Sheering Sheep & Stewart Island

Karl Had the opportunity to partake in a New Zealand tradition. He also found out that John Vercoe has mastered the subtle art of getting people over to his house in order to get some work out of them. I think he went to the same school as Al Rosen. Anyway, we ended up having a great time with the Vercoes despite the unexpected chores. To see more of the sheering pictures click the following link: Sheering Sheep

The Vercoe family invited us to join them at their Stewart Island retreat, the Hove To. Stewart Island is largely a nature preserve with a quaint wharf settlement of 300 people. Hove to is nestled into the hills around the main bay, surrounded by gum and eucalyptus trees which are populated by Kaka birds and wood pigeon (the fattest pigeons in the world, making NYC pigeons look scrawny.)

Kaka birds

Karl spent a portion of the weekend playing lumber jack with John and John. They took down a tree, dragged in way up hill and prepared and stored enough fire wood to burn the village down to ash. They feel very accomplished, especially in their masterful use of the chainsaw. I spent the day with Susan, Laura and Anne who showed me the local artisan shops and went for a short "tramp" (that's hiking to you Yanks.) On our walk we ran into the one police officer and the single nurse/EMT/ambulance driver (I hope she doesn't get sick.)


To see more of our pictures from Stuart Island among other candid shots, please use the following link:
Stuart Island photos