On the next day Graham was supposed to perform in some kind of artists' festival in Blenheim, a larger town 20 minutes away. Other than that there was supposed to be A&P (Agriculture and Pasture) show in the same town. After hearing about all those exciting stuff going on, we decided that Blenheim is our next stop. We immediately called Millie, a HIT member in Blenheim, and asked her if she could host us the next day, and she immediately agreed.
The next morning we got up early and went to the main road to Blenheim. It didn't take us more than two minutes until a lovely lady stopped us. We can't remember her name but she was extremely nice. She tried to call Millie, our hostess, from her cellphone, in order to get directions, but no one answered. So instead of leaving us somewhere on the way she stopped in some commercial shopping center and went to the local post office just to ask how to get to that specific street. The Kiwis are probably the nicest people on earth. We can't imagine anyone being nicer than that, and it comes so naturally to them. You just need to witness any simple conversation between two complete strangers, and you will see that.
When we finally got there, Millie was still away. We didn't want to waste precious time, so we decided to leave our backpacks at her neighbors across the street and try to get to the agricultural show. As most things in NZ that was too easy. The lovely neighbors not only agreed to host our stuff for couple of hours, but they also offered us a ride to the show.
Even though most of NZ's economy is based on sheep (they have about 40 million of them, half of the world's sheep population), we didn't expect to see a fair like that. It looked as if it was taken out of an American movie about country life from somewhere in South of USA. There was even a small Ferris wheel for kids, only the sweet cotton candy was missing. The first thing we saw was an exhibition of agricultural hardware with lots of beautiful old and new tractors.
Then we saw a competition for the best milking cows. Then a competition for the best calves. And at last, the pride of NZ, a competition for the best Merino sheep. These guys are really incredible. Huge and very impressive sheep that have very little in common with regular sheep. They are at least three times as big, with magnificent curly horns and their "me…." sounds like if they have just smoked a pack of cheap cigarettes.
Their wool is considered to be the highest quality wool in the world. We also saw one sheared Merino. It stood naked in the corner, not making a sound, so the other sheep wont laugh at her.
The interesting thing was not only to watch the farm animals, but to see the farmers themselves, with all the clichés. You could not find anyone not wearing a jeans. These competitions looked very important to them, no place for jokes.
Later we watched dogs trying to control sheep as they are going through a set route, just as the one we saw in Victoria. Once again it looked like the dogs are taking their job really seriously, and the sheep don't really understand what is going on.
The final attraction was horse show jumping. There were several cute young girls on their elegant horses trying to jump over obstacles. All these things are so far from our world and our everyday life so we were really excited to have the opportunity to enjoy it.
When we saw all there was to see and ate all we could eat we took a ride to the town's center to see the artists festival where Graham was supposed to sing. When we got there it began raining and all the artist started to fold their goods. Graham has just finished his performance and all was left for us to do was to wait with him to his ride back to Picton.
After that we finally got Millie on the phone and arranged that she will pick us up. We got the warmest welcome when she arrived. As if she was a relative that remembers us from the time we were that little. From the car she drove we should have understood that she is the coolest grandma we will meet. She drove a Mini Cooper. We are not sure that there is any other grandma in the world that drives a Mini Cooper. She took us to her home where she treated us with tea and delicious cake she made. While we were drinking tea she asked us what are our plans for tea. We got a bit confused by that question. "Thank you, we don't want more tea" we said. She smiled and said: "I meant dinner". Then we recalled the words of Chrissie, the HIT agent, "tea means dinner for Kiwis". Sitting there chatting with Millie was really pleasant, she really gave us a homy feeling. Just after couple of minutes you understand how special she is. Later she even did our laundry for us. You can't get any more homy than that.
Few years ago she and her husband had a very big farm and had all sorts of very cool sports cars. They used to travel around the world and enjoy life. And then, one day, he died, so Millie sold the farm and bought the house she is living in right now. Since she is a very social person and she likes having people around and she had few extra rooms she turned her place into a Bed & Breakfast. So after staying in tents and in dorm rooms in backpackers hotels our lifestyle had improved significantly. Millie joined HIT mostly so she could meet more people and not because of religious reasons. When we offered to pay for the room she immediately refused: "I can't take money from you… You're special".
On the same night another couple was supposed to stay in the B&B. They were a couple in their late 50's from Germany. Millie was a bit concerned by the fact that they are from Germany, she wasn't sure how are we going to feel about it. We didn't mind, of course, but this specific couple was a bit annoying (mostly the husband). When we told them about the HIT organization and that they are hosting Israelis, he said: "We don't have any problem when we say that we are from Germany, every B&B can host us...". We didn't bother trying to explain him.
Later that night there was supposed to be a fireworks show all across NZ. The funny thing is that no matter who we asked no one knew what was the reason for all these fireworks, it has something to do with the British parliament. We couldn't understand how are the Kiwis will watch fireworks if most of them asleep before sunset. Nothing outstanding happened that night and we didn't see any crowds on the main streets of Blenheim. All there was is a local Rugby game in the local pub. After few minutes we made friends (wasn't too hard) with two groups of people sitting around us. One group was watching Rugby and tried their best to explain us what are the differences between Union Rugby and League Rugby. For few minutes we were sure we understood… The other two guys were in town on vacation. They were gambling on a horse race. They claimed they knew nothing about it, which didn't stop them from winning more than 120 dollars that night. Gambling on horse races is very popular in NZ and Australia. It doesn't seem that anyone understands anything about it, but they will always put few dollars just for the fun. When an important race is on, most of the cars will stop in the closest pub just for a few minutes and stay there longer if they have a good reason to celebrate or to cry.
The German guys from Millie's B&B joined us later but they didn't drink much. German that don't drink… suspicious, isn't it? But since they were our ride home we didn't mind.
On the next morning a fancy breakfast made by Millie was waiting for us. The Germans left early so we had more time to chat with Millie. She told us about her 4 children and her 10 grandchildren. Well, not exactly 10. When she stopped and counted them she was surprised to find out that she had 17 grandchildren. She probably stopped counting when she reached 10, who could blame her.
Then we all squeezed with all our backpacks in to the tiny Mini Cooper and she took us to the best place to hitchhike to Christchurch. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when there is such a chemistry in the air. We hoped to see her again on our way back north.
Catching a ride to Christchurch wasn't that easy, but good things come when you wait for them. Christchurch was 4 hours away, and the guy that stopped us was going all the way. It was a great guy too. His profession was Paua diver. Paua is a very beautiful shell fish that is common in some parts of New Zealand. The shell is used to make all sorts of jewellery and the meat is apparently a very expensive delicacy. You need a special license to catch those creatures. The ride, although long, was quite interesting. He really gave us an insight on the Kiwis' everyday life, the things that bother them, things that important. On the way south we passed some very beautiful beaches with seals and sea lions resting on them. We also passed through amazing hills, full of yellow blossoming bush. Our new friend was full of disgust while looking at the scenery. This is when we understood how differently we look at the same things. You see, this bush was not native to NZ, it was introduced by the Europeans, and since then it took over the natural NZ environment, just like most of the plants you will see in NZ. This is why Kiwis can't see beauty in those intrusive plants. After spending some time with the locals they started to look less pretty to us too.
We also taught him some thing about Israel, since he didn't know much about it. For example, that most of the Israelis are Jewish, and that not all the Jews were killed by Hitler. And that not all the children in Israel are armed. Things look so different from the other side of the world sometimes.
Later he even stopped in a special place, which not many know of. A small waterfall close to the main road, where baby seals like to bath in. When he asked as what do we think of NZ so far we told him that people always speak about its beauty but we are much more impressed buy the beauty and the kindness of its people. It seemed he didn't exactly know what are we talking about. Not everyone is like that?
The final destination of the guy wasn't exactly Christchurch. His home town was about 20km from the city. He showed us his town, which was closer to the epicenter of the earthquake that occurred in the area just one month before that. We could see a ruined bridge and some cracks in the ground, but it looked like everything is under control.
After that he insisted taking us all the way to the center of Christchurch and searching with us for the exact street we need, so Kiwi of him. They are really great people, those Kiwis.
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