Wanaka to Moana ... What the Schist?

It all starts with mud ... and sand. Add 200 million years, give or take, significant heat, pressure, and you end up with schist. What's so great about schist? It's all about the water color in some of the lakes and streams here in NZ. I get excited when I see this color. It's a fluorescent luminescent blue-green that looks otherworldly. Unreal is this color, pure the delight. It's the schist flour that gives the water this lovely hue.

And it all starts with language. Although English is spoken here, it's quite a dialect, a distant cousin to that I speak. Oft I have to repeat myself, and have to ask once or twice for a repeat. Some accents are so strong, I have to key in with all my intent to understand. Here's a key to help with your visit.

Some key terms:

Tea ... dinner
Cuppa = tea, or coffee
F**k = self explanatory (se)
F**kLots = se (common in many sentences)
F**kAll = se (many Kiwis curse, a LOT)
Bra Fence = that 1/10th mile section of fence near Cardrona with bras hung upon it
Tuapatere = the town in which I own a sawmill, won in a pool game
Tuapatere Sawmill = that business I gave back to the owner after discovering it had $8m in debts, and needs a NZ$200k resource consent permit
Eh! = not a question as our neighbors to the north annunciate, rather a statement
Good on Ya = se
Good as Gold = se
Pudding = dessert
Lollies = candy, including lollypops
Dunedin = that city that received a month's worth of rain in 20 minutes, word is the stockbrokers were filing into an ark two by two
Mail Carriers = you just gotta' love a country where the mail is delivered by bicycle!
Music = all the hits from the 70's and 80's play on the radio, no wonder NZ seems back in time
Dear = pricey, expensive (and I thought all these Kiwi women were flirting!)