Wild Foods and the West Coast

***  Disclaimer--- the following blog post is not for those with weak stomachs!  :)  ***

Ever since my passing through Hokitika on my South Island adventure tour last December, I've been looking forward to heading back there for their annual "Wild Foods Festival".  It was last weekend, and even though I couldn't round up any friends to join me, I went regardless!

The drive from Blenheim is about 4.5 hrs.  I wasn't even 30 minutes into my trip when I got stuck in this traffic jam!  

The drive passes through some gorgeous mountain ranges and Nelson Lakes National Park.

Steve told me that on a nice day, Lake Rotoiti is a great place to stop.  He was right!

This year's theme of the fest was "Where the Wild Foods Are".  

The town of Hokitika has a population of just over 3000, but the festival sells 15,000 tickets!  Therefore finding accomodation isn't so easy.  The NZ Fire Brigade set up a campground for festival goers on this beach, which is where I stayed.   A little scary as this was the night of the Japan earthquake and they had issued some tsunami warnings for the NZ coast.   We got a bit of drizzle but that was it, thank goodness.

Tent city!

I borrowed a tent from a coworker.  My friendly campsite neighbor politely informed me that based on my poor pitching techniques, I was about to get soaked.  He helped me fix it.  Thanks, Kent!

After an okay (and nice and dry!) night in my tent, it was off to the festival!   Some people went costumed, but it wasn't the majority like at the Sevens.    I did appreciate the creativity of this homemade Lego Man costume!!

And then it was time to eat some WILD FOODS!   First stop was the classic huhu grub, a staple of the festival.

Huhu grubs are the larvae stage of the flying huhu beetle. They hatch from eggs which are deposited in rotten wood.   Here these guys were splitting wood and pulling the grubs out fresh!   They were priced based on size.

 Here's my freshly found $3 grub, still squirming!

Down the hatch!     Tasted like almonds.  

Next up was kangaroo meat.  Quite tasty and lean.  I highly recommend you try it sometime!

Also quite delicious was sea cucumber.

And then an ostrich pie.   Savory.  With plum jam on top.  Delicious!



The new addition to this year's festival was the Stallion Semen Shot.   Yes, there is horse semen in those vials!   You could have a flavor, but I chose natural.  :)

The microscope was hooked up to a TV screen so you could see all the horse sperm swimming :)

 My lovely campsite neighbors let me tag along with them at the Festival.  Here we are doing the Stallion Shot together.    Cheers!

It didn't taste bad at all, actually.  Next up was a shot of cow colostrum!!

 The seller had a backpack with a gun and squirted the colostrum in your mouth.  I learned the hard way you can't swallow a shot and smile for a photo at the same time... oops :)

Next up was the insect tent.

Including Worms on Toast....

Raw scoprion!

(they advised you to not eat the stinger as it's "hard to digest". Haha!)

And then I ate a LIVE grasshopper!   Crunchy!

Most foods were decent.  Some foods I tried were just disgusting.

Such as a hard-boiled seagull egg...

Goat milk ice cream was a big disappointment.  Super rich but kind of sour.  Blech.

The ultimate in grossness though were "Mountain Oysters", aka sheep testicles.  Here they are raw.

We tried them boiled.   Gross.   Note my face of dislke. 

Probably the most entertaining (albeit simple) thing we ate all day were chocolate dipped chili peppers!  Kiwis aren't known for enjoying spicy foods, so I thought it'd be a hoot if we all tried them.  Even this Arizona gal shed some tears eating one!   Goes down well at first, but once the chocolate dissolves, it's all heat!!

Later that evening, everyone headed to the beach for some bonfires and relaxing.  Looking down the coast there were at least a dozen bonfires!   How Kiwi :)

As if our bellies weren't full enough already, we picked up some bakery pizza.  MMMM.

One of them was whitebait pizza!   Very tasty, heaps better than anchovies!

The next day I decided to take the "Scenic Route" home along the West Coast.  The Lonely Planet travel guide ranked one of the Top Ten Scenic Drives in the WORLD!   The weather was stunning, which made the drive even better.

Along the coast is Paparoa National Park, home of the Punakiki Pancake Rocks.    What are Pancake Rocks, you ask?  They are limestone formations that began 30 million years ago as lime-rich frgaments of dead marine creatures overlayed weaker layers of soft mud and clay.

 Stacked like pancakes!

Punakiki also has some deep crevasses that, at high tide, water rushes in and pouffs up like a blowhole!  Unfortunately, my timing was off and wasn't around at the right time to see this.

But I did get to see some birds sunning on the rocks...

And even spotted a few dolphins swimming in the sea! 

From grubs to grasshoppers to pancake rocks... it was a fantastic weekend on the Wild West Coast.



Reflection

As you've seen, I've kept my blog postings mainly about my fun travel adventures in and around this amazing country.  I keep work stuff out of this blog, one, for privacy reasons out of respect for my patients, and two, I try to keep this blog pretty positive, and wouldn't want this to turn into a rant on my bad or stressful work days.

But I was walking home from the grocery store yesterday (Yes, I live within a 6 minute walking distance to a cafe, a grocery store, AND my work, how great), and I thought it was really time I blogged about my experiences here regarding the earthquake last month in Christchurch.

Of course, all of this may seem subdued after the mass destruction going on in Japan at the moment, but being a part (albeit small) of the relief efforts has really impacted me.

I was at an orientation meeting when the quake hit.   I didn't hear the news until later that afternoon at my pharmacy orientation, where all the pharmacy staff members were glued to the TV.  The next day at work, a primary care management system was already in place.  Per government orders, we would be accepting any patient that came to our door that was a Christchurch refugee (Blenheim is 3.5 hrs from CC). The government provided no cost visits and no cost meds for CC patients for the 2 weeks following the quake.

I wasn't anywhere near the front line, mind you.  I wasn't amputating legs or rescuing people from the rubble or even suturing cuts..... but what I was doing was what I do best--- providing primary care to those folks who left Christchurch, for whatever reason- whether it be because their house was demolished or they had no power/water, or they were just too frightened to stay in such an unstable place.

These past two weeks, I've had at least 2 or 3 CC refugee patients on my schedule everyday.  Most of the time it's just been to refill their blood pressure medicines or get them another asthma inhaler.  Easy stuff.   But, being a primary care doctor, I have an interest in their whole body wellbeing, so I always made sure to ask how they're doing.   Some said "fine" and were out the door with their prescription in 5 minutes, others shared their stories with me.  

Like the family who lost their third home in 14 months- first due to violence, second demolished in the September quake, third demolished with the February quake.  The kids had to evacuate from school, and didn't get back to their house, so obviously they were without their asthma inhalers and eczema creams.  The kids literally had the clothes on their back, and that was it.  Many NZ children don't wear shoes to school, so they didn't even have shoes when they came to see me.  A Maori organization funded their ferry ride to the North Island-- they were headed to Napier to get a fresh start on life.

Or the elderly woman who was evacuated from her nursing home and relocated to one here in Blenheim--- the NZ Air Force came in and took the residents away on Hercules planes!  This lady is normally wheelchair bound due to significant arthritis, but she boasted to me how she boarded and exited that big military plane on her own two feet, without assistance!

Or the woman who needed refills----her home had minor damage, but she couldn't get in touch with her doctor, as her doctor's office was in the CTV building, and she was pretty certain her doctor didn't come out of the building alive.  I checked the list of victims last week- she was right.

Some people are having trouble sleeping, others can't escape thinking every small bump or thump may be another aftershock or earthquake, even now that they are 300 km's away from Christchurch.

I have more stories, but I think you get the point.  At first I felt so helpless being so far away from the "action."   I wanted to help and provide my medical expertise where it was needed.  But what I'm finding out is that I'm probably needed most right here where I am.... helping many of these healthy people stay healthy, and helping those emotionally suffering get the care/meds/counseling they may need, and helping them get as much back to normal as possible- by encouraging regular sleep, eating, exercise, and NOT watching the TV news 24/7.

New Zealand is a tightly knit country, so even with the massive damage, I have faith the city of Christchurch (and its people) will heal.

I came to New Zealand for an advenutre, but never in a million years did I think I'd be helping the people of a disaster stricken city recover physically and emotionally.  Even though I'm hours away from ground zero, I do feel I'm making a difference, one patient at a time.

(another) Weekend in Wellington

Two weeks ago, I headed back to the "big city" of Wellington for the weekend.  The weather in Blenheim has just been so nice and sunny, I needed to get my fill of wind and rain again!

FALSE.

I went to meet up with my favorite Hawera veterinarian, Steve!  Welly is 3 and 3/4 hour drive from Hawera, and a half hour drive plus 3 hr ferry ride from Blenheim.  What a perfect, fun, (windy/rainy) place for us to meet halfway!

We spent a lot of time on Cuba Street, which is full of eclectic shops and cafes.  The people watching was superb.  We caught this street performer below, riding on what had to be a 10-foot high unicycle!

How on EARTH did he get up there, you ask?

With the help of a buff Hawera vet and two other muscular men the performer self selected from the crowd!

(Steve's on the right, by the way)

Steady....

Halfway there...

Ta-dah!   Quite impressive. 

He even caught and juggled flaming torches while on the unicycle!  Now that's talent :)

There was also a pretty wild one-day Kiwi artist music festival called "Homegrown" going on at the waterfront.   The event was sold out--- ergo we didn't have tickets, but there was plenty of craziness going on in the streets.  Like this..

It was a motorized toilet and sink that was driving around the waterfront.  And playing music.  With costumed people on it.  I don't know who or why, but it was a sight to see! :)

In other wild stuff, there was a free public stage at the Homegrown festival.  We caught some pretty flippin sweet breakdancers.  How they can spin on their head is beyond me!  And incredible upper body strength!  So cool.

We spent the evening dining, drinking, and dancing at the Waterfront.  If you're ever in Wellington looking for a good time, a great mojito, and a fabulous bartender, you must visit Johnny at Cuckoo!  

Sunday was a nice blustery Wellington day.   We played "tourist" a bit more.  There's a cable car that operates from the heart of the business district up up up the hill to a suburb with fantastic views of the city. 

Bye-bye, cable car!

Wellington and the harbor

It reminded me so much of being in San Francisco!

They have a Cable Car Museum at the top.  Where we learned it orginally opened in 1902.  A ride up cost twopence (aka two cents, why they have to call it "pence" is beyond me), but the ride down only cost one cent.

Here we are sitting in one of the orginal cars on display in the museum.

We *are* indeed sitting up straight--- the seats are made on a slant!

At the top of the hill was also the Wellington Botanic Gardens.   New Zealand's Botanic Gardens continue to amaze me in their beauty, year round!

The Rose Garden..

Some succulent cacti!  (I really don't know how these buggers survive in wet/windy Welly...)

The very fragrant Frangipani (plumeria)...

A quiet cicada...

A peaceful water lily...

And it wouldn't be a Linz Garden Photo Album without an anthurium shot!

 

The weekend definitely flew by, but it was great to have some fun in the city with some fantastic company.

Thanks for a fabulous weekend, Steve!