Tiny House in Hokitika

I met with the couple at 9am in front of the store where we had met the day before and so we headed towards Hokitika which is on the west coast of south island. I can only say that the sceneries were amazing. It was just perfect. We stopped at scenic lookouts and did both of the glaciers on the west coast. Fox and Frans Josef. Well we didn’t exactly “do” them but we saw the other one and we tried to see Franz Josef also but due to floods we couldn’t get far enough to see the glacier. 

Fox glacier

Franz Josef

I really have to thank this couple, Brian and Elizabeth one more time. Thank you for giving me a lift and spending a day with a total stranger. 

Thank you again Brian&Elizabeth.
You're the kind of people that helps me to restore my faith in
 humanity and humankind

My woofing place was about 3km from Hokitika but this amazing couple drove all the way there and dropped me basically on the front porch and so started the funniest 1,5 weeks of woofing so far. 

As soon as I stepped into their house I knew I would like it there. As friendly and welcoming as Kiwis can be. I was lucky again and got my own room in the main building though I think that the young German couple that was also woofing there were even  luckier. They were using one of the guest lodges the host couple was renting out. Well, no complaints from my side. 

I’ve done my share of chainsawing in my life but the first task I did in Hokitika was one of the weirdest one’s I’ve ever done. My host, Mr R From now on, had bought brand new tires for his tractor and now I needed to mutilate them. So there I was was cutting the treads off from a brand new, I don’t even know how expensive, tractor tires. 

Why you might ask and I won’t blame you but let me explain. R&C (the hostess) have multiple businesses going on and renting out vacation accommodation is only one of those. They also make stone mats and the stones they get from the beach with the tractor and now we get to the point itself. If the tires have too strong tread pattern the tires only dig themselves into the sand. So after my gentle treatment with the chainsaw and the treads gone the “bald” tires have way more grip on the beach. Hurray! 

One tread gone, quite a few to be gone...

The main reason why R&C needed help was however something else. The Tiny House! (TTH from now on). TTH will be, once finished, a movable eco lodge without any connections to the grid or sewage system. Brilliant! And I'm proud to say that I have my handprint on it. Here's some pictures of TTH stage by stage. I had so much fun building this one. 

Mr R

The frame

Finally a building with proper insulation

That boat on the background happens to be/was the fastest
in New Zealand and I'm not even kidding.

Stomp!

"My favourite weapon? Well nail gun of course!"

I just wish I could have stayed longer with R&C. R is one of the funniest guys I've met in NZ so far and the stories he told me were dope. Unluckily I can't tell the stories here to protect those concerned. It might be that some of the issues in the stories are just a bit questionable when it comes to being totally legal :D But boy did we laugh and drink wine. I'm smiling even now that I'm remembering that period of time. 

The German couple and me wanted to go see this famous gorge and I asked if R would borrow us a car. R gave it a thought and ended up giving us a proper sightseeing tour on our day of. Rad! 

The sightseeing tour also ended up being one of the most memorable sightseeing tours. Not because of the sights itself but because of what happened. 

First we were driving a proper paved road but then we took a dirt road to access a hilltop with a nice view. 

The hilltop. 

On our way to the hilltop we first saw a firetruck and we were wondering what it was doing there. Then we noticed that there were oil on the road. First only splashes but after a minute or so there was a line of oil and you could tell that someone's car was loosing a lot of oil. Once we got the top we indeed saw a halted vehicle and soon after that a 4x4 vehicle belonging to the fire department also reached the top. I guess they came for the rescue =)

We were just happy that it didn't happen to us. We were driving a common station wagon and the busted car was s SUV. We headed onwards and R tried to remember which way to go. There were to ways to go and R flipped a coin in his mind and we took the "right one". I still don't know if we should have taken the left one but it doesn't matter, we finally made it through that way. What happened was that the road just kept getting smaller, narrower and the stones and rocks kept getting bigger. It was clear that the road was suitable for 4x4 vehicles only but it was downhill with no possibility to make u-turns so we just needed to keep on pushing forward. First R just drove really slowly to miss the rocks after a while me and the German couple needed to get off the car since it needed more ground clearance =D After few more minutes we were clearing the path from the biggest stones. Muahahhaahaa. What a ride!

Look at the colour of the water...

This is totally prohibited! Kids, don't do this! =P You
are not supposed to have anyone in the bucket.

One of my biggest tragedies on this journey so far also happened during my stay in Hokitika. I usually don't lose anything (knock on wood) but I lost more than 200 NZ dollars in Hoki. I was heading to the city central one day but after 200 metres I realised that I wasn't carrying any money with me. I headed back and took all the money I had withdrawn the day before and put it in my pocket hastily because I was a bit annoyed that I forgot the money. After 500 metres or so on my second try to get to the town I was feeling my pocket again and instantly I knew that something was wrong. There was just not enough notes in my pocket. S***. The money was gone. It was really windy that day so as soon as the notes had fell from my pocket they were somewhere not to be found again =/ 

I tried to find the money of course but no luck. When you're travelling with a tight budget that is a shit load of money. Bugger. 

Other than the "tragedy" I have only good things to say about my time in Hokitika. R&C were amazing, the food was amazing and working was so much fun. About the I have to say that I ate my first two or three lamb dishesh in NZ in Hoki. R&C used to own a restaurant back in the days which kind of explained why the food was so good. Not to mention the dinned parties they gave. This one night I was jamming with R's friend. Two guitars, some wine and good food. What else do you need? 

As last thing I'm gonna tell you this one example of Kiwi friendliness. I was drinking coffee and trying to make some decision about my near future in my favourite cafe (actually a BYO* wine bar) and I decided to ask some opinions from the owner. After she had answered my questions she asked if I could tell my opinion about the backyard that she had just re-arranged (she remembered me from my previous times so she knew I knew how it was before). I gave her my opinion and moved one plant pot about 5 metres and earned a free drink of my choice. Well 'ello sparkling wine :D

It's the small things in life...the small things.  Oh yeah, R also took us to this place once to have some pizza and wine. Splendid!

*Bring your own. (in this case food) That is one of the cool things about NZ. There's so many BYO restaurants. Usually it means that you can bring your own wine but sometimes its the other way around. Rad!

The driver gave me thumbs up :D

Sunset in Hokitika