I packed up the car on Thursday the 7th and said goodbye to Ellie and Stu in the pouring rain. The drive up North was quite tough as it was raining so hard. The cloud was very low and visibility was not good - i had my windscreen wipers on full blast but i still couldn't see much. After 4 hours (including a wee stop) i arrived in Paihia and wasn't exactly blown away. i have realised since that's because the sun wasn't shining, because when it does, this place is very gorgeous. There's basically a little row of shops, restaurants and hotels right on the water and not much else. It's fairly sleepy except down on "Backpackers Row" - Kings Street which is where my hostel is - The Mousetrap. The owners are lovely Jake and Nikki. She's from the UK and about to drop a sprog on Sunday! Their house is truly like something out of a magazine but more grungy. It's the dream seaside home - all wooden walls and floors, turtle shells, driftwood and ropes strewn about the place. The balcony looks right out to sea and is surrounded by bright pink bourgonvillea. Obviously sitting there all day and night, smoking and drinking wine is far preferable to looking for work right now! My room sleeps 9 and there's endless comings and goings at all hours, banging of doors and grinding of teeth and beeping of mobiles etc etc. i really haven't had much sleep over the last few days and i've got some serious bags under my eyes. In fact, my bags have got bags. In fact my bags are in the baggage claim hall, trying to drag an 8 piece (fake) Louis Vitton luggage set off the carousel! However, the vibe is very relaxing so i don't feel grumpy or ill with it. Everyone else has been swimming with the dolphins and off on cruises and tours about the place, but i'm saving my money and will go off in the car from time to time when i feel like it. The race to get work is on but everyone helps each other out and information is freely shared. i tried a few places but started to feel a bit disheartened - there is no jobs left on the dolphin boats! i felt like i'd really missed the boat. There's not a huge variety of jobs and i'm not desperately skint so i could spend a couple of weeks mooching till something i really want comes up. But that doesn't feel right and i feel like i should be doing something. Anyway, the dilemma was resolved for me when Jake asked me if i would like to clean the hostel 2 hours a morning for free accommodation. i jumped at the chance as this would be a really good start and i could supplement this with a bar job in the evening or something similar. This truly is the coolest hostel in town and i was over the moon that they asked me as absolutely everyone is after a similar set-up. And i get free Internet! Yay! i love living here and i have been really getting into hostel life after a bit of a shaky start. It's brilliant to chat to people and learn about other cultures. Nadav is from Israel, we did a Lord of the Rings jigsaw together and he told me about growing up on a kibbutz. He's been travelling for 2 years and at home he is in charge of rearing Koi carp which are sold to Japan to make money for the kibbutz. Tomo from Japan told me about religion there (Shinto) and how different it is from western and middle eastern philosophies. Everything has a god - glass, water, wood, the kitchen, tomatoes, plastic! - but they don't pray, they just go the temple once a year. And Alberto from Brazil in the bunk next to mine - he sleeps with his eyes open! So the days are filled with reading and playing cards and trying to entertain ourselves in between work or play. i decided a tea party was in order and went to the supermarket (Woolworths) yesterday to get the ingredients. i spent 3 hours baking 26 scones! Everyone came and i whipped a massive bowl of cream and we had jam too and cups of tea. Everyone who had one paid a dollar and they all disappeared in seconds. i've never baked scones before but all the groans and moans of delight that i heard must have meant they were ok! It was little piece of home for the Brits. So now, i'm the mum and everyone wants me to cook and bake - they think it's a such a novelty because all they eat is instant noodles. i've promised them a cheesecake on Wednesday!