Rainy Week in Tasman, New Zealand

We've been singing the theme song of "Green Acres" quite a lot this week, but, having a good time and enjoying the company of our hosts, David and Gill.  We're getting a lot done, even in the rain.  Below are some of our experiences this week.

Workin' on the farm.  We call this our "Green Acres" job.

Farm Livin' is the life for me...

 No! New York is where I'd rather be...

 This is where we emptied the compost bins, then we made more.  The compost is made up of 

mowed grass, saw dust, gypsum powder, dolomite powder and alpaca poo.

 David fixing a BBQ grill and Linda cleaning an oven.

On Tuesday, our host had a business meeting in the town of Motueka so he offered to let us come along and explore the town while he was at his meeting.

We did a little bit of grocery shopping (we made dinner for our host on Friday night) 

and then found a nice little cafe.

Wednesday night our host invited a few of their friends over for dinner.  As an appetizer, one of their friends made "whitebait fritters".

         Whitebait

Dinner for 10 - We've eaten very well here!

David and David putting in a kitchen countertop (they call it a "bench") 

in one of their small one room cottages.

The cottage is 8' X 10'

Sitting area on the side of the cottage

David boxed himself in; now what?

Another gorgeous morning on the farm.

On Friday afternoon we took the bikes out to explore.

This sign was for an actual winery on Harley Road.

Saturday morning our host drove us to the town of Nelson and we picked up a rental car to use for our last 10 days in this area.

Touring around the town of Nelson.

Just outside of Nelson in the Maitai Valley

We came across this tree trunk of an old Eucalyptus tree - massive!

Deer farm - there had to be more than 50 deer on this farm.

Exploring the countryside in Aniseed Valley.

Aniseed River

David trying to feed the Piwakawaka (Fantail). You can see the bird flying right by his head.  They are very friendly and curious birds and almost seem like they will land on you.  Our hosts have them flying in and out of their house almost everyday.