Tennyson Motor Inn Napier

... two building survived the fire, one, the Public Trust Building which had just been built, the other an office of the local government which was now my hotel (you can't be to careful can you). This is possibly the best small town in the world not only being beautiful, by the Pacific ocean, surrounded by fine wine growing areas and breathtaking scenery but also amazingly friendly. I headed for the Esplanade by the pounding surf where the ...

28 Feb Saturday morning, suppose to be working this weekend even though I drag it. 40 bucks a bin of apple will too good a chance to let go so decide to push myself a bit this weekend but I guess the guy up there want me to rest. I woke up raining but we still continue to set off to the orchard as usual but upon arriving, Bruce say a no go for today as the rain are expected to carry on through the day and maybe tomorrow as well. I ...

... the place about 2km out of town, I shared the room with 2 more Malaysian guys who also came here to work in the orchard. Altogether there are 5 of us who will be working in the orchard. After settling down with my stuff and take lunch, I went to meet Sun in town. It is a 30 min walk to town, Sun wanted to send some of her stuff back to Malaysia, we met up at the post office. It was so expensive to send a parcel, her parcel weight at 5.2kg cost 100 NZD to ...

Did a wine tour in Hawkes Bay and met some great people from all over, a Canadian couple, a South African couple and some great Kiwis. The wine was fab, the food was great and the guide from Grape Escape was a laugh. We came back to our campsite with a bottle or two!

... encountered. They all steafastly spread themselves of 2 seats and made no effort to make space for me. I eventually made it to the back of the bus and flopped in between a sleeping boy and girls, both of whom were draped in such a way that I was left sitting accros 2 seats. This in itself would have been ok had the seats not fitted together properly which meant for an uncomfortable buttock diviing ride ... I managed this for all of a ...

... it's a dark gravelly colour. You're not allowed to swim in the ocean here as it's too dangerous. I really loved Napier, it had such a nice feel to it. On the way back to the car I saw a sign outside a shop saying 'when one door shuts, another opens but it can sure be hell in the hallway!' Hahahaa, how true! I chuckled to myself. I made my way to Taupo past vineyards of the Hawkes Bay area. I didn't bother to stop at any, as wouldn't be able to take any home with me ...

... is a huge fruit growing and wine area. However after hard efforts we had to give up. As we have no permit and were only looking for about 1 weeks work nobody was interested, they wanted people for longer. After we finally gave up we decided to head for the ferry and back to the South Island and spend our last 2 weeks there.

... bird. We stopped along the way to see the glow worms and finally entered the Kiwi birds cage. We were shocked to see how big and shy the Kiwi was. Unable to fly, the Kiwi is about the size of a chicken with a super long beak and fur. Andrew and I were obsessed and we just loved the Kiwi and managed to stay in the cage not only with our group, but with the group after us. Unfortunately, the end of the experience was a little bit of a let down as the Mitai dinner ...

I arrived in Napier, another fave spot for me in NZ. The town was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake into an Art Deco style community. This is a great spot to find fruit picking jobs and I highly recommend staying at the Stables Lodge, its small and well ...

... was Hastings, where I had the chance to catch up with Dave, a guy from my first Contiki tour in Europe. When he had evening classes for a few hours in neighbouring Napier it gave me a chance to head over there and wander around. At Te Papa the day before I had been on a simulation of the 1931 earthquake that ...