Muesli and moonlight rainbows - Phil

Well this week has been probably the least exciting so far in New Zealand. However, it has been quite productive, so it hasn't been a waste.
We have been based in Ohakune for over 10 days now, and we worked out last night that we will be here for 18 weeks in toal, which considering we have only been in NZ for about 8 weeks, feels like a very long time. But ho-hum, we know that we just need to get out heads down and earn some money to keep on with our travels.
So although it hasn't been a event-filled week, I will try here to list some of the highlights:
Monday we went to Wanganui. This is pronouced Wonganui. This is the nearest town/city, and we had to go here to buy some smart-ish clothes/shoes for potential bar-restaurant work. The drive was nice, over vales and hills, and took about an hour and a half. Once in Wanganui, we didn't see much apart from the shopping areas, as we were running around trying to make sure we got everything before dark. Meg had difficulty finding some trousers the right length, and eventually was told by a kind shop assistant that a lot of trousers in NZ are just one length, as there isn't enough of a population to make it worth having trousers of different lengths: most people just buy them and then get them taken up by a seamstress. This seems very odd, but maybe this is the case. So Meg got some trousers and we visited a seamstress on the high st who altered the length while we continued shopping.
I also got some trousers. They are slightly too long, but I haven't had them altered by the seamstress.
I got a haircut. Both I and Meg are very happy with it.
I got some smart shoes (for restaurant work) and some new cheap trainers (for bar work).
Meg got some running trainers (for running) and some new cheap trainers (for bar work).

We drove home under a full moon, and then we had veggie curry for tea.

Sorry, we didn't take any pictures of Wanganui, but we will almost certainly go back, so we will upload some at a later date.

On Tuesday, we spent the day in Ohakune. We dropped our CV at a restaurant called The Bearing Point, which seemed quite an upmarket place, but they did suggest that they needed a kitchen-hand and a barperson, so I have been quite hopeful of them ringing us back. But haven't heard a squeak from them since, so may have to remind them that we are still around.
We also passed the travel agents in Ohakune and they had a sign for 'Paper-Runner wanted' in the window. With our current philosophy of 'No job is below us', we went straight in and enquired about it. It sounds quite a nice job: there is a local free newspaper that needs to be delivered to a lot of the streets in Ohakune; we have to pick the papers up on Tuesday afternoon, and have to deliver them by the end of Wednesday. They initially want us to just do a couple of hours and then they will assess how far we got, and whether they need us to work more hours in order to reach more houses. We start next week.
Next to the travel agents there is a gift shop, and Meg bought herself a new keyring, which she is happy with.

In Wanganui on Monday, we had also bought the ingredients for homemade muesli (Heidi on Waiheke inspired us with her delicious muesli) and bread-making ingredients. So on Tuesday Meg made the muesli, and on Wednesday I made some home-made bread. These are both cost-saving exercises, and they prove nicer than anything we can buy in the shops, so double smiles all round.

Also, on Tuesday afternoon, we got some good news from one of the bars in town – they had some shifts for us! The bar was Mountain Rocks, and they wanted me to work on Thursday night, and Meg to do a Saturday daytime shift. EEK!! Very exciting, but we were both a bit nervous.

On Tuesday night, it was still a full moon, and a clear sky, so after veggie curry leftovers, we decided to go up the mountain road to take some long-exposure nighttime photographs. The road leads 16km up the mountain to the car park for the ski-fields. We got about 12km up the road, and we started to get a bit nervous about the snowy conditions and possible icy road ahead, so we stopped and did the photographs from there. Meg did a fantastic job and got some amazing pics of the mountain enshrouded in clouds with the stars above. The moon was so bright that the pictures look as if it is daylight, but I assure you that it was 10pm at night, and VERY dark. One of the coolest pictures was one that Meg took facing Peggy and down from the mountain. On the picture you can see a rainbow behind Peggy, which we've never seen before – a rainbow at night! We obviously couldn't see the rainbow while we were there, but on the computer screen when we got home it was clear to see. Pretty cool and utterly bonkers – a nighttime rainbow.






Since Wednesday morning, Meg has been feeling a bit under the weather. Don't worry, I am quite sure it's not Swine Flu. I got her some tablets from the pharmacy which she has been taking since then, and I think she is starting to feel a bit better now. However, and this is a direct quote, Meg is convinced she has been ill, in all seriousness, 'because I haven't got my my hairdryer'.


silence


Wow.


silence


I don't know how to answer that.


I pray to God that these pills work.



So on wednesday we did not do too much. We dropped Meg's CV off at the pharmacy where they had advertised for a shop assistant, and went to the local campsite to drop mine off as they needed a receptionist. However, the campsite said that they were looking for someone to cover a year-round position, and therefore my working holiday visa would not be considered. Bummer.
Simon had texted us saying that he was coming on Wednesday as he had a few jobs to do, and had to go to Wanganui on Thursday. It was nice to see him, and we cooked him chicken tagine, but he wasn't happy that we had discovered a fan heater in the back room and were using it to heat the lounge. He said that we had to be careful as the electricity bill shoots up when the heaters are used. But I don't know how he expects us to stay warm.....? Anyway, he has now hidden the fan heater from us, and we feel like naughty children.

Thursday was a day just building up to the first shift at the bar in the evening. Meg still wasn't too well, so we watched a western in the daytime (3.10 To Yuma, which was excellent), and stayed warm and dry while it chucked it down outside. We even had an afternoon nap, which was delightful.
Simon went to Wanganui in the morning, and returned briefly in the afternoon before heading back home to Matamata. I think he will be back here again next week before the big first weekend of the season on the 20th/21st.
The shift at the bar in the evening was good. It was supposed to be quiz night, which the owners had problems setting up (they were trying to hook a laptop up to the big screen tv, but didn't have the right cables), so it has been postponed til next week. But they surprised me by saying that in a couple of weeks, they want me to run the quiz!! Gulp.
Working behind the bar made me realise how long it is since I worked at The Chequers in Wicky Bicky! But all the locals are very friendly, and despite the fact that it was quite busy, it wasn't stressful. It is a mixture of bar-work and helping in the kitchen, so a bit of washing up was required, but that was quite nice to get a break from being chatty with all the locals.

On Friday, we got a call from quite a few other bars – maybe the word had got around about a superb barman the night before. Altitude, a bar up the road from Mountain Rocks, asked us both to work on Saturday night – their opening night after a refurb – and Kings, a bar at the other end of town, asked us to go along on Monday morning to help with their setting up/cleaning before the officially open in a few days time. We also got a call from the Travel agents, who confirmed that we were good for the paper-running job. Crikey, suddenly we were busy!
In the evening, I cooked Minestrone soup and we watched rubbish tv and drank cheap red wine.

Saturday morning, and Meg was feeling as bit better, despite us both not sleeping well. I went for a morning jog, and Meg got ready for her first shift. It is quite a strange feeling being away from each other, as we have spent the last 8 weeks constantly in each other's company, so to suddenly be apart for 4 or 5 hours feels very odd, and it is hard to know what to do! I relaxed and read the saturday papers, emailed some friends, wrote the blog, and ate crisps, and watched the clock eager for Meg to return with her heroic stories of work. When Meg did eventually return, I think she had enjoyed it, but had been observing the other staff for quite a lot of the shift, watching the experts at work – blimey, it's just a cafe/bar! Us newbies aren't allowed anywhere near the coffee making machine, as it seems to be reserved for the sole use of the offical barista: (ahem) coffee-making is a serious business and requires thorough training and homework before any cocky foreigners start to play around with it....... I'm sure that after a 10-20 minute chat and example of how it works, we would be more or less fine with it, but maybe they think we are far too stupid to possibly understand how to MAKE COFFEE. Crikey, it is very annoying/patronising.
Once Meg got back, we had a couple of hours before heading back out to the next job – working at Altitude (another bar) for their opening night of the season.
We arrived at 5pm, and they had an hour to go to offical opening, and there was still tonnes to be done. None of the furniture was properly arranged, all the glasses had to be washed/sterilised, and the floors swept etc. Surprisingly it all got done in time for 6pm, but there were a lot of hands on deck. The bar was a lot easier to work than Mountain Rocks, but it did not seem as friendly a crowd. It was a free bar for the first 2 hours, and all the local businesses were invited, and most of them were fine and really nice, but a lot of the bar owners/builders were there with their family/friends, and it was they who got far too hammered in the first couple of hours, and by 11.30pm an inevitable scrap had been started between 2 of the young lads and we had to close the bar down for the night. It was a shame, but we are putting it down to the fact that it was the launch night\free bar etc., and would hopefully not be a typical night. Meg definitely prefers working at Mountain Rocks, but I am happy to do another couple of shifts at Altitude to see if a better working atmosphere develops.
We got home for 1pm, and were in need for a beer – we had been on our feet serving people/cleaning/washing for about 8 hours.

It is now Sunday afternoon and we have slept off a bit of our tiredness. We have nothing planned for today, but we are working at Kings tomorrow from 9am, and do not know how long a day to expect, but the more hours the better, I guess.

....And then we can start looking forward to the slopes and some rad action!