Blogs from Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

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 have never waitressed before and always consicer it was probably not a job for me! Anyway I went out to work whilst Ian played 'Van husband' and it wasn't too bad but was knackering but ... read more

Saturday 1st Feb Left Pomonol and headed for Arrarat which was a small pleasant looking town and made our way onto Ballarrat which is a city with wide streets not a lot of traffic, some lovely buildings and a tourist information centre that was difficult to find. We only had a few hours to spare so could not do the whole ‘Eureka gold rush’ experience. Instead after lunch we headed out to look at a couple of the original gold rush towns, Creswick and Clunes. We stopped in Clunes first and had a wander round, sleepy, a bit like the wild west towns in films then went into the museum which for the size of the town was excellent. It had lots of info of the gold rush times and artifacts used and lots of old ... read more

Ok, we’re really bad at giving updates. We realize this. Admitting it is the first step, right? It’s the doing something about it that we struggle with… But we’re trying - again. It is now mid-December. We’re about to leave Kerikeri to see a few more sights on the North Island before crossing over to the South. We quit our jobs on December 8 and have been enjoying being bums again. It’s been a welcome break (especially for Ryan) from the LONG work days. We’ve spent the last week sorting though our stuff (it’s amazing how much you can accumulate in 5 months when you don’t live in a van) and getting Shifty back into travel shape. The repairs never cease. But that’s part of the fun, right? Our time in Kerikeri absolutely flew by. While ... read more

It is now Sunday, October 07, 2007. We’ve been in New Zealand for over 4 months. If you’ve been checking our blog, you might think we’ve dropped off the face of the earth. However, we’re not dead - we’re in Kerikeri. We’ve been here, living in 2 different flats, for 3 months. Hard to believe - a lot has happened and time has really flown. Despite the best of intentions, we’ve been pretty bad about keeping you posted on our travels. This has been due to 1) a significant and surprising lack of reliable and/or affordable internet access 2) problems with the blog site 3) general laziness. We’ve been naughty… But we’ve given ourselves a good talking to and have decided to grace you, once again, with our fascinating accounts of New Zealand. Lucky you! Since ... read more

Forgive the crap nature of this blog the brain is having real problems putting the jigsaw puzzle of the last few weeks together. It shouldn’t be too hard as it has followed a similar pattern as the previous couple of months. This does not include the 1st part which is still very fresh in my mind. This little bit is about Darcy. Darcy is weird. He is sometimes on the good side of weird but in general the wrong side more so after the little conversation we had. First of all Darcy doesn’t actually live in the actual hostel, he lives under a piece of tarpaulin supported by scaffolding down by the river. Look at the picture it gives you a better idea. He has the look of a stark raving Looney more so when ... read more