Welcome to the South Island

Back to the usual no-free-internet-anywhere aspect of New Zealand, and my neglect of this blog... at this rate it's a miracle if I can do two posts a month. Time to catch up. It's pouring rain in Nelson, the "sunniest region" in the south island, and we're in the library, bumming around. We are going to try sleeping in our car on the side of the road for the first time tonight! We spent the last two nights in nice hostels and now we've got to save some $$. Let me start from the beginning...

We slept through most of the gorgeous, not-to-be-missed scenery of our inter-island ferry ride, unfortunately. Maybe next time. :) When we arrived here it was relatively overcast and we found a cheap (or free, since there were no envelopes for payment) DOC campsite in the Onamalutu valley, in the Marlborough region. We stayed there a night and then thought we'd try out another site that was maybe 20 minutes away. It ended up being a site we couldn't drive to because of a river ford our car wouldn't have survived, so we had to hike our stuff in. The campsite had a creepy vibe. There was some trash left around and in general, we decided, it had a murdery-type feel to it. We decided not to haul our stove/gas and food to the site so we cooked right next to the river where we were parked, and made dinner. We had already set up our tent and sleeping bags at the spot but after dinner while sitting in the car, sleeping in the car without our sleeping bags/pillows/etc was discussed... but we decided to brave the campsite since we were already set up. Back across the rickety old suspension bridge we went, and we made it through the night, feeling comforted by the knowledge that our cooking knife was safely stowed in Brian's toiletry bag.

The next morning we hiked back to the car, excited for our "easy 5 hour hike" into a hut for the night. Instead of bringing our stove and incredibly ridiculous huge thing of gas on the hike, we thought, "oh, let's just cook up some rice and we'll bring cans of beans and a couple sandwiches and that'll do it. The hike will be easy anyway." We brought the tent and sleeping pads in case the hut was full. Intended to be an "intro" hike for us, the test to see what it's like to haul overnight gear, we were sadly misinformed. In typical kiwi fashion, the signage to the hike was absurdly ambiguous/absent, and an hour drive after first sign to the trail we miraculously stumbled upon the trailhead. Along the way we found a pig graveyard full of carcasses, skulls, hooves, etc. Add the to the list of creepy things that happened to us in the first few days of our time on the south island.

The "halfway" point was meant to be 2.5 hours (on trail signs they like to put the amount of time it will take you to hike the distance, instead of the distance itself; big mistake), but it only took about an hour and 45 min, even though it was moderately uphill the whole way. That was a good sign, we felt, because that meant the hut was probably only 2 hours or so away (I'm out of shape, don't judge). The second "half" of the hike started downhill for maybe an hour and a half, which was nice, and then proceeded to become a steep incline for at least another hour and a half, during which time my boots TURNED AGAINST ME AGAIN!!!! The blisters were back. The incline was painful, but we finally reached the summit of a peak and though surely the hut was nearby. Instead, the trail became a steep decline for ANOTHER 2 HOURS. With lots of breaks, the tramp took us about 7.5 hours to the hut (aptly named "Devil's Hut", wah wah). Grossly underprepared (foodwise, of course we had more sleeping gear than we needed), we fell into our creepy cots in this haunted hut, exhausted. As I tried to fall asleep, I heard someone scraping along the side of the hut, trying to break in the window. Brian had brought the axe inside (for safety!) and he went out to investigate. He decided the sound was actually birds, living on the roof, or something, but I couldn't sleep that night. Ideas of being killed, starving to death, or dying by foot blisters haunted me all night.

The next morning we began our hike back, and after *several* emotional breakdowns on my end (sorry Brian, it was the blisters talking) and breaks, we made it back to our car, 7.5 hours later. I'm not kidding when I say I was filled with hatred towards Kiwis while I hiked that second day, with their ambiguous directions, empty promises, and misleading signage. Sorry Kiwis, I've calmed down now, and I really do like your mentality and easy-goingness (mostly...). Thanks for the amazing workout!

After the deadly Wakamarina track we stayed in a nice cozy hostel in Blenheim, and spent too much money treating ourselves to Thai food. The next morning we moved a few km down the road to the holiday park in Blenheim where we met up with Brian's cousins and two of their friends. It was so nice to stay at our beautiful stream-side camping spot, with friends, enjoying Christmas in the sun. We didn't really do too much over those few days but relax, play bananagrams, eat, and even go on some nice long runs. Blenheim was a small town but still had some nice spots and the holiday park was very comfortable. We're keeping it in mind as a prospective place to live for a month and work (hopefully on a vinyard) in February during the harvest.

We planned to go to the beach and spend the night at a free DOC site after leaving Blenheim, but got a better offer instead. Keeping with tradition of stumbling upon AWESOME connections, we were invited to a bbq in Nelson, in the Abel Tasman region, by an expat family who are friends of my friend Casey (Casey's connections are far-reaching). They lived in West Seattle but Sabien (the wife) was able to move with her family to Nelson and work because her job is on the list of job-shortages in New Zealand (one advantage to having a career...). They have been here a year and live in an amazing bungalow-y type house on the hill above Tarunanui beach. The bbq turned out to be a delicious sit-down dinner; a small gathering of friends, and we were so pleased to be a part of it. Thank you so much, Sabien and Jay, and Case for making this awesome connection!!

We spent yesterday driving around the area and playing on boogie boards in Kaiteriteri beach; trying to get the last bit of sun in before the rain came. Plans for New Years: sleep in the car, and try not to get too rained on. :) The next adventure is the Queen Charlotte Track, a 4-day hike which is one of New Zealand's Great Walks. We are really excited for this and it will be the first of the Great Walks we've done. The ferry service we booked picks up and drops off our hiking packs/sleeping gear at all the campsites along the way, so we only have to bring a day pack! I will pack LOTS of moleskin.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

first campsite in Onomalutu Valley

cooking spot a hike away from our second campsite. creepy campsite not pictured

along the way we got a little... held up

the beautiful drive... to HELL! just kidding, Wakamarina track was pretty

one of many treasures found in the pig graveyard

I didn't really take too many/any pics on the hike; too busy struggling

SWEET DREAMS from Devil's Hut

on my epic Xmas morning run

broccoli risotto, my contribution to Christmas dinner

with Sarah and Maria!

the view from Picton. Not bad for a port town, huh?

sunset view of Tarunanui beach from Sabien & Jay's beautiful house

coffee and dessert after a lovely dinner with new friends

Nelson

Nelson

I Love Wellington

Hey everyone! Hope your holidays are/were wonderful. We enjoyed the 70-80 degree weather for the first time ever. But before I get to that, let me tell you about our amazing time in Wellington! After leaving the Barley's spot in Hawkes Bay, we headed down towards Wellington to spend two nights with the lovely Dalton family. They live in Pauatahanui, which is a suburb Northeast of Wellington about 20 minutes driving. Brian had been introduced to Shelley through his cousin, Maria (who we visited in Taipei), who she knew from high school. Shelley and Paul were so generous and offered us a place to stay for the two nights before we caught our ferry for the south island, and it was an awesome and super comfortable place to stay. We arrived in the evening and they made us a delicious curry dinner, and Paul invited me to join him on his morning run the next day. He was endlessly patient with me that morning while I died running up Battle Hill with him. :) The views were amazing and I was so happy to have a workout buddy for the day.

After breakfast, Brian and I drove down into Wellington, which is where we had originally thought we'd like to live for a few months at some point. As we drove into the city along the coast, we mentioned that we already wanted to live there. The beautiful weather we had didn't hurt either; Wellington is known as "Windy Welly" for a reason, and fortunately we didn't experience much of what I'm sure could be bone-chilling wind chill in the fall and winter (and probably sometimes in spring and summer...). A mix of Auckland and mini-San Francisco, this port city has stunning views of the water, hilly & windy streets, a great farmer's market (!!), and a cool coffee-shop culture. We spent the afternoon driving around the coast, walking around downtown, exploring, and of course, trying out the farmers market. As we drove along Marine Parade, which is the waterfront street, we saw a German friend we'd met back on our Waiheke Island WWOOF. We picked him up and drove around for an hour catching up. It was so funny, of course we'd see someone we know after being in a new city for an hour. That's New Zealand!

Our time there was too short, but it definitely made me excited for the wintertime when we could potentially rent a cozy little room in a house, find jobs, and spend the rainy & cold days in a comfy house for a few months. A few short hours later, we reluctantly left Wellington, only to be welcomed back into the warm holiday spirit of Shelley and Paul's Christmas carol party. For my fam at home: you can imagine how excited I was for the chance to have a carol-sing in New Zealand, just like at home! It was so much fun; food, drinks, great company, singing old favorites and learning some new ones (Snoopy's Christmas? Anyone?). There were a lot of kids between 13-16 there and Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas is You, and Wham's Last Christmas were among the faves, so I wasn't complaining. :) Poor Brian, he thought he'd escape my love for carols and my Christmas cheer this year, but I had to let it out (just that once!!). I am so glad we were with the Daltons for their party; they even did a wonderful toast to Brian and Maria and their family (and me, by association), and it was so sweet. Thank you so much, Dalton family!!

The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch our ferry to the south island! We have soooooo much more to see and do, and there's still so much on the north island we want to see! One year is just not enough for this country, that's for sure. Many shenanigans already since our arrival on the south island... those are stories for the next post.

one view from my run with Paul at Battle Hill

Christmas carol sing

Wellington

view from Mt. Victoria

<3

Merry Christmas from Blenheim, New Zealand!

Hi everyone, hope your holidays are relaxing and fun! We are currently enjoying our first hot and gorgeous sunny Christmas away from home. I will try to update my blog in the next few days since I haven't in awhile, but just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays! Here's where we're spending Christmas this year:

xoxoxo!

Seasonal employment is a double-edged sword...

Sorry I haven't posted for so long, again! The main news on my end is that we finally found jobs! The apple tree thinning season was supposed to begin in mid-November, so our plan was to work for almost a full month before traveling down to Wellington for a week. The hitch in our plan came with the delay in the season, and we found ourselves with a lot of downtime. When I last wrote, we were kind of feeling down in the dumps; staying in a hostel in Napier where none of the other backpackers wanted to make friends. There wasn't much to do in town, everything closed early, and we were paying more than we should have been for staying there. After a few days in our rut, we decided to try our luck at WWOOFing again, so we could save some dough while waiting for an orchard to call and say, "We've got two great, high-paying jobs for you!". We emailed 4 or 5 places and heard back from all but one right away, rejecting us. There are a billion backpackers in this region right now, competing for jobs, a free place to stay, rooms in hostels, etc. Dejected, we found a free DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite to stay at, and left town for a night. **Sidenote- the campsite had hotspring pools to soak in and was amazing, if only I hadn't been cursed with a mysterious bout of tummy troubles and unable to enjoy it :(**

When we got back to Napier we felt lost as to what to do next, but we found we had an email from one of the farms and had been accepted for a WWOOFing spot!! That brings us to our current location/home, Hastings. We are staying in a cottage on the property of the Barley family, complete with 10 other WWOOF roommates. Overall, it has been amazing being here. We have free, fast internet, our own room, access to kitchen, shower, all the amenities we need, were able to unpack our car and really make a mess of this room, and find a place to call home for a few weeks. We aren't given food (although we did get to have a bbq with the whole crew and family a week or so ago), but in exchange for a comfy place to stay we're only required to work 12 hours a week. Pretty easy stuff. We've been here for just over two weeks now and I really wish there was a hidden camera somewhere to film this reality-tv-show of a life we have here. There are 3 German girls in the room next door who we've gotten to be good friends with, and the other room packs in 5 Spaniards and 2 Argentinians. Needless to say, the house is a little crazy. And loud. And it's pretttty small. ;)

The family hosting us are tv-worthy themselves. The mom is of an ambiguous age but looks much younger than she must be, is a widower, and is dating a guy who looks to be in his late 70s... the oldest son, Richard, kind of looks after the WWOOFers, and is 35. He's sort of a goofy, aloof older brother who just shakes his head at the shenanigans of his younger siblings. Then there are two kids who live away from home who we haven't met, and another who I'm guessing is 25 or 26 who lives somewhere nearby. Then there's Jack, a 22 year old bee-keeper who seems to run the labor operations of the family's honey-exporting business. George is 15 and always getting into trouble, spending most of his time hanging around the WWOOF guys and doing things 15 year olds shouldn't be doing, while avoiding the ever-feared mother, older brothers, and pesky younger sister, Grace. She is 13 and spends most of her time flitting around the WWOOF guys, bearing her midriff and trying to get the guys to lend her their car to practice on. Seeing the Barleys in action is better than any comedy film I've seen lately; there is a constant source of entertainment for us around here.

The interesting/weird/annoying part of this WWOOF spot is that there isn't much to do, farming-wise at the moment, so we're stuck doing other tasks. On our first working day here we got to spend 6 hours cleaning the "honey-house" which is just the operating facility where they make the honey. When we were told we'd be working in the honey house, images of us in white apiary suits came to mind, and we were so excited to work with bees! WAH WAH. After that we've pretty much just been putting together frames that go inside the boxes that house the bees. String a wire through a wooden frame, tighten it, staple-gun it, repeat. Not so bad to do for 6 hours a week. I am sad we didn't get to do anything with bees though. The German girls got stuck doing cleaning and housework all week so I definitely feel like they got the shorter end of the stick there.

Anyway, back to jobs. So, we went door-to-door at orchards and had no luck; all the Kiwis are home from university for summer vacation and all the backpackers are here for the thinning season, so there's a stiff competition. Fortunately (unfortunately?), the work is really shitty and undesirable, so there is a lot of turn-over in employees! We finally knocked on the right (wrong?) door and were hired as employees of Mr. Apple (seriously, that's the name of the company, I can't believe it) at his Pilos Orchard. It is only a 5 min drive from our house which makes the sting of starting work at 7am a little easier to bear.

So, as long as I whined about wanting and not being able to get a job, I'm not quite convinced working for Mr. Apple is any better than not working. True, we've only worked two days so far, but the work is ridiculously boring and repetitive, and it doesn't help to know we're making less than minimum wage doing it. Basically "thinning" just means taking a bunch of baby apples off the trees to make room for the apples once they're big enough to pick. For the first two days we were paid $13/hr while we "got the hang of things," and starting tomorrow (Monday) we will be contracted, which means we are paid by tree. The trees are various sizes and the average price per tree is about $1.40 or so. We figured that going at the rate we were the last few days we'd make about $6-7/hr... which just won't do. After learning that our German roommates working at the neighboring orchard are: a) doing the same job but being paid a steady $14/hr, b) being told not to be careful to leave the apples' stems in tact while removing them from the trees (which takes at least twice as long), and c) not required to collect all apples in a sack worn on the front of the body, only to be dumped into piles on the ground instead of just letting them drop to the ground as they're collected, I am ready to DEMOLISH those trees tomorrow. No more careful hand, no more leaving the stems in tact, I will rip those trees to shreds if I have to, whatever it takes to make that cash! As Brian says, "you get what you pay for," and if they are paying me a tiny bit per tree, I will match that pay in quality of work. We'll see how long I last at this job, hahaha :)

So there's not too much else to report here; we're getting a bit more into a comfy routine, living life a little more like we did at home, and not doing as many outdoorsy things. I am realllllllly enjoying being unpacked, having a home, and friends around, but I will also be happy when we can resume a backpackers' way of life and get back out into nature. The shenanigans around this cottage can be exhausting but they are making for yet another absolutely unforgettable, yet unconventional WWOOF experience.

Napier is famous for its art-deco

Mission Estate Winery, one of the oldest in New Zealand

soaking in the hot-springs tubs

scenery on the drive back into Napier

the first face to greet you when you arrive at the Barleys' farm :)

this was NOT posed, I kid you not... this photoshoot went on for 15 min

the boys starting a fire...

...and this is what you get when you burn old beeswax frames with a splash of turpentine

fresh oranges for days

a view from the gorgeous Te Mata Peak in Hawkes Bay