Ecky-Nats-Ay-Uh

My Dear Princess, Loulou and Fellows,

A few days ago, I did some gardening! Yes! I know! 

Look, I'm as surprised as you are. 

But the thing is that Caro was given an echinacea plant by a doctor who she has relocated to Paraparaumu from North Carolina.

She sounds like a nice lady. She took Caro to lunch because Caro found her a job in a nice place, where she would be "allowed to play my banjo"*.

Anyway. Caro left for Tauranga before she had the chance to plant her gift, and it was looking a bit sad so I put it in the garden for her. Hopefully it will thrive and I didn't kill it. 

But it reminded me of a story from our trip around New Zealand in 2000-2001. And because I am feeling lazy today, I have cut and pasted that story from our journal at the time. 

It was time to leave Auckland, and head on up to Keri Keri on the north tip of the north island in an area called the Bay of Islands where we would be staying with Macca. So we said goodbye to LB and her mum, who dropped us off at the bus station, heading north.

So there we were. On the bus. Heading to Keri Keri. Any minute now. Leaving Auckland. Going to Keri Keri. Just waiting for the bus to start... Then I heard the bus driver on his mobile...

BUS DRIVER: Shane? Yeah mate, bloody thing won't start. Yeah. Starter motor's buggered I reckon. Can you get Rob out her to take a look at her?  Yeah mate, of course I checked the bloody battery mate, I'm not bloody stupid. Jesus, Shane...

So we waited 45 minutes while, Shane, Rob and the bus driver got us sorted and finally we were on our way to Keri Keri. 

It was a 5 hour trip mostly through drizzle, but the scenery was so spectacular that it passed a lot more pleasantly than say, a 5 minute trip on a nice sunny day through Halifax. 

The mist hanging on the huge ferns gave New Zealand a Jurassic-Parky, Lost-Worldy type vibe. And the rolling hills, the lakes and the rocky landscape reminded me of the Lake District or the borders back in the UK.

On the way to Keri Keri, Caro got talking with a German lady whose name we never found out. She too had taken time off work as a teacher to do a bit of travelling and was now "vuffing all over New Zealand".

I had no idea what vuffing was. Probably some perverted sexual practice.

Actually it turned out to stand for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. You get the WWOOF-er book and can then travel all over the world, staying on organic farms and picking fruit, or podding peas or lasso-ing free range chickens or whatever. Anyway, German Lady had been doing this and was now looking for places to stay. Caro mentioned Macca's parents who operated an echinacea farm.

LADY: Eck-in-ay-shuh? Vot is zis? Ai heff neffer heard of zis?
CARO: It's a herb which boosts the immune system?
LADY: Hmmm... ai em a herbalist alzo? I heff neffer heard of zis in Germany? Iss zis a New Zealand herb?
CARO:  No you get it everywhere, in drops, or tablets...
LADY: Spell it, please.
CARO: E-C-H-I-N...
LADY: Oh, you mean ecky-nats-AY-uh!! Ja, vee heff zis alzo. How do you say it?
CARO:  Eck-in-ay-shuh.
LADY: I see. "Eck-in-ay-shuh". I grow eck-in-ay-shuh. You grow eck-in-ay-shuh. I grow eck-in-ay-shuh on my eck-in-ay-shuh farm...
CARO: All right, love, all right, give it a rest.
LADY: Okay, I stop saying it now.

Apologies to Germans. But I still find myself calling it ecky-nats-AY-uh in my head. Please don't tell me this if is not the proper pronunciation. It is my memory, and I want to keep it as it is. 

S.

* Again. North Carolina.