still unemployed, back in Gizzy

First off, I regress.  In my last blog I translated what I thought was an American phrase for my British friends.  How daft of me!  I should have known better than to think that there’s a phrase, other than “go figure”, that the Americans have and the British don’t.  When I mentioned my error to Tom, he took the mick a bit.  I’m sure I heard the words “plonker” and “numptie”.  My apologies, Brits.  I should have asked Tom, but he was probably off looking at fishing supplies when I wrote that bit.  Go figure.

One of Tom's new friends

We gave up on Napier.  We spent a few days looking for work but no joy.  We had to spend some money staying at camp sites, the library charged for internet, and the sea wasn’t nearly as fun (i.e. no surf or snorkeling) so we came back to Gisborne.  We decided if we’re going to be unemployed we may as well do it somewhere where we can have fun in the sea and work, instead of pay, for our stay.  Murray is letting us stay at his orchard, and in exchange we’re spending a couple of hours each day clearing the bramble and other nasty plants out of his citrus trees.  There are sheep in the orchard.  They follow us around waiting for us to feed them.  We were surprised to see them eat oranges, but they love 'em!  

Every now and then I have to remind Tom to get back 

to work, otherwise I swear he'd just play with the sheep all day. 

The van from half way up the hill,
on my way to the caves

Our way back to Gizzy (the local nickname for Gisborne) was interesting.  We spent the night beside a beautiful lake, and then stopped to check out some caves.  Tom’s foot is still hurting from our trip to the Rere waterslide so, as much as he hates it, he’s been taking it easy over the past week.  The hike to the caves turned out to be up a steep hill, so I went on my own.  It was a lovely clear day, so when I got to the top of the hill I could see for miles in every direction.  I heard a funny slapping noise, and when I turned to see what it was I saw a magpie flying straight at me.  It got pretty close to my head.  I thought to myself “that was weird” and kept walking.  I must have been close to his nest, because he kept flying at me.  He’d swoop close to my head, then fly straight up into the air, and dive bomb me again.  The only protection I had was a camera bag on a long strap that I kept swinging around like num chucks.  At first I was using it to protect myself.  I eventually started trying to hit the damn thing just to get it to leave me alone.  It was psychotic.  I ran in multiple directions to get away from its nest, but by that point I don’t think it mattered to him any more; he wanted my eyeballs on his talons.  If I hadn’t had that camera bag, I’m pretty sure he would have gotten them.  I never did get to the caves; I finally retreated, looking over my shoulder the whole way down the hill.  Bastard psycho magpie.  I wish someone could have seen it.  Better yet, I wish someone could have taken a video; I could have sent it into the Alfred Hitchcock Society and scored a leading role in the “Birds” sequel.

I had to Google an image of the Australian Magpie
because I was too busy using my camera bag as a weapon
to get a photo of the one that attacked me.

one of my first times standing

I've had a little more success with surfing.  I’m to a point now where I can stand up on my board.  Tom originally thought it would take me about 15 sessions in the sea to get standing, but I've done it in 4.  I’m wobbly, and they’re only little waves, but I’m standing nonetheless.  I'm itching to get better.  Unfortunately the swell has dropped off, so the sea resembles a pancake at the moment, but it should pick up before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas…it’s a bit surreal having it in the southern hemisphere.  It’s the middle of summer here.  We spend the day in shorts, T’s and flip flops, and then when we walk into the supermarket we hear Christmas music.  It’s a far cry from the snow everyone’s getting in the northern hemisphere.  Back in the US and UK, the days are short, and everyone’s been hearing about Christmas for a couple months now.  The Giborne street decorations didn't go up until a week or so into December.  It just doesn't seem to be as hyped up here, which is quite nice.  

Tom fishing the golden hour

Whist there's no swell, we've been entertaining ourselves with fishing.  Prawns are so cheap here we buy them to use as bait.  It seems a waste to use such nice prawns as fish bait, but they're often cheaper than actual bait, so we buy 2 packages: one for the fish and one for our dinner.

a close up 

Tom fishing under a Pohutukawa tree

There are trees called Pohutukawa trees, sometimes nicknamed the New Zealand Christmas tree, that bloom in red flowers this time of year.  They get massive, they’re everywhere, and they’re lovely.  

We're hoping to spend Christmas day on the beach.  I'm planning to wear my bikini and a Santa hat.  If the weather's nice we're going to buy a disposable barbeque and grill out on the beach.  I'm a bit gutted to be missing my third Michigan Christmas in a row.  I wish we could have all of our friends and family here to celebrate with us.  We've decided to buy each other lotto cards instead of proper presents... so maybe next year...