An Avo A Day Keeps the Rat At Bay

I just had the loveliest experience in Mangawhai. Let me quickly back up to the arrival at the Avocado farm.

I woke up at 6am, the cheapo that I am decided that I would walk my luggage (all 80 pounds) down to the train station- a 30 minute walk. My arms felt like jello and couldn't be moved for the next 12 hours...which was okay because I was on a bus that long, getting to Auckland. I then had the worst evening I have ever had in New Zealand. The receptionist was on some drunk, and wouldn't stop singing..some how we found our room. I shared a hostel with 11 other drunkies, who decided to shake my bed, poke me, try to rate how attractive I was, and demoralized women with their talk that lasted the whole night, minus 2 hours. I woke up to a lost water bottle, and vomit in the bathrooms.

I took another bus for 2 hours the next day to sit in the sun and wait 5 hours for my host to arrive. I had a wonderful 2 weeks filled with making stepping stones, shearing lamas, rescuing chicks, picking, eating and selling avos, making compost, toilet holders out of shells, weeding, planting, and so much more. I learned how to make the best hummus, salad dressing, bread, and strawberry ice cream! I really enjoyed singing songs with my host dad, listening to Ronan, the 5 year old, tell me stories, and eating Anne's lovely meals. I went to the Auckland Steiner faire with the family, 2 parties, I used a composting toilet, an outdoor shower, and would travel on the back of the Ute.

It was all wonderful, minus one thing. There was a huge rat, the size of a kitten, that would visit each night, in the rafters above my head. I would hear it scamper about. What if it fell?! Well I would cover my head and tell Frank, yes I named it, to go away. And he usually did. On the last night, Vanya, my host dad, told me he would rat poisoning in the rafters and that it might come down on my bed. Well I wasn't having that so I was set up on the coach that night.

I am so thankful for that family. They were all wonderful to me. They even helped me out during my Peace Corps interview. I learned so much from them.

I made my way to Auckland again, this time with a grumpy bus driver. So far my new hostel has treated me well. A London guy helped me with my luggage and the receptionist seems sober. Tomorrow I leave for Gisborn for the winery. Hopefully it will be a good experience. I cant imagine otherwise.

Farewell Windy Welly

Victoria students are given a "study break" for a week. This means that those of us who can afford it, or parents who can afford it, go on an adventure. The night before everyone left, my crew decided to dance the night away. We went to 2 bars, one that had some good old American music from a cover band, and boogie wonderland, the 70s dance bar, complete with light up floors and disco balls.

The real highlight from this night was before we even headed into town. A few of my friends and I made our way down the street to meet up with some friends. We were sitting on a coach, sipping some drinks when suddenly, Andrea and I heard a distant scream. The scream was getting louder. Suddenly our friend Meghan burst through the door screaming (which ended up being cheering). She made her way to the middle of the room and pelvic thrusted 3 times, and then ran to the kitchen to get a drink. Andrea immediately grabbed my arm, "Tell me I don't do that when I am black out.." The best part of the moment was that only Andrea and I seemed to notice what had occurred. Everyone else was either too drunk or used to Meghan screaming through out the house. I am pretty sure I cried, that's how hard I was laughing.

SO everyone went on a adventure and I...read a lot. I finished the 7 books in less than a week. 4 of the books were over 500 pages. I wasn't too sad with not leaving. I am staying in NZ another month longer than most people. My adventures were not about to end quite yet. It was nice to do nothing but read, and I also finished some paperwork for applying to the peace corps. I also discovered 2 new bakery/cafes with my friend, Lena. We had a pleasant time soaking up the sun and conversation during these dates.

Halloween came and it was an event. I had the idea of a Clue Crew, so 5 of my friends and I made out way through Wellington as Ms. Scarlett, Ms. Peacock, Mrs.White, Mr.Green, Prof Plumb, and yours truly, Col.Mustard. It was a blast. I would have been fine if I just stuck to my one bottle of wine, but I helped my friends with their drinks, making me a bit physical. I was either very loving, giving out hugs, tears because I didn't want friendships to end, or violent, as I used my prop, the rope, on some Clue Crew members..They took it away from me. I made it to one bar. It was great! And then I had that one drink- the one that changes everything. I stumbled to the bathroom, knocking my thumb into something, and took a break with the toilet. I reminded myself why I shouldn't ever drink too much, I just get sick. With the help of Mrs. White, and Ms. Scarlett, and a pitiful goodbye to the rest of the Clue Crew, I made my way home. The next morning I discovered a severely bruised thumb, but otherwise in one piece. I later found out that almost everyone was as drunk or worse than me during the rest of the night. Another friend of mine had fell down some stairs walking IN to town, danced for 5 hours, slept for 2 hours, and then realized he broke his foot.

The rest of the week I completed some finals (here most finals are worth 50% of your grade, and typically are only 3 questions to complete), played Frisbee out in the sunshine and said goodbye to some friends. One of my favorite friends, Courtney, left to travel before heading home in a week. To say goodbye, we had Hells pizza for lunch, played Frisbee in the afternoon, had some beers in front of Parliament, and then had a nice little potluck with our closest and finest! It was a mighty and appropriate farewell.

On Friday was the bonfire festival, AKA Guy Fawkes Day (V for Vendetta anyone?). Its a British holiday celebrating the failed overthrow of the government. To this day, the 5th of November mini figures of Guy Fawkes, or a more recent political figure, will be thrown into a fire. A few friends and I ran down to the harbour to see the firework display. The show went along with music, that sounding like something the Fleckstones would create. The show was only 15 minutes, but that is all that was needed. I saw a great variety of fireworks, with at least 4 that I have never seen before! It was a really good finish to the end of semester. That day I took my last final of my undergraduate degree. I wont lie, when I found myself back in my studio after the test, I danced around for a good 5 minutes to celebrate.

On the way home, my night was made when I passed by an elderly man, zooming down a road on his bike, with a yellow cape, singing at the top of his lungs some thing about Valentines Day. Moments like those make me want to spear my fist into the air and cheer...which I did.

I woke up to Saturday morning to what i thought was a hurricane. The one downfall to having an amazing view is that whenever it storms, i feel as though i am inside of the storm. I opened my eyes and saw the wind mightily pushing the rain and hail against my window. I couldn't see any view at all, even the airplane red alert tower on Mt.Victoria.

The hurricane storm eased and I made my way to the harbor. I spent some time at the art market and also Te Papa . The museum had a really nice Photo exhibit from one of New Zealand's finest, Brian Blake. If I ever had to pick another career, I would want to be a photo journalist! Travelling the world, capturing history, and bringing knowledge to others in the form of photographs.

That night, I had some tea and chocolate with my Wai-te-ata lady friends, Lena, Eugenia, Brita, Julie, Anais and Hollin. We watched Lord of the Rings 2 to celebrate our New Zealand time, and for the final approval of the Hobbit being filmed again in New Zealand. I said my goodbyes and gave Lena some of the Lippe favorite recipes.

The long awaited Bike-Winery Tour of part of the famous Marlborough area took place on Monday. I woke up at 6am and made my way over to Stafford to meet Andrea and her sister, Allison. I was surprised to find Courtney's old roommate, Evan, and his partner Penny making their way to the same ferry. Andrea, her sister and I made the walk over to the Ferry and waited another hour before actually leaving. I discovered that I get a bit nauseous on boats. The upset stomach could have been from the horrible films shown, Miley Cyrus' The Last Song, and, wait for it, High School Musical 3. The seats beside me each had a bountiful amount of barf bags but I had none. After 3 hours, we finally landed in Picton and I made it without vomiting.

As we waited for the ramp to drop, I could not help but feel like a refuge being released. I told this to Andrea, but she said she felt more like part of the Oceanic 815 "survivors". She wins.

We then jumped on a bus that took us to Blenheim; about a 30 minute drive. We were dropped off at the I-site and shortly after were picked up from our winery guide, Nigel. He set us up with bikes, helmets, water, packs, maps, and a route of his favorite wineries.

We made it to 4 wineries in 4 hours. We had about 8 different tastings for each winery. I loved all of them, even my father tainted Merlot. One winery, only 2 years old (but the owner has been involved in Montana wine for years and years- so not really new to the game), gave us some of their home-made olive oil AND some local feta cheese. It was THAT good. Where can you go wrong with olive old, cheese and wine? The Canadian couple that we met, also enjoyed the add ons. They were taking a world tour and were some of the most friendly people I have ever met. Gotta love Canadians.

I must say that biking and doing a wine tour was maybe a genius idea.

I also must admit that I used every technique Jill and Zach taught me and faked my way through each tour (specific hand holding for reds and whites, smelling, holding it in your mouth, looking at the 'legs'..). I owe them. I thought of them about 67% of the time of the tour.

I arrived home and was reminded of the cleaning still yet to be completed before leaving on Friday morning for WWOOFing. This kept me inside the next day and a half. I thought it would be appropriate to farewell Wellington with one last visit to Enigma. I invited the remaining friends. We shared coffee and our favorite cakes... I did the sentimental thing and got the very first thing I ever got at Enigma, carrot cake with yogurt and creme, and a coffee.

After Enigma, a few of us took a nice long walk through the harbor of our favorite small capitol city. Sam and I also stopped at the city art gallery, another free museum! I love Wellington. Its the perfect size city. Small enough to feel like a person who belongs, with a bunch of stuff to do for all ages, many festivals and activities to keep you occupied, a place that has a bunch of political activities to keep you up to date and informed, plus a really good location in case you want to travel to other parts of the country.

That last night, I said goodbye to friends at a party on Landcross. It was nice to say goodbye, but I didn't stay too long. My friend Sam let me crash at her place (she lives a floor underneath me) because my room was already check-out, and me kicked-out.

I will miss the harbour, the friendly atmosphere, the bountiful vegetarian options, the Malaysian food, the free activities, blanket man outside of the library, who has the Rasputin looking bouncer, Enigma and its cakes, the way the water is clean, and the air sweet, how white collar folks actually use their lunch breaks to go running or visiting with friends, the way that classes and and ages seem to mix together better than in the States, the music players on the streets, the many bakeries, and parks available. I picked well.

Friday morning, equipped with 4 peanut butter and grapefruit marmalade sandwiches, I made the 11 hours journey to Auckland. This is the beginning of my last month in Kiwiland. I will be WWOOFing in Mangawhai, at an avocado farm, and then going to Gisburn to a winery. Wish me luck! Hopefully I wont get any sun poisoning:)