Also want

Who in the UK would like to buy me this? It's a collection of 100 classic books on a DS cartridge. Certainly would save R and I a lot of money on reading material!

The problem with NZ is that games and books and things here are really expensive. Take the above item. On Amazon.co.uk, ten quid. To buy here, getting on for $60. Even with the exchange rate, that's a lot more! Silly NZ and its being far away from... well, everything.

WANT!

It's ridiculous how much I enjoy these games. Sadly, R's laptop won't play them, so I've sent a "hint hint" kind of email to his brother in Chicago. There's a Wii there, just waiting for some Guybrush Threepwood...

Rugby

I'M GOING TO SEE THE ALL-BLACKS PLAY ITALY ON SATURDAY!

(And am excited enough to use caps to tell you so.)

It's going to be cold. But great.

*Dances*

As for the job hunt, it's going slowly. I keep applying for things, though, so that's a start. I was going to apply to be the Hagglund driver at the Antarctic Centre, but the place filled too fast. Probably just as well - I'm not amazingly confident driving Daisy at times, let alone an Antarctic ATV with passengers.

Ooh, here's another exciting job I found:

Scott Base - Winter Science Technician
Listing #: 224045238
Advertisement
Company: Antarctica New Zealand
Location: Christchurch City, Canterbury
Listed: Fri, 12 Jun
Type: Full time, Contract/Temp
The Winter Science Technician provides technical support to science events operating in Antarctica, and reports to the Scott Base Coordinator.

Key tasks include the operation and maintenance of scientific equipment; collection, recording, and updating data associated with experiments or operations; computer administration and support for Scott Base personnel and science staff; biological monitoring of the waste water treatment plant; serving on the Scott Base Fire Crew; serving on the HAZMAT response team; and assisting in other areas when required.

The successful applicant will have relevant qualifications in electronics and/or computing; extensive post-qualification experience; experience in a science/laboratory environment; diagnostic and repair skills; network and computer support skills; strong time management skills; possess the personal attributes to be able to relate well with others from diverse professional backgrounds; demonstrate that they value safety, caring for the environment, teamwork, and delivering quality customer service; hold a full NZ motor vehicle drivers licence; a current work place first aid certificate and be certified as medically fit for Antarctic employment by Antarctica New Zealand's Medical Assessor.

This is a thirteen month role from September 2009 ? October 2010. We will also be selecting a "standby" position from the applications, to be available on call for the duration of the 2009/10 season.

Alas, I am woefully underqualified. Don't even think I can blag my way through the application form. Knew I should have learned to speak Penguin.

Anyway, back to it. Wish me luck!

Time stamp

Hopefully I've just set up the time stamp properly, so it recognises that I'm not posting at 4am.

Hopefully.

EDIT: Success! At least on my end.

Christchurch!

It's very cold here. For all their green-ness, Kiwis seem to have completely missed the revolution that is insulation. Or central heating.

Anyway, that aside things are going pretty well. R and I made our way down here from Hopewell, where we've spent May being super-cleaners. Not a hard task when the place is nearly empty most of the time, so that meant we got to spend a lot of time in front of the log fire. Oh yes indeedy. And baking (see previous post).

We came down via Hamner Springs, which is a thermal resort. There's something wonderful about going for a walk in the crisp coldness and then spending the afternoon/early evening soaking in hot pools. Top it off with a tasty dinner and some lovely wine, and you've got a perfect weekend.

Now, though, it's time to get job hunting and looking for a place to live. Currently we're at R's cousin's place, which is cool but we're thinking that a bit more independence would be good. However, flat-shares are much cheaper, so who knows. Depends on what kind of jobs we get, I suppose.

In other news, today was the day of blood tests and things to decide whether I actually have developed lactose intolerance. Crippling stomach pains at the orchard (when we were eating a lot of yoghurt, milk and cheese) would suggest so, as would the fact that the pains have stopped since I've cut down on those foods. In any case, I'll find out early next week whether I'll have to give up cheese for good (sniff).

And that's that, for now. Off to get CVs updated (our apple-picking credentials might land us that perfect job) and then get them sent to temp agencies, so that they can ignore us in favour of actual Kiwis... I'm so optimistic!

Domestic goddess

Today I made bacon and egg pie with peppers and mushrooms, and Mexican chicken soup, and some tasty oaty biscuits, all from scratch. And they all worked! \o/

To be fair, the biscuits should have had raisins in them and instead gained chocolate chips and dried apple, and some of the oats were replaced by berry muesli, but still. Yum. Even managed to poach eggs without making a terrible mess or a bland version of egg-drop soup, so that's something.

Only problem now is eating everything. Need more volunteers...

Oh, and R has been occasionally posting photos from his fancy phone to his blog. Have a look if you haven't recently.

Briefly...

Well, it's been a long time. Oops. In short, we've driven around a lot, crossed the country in just about every conceivable direction (at least the North Island), and run out of money. But fear not, intrepid reader! Jobs have been found, and you're reading the words of Hawke's Bay's newest apple picker extraordinaire.

However, this tease of a post will have to suffice for now, since the car probably has been checked over (Warrant of Fitness time - every six months here, boo) and so it is time to rescue Daisy from the garage.

Must just say congrats to F and G (your initials sound like I'm just writing the alphabet) on the birth of their beautiful daughter, also called Daisy.

Lots of driving to be done!

R's sister has come to visit, so we're taking her the length and breadth of the country. We're nice like that.


View Larger Map

... yeah. (For some reason it won't let me zoom out very far. Oh well, I'm sure you can manage it yourselves.)

Anyway, Christmas was good, if a little odd. Summer is not the appropriate time to be dealing with Christmas trees and stuffs. Salmon makes a nice change from turkey though.

After Christmas we headed up to Lake Heron for New Year with R's family, including four small children. We camped outside as the cottage was full, and got quite used to our wake-up call being "Helloooooo... I'm heeeeere!" Ah, three-year-olds. Do you ever sleep? But there were lambs to be fed, and calves to be kept out of the way of lambs while they were feeding, so that was all very exciting. Think I enjoyed feeding the lambs more than the kids did, but hey ho.

Now we're back in Christchurch with a big day of seeing people and places planned for tomorrow. Today we went to Akaroa, which is the French enclave (well, sort of). Swimming in the sea is great when it's 32C plus. In any case, I'd better go to bed so that we can go to the Antarctic Centre tomorrow and see penguins!

It was like something from the Twilight Zone

So there we were, propping up the bar downstairs from where we've been staying for the past two weeks, chatting away with the staff and generally being good little backpackers, when in walk four Santas. Good, we thought, this will be entertaining. Nothing like a few Santas to liven the place up on a Saturday night.

Then in came some more.

And then some more.

And then even more.



Apparently they'd started at 2.30pm somewhere about 13km away, and were bar-crawling to the best of their ability. Except someone had decided that they weren't allowed to use public transport or taxis to get around, so they were hitching from bar to bar. All very well, but apparently people don't really like stopping to pick up drunken Santas, so when some people made it they then had a rather long wait for the rest to turn up.

And then there was pole dancing.



I love this country.

December?

I still can't get used to the fact that December is sunny. I keep thinking that it's going to get much colder by Christmas.

Currently we're in Nelson, which is the sunniest place in NZ. Just to prove it, it's raining. Oh well.

I'm sure I had lots to write about, but I've largely forgotten it all. Luckily this place has free internet, which is nice, so I can come back tomorrow and write lots. You have been warned...

Also there are a couple of photos up on Picasaweb. Unfortunately I have to upload them in batches of five, which takes a very long time, so there aren't many for now.