Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Horrid Little Things, part Deux!

Yep, so it's starting to sound like a bit of a trend us going back for a second go at picking fruit. That's right. We are officially apple pickers once again. Without boring you with variety types, quality control and good stem samples, I think I'll digress into some of my favorite New Zealand and traveling in a van nuances. It's about time I got a little personal, eh?

Mick has discovered that the feathers and yarn that I use to make my beanies and headbands work extremely well for making flies for fly fishing. Crafty little bugger!

Dr. Bronners (smuggled in from America!) works really well for everything. At current, we are washing our bodies, dishes, hair and sometimes clothes with it. Can't beat all natural bio-degradable soap! We're almost out!

We love camel toe. For those of you who aren't familiar, socks and flip flops. Need I say more?

We now have a homemade art easel. It lives strapped to the Oh Sh*@ handles in the back of the car along with our 3 fishing rods and 2 head torches.

We have a totally of 5 cds in our possession, which is not nearly enough considering the fact that in any given rural town (most of NZ) there may only be 2 stations that come in loud and clear. Ali, Doug and Jena's mixes all make the list. And a 2nd hand Amos Lee cd we got at the op shop.

The outdated National Geographic count is up to about 10 now. We scored some for 30cents a piece the other day. Great reading and easy to tote around! And pass on!

Auntie Liz's envirosacks serve one heck of a purpose. One is my "purse" and the other is a tote all for our weekly shopping! Thanks Auntie Liz!

I hold three letters in my "purse" that I read from time to time when I'm missing home. One is from Auntie, one from Ali and one from Nancy. These words are priceless. Thank you.

The list goes on and on, and from time to time I'll include a few others. Just to give you an idea of what life inside the van/house looks like.

All is good. Making money and living life one apple at a time! Misses and Kisses to you all!

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Forbidden Fruit!

Now that we've finished picking those horrid little things (actually, they were quite good, I should be nice) we are off to the South Island! Marlborugh County here we come!

We plan on picking grapes for a couple of weeks and then heading down to the southern alps to look for jobs and accommodation. The south island is meant to be much more beautiful and even less people live there than they do here on the north island, so it's gotta be gorgeous...literally! Fiords and snowcapped mountains everywhere and endless treks and beaches. Ooooh, I can't wait!

We have a 3 1/2 hour ferry ride tomorrow where we'll take the van and all of our belongings with us. Today we will be staying in Wellington for a night with some friends we met along the way. Not a bad place to have a friend since it's a pretty big city!