Back to work again...

Well it has been a while since the last update, but as no one has chased us (all getting bored now??) we thought we would wait till we had lots to tell.

Well we left you just after Ian’s parents left us. After saying goodbye in the airport, we headed south to Central Otago on the work trail. We had already confirmed some work in Queenstown, but had trouble finding reasonably priced accommodation, so found another job on arrival in the area, it was working on vineyards mainly in a small town called Cromwell. We also managed to stay on, one of the vineyards, so it was a good money saver. Here we did some bud rubbing - clearing trunks, shoot thinning - picking the best shoots and clearing the rest and we also did some wire lifting - moving the wires that train the growth of the vine. We even had a ‘Christmas do’ whilst here. We had dinner steam cooked in a converted keg!! We worked here for 2 and a half weeks. Whilst here we met Peter, who asked us to house and cat sit for him and his wife from Boxing Day until the 6th Jan.

From here we moved straight onto the next job at Jacksons Orchards. Here we started cherry picking - Ian has turned out to be rather skilled in this area - height, and a good stretch come in handy. Meanwhile I did 2 days of picking, and then moved to the packhouse for a couple more. Then I moved on to managing along with another English girl, the orchard grown shop fruit. Jacksons has 2 very busy shops which sell everything they grow. Including lots of cherries, apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines, which I graded, boxed and generally look after. This jobs also came with it’s perks - mainly lots of free food including real fruit ice cream, fruit, nuts, fudge, coconut ice, coconut mushrooms (the last two being a favourite). Ian for his last couple of days also moved onto apricot picking. We stayed there for about 4 weeks.

However it has not been all work (although one week we did manage about 67 hours!) We did manage a trip to the Edmond Hilary centre at Mt Cook on our way from Christchurch to where the jobs were- which was great, We also managed a couple of days out in Queenstown and went and saw the new Bond film on a rainy afternoon when work stopped. Finding the cinema proved interesting - we went into the tourist information centre and asked for direction. At this point she got very excited and said there were 3 cinemas in Queenstown and strangely the lady announced they were all in the same building. On arrival we realised the excitement was 3 screens not cinemas and with Queenstown being one of the larger towns in the south island you can imagine quite how big New Zealand’s population is!

The next time we had of was Christmas, for Christmas we thought we would do something a bit different so with a couple of friends headed bush for a couple of days - 40km from a proper road, a long drop and more sand flies than anyone should have to endure (little biting insects that itch more and bite more than mossies!) We did plan to catch some salmon before our arrival but the weather was very bad so we settled for the emergency sausages and roasted some potatoes on a fire! We also had cheesy mushrooms carrots and broccoli. Followed by the traditional after eight mints!! We also had a traditional Christmas day walk, we decided we could not be bothered with the 5 hour walk we planned to do the day before, so we did the easy 1 hour walk and had an afternoon nap instead! It was still stunning even though it was very wet underfoot and cloudy. However we still caught the best weather for the walk as the heavy rain returned later on that afternoon.

On Boxing Day we headed back to Cromwell and began house sitting, Sammy the cat turned out to be a little handful. We think he was used to a bit more of his own way than we were prepared to give him however by the end of our stay let’s say we reached an understanding! Whilst there we also had 2 days of over New Year the 2 of the statuary bank holidays in NZ. For New Years Eve with a couple of other friends we headed up to some other friends in Wanaka. Here we had a few drinks (the men had far too many) in a local pub (and before going out) and then went outside at midnight and watched the fireworks over the lake. The trip home was interesting as the drunken men helped each other back. The next day we had lunch in a local winery and had a nice quiet rest of the day.
On the 6th, we were lucky enough to be able to give the cat back and reach the mutual decision that we are never getting a cat! We then moved back from the house into our van.

Our next excitement was our last day in Cromwell, we thought we were going out for a quiet drink with a couple of friends and it turned into many more and definitely not so quiet but one of our best nights in NZ.

The next day we said goodbye to our new friends, and headed to Queenstown. After Ian having too much the night before we had a quiet evening and headed to a lovely pizza place, and then had a couple of drinks in town and watched an Aussie lie on nails whilst juggling flaming batons! No we didn’t have that much!

The next day we got up and went and watch the New Zealand Rugby Sevens in the glorious sunshine - our sunburn even with sun creams remains as proof of that! After this we headed to Moke Lake and settled in for the night. Moke Lake is only 12km from busy Queenstown but all you can hear is sheep!! The next day we headed to Glenorcy where we got an ice cream and details of local walks. Also Ian jumped in the river for a quick swim! We decided to head 20 miles out to where the road ends, and walk to Lake Sylvan. This was a couple of hour walk through some stunning woodland, finishing in a beautiful lake. From here we headed back towards Queenstown staying at 12 mile Delta the night only 11km from Queenstown and here all you could hear was the river flowing so luckily no bleating sheep to awaken us this time!

That was this morning and today we have started our journey up the west coast. First stop of the day was at the Blue pools where Ian took another dip and as the water is the snow melt straight of the mountain let’s just say it was not exactly warm and he left as quick as he jumped in! The water was extremely clear and a really nice blue colour. Next stop was Cameron Plain for lunch and then it was onto Fox Glacier. However we did have some smelly brakes so had a quick stop in Haast to check it was only Ian’s driving and it was!
On arrival in Fox we took our 3rd trip to Lake Matheson. From here on the right day (only a handful a year) you get a reflection of Mt Cook the only trouble is cloud sits around the glacier and the mountains and the west coast is very exposed, so windy. The 3 things you require are a clear still day in Fox and a clear day in Cook, and that rarely happens. Today the light breeze was the biggest issue causing too many ripples in the lake.

Tomorrow we shall try again and continue our journey north!

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