Henrika's Fascinating Adventures

Last stop Rio de Janeiro

henrika_traveller — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:31:00 GMT

Nearly 2 months have passed in South America and after almost 1 year travelling it's time to go back home. From Chile I travelled to Mendoza to study Spanish for 3 more weeks. For New Year I took a nice first class bus to Buenos Aires. At this stage of the trip I have to admit I am tired although I've enjoyed South American cities. They are giant, vibrant and lively. Unlike in NZ I've enjoyed staying in the hostels here. Generally speaking an average age of the travellers in South America is older than in NZ and Australia. It makes travelling a way more interesting, A big part of a succesful, fun travelling is the people you meet not the places.

From Buenos Aires I began to head toward the north and Brazil. I stoped at Iguazy Falls for 2 days. The city is not the most interesting but there was a nice relaxed hostel to hang out with cool people and the water falls were amazing, what else can you say. Although I got caught to torrential stroms and rain but since it is hot and humid anyway I don't mind being soaked.

It took 26 hours by to get here to Rio de Janeiro from iguazy falls and not in the first class. I had to cross the border to Brazil to take a bus because there is only one company driving directly from Iguazu and that was fully booked till Saturday 12th. I have got a flight to catch tonight 13th before the midnight. The weather was not in favour for me. It has been rainy and cloudy every single day since I arrived. Today the sun is making an attempt to shine through the clouds. I visited quickly Copacabana beach, it didn't exacly invate to stay. Sugar loaf was in the cloud and mist but I sat the statue after all. The best thing I like it here in Rio are the cocktails made out of the fresh fruits. I have been sitting in the hostel most of the time, (cheap bar you see) because even Rio needs to the sun to make it more fun and charming. I got a feeling I'll be back in South America. I'd say that this is the most fascinating continent to travel. This time I only made it from Santiago to Rio but the main aim here was to learn some spanish. I'll keep studing Spanish whereever I end up going in Europe. Tonight I am ready to fly back to the norhern hemisphere. I am looking forward to seeing my famil and friends not sure about European winter but something I just need to put up with. Right now I am exhausted but happy and grateful what an amazing year I had.

Santiago- Bueno

henrika_traveller — Sun, 9 Dec 2012 11:20:00 GMT

My last night in Santiago. Where did the time go? Time flew by. I've really been busy studing Spanish. Omg, it is hard to learn a new language. After 3 weeks taking an intensive course I kind of feel that I haven't made much progress. It is not that I don't feel motivated. Barely anyone speaks English here. Knowing some Spanish is a must. It was a shock at first that this is one of the coutries where it is hard to get by in English, even in the bigger cities. I might be picking up slowly as Spanish words are not sticking into my memory but I am not going to give up. I want to learn Spanish whether I need it or not in the future. I just love the sound of it.

To be honest, I haven't been to too active here during the past 3 weeks. I've been living in a really nice neighbourhood, Providencia. It is green, safe and beautiful here. There are loads of cafes, restaurants, American style giant malls to choose from. I didn't need anything else. I was really lucky with a family the school placed me. I've been spoilt to rotten. The lady and her daughter are lovely and she is a brillant cook. I have gotten a chance to taste all sort of typical Chilean dishes. The only thing I feel a bit sad is that I haven't able to talk to them that much. I sort of escaped into my private room to study in a theory as I didn't feel too confident or understand any of the conversations in practise. I simply felt thick. All the Spanish words, grammar, conjugations of the verbs are in a big mess in my head and I am barely able to utter a word in a real situation.

But in general I've had a great time here: tried Pisco sour: a word of warning: they make it strong here, took a salsa lesson. walked up to the hill of Cristoban There was a pretty nice view through "the smoke" on that day. As in NZ the bad weather was the reason to bad visibility from the lookouts. Here it is the contamination. I spent my very first summer birthday here even my local family remembered me with a small gift and a glass of champagne. After all the hardships in NZ, I feel like back alive and enjoying travelling. The climate might play a small role as well. Finally I ws able to wear my favorite summer dress, eat outside and dance. Roll on Christmas and SUMMER.

Tomorrow I am going to hop of the bus and cross the Andies to Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is much smaller than Santiago but it suppose to much hotter and their wine amazing. Kind of mixed feelings to leave Santiago but but always ready for new adventures on the other side of the Ands. Who know maybe Argentinian accent works for me better. (You can always hope) and I'll make a breakthrough in learning Spanish,

A new chapter to begin: South America Chile Santiago

henrika_traveller — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:20:00 GMT

Yippiiii!!! I finally left NZ. The last 2 days in Auckland were not bad though. I found a shop selling Finnish goodies and sweets. My host families are getting some Finnish chocolate as a gift after all. Unless In don't eat the all before getting there. I was over the moon when I found my favorites sweets. I also happened to pass a Bikram yoga studio and I tried a class there as well. I actually liked Posonby neighbourhood. Although I won't miss neither NZ nor Auckland. It was time to move on, a big time.

I sort of flew back in time. I hopped on plane on Nov 17th at 16.10pm and I arrived 11:30am on Nov 17th. Great, got a new chance to live that day. I didn't get any sleep on plane so I was knackered. The airport transportation was all organized according to the plan by the Spanish language school. Because it is high season and all the homestay rooms are fully booked, I am staying in a hostel tonight. This time I don'ät mind, nice to talk so many different nationalities. This is a cute little hostel, with free WIFI (unheard in NZ) and dinner and breakfast. I am already making friends here. I noticed that knowing some Spanish wouldn't hurt.I got my lunch by using a sign language. Locals don't seem to be willing to make an effort speaking English, Good, because I wanna learn Spanish.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to move to my family. I am so excited this part of the trip. I haven't really used my brains for a long time, Lets see how picking up a new language will work out..

My very first surfing experience

henrika_traveller — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:08:00 GMT

Some time ago when I was still an Au pair and visited Coromandel beach house with the family I decided that I have to try surfing some day even though I am not much of a water element person.

Today I did it. A few guys at the hostel have tried that abosolutely loved it and all of them were going to hire board and wet suit for an hour this morning after thinking for awhile I decided to join them. I was afraid getting too cold but it is all right, you get a thick thermo wetsuit and keeps you warm. I have never be on a surf board before., The other guys have tried before or at least have one lesson before. I could have been ideal to try one lesson before but I won't have time to practise on my own in the near future anyway so I might play with the board in Ocean for craic,

Ocean has been pretty calm lately but not today, it was quite rough for a beginner. I wasn't quite able to stand on the board but I didn't hurt myself and didn't drown and got to experience tremendous power of waves so I am happy. I never thought that withdrawing waves are so powerful as well. Allrtogether I am glad I went out there. My gym membership finished yesterday so why not try different things. I was exhausted after first half an hour even though I didn't do much, It was so hard to balance the board and waves are so strong, Instead of actual surfing I was thrown by the waves here and there. But so what it was my first attempt. I am pretty sure that if end up the coast and I got a few weeks on me, l'll take a lesson and try again. It was kind of cool even though I was totally useless against the waves,

Taranaki hiking trek

henrika_traveller — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 11:20:00 GMT

My last week is NZ. No mixed emotions, I am more than willing to leave NZ for good. Although I must admit that this week has been really good. I joined to the gym and during 7 days I took 2xBodyPump, 2x bodyBalance, 2x spinning, 2x BodyCombat and 1 StepAerobic classes plus on Wednesday&Thursday I was hiking with my new friends I made at the hostel. Weatherwise we were lucky. Although I waited a week for a good wearther. It was worth waiting for non cloudy day. It is not that often I am afraid.

Mt taranaki/Egmont looks majestic. It must be its classic vulcanic shape, snowcap and the fact that it is standing all alone after a battle with Tongariro mountain. There a few nice treks and they are nowhere near as touristry as Tongorito crossing. New Plymouth is a bit off the most beaten path although Taranaki is popular and famous it is no such a tourist city like Taupo. Perhaps that's why I've liked it here.

We learnt that summer is about a month late. No way to climb to up the summit, ice is too thick and hard. If I was back in February, I could that... Anyway, we chose alternative trek instead. A full day hiking on Wednesday, spent over a night in a hut and on Thursday climbed up to smaller mountain summit and then went down again, piece of cake. Thursday was fabulous, no cloud in the sky, chilly winds eased, enjoy the scenery and outdoors excercise. Life is good. Even better we managed to capture the famous mirror imagine of Mt Taranaki, probably one of the most famous picture of NZ. We failed the first time when we walked to the lakes on Wednesday night. Too windy, tiny lakes (I would call them ponds were all rippled) No worries as we were staying over night a hut, we got a new chance, the sunrise. We got up 5:30am walked 20 min from the hut to the lakes and WOW, the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen and the surface of the lake was still and reflecting his Msjesty Taranaki almost perfectly.

I liked staying overnight in the hut as well, something different. There were 3(1 Finnish, I American, 1 German) in our party plus 5 other Germans. But this time I didn't mind. As we had pretty short hiking on Thursday, we didn't rent a gas cooker or stove. You can survive one day without a hot meal, can't you. Yes you can but my concern was that can a coffee addict survive without a morning coffee? Well I guess if she has to but much better for everybody if she doesn't have to.

I am not as addicted to coffee as I used to be but still. As I had had no coffee in the Wednesday afternoon either, that was ok but in the morning, I started to feel mild caffeine withdrawals, After the sunrise, we took a nap and when we got up a young German couple and 2 middle age German ladies were gone. I was delighted to discover that the gas stove was still there. A young German bloke was in no rush to start hiking back to the circuit and he had slept in. Yes, he liked coffee and he was willing ti let me to use his stove to boil some water for coffee. Luckily I had enough coffee for him as well. Trading worked out. I didn't bring a plunger and fresh coffee for nothing. The weather and gas stove made my day.

From Taupo via charming Art Deco Napier to New Plymouth

henrika_traveller — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 14:45:00 GMT

I am in New Plymouth, in the West Coast. I got eventually done everything I wanted in Taupo, skydiving and the Tongoriro crossing. The Alpine crossing was finally re-opened after being closed for 2 weeks. I wasn't too keen to make the crossing in the first place but I changed my mind. You go through a good few steps, steep climb, snow, strong winds and bush. I'd say that the track is worth its good reputation.

I also went to Napier for a few days and I tried too many glasses of local Merlot in an Irish pub with an English girl on a Saturday night. Forever reason I looked tired and sad and therefore a local girl came over to talk to us. A girl was called Emma and she looked like a fairy. She was out with her friends and they were plumbers. I found it quite fascinating that an elf looking girl explains how much she likes her work, plumbing. The evening got bizarre as all my hazy years as a student in Finland and a professional Ireland and as a tourist here and there, I have never ever refused the service. Now it happened, we entered to an empty bar and a bartender announced with a cold tone in her voice that those girls have had enough. I wasn't the only one shocked, so was my English friend. Solution was of course walk out and go elsewhere with more relaxed policies regarding to the definition "intoxicated customer".

I must say that they must produce quality wine in Napier. Neither of us suffered from headache or any other nasty sympthons of hangover. Impressive. Although I decided to give a miss to wineries on my 50km cycling trip on the next day. It has been bout 5 years since I have cycled last time and my arse wasn't as sore as I was afraid of.

Napier is a cute art deco city worth stopping over, My personal highlights during a few days visit in Napier were girls' night out, 50km cyckling track through the rural landscape and a class of Bikram yoga. I met a guy in a hostel who took me to try out a class. It was splendid!

Instead of going back toward Auckland I chose to visit New Plymouth. I was lucky for a change. The hostel was a bit further off the city as I though but the bus driver offered to drop me off at the hostel after finishing at the bus depot. One of those days I actually like travelling New Zealand. Kiwis are friendly and helpful, I do have to admit that even though I am pretty far cry off being in love with this country. About 15 min walk uphill with all my bags would have turned into a nightmare and make me swaer NZ once again.( not that I could blame anyone but myself)

I have had a good time in this city. The city itself is not as charming as Napier but it has about 11km of Coastel paved walkaway and beautiful parks. I really like the hostel I am staying. It small so less German teenagers, lovely sun room and the best of all: sauna. For $5 you can have it all for yourself. The place is ideal for recharging the batteries for any traveller. I joined the gym for a week. I know it is kind of late to get that "bikini body" before South America after eating all the cakes as an Au pair . But I just gonna get it started and let Salsa dance take care of the rest (or perhaps South American stomack bugs, IN indiua they did pretty good job to get me ready for Thailand)

Seriously one of the things I ve missed during my big trip is regular excercise. God it felt good. It was like re-union with a long time friend. A missing piece to happy life re-found. But oif course for travellers it is hard and you kind of wanna escape the routines but it has been such a long time so I kind of greet the routines for a change. In Matamata I was always having cold and sore throat so I found asubstitute for pleasure of workout: baking and cakes. But this has already changed I am back on the track.

I am gonna go hiking or tramping as Kiwis would say to Taranaki national park tomorrow morning and spend over a night in a hut after full day of hiking. I am gonna team up with a German and American girls. One more time I am going to go explore New Zealand spectacular nature. The rest of the week. I'll be staying in the gym and taking LesMills and spinning classes, perhaps I'll go for a long run along the wild and rocky coasline

Sunny and windy but visibility should be good all week. Better off to go enjoy the last rays of the sun before going to the supermarket buy food for tomorrow's challenge. It should be fun to stay overnight in a hut. Let see how it goes.

Passing my time in Taupo

henrika_traveller — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 07:18:00 GMT

So I arrived here in Taupo after my early finished Au Pair experience and I am still here. People come and go almost every day and I stick like glue here. I fancy independence of coming and going after leaving with a family, planning my own meals and so but I did not miss about 400 000 German backpackers. Does every single 18 yrs old German come here. Looks and sounds like it. German is more common languager than English in here. Taupo os pretty nice town not that I like it here that much but I haven't really bothered to go see other places just yet. My intial feeling was that to go to bed and ask somebody to wake my up on 17th of November when my flight is due. Well this is too a beautiful country to miss so I had better pick myseld up and stay up and curious. The weather has been crap for most of the time. Wind has been so cold that I had to invest in a new wind and water proof jacket just to get out of the hostel. Yesterday I did one of the famous walk to Huka falls. I was worth it I felt much fresher and positive after a few hours walk in the nature.

Unfortunately, the persistant flu hasn't let me go either. So I pretty much slept for the first 3 days. But many activities were cancelled anyway so I don't think I missed out much. Tongariro crossing has been off for 1.5 weeks, too windy. I am still dreaming of Skydiving though. 15000 skydiving package just seem to difficult to justify financically but I am only here once as far as I am concerned. I am booked in here till Saturday then it's time move on to Napier for a few nights.

I got a sailing trip booked for tonight's 5.00pm sunset sailing with a barbeque. Hopefuly the sun will be out. After resting on my laurels and wandering around doing nothing for a week I am looking forward for experienng some tourist activities.

Farewell Matamata and Au pair job

henrika_traveller — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:17:00 GMT

Last weekend I learnt that the family's circumstances have changed and they no longer need an assistant. In other words, they wanted me to leave. Ok, I got you. fine with me. I was getting bored anyway. It was fantastic for awhile and honestly I haven't got any bad feelings even though this didn't end according to the plan, Sometimes things just happen, I don't like too strict plans anyways. There are greener venues to discover and off I go on the road again.

I am due to leave the country on Nov 17th. None of my work things have really worked out for me. Although I've been here almost there months. I got over the shock in a day and this week I've been getting quite excited to move on. Tomorrow I amleaving the farm and heading to Taupo. By the way, I am done with struggling with casual jobs. No more attempts to find or even trickier to hold downa minim,um wage job. I am gonna dedicate my remaining time just to discover the beauty of the nature, do hiking and walks. New Zealand, you haven't treated me too well, I'll give you one more chance... And yes I forget working here bewcause that's crap.

A few words of being a 30 somethings Au pair. I guess it has different challenges as 18 something, I have been looking after myself for over a decade or so. I thought I adjusted pretty well. I liked the family but of course the life and mindset are different, I'd be old enough to be a mother myself. My experience being a part of a family feels like a light year ago. Nevertheless all kind of funny childhood memories keep popping up in my mind. Usually Au pair experience is either a total nightmare or absolutely wonderful. For me, this was an experience not to miss but ehmm less comfortable ending kind was spoilt part of the wonderful experience. However, at the end of the day, I'll remember of the best bits of this part of life. The kids were lovely. There are so many factors contributing an experience as an Au pair I am not gonna contemplate what went wrong for too long as one of the major reasons was a change in the circumstances indeed not that it didn't work out with me. in a summary, I recommend an Au pair job even though you would be an ancient, used to live on your own, weirdo world traveller. Nearly 3 peaceful months learning to look after somebody else but myself absolutely beat the experience hanging out in the Backpackers with German kids. Even though I was told off to go explore more their beautiful country. That's exaclt what I am gonna do. meant to be!

A Kiwi beach house experience on Whangamata Beach

henrika_traveller — Tue, 2 Oct 2012 17:46:00 GMT

Here we go again. I got safely back from my Southern discovery into my real life as an Au pair and forgot/didn't feel like to report about a daily life as an Au pair in a Kiwi family. I got sucked into routines and got too tired/lazy to write in the evenings.

However, the kids are on 2 weeks holiday from school now and therefore we are not as stuck in the routines and there is no need to get up that early. Neither did I work yesterday afternoon nor this morning. I was given some time off to recover from flu. This must be like 3rd flu since I came here. The viruses the kids bring from school must love me and my immune system wish them very welcome. Anyway, I am getting better again and back in life.

The family has a small house in their disposal in Whangamata. Nowdays the town is popular among tourists. An ideal spot for surfing, no that I surf but made me wanna learn that skill as well. In Whangamata village, there are all sort of shops, cafes and restaurants. It was interesting to see that Finns are not the only people facinated by the idea spending some time in a small house with an entire family nearby lake or sea. Ideally the house is 10m from the lake. At leart, the sauna bulding should be an immediate vicinity of water.

The house wasn't exactly on the beach but powerful, noisy and breathtakingly beautifu ocean was about 10 minutes walk away. The weather turned out to be pretty nice, the temperature was about 20C. Too cold for swimming but just fine for enjoying outdoors and long walks. In the ideal world, I'd have been running along the beach line but well my sore throat killed my dream but I was able to walk and of course I had to jump in the waves, couldn't resist temptation. My jeans were rather wet after that. The waves are strong, eh? Whereas Finnish lake scenery is somehow beautiful and tranquil, Ocean beach is beautiful and powerful.

Spending a day on an Ocean beach, you can see the effect of tides.(Or in a tides calendar stuck on the frigde if you don't want to monitor the situation all day) During low tides you can walk to the island and 6 hours later, noway. Unbelivible that that the moon can move such great masses of water as Ocean, interesting,eh? And yes I do admit I didn't remember the cause of tides and I had to Google it. In fairness It has been a long time since my last geography lesson.

I wouldn't have minded sauna though, especially when it happened to be a bit chilly during the night but that's why hot water bottles have been invented. I think I could do without a private piece of beach in an isolated place in the middle of the deepest forest and I did not miss mosquitoes. Alltogether, what a splendid experience. One fabulous thing I got to experience as an Au Pair.

Along East coast, Lake Tekapo, Christchurch, and Kaikuroa

henrika_traveller — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:37:00 GMT

We are returning to north via the east coast. The east coast is more populated as the trip is progressing faster. The roads are less curvy and I feel more comfortable on the bus. We've been blessed with really nice weather for the past 2 days while visiting Lake Tekapo and Christchurch.

Lake Tekapo is a small place but magnificant. During summertime there would have been more activities to do like horse trekking but the horses were not ready for the new season and it was too cold for kayaking as well. Luckily there are always walkways to choose from in NZ and they are free.

I didn't want to do anything special. Well I'd have loved to try hot pools but I forgot my bathing suit in Matamata. I went for a hike to the top of the hill. I was out of breath, it was a steep hill, indeed, There is an astronomy centre up there.It would have been interesting but too expensive. They tried to charge over $100 for a tour.

From Lake Tekapo we drove to Christchurch. A few years ago, it would have been a busy, lively city, not at the moment. There are empty spots all over the city centre. The destroyed buildings have already been removed and new ones yet to be build. According to the information they have 10 year plan to re-build the city. Christchurch is very English city, architecture, private school boys wearing white stripe uniforms. Christchurch used to be the second largest city after Auckland. I have a feeling I'd like the vibes there but no it was too quiet.It is gonna enormous amount of time, money and effort before the city will retain its previous glory which I never saw.

It stayed in the historic jail converted to the hostel. If the city centre had been the same, the jail house hostel would have been too far from the city but under these circumstances it didn't matter as there is wasn't much left of the city centre to go to. However, I'd recommend stopping in Christchurch. I chose to see the Antartica centre for an afternoon activity. Lots of interesting stuff. Funnily enough, I found myself in the room you can experience snowstorm, real ice and snow. As if I hadn't experienced any of that when I grew up in Finland. Worth seeing if you are interested kind that of stuff like seeing the smallest pingvin in the world. But after all in it was just one of the modern tourist attraction.

Now we are in Kaikorua, I assume this could be a beautiful place if you could see though mist and clouds annd don't mind rain. You can choose all sort of outdoors stuff like swimming with doplhins, whale watching, fishing. Of course everything costs around $100 but as the weather was bad today, windy and rainy and it never cleared up as predicted, everything was cancelled. We went say hello to seals though. They were relaxing on the rocks as usual. but can get crumpy if a tourist gets too close to them.

All I wanted to do was take a long walk. Didn't really feel like hiking so I've been stuck in the hostel all day. The highlight of the day was trying out sauna. Not too bad too be a kiwi sauna. It was hot enough to make me happy. Tomorrow is suppose to be nice again. I truly hope so as I am going to cross the sea back to the North Island in the afternoon.

MIlford Sound

henrika_traveller — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:10:00 GMT

I don't particularly like "Must see lists" while I am travelling but I got a feeling I still wanna see Milford Sound and yes I was strongly adviced to see it by my host family. WHile I was working in Tauranga in the North Island, I came across quite a few young and middle age Kiwis who have never been to the South island, Oh yeah, it is pretty dear to travel here but still this is the part of the world worth seeing. But both my host parents have been travelled here so I chose to listen to them.

My morning didn't go that well. I was barely able to sleep, perhaps I was still too wired after the jump yesterday. The seconds reason is that I don't have an alarm. My phone is out of order at the moment. Last night my camera stopped working out of a sudden as well.

One of my roommates was willing to help me and put an alarm on for me for 6.00am. I was suppose to be at the bus stop at 6:40 and the bus was suppose to leave at 6:45. I woke up many times during the night and I was awake early enough. I was at the stop in time, well about 6.43 but the bus was already gone. Well there was a bus but not my one. However, the driver working for a different tour company was kind enough to take me on board. He agreed with me that the driver had taken off too early. This is something I love about NZ. The busses met up at the breakfast place and I jumped into the correct bus there. 4 hours on the bus one way and then about 2 houts cruise and 3 hours back. A few photo stops on the way. yeah, it would have bee cool if I have had my camera. argggg. As the weather was good enough for flying.

During 2 hours cruise we were lucky to see both seals and dolphins who came to show of off just in the front of the boat. Seals are a bit lazier breed and they just lay on the rocks. The scenerely was marvellous. Snow, ice, heavy waterfalls, more high peak mountains. I am glad I took the add on to my tour. On the way I was dozing for a bit and see all those beautiful pictures in my mind, Cool, isn't that?

Sn more day in Queenstown, gonna take it easy and go stry to sort out of a few things, like my camera, video clip of my bungy jump etc. I hope I'll get all stupid issues fixed. Small things but so annoying!

I DID IT! -134M Nevis bengy jump

henrika_traveller — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 16:56:00 GMT

During the past few years, every once in awhile I have seen a strange dream or nightmare not sure which one. I am slightly afraid of heights amd in these dreams I am on a platform on high up above the sea or lake. I am afraid to death of falling down but apparently I am suppose to jump and I am feeling fear so strongly. Needless to say that I don't actually have a cord attached to me. I have kind of connected these dreams some sort of a transit period or a change in my life. Probably kitchen psychology but I considered them fear of a change in my life but on the other excited of a change as well.

Today I was really in this situation as I was about to jump off from 134m. Last night after a few drinks I imagined I would look down and jump with a smile on my face and without fear. I didn't go quite go like that. I was nervous and barely able to jump, I was standing on the edge and though I cannot do this. You kind of have just jump and but everything else behind. I am not sure whether I actually jumped after all but slipped off the platform. It was rainy and platform was slippy you see. You got about 8s of freefall, you can feel it and it is mindblowing experience. WOW. I didn't feel insecure Iwas sure that the cord will hold and nothing bad is going to happen to me, it just the fact that it is scary to be so high up. I am glad I did it,

I purchased a video clip as a proof but the link it is not working at the moment. Fingers crossed that they haven't messed it up completely. Will follow up whenever I get it sorted out. I am heading to Milford sound early tomorrow morning. Let's see whether I am gonna see a dream I am about to jump down or maybe this real life experience wiped those dreams for good out of my subconscience.

The Southern Discovery

henrika_traveller — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 07:08:00 GMT

Where was I last time I wrote... Yeah I left Tauranga to work as an Au Pair. It was about 1.5 months ago. No that I haven't had time as I work only 30 hours per week.I got sucked into the routine that didn't include sitting at the computer that much. I took some time before self-indulgent traveler got used to look after the little ones. It all has gone well. I've been really relaxing in a dairy farm in Waikato. The kids and their parents are lovely. I got a nice family and that's all that matters to make a good Au pair experience.

Ok I promise to get back with more details about my and kiwi family's daily life when I get back there because right now I am taking 2 weeks off. The family didn't want me to miss the South Island and they gave me some time off to tour around the most beautiful part of the country. They are not that busy at the moment but it will get busier again in October. But the kids have calf club on 25th of September, I don't want to miss that so I wanna be back then. I'll explain what is calf club later on.

But now I am in Queenstown. I started travelling a week ago. My host mom took me to Hamilton where I hopped into a train to Wellington. It was dear but a scenic journey indeed. Took about 8 hours from Hamilton. It was like 1st class travelling but I am afraid that I can afford to take it only one way. All Blacks were playing rugby against Argentina, so also flights were expensive. The city was packed with rugby fans. I was lucky that I found a bed in a hostel a day before.

Wellington is a lovely city, it is the true capital of the nation. Easy to walk around, although it would have be even easier to walk around if it hadn't been so damn windy. I spent most of the day in a museum, it is massive, interesting and free. I was grateful that the winds cooled down by the next morning when I was to cross the sea to the South Island. Sea was not rough and I had a pleasant sea journey. I didn't stay in Picton but proceeded to Nelson, booked the Southern discovery bus pass arranged by Magic bus tour. I've met some other Au pairs but they are staying for longer and leave travels around the island till later. Renting a car would have be boring and too expensive. It is not exactly a motorway but the roads are curvy around the mountains. The scenery is amazing.

September is pretty quiet season here in NZ, It is the first month of spring but it is still a bit chilly and here in South, skiing season is almost over. But it is quite easy travel, got bus pass for half a price and also accommodation is more likely to be available with a short notice. Magic bus tour is all right as you can change the dates as you go but I have got only about 2 weeks so I kind need to rush through anyway. One night in one location but here in Queenstown I am gonna be 4 nights, till Tuesday 18th of September,

From Nelson we have travelled along the West coast through Greymouth, Franz Josef and Wanaka. Franz Josef is famous for glacier. The weather was sunny and clear but I didn't feel like paying to get up there. Although there are no mountains and glaciers in Finland, for me it just a piece of ice. Though I must mention that the ones who did it loved it. I was happy enough to walk to the lookout to the glacier.

I have been planning to do a skydiving in Taupo, However, the morning was really beautiful and clear as we left Franz Josef I changed my mind. Yeah why not do it in Wanaka? I signed for it. You don't wanna miss the good weather. Well it was sunny but unfortunately it picked the strong winds by the afternoon. We were dropped off and picked up by skydiving staff anyway who informed us that the skydiving had been cancelled for the rest of the day, most likely for the following day as well.

I didn't have have to hang on in Wanaka only because of skydiving. There will be other places to do it sooner or later. Wanaka is like a small skiing village. I saw pretty many people carrying snowboards so I take that there is a ski resort around there. The skydiving lady who drove us back to our accommodation mentioned about a very personally decorated cinema. Sounded perfect to me. It is an independent cinema, there are different type of chairs, sofas, even a car you can sit down, drink beer, eat home made biscuits or food. They even have a half time you can go get more food or drinks and bring them back. It was like a home with a giant silver screen. I like and recommend if you end up in Wanaka, West coast of the South Island in NZ someday.

We arrived in Queenstown yesterday. We stopped at the original Bungy jump bridge. Five of us signed up for the jump, plus our busdriver. I didn't jump because I want to the big one since I missed the skydiving. They do that in a different location. The original jump is from 43m and Nevis one is from 134m. Well here we go again, it was too windy for the big jump. The original jump can be done even in windy conditions but not the big one. I am booked in at noon today. Hmmm let's see how it goes. It is pissing rain and so foggy that I can barely see the snow top mountains. I haven't bothered to stick my nose out just yet so I don't know whether is too windy or not. Perhaps it's easier to jump into the cloud of mist. I'll go the meeting point at noon to see what happens.

Wow, I got started to write again. This was a long rushed through piece of writing as it is hard to summarize everything I've experienced during the past weeks or even on this bus tour. But I'll regret if I write nothing down. So hopefully I'll be writing a new entry tonight or tomorrow of my very first bungy jump experience. If not I'll sit at the front of the fire place and try those famous burgers here in Queenstown.

And the next stop is in Matamata as an Au Pair.

henrika_traveller — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 12:20:00 GMT

It has been awhile since my last entry. Using Internet is too expensive here in Tauranga. Plus I kept forgetting as I am not in the travelling mode at the moment.I had too many things on my mind when things just didn't seem to work out for me. But as usual things worked out, eventually. But I had a rough few weeks just sitting and waiting for the next job opportunity to turn up or thinking whether I just should try my luck in elsewhere.

After 2 weeks awaiting kiwifruit tree grafting to start, another opportunity turn up, finally. I got a new job at the flowerpacking factory. Regular hours, working in the shed which means that it is not weather dependent as orchard jobs. Being floricultural assistant worked out better for me than an orchard worker. All I did was cut branches or sorted them according to the lenght all days long. it was a nice family business and I liked the experience and the workplace. But as all my previous jobs here, this one wasn't gonna last forlong.

I didn't get fired this time but I quit as I found a family to be move in as Au pair. I was actually willing to work for a few more weeks but I had chosen a dairy family, they needed me there ASAP. At this stage I am pretty much done with the summer camp type of accomodation. I urgently need my own space. I am tired of hearing more German than English. Even though I could look at this more positive way, if I had made an attempt and try to brush up German I learnt in school like 10 years ago, I probably had fluent German by now. But too lazy...

Registering with an agency appeared to be easier than I thought and got family through them in a week. They will pick me up tomorrow. Matamata is only about 45 minutes drive from here. I am looking forward to moving in and living with a Kiwi family. My next work experience will be a live-in nanny. Updates who I am getting on with 4 children and living in a such big family will be posted... sooner or later. perhaps later but eventually I ll post something.

Clipping down didn't click

henrika_traveller — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 08:32:00 GMT

It's Thursday night, I've been off nearly one week now and still in a job hunt, yes again. Work wise things just haven't worked out for me and no that I haven't tried. It's midwinter so jobs are scarce in this country but I am awaiting crafting to start on Monday, Tuesday. or well whenever.

Last week, I had three different jobs. The first one lasted only 3 hours last Monday. Mandarin picking lasted for 2 days. it was loads of fun but not much money, I was too slow. I must say that our employer was the loveliest lady I have met for awhile. It was only a small orchard and more like hobby to them. The sun was shining and birds singing. Unlike kiwi picking it wasn't physically that hard as you didn't have to carry the bag in the front but keep a bucket aside and snip the mandarins in there. Lovely, relaxing experience. You got paid for that and you also got a taste of mandarin straight from the tree, yam. But my storm was on the way, things were gonna take a turn to worse.

On Thursday, I started a new job that was suppose to be a good one and last till end of August and it's probably gonna last but not for me. Unfortunately, I got a task i just wasn't able to do, annoying but sometimes you just have to accept the sad, depressing and bitter failure. The task was simple. It sounds simple you have to bend and clip down the canes of kiwi trees to the wires with piece of plastic and cut the canes you don't need. Ehhmmm i just didn't get it. What I saw was a massive bunch of canes coming and bending allover. How I was suppose to make straight lines out of them. I wasn't confident enough to cut the canes anywhere. After 2 days I was told that they cannot keep me working there anymore that I was too slow. I couldn't agree more, I cannot blame them. Yes, I was away to slow because I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I would have needed a lot more time to learn that task. oh well, I gotta admit something called technical pruning(clipping down) was too much brain game for me. 2 new starters from this hostel got it, I case I am a bit special case. Look at bright side, it was too damn cold to work out there anyway.

Next big job here in Tauranga is crafting, Not sure what it is but it is suppose to be a lot easier. it has something to do planting baby kiwi trees. Hard work but technically easier. I've applied a few jobs online but if I get any sort of response back, it is a rejection. It is cheaper for me to stay here sitting and waiting for crafting as is good money. I try not to blow it up this time if I get a new chance. So fingers crossed that I'll be back in work by Tuesday.

Not for girls!

henrika_traveller — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:29:00 GMT

Monday, a beginning of a new week which hopefully will be more successful workwise than previous one. A good start:I though as there was a knock on the door in this morning at 7:30am asking whether we wanna work. I was awake but didn't bother to get up as I wasn't suppose to work today. The kiwipicker contractor didn't need extra hands for today so I just decided to sleep in and hope that something will come up.

So me and my Belgian roommate got up and headed to work with some blokes from the hostel. Neither of us were sure whether it was picking or packing avocados. We were half sleeping so we were not sure what we heard. But then our colleagues said that picking avocados involves climbing in the trees, we though it must be packing.

We arrived a bit late of course because of the short notice, the farmer wasn't happy to see us: WHAT GIRLS, I WAS ASKING FOR GUYS, YOU NEED TO CARRY SOME BOXES. I HOPE YOU ARE STRONG. It wasn't that bad at all we were fully able to carry some boxes filled with vegetables and fruits. Not a big deal, the boxes weighted a few kilos max. After 3 weeks kiwipicking, it was nothing.

We also did some avocado packing which was more challenging. With the eyes not so accustomed to avocados, putting them in correct sizes boxes and FAST can be a bit tricky. But we were finished packing by lunchtime and sent home. The blokes drooped us back here at the hostel and went off the fields to pick avocados, no way we would have been allowed to pick them. In fairness, it kind of makes sense and I am not sure whether my travel insurance would cover if I fell off. Made $40 for 3 hours. better little than nothing... keep repeating that to myself and don't even bother to convert the NZ$ in the euros... At least we got paid. I'd say it was worth getting out of the bed and I have one more funny experience I can laugh at.

It's winter here so a chance that I'll find another employment elsewhere is slim. There are jobs over winter here in Tauranga but getting steady job is not that easy. Well I still haven't been to Wellington but I'd like to have bit better balance in my saving account before I go back to the city life from this rural place. I've applied for a few ads looking for au pairs. After last week's disaster, au pair deal would be more profitable than random minimum wage. The both families are from South Island and it would start in July. Lets see what happens.

Tomorrow they need more mandarin pickers, I am so gonna give a go. I heard you can make pretty good money, if you are fast. Let's see how that's gonna work out for me. pruning is still being delayed... definitely tomorrow I was told this morning... An update this evening not tomorrow perhaps on Wednesday. it gotta be good while I have to wait this long:-)

In between jobs

henrika_traveller — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 21:11:00 GMT

It June and I am still in Tauranga. I have a bad habit to get stuck in the places if I am given a chance. I have been resting on my laurels for one week now. We finished picking a week ago. I was gonna leave this place and give a shot in Wellington but once again I changed my mind. I wanted to torture myself with hard orchard work as pruning was suppose to start in the beginning of this week and the owner of the hostel said that there is more work like mandarin picking, pruning and grafting coming up on the kiwi orchards. Well for a various reasons pruning didn't start. The downside of farming jobs is that they are far from steady and consistent. You are a way more on the mercy of the weather. You work like madman day after day because next day it might start raining and ruin the fields for some time. No work equals no money.

In the very beginning my my kiwifruit picker career we were rained in for 4 days. After that I worked 10 days in a row from 8-00am 17.00 or 17:30.They were long days picking, picking and picking. Needless to say I was sore, exhausted and kiwifruits appeared in my dreams during the nights. Got 2 days off due rain after 10 days stretch and worked again for 6 days. I doubt I have never worked that hard for my paycheck which was pretty miserable in spite of hard work but better than nothing. But it never occurred to me to give in at any stage. Some mornings were really cold, dew made the trees moist and thick cotton gloves got soaked in no time. No matter how fast you picked and fingers were freezing. No point of asking a new pair, because "there was nothing wrong with them" You really appreciated when the weather got a bit warmer. When the hands were dry and warm, picking felt almost pleasant, almost.

After all the contemplating whether to go to Wellington or not, I was suppose to try pruning even though it sounds technical and difficult and I have a funny feeling that I'd be useless out there. You have to separate female and male trees and cut one of them. (I don't remember which one, the trees look all the same to me). You don't want mess them up or there is no fruit next year. But most definitely they'd monitor you very carefully at the beginning.

On Tuesday, I decided to go the city for the first time and find a bank to deposit some cash into my bank account. I didn't find the branch of my bank and I just went to a supermarket to make some basic grocery shopping. I wasn't until the evening when I went buy more internet time I realized in horror that I don't have the minigrip bag $290 in it I was suppose to take the the bank any longer.I searched for it everywhere. The terrible thruth was that stupid bag was gone. The contractor pays us in cash. I had a feeling that I might have dropped the bag while I was in the supermarket. It was too late to go back there so I just had to leave it to the next morning. For some reason I was hopeful to retrieve my precious cash. I was well aware that dropping cash on the floor in a supermarket is pretty much the same as offering it to someone on the silverplate.

But guess what I got it back. Some beautiful soul had handed it in. My payslip was still in the bag so I wasn't difficult to proof that I was mine. I couldn't believe my good fortune. This time I asked for directions to the bank branch and I rushed there to get my money in safe.

I was less lucky with work this week and made little money but I was really lucky to get back the money earned so far. On Sunday I picked kiwifruits for a different contractor just to earn a few dollars. At this stage you respect every dollar you earn on this minimum wage world of the backpacker under working holiday scheme. Grim? not really, it just a totally different world that you wouldn't put up with in the country of your origin. Here you are not just physically in a different place but also mentally. In many ways this is an experience of a life time. You gotta pick kiwifruits in Kiwiland!

In Tauranga as a kiwifuit picker

henrika_traveller — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Over a week has passed in Tauranga. I started to work on the kiwi farm last Saturday and I can agree kiwifruit picking is hard work. However, we had quite a few days off after the first day in as it started to rain and it kept raining from Sunday till Thursday. it was a bit boring to sit and wait here in the hostel but what can you do. if the weather holds up there is work everyday.I wanna get my first paycheck before I go out the city and spend any money. No that anyone is making mega bucks picking kiwifruits but definitively more than I've been doing for the past few months.I rather stay here till the season is finished and reward my mind and aching muscles with hot spring spa or something.

Kiwifruit picking is an experience indeed. It is hard but not too bad once the body gets used to it. You are walking along the row picking quickly as many fruits as you can and place them carefully in the basket you are carrying in the front. it is like backpack in the front. A full basket gets quite heavy. But I think the biggest challenge is to hold your arms above your shoulders all day.

Most of the time we've been on the hourly rate because Gold kiwifruits are more fragile and need handle away more carefully. So no throwing them in the trailer bin or so. But an other picker found a ripe Gold fruit and passed it to me. Yam, they are much sweeter and tastier than green ones. The best kiwis are going be exported to Japan.

I could go on and on about kiwifruits. pretty much everybody in this hostel work either picking, packing or the the toughest ones both. You can pick kiwis during the day and pack during the day. Ehmm I am not in that bad money trouble yet. So it's is all good and in some twisted way I enjoy physical labor for a change. It's like a great work out and you get paid for that. We work from the sunrise to the sunset if it is not raining. So the sun is shining and the birds singing. Simple life, no cafes tempting me in to spend my savings. Neither need I find a gym or go for a run after work. it's all done during the day while working. But cannot deny that a few more days in a row and I'll be praying for rain...

South East calling

henrika_traveller — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:05:00 GMT

3 lazy weeks have passed in Auckland. I haven't been lucky or tried hard enough to find a clean office job. Not even close since the agencies are not passing my Cvs to their clients. I applied for all sorts of contract/temp customer service/office administration. In some ads they were encouraging travellers to apply,so my visa type shouldn't have been an obstacle landing a job. Perhaps there are just too many of us out there or I was using wrong terminology that didn't match to the requirements. They are just getting back to me now with their polite thanks, but no thanks, they were more suitable candidants for our cliants' emails. I don't bother ringing them and asking more details because I can see something else coming up in the horizon.

Last Sunday night, I took a look at backerpackers online job board and I replied to the ad requiring kiwi pickers to Tauranga, South East of NZ on the spur of the moment. For the first time somebody got back to me a few hours later saying that there should be work for me. I think it's time to get a pure immigrant experience, to do work that locals prefer not to. Isn't that what work&holiday work it for, get boring and hard seasonal work done. Basically the travellers under work&holiday sole purpose here should be a holiday and do some work to be able to stay here longer and do more activities.I am not suppose to steal any locals job. I was planning to go down to Wellington to try my luck but I put off that plan until later. The kiwi season is now, not later.

My only concern is that I am prone to allergies but the assignment is only for a few weeks not for a few months. There are some kiwi packing jobs available as well but I reckon that it is better to work outdoors than inside. I went to see a doctor because the damp housing have triggered astma symptons. I 've got a bag full of anti-allergy drugs now.I am not great fan of drugs but in this case I am better off make an exception and accept some assistance from a pharmaceutical factotory and try some some their products.Perhaps next weekend I can start entertain myself by calculating how many kiwis I have to pick in order to pay my medical bill. Drugs were quite a lot cheaper than in Europe though. Maybe one basket will do it. But I do have do some serious catch up to refill up my travelling budget...

I have been in contact with the hostel I am gonna stay in and arrenging the job for me. It has been rainy so kiwi picking hasn't even started yet there. They say work is weather depedent. For some weird reason I am excited to go pick kiwis. Not sure if I feel like this after a few days. I heard it is hard work. It has been a long time since I have involved in sort of physical work. I reckon I won't need to be looking for gym for a few weeks.

Tomorrow I am gonna jump onto bus and off to South East, a place called Tauranga. If the weather permits and things would finally go according to one of the plans I'll be picking kiwis on Saturday.Brilliant, it was about to time to move on again.

Still in a job hunt and getting organized

henrika_traveller — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:09:00 GMT

It has been a bit over week in New Zealand, Auckland and I am staying in the backpackers closer to the city. The hostel is pretty nice. It is full of Germans though but I think I can live with that, at least temporarily even if I'd prefer to listen to Spanish than German

Now I have also WIFI but it turn out to be a tiny bit impractical. I bought a day pass with 160Mb limit. The pass expired in an hour as I had exceeded the limit. Unbelivable, I didn't download any movie but apparently it was FB that used all my credit in less than an hour even though the vouncher was suppose to be valid 24 hours. Gotta watch out. The same happened in a cafe with a free WIFI, they seem to have those annoying limits that seem to be exceeded just using internet for a nanosecond. I might be better off using internet cafes...

I have been sending applications to different kind of customer service/call centre positions. I haven't been too active yet and no luck as of now. I guess I gotta try harder and add variety of jobs i've been applying. Today I received a phone call from an agency but they were based on Wellington and are unable to start process if I am not there. She asked me to give a call if I decide to move there. Well, I could re-locate but I just applied for tax #, opened an bank account, left my boots to be repaired. I have to wait till next week to receive the tax #, an ATM card via mail and my boots back from a shoemaker.I am planning to stay at the backpackers and look for a job here 2 weeks from today Then I can give a go to Wellington or look something more casual and seasonal. I have got the redtape sorted out, now all I need is a job to start filling my bank account. I must point out that unlike some other coutries, opening a bank account is relatively easy here. You don't need a utility bill or a job offer before openning an account. I like!

So my mission for the next 2 weeks will be landing a nice job and living a normal life for the next few months. Lets see how it goes but I am positive that all is gonna be allright.