Suckas! I celebrated New Year's before ALL Y'ALL. It was really incredible. We camped on the beach in Nelson, went into town, counted down to 2010 on the dance floor, all with my friends from all over New Zealand- German #1 from my second day in NZ, Germans #3 from our first wwoof site, and Ben/Theo from our last wwoof site in Karamea all boogied with us at a club called Little Rock. The wind back at the campsite was ridiculous- new stakes had to be bought and we finally got out tie strings to keep the Blue Lagoon from blowing away. Ben and Theo's tent actually DID blow away earlier, so we figured we had to reinforce them, and attempt to use the cars as a windblock. It wasn't nearly as bad that time we tried to sleep by the river, but it was definitely noisy.
I just saw Avatar in 3D, which I was very impressed with. I didn't love 3D for UP!, didn't think it was necessary, but I thought that it was very cool to see this movie in the theaters with the new technology. It was really well-done, and I recommend it. We invited German #1, and she said with a wrinkle in her nose "Oh, is that a fantasy?" and I retorted "Don't talk to me about wanting to see a fantasy, you just said you wanted to see New Moon!" and that got her quiet ;) (Twilight is ridiculously popular whyyyyyy?)
Today is errand-running in town. Plus maybe getting my ear pierced...?
We worked on my uncle's vineyard for 3 days, and it's definitely tough repetitive work, but we got a couple hundred bucks for it, so we're keen on doing it a little more in the next few weeks before looking to settle somewhere to get a real job. The idea is to hold out until February, when all the University students head back from summer break (isn't that CRAZY!? It's JANUARY!) so we can swoop in and steal all the jobs they're leaving behind. I'm hoping to find something in tourism, ideally tour guiding, so I'm going to try to make my way over to Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers on the west coast. Wouldn't that be amazing? If no guide jobs are to be had then I can go for waitressing or whatever is available. We'll have to see. If I can't get a job then I'll have to come home! Hoping it won't be that soon, but maybe at the end of February it will be time to pack it in. And four months away isn't so bad...
Getting excited for my concert in Auckland! I'm catching a ferry again from Picton to Wellington on Jan 13th, then on the 14th a bus up to Rotorua, where my friend Freddy (one of my roommates from BASE) will meet me and we'll drive the rest of the way to Auckland for the concert on the 15th. I'll have to find a way to get back to the south island for more vineyard work the following week, so it'll only be a day or so up in Auckland. So much travel, ugh...
One last thing. I had my first burrito in two months. It was absolutely delicious. It was at this place called The Golden Bear, owned by a guy who lived near UCLA. I introduced myself as Brady's niece, and he goes "Hey, what did you order? Do you like avocado?" and I totally got comped an avocado on that burrito. It was amazing, I felt so taken care of and back home in Cali. Seriously, one of the bartenders was from Santa Cruz, and there was a couple sitting at the bar who were from Sonoma. It was like I was really back home, where there's "no accent" :) Best $14 I've spent on food. Except for that steak sandwich that one time at Licorice Cafe. But still. Made me happy.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
What's brown and sticky?
Daniel, our new wwoof host, is teaching me to drive a stick shift today. Oh dear god. At least it will be on the beach at low tide- I shouldn't hit too many things.
I really really like it here. When we got off the ferry from Wellington to Picton (from the N to the S island) we realized we had no idea where we were going to stay. We tried calling some wwoof hosts but couldn't find anything, so we pitched our tent that first night. The next few nights we were able to do some wwoofing in Canvastown, next to Havelock, but left Monday morning because it was really short notice and they had people coming in the next day. We moved on to Nelson and decided to pay for a night at The Bug Backpackers, which ended up being a really great move. The staff was suuuper friendly and the place was one of the cleaner hostels I've been in so far. They had free bikes for exploring the city (of course I get a flat and have to walk back to the hostel to get a new one...), which is when I found the church with the christmas tree display and the choir singing. That night they had everyone help with christmas decorations and had snacks and sangria, making it a proper party. I met this lovely man Saul from Mexico, nearish to Guadalajara; we looked up how to play "Feliz Navidad" and completely rocked out, getting the entire hostel to sing with us. The staff invited us back for Christmas Day, but we had to make our reservations for both the 24th and 25th, which was a little less than ideal, even though it makes sense. We put our names down anyway, and hoped that we would find a cheaper option for the festivities, even though we really liked the vibe of the backpackers and knew that it would be fun if that's where we ended up.
We called some other wwoof hosts and talked to Daniel up in Karamea, who had a posting on the wwoof website as needing some help asap. We had been calling people trying to split up our foursome into pairs, but Daniel said he could definitely use all of our help, so we drove the scary road through Buller Gorge (where the first LOTR movie ends, by the river! Reallllly gorgeous, pun intended) and ended in the small small town of 650 people. Dan owns Saracen's Cafe and the Bush Lounge and Bar, and we sleep upstairs. He had to take a chainsaw to one of the walls yesterday so that we could climb up without going through his room. He's awesome. Jackie and I have gotten to do a lot of our wwoof work IN the cafe, meaning we wash dishes and bake cakes. We've also cleared up the garden in the front and back of the property, and I got to help dig the garbage hole with one of those huge digger things, claw and all. I felt pretty badass. Even though it's not exactly "organic"...
We work with Andrea, the manager, and Chad, the only employee, and we're told that every once and a while they have "Britt Britt" time, where they put on Britney and dance around the cafe. I told Chad this morning that we're not leaving until we see this happen. Andrea is really funny, gossiping about everyone that walks through the door, basically telling us everything we need to know about anyone in town. And she's a really great person to work with because she just makes us food. Or lets us have whatever's leftover at the end of the day. Sooooo many meat pies... oh, yeah, and we made like 70 meat pies yesterday, helping them stock up for the summer season. It's actually a fairly involved process, but not all that difficult, if you have all the right ingredients, but all and all it took 3 days to complete! One day for the filling (chicken, asparagus, cream, stock, salt n peppa), one day for assembling the pies (cut out top and bottom dough parts, add filling and cream cheese, seal in, egg wash on top) and then another to bake them. We were told that sealing the pies was the most important, because they WILL explode in the oven. We've also made Hummingbird Cake (banana, pineapple, walnuts, cream cheese icing), apple raisin cake, bacon/tomato/onion/cheese muffins, and corgette cake (zucchini bread). Then Andrea and Chad just make us lunch, like pumpkin soup and garlic bread, or today we had pizza bread with barbecue sauce, ham, onions, tomato, and melted cheese on sliced bread... amazing! And that's just what they "whip up" at the last second. I've seen the things they make in this cafe- Burgers the size of your face, delicious eggs benedict, pies, giant bowls of coffee... it's magic here.
Also, it being a small world, two more American wwoofers walked in two nights ago, and one of them is the first cousin of Nick Young, someone from Glee Club. Seriously, what are the odds? Theo and his friend Ben went to Carlton, and I knew a bunch of people from there who did the UMinn program last summer, plus Andy Willats, my APES teacher graduated from there. But the boys didn't know any of the people I knew. They're both really nice, and it's cool to have other American wwoofers, because you just have a common understanding of things, or can talk about the Daily Show, or this funny video from youtube, etc. Hoping they'll follow us to Nelson for New Year's Eve, because that party is just going to be off the chain.
We will be here through Christmas Day, where they're having a HUGE bbq at Little Wanganui, Kirsty's (Dan's bbf) hotel down the road. Justin and Lisa are working there today while Theo, Ben, Jackie and I get the bar ready for the Irish band playing tonight. It's going to be a fun party- we met the lead singer last night, Colum, and he's legit from Dublin with thick accent and all, who says I can jump up on stage and play with him! Justin's going to work the bar, and the rest of us are going to be eye candy :) Then, Sudnay is Jessie May's 5th bday party (Kirsty's daughter) and we're having Fairy Bread (white bread, no crusts, butter, sprinkles, cut in triangles). Finally Andrea invited us to her family's bbq on Tuesday night, and told me to bring the guitar for entertainment. So, my task between now and then is to look up more songs on the internet so that I don't bore everyone with the 10 songs I know... must expand le repertoire!
Hope all is well with everyone back home! Don't forget I love to hear from you!!!
I really really like it here. When we got off the ferry from Wellington to Picton (from the N to the S island) we realized we had no idea where we were going to stay. We tried calling some wwoof hosts but couldn't find anything, so we pitched our tent that first night. The next few nights we were able to do some wwoofing in Canvastown, next to Havelock, but left Monday morning because it was really short notice and they had people coming in the next day. We moved on to Nelson and decided to pay for a night at The Bug Backpackers, which ended up being a really great move. The staff was suuuper friendly and the place was one of the cleaner hostels I've been in so far. They had free bikes for exploring the city (of course I get a flat and have to walk back to the hostel to get a new one...), which is when I found the church with the christmas tree display and the choir singing. That night they had everyone help with christmas decorations and had snacks and sangria, making it a proper party. I met this lovely man Saul from Mexico, nearish to Guadalajara; we looked up how to play "Feliz Navidad" and completely rocked out, getting the entire hostel to sing with us. The staff invited us back for Christmas Day, but we had to make our reservations for both the 24th and 25th, which was a little less than ideal, even though it makes sense. We put our names down anyway, and hoped that we would find a cheaper option for the festivities, even though we really liked the vibe of the backpackers and knew that it would be fun if that's where we ended up.
We called some other wwoof hosts and talked to Daniel up in Karamea, who had a posting on the wwoof website as needing some help asap. We had been calling people trying to split up our foursome into pairs, but Daniel said he could definitely use all of our help, so we drove the scary road through Buller Gorge (where the first LOTR movie ends, by the river! Reallllly gorgeous, pun intended) and ended in the small small town of 650 people. Dan owns Saracen's Cafe and the Bush Lounge and Bar, and we sleep upstairs. He had to take a chainsaw to one of the walls yesterday so that we could climb up without going through his room. He's awesome. Jackie and I have gotten to do a lot of our wwoof work IN the cafe, meaning we wash dishes and bake cakes. We've also cleared up the garden in the front and back of the property, and I got to help dig the garbage hole with one of those huge digger things, claw and all. I felt pretty badass. Even though it's not exactly "organic"...
We work with Andrea, the manager, and Chad, the only employee, and we're told that every once and a while they have "Britt Britt" time, where they put on Britney and dance around the cafe. I told Chad this morning that we're not leaving until we see this happen. Andrea is really funny, gossiping about everyone that walks through the door, basically telling us everything we need to know about anyone in town. And she's a really great person to work with because she just makes us food. Or lets us have whatever's leftover at the end of the day. Sooooo many meat pies... oh, yeah, and we made like 70 meat pies yesterday, helping them stock up for the summer season. It's actually a fairly involved process, but not all that difficult, if you have all the right ingredients, but all and all it took 3 days to complete! One day for the filling (chicken, asparagus, cream, stock, salt n peppa), one day for assembling the pies (cut out top and bottom dough parts, add filling and cream cheese, seal in, egg wash on top) and then another to bake them. We were told that sealing the pies was the most important, because they WILL explode in the oven. We've also made Hummingbird Cake (banana, pineapple, walnuts, cream cheese icing), apple raisin cake, bacon/tomato/onion/cheese muffins, and corgette cake (zucchini bread). Then Andrea and Chad just make us lunch, like pumpkin soup and garlic bread, or today we had pizza bread with barbecue sauce, ham, onions, tomato, and melted cheese on sliced bread... amazing! And that's just what they "whip up" at the last second. I've seen the things they make in this cafe- Burgers the size of your face, delicious eggs benedict, pies, giant bowls of coffee... it's magic here.
Also, it being a small world, two more American wwoofers walked in two nights ago, and one of them is the first cousin of Nick Young, someone from Glee Club. Seriously, what are the odds? Theo and his friend Ben went to Carlton, and I knew a bunch of people from there who did the UMinn program last summer, plus Andy Willats, my APES teacher graduated from there. But the boys didn't know any of the people I knew. They're both really nice, and it's cool to have other American wwoofers, because you just have a common understanding of things, or can talk about the Daily Show, or this funny video from youtube, etc. Hoping they'll follow us to Nelson for New Year's Eve, because that party is just going to be off the chain.
We will be here through Christmas Day, where they're having a HUGE bbq at Little Wanganui, Kirsty's (Dan's bbf) hotel down the road. Justin and Lisa are working there today while Theo, Ben, Jackie and I get the bar ready for the Irish band playing tonight. It's going to be a fun party- we met the lead singer last night, Colum, and he's legit from Dublin with thick accent and all, who says I can jump up on stage and play with him! Justin's going to work the bar, and the rest of us are going to be eye candy :) Then, Sudnay is Jessie May's 5th bday party (Kirsty's daughter) and we're having Fairy Bread (white bread, no crusts, butter, sprinkles, cut in triangles). Finally Andrea invited us to her family's bbq on Tuesday night, and told me to bring the guitar for entertainment. So, my task between now and then is to look up more songs on the internet so that I don't bore everyone with the 10 songs I know... must expand le repertoire!
Hope all is well with everyone back home! Don't forget I love to hear from you!!!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thought #2
Stopped into a church I passed along the way
Well I got down on my knees and I began to pray...
I was talking to the man at the front of the church who was directing people to the xmas tree display, which was really cool- all of the local businesses had a small tree decorated however they wanted and had little descriptions of it. Anyway, I asked the man if the display would be up for long, and he said no, so I said, oh dear, I have to take it all in now. And then I realized for the first time that this is my first Christmas away from home. He asked me where "home" was, and I said "California", and for some reason I started to cry. Maybe it was that the choir practicing in the back of the church began to sing a carol in four part harmony, and it made me miss choir so so so much. Maybe it was the realization that I'm really far away from home for one of my favorite holidays. Or maybe it was realizing that even though I'm far away from home I feel like I'm exactly where I should be. That I'm becoming the adult, the woman, that I know is really me, and it's not as scary as the me back in California thought it would be.
California has been my home for 22 years, and it will always be fond in my memories as the stage of my childhood and adolescence; but now I feel I'm really becoming an adult, creating a new me, and suddenly California is just too small. Only a handful of people know this, but when I get back to the states, I'm not staying in California. I need to really continue my growth in a new place. Like... moving in with Jackie in Minneapolis. It doesn't matter that it actually feels winter there. What matters is that it's not living in Piedmont.
That is, if I ever come back to the states...
*evil smile*
Thought #1
*Grumble* I hate it when I can't be petty.
My friend Cynthia has been sending out daily Buddhist encouragement via email, and they always seem to pertain to what I'm going through, surprise surprise. This is the latest that was particularly apt:
"Shijo Kingo suffered on account of calumny. But the Daishonin told him, "Never let life's hardships disturb you." Those who resort to libelous accusations are defeated as human beings; no action is more lowly and base. We should not be swayed in the least by such despicable actions. Just as we do not put garbage into our mouths, we must not permit such rubbish to enter our hearts. The Daishonin encouraged Shijo Kingo to shut the cowardly behavior of his accusers out of his mind. The Roman philosopher Seneca says that the arrows of slander cannot pierce the heart of a person of wisdom."
*Grumble*
It's good advice.
In other news, I have the chicken pox again. At least, it feels and looks that way since I have bug bites frickin' everywheeeeere. Ouch scratch ouch.
My friend Cynthia has been sending out daily Buddhist encouragement via email, and they always seem to pertain to what I'm going through, surprise surprise. This is the latest that was particularly apt:
"Shijo Kingo suffered on account of calumny. But the Daishonin told him, "Never let life's hardships disturb you." Those who resort to libelous accusations are defeated as human beings; no action is more lowly and base. We should not be swayed in the least by such despicable actions. Just as we do not put garbage into our mouths, we must not permit such rubbish to enter our hearts. The Daishonin encouraged Shijo Kingo to shut the cowardly behavior of his accusers out of his mind. The Roman philosopher Seneca says that the arrows of slander cannot pierce the heart of a person of wisdom."
*Grumble*
It's good advice.
In other news, I have the chicken pox again. At least, it feels and looks that way since I have bug bites frickin' everywheeeeere. Ouch scratch ouch.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Justin's here!
Yaaaaaaaaaay JLauf is here! We met up by the Te Papa museum yesterday and since then it's been nonstop smiles in Wellington. Except when all the bars were closed. But that was a minor detail, since we were together :)
Today we're going to try to see some sights in Wellington today- the cable cars (compare it to SF!), the observatory, gardens, and actually go into Te Papa (which translates from Maori into 'Our Place'... awwwwwwwww) which is supposed to be a BOMB museum. Also going to reunite with Julia because i LOVE her and she lives in Welly.
We are couchsurfing with this reaaaaally nice girl Emma, who's so incredibly cool and has been allllll over the Americas, and plays music on a record player and has an AMAZING collection of Elton John, Edith Piaf, Beatles, Eric Clapton.... she's just great. And we're on this great hill overlooking Wellington, with really scary narrow streets and cool wooden houses that reminds me a lot of SF. Figures that they would copy us and have cable cars too.
Going to attempt to fix my phone today, as well as get my IRD #, which is the NZ version of a social security number, so I can work on the south island on some vineyards (which has already been set up by my uncle Brady, because he's THE MAN).
Onward in Windy Welly!
Today we're going to try to see some sights in Wellington today- the cable cars (compare it to SF!), the observatory, gardens, and actually go into Te Papa (which translates from Maori into 'Our Place'... awwwwwwwww) which is supposed to be a BOMB museum. Also going to reunite with Julia because i LOVE her and she lives in Welly.
We are couchsurfing with this reaaaaally nice girl Emma, who's so incredibly cool and has been allllll over the Americas, and plays music on a record player and has an AMAZING collection of Elton John, Edith Piaf, Beatles, Eric Clapton.... she's just great. And we're on this great hill overlooking Wellington, with really scary narrow streets and cool wooden houses that reminds me a lot of SF. Figures that they would copy us and have cable cars too.
Going to attempt to fix my phone today, as well as get my IRD #, which is the NZ version of a social security number, so I can work on the south island on some vineyards (which has already been set up by my uncle Brady, because he's THE MAN).
Onward in Windy Welly!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Alpaca and Horses and Emu, Oh my!
I like it here. Kelly, our farm dad, is a great guy. Super funny. Works us long hours, about 4 a day, but it's not so bad. We take lots of breaks. He's probably the closest thing to a real cowboy that I've ever met. He rides horses bare back (everyone rides horses here, esp Maori kids, Jax and I almost got run over by a kid riding a horse ON THE SIDEWALK in Opotiki. I was less than pleased. But yeah Kelly goes on horse riding bushwalks in like groups of 40.. they all meet up and take a ride through the bush and I'm going "I want to play!"), wrangles sheep, builds his own houses, cooks up nachos (and other delicious food. We're learning so many dishes here in NZ. Kiwis just know how to cook. We are well fed). Plus, he's best friends with Lynn, our previous host, who's my new hero, so we know he's good people. Lynn warned us that people get hurt here, though, because Kelly likes riding his horses everywhere... So we were all worried, but it's so not bad. He gave me and Lisa a riding lesson the other night, he's a great teacher. We rode bareback too! Got walking down no problem, but then Kelly did try to get us up to a canter right away, and it was muuuuuch more difficult. Maybe that's what Lynn meant.. anyway, we wanted to actually go on a walk with the horses, but our time has run out here at Upsand Downs Farm. I wish we could have stayed longer, but since we somehow acquired a schedule it hasn't worked out.
When I first called Jackie back in August to see if the invitation was still good for me to meet up with her and Lisa in NZ, I assumed that they had already made a bunch of plans. See, I've only ever really gone abroad with a group (Piedmont Choirs and Glee Club) or my family (Paris/England) or on a program (Argentina), and I've always had an itinerary. Always. So I just figured that J/L had already figured out what they wanted to do. So I ask
Me: I mean, is it still okay for me to come? I don't want to mess up your plans.
Jackie: Um... What plans?
Me: You mean you don't have an itinerary already?
Jackie: Um... What's an itinerary?
And that's how we've been operating. No schedule, just floating on the wind, letting the universe direct us to new opportunities. Being open to staying or leaving whenever we want, taking the time to stop at random wineries or take random walks along the side of the road... it's been very freeing for me, not NEEDING to be in any given place at this certain time in this specific attire and sing this set of songs. None of that. Just... whatever we feel like. And that's what we do.
But NOW we have this ferry ticket next week that was wicked expensive so we can't miss that. And Lisa has friends in Hawkes Bay, which is on the way to Wellington, so we want to stop there, meaning we have to cut our wwoofing gig with Kelly short. Then we have a few girls that we connected with through CouchSurfing, so we have a place to sleep in Wellington. And Justin Laufer just got into NZ from Oz last night and he's meeting us in wellington for Jackie's birthday! Oh, right, that's why we have a ferry ticket- Jackie wanted to celebrate "22" in wellington, and her bday's on the 7th, so we made the ferry ride for the 9th. That was dumb, we should have given us more time in Wellington, but I wanted to be on the south island to meet my uncle (well, my uncle in law's brother..?) and thought that I needed to be there in early December for various reasons which turned out to not be necessary. But whatever, it's actually kind of nice, because I've been in touch with him over email and he's THE MAN and he's set up all these wwoofing and temp work stuff for us through mid january which is much more than we're used to. We can barely plan a day ahead. But yeah, we're going to be able to replenish our bank accounts, which is fantastic, since we all like having beer money. I mean souvenir money.
ANYWAY, the point is that, suddenly, after about a month of not making any concrete plans, suddenly we have the rest of the year planned for us. And that's just so bizarre. I'm not really complaining, but it's interesting. I don't so much like being tied to a schedule, because floating on the wind is so much more poetic.
I'm soooooo excited to meet up with Justin! Eeeeeee.
I'm slowly but surely uploading pictures to my flickr account- my photostream is cmanderson113, please check it out!
Going to attempt to kayak later tonight. We'll be in a sort of marshy area, so hopefully there will be enough water... that always helps...
Don't know when I'll get internet again before Christmas, so don't expect a new post for a few weeks. I'm going to try my hardest to NOT pay for internet for a while. Again, depleting bank account, but soon to be better!
I want to leave you with a list of all the animals on Kelly's farm:
Chooks (Chickens)
Roosters
Geese
Ducks
Sheep
2 Goats
4 Horses
2 Emu
5 Alpaca
I keep saying it's like Old MacDonald's farm. This German wwoofer showed up today (seriously, Germany, wtf!) and said "I feel like I'm in a zoo!" True dat, Tim. True dat. I also keep thinking of a lyric from BNL's "If I had a million dollars"
If I had a million dollars I would buy you an exotic pet
Like a llama. Or an emu.
And that's kind of my life.
Monday, November 30, 2009
One Week in October Lasts a Lifetime
Hokay. So. Here's my blog on why you all wish you were in New Zealand with me.
Oct 24. Arrive in Aukland after 12 hours on a plane. Didn't feel so long. Customs takes a while, but my friend Jack stays with me while they work out stuff with my visa. Jack and I share a cab ride to BASE. I shower and get a chicken sandwich at Nandos, feeling better. Get invited to a Christian concert later that evening, doubtful that I will go. Check into room, am very aware that a lot of boys live in my room- there is that unmistakable stench of man. Hope that there is at least one other girl, but no one was there so I just choose a bottom bunk and leave.
Have trouble with my new NZ sim card... turns out i got totally gyped out of $8 when I bought the card. Oh well, I have a NZ number.
Walk with Jack along the north coast of Aukland, find a mini golf place and play a round for $10. Head back to hostel, meet most of my roommates, and they are all very cool. They invite me to walk to the supermarket with them to help buy food for a "roommate dinner". i'm feeling very welcomed upon our first introduction! We get the makings for salad and pesto pasta and cook in the kitchen. Meet many more people, like Lauren, a 30 year old guy from Colorado that can talk bay area sports with me, and Vyuwi, an englishman with South African roots, who thinks I'm from Ireland, and two boys from the states that are taking a gap year before college. We all eat dinner together. Lauren takes a picture of the salad I've made for the group, says it's "a very American salad". what, because I like vegetables? that doesn't sound American at all, really, but whatever, I think it made him feel a little homesick, it was cute.
We go to a liquor store around the corner because it's FREAKING EXPENSIVE to drink out. Gaz (a Welshman) knows some guys from Manchester, and they all want to go to this bar Cassette 9 down the street, because they're playing Manchester House music. So we pregame. And then we go to the bar. They served drinks in little teapots! We have a great time dancing. I'm not a fan of House music, but this wasn't so bad. I leave before everyone else and am in bed before 2 am because i've been up for like 2 days straight and i'm freaking exhausted. sleep like a rock. metamorphic, if you must know.
Yeah, that was my FIRST day.
Oct 25. Went on the Coast to Coast Walkway with Freddy, one of my German roommates. Started at Albert Park, went through Aukland University, across Domain Park, up to Mount Eden. There was more to the walk, but it had already been like 4 hours and we were fucking starving. We had connected with a bunch of German girls- 5 to be exact, but none of them were with the others!- and only one of them had a map among the 7 of us, so we followed her up to Mount Eden from Domain. Mt Eden was SWEET, because it's a volcanic crater. NZ has a lot of those, but this was the first I got to see so it made me happy. Freddy asked me "So, since you like geology, let's say that this volcano started to erupt. What would you do?" I told him "I'd fucking run the other way."
Marae-Sophie (the German with the map) ended up sticking with me and Freddy as we went to find food. Ended up at a Subway, which made me sad, because you can totally find those in the states, so it didn't seem very authentically Kiwi to me. But there were no other viable (cheap) options in the area as we came down the volcano. Then I noticed that "lamb" was one of the sandwich options. I asked the sandwich guy about it, and he told me it came with a mint dressing. I was sold. It was absolutely delicious, I've been trying to get Jackie and Lisa to go back to Subway with me ever since, but it hasn't come to fruition yet. Anyway, I got two cookies with my meal, so it was absolutely excellent. We took the bus back to Queen street, where our hostels were. Went with Marae-Sophie to her hostel, which had a hot tub ON THE ROOF. Said i would think about coming back that evening after dinner to do some hot tubbing wtih her.
Went back to BASE, hooked up with Hannah (Scottish) and David (a German) and walked to get gourmet pizza. It was... like... the strangest and most amazing pizza I've ever had.... One was pepperoni with spicy pesto, the other was like a chef's salad ON A PIZZA. there were PICKLES on the damn pizza. We ate it all.
I also connect with Vyuwi again, and he invites me to come to South Africa with him for the Soccer World Cup next year. I say okay, and he says okay. And I'm going, wait, really? And he's going, yes! Turns out he has family nearby the tournament, so we would have a place to stay...! "But it would only be a few nights," says Vyuwi, "Because I have young cousins. And I like to drink. A lot." So... I might be going to the World Cup next year!
Meet some Kiwis in the lounge. One of them is doing push ups and I look over and go, wtf? He says he's training for the Olympics.
-oh, what's your sport?
-Hopscotch. What's yours?
-Extreme vocal percussion.
-right, I'll believe it when I see it
-Bshkshbshkshpfkpfkbmbmbmchhhhhhhhh
And a minute later they're all asking me to teach them how to beatbox. It was hilarious. they gave me a free can of whiskey coke, which seems to be the preferred cheap drink of choice in Aukland.
Oct 25. Woke up to a rainy day. Jackie and Lisa were coming into Aukland to pick me up IN OUR OWN CAR, but I got some time to play. A bunch of us went to a park and played soccer and Spud! It started to rain, so we ducked into a market across the street. Turns out it was a holiday, so there wasn't too too much open, but we made do. I bought a new necklace because I thought I had lost the ONLY one I brought (and for those of you know know just how cool my necklace and earring collection is, I deserve mad props for only bringing a pair of stud earrings and one necklace.) It's this Maori symbol for new beginnings and spiritual growth (a spiral), and I thought it was very appropriate. I could get it in greenstone (jade), bone, or wood, and I liked the wood best, though I will get some greenstone eventually, since it's like the pride stone of NZ. We get lunch and I try this AMAZING tomato relish that just changes how I will eat sandwiches for the rest of my life. They use it all over NZ, apparently is really cheap and not fancy, like ketchup, but so much better- it has like cinnamon or something in it. It was wonderful.
Walk back to BASE in the rain, get my stuff, and wait for Jackie and Lisa to show up. Meet 3 Israeli boys and feel sad that I don't have more time to get to know everyone in the hostel because they're all so cool.
Finally J/L and I meet up and they're such a sight for sore eyes. They're the only people who know what my hair looked like back home, and they like the brunette look on me :) I mean, it does look good. I get all my stuff in the trunk and we set off for Watakere for our first wwoof farm. They've both been there for a week and were telling me how great it is, so i'm getting very excited even though I really enjoyed BASE and want to go back. I'm very impressed by Lisa's command of driving on the left side of the road and J/L assure me I will be driving in the next few days. I'm slightly terrified but can't worry about that yet.
We start driving through the freaking rain forest and I'm going where the hell are we? When we wind around and see the sign for a fire station and a "Tip no Rubbish" sign, we know it's time to turn onto a road that rivals Maxwelton and Echo Lane for steepness. It is very steep. And our car is very old. We have to back into a parking spot because there are too many cars parked at the house. We come inside and I'm met by smiles and inquiries of who I am and how do you like New Zealand and meeting all the new people. I get good vibes immediately and know I'm going to be well taken care of.
Sleeping happens in bunk beds- there are 8 in the basement of the house, in 2 rooms, 4 each. We separate into a girls and boys bunk. Apparently J/L had to share the room with Nick (who pays rent) the week before, because there were 4 Sweedish girls taking up an entire room before. But now that they're gone we can split up into "Americans" and "Kiwis". The beds are not the most comfortable... in fact, they're kind of uncomfortable. But there are many pillows on each bunk so I have some extra padding under me, but I swear I had bruises up my left thigh from the bed.
Meet Germans #2, Simon and Mattias, who are leaving the next morning. they are nice, but I don't get to know them much, since they are leaving. We hope to meet up with Simon in Dunedin, since he will be studying there.
I know that I'm going to LOVE Tutira, their 9-yr-old son. He's kind of amazing for a little boy. Very smart, very cheeky. Absolutely adorable. We have good times.
I love Sherab.
I love this house.
Holy crap I can't believe I'm in New Zealand.
Oct 26. Start wwoofing. It's great. See post below for more completeness.
The big hoohah of the day is I start to drive on the *wrong* side of the road. We drop off Lisa to do a bush walk on her own, and I get behind the wheel to attempt to drive into Henderson, a 30 minute drive, to find some internet, since there is none at our house in Bethels.
So. I begin to drive.
Dear God.
I thought I was going to die.
Here's the thing about New Zealand roads: They suck. Imagine CA-1 going north. And it's like that the ENTIRE TIME. Oh, and Kiwis like to drive REALLY FAST, so it's all intimidating while you're trying to make a left turn and they're riding on your ass. Jackie and I got insanely lost because signage is not so good in the Bethels area, so we went like 20 minutes out of our way and I had to turn around on some driveway and it was just terrifyingly awful. The turn signal and the windshield wipers are on opposite sides of the steering wheel, so you try to signal and you get a cleaner windshield and you go "Dammit!" And I had to think REALLY HARD about which side to drive on... just try to keep in the center of the lane, and do everything ass backwards, and you'll be fine... I definitely had a hard time staying in my line. You just have to be a beginning driver all over again, retrain yourself, because all of your default reactions are just wrong (cue windshield wiper) and the freaking rearview mirror is on the other side of the wheel (and you can't see it from the passenger seat! so annoying!) and it's just so much to think about at once. Argh. But we didn't die, and we haven't died yet. We're aiming to keep it that way.
We finally get to Henderson, use internet, check out the mall, go to pick up Lisa, it starts to rain, we get lost several more times, finally find the place but Lisa isn't there, so Jackie and I find a great climbing tree and talk about life until Lisa shows up. Go back to Sherab's, meet Germans #3, this really sweet couple Johannes and Adelina who say they're just going to wwoof with Sherab for a few nights. They have a "Camper Wan" (van) that they want to build a bed in back of so they can sleep in the van and not pay for accommodation everywhere. We're happy to add more workers to our queue.
Oct 24. Arrive in Aukland after 12 hours on a plane. Didn't feel so long. Customs takes a while, but my friend Jack stays with me while they work out stuff with my visa. Jack and I share a cab ride to BASE. I shower and get a chicken sandwich at Nandos, feeling better. Get invited to a Christian concert later that evening, doubtful that I will go. Check into room, am very aware that a lot of boys live in my room- there is that unmistakable stench of man. Hope that there is at least one other girl, but no one was there so I just choose a bottom bunk and leave.
Have trouble with my new NZ sim card... turns out i got totally gyped out of $8 when I bought the card. Oh well, I have a NZ number.
Walk with Jack along the north coast of Aukland, find a mini golf place and play a round for $10. Head back to hostel, meet most of my roommates, and they are all very cool. They invite me to walk to the supermarket with them to help buy food for a "roommate dinner". i'm feeling very welcomed upon our first introduction! We get the makings for salad and pesto pasta and cook in the kitchen. Meet many more people, like Lauren, a 30 year old guy from Colorado that can talk bay area sports with me, and Vyuwi, an englishman with South African roots, who thinks I'm from Ireland, and two boys from the states that are taking a gap year before college. We all eat dinner together. Lauren takes a picture of the salad I've made for the group, says it's "a very American salad". what, because I like vegetables? that doesn't sound American at all, really, but whatever, I think it made him feel a little homesick, it was cute.
We go to a liquor store around the corner because it's FREAKING EXPENSIVE to drink out. Gaz (a Welshman) knows some guys from Manchester, and they all want to go to this bar Cassette 9 down the street, because they're playing Manchester House music. So we pregame. And then we go to the bar. They served drinks in little teapots! We have a great time dancing. I'm not a fan of House music, but this wasn't so bad. I leave before everyone else and am in bed before 2 am because i've been up for like 2 days straight and i'm freaking exhausted. sleep like a rock. metamorphic, if you must know.
Yeah, that was my FIRST day.
Oct 25. Went on the Coast to Coast Walkway with Freddy, one of my German roommates. Started at Albert Park, went through Aukland University, across Domain Park, up to Mount Eden. There was more to the walk, but it had already been like 4 hours and we were fucking starving. We had connected with a bunch of German girls- 5 to be exact, but none of them were with the others!- and only one of them had a map among the 7 of us, so we followed her up to Mount Eden from Domain. Mt Eden was SWEET, because it's a volcanic crater. NZ has a lot of those, but this was the first I got to see so it made me happy. Freddy asked me "So, since you like geology, let's say that this volcano started to erupt. What would you do?" I told him "I'd fucking run the other way."
Marae-Sophie (the German with the map) ended up sticking with me and Freddy as we went to find food. Ended up at a Subway, which made me sad, because you can totally find those in the states, so it didn't seem very authentically Kiwi to me. But there were no other viable (cheap) options in the area as we came down the volcano. Then I noticed that "lamb" was one of the sandwich options. I asked the sandwich guy about it, and he told me it came with a mint dressing. I was sold. It was absolutely delicious, I've been trying to get Jackie and Lisa to go back to Subway with me ever since, but it hasn't come to fruition yet. Anyway, I got two cookies with my meal, so it was absolutely excellent. We took the bus back to Queen street, where our hostels were. Went with Marae-Sophie to her hostel, which had a hot tub ON THE ROOF. Said i would think about coming back that evening after dinner to do some hot tubbing wtih her.
Went back to BASE, hooked up with Hannah (Scottish) and David (a German) and walked to get gourmet pizza. It was... like... the strangest and most amazing pizza I've ever had.... One was pepperoni with spicy pesto, the other was like a chef's salad ON A PIZZA. there were PICKLES on the damn pizza. We ate it all.
I also connect with Vyuwi again, and he invites me to come to South Africa with him for the Soccer World Cup next year. I say okay, and he says okay. And I'm going, wait, really? And he's going, yes! Turns out he has family nearby the tournament, so we would have a place to stay...! "But it would only be a few nights," says Vyuwi, "Because I have young cousins. And I like to drink. A lot." So... I might be going to the World Cup next year!
Meet some Kiwis in the lounge. One of them is doing push ups and I look over and go, wtf? He says he's training for the Olympics.
-oh, what's your sport?
-Hopscotch. What's yours?
-Extreme vocal percussion.
-right, I'll believe it when I see it
-Bshkshbshkshpfkpfkbmbmbmchhhhhhhhh
And a minute later they're all asking me to teach them how to beatbox. It was hilarious. they gave me a free can of whiskey coke, which seems to be the preferred cheap drink of choice in Aukland.
Oct 25. Woke up to a rainy day. Jackie and Lisa were coming into Aukland to pick me up IN OUR OWN CAR, but I got some time to play. A bunch of us went to a park and played soccer and Spud! It started to rain, so we ducked into a market across the street. Turns out it was a holiday, so there wasn't too too much open, but we made do. I bought a new necklace because I thought I had lost the ONLY one I brought (and for those of you know know just how cool my necklace and earring collection is, I deserve mad props for only bringing a pair of stud earrings and one necklace.) It's this Maori symbol for new beginnings and spiritual growth (a spiral), and I thought it was very appropriate. I could get it in greenstone (jade), bone, or wood, and I liked the wood best, though I will get some greenstone eventually, since it's like the pride stone of NZ. We get lunch and I try this AMAZING tomato relish that just changes how I will eat sandwiches for the rest of my life. They use it all over NZ, apparently is really cheap and not fancy, like ketchup, but so much better- it has like cinnamon or something in it. It was wonderful.
Walk back to BASE in the rain, get my stuff, and wait for Jackie and Lisa to show up. Meet 3 Israeli boys and feel sad that I don't have more time to get to know everyone in the hostel because they're all so cool.
Finally J/L and I meet up and they're such a sight for sore eyes. They're the only people who know what my hair looked like back home, and they like the brunette look on me :) I mean, it does look good. I get all my stuff in the trunk and we set off for Watakere for our first wwoof farm. They've both been there for a week and were telling me how great it is, so i'm getting very excited even though I really enjoyed BASE and want to go back. I'm very impressed by Lisa's command of driving on the left side of the road and J/L assure me I will be driving in the next few days. I'm slightly terrified but can't worry about that yet.
We start driving through the freaking rain forest and I'm going where the hell are we? When we wind around and see the sign for a fire station and a "Tip no Rubbish" sign, we know it's time to turn onto a road that rivals Maxwelton and Echo Lane for steepness. It is very steep. And our car is very old. We have to back into a parking spot because there are too many cars parked at the house. We come inside and I'm met by smiles and inquiries of who I am and how do you like New Zealand and meeting all the new people. I get good vibes immediately and know I'm going to be well taken care of.
Sleeping happens in bunk beds- there are 8 in the basement of the house, in 2 rooms, 4 each. We separate into a girls and boys bunk. Apparently J/L had to share the room with Nick (who pays rent) the week before, because there were 4 Sweedish girls taking up an entire room before. But now that they're gone we can split up into "Americans" and "Kiwis". The beds are not the most comfortable... in fact, they're kind of uncomfortable. But there are many pillows on each bunk so I have some extra padding under me, but I swear I had bruises up my left thigh from the bed.
Meet Germans #2, Simon and Mattias, who are leaving the next morning. they are nice, but I don't get to know them much, since they are leaving. We hope to meet up with Simon in Dunedin, since he will be studying there.
I know that I'm going to LOVE Tutira, their 9-yr-old son. He's kind of amazing for a little boy. Very smart, very cheeky. Absolutely adorable. We have good times.
I love Sherab.
I love this house.
Holy crap I can't believe I'm in New Zealand.
Oct 26. Start wwoofing. It's great. See post below for more completeness.
The big hoohah of the day is I start to drive on the *wrong* side of the road. We drop off Lisa to do a bush walk on her own, and I get behind the wheel to attempt to drive into Henderson, a 30 minute drive, to find some internet, since there is none at our house in Bethels.
So. I begin to drive.
Dear God.
I thought I was going to die.
Here's the thing about New Zealand roads: They suck. Imagine CA-1 going north. And it's like that the ENTIRE TIME. Oh, and Kiwis like to drive REALLY FAST, so it's all intimidating while you're trying to make a left turn and they're riding on your ass. Jackie and I got insanely lost because signage is not so good in the Bethels area, so we went like 20 minutes out of our way and I had to turn around on some driveway and it was just terrifyingly awful. The turn signal and the windshield wipers are on opposite sides of the steering wheel, so you try to signal and you get a cleaner windshield and you go "Dammit!" And I had to think REALLY HARD about which side to drive on... just try to keep in the center of the lane, and do everything ass backwards, and you'll be fine... I definitely had a hard time staying in my line. You just have to be a beginning driver all over again, retrain yourself, because all of your default reactions are just wrong (cue windshield wiper) and the freaking rearview mirror is on the other side of the wheel (and you can't see it from the passenger seat! so annoying!) and it's just so much to think about at once. Argh. But we didn't die, and we haven't died yet. We're aiming to keep it that way.
We finally get to Henderson, use internet, check out the mall, go to pick up Lisa, it starts to rain, we get lost several more times, finally find the place but Lisa isn't there, so Jackie and I find a great climbing tree and talk about life until Lisa shows up. Go back to Sherab's, meet Germans #3, this really sweet couple Johannes and Adelina who say they're just going to wwoof with Sherab for a few nights. They have a "Camper Wan" (van) that they want to build a bed in back of so they can sleep in the van and not pay for accommodation everywhere. We're happy to add more workers to our queue.
Oct 27-30. We work in Sherab's amazing garden, doing all sorts of great stuff. Mostly weeding, but that's the bulk of ANY wwoof place we'll find. Before planting anything you have to remove all the weeds. And Sherab is quite picky. And a perfectionist. So she expects it to be ALL gone. So it's tedious but not back breaking. We do lots of preparation for Friday, which is the "day to plant" or something on the Kiwi calendar. So that's when we plant the pumpkins! I LOVE PLANTING PUMPKINS. J/L and I plan on coming back to Sherab's in a few months so we can harvest the pumpkins we planted, and make pumpkin pie! We're so pumped.
We become fast friends with Germans #3. We make plans to all meet up in Nelson for New Year's. We all go into town together one of the days, all buy chocolate (toblerone! Cadbury's!), and I got this awesome mocha with marshmellows at the bottom. But not just any marshmellows. Strawberry marshmellows. It was incredible. We try to do laundry in town but it's crazy expensive so we say we're not paying for laundry after this time. We'll handwash. Most Kiwis don't seem to own driers, they all hang their things to dry. So we just washed in town and were able to hang stuff at Sherab's. ABOVE the dinner table! I have pictures of it, I hope to put them up sometime, it was like the bat cave or something.
J/L and I have to work out the pricing for the car etc. Jackie's constructed this crazy system about how to pay each other that I pretty much keep out of, and just have them let me know how much I owe. I pay for our ferry ticket from Wellington to Picton, which is pretty pricy for 3 people with a car. But we work it all out and I pay back the girls in several installments. Or I just pay for big purchases, like at the Warehouse, which is the Kiwi version of Target. It's a wonderful place.
Yadda yadda yadda.
Halloween. We are STOKED for Halloween, which is on a Saturday. We have to work in the morning, but then it leaves all day to prepare. Jackie's been asking me about going out in costume since I bought my plane ticket, so we've been preparing for this night mentally for a while.
Turns out Sherab, the former gypsy, has a whole chest full of costumes she's acquired over the years, and says we can have at it. We have Tutira take pictures of us trying everything on, those photos are really hilarious. Eventually we all decide on variations of a gypsy- Jackie in jeans and a green velvet top, me in a skirt/shirt duo, Lisa in this wonderful Xena-like getup that is just amazing. Pictures are on my flickr photostream :)
We drive into Aukland for the night, figuring if we can't find a place to crash we can always sleep in the car. We park at Citygroove, the hostel where J/L stayed, and I meet some of their friends from their stay (a lot of people actually pay weekly fees at backpackers while they work in the city). I'm eager to see my friends at BASE, so we don't stay long before making our way across the city to see my friends. I reunite with everyone and I'm so glad that they're all happy to see me- it was just reassuring that I did make good friends in such a short time. We went to Globe Bar which was right next to the hostel. We saw zombies in the street. It was awesome. Not everyone was dressed up, apparently Halloween is just gaining some momentum in Australia and New Zealand. So a lot of Kiwis are saying they have to train themselves to get used to trick or treating with little dressed up kids. Yeah, America's taking over the world one commercial holiday at a time! We have a great time at Globe, and find beds to stay in at BASE, so we don't have to sleep in the car!
Nov 1. We all wake up at different times, but Jackie and I connect first, and meet up with my friend Julia really randomly and go for breakfast at Starbucks. They don't do prepaid cards, but they will do frequent buyer cards, so I get on that. If I buy 8 more cups of coffee I'll get my 10th free! woo! We catch up with Julia, and she reminds us she's moving to Wellington within the next week, and she hopes we will come visit. We assure her that we have a ferry ticket for December 9th, and Jackie wants to spend her birthday in Wellington, so we will definitely be there to see her wonderful flat. She's very excited, as are we. We still haven't heard from Lisa by 9:30, so we windowshop around Queen street. Jackie looks for a copy of "How I Met Your Mother" because she hasn't seen any recent episodes and is going through withdrawal, but we don't find any.
At some point I said goodbye to people at BASE, but I think that actually happened before breakfast. I don't know, it was over a month ago...
We don't hear from Lisa by 10:00, so we part ways with Julia, promising to keep in touch, and we walk back to City Groove, hoping Lisa is there. She is not. We hang out with people, talk about the previous evening, get offered beer and cigarettes, I accept the first, Jackie accepts the second, and we chill until Lisa finally calls us after 11:00 saying "Fuck it's so fucking bright! I totally forgot sunglasses ow my eyes I'll be right there..."
We make it back to Sherab's, and I try to nap, but I can't, so I do a few hours of work weeding (naturally). It's quiet for most of it, though I got to chat with the Germans a little more, as they were curious about our evening, and I got to ask questions about their lives and their plans for travel in NZ. But I worked alone for a little while and got to ruminate on how amazing my life has been in just one week....
And then November ensues... for a future blog!
And then November ensues... for a future blog!
Life, I has it
Hey all! I know it's been a while since updating. I finally have reliable internet this week at my new WWOOFing farm in Ohope Beach. This place is incredible, I love it so far. I mean, they have a dishwasher. That's like... 23rd century in NZ. We've been handwashing dishes since we got here...
Anyway, I'm working on a blog that will look back on my first month in NZ. It's going to be lengthy. I want to pack in as much as posible. It's in the works, so I wanted to make another post or two that were shorter just to let you know that I'm still alive and still very much loving my time here.
And yes, I had thanksgiving dinner. It was marvellous. Details in later blog.
Hearts!
Anyway, I'm working on a blog that will look back on my first month in NZ. It's going to be lengthy. I want to pack in as much as posible. It's in the works, so I wanted to make another post or two that were shorter just to let you know that I'm still alive and still very much loving my time here.
And yes, I had thanksgiving dinner. It was marvellous. Details in later blog.
Hearts!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Don't worry, I'm a Buddhist
This is a story about how the worst day in the history of the world turned into the best possible adventure.
We left Sherab's home last Monday, Oct 9th, at 6 in the morning. Ugh, such a crime to get up that early and drive the 4 hours to Te Puke, for our second WWOOF job. Through the winding roads and rain (and left side of the road driving getting more comfortable, but we often have to remind each other with a "curb check" to correct ourselves..). Anyway, it was okay.
We get to this little town called Ngatea to fill up on gas. Long story short, there was a huge miscommunication between the three of us and we accidentally fill up the tank with diesel. Shit. The Silver Fox (our 1989 Mitsubishi sedan) doesn't turn on and we're going fuck fuck fuck! Luckily, there was a mechanic right next to the gas station, so we push the SF in and they pump out the diesel. They tell us this happens at least once a week, so a) we aren't complete dumbasses and b) they have a pretty efficient system of getting the stuff out of cars. That makes us feel better. We fix our headlight while we're there, roll the SF back to the gas station to put in petrol, pay $60NZ for the repairs and about $90NZ for the petrol (FML) and we're ready to go!
...then the battery is dead.
FML!
Long story short, we spend FIVE HOURS at the repair shop in Ngatea... which is about five hours more than you would ever want to spend in Ngatea... we got food at this little shop called the Copper Kettle which made us all less cranky. And we all loved that the mechanics were REALLY nice and told us everything they were doing at every step of the fixing. One of them, Bob Anderson (!!) said he wanted to be a geologist, but then his dad got him an apprenticeship with a mechanic, and the rest is history. I gave him a piece of black tourmaline at the end of the day as a thank you, and he was all happy to add something new to his rock collection at home. A man after my own heart. Also, how freaking serendipitous was it that the car breaks down RIGHT NEXT TO the mechanic?
We paid $160 for the final repairs, because our starter was "dodgy", and they had to search through a pile of starters to find the right one (how nice that there was a PILE of starters to search through!?), and Jackie's AAA membership got us that $40 discount from $200 (!!!!) so we finally get back on the road and we're damn pleased about it. But all things considered, it wasn't so bad, we all got to call home and eat eggs.
We had called our new wwoof lady and let her know that we were having the worst car trouble ever, and she said to call her in the afternoon. When we left Ngatea we called her to let her know we were on our way. We left messages. On both phones. We call her for 8 hours, including AFTER we make it to Te Puke. We had an address, and really REALLY vague directions, and we search for her house for an hour. It literally does NOT exist. Her number was 720 off RD2, and the house numbers went from 709 to 728. Nadda in between. So that was insanely frustrating. And she's not calling us back. At all. Left us in the cold. Literally, it was rainy and cold.
So by 8pm, almost 12 hours after we were supposed to arrive in Te Puke, we head into an Irish Pub so hungry and exhausted and order tea, wedges, and a vodka redbull. I tell the baristas our sob story and they go, you know we have beds upstairs? We were on that like ants in Sherab's kitchen. So we also ordered a pint. and devoured the wedges. And the room had a shower and toilet INSIDE. We selpt so soundly. In the morning Jackie and I tried out her awesome Australian aerobics video and we all got to shower and shave our legs yessssss.
We get a text from asshole lady at 8:30 asking to meet us around 10am. We said "fuck you fuck you FUCK YOU". But more nicely. Lisa didn't even want to respond, but I insisted we just tell her no thank you we're leaving because YOU DIDN'T CALL US. So that was empowering. There was no way were were going to stay there after she totally fucked us over. So there.
We ended up camping illegally at this beach the next night. Rules! We ran around the sand in the morning with our swimsuits on. Then we headed to Hot Water beach in the Coromandel Region. We knew we could dig our own pools, but the tide was way too high, so we decided to look for another beach to chill at.
We pull into this winery randomly for lunch and wine tasting. The guy is so charming and pouring the most amazing fruity flavored liquours. We were having a great time chatting and all, so I joked "Hey, you've got a great lawn outside. Mind if we set up our tent and stay a few days, hahaha?" and the guy goes "Yeah sure why not."
Wait, really?
Really.
Four days later and we finally had to leave. We made it into an unofficial wwoofing spot! Danny, the guy letting us squat, is officially our hero. We weeded in his mom's garden up the road, plucked tea leaves on the property, ate freshly picked veggies from their garden, got to use their deep frier (I'm so getting one when I have my own place, I mean, we made french fries and FRIED CHICKEN for goodness sakes! And it was GOOD) and got FREE alcohol. Because Danny is our hero. And he took us to see the local's version of a bunch of the bays, did the hot pools at night, got FREE surfing lessons (I mean, wet suit and board and lesson and all), and tried spotting, which is an INSANE high. Again. Danny for the win. It was really really hard to leave.
To sum up, we turned the worst day into our greatest fortune. We weren't locked into any schedule and ended up having such a wonderful adventure. And it's really only just beginning. We've decided to just let the Universe work for us.
Now I'm in Taupo, which is nearby to freakin' MORDOR, so we're going. We're also going to check out tandem skydiving. Scary! I made contact with my uncle in Nelson, and we will be visiting him the second week of December. We'll be in Wellington the first week of Dec, for Jackie's birthday, and hopefully Justin Laufer will be able to meet up with us and hang out for Christmas and New Years! Yay friends!!!!
I am having the time of my life. Send me emails and tell me about you!
We left Sherab's home last Monday, Oct 9th, at 6 in the morning. Ugh, such a crime to get up that early and drive the 4 hours to Te Puke, for our second WWOOF job. Through the winding roads and rain (and left side of the road driving getting more comfortable, but we often have to remind each other with a "curb check" to correct ourselves..). Anyway, it was okay.
We get to this little town called Ngatea to fill up on gas. Long story short, there was a huge miscommunication between the three of us and we accidentally fill up the tank with diesel. Shit. The Silver Fox (our 1989 Mitsubishi sedan) doesn't turn on and we're going fuck fuck fuck! Luckily, there was a mechanic right next to the gas station, so we push the SF in and they pump out the diesel. They tell us this happens at least once a week, so a) we aren't complete dumbasses and b) they have a pretty efficient system of getting the stuff out of cars. That makes us feel better. We fix our headlight while we're there, roll the SF back to the gas station to put in petrol, pay $60NZ for the repairs and about $90NZ for the petrol (FML) and we're ready to go!
...then the battery is dead.
FML!
Long story short, we spend FIVE HOURS at the repair shop in Ngatea... which is about five hours more than you would ever want to spend in Ngatea... we got food at this little shop called the Copper Kettle which made us all less cranky. And we all loved that the mechanics were REALLY nice and told us everything they were doing at every step of the fixing. One of them, Bob Anderson (!!) said he wanted to be a geologist, but then his dad got him an apprenticeship with a mechanic, and the rest is history. I gave him a piece of black tourmaline at the end of the day as a thank you, and he was all happy to add something new to his rock collection at home. A man after my own heart. Also, how freaking serendipitous was it that the car breaks down RIGHT NEXT TO the mechanic?
We paid $160 for the final repairs, because our starter was "dodgy", and they had to search through a pile of starters to find the right one (how nice that there was a PILE of starters to search through!?), and Jackie's AAA membership got us that $40 discount from $200 (!!!!) so we finally get back on the road and we're damn pleased about it. But all things considered, it wasn't so bad, we all got to call home and eat eggs.
We had called our new wwoof lady and let her know that we were having the worst car trouble ever, and she said to call her in the afternoon. When we left Ngatea we called her to let her know we were on our way. We left messages. On both phones. We call her for 8 hours, including AFTER we make it to Te Puke. We had an address, and really REALLY vague directions, and we search for her house for an hour. It literally does NOT exist. Her number was 720 off RD2, and the house numbers went from 709 to 728. Nadda in between. So that was insanely frustrating. And she's not calling us back. At all. Left us in the cold. Literally, it was rainy and cold.
So by 8pm, almost 12 hours after we were supposed to arrive in Te Puke, we head into an Irish Pub so hungry and exhausted and order tea, wedges, and a vodka redbull. I tell the baristas our sob story and they go, you know we have beds upstairs? We were on that like ants in Sherab's kitchen. So we also ordered a pint. and devoured the wedges. And the room had a shower and toilet INSIDE. We selpt so soundly. In the morning Jackie and I tried out her awesome Australian aerobics video and we all got to shower and shave our legs yessssss.
We get a text from asshole lady at 8:30 asking to meet us around 10am. We said "fuck you fuck you FUCK YOU". But more nicely. Lisa didn't even want to respond, but I insisted we just tell her no thank you we're leaving because YOU DIDN'T CALL US. So that was empowering. There was no way were were going to stay there after she totally fucked us over. So there.
We ended up camping illegally at this beach the next night. Rules! We ran around the sand in the morning with our swimsuits on. Then we headed to Hot Water beach in the Coromandel Region. We knew we could dig our own pools, but the tide was way too high, so we decided to look for another beach to chill at.
We pull into this winery randomly for lunch and wine tasting. The guy is so charming and pouring the most amazing fruity flavored liquours. We were having a great time chatting and all, so I joked "Hey, you've got a great lawn outside. Mind if we set up our tent and stay a few days, hahaha?" and the guy goes "Yeah sure why not."
Wait, really?
Really.
Four days later and we finally had to leave. We made it into an unofficial wwoofing spot! Danny, the guy letting us squat, is officially our hero. We weeded in his mom's garden up the road, plucked tea leaves on the property, ate freshly picked veggies from their garden, got to use their deep frier (I'm so getting one when I have my own place, I mean, we made french fries and FRIED CHICKEN for goodness sakes! And it was GOOD) and got FREE alcohol. Because Danny is our hero. And he took us to see the local's version of a bunch of the bays, did the hot pools at night, got FREE surfing lessons (I mean, wet suit and board and lesson and all), and tried spotting, which is an INSANE high. Again. Danny for the win. It was really really hard to leave.
To sum up, we turned the worst day into our greatest fortune. We weren't locked into any schedule and ended up having such a wonderful adventure. And it's really only just beginning. We've decided to just let the Universe work for us.
Now I'm in Taupo, which is nearby to freakin' MORDOR, so we're going. We're also going to check out tandem skydiving. Scary! I made contact with my uncle in Nelson, and we will be visiting him the second week of December. We'll be in Wellington the first week of Dec, for Jackie's birthday, and hopefully Justin Laufer will be able to meet up with us and hang out for Christmas and New Years! Yay friends!!!!
I am having the time of my life. Send me emails and tell me about you!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
WWOOFING
WWOOFing is incredible. I've been working for the past two weeks on a farm on Te Autu road in Bethels for a woman named Sherab. She's my hero. Seriously. She was a traveling gypsy when she was younger and now she's bought this farmland on a hill and is transforming it into the land of her dreams. We work 3 hours a day, ending at lunchtime, then have the rest of the day to do whatever we want. We get fed really REALLY well- it's like a holiday dinner every night, tons of food all family style (though the cuisine is seriously mixed on any given night.. like nachos with stir fry..?!). So I don't go hungry... no worries on that. Lots of fresh food from the garden, like lettuce and chives, and local avocados and cucumbers... god it's so good. And one night we had lamb. Dear god, I wanted to cry it was so delicious.
The family is wonderful. Husband Jo is a beast of a Maori man, and a very sweet one at that, he's good to us. Thier son Tutira is the COOLEST nine year old boy ever, I want to keep him. I took him to a rock shop the other day and I kept telling him about rocks he liked... there's really not enough time to talk about how great he is. Then there's Shanan and Vajra, Sherab's sons from a previous marriage (to a Californian!). THEN there are all the other people that pay rent and live at the house- Kristen the artist, who i've commissioned some paintings from; Sonny the 18-year old musician who's a little anti social but is really cool (dreadlocks... drool..); Nick the just turned 20 year old that drinks at 11am and is NEVER allowed in our car ever EVER EVER again; Amy, Shanan's baby mama; N'Ryan, Sonny's older brother who's a selfish jerk and never cleans up after himself and always tells people if they're not a Hare Krishna then they're closed-minded. Then there are all the other WWOOFers (so many Germans! and one other american) and the people that randomly show up to hang out, like Hank, the 90 year old man from down the hill that has an amazing amount of land where Xena and Hercules filmed... at any given time there can be as many as 15 people running around the house- you can imagine how insane dinner time can get. But it's great. I wouldn't want it any other way.
The farmwork too is varied and fun. I've planted pumpkins, potatoes, kumera (Maori sweet potato), which involves lots of clearing weeds.... so. much. weeding. We actually just bought our own gum boots and gloves cuz we were borrowing them from Sherab. We do odd jobs too. We have a lot of fun. We've really transformed the land in the last two weeks.
Shit time is out. I'm great! Headed to Bay of Plenty tomorrow! LOVE!!!!!!!!
The family is wonderful. Husband Jo is a beast of a Maori man, and a very sweet one at that, he's good to us. Thier son Tutira is the COOLEST nine year old boy ever, I want to keep him. I took him to a rock shop the other day and I kept telling him about rocks he liked... there's really not enough time to talk about how great he is. Then there's Shanan and Vajra, Sherab's sons from a previous marriage (to a Californian!). THEN there are all the other people that pay rent and live at the house- Kristen the artist, who i've commissioned some paintings from; Sonny the 18-year old musician who's a little anti social but is really cool (dreadlocks... drool..); Nick the just turned 20 year old that drinks at 11am and is NEVER allowed in our car ever EVER EVER again; Amy, Shanan's baby mama; N'Ryan, Sonny's older brother who's a selfish jerk and never cleans up after himself and always tells people if they're not a Hare Krishna then they're closed-minded. Then there are all the other WWOOFers (so many Germans! and one other american) and the people that randomly show up to hang out, like Hank, the 90 year old man from down the hill that has an amazing amount of land where Xena and Hercules filmed... at any given time there can be as many as 15 people running around the house- you can imagine how insane dinner time can get. But it's great. I wouldn't want it any other way.
The farmwork too is varied and fun. I've planted pumpkins, potatoes, kumera (Maori sweet potato), which involves lots of clearing weeds.... so. much. weeding. We actually just bought our own gum boots and gloves cuz we were borrowing them from Sherab. We do odd jobs too. We have a lot of fun. We've really transformed the land in the last two weeks.
Shit time is out. I'm great! Headed to Bay of Plenty tomorrow! LOVE!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I ate a pumpkin and I liked it
Okay, quick quick update, only have a few minutes.
I LOVE NEW ZEALAND. My roommates at the hostel were amazing: 3 German boys, a Scottish girl, a Chilean man, a Canadian girl, and a Welsh guy... they took me in immediately when I got back from random mini golfing with Jack, and we all went out to buy food for dinner. We all cooked together, I made a salad and we had pesto pasta. It was freakin adorable! Then we all went out to this awesome place called Cassette bar where there was house music playing from Manchester, and there were a lot of guys from there so they were all very happy. I had a freaking amazing mojito, and i got rather tipsy rather quickly. This crazy girl started to dance with me and I got really uncomfortable, and I was going to get one of the guys to step in, but she took the hint...
On Sunday I did the Coast to Coast trail, starting north and working our way south. I was with one of the Germans, Freddy, and we had an absolute blast. We didn't have a map so we were makin it up as we went, and ended up going along with 5 German girls that were also doing the walkway. We made it to Mt. Eden, a collapsed volcano (!!!) and then decided we were too hungry to continue. Marie-Sophie stayed with us, a German girl, and we went to Subway where I got a lamb sandwich with mint sauce. I was a little skeptical but WOW it was good. Later we got this amazing gourmet pizza which was a little pricy but sooo worth it. We played stupid drinking games... no, wait, that was saturday... but I did get this wonderful ice cream called "hokey pokey", which is vanilla with heath bar bits and honey, and shared it with our group of friends. Yum.
Monday I met up with Jackie and Lisa, put all my stuff in our car (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and they did some errands in the city while I went with our friends to Victoria Park. We played spud, and we realized that none of us knew what happens at the end when 2 people are left, because we always stopped playing before that point. It was GREAT fun. We went to the market across the street because it was raining and found a great cafe to eat lunch at while it rained. It didn't let up so we started walking back and came across a sporting good store, sort of like REI. Sam, from Michigan, and I are thinking about buying a tent so we can go camping together. Julia, a girl from Germany (every other person is German...) is moving to Wellington in a month and needs a flatmate, and I told her I was interested, which is true! She's the sweetest girl, it would be very fun to live with her.
Lots more to say, esp about our first WWOOFing home, but my time is up, so I will update later. Basically I love it and the work is very easy and the food is good and the bed is comfy so life is grand. Oh, and driving on the left is the fucking scariest thing I've ever had to do.
Ciao!
I LOVE NEW ZEALAND. My roommates at the hostel were amazing: 3 German boys, a Scottish girl, a Chilean man, a Canadian girl, and a Welsh guy... they took me in immediately when I got back from random mini golfing with Jack, and we all went out to buy food for dinner. We all cooked together, I made a salad and we had pesto pasta. It was freakin adorable! Then we all went out to this awesome place called Cassette bar where there was house music playing from Manchester, and there were a lot of guys from there so they were all very happy. I had a freaking amazing mojito, and i got rather tipsy rather quickly. This crazy girl started to dance with me and I got really uncomfortable, and I was going to get one of the guys to step in, but she took the hint...
On Sunday I did the Coast to Coast trail, starting north and working our way south. I was with one of the Germans, Freddy, and we had an absolute blast. We didn't have a map so we were makin it up as we went, and ended up going along with 5 German girls that were also doing the walkway. We made it to Mt. Eden, a collapsed volcano (!!!) and then decided we were too hungry to continue. Marie-Sophie stayed with us, a German girl, and we went to Subway where I got a lamb sandwich with mint sauce. I was a little skeptical but WOW it was good. Later we got this amazing gourmet pizza which was a little pricy but sooo worth it. We played stupid drinking games... no, wait, that was saturday... but I did get this wonderful ice cream called "hokey pokey", which is vanilla with heath bar bits and honey, and shared it with our group of friends. Yum.
Monday I met up with Jackie and Lisa, put all my stuff in our car (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and they did some errands in the city while I went with our friends to Victoria Park. We played spud, and we realized that none of us knew what happens at the end when 2 people are left, because we always stopped playing before that point. It was GREAT fun. We went to the market across the street because it was raining and found a great cafe to eat lunch at while it rained. It didn't let up so we started walking back and came across a sporting good store, sort of like REI. Sam, from Michigan, and I are thinking about buying a tent so we can go camping together. Julia, a girl from Germany (every other person is German...) is moving to Wellington in a month and needs a flatmate, and I told her I was interested, which is true! She's the sweetest girl, it would be very fun to live with her.
Lots more to say, esp about our first WWOOFing home, but my time is up, so I will update later. Basically I love it and the work is very easy and the food is good and the bed is comfy so life is grand. Oh, and driving on the left is the fucking scariest thing I've ever had to do.
Ciao!
Friday, October 23, 2009
It Begins in Aukland
I've made it to New Zealand very safe and very sound. And way less sleep than I need, mayhaps. No problems getting on the plane, no problems taking off, minimal stomach problems.
So, Quantas 26... HUGE plane, 75 rows with ten people in each row, and it was FULL. So freakin' packed. Cuuuuute baby sitting in front. AND it was the shortest 12 1/2 hour plane flight ever! I lucked out with seatmates, truly. Sat next to my 52 year old German soulmate, Birget (Bridget), who is moving to NZ to start over because she hates materialism in Germany. I love her. I saw her at the gate, wearing fluorite bracelets and went "oh heck yes!" to myself, and lo and behold I sit next to this amazing woman. We talked through the night about how positive energy can change the world. I'm pretty sure if we traveled together the world would implode from our collective amazingness. So I love her. She had a chakra charm and was telling me about the 12 chakra points of our body (7 we can see, 5 we can't) and they also correspond to 12 points on the earth (tectonic plates!?@!?!). Anyway, I'm hoping to run into her again. Because I love her.
To the other side of me was Linda, visiting her daughter and grandchildren in Aukland. Seriously New York Jewish. Reminds me of Nana :) On the other side of Birget was Jack, a recent graduate from Manchester, England England. He's actually sitting next to me right now checking F'book. Turns out we're at the same hostel so we caught a cab together. I forgot to get money (what a jerk) so he paid for the both of us. We're at Base ACB and they won't let us check into our rooms until 1, so we stored our bags and I went to find food, a SIM card, and money. But not in that order.
My NZ phone number is working!
Ummmm I got hit up by these really nice women on the street promoting their Christian music concert tonight. They were really nice, and it was a lovely introduction to the city. I'm going to take their suggestion later and go to the water and watch the ferries go by.
Not much has happened so far, but I'm so glad I made it! The hostel seems fine (though I haven't seen my room..) and everyone is chill thus far. I can't wait to do my walking tour of Aukland in, like, one hour, and take so many pictures.
Until next time!
So, Quantas 26... HUGE plane, 75 rows with ten people in each row, and it was FULL. So freakin' packed. Cuuuuute baby sitting in front. AND it was the shortest 12 1/2 hour plane flight ever! I lucked out with seatmates, truly. Sat next to my 52 year old German soulmate, Birget (Bridget), who is moving to NZ to start over because she hates materialism in Germany. I love her. I saw her at the gate, wearing fluorite bracelets and went "oh heck yes!" to myself, and lo and behold I sit next to this amazing woman. We talked through the night about how positive energy can change the world. I'm pretty sure if we traveled together the world would implode from our collective amazingness. So I love her. She had a chakra charm and was telling me about the 12 chakra points of our body (7 we can see, 5 we can't) and they also correspond to 12 points on the earth (tectonic plates!?@!?!). Anyway, I'm hoping to run into her again. Because I love her.
To the other side of me was Linda, visiting her daughter and grandchildren in Aukland. Seriously New York Jewish. Reminds me of Nana :) On the other side of Birget was Jack, a recent graduate from Manchester, England England. He's actually sitting next to me right now checking F'book. Turns out we're at the same hostel so we caught a cab together. I forgot to get money (what a jerk) so he paid for the both of us. We're at Base ACB and they won't let us check into our rooms until 1, so we stored our bags and I went to find food, a SIM card, and money. But not in that order.
My NZ phone number is working!
Ummmm I got hit up by these really nice women on the street promoting their Christian music concert tonight. They were really nice, and it was a lovely introduction to the city. I'm going to take their suggestion later and go to the water and watch the ferries go by.
Not much has happened so far, but I'm so glad I made it! The hostel seems fine (though I haven't seen my room..) and everyone is chill thus far. I can't wait to do my walking tour of Aukland in, like, one hour, and take so many pictures.
Until next time!
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