All Work and No Play. . .

So, it's been a while since my last update--mostly because there hasn't been much to update. I started work two weeks ago and since then it's been work, work, work! Well, I did get my haircut also. I found a fantastic discount coupon on GrabOne for a color, cut, and blow dry at a legit salon on Havelock North--all for $69! ($52 U.S.) Can't beat that! The color is a bit different as they didn't have my brand of color so we had to go with the most compatible thing, and it's a bit shorter than what I usually get--but I like it! It's a nice change, easy, manageable, and much cooler for the summer. Pictures!

The color in these is a bit off--as it's more a dark copper color--a bit darker and more auburn-ish then my usual color--but it's still nice!


Anywho, my nice new haircut went well with my nice, new job! I feel like a real person now--waking up at 6:00 a.m. working from 7:30 to 4:30 and coming home exhausted--then doing it all again the next day! I used to do things like grocery shopping, cooking, reading, and laundry to occupy my day. Now all those things I feel like I barely have time for by the time I get home! Including writing this blog. I literally wake up at the crack of dawn:

Though usually it's actually still dark when my alarm goes off--I'm not greeted by the sun until around 6:30 when I'm eating my breakfast. Poor John has to wake up too in order to drive me to work--though on days off I just take the car myself and he sleeps in. On other days, I make the 35 min bike ride home!


But yeah--my job as a QC at ENZA Pak is going really well. They really like me because I can pick up on things quickly and then do them perfectly without supervision. Also, the people I work with are really nice--I mostly socialize with the other QC's as many of the other workers are migrant workers from Samoa and only one out of the group speaks English. I get to wear these cool lab coats every day with a green baseball cap with the ENZA logo on it. Just to give you a mental picture:

Styling and profiling! My job is in two parts. One, every grower who submits a big batch of apples has to have them tested for maturity to make sure they will store and ship well--arriving overseas in good, eating condition. I use a device called a penetrometer--pulling down on a lever that penetrates the surface of the apple and the needle stops at the amount of Kgs of force required. I record that number for two sides of every apple I test in a batch-- a sample of 20. Then I use my calculator to get the total average pressure and record that. Then I take the juices that have been emitted and pour a small sample onto an electronic refractometer that reads the sugar content (called % brix) and record that as well. I feel like a little science geek in the corner and I love it! Well--we will see how much I love it after a month--may get old. 


Once I'm done with that I go help do what we call "in-line inspections" in which we pull a random sample of apple boxes off the production line and check them to make sure there aren't too many defects on them. If there are, there is lots of paper work and stuff involved. It's kinda fun, very clinical, so that's why it's much more my thing and I do well at it. 


Apples, apples, apples--every day!


Now, for the moment after all those hours Monday to Friday (and sometimes, like today, on Saturday--NOT fun) I also am helping out with the Census. I get just a basic stipend amount ($2,000) for my whole assignment--which is like 300 homes. I have 4 weeks to do the whole thing--John and I had about 1,000 a piece for the U.S. Census so this should be a piece of cake in comparison--plus with a smaller population it's much less of a production. But, it's extra easy money that will help in the long run.


After all this work one would wonder if we have any free time!? Well, for the moment John and I barely see each other--which is the downfall. Three of the waitresses at his work have gone back to school, which means John is working a lot more hours, but it also means we don't get to spend much time together. The big boss man (i.e. third richest German in the world) is in town--we saw the Rolls Royce go to the airport to pick him up last week. He has a lodge on the property that he stays at during his visits. During the rest of the year you can rent the lodge, plus have unlimited access to the Rolls Royce, plus a free dinner and wine at the restaurant--all for $10,000 per day! What a steal. Oh, how the other half lives. If only I could have enough money to operate a winery for fun. 


However, for Valentine's Day John did cook me a delicious dinner and made me (via hack saw, file, and needle) a necklae out of a special shell (called paua) he found on the beach here:

Such a romantic!

In other news, our roommate Lui flew back to the states today. He was a really nice kid and we really enjoyed having him around and befriending him. Earlier this week we took him to a local bar in town called Roosters, where they brew their own beer, with our two other Indian roommates. It was a good time. We also went to Art Deco Weekend in Napier last night for his last hurrah (well me, Lui, and our roommate Gopal did--John was at work). It's this big weekend festival where they celebrate the deco history of the town and the 1930's earthquake that flattened it. It's quite a site to see. Flapper dresses, fedoras, feather headbands. Pin stripes, top hats, golf gaps, and suspenders. Everyone (well, whoever wants to) dresses up like it's the 1930s. There was jazz music, old 1930s cars all over the place, people having dinner parties a la The Great Gatsby on the side of the streets. It was fun just to walk through. Here's a little video to show the ambiance:

So--that's what we have been up to as of late. All work and very little play. We are also both very tired hence the brevity of this post in summing up the last two weeks. More soon (after more sleep!)

Sauron Strikes Again!

Really, at this point it's just ridiculous. I now understand what a pain in the ass it was for Frodo just to make it to Mordor. So, John and I once again attempted the Tongariro this week and we thought for sure bringing along other people with us would change our luck around. NOPE. Taupo Road is still EVIL and the Tongariro is still cursed--we just managed to shift the bad luck onto someone else!


We invited our roommate Lui, and John invited his South African friend from work, Glenn, to do the Tongariro with us. Glenn has a big camper van with a big bed in the middle and a little propane stove and ice box in the back--perfect for a camping situation. We had everything organized and headed out of Hastings around 6:00--this time determined to make it! Our car Kingsley was doing just fine. We were literally about 10 minutes outside Taupo when we got a call from Glenn saying he had to pull over because his van was overheating. It's a pretty old van, and a manual, so he said it struggled a bit over the hills. Those flipping hills--I really want to write a letter expressing to the NZ government that they should really just plant dynamite along the whole road and flatten it out--or at least make tunnels. They do enough unnecessary road work as it is. 


Anyways, so we turn around and head back a little ways before finding Glenn pulled over the on the road. We pull up behind him and John gets out to go help him with the van. Luckily, Glenn had a big 5 liter tank of water in the back that he used to try and cool the van off. We stood around for quite a while, giving the van some time to cool down. Mind you we first pulled over at about 7:45, as the sun was just beginning to set. However, after a while, and a lot of water, his van was not doing much better. So Glenn called a mechanic friend of his and asked for his advice. His friend said it was possible that he had, unfortunately, yup--a FREAKING BLOWN HEAD GASKET. Poor guy--we felt like we just shifted our crappy luck onto him. Apparently though, he had already once replaced the head gasket on the same van. He did the same radiator test, and yup, not good. Luckily Glenn had AA and we were literally only 10 minutes from Taupo and he was able to call a tow. 


We waited for a while for the tow guy, and pondered whether or not to just grill our steaks we bought right there on the side of the road with his grill--but we decided against it because we weren't sure when the tow guy would actually show up. We did crack open some beers, though. The tow guy didn't end up coming until about 9:30 and by that point it was dark.


We were hoping that Glenn could just drop off the car and keys and still come with us to the campsite and do the Tongariro and we would drop him back off in Taupo the next day. However, the garage was closed which meant he had to go first thing in the morning and give them his keys. Luckily, Glenn has been in the country for a while now and had some good friends in Taupo that he had planned on staying with the next night anyways. We felt bad that he couldn't come with us and that such a crappy situation happened to him--we could empathize. It was ridiculous and very deja vu-like as to how much we could empathize!


However--turned out that it didn't matter he couldn't come! When we called the campsite to let them know that while we were not canceling, we would be getting in rather late--they dropped the bomb that actually they were canceling the shuttles to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in the morning because of too strong, gale-like winds that was predicted for the area that day (but that they would make a final call at 7:30 a.m.). FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Just. Wonderful!


We still decided to head there though, and figured if it did turn out that it was cancelled we could always have a fun day in Taupo. After dropping off his van at the garage, we dropped Glenn off at a bar downtown where we was to meet his friend he was going to stay with. We left Taupo at about 10:00 for the hour and half drive to the campsite just outside Tongariro National Park. The stars were actually gorgeous that night, but it was difficult to enjoy with all the crap that seems to happen to us whenever we make this trip!


We FINALLY made it to the campsite around 11:30 p.m. After all that trying at least we had made it this time! One step closer! It was dark and no one was awake--but the nice staff had left us a note on the door giving us instructions to our campsite and letting us know to come see them in the morning about other possible walking tracks if the Tongariro was still canceled. So John went about setting up our tent and air mattress and Lui set up his. It turns out there is a communal building right next to the lawn for tents that has proper bathrooms, showers, a kitchen facility with a refrigerator, hot plates, cooking utensils, and a microwave! So I went about cooking dinner for us--which we finally ate at around midnight. We finally went to bad at around 1 a.m. I slept fitfully that night, as the wind was flapping on our tent--but the new sleeping bag I got on sale a while back at this store called Kathmandu was great! Kept me warm.


We woke up around 7 a.m. and after getting dressed we went up to the reception area where Lui had kindly already paid for our tent sites--but also gave us the unfortunate news that, yes, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was canceled that day (and would probably be as well the next day). SIGH. However, the woman showed us another walking track called the Tongariro Northern Circuit that makes a big circle around the park--which was still open due to the fact that it was at a lower elevation and thus the winds weren't dangerous. It seemed a bit weird that it would be cancelled as there was no wind at the campsite and it was a gorgeous morning--but later in the day we would soon discover why they indeed canceled the trip. We decided to do a different 6 hour (return) tramp that would take us past a waterfall and to some Emerald Lakes. It was a tramp that was to the South of the Alpine track and didn't cross through the Tongariro and Ngauruhoe volcanoes, but went in between the wide gap between Mt. Tongariro/Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu.


So we ate some breakfast, packed up, and headed out to the village of Whakapapa! The only village located within the park itself. Now, the thing about the Maori language is that the "WH" letters make an "F" sound. So the name of the village, when pronounced, sounds like "F*ck-a-papa." Fun stuff!


So anyways, we set out at around 8:45 for our tramp through Tongariro! Just not the one we had planned/hoped for. But it was still a great time! Here are some of the best pictures and video for the day:

View on the way into Whakapapa. Mount Ruapheu in the background. In the winter that mountain is a popular ski place.

 

Mount Doom! This was the volcano that they filmed as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Ring movies--with lots of CGI effects added, of course. (Technically called Ngauruhoe--don't ask me how to pronounce that--I have no idea. So, I just call it Doom.)

John and Lui posing in front of the sign for the start of the tramp.

 Start of the tramp--some cool clouds made Mount Doom very ominous and neat-looking.

It's still an active volcano. The last major eruption was in the 1970s. The first one was 2,500 years ago. It's actually a second vent of the Tongariro Volcanic Complex.

Towards the beginning of the tramp we stopped at this river as it was a really pretty site. The land is mostly brown now, since it's the summer, rather than green. Plus, the landscape of the area around a volcano is not very attractive--lots of shrubs, bushes, grassland, and rocks. However, the river with Ruapheu in the background made for a nice view.

The first major site we reached was Taranaki Falls. It cuts through old, hardened lava and volcanic rock.

John and Lui wanted to get a closer look. Note the rainbow!

It was about a 2 hour tramp from the falls to the Lower Tama Lake. But it was a beautiful site! The lake is that color because of the volcanic sulfur. It was created from old eruption craters. Back in the day, people thought it was good for your skin to swim in it--they know better now. The lake has about the same acidity as battery acid. Definitely NOT good for your skin.

A nice panorama view.

Once we got to this spot, it was SUPER windy! We then understood why they canceled the Tongariro for that day--the wind was enough to blow you around!

Here, John and Lui wanted to see how long they could lean forward and let the wind support them--it was that strong!

Here's a video of Lui to help give you some more context:

You could go even further on the tramp to the Upper Tama Lake--but first you had to walk up a STEEP hill into the wind! It was quite difficult.

Taking a little break to catch our breaths.

View from higher up. I was clinging to my cameras for dear life!

Upper Tama Lake was different, but equally beautiful. It was quite a hike though! At the top of this mountain we were very exposed and so experienced some incredibly powerful wind!

We actually managed to do the whole tramp, there and back, in 6 hours. I thought it took us at least 7. By the time we got to the end we were pooped! My legs were so sore (and still are!) I can tell you that we slept very soundly that night! And yes, good ole' Kingsley brought us back safely (and without problem) to Hastings. I think Glenn managed to get his van all fixed up, which is good. I was glad, actually, that we were able to have the chance to do this tramp--we may have never done so if we did the Alpine Crossing to begin with. I start work soon--next Wednesday--so it will be harder now for John and I to coordinate our schedules for the next few months.

HOWEVER, someday, somehow, we WILL defeat the Tongariro Alpine Crossing!

Hawke's Bay Food and Wine Festival

So, last Saturday was the big Hawke's Bay Food and Wine Festival. It's a big shindig that happens every year where all the local wineries and some food places get together to hawk their wares. Their yummy, delicious wares. John had to work, but our roommate Lui really wanted to go, so I said I would go with him.


It was pouring in the morning but the weather forecast said it was supposed to clear up--so we crossed our fingers as we made the drive to Napier to pick up our tickets. By around 10 a.m., when we got back to Hastings, it was sunny without a cloud in the sky. New Zealand weather for you. However, the wind had picked up quite a bit. After some breakfast, (so I wouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach) we headed out to the popular Gimblett Gravels wine growing district where the event was being held on the top of a hill overlooking the vineyards. It was a beautiful spot, however, having no protection the wind was wicked strong and even knocked over some of the tents!


We went to 4 different winery tents--Ash Ridge (the one that John and I did work for) but they also had tastings for a few other boutique wineries in the area as four of them teamed up for 1 tent; Matariki--where the wine maker was a girl not too much older than me--but very nice and friendly; Sacred Hill--real nice guy and some good wines; and the last one called Tukipo River Estate--where Lui ended up buying a bottle of Chardonnay. Even though you paid a $45 entry fee (that basically gave you a wine glass--that you could take home--and a holder to wear the glass around your neck) you still had to pay $2 for tastings at each place--though that let you try 3 to 4 different wines. So in total I had 13 tastings which was about 4 glasses of wine--so by the end I was in quite a good mood!


While at the Te Mata Cheese Factory tent we ran into some really nice American ladies and their male Kiwi friend (well, technically Aussie). The guy, Peter, was really nice, though also really drunk, as later I saw him trying to pull random women up to dance with him. He told me that I should start writing a travel column for magazines since I told him I was a journalism major. He was very, drunkenly enthusiastic about this idea--as in he would clasp me hard on the shoulder and boast loudly in my face about how great an idea it was. Apparently he has a nice house and a boat in Taranaki and has invited John and I to stay anytime (as long as John knows how to back a trailer into the water). The two women, Joanne and Susie, were from Kentucky and Vermont/Colorado respectively. The one woman, Susie, was a cool hippy kind of lady (as she had long grey hair and a nose ring!) but she is also an anesthesiologist! Her daughter also went to Duke so we talked a bit about that. She also, probably feeling less inhibition due to alcohol intake, told me all about her boyfriend who recently broke up with her and was supposed to come to the festival but he knew she would be there so he stayed away. Regardless, she was really cool and said how she was so supportive of what John and I were doing--traveling the world and whatnot. We exchanged information with our new American friends, who we chatted with for quite a while. So maybe we will see them again!


The whole day was quite nice, even though it was VERY windy, but everyone was in a good mood as it was a completely acceptable excuse to day drink! Unlike other tasting events I've been to, once you bought a bottle you could drink it there on site. As many wineries had special prices on their wines that day, there were MANY bottles floating around--with some people drinking straight from them. The food, while a bit over-priced, was also very good--Lui and I got some yummy lemon and ricotta ravioli and grilled salmon skewers! Gotta have something to soak up the alcohol. We then sat for a while to listen to some jazz band before heading home. We were there for about 4 hours, and I had spent all of my allotted money (including buying John some nice cheese) so it was time to go (also I had since sobered up)! It was a very nice afternoon and here are a few pictures and video (though I didn't take much--I was too busy enjoying the wine!)

I wore this skirt but decided at the last minute to wear some sofie shorts underneath--BEST idea ever. If I hadn't, a good number of people would have had a nice glimpse of my Victoria Secret Pink collection underwear with the words "you're perfect" printed on my backside.

And a little video to provide some ambiance: