Working nine to five

And then to getting a job...yip, it's that time again in our travels when money is running low and the NEED (not the motivation) to get a job is high.


Unfortunately our first destination Christchurch had very little to offer on the job front or the nice weather front so Auckland here we come! Not before we managed half a walking tour of the city, a catch up with Clint the pasta eating machine and a share in 3l of wine. NB. must remember that boxed wine in NZ is not like boxed wine in Australia, i.e. it is made with normal wine-like ingredients instead of fish and eggs, it is high in alcohol and actually tastes nice - a lethal combination and we had the hangovers to prove it.

HOSTELS IN NZ: The first hostel we found had a brilliant energy saving system where they had their heaters on a timer for an hour at a time - in the middle of winter?! This meant you had to get up from whatever you were doing every hour on the hour if you had any hope of keeping the lounge/kitchen/bedroom remotely warm, Amy and I went for the lazy option and just had two duvets instead. The walls may as well have not been there for all the good it did. We moved out.

In the first hostel in Auckland I managed to get the top bunk above a particularly rotund man who snored and shook the bed every time he breathed out - it was like sleeping on jelly. This hostel also advertised its presence of windows which we found particularly laughable until...

The second hostel was called the Fat Camel and didn't specify it's abundance of windows so when we got lumbered in a box room for four people we started to catch on...it wouldn't have been soo bad had a big, smelly man not moved in and made the room stink. This chap was also in training for the Snoring World Cup and I have concluded that bunk beds in NZ are some of the most unstable since whenever this guy moved I felt a bit seasick. Even the free evening meal and our new found friend Yoshi were not enough to keep us here. We moved out.

And now we are the proud owners of our very own dinky apartment in the City. Dinky being the operative word! It is on the 11th floor (almost the penthouse!), we have excellent views over the City, our own rooms for the first time in 18 months, the smallest dishwasher you have ever seen, a lounge come kitchen come diner, a general lack of working lightbulbs, touch lamps (a very exciting find) and le piece de la resistance - electric blankets!

Amy is working for the Government Department of Travel and I am working at Telecom - nout to interesting by all accounts but I did manage to get me a job in the busiest bar in town just to challenge my ability to survive on a lot less hours sleep! It's mostly been fun so far though, contending with drunk people who think they know better than you, who also think its a good idea to get it on in the disabled bathroom?! Or against the bar?! Or in the confessional booth with only a very small curtain for protection...

I think the blog for the next eight weeks is going to become one big thank you letter to the wonderful Emily and Paul - part of the Campbell Soup Clan don't ya know :) We have only been here for a few weeks and they have already offered us a haven from the world of backpacking, homecooked food, a Marian Keyes library service, our very own private tour guide, a lesson or two in the All Blacks and tried and tested, guaranteed good restaurants to go to. It has been superb and it only gets better with the promise of weekends away, parties and I even heard the word mansion mentioned at one point!! THANK YOU!