I've ditched the apple bucket, said goodbye to my new friends in Hawkes Bay and departed hicksville having picked almost 50 bins of apples in 3 1/2 weeks. That's almost 20 tons of braeburn, fuji, pacific queen and pacific rose. Blimey...
I was staying in a cosy caravan with a lovely French girl, and there were a total of 6 of us living on the orchard forming our own orchard family. 12 of us worked together picking the apples and there were some great characters amongst them. Although it was one of the hardest and horriblest jobs I've ever had, it was very good for me, if not so great for my back. Photos will hopefully follow soon.
Being there also gave me the chance to see art deco Napier, Cape Kidnappers' gannet colony, and other pretty sights in the Hawkes Bay area. On our last night, we all drove up to Te Mata Peak overlooking Hastings and Havelock North and got some incredible views and sunset.
During one of our quiet evenings on the orchard after a hard day's work, I got a text from one of my longest-standing friends Philippa asking me where I was. When I replied 'Hawkes Bay, apple-picking', her response was 'me too!'. It was the biggest treat ever to be able to spend two good chunks of time catching up with her. It's the most we've seen of each other in one go in almost 7 years!
Now I've just arrived in Wellington and I'm having my first experience of an antipodean backpackers. It's a world of difference from the SE Asian guesthouses is all I can say at the moment. I need to try out a few more to be able to 'generalise'. It's the NZ international comedy festival and NZ music month at the moment, and Wellington is culture capital of NZ, apparently, so I'm very excited about topping up on culture and arty farty stuff, which I have been missing very much. I should also be catching up with a couple of mates here before hopping on the ferry south to begin my South Island adventure. It'll be good to talk to someone without apples, picking yields, packhouses,... being mentioned once.
Right, dinner time. Pasta, pesto and sausages. I'm back to the old faithfuls.
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