So, once we had a night at Lake Tutira (just north of Napier) it was now a sunday, and after the realisation that we had limited food supplies left, namely lots of noodles and pasta but nothing to go with them, we wondered whether NZ would be up to date with the times and have sunday opening hours. It was a hot sunny day as we drove into Napier and we parked up to have a look around. Napier, following massive earthquake that destroyed much of Napier and Hastings was rebuilt in total Art Deco style. It was almost like being back in the 1930's, just without the cool cars and a little too much traffic! We discovered that NZ's supermarket Pak n Save and Countdown do have sunday opening hours which was nice for us! We went to the tourist centre to look at places we could possibly stay whilst we searched for jobs, and investigated the blueberry job. We found some a place called Farmhouse Lodge, which used to be a notorius pub before it was turned into backpacker accomodation. It was right next to a river just outside Hastings, run by a guy who organises hunts (for deer and wild boar etc), and has about 20 something dogs! an odd place, but a good place to stay. the day we arrived we were invited to join him and friends and family for dinner and had a feast of venison, salads, sausages etc and also treated to White Bait, a bit of a delicacy over here and very expensive per kg. The next day we went to find out about the blueberry job, but due to the weather (it was constantly showering but stopping inbetween throughout the week, before we had a massive thunderstorm!) there wasn't going to be blueberry picking til the next week. after this, we decided it would be better to look for something different that we could do everyday, and after not much luck in Napier itself we decided to investigate WWOOF-ing. It's working on an organic farm, there are lots of different sorts including arable and livestock. In exchange for about 6 hrs work, you get a bed and board, so it's a good way to see what real NZ is like. We phoned up a couple of people and got lucky with one which was on a sheep, pig and cattle farm. They wanted us to start on the friday so we just had to kick around Hastings for another day. It wasn't too hard, there's lots to do around the area and we even went to the cinema. When friday came we made our way 30mins out of Havelock North to Waimarama to the farm, Ti Kouka Farm to meet the family we'd be working and living with. We arrived to meet Andy and Sophie, before getting straight into the farm work. The sheep needed to be driven in from the fields to the sheep shed ready for shearing the next day, so off on the quad bike we went with 600 ewes and 600 lambs to bring in. The sheep are a bit unruly and aren't very clever but with the help of Pippin (the border collie) and Andy on the quad we drive them up the road and in, before draughting them (separating the ewes from the lambs, then getting them into different pens ready for the shearing). The next day, the weather wasn't good, so of the 600 ewes only 300 got sheared before we got to the wet ones (you can't shear when wet).. so they all had to be driven back up to the field. that night Andy (who plays the drums) took us with him to a gig his band were doing in a place outside Hastings. it was good fun and nice to get out for a bit. On the tuesday, we had to shear the rest of Andy's sheep and help out with the shearing of his neighbours 300 sheep. it was a long 10 hour day, 18 bales of wool later, we were knackered and in bed by 9pm! happily we got wednesday off, which we used to go to the beach and head to the pharmacy to get me some strong antihistamines for all the sandfly bites. Dave's been bitten maybe 10 times since we've been at the farm, I've got about 50! they're really itchy so it's not so much fun, plus the cold/hayfever has made the last few days tiring. Thankfully Soph's needed some help round the house and with the 3 kids, so it's not been too bad at all. Dave & I have decided to stay a bit longer so we'll update you all again soon with what our next move is! Love to all xxx