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.
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