'Room with a View' Part 1

(Read first, then look at pictures ;) )

'Mainly the forest is green and the fish bite.' With these words (spoken in the best Hochbadisch) Bernie ends our heated discussion about the current world events, which were not insignificant influenced by a certain clown with a certain toupee and other disasters. Well, there's actually not much to discuss because we agree: the clown with the toupee is really beeeeep.

I probably don't need to explain much that we got along brilliantly with our two hosts Cathy and Bernie (actually: Bernhard) and they welcomed us very warmly. Of course, in our elegant evening conversations (or during the 'Smoko', the daily coffee break) we not only discussed controversial political topics, but also listened to exciting and amazing stories from Cathy's and Bernie's lives. The two of them have experienced quite a bit, which has probably contributed to their being the enchanting personalities they are today. Starting with the German village of 600 souls on the Swiss border, where Bernie spent his childhood, to fascinating travel reports from the two. Both Cathy and Bernie have traveled quite a bit in their younger years - and mostly in a very unconventional way. For example, Bernie traveled through the Middle East and Asia in his VW bus in the 70s (or was it the 80s?) and visited places that are no longer accessible today or have long been destroyed. Later, he zoomed through the USA on a motorbike or cycled to Paris without speaking a word of French - and all in three days. Hat off, Bernie...Cathy, on the other hand, undertook a horseback tour of New Zealand.

A sentence Bernie said when it came to why he didn't want to return to Germany permanently after two years of traveling and eventually emigrated to Australia has stuck in my memory: 'You change, but they don't.' Well, let's see...

However, the most beautiful story is how the two of them met at a jazz festival in their mid-40s and mid-50s. Both had experienced many disappointments and were actually at the end of their rope, but then they met and practically fell in love with each other. Six months later, they were engaged (Bernie's comment on that: 'WHAT, after only six months??? I didn't know it was THAT good'). Now they have been happily married for over 10 years, have their little 'lifestyle block' with sheep and chickens and everything that goes with it, and their own little nursery. And that's where we come in!

We actually helped them a little with their 'daily tasks' or so. In plain language, that meant potting a (of course, not just one) Japanese plant called 'Mondo'...and only for three hours a day with good conversations and oldies from the radio. You couldn't really call that work. If 'potting Mondo' were an Olympic discipline, Cathy would certainly be the world champion...we, on the other hand, had real trouble keeping up with her pace.

In the afternoon, after the '''''work''''', we could relax in our own little apartment, which was connected to Cathy's and Bernie's apartment by a door, watch movies, search for jobs on the internet, and go for walks. The latter was very rewarding, as the 'Bay of Plenty' is really very attractive (for example, there are incredibly old and thick Kauri trees here, which were worth naming whole hiking trails after them...well, if that's not an honor, then I don't know what is).

'Bay of Plenty' translates roughly to 'Bay of Abundance', as the first settlers were so impressed by the abundance of fruits and plants that this piece of New Zealand has to offer that they couldn't think of a better name...We especially noticed the 'plenty of avocados'. Apparently, every other average Joe has an avocado tree (or a substitute forest) in their garden, so the fruits were sold everywhere on the street for a kilo price of $1. There was even a dedicated avocado festival! (Well, people can really overdo it...)

Cathy and Bernie also overwhelmed us with crates of fresh avocados as well as lemons, zucchini, tomatoes, and more from their own cultivation. Since then, we have become addicted to them! And we try to incorporate them into every one of our main and side dishes, so we have already made avocado salads, avocado sandwiches, pasta with avocado cheese sauce...ok, STOP! I think I need an avocado detox when I return to Germany!

Anyway...Oh yes, 'Bay of Plenty'...Another nice name that the settlers could have considered would have been 'Bay of Wind' (although it could have led to confusion with Windy Wellington, which more than lives up to its name). Because it was really windy there - much to Cathy's and Bernie's annoyance, by the way, who were pleased with every moment of calm. However, every bit of storm was more than compensated by the magnificent view of the green hilly landscape lined with tall trees and the harbor in the background, as both Cathy and Bernie had to admit!

And that's the end of 'Room with a View: Part 1'. If you want to enjoy the view from our window, take a look at the pictures above (which I will upload as soon as Richi's phone and Richi himself come home from work...which won't be for another seven hours or so).

For my part, I'm taking an avocado break now!

Richi&Maggi, Tuesday January 24, 2017 (Crazy, Christmas was already a month ago), Akaroa 4:47 pm