had two weeks of class and have settled into the routine of one class a day, except on Mondays. It is an interesting mix that should prove to be tough but very interesting at the same time. It will be looking at New Zealand as a small state in the Middle East and then as a larger player in the Pacific Region. Oh and for fun there's some environmental econ as well. The class schedule is pretty nice and relaxed with just a class a day and Fridays with a fortnightly tutorial.


(Where I live)

Besides class I have spent a majority of my time cooking group veggie dinners and laying in the grass soaking up the sun for about 3 or more hours a day. During the first week of classes I went to several of the orientation concerts with a solid variety of Kiwi music ranging from screaming punk to bass so loud it moved the hairs on my arm dub-step. The best one was a Saturday concert that was outside and had some really good Kiwi dub of Six60 and the Black Seeds.

I have also started my introduction into the sports realm by attending a 20-20 cricket match as well as a Crusaders rugby game. Though my ability to fully understand the games is lacking, I think I can finally understand the basics of it all.


(At Sumner Beach)

Overall life is good and I feel like I have been here for ages. Walking on Sumner beach today in the sunshine was great and relaxing. Life is settled in for the most part and so its time for the fun to begin, well, continue. As always keeps the comments rolling and I'll try and respond if me mum doesn't beat me to it.


(Walking around)