Money Money Money

After rocking around the country for the last 16 weeks I managed to spend most of my savings. Thinking I would find a job easy I let the money run low until starting to look for work, I stopped in Tauranga to try and find a job in the city but after handing in handfuls of c.vs and staring at my phone for a couple of days I was still without work. All the time the money slowly dripping away, in an attempt to make the cash last I started buying 3 minute noodles again. I eventually gave up on Tauranga and headed to the nearby town of Mt Maunganui just because I was sick of job hunting and I knew a couple of people who where around the area.
I checked into a hostel on Saturday and had stumbled upon a recruiting agency who where in the middle of talking to a group who where already employed by them and who where also staying at the hostel. I waited in the background until the man speaking had finished I slipped over to him and asked if there was any chance of getting a job.
The next day I was off to a Muscle packing house for a 2 hour induction on how to pack a box. This, after 2 evenings (4-1 o'clock) remains the most interesting thing that has happened to me here as my general shift includes standing next to a conveyor belt, watching muscles getting crammed into a box further down the line, watching them float down to me where I pick up the 'inner box' and place it in an 'outer box' 7 or 8 hours later with a 30 min smoko (break) and I emerge from the packing house $95 richer and 2 IQ points dummer.

After accidentally hitching to the wrong town in the wrong direction I found myself once again in the corramondal way north of where I was thinking of going, Tairua not Te Aroha. So I made the most of it and stayed the night there (top image of me posing).

The next day I headed south to whangamata (pronounced fangamata) because I remembered this was a small town with a nice beach and a cheap supermarket and was near by. all was fine until the next day when I tyred to leave. It was a Sunday but the kiwi who I was sharing a room with seemed confident that I would get a lift in no time. So walking to the end of the road about 10 mins out of town along with vince who has been coming along with me we stuck up the thumbs. No ride for 20 mins although there was plenty of traffic, then another 20 mins, we sat under a tree which was by the road which was shielding us from the sun but still it was taking to long, another ten mins went by and we decided to split, I waited around the corner while vince worked his magic with the traffic getting a lift within 10 mins from a camper van (with only one spare seat). So now my turn, I step up to the road confident I will soon be on my way. Another hour or so gos by and a hundred cars have shot passed with empty seats untill a woman who has stopped at the shops calls over and asks where am I going.

'anywhere south' I yell in desperation

she drives over and I jump in. Turns out she is going all the way to Mt Maganui, exactly where I was heading in order to stay in a cheap hostel I have a leaflet for. But ten mins down the road Glennis has to visit her fammily for an hour, I take my chances with the road and get out in the blistering sun, with no shade to be seen and no sun lotion left I tuck myself behind a bush for sweet relief from the burning sun, this effectively means I have to jump out on traffic from behind a bush when I hear it coming. Perhaps not surprisingly I am left there until Glennis returns to save the day.

She takes me all the way to Mt Manganui (actually slightly past her original destination) and instead of leaving me at the side of the road, byes me and vince (who I meet there) and foot long subway with 2 cookies and a drink! The day had been saved by the kindness of one lady. Who also gives me an old New Zealand penny for luck, which hopefully it will bring.

Coramondal

Been floating around the corramondal, north, east of NZ. I originally planed to spent three days driving round in a rent-a-car but after my first lap of the peninsular and getting back to Thames where I needed to hand the rental car back I bumped into Christoph, The German guy who had picked me up on the way to the very north of NZ Cape Renga. I returned the favour by giving him a lift to his hostel and he ended up renting the car I was handing back. We had a few beers and it got to late for me to hitch south so I held up in the hostel with him.
There we met Anne, a french lady and Vince From Amsterdam who I got on so well with I decided to go with them around the corramondal for the second time.
As always a bunch of stuff happened including Vince scrapping up and destroying underneath of the rental car (they have yet to notice and charge him), Also saw a beached whale who had to be shot as he was ill and every time he was free he swam back and ended up on the beach. We also where invited to stay with a family for free who had strange religious beliefs (something I was unaware of until we where inside there house). But here I got to milk a cow and meet some interesting folk from around the world.

Organic Farming

After staying just over a week in the surf town Raglan with a few people Ian headed off to work on an organic farm to help renovate the house, I had nothing else on so decided to join him. When we got there we met Tess and Aladdin who gave us food and a place to stay in exchange for helping build and renovate there home. The work was made difficult at times from the heat of the NZ sun but was more than worth it, especially about mid morning when morning tea was served, normally a refreshingly freshly squeezed fruit drink of some kind with ether peanut putter and jam toast or watermelon, mmmmm. I spent 2 weeks there with Ian and it provided a good rest from traveling.