Wonderful Waiheke

My time on Waiheke Island will soon be coming to an end within the next week. Up until now it's been a great experience.  My general cleaning and gardening skills have been maxed out -the OCD that I had with fluff, has now got even bigger with cat/dog hair added to my fluff list.

There's a spices cupboard which has been OCD'd by myself - all spices face the front, can be easily identified and are arranged in correct sizes. The place is completely unrecognisable, so much so, that both the owner and the dog walked into the glass doors as they had been cleaned so well by Audrey. One thing I didn't opt to do was to paint.

I would've helped, but in my lifetime have only painted once. My parents allowed me to paint our back porch walls at home years ago. Now, the porch is very small and I managed to make a complete hash of it and it was far too sore on my arms, so I left it with streaks everywhere and only managed one coat. Naturally, I gave up and someone else had to fix it after me.  Was always slightly jealous of my siblings, Michael, Carla and Donna...they could paint, wallpaper, lay carpets, floors, (probably even build their own houses with their bare hands)so I moaned as I wanted to help paint somewhere. Needless to say, I was never asked again. I missed out on the 'creative housekeeping gene' that they seemed to inherit. So I didn't fancy destroying someone elses house.

Spent the weekend being shown around the island. Visited the islands richest house - my God, how the other half live - a mansion, with it's own beach on a secluded bay, with it's own cricket pitch that extends out to the sea. Got to meet one of NZ's top barristers - he was as down to earth as you could possibly get - standing in his mansion with green welly boots, smoking a cigarette and having a beer with the locals.

Friday night was cheap beer time at Alan's house - his living room is a bar and he brews his own beer for $2.50 a pint. Coupons can be bought, which resemble dollar bills, but are 'pint bills' and can be exchanged for a beer. His living room is busier than any bar I've been to on the island. Saturday night was a bit of a rough one - drinks in our new clean house first, then off to the Irish bar (yes, even this tiny island has an Irish bar - I don't think there's anywhere on the planet that doesn't have one), then another local bar in Oneroa village (with no-one in it but us lot) and back to Jerry's house for a bit of a session, so there were a few sore heads on Sunday.

So scrubbing duties are coming to an end shortly. I'm just about ready to make a move to my next destination of Oz a month earlier than originally planned, as I've done all I want to in NZ now and need a wee change. So it's back to the big smoke of Sydney - no doubt it hasn't changed much since I visited there back in 2005.

The plan is to stick around Sydney for a few days. Have managed to organise more 'Kim and Aggie duties' with a couple who live 25 mins outside of the CBD in a suburb called Peakhurst, for a couple of weeks (yippee free bed and food again -  and yep, a complete gipsy). They've chooks/beehives and like to geocache??! Had to look that one up, but it's like a grown up version of hide and seek (!).  Am thinking that the HelpX site that I stumbled across has been a great discovery. How easy it is to save on accommodation and food, travel all over the world with little costs and meeting the locals - you just can't beat it and it'll be my new way of travelling from now on.

Since Christmas is my favourite time of the year, have decided to splash out a bit (for an early birthday pressie also) so pre-booked a serviced apartment overlooking Darling Harbour over Xmas Eve until the 27th. Looking into a harbour cruise to have some yummy Christmas Day lunch before hitting Bondi beach in the afternoon with a few tinnies/barbeque. Yum, yum can just taste the turkey and stuffing now, but the pudding will never beat my mums.

Then the plan is to move up the east coast to Byron Bay, Brisbane, Fraser Island, the Gold Coast, Noosa, Katherine, Surfers Paradise, Darwin and Cairns. Looking forward to catching up with my Aussie friends I met in South America who are organising a bit of a party trip from Adelaide to 'The Rock'/Ayer's Rock/Uluru, so that should be great fun and they know how to throw a good session!




Waiheke Island



Me with Jerry, my HelpX host


 

  














The wealthiest house on the island



Alan's house/living room bar - beer for $2.50

Kim and Aggie at your service!

Yes, the cleaners of Waiheke Island at your service. Auds is Kim and I'm Aggie - all we need now are our very own fluffy leopard skin rubber gloves.

Waiheke Island is approximately 35 minutes on the ferry from Downtown Auckland and is the playground for many wealthy people and Aucklanders who come here for a holiday.  The island is idyllic with turquoise seas, yachts and beautiful beaches and coves.  After arriving on the island, we waited for our lift from our host to collect us and bring us to his house.  Obviously, we didn't want to walk very far, as our rucksacks were breaking our bags, so naturally, we hung around the toilet block, as everywhere else was either up/down a hill to get to.  We were getting excited about the prospect of being lifted by someone in a big, flash car...maybe a millionaire?? Nice thought, but no - it just aint gonna happen! We were lifted in an old Vauxhall Astra, by our host and his two lovely children. Actually, he had to make two trips to collect us as our bags wouldn't fit into his car!

What a lovely guy - he has his children nearly every other weekend, as he has split from his wife. He made us very welcome as he showed us round his house. Well, lets just say there's quite a bit of cleaning to do.  He has two cats and a dog (with lots of hairs everywhere), chickens and quails. Basically, he's very busy running his business and has had little time to sort out the house.

Ok, now Mary Mop/Aggie has only been in this house around 30 hours and within that time I've managed to break the following (remember my last blog about the way I tend to break things I touch...well, I haven't changed): -

• Within 20 minutes of getting into the house, I broke the top of the iron.
• Today, I broke the hoover - it was working perfectly when I started, but I decided to hoover the cold ashes from the fire. Ash came bellowing out of the back of the hoover with plumes of dust covering parts of the living room. Auds opened the hoover, cleaned the filter, and, perfect it started again. After about 10 minutes it decided it had had enough and just didn't turn on. Of course, I wiped away all the ash, blaming all the dogs/cats hairs for maybe blocking up the engine!
• Opened the kitchen cupboard door above my head and it came off its hinges.
• Dropped a very heavy kitchen chair and did something to its leg.
• Moved the TV cabinet to clean behind it and when I was pushing it back, I heard a large crunching sound, which I was too afraid to look.
• Oh and Auds wrecked the power-hose and used the equivalent of the poor man's water supply for at least a week by power-hosing the windows.

But apart from that, we've managed to make a great start to our work so far. The skin on our hands resembles that of a 90 year old. Auds now has huge biceps from cleaning the windows all day and I just wish I'd taken a before and after photo of the cleaning work downstairs.  Mind you, we're finding damn dog/cat hair everywhere. The dog has been out with his owner at work for the day and as soon as it comes in, it sits on my nice, clean carpet and scratches itself, shedding it's white effing hair everywhere and it smells of damp. I did throw the dog a few dirty looks, but he just ignored me - the cheek!   And the cat just wants to sit on peoples knees...no way...go away silly cat.

All in all, it has been a great move. Our host, Jerry has been lovely. He makes our dinner every night and leaves us food for our breakfast/lunch. Having chickens, we're able to have fresh eggs everyday. He's taking us to his children's school fair this weekend, as well as 'beer o'clock' on Sunday. He has lots of friends who brew their own beer (the island has quite a few vineyards and breweries), so we're heading to his friends house who has the living room of his house with freshly brewed beer on tap for $2.50 (cheap, compared to $8-$10 all over NZ).  He has plans of taking us around the island on wee day trips out, giving us kayaks to use and has told us to stay with him as long as we want, even if we've finished working with him...aww bless. I think he enjoys the company and just loves to sit up, chat and tell us his banter. Oh and his mate wants us to come and help him out too when we're finished cleaning here.

So, this is the New Zealand I've been waiting for. Waiheke Island - feels like a completely different country. Meeting the locals, listening to their stories,being lucky to meet some genuine/lovely people, getting to see places for longer than a day (unlike my last crappy tour here). NZ, about time too...let's be havin ya!  It's just a pity, I've changed my flight to leave here earlier within the next couple of weeks - typical!



Kim and Aggie (they let me paint on the last day!)



Clean Kim and Aggie!



View of  Auckland going to Waiheke Island



Gypsy Rover...

...went over the hill, doo-ah-doo-ah-dee-day-oh. Except I'm a bit like Gypsy Mary - well not quite like a proper gypsy, but living a life on a shoestring.  Obviously from leaving South America (oh Mary, shut UP about that place..you never quit) life here in NZ and Oz (to come) has/will be more expensive, so I decided to write a blog on how a Gypsy Rover can keep to a budget.  Here are just a few points of how I've been budgeting while I've made my way around NZ. There are others but they are just too ridiculous to include here.

• Find backpacker hostels that have free breakfasts, free soup (for dinner) and free internet.
• Free pick-ups from the bus to the hostel is also a great idea.
• Go to a bakery and pick up some yummy 'yesterdays bread' for next to nothing.
• Even better...Stand outside a bakery after closing hours and get their left-overs that they're going to throw out...what a waste. Have considered doing this, but actually found a hostel that did, so I didn't have to!
• Join a Wwoofing site - bascially work on a farm, non-organic farm for a free bed.
• Join HelpX - a bit similar to Wwoofing, but you get a free bed with all meals included for helping out.
• Have 3 free (yes, I got it free) nights in the posh 'Museum Hotel' in Wellington where a standard 'Premier Studio' (with a queen size bed, 42 inch flatscreen TV, ensuite, writing desk, free gym) costs only $210 NZD or $630 for the 3 nights (get in!)
• Buying budget food from the supermarkets and never throwing it out - think I still have a few crackers lying around in my wee rucksack gathering fluff
• Lower transport prices by typing in 'Promo Codes' into google for bus/ferry tickets around NZ
• Sniff out the budget labels in supermarkets are great - end of the days are better for good deals & prices are slashed
• Find the local library = free TV, books to research, learn more Spanish, free internet/WiFi, toilets and of course heat
• Visit the local 'Op shop' or Opportunity Shop our version of SVDP or charity shops which Caitlin always used to love and I died off at the thought of being spotted going into, so ran in instead. The bargains! Got a nice wee jacket for nothing and a couple of fellow travellers managed to get kitted out for a whole night out. There are loads over here in NZ...the 'in' thing to do. Cosh, I always thought you were smart and now know why!
• Eat breakfast out of a tea-cup with a teaspoon, instead of paying them $40 for use of their kitchen utensils (this has even rubbed off on Audrey!). The spoon can also be used for spreading jam/butter and you can actually cut a few things with it too.
• Use the free laundry powder/liquid from the posh hotel...I must have taken at least 8 sachets to keep me going.

Think the only thing that's missing from this list is standing on a street corner...or joining the winos by sleeping on the street with them!! ;)

So tomorrow will be another new adventure (on a budget).  As I said earlier, I joined a HelpX site so will be making our way to a little island just off the coast of Auckland, called 'Waiheke Island' to help out a man with the cleaning and maintenance of his house, as he has a full time job on the island, and his wife is no longer there.  His two children of 5 and 8 will be joining him at some stage. My family call me 'Mary Mop' as I enjoy cleaning, so am looking forward to this. No doubt my parents and sisters will be whincing at the thought of me cleaning. I tend to buck everything into the bin as I don't get along with 'fluff'. I move anything that has been set down to somewhere no-one can find it. Oh and I have a tendency to break most things I touch. Of course I never mentioned this when speaking to him on the phone. You can't beat it for free meals and a free bed for however long you want.  And you can do this in nearly every country you go to around the world. Mind you, hopin that there are no absolute freakers out there!

Reason for budgeting = hopefully getting back to South America = all good.

Independent travelling

Unfortunately my relationship with 'Britney my tent' came to a quick ending. I left her and jumped ship and decided to leave my tour of NZ (along with several others)two weeks earlier than planned. Why? Well, I'd had enough of the hour taking us to places stuck in the middle of nowhere, having to be at our camp for 5pm every night, bed early (as there was nothing to do in the rain/cold), going on 'hikes' which were actually short walks to silly trees and waterfalls, pulling up to 'tumble-weed towns' for a toilet stop and quick coffee and activities being cancelled with nothing else for the rest of us to do. Enough was enough.

It wasn't exactly how it was depicted on their nice, shiny brochure..eg camping in picturesque places in secret locations - eh, yeah, not even the Maoris knew of these fields!  I called the towns 'tumble weed towns' because when we got off the tour bus (in some, not all), there wasn't a sinner about, even in the rush hour.  Signs above shops squeaking in the wind..so naturally, I was waiting for some tumble weed to knock me down as it blew across the road.

So headed to Queenstown early with two other girls from the tour and enjoyed our new independent travelling lifestyle.  Have been on the south island for 3 weeks now and made my way through places like Kaikora, Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Te Anau, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Franz Josef, Greymouth (mullet town), Nelson City and now am in Picton before I cross on  the ferry to Wellington. I've visited lots of little places all over both islands but these were the main ones in the South Island.  In Wellington, I'll live it up in a posh hotel for a few days (free - yippee) before a 12 hour bus journey back to Auckland.  Instead of tenting it, I've stayed in hostels - some I've come out scratching and others have been gorgeous and really homely (like 'The Bug' in Nelson City, so go there if you're ever here)

Being off the tour and going solo has been great and less restricting - I'm able to do whatever I want, whenever, instead of always feeling rushed and not seeing places properly.  I've been hiking the Franz Josef Glacier in sexy crampons, paragliding over Nelson, walking to the 'Centre of New Zealand'. Yesterday I 'tramped' (the Kiwi word for hiking...suits me perfectly..a tramp, tramping in NZ) the Abel Tasman National Park. Caught a bus and hiked 25kms to Anchorage - passing by lush green forests, coves and bays that were nearly all to myself.  Had to get the bus back in the afternoon, but would have loved to spent a couple of days sleeping out in the huts along the track which can take up to 3-5 days in total to complete. Depends how fast/slow you tramp.

The South Island is absolutely stunning on a lovely, sunny day with all the amazing scenery.  But, now I've seen enough and completed about 90% of everything I've wanted to do here.  I prefer the cities of Nelson, Wellington and Auckland with a bit more life than small townships like Geraldine and some other Gumboot village, which was so uninteresting I can't remember the name of it.  It's been enjoyable and I've met great people and made good friends along the way, but it hasn't exceeded South America.  There's so much information overload in all the little streets/villages of Peru. I miss the pollution, hustle and bustle, noises, people selling everything everywhere you walk,  festivals happening every weekend or even during the day - you can't be bored.

Here in NZ, I haven't fallen for the place entirely - a bit like information underload - the opposite of Peru. I think I was spoilt there.  The Kiwis are lovely, friendly and very accommodating and their country is stunning and they're proud of it too and so they should be, but it's not for me.

What next then?  Well, it's back to the North Island tomorrow and Auckland in a few days to meet up with my friend Audrey, who's meeting and travelling here. Oh and she'll be loaded with goodies from home (like Haribos, yum, yum and some other things I need..so thanks mum and Donna for getting them all for me). Have looked into working on farms/Woofing for free accommodation/food after showing Audrey the highlights of Auckland and the North Island.  After that...who knows?  But I'm thinking a slight change to our flight tickets and an earlier entrance into Australia, sooner rather than later.

Just a wee note...Get well soon to my aunt Anne - I know you've been following my blog since I've left, so make sure you get out of that hospital soon. Thinking of you x



Rush hour in a typical NZ town!



Could swear that was the Mourne Mountains in Ireland



Hiking the Franz Josef glacier, NZ



Porter's Beach, Abel Tasman, NZ