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