Murray and Jenny, North of Dunedin

April 11th - April 19th

Murray, Jenny, Jaryd, Zeb (Boarder Collie), and Ishmael (not present, currently sailing a super yacht) 

The home is North of Dunedin along Highway 1. Its an easy road to miss and I overshot it many times even after knowing where I was supposed to turn. 

Zeb always enjoys the extra ball throwers and petting machines a.k.a WWOOFers

Currently, Murray is semi retired spending his days working on projects around the home, throwing the stuffed rabbit for Zeb, and writes a monthly column for a New Zealand magazine called Lifestyle Block. When not attending to these distractions he spends his days with one of his earliest loves, sailing. Jennie met Murray while he was living on his boat. When the time came they moved out to the property they had purchased and been partners in with another couple. The property previously served as a forest block. Murray and Jenny began living on the property in caravans while they built their little piece of paradise. Jennie was working full time as a teacher. What they finally ended up building was a home that was completely off the grid and substantially sustainable for a mere 50,000 dollars. In fact Murray had a hard time getting the plans approved by Council because it was too cheap! 

The home is constructed in a passive solar design. Which means the North (South for those back home in the Northern Hemi) side of the home is built of as many double glazed windows as possible. The entrance is a single story sun room that is all windows and a glassed double door. This room is connected to the rest of the two story home with double sliding doors. This room acts as the house heater. It heats up during the day then as it cools the warm air works its way into the rest of the home to keep it at comfortable temperature. At night giant blinds are lowered to close off the top windows to keep the warm air in.

The floor is cement and is the thermal mass which also acts as a heater. The sun enters the windows and slowly heats up the concrete flooring during the warm day time. Then as the sun goes down and the night cools the floor slowly gradually releases the heat into the home. 

The walls are double side aluminum with poly styrene in the middle for insulation. The weight of the roof and second story is supported with tree columns. The house has several small solar panels and a small hydro system that is powered by the stream running through their property. This stream also supplies their non-potable water. Their electrical system is all run on 12 volts like your car battery. The lights are composed of many LED lights stringed together. Occasionally they have to use the generator to charge the cell phones, laptops, and to run the washing machine. Murray is a major recycler and tries to use as much recycled, scrapped, and second hand stuff as much as possible. Which also in turn supports a hoarding sort of habit with lots of spare parts, cars, bikes, and thingamagigs laying about. He says that it will all come in handy one day.

Left: Two bay windows stalked on top of each other. Right: Home made solar dehydrator

Devon and I stayed in a gypsy wagon! Inside was just big enough for to twin beds with a small walkway in between and two bench areas for our stuff. The first night was a bit chilly, luckily we had plenty of heavy blankets to keep us warm.

Since its on wheels it doesn't need a building permit

The first day we both helped clear low lying tree branches out of the their cypress forest. 
The next day Devon and Jenny did work in the gardens, pulling weeds and planting.

Jaryd and I put together piping for the new and improved hydro system.

Jaryd and I put up a fence for the new planting area which will hopefully be home to a field of wheat in the near future.

Jaryd and I dug up and removed a giant flax plant. Later Jenny and Devon broke it apart into smaller bits for replanting and flax weaving.

Devs failed flax basket turned into my new hat. 

Last but not least Devon and I used grubbers to dig up the grass for the new wheat plot.

The family took us to the local beach.

We rode Murray's innovated bike design. The pedal mechanism works in a alternating push instead of a constant circular motion. A little hard to get used but a nice ride once you get the hang of it.

Devon needed a wee help at first. She made me so proud! 

Learned how to throw shells like a frisbee.

Walked to the local lagoon and wild life preserve.

Murray and Jenny took us sailing and rowing! It was our first time sailing and pretty much our first time rowing.

Waiting for some wind...

A very nice and relaxing introduction into sailing. We loved it!

Devon taking the controls while I put my feet up. Life is rough.

Our sad attempt at rowing.

Devon and I trying out a brand new rowing technique called the S maneuver. A quarter the efficiency and takes twice as long to get anywhere. 

All we can do is laugh at our pathetic attempt

Different rowing techniques clash!

Devon and I went for a short walk through a canyon. Sorry no pictures.

Spent the evenings sitting around the living room conversing about various topics such as sustainability, self sufficiency, and sailing.

Murray and Jaryd. Missing from photo: Jenny and Zeb.

Dunedin

On Sunday the 8th we left the wet and chilly campground of Trotter's Gorge and headed to the city! Our destination: Dunedin.

Along the way we stopped at the Moaraki Rocks along the coast. Basically, giant boulders sitting on the beach. Scientists are not completely sure how they formed.

Upon arrival we headed towards the city I-site for information and location of the local churches. Devon and I wanted to attend church since it was Easter Sunday and decided to attend the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Dunedin. It was a large cathedral and service was a traditional service. We stayed afterwards to mingle with the local crowd and have a cup of tea and coffee. We met another retired couple from San Diego. They were only in town for the day and were part of a cruise headed for the fjords on the other side of the island in the morning. We tried to meet up with them for a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory but the tour was already booked by the time we tried to get tickets. We also briefly met another couple, the man was from South Africa and the woman was from Georgia. We did not get to chat with them for the locals were quiet interested in us visitors and had the usual allotment of questions.

The rest of Sunday and Monday were spent walking around the city center, the downtown shops, Otago Museum, and the University campus.  We spent Sunday night in a holiday park campsite and got to shower and use a kitchen, Yea!

Monday afternoon we took a road trip out to the Otago Peninsula and had lunch along the coast at a place called Lovers Leap and The Chasm.

The light and angle of the sun was perfect to show a reflection of the grey clouds on the surface of the ocean!

Dunedin is a cool city with a population of roughly 110,000 and some grand stone architecture. Loaded with historical churches and building. Its also home to the Speights Brewery: one of the oldest and the best selling beer in New Zealand. It was an interesting tour but doesn't live up to the Sierra Nevada Brewery Tour.  A sad but reoccurring truth keeps emerging on our trip,  New Zealand's survival is dependent on two things: dairy and tourism. Anything that can be turned into a tourist attraction is made into a money making business. The tour included a beer museum and history of beer which I think is a really neat idea in theory, however its execution at Speights came off cheesy and corny. Looking on the bright side, we got to learn about some beer history I was unaware of and its place in New Zealand history. At the end of the hour and fifteen minute tour we got to try 5 beers and 1 cider. Not horrible for 23 bucks each but just saying Sierra Nevada's tour is free and you get to try 8 beers and a couple of those are never bottled and released to the public, just saying, Chico is a lucky town to have a great brewery like Sierra Nevada. Afterwards we enjoyed a very tasty sit down dinner at Lone Star Restaurant down the street from the brewery.

Favorite part of the tour: tasting!