I've now been in country for about a month and am settled in my small house, As an independent contractor I get a free house and a free car. Neither are flash:; meaning fancy, as a Kiwi would say. but are functional. The car is an '07 Toyota Corolla - manual transmission, steering wheel on the wong side with what's left of a paint job and body that looks like a fire breathing dragon, after a night of reptilian debauchery and immodest drinking, threw up on. The house is in a nice middle class neighborhood on a good Catholic street - 94 Sinnott Road. (check it out on Google maps) The most important thing about the house is that the roof doesn't leak because, as I've said again and again, it rains A LOT! I have 3 bedrooms so if anybody can get into New Zealand and wants to visit.... OK. I just ask that you bring as many bottlers of A1 Sauce and boxes of Grapenuts as you have room for. I've got my 5, 7 and 10 mile running loops mapped out so I'm all set.
Since back I've also reconnected with some of my old mates. I ran in to Allan Rooney aka Captain Ahab; (but with 2 legs) a weathered old salt of 65 years, at the Nelson Creek Pub last week. He is the skipper-owner of a 70 foot commercial fishing boat that sails out of Greymouth. He goes out for 3-5 days at a time and, since there is no alcohol allowed on the boat, he, as do all good sailers, more than makes up for it while on shore. The skipper and I have an informal arrangement: I buy him beer at the pub and he gives me all the fish I can eat right off his boat. He's offered to take me out for a short trawl on his boat but we all know how those 3 hour tours can turn out.
Talking about the alcohol driven black market, I went back up the Moolight River (7 miles up a gravel potholed road) to vistit my old whiskey for gold friend Mark. Unfortunatly Mark has moved on to Goldendale; a tiny village on the other side of Greymouth with a name more promising for a small time gold minor. I did meet Paul at the Moonlight campground. He is also gold panner and a pretty sucessful one from what I saw so the whiskey for gold business might live on. While there I decided to take a small tramp up the river and try my luck at gold panning. I did find some color in my pan and I think I know where there is more - hopefully enough to quit my day job.
I also dropped in on my old friends Trever and Gail - who are totally on the other end of the social spectrum from Captain Rooney, Mark and Paul. Trever and Gail live in a great house on an acreage about 20 miles up the Grey River from Greymouth with a pond and adjacent kiwi (the bird) sanctuary. Trever used to work for the NZ Dept of Conservation and so is authorized to have his own official kiwi fenced off protected area where he raises baby kiwis until they are ready to be release into the wild. He says some night we can go out there with his night vision goggles to try to find one. I was planning on spending Christmas day crying alone in my house in the dark but since Trever and Gail invited me over I think I'll go there instead.
Yesterday I bought a propane barbecue grill. After I did the "some assembly required" part with only a few extra screws and pieces left over - "instructions? I don't need no stinken instructions!" I'm ready to teach these Kiwi folks what good American barbecue is all about .........Assuming Helen; who is, by the way, my one and only true sweetie pie, and is (fingers crossed) reading this, sends down step by step directions (I said I don't need no stinken instructions. Directions are OK) on how to do it. A copy of "Barbecue for Dummies" would also work and it doesn't even have to be a first edition.
