Happy New Year's

It is already 2007 here in New Zealand. Had a quiet night in, time for reflection and planning. In addition to being the start of a new year, it is also the halfway point of my trip and time off work. I'm thinking about what I had hoped to accomplish in this time and seeing where it is I want to go.

All the best to you and yours!

sad news

My mom called today to say that my Grandma's husband George passed away. It was not unexpected as he has been in the hospital for over a week and not doing well.

Grandma and George got married when she was eighty and I was the maid of honour at their wedding. They were very happy together and very much in love. They had 6 good years together. My grandma wishes they had met earlier and not wasted so much time apart. I think it's time I started looking more seriously into finding someone I can be as happy with as my Grandma and George were with each other. (Actually I am quite lucky to have many examples in my family of happy marriages).

The funeral is early this week. My Grandma has moved into a nursing home for a month's 'vacation care' while we try to find her a more permanent place to stay as she is not capable of living on her own. Both families are rallying around her to help get her through this difficult time.

right handed driving

I got to drive again when I picked up Richard's mom at the airport this morning. Since her car is an automatic (lots of manual transmissions around here) it wasn't too bad. I tried to stay focused, rather than going on autopilot the way I do in Canada. After driving for as many years as I have, you don't consciously think about things like which lane to turn into. So far, in the three times I have driven in NZ, I have only ended up in the wrong lane once and that was in a parking lot with no lines so I really don't think it counts.

My main problem is I keep turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals, but I have that problem in Canada occasionally too.

It ain't selling Tupperware

Browsing through the job ads in the New Zealand Herald and came across this ad in the "Advertising/Media and Entertainment" section:

DID YOU SPEND TOO MUCH OVER CHRISTMAS? WE CAN OFFER WORK OVER THE CHRISTMAS BREAK TO HELP PAY OFF ALL THOSE BILLS!

We have FULL OR PART TIME work available at the Penguin Club for anyone who would like to work in a wonderful, well-established parlour. We understand that you will be very nervous but this really is a fantastic place with a great reputation. The ladies here are very friendly and the Management are fully trained to take care of all new ladies.

We make sure that anyone who joins us has a happy and relaxed time. Whether you have a couple of weeks available or longer, we would love to talk to you. We offer gorgeous surroundings, flexible shifts, full training and on-going care and a chance to make some amazing money.

Please phone Lyn for more information. She is very friendly and will be happy to answer all your questions.

GO ON, DON'T BE SHY - PICK UP THE PHONE. WE MAY HAVE THE ANSWER TO ALL YOUR MONEY PROBLEMS!!!

I knew that prostitution is legal in New Zealand, I just didn't expect the help wanted ad to sound a bit like an ad recruiting Avon ladies or Tupperware salespeople. An ad by the same place in the "Part Time Work" section includes the note that "Most of the ladies who work here at the Pelican Club are mothers, students or ladies who have full time jobs elsewhere, but work part time for us." and "Why not phone Lyn or Roy for a chat and an interview time? We would love to meet you and at least you'll know once and for all if this could be the position for you."

Yeah, whatever.

my little house

This is the little cabin I am staying in while working at the lodge.

Christmas New Zealand style

Merry Christmas everyone!

In New Zealand, many families go to the beach and/or have a picnic on Christmas. So today Richard invited me to come along for traditional New Zealand Christmas picnic. This is Richard's girlfriend Ally helping to get the boat in the water.


We went to a place called Turtle Island and there were a suprising number of people there. There was lots of food - someone even brought a whole turkey. Everything is served cold and somehow tastes better when eaten outdoors sitting on a blanket.


This is me and Dot (Richard's dog) But don't worry Marco and Maggie, I still love you!

the night before christmas

It's Dec 24th here in New Zealand. I arrived safely in Kerikeri and have settled in pretty well. The weather here is nice, although I'm told it is unseasonably cold for this area. But it's not snow. It's about 16 degrees in the morning and it warms up as the day goes on. I'm living and working at a place called the Stone Store Lodge. I do four hours a day in exchange for room and board. I help with breakfast and then I make up the rooms. There are only 3 rooms so it's manageable. Right now there is a Canadian couple in one of the rooms and every morning they make their bed exactly like I'm supposed to do and hang up all their towels just so. All I end up doing is emptying the garbage and vacuuming the floor. I'll be sorry to see them go.

The owner's name is Richard - tonight I am tagging along to a dinner party with some of his friends. His son Harry, who is 15 is staying with his mother for Christmas, and his two daughters who are in their early 20s are in Spain. Tomorrow I get to drive his mother Mary to the airport - my first time driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. I think I've been gettting used to the way traffic goes here, but I will be sure to keep repeating in my head about driving on the left side of the road.

Merry Christmas to everyone and don't forget the cranberry sauce.

moving on

Last day of apple thinning was today. Didn't work a full day due to a massive rain shower. It's been raining off and on most of this week. My shoes have been wet for three days straight now, possibly longer as the days have started to run together. My mantra, as always, is "it's not snow".

We get paid by the tree and the price is set according to how much work is involved. Some of the trees are larger or smaller and they vary in the number of apples that have to be taken off. Got paid for last week's work. I won't depress you with the amount. Let's just say that slow and steady may win the race, but it doesn't make minimum wage (which in NZ is $10/hr).

I'm leaving Hastings tomorrow morning and going by bus to Kerikeri, which is in the north part of the north island. That's where I'll spend Christmas and New Year's and probably the next six weeks. It's another HelpX placement at a luxury lodge. 4-6 hours a day in exchange for room and board. I will be helping with breakfast and making up the rooms (there are only 3 of them so it won't be that bad). Any extra hours I do will be paid in cash and the owner is going to try to arrange waitressing work at the nearby restaurant. I've had a good time in Hastings. Living in the hostel isn't too bad and I've met some interesting people. I'm just really bad at apple thinning so it is time to cut my losses and move on to something else. The Bay of Islands area is supposed to be beautiful. There's some great scuba diving and places where you can swim with dolphins. It should also be warmer.

ugly apples

it was 14 degrees today - not unlike Toronto I hear.

Ended up going to work around 10:30. New set of trees - not only did I have to remove the apples that were too close together, I also had to take off the ones that were split, had black spots, or were in some other way deformed. I had finally gotten over feeling sorry for the apples and now I am forced to decide which ones are too ugly to live...dear me.

all the "K"s

To all you K people posting comments - I can think of at least two Karens, one Kathy and a Kathleen - unless there's another clue somewhere in your comment (like about Marco or the construction on your neighbour's house), I don't know who is who.

So, to whichever K offered to have me call collect to talk on the weeekend - I don't know who to call, but also, the time difference is about 16 hours ahead of you, meaning mostly I can call in Toronto evening time. And I have a calling card so I can call you for only 7 cents a minute.

Hope everyone is doing well today. It's Monday and it's raining so most of us are not able to go to work - too dangerous and wet to climb ladders and end the lives of innocent apples. Hopefully it will clear up and get dry enough to salvage a few hours - no work no money.

But, it's not snowing!

the view from my office

From the top of a seven foot ladder.

sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind

A wonderful second day of apple thinning. But I have to stop feeling sorry for the apples. Ever see that episode of Friends where Phoebe is sad because no one wants the ugly brown christmas trees and so they get thrown into the chipper, unable to fulfil their christmas destiny? It's a bit like that. All these apples, sitting happily, until I come along and decide who is not worthy to live and I pluck them off and toss them to the ground. All because they are growing too close to their neighbours. But it has to be done, otherwise both will die later when they get too big and crowd each other out. Or is it more like some sort of communism/dictatorship/Star Trek episode where one must be sacrificed for the good of many? The trees I did at the end of the day today, I had to strip off all the apples from the top section. Otherwise, when the fruit matures, the branches will get top heavy and break off. See? Cruel to be kind.

a day in the orchard

Today was my first day of work. I am thinning apples - which means we pick off the apples that are growing too close together so that the others can grow to a proper size and shape. For each species and tree size there are specific instructions. Right now, the row I am working on, I have to leave apples that are 10 cm apart. The rest I pick off and throw on the ground. It seems like a waste of fruit and it goes against everything I've been taught, to hurt trees. One of the guys at the hostel, his job is to rip the leaves off of grapevines, so it could be worse.

We work from about 7:30 until 4:30. Most of the people at the hostel I'm staying at are working in agriculture - either in apple thinning, or fruit and vegetable picking. Most of them are young German backpackers. I'm sharing my room with two nice German girls. They spent their mornings sitting on a machine that drives through the fields slowly as they cut vegetables off the vines. They come home covered in mud because it's been raining this weekend. On Sunday, they invited me to go to Cape Kidnappers to see the gannet colony - gannets are a type of bird. It's a 10 km walk trip along the beach. Then a 25 minute uphill walk (I skipped that part as there were some gannets kind enough to make their nests on some rocks near the beach so I didn't feel inclined to do the uphill walk to see more), and then a 10 km walk back. It took about 5 hours in total. I'm glad I went and the weather was great.

I could crash at any time.

On the bus ride to Hastings, we passed through a district with very interesting road signs. I don't know if perhaps they have a lot of bad drivers but they had these large black and white signs saying things like "I could crash at any time" and "I am just an average driver" and "Lose your overconfidence and save your life". I think my favourite, after the I-could-crash-at-any-time was the one of a car being driven by a stick figure with a very large head that read "Caution, overconfident drivers ahead".



In the same district there was also a town called Tirau that was rather enamoured with corrugated iron. The building the bus stopped at was a large dog. Sorry, I couldn't get my camera out in time, so I downloaded an image from the internet. The dog has the visitor information centre in it and it is next door to a gift shop in the shape of a sheep.

my friends are so awesome

When I got to Auckland and attended the orientation for the work permit, there was mail waiting for me. How wonderful is that?

And then she's gone...

I was in Auckland less than 48 hours before hopping a bus to Hastings (Hawke's Bay region, east coast of the South Island for those of you following along). 7+ hours on the bus. After talking with the job counsellor at IEP, we decided that hospitality temp work in Auckland might not be reliable and I am in need of money, so I'm going to take my chances here. I hope to get in two weeks of work before everything closes down for Christmas and New Year's.

safe in NZ

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I arrived safely in Auckland this afternoon. I'm at the backpacker hostel and the orientation session is tomorrow morning. I hope to pick up a SIM card for the cell phone I got from one of the Australian volunteers at the kitchen, and then I will have a phone number for emergencies. I also will pick up a calling card, once I figure out which is the best deal for the kind of calling I do to Canada and the US. Calling on a mobile phone is impractical - the cheapest rate I found so far is around 34 cents a minute. And for that rate I can call either a local NZ number or Canada, same price. Weird.

for Heini

Bondi Beach, Australia - December 1, 2006



My friend Heini made the following request: "Am grateful that you're going to try to live it up on our behalf :-) run barefoot through some sand for me when you get a chance, won't you?", "was going to specify that it should be Bondi Beach, but I think we can lift that requirement :-) Any lovely warm summer day and sand will do :-)"