after living and working in Rotorua for a while, the three cleaners of the Funky Green Voyager decided to go out and “explore the world”.
my coworkers had been there for three months already, I had only been there three weeks… yet my time in NZ was coming to an end and I thought I should still travel yet a little bit more and try to get to Wellington to say goodbye to my Kiwi family.

we started our trip heading to Taupo along with Nick (who had now a romance with Andrea), and we stayed there at the Blackcurrant Backpackers for one night.

next morning we said goodbye to Nick, he had to go back to Rotorua and then he and Andrea were going to travel in Australia for some months, so Andrea wanted to see as much as possible of NZ as well.
we then toured around the city, especially at the lakefront and then headed directly to Napier.

we had another job for accommodation waiting for us in Napier, this time for the owner of the Stables Lodge Backpackers. this hostel was mainly inhabited by longtermers working in the area. I cannot really say I felt at home there, maybe the fact that my time was running out made me antisocial, but I really didn’t feel like making new friends and the place was not appealing to me either (not that it’s not nice, it’s just not my style).

we started working the next day. we had to work three days from 11 to 5 and that would give us six nights at the hostel. the owner picked us up and took us to her house where she has horses, a cute dog, citrus trees, and a veggie garden among other things. we had to do some gardening chores. at lunchtime she found out I was Mexican and asked me if I knew how to make flour tortillas, and I proudly answered YES (thank you Shireen). she asked me if I could teach her how to make them next day in the morning before going for a horse ride.

so the next day I was sent directly to the kitchen to show her how to make tortillas, but she had to go here and there, so I just made them and wrote down the recipe and cooking method for her. when she finally came back, she was happy with all the tortilla making, and – to make me feel like a TRUE Mexican maid – she then asked me if I could wash her car in the afternoon after we came back from the horse ride.

before we left she asked me if I could cook a Mexican dish for them to have next day for dinner, so again, the Mexican maid would be present.

so my last day of work I spent it in the kitchen. I was really looking forward to doing some outdoor chores that involved physical labour, but nothing… I was indoors all the time, standing in the kitchen…

the rest of the days in Napier were slow and I was not really feeling very well, so while Andrea and Angela went out to town to walk and shop, I would stay in the hostel skyping, writing, or baking bread…

 

 

the day we left Napier we headed first to Temata Peak, near Havelock North, to take a view of the area from above.

then we went to the longest place name in the world

we ended up in Dannevirke, the “Viking” city of New Zealand, looking for a place to stay, but no luck… so we drove all the way to Palmerston North to spend the night there.

next morning we went to Mangatainoka to visit the Tui brewery. if you are not familiarised with this beer, well, let me tell you that it’s not NZ’s best but the advertisement sure is! Tui is promoted through a humorous advertising campaign which uses stereotypes, heavy irony and the phrase “Yeah Right”. these advertisements have caused some controversy, such as a billboard stating “Camilla for Queen? Yeah Right” and one stating “Aucklanders are people too. Yeah Right”. others to have made the news include “Dad’s new husband seems nice – Yeah Right” and “I nvr txt whl drvn – yeah right” among others. the brewery has a huge magnetic billboard where you can put whichever phrase you want making your own “Yea Right” Tui ad… the result:

after our little fun time we went to Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre to finally see some living kiwi birds (not like the dried ones in the museums).

and then all the way to Wellington where I was dropped off at my Kiwi Family’s house.

my adventures with my Funky Green Co-Biatches came to an end. we would still see each other in Wellington the next days, but soon Andrea would leave for Australia, and I would leave the country in a little less than two weeks as well… I will miss them for sure, it has been fun!