Honey, Fruit, and Ice Cream

UPDATE: Photos added!

Well, a little chill has settled over the area just in time for Halloween (not really a big holiday here, but it's catching on)! When we woke up this morning ( at 7 a.m. to catch the last bits of The Rally to Restore Sanity online) it was quite cold and rainy. Luckily, the weather in NZ is unpredictable, so it turned out to be a nice, though chilly, day!

We had to check out of our hostel by 10 a.m. but were not due to Neil and Sarah's until 4 so we kind of had to make up our day as we went along--and it turned out to be quite a pleasant one!

We started off heading towards an area on the coast called "Cape Kidnappers," but don't let the name fool you--it's a nice beach area that has the largest gannet (a type of native bird) colony in the world. We didn't quite reach down to the colony, as it was a long walk, but we took a little stroll down the stone beach (getting caught in a small, passing rainstorm) to take in the nice views.

After that we decided to drive into the closest town called Havelock North just to take a look around and maybe get some lunch. There wasn't much and many of the cafes were closed, so we grabbed a cheap bit to eat before heading to a nearby Honey factory/museum, called Arataki, that we read about it in one of our many brochures and it was free entry and free honey tasting!

It turned out to be quite interesting--you learned all about honey bees and how honey is made. They had microscopes set up with a variety of things to look at--bees, drones, workers, a queen, bees heads (cause they have 3 microscopic eyes that you can't see!), some bees knees (to be funny), honey combs, and the like. They also had a bee colony on the wall that you could watch to see how the whole process happens (and spot the one queen bee!) You also go to taste a wide variety of different honeys, some I had never tasted before, but they were quite delicious!

They also had there a special type of honey called "Manuka" that is found in a flower here in New Zealand and has amazing antimicrobial/antibiotic properties. They had everything from the actual honey itself to the extensive range of skin care products that contain Manuka--helping everything from dry skin, to eczema, to acne.

John decided to purchase a few small jars, including the Manuka, as a nice souvenir. 

The woman who checked us out was very friendly, asking where we were from and what our plans were for the day. We had intended next to go to a famous ice cream place in New Zealand called Rush Munroe's, as we heard it was delicious, 100% Kiwi ice cream. However, the woman at the counter noted that the company had changed hands in the last year and that, coupled with the general success of the brand, had resulted in a decrease in quality--at least she thought so. She recommended her favorite local ice cream that was actually located on a fruit orchard called Pernel and said we should go there instead--so we did! Turns out it was a great suggestion.

When we arrived we saw that we had just gotten there in time for the last tour of the day, though we were the only two who wanted to go on one--but no matter! We started the tour with a short video and a nice fruit tasting, including some varieties I had never tried before--like a pacific rose, a golden kiwi, and another type of pear. We were then escorted out to a big tour trailer pulled behind a tractor.

One of the owners, Philip, who is the third generation in the family to run the orchard came out to greet us on our tour. He started out asking a lot of questions about us: where we were from, how did we meet, why were we in New Zealand, why did we chose New Zealand, what we were up to in the area, and what did we think about Barack Obama? It was a great conversation to start, completely off topic, but we learned about d a lot of random things like sheep dogs ( as the owner had a black lab/sheep dog mix that also came out to greet us), different things about the area and New Zealand, as well as learning about fruit. We then got started on the tour and learned all about different varieties and all the complexities that go into a fruit orchard. Here is a picture while we were on the tour:

We then stopped at a small farm they had on site where they have free range chickens (in which they sell the eggs), two goats, a donkey, some pigs, and lamb and sheep. Some of the sheep were in desperate need of shearing! They were quite wooly. We were able to feed them some apples and pet them up close:

At a certain point in the tour the tractor broke down so we walked the rest of the way, but as it was sunny out at that point it was quite a nice stroll. We stopped by his brothers house, just off the property, and he picked two oranges off the tree in their yard to give to us. As the tour ended he told us to come back by in about 3-4 weeks as he may have some work available then (since we told him about our job search for some fruit picking) and to just mentioned whoever we talk to that we met Philip on a tour--nice guy!

We, of course, had to stop for some ice cream before we left. The way they make it is you combine either a vanilla ice cream or frozen base with frozen fruit. They had several choices to chose from--I had raspberry and John had a local fruit called fuijola. They put all the ingredients in a machine and I guess it squeezes the fruit to get the flavors and cuts it all up to blend it right in with the ice cream. It was delicious!

After that it was time to head to the Cardoness Lodge to meet Sarah and Neil Smith! Even though it has been at least 5 years, they recognized John right away. The lodge is beautiful, as is the surrounding scenery! We got a little tour of the place, got all set up in our (REALLY nice) room, and chatted a bit about what he had been up to thus far and the work we were hoping to get. They are so nice to accommodate us at their beautiful lodge--it's by far the nicest place we have stayed (and probably will stay) in NZ! There are two other people here doing the same thing we are and we look forward to getting to know them more when we work together tomorrow doing some thinning in the vineyard!

Here is a picture of our room and the lodge from the outside:

We look forward to being productive this week, doing some work while hoping to find other work to self-sustain us. We have had about 4 possible opportunities presented to us thus far from various people and hopefully some of them pan out! But for the week, we will definitely be enjoying ourselves (and working hard, of course)!

Wine Country

Well, who knew day drinking could be so fun and insightful? Our last two days in Napier have been dedicated to appreciating the local wineries around town and doing some tasting--in the middle of the afternoon.

The day we got back from tramping was a relaxation day and the day after that we ventured over to Hastings, the town right next to us, to inquire about some work with Pick NZ. We registered with their local office and they will text us if any work comes up--hopefully in a few weeks! We then took a short drive up to Te Mata Peak. From the top you could see almost all of Hawkes Bay--it was a beautiful sight!

Yesterday, we decided to do a nice biking wine tour of the area. The company that runs the tour, Bike D'Vine, was owned and operated from the home of a nice Kiwi woman. When we got there she showed us a map and gave us a detailed explanation of where to go and what to expect. We were provided with bikes, a helmet, a basket, water bottles, and a map that would velcro onto a plate right in front of us so we could see where we were going. The route we decided to take was mostly flat, but even so it was a good workout! Our first stop was Church Road winery. An old one, established in the late 1800s, it was very pretty with an old cask room inside. The woman seemed a bit busy so we didn't spend too much time there--sampled about four wines--two white and two red--before heading to our next destination. Though not before taking a picture!

Our next stop was Mission Estate, the oldest winery in New Zealand--established in 1851.

We had a wonderful tasting experience there. The sommelier was nice, talkative, and gave us a good selection of 6 wines to taste. He also gave us a lot more information about the wines than the previous place, and was more about getting to know people as well. I learned about Ice Wine, something I hadn't heard of before. It's where you freeze the grapes to reduce the volume but it also makes them very sweet--making it a nice dessert wine.  We didn't try that one, but their Pinot Gris and Merlot were my personal favorites! After having all that wine, about 10 tastings in total at that point, I was definitely feeling them a bit! Luckily we were on bikes! Clearly the woman who gave us the map understood the best route to take, and that spacing out tastings was key, as she recommended a nice cafe to stop at right around the corner for lunch. It was called the Wild Rose Cafe and it was situated in a beautiful, quaint rose garden. Apparently, each day of the week all the roses are changed to a different color. The day we were there, the roses were a nice pinkish-red color. After a delicious lunch and apple turnovers for desert (on which I burnt my tongue!), as well as some sobering up on my part, we headed to the next stop which was actually a chocolate factory!

Silky Oak is a local chocolate factory right in town--it's a small and humble building housing a delicious treat! The chocolate is quite pricey as it is priced by the gram, so buying a small box of chocolates could cost you $20-30. However, they have a display of nice truffles that you could buy singularly, so we had to each buy one to try!  There were so many good-looking flavors it was hard to pick just one! John had a nice white and milk chocolate swirled piece in the shape on a seashell and I had a Hazelnut and Butterscotch Truffle cup! It was delicious--soft hazelnut and butterscotch flavored chocolate filling in a little milk chocolate cup. It was a nice end to our lunch and we headed off to our next stop!

Here is a little video of a rotary pathway we took on our bike tour:

I am quite proud to say I extracted my camera from it's case, turned it on, put it on video, and recorded that whole bit with one hand while still balancing on my bike. I've got skills. :)

We were supposed to go to two more wineries--Park Estate and Brookfields VIneyards. However, Park Estate was undergoing liquidation, and while they were selling their wine for cheap, there were no longer tastings or a vineyard to explore. So we were told to just skip over that one. When we arrived at Brookfields at 3:30 in the afternoon it was already closed for the day. The Bike D'Vine woman noted that this vineyard was a boutique winery and the couple lived on site, so if they weren't busy they would often close early--as was the case when we got there. So, even though we had biked quite a bit to get to these places, we decided to head on to the next stop: The Filter Room!

This was the last tasting stop on the tour and a good way to end as it was a Brewery and Cidery--brewing their own local beverages on site. It was the only place where you had to pay for a tasting but they had a good deal going: $13.50 to try 6 different drinks. So John and I each picked out three and we ended up getting: a vodka and lemon mix (they also make their own vodka), a hard cider, a nice porter, a summer ale, a ginger beer, and a pear cider. All of which were delicious and a refreshing way to end our tour.

On our way back to the starting point we passed an Old Church (that's it's name). It was, obviously, an old church that has been converted into a nice restaurant and it's situated next to a beautiful vineyard. It had lovely decorations on the inside and still had the original stain glass windows that lined the walls. We took a look at the menu and while it looked amazing, it was quite a pricey place so we just took a quick tour around the grounds before heading back. 

By the end of the trip my legs were sore! But it was a fun day and a nice way to explore the region and enjoy some wine!

Today, we decided to continue our exploration by visiting a vineyard that was on another route of the bike tour, but that we didn't have time to visit. It's called Moana Park and it's a small, boutique vineyard set a little further from the others. They have a small staff, about 5 people full time, and one of them served as our sommelier. He was a very nice guy, gave us 7 wines to taste, and told us a lot about wine making in general and in the region. They had a delicious Chardonnay and I was also able to taste an Ice Wine--it was very sweet and would make a wonderful substitute for a dessert! He also let us try one of their port wines, called a "Tawny", that tasted like caramel and was delicious! Hopefully, once we get some jobs we can send some of the wines back to the states as Christmas gifts--as most of them you can't find in the U.S. 

We decided to stop back by the winery that was closed the day before, as it was on our way back to Napier, and to our delight it was open! 

Though on the way, as luck would have it, we passed through a police checkpoint on our route, stopping cars for roadside BAC tests! Luckily John was driving as he has a much higher tolerance than I do (and I was feeling a bit tipsy from the 7 wines I had tasted at the previous place), and we were able to pass through the checkpoint with no problems--but what were the odds? You wouldn't see something like that, in midday, in the U.S. Apparently the government is very serious about cracking down on drinking and driving and NZ definitely has a drinking culture. Also, with wine tours going on, apparently it's not weird to have mid-day check points since that's when the wineries are open.

But we arrived at Brookfields with no problems.  We stopped in and one of the owners, Sharon, (she and her husband bought it about 30 years ago) came out to give us a tasting. They had a nice Riesling and a nice Cabernet Merlot, but interestingly, we didn't talk about wine with her that much. From the beginning she was very open to conversation, and after learning a little about us, started telling us about herself. She mentioned the struggles that a small vineyard like theirs have been having lately. Mostly due to the fact that New Zealand is also in a bit of a recession, but also because every vineyard is at the mercy of the weather and it can be devastating to a small vineyard to have a bad year. She mentioned how, these days, her husband is constantly stressing about money and monitoring cash flows to make sure they stayed afloat (even after so many years) and she outwardly pondered whether it was worth it as this point in her life. She loved the fact that we were traveling and having fun, as that was something she has been fortunate to do but craved to do more of. She told us a story about how she loved to ride horses, but had given up the hobby for a long time. Then recently, she had a chance to buy her own horse and got back into riding again. She was riding on the beach one day with her husband when she said she heard the sound of laughter. It took her a minute to realize the laughter was coming from her--a spontaneous moment of joy and laughter like she hadn't felt in years. She noted that she and her husband loved making wine, but at this point it was less of a pleasure with all the monetary stresses that were plaguing them, the country, and the world for that matter. She wanted to focus on what mattered, what made her happy and what made her laugh, rather than worrying about money.

It was a lovely story, but it just got me thinking. The world is so interconnected these days and economies are so tied together, the decisions of a few greedy men in the U.S. can create problems for people half-way around the world that they have never heard of. The reprehensible decisions of a few "blue-eyed white men" in the United States (as I believe a Latin American president was quoted as saying recently) could mean hard times for a small family winery in small town New Zealand. The breadth and scope of the fallout from our own economy's fail resonated with me while talking with this woman. When the decisions were being made that would eventually result in our economic collapse, those responsible had no idea, nor probably cared to think of, just how many people they were hurting. And while this may prove for her an opportunity to move on to something different, something in which she has fun again, the reason as to why she would have to move on, why it's no longer fun, saddened and angered me. But it also highlighted the fact that it truly is a small world. New Zealand seemed so far away from home, so exotic and remote. And while it is a bit isolated from the rest of the world, it is still very much a part of it, it was still connected in many ways to my own home. 

Yet the whole time we spent with her she barely talked about any of her wines, let alone tried to sell them. She said she preferred people who actually tried to find the vineyard, who sought them out, who wanted to come and taste her wine rather than plugging themselves through lots of advertising. But instead of then trying to gain business, she took these instances of interaction with strangers as an opportunity for good conversation, to learn about other people, and to engage different people from probably all over the world. It no longer seemed all about the business for her, it was about the pleasures that wine could still bring. I was glad that we decided to stop by after having missed them the day before, as it was one new memorable experience in this country, and one more great conversation with someone whom I had just met. 

We returned from our wine tour, went back to the hostel, and then in the evening walked over to a local spa, called Ocean Spa, right on the beach. For a small entry fee we would have access to all their hot pools, cold pools, saunas, and steam rooms. It was a nice, relaxing way to end the day and it was beautiful right on the ocean. There were a lot of young people there as it was a Friday night, and some families, but it was still a good time. Here is a picture of John and I in one of the jacuzzis:

John and I are in Napier for one more day and after that it's on to Hastings to work on a vineyard/B&B! We are excited for the new opportunity and I will keep everyone posted as things progress!

Te Puia

Well, we survived our first tramp! It was about an hour and half drive outside of Napier, through lots of country side, back roads, and a slightly treacherous final road up to the parking lot (it was very narrow and very high up a steep ledge). We parked, got our packs all set up, and headed out! The trail is considered a "Great Walk" and while there were many walking parts, there were also steep parts too! It was definitely a workout and a good thing that we worked out at the gym for two weeks before we left! Helped us get in shape. The steep parts got you to the tops of hills and mountains that offered spectacular views. Here's a look at one of those towards the beginning of the trail:

It took us about 3 hours of tramping to get to the hut site--though in the hot sun it felt like a long time! It's a good thing we wore our sunscreen because the sun is definitely strong! When we finally arrived at the hut it was quite busy. Monday was a national holiday so most people got a nice 3-day weekend--so even on a Sunday it was quite a popular place to be! There were about 15 other people, though the hut slept 26 so we didn't have trouble grabbing a spot. It was set up so there were 2 large bunk beds so to speak on each side--each with a long mattress enough to sleep 6 people. In the middle was a counter with two burners, a sink, and some tables--very basic. But, the outside provided a nice view:

After putting down our stuff we made our way to the hot springs! It was a 45 min. walk from the hut, but nothing too strenuous and it was so relaxing once you got there! The water poured down into a PVC pipe and then flowed into two fiber glass tubs. You could move the pipe to allow more water in and out--the more it flowed, the hotter the water!

Scattered all around the spring were pumice rocks. Many people had carved faces into them, as they were very malleable, and placed them around the rocks surrounding the pools. Of course John had to exercise his artistic talents and carved up a few to add to the collection! He did a skull:

He also carved a small rock in the shape of a crest with our initials on it and '10, as well as a full on face in which he found other rocks to decorate it and give it color!

After spending a good amount of time at the hot springs (it beat taking a cold bath in the river!) we ventured back to the hut to have some dinner and get some rest! Compared to some of the other experienced trampers there, we were a tad unprepared as we forgot some important items that would have been very useful: toilet paper (though we did manage with what we had!), matches or a lighter, our own pot to cook in, band-aids, and bug spray. This last one would have been very beneficial to me, as the one thing that put a damper on the trip was the tiny black flies that were everywhere and they bit! They were also like mosquitoes because they itched afterwards and boy did I get eaten alive! I now itch all over my legs and feet. Of course, they didn't touch John. But we still made do, as it was PB&J for the next two days! Luckily, we had that nice meal the night before we left. The only other damper on the trip was that night, as there were a lot of people in the hut, and thus, some snorers. Unfortunately for us, the one person who snored the loudest and the most decided to sleep right next to John and I! It was a bit of a struggle to get to sleep. Though he left early the next morning--as did everyone else. 

For most of the second day, John and I had the place to ourselves. We spent most of the day relaxing, reading, doing crossword puzzles, and of course making a trip to the hot springs! One guy from Finland stopped by during the day, but only for a bit before heading on down the river in a bright green child's inner tube! It was quite amusing to watch. When we returned from the hot springs that evening, we had two hunters join us--they were very nice, one was very quiet, and neither of them snored!

Here is a little video I took of us during the second day:

We got better sleep that night and arose early the next morning to head back out. We left at around 8:30 and due to the early morning, plus the cloudy weather, the hike was much cooler than the one going in. This made it seem to go by faster and made it seem much less strenuous since we didn't have the sun beating down on us. We made it back to the car park in good time before heading back to Napier.


We definitely had a nice time and it was a good learning experience as it wasn't too difficult a tramp and there were enough facilities to accommodate for our lack of preparation. However, we are happy to be back in civilization with a warm bed, pillow, hot showers, and free internet! Tomorrow we head to the Pick NZ office in Hastings to try and line up some work so wish us luck!

A Good Traveler

I read a quote recently that said "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." I think there is something to be said for that--to embrace the unexpected and often pleasant surprises of traveling. We came to NZ with a set plan, and when we realized it wouldn't quite play out that way, we decided to just go where the wind blows, so to speak, and let our journey unravel as we went along--it was a much better choice. 

After getting back from our day hike to the waterfall, we returned to our hostel with the expectation of having a quiet evening, eating some left overs, and just relaxing. Well, around 6:15 we heard a large group of people come down the hallway, the door to our room opened, and in walked a new roommate for the night. His name was Stu and he was in town from Palmerston North with a group of friends for the long weekend. We exchanged pleasantries for a bit, learned a little about each other, and then said he and his friends were going to grab some dinner and invited us along. We decided to accept because we know a huge part of traveling is the people you meet and it would be a nice opportunity to enjoy some company--especially with native Kiwis. 

The group was a diverse bunch--some from NZ, one girl from Ireland, another from France--they all worked at a huge milk company called Fonterra located just outside Palmy. Well, except for Stu--he was part owner of his own irrigation company and has actually been to Georgia before for work--though he had been to such small towns that I had never heard of them! What connections we already had! (Well, mostly thanks to John due to his European and NZ family connections). They were friendly from the start, and we first decided to walk to the local grocery store to get some wine as the restaurant we were going to allowed for you to bring your own alcohol, plus the group had just done a wine tour and wanted to apply their new knowledge for wine selection! John and I chose the cheapest, locally made red we could find and it actually turned out quite tasty. 

The restaurant we went to was a steak and seafood place right next to the hostel but it was quite delicious. We sat next to Stu and a friend of his named Matt and talked the whole time about Americans and stereotypes, our cultural and language differences with New Zealand, similarities, etc. On top of that we had a delicious meal (duck for me and Angus fillet for John) and by the end I think everyone had finished off their wine! It was a great time and we were happy to socialize with new people--I believe we ended up spending 2 1/2 hours at the restaurant--we were the last patrons to leave. But, the night was still young! So we decided to venture to a local bar, which was also rather empty, but we enjoyed some more drinks and played some pool games. It turns out Stu's company was trying to get a website up and they may be looking for someone to complete the website as the girl they have now can do graphic design but not websites--so Stu offered to take a look at John's CV (which he  would give to him before we parted ways). We're not banking on anything but it was so nice for him to consider John! On top of that, Stu mentioned that when the summer rolls around (which is January for us) he and a lot of friends take a few trips up to Rotorua, a town about 2 hours north of Napier, for some waterskiing trips and said we were more than welcome to come along when the time came--he would usually just post upcoming trips on Facebook and ask people to respond. See, Kiwis have a reputation for being very friendly people and we can now personally attest to that fact. We had known these people for less than a day and they were already treating us as friends! 

After a while, we left the bar to go get a late-night bite to eat and Matt, the other person we got to know during dinner, introduced me to meat pies. I believe they are typical British food, and it's bascially meat with others sorts of fillings inside a pastry--but he assured me they were a good choice for a late night snack and he was correct! After the snack we decided to hit the sack, although a few went to another bar, but we had to rest up for our tramp the next day! The next morning before we left, we assured them that we would give them a call the next time we ventured to Palmerston North to meet up once again! 

To think our night could have ended so differently--we could have chosen to stay back by ourselves and spend a rather boring night in the hostel--but we chose to go with the unexpected, the unplanned, and we got a great night out of it and new friends!

Unfortunately, we took no pictures that night but there will be plenty to come in the next post!

Shine Falls

Today was a gorgeous day and we had a very successful hike! We also had a great end to last night, cooking ourselves some lamb steaks, marinated in a honey mint rosemary flavor and it was delicious! A couple of kiwi guys from Wellington were staying at the hostel for the long weekend (Monday is a public holiday) and were having a good time in the hostel lounge, chatting people up, and were overall very friendly. They (jokingly) told me that John and I could stay at their flat in Wellington. 

But on to today! We got up a little later than planned, so we decided to just stick to one hike for today and headed up to the Boundary Stream Reserve to go see a nice waterfall. There wasn't a could in the sky almost the whole time, the sun was out, but it wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze--perfect hiking (called "tramping" here) weather! The track took us first through some private farm land where we walked past a lot of sheep and a lot of sheep poop:

We then ventured from farmland to some of the last remaining native forest in mainland New Zealand--and obviously they are trying to preserve it as it's part of a reserve. We learned at Te Papa that most of NZ was originally covered in forest, but the Maori took down some of it but the Europeans came and got rid of most of the rest of it through slashing and burning--turning it into farmland. The forest part was great, though It felt more like a jungle with big trees and ferns ( the big ferns are what excites John):

We finally made it to Shine Waterfall, after a not too bad hike, and had some lunch while enjoying the view (it's 40 meters, about 120 feet tall!):

We then hiked up some more on a very STEEP path, trying to get a view from the top, and while we could barely see it up there we did get a great view of another waterfall as well as the valley below:

All in all it was a great first hike and we had great weather. We are all set for our first official tramp tomorrow, and we are staying two nights in the hut! So expect another update in about two days. 

Napier continued

Napier has turned out to be quite a nice city, though much quieter than Auckland or Wellington, as one would probably expect. After checking into our hostel, which once upon a time was probably a great hotel, we saw a poster advertising for trivia at the restaurant/bar downstairs. Thinking it would be fun to just have a drink (as we haven't had a spot of alcohol since we arrived) and and perhaps socialize--we ventured downstairs. Trivia was to start in 2 minutes and the bar was absolutely empty, save for the two old folks who ran the place. We decided not to stay and ventured out to have a stroll in the city center--which was as equally deserted at 7:30 p.m. Most of the stores and cafes closed at 5:00. I imagine this is a similar sight in many cities in the country, but it was a new experience for us having come from the US and the two major cities where plenty can be found to do in the evening. We decided to go to the grocery store instead to stock up for the next few days. 


Now, I head read a few reviews about our hostel, some people saying it was "noisy" at times--though I couldn't understand how that was possible with the whole city closing down at 5. Well, the whole city except for the bar underneath the hostel, apparently. There are sings all over the hostel advertising the places, citing it as one of the "Top 10 Things to Do in Napier." However, having seen the turnout for trivia, I imagine the hostel and bar are in business cahoots, simply trying to get business for both. Nevertheless, at around 9:30 p.m booming music with a thumping base to boot started resonating from downstairs and didn't end til' 12:00 a.m.--hence the "noisiness." From the way it echoed I have a feeling there were very few, if any, people at the bar and I had half a mind to go downstairs myself and, if my suspicions proved correct, ask the owners why they insisted on playing blaring music to an empty room. However, I didn't, and was able to go to sleep despite the thumping music. 


This morning we ventured out to see some sights--gathering TONS of brochures from the local information center and then first trying to stop by the Pick NZ office for Hawkes Bay region in the neighboring town, Hastings. However, once we got there we saw that they were closed and called the local number whose answering machine told us that the office was open from 9 am to noon on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only. The rest of the time they must be resting from such a grueling schedule. We will have to venture back there next week. On the way back we stopped by at the National Aquarium--a rather small one by most standards, but entertaining and right on the bay.

We also took a trip up to Bluff Point, the highest point in Napier, to get a beautiful look of the town and the bay. Here are some pictures of the view:

For the next few days we have planned our first walking/hiking trips! Tomorrow we are off to an area called the Boundary Stream Reserve on the border of the Hawkes Bay/Bay of Plenty region to go on a short walk 1.5 hour walk to see some waterfalls, then we're headed an hour and half north to Lake Waikaremoana to a nice 30 min trail to see THREE waterfalls. 


On Sunday/Monday we are going on our first tramping experience! (Very low level, I assure you). It's in the Kaweka Forest Park, an hour north of Napier, and the brochure describes it as "an easy walk through grassy river falts, manuka and podocarp forest. Relax in the Mangatainoka Hot Springs, 3 km back the comfortable 26 bunk hut." So yeah, we're not "roughing it" quite yet and this seemed like the perfect first tramp--there are beds, toilets, and even a gas stove at the hut--plus a hot springs! I'm sure I will come back with beautiful pictures to share.

Napier

We made it to Napier! Unlike most New Zealand towns we've seen so far that are flat and pretty unattractive (despite the surrounding scenery), Napier so far is a very quaint town.  Most of the rest of New Zealand doesn't care too much about cohesive or attractive architecture, except for Dunedin on the South Island (I'm told)--and the towns are actually not much to look at--at least the downtown area. But Napier is different. It was leveled by an earthquake back in the 1930s I think and the whole town was rebuilt rather quickly in the art deco style. This has made for a more attractive town and our hostel is on a nice pedestrian street with lots of cafes, shops, and bars. The coffee house with free internet is right next door! I will post some pictures when I take some. But I did forget to include this nice panorama that John took the other day, so I will post it for your viewing pleasure:

 Our last night in Wellington, though, turned out quite pleasant. After meeting up with our American friend, Mark (from Maine), on Courtenay Place (a very popular spot) in Wellington, we had a nice chat for a while and then we all decided to go grab some dinner. Having been there before, Mark showed us a couple of popular streets with lots of restaurants and bars. We settled on a nice, inexpensive Malaysian place for dinner and afterwards went for delicious gelato! It was nice to see a familiar face and have good conversation with a fellow American. It was a great night and we hope to keep in touch with Mark on our travels as he has been very generous with tips and advice!


Before we left Wellington this morning, we caught the front page article in the Dominion Post about how, because of demands from an actors union, there is all this debate about whether or not the Hobbit movie will be filmed in New Zealand. Apparently, Australia has been trying to attract the producers with even greater tax incentives than what New Zealand has offered--but I'm sure everyone hopes it will stay here--fans and Kiwis alike--so keep your fingers crossed!


Our plans now are to hang around Napier and the Hawkes Bay area for the week. Then, as of Nov. 1st we, will be staying at and working for the B&B/vineyard of Neil and Sarah Smith--old friends of John's parents from Luxembourg. They have graciously offered to host us for a week while letting us search the area for the seasonal work opportunities that are plentiful this time of year. We are now in the wine country of NZ so hopefully we will have some nice places to explore in the coming week! And so far, Napier seems like a very nice town!


P.S. I keep forgetting to post our NZ phone numbers on here in case we need to be reached in an emergency/immediately. They are:


John: 64 022 060 9197
Kristin: 64 022 694 2047

Windy Wellington

The drive from Palmerston North to Wellington was quick! We arrived at our hostel in a little area outside the city called Plimmerton. Our hostel is beautiful, right on the beach, and there are even electric blankets on the beds! Here is a view from right outside our hostel:

Once we arrived we started the great apartment search--which turned out to be quite a challenge due to the sheer lack of advertising--which seems to be a common theme here. So we did a little bit of searching, finding from what we could online and just driving around, but ultimately it seemed living in the Wellington area is a bit pricey. It was our plan to find an apartment here and try to get jobs in our field but as Steinbeck said "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Now, we have only been here a week but we figure it is best to start out with some easy money and low cost living and then move on to bigger things. 

So, we think we will head up to an area called Hawkes Bay to a town called Napier which is a big area for fruit and vineyards. John's parents have old family friends there from Luxembourg who have offered to accommodate us for a week and provide meals in exchange for 5 hours of work/day on their vineyard while allowing us to look around the area and see the options available. So we will probably head up to Napier tomorrow, look up some opportunities (including PickNZ) for the next one to two months until summer rolls around. After that we hope to have enough money to come back to Wellington and return to our original plan.

Although John's father, Martin, has graciously advertised our cause/job search for Wellington on his Facebook status. Thanks so much Martin! (Let us know if anyone contacts you) :) And in other Facebook news--congrats to John's brother, Alex, on his engagement to his girlfriend, Grace! We will have to make it to the wedding--wherever/whenever it is!

But for today, we ventured into Wellington via the bus and took a little tour of the city. We went to the new Te Papa museum, a great and impressive museum about the history of the country. Best of all, it was free! Afterwards, we went to a coffee shop that offers free 1 hour internet with any purchase (where I am currently writing this blog) and ran into our American friend that we met at the hostel in Auckland! Small world. 

Well, tomorrow will be one week in the country and I must say we have been pretty productive thus far! It wouldn't be an adventure without any twists and turns here and there, and hopefully things will eventually go our way--and even if they don't--it's still really pretty here!

Next stop: Napier!

Palmy

Our full day in Palmerston North was full of great sights and lots of wind! One thing we have learned in our short time here is that the weather is more unpredictable than weather in New England! Layers is the key, as it can be sunny one minute, cloudy the next, sunny again, then comes a little rain shower! It's no wonder the Maori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa, means "land of the long white cloud."

As there was not much to do in actual "Palmy" (as the locals call it), John's cousin Alice drove us around some of the sights surrounding the city. We started off our day with a walk along the river with her dog, Hank, and met up with her friend Richard who is in vet school with her and is also from the states. She then took us to the gorge, where two steep cliffs border the road.

Hank also came along for the ride and was very excited to see the sights as well.

We then took a little walk nearby on a loop path to see some native fauna. Much to John's excitement there were HUGE ferns the size of trees growing in the forest--it actually seemed more like a jungle.

We also took a little trip up to the wind farm to see the wind turbines in action. As you can imagine it was VERY windy. Here is a picture and you can tell from the craziness of my hair how windy it was---enough to blow you to and fro!

On our way back down we spotted a cow peeking it's head through the fence to get some quality grass on the other side. It made for a great picture:

That night we were treated to a wonderful venison burger and steak dinner, and Alice's boyfriend, Russell, came to join us. It was a short, but great, stay and we were very grateful for Alice's hospitality. We hope to meet up with them again soon, as Alice graduates vet school in November (and we both share a great love for Harry Potter and are quite excited about the 1st half of the 7th movie premier next month!) The next morning it was on to Wellington!

Heading South

We got a car! We woke up early Sunday morning to take the bus to the Auckland Car Fair--determined to find a car. There was a lot larger selection than the day before, and we test drove a handful but each one had some small issue and for the price we wanted something reliable. Finally we found an old 1993 Honda Ascot a man was selling--he bought it for his 17 year-old daughter, but it was too big for her so he was selling it. He came down on his offer a bit and while it was a little more than what we were hoping to pay for a car (NZ$1500--which is $1,133 US dollars, so $566 a piece) but it was a good quality car, no problems, clean, and so we took it! Very exciting and it's a good little car from what we can tell. Here is a photo:

So we purchased it, headed back to the hostel, and set out to Palmerston North to go see John's cousin Alice who has been in vet school there for 5 years.
The trip down started out very rainy, cloudy, and dark. But there was still pretty mountain ranges covered in clouds, with the hills dotted in cows and lots and lots of sheep. Even so, it was still picturesque but when we reached a certain point the clouds began to break up, the rain stopped, and it was a beautiful sight. Here is the first thing I saw:

How perfect. John made fun of me over my excitement. It was a full on rainbow!

From then on the scenery was just beautiful--green, rolling hills and a setting sun made the rest of the drive pleasant and peaceful. John, in HIS excitement, took a few photos for your viewing pleasure:

First, here is me driving the car on the LEFT!

And here are some of the sights. One we stopped at a scenic view to get out of the car to stretch our legs and take a picture.

(the little white dots are sheep)

So, getting out of Auckland and taking the drive down definitely introduced us to the beauty of the country and we are excited to discover the rest!

Auckland

Well--our first few days in NZ have been very busy/productive! Where to start? Well we opened a joint bank account (:-0), applied for IRDs, got cheap phone plans, went car shopping, found our way around town, climbed a REALLY big hill many times (photo to come), and socialized with some cool people.


The hostel we ended up staying at was a great choice. We've met some really nice people from around the world--Ireland, Germany, France, China, and a few Americans. Not surprisingly, the one person here who was rude was an American girl from Arkansas--who did nothing but perpetuate the bad stereotypes about Americans--loud, dumb, rude, and selfishly assuming everything should be the way she wanted it. Otherwise, many of the people have been very helpful and offering up advice and good conversation. Even the owner has been so helpful. John and I booked this morning to stay here an extra night but found out the spaces we booked in a 5 bed dorm-style room had already been taken--so she put us in one of the private rooms for the same price--which we are currently enjoying right now. The hostel is a fun atmosphere but we are ready to start having our own place . . . AND a car which brings me to what has consumed much of our time over the past few days.


John and I have delved into the challenge of bargain car buying in NZ. I am now knowledgeable in everything from: WOFs to cambelts to Kms to regos, to use the local lingo. We started on a website here called TradeMe where anyone can list something and it's put up for auction. We singled out one particular car we were interested in, as it was in good condition and at a good price, and ventured out yesterday, using the bus system, to see it in person and take a test drive--stopping at Wagamama for a nice, cheap lunch and a very friendly waitress! It is true, though, that things are much more expensive here--of course not as much as they seem since the US dollar is more valuable, but we have still spent as little as possible, buying cheap food to cook: pasta, noodles, frozen or prepackaged small meals. Though, all the other kids in the hostel are the same way and it's not too bad.


Anyways, back to the great car hunt! The car was actually an old 1991 Honda Legend sitting in a Mitsubishi Dealership lot, but the people were very friendly and took us for a spin and even offered us coffee afterward. The car was good, so we went home and put a bid on it for NZ$750--yeah, that didn't last. To keep our options open we went to a small car fair this morning in downtown Auckland where we saw one car in our price range. It was a 1991 Mitsubishi, in good condition, it had been well serviced, it had a back seat that folded down so you could sleep, and it was only NZ$1225 to boot. Seemed perfect. Well, that was until we got in to take a test drive and it was a manual. Now the old Kiwi couple that was selling it were very nice--telling us all about it, showed us the one thing that was wrong with the window, and let John take it around the block. It would have been great except for the one important fact that I don't know how to drive stick. Now the lovely people assured me that I could learn quickly, (he could have me driving in a day!) but obviously they don't know me or about the last time I tried to learn stick in the states--didn't turn out well. Eventually John (who has had experience trying to teach me a knew, challenging skill--i.e. snowboarding--something I will never do again) and I decided that trying to combine me learning how to drive stick AND also doing so on the left side of the road was just a recipe for disaster. Essentially I would be learning to drive all over again-and counterintuitively, I may add. It wasn't worth the stress and certain elevation of tempers that would ensue, thus we had to pass and stick to an automatic car. Yet, when we got home for the final minutes of the auction for the Honda, some jerk comes in and ups the bid in the last minute to a price that was simply too high for us, considering it didn't get the greatest gas mileage. So now we are determined to find a car tomorrow at the big, main car fair just outside the city at a racetrack. Apparently locals and others bring hundreds of cars there every Sunday for people to buy and trade--and they have a good amount in our price range. So cross your fingers!


Other than that we have been able to explore Auckland a bit. We took a nice walk today down the main road as it was a very pretty day. They say the nickname for the city is "The Concrete Jungle" and this is pretty true. From downtown, it resembles any other big city. High rise corporate buildings, stores, restaurants, cheap stores, cheap restaurants--a very eclectic mix. It may be the big city where a lot of the population lives, but I think it will pale in comparison to other parts of the country that we are keen to explore. However, we were also able to walk down to the harbor, which was pretty, with sailboats and such floating around. 


So yeah, that has been the bulk of our first full days. Hopefully by tomorrow we will be making our way to Wellington!


Big hill we walk up to get to main, "K'Road"--real name is: Karangahape Road. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but it's STEEP and LONG. You are breaking a sweat and out of breath by the time you reach the top.

sitting down by the harbor: