Leavin' the Good Life (written 30th Nov)

Wow, after almost 3 months in Mapua and just over 2 months working at Dean's Nursery and living in our little cabin by the sea, it's time to pack up and move on again. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere on our travels in NZ and is the longest that we'll be in one place until we arrive back in England next July/August for a belated Christmas with Mum & Dad. And it really has felt like home for a while and we both loved being there and have really, really happy memories of the place.

For a start it has been the place that our good friends, Ross, Helen and Stevie have popped down to see us, not once, but twice! The second visit came last weekend, after a weekend that had actually been quite bad for Su & I. The weather had been changeable, not suitable for either of the walks we really wanted to do before moving on, and we just couldn't decide what to do. Su was feeling quite exhausted physically from work and just wanted to sit on a beach and chill with a book, whereas I was a bit like a caged animal, thinking we did enough of that in the evenings and at the weekends I wanted to get out and explore everything. I'm increasingly aware that we are over halfway through our time in NZ and there is still so much to see and do that I didn't want to sit around and waste time. So we clashed a little and neither of us was particularly satisfied after the weekend, nor refreshed. And it was also probably an indication that we were ready to move on; after all we've been here a long time and already seen a lot. Anyway, we'd pinned all our hopes on the following weekend being a good one so we could try again, and were gutted mid-week to see a terrible weather forecast. But the universe was smiling down on us, and instead of good weather it sent us Ross, Helen & Stevie back again!

Actually, they came back as they'd been looking to buy a caravan and had seen one on Trade Me (NZ's ebay) that was in the Nelson area, and that they liked the sound of. Turned out to be 2 minutes drive from Mapua Leisure Park, and a successful visit for them as when we got back from work on Friday afternoon, their new caravan was being backed into position at a site close to our cabin! So we got to spend a little more time together, helping them to settle in to their new caravan, and watching Stevie toddle around! What a difference a couple of weeks makes! We helped Helen to bath Stevie in the baby bath on site, literally a stainless steel sink in the laundry - a new one for Stevie who looked a little bemused, then we toasted the place with another yummy batch of fish & chips from Mapua Smokehouse, washed down with a Sileni Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (and yes, our little flock of birds loved us for the next couple of days as they fed on leftover chips!) We also popped into Motueka with them to show them one of our favourite spots, which turned out to be a hit with young Stevie who adored the children's playground behind the Saltwater Baths, and I got to be a big kid and had a fabulous excuse to play on the swings, slides, and see-saw! On the way home we popped into Jester's, a gorgeous little café in fantastic grounds, with tame eels to feed which amused Stevie, though Su and Helen were less than impressed as these things that came slithering out of the water, mouths open to grab at the food! To be fair, they did look as though they wanted to eat Stevie a couple of times! We rounded the weekend off as we know best, with a good meal of lamb chops, cooked by Ross on the barbeque, with veg that Su and I juggled in our cabin - 3 lots of veg on 2 hobs! And a good bottle of wine of course! Then we waved them off on Sunday morning, helping them to manoeuvre their long, wide load successfully out of their site! So they saved us from another bad weekend, and we still had time to start sorting out the cabin - it's amazing how much crap you can accumulate in a short space of time!

Then it was time for the final week at Dean's Nursery. The week started with a little rain. Well, actually it began with a huge downpour, the end of a storm that had plagued Queensland in Australia and had finally found its way across the Tasman Sea. I think we had almost 100mm in one day; it was raining so heavily that we couldn't hear the radio, or each other in the shed. Rain was pouring off the roof of the shed in a huge deluge, and occasionally into the shed as well. Outside the ground was like a quagmire, and we had to wade through huge muddy puddles to get to the greenhouses to bring in the boxes of grafted vines to unpack and wax ready for planting out. In fact it only just stopped raining in time, as the Waimea River was close to bursting its banks! So that was fun - we crawled home along the coastal road, unable to see the road in parts, feeling rather damp inside our wellys and waterproofs, and loved our hot shower that night!

We did a nice mix of things during our final week, including lots of bagging up, tying up more rootstock down the paddock and two lots of planting (thanks Jamie - I think he's trying to ensure we're fit enough for all the walking we aim to do, and he's doing well, we both have muscles that we didn't have before) And then the week was topped off magnificently with a wonderful meal that lasted the best part of Friday afternoon in our honour! It was one of those fabulous 'everybody bring a plate' affairs! Trudy cooked a delicious spaghetti lasagne, Helen brought homemade stuffed eggs, Jamie cooked a yummy quiche, Susie provided a salad from the garden, plus sausages, and between them Jamie & Susie also provided wine, cider and fresh flowers for the table. We were joined by friends of theirs, John & Lucy, who run a vineyard and olive grove in the area, and John, a trained chef, brought a bottle of his 2006 Pinot Noir, a lovely light fruity number, perfect for afternoon picnics, plus homemade foccacia bread, artichokes and his own olive oil for dipping. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed that afternoon, everybody sitting around in the shade of the wonderful copper beech tree, sipping wine and cider, and munching our way through this feast, laughing and talking - our idea of a perfect afternoon. Then it was time for tea & coffee and Su brought out her homemade truffles, our little contribution, and these went down a storm - very low fat too! Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, Susie presented us all with Dean's Nursery t-shirts, gave us a gorgeous little card (made from one of my photos of the wildflower meadow) and then gave Su and I a homemade Christmas cake! What a treat, and what an absolutely delicious and incredibly generous gift - thank you all so much for the perfect afternoon!

And this really sums up for us how much we enjoyed our time working there. Without a doubt, Susie and Jamie are the nicest people Su and I have ever worked for in our lives, so kind, generous, interesting and interested in us. They are much more than just employers and we feel that we have made really wonderful friends with them - they are the sort of people that we imagined meeting when dreaming about travelling and we will hopefully see them in Suffolk one year when they are visiting family in England and will definitely keep in touch. We also feel lucky to have worked with Trudy who taught us so much about the work that we were doing, and much more about life in New Zealand. She was calm and serene no matter what was going on in the shed and we learnt a lot from her - thanks Trudy, we hope to see you in England one day! They all looked out for us, and looked after us, really well. And they were all a huge help when dealing with Helen who was 'a tricky one' at times. Poor Helen, she has had a tough life, but it seems as though she feels that life just has to be this way, that there is no other way, and when she is going through a rough patch, this is taken out on everybody around her, and sadly her moods dictated the atmosphere in the shed all too often. She did upset both Su and I on a couple of occasions, but seeing how the others dealt with her really helped us. I was really angry at her behaviour in our last week, but perhaps the best thing I can say is this: meeting Helen made me really thankful. It made me thankful that I got out of that horrible rut I was in when living in Brighton, as I could see similarities to my thinking from that time. It made me thankful that I'm not working hard just so that I can pay the mortgage and bills. It made me thankful that I know there is more to life and that I have this incredible, wonderful freedom. I am travelling around New Zealand with my sister, moving on from place to place and saving for a 3 months jaunt in Southeast Asia on the way home. How wonderful is that? And I'm also thankful that despite events in the last week our parting with Helen was happy and I think heartfelt - I really hope that she finds happiness one day.

Before I move on, I must just mention a book that both Su and I have read over the past few weeks, and that we left with Susie to read. That is a book called 'One Unknown' by Gill Hicks, the Australian survivor of the London bombings who lost both legs and walked up the aisle to her wedding 5 months later. It is one of the most inspiring, amazing books we have read, this woman is just incredible and her love for people and joy in life brought her through this terrible ordeal and we would recommend this to all of our friends to read - again it makes you thankful for this wonderful life and really brings home how much we should enjoy and appreciate everything that we do. Read it!

Aside from saying goodbyes at work, we were also invited to Ann & Bob's in our final week for a farewell barbeque in the sun, where we were joined by Sharon (whose garden we weeded in Richmond). A few bottles of beer, couple of glasses of wine and homemade burgers with salad picked from the garden, and chutneys made with fruit from the garden. And Pepper laying by our feet, enjoying a little treat of her own. This was topped off with a lime cheesecake, made by Su, which was superb, and the evening again reminded us of the wonderful people we've met in this area.

And then it was time to pack up our cabin and move out! We really have loved living at Mapua Leisure Park - we picked the perfect time to stay, before the crowds of summer holiday visitors (we've only had neighbours 3 times, for 1 or 2 days each), and before the nudist months of February and March, when the tennis courts are full of little old men playing tennis with their bits flopping everywhere - a thought that fills me with horror! But talk about a perfect spot! Surrounded by trees & beach, the Waimea Estuary and Tasman Bay, overlooking Rabbit Island and backed by mountains. I can't tell you how much I love having both mountains and sea in sight. It was an amazing place to see the night sky, the place that we saw our first shooting star in NZ. And once again it has been somewhere that we've met some fantastic people: the manager June who sneaked us a spa and sauna to ease our aching muscles; Jimbo the caretaker who arranged for Shadowfax to have her squeak looked at and checked that we'd checked our oil, water, etc before a long trip; Pete, the mechanic who checked her over; Helen & Barry, modern-day gypsies who, in their 70's, sold up, bought a camper and are touring the country finding odd jobs for cash - thanks for the helpful hints; and whichever kind camper found Helen's gold watch in the laundry after bathing Stevie and handed it in! Yeah, it really is all good and we are leaving and moving on with a warm glow and very happy memories. Which of course includes our birds, who used to fly down and meet us when we opened up in the mornings, or returned from work in the evenings. As a special send-off for Su, 8 spoonbills came to say goodbye in our last week, waving their bills in the estuary, and just as we returned to Shadowfax to drive away our pair of Californian Quail were picking over our final offerings with a huge brood of newborn chicks! The cutest ever!

So what next? Well, firstly we had our long awaited trip to Abel Tasman on the Saturday before departing, and had the most amazing day, but as I took over half a memory card of photos I'm going to sort these over the next few days and add them to the next blog! So now we're headed to Golden Bay for a few days, before heading down the West Coast. We were thinking of heading Wanaka way for Christmas and to find work a for a few weeks, but we've been warned of overcrowding and inflated prices over the summer holidays, so perhaps we'll find work down the West Coast for a couple of weeks, or maybe over in Canterbury? Who knows? I think we'll just have to be flexible.

Before we sign off, a huge congratulations to Anita and David on the birth of their second child, Peter, born 19th November weighing in at a huge 11.5lbs, and congratulations to proud grandparents Angie & David!

With all our love, Jo & Su, xxx

p.s. I've added photos to both 'Work & Wildflowers' and "Still Exploring Nelson' for this blog.