Face to Face With Budgeting!

My amazing box tower (thrown into a stack)

Well now the real tests begin. Basically now the store get's quiet so my services are not currently needed unless they need more boxes made up. I'm basically waiting for the other girls to head off to University now and then it will be me and Becky's sister (Monique?), who will be arriving in town soon, running the store. So basically off what I have earned so far I just have to survive a few weeks with some days of work here and there. But I'm the master of making money go the extra mile.... Still not sure how I used to manage that...

IMPORTANT:
Any Griffiths family member who makes a fuss upon reading this will be in big trouble! This is my challenge. That's the entire point.

Road safety statue

Signed up to the gym now and it's suprisingly well equipped given the size of the town! So spent a few bored hours in there, and also went off on a bike ride all on my lonesome to explore the nearby area. To be honest the solitude isn't THAT bad. Although too much of it can be (for lack of a better word) a bitch.

Sushi making lessons!

Oh and more people are leaving. And I have learnt how to make sushi. And read one and a half big books.

I miss you all lots and lots and lots. Special best wishes go out to Aby who is currently having to pop pills like a regular druggie. Get better soon sis.

Roxburgh

Campfire Partaaayyy!

The first to arrive!

As a kinda leaving do for Django, Kevin and Valentine like 30 people took to Pindars Pond in the middle of no where for a party. We were down by the deadly fast river (risky with drunk people around) but we stayed clear so it's all good! We set up a fairly big bonfire, toasting marshmallows, sitting around chatting. Some Czech people who were camping nearby came and joined us which was nice. So yeh it was just awesome, large amounts of alcohol were consumed, in particular the crates of tap wine that are very cheap but like 13.5% alcohol. Yeh I got kinda drunk.

Also we got to have a read through my drinking games book I so wisely invested in and actually there are some really funny games to play, but we never really settled on a game to play in the end and playing would have been a bad idea as it might have pushed us over from being merry to being TOO drunk.

Pindars Pond

In the morning whilst Kevin recovered (he had a massive hangover) me Django and Valentin went for a swim in Pindars Pond which was one of the most refreshing swims I have ever had! Suprisingly the water wasn't really that cold (not that you'd have known it from the fuss the other two made, they should try English rivers... THAT'S cold.) It was a very mellow morning and we hung around there till abotu 2pm playing card games, chatting and snoozing till evenutally they drove me back to The Commercial and they set off on their travels up north! Best of luck to them, part of me wishes I was going with them but first... money money money!!

Good timeeees!

I Am A Professional Boxer! (Although not the type you may be thinking of...)

Pay day today, biiiig wad of cash in an envelope... you feel so damn good! I have become the guy who makes up all the cardboard boxes to put fruit in because I'm damn fast at it! My record is a box in 6 seconds. Normally I make 6-7 boxes a minute, so around 360 an hour. And I do this for several hours straight. Always more to be made though cos they dissapear almost as quickly as I make them dammit!

Several hours and 6000 staples later...

Added another experience point to my belt today too as I tried my hand at pea picking. It was raining a bit... I didn't enjoy myself much. But work is okay, apparently by the time I leave they will have made me a prostitute, so I look forward to the girls trying to carry that particular threat through!

Giant mushrooooom!

Was Kevin and Valentin's last night at the hostel tonight so we sat around and drank some beer with the usual endless conversation, man will I miss those guys! I'm kinda worried I'm maturing too much? Almost everyone I meet thinks I am several years older than I actually am and continue to say so. My immature side must not leave!! It cannot!!!!!

Random Update

Thought I should probably let everyone know what I've been up to over the last few days so here goes!

Basically I've been working like a maniac, it's very tough work but I kind of enjoy it, it keeps you occupied and the days don't go toooooo slowly. The one annoying thing is I get back after the only store in town closes so all grocerys must be bought in the morning... Damn.

Cycling to and from work everyday now, so soon I shall have thighs of steel. That's the plan anyway... Here it is law to wear a helmet, and the only one available at the hostel is bright luminous pink, with silver stars. So it's a very self-conscious journey to work every day. Want a photo of me wearing it? WELL TOO BAD IT'S NOT HAPPENING! Bad enough having the girls at work mock me twice a day.

My favourite little Frenchman Django

My co-workers (all female, but I'm well prepared after my times at Razor Research and Superdrug) are lovely and have a knack of making me feel very at home. Even if they do massively enjoy abusing my accent and asking incredibly personal questions one after the other. Today we had a long discussion about prostitution and whether or not it should be legal. I say discussion, but basically is was 3 of us trying to tell Anna it should be illegal. Oh and apparently I look like a pimp. Nice. Prince and pimp. Score.

Our very own (demented) astronaut!

Tomorrow morning Django leaves to go and camp at Pindars Pond (he can't afford rent anymore) and Kevin and Valentin join him on Wednesday. I'm very sad to see them go because I spend most of my time in the evenings hanging out with them, on the porch, playing football and basketball or having outrageously random conversations. Life is about to get much MUCH more dull.

I'm getting the hang of this cooking malarky too, tonight I made steak, egg and cheesy chips (using real potato) and dayum I'm good! Now I have to make cheesy chips for everyone on one night soon. Which is a real challenge given the very few decent pans!

Well that's it for now! I know it may not be quite as interesting as the past few weeks have been but I'm enjoying myself and I'll keep anyone who's still interested updated on my life of independence right here!

New Job

Part of the Fairview Store

Okay so far I've done picking, I've graded them, and I've bagged them up. Now I've made it to the selling stage! I'm working in Fairview Orchard Store and we sell loads of fresh fruit, veges, cheese, jam, juices, sweets... yeh it's awesome. Best of all is the real fruit icecream (which we cheekily get free along with hot chocolate). It's minimum wage (which here is like £6) but I work 10 hours a day every day no matter what the weather, so it's consistent and reliable work, which let me tell you is extremely valuable here, even if we don't get any breaks (honestly we actually don't, no not even lunch). Oh and we get paid in beautiful, tax-free cash. Wonderful.

Last couple of days have been quite nasty weather wise although they did give rise to some of the most incredible rainbows I've ever seen. With bad weather there's not much to do besides sit around chatting, todays talks have started off plans for me, Kevin and Django applying for The Hobbit together. Also we have begun talking about doing a tour of Europe by going to eachother's places in Berlin, France, Switzerland and obviously England to find the best:
1/ Burger
2/ Sausage
3/ Club

People talk about the 'Travel Bug'. Yeah, well I've caught it.

A Party With The Vanuato

I'll be honest, I was expecting to be really struggling by now, and who knows maybe soon it'll hit me and I'll have a breakdown or something. But right now I'm REALLY enjoying myself.

Had a much needed lie in on Monday morning (till 10am, up until a few weeks ago I would have considered getting up at 10am an early rising, let alone a lie in!) before heading off to Alexandra to apply for my IRD (tax) number. You'll be pleased to know I also bought LOADS of stamps for postcard sending... still haven't written them yet though... by the end of this week I promise! Having finished my last job at the orchard I expected a couple of quiet days. I was dreadfully wrong. Stopping off at a fruit warehouse-store type thing on the way home I suddenly found myself working in the afternoon packing cherries! As a plus I also got given free real fruit icecream made on the premises. So I'll be working there from now on!

Homemade Pizza is gurrrrd!

Very kindly the girls I was working with gave me a lift back to the hostel and I set about cooking dinner which is about the most stressful process you can go through here. There are 8 hobs, two ovens, a microwave and some rice cookers. 50 people use these facilities every evening. You have got to be damn quick to find space, and as with most meals, you want several things cooking at once. This makes life VERY interesting. I enjoy it though, just means you have to choose your moments carefully!

Now came one of my favourite moments of my time so far. The accomodation is split into two main buildings and the one across from ours was throwing a little party to which we were invitied. A large group of the people staying there are from the Republic of Vanuato and are very musical. So with a broken guitar, ukelele, and an ingeniusly homemade bass, they were performing some of the songs from their home. (very African in style with harmonies galore) Very quickly me and Django joined in with Django on another guitar and me with a drum kindly lent to me by our hosts. Soon most people had pots and pans to bang with, and a Japanese girl helped me construct a kick drum using a pedal bin and a pan. It was AWESOME. I have a video to give you some idea (will be uploaded to FB asap) but with homemade pizza being handed out to all and all the cheering and dancing around, it's very hard to describe the atmosphere. I doubt he reads this but Lashmar, you'd have absolutely ADORED it. One of them is a professional musician and he has promised to get us copies of his album (very popular in his home country) which is very realxing rasta music, great for summer days (of which we have many here =P)

I wish you could all be here with me to experience this, really I do. I'm learning so much about how to live and be the kind of person I want to be. I miss you all massive amounts and look forward to having my accent probed for changes in the very near future. I think I've already started saying 'man' a lot more and ending sentences with 'eh?' (A very Kiwi thing.. they ALL do it!)

Clubbing in Queenstown

Django and Kevin

Ahhhh what a weekend!!! I worked Saturday morning and managed to get the afternoon off. At 7pm-ish me, Kevin, Valentine and Django set off with 5 more following later. We picked up Jeff and then went for a few pre-drinks in Cromwell with an old friend of theirs called Lande. we sat by a lake and MAN was it windy. Eventually we went onto Queenstown where we sorted out our accomodation for the night at the Southern Laughter Lodge (An incredibly good backpackers with a little spa) then headed out into the town centre.

And here we got dinner. My friends I have discovered the worlds best burger joint. Connor Jipps when you get here man THAT is where we are going. Fergburger. They do the largest, tastiest burgers I have ever seen. It's so popular they even do souvenirs like t-shirts saying "In Ferg We Trust". It was SO good, I could barely even handle the breakfast burger! ... You get the idea.

Jeff, Valentine, Django and ???

The clubs were awesome, all free to get into and we just moved from club to club when we fancied a change. The music was amazing, stuff I had never heard before mostly with remixes of things you wouldn't expect working sooooo well. There is a huge cultural mix so you are guaranteed to meet many people unlike anyone you have ever met before. At about 4am most clubs begin to close but one called Electro Keller stays open till 8am, it's an underground bar with LOUD music. We raved it up in there till around 5am when we headed back to the hostel and sat around chatting till 6am-ish. Good times.

Risks of tree-climbing..

We had a very mellow Sunday. We spent the day in Queenstown wandering around the centre and visiting the park just lying around in the warm weather. We gradually got more and more childish running into the playground and having a great time on see-saws, swings etc. Then a bit of tree climbing, all good fun. Although I did bite off more than I could chew with one rather massive tree and ended up scraping my arm. (It looks worse than it is, honest) After messing around most of the day we set off for Roxburgh but not before driving up a hill to get a FANTASTIC view of Queenstown which we sat and admired for a while before eventually heading back. It's truly incredible how fast you make good friends here.

My First Week Draws To A Close..

Alexandra War Momument

I should really be sick to death with fruit by now, but I'm actually not! It's pretty hard work, but constantly eating fresh cherries and apricots will do a lot to brighten anyones day! The people I work with are great, there's a real feeling that we are a 'team', it's just a shame I'll only be working with them for a week before the orchards are cleared. Tonight (Saturday) they're throwing a party for two of the girls as it's their birthday tomorrow (Ailine and Michelle).. unfortunately I can't make it because now I have the day off on Sunday I'm going to Queenstown to experience the clubs of New Zealand! Road trip with people I barely know (and don't know all the names of yet) BRING IT ON!

It's amazing how infectious the general friendliness around here is, since arriving a week ago I have already been invited to go to Switzerland for a skiing holiday where Silvano lives and also been told I am always welcome to visit another guy in Berlin. All this in a week? By the time I leave I'll have friends in every country!

Chilling in the Park

We knocked off work early on Friday and it was a REALLY hot day so we all went down to the nearby football field and played some ultimate frisbee followed by 3 hours of football with people from all over the world, I mean it, Africans, Germans, French, Czech Republic, Japanese, South America... the number of nationalities is surreal! These guys from a place near Figi called Vanuato are unbelievably fit, they actually NEVER tire. One guy made $300 in a day when he filled 76 buckets of cherries. You may not understand quite how amazing that is, but to give you some idea most people are earning $100 a day, he tripled that. Safe to say the next morning I ached like MAD from all the barefoot football. Waking up at 6am for physical work was damn hard!

Best Day So Far!

"Grandma's House"

Tuesday has been the best day so far. Was up very early for work and we managed to fill 7 crates (each containing around 5000 apricots) just in the morning, so 5000 picked every half hour between 6 of us. We each get $10 per crate, so $20 an hour... good times. Then we did cherry picking followed by cherry grading, which is where we stand by a conveyor belt and separate the cherries into 1st Class, Second Class and bin. After about 3 hours of this you start to go insane and when you leave everything seems to be moving. Tis strange. Lunchtime was really nice, we all sat out on the veranda of "Grandma's house", lounging in armchairs, eating sandwiches and a couple of the guys were playing guitars. In the heat this was all very enjoyable! For added hilarity Silvano sniffed whilst eating and had a noodle dangle out of his nose before dissapearing again, I haven't laughed so hard                                                                                         in a long, LONG time.



Evening was both surreal and awesome.. I kinda shaked off the nerves I hadn't realised I had and just started ruthlessly socialising with all the different groups. First I was invited by some Japanese people down to the river for a couple of beers (we had meant to go to the pub but it was closed, stupid sleepy town!), they are all lovely, although the language barrier can be difficult at times, but with a man from Czech Republic and a couple of Africans there I wasnt' alone in not understanding some conversation. Things got all the more surreal when Makato begins telling me that one of the Japanese girls is mine (they are all like late 20's) and then the group began (and still are) referring to me as a Prince, simply because, and I quote, "Because you are young, handsome, talented Prince". Don't worry it won't go to my head the constant mockery of my strong accent see's to that! Anyway, it was quite fun, plus the African guys are great musicians and have even made a bass type instrument here, very impressive.

Once I was back at the hostel I joined a group sitting on the porch (again in wonderful old armchairs) who were made up of Germans, French and Kiwi's. They were incredibly friendly and welcoming and are actually really funny (even the Germans despite their bad reputation for humour) and I have now been invited on a road trip to Queenstown this Saturday to hit the clubs there and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. (Providing I can get the weekend off work.. these lunatics work 7 days a week here, me included)

Roxburgh (From John and Pat's)

I'm very much the youngster here so that plus being the only Brit has lead to a lot of people knowing who I am before I meet them, I still can't remember most people's names which can get very embarrassing at times, so purely for my benefit I'm just going to note down all the names I remember on here, for the memories, you know..

Makato, Takako, Sebastian, Jerry, Valentine, Kevin, John, John, John, Angela, Hiroshi, Ian, Ryan, Silvano, Benjamin, Jimmy, Bako, Mako, Carla, Eileen, Yvonne, Michelle, Becky, Noeline, Martin, Ivan, Django, Nickoli, Malty, Laura, Pat, Neil, Annabelle.

That's about a third of the people I have been introduced to I think, I'm never gonna remember all their names!

First Two Days Of Independence!

So after what I considered an early start I caught the bus to Roxburgh and arrived at my new pad to settle in. (It's all very homely now... not) Then early afternoon I was whisked off for my first professional fruit picking experience. Bring on the apricots! Met a few fellow workers who are all very friendly and welcoming. But yeh, we picked fruit and earned $50 (about £25) in 2 and a half hours, not bad eh! The evening was spent reading, beginning to write postcards and I was also pressganged into playing piano, which I was of course delighted about having gone weeks without seeing one.

                               All my worldly possessions (Massively condensed)

My first full day of work was quite tough really, up at 7am, to work for 8am picking apricots at a different far larger orchard till about 4:30pm. Met a whole load of other very nice people who aren't staying here but actually at a house on the orchard I was working at. There's a very diverse cultural mix here. Actually no, it's not that diverse, it's 80% Asian (Tai Wan, China, South Korea being a few examples, making it a challenge to remember names like Makato and Takako, pronounciation is a bitch) then the other 20% is made up of Germans, French and Canadians. I'm the only Englishman in the entire establishment... apparently I have a very strong accent, though others have said it's neutral. My evening on my first full day was spent seeing the local sights, (a large dam and a cinema that plays one film per week... The Social Network this Saturday at 8pm!! Wow!! ... ¬_`¬) food shopping, cooking and piano playing (for which I received a random $2 tip from the owner... good times..)

                             Andy's Twin Griffiths kicks back and watches tele.

It's been a very strange feeling these last couple of days, while I miss everyone like mad and spend the many hours of fruit picking considering how each of you would mock me for it, the complete independancy has brought a kind of happinness I've never felt before, sort of a realisation I can cope I guess..but it's only been two days so we'll see how long THAT one lasts! Oh and my food box's last owner (her name still scribbled on the side) was Jessika. Yes, with a 'K' and everything. STOP FOLLOWING ME!

                                           The homesickness cures table

Queenstown to close..

Driving in to Queenstown was spectacular. You weave up roads right into the heart of the mountains and have to stop at every lay by because the temptation to take photographs is far too great! We arrived at the home we were going to stay at for the night and it is just perfect. The view across the lake of The Remarkables is just mind blowing. As I sit here typing this I still have to keep glancing up at the panoramic view through the (quite undderstably) MASSIVE windows. It's awesome, we explored the town and there are hundreds of shops and activity outlets and it's the most youth focused location I've been in so far. It also seems to have quite the clubbing scene! Somehow I think this won't be the last I see of Queenstown!

In the morning we wandered round the town some more before taking me bungy jumping. That's right, I finally did the much anticipated bungy jump I had promised you all I'd definitely be doing. Only one way to describe it really: "FUCKING HELL!" is the only way I can think of putting it. It was AWESOME.. feeling corageous I opted for the waist-deep dunk where you actually drop into the water, and because the guys at the top felt I was far too relaxed given it was my first ever jump they decided to give me an extra metre. Nice. Standing on the edge is truly terrifying but the speed with which they direct you to look at cameras then count down really gives you no time to think about it and you just sorta have to go despite EVERY one of your senses screaming at you "What the hell are you doing get away from that edge you lunatic!". To all others tempted to try, I hugely reccommend it, it was such an adrenaline rush and the pictures they take of you are hilarious.


Still buzzing we went back into town, enjoyed a meal watching a few buskers at the waterfront before heading to the airport for the very sad departure of my family back to the UK. With a few tears, lots of hugs and having the waterbottles they weren't allowed to carry onto the plane dumped onto me, they left and I headed back up onto the house on the hill in Queenstown where we were staying the night before. On the plus side it's given me a chance to properly speak to our lovely hosts and experience the first pure peace and quiet I have had in several weeks. Which will get old very quickly I'm sure.

I have a 7:45am bus to Roxburgh in the morning (oh the joy of early starts!) At which point my 'no facebook, msn or skype for three weeks' will come into effect. Just to make settling in that bit easier. I'll keep you all updated as to my movements by blogging still though so do check back every once in a while! =)

The Final Few Days Of Holiday

After Arrowtown we drove on once more to Roxborough to check out the place I am going to be living for the next few months! Met John and Patt Kerr (The people who own the commercial hostel I'll be staying in) and they're lovely. John has already offered to teach me to drive... I call that a result. Had the grand tour of the hostel and it's mahussive. Pool table, internet, tv, TWO pianos, bar... what more could I need? I'm the only person from the UK who will be staying there at the moment so I intend to represent the best I can!

We spent the night there before moving on to Gore (where we had been told nothing ever happens.... I can see what they meant..) and met all my dad's old friends from the area as he had a very sophisticated tea party thrown in his honour. Nice. It was kinda like going for tea at your grandparents except they weren't your grandparents and there was more of them. Lost count of how many times I experienced the: "Do you remember me?", "Um...no?", "Well you WERE very little at the time" - conversation. Funtimes. But seriously it was a nice afternoon and we had the novelty of eating mutton that was raised and killed on their farm so was packed with flavour... tasty. (They also do the BEST chicken here...I'll try and bring some back for ya Jake =P)

The next couple of days were filled with meeting up with old friends of my dad who owned and worked various farms, and I'm glad to say they very much fitted my stereotypical idea of farmers. met lots of people, received plenty of numbers and now have places I can stay all over New Zealand if I wish. It is indeed WHO you know not what you know.


P.S. There aren't very many photos from these days so I just threw in a couple of randoms, for your entertainment.

Disappointments and Suprises

True to form my parent's need to go walking finally pushed it's way into view on Tuesday morning. In the view of Mount Cook (which was partially covered by cloud) we walked past a couple of lakes, over some ropebridges and I honed my skipping stone abilities. All good fun and the weather was brilliant, even if we never did see the peak of Mount Cook through the clouds (Which is three times the height of Ben Nevis). The we drove on to Wanaka a small town by a lake which was very picturesque and had a wonderful campsite by the lake.

Now, the plan was to get a flight over 'The Sound', one of the most spectacular sights in New Zealand... but on waking in the morning it was raining and visibility was rubbbish so after waiting around till 12pm we were told it wasn't gonna happen. Moods were LOW. So instead we rapidly came up with a back up plan and went to Puzzle World which was suprisingly good. There was a challenging maze to work round and an illusions exhibition which was absolutely awesome. Rooms making people look big or small depending on where they were standing, a hall of following faces. It was incredible. You might think it was a lame alternative to the tour, but wait... there's more.

On the way to Roxborough in a place just outside Queenstown called Shotover there is a fantastic jet boat attraction. On short notice we booked ourselves onto a time and went along, still depressed about the damn weather. Basically the ride consists of these high powered jet boats powering up VERY narrow canyons driven by an utter lunatic who likes to see just how close to the rocks he can get without killing us all. We had SUCH a good time. Moments where I had genuine concern for my life. But oooooh the adrenaline rush! After this, feeling very windswept, we visited Arrowtown this little mining town which was very old fashioned and...dull.

2011 Begins..

We had to be up fairly early the next morning ready to set off on our journey South. So after a tearful farewell we set off and drove for ages, saw lots of amazing views, visited a beach (I climbed a pole, but no one wanted to race me on the second one as is custom apparently) So yeh the least eventful day so far, but tomorrow we drive through Arthur's Pass, the highest road in New Zealand!

....So the weather was rubbish for driving through the pass so I slept for most of the day.... how annoying.

Luckily the mood didn't stay low for long as the following morning we rose early to go swimming with dolphins in Akaroa! (The smallest, rarest marine dolphin in the world) which was absolutely awesome, took a while to find them in the sea but once we were in the water more just kept on coming! As a plus we also saw the smallest penguin in the world whilst we were at it. Result. Spent the morning in Akaroa (Which is primarily inhabited by French which they make plainly obvious by flying French flags from the windows and using 'le francais' on all the street signs.) before driving on to Lake Tekapo which was a beautiful sight of a little chapel looking out across the mountains. It might have been better if we hadn't had to endure Mum and Dad saying "Oooooooh it's not how we remember it!" every 30 seconds. So with them thoroughly dissapointed that it seemed far less "remote" than it had once been we drove on for Mount Cook where we were to camp for the night!