Gin is spelt with a G, not a J... erm Maddy Gel is also spelt with a G....

I am now a full time apple picker! Its nice to be in the great New Zealand outdoors but it is quite boring and I am eternally grateful to my ipod. The annoying think about apple picking is that you have to concentrate to a certain level so that you don't slip off the ladder, pick a bad or unripe apple etc but it's not a level of thinking which keeps you entertained and you can't really think about anything during the bad apple thinking. My boss has already told me to pick them more carefully because there were little finger print bruises all over loads of mine. So if your in Asda in about 7 weeks and you see NZ 'pink lady' apples, they will be from my orchard and if you see ones with funny bruises on them then I probably picked them!

On the Orchard we have a Brazilian who likes to sing all day which is really entertaining and a Cheque (or is it Check) who askes me really funny questions, the English are a bit of an alien race here (Hastings) so I get many strange questions such as:

"Is it true you put vinegar on your chips? Oh my god that is DISGUSTING!"

"Is it true you put eggs in hot water (poached) you are crazeee"

"Whats better, English McDoanalds or NZ?" to which I replied "Well I havn't eaten McDonalds out here so I wouldn't know" ...."Whaaaaat? What DO you eat?"

"So what did you parents say when you said you were coming out here on your own? They must have been really mad?"
I think he must have thought I had really awful parents for letting their vulnerable DAUGHTER out of their sight, he really couldn't understand that I was perfectly ok, he seems to think NZ is really dangerous.
The low point of the week was getting thrashed at ENGLISH scrabble by two Germans and a Dutch guy, about 10 times. JESUS! And I have a horrible feeling the Argentinians are on the case tonight.

Things that go bump in the night

I hope my photos have explained what I have been doing because I have lost track. I am now back in Wellington after having an amazing 2 and a half weeks exploring the north island. I cant quite believe how much I managed to pack into the time.

Staying in hostals is not for everyone, although I really enjoy it- strange things happen, and sleep is not always possible. Oh and who invented metal bunk beds!?
One night consisted of, a girl being sick in the bathroom for hours (shared by our room of 10) we managed to find other ways to brush our teeth and all went to bed. We got woken by some very loud, harmonious singing at about 2am. It sounded like a very jolly group of south Americans but they were singing our national anthem, this went on for hours, they were in the dorm opposite so nothing could really be done. I finally got to sleep with the singing apearing in my dreams.
At about 5am I could hear Carly screaming "theres a man in my bed!!!" I turned over and thought she must be having a good dream. But sure enough there really was a man in her bed, a strapping Maori guy, half naked.
She pushed him out of bed and he stood there for a few minutes looking dazed, everyone shouting at him. He then just sat back down on her bed.
Dara, a nurse from Scotland was having none of it and marched him out of the room, locking the door behind him. He wasn't even from our dorm.

Another sleep filled night was in Auckland, when 2 of the lads I was sharing a room with came back and got into bed very loudly. They then realised they had just missed an oportunity to get laid so put the light on, got re-dressed and scrambled around trying to find their key, I then had to get up to give them my key. And spent quite a long time explaining why I didn't want to come with them.

In River valley where the dorm had around 40 people in, all sharing massive bunk beds, the public school boys got a bit excited and started throwing spaghetti around, Poor Carley got an apple thrown at her head (she's the one with a man in her bed)
I dont remeber it being this bad in Mexico, although I do remember Jamie saying he had a near miss by choosing the top bunk rather than the bottom, when a girl got wee'd on.