"Time I was on my way . . . Ramble On—North to South"
Tuesday morning (November 15th) we woke up feeling quite rejuvenated and excited. We liked what we had seen so far of Nelson, but our job offers of working at a camp and resort/lodge in Hanmer Springs (an hour and a half away from Christchurch) were calling our name and we wanted to drive down there and check the town out and make a decision to either stay there or come back up to Nelson. Josh had been e-mailing and making several contacts and job possibilities in preparing us to come here, so we had a good place to start upon arriving. We met up with Cameron and Alison, a couple who worked with the church in Nelson and who we had been talking to for a while before coming as we thought we might possibly live in Nelson. It was so great meeting them. They showed us around Nelson…we walked the streets of the cute little town and the weather was perfectly warm and sunny. Nelson is known as being one of the sunniest places in all of New Zealand. We ate at Burger King . . . oh yeah, by the way, they do have a few American chain restaurants here which is good to see. McDonalds (which we eat at like every day!), Subway, and KFC. Anyways, and they also took us up to a lookout point on a big hill overlooking the beach and ocean. I couldn’t believe my eyes! That is one of the prettiest views I’ve ever seen. The water was sky blue and off in the distance we saw mountains . . . the tops dusted with alabaster white snow. It was neat that we had made new friends; Cameron was a native New Zealander and Alison was actually from the States so that was cool since we had a lot to talk about. Went back to their house for a bit and they gave us a wonderful gift, a pretty picture book (my favorite!) of New Zealand’s National Parks. Alison also made us chocolate chip cookies, I think probably some of the best I’ve ever had! We chatted for a while, then Josh and I told of our plans to check out Hanmer Springs to see if we liked it and if not we would come back there. 
Well, what was supposed to be like two hours was becoming a road that never seemed to end. I remember what the Wellingtonians told us of the South Island . . . desolate . . . barren . . . rural. I definitely was feeling that we were entering no man’s land, and feeling it hard. Guess that’s what we have been wanting though, but it really is intimidating once you are in the situation, and not used to it. Maybe I am a city girl at heart? We entered the rain storm, which was brief and wasn’t too bad, but still scary. We passed by a huge river that kept following us along the road and was so beautiful. At last, about 4 ½ hours later, around 6:30 in the evening, we crossed the rickety bridge and into the town, or shall I say, village, of Hanmer Springs. Population: 660. Yep. One of those places where you blink and then it’s gone. Can’t say I was the happiest camper at that moment when we drove into town. This is IT? I thought. We were exhausted and hungry, and both feeling anxious about its extreme remoteness. The towering mountains were hovering over us and I had that suffocating feeling. That might sound weird, but remember, I am a girl born and raised in a land that’s flatter than a pancake, called West Texas. I felt that way for a long time when I first moved to East Texas and the trees blocked my view of the sunsets. The town itself was cute with the little shops, definitely a ski town. That’s where people from Christchurch go to vacation, and it is known for the hot thermal pools. The weather was cloudy and cold and windy and it was sprinkling too, so that didn’t help the mood. Josh and I were, needless to say, irritated and cranky. If I’m in a bad mood, I don’t hide it . . . well, I guess I do except to those closest to me. Since the few months we’ve been husband and wife now, Josh has come to know the good, the bad, and the devil in me! Haha. We had a little spat, as they would say in the old days, and then he asked what was wrong because I was just being mad and couldn’t explain why. The anger then turned to the truth as he kept asking what was wrong, and then I just started crying and said, “I don’t like it here!” haha. It’s funny now, looking back. I sounded like a baby saying that. But it was true. He pulled over to the side of the road and hugged me and we had a sweet moment. We both needed to take a chill pill. And maybe get some sleep . . . and food to fill our tummies. We were probably still a bit jet lagged too, as it had just been a week from that day that we said goodbye to our families and boarded the jet plane! We decided that everything would be better in the morning, and we would have a fresh approach and better attitude and not judge the place yet. So, next day, we went to the camp that we were to work at, and which was the reason for us coming. In New Zealand they have a ton of work for accommodation jobs as backpackers flock here to travel and explore the country. The camp was one of those types of situations, which we knew would be great for us just starting out until we found more steady, paid work or saved up more money and moved elsewhere. We had figured we would just stay there a couple months at the most anyways. Or . . . maybe not. We went to the camp, which had beautiful views and the cabins and layout of the camp was really good. I grew up going to church camp, so the idea had appealed to me, plus we would really like to start a camp some day. I guess you never really know until you get there, what something is going to be like. The accommodation that was going to be provided to Josh and I for our two hours of work a day was a 3 x 3 little box. There were two twin mattresses on a board, and those mattresses weren’t even beside each other! And that was it. I think a couple shelves on the wall, maybe. I couldn’t have even fit my purse in there. Oh dear. I was wondering what Josh was thinking as we were shown our “accommodation” and hoping he wasn’t going to make us stay. We left the parking lot and Josh was like “Well there’s no way I’m doing that!” Thank goodness! We felt like chickens with our heads cut off as we went to the other hotels and resorts he had been e-mailing that had offered us jobs or possibilities before coming, and asked if they had any work for accommodation offers and no one did. Maybe we would have to stay at that camp. Or find a place to rent, which didn’t look too promising of finding in such a small place. We both get determined to have something work, though, at least for a few hours that morning, haha. But, after going to the different lodges and still thinking about how remote we were from civilization and feeling like the mountains were closing in on us each minute, we got back in the car and left Hanmer in our rear-view mirror.
And we didn’t look back.
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| Our only picture of Hanmer...haha |
Josh and I both felt better when the road met the sea again. We love the ocean and decided we need to be by it. Makes us feel better. NZ is pretty sweet because even if you are smack dab in the middle of the island, you are never more than 2 ½ hours away from the ocean. We could have made the trip all the way back up to Nelson that day, but Kaikoura was too breathtaking a sight to see and our hearts felt at peace there. Kaikoura is a small, seaside town with books of things to do. Wish we could have stayed there a long time. We booked a room in a motel with a view of the turquoise blue waters and those snow-capped mountains we had seen from Nelson, which were much closer now. What a sight to behold! I love seeing the fishing boats just sitting there, anchored in the water, patiently awaiting her captain to take her out to sea.
Kaikoura is the place to see dolphins, seals, albatross and whales. We got to see a seal. We walked out to this rocky shoreline and suddenly came upon one taking a nap. Josh wanted to touch it, but I don’t think they let you do that. There are whale-watching tours and such, which we didn’t get to do, but will hopefully go back to do one day. We needed that day to just relax in a room with a view and with the sound of the ocean to put us to sleep.
The next day, Wednesday, we finished our journey back to Nelson. Along the way, we saw several colonies of seals, which made us both happy, especially Josh who was even more eager to see them than me, haha. It was cute seeing the wild seals hop around; they are so goofy. Some of them looked up at us as we stopped to take pictures, and they looked mad. Those things are pretty big! I don’t think I would want one chasing me, even if they might seem to be slower on land. We passed through Marlborough again and the city of Blenheim, and stopped there to maybe look at working in a vineyard. Blenheim wasn’t my favorite though, and Nelson was still in our minds. I’ve never seen so many backpackers and backpacker vans. That would be fun in a way, but I just don’t think I could do that, even though we currently were being vagabonds living out of our bags at the time. I was starting to get tired of staying in a different place each night and digging through my suitcase. We both were feeling that way, of needing to find a place to settle.
After we left their house, my ear got clogged up and I could not hear at all out of my left ear, it was so muffled like I was underwater. Oh great! Josh and I went back to our motel and I felt horrible. Then my ear starting hurting so bad, man it was so painful! I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before. I was pretty worried and just depressed that I was getting sick. My cough was still really bad too, the kind that just itches and is annoying. My husband went and got me some ear drops, which really helped, but it was awful not being able to hear out of one ear. Guess I would have to go to the doctor on Monday, yikes, in a foreign country!
The next morning, Cameron and Alison invited us to have church with them in their home. That was really good and so was the discussion. I still felt miserable, and obviously looked miserable, and they said I should really go to the doctor. Nelson had an after-hours clinic, so went there. If you aren’t already sick, you know you will be after you leave the doctor’s office filled with people just hacking away. It was a pretty expensive visit and the receptionist was rude and acted like we were dumb Americans who didn’t know anything, but oh well. The doctor examined me (I made Josh go in with me, I was scared haha) and said I had an ear infection. We had been warned about people usually getting sick when they first come here, I hated that I had to succumb. She prescribed amoxycillin antibiotics, but didn’t say anything about my throat or even look down it! Which felt pretty swollen…I probably had strep too and didn’t even know it. So we then went to the pharmacy and got the medicine and cough syrup and cough drops. No fun. Anyways, Paul had called the night before after we got back from visiting with them and offered for us to stay at their house for a while to help us out until we found a place to live. What a blessing! People have just really been so hospitable and wanting to help. We brought all our stuff with us Sunday afternoon, and settled in to our room in their home. I stayed to myself that evening and slept a lot as I was sick.
We spent a week in their home. Josh went to work with Paul every day, and I stayed at home with Lynn. I slept a lot of the day the first part of the week, I couldn’t hear all week long, ugh! My cough did finally get better as the week progressed. Josh said his work with Paul was really tough labor. He was getting tanned being out in the sun all day. I missed him when he was gone. This was a good situation job wise for him, but I couldn’t help but think that I didn’t want to be apart from him all day long, we came here wanting to hopefully work together if we could. That felt like part of the stress back in Tyler and how it usually is I guess, working 8 hours a day in a cramped up office, coming home stressed and exhausted and empty with seemingly nothing left to give to each other as husband and wife. I did have an interview coming up with the Morocco Resort, which would be fun, but I really wanted us to work together. I felt lonely without him and was so happy when he came home each day. The interview didn’t pan out though after all, at least not then, because they said they were fully staffed at the moment, but wanted to meet Josh and I. They said they might be having work come up at Christmas, but that wasn’t helpful to us then. Speaking of Christmas, Lynn was a fan of keeping the holiday season alive. Her house became a winter wonderland as she put up ten Christmas trees, each with a different theme. I even helped her decorate one, and it was really fun. My mom always went all out for Christmas too, and I would spend all my money if I had any on decorations. 
While we stayed at their house, two American girls (Jenny and Katie) and a German girl (Toni) came and stayed a couple nights too, so that was cool. They were here visiting NZ too and had been working on Paul’s family farm up north. This week, by the way, was the week of Thanksgiving. Paul and Lynn had a novel ideal and Lynn was excited to make us feel at home and for the girls to work together and create a Thanksgiving meal. I forgot they don’t celebrate that holiday over here! Haha. That was awesome, and so thoughtful of them. We all pitched in and I made my Granny’s sweet potato casserole. Last year was the first time I’ve ever made it, and it turned out great I must say and I loved it. I wasn’t too sure at first how it would turn out here, because they don’t have canned sweet potatoes, and it is different…it’s called kumara, and it’s not orange, it looks like a regular potato. When I was making it I thought I put too much sugar in it and had ruined the dish, but after baking it, well it turned out quite well J We had a fancy chicken (they don’t really sell Turkeys only around Christmas and it’s like 70 to 100 bucks). The menu also consisted of homemade rolls made by the fellow Americans, German Spätzle, salad, cranberry sauce, dressing, and a delicious sparkling cranberry drink. We all went around the table and told what we were thankful for, which was really neat. We said how thankful we were to be here in New Zealand, and thankful for our families and for each other. Josh and I both did miss our families... I did get to Skype with my parents that day, and I really felt homesick to be with my family. It was pretty emotional, I've never not been with my parents on Turkey day. Anyways, this was so good that we got to do this, though, and we were so thankful that we had such a unique Thanksgiving Day in New Zealand. As we finished our meal around the festive table, Lynn asked if Paul had any words of wisdom, and he laughed heartily and said, “Have lots of kids---my only regret is not having more kids.” They have four children, and their daughter Bekka was there to celebrate with us. Josh and I both really liked Paul and Lynn a lot, they have such good hearts and were so gracious to us and fun to be around. We stayed at their house until Saturday, as we didn’t want to impose on them anymore, we checked into a motel that offered a cheap, weekly rate. It helped us out so much by them allowing us to stay and eat with them that past week, which we are forever grateful to them for. Sunday Josh and I had church on the beach. Cameron and Alison were on vacation for the week, so Josh and I bought crackers and grape juice for communion and headed to the beach. That was really neat, though kind of hard to focus fully since there were a lot of people there. It was cool to hear the waves as we had a bible study and sat there and were quiet to take it all in. Made me think of the song, “Have You Seen Jesus My Lord, He’s here in plain view . . . Have you ever stood at the ocean, with the white foam at your feet? Felt the endless, thundering motion, then I say you’ve seen, Jesus My Lord.” I love that song. We used to always sing that at camp and in youth group. We walked along the shore and we could both sense that we felt distressed. Earlier that week we had found an apartment overlooking the entire harbor, it was an awesome place, and we were really thinking about settling in Nelson. That Sunday, though, we talked about how we were feeling as we finally found us a quiet, secluded area on the beach. This was paradise, and one of the prime places to live in NZ. There was something missing though, that we felt like we both needed. For us spiritually, we needed to live somewhere with a strong, solid congregation to worship with that would help us grow and who we could also hopefully do some type of mission outreach as well, whatever that may be, or just serving in the church itself and being involved. We were beginning to think that Nelson might not be that place for us. We felt pretty lost as to what we should do. Wellington was sounding really good to me, because of the church there. It was a pretty good size (for NZ standards, the churches are definitely smaller here) with around 50 members or less. We had both enjoyed our time with the church members for the few days we had first arrived to the country, and plus most of our contacts and friends we had made were mainly there. We still didn’t know though. We would think about it and pray.
There’s always been a feeling that God has a purpose in us being here, bringing us to New Zealand. I remember in a bible class back home, this married couple was trying to have a baby but were having problems with infertility. They were heartbroken and frustrated, but still faithful. One day, the two of them weren’t there, and I remember this older, wise lady said a prayer request for them and said, “I really believe that God has plans for them, and I feel that they are going to be parents,” she said, “but we just don’t know what that looks like yet.” I loved how she eloquently voiced her thoughts and think that can be applied and said about many situations, including ours. I know that God has blessed us and has been working behind the scenes in so many ways in us getting to come to New Zealand and I really feel like he wants us to be where we are, or maybe it’s just me who wanted to come and thought God wanted it. But I really felt that way when we first got the idea to come to this country that God was maybe even telling me to. I have always been so passionate about mission work, especially after mission trips in high school and college. Of course we also both wanted to come to NZ because of the beauty, it’s a land of adventure and for the outdoorsy type people, which fits us both to a tee. Like I’ve said, I wanted to come here since first watching the movies LOTR in high school. My church home in Midland, Westside church of Christ, supported a missionary in New Plymouth and our preacher would come over and preach and then go back home and have a slide show report to our church. What I’m saying is, yes, Josh and I came here for our own reasons including our love and passion of traveling and wanting to explore and experience different parts of the world. And we also came with the hope of a greater and deeper purpose as well; to help people and to help the church. We aren’t here to “be missionaries” or I guess I mean by being paid or supported to do that; we don’t want any one’s money. We came knowing that we are getting jobs, paid work, and to hopefully do some type of mission/church work and/or social outreach on the side. I can’t guarantee we even will end up doing any of that, but I pray and we both feel in our hearts that we are meant to be here to do something. So, to relate that to what the lady said, we both feel like we are meant to be in New Zealand for some greater purpose, to do some kind of mission work . . . but we just don’t know what that looks like yet. And who knows? But that is exciting. And it may even simply be attending church some where and encouraging the Christians there. I do think we are here to grow too, both Josh and I, spiritually.
Our faith is a journey, one through valleys and mountain highs. I’m definitely not where I would like to be at all and haven’t been for awhile, I used to be so strong in college while I was at Lubbock Christian University. It helps going to school where you have chapel every morning and teachers who pray for you during class. But anyways, I want to be back on fire again. We are all on a journey, which is encouraging I think. Who are you going to meet along the way? Who am I going to meet? Am I going to help them, or just knock them down? Will the people I meet along the road help me, or just be out to get me? Wow, I told you or I’m telling you now at least, I can really go off on some tangents. Lol. What I’m saying is….Josh and I had a lot to think about that day on the beach. I was definitely proud of him for saying that the most important thing is the church; we could live in a paradise place but what we need is a place that is going to help us grow. We said we would think about it and what to do and see how this week went and maybe start looking on the Internet and his list of contacts at going elsewhere. We also were still feeling a little weird being on the South Island. That might not make a whole lot of sense, and it’s probably mainly psychological, but the idea of living on the North Island where there are more cities and more people just sounded good to us. We like the connect.
The day that we had driven around the week before looking for orchard and vineyard work, we had come upon one orchard (an apple orchard on a hill overlooking the valley and ocean in the distance, so pretty!) that had said he might have work come up in a couple weeks. He called us that weekend and said he had work starting up on Monday doing apple thinning. Josh’s job was good that he was doing, but we both wanted to try the apple thinning out and we would be working together. I’ve always seen pictures of people picking apples in New Zealand and have wondered in fascination at how fun that would be. It was on our mental bucket list of things to do here. Josh got the okay from Paul and his boss to try this work out, so we started our first day of work out in the orchard thinning apples on Monday morning. Oh, and I forgot to mention that while we were on the beach the day before, I was wearing shorts and was stupid and didn’t put sun screen on my legs. The sun is harsh. So, my legs were burnt to a little crispy. The elements didn’t seem to be in my favor; I still couldn’t fully hear out of my ear, I was still coughing and my throat was really swollen, and I could barely move my legs with the pain from the burn. What a combo! But, we trudged along. There were about ten other apple thinners, most of them our age, boasting from different parts of the world . . . another American, a few Germans, and some Kiwis. Josh and I got to share our apple tree rows, which made me happy because we got to be together and I didn’t want to have to carry around a ladder. Josh was nice to me and did all the ladder work, trimming the tops of the trees. Apple thinning is not apple picking . . . I guess that’s pretty obvious but it’s when they are about the size of big grapes and you have to go through the branches and just thin them out and take out the clumps, leaving a hand-widths space so they can grow to be big Granny Smith apples. I’d rather just pick the apples when they are full grown, but this way you had to have a method. The bosses kept coming around and checking our work like slavemasters and would tell us if we were doing it right or wrong, haha. We were either taking too many off, or not enough. That day was cloudy and rainy, which helped us go faster. It’s not paid by the hour work, but by how many trees you do. They said everyone generally goes slower at the beginning, starting off at $13 NZD per hour. Our bosses said some make it up to $20 an hour. Well, I would like to meet that person! We tried to go as fast as we could, but it was a slow work. Orchard work, I decided, is only glamorous in the pictures. We started at 8:30 in the morning, had a 30 minute lunch break eating sandwiches (gross! Haha) and then off at 4:30. That’s a normal 8 hour day, but we were on our feet all day long in the hot sun. I couldn’t imagine doing that another day! How do the backpackers and hippies do that their whole time in NZ? Josh didn’t like it either, haha, it wasn’t just me. The apple thinning in the three orchards the boss owned he said could be three weeks worth of work for all of us. Goodness gracious! By the end of each day, I felt myself just nearly collapsing with exhaustion and I would keep walking over to Josh and stand underneath him on the ladder and pout, “Baby, I can’t do it anymore.” He’d encourage me and lie about how much time we had left until 4:30. The day itself did go by pretty fast doing that, which was a plus. The middle of the week, though, in our search back at the motel on the internet for work somewhere else, Josh had found a job, another place he contacted before coming here. Guess it was good to make different contacts for options when we came in various parts of the country. It was another work for accommodation job at a resort in the mountains, outside of the city of Napier, up on the North Island at an adventure lodge. Our accommodation was a caravan, which is basically a camper trailer. That didn’t sound too appealing to me, but we were desperate and wanting to be on the North Island, and we had heard that Napier had a good church. We still were needing a free place to stay as the money we had saved coming here was slowly running out. I guess we sound pretty impulsive, but we did come here to travel and we were trying out our different options until we found a place where it all fit. 
We told our apple thinning boss about the new work we found and us wanting to live on the North Island after all, which he didn’t seem too happy about. Every one also is very proud of where they live, we noticed, which I would be too. The North defends the North, and vice versa. He had said when we started the work earlier that week that we only needed to give a day’s notice if we wanted to quit, so that’s what we did. Thursday was our last day to thin apples in Nelson. Goodbye and good riddance to that, I say! We booked our ferry ride on the Interislander for Saturday, December 3, 2011. After two weeks on the South Island, we were already heading back to the North! I felt that this was the right thing to do, and we were actually pretty ready to get back. It was sad to leave Cameron and Alison, though. We hadn’t been able to spend much time with them considering the circumstances and us trying to find jobs and figure out what we were supposed to do, and that was the hard thing was knowing we were leaving them and I know or at least I think they wanted us to be there too. We will be back to visit for sure though, and hopefully we can maybe take a trip with them sometime while we are here. We said our goodbyes to them and to Paul and Lynn, who we were going to miss as well, on Saturday morning and then drove two hours to Picton and waited for the ferry to come take us back to civilization.
