Hello!

It has again been a bit of a while since we updated the blog with any news of our trip....I hope everyone is well. We have just arrived in the South island, and Tom has begun work in the vineyards, and I'll be joining him at the same place at the beginning of next month. I won't bore you with the details of our epic struggle to find work, but lets just say it has not been as easy as we imagined it would. It's down to a couple of things, one being a lack of good information combined with unhelpful people working for employment type agencies, and the second one being that actually NZ is still in its recession to some degree and work is harder to find for everyone. But thankfully we have now secured at least a couple of months work in a vineyard up at the top of South Island in Marlborough. This area is world-famed for its Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio grapes, but we have yet to sample any of the wines....the wages will go towards a bottle or two I'm sure. Tom's role is to prune, and mine will be to tie and wrap the vines after. Not exciting but it's indeed work and money and we certainly can't complain about that. Generally men do the pruning hence me not working yet, but one website did make me laugh, saying "we even have jobs here for girls"! Cheers!

But in the last couple of months we haven't just been looking for work, we've been covering a fair amount of distance on the North Island and visiting lots of places in our beloved Pamela Van Diesel (who I must add has been very reliable and comfortable). Rotorua was one of our first stops. It's a geothermal wonder filled with steaming geysers, boiling mud pools and other volcanic delights. The whole area did however stink of eggs due to the sulphur, but after a while you just got used to it. Anyway we took a daytrip out to one of the parks where you pay to roam among the steaming landscape and peer into the many different holes into the earth where there's all sorts of stuff going on, it was great. The colours were incredible - it made you feel like you were on a different planet. Our next stop was a place called Whakatane (pronounced Fakatani) where we heard of a local celebrity dolphin that swims up the estuary towards town and entertains locals and tourists. His name is Miko and we were intrigued to meet him, so we drove to one of his known haunts and sure enough there he was. Sadly though there were a lot of people in the water there with him and a boat carrying more people over, and it just didn't feel right to us. You couldn't see Miko anymore from the crowd, and although the thought of getting in the water with a wild dolphin was exciting, it just didn't have the same appeal when we saw the reality of the situation. So we headed off on the road again towards the East Cape, the least populated part of NZ but with the highest percentage of Maoris. The coastal drive was fantastic and a bit hairy at times, but the views were amazing and you barely saw another person for miles. Many of the villages we drove through were predominantly Maori and it was great to see some traditional buildings and carvings scattered amongst the houses that weren't for the tourist's benefit.

A week and several stops later we had settled in Napier in Hawkes Bay to look for seasonal work. Napier is a beautiful art deco style town on the East coast which sees lots of sunshine and seemed as good a spot as any to stop in for a wee while. Tom turned 30 while we were there and so we were treated to his choice of crazy golf, a spa and sauna and then a slap up steak dinner. And yes he did get a little bit drunk, but nowhere near to how he would have been if we'd been back at home! It was very controlled actually come to think of it. Anyway thanks to everyone who sent messages for the card, he loved it. Meanwhile our money was wearing thin and work prospects even thinner, and just as our hope was waning we received an email from my friend Rachel's aunty in Hawkes Bay inviting us to come and stay with them even though we'd never met, how fantastic and awesome is that?! We couldn't believe our luck. We ended up staying with them for a few weeks in their gorgeous house (which included 3 cats and a dog and some chickens and sheep) and were able to save money and spend time looking for jobs in other areas of NZ. They were generous beyond words and even paid us to do some painting and decorating jobs around the house while we were there. We would have been going home early if it wasn't for them so a HUGE THANKS again to Jo and Graham and Aisha and Travis and the Palace Wainwright! We managed to find the jobs that we now have while we were staying with them, so it was just a case of travelling down to Wellington and jumping on a ferry over to the South which is where we are now. On the way though we found time to visit a conservation centre for NZ birds and were lucky enough to meet one of the elusive kiwi. What a fantastically odd thing it is! Seeing it snuffling about with its huge long beak and fluffy round body you can understand why you see the image of it everywhere, it's unique!

So I'm very happy to say that we're both still here. We hope you're all well and enjoying the much deserved sunshine back home...Winter is around the corner here, there's already a sprinkling of snow on the nearby mountains...brrrrrr....It's a good job we now have a temporary new home to keep us snug and warm. We'll get some piccies of it on here very soon...

Peas
Lots of love
Kate and shifter
xxx