Lochmara Eco Retreat

Emphasis on the Eco. It is very beautiful here, you can't actually see any of the pictures until I have left as there are no USB ports.
They are very thoughtful when it comes to the environment. Lots of recycling and using bio-degradable things to wash up. They also have rehabilitation (right word?) for animals like green parrots and geckos and strange animals like that. Lots of fun walking around and looking at them in their cages, kind of like a zoo but I get to feed them and play with the pigs. O yes, there are pigs. A mother and 2 piglets. They are very funny when it comes to dinner time. The piglets are seperate to the mother, so when they eat they are jumping all over each other and falling in the food. There are chickens as well, lots of reddy-brown ones that remind me of home. I don't think they have foxes here though so they don't get eaten. We are allowed to use the eggs to cook up scrambled eggs if we like as well which is nice. They also have a large vegetable patch which means if we help cultivate it a bit, we can use the produce there.
James and I are planning to go kayaking, use the spa, go to the glow-worm caves and hike for about 3 hours with our workmates to a place called look-out point and watch the sunset. Healthy stuff eh? I am a little scared that I may get bored though, as what I have listed there is about everything that we can do whilst we stay here. I'm sure we will just have to get really good at poker, or find another skill to practice.
I'm sure the anticipation for the photos will kill you, but I can guarantee that you will love them. It really is amazing here. So quiet and peaceful.
Hi Dad in Dallas! Don't do anything to anger them, I'm pretty certain they go around shooting people a lot...
Hi Mum in Benenden! Don't do anything to anger them, I'm pretty certain they go around shooting people a lot...
Hey Hari and Wes, I'm not going to bother. You've probably angered them already.
Til next time
Tom

I like having family friends

The past few days have been absolutely amazing. My lovely aunt Lindsey knows a lady called Julia who happens to be living in the same town as I am staying- Nelson. I gave her a call a few days ago and went round for a drink and a bite to eat.
Julia, being a very kind woman, took James and I to Abel Tasmin, a huge and picturesque national park. We had a quick wander around and a cup of tea, exactly what the doctor ordered.
Yesterday, she took us and her sons to where they have a quaint little bungalow by the sea. They have a boat, so i tried my hand at wakeboarding and a thing called a manta ray, which gets dragged behind the boat, and you can make it fly. All fun and games.
We also got a message from that lochmara lodge place asking us to start on Sunday. It's good to have some stability. We will be working there for a month, and I guess they will have a computer so I will be able to upload photos of our recent outings.
I would like to take this moment to thank Julia and her family for being so kind towards us. They have given us a lot of their time to show us around this fascinating area, and also suggested various things we should do before we leave the country. Truly amazing people.
Til next time,
Tom

Like a gift from above

I have work! Sort of... There is this thing called WWOFFING, where you work for an organisation/company etc. and they give you board and sometimes food for free. James found a beautiful place called Lochmara Lodge in Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. We have been offered the job of cleaning for 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, free board, $60/week but no food. It is a beautiful place as you can see on www.lochmaralodge.co.nz. We are also given the use of their facilities for free, and they have kayaks! That will be a funny, James and I paddling off into the distance, realising too late that we are too unfit to paddle back without cramp kicking in every 5 minutes. I'll take pictures...
So with that new and happy bit of news, I'm happy! It's a beautiful day today, only whisps of clouds in the sky, and Nelson is such a lovely town.
James and I were discussing holidays when we were younger. I'm sure all parents remember dragging their kids round cathedrals, to important spots in towns, to places with nice views and so on. Well this is kind of the sort of stuff that we want to do now. We appreciate sitting in a park looking in to the distance at the rolling hills, and French-style villas perched on the edge all trying to get the best view. It is beautiful. I'm not ashamed to say it. I am in New Zealand and I am enjoying sitting and looking. It goes without saying that it would be 100 times better with a couple of beers, but as we can't afford any alcohol at this point of the trip, I can settle with how it is.
I will update you as soon as I have anything interesting to say, or any more interesting pictures to post.
Til next time
Tom

I'd like to work

I know it's a phrase that my parents do not hear very often, but I would like to work. I would like for shop-owners to look out their window when I walk past and think "He would be great working for me". That's all I ask. Not too much is it?
I have filled out a couple of application forms for various bars and restaurants, and about 50 farms have had my details e-mailed to them. It's just the waiting around that's not too nice.
On the bright side, Nelson is a beautiful place. The hostel we stayed in last night, called the palace, was amazing. The shower room was comparable to a large family house, but nicer, the rooms were large, we got cakes yesterday afternoon and breakfast this morning. For free of course. The people are great, it is a really relaxed athmosphere, and it is situated on a mini cliff sort of thing, so it is away from the road. Of course there are no rooms available for tonight.
God I hope I get a job.
Til next time
Tom

Pictures

I know it has been a while since I have put pictures up on my blog so this one is especially for my parents who have been going on at me for the past 3 weeks about it.

This is me quite a while back. It was taken on the 7th December. It is in our apartment and by the look of my face I've had quite a bit to drink and enjoyed it...














This is that game of twister that I was chatting about in my big bang blog. Bekkie seems to be having a laugh!














This is Bekkie and Lucy looking absolutely gorgeous!














Moving onto Christmas day. We had an absolutely amazing time in the apartment. We ate, drank, and then ate some more. It's what a good Christmas is all about!

Here is James. See if you can spot the differences.
Before...



















And after














This is myself kitted out in every bit of clothing that I got given. There are numerous vests and t-shirts hidden underneath. Looking great ain't I?!



















Of course there was food. And lots of it! This is the buffet style meal that we had. I hope you're all impressed Dwyers and Rundells!
From left to right, pigs in blankets, more pigs in blankets, parsnips, peas, roast turkey and stuffing, carrots, more carrots and baby corn on the cob, lots of roast potatoes, brocolli and cheese and champagne.

This was my first roast dinner that I have prepared and nobody got food poisoning! How good is that?!





Right at the end of Australia was James and my time at Brian and Mandys. Here are a few pictures illustrating what we got up to.

We went out kangaroo spotting on the first day. I have never seen one before this point and they are pretty interesting creatures to watch bouncing around the place. They are very timid creatures as well so they are happy with you watching them.










This us us down by the sea.














This is Brian and Mandy, caught in the middle of eating, on the ferry on the way to see Brians son, Simon. I will show you why we went there in a min...














Here is James and I on the same ferry. Note to Elizabeth and Keith, I do wear your hat a lot don't I.














This is they reason we went to Simons house. He makes surf boards and was kind enough to lend a couple of long-boards to James and I.



















This is how James and I paid our way in the house. Brian was building an outhouse when we arrived so we were all too happy to help him.



















Moving onto New Zealand now. We have already travelled across a quarter of the country by coach. We landed in Christchurch, and before we went anywhere this was our room for the first couple of nights.














This is James and I on the coach to where I reside at the moment. A quaint little town called Blenheim on the North side of the South Island.














I managed to pinch James' camera, so here are a couple of pictures from his.

This is my stylish and stunning new haircut modelled in Christchurch CBD. Anyone who would like to say it's a stupid thing to do, I will answer that the haircut costs nothing as I use James' buzzer, and it stays very clean over a couple of days as there are no hair products in it (also saving money on wax).














Brian let me drive his ute, so this is me cruising along like a proper Aussie!














This is James trying to jump out the window as he would prefer the consequences of that compared to staying in the ute.














On one of our outings we came across this amazing beach. So I wrote barmy army in the sand letting everyone know that even their deepest secrets aren't safe...














Another construction photo.














Well that about completes the photo album for the past month or so. There are more pictures of course, but you will have to ask to see them when I get back to England. I hope you enjoyed them.

Til next time

Tom

Guess where I am now!

We have safely arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, and o my god it's a tad scary. I forgot what it was like landing in Melbourne and not knowing how to get around, and staying in Melbourne for 5 months and knowing what leads to where was pretty nice. Being dumped into a new city and not knowing where I will stay the night is a bit of a shock!
It's all ok now though. We found an ok hostel, and we are slowly getting used to finding our way around. We found a supermarket so we can but cheap food to buy, and it's like a warehouse! James and I have never seen a bigger supermarket, or anything as close to it in our lives. We could probably just pick up food and eat it there and nobody would notice.
Another thing that we had to get used to was our sleeping arrangement. For the past 4 months or so, we have had seperate rooms and double beds. Now we have a bunk bed with just enough room for a bag next to it. I will ensure to include photos, have no fears! I guess it is just James and I being a bit posh though. It's all exciting stuff not knowing where we are staying or what we are doing until 30 minutes before.
I will tell you our "plans" for the next week or so. We are looking around for fruit picking jobs in a place called Blenheim which is in the North of the South island. Apparently there are a lot of fruit picking jobs in that area. (I will now add that whilst I have been writing this, James has found out that we have to apply for an IRD number. We need this before we can open a bank account, and it will take approximately 10 days to get to us. We can't get a job without it...) We will work there for a couple of weeks to raise enough money to eat, sleep and hopefully have a drink or two. Bekkie and Lucy are coming to New Zealand on the 24th, and they will be driving South from Auckland, in their campervan, past us on about the 30th. We will then hitch a ride with them to (Just got reminded that to get an IRD number we need an address, of which we don't have. To get an address we need a base, to get a base we need to hire a room, to hire a room we need money, to get money we need a job, to get a job we need an IRD number... Kinda going around and around.) Queenstown where everyone says we should go to and apparently there are more fruit picking jobs there. Bekkie and Lucy are flying out from Auckland like us, so we will hopefully be able to hitch to Auckland with them to fly onto Fiji! Wow, thats really not concrete.... O well, that's what the gap year is all about I guess.
Bekkie and Lucy are in Fiji at the moment. We have heard that it is beautiful, cheap, and no-one really cares about the whole military coup. That sounds pretty good to me!
Til next time
Tom

Moving on

We have now moved onto our family friends' place. Brian and Mandy live in Tyab, about 2 hours away from Melbourne. We arrived last night and once we had a swim in their pool, we went kangaroo spotting! I have never seen a kangaroo in my life, and there we hundreds of them. Sadly, being in the country, the extent of the drought. All the fields are brown, and the ponds and rivers are down to no more than 5% of what they should be.
We returned home and had one of the healthiest meals since we have been here. It was tortillas with vegetables, sweetcorn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, salad and red wine. Beautiful.
Waking up today just after midday, we helped Brian with his out-house. I enjoy building and it's good to be as helpful as possible whilst we are staying with them. We then headed off to the beach to do a bit of body-boarding and swimming. Coming home we had a fantastic barbie with some snags (sausages) and chops. So nice. I will not be able to blog very much whilst I am here as it is their computer and it is on dial up. This also means no photos for a while. When I can, I will upload some pictures of the house, beach, outhouse and Mandy and Brian.
I must go now.
Til next time
Tom