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A rugby team we’ve beaten twice at the Rugby World Cup? Let’s go teasing them!

Hi everyone! I hope you are all fine, enjoying New-Zealand or dreaming about it ;-)
First, I will tell you a bit about myself. My name is Nils, I’m a young French man (24), have studied software engineering and worked two years as an IT-Manager close to Strasbourg in France. I’ve met there my lovely girlfriend Emilie. I’ve got German and Dutch family and I’m used to travel since my early childhood.
Our story (related to New-Zealand) started last year in November. Emilie and I had both a work contract ending in December. We both thought that it was a great opportunity to travel – well, when you’ve found a long term job it’s hard to leave for more than two weeks.
A friend of mine who spent one year in New Zealand told me a lot of good things about this country. An English speaking country where people are described as very nice and where the landscape should be wonderful? A rugby team we’ve beaten twice at the Rugby World Cup? Let’s go teasing them!
We applied for a working holiday visa online. I got mine after three days and Emilie needed to send an X-Ray of her lungs because she has spent more than 3 months in Russia. (She had to prove that she has not the tuberculosis disease).
Couchsurfing, WWOOF, HelpX … There are a lot of websites made for travellers who need a place to stay (in exchange of a few hour work a day, or not). We arrived mid-January in Auckland and spent the first night there at a Couchsurfer’s house. We went next day directly to Te Puke where our first WWOOF-hosts were waiting for us.
We couldn’t find a better place! The people were so lovely and their place was so beautiful! We had our first woofing experience on their kiwi orchard: three weeks of weeding (we didn’t know at that time that weeding is the most common WWOOF-job), grabbing thistle out, thinning, housekeeping … We saw for the first time kiwi vines and learned that kiwifruits are not always perfectly shaped like the ones we buy in the supermarket. We also heard for the first time about the devastating PSA-disease and could feel how worried our hosts were. But even though, they kept a positive mind and kept smiling.
We decided at that time to buy a car. Hitchhiking is nice and works well in New-Zealand (compared to France…) but when you see only one car per half-hour driving in the wanted direction, it makes you. We had a look at that ads on the New World panel and texted the first interesting one to ask for more details. First answer from the guy: “R u indian?”. Strange. He texted us later that Indians are not good to deal with. OK… We arranged a meeting to see the car and what a surprise. The guy is Indian! Trying to sell the car of one of his friend stuck in Australia and who can’t get back and blah-blah. We didn’t buy it. Finally, we bought a second hand car at a garage. It feels much safer when you don’t know much about mechanical stuff.
Taupo, Gisbourne, Hastings, Palmerston North, Otaki… We spent a few weeks woofing/helping/travelling through the north island and met a lot of great people. All our hosts were nice and made us feel welcome at their home. As we needed money for our journey, we worked as apple pickers at an orchard close to Hastings. Finding the job was not an easy task considering that we were still in Taupo when we looked for it. We searched for a while on the internet and found the contact details of an orchard manager. We called him and on our way to Gisborne we stopped in Hastings to meet him. They even rent caravans to the pickers. Great!
Apple picking is hard work. You have to climb up and down a ladder all the day long to reach the summits. It can be freezing, your hands are getting cold by touching apples, sometimes they are wet and the water pours down your arms while you are picking them. And you have still to pick fast if you are on contract (and want to earn more money). We saw pickers who worked like robots. Some days, one of them could nearly pick as much apples as Emilie and I together. But even if it was hard, it was a great experience. The manager and the owners at this place were (and still are!) nice and friendly. We had a lot of good times, met new people and made new friends we will certainly meet again back in Europe.
At least, we spent a week-end in Wellington with another French couple we have met in Taupo. After three months spent on the countryside, it was so strange to be in a big city again!
We arrived in the south island in May and continued our journey, woofing/helping here and there. We also had our first bad experience with a host, but never mind, we had a great time with all the others, that’s the important thing to remember.
Finally, we’ve landed in Queenstown at the end of May and plan to stay until the end of our journey here. The snow is late this year and it’s really hard to find a job: for a car groom position, Jucy Rentals got 180 CVs… That’s CRAZY! Luckily, Emily found a job at a bakery and she can pay the rent for our room while I keep trying finding a job. I pity all the shop/bar personal who have to permanently tell to people like me that they have nothing available, but most of them are understanding and trying to help us and to cheer us up, that’s great!





Submitted by: Nils De Winter
Date submitted: 23/07/2011 9:24:45 PM


Apple grading & stacking Fri Jun 8

Grape picking Fri Jun 8

Blueberry picking Fri Jun 8

Hop work in Motueka Tue May 16

Working as an apple packer in Motueka Mon May 9

Working for free accommodation in Wellington Thu Mar 24

From working holiday visa to a resident Thu Mar 24

From the big city to the field of kiwi fruit Thu Mar 24

Working with Kiwi fruit Thu Mar 24

The Christmas rush Mon Feb 29

Packing kiwifruit in Motueka Mon Feb 29

Asparagus picking Mon Feb 29

put on your work clothes, roll up your sleeves and get out there Tue May 27

MY JOURNEY FROM $350/HR TO MIN WAGE: LOVING IT IN NEW ZEALAND Tue May 27

The Gorilla Hut Sun May 26

Working in sales in NZ Mon May 13

Life as an apple picker Mon May 13

Marahau Sun May 5

hanging nets at isabel vinyard Mon Mar 25

Farm stay Tue Feb 5

Berry-Picking and Ice-Cream Making Tue Dec 18

Vineyard Work in Blenheim Sun Nov 25

Working As A "Milkman" Sat Aug 4

Being an au-pair Thu Aug 2

Grape harvesting in Central Otago Thu Aug 2

Whenever Wed Jun 6

Picking up the oil in Tauranga Mon May 21

Onion grading Sat May 12

Omarama, Place of Light Tue Apr 3

Napier or the job war Sun Apr 1

Some helpful tips Wed Feb 29

Fruit picking in Central Otago Mon Feb 27

Some useful tips Thu Feb 16

Fruit picking in Motueka Wed Jan 18

Where Do We Go From Here Tue Dec 20

Picked it, Packed it, Buggered Off! Tue Dec 20

Seasonal jobs COULD change your very life as you know it Tue Dec 20

I work to live, I don’t live to work Mon Dec 19

I only had $100 to my name Sun Nov 20

Odd Jobs In Central Otago Sun Nov 20

Peach thinning working experience Sun Nov 20

The young vines were frosted over Sun Nov 20

The work found me Sun Nov 20

Working for Watties Factory Mon Oct 24

Working New Zealand from a different perspective Mon Oct 24

I had always been dreaming about coming to New Zealand Mon Oct 24

My first job in vineyards was stripping Mon Oct 24

My happiness was indescribable Tue Oct 18

Working in a Packhouse in Auckland Tue Oct 18

Working on a vineyard in Blenheim Tue Oct 18

Cycling in New Zealand not friendly Tue Oct 18

Fruit Picking Tips for New Zealand Mon Aug 22

Whale and Dolphin Watching Sat Aug 13

Cherry Picking in Central Otago Sat Aug 13

16 Argentinian people living there, it was awesome! Tue Jul 26

No one got payslips, really crazy Sat Jul 23

picked apples at first Sat Jul 23

In 18 months I have worked with kiwi fruits, apples, two epic ski seasons and a travelling carnival Sat Jul 23

cash-in-hand odd jobs Sat Jul 23

A rugby team we’ve beaten twice at the Rugby World Cup? Let’s go teasing them! Sat Jul 23

Talking to strangers about charity Sat Jul 23

Fresh out of college Sat Jul 23

Working trees for $350 per week Sat Jul 23

German Windsurf Instructor in New Zealand Sun Jul 17

Vineyard work in South Island New Zealand Sun Jul 17

We had idea, get visa, sell everything and just go to New Zealand Sun Jul 17

6 MONTHS AS A NANNY IN WAIMAI Sun Jul 17

Wilding Pines Sun Jul 17

boss was very nice and friendly Sun May 8

Vintage in Central Otago - Working in the Wine Industry Sun May 8

Mr Apple packhouse experience Mon May 2

North Island Notes Wed Apr 20

Fruitpicking in Napier Wed Apr 20

blueberry harvest season Thu Apr 7

bbq on the beach and if you lucky see some Dolphis too Thu Apr 7

Mate! You are on fire!! Sun Mar 20

The real vineyard work lowdown Fri Mar 11

I had pretty much run out of cash Wed Mar 9

The Land of New Zealand Mon Feb 28

Work in backpackers in exchange for accommodation Sat Feb 26

heard cattle on motorbikes Fri Feb 18

Traditional Maori hangi Thu Feb 17

Fortune Fruit and spitting cherry pits competitions Tue Feb 15

When I got to Whangamata... Sat Feb 12

I could romanticize it… Tue Dec 7

I thought it sounded interesting Tue Dec 7

My New Zealand adventure :) Wed Nov 3

Well I am from Mexico... Mon Oct 25

~New Zealand has no bandits and the relaxed lifestyle is second to none~ Fri May 14

New Zealand's got cheap banks!! Mon Apr 26

Tips from Latvia...yes not Russia ;) Tue Mar 16

First Job Thinning Apples... Mon Mar 1

Damn recession! Wed Feb 10

Loving New Zealand.. Mon Feb 8

From aircrafts to vineyard work in New Zealand.. Mon Feb 8

A Czech in New Zealand.. Fri Feb 5

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