Te Puke- Kiwi Fruit Capital of the World (15/03/10 -12/04/10)

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Kiwi Fruit Capital of the World, or more accurately Te Puke- Arsehole of New Zealand.

After 10 days in Tauranga and Mt Maunganui, enjoying the last week of the holiday we headed to Te Puke (pronounced Te Pucky) where we would split up; I would stay and work and Tim & Janet would carry on south. I checked into the hostel called ‘The Hairy Berry’ which was one of the dirtiest and most expensive places I’ve stayed so far; the only bonus was that they sorted out work and the other people there were all really nice. I was trying to get any kind of work for the first week with only one day kiwi picking from the week. After that I got in contact with a contractor who was from a Pacific Island called Kiribos (no I haven’t heard of it either) and worked a bit with him and his extended family… great that none of them spoke English so the days of picking kiwi’s were very boring and unfortunately few and far between. However after the first week I got back in contact with Leslie and she decided to come back to stay and work here so that was good news. Also I had my birthday on Good Friday and seeing as everyone had the weekend off work; we had a bit of a party on the Thursday then had a fairly quiet birthday. Opening letters and parcels from home and going for an Indian at night time; which was a delightful treat.

Not going to be a very big blog this one because there is bugger all to do in Te Puke.

A couple of days, me and Leslie hitchhiked back up to Mt Maunganui, about 25 km north, near Tauranga. It has a really nice beach, good for skim boarding, body boarding and fishing.
One eventful fishing experience was with another English guy for the hostel when we both had the day off. We spent the day fishing at the Mount and didn’t catch anything but a starfish all day. Then at high tide we started reeling them in and had 2 edible sized ones about 10 minutes before we planned to leave for the day; perfect for the BBQ; until a large wave came and drenched us and washed all the stuff into the water including the bucket with the two dead fish in. After trying in vain for a few minutes to hook them out of the bucket with the rod, they were washed into the sea so I dumped the rod and dived in. I was trying for ages to catch the bucket and fishing reel as well as these two dead fish, whilst getting battered by big waves and rocks. Every time I got hold of one, it slipped away or a wave came and knocked it away… nevertheless I have to say that the two dead fish escaped and so we had to go home cold and hungry…. Well I did; the other fellar wasn’t much use stood on the shore laughing at me!

A few days in the time of Te Puke, I managed to escape with other backpackers who had a car. One day we went out to some waterfalls nearby, swimming and diving. Another day we went down to Rotorua, a town built on a thermal and volcanic activity. It has geysers, bubbling mud and the whole city reeks of sulphur… or to be more accurate, a gentle mixture of shit and eggs. Anyway it was nice to get away from Te Puke for a day and see some bubbling mud!

After my month was up in Te Puke, it was well time to get out of there. I contacted my old boss on the Manadarin farm in Keri Keri and he said I could have a job if I came back… so that’s what we’ve done. On the 12th April, we left Te Puke, hopefully never to go back and headed up north on the bus (via Rotorua and Auckland).
I had to sell a lot of my possessions in Te Puke because I had a luggage limit on the bus. I managed to sell everything somehow including tent, mattress, body board as well as some pillows and duvet that I had previously ‘borrowed’ from another hostel.

After a night in Auckland again (plenty of time), we got the second coach from outside my old work at Harbourside. We were in luck… our coach had been taken off the road for repairs and they had to replace it with a luxury coach due to be used for rugby teams in the world cup next year… oh yes… leather seats, recliners, delightful.

And so we are here… me and Leslie back in Keri Keri. Starting work Monday 19th April.

Craig

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