The above photos are a small selection from the last couple weeks in my world here in New Zealand.  The first is of an early morning sun on the slopes of the Eyre Mountains on my last day of work at Halfway Bay Station, the following two are of a tramp to and from the Welcome Flat Hut on the Copeland Track.  The final photo is my contribution to the rocky landscape, one of many, at Gellespies Beach on the West Coast by the Tasman Sea near Fox Glacier.

It feels good to have finished a couple months of hard work on sheep stations.  The work was much appreciated and a wonderful learning experience, but now I've reestablished my freedom on the road with a little TLC for my van, and a new alternator which was what she really needed.  I've accepted that she often needs love and affection in the form of money costing repairs to  maintain my relationship with her and after giving her a little, I'm on the road again.

I left Halfway Bay on Saturday and headed north to the outdoor recreation mecca of Wanaka.  It was a beautiful town in a wide valley, on a pristine lake surrounded by dramatic snowcapped peaks.  But I was there, not for the recreation, but for a Saturday night on the town after five weeks on a sheep station.  I started with Happy Hour and carried on past the midnight hour.  I met some fun people and woke up with a heavy head on Sunday.  So what better way to clean the body and mind again than to hike ten miles up a river canyon to an alpine cirque and the Welcome Flat Hut.  I walked the Copeland Track after a three hour drive north with a young German hitchhiker I picked up named Paul, who was filled with young energy, awe and inspiration.  The hike was a challenge to start, but as the toxins from the night before flowed out of my pores and I got further up canyon, I fell into a stride all my own.  I covered the distance in just four hours and arrived at dinner time.  There were hot pools waiting for me there beneath magnificent Alpine peaks.  The lush green bush was adorned by bright white waterfalls rushing down the precipitous mountain slopes from the snow melt above.  A hundred such creeks converged in a cacophony of roaring water forming the Copeland River, creating the most magnificent turquoise mother nature could mix on her pallet.

I met a couple possum hunters there trying to catch possums to see if a massive government possum poisoning program had worked, evidently it had because I went to check a trapline with one of the hunters and they were all empty.

Since the rainy walk out the Copeland Track, I've driven casually up the West Coast, stopping to fish occasionally to no avail.  I do hope to get into some Brown Trout in the coming weeks though.  I've now made it to Greymouth where I'll spend a couple weeks helping a family that's building a new house.  Then it will be on the road again to the North part of the Island to perhaps reconvene with Felipe and Patricia, and explore what the blue waters surrounding Abel Tasman National Park behold.

The Herefords and White Charlet in the paddock before me casually graze beneath the cloud veiled peaks of the Southern Alps.  The sun has finally made an appearance and the songs of hundreds of birds and insects float through the afternoon breeze.  I have filled my belly with a hearty tuna sandwich and sit content in a grassy meadow.  Despite the scars on my hands and soreness of my joints, my body is content.  It is my mind that wanders.  Ever wondering what's to come and where I will find what I'm looking for.  All in time I suppose.  Until then I'll have to be satisfied with the call of the Tui & the Wood Pidgeon, and relish in the beauty that surrounds me as the intense NZ sun warms me from the previous day's drenching rain.

In my life it does not go unnoticed that it's the people that have made it so great, not some far off mountain peak or a crystal blue ocean.  I do miss everyone I've left behind and realize what I may be looking for is the community I left in the first place.  I feel a change in my life, and though I most likely still have some wandering to do, I may finally be growing up.

Merry Christmas to all, until the next report.

Life goes on at Halfway Bay Station.  These photos are courtesy of Felipe.  One more week of work, then it's off to the west coast for a mid summer Christmas.  Not much to report, other than a great send off BBQ that we had for Felipe and Patricia.  They had wanted barbequed lamb since the start of docking so Gerry made it happen.  Last Wednesday night we celebrated the last month of work with good food and plenty of cheer.  Gerry broke out three bottles of very nice expensive Scotch and the men, myself, Felipe and Gerry had a Scotch tasting before dinner.  Four very tall glasses and an hour or so later we had made it to dinner.  Everyone was feeling quite loose and the evening was fun.  After dinner my memory was quite foggy, but I do remember fishing on the boat under the moonlight.  The girls were well into the wine and beer too and we all woke up for work with heavy heads the next day, but managed to get through a good day of tailing.  So Felipe and Patricia have departed and I'll remain for one more week to button things up for Gerry and Ginny before Christmas.  I send good cheer and love to all in the upcoming holiday season and will update you all soon as to my next move in this wide wonderful world.