Hello Cromwell

So my dear ones,

We have now made our way to Belinda and Ross. They are a family who lives in Cromwell. They own an organic fruit and vegetable farm. Our task was also gardening there. Because they are not allowed to spray against weeds, everything has to be removed through physical work. On the first day, I (Christina) weeded around the grapevines and Daniel removed grass next to the driveway. On Tuesday, Daniel continued his work and I started weeding around the blueberry vines. The news had already said all day that it would be very cold overnight and even snow down to 500 meters. Unbelievable, we still had a sunburn from the last few days, which had a constant temperature of 22-23 degrees Celsius... We had lunch with Belinda and she said that it is beautiful in Queenstown when the mountains around it have snow. In the evening, Ross said the same thing and said we could take a day off and then get back to work. Done. The next morning we drove to Queenstown. On the way there, we made a stop in Arrowtown. It had snowed so much overnight that the snow was still on the cars at noon. In Arrowtown, we visited the old Chinese gold digger colonies and looked at the complete history of Arrowtown in the museum. It's fascinating and they have beautifully designed the museum. You could immerse yourself in the time period based on reconstructed rooms with dolls and tools. We continued to drive to Queenstown with a delicious muffin and a coffee to go. Ross told us that we should definitely stop at Coronet Peak. Of course, we did and it was great. You drive up the mountain on the road. The snow becomes more and more on the right and left. You are so surprised because the road leads up to a gondola. Right in the ski area...!!! It is crazy when you look down from the mountain and everything is white and you yourself have a sunburn from the week before. It was cold on the mountain (about 5 degrees Celsius and very windy). The view from a mountain to the valley is beautiful. The mountain is white, you stand about 20 cm in the snow, and everything below is green. After taking a few pictures, we briefly enjoyed the view and then continued driving. I am also very proud of our car, it drives very well and is reliable. Arriving in Queenstown, we walked through the city and checked out the water attractions such as jet boating or water skiing, etc. It was very interesting and we also took many flyers to see what's there and what is the most economical in terms of price, as everything is quite expensive here. Afterwards, we stopped at the supermarket, bought something, and started our way back home. On the way back, we stopped at a beautiful lake and realized that we are on the opposite side of Coronet Peak. When we arrived in Cromwell, we received a delicious dinner from Belinda and Ross. The two wanted to know everything about our trip. The next day we worked for 9 hours. Then we fell tired into bed. On Friday, after our 4 hours of work, we drove to Alexandra. We looked at everything that was worth seeing on the way, for example, the huge dam in Clyde. In Alexandra itself, a clock was installed directly on the mountain. We looked at it from below and from above because you could drive up to the mountain by car and see the entire city from above. After that, we looked at the rose garden and the old bridge (at least what was left of the old bridge). On the way home, we drove to the old part of Cromwell. It's madness how the houses were destroyed by flooding (caused by the dam construction in Clyde and the resulting water backup). Some houses were moved to another location by the residents of Cromwell in order to preserve them, while others are now just ruins or only the roofs of the houses can be seen...

During lunch on Friday, we talked to Belinda about work during the berry season in December/January. Unfortunately, they only had a HelpX job for us (i.e. 4 hours of work and in return, free accommodation and 3 meals a day). Unfortunately, we wanted something where we can earn money or combine both. We told her that and also that we would love to work with them, but we would need a second job that is paid. She was immediately enthusiastic and said, yes, I know a woman who may be looking for someone, and if she doesn't have work, then she might know someone who is looking for workers for the season. She then tried to call the woman right away, but she was not reachable. When we came back in the evening after our trip to Alexandra for dinner, the aforementioned woman was already on the phone and said that she had paid work for the season for both of us. That was of course more than fantastic and not only were we thrilled, but Ross and Belinda were also thrilled. We made all the arrangements with the woman right away and exchanged some data so that we can start working with her on December 20th. We start with Ross and Belinda on December 8th. So we will be in Cromwell from early December to the end of January and help with the berry season. On Saturday, we helped with a few small things and then moved on. And now we have 25 days to explore the southern part of the South Island before the season starts in Cromwell. Next stop, Glenorchy.