Work Hard, Play Hard

Two months have come and gone and life in Blenheim has come to an end. During our time there we experienced a lot and learned just as much. Here’s a summary account of it all:

What did we experience?

• Factory work, working in “the shed” preparing garlic for sale
• A greater appreciation for work in our fields- the money we make and being challenged (mentally)
• Waking up at 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning to get to work, (not too bad when you’re working outside)
• Great bosses, Alan and Robert - loved sharing knowledge of their country and always brought humour to the workplace
• Making friends from Germany, UK, Fiji, Somoa
• Appreciation of free internet but still missing the speed for things like uploading photos

Clipping garlic roots in the shed

 What did we learn?

• The harvesting process of garlic and onion seed
• The preparing of garlic by clipping off the roots
• How to package the small garlic bulbs for sale in supermarkets
• The sorting process of garlic
• How to be more frugal with spending money
• Kiwi lingo/sayings:
•  “I need to see a man about a dog” - a way to get out of something, like onion seed harvesting
•  “Your dad must have made that” - if a machine is breaking down or broke down
•  “Bugga”, “Bloody hell” - used instead of swearing, although they do a decent amount of that too
•  “Smoko” - a break in work, usually combined with a cup of tea

• You can still save a decent amount of money making minimum wage ($13/hr), it just takes longer
• How to make curry, a traditional English breakfast and bread

The original garlic harvesting team

Curry night with the friends we made at Duncannon

After about a month in Blenheim we learned that Kris (Adrian's friend) and Nathan (Adrian's brother) coming to New Zealand was a for sure thing. So we set a savings goal for ourselves and decided to work as long as we could in Blenheim until we would meet up with them. After two months, we met and exceeded our goal and now have a decent amount to spend on pure traveling!

We left Blenheim on Saturday March 3 and experienced our first successful hitchhike to Christchurch! It only took about an hour until a truck driver picked us up. A guy named Gary who worked for Southern Salvage. We had good chats during the 4-hour drive to Christchurch and learned a lot about all the places we drove through. He was a nice guy and I'm glad we eventually arrived safe and sound.

The flight from Christchurch to Auckland was cheap and fast and since we have met up with Kris and Nathan, it's been non-stop fun. We started our Stray Adventure Hop-On Hop-Off pass with them Wednesday March 7 and so far have traveled to Paihia, Cape Reinga, Hahei and Raglan. We are currently in Raglan and will be here until Saturday. A more detailed account of the traveling will come in the next couple weeks but for now we have too much fun planned to be staying on the computer for long amounts of time.

Us and the guys at Cape Reinga

 Surfs Up!