Wow, where should I begin? The past several days have been a whirlwind. On Saturday I was in Auckland and now I find myself in Rotorua, with four cities in-between. I’ve watched the most amazing choreographed fireworks show, gotten smacked around by intense waves, rappelled down a 50′ waterfall in an underground cave, learned about glow worms, mountain biked some incredible trails, and met a bunch of new people. It has been a fun week! Lack of time and internet access have made it difficult to update the blog but I hope to get you guys a post every couple of days.
kentuckyfriedscott
current location : louisville, ky
Category Archives: Travel
Kiwi Currency
Just a quickie today. Posts like yesterday’s take a lot of time to put together!
I have to admit that I didn’t research New Zealand currency before arriving, even after my confusing experience in Sydney. Lucky for me, and probably surprising to no one, the currencies of the two countries share quite a few similarities. The notes seem to use the same type of colored paper with a little transparent window, but the coins are a bit different.
Like the Aussies, the Kiwis have $2 and $1 coins that get used all the time, but the latter saw fit to make the higher valued coin larger in size (way to go!). In the pic above, the coins are, from left to right, $2, $1, 50c, 20c, and 10c. New Zealand actually phased out their 5c piece in 2006. Interesting, huh? So everything gets rounded up or down to the nearest 10th. I chose to show the “tails” side of the coins in the pic because every single one has Queen Elizabeth on the opposite side.
This is the first country in which I have traveled where the exchange rate is in my favor, and it’s awesome! Today the rate is 1.00 NZD = 0.83 USD. I love spending $40 on something and seeing a $33.30 charge on my credit card statement!
Auckland: The City of Sails
Has a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you say? I like this city. I can’t really put my finger on why but it just appeals to me. Even though Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand and its 1.4 million residents make up 32 percent of the country’s population it doesn’t feel that big.
My flight arrived later than scheduled on Tuesday and it always takes a while (for me) to figure out a city’s public transportation system so it was almost 9:00 PM when I made it to my Airbnb host. Jody’s a massage therapist and is spiritual and funky, in a good way. She’s also extremely generous and had salmon and veggie leftovers waiting for me in the oven. Have I mentioned that we’re complete strangers? Pretty awesome. She has tons of knowledge about the city and has given me some great ideas.
Hostels Aren’t So Hostile
Last night I had my first experience at a backpackers’ hostel. Unfortunately I didn’t meet two hot Slovak girls, but then again, I didn’t have my eyeballs gouged out or an arm hacked off. If you have no idea what I’m talking about there’s a very gory series of horror films called Hostel. I just summed up the plot for you in one sentence.
Backpackers’ hostels are popular pretty much everywhere outside of the US and are about the cheapest accommodation you can find without couch surfing (sleeping on a complete stranger’s couch for free… an idea I haven’t yet warmed up to). I stayed at a place called King Street Backpackers in Melbourne and paid $36 for a room that slept four in bunk beds. Female-only rooms are also available. At this particular hostel you can get the price down to the mid-20s but you have to sleep in a room with 15 others for the pleasure. Can you imagine that? Experiential travel is all the rage these days. Maybe they could sell it as an “Army Barrack Getaway”.
Week 5 Costs
This’ll be an easy one. So easy, in fact, that I’m posting over free WiFi outside a Hungry Jack’s (Burger King).
Sunday Musings
It’s Sunday afternoon on my last full day at the vineyard. The sun is shining in a clear blue sky, it’s about 72 degrees (22 for you Celsius folks), and the all-to-familiar wind is blowing. Tomorrow I’ll hitch a ride to the town of Traralgon, where I’ll hop on a train to Melbourne, spend the night in a hostel, then fly to Auckland on Tuesday. I don’t have much to write about today so that’s exactly what I’m going to write about. I’ve realized that it’s impossible to blog about experiences when you’re having none.
Quick Update
Just a quick post today to let family and friends know that I’ve extended my trip for another month!
This adventure began as a challenge to get out of my comfort zone. I was unhappy at work and flippantly threw out the idea: “Maybe I should just quit my job and go spend a month in Australia.” The more I thought about it, the more appealing the idea became, so my trip took shape as a month in Australia and two weeks in New Zealand. Well I’m about five weeks in and I keep hearing how amazing it is in New Zealand so I think it deserves a month of its own. The budget’s looking OK so why not, huh? On Tuesday I fly into Auckland to continue my adventure.
Thank you all so much for the comments and support here on the blog. Let’s keep it going!
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness… Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
– Mark Twain
Life At A Vineyard
Yesterday was picking day! Alistair and I woke up before the sun at 6:00 AM to get things ready for the troop of backpackers who would help clip beautiful fruit off the vine. The vines are all covered in white netting to protect the grapes from birds and from a distance it looks like a sea of giant spiderwebs. The early morning dew was thick so we got soaked removing the netting. Once the backpackers arrived, each was given a pair of pruning shears and a bucket and told “Put grapes in here”. Pretty simple. I spent most of the time removing row after row of netting but did a little picking as well. Unfortunately we got rained out and weren’t able to pick the whole lot of red grapes which, incidentally, are going to be turned into white wine (Pinot Gris, one of Blue Gables’ best sellers).
I learned from Alistair that different styles of grapes have to picked at just the right time, or, more accurately, just the right sugar level. He has some contraption that measures the level based on a sample. I was naive and assumed that anyone trying to grow something out of the ground would want as much rain as possible (Al mentioned that it hadn’t rained here since Dec. 8th) but vineyard owners really want control of the water more than quantity. Apparently rain dilutes the sugar content of the grapes so we have to wait a few days to harvest the rest of the Pinot Gris. I also learned the difference between a vineyard and a winery. A vineyard, like Blue Gables, grows the grapes and harvests them at the right time, but doesn’t make the actual wine. A winery does the pressing, fermenting, etc, to make the final product, with input from Al on how it should taste.
The one thing that I’ll remember most out about yesterday is not the dewy, early-morning sunrise, or the lovely purple fruit, or the rain that put and end to our pick. No, I’ll remember the flies. Way back in Sydney I noticed that the flies in Australia are relentless. They’re not like the polite, southern flies we have in Kentucky. These little bastards will not leave you alone, and for some reason they love ears. If you don’t shoo it away immediately it will try to head straight down your ear canal. Walking through a field is an exercise in swatting, slapping, and cursing. I HATE every last one of them!
So that was yesterday. Today I was back on label duty. 😦 I guess my skills are improving because today I did 44 cases in less time than it took me to do 35 cases the other day. That’s 948 bottles total. If I never label another bottle of wine I will die a happy man.
Week 4 Costs
Week 4 comin’ atcha! A few days in Melbourne with a host found on Airbnb followed by a short HelpX stay.
Week 3 Costs
I’ve gotten a bit behind on these weekly cost breakdowns. I gotta step up my game.
Week 3 will be a bit different than the previous weeks because I spent half of it with a HelpX host and the other half being a tourist. I also threw in an ER visit just for fun.
kentuckyfriedscott 