Hello..... well as a few of you keep telling us it has been a while since we updated our blog so here is the update! Our last entry finished with us going to work in a Feijoa orchard pruning the trees. On the Monday we moved into our new home - an old packhouse/ big shed! We parked up our van inside, plugged in and settled into our living quaters - a nice sofa, toilet and kitchen - better than some campsites! We were staying with a Kiwi couple Ken and Kathy, and on our first weekend Kathy cooked us a [View Full Entry]

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Well our plan of working in Tauranga never really happened. We arrived at the worst time of year for work, as it was the gap between picking and pruning which meant there were lots of backpackers trying to find work. So after a couple of nights there and at a neighbouring town - Mount Manganui we decided to head off. However Mt Manganui was a nice spot with a mount which Ian took an early evening walk up, and we also took a couple of walks along the shore. In addition to this, we decided as we could not find work [View Full Entry]

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Well it has been a while, but this travelling thing is hard work and very busy! We will break things down into a couple of entries first I will go back to our last couple of weeks in Kerikeri. Well we continued to do lanscape gardening till 2 days before we left - when the rain allowed. Then at weekends we took it fairly easy but we did manage a couple fo days trips: We did some more finishing - successful again! We also went to a place called Russell which is on a peninsula and from where we were staying [View Full Entry]

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Ok well we left it with setting of for the north of NZ. On the sunday the weather was very sunny and we headed to Doubtless bay. Which has some amazing beaches including Maitai Bay which there is a photo of attached. We also visited what is reputed to be one of NZ best fish and chip shops in Mangonui for lunch which was very good! We then made it round to a fairly southern point on 90 mile beach. Which is not quite 90 miles nearer 90km! We stayed here for the night and on the next day headed north [View Full Entry]

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Well we left the last entry with the starting of kiwi box making on the monday. Well it turned out we were putting spray covers on kiwi vines at a research centre for kiwis and it started on the tuesday! So we found ourselves with a free day on the monday. We had a bit of a relaxing morning and then in the afternoon headed of to another local waterfall - the Rainbow falls - pictures attached! However we were not brave enough to go swimming with the large freshwater eels - meant to be the biggest in the world! Apprently [View Full Entry]

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We arrived on the Thursday, and spent the first couple of days eating, and finding our bearings! We also ahd a van to buy! On the friday we visited a local backpackers car market (not one to be recommended!), then on sat we found another and on sunday morning we went to a big one at the race course. To get to the race course we did a train journey unfortunatly they are not as frequent as in London and we had an hours wait to travel four stops! However, the ticket guy could not be bothered to charge us! Except [View Full Entry]

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Week 2 Well we left it last week with our arrival in Kerikeri. Our first job was to find work, however the fruit was lacking sugar so the normal seasonal work associated with the fruit (picking, packhouse work etc.) was not available. So we took things easy for a couple of days whilst watching the torrential rain - it gets pretty bad here the weather is referred to as sub-tropical so generally when it rains, it rains and rains and rains! Anyway on Sunday I (Pru) got offered half a days waitressing and decided to take up the challenge - I [View Full Entry]

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