The whole situation had made work slightly awkward. The 2 Mexicans weren't talking to us and the 2 French were slightly caught in the middle, as they were reliant on us giving them a lift to work. We didn't let it bother us though. We would have been happy to talk to them but the lack of an apology made it seem pointless. We just got on with the work and left them to sit on their sofa in the lunch room and shout at each other in Spanish, despite sitting right next to one another. This one turned out to be a fairly curtailed week. A large thunder storm rolled through on the Thursday afternoon and when it didn't stop after an hour and we were soaked to the bone Robbie decided to send us home for the weekend. This played into our hands as we'd planned a weekend away.
Friday 20th May
We were heading off to a place called the Bay of Islands, which is on New Zealand's east coast. There were a couple of towns there that we'd heard good thing about so we thought we'd check it out. We headed north out of Kaitaia, then veered east along highway 10. This was a slightly longer route than along highway 1 but it was much more scenic. About halfway there, we veered off on to a different road that our road atlas called "Million Dollar View Road", which sounded well worth a visit. It started off pretty standard but as it rose through some hills it did offer fantastic views across the turquoise blue Pacific Ocean and the Bay of Islands. We'd stocked up on some provisions before departing, so when we came across a viewing point, we stopped and had some lunch. The view there was so picturesque, it didn't look real. It wouldn't have looked out of place in the landscape section of an art gallery. After taking turns looking across the view with the binoculars I'd received for my birthday we headed on to the town of Paihia. Before we got to where we were staying, we popped by the supermarket to pick up dinner and some beers for the evening. By the time we arrived it was 4 o'clock and the sun was setting. We were staying in a cabin on a campsite just outside of Paihia. We had wanted to camp but before we'd left, we'd had the foresight to check the weather forecast and it wasn't good. We didn't have the time to do anything that evening, so we got freshened up and made ourselves a bolognese that would last the 2 evenings we were here.
Saturday 21st May
We set out to have a look round the town of Paihia today. It was only a 10 minute drive from where we were staying but we made a stop along the way. We pulled into a car park right next to the small but still impressive Haruru Falls. We had barely stepped out of the car and we were being followed by a horde of cockerels and hens. They seemed to want to be close but when approached, they scattered in every direction. Another car turned up and we let them get distracted by the group piling out of the car. We spent a few minutes admiring the falls until a huge group of Indians entered the fray and took over the place. We left them to it, returned to the car, dodging the hungry chickens and headed off for Paihia.
We parked up on the prom and wandered along the pavement, round a bend by a cliff face and into town. We didn't really have anything specific that we wanted to see or do while in Paihia, it was just an excuse to get away from Kaitaia for the weekend. 5 minutes into our walk along the prom we were cursing our luck that we'd got a job in what seemed the dullest town in New Zealand. Paihia was right on the seaside, there was actually a promenade to walk along and there were numerous island and rocks out to sea that made it look slightly more appealing than the vast, open expanse of the Tasman Sea. Paihia was a small town with one main street, a few gift shops, a couple of fish and chip restaurants and numerous art and clothing stores. After picking up a pin badge and seriously considering the fish and chips we started the long walk back to the car. We made it back just in time to miss the heavens open. We sat in the car for about half an hour wondering what to do next. The rain looked pretty set in for the day so we didn't fancy a walk or a bit of sunbathing on the beach. While we were sat there we watched with more than a sense of schadenfreude (I'm impressed that I didn't have to look that up) at 2 people struggling to control their sailing boats out on the stormy sea. At one point we did think that we should maybe call the coastguard but we were sure we wouldn't be the only ones that could see them. After about 10 minutes of struggle, a boat did head out to them and get them back to safety. After that excitement, we'd worked up a hunger. The call of the fish and chip shop was too much to resist, so we drove into the centre of town and picked some up, returned to the car and tucked in. That was all for the day, the rain was pouring, the wind was howling and we returned to our cabin to do some planning for the trip my Mum and Dad had just booked to come over and see us in January.
Sunday 22nd May
After an early start for to me to keep up to date with the FA Cup final, we packed all our things up into the car and headed out in the direction of Kaitaia. Not far north of Paihia is the town of Keri Keri, which is best known as a hot bed of fruit growing. Keri Keri in Maori means "dig dig", so it is very aptly named. There was a walk we wanted to do here to a place called Rainbow Falls. After a quick look around the town centre, we headed to the basin, where the walk started. It followed the Kerikeri river, past a small waterfall, for about an hour until we reached the very impressive Rainbow Falls. They were huge compared to the Haruru Falls that we had seen the day before and it was much quieter around them. We had expected to see a few rainbows reflected through the water, as we assumed that's how it got its name but there were none in sight. We followed the trail back to the car park and reluctantly accepted that it was time to return to Kaitaia.
The following couple of weeks were fairly uneventful and just consisted of us working at the mandarin farm and having a lazy weekend. We were much happier in the house we were now in. The couple of people who were there were nice, there was a TV to watch in the evening and the kitchen area was kept sparkling at all times.
Thursday 2nd June
During our lunch break Robbie came in to give us our weekly pay packet and to give us the usual bad news that we wouldn't be working Friday. This was starting to get annoying and it was made worse by the following Monday being a bank holiday. We'd have to sit around for 4 days twiddling our thumbs until we could get back to work. The blow was softened by the fact that Robbie had bought us a crate of beers for the weekend. While he was there he also asked if anyone wanted to go on a walk with him over the weekend as he was checking a route out for his walking group. Charlotte and I took him up on the offer, as we were keen to get out of the house for a few hours over the weekend. We headed home unconvinced that we'd receive our beers as they had been commandeered by the Mexicans but when we came down after our shower they were there sitting on the table. We got them in the fridge ready for the evening. They went down a treat and we were thankful for Robbie for getting pale ale and not lager.
Saturday 4th June
We met Robbie for the walk outside the hostel and he greeted us with the excellent news that despite the Monday being a bank holiday, we would actually be working. The walk was at a place called Takahue which was about a 20 minute drive south of Kaitaia. He told us it was an old road that linked one valley to another. When we turned up we passed a large group of people standing by the side of the road and Robbie deduced from the look of them and their vehicles that they were the local 4x4 club and they would be driving the route at the same time we'd be walking it. We didn't like the sound of that but Robbie was keen to get going. Initially, we stood at the side of the road with the intention of letting the 4x4 club get through first. They didn't get far though. The 2nd car through got stuck at the first bend and after spending a few minutes watching them struggle, we walked past them and left them to it. We'd only been walking for 20 minutes or so when we heard the roar of their engines approaching behind us. Fortunately, we got to the saddle of the hill that led through into the next valley, which would make it easier for them to pass us. They didn't fancy that though and decided to wait for everyone to catch up. We carried on down the old road, not finding it hard to see why the road wasn't really used anymore. There were huge potholes all over the place, it was very narrow and overgrown and parts had even been washed away by streams flowing across it. It didn't take long for the hum of the engines to start back up, so we found a convenient place to let the cars pass. They seemed to go on forever and it was quite amusing to watch them all drive past swigging beers, surprised to see people standing at the side of the road. Robbie had always reminded me of my dad and he lived up to that impression as the drivers rolled through. He seemed to know every other driver. One of the last through stopped, wound down there window and had a chat with him. Before they left, they offered us all a beer, which we gratefully accepted. We caught up with them at the point where our walk was the halfway point. They were all trying to traverse a river crossing and making it look rather painful. We stood and watched them for a while and had a chuckle and then once they were gone, we sat down to eat our lunch. While we were eating, Robbie headed off to sort out the problem he came to. With the oldies walking group coming through in a few weeks time, he wanted to do the walk to check out the condition of the road and find a way to cross the river. He cut down a long branch to be used as a railing to cross some stepping stones and then returned from the bush. With that done, we were heading back towards the car. We could see the road had been severely cut up by the chains on the tyres or the 4x4 vehicles and a few new potholes had appeared along the way. Despite noticing, I still managed to slip into the biggest, wettest and muddiest of the lot, fortunately I managed to save myself from falling all the way in it though. We arrived back at Robbie's truck, consumed a few mandarins from the crate he had and then headed home to get cleaned up and have some dinner.
The week commencing Monday 6th June
The Monday was a public holiday that originally, we hadn't expected but Robbie had contacted over the weekend to let us know that we'd be in. Still, we didn't expect it to be a full day's work, so when we were still there at half 4, we were pretty pleased. The reason for the public holiday was to celebrate the Queens birthday, which seemed strange. Although New Zealand is part of the commonwealth, we didn't really expect them to celebrate or even like the British Royal family that much. On the other hand, they often seem appreciated more outside of the United Kingdom.
Saturday 11th June
For some mad reason we decided that it would be a wise idea to wake up incredibly early and drive all the up to Cape Reinga to watch the sunrise. Our alarms woke us up at about half past 4, we had our breakfast and then we hit the road in the pitch black. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem but the ground was wet, the road was incredibly windy, completely unlit, had New Zealand drivers hurtling towards us at breakneck speed and Charlotte hasn't yet learned how to turn the head lights on to full beam. Somehow we made it though and just in the nick of time. Despite the early start by the time we'd reached the Cape dawn was starting to break. We still had time to run from the car park to Cape Reinga lighthouse in time to see the sun pop over the horizon and given our position on the Earth be one of the very first to see in the new day. We'd been to Cape Reinga once before whilst camping near Kaitaia. That day had been miserable and rained the entire time we had been there. Today was the complete opposite though. There were a few fluffy clouds dotted about but despite them, it was sunny and clear. We hung around for about 20 minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet of the solitude and started to walk back to the car. Just before we got back to the car park, a small round, brown bird burst out of the bushes at the side of the pathway and started running away from us. We tried to keep up with it but it was pretty speedy. We quickly came to the conclusion that it was a real life Kiwi. By the time we had turned the corner where we'd lost it from view, it had disappeared in the vegetation. We were pretty chuffed with the sighting though, most New Zelanders have never seen a wild kiwi and with it being during the day and the kiwi being nocturnal, we were even more lucky. We considered doing a walk on the way home but when we pulled into the parking area the track was an absolute quagmire. Instead, we decided to drive home and have a relaxing afternoon.
Saturday the 18th of June
Another straightforward week of endlessly picking mandarins had flown by. When we had first arrived we had been told that the work would be 3-4 weeks. We were now over 6 weeks, which was good but at the same time really bad when you are spending those weeks in Kaitaia. We had nothing to really do on our weekends anymore having already done everything within the first week or so. We did however, have something to with ourselves today. We'd agreed to meet a couple that run a vineyard in Kerikeri, so that we could talk about a job. We drove the hour or so over the the East coast and hunted down the vineyard. After struggling, we found it down a side road, parked up and went to meet the owners. They were an English couple who were fairly new to the wine making business. The job would be for November, run for about 2 months and part of the work would pay for our accommodation. The drawback would be that it was for one person only and that the other would have to find work nearby. We quickly came to the conclusion that Charlotte would be the best one to search for a job elsewhere as she is able to drive. We were pretty sold on the job as it was a long period of time and would be guaranteed money into our accounts for when Mum and Dad Hosie came to visit. We didn't give them a definite answer then and there but told them we'd ponder it whilst they were away on holiday for the next month. After we left, we popped into town and had another look around, picked up some lunch from the supermarket and then headed home to spend the rest of the weekend in thrilling Kaitaia.
Tuesday 28th June
Finally, the end of the mandarins was in sight. Our final morning was spent chopping thousands upon thousands of unwanted mandarins onto the floor. It seemed like such a waste of the crop but due to the heavy rain the area had had the previous few weeks, all the fruit had swollen and become overripe, so there was nothing else to do but remove it from the tree and let it fall to the floor unused. After coming through the 8 weeks almost unscathed from the sharp snips we had been using, I managed to save the best till last and mutilated the end of one of my fingers and then proceeded to drip blood all over Robbie's garage. We said our goodbyes to Robbie and Lorriaine after finish at lunch time and then headed back to Main Street Lodge to decide how quickly we could escape the place. I also wanted to know the score of England v Iceland but after waiting for an hour for the highlights to download it turned out it definitely wasn't worth the wait.
Wednesday 29th June
Robbie came and dropped off the remaining pay to us which was boosted by receiving our holiday pay on top of that. We'd found out from various people that we could have stayed on and done various other jobs, with Robbie and elsewhere but we just hadn't been asked. After talking to the manager about it we gave up on the whole place (something which we should of done weeks before) and made up our minds that the next day, we would be hitting the road south, first thing in the morning. We couldn't wait, after almost 3 months, to finally see New Zealand.
James and Charlotte
P.S
I'd just like to apologise at how slow these are coming around. We have been in and out of internet connections and it's also been nice to take a bit of a rest from it. We are currently settled and have good internet, so I'll try my hardest to get up to date.
No comments:
Post a Comment