I'm gonna tell it like it is for this one. Napier is a nice little city, and the people are pleasant enough, but it is just a bit dull. The Art Deco can keep you amused for the first few days, and there' always a trip to the cinema, but other than that there's not much doing. When i stayed with my Auntie Julie in Greenmeadows, the only night we really went out anywhere was to the Napier RSA (Think British Legion), where she went line dancing and Uncle Tommy and I played Snooker (It's amazing how much bigger a snooker table is compared to a pool table). The lack of jobs was quite frustrating, too. I spent a good two months doing what I could to get a job, and got nothing. I trawled the streets putting out CVs, and applied to anything and everything advertised. I eventually did managed to find one, but only because My Other Aunt, Auntie Lisa had a friend, Judith, who played tennis with the wife of the owner of an orchard, where I got thinning work. I worked there for a whole month, and it was mind numbing. There were only a few points of excitement, like when one of the German guys, Florian, found the dismembered head of a rabbit, when I found a chick still in its nest and, of course, when I fell out of a tree. I was working up one of the larger trees when I happened. I was reaching round a large branch to thin a higher branch when my ladder gave way, sending me the other way, and taking the branch with me as I fell. Luckily I didn't break anything, and I managed to continue after a short break to recover and have a cup of tea. One thing I didn't enjoy about the orchards was the way pay was worked. Instead of a definite hourly rate, you got payed by tree, which sometimes made it almost impossible to get a good wage, and sometimes worked out great. The people I met in the orchard were nice, though. There were Tom and Catie from the UK, Florian, Stefanie, Anna, Kathryn, George and Peter from Germany, Terry and a couple of girls whose names I can't recall from NZ, Julian, Benoit and Trevor from France, Marie and Sebastien from French Canada, and a few Czech guys, as well as the Managers, Tony and Neville and the Owner, Phil. Another few exciting events from Napier so far were the Christmas concert in the Park, which was okay, with good songs and not too much churchliness (there was only about and hour of the happy-clappies at the end), and the fireworks were quite spectacular. There was also the escape to Waipatiki. this was about my second full week of work when my Uncle Nigel bought a trailer tent. we decided to take it out to Waipatiki beach, an hour or so's drive from Napier, and spend the weekend. the weather had something to say about this, though and the whole week in the lead up was awful (there was one day where I was told not to go into work at all). On the Friday the weather was still a bit worrying, as it was overcast in Napier and threatening drizzle. Thankfully, we persisted and we managed to get the trailer tent up before the heavens opened too much. We were glad we did when the following morning the weather was spectacular. We took a long walk around the coast, and my cousin and I kayaked up the river. On the Sunday we even went jumping waves on the beach. There was another escape I made earlier from Napier, when I was still job searching, but that's for the next blog. Christmas was also different in New Zealand. Christmas day was bright, sunny and wonderful. As opposed to a traditional Christmas dinner we had a Christmas Brunch, with Barbecued Sausages, Eggs, bacon, waffles, cheesecake and several thousand calories each. Gorgeous. On Christmas eve we even had a bonfire on the beach and toasted marshmallows.
