traveling again

every time i move i am reminded overwhelmingly how turtle-like i am, and it doesn't help that my backpack is green. i am in nelson right now 'sunniest spot in new zealand' according to my bus driver yesterday who was full of useful and interesting trivia. on tuesday josh and kirby, the other wwoofers at windsong orchard (the blueberry farm) gave me a ride out to linkwater, a little tiny town (not even a town but more like a collection of farms surrounding a gas station called challenge! and a pub with fish and chips takeaways) where bob and jennie had friends who needed some help with there lemons and so i was shuttled out to help them. not as cushy as my previous farm, though i was again in a caravan of my own, it was a half mile down the hill from the site where the family was building their unfinished house which they had already moved into. therefore there was no shower and an outdoor toilet at the top of the hill. it will be a beautiful house when it is completed with a compelling sweeping veiw of mountains and inlets surrounding it, but right now it's a job site (which i proceeded to clean, organize and fully sweep out). chris and ann were a sweet young couple with a strawberry farm that they hired a local girl to look after while they are preoccupied by their housebuilding efforts. they needed me to help with their lemon trees, a new orchard of two foot tall trees with adorable miniature lemons, which i had to weed and fertilize, all on a very steep uphill slope and next to a neighbors electric fence (which i did bump into. twice. it was not comfortable but more, well, shocking than anything). and they had the funniest little dog ever named molly, an unbelievable handful sized mongrel who looked like a cross between an ewok and a gremlin all covered in curly blond fur. but somehow totally loveable. and after two days of what equaled camping indoors, i caught a ride with the postman 'adam' to havelock, and he gave me a panoramic new zealand postcard and a kiwipost pen and told me where the best cafe was to wait for my bus. today i wandered around nelson, went to the market, which was full of craft vendors, and visited the studio of jens hansen, the jeweler who created the 'one ring' and there it was on display, but wait there's another at a different size? what? turns out that there is more than one, one ring, more like fifty plus but that's not too disapointing. just amusing. and i spent the remainder of my afternoon propped agianst a pine tree in the park, reading a book and eating icecream that melted with astounding speed, but i guess it's really hot today. something like 30 degrees. not sure what that equals....