In an effort to create some funds i headed up North with my buddy Mickey from the hotel, on January 5th to Pukenui, which is a SMALL town half way up 90 Mile Beach.

There's not much here except lots of very beautiful beaches so sand, sea and fishing feature most prominently in the lives of the locals. The area is also home to a lot of agriculture and in particular some huge orchards. I had received an email letting me know about some fruit work at one of these and i had heard that good money could be made if you worked hard. The job in question was Mandarin Thinning and i signed myself up and moved into my new home which was a cabin at Pukenui Holiday Park.

At best, it would described as basic. At worst, Auschwitz with ants. That coupled with the nearest civilisation (Kaitaia) being 40 minutes away, it was all a bit of a rude awakening after the lovely time i had in Paihia. But, i'd convinced myself that getting away from it all would do me good and i would save lots of money, get a tan and maybe even detox a bit..... The outcome has been slightly different.

It's hotter here and the sun is more fierce than anywhere in the country. The mandarin trees are around 6ft and offer no shade while you're working on them. Despite wearing factor 30 and clothes, i still burnt THROUGH my clothes. It was a bit crazy. The work was very hard and it took a little time to get the technique right but i mastered it. However the pricing of the trees proved controversial among the crews and some of them went on strike when they thought the prices were too low. I felt the same some days and it was hard to make the minimum amount of earnings despite working as fast as other people who were on smaller trees. Very confusing and simply unfair sometimes. Not to mention the trees being full of wasps nests! And the Sandflies and Mosquitoes being the world's most hardy!

Lots of things contributed to my feeling that i should forget the whole thing. Most notable though was when Mickey and i were quietly fishing on the wharf at dusk and were harrassed by a very drunk dude in a yute. He wouldn't go away and insisted we go to a party with him and produced some beers from his truck. Eventually ignoring him didn't work either and he kept grabbing at and trying to kiss me! So we walked off but he saw this as the ideal opportunity to get his own back and drove at us at full speed. We scattered and managed to hide behind things. He spun around the car park, smashing up a parked Jeep before driving off.

We went to the Police Station, the local bobby's house not 50 yards up the road to find the bobby having his tea. "Oh yes, i heard the car alarm and the wheelspinning and wondered what was going on". Hmmm, thanks for coming to the rescue! He knew the individual involved and went off to find him after taking our details. So after this, we simply thought - it's time to get the hell out of Dodge! So it all proved not to be the money spinner i had anticipated and decided to cut my losses.

The other Backpackers that we met were an ace laugh though and if they hadn't been there i would have left long before 12 days. Before going though, Mickey and i took a couple of trips around the area - up to Cape Reinga (where the Tasman and Pacific seas meet), to the giant dunes, to the site of the "World's Purest Silica Deposits" (ie VERY white sand) and to various beaches for a spot of sunbathing . Its an amazing part of the country and truly breathtaking in parts, but we weren't sad to leave!

xx