The Wop Wops

Heidi lives in what she describes as the Wop Wops – New Zealand rural backwaters, and the first inhabited place on our travels without mobile phone reception (although they do have broadband). Heidi's husband is New Zealand's foremost realist painter, Grahame Sydney. They share their house, and its stunning views, with wire haired terrier, Milo.














Whist not quite the Good Life, they do keep four chickens, a large vegetable patch, and best of all, they've planted a small vineyard that produced ten cases of Riesling even before reaching maturity. The jacuzzi sits amongst the lavender, so our early morning dip had a rather a pleasant aroma, as well as a great view.














Heidi and Grahame live on Cambrian Road, so called because Welsh prospectors dug for gold in the valley in the 19th century. We took Milo for a walk up the road, meeting the neighbours and marvelling at the home of the local eccentric, complete with tattered Welsh flag.














After lunch we took the two kayaks to the lake at St Bathans. This was once a hill, rich in gold seams, but decades of really hard work turned it into a large hole. The afternoon was spent paddling on the rather cold lake, before decamping to the local pub, the Vulcan. This is New Zealand's oldest working pub, complete with ghost and rather curious hole in the wall above the bar. The bar sport for the last 100 years or so, has been to climb up and squeeze through the hole, then avoid falling face first onto the bar. We got Heidi through first, followed by Kirsten, and finally some (skinny) bloke in the bar. There was no chance of my shoulders making through the hole, which is all very well, as the wall looked ready to collapse.














I took one of Grahame's bikes out for a quick 26km spin around the local dirt tracks after breakfast. After a long slog, I was glad to get the the steep descent into St. Bathans for a quick pint in the Vulcan. Then it was time to leave the Wop Wops for the long drive over to Te Anau. There was barely time to call in at the Carrick winery for some tasting.