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Published: October 8th 2007
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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 so much time has passed since the last time we posted anything, here’s a quick overview of our activities in the Land of the Long White Cloud (the first two have already been posted):
5/25-5/28 - Auckland: typical tourist trail (Sky Tower, Mount Eden, Queen Street, K Road), hunting the car markets for our new home, purchasing Shifty C. Bubbles (details on van
naming to be given later)
5/28-6/3 - Coromandel Peninsula: lots of hiking, soaking in thermal pools, our first free camp experience, and home improvement (Shifty needed a makeover)
6/3-6/5 - Rotorua: more hiking, taking in the features of the “Thermal Explorer Highway”, and Zorbing (it’s even more fun than it looks!!!)
6/5-6/7 - Whakatane/Bay of Plenty: more hiking (are you seeing a pattern yet?), battles with a migraine, and Ryan’s 31st birthday
6/7-6/10 - Taupo: Even more hiking, an elusive pig dog, Erin’s 30th birthday celebration (with special guest stars Lisa and Bruce, who came all the way from Sydney!), waterfalls, thermal pools, and lots of rain
6/10-6/11 - Waitomo: Nighttime caving, black water rafting (you really haven’t lived until you’ve plummeted off a waterfall into a cavern lit by glow worms and ended up with numb fungus!) with Lisa and Bruce, and even more rain
6/11-6/13 - Waikato: thwarted hiking trip, waterfalls, fruitless digging for a hot water beach, and stormy free camping (though it doesn’t sound like it, we actually had a great time on this leg of the trip!)
6/13-6/16 - New Plymouth/Taranaki: visiting 2 of the Three Sisters, several successful hiking trips, Happy Chaddy’s boat tour
of the Sugarloaf Islands, and mountain shaped cloud viewing
6/16-6/23 - King’s Country/Matemateonga Trail: “The Forgotten World Highway”, more waterfalls, our first multi-day hike (we were one with the mud), closing down our first pub in New Zealand (and still being home by 8 p.m.), and visiting the Republic of Whangamomona
6/24-6/28 - Auckland: Ponsonby/K Road (again - love those bars and kebabs!), Auckland Museum, Lion Brewery, a GREAT night out with the Irish lads (apparently we’re f’in headers), and Food Alley
Lengthier, more detailed, entries about our Kiwi wanderings will follow in the (possibly) near future. In the meantime, here’s a recap of our time in Kerikeri:
We arrived in Kerikeri, which is located in the Bay of Islands, otherwise known as the “Winterless North”, at the end of June. After more than a month of touring the North Island and living in Shifty we decided it was time to settle down for a while and start working, mainly because our depleted bank accounts deemed it necessary (it had been nearly 3 months since we’d quit our jobs in Pittsburgh), but also due to an increasing desire to have consistent access to a toilet and hot shower
Zorbing!
We never thought impersonating hamsters would be so much fun
(you just don’t adequately appreciate such luxuries until you don’t have them). The original plan was to stay at a hostel/holiday park called Hideaway Lodge for a few months. This was an attractive option for a few reasons: 1) We are particularly fond of good hostels, especially those where people tend to stay long term. As most of you know, we met at the greatest hostel ever (we LOVE High Street!) and therefore have a soft spot in our hearts for any place you can live with other travelers for very little money. 2) Kerikeri is chock-full of orchards and farms and the staff at Hideaway help the travelers staying there find employment, which is available nearly year-round. 3) The aforementioned toilets and showers.
However, after only one night at Hideaway, we decided to go for a flat (located near Opito Bay) instead. Our reasons were: 1) We were in our early 20s when we stayed at High Street Hostel… we are now in our early 30s. If you’ve ever done the hostel thing then you can appreciate what a difference a decade makes. While we still love a kick-ass hostel, we are no longer able to stay in
one for more than a few nights. 2) Due to the time of year and the unusually bad weather Kerikeri had been experiencing when we arrived, there was no guaranteed work for us, even through Hideaway… great timing on our part. 3) Showers and toilets are even better when you don’t have to share them with 30 other people.
Mainly, though, we just happened to get lucky and saw an advertisement for a flat that was just about perfect for our needs. It was available, fully furnished, cheaper than a room at Hideaway, we wouldn’t have to share it 30 other people, the landlords were really cool, and the view out the front windows was STUNNINGLY beautiful. Quite an upgrade from Shifty.
So we moved into our Opito Bay flat and spent our first 2 weeks in Kerikeri looking for work. Serendipity struck in the form of the Curry King, an Indian Restaurant that was about to open in town… While it was far from glamorous and neither of us would be doing anything even remotely related to our degrees or previous careers, we both found jobs! We were hired as a full time - lunch and dinner
- waitress (Erin) and a part time -dinner - dishwasher (Ryan). Again. We’ve both regressed, but we’re cool with it. All things considered, we got pretty lucky - we’ve been saving a lot of money on food (we get a free meal for each shift we work), the curry is phenomenal, and we’ve met a lot of wonderful people through the restaurant. And we even get to learn a few Hindi phrases (bahut accha!).
We spent the winter (while all of you in the Northern Hemisphere were enjoying summer) working like psychos. In addition to washing dishes at night, Ryan did a bit of casual construction work which entailed, among other things, shoveling mud in a cage. Then he found a full time day job at NPC doing “signwriting,” which he’d never heard of before yet was fully qualified to do. More regression. Between us we were working an average of 125 hours a week. Not fun, but necessary. The bank account is much happier. We’ve saved a decent amount of money in the name of future travel.
And then things changed again. 3 weeks ago we moved into an AWESOME house with our friend Takako. Erin met
her through the restaurant and we started hanging out. It was another case of really good timing - she was looking for flatmates and we were looking for a bigger, more comfortable place to live. The new house is closer to town, cheaper, much more spacious, and has a giant poo sculpture in the front yard. We absolutely love it (the house and the poo).
Before the move, we were working constantly and didn’t mind not spending much time in our cramped home. Now, we love spending time relaxing at home, and suddenly have much more time to do so. Ryan’s “signwriting” job is on temporary/permanent/TBD hiatus - as of the day Erin started working mornings for a rival printing company. Erin also gave up her lunch shifts at Curry King, so now (since yesterday) we both work nights, and Erin may or may not work mornings/days at the printing company (we’re confused about our schedules too). Basically, we have a lot more time off work than we used to. While it might not be as good for the bank account, it is MUCH better for our sanity. Now that spring is here (finally, or is it again?), we
plan to use our newly found free time to enjoy our wonderful new home and the gorgeous Bay of Islands. We’ll keep you updated (really!) (probably) (maybe…)
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Kevin
non-member comment
Beautiful pictures
Ryan and Erin, Good luck on your exploits. The pictures are absolutely breathtaking! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are both with you in spirit. Love, Us