The sun came out! Today was warm! Sunny! We had to apply our brand new, super amazing factor 70 sunscreen! Yes, there is such a thing as factor 70! There is even 85, but the shop didn't stock it...
Ah Sun. How we have missed thee.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Sofa
I have so many aches from sleeping repeatedly on the ground. It is unbelieveably solid, despite the fact that there must be an underground river flowing through it by now.
We woke at 5am, to see the rain actually causing dents to appear in the top of the tent. Dragging ourselves through the rain to the kitchen, we made our porridge breakfast (we bought exciting flavoured satchets of porridge oats to enliven the monotonous regime of porridge) and chatted to the guy also in the kitchen cooking. Guess what he was making? He was cooking up a whole pan (read=20) of giant green-lipped mussels. For breakfast. Having been up since 2am at Cape Kidnappers, diving for them.
This guy eats more food than I can even comprehend eating in a week, let alone one sitting. The other day, he was making dinner. This involved five fried eggs, six lamb cutlets, three garlic breads and ten sausages. I am not even kidding. This morning, for breakfast, other than the mussels he had four sausage sandwiches and a french baguette filled with a whole cow. Okay, maybe that last was a little exageratted, but otherwise, yup, those are his eating habits. I do not know how 1) He has the time to cook and eat all this stuff, 2) How he has time in between cooking and eating this stuff to work enough to afford it all and 3) How anyone's stomuch can take that amount of food on a constant basis! He is also unfailingly generous and friendly, offering anyone around a share. This morning, Alex tried a fresh cooked, caught two hours previously mussel. I demurred, as it was a copped coloured squidge complete with rusty black breathing tubes and squelchy white stretchy bits attached to the shell. I like the shells, not the inhabitants! Apparently, it was really chewy and tasted of salt. Not surprising, really, but defiately not my preferred breakfast of choice!
Anyways, we hung out in the lounge again and Alex started up something new on the laptop for his portfolio. I read a magazine full of shiny pictures. We had some beans on toast for lunch and I bemoaned the Kiwi need to make everything sweet and their seeming hatred of hot foods.
We moved to the sofas and I started in on my book. We had music videos in the background. All the other backpackers were hanging about too, all reading and moping about the weather.
Then, amazingly, the sun came out and the rain stopped. Blue sky began to appear. We all gathered at the windows in sheer amazement. Then, fast as it had appeared, as if to give us false hope, it disappeared again. Its not raining (yet) but it is definately grey. Doh.
We had some exciting distraction in the form of the police showing up wanting to talk to the guy who cooks all the massive amounts of food - turns out he'd bashed osmeone attempting to rob his car on the head and the robber had complained to the police. But he was offskies anyways - he drove past and waved at me as I was returning to the lounge after a pasta-fetching mission form the tent!
A car race came on and absorbed Alex into its distracting circuits and crashes. I decided to do some mindless things on the laptop for a while, instead of consuming my book within one day. We had dinner, chocolate (amazing stuff with cherry flavoured jelly beans and bits of biscuit included in the chocolate) and watched Legally Blonde 2 on the tv with another couple. Now it is dark and it is time to re-greet to solid mattress of doom known to others as the ground. Joy.
We woke at 5am, to see the rain actually causing dents to appear in the top of the tent. Dragging ourselves through the rain to the kitchen, we made our porridge breakfast (we bought exciting flavoured satchets of porridge oats to enliven the monotonous regime of porridge) and chatted to the guy also in the kitchen cooking. Guess what he was making? He was cooking up a whole pan (read=20) of giant green-lipped mussels. For breakfast. Having been up since 2am at Cape Kidnappers, diving for them.
This guy eats more food than I can even comprehend eating in a week, let alone one sitting. The other day, he was making dinner. This involved five fried eggs, six lamb cutlets, three garlic breads and ten sausages. I am not even kidding. This morning, for breakfast, other than the mussels he had four sausage sandwiches and a french baguette filled with a whole cow. Okay, maybe that last was a little exageratted, but otherwise, yup, those are his eating habits. I do not know how 1) He has the time to cook and eat all this stuff, 2) How he has time in between cooking and eating this stuff to work enough to afford it all and 3) How anyone's stomuch can take that amount of food on a constant basis! He is also unfailingly generous and friendly, offering anyone around a share. This morning, Alex tried a fresh cooked, caught two hours previously mussel. I demurred, as it was a copped coloured squidge complete with rusty black breathing tubes and squelchy white stretchy bits attached to the shell. I like the shells, not the inhabitants! Apparently, it was really chewy and tasted of salt. Not surprising, really, but defiately not my preferred breakfast of choice!
Anyways, we hung out in the lounge again and Alex started up something new on the laptop for his portfolio. I read a magazine full of shiny pictures. We had some beans on toast for lunch and I bemoaned the Kiwi need to make everything sweet and their seeming hatred of hot foods.
We moved to the sofas and I started in on my book. We had music videos in the background. All the other backpackers were hanging about too, all reading and moping about the weather.
Then, amazingly, the sun came out and the rain stopped. Blue sky began to appear. We all gathered at the windows in sheer amazement. Then, fast as it had appeared, as if to give us false hope, it disappeared again. Its not raining (yet) but it is definately grey. Doh.
We had some exciting distraction in the form of the police showing up wanting to talk to the guy who cooks all the massive amounts of food - turns out he'd bashed osmeone attempting to rob his car on the head and the robber had complained to the police. But he was offskies anyways - he drove past and waved at me as I was returning to the lounge after a pasta-fetching mission form the tent!
A car race came on and absorbed Alex into its distracting circuits and crashes. I decided to do some mindless things on the laptop for a while, instead of consuming my book within one day. We had dinner, chocolate (amazing stuff with cherry flavoured jelly beans and bits of biscuit included in the chocolate) and watched Legally Blonde 2 on the tv with another couple. Now it is dark and it is time to re-greet to solid mattress of doom known to others as the ground. Joy.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Torchlight
Well, we survived yesterday. The rain eventually ceased, around 5 in the evening so we were able to dry out our tent and possessions and get to sleep without the fear of potential drowning.
Of course, such surcease could not last and it was flippin' well raining again when we woke up this morning. Grr. Also, for some unknown reason, the birds decided that our sixth morning in the tent was the morning for splattering the tent in guano. Yay.
Anyways, we awaited the rain to stop, in hope of a dry run to the kitchen for breakfast and miraculously, it did! So we gobbled our cereal bars and emailed a few more random contractors. Then we decided to take a walk to the PickNZ office in Hastings City and see if us showing ourselves to be real and not virtual abnmormalities might secure us a job.
Well. We trumped, for miles upon miles, upon the hard concrete pavements of the urban sprawl. We went through an industiral estate, down a main road and round about a flowery residential area. We finally located the office (usefully hidden from hopeful jobseekers behind a fence and car park) and sat down to wait our turn. There were six teenagers, who did not appear to speak English, being put on file by the very loud, very harrassed-looking women on the desk. Finally, she looked up and around the office, noticed that about five more people ahd come in and announced 'If any of you are here looking for vacancies, there are none.'
Doh. We trudged all that way for nada.
We went round the circuit route and back in the main city where we salvaged our lost operation with subway for our late lunch (the whole debacle took three hours!!!) and I purchased a magazine and a book (honestly the heaviest book I have ever hefted. So did not think that one through before buying). Hopefully, these can keep me occupied long enough to let Alex work on his portfolio pieces successfully on the laptop. So, we forge ahead, using the spare time wisely...
Of course, we got back to the campsite and it appears the weather had decided to take a turn away from wet and more towards freezing. We made dinner and huddled with everyone else in the lounge, watching Glee, the awesome musical drama they have here and then AotearoHA!, a comedy sketch show. Somewhere, in the middle of all this hilarity, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Again.
We made a run for the tent, which does not appear to be leaking (!) and now we have to settle down for the night, with bucketloads of water bouncing off the top of our tent. I guess at least it will clean off the bird droppings.
Of course, such surcease could not last and it was flippin' well raining again when we woke up this morning. Grr. Also, for some unknown reason, the birds decided that our sixth morning in the tent was the morning for splattering the tent in guano. Yay.
Anyways, we awaited the rain to stop, in hope of a dry run to the kitchen for breakfast and miraculously, it did! So we gobbled our cereal bars and emailed a few more random contractors. Then we decided to take a walk to the PickNZ office in Hastings City and see if us showing ourselves to be real and not virtual abnmormalities might secure us a job.
Well. We trumped, for miles upon miles, upon the hard concrete pavements of the urban sprawl. We went through an industiral estate, down a main road and round about a flowery residential area. We finally located the office (usefully hidden from hopeful jobseekers behind a fence and car park) and sat down to wait our turn. There were six teenagers, who did not appear to speak English, being put on file by the very loud, very harrassed-looking women on the desk. Finally, she looked up and around the office, noticed that about five more people ahd come in and announced 'If any of you are here looking for vacancies, there are none.'
Doh. We trudged all that way for nada.
We went round the circuit route and back in the main city where we salvaged our lost operation with subway for our late lunch (the whole debacle took three hours!!!) and I purchased a magazine and a book (honestly the heaviest book I have ever hefted. So did not think that one through before buying). Hopefully, these can keep me occupied long enough to let Alex work on his portfolio pieces successfully on the laptop. So, we forge ahead, using the spare time wisely...
Of course, we got back to the campsite and it appears the weather had decided to take a turn away from wet and more towards freezing. We made dinner and huddled with everyone else in the lounge, watching Glee, the awesome musical drama they have here and then AotearoHA!, a comedy sketch show. Somewhere, in the middle of all this hilarity, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Again.
We made a run for the tent, which does not appear to be leaking (!) and now we have to settle down for the night, with bucketloads of water bouncing off the top of our tent. I guess at least it will clean off the bird droppings.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Torrential
Okay. It is 8 in the morning. It has rained solidly for 15 hours, no pause. What is more, it has POURED. This is no drizzly, mizzly half-hearted rain. This is full on torrential monsoon type water descending from the sky.
Our tent just cannot take it anymore, the seams are so full of water that they have started leaking. We have wrapped all our possessions (gladly, not much as Val agreed to take some of the bulkier items back to the UK for us) in black plastic bags and retreated to the lounge again, to make serious friends with the sofas.
Our tent just cannot take it anymore, the seams are so full of water that they have started leaking. We have wrapped all our possessions (gladly, not much as Val agreed to take some of the bulkier items back to the UK for us) in black plastic bags and retreated to the lounge again, to make serious friends with the sofas.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Time
We were lounging about on our second full day here in Hawkes Bay, watching the phone and obsessively checking our emails, while watching a bizarre film from reception that another bored camper couple had rented out and put on in the movie room. It was called Lonely Hearts and starred John Travolta and Salma Hayuk being a psychopath.
Anyways, it was during this odd film that we got a phone call from Val and Bren. They had successfully visisted the gardens in Hamilton, glow wormed it up in the caves in Waitomo and trekked round the volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park. Now they were in Napier and ready to rendevous once again. They arrived in the campsite and located our tent, where we introduced them to the 15 golden ducklings that like to hang around our tent. We had a brief lecture from a randomer about sadistic children attacking the ducklings, and to stay on our guard (!) and then off we went, to explore!
We directed them to the New World supermarket in Hastings, the best supermarket I have so far seen in NZ. It is so pretty, they really put effort into the displays. All the vegetables are in hessian sacks or baskets, there is a salad bar, a deli, a chocolatier, a bakery, everything, in fact that one could want from a supermarket. There is also the top notch cafe they have out the back where Alex and I ate the day before.
Alex and I offered to concoct dinner and so swept around the aisles picking up ingrediants for our special - ricotta and spinach stuffed baked cannelloni! Once we had procured these vitalities, we set off for Val and Bren's motel room and kitchen facilities where we mixed and stuffed and prepped and baked until dinner was served, all on matching plates (not plastic!) and round an actual table! Novelties all.
We were driven back to our little tent in the rain and retired to bed. The weather did not imporve, it was still raining the next morning. Val and Bren picked us up again and kindly offered to take us on a tour of the orchards in the hope that showing our faces to would-be employers may sway them into offering us jobs. Alas, no such luck. After visiting over seven different places and being point blank refused at all of them, we couldn't take the rejection any longer. We headed to Mission Bay Winery, the oldest in NZ, and very pretty and grand. There, we headed to the fancy restaurant and had some lovely lunch, surrounded by gilt mirrors and ruched red silk blinds. We took a stroll out onto the terrace, looking out over the vineyard and towards the sea and the sun actually started to peep out from behind the rainclouds!
Once back in Napier city, we wandered along the Marine Parade, dodging cyclists and admiring the view. We looked over some beautiful gardens and innovative water features, remembering the story of Pania of the Reef and generally enjoying the return of the sunshine. Then, it was decided that we go and play mini-golf, although whose idea this was I do not know!
I have never played before and the first hole was a perfect example of this. No beginner's luck for me, 6+ 'gentle taps' and the ball was obstinately refusing to go into the hole. However, things picked up, my ball getting closer and closer to the hole with each successive green, until I actually scored a hole-in-one! Round a corner as well! Skills! Alex scored his hole-in-one on the first green, showing off his golfing prowess and Val got one round a random boulder stuck in the centre of the green. Some of them are deceptively innocent looking, when really they are filled with slopes and tricky corner bits. Grr.
Back at the motel, we had a tasty tasty supper of cheese (proper cheese! Not pre-sliced!), olives, bread, anzac biscuits, caramel slice, wafers, ooh it was yummy. I ate too much.
Back at the campsite, Alex and I sat by the river for a while to see the sun go down. By morning, it had turned from a breathtakingly beautiful golden sky to a black rainy one. Doh.
I was mobbed by the ducklings as I got out of the tent this morning to brush my teeth. They have got to know us now and were jumping on my feet and squeaking at me. Alex brought the camera out and they charged him too, just as Val and Bren pulled up. Once ready, we set out to do an educational tour of the Art Deco buildings Napier is famous for. We admired the rather lovely gardens and the bizarre trees lining the streets which appeared to be decked out with little bells or dirigible plums.
Then, we dropped Bren off in town so she could attend a more detailed Art Deco tour around Napier and said our goodbyes until Oz, then the rest of us headed back to the campsite for lunch. We made some tasty packet macaroni (helped along by generous quantities of real cheese) and had some carrot cake, then set of for Te Mata peak, despite the lingering rainfall. However, by the time we got to the peak and whats more, had heaved ourselves up the vertical sides to the top, the sky had cleared, the sun was out and the view was incredible. We looked over craggy mountainous sides, smooth organised vineyards, beautiful manor houses, right down to the curved Bay, the golden sands and the blue waters of the sea. In the opposite direction, there were hundreds of hills, roughly popping out of the countryside and covered in an almost furry-looking grass.
We returned to the campsite and said our goodbyes, as this would be the last time we see Val in NZ. Sad times.
Alex and I tidied the tent and sat outside for a bit in the sunshine. Then, the sky went dark, the clouds turned purple and everything went very quiet. We decided to move to the tv lounge and 5 minutes after we had esconced ourselves on the sofas, the downpour came. The rain is so heavy, so relentless and it is just getting heavier and heavier. The wind picked up. We are concerned our tent will not be there when we go back, which we shall have to at 10pm tonight, when the tv lounge is locked up. Oh dear, and now the contingent of kids that arrived earlier are flooding (ahhh, flood possibility!) into the lounge too. This is not good!
Anyways, it was during this odd film that we got a phone call from Val and Bren. They had successfully visisted the gardens in Hamilton, glow wormed it up in the caves in Waitomo and trekked round the volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park. Now they were in Napier and ready to rendevous once again. They arrived in the campsite and located our tent, where we introduced them to the 15 golden ducklings that like to hang around our tent. We had a brief lecture from a randomer about sadistic children attacking the ducklings, and to stay on our guard (!) and then off we went, to explore!
We directed them to the New World supermarket in Hastings, the best supermarket I have so far seen in NZ. It is so pretty, they really put effort into the displays. All the vegetables are in hessian sacks or baskets, there is a salad bar, a deli, a chocolatier, a bakery, everything, in fact that one could want from a supermarket. There is also the top notch cafe they have out the back where Alex and I ate the day before.
Alex and I offered to concoct dinner and so swept around the aisles picking up ingrediants for our special - ricotta and spinach stuffed baked cannelloni! Once we had procured these vitalities, we set off for Val and Bren's motel room and kitchen facilities where we mixed and stuffed and prepped and baked until dinner was served, all on matching plates (not plastic!) and round an actual table! Novelties all.
We were driven back to our little tent in the rain and retired to bed. The weather did not imporve, it was still raining the next morning. Val and Bren picked us up again and kindly offered to take us on a tour of the orchards in the hope that showing our faces to would-be employers may sway them into offering us jobs. Alas, no such luck. After visiting over seven different places and being point blank refused at all of them, we couldn't take the rejection any longer. We headed to Mission Bay Winery, the oldest in NZ, and very pretty and grand. There, we headed to the fancy restaurant and had some lovely lunch, surrounded by gilt mirrors and ruched red silk blinds. We took a stroll out onto the terrace, looking out over the vineyard and towards the sea and the sun actually started to peep out from behind the rainclouds!
Once back in Napier city, we wandered along the Marine Parade, dodging cyclists and admiring the view. We looked over some beautiful gardens and innovative water features, remembering the story of Pania of the Reef and generally enjoying the return of the sunshine. Then, it was decided that we go and play mini-golf, although whose idea this was I do not know!
I have never played before and the first hole was a perfect example of this. No beginner's luck for me, 6+ 'gentle taps' and the ball was obstinately refusing to go into the hole. However, things picked up, my ball getting closer and closer to the hole with each successive green, until I actually scored a hole-in-one! Round a corner as well! Skills! Alex scored his hole-in-one on the first green, showing off his golfing prowess and Val got one round a random boulder stuck in the centre of the green. Some of them are deceptively innocent looking, when really they are filled with slopes and tricky corner bits. Grr.
Back at the motel, we had a tasty tasty supper of cheese (proper cheese! Not pre-sliced!), olives, bread, anzac biscuits, caramel slice, wafers, ooh it was yummy. I ate too much.
Back at the campsite, Alex and I sat by the river for a while to see the sun go down. By morning, it had turned from a breathtakingly beautiful golden sky to a black rainy one. Doh.
I was mobbed by the ducklings as I got out of the tent this morning to brush my teeth. They have got to know us now and were jumping on my feet and squeaking at me. Alex brought the camera out and they charged him too, just as Val and Bren pulled up. Once ready, we set out to do an educational tour of the Art Deco buildings Napier is famous for. We admired the rather lovely gardens and the bizarre trees lining the streets which appeared to be decked out with little bells or dirigible plums.
Then, we dropped Bren off in town so she could attend a more detailed Art Deco tour around Napier and said our goodbyes until Oz, then the rest of us headed back to the campsite for lunch. We made some tasty packet macaroni (helped along by generous quantities of real cheese) and had some carrot cake, then set of for Te Mata peak, despite the lingering rainfall. However, by the time we got to the peak and whats more, had heaved ourselves up the vertical sides to the top, the sky had cleared, the sun was out and the view was incredible. We looked over craggy mountainous sides, smooth organised vineyards, beautiful manor houses, right down to the curved Bay, the golden sands and the blue waters of the sea. In the opposite direction, there were hundreds of hills, roughly popping out of the countryside and covered in an almost furry-looking grass.
We returned to the campsite and said our goodbyes, as this would be the last time we see Val in NZ. Sad times.
Alex and I tidied the tent and sat outside for a bit in the sunshine. Then, the sky went dark, the clouds turned purple and everything went very quiet. We decided to move to the tv lounge and 5 minutes after we had esconced ourselves on the sofas, the downpour came. The rain is so heavy, so relentless and it is just getting heavier and heavier. The wind picked up. We are concerned our tent will not be there when we go back, which we shall have to at 10pm tonight, when the tv lounge is locked up. Oh dear, and now the contingent of kids that arrived earlier are flooding (ahhh, flood possibility!) into the lounge too. This is not good!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Burger
So yesterday we awoke at 7am and in a super-efficient manner tidied our room, checked all was packed and headed out for muffinage. Shock! The bakery was closed, it was so early! So we went to the 24hr store and got some snacks for the bus trip, then returned to the bakery at 8am and grabbed hot chocolates and muffins. Yum. After enjoying this last vestige of civilisation, we checked out of our hostel and trumped up the hill in enough weight to portray training commandoes convincingly.
We boarded the bus is a frenzy of labelling and registering and settled in for the journey. The lowpoint of this was that, for the entire seven hour trip, I felt so queasy I submerged into a dozy heap in the corner of my seat. The highpoint was that Alex managed to both find and download a full copy of Zoo Tycoon onto our laptop so we can have our own zoos. A second high point was the lunch stop. The coach came to a holt outside Dino's Diner, near Taupo and magically my appetite returned the moment I was once again on land unconnected to wheels. I had what is quite possibly the best vege burger I have ever eaten, which is bizarre as the New Zealanders are not so kindly disposed towards vegetarianism.
We finally arrived in Hastings at about 5pm, and reloaded ourselves in the manner of pack animals in order to walk the 3 kms to the campsite.
Hastings appears 'nice' - white picket fences and gardens full of delicious smelling flowers, little white postboxes shaped like Alpine chalets and an evening humidity that was not unpleasant. We arrived at the campsite, bathed in evening sunshine and bedecked with glittery Christmas decorations. The tent was duly set up and proved to be big enough for the both of us and all our stuff, which is qutie the achievement for a canvas structure. Once set up, we had dinner (lack of saucepan and other edible food led us to eat the snacks bought that morning for the bus ride...lucky that) and then went to the TV lounge to charge the laptop and fire off emails off our superior employability now that we are right in the thick of the action, so to speak. Once it was dark, we retired to bed, tricky without a torch (mine broke early on in the trip) and tried to sleep, amazed at our situation which we had not even imagined two days ago.
The night passed, eventually. Without something spongy to sleep on, the ground is rather rock hard. We had such difficulty getting the pegs into the ground yesterday it was not unexpected, but still. Alex's sleeping bag was rather thin as well, so he ended up getting too cold to sleep and spendng the early hours of the morning building his zoo on the pc. We were both woken up abruptly this morning when some rabid Kiwi's obsessed with rugby started a loud conversation about the match of the day next to our tent. Grr.
We have partaken of our remaining food (cookies!) for breakfast, and are recharging the pc and answering emails, in the search for employment.
We walked back into Hastings in order to forage for food and came away full from the superb scrambled eggs and toast, as well as carrot cake. We also secured a brand new shiny saucepan and flipper-thing to cook our food in, and enough cereal bars to sustain us through many a working lunch. We are now fully prepared. We even have a bag of water, food and suitable clothes waiting in the tent, just on the offchance that someone calls at 5am with the promise of work and transport in the next 10 minutes. We'll be ready!!!
If, by chance, reading this is a vineyard owner or orchard contractor, then we are here in Hawke's Bay, we have a tent, we'll get a car if necessary, we have work visas, IRD's and NZ bank accounts, we'll work full time, 6 days a week, we are both eager and good workers and we can start immediately!
We boarded the bus is a frenzy of labelling and registering and settled in for the journey. The lowpoint of this was that, for the entire seven hour trip, I felt so queasy I submerged into a dozy heap in the corner of my seat. The highpoint was that Alex managed to both find and download a full copy of Zoo Tycoon onto our laptop so we can have our own zoos. A second high point was the lunch stop. The coach came to a holt outside Dino's Diner, near Taupo and magically my appetite returned the moment I was once again on land unconnected to wheels. I had what is quite possibly the best vege burger I have ever eaten, which is bizarre as the New Zealanders are not so kindly disposed towards vegetarianism.
We finally arrived in Hastings at about 5pm, and reloaded ourselves in the manner of pack animals in order to walk the 3 kms to the campsite.
Hastings appears 'nice' - white picket fences and gardens full of delicious smelling flowers, little white postboxes shaped like Alpine chalets and an evening humidity that was not unpleasant. We arrived at the campsite, bathed in evening sunshine and bedecked with glittery Christmas decorations. The tent was duly set up and proved to be big enough for the both of us and all our stuff, which is qutie the achievement for a canvas structure. Once set up, we had dinner (lack of saucepan and other edible food led us to eat the snacks bought that morning for the bus ride...lucky that) and then went to the TV lounge to charge the laptop and fire off emails off our superior employability now that we are right in the thick of the action, so to speak. Once it was dark, we retired to bed, tricky without a torch (mine broke early on in the trip) and tried to sleep, amazed at our situation which we had not even imagined two days ago.
The night passed, eventually. Without something spongy to sleep on, the ground is rather rock hard. We had such difficulty getting the pegs into the ground yesterday it was not unexpected, but still. Alex's sleeping bag was rather thin as well, so he ended up getting too cold to sleep and spendng the early hours of the morning building his zoo on the pc. We were both woken up abruptly this morning when some rabid Kiwi's obsessed with rugby started a loud conversation about the match of the day next to our tent. Grr.
We have partaken of our remaining food (cookies!) for breakfast, and are recharging the pc and answering emails, in the search for employment.
We walked back into Hastings in order to forage for food and came away full from the superb scrambled eggs and toast, as well as carrot cake. We also secured a brand new shiny saucepan and flipper-thing to cook our food in, and enough cereal bars to sustain us through many a working lunch. We are now fully prepared. We even have a bag of water, food and suitable clothes waiting in the tent, just on the offchance that someone calls at 5am with the promise of work and transport in the next 10 minutes. We'll be ready!!!
If, by chance, reading this is a vineyard owner or orchard contractor, then we are here in Hawke's Bay, we have a tent, we'll get a car if necessary, we have work visas, IRD's and NZ bank accounts, we'll work full time, 6 days a week, we are both eager and good workers and we can start immediately!
Friday, 27 November 2009
Karma
Whoot, today has been a bit crazy on the productivity side!
We met Val for muffins again, then zoomed back to the hotel to pick up Bren and all the lugguage. We took this round to the next street to pick up their rental car and packed it up and saw them off, despite their somewhat nervous acclimatisation to the wiles of an automatic.
Alex and I headed back to our hostel, where we booked a coach from Auckland to Hastings for tomorrow morning. Then, off into town to sort out loose ends and try and get some sort of plan in motion.
We popped up to the jobseekers office to speak to Jodi again about the backpackers she had suggested in Hastings. She phoned them for us, and when they were fully booked, continued to the next place...and the next. Things were not looking great until we stumbled upon a deal with the holiday park - one week for 135 dollars! This price was beyond amazing and we were ecstatic...until we realised - that was the price for a tent pitch, and we were there with no tent, sleeping bags, or any other type of camping equipment. In a swoop of amazingness, Jodi immediately offered to go home and pick up her tent, to give to us as she couldn't remember the last time she had used it. Added to this, she popped into the hostel lost propety room and snagged us two sleeping bags. We arranged to pick these up later and left, having sorted out accomodation in one fell swoop and restored our faith in the human race. We were both just in absolute shock mode that anyone could be that lovely! Jodi is a star, no doubt about it. We decided to get her a box of chocolates as a thank you and once that was sorted, we continued on with our chores. We went to check our mailboxes (sadly, nothing there). We popped into Vodafone and sorted out a NZ simcard for Alex's phone (mine dislikes foreign simcards...) so now we have an NZ number for employers to contacts us on. We then went to the warehouse to check on prices for Christmas decorations so we know what we can get for our hotel cheer!
After all this, we returned to pick up our new house (tent!) and waved goodbye to Jodi with profuse thank-yous. We came back to our hostel in order to pack up our stuff, which has multiplied and spread around the tiny room somehow. We had a tasty stew for dinner in the bustlingly tiny kitchen and then its showers and bed! All ready to embark on our new adventure tomorrow at some awfully early hour.
'Tis gooood!
We met Val for muffins again, then zoomed back to the hotel to pick up Bren and all the lugguage. We took this round to the next street to pick up their rental car and packed it up and saw them off, despite their somewhat nervous acclimatisation to the wiles of an automatic.
Alex and I headed back to our hostel, where we booked a coach from Auckland to Hastings for tomorrow morning. Then, off into town to sort out loose ends and try and get some sort of plan in motion.
We popped up to the jobseekers office to speak to Jodi again about the backpackers she had suggested in Hastings. She phoned them for us, and when they were fully booked, continued to the next place...and the next. Things were not looking great until we stumbled upon a deal with the holiday park - one week for 135 dollars! This price was beyond amazing and we were ecstatic...until we realised - that was the price for a tent pitch, and we were there with no tent, sleeping bags, or any other type of camping equipment. In a swoop of amazingness, Jodi immediately offered to go home and pick up her tent, to give to us as she couldn't remember the last time she had used it. Added to this, she popped into the hostel lost propety room and snagged us two sleeping bags. We arranged to pick these up later and left, having sorted out accomodation in one fell swoop and restored our faith in the human race. We were both just in absolute shock mode that anyone could be that lovely! Jodi is a star, no doubt about it. We decided to get her a box of chocolates as a thank you and once that was sorted, we continued on with our chores. We went to check our mailboxes (sadly, nothing there). We popped into Vodafone and sorted out a NZ simcard for Alex's phone (mine dislikes foreign simcards...) so now we have an NZ number for employers to contacts us on. We then went to the warehouse to check on prices for Christmas decorations so we know what we can get for our hotel cheer!
After all this, we returned to pick up our new house (tent!) and waved goodbye to Jodi with profuse thank-yous. We came back to our hostel in order to pack up our stuff, which has multiplied and spread around the tiny room somehow. We had a tasty stew for dinner in the bustlingly tiny kitchen and then its showers and bed! All ready to embark on our new adventure tomorrow at some awfully early hour.
'Tis gooood!
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