21st Birthday Party and a Car Crash! Never a Dull Moment in Roxburgh!

Saturday night was SO random. Played some poker (with monopoly money) and other card games with some of the new guys here, great fun. Then at like 11pm went to bed and TRIED to sleep. The pub was playing music sooo loudly, so in the end I gave up... if you can't beat them, join them! So I did. Went round there, tried to get myself an orange juice (I did have work in the morning after all) only to have one of the locals insist on buying me a beer. Anyway I accepted and next thing I know a jug, yes a JUG of beer was placed infront of me. People don't seem to order pints here, they're far more hardcore drinkers than that apparently! There was a 21st birthday party going on in a sectioned off area, but within half an hour I was dragged in there by Sarah and Anna who knew the host.

The Damage Done..

Had great fun, danced a bit, ate some free food, drank some free beer (yes FREE.. they had kegs full.) They seem to love their country music here, which is... interesting. Especially when the dance floor is so wet it's like an ice rink and they're all off their faces! Especially Anna. Yes you Anna. Eventually ended up in bed by about 3:30am facing a 7am start for work... greeeeat!

Where the cars ended up..

Work was hectic. A very busy day having us constantly on the go, with Roweena cracking her whip listing out endless tasks that confused my poor tired mind. And then, as I was preparing to bag up some corn cobs suddenly there was a massive sound of grinding metal and smashing glass. Basically there was a pretty serious car collision where someone had tried to turn to visit our store and the car behind had tried to overtake at the same time. The overtaking car was sent spinning into our car park smashing into Sarah's car. (She was NOT happy) So then me and Monique found ourselves sweeping up glass from the middle of the road, and gave the little girl who had been in this car a free ice cream to cheer her up, because she really was shaking like a leaf!


So yeh... life's full of suprises!

"Have you kidnapped a chef?" - Pat Kerr

Possibly my favourite compliment about my new found culinary abilities. I'm trying to learn how to cook lots of different things to make my diet as interesting (and often unhealthy) as possible! From meals to baking brownies!

Lemon Curd =)

So far I've been pigging out on lots of sweet stuff, so I decided instead of spending all my money on them I'd have to earn them by making them myself. Starting with Brownies, then making my first lemon curd (kinda like lemon honey... a spread) and I'm pleased with my progress so far!

Brownieees!

Many of you will have heard the news about the earthquake in ChristChurch. Luckily I'm a fair distance away from there but the effect on people here is still quite shocking. I have several friends in ChCh, all of whom are fortunately accounted for but many of them know people who are still trapped/missing. The devestation is horrific, images of the collapsed cathedral have been utterly shocking to watch, many people are still missing so please think of all those involved. Any New Zealand readers.. GIVE BLOOD! They need it hugely, with 65 confirmed dead and hundreds injured last I heard, it's worse than the one last Septemeber! Look after yourselves people!

Ol' Farmer Andy!

Sunday morning, recovering from a night out in bed, John knocks on my door. "you're invited to tea at the Watt's farm in Gore, and you can stay there for a few days if you want. We leave in an hour."

View from the farmhouse

And so began my first farming experience, a random dash to have a shower and pack what I thought would be neccessary to work on a farm. Went there for tea, had a tour of the farm, got to know my host's James, Gill and Diana, was forced by Pat to provide entertainment when to her delight she discovered they had a Piano, I am now her dancing monkey... Good start. The following morning I had a nice lie in before wandering down to the yards to see if I could be of any help. My first job was to help with drafting, organising the lambs by weight to see which were ready for the works (slaughter) and which needed another few weeks fattening up (a smart sheep would have a hunger strike) I just drove them into a narrow passage and kept them moving. Over my two days on the farm we sorted around 2000 lambs. It's good fun and you have to stay on your toes, those lambs jump like nutters and get damn close to kicking you in the jaw.

The Yards

Bringing sheep in from the outer paddocks has to be my favourite part, at first I did it on foot with dogs and James in the jeep but on day two I was on a quad bike and James on a dirt bike... whizzing over hills mustering hundreds of sheep towards gates just doesn't seem to get boring! In the evenings I would head off on either the dirt bike or the quad to explore the farm.. of the two I preferred the quad... the bike had a tendency to batter my legs... Stupid kick start.. Getting used to changing gears with your foot and doing the clutch with your hand is a toughie... but I got the hang of it, after a few cuts and bruises (stalling at speed not reccommended!)

Wonderfully whenever we returned from working hard on the farm Jame's wife and/or daughter had always cooked up something unbelievably tasty, safe to say... I ate well, and slept better. Oh and I had my first bath in about 3 months, was a jacuzzi bath too! Tooooo nice! (Before anyone says "that's disgusting!"... I showered fools!) It was a great experience and I hope to try my hand at it again sometime, working outdoors really does have it's maaajor positives!

<3

The Guest Speaker, The Brass Band and The Mechanical Bull.

This week has been so unbelievably random. I love it. Didn't work during the week but I kept myself well occupied exploring the area, going for swims at Pinders, gym etc etc. Then on Wednesday I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Roxburgh Rotary Club. I had to give a talk about what I thought the future of IT would be... I don't really know anything about it, but I was assured my audience would be utterly clueless... and they were! It was nice and I got a delicious free meal out of it so was a pleasant evening!

My Guard Cat- Jess

On Thursday night I was invited along to the Roxburgh Brass Band practice, who are suprisingly impressive (currently training for nationals) and it was very nostalgic remembering being in school music groups =)

Sarah, Anna and Annabel munching on KFC

Saturday night was awesome. The girls at work very kindly invited me along to a house warming party in Alexandra so at like 8pm we headed up there, stopping en-route at "The Clock" (Alexandra's version of the Hollywood sign... a large clock on a hill) to take in the view across the valley. Incredible stuff. The house that their friends had moved into was amaaaaazing, I won't bore you with details but... it was a very nice house and the cheapness of the rent they pay is pretty much daylight robbery. Major jealousy! Met lots of new people who were all very friendly (and often very drunk), had my accent imitated lots, a strobe light got whopped out till we had a full on rave going on. Epic is the best word to describe it.

Alexandra from "The Clock"

Then everyone headed down to the pub where a mechanical bull was throwing drunk people wildy around the room. You'll be pleased to hear I stepped up to the plate and had a go, I was one of the last and thanks to the DJ shouting "Let's give him all we've got!" I wasn't on the saddle long. The guy who went on after me decided he was going to do it naked.... leaving everyone in the room scarred for life. Nice. On the way to bed I stopped off at the pub in Roxburgh where they had had a Hippie night, nice way to wind down ready for sleep. Overall it was a great night, thoroughly enjoyed myself so thanks to Anna, Annabel and Sarah for inviting me along!

Oh and I spoke to everyone at Tonikins place. Ashleigh, Lewis, Toni, Nick and everybody else. You have your blog mention. Was wonderful to get to talk to them all. =)

Getting Into Routine....

One Room of Roxburgh Gym

I've well and truly settled in here now, it no longer feels like I'm living someone else's life or something. Which is good. As more and more people leave due to the end of the stone fruit season (very few left now) the solitude takes a bit of getting used to. Last week I signed up to the local gym and have gone there every evening for about an hour since. (Hench Andy here we come!) I've also been doing a frankly ridiculous amount of reading. Already been through two large books, trying to decide what the next to be hit shall be!

I still go and play football with the Venuato from time to time and I'm currently working on getting Ron's (his English name.. we can't pronounce the real one) music onto my laptop. It's kinda laid back Rasta style and is very good to relax to on a nice sunny day. I think it was Chinese New Year last week or something... there was a big meal in the kitchen and boy oh boy do they make a racket. Nice food though, I've been introduced to Korean 'holiday food' which at some point I need to convince them to teach me to cook. Because maaan was it tasty.

Mutant Fruit.. Needs a Home and Loving Family..

I work here and there whenever Rowena (the boss) needs me. The girls at work have begun trying to earn blog mentions, which could be an interesting game. My water bottle got plastered in graffiti but besides the he-she weight lifter it's quite a nice touch tbh. Annabelle has taken to turning mutated pieces of fruit and drawing faces on them, I'll put a picture up but you can't really see it properly... it's not quite as impressive as whoever drew the faces on the apples at the hostel though..

My Abused Waterbottle

Oh and I saved a hedgehog the other night, the Japanese girls were terrified of it thinking it was dangerous.. till I used the oven gloves to pick it up and set it free into a bush. Despite the complete lack of activities this place does have a certain charm to it I'm glad to say. And I am happy, on nice days and warm nights I take a chair out onto my hut's front porch and can enjoy the view of the hills for quite some time without getting tired of it. 

The Downside To Hiking

Spending my lazy days... lazily. Until eventually boredom took me and four others out to hike the Bullock Track. A short (only 2 hours to the peak) walk that is VERY steep. Ellyas and Mellissa gave up preeeetty quickly and went back down. Three of us battled on and made it.

The Three Champions!!

In the food trough

UNFORTUNATELY it decided to piss it down with rain, and even after taking shelter under a rock overhang and inside a food trough (kinda tiny hut which was a struggle to fit the three of us in) we got absolutely DRENCHED. When we eventually made it down alive (barely) Ellyas and Melissa were waiting with towels, hot chips and a ride back to the hostel. Straight to a nice hot shower. Sweet aaaasssssss.

Overall had a good time! The views were amazing and strangely the rain was quite nice given the steep climb!

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!