Geothermal Delights

Kia Ora!

Thanks for continuing to stay updated on our adventures. Sadly, they are starting to come to an end...Anyway, I'll fill you in on what's been happening this month.

Originally the kiwi work advertisement was for 6/8 weeks but here we are after 3 months! There have been quite a few jobs that have required man/womanpower so Scott, myself and 4 others have stayed on to help. We have really enjoyed seeing the development of the organic orchard and observing how much work is required. All the jobs have been great, some more physical than others, and due to the scale of every job, it's very satisfying when you finish a job. Placing out weed mat is great but when there are 80,000 plants it does become a mammoth task. We've learnt a lot and it's been interesting working with a mix of people. 

We've got one week left and then we'll hit the road for the last few weeks. Our first stop is walking the Tongariro Crossing which is a 6 hour walk over the volcanic, alpine area near Taupo. Then we'd like to explore Coromandel before heading up to Auckland to see friends and sell our van. 

We've been exploring as much as we can at the weekends so we could stay working for as long as possible. Rotorua has so much to do. The mountain biking is insane and the luge is a highlight too - imagine zooming down a track in a gravity propelled go-kart with amazing views all around. You feel like a kid, trying to not bump kids off the track. So Rotorua is known for the geothermal activity going on and we love driving into Rotorua, seeing steam everywhere. There's a thermal wonderland which is so colourful and it's crazy to walk around - you feel like you're on another planet. There are beautiful lakes closeby too. We've only spent one day in Taupo so we'll need to spent more time there. Again, so much to do! So far we've seen the Aratiatia Rapids where you can watch the dam floodgates open, the amazing Huka Falls, Craters of the Moon (great name - huge steaming craters everywhere) and we sailed out to see the Maori Rock Carvings. We've also spent time in Mount Manganui, sitting in the sun watching all the american cars go by, and we've spent a lot of time in the sea of course.

We've had such a good time in this area of NZ. It has been getting hoooot though. The work isn't hard but it takes quite a bit out of you when you're in the sun all day. We've got brilliant t-shirt tans though! 

So that's what's been happening over here. That's been 11 months now. We're still not 100% sure what's next for us but we just know that for now we'd like to go home and see our families and friends. Then we can start thinking about what's next. We have so many ideas on what we'd like to do. 

Thanks, as always, for reading!

X gf v x