Happy New Year from New Zealand!

So my first month in Kiwi land is almost over and to start with another cliché - I can't believe how fast it has gone. Initially I was not going to make a blog but I keep losing track of what I have said to different people so I have decided to make one to keep everyone up to date with the main bits. I will try and keep this brief but a lot has happened since I touched down and so this post may be longer than future ones!

To summarize quickly I left the UK from Birmingham airport on Sunday 5th December and arrived into Christchurch on Tuesday 7th at about 3pm. I flew with Emirates and spent the vast majority of it catching up on all the latest movies (the new Bourne film is good, as is Finding Dory amongst the shed load of others I watched in my 30hr flight). I was picked up from the airport by one of the others from the hostel I would be woofing at who had been visiting Christchurch for the day anyway which was lucky. For those who do not know, woofing is the term for working in exchange for accommodation - something I decided to do to reduce my costs while I found my feet in NZ.

Despite this initial plan though I only ended up woofing for about a week as luck was with me again and I was able to secure a job pretty quickly. Shortly after arriving in the hostel I went to the shop to buy some food where the cashier asked where I was from. Upon saying Birmingham/Derby area the lady behind me in the queue piped up and said that she was originally from Derby. After a brief chat she asked whether I was looking for work and gave me her contact details. A week later I then started work for South Pacific Seeds (SPS) - the largest company in Methven! I had heard that New Zealanders were friendly but I could not believe my luck!

Luckily for me, I did not seem to be jetlagged too badly and was able to get myself a New Zealand phone number, bank account and sent away for my IRD (tax code) within the first few days. In exchange for my accommodation, I was required to work 3 hours per day, 5 days a week doing whatever jobs the hostel owner wanted (from mowing the lawn to tending the vegetable patch). My roommate, a Brazilian guy named Jeff arrived the same day and was also a woofer. God he can snore, but he is a sound guy and I count myself lucky.

My work for SPS turned out to be something called 'roguing' which involves going out with a crew of up to eight people to fields (or paddocks as they're called here) all over the south island plains. There we walk up and down the crop rows removing unwanted plants and off-type crop strains that will affect the quality of the final seeds that will be harvested at the end of the season. The work is not especially hard but I got lucky again and was put with a good crew where long chats or good music playlists help to pass the time.

Roguing is long hours (starting about 7am - 6.30pm) five days a week so I am normally pretty tired, however, minimum wage in New Zealand is $15.25 per hour (approximately £9 per hour). SPS pays me $16 per hour which is good meaning that I should be able to save some more before I set off exploring at the end of January when the roguing season ends.

Luckily as well they also offer paid bank holiday weekends which has allowed me to catch up on sleep, explore and chill a bit over the Xmas and New Years periods. I have had a lot of firsts over this time in an attempt to try new stuff including:

- climbing my first mountain (Mt Somers - I'll do a separate post sometime)

- my first game of monopoly (started strong but had to sell everything I owned to pay off my roommate :( )

- my first burrito (this is lush - everyone should try them)

- and of course my first Xmas and NYE away from home (picture festive cheer meets massive house party for both and you'll get the idea).

Anyway that should be enough for now! Sorry for the long first post but a lots happened in a month. I will try and post regularly from now on to keep you all up to date. Hope you have all had wonderful Christmas's and were not too hungover from your NYE celebrations! Happy New Year to you all and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best wishes,

Tom