Jessie and I got off the plane yesterday afternoon and said goodbye to our various study abroad counterparts. There were some tears and a few twinges of homsickness knowing I could have easily been back in the States in just 13 hours. Instead Jessie and I caught a bus towards Auckland and then caught a train (we caught the wrong train at first!) to Sunnyvale ( a suburb of Auckland). Gabby and Ama picked us up from the train station with just enough of a delay for us to realize just how quickly New Zealand moves from Summer to Winter and the chill of the night to set in and make us regret the warm shirts packed in our bags. While we were catching the train out to Sunnyvale no less than 4 people asked us if we needed directions, Kiwi’s really are the nicest! The house was a pleasant surprise; tastefully decorated, a playful kitten, and a cozy pull-out couch bed with plenty of blankets. We called it a night and tried to sleep as the kitten and fat cat play-fought on our bed and tried to sleep on us.
We woke up the next morning and had a delicious breakfast including kiwi-fruit jam and kiwi juice. Considering that this first WWOOFing experience is selling fruit out of vans, all the produce makes sense and is delicious! Oh! The night before we had a bite of avocado cake….it was very green and tasted….interestingly. Then Jessie and I got to work. We weren’t selling fruit today but instead were tasked with making the road-side signs to advertise for kiwis. We spent 6 hours making six kick-*ss signs that were the envy of the evening.
I designed/outlined the letters (R, S, U, W were my least favorite) and painted kiwi-halves and Jessie put on base coats and painted the lettering. I’ll post some before and after pictures. 
The weather was absolutely beautiful; it felt like a marvelous crisp yet warm fall day! Had a delicious vegetarian lunch and dinner and then spent the evening being taught some card drinking games by fellow French and German WWOOFers. This morning, Jessie and I are planning to catch a train into Auckland and go sightseeing for our day off. We cook dinner tonight and go fruit selling tomorrow. Exciting!
Continuation....
The next day was training day; Jessie and I were sent out to our selling spots with an experienced seller and they showed us the ropes such as how many of each fruit/vege in a bag and how much per bag. The worst part was trying to remember how to get to Cox Bay which was my spot to sell. I took really good notes on landmarks and such because if I had to depend on my map-reading skills I would never make it. This first day was Sunday and it was quite busy actually; Kiwi’s LOVE avocados and are obsessed with this South American fruit called a feijoa.
Once we sold out of those two items are day got a lot slower. This first day Cristo and I made somewhere around $250. The next two days were a lot slower because there was a shortage of avocados and feijoas….and less business meant more time for me to read/listen to music/contemplate life. Also, I finally got to drive on the left! It was cool. Way cool. This WWOOFing has been an international experience because the WWOOFers are from Germany, France (Basque as some like to say), California, Washington D.C, Argentina, and England. Its huge fun sitting around the dining area and listening to all the conversations flying across the room in different languages and pantomiming words that the others don’t know in English yet. I feel the need to pick up a language for serious now.
After fruit sorting (and taste-testing some golden kiwis) Jessie and I headed to the airport for our flight to the South Island to visit Queenstown! Our plan was to only stay 3 nights….but this didn’t quite turn out this way.
it took you an hour per sign? those better be some pretty sweet signs.. let's see em!
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