Handshakes and Hugs

Our New Plymouth time is winding down with only more more night at our flat before we are gypsy travelers again. I had a great last day at work! I even had the same woman I was training help the last two days which worked out really well. Yesterday they had the kitchen make up some food and we had a morning tea send off. There were scones with tomato slices on them, banana cake with chocolate icing, little rolled up asparagus sandwiches and some different mini meat pies! A feast indeed! Plus I got to sit and enjoy it for like an hour because my supervisor came in to help the coworker I was training! Woo! On top of that they got me flowers and gave me a pretty jewelry box as well as a jeweled letter opener - they kept saying I was a gem. Then two of the ladies ambushed me while I was about to drive the serving dishes back to the main kitchen and covered me with baby powder! At first I was just laughing and then they were even dumping it down the back of my shirt so I had to get out of the van to escape! I was dusting myself off for the next hour while I finished up some tasks. It was great, they even paid out the last couple days of work imediately rather than waiting a couple weeks until the next pay day.

In contrast, Dustin got to buy the guys beer. haha. But we had a bottle of bubbly waiting in the fridge which Dustin opened like he just won the Stanley Cup while announcing, "It's the permanent weekend!!"

So today Dustin's out surfing and I came to the library to do some work before we tackle the cleaning of the flat before our landlord comes by this afternoon. Then tomorrow morning we're off! We will probably stop Friday night in a place called Castlecliff - turns out that Dustin's old workmate's brother-in-law runs the holiday park there. Then Saturday night we'll be in Palmerston North for the Rhys Darby show and by Sunday afternoon we'll be WWOOFing in a place called Ohau which is just south of a town called Levin. We'll be there until the 16th and then make our way south to Wellington where we catch a ferry on the 20th.



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It's been very weird to keep hearing Christmas carols and see trees decorated because it's too warm to be Christmas! Unfortunately we'll be out of town before they have started their Christmas celebrations in New Plymouth which include lighting up the big park where we saw Jack Johnson and then they have entertainment running from after Christmas through to the end of January every night! There are different bands and choirs and local entertainers. It would be really neat but alas, timing just won't allow it.

We are ready to explore and we're making sure that we go with the flow and that we don't get too caught up if something isn't working out for us. Time to let things slide.

Anyways, we're not sure how much we'll get online depending on what the coverage is like as we're going through smaller areas. If you need to reach us it's best to phone or text. But I'll do my best to keep this updated and of course the camera will be coming out a whole lot more than it has lately.