Finally I have found some time to write about the new land we are discovering, New Zealand. Things have unfolded pretty fast since our arrival here a month ago and connecting to the internet has been more difficult than expected. Nevertheless, we first arrived in Auckland on April 11th and stayed at a backpackers guesthouse. We flew from Tokyo (had a layover in Christ-Church for an hour and a half) and landed in Auckland 14 hours later. The city is nice, lots of restaurants with a variety of food from all over the world. It’s easy to tell the city is not that old and not that big, but pretty expensive. We decided not to lose any time and on the second day here, on Dana’s birthday, we bought a van to facilitate our travelling. Attachez vos tuques, it is sky blue with a red flower on the right side. 1990 Toyota Lite Ace, manual on the left side of the wheel, 4 speed of lightning power, it has a convertible bed that allows us to sleep in every night.The Dream, the French dude who owned it a while ago did a tremendous job arranging the space inside, and we have shelves to put our clothes in and useful pockets on each side for utensils, wires, soap, personal stuff, etc. We bought it from a Swiss couple for a really good price and so far so good, we haven’t had any problems with it.
The following day, we called some places to find a job and headed to a little town called Katikati, about two hours south east of Auckland. We wanted to pick fruits first, and it turned out to be kiwis, thanks to a German contractor. He offered us to sleep in our van in front of a house, for 10$ a night each. We accepted but quickly, we realized that the man wasn’t doing things properly on the field, taking many pickers under his wing but not giving work for everybody. His reputation was also not too flattering in the area, not to mention some people hating him in the house. I quickly changed tactics and switched to another place and another contractor. We ended up in the local backpackers’s guesthouse, recommended by a few and a bit cheaper too.
The vibe was really good over there, amazingly nice lady at the front office, Carole, and many friendly people from France, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, America, Korea, etc. We stayed there for two weeks and had some good and bad days picking kiwis. The weather was not cooperative, it would rain for ten minutes and stop for fifteen, on and on and on, I had never experienced something like that before. So many rainbows were popping everyday. The season was also just starting, which made it a bit chaotic for contractors to guarantee anything daily. One day we would start at 8:30 if the kiwis were dry enough, the next we had to wait until 10:00 or 11:00 for the dew to dry up, the next some inspectors would be checking the sugar level of the fruits, it was not fun to see our chances to make some money slip away for a new reason everyday.
We then shifted to a packhouse when it was announced that It would rain for the next four days, didn’t really like it but we earned a little something. Dana would put kiwis in boxes or stack up some palettes with those same boxes, and I was putting plastic bags in the boxes like a mechanical robot, for eight hours. Then we went back to picking kiwis for a few days for the same contractor, but the situation wouldn’t change. I liked the man, an old guy who had made a fortune in insurance and bought some orchards to make even more money. But Dana and I need to work every day we can in order to save enough money to travel all around New Zealand.
So one morning, about two weeks ago, we moved from Katikati along with Felix, a German guy at the guesthouse, and headed north of Auckland, to a city called Kerikeri. I know, it looks a bit funny the redundant name, but this is where we have been since. We first started picking mandarins, thinking we could make more money quicker, little did we know we kind of sucked at picking mandarins L L. Guess what, yep, we changed again after three days. We were working very hard filling gigantic bins, but only managed to make around 75$ each s day (before tax). You get paid 53$ per bin filled, but couldn’t fill more than 3 a day together. This is when the LUCKY break happened, I met Darcy, a crazy 56 year old Maori who was referred to me through an informal conversation. He needed some people to pick kiwis (again!!) the next day, which was perfect for us. We decided to go with him even though we had to prove ourselves on the field the next day. Turned out Dana and I were faster than the guys he had already and we had a super week of work, finally. In five days, we made 637$ each before tax! Let’s hope the same will happen this week.
Between all those turns of events, we managed to see a bit of what New Zealand has to offer and everything is just gorgeous. It is as pretty as said. The green landscape is everywhere, with cows and sheep scattered over endless hills, the bright blue skies make it just perfect. Some coasts are 200m from really high green hills, so the contrast is very nice.
Much more to come, I want to wish all the best to Éric and Monique on their wedding, and hope to write more soon.
Love you all,
Michel
Photo section:
Waterfalls in Katikati
Nice view going to the Kauri forrest
Michelle, Jorge and Felix, at the backpackers guesthouse
The famous blue van
On the way to Kerikeri
View from the Puketi forrest
Me trying to hug a Kauri tree
Dana, me and Felix in the forrest
In Kerikeri inlet, a hilly road
Me and Dana in front of the lake
Matauri Bay, gorgeous
The beach at Matauri
