Jill’s Travel Adventures

 My flight out wasn’t until 830 pm so I put my bags into the Haka House luggage storage and headed out for another yoga studio after breakfast, and a bit of work on my laptop.  At breakfast I met a nice young man from Mexico City who had completed his MSc in electrical engineering in Germany and had recently returned to Mexico.  I gave him my cooler bag and remaining food supplies as he had just arrived .  He was also interested in my blog for planning his trip so I sent it to him on what’s app- he got stuck right into it!   I then met another young man from Northport England who was living in Christchurch and launching a new dating app and speed dating service. Really enjoyed my visits w them both.   I made sure on choosing my yoga studio today that there was no infrared heaters in the photos online.  Crazy cool class though at the Yoga Academy.  The hatha class was like nothing I had done before.  A ton of props as you can see in photo belo...

I woke up Friday morning at Haka House Aukland City and after breakfast I had to transfer my bags to Haka House K Road as I had mistakenly booked 2 different Haka Houses for each night.  I could have straightened it out and stayed put for my second night but I thought that the k road one but I had it in my mind that the k road one was more updated.  I was wrong.  But the atmosphere there in this old building had a great vibe AND they had upgraded me to my own private room!  Video below.     Here’s me in early afternoon before my H yoga class enjoying a view and a Rose from Hawks Bay at Dr Rudi’s on the Viaduct. 5 star.   After dropping off my bags at K Street Haka I headed to the domestic terminal to drop my car - and the Uber arrived in less than a minute- crazy great uber service here in Auckland.  He dropped me at the Auckland Viaduct area so I could check out the harbour Quay.  First off I decided to tour the maritime museum, which I high...

 I left Blue Duck sadly around 9 am , after an 8 am conference call on the cafe picnic table. My highlights today were a stop at the Waitoma Homestead for the best meat pie from my 3 tastings around NZ.  Chicken w broccoli so flippin great, flaky pastry and wonderful flavor- the flat white on the side to perk me up for the remaining portion of the 4.5 hour drive.  Highly recommend a stop here if you are travelling through Waitoma….And second was a crazy hard hot yoga class that evening. As eluded to above, my second highlight after checking into Haka House, was the hot yoga class I attended after a very long walk, which included a stop at a cute little pub where I had a steak salad and Guinness before class.  The later was maybe not the best as it was an infrared studio and the fans were broken.  I didn’t know I could sweat that much.  I took an uber home. I loved their logo.

 Today I woke up early and headed to the cafe for wifi, and a catch up day of work.  I set up my office on the picnic tables outside.  Soon Dan arrived and we set into his recorded interview for my Regen Ag bus strategy students.  This was my first international producer profile and I was a bit nervous.  I had some questions prepared but once Dan got started he covered most of my questions without me even asking lol. That is passion.  I’m sure he will be an inspiration for my students as he sure was for me.  We are also exploring our top RGEN students being able to complete their practicum at Blue Duck Station.  What a cool opportunity.   I worked   steady until 330 pm and then shut down my computer and headed out to get some exercise.  I headed back up the trail to the falls as it was a nice 4 km hike up the track we took yesterday and you see and hear so much more when you are on  foot. When I returned Dan had 5 types of...

 I left New Plymouth at 7 am and arrived at Blue Duck Station Cafe just before noon. To say the least it has been a highlight of my trip - what an amazing place to visit.   Dan Steel, who stayed w us for a short time at Black Creek Ranch 25 years ago, has built up this station gradually after returning from Canada.  He is a visionary, talented entrepreneur , passionate conservationist, regenerative farmer and avid hunter and back country adventurist. Dan met me just after my arrival and we hopped in his large extended box side by side w his dog in the back, for a tour of his holdings. He runs 3000 sheep, 300 cows, 100 deer, a large contracted out Manuka honey operation, an adventure tourism and lodging business as well as forestry and lumber enterprises.  Another significant source of revenue is his carbon credit sales from allowing the steep hillsides to return back to native bush and also his planting of deciduous forests where it makes sense for grazing underneath...