An Update

I have lost sight of the blog lately, but as I received more and more messages from people who believe from my last post that I hate my life, I thought it was time again.

So in August I was at Lyndsey's for five days. I constantly call her Omi, also because she calls herself that, even though she is only turning 60 in November. After getting lost – of course – I arrived at her sister-in-law's (I am missing the German word) house in Mangawhai after a two-hour drive. The two of them live in a very cute, small house with a big garden. It looks a bit like a summer house. Just didn't feel like summer at all. In New Zealand, almost all houses have really bad insulation, so it is freezing cold. The fireplace and the heater in my room were the only sources of warmth, and as nice as they were, it was still very cold. It was warmer in my car.

At Lyndsey's, I was supposed to work in the garden, but the weather was really bad during the week and it was raining most of the time. On my arrival day, she already told me to do whatever I can, if it rains I should find another activity and "No pressure! You can stop whenever you want!". So it was really relaxed at her place. What I did during those five days was cutting flax. Terrible bushes. It's a bit like plucking eyebrows. You think you're done, look at the overall picture and realize that you're definitely not done yet.

The place is super small and on Monday and Tuesday, Lyndsey was working, so in the afternoons, I went to the beach and went for a hike. I ended up turning back after 1 ½ hours because it was raining so much.

After working in the garden on Wednesday, she took me out and showed me another beach. Before that, she bought us some (very delicious) ice cream. But by the time we got to the beach, it was raining again, so she showed me the surroundings from the car and we went to the chocolate factory (with extremely expensive chocolate). On Thursday, I went with her to her work. She runs an op shop, like a Red Cross store, and I spent three hours hanging donated clothes.

Afterward, she bought us lunch and we went to yet another beach, but this time the weather was great. The beach was really beautiful, and we spent a few lovely hours there until it started raining again.

After the five days, my time with Lyndsey was over. At the beginning, we talked about my plans for the next period, and I told her that I plan to go to Paihia with Vanessa over the weekend. But she didn't quite understand that I meant the following weekend, so she signed up with friends for the weekend, which resulted in me leaving on Friday instead of Sunday. However, I had a great time with her, she cooked really well, and she took me to the "spa pool" on her friends' farm twice when it was really cold. Vanessa ended up working less than she thought and arrived in Paihia on Thursday afternoon. After a pretty rainy week, we had four beautiful days. We spent Thursday on Russell, had lunch there, and then walked back to the campsite with our groceries. I charged my phone and power bank on the car a bit too often, and my battery died – so we walked.

On Friday, a friendly employee of the campsite gave us a jumpstart with his truck, and since then the car has been running fine. We then went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds again. I had been there in November and think it is one of the best museums in New Zealand (Te Papa is also pretty good, but in Wellington.). This time, we had a tour guide who wasn't that cool, mumbled a lot, and spoke very quickly. I was glad that I had already done the tour before. But this time we paid less, not only because of the TOP10 card that gave us a 10% discount, but also because we were backpackers. Last time, no one told me that it would be $10 cheaper.

Saturday, we drove to Whangarei, but made a short stop in Kawakawa so Vanessa could see the Hundertwasser toilets. Then we went to Whangarei and visited the Whangarei Falls. We thought it would be a good idea to climb the extremely slippery, wet, muddy rocks to get behind the waterfall. When we arrived, we realized that it was actually not possible to go behind the waterfall. It was still quite fun though.

After shopping, we quickly walked around the harbor (they charge $2 for one hour of parking... so we had to be quick) and then continued to the campsite. I was there in November/December with my back pain, and the staff member actually recognized me. On Sunday, we drove back to Auckland via Mangawhai (to have the delicious ice cream again).

And then my personal countdown until departure began. I took care of taxes, listed things I no longer need for sale, listed my car for sale, canceled my 1stCall membership, and looked for accommodation for after selling the car. Last weekend, I also went to the glowworm caves in Waipu with Vanessa, Anneke, Sabrina, and two others whose names I don't know. It was also a nice change not to drive myself. But I have to say that all the curves were pretty tough on my stomach when I wasn't driving. Motion sickness has become a real problem since I've been here.

Yeah, and now I have packed half of my stuff, the car is freshly cleaned, and as soon as I have a buyer, my departure becomes more and more real. Five weeks to go!