I don’t know where the time goes, and as I write that I realize I sound like my mother.  But seriously.  For the past two months I kept thinking, I need to write in the blog, man, I sure do need to write in the blog.  Just looked today, and it’s been over 2 months since I’ve written a. single. word.  We have less than a month left in New Zealand and I can’t believe how time is flying!  I better get to writin’!

We spent a good amount of time in Taupo over the months of March and April.  We never did get real jobs, but to be honest, I was happy we didn’t.  We had a couple of helpX gigs, one with a lady named Sue (who we absolutely loved).  She was great!  She took us in when we were desperate too, so that shows even more what kind of a person she is.  But in all seriousness, she was awesome.  We only were with her for 4 days because after that, we had already made plans to helpX with another couple (who we later found out, lived literally a few yards down the road).  

We didn’t really want to leave Sue’s house, because after spending four days with her, she had become mother-like to us.  For a couple of days at Sue’s, we had worked with some pine trees (trimming and piling), and after a couple of days of feeling itchy on my face and arms, I found out I was allergic to the resin that is obtained from pine trees.  Of course something like this would happen to me.  I had one wicked red, swollen face, an itchy eyelid, and itchy red arms (I looked pretty cute).   We had no choice though, we had to head off to Lisa & Brett’s, who were the next couple we were helpXing for.  We only hung out with them for a night, when I woke up the next morning and could only fully open one of my eyes.  I think it was when I went to the breakfast table in my sunglasses that they new something was up.  I went to the doctor to take care of my monster-like face.  I got some cream and medicine and a few days later was feeling loads better!  We were with Brett & Lisa for 3 days, trimming wine and clearing grape vines (yes, I triple checked to make sure it was safe), smoked a huka, played some darts and hung out in their beautiful home that overlooked Lake Taupo.  We had a lovely time with them, despite my disformia.  If you are thinking that’s not a word, you are correct, it’s not, I made it up, but you know what I mean.

Next up, we headed to Lake Tarawera, just outside of Rotorua.  We had yet another helpX gig, which was to house sit two dogs.  We had no idea what kind of dogs these were, and boy were we surprised.  One was a chihuahua mix and the other was a poodle mixed.  Not exactly what we were expecting, AT ALL, but they were cute for what they were, and no we wouldn’t ever get one of them on our own.  The couple that we were dogsitting for were a bit strange, so we were happy to just watch their house and dogs while they were away.  They had a big garden that we could eat out of, as well as their cabinets and they also grew their own grapes that you could pick fresh off the vine.  Pretty cool!  They also had a small view of the Lake, which we went kayaking in.  One of the nights when the couple was there, they took us (in their pontoon boat) to these great hot springs that you could only get to by boat.  Probably one of the coolest hot pools I’ve been to.  We played tons and tons of scrabble too.  It was a nice little place to relax, but after two weeks we were ready to move on, or maybe I should say backward.

Backward we go to Sue’s.  Yes, we just couldn’t help ourselves and because we got on with her so well, we went back to her house from April 1 until the 20th.  We met another couple at her house who were also helpX-ers.  A couple - Remy (England) and Radha (Germany).  They were great and we hung out with them a lot.  We even did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing with them, which is known to be one of the best day hikes in the world.  We really lucked out because we had gorgeous weather for it.  We took a ton of photos and overall, it was a major highlight of our time here in New Zealand.

Now we have come full circle and are back at the lodge for the 3rd time.  We really just wanted to be somewhere that we had already been and to just kind of get in the routine of things and have something to keep us busy until we leave to go home.  Our good friend Jo who we met and have worked previously with at the lodge, is here again too, so it’s great.  There’s a new girl named Lena from Norway here is well, so even if there’s not too much to do, we are always hanging out and having a good laugh.

Oh, and somewhere in the mix of all that, we bought tickets to Fiji and are going on the 26th and cannot wait for our tropical getaway!  Winning!

February 22 – 29, 2012

We started working at the Sunflower Lodge & Backpackers in New Plymouth on Wednesday, February 22.  We were told that we would be working three hours in exchange for accommodation.  After the first day, we worked a total of 8 hours between us (and it wasn’t together).  Once we saw the schedule, which was us working 7 days a week and never together, we decided that was not what we wanted (nor had we thought it was going to be that way).  We told the woman in charge that it wasn’t going to work out and that we would be gone as soon as she could find someone to take our places.

Here we are, the 29^th of February.  We worked for a total of a week.  Just a couple more hours this morning, and we were outta there!  Talk about living in the moment.  We had no idea where we were going until we got to Wanganui, which is roughly 2 hours south of New Plymouth.  According to Lonely Planet, Wanganui is a town full of gangs that we should avoid. We didn’t listen, but so far a) no gangs, b) great architecture and c) we watched some great glass blowing artists in motion earlier.  Lonely Planet has failed us yet again.  Granted our book is 4 years old, but who’s counting?

Tomorrow morning, we are going to head north toward Taupo.  We are going to try our luck with Taupo.  Third time’s a charm, we hope.  We have never tried to settle down there before, but this time we are going to try to get some paid work, just hopefully not in a supermarket, on a farm, or cleaning any toilets.  Awww, a girl can dream!

March 1 - 3, 2012

Thursday, we got into Taupo and went straight to the Top 10 Holiday Park where we stayed the first time around.  There were people all over town when we first arrived, and we later found out it was because Iron Man is this weekend (which later got cancelled because of the storm).  The weather here feels like winter, minus the snow.  Yesterday, we were watching the news and during the weather segment, it showed New Zealand, but you couldn’t see the whole north island because it was completely covered in rain.  They predicted that it would rain and have 75 - 95 mph winds until tonight.  Last night through to this morning seemed to be the worst of it.  [Fingers crossed].  The wind is still howling and doesn’t look to be letting up anytime soon.  We weathered the storm in our little tent, which sounded equivalent to a water bed.  After not sleeping too much, we got up and booked another two nights here.  Wind and rain storms ain’t no thang!

I can’t say we are trying very hard to get jobs here.  We did look in the local paper yesterday, but there wasn’t much in terms of employment.  We did set up a wwoofing gig near Taupo starting the 10th, but that is only for a couple of days.  With the weather not cooperating anywhere, getting wwoofing work will be a challenge as most of it is outside work.  For now, we are happy to be safe and sound!

P.S.  We just found out Timmy got accepted into Metro State College in Denver for Fall of 2012.  We are excited for our future, but are still enjoying our last 3 months down under!

We left the lodge in Warkworth on Saturday Feb 18, and headed to a town called Kawhia (coffee-a).  We really didn’t plan too much beforehand, but we had skyped with Timmy’s mom and sister on Friday.  Frannie (Timmy’s mom) was saying how she had just run into a family friend (who had traveled all over NZ) and that this place was one of her all time favorites.  We thought, “What the heck?”  Off we went down and around and around x 1000 (or so it felt like) bends until we made it to Kawhia.  Were we really happy that we took such a long trek to get to this “unbelievably beautiful” place in the middle of nowhere?  No, not really.  It had some nice views, but to be quite frank, we have seen prettier.  It was also supposed to have a beach where you could go dig up your own ‘tubs’ in the sand and soak in them.  We went to the Hot Water Beach on the east coast, but the beach in Kawhia is less known amongst travelers, so it was quite deserted.  We still don’t know if these hot water pockets exist because after trying and not succeeding and getting black sand in places that the sun doesn’t shine, we decided to get on with our journey because after all, we still had about 3 hours to drive to get south to New Plymouth.

New Plymouth is a great small city on the west coast of the north island.  It reminds me of a mini Wellington because it is right on the water and has a great trail that runs parallel to it, but also has lots of parks nearby and Egmont National Park is only about a 20 minute drive from the city.  We really like the feel of it here.  It’s an artsy meets outdoorsy kind of place.  We looked online and found some work at a hostel close to the city.  We are going there in the morning to meet and talk to the woman a bit more.  We would be working 3 hours per day for free accommodation, which at this point is just what we want.  Maybe we will even find some paid work on the side.  If all goes well, we will be committed to the hostel until April.  In March, there is a festival here called WOMAD (World of Music Art and Dance).  That goes on from the 16 - 18, and then throwing St. Patty’s Day in there.  We are happy to be somewhere where there’s exciting things going on.  After all, we only have a couple of months left here.  We need to live it up a little bit! 

Lately, I am terrible about updating this.  The past 5 days have been very busy.  We worked at the lodge Saturday through Monday.  Then yesterday, a girl I work with (Jo) and I went and did some extra paid work, serving food on a charter boat for Valentine’s Day.  It turned into a very long and busy day.  We left at about one in the afternoon and didn’t get home until midnight.  While we were away, Timmy bought me some of my favorite New Zealand candy and my favorite fudge, plus he wrote me a very sweet note and made me a collage picture.  I am feeling very grateful and loved!

Today was our last day of work at the lodge.  We are happy to be done cleaning for awhile.  We have decided to stay here at the lodge for a couple more days and will take off Saturday morning on our travels.  We are going to travel around for hopefully the next month or so and see what we come up with.  We have found that the less of a schedule we have, the more things seem to fall in our hands.  And because we only have 3 and 1/2 months left, we need to do a bit more exploring so we can say that we have seen all of New Zealand.  I can’t believe how the time is flying!

Tomorrow I have a surgical procedure in the morning.  It is small in comparison to the major leg surgery I had a couple of years ago, but (of course) I still am not looking forward to it.  Getting shots in your head is never enjoyable, but I will be much happier once it is over and I am rid of these cysts.  After tomorrow, I will officially be on vacation.  Woo hoo!

It’s hard to believe that 14 days with my parents came and went.  We drove them to the airport at 6 this morning and off they went (back to) Hawaii to enjoy their extra long vacation.  We would have been more than happy to have them spend the next 4 months with us in this country.  Not only so that they could be our personal chefs and ATMS, but we are seriously going to miss the fun company.

I’ve been terrible about writing about our trip when they were here, as in I didn’t write a single thing.  Nada.  Zilch.  The annoying thing was that, a few days before my parents got here I got hit with a nasty cold.  But, on the bright side of things, these past two weeks were the most fun I have ever had being sick in my life.  That I can recall.  Yep!

It wasn’t until we traveled around and explored more of New Zealand with my parents, until I found some of my favorite spots and beaches in this country.  We covered some serious ground and saw some amazing things.  More details and heaps of pictures to come, mate! 

The countdown is on.  We have 2 days left of work at the lodge and my parents get here in 6 [days].  We are soooo excited!  Let the celebration begin! :)

This picture makes me a) smile.  b) [want to] keep on traveling.  and c) work with children.  In. That. Order. :)

(Source: howcomely)

You know what I dislike?  When you write a post, you hit create and it gets lost and doesn’t come back to life no matter how many times you try to go back.  That happened a couple of days ago.  I will try this again..

Having three days off a week has created a lot of time.  I still am reading a lot, but I have decided I need to challenge my brain a bit more than just that so I have taken up learning all the countries’ capitals of the world.  I surprised myself as I knew a good amount, but there is also a grand amount that I didn’t know/forgot since college.  I figure it is useful knowledge to have and it certainly couldn’t hurt to learn a thing or three, so why not.

In the last couple of days, there have been two new girls that arrived to start work at the lodge.  Briana is from Colorado and Ver… Yes, I did just meet her and I already forgot her name, so we will just say V (I know that much) is from Austria.  It’s always great to meet new people, so the lodge should be a bit more exciting these upcoming days.

We just found out that this December was the rainiest one New Zealand has on record.  Joy!  Following that, we also heard that it is going to be an on and off rainy summer.  Sounds like we may be moving back to the south island (where it’s nice) in a couple months.  However, two days ago when it was our day off, it was the first sunny beautiful day it has been in awhile.  Timmy and I got excited so we headed off to the beach.  We came home resembling where’s Waldo.  We applied sunscreen, but apparently sporadicly.  There are a few red stripes on our bodies and damn do they hurt!

We have the day off tomorrow so we are praying for sunshine and no burn! 

Our Christmas was surprisingly very merry.  Two days ago, all we knew was that we were going to stay two nights in Kerikeri (which is in the bay of islands) and from there we didn’t have a clue.  I just happened to check my email to find out that the family we were originally going to work for on the 3rd of January, needed help sooner.  Liz (the mother) said that her family was here so that it would be a little chaotic and there was a ton of food, so we couldn’t compete with that.  We woke up this morning, ate a breakfast of champions…weetbix and brown sugar.  For those who don’t know, weetbix is a very kiwi cereal.  They are rather flaky rectangles that you break up, and would taste like cardboard if the brown sugar wasn’t involved.  You then pour milk over top and eat them.  I have grown to like them, but I wasn’t too excited to eat them on Christmas.  We then hopped in the car and drove the two and a half hours south to the small town of Warkworth.

 We arrived just in time when the food was ready.  We met a lot of people, and ate a ton of food.  The food was delicious and it was interesting meeting some of the family who was just as confused as to who we were as we were about them.  When Liz’s father asked Timmy what he did back home and Timmy proceeded to tell him that he worked on the mountain, the guy said, “Well what amount of skill does that require?”  That was blow # 1.  He then asked Timmy a second time about a half hour later and when he asked us something else about us working on the sheep farm and we didn’t know what the brand of the sheep was, the old man said, “You really don’t know anything, do you.”  Well, it was nice to meet you too ^%#%$.  Just kidding.  We realized he was drunk, old, and grumpy, and slightly entertaining.

Either way, it sure beat sitting in our tent, playing yhatzee and wondering whether we would eat a PB & J or a salami and cheese sandwich for lunch.  That’s about the extent of our thinking these days.

This family we are staying with and working for is great!  They are really sweet and have a great set up here.  We really lucked out once again, and are excited to start this new little adventure. 

For the past week, New Zealand has quenched it’s thirst with plenty of rainfall.  Parts of the south island where we were just a few weeks prior to now, are now flooded with water.  They are also dealing with unexpected landslides and breaks in the road caused by all the rain.  That was the meteorologist in me speaking.

During this past week, Timmy and I have been camping, (or rather swimming) in our tent.  We have dealt with some nasty rain and wind storms and are now more than ever, ready for some sunshine.  After spending day after day, reading, playing cards, more reading, and trying to set up work along the way, we were successful with well, really all of those things.

At the moment it is raining.  Ok, but really what I was going to say is, at the moment we are wwoofing for a family that’s settled in between Waipu Cove and Lang’s Beach, a.k.a. a very beautiful region!  They have a great big house settled on a big chunk of land with a rather large garden and views of the sea.  We arrived here on friday morning and have been doing gardening, lawn and that sort of maintenance work.  This couple we are staying with is very nice and they have two young sweet girls to boot!  Gabriella is three and Maribella is seven.  Unfortunately the weather is rainy (who would have thunk?) today so we are having a relaxing day.  We will be here until friday the 23rd, and then the next week will be another mystery.

From the 23rd until the 2nd of January, we will be roaming around the northern tip of NZ aimlessly, finding a spot to spend Christmas as well as New Years.  Since it’s going to be our first hot Christmas & New Years, we have to do it up right and spend them on the beach.  Preferably with a tropical beverage in hand. 

Starting on the 3rd, we have some work lined up from then until the 22nd when my parents arrive.  The work is just south of where we are in an area called Warkworth.  We will be working at a lodge in exchange for food, accommodation, and internet while still enjoying 3 days off.  It’s nice to have a somewhat of a plan, yet still feel free.  We are continuing to enjoy our travels and are looking forward to my parents being here to join in on (and fund) the fun.

These photos are a peak into the rest of the photos that we have taken thus far into our trip.  You can check those out at www.flickr.com/photos/ltaleff