I spent the past ten days work trading at The Playhouse cafe. I thought that we'd be in Nelson, but it turns out it was closer to Mapua, or Richmond an apparently also considered Tasman. Kind of in the middle of all those towns. Sounds great right? Lots of towns nearby to explore...nope. It was in a very remote area with the closet of those towns about a 15 minute drive away except we don't have a car. We were able to get out a bit, when we all had some time off we hitched around the Tasman Bay and to the Abel Tasman National Park (by far one of the more beautiful places I've been here, so far). And sometimes Nic (our host) would let us borrow the car. My first time driving on the other side of the road! It all went well, except that one time the car broke down (one of the more scary/stressful things that has happened to me here).
The work was fine, really, at first I was stressed about having to be a waitress at weddings and tending bar, but it was good fun. I worked about four weddings, two concerts, one music workshop, and a tea party for some cute elderly kiwis (local New Zealanders). I was setting up, waitressing, serving food, busing, prepping food in the kitchen with Manu (Nic's partner and chef of the restaurant), and of course bar tending. Man are kiwis picky about their beer. No foam! It's harder than it looks to pour beer from the tap without any foam. And some beers foam way more than others (the Mac's hop rocker was especially foamy, hated it when people ordered that one). It's all about a deep angle and pulling the handle hard, rather than gently. I learned some new kiwi sayings from working behind the bar, like; 'sweet as', 'good on ya' and 'chuck it in there'. 'Mate' was often added at the end, along with 'cheers'. But it doesn't sound right without the accent.
Hitching
I finally had my first experience hitching, and it has been so easy. We've never been on the side of the road for more than 15-20 minutes. Hitching here is so common, although you won't see many hitchers on the road, and that's because they are constantly being picked up. So far we've probably had about thirteen different hitches and only one was uncomfortable, so we just got out, easy. Besides that, they have all been amazing. There was one hitch who was a guide so he went on to tell us cool places on the West Coast to check out. He also showed us one of the original hobbit houses so cool! So many other hitches that were fun and interesting and I can remember almost each one.
We left The Playhouse early not because we didn't like Nic or Manu or any other Playhouse crew members, not because the work was unfair or the food was bad (I think the food was actually one of the best parts, Manu cooked us the most amazing meals), we left because begin in such a remote area we didn't get to see much and there is so much more of this island I want to see before I leave.
So it's back in Nelson where we are WWOOFing at the Braemar Eco Village. A very cute community of five families who share about ten acres of land. It's back to the composting toilets , back to chickens, sheep, goats and cows. We are living in a funky little caravan and I am totally loving it. We are only a 15min walk to the city center of Nelson which is nice. Lots to explore.
Currently blogging with my toes in the sand at the Tahunanui beach, soaking up some sunshine. Until next time.
Cheers!
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