Good-bye Junior

I finally got rid of Junior, (my sleeping bag)the wee shite. Well, you can all tell how bored I was sitting for 7 hours on a train up the east coast of Oz – so I composed a poem to my wee mate. Yes, I think I need to be seen by someone in a white coat sometime soon!

'Junior'

The time has now come to say good-bye,

My dear little friend, you’ve nearly made me cry.

We’ve had our ups and plenty of downs,

And on my face, were etched lots of frowns.

There were lots of times you were badly mistreated,

All because you left me either cold or over-heated.

Junior, you’ve given me the chance to reminisce,

Of travels past and present, that I’m sure to miss.

In Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru,

I nearly ended up in the Mental all ‘cos of you.

Many a night, I usually froze to my death,

In Huacahina desert, it could have been my last breath.

Sleeping there freezing under the stars in the sky,

I gravitated towards anything that was dry.

I awoke in the morning completely bleary eyed,

With a spider bite to add to the pain in my side.

‘Why?’ I sometimes ask, did you do this to me?

You were far too small, you should have been free.

Many a times I thought of throwing you in the bin,

Or packing you off to my next of kin.

But I’m glad I held onto you for a little while more,

‘Cos in New Zealand, the temperature froze me to my core.

There were nights you tried your very best,

But you only damn well covered me up to my chest.

Now I’m in Oz, your services are no longer required,

You’ve added 3 kilos to my pack, making me tired.

I’ve had enough of looking like a mule,

And, you, dangling on my back, does not make me cool.

All for the sake of saving a fiver at the till,

Enough was enough, I’d had my fill.

So I carried you down to the local Oz post,

Asked the woman at the counter, ‘How much to the Irish coast?’

Out came a box, with the proper dimensions,

You were signed, sealed and delivered for the cost of a weekly pension.

Where you are now, I haven’t a clue,

I sent you by Sea mail, where in 6 weeks you’ll be due.

To arrive at my home – the County of Down,

Downpatrick, the place, of my little town.

See the photos of Junior below. Just to let you all know, I've arrived safely in Crescent Head in the surfer camp. Great here so far, so chilled out - learning to surf next Monday, which will be cool. Spend 4-5 hours working and getting the lodge ready for the surfers - cleaning, room maintenance, preparation of the food..the usual stuff that goes on here. Spending NYE with the crew and backpackers here on the local beach. As the sun sets there'll be a bonfire, few drinks and some music to say hello to 2012. Rather than me boring you all with going on about the place you can see for yourselves. Go to http://www.surfaris.com/ and you'll see what happens here/where exactly I am.

Happy New Year everyone - I've posted a few of my Christmas Day pics on a blog before this so have a look there also.



Junior - unravelled





Junior!



Photos of Christmas Eve/Day in Sydney

Below are a few pics (only the sensible ones) of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Cruise on Sydney Harbour. Had a fantastic Christmas that lasted for three days. That place is bad for your health, but I loved all the madness in that brilliant city. Looking forward to getting back down there again before I leave for SE Asia.

Santa didn't forget about me - I was a good girl!

At Jim's house on Xmas Eve

Jim, with Santa

Darling Harbour, Xmas Day cruise

The guy behind has obviously eaten too much turkey!

Sydney Opera House and Bridge

Sydney CBD

Sydney Opera House

Me and Auds

Audrey in the Xmas spirit

Our Santa pressies to each other!

Our plush pad over Christmas in Darling Harbour

My bed - OMG - haven't had this comfort in months!!

Only in Oz

Nearly two weeks have flown past and quite a bit has happened in that time. To update you all, we've moved out of the work-shed and have a proper room. To be fair to our hosts, they didn't want to let any helpers down, so agreed to take too many and crammed us all in (so feel a slight twang of guilt with my last blog). Needless to say, when two Germans decided to leave a few days after our arrival, it wasn't greeted with any sadness - we were happy to get the hell outta that shed - don't think we'd have lasted two weeks.

So what's been happening? Found out that because our host Jimbo took on too many people, he decided to loan one off to his mate Keith. Well, talk about raging - we arrived about 2 hours too early. The other lucky sod of an Italian helper ended up in a millionnaire's house and there we were in a fecking shed.  Keith owns his own warehouse/factory, in I suppose you could say, Anne Summer's style.  Got to meet him in his factory before viewing his house and there were all kinds of 'toys'/DVD's etc jam packed to the roof. Had a wee tour of the place and think the blood had drained from our faces with some of the toys on show.

His house is known locally as 'The Titanic' - looks like it from the front, the corridors have ceiling lights that go on with each step you take, there's a jacuzzi in his room, with one being built outdoors, an indoor bar which is being finished, plush furniture, a room for security cameras, several cars in the garage, with the Porsche off being spray painted.  But he was so dead on and down to earth - made his money in the sex industry and there I was quietly cursing that lucky Italian git who'd managed to get in before us. Spent a while comparing the shed with what could have been. Ah well, Murphy's Law - (I'd love to give that Murphy guy a good boot).

Every morning, we go with Jim, our lovely host, to his workplace, leaving at 8am and returning at 5pm. He has two factories - one, which is his own shampoo/conditioner business, and the other a factory that sells barber poles and machinery that can fill anything from small sachets of butter, to larger liquid products.  Learnt some of the tricks of the trade already. Anyone out there buying really expensive shampoo/conditioner soon - I wouldn't bother. The expensive shampoo/conditioner (you know the one when you're at the hair salon and the stylist swears blind that this will help your dryness/spilt ends/stop you from balding for the cost of an arm and a leg?) is exactly the same as Lidl's budget brand or whatever other cheaper one..so save yer money -buy budget (that's me off the tanoy now) They're all exactly the same, the only difference is the hair salon fills up their own bottles.

He makes up the products with all the nice smells and so on, then ships them off in containers to local hairdressers or elsewhere around Australia. When this has been done, he'll treat us to lunch each day, and on somedays, a bit of Geocaching (it's actually quite fun), but you do look like a complete moron trying to find a tiny, magnetic thingymajig, stuck underneath a bridge/building/in bushland somewhere and not looking suspicious when members of the public (or muggles as they are called to Geocachers) pass by. If this happens, then you are meant to speak loudly about the engineering of the bridge/building (?! ) to prevent yourself from looking suspicious or being picked up by the cops. Other times have been spent learning about Shares on the stockmarket. Damn, these self-made millionnaires know how to make money quick - sickening really, but amazing to see thousands of dollars literally being made within the space of 24 hours. 

Work with Jimbo finishes on Friday and then Saturday sees us heading down to Darling Harbour to our plush apartment (that I managed to get on the cheap).  However, Jim, doesn't want us leaving and has tried his best to keep us with him, by offering paid work, finding myself teaching over here (which pays at least $80,000 a year...wha?!! - which is brilliant) and staying with him. Auds has the opportunity of a bit of work when she comes back down to Sydney before going back home, whilst I'll move on to SE Asia. 

He has been so sweet and both him/his wife want us back up on Christmas Eve to celebrate with his family. He told us we were now part of his family, as he has appreciated the work that we've done with him both at the factory and his house. So, not wanting to turn him down, we'll zip back up on the train from our luxury pad and have Christmas Dinner/presents with them - well, it would be rude to turn down the offer of turkey and stuffing!

Christmas Day will be out on Sydney Harbour cruising around for lunch. The two of us are going to find some cheapo gifts from Paddy's Markets in Sydney, for around $20 and wrap them up so we've got something to open on Christmas Day. In the afternoon, we'll be enjoying the free 'refreshments' (yeah, ok, free alcohol included in the price) on our cruise boat and then meet up with a few Downpatrick people (the place is full of them) who we spent last weekend with in Sydney.  The amount of Irish people here making an absolute fortune is unbelievable. One person I met earns $30 an hour, to turn a stop/go sign in the middle of a road (Cosh, it's your Jenny!!) - that's more than I earn for teaching in an hour! Oz is definitely the land of opportunity alright, and it's far better than New Zealand - there are actually people here - no tumbleweed towns as yet.

After the 27th, then it's up the coast. Next stop - Crescent Head, which is between Sydney and Byron Bay. Hoped to get to Byron Bay for NYE, but accommodation was completely full.  So off I went and checked out some more HelpX - this time round it's working with a surfschool up there who have weeks/weekends for backpackers/tourists who want to learn how to surf. I'll be working (I do actually work for those of you who wrongly think my life is a holiday) in return for free food/accommodation and some surfing lessons. So it's been great so far in Oz.  Next time I blog, I'll be speaking in surfer dude talk, living in a surf-shack, have the body of a model, with some surfer dude hanging off my arm...oops, sorry, went off in a daze just there.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year, wherever you may be.  May 2012 be a good year for you all.  Enjoy all the turkey/stuffing/festivities with your family and friends x

Who needs I'm a Celebrity

Before you all have a laugh at my expense, I’ll fill you in on my arrival into Australia. Have had a great 5 days so far.  Arrived and stayed at a friend of Audrey’s which was about 10 minutes commute from Sydney CBD. On our days out to the city, I took Auds on a walking tour of all the highlights and sights that Sydney has to offer – Chinatown, King’s Cross red light district (my old living quarters from 2005..not the lap-dancing clubs, but I did live in a house there), gay Oxford Street, Coogee Beach, Paddy’s Market, Darling Harbour, the Opera House, Sydney Bridge, Circular Quay, the list goes on…I’m sure you get my drift. Had a couple of great wee nights out. 

Today, however, was the start of our HelpX work in a place called Peakhurst which is about 30 minutes by train from central Sydney. Off we went, like mules carrying our heavy bags (I’ve already thrown stuff out, but have no idea why my bag weighs well over half of my body weight) and arrived at this suburb. Got picked up by our host. They live in a really nice area – big, detached houses, nice cars outside and then there was our house. Found in the corner of the park, covered by trees we jumped out of the car to see the place. Now, originally, they had said that there was space in the house for helpers but apparently 5 people came along this week, so rooms were sparse and we were told we’d have to sleep outside the main house in another dwelling.

Seemed grand, thinking to myself “Not a bother big lad – we’ll be fine with that”. Ok, so we were led to our ‘dwelling’ which was up a pathway through their allotment, past the chickens (and their shit), the hives of bees (we were told not to wear any perfume in case they attacked us) to our ‘dwelling’ …it is a work shed. A shed that can only be described as falling apart. The roof has a bow in it with all the damp and looks like it will cave in at any time.  The lights on the ceiling don’t work (probably due to the damp/and the fact that we’d electrocute ourselves if they did work). The door does not close as there is no handle/lock – at present, it is being closed by the shaft of a brush.  Our bed is in the corner of the shed with manky looking blankets (I am so glad I didn’t throw out Junior, as I thought his services were no longer required here). In the other corner are tools, several boxes with things in it, pots of honey (ants have decided they’d like to live with us and the honey too), some sort of petrol/diesel as the fumes are making us high. There are spiders’ webs everywhere (just to make you aware - the spiders over here can kill a human being with one bite). 

There’s a TV and fridge that doesn’t work and a lamp stand which is providing me with the light that I need to write this. We walked into our shed to find two other helpers sieving the ants out of the honey and the floor is now sticky. There are two windows – the curtains are blankets and old rags, which have fallen down. One half of the floor has a cutting of green carpet, the other half, lino.  Our bags are sealed, never to be opened, in fear of insects making a bed there. Open the door and on the entrance is a block of wood to stand on to get in – it says ‘Welcome’ – a nice touch!!!

Open the door to our lovely wilderness outside and you will see a rat or two running across the soil, followed by the noise of crickets at night time in pitch darkness.  There’s no toilet – that is located inside the house (where everyone else is). We were provided with a head torch to make our way in the darkness in case we need the loo.  Went for a walk into the town – quite small, with shop fronts that resemble the old Supervalu complex in Downpatrick about 20 years ago when I was small. Asked a local where the nearest bar was (to check out the scene for the weekend and also have a pint to help aid sleep) and the reply was “Oh there are no bars here!”  Have been in stitches laughing all day – sure, what else can you do – what an adventure! Two weeks of this/cleaning around the house and outside the place. I’m sure the apartment on Darling Harbour on Christmas Eve for a few days will be a nice change. Who needs ‘I’m a Celebrity’ on ITV1 – am living the dream here already!


See the photos below if you don't believe me. I have also uploaded photos on some of the rest of my older blog posts of my time in South America & NZ (for those of you who don't have Facebook).

View from opposite the bed




The dodgy roof. Below is a broken fan/TV!



One of the windows

Mould - piece of wood holding the roof together



The other window - below this is the bed

The door (with the brush to keep me locked in).

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.