Unemployed

We picked tons of citrus.  4.7 tons to be precise.  3,437kilos (7561lbs) of Tangelos and 900kilos (1980lbs) of Navel Oranges.  We were happy with the pay.  We got paid by the weight, but if we had been paid by the hour we would have made a bit less than minimum wage.  It was under the table (Brits: this means “cash in hand”) so we were quite pleased.  When you factor in the shower, kettle, and toilet that we had for the week on top the cash, we did quite well in Gisborne.

Cooks Cove

Hole in the Wall

Other side of Hole in the Wall

 We had a lot of fun there as well.  It was raining one day so we left the orchard to find some waves.  We passed the surf spot we were looking for, and ended up at Cooks Cove.  It's named after Captain James Cook, who landed there in 1769 on one of his three voyages around the world.  The rain let up just long enough for us to make the hour and a half hike to the cove and a place called “Hole in the Wall”.  After a bit of exploring we noticed the sky was looking a bit ominous, so we missioned back to the van, but not in time to beat the wind and rain.  It was nice to be able   

to make a couple of bowls of hot soup after over 2 hours of hiking in bad weather. 

After finally getting all the gear I need, I went for my fist surf in Gisborne.  Remember those MasterCard adverts that went something like “Roast Chicken with all the trimmings: $21, Bottle of Wine: $19, Chocolate caramel cheesecake: $12, Having a nice dinner with the family: priceless.”?  Well I have my own version:  “Wetsuit: NZ$300 Surfboard: NZ$500, Booties: NZ$ 50, Surfboard Leash: NZ$60, Dropping into my first big wave, falling off my board and then having it hit me in the head from behind: Pretty bloody expensive.”  Hopefully I’ll be able to edit that in the next couple months.  I’m hoping standing up on my first wave will make the initial expense “priceless”. 

We went to the ReRe falls and waterslide.  We had seen it on a tv program before we even came to NZ , and really wanted to find it.  We found out when we were in Gisborne that it was only about ½ hour from where we were working.   The falls were nice, but the real highlight was the waterslide.  It’s a giant slope of rock with a steady river of water rushing over it into a deep pool at the end.  The rock is mostly flat, but there are just enough cracks and bumps to keep it scary.  We borrowed a couple of body boards and had loads of fun sliding down it.  Tom attempted to slide down standing up, and not surprisingly hurt himself.  He keeps saying he needs to quit acting reckless and try acting his age instead, but I have yet to see that happen.  Maybe in his 30’s. 

climbing back up for another go

There was a guy called Tony who worked for Murray and was in the garage almost every evening working on his stock car.  Every two weeks he enters it in a race, smashes it into a bunch of other cars, and then works every evening to fix it up just in time for the next race.  We had a good time watching all the events, and it was especially fun to have someone to cheer for.  The people watching was good too. 

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with our new friends Lucy and John.  Well actually, we went to their house for dinner, and somewhere between the chips and dip and putting the meat on the barbeque I said, “is today Thursday?  I think it’s Thanksgiving today.  Happy Thanksgiving!”  John and Lucy (and lots of other Kiwis) were under the impression that Thanksgiving is just part of our Christmas celebrations.  I guess that’s because they only see or hear of it on tv around Christmas time.  We had a lovely salad with roast veg, potato salad and lots of different meats on the barbeque.  It wasn’t exactly traditional Thanksgiving food, but it was a feast indeed, and we sure have a lot to be thankful for. 

after the storm

sunset from Kaiti Hill

The Mahia Peninsula 

The result of not wearing makeup for months:
I look horrible, but catch snapper.

We heard that there was stone fruit (peaches, apricots, nectarines, etc.) to be picked in Napier, so we left Gisborne and headed south along the coast.  We stopped in the Mahia Peninsula on the way and had a lovely time there.  When the sun is shining the water is a gorgeous turquoise colour, and looks like something you’d see in a flyer for a tropical holiday/vacation destination.  It seems to be the divide between the two types of sand we've seen; one side of the peninsula is Blacks beach, with black sand, and the northern side has golden sand.   We went fishing both nights that we were there, and had snapper for breakfast both mornings.   I caught two the first night, and Tom caught one the following.  It was nice to actually catch fish, especially because the last few times I’ve been fishing in the UK with Tom we haven’t caught anything.  It seems our luck has changed (or maybe we’re just fishing in far better seas.) 

Unfortunately, the luck we’ve had fishing hasn’t transferred to our search for work.  We’ve been in Napier for a couple of days now and haven’t had any luck finding work.  It’s getting discouraging; to the point that we’re considering getting “real” jobs for the summer.  I’m really disappointed.  I wanted to spend a few weeks in Gisborne, then a few weeks in the Bay of Plenty, then the Coromandel Penninsula, and then northland (the northernmost part of the north island).  That would be entirely feasible if the work was available now.  However, the fruit picking doesn’t really pick up for another 2 weeks, and we’re not sure what to do in the meantime.  We can’t really afford another two weeks of holiday, so it looks like we might be “settling down” for the summer.  I know I can’t complain, but I still want to.  What’s the point in living out of a van if we’re going to park it in the same place for the summer?  Tom assures me we’ll still go to all those places, but going for a week won’t be the same as spending the next couple of months exploring.  Then again, we're not even sure if we'll be able to find proper jobs for the summer, so we may just have to take the next 2 weeks off and live on noodles and the fish we catch with bait we find in the rocks...