The Journey: March 2016

Sunday 27 March 2016

Taylors Mistake Track and Potluck Party

2016-03-25 One-day trip to Christchurch
It's Good Friday! Here in New Zealand, it's a big day and there will be public holidays for Friday and Monday for me, even the supermarkets are closed on Friday and Sunday.

I went to Taylors Mistake with three of my friends in the holiday park. Departed around 7.30am and the journey took us 2 hours and more. We drove by Christchurch and Scarborough Beach on the way and reached there around 10am. We took the track towards the Godley Head from Taylors Mistake, the estimated time written there is 1 hour and 45 minutes for one way but we ended up taking more than 3 hours. Taking photos, having lunch and talking, that's why. Hahaha.

There's a lot of remains of World War II there, posted some of the photos below. It's a really nice track, we didn't knew that there were something like that before we hiked on that track, all we expected are nice views. And of course, we got them too! The waves here are epic, perfect for surfing. You can see surfers all over the beach in Scarborough Beach, but not as much in Taylors Mistake. Scarborough Beach is like a paradise for surfers. One day I gonna try surfing, it's like a must-do thing haha.

Taylors Mistake Beach

Taylors Mistake from the track

Cannon pad of Taylors Battery, remain of the world war.

One more step and R.I.P.

Outside and Inside view of the Observatory Room.

Photo capturing time!

The engine room.

Surfers' paradise, Scarborough Beach.

This is too bad-ass.

Scarborough Beach.

2016-03-27 Potluck Party!
We are working today even though it's Sunday, as the public holidays were held on Friday and Monday. But since we are not working the next day, we had a potluck party at the holiday park!

I cooked spaghetti with minced beef with Jack and Roy for sharing. There were sushi rolls, green curry potatoes, apple cake, fried tomato egg, minced meat rice, apple cake, roasted chicken and fried lettuce. I remained full until late midnight hahaha. It's easy to held a party in a holiday park full of your friends, you don't have to invite one by one haha, everyone will attend it. It's been a long time since I enjoyed myself that much and talked that much haha. It's a great memorable night anyway!

For those who wondered about the apple picking job, here are some photos about it.

This is how a bin looks like. For contract rate in this orchard, it will be $45-50 for a bin.

The Ag machine, used as platform to pick the apples at the upper part of the trees.

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Starting to work after Jobless for a month

I arrive in Temuka Holiday Park last Wednesday in the afternoon, there's a lot of Malaysians and Japanese here, all of them are here for the apple picking job. I shared the same room with two Maoris, kind of friendly though haha, they are the tractor drivers for the apple picking job. One of them is Jack and another one is Roy. A lot of Maoris in New Zealand are quite friendly that you can be a good friend with them right after meeting them.

The pay for the job is quite ok, minimum wage of $14.75 +8% holiday pay, targeting only 2.5 bins per day. I don't know whether I can exceed that, since 2.5 bins are actually kind of less than what I expected, which is 4 bins. The contract rate starts on the fourth day so I will try my best to get a better contract rate pay, which is possible if you pick fast enough. Will be working from 7.30am to 5pm, 6 days per week.

The bad news is there is no free wifi here, frustrating.

Today is my third day picking apples, everything is going well except yesterday, rainy day. Damn. We worked for 2 hours only yesterday, it's so cold and unbearable. Today was not that good too as the floor as still wet as shit, it's like stepping on cow poos on every step, luckily my friend found me a second-hand worker boots, for only $10.

Nothing much to write after I moved here and started working, as I didn't travel to new places anymore. Things are repeating here, my daily life cycle, nothing special happened, meeting same people every day. But still, it's fun living here, all of us work at the same place, so honestly it's like a little family here. It's not that I hate this place, but I never talked that much here even though I already made friends with everyone here.

As there are no wifi here, I usually spent my extra time reading novels, new hobby, I suppose. And of course, cooking, as we need to prepare two meals at night, one for dinner and one for lunch the next day. Usually we made it simple, like sandwiches, rice, pasta or something like that, as we don't have microwave to heat up our food. We have the lunch under the apple trees with our team members.
It's actually not that hard picking apples, and it's not as boring as I thought, but it's still boring anyway. The problem is it's kind of difficult to reach the target of 4 bins a day, much difficult than I expected. But still, I will try my best.

Thursday 10 March 2016

Job Finally Starting After A Jobless Month

I arrive in Temuka Holiday Park two days ago in the afternoon, there's a lot of Malaysians and Japanese here, all of them are here for the apple picking job. I shared the same room with two Maoris, kind of friendly though haha, they will be the tractor drivers for the apple picking job. One of them is Jack and another one is Roy. A lot of Maoris in New Zealand are quite friendly that you can be a good friend with them right after meeting them.

So I finally went to the induction of the apple picking job yesterday, briefing us about the rules and regulations, method of picking apples and using ladders etc, kind of boring but no choice. The pay is quite OK, minimum wage of $14.75 +8% holiday pay, targeting only 2.5 bins per day. I don't know whether I can exceed that, since 2.5 bins are actually kind of less than what I expected, which is 4 bins. The job had been confirmed to start on Monday or Tuesday, so I'll see how will I do, if possible, I will try my best to get a contract rate pay, which is possible if you pick fast enough. Will be working from 7.30am to 5pm, 6 days per week. Of course, the job will be halted if it rains, so let's hope that there will be no rain for two months, haha.

The bad news is there is no free wifi here, frustrating.

Monday 7 March 2016

Life in a farm hostel

At first I just planned to stop by in Akaroa to pass my time before heading to the place I will be working in, but what I never imagined was that this place is too amazing, it is completely paradise!

Before I came here, I planned to book for a dorm bed in a hostel in the town centre of Akaroa, as they have free mountain bike for hire and I thought that: "Hey maybe I can go around the town, cycling up and down the mountain trails and pass my time!" But then I found this hostel, it do not offer free mountain bike hire but the only thing that attracted me is that this hostel is not that near to the town centre, kinda more remote place, so there is no light pollution here and you can actually see the entire Milky Way here! This hostel is Onuku Farm Hostel.

I do have a camp, but I do not have a sleeping bag. I should've bought one at The Warehouse back in Motueka when there is 50% off on it. Damn. I tried to ask all the shops in Akaroa but nobody sells them, like seriously? So I booked a dorm bed instead.

The people here are pretty friendly, I made some new friends even before we get to the hostels, when we were on the pickup van from the hostel. The facilities here are pretty good that it does seemed to be like a farm at all, at least like the farm I thought it should be. Lol. I went to hiking with my friend from Germany after we checked in and had lunch, for like 3 hours or 4 hours, I couldn't remember. She was a really friendly woman, and the topics just never run out, we talked about everything haha. What's amazing about the trails here are the scenery, from the hill to the Akaroa harbor, it is just amazing view, stunning. Just couldn't stop taking photos.

When we went back from there I talked to a guy from Switzerland, you can know that he is an easygoing and friendly guy just by looking at his face Lol. And also, a French at his forties. I was told that there is three main languages in Switzerland, which is why the Switzerland guy can speak French, so it's a little hard to join in at first as I can't understand anything haha. It seemed like both of them got tired of their own life in their home, doing 9-5, resting only on Sundays, doing the exact same things every day. I kind of admire them for making such decision to quit their jobs and pursue their dream of freedom and go travelling alone. It is never an Asian thing to do.

It is really interesting to listen to their stories because I never really have the chance to listen to that kind of stories back in home. Besides, I love listening to the stories of others' life especially those from different countries, you can really learn a lot from them. It's really amazing when you get to know that a lot of people especially from the Europe made such a brave decision to quit their boring life and hop onto a journey, seeking freedom and happiness in their very own way. Most of the time, we are trying to get used to the way of life that we thought we should be getting used to, it is like a tradition, and most of the time, we never actually try to break the so-called tradition. Maybe we do not have the courage to do so, or maybe we think that we should not do so because the others never do that too or more likely, we do not know what to do next if we made the decision to hop off the track, The track called 'tradition'.

At 10pm here, you can already see the entire Milky Way just outside the doorstep. This is my first time seeing something like that, I never thought it would be that clear. I tried to take some good photos of it for the next two hours with the two guys I met earlier, it was really fun experience haha. I didn't have a tripod so I was using a wooden block to hold the position of the camera. I managed to take some decent photos, a lot better than I took long ago, but still, I tried my best, it's not good enough. I'm not sure whether it is my lens or my skill though haha.

Most of the backpackers I met are from Germany and France. There are really a lot of backpackers from these two countries. You can actually meet them in any of the hostels in New Zealand haha.

The next day, which is today, I went to a morning hike with Lionel, the French guy to a place called the Lookout Rock, a really cool spot for the view (I attached a photo down there), but honestly it is kind of dangerous, it seemed like it's gonna fall anytime. I don't have the courage like Lionel do to sit on the edge of the rock, besides, I'm afraid of height. It's a short hike though, a little more than an hour, since he had to be back here for the check-out before 12am. Right after that I went to the Lookout Rock again with another German woman, Conny. But this time we proceed further and eventually we hiked all the way up to the summit where you can stand on the rock and see the whole Akaroa harbor from that point, pretty cool right? The trail is called the Ridge Walk, it was supposed to take 2.5 hours but we took a lot of breaks for some chats, snacks and lunch. Again, can't stop taking photos, the view from up there is like a dream, especially today when it's cloudy, the hills on the opposite site looks cloudy, it's just like a dream. Paradise.

The people I met here had been travelling for quite sometime, and they too, quit their jobs at their home before embarking on this journey. And the amazing part is that they really enjoyed the lifestyle now and never a second regretted the decision they made. I'm not sure whether I had the courage to do that in the future, I'm the kind of people who loves freedom but courage is the thing I lack. I do hope that by talking to more people, knowing more about their stories and their adventures, I will be able to decide what's best for myself in the future.

A friend of mine told me that a lot of people envy the life I have right now. Honestly, there is nothing to be envy of, you too can apply for the working holiday visa and you too have the equal opportunity to embark on the same road as I do. All it takes is a little more courage to make a decision that will change the way of your current life, walking off the main track where all your friends are following. You will never make it if you just think about it or dreamed about it and never consider to actually trying it or attempting it. There is a big leap between thinking and considering, and there is a bigger leap from considering to attempting. It's not an easy thing to make such a decision, your parents may object it, your friends may tell you it's impossible and your teachers may laugh at you. It's really up to yourself whether to make that decision, to take the leap, to change your lifestyle and to pursue freedom. It's your life, live it in your very own way! Yes, applying for the working holiday visa needs a lot of luck, and I do appreciate it that I am lucky enough to be granted this visa. I was never a lucky guy to be honest, but I truly believed that there would be a slot for me in the application, and I got it. Maybe this is the law of attraction? I have no idea. But if people like me can be lucky enough to get the visa, I'm sure those who truly wants to be here will be granted the opportunity too in the future. Don't stop believing.

Even if you found that you do not have the luck after applying, you too can travel after you started working. Life is never too short, it's just about how you utilize them. Sometimes, you just have to step out from the comfort zone, let your dream flies, and see how far it can go. Cheers!