And the big reveal (that most people probably already heard)

Over here I just finished working on the kiwi orchards,  did a few extra days after picking on maintenance type work. My plan is to now travel with a friend from work and her siblings are joining us in a few weeks.  I picked her up on Sunday and will try and see the north island before August 13 when she goes home to German. I'll leave soon after I sell my car,  hopefully to a couple I made friends with here. 

But while working the last month and a bit I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to do next.  My visa expires July 16th and I have the work experience to extend another year.  I was applying to jobs and started applying in England since a friend there refered me to her company and suggested a few other places.  I looked into Australia and a few other countries also.  I also knew I didn't want another year in New Zealand without a real job but considered other working holidays instead.  Unfortunately I'm too old for half of them. I started applying to jobs in countries that had working holiday visas with the main one being Germany.  I've made a lot of German friends, always liked the country, and the visa is free. 

During this time I kept applying to jobs in Canada. I received some help on my resume and cover letter and applied to a lot of different jobs.  Most were consulting and sampling jobs like my old job but for bigger companies so I would make more money,  less hours,  hopefully more diverse work. (Also international offices so i might be able to work elsewhere in the future) Others were industry jobs like working at a mine or manufacturing plant. Others were more unique jobs like a professor of environmental studies  at Cambrian College. I never held much hope for these applications since over my times of unemployment or when applying while at Adomait, I've sent in literally hundreds of applications and never got responses.  Ever interview was from visiting an office or through a friend. 

So imagine my surprise when I got an email asking for a Skype interview with RWDI, which was followed a few days later for a request to call New Gold, a mine in northern Ontario. Both were not my top choices to hear from but it was encouraging.  I worried because New Gold would require living in  a small town on the Ontario/ Manitoba border.  4 hours from any decent sized city.  After New Zealand, I am little over small towns with few people and no ammendities. RWDI, on the other hand, was listed as an entry level field tech position but in Guelph. I worried it would be taking a step back in my career,  being just a sampler, doing less them I did at old job on the engineering side. This means less money, less responsibility,  less or harder growth in company, and being pigeon holed into all future jobs as just a sampler. I was happy to have interviews and if offered one,  could take it and leave in a year or two if need be. 

New Gold's interview went well if short.  I had to get to work and she didn't  want to keep me on the line since I had to call internationally.  It was a decent job but a little to low level and bad location.  A better job for starting a career but not where I am in life. 

RWDI went really well.  Due to my experience the one interviewer's usual spiel was usless since I knew it all. When talking about why I was in New Zealand (burning out from hours mainly), the other guy  said he worked with my old boss 16 years ago and he was a work horse then.  So congratulated me for lasting 7 years there.  I mentioned wanting my P. Engg licence but put it off due to lack of encouragement and professionals to sign of on it,  which they were happy I mentioned it first since they would like me to get it.  The biggest  thing that happened is i mentioned going where ever a job was offered,  Guelph would be awesome but I've been applying internationally and was not set on any particular area.  The one interviewer made a comment about the Windsor position which I said I thought I applied for.  He was surprised to have not seen my resume for it, so either it was filtered out or I didn't apply correctly (online applications usually take dozens of steps through an online form and one can take over an hour and I lacked decent internet). I answered other questions,  low balled salary expectations since I thought it was a entry level field tech job and didn't want to lose the opportunity.  Luckily they mentioned recognizing my experience and the position would be adjusted based on that. The posting only said entry level since they had to pick something and didn't want to discourage new graduates.  After that they said they should have an answer by end of the week (was a Monday EST).

Two days later I received an email from the one interviewer to discuss Windsor since it is a more diverse and all round better job.  We set up another call between just us.  This position works mostly out of Michigan with Chrysler.  An employee worked with them to make RWDI their exclusive environmental consultant (which is really good of him) but he was being promoted up. They are also trying to expand the team since they can't handle all of Chrysler work. This job will require me to go sampling, but also work at becoming the client contact for Chrysler. I will also start on business development, finding new clients and selling the environmental services. Eventually they talked about hiring a Michigan team and I would help train and run the new office. There is more,  but it is a better position then just a field tech with great growth potential.  

As of last week,  I signed the job contact there.  I have a start date of August 20th. Since I plan to travel until August 13, I will be returning around the 15th or 16th. I've looked into apartments and found some nice cheap ones by the office. I have a friends wedding in KW area on the 25th of August and not sure if we are actually family camping.  I will be really busy the first bit I'm back,  need a whole wardrobe,  get car up to date, rent and furnish a place.  Unfortunately Windsor is farther away but i will find to to visit.

So that's that, 

The time away from the Kiwis. ( the fruit and the people, not the birds)

While working on the kiwi orchards, we unfortunately did not do a lot of stuff in our down time. This was mostly due to the weather being horrible on our days off. Even though we only worked 9 out of 20 days, at least 8 of the 11 days off were very rainy. It limited what we could do, especially the days there was a road closure due to either flooding, mud slide, or an accident on the only road in and out of town. ( some of these events are out of order, I'm grabbing pictures from 3 or 4 sources so the time stamps are not keeping them in order but it's close enough. It also means I will steal a bunch of pictures from people after this blog is up so should have plenty more of myself in case anyone cares :P)

Our first stay was in Waihi at a nice AirBnb. This is where we started watching Westworld as a group and played a few games. It is an old gold mining town, not large but better than most of the towns I stayed in. We were there for about 10 days and took a few walks around town. Visited the local "wildlife", saw the semi creepy statues they had around town, and toured the open pit mine.

After Waihi, we found a cheaper place in Waihi Beach (20 minutes away). It didn't have internet, but I have a bonus with my phone plan for 1 hr unlimited data a day which I used for a few downloads for us. After about 5 days being cooped up between the two houses due to weather and no work, we risked a walk to the beach in the overcast sky, hoping to find the small summit climb. Never found the summit, but got some cool pictures on the beach and climbed all over some rocks and drift wood.

We had one day that started out raining but cleared up by noon. It was a great opportunity to get out of the house before we went insane or adopted a cat (not on my insistence, I swear). There was a small waterfall (should have gone swimming) and an old mining tunnels and hikes. The tunnels were really cool. Walking down them and turning off the light was crazy. It was very cool, since at irregular intervals they cut out of the mountain to drop off the ore. These were converted into balconies overlooking the river.

Later we found a day with sun in the afternoon to spend it at the beach. Tayla and I did a bit of swimming, we played a bunch of frisbee and ended the afternoon with fish and chips.

One of the last activities we did before work in Katikati ended was go on a longer hike to see a waterfall. It was a couple hours and unfortunately due to the rain we almost couldn't go. There were several freedom campers who where stuck up the road for 3 days with how flooded the rivers became.

The hike was fun, goofing off and talking with everyone. There was a nice view from above the waterfall but we thought it was a smart idea to climb down to see it up close and personal.

Once down, and a slip into the water up to my knee, I decided I wanted to swim. It's been months since I  swam in fresh water. Though I don't hate salt water it's a nice change. Tayla joined me in there and the other three watched in horror, fascination, and exasperation. The water was COLD but so refreshing and with the waterfall it was very turbulent. This was something I really wanted to do here and was so happy to get to.

After that, we finished our contract with the orchard and took the Friday off. We were "starting" back again at eastpack Monday and wanted some time to enjoy ourselves especially with the sun. Since we were further south then originally planned, we decided to go to Matamata to see Hobbiton. I enjoyed the books and movies well enough but it was a novel experience I'd never get to do again. Similar to Pearl Harbour. As a group, we were in a really silly mood and took a lot of pictures. The tour ends with a free pint at the Green Dragon Inn which use to just be an empty building for filming the outside but they built a replica later for all the tourists that came through.

After working down in the south, we moved back to Tairua. Work was of course delayed a few days but eventually started again. We took the days off to visit a river we were meaning to visit. Tayla and I again went swimming (again, very cold but refreshing). Shared a lunch and started having a impromptu dance off and a few drinks. We continued the fun times back at the hostel. Piotr had a job interview so unfortunately he couldn't join in, but it freed me up from having to drive. Jackie joined us at the hostel for a couple weeks before leaving New Zealand and on her last day, she and I walked up Mt. Paku to watch the sun rise. Another thing I wanted to do while there.

Later, Tayla had her 29th birthday. Jon took her out to dinner and we had a small party in the hostel with a couple presents and cake. ( I think we had 8 birthdays in our time there and generally bought or made cake for each of them). Later that week, Chloe was leaving us to continue her travels. We cooked a nice dinner to share with the 6 of us that lived together in Waihi and shared a few laughs and tears.

Over the next two weeks, we lost a few other people to traveling. This emptied out the hostel but also allowed me to get to know a few of the people I didn't know as well. Franchesco is a 19 yr old Italian that we started spending a bit of time with, playing pool and darts and taking to work or on a few of our adventures. The last real outting we did as a group was go back to Hot Water Beach. Between 2 hours before and after low tide, you can dig a hole and find hot water. During the summer, this beach will be packed but even in the winter there were quite a few people. We luckily came near the end and had a few pre-dug holes. Unfortunately since it's sand with water flowing through it, the sides constantly collapse and you cannot dig very deep. If you found the right vent though, the water was so hot you cold not sit in it. We hung around until the tide started coming in, watching a few waves flow up the beach and into some peoples holes. I also took the opportunity to jump into the ocean and back into the hot water a few times. Though it was sunny, it's still winter here and was probably around 10 degrees out, a little cool for some of our group.

There were a few days left of work at this point, most people left the hostel soon after leaving just Jon, Tayla, Franchesco, Naima, Carl, and I. Annika was in Australia and I was counting down the days for her to return so  I could be off on my last adventure. Silvia and Allie hosted a farewell dinner for everyone even though most had already left. My last activity in Tairua was to climb Mt. Pauanui with Jon and Tayla. It's a steep 40 minute climb. It hurt. I bought new hiking shoes for my travels with Annika and got to try them out on the climb. Luckily no blisters, but my legs felt it for a few days after the walk. With that, we went home, hung out, and spend the next day packing our vehicles before leaving the hostel. 

My time in Tairua was much longer than expected. I was there from March until near the end of June. I loved my time there, I met amazing people, enjoyed the work (though too many days off in a row), and got to do a bit of my site seeing. The Beach House was an amazing hostel and though Allie and Silvia are considering quitting the management of it, I hope it continues to be an amazing place for people to live and work.

The end of the Kiwi's (the fruit, not people or birds)

So a lot has been happening. I'm going to have to break this up intoa few postings again, splitting work on the kiwi orchards and fun times.

I ended talking about starting work in the Tauranga area. We had a fun time there as a group of 6. We rented two different AirBNB's which where awesome, especially when compared to the hostel. Most nights we took turns cooking for the group. I made a baked lemon pepper chicken with twiced backed potatoes the first time, and cooked a meat pasta sauce with spaghetti squash the second time. It was really good. Other than that, we went out a few times to pubs for dinner and drinks, watched Westworld as a group, played a few card or board games. We also had a random guest that ran into the house a few times.

Work went well. We weren't the happiest there but the orchard was well maintained, the owners treated us well, and we got paid. We ended up working approximately 9 of the 20 days we were away from Tairua, 6 days spent at one orchard. Everyone was pleased with us as a group and our contractor asked us to work with them more when we left. Plus we had fuzzy mascots.

The orchard was difficult to walk around due to the sharp incline, but eventually they started driving us around. As shown in the one picture,  we filled 16 bussel bins and averaged 8 bins per person a day.  It was nice to hear from some of the other crew that they liked me and thought I would do 10 or more bins myself.

  

After about 3  weeks,  the contact ended and work with east pack started again. We had a few days of fun before heading back up.  Work was good in Tairua but we had too many days off. This prevented us from saving a lot of money. It also didn't help that most days of were due to rain so we couldn't even go outside hiking. 

Half way through this period,  we had a large group of Vanuatu guys join us at the hostel.  They were working with Seeka on their orchards. They were very nice,  if shy.  It took a few weeks before they really started talking to us. We finished picking soon after that,  most of they people who stated with us were still there,  but some left early due to previous plans. 

After picking,  John,  Tayla, and I worked with the local crew doing some orchard maintenance work. East Pack took over a Seek a orchard and we had to remove the poles and strings they use on the orchards.  After that,  the winter pruning started. Since I had travel plans,  they couldn't train me and my job there ended.  I loved working with the kiwis but was ready to be done. 

 With the end of the picking season,  most of the crew had a bbq in a local park as a final fairwell. There were bbqs provided by the city,  so a bunch of us bought food to share.  Games were played and just saying bye to the locals and other backpackers. It was sad,  but every one had future plans and were excited to move on.

I stayed in Tairua from March until June.  I loved the Beach House. Allie and Silva who run the hostel hosted a dinner for the 6 of us that were left.  I spent the last few days there fixing my van and packing. My future plans including sending my last month and a half travelling the north island with Annika from work.  But that will be covered in future posts.