First Road trip :)

We got done with our work on Thursday, so we decided to take a little road trip to Kai Iwi Lakes, Omamari beach and Waipoua Forest. One of our bosses let us use his van. Actually, we made a new friend, who organized the transportation for us and since she doesn´t know how to drive we were eager to help out 😉 . Her name is Florencia and she is from Argentina. She works for John (our other boss), and she asked if we can take the van. So far L has done all the driving, but I got to drive this one on the way there (it was automatic) and L drove back.

First stop was Kai Iwi Lakes. I have already mentioned that New Zealand is beautiful and photos don´t to justice for the beauty. Literally, anywhere you drive in NZ, you just look out the window in awe. Overall it was a nice day – little windy and rainy. However, it only rained when we were in the car, and it was sunny when we were walking 😀 We checked out Lake Taharoa out of the three Kai Iwi lakes. It is NZ´s 3rd largest and one of the deepest dune lakes.

Lake Taharoa

Kai Iwi Lakes

As we were getting a brochure of the Kai Iwi Lakes, the park officer told us that Omamari beach (by Tasman Sea) is really close and we should go there. The beach was awesome, waves humongous and sand soft. We had to take our shoes off because there was a little river. The water was cold, but nothing that we couldn´t handle. R had her rain boots with her, so she got to walk on the beach without gettin her feet wet.

Omamari beach

Tasman Sea

Our last stop was Waipoua Forest. I don´t have enough words to describe the forest. It has so many different plants and trees. The Waipoua Forest is so green, and it feels refresing to breathe in it. This forest is famous for its old and big Kauri trees. These trees are national icons for New Zealanders and a great significance to Maori. We saw following Kauri trees:Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest), Te Matua Ngahere (2nd largest Kauri tree) , Four Sisters and other trees.

Est 4 + Florencia

We drove about 200 km. What a nice start to our upcoming roadtrips!!!

 

P.S. We are trying to be healthy and work out. This is our work out routine:

* morning/evening yoga

* every other day we jog 3km (chased by cows) + P90X abs

Welcome to Dargaville

We arrived to Dargaville yesterday and guess what – we have internet in the public library 😀 Lucky us!

Yesterday, we spent half a day traveling to Dargaville. 3,5 hour ride from Auckland to Whangarei and an hour ride from Whangarei  to Dargaville. It is a small place. There are about 4000 people in Dargaville. Our employers are very nice and we are saving a lot of money by staying with them (saving about 100 NZD a week). Our planting job starts in two weeks, but they let us come down here and work for 2 days, stay in their living quarters (or a shed as the locals call it) and they will help us find a part time job in local pub for couple weeks. Super nice! They have 3 children and the mom picked us up from the bus station.

Well, talking about bus stations…They don´t really have big bus station in NZ. They have bus stops in Auckland, but when we wanted to get a ticket to Whangarei, they didn´t have it in the Transportation Center. We had to book our bus tickets in information center and the bus left across the street from Ferry Building. No signs and no bus stop to show that the bus is actually leaving from there. You just have to look where other people stand with their luggage and you go there 😀 Same thing for bus from Whangarei to Dargaville. In Dargaville, we were just dropped of in some random place 😀 However, people are super nice and friendly. One guy on the bus to Dargaville, helped us with our big backpacks going on the bus and getting off.

Today, was our first day of work. People who we work with Napui, Lil, Lily, Josh, Joe, Luke,  and some other people are super cool and friendly. They promised to take us to the pub or Whangarei (an hour drive) to show us around.  Today, we had to put the sweet potatoes on the ground under pile of soil and then cover it with plastic. Then once they grow some green stuff on them, we can actually plant them.

Our living situation is decent. We weren´t expecting any fancy hotel. We have everything we need: shower, full kitchen, bed and a heater 🙂 and we live right by the fields, so we don´t have to drive to work. The view from our kitchen is amazing!

Also, NEW ZEALAND IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Photos don´t do justice for this beauty!

Beautiful New Zealand

Whangarei

Welcome To Dargaville

Our `shed´

The field

Kitchen, shower and toilet

Kitchen

View from our kitchen patio

P.S. The library closes at 5:30 pm and we can sit outside to use the internet 😀 There is one bench and the library is pretty much on the main road 😀 You can definitely tell we are foreigner 😀

Zoo

Since we are trying to save money and not spend a lot we decided to walk to the zoo. It is about 5 km walk. We also got 2 admissions for 1 price! I think we walked about 15-20 km today – really good work out considering that Auckland has many hills. We were lucky with weather as well. It didn´t rain at all.

Also, we finally got some news about our job. First we were told that the work starts early October, but when we tried to find out more information, they were like we don´t really know when – maybe 2 more weeks. We wrote back to them and said we need to know for sure so that we can find another job for that period. Our employer wrote back and said that she has some work for us for Thu and Fri. So instead of staying in Auckland until Friday, we decided to leave tomorrow. She has contact in local pub, so we will have some part time jobs while we wait for our farm job to begin. We are relieved and happy!

When we asked what we should bring with us, she said rain boots. We asked in the zoo where we can find the cheapest rain boots and they directed us to the Warehouse. And go figure…we all got boots 😀

Gum boots aka rain boots aka kummikud 😀

Don´t really know the internet situation in our next place. So far we have been lucky and we have used the public library´s internet.

Next destination – Dargaville. It has over 4000 people and it is called the sweet potato capital of New Zealand 😀 Sweet potato is called here kumara. Dargaville also has the longest unbroken sand beach. I don´t really know what it means, but I guess we will find out. I already looked up local events and hopefully we get to participate in some of those events.

Over (side lõpp).

O-o-ockland aka Auckland

We thought it is called Auckland with A, but the locals say Ockland 😀

The weather has been crappy. It has been raining a lot. One minute it can be sunny and the other it rains. On Sunday, we walked in the neighborhood. We checked out the Albert Park, which is literally 100 m from our hotel. As soon as we got there, it started raining and we took cover in the library. The internet sucks. I posted my last blog for 2 hours.

Albert Park

Albert Park

Albert Park

In the evening, we walked around in the windy cold city.

We also took these cool photos with one of our phones.

On Monday, we walked about 10-15km to Mt. Eden – volcanic cone, last eruption 15 000 years ago, 196 m. It was worth the walk.

Mt. Eden

Lovers Trail

We walked 12 km today:

Map of our walk – 12 km

Sleepless in Kuala Lumpur

R and I cannot sleep because it is so humid and hot. It is passed midnight and we have to get up at 3 am to go to the airport. I think R and I will just stay awake. So what better time to write about our 2 days in KL.

Day one:

We survived the 13 hrs flight and got through immigration. First impressions were interesting and not necessarily positive. We decided to find a taxi to get to our hotel. KLIA (KL airport) is an hour away from the airport. As Maarja and I were walking to the official taxi counter to get a taxi, one dark skinned man stepped towards us and said:

– ‘Do you need a taxi? I can take all four of you to the city for 150 MYR. I have a big van.’

– I was very surprised and asked: ‘How do you there is four of us?’

– ‘Oh, I have been watching you.’

Mhm…OK…that is not creepy at all! We went to the official taxi counter and saved 50 MYR. There are signs also in the luggage claim area that says be ware of illegal taxi drivers. The traffic is very crazy! There are motorbikes/scooters/mopeded everywhere and they drive as they wish. Also, all of them wore their jackets the other way around, so that the zipper was in the back.The taxi driver didn’t speak much English and drove as he wished too. He was going 140 km/h in 60 km/h zone..Yikes!!! He was driving on the white lines, not between the lines like you are supposed to. By the way, they drive on the left side. Here are some photos:

Motorbikes on the left just passing by

Traffic

On the first day, we did some walking, but we were like zombies. None of us had slept for 2 nights. We walked in Chinatown and tried to dodge all the sellers. They have some funny techniques for selling their stuff. For example, one guy said to R – ‘Look at this nice purse it costs 150 MYR, but because you are pretty you get it for 85 MYR.’ She didn’t buy it 😀 I left my sunglasses to KLM airplane and L broke hers, so we bought new ones. We walked in the city and discovered lots of smelly parts of the town and wished tomorrow would be better. We had an early night and slept like babies.

Day two:

We had a nice breakfast with delicious fresh fruits from the market. We tried mangos, rambutans, mango steens, rose apples…Yummy! Since we bought some postcards, we went to the post office first and then headed to Batu caves. We took a train and stayed in the females only coach. It was a nice break from guys staring at us on the streets.

Batu caves were awesome. There were many Buddha statues and temples. Apparently, you cannot climb the 272 steps with shorts or short skirts/dresses, so we had to buy a scarf for 5 MYR to get up, because other wise according to the lady, she could see everything that is underneath our skirts 😀 There were lots of wild monkeys in Batu caves. They stole someones bottles, pulled one little girls shirts (she freaked out) and one of them touched my leg. Two guys asked Maarja if they can take a photo with her (she is blond and has blue eyes 🙂 ). She agreed. Later we joked that I will be her manager and from now on it will cost 5 MYR if she is in the background and 10 MYR if she is next to the person. What a nice business idea!!!

Monkey stealing a water bottle…

…then making a hole in it and drinking it. They are thirsty too!

Another monkey thief with his prize that looks like ice cream

Batu caves

these scarves didn´t hide much

After the Batu caves, we went to our guest house for a little rest and then headed to Lake Gardens.  We walked to almost everywhere and L was our guide. She is so good with maps. Lake Gardens was beautiful. Maarja and L went to Butterfly Park while R and I walked. R and I got some Bubble Tea by Bird Park, but since they didn’t have bubbles, we had jelly in it instead 😀 It was really good an refreshing. The strange thing about Lake Gardens was that there weren’t any other people in the garden, only couple workers – no tourists or locals. Weird. We did see a couple taking wedding photos, but that was about it.

R

By the Bird Park

Lake Gardens

Bubble tea without bubbles, but with Jellies 😀

Butterflies

Since we had walked all day in 30 C weather and we got little lost, we took metro to Petronas towers and OMG the freaking metro didn’t have a driver in it!!!!! (well, the taxi driver said that the metro driver was probably in the back, so no automatic metros in KL) Not going to say much more about the towers. They are just massive.

Food is super good in KL. Just look at the photos:

rambutans and mango steens

Now, I gotta say something about our guest house as well. The vibe and the looks are very hippy. I mean it was cheap – only 5 euros a night. At first we were little taken back, but it is growing on us every day. This house has also a cat without a tail, a rabbit, and two creatures ( varanus or iguana..i dont really know :D).

Cat without the tail who is definitely a hippy 😀

Little garden in our guest house

random windows in our rooms so you can look in the hallway

😀

That is it for now. We still have 10 hour flight ahead of us 😦 and I feel like a zombie, but gotta keep on going 😀 Don’t know when the next post will come, but hopefully next week. Thank you for reading 😉

Goedemorgen

Good morning from Schiphol Airport,

We made it to Amsterdam!!! We didn’t get much sleep last night, maybe 2-3 hours and the wine didn’t help either. In the morning, R friends came to the airport with bottle of champagne to send us off to our new adventure. So here we are…waiting for our flight to Kuala Lumpur.

I have flown with quite many airlines (United, American, Delta, Lufthansa, Finnair etc), but I must say that KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) has been the best. Nowadays, airlines are only looking how to cut costs and get more money from their clients. However, KLM had nice meals and service (even though the stewardess forgot to give us drinks, but mistakes happen)  :). They had screens that gave us flight information. The crew informed us where to go as transfers and which gates to get luggage. In this day and age, airlines don’t offer food and they want you to pay for extra luggage or any small things. Any way, all I want to say it was a pleasant flight and I would definitely recommend KLM,

Now, let me talk about people. Oh my god! I think I am going to have a new corner in my blog and it will be called: People’s Problems. Here we go:

1. People, who jump right up when the seat belt sign is turned off to run into the toilet/lavatory/bathroom. I mean c’mon. We literally just took off and you really need to go to the bathroom. Didn’t your mamma ever tell you to go to potty before leaving your home (in this case airport),

2. Then y’all line up behind the cabin attendant, who was serving food/drinks or cleaning up. She didn’t have anywhere to go because of her big tray. 10 of your were behind her and one in front…and you were waiting and waiting…you waited maybe 10 minutes before the stewardess pleaded you to move back. And did you? Oh no…you decided to almost sit on the other person’s lap to let the cabin attendant through (instead of walking back 10 m).

I mean – really??? I just don’t get it. Can someone please explain this to me 😀

Meanwhile, I will share nice photos of the food we were served. Plus, KLM takes care of their chickens 😉

Very delicious cookie with no milk,egg,nuts,soy etc.

Egg sandwich

Packing headache

I have had to pack quite many times in my life and never has it been such a headache. Usually, I pack the night before or even the same day, and I usually just throw things in my suitcase – problem solved. Not this time! I re-packed 3 times. I have never traveled as a backpacker and now I understand the first difficulties that go with it. You really need to pick and choose what you put in that backpack. However, I did get all my dresses in it 😀 Mission accomplished!!!

Also, I discovered another difficulty for backpackers. That backpack is h-e-a-v-y. Mine is about 18kg (40lbs). It will be very interesting to see how far I can go with it 🙂

Super excited though that we are leaving tomorrow. We have been planning for this trip for a year now and it is finally becoming true. I have lots of mixed emotions: fear, anxiety, happiness, excitement, nervousness etc.

Life in two backpacks

Life in two backpacks

7 days and job offer

Ever since we started planning for working holiday in New Zealand, I have read that you cannot find a job before getting the IRD number and bank account. Also, people write that the Internet is really bad in New Zealand and employers don´t reply for emails. Furthermore, people said it will be really hard to find a job for all four of us. Even though I read about all these difficulties, I still decided to send emails and look for a job. I think I sent out maybe 20 emails and got responses from 6-7 of them. I didn´t really stress about it since people said that once you get the IRD nr and phone number, then you can call and get a job.

I checked my email this morning and all four of us were offered a job. YAY!!!! The accommodation is provided. We are going to stay in one room and share bathroom/kitchen with 4 others. We have to pay 20 NZD (13€ per week) for gas and water, which is ridiculously cheap. Usually, the rent for one week is 150-200 NZD. The job is from early October to the middle of December. So what are we going to do??? ……drum rolls….

Source: agr

We are going to plant these little babies 😀 We are officially going to be sweet potato planters. 😀 I mean all four of us grew up in Estonian countryside and everyone in the countryside have at least once in their life had to either plant or pick potatoes from the field. This work is no stranger to us. Maarja and I have been dreaming of a farm job – nice fresh New Zealand air, physical hard labor and nature all around us. What more can you wish for? 😀

It is awesome to find out 7 DAYS before our departure that we have a job waiting for us in New Zealand. Now, we have to figure out what we are going to do from September 19 – early October. We are for sure staying in Auckland for a week and then maybe go explore Whangarei, because it is half way to our job.

 

Source: pinterest

Also, over the weekend Maarja and I had a going away party. It was organized by our co-workers and it was super fun. We had so much food and drinks. We got some gifts as well: Mari drew us a picture, Tiina gave us chocolate and posters, Katrin gave two diaries (stormy one for me and the the calm one for Maarja – it represents our personalities :D) and napkins that have 200€ on them :D. People wrote good thoughts in our diaries as well. Even though Maarja already had her last day at work and mine is this Friday, I am glad that we got together one last time.

Our Team

 

Picture made by Mari

 

Songs for moments in life

Have you ever walked down the street and all of a sudden there is a song playing in your head that fits the situation. Well, L said that every time when she thinks about going to New Zealand, she hears this song:

 

 

Lyrics to this song:

I wanna meet bob dylan
I always thought my life would be a hell of a ride
but I feel I’ve spent most of it sitting on a passenger side
I’ve been hiding in the dark just watching a play
and then the lights gonna turn back on and I’m old and gray
old and gray
old and gray
so old and gray in the blink of an eye I’ll be
old and gray
I’ve gotta feeling that its gonna be a brand new start
you’ve seen my face many times before now I should show you my heart
don’t wanna see all childhood colors fade away
soon the lights gonna turn back on and I’m old and gray
old and gray
old and gray
so old and gray in the blink of an eye I’ll be
old and gray
(i wanna meet bob dylan)
seems like i’m gonna make it after all

This is what I hear in my head:

Lyrics:
On the road again –
Just can’t wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.
On the road again

Goin’ places that I’ve never been.
Seein’ things that I may never see again

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.
On the road again –
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way

And our way
is on the road again.
Just can’t wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.
On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends

Insisting that the world keep turning our way

And our way
is on the road again.
Just can’t wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

So funny how different people have so different songs 🙂

What happens in Armenia should stay in Armenia…or not

What a fun and crazy week we had in Tsaghadzor, Armenia! We learned a lot about social rights issues through non formal education. There were lots of activities throughout the week and on our free time we got to know people from different countries and explore the local town. I am not going to the detail about the program, I just want to point out some interesting events and memories from Tsaghadzor, Armenia.

> For one week we had 144 hours: 30 hours of training, almost 24 hours of sleep, and 90 hours of free time to socialize and get to know Armenia

> First, let me talk about the place – Tsaghadzor. It was a small town/village in Armenia. At first, I was like wtf where have they taken us, but I grew to like its little shops, restaurants, mountains and people. Armenia is so beautiful with its mountains and nature. We went sight seeing too, so we didn’t just stay in Tsaghadzor. I’m not going to say more, just show.

 

> now time for some Armenian soap opera with hospital, blood, stitches, police, lies, conflict and waiting. I don’t even know where to start…..aahhh…..it all started with the cultural evening. It was fun night full of laughter, music, dance, videos, food, and of course alcohol from 8 different countries ( Estonian Vana Tallinn, Georgian Chacha, Polish and Ukrainian vodka, Armenian and Italian wine etc). Everything was fun until some misunderstandings and different cultural perspectives of some people. There was a clash of perceptions. To one person it seemed like another person’s behavior was weird and not normal. He called her out on it asking what is wrong with you. The other person was just confused about what she did wrong. This clash of perceptions ended up by two Estonian girls running behind the hotel in the dark. One of the girls fell face first on the ground.

“Are you okay,” asked one. When usually people say yes I am fine, then the other girl replied in a certain voice: “No, I am not.” They went immediately inside and realized she was bleeding and had many bruises all over her body. They started to clean up her jaw, when suddenly someone came to the bathroom door: “Girls, did you take my bag with my passport and laptop in it?” Confused looks. “No, we didn’t”. He left to look for his bag and came back: “Please, tell me…did you take my bag?” “Honestly, we did not take your bag.” Third party (two Armenian guys) entered the room and started accusing the girls. These guys claimed that they saw these two Estonian girls taking the bag and running with it. They threatened them with police if the girls don´t tell the truth. The injured girl started to cry, the other one was just pissed of and offended. Soon they discovered that she was injured and needed some stitches. The ambulance didn’t come. There was no taxi and in the end some local guys took her and the leader of the group to the hospital. She got two stitches and had to write reports to the police.  Meanwhile, in the hotel everyone were talking about the event and that the police is coming. Estonians talked to one of the Armenian guy and why he accused them of taking the bag. According to him it was logic because we were running. The wait was long, but at 4 am she was back and okay. Definitely, a night to remember for everyone, especially for the injured girl. The bag was found from another room with everything in it. ¤ The Armenian guys apologized later and everything was good in the world.

*She had more bruises, but couldn’t take those photos 🙂

>  forget about drama, let’s talk about Armenian food. Like with everything it was tasty, okay and not so good. I think the pictures say more than words.

– one of the Italian guys was chasing after the injured Estonian girl, who actually happens to be Maarja 🙂 All night that guys was like this (with Italian accent): “I don’t know what to do!!!!!! I have a girlfriend, but Maarja is soooooo beautiful (100 times and to everyone).” He waited for her all night. We told him to go to sleep and he said: “No, I wait here. Maarja is important! (100 times and to everyone).” And he waited all night. When Maarja came back from the hospital, she just closed the door and went to sleep. Italian guy didn’t come out of the room the next day because he felt so sick. Maarja told me to write that it was because she had a white beard and she wasn’t so beautiful any more 🙂

> couple days later. I fell down the stairs. Maarja and Elo already made an Uh, Oh, Ah sound which made everyone else make Uh, Oh, Ah sound,  but I was up in the speed of light and nobody saw anything.

> I told M that everyone make tattoos on their scars, so she needs to do something like this without the bandaid 😀

> I have never drank as much alcohol as I did in Armenia. Alcohol was cheap and wine was good. There were other people who said the same thing. We drank all week!!! It was crazy!!!

> During our local visit day, we had to ride in a bus for a long time. Estonian girls had bought some beer and decided secretly to drink on a bus. All of a sudden, the whole bus smelled like beer. Polish and Italian guy yelled: “Who is drinking?” (30 seconds later) “Estonian girls!!!” Estonian girls sat quietly on their seat and denied everything 😀

> those same guys kept everyone up all night. Every day people were drinking, socializing, getting to know each other until 3-4am. When everyone went to be, the same Polish and Italian guy decided to drink more. At 6 am they decided that they want to go to Estonian girls room. So the two of them started knocking and pleading to be let in. They tried everything. When I mean everthing, I mean EVERYTHING. Just little pieces of the conversation:

– “Go away, we want to sleep!” All Estonian girls

– “Maria (that is how they called Maarja) you are so friendly, please open the door.”

– “Hellou (that is how they called Elo) you are so serious, please open the door.”

– “Iiiiiiv (Eve), you are the leader, open the door.”

– “We have vodka, wine, coffee…anything you need. Please open the door. We just want to talk.” Little pause. Italian guy says to the Polish guy: “Do we want to just talk?” little pause. ” Yeah, we wanna just talk. Please open the dooooooor.”

This went on for 2 hours. During that time we received flowers, 1000 drams (2 euros), and lots of pictures. We didn’t let them in until they had woken up everyone else and it was time for us to actually wake up.

flowers

money

this how they sat behind the door

> In the last evening, we went to the store to spend our money. I had 300o drams (6 euros) to spend. We were in the store, showing the cashier with our hand what we wanted. One of us could speak some Russian, so the cashier understood how much money we have left. For 3000 drams I got 2 beers, gum, cheese and meat sticks, local chips and pastries. In Estonia, you would get A beer for that money.

> I am happy that I went to Armenia. I met many great people from different countries and from different backgrounds. Everyone were really nice and friendly and we got along well.  There are so many more things to talk about so …

….to be continued