Rompingground

I’m still in Pongaroa at the moment, probably the last week I’ll be here as I’ve started to get a little restless here.  Fortunately for me I’ve moved on from digging holes to fixing fences which I think I enjoy a little bit more.  One of the things I had heard about New Zealand before coming here was the idea of #8 wire.  As far as I can tell it goes a little something like

“You can fix anything with a little bit of #8 wire and some ingenuity”

The philosophy stems from the farms in New Zealand but extends from there to just about every facet of New Zealand culture.  I’d be surprised to meet a kiwi who didn’t know the #8 philosophy.  I’ve seen it used most when it comes to fixing fences around the farm from fixing broken fence posts to attaching battens to the posts.  The fences do look a lot better, from afar, than they did when we got there. Up close I like to say the wire work looks like a work of art. Because farms tend to be far apart in New Zealand farmers couldn’t rely on anyone or anything they didn’t have at their disposal to get the job done which would be the birth of the philosophy.  A good example of this is “The Worlds Fastest Indian” Burt Munroewho put together quite a fast machine in his garage, by himself.  Another one that I’ve seen is a homemade bike trailer made out of an old shopping cart, lawnmower handle, and an old bike wheel.  A little welding later and ta-da new bike trailer.  I really like this idea of relying on oneself and what is on hand, now if I could just figure out how to use #8 to fix broken spokes I’ll be good as gold.

A couple of hunters came today to refill the freezer with some fallow deer meat, I’ve got a few pictures but they aren’t for the faint of heart, I’ll post them next time I’ve got some pictures to go up.

The days have started getting noticeably longer again, thankfully.  I think it’s about as much daylight as I had the last time I was here in Pongaroa.  I think I’ve changed the route up north just a bit and instead of hugging the coast road around Mt. Taranaki I’ll cut up the east side of it and take the Lost Highway up to the center of the island after a suggestion made to me by another cyclist met in Otaki.  I’m certainly not looking forward to going through Auckland again, having not seen a city with 1 million people in it for close to a year it’s going to be a little overwhelming I’m sure.