So now I am on the south island; the best part of New Zealand according to many. What little I've seen so far has been really nice so I look forward to seeing the rest.
After my all night session at an internet cafe in Wellington, yesterday morningi stumbled half awake along the road to where I was to get on my kiwi bus. I stopped half way for a coffee and to rest my arms from carrying my bags, it was hard work. I arrived at my bus just in time and was taken for a 15 minute drive to the ferry terminal. I checked in my bags and then borded.
The ferry was really nice, pretty posh I thought, one deck had a big food court type thing and then there was a bar and a cafe somewhere and a cinema down the bottom which I would've been tempted to go to if I had the money. Our driver had told us that there were good views to be had from the ferry so if we were going to sleep we should only do it for the first half of the journey. And that is exactly what I did. I feel asleep as soon as the ferry started to move and miraculously woke up 1 and a half hours in to the 3 hour journey.
I made my way up to the viewing deck and for the next hour and a half I just stood and was amazed. The area we passed through was the Queen Charlotte Sounds (after the Cooks Straight which is the main body of water between the 2 islands). The scenery here is absolutley amazing and by far the best I've seen in New Zealand. As we aproached I could just see loads of mountains off in the distance which looked impressive enough as it was. Far away over to the left I seen a few snow capped ones too which was awesome.
We got right up to mountains and began to make our way through them. The scenery was so so stunning and, although ive taken loads of photos, it really doesn't do the place full justice, it was amazing. I got myself a position early on right at the rail of the boat so I had perfect views the whole time. I was well impressed.
We docked at Picton, grabbed our bags and then made our way from the ferry to another Kiwi Experience bus. Every single seat on the bus was full, apparently the Kiwi buses through Nelson are mega busy right now. I had seen some guys that I met when I was in Taupo though so I chummed them on the bus.
After leaving Picton, for the next half an hour out of the bus window, all that was around were vineyards, absolutley loads of them. This really got my hopes up for finding fruit picking work in the area. Our first stop was at a winery for a little bit of wine tasting. We arrived at a group of buildings pretty much in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by vineyards suprisingly enough. In the group there was a wine cellar shop place, where we would do some of our tasting, an olive shop that sold oil and stuff, made in the area, a shop that sold local made spritis, and a shop that sold quilts.
We were given 3 wines to taste, 2 whites and 1 red. The first white was really really nice, I forget the type but it was awesome. The second white was ok not so good. The 3rd red, made with some special kind of grape that could only be hand picked, was awefull. We were told we could buy some at discount prices, up to half price, and although I was tempted I have no where to keep a bottle of wine in my bags. The wines were all unique to that shop too, they didn't import them out anywhere which was pretty cool.
We hopped back on the bus and made our way out of vineyards, into some more normal looking countryside. Our second stop was just for lunch at a cafe in some place where we could have done a walk, but no one was up for it. We continued on and an hour and a bit later we arrived in the city of Nelson. They say city, its more of a big town, even the big cities aren't that big over here.
Our bus dropped us at our hostel, the very very nice Fern Lodge. The place used to be a hotel but it was renouvated and had some cabins added at the back for extra dorms. The main bar and reception area was really nice, alot like pubs back home. They are the first place I've seen on my travels that serve good pub meals like you get in the UK, I miss them. I was sensible and stuck to my budget food though. The dorms were nice enough; squeaky bunk beds and en suit bathrooms, all you want really.
A couple of us headed down into the town to check out the shops. More or less every single one was closed and the area was absolutley dead, at four in the afternoon! They take easter far to seriously. We grabbed a bit at the supermarket and then headed back to the hostel for tea and some banter. I managed to resist the temptation of a drink at the bar and saved some money. I gave Ashley a phone a bit later on, cos I was feeling a bit homesick, and then realised I had been up for about 36 hours and went to bed.
This morning I got up nice and early annd started making job arrangements. I phoned up and got my IRD tax number which was alot easier than i expected. I then phoned the guy who had sent me an email about working for him. The accommodation at his orchard is in the form of caravns, and they have showers and a kitchen and a stuff there. Not sure how nice they will be but they are an incredibly low $40 a week, beats backpacker accommodation for sure. They pay by the bucket, $28 dollars for each one filled. Apparently the average worker fills 4 a day but for first week or so it's likley, me new to fruit picking, that I would fill less. This is pretty poor pay but kind of what I was expecting.
By now I had decided I was going to Motueka, a town about an hour away from Nelson. I had been told by the bar staff at my hostel that this was the place to go for fruit picking in the area and this was also where the orchard that had contacted me was. I told the guy on the phone I would contact him when I was there and then I went down into Nelson to see about getting a ticket.
I managed to get one this afternoon, and so I packed up my stuff at the hostel and headed to the bus station. The coach was pretty cheap at $12 and suprisingly good for that ammount of money. The driver was really cool and did some commentary and stuff as we drove along; told us a bit about the area.
I arrived in Motueka an hour later, with nowhere to stay and very little idea of what I was going to do. I had been dropped off at the i-Site (NZ tourist information) and so I went in there to find out a bit more. Inside I found a sign with contact details for the Department of Seasonal Labour, or something to that extent, which is based here. Unfortunatley it was closed by this time so I have to wait until tomorrow to check it out. I then asked about getting to the orchard that had offered me a job. The guy on the phone had told me that it was 7km outside of the town and no buses ran past it. I didnt fancy lugging my bags all that way on foot so I found out how much a taxi would cost; apparantnly around $25 but that was just the woman from the taxi companies guess.
I went to see about getting myself some accommodation for the night. I found The Laughing Kiwi hostel, a pretty nice family run hostel on the main street in Motuek. It has nice rooms, a big kitchen and lounge and was one of the cheapest I've been in so far.
Tonight I just plan on taking it easy, making my tea and maybe having a bit read. In the morning I'm going to get an early start and head down to the Seasonal Labour place and see what they have going. If nothing there looks promising or I can't get anything soon, beacuse I really really need to start work soon, then I'll phone the orchard that gave me the offer again and see if I can start tomorrow or the next day.
It seems as if finaly I may be able to get some work but seeing how late on in my trip, having to change my flights home could be very likley. I don't want to, its going to cost about 140 quid and I miss home lots, but I have to make the most of time over here. These next few weeks are probably going to be pretty boring, provided I get work, and I'm not sure how often I'll be able to get internet access, but Ill try and keep my journal updated fairly regularly.
