Christchurch - Blenheim - Christchurch / Man we are crazy

Well, as the title says: we are totally crazy. In the last post, I told you that we were in Christchurch and looking for work here. But since we didn't find anything, we had to keep traveling. Then I saw that people are now being sought for the vineyards in Blenheim (where we came from - 550km drive). The job involves cutting old branches of the grapevines, wrapping and securing new ones around a wire. It sounded good at first. So we thought: to hell with it, let's go back up, as long as we can finally work. When we arrived there, we realized that the work was being arranged through shady characters. Anyway, we still met with one of them and registered. We were supposed to start working first and then fill out the contract and provide our bank details later. They didn't even ask for a WHV (Working Holiday Visa). Very suspicious and not for us. But now that we were already here, the work had to be done. Aren't there any other recruiters? I asked Aunt Google and yes, there were. Several companies (kind of like temp agencies) showed up. I contacted all of them but never received a response. Now we were stuck in Blenheim, still unemployed, and slowly getting desperate. Then all of a sudden, I received an email from an agency that I had contacted a few days ago in Christchurch: 'We have openings for you and your girlfriend in a factory for the next 8-10 weeks, do you want them?'

Why couldn't this email have come 3 days earlier? We drove from Nelson (near Blenheim) to CHCH (abbreviation for Christchurch), then back to Blenheim, and now we're supposed to go back down to CHCH? Seriously, are we stupid? We wasted over 2,000km of fuel just like that. But there's nothing we can do. Off to CHCH again, or rather Ashburton, which is about ~50km south of CHCH.

At least we have a stable job now, not dependent on the weather. And even through a more or less reputable company, where we filled out our contract before starting work. So I'm hopeful.

To bridge the gap until our regular job starts, we're helping out with the potato harvest for a few days. It's actually quite relaxed, considering that we only have to collect dirt, stones, and ugly (rotten, damaged) potatoes, etc. from a conveyor belt, which are picked up from the ground. The only problem is: this is actually a job for 6 people and there are only 3 of us. If you search for 'fastest worker' on YouTube, we could definitely compete there. But well, as long as the money is right...