My apologies for missing yesterday's blogging, but I assure you, this story is worth the wait.
Yesterday, Jon and I had decided that we needed to get to Ohakune (the closest town) to get ourselves a bank account. I need to have a bank account before I start my job on Wednesday, otherwise I don't get paid. So, the moment Jon gets out of work, at 3:30, we check when the bank closes (at 4:30) and we book it out of our house to go hitchhike the 35 km to Ohakune.
About five minutes after we got to the street, a guy picks us up. He is a young looking man, who was traveling to his home all the way from Sydney, where he works, and so has probably had a long drive from the nearest airport. He wasn't going the exact direction we were planning on going, but said he would take us as far as he was driving. After we got in we told him the story of how we needed to get to the bank before it closed, and he ended up driving us all the way there. That guy was really chill. He said he used to do a lot of hitchhiking, so he likes picking people up nowadays.
Ok, so now we are in Ohakune. We get a bank account, no problem. The town is pretty cute and we decide to stay and have a bit of food since neither Jon nor I had had lunch. By the time we were on our way back home, it was getting a bit late, and the sun was beginning to set. We figure there will be no problem finding a ride back home. Off we go, holding up our thumbs on the side of the road, walking and talking all the while.
We soon leave the town. No one has picked us up yet. The speed limit sign on the side of the road says 100km/hr. This is now a freeway. Cars are whirring by us, and the hopes of us getting a ride are slim. We talk about it, and we figure we could make it to the crossing the guy from the car earlier was talking about in about 2 hours. No problem! We keep walking.
As the sky gets darker and it begins to drizzle, we are forced to rethink our decision. If we are not going to get a ride all night, (and we had learned our lesson about getting rides in the rain,) then walking home would take 7 or 8 hours. Time spent in complete darkness and probably ice cold rain. We turned around. At least in Ohakune, we could probably find a place to sleep.
We don't get too far before there is a tow truck on the side of the road. Jon is brave enough to ask for a lift, and the guy laughs and says sure, after he gets the dead car up on the tow truck. He is actually headed back towards National Park, after he brings his cargo to Ohakune, but he would stop short of National Park by about 19 km. We don't want to get stuck walking 19 km home, so we let him drive us to Ohakune, and then we get out.
In the end, we paid a shuttle $60 to drive us home again. It felt like a cop-out after all we had gone through to get home, but was totally worth every penny. Moral of the story: Jon and I probably should get a car so we don't have to risk our lives every time we want to run an errand.
I hope you enjoyed that experience. For the last two days, the mountain has been closed to skiiers because of extreme windy conditions. As a result, everyone is hanging out at home, and the internet is really slow. It has taken us 30 hours to download a movie we want to watch, and it's still not done downloading. We did hear about one kiwi movie that we want to watch called Goodbye Pork Pie. I am told it is about a kiwi and an aussie trying to cross the country in a car with no money. Somewhat appropriate.
Don't worry mom, we won't drink too much! I hope you are enjoying your last days at home before the big trip to germany! Love you!
Jalissa
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Sunday Morrrnin
Sunday mornin and the rain is fallin.
Anyhow, it is 4pm-ish right now after a long day of cleaning people's puke.
Last night was the kiwi's "mardi gras"..yes on a sat night. It seems like they like to call everything mardi gras.
We, however, went to an anti-mardi gras party because the actual mardi gras was far away and way expensive.
The night was pretty kool, we went to a house party of my fellow co-workers and got dominated in beer pong..somehow.
Btw, if we haven't told you, Air Newzealand is wonderful: it has a dvd/movie picker/screen in front of your eyes, free booze, friendly staff, and lots of leg room. Not to mention pretty ..ehh.. mediocre but" better than your average flight peanuts", food.
The beers here are good, except for this 20pack we bought to play pong with--it was like a corona and budweiser hybrid.
Not much happened today, everyone is hung over. I think we're going to take it easy and watch a movie or something tonight.
until next time,
Jalissa
Anyhow, it is 4pm-ish right now after a long day of cleaning people's puke.
Last night was the kiwi's "mardi gras"..yes on a sat night. It seems like they like to call everything mardi gras.
We, however, went to an anti-mardi gras party because the actual mardi gras was far away and way expensive.
The night was pretty kool, we went to a house party of my fellow co-workers and got dominated in beer pong..somehow.
Btw, if we haven't told you, Air Newzealand is wonderful: it has a dvd/movie picker/screen in front of your eyes, free booze, friendly staff, and lots of leg room. Not to mention pretty ..ehh.. mediocre but" better than your average flight peanuts", food.
The beers here are good, except for this 20pack we bought to play pong with--it was like a corona and budweiser hybrid.
Not much happened today, everyone is hung over. I think we're going to take it easy and watch a movie or something tonight.
until next time,
Jalissa
The Tides Turn!
Things have changed since we last informed the world of our status. Yesterday, the lady that was in charge of hiring Jon came back from her vacation. After much confusion and conflicting stories, we finally found out today that she wasn't planning on sending Jon away. The guy who had told us that Jon wasn't needed had said that without asking her first. THIS MEANS THAT WE STILL HAVE FREE HOUSING! AND JON HAS A JOB! (probably at the expense of that guy's friendship, but who needed him anyways...)
Benefits that come with working at "The Park":
- Half price internet. (Good deal)
- Free dinners. Even for me, and that's cool.
- Connections to get free toilet paper, shampoo, towels, etc.
- Free laundry!
- Free rides to the nearest town once a week. We don't even pay for gas! And believe me, this is important. All business must be conducted far away since there are no stores where we live.
- Feeling special.
So, now I feel like the lazy one. Jon is out chopping wood and making the world a better place while I'm inside my cozy little apartment trying to stop my nose from bleeding. (See, Herrera, I mentioned the nosebleed!) Now that we don't have to pay for anything, our main expense is going to be food and beer!!
Today we took advantage of being friends with the staff at "The Park" by joining them for a ride to Turoa. This place is a one and a half hour drive away from National Park, where we live. Yes, one and a half hours. Turoa is a cute little city where we went to a woolworths for food and a hairdryer for me (wet hair in the cold is no fun). Jon and I decided that we would buy anything that was completely different from the stuff we are used to buying in the US. So, we left the store with "Lime Milk" and "Rough Rider Condoms." The bright green milk is really just milk with sugar and lime-ish flavor. I think I'll let Jon drink that after he works out. And as for the condoms, we haven't tried them yet, but I will have to disappoint you all. I probably won't be updating you on their quality.
We also FINALLY got the adapters we needed to charge our computers and our phone. (oh by the way we have a phone!) So now we won't have to bug all the americans at this place about whether they have an adapter and whether we could borrow it. Speaking of which. There are really not a lot of americans here. I probably know of 4. Apparently, there are a lot of germans, but I have yet to meet one. The girl that ended up having an adapter for us to use turned out to be Japanese by ethnicity but living in San Francisco.
Just so you know. New Zealanders don't refrigerate their eggs. When in Rome... Needless to say we are trying this new method of egg-retention. We shall see what happens to our 30 eggs.
Sadly, the Bank was closed today. It's not supposed to be closed on saturdays, but what do I know. Now I have to find another way to get to the next town before I start work on the 1st. Argggh. I smell another attempt at Hitchhiking.
Anyways, there's a party tonight. We gotta go.
Jalissa
Benefits that come with working at "The Park":
- Half price internet. (Good deal)
- Free dinners. Even for me, and that's cool.
- Connections to get free toilet paper, shampoo, towels, etc.
- Free laundry!
- Free rides to the nearest town once a week. We don't even pay for gas! And believe me, this is important. All business must be conducted far away since there are no stores where we live.
- Feeling special.
So, now I feel like the lazy one. Jon is out chopping wood and making the world a better place while I'm inside my cozy little apartment trying to stop my nose from bleeding. (See, Herrera, I mentioned the nosebleed!) Now that we don't have to pay for anything, our main expense is going to be food and beer!!
Today we took advantage of being friends with the staff at "The Park" by joining them for a ride to Turoa. This place is a one and a half hour drive away from National Park, where we live. Yes, one and a half hours. Turoa is a cute little city where we went to a woolworths for food and a hairdryer for me (wet hair in the cold is no fun). Jon and I decided that we would buy anything that was completely different from the stuff we are used to buying in the US. So, we left the store with "Lime Milk" and "Rough Rider Condoms." The bright green milk is really just milk with sugar and lime-ish flavor. I think I'll let Jon drink that after he works out. And as for the condoms, we haven't tried them yet, but I will have to disappoint you all. I probably won't be updating you on their quality.
We also FINALLY got the adapters we needed to charge our computers and our phone. (oh by the way we have a phone!) So now we won't have to bug all the americans at this place about whether they have an adapter and whether we could borrow it. Speaking of which. There are really not a lot of americans here. I probably know of 4. Apparently, there are a lot of germans, but I have yet to meet one. The girl that ended up having an adapter for us to use turned out to be Japanese by ethnicity but living in San Francisco.
Just so you know. New Zealanders don't refrigerate their eggs. When in Rome... Needless to say we are trying this new method of egg-retention. We shall see what happens to our 30 eggs.
Sadly, the Bank was closed today. It's not supposed to be closed on saturdays, but what do I know. Now I have to find another way to get to the next town before I start work on the 1st. Argggh. I smell another attempt at Hitchhiking.
Anyways, there's a party tonight. We gotta go.
Jalissa
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Things you must know as a traveller in NZ
Today, we learned some valuable lessons that you must know as a car-less traveller in New Zealand.
One. Apparently getting a ride on a bus or in someone else's car is unlikely.
Two. Try Hitchhiking!
Three. Don't bother trying to hitchhike in the rain. As we were told, no one wants to pick up a wet person in their car, especially if they've got nice leather seats. (Mind you, this was after we stood in the rain for quite some time. We only ended up asking someone for advice because we thought the thumbs up sign might not be the symbol for hitchhiker in NZ.)
So, getting out of town today didn't happen. Sad day.
Last night we were at the bar next door. There was a live band called "spider-pig." Very original. People who work on the mountain got today off so last night the bar got very crowded. Jon and I figured we would join the rest of them. We go tthere at 6 pm. We left by 9 because we got too tired. Darn Jet-lag! Anyways, we met some quite interesting people. One of them, Jordan, is a local in these here parts. He introduced us to a bottled version of whiskey and coke, or bourbon. He was a hunter ( or at least that's what we understood him to be) and he said he could get us a job painting in Auckland. I think we will try our luck elsewhere.
We met another guy, whom we shall call the cynical english dude, or Tom. This guy is very upset that there is only one bar to go to. Although it sounds like he comes from the middle of nowhere himself. He is also working as a rental attendant, so I will probably be seeing much more of him. He is living with a friend, another John. That guy seems nice but all we talked about was how he had already worked up at the Mountain for a year. He's going to be watching my every move making sure I do things right.
I give Jon all the credit for meeting people at bars though. Sneaky bastard.
Oh yeah, there's also this french guy that was very stereotypically french. He was quite the smooth talker and had no shame. He was planning on working on ski mountains for 1.5 years in a row. That's a lot of winters.
Ok, we're stuck here today. so hopefully something will come up to entertain us.
Laterz!
Jalissa
One. Apparently getting a ride on a bus or in someone else's car is unlikely.
Two. Try Hitchhiking!
Three. Don't bother trying to hitchhike in the rain. As we were told, no one wants to pick up a wet person in their car, especially if they've got nice leather seats. (Mind you, this was after we stood in the rain for quite some time. We only ended up asking someone for advice because we thought the thumbs up sign might not be the symbol for hitchhiker in NZ.)
So, getting out of town today didn't happen. Sad day.
Last night we were at the bar next door. There was a live band called "spider-pig." Very original. People who work on the mountain got today off so last night the bar got very crowded. Jon and I figured we would join the rest of them. We go tthere at 6 pm. We left by 9 because we got too tired. Darn Jet-lag! Anyways, we met some quite interesting people. One of them, Jordan, is a local in these here parts. He introduced us to a bottled version of whiskey and coke, or bourbon. He was a hunter ( or at least that's what we understood him to be) and he said he could get us a job painting in Auckland. I think we will try our luck elsewhere.
We met another guy, whom we shall call the cynical english dude, or Tom. This guy is very upset that there is only one bar to go to. Although it sounds like he comes from the middle of nowhere himself. He is also working as a rental attendant, so I will probably be seeing much more of him. He is living with a friend, another John. That guy seems nice but all we talked about was how he had already worked up at the Mountain for a year. He's going to be watching my every move making sure I do things right.
I give Jon all the credit for meeting people at bars though. Sneaky bastard.
Oh yeah, there's also this french guy that was very stereotypically french. He was quite the smooth talker and had no shame. He was planning on working on ski mountains for 1.5 years in a row. That's a lot of winters.
Ok, we're stuck here today. so hopefully something will come up to entertain us.
Laterz!
Jalissa
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Day One:The Job Search
See that map? Yeah, there is one square road attached to the highway. We have put a little symbol where we live. Literally, you could walk around the ENTIRE town in 15 minutes. Today, Jon did one day of "work for accommodation" which was really 3.5 hours of work, and then they sent him home. Basically, they are not going to give him any more work, so we either have to pay for the whole apartment (with my measly minimum wage job, which, I am told, will sometimes be unreliable pay if the mountain is closed for a time and which wont cover much more than the rent for the apartment anyways), or figure something else out.After Jon came back, we went around the entire town asking if anyone needed to hire ANYBODY. Verdict: No one is hiring anymore. There is still some hope up at the ski resort itself, since the people the ski resort hires tend to be flakes who never show up, or who aren't reliable. We just met a guy today who chose to leave this place once he found out how small it was. Another guy was saying that the department he was working at was missing about 4 of the people it hired. Maybe we will be lucky enough to encounter a freshly open spot. Still, everyone has been saying there is no shortage of people looking for work.
The weather's nice here though! It's sunny and cold, but beautiful. Thanks mom for giving Jon the purple long underwear. It is being put to good use. Luckily our apartment is keeping us warm, and the water here is free because it comes straight from the mountain. We are taking showers all the time. We have unlimited internet, but unless we can get an outlet converter soon (from a nearby town, I hope), our laptops will run out of batteries.
Ok, it's off to the bar(s),
Jalissa
We're here!!!!
So, we have arrived in Ruapehu safe and sound. There were no problems getting here. It has just been an overwhelming amount of traveling. After the 12 hour flight (in a 747 with personal TV's and lots of leg room, and free alcohol!!!!!)during which neither of us slept more than an hour or two, we got to Auckland at 5 AM. We took a bus to downtown, where we caught the bus to Ruapehu (another 6 hour drive). Now that we are here, we are exhausted.
Unfortunately, it turns out that this town is really just a block of housing, mostly full of hostels and lodges for skiiers. There are only 2 bars, and there is no bank or grocery store. The closest town is a 25 minute drive down the mountain. The only way to get down the mountain is to find someone with a car to take you, since the train doesn't run on weekdays, and there are no buses. Apparently hitchhiking is quite common.
We did hit one bump in the road. It turns out that "The Park," the place we are staying at for the moment, failed to tell us that they had already filled their "work for accommodation" spots. This leaves Jon out of a job, and it means we will have to pay for our housing. Kind of a problem. He has already applied to work at the bar next to our housing, and we will be looking for jobs on the mountain itself tomorrow. Not to worry! We will figure something out. We have already gotten an offer from a guy from england to find a house to live in at a cheaper price. Who knows, maybe that'll work out.
Tonight, we are just pooped. It's time to go sleep...
Jalissa
Unfortunately, it turns out that this town is really just a block of housing, mostly full of hostels and lodges for skiiers. There are only 2 bars, and there is no bank or grocery store. The closest town is a 25 minute drive down the mountain. The only way to get down the mountain is to find someone with a car to take you, since the train doesn't run on weekdays, and there are no buses. Apparently hitchhiking is quite common.
We did hit one bump in the road. It turns out that "The Park," the place we are staying at for the moment, failed to tell us that they had already filled their "work for accommodation" spots. This leaves Jon out of a job, and it means we will have to pay for our housing. Kind of a problem. He has already applied to work at the bar next to our housing, and we will be looking for jobs on the mountain itself tomorrow. Not to worry! We will figure something out. We have already gotten an offer from a guy from england to find a house to live in at a cheaper price. Who knows, maybe that'll work out.
Tonight, we are just pooped. It's time to go sleep...
Jalissa
Sunday, June 21, 2009
June 20, 2009
I will make this a bit short because we're a bit sick.
So, we've stayed at Frau Kispersky's house (for you non-German aficionados or non-Germans, it means Ms. Kispersky's) for a couple of days.
It was really nice to hang out with Alissa's mom and alissa's friends: for example, we had dinner with her girl scout friend, Sandra, and went to some frozen yogurt with two of her high school buddies--we've also hiked with Alissa's mom for about 3.2 hrs!
Anyhow, lissy got a fever and i got some gnarly sinus infection so we're sick and going to sleep at my madre's casa. New Zealand is only 2 days away so we're gonna rest up.
BTW,
a shout out to Anna because we've missed her Anna Day. I am sure we'll catch an indigenous penguin at the southern shores of south island and fry it just for her...ok im kidding, we'll get a kiwi bird instead.
I bet Jon h. is crying right now so ill have a shout out to him too.
btw, we got bus tix from auckland to national park for hellza cheap.
c yall soon,
jalissa
So, we've stayed at Frau Kispersky's house (for you non-German aficionados or non-Germans, it means Ms. Kispersky's) for a couple of days.
It was really nice to hang out with Alissa's mom and alissa's friends: for example, we had dinner with her girl scout friend, Sandra, and went to some frozen yogurt with two of her high school buddies--we've also hiked with Alissa's mom for about 3.2 hrs!
Anyhow, lissy got a fever and i got some gnarly sinus infection so we're sick and going to sleep at my madre's casa. New Zealand is only 2 days away so we're gonna rest up.
BTW,
a shout out to Anna because we've missed her Anna Day. I am sure we'll catch an indigenous penguin at the southern shores of south island and fry it just for her...ok im kidding, we'll get a kiwi bird instead.
I bet Jon h. is crying right now so ill have a shout out to him too.
btw, we got bus tix from auckland to national park for hellza cheap.
c yall soon,
jalissa
Thursday, June 18, 2009
June 18th, 2009
Well,
I am sitting in Alissa's mom's place right now making this blog thingy.
Anyhow, moving out was a pain (ESPECIALLY BECAUSE SOME OF YOU DECIDED TO LEAVE SHIT THERE AND THE NEXT DAY WE HAD DRIVE ALL THE WAY FROM BAKO TO DISPOSE OF IT)
but anyhow, we're just getting situated to go to New Zealand, Auckland in what? 4days? June 22nd?
It'll be be pretty gnarly and LEGEN----wait for it---DARY!!!
Come check us out on a regular basis for some crazy adventures.
Until then, WHAT IS UP NEW ZEALAND!
I am sitting in Alissa's mom's place right now making this blog thingy.
Anyhow, moving out was a pain (ESPECIALLY BECAUSE SOME OF YOU DECIDED TO LEAVE SHIT THERE AND THE NEXT DAY WE HAD DRIVE ALL THE WAY FROM BAKO TO DISPOSE OF IT)
but anyhow, we're just getting situated to go to New Zealand, Auckland in what? 4days? June 22nd?
It'll be be pretty gnarly and LEGEN----wait for it---DARY!!!
Come check us out on a regular basis for some crazy adventures.
Until then, WHAT IS UP NEW ZEALAND!
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