Beautiful sky over the campersite
In Blenheim I refueled and then checked out the hostel, where Daniel, Fabian and Oliver were staying. I know thse 3 boys from back in Germany, so when I found out they'd be in NZ, I stayed in contact and we finally managed to meet up! They also had another friend with them: Victor. They met him in New Zealand and were travelling together for the last months. I payed a weeks rent and drove down to their campsite. After that we did some shopping and chatted about everything. They forgot to tell their boss another guys would like to join and apparently the boss didn't have any more capacity for new workers...
So I got ready to go searching for a job myself.
Because I booked the car for 2 days we were able to drive around the next day, which was sunday (so they didn't have to work). We drove to a bridge over a small river and jumped off the bridge, after seeing a maori guy do it.
After that we went to a beach and had some fun there. A bit later we returned to the hostel and relaxed at the campsite. Had some fun with other backpackers, singing and making music on our guitars/ guilele. My friends went to bed early to get up at 5am in the morning.
The next day I drove the car to the Blenheim Airport and returned it. I only had recently thought about how to get back from the airport, as it wasn't in town, but a few km outisde. I tried hitchhiking again, but no one stopped. After I waited a few minutes I walked a little and now and then stopped at possibly good spots, but no one was kind enough to give me a lift. In the end I walked all the way back to the backpackers and started my search for a job. And in between I tried saving my files (see the other post) with the help of Olivers laptop.
The next days I again phoned all places known to me for work but got nothing. I then usually walked around town and visited the library to use their wifi and internet to search for a job or just had a look at several shops, if anything turned up.
It ended up to be something like a routine for me. Then at the end of the week the boys also lost their job. They weren't fired but their boss just told them there was nothing to do for them, so "No work tomorrow!"
So we started searching for some job together. I had also been on the lookout for a place to stay and found a house, which was cheaper than the campsite and was perfect for the 5 of us! We moved in after the one week on the backpackers. SO now we were staying in an annex of a hjouse, which an elderly couple was renting to backpackers and other people. Probably not entirely legal, but I don't know the laws of New Zealand... We stayed in this small appartment with a kitchen, washing machine, good wifi and living room. From here we tried different things to find some work.
In the end someone mentioned it to our landlord who said he'd ask a friend for a favour. And sure enough we had work 2 days later. It was just enough to pay the rent and have some food, because we just worked there for 2 days, but that's what we needed.
Then the boys old boss called again and we started working for him again. This went on for another 2 weeks or so untill I left.
So I got ready to go searching for a job myself.
Because I booked the car for 2 days we were able to drive around the next day, which was sunday (so they didn't have to work). We drove to a bridge over a small river and jumped off the bridge, after seeing a maori guy do it.
After that we went to a beach and had some fun there. A bit later we returned to the hostel and relaxed at the campsite. Had some fun with other backpackers, singing and making music on our guitars/ guilele. My friends went to bed early to get up at 5am in the morning.
The next day I drove the car to the Blenheim Airport and returned it. I only had recently thought about how to get back from the airport, as it wasn't in town, but a few km outisde. I tried hitchhiking again, but no one stopped. After I waited a few minutes I walked a little and now and then stopped at possibly good spots, but no one was kind enough to give me a lift. In the end I walked all the way back to the backpackers and started my search for a job. And in between I tried saving my files (see the other post) with the help of Olivers laptop.
The next days I again phoned all places known to me for work but got nothing. I then usually walked around town and visited the library to use their wifi and internet to search for a job or just had a look at several shops, if anything turned up.
It ended up to be something like a routine for me. Then at the end of the week the boys also lost their job. They weren't fired but their boss just told them there was nothing to do for them, so "No work tomorrow!"
So we started searching for some job together. I had also been on the lookout for a place to stay and found a house, which was cheaper than the campsite and was perfect for the 5 of us! We moved in after the one week on the backpackers. SO now we were staying in an annex of a hjouse, which an elderly couple was renting to backpackers and other people. Probably not entirely legal, but I don't know the laws of New Zealand... We stayed in this small appartment with a kitchen, washing machine, good wifi and living room. From here we tried different things to find some work.
In the end someone mentioned it to our landlord who said he'd ask a friend for a favour. And sure enough we had work 2 days later. It was just enough to pay the rent and have some food, because we just worked there for 2 days, but that's what we needed.
Then the boys old boss called again and we started working for him again. This went on for another 2 weeks or so untill I left.
We had a fun time hanging out together, doing puzzles, playing games or just relaxing after work. Then in the beginning of February it was time for me to leave and head back north to Auckland.
The work was always on a vineyard. For the landlords friend we did some leave plucking. So we removed leaves from the vines, so the grapes were visible and could air and sun, to ripen faster (I think).
For the other boss the first week we did some wire lifting. The vines all grow on wires and we had to lift these, so the vines grow up and not in all directions. Also on some areas we had to reattach the wires to the poles, which were supposed to keep them up, because of alot of strong winds in the past few days. So alot of them were just dangling in the air, so our job was to keep the plants neatly behind the wires, so it looks good and the grapes are more accessible.
The last few days we also started plucking leaves for that boss. Though they didn't give us any info about safety hazards or anything. The landlords friend gave us informationa bout the pestizides (it's chemicals, so wash your hands before you eat!!) and he gave us gloves.
For the other boss the first week we did some wire lifting. The vines all grow on wires and we had to lift these, so the vines grow up and not in all directions. Also on some areas we had to reattach the wires to the poles, which were supposed to keep them up, because of alot of strong winds in the past few days. So alot of them were just dangling in the air, so our job was to keep the plants neatly behind the wires, so it looks good and the grapes are more accessible.
The last few days we also started plucking leaves for that boss. Though they didn't give us any info about safety hazards or anything. The landlords friend gave us informationa bout the pestizides (it's chemicals, so wash your hands before you eat!!) and he gave us gloves.
That was my work in New Zealand. Unfortunately not as long as I had hoped, but apparently the weather was really bad for the grapes this year. No proper sun, or too much change, just not good. We were told some contractors had hired 20 hands last year and worked overtime. This year there barely was enough work for 10 people. That's why it was so hard. Also he told us the weather was no good for apples, we had already noticed the apples was really expensive! And mainly imported. Now we knew why.
Sorry I don't have any pictures of work, the few I made are all out of focus and I usually had my phone in the van while I was woking.
We found this "sound gun" on one of the farms, it makes a loud sound once in a while to scare away the birds
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