cara

bIG nEWs and other tidBiTs!!!

BIG NEWS -- not telling here you'll have to read on....

Other tiDbIT -- the rest of the stuff i feel like tellin ya!!

Hi All,

ok time is starting to scare me. i can't belive this is my first post for MAY!!

I hope the Spring is gorgeous. It is Autumn here and the days are getting cooler, the leaves are changing colour and winter is around the corner.

Enough small talk, get to the good stuff Cara!!

-------------------------------------

the BIG NEWS!!!!!!

Some of you will already know this so feel free to skip ahead.
My parents are moving to New Zealand! Yes. And not in like a year or two, or even in oh ten months, but they are moving here in TWO months!!!!!!! Now more than ever I value the exclaimation mark.

Yes. My parents are moving here. My dad applied for a job, got it, gave notice and here we are. It is a really awesome opportunity for Trevor (dad) and my mum (Andrea). He will be the minister at a private school for boys. For all that don't know, Trevor is an Anglican minister. He has been a parish priest/minister the whole time he has been with my mum & me, so this will be a very big change indeed. The even cooler thing is that it is a "home coming" for Trevor. All his family are here. Needless to say my Granny is right chuffed (NZ speak for very happy). Of the 3 countries Trevor has lived (South Africa, NZ, & Canada), his longest stay has been in Canada. Sucker! Got roped in by my mum & me. Anyway, the other cool thing is that Trevor went to the school he will be working at. So there you have it.

Oh yes. Let me hit this one home hard. THEY ARE MOVING HERE IN 2 MONTHS!! So I, besides wanting to extend my time here, have had to extend my tix otherwise I would not have seen my folks. They will be here by July 1st. My uncle likes to call me the Canadian Orphan!

----------------------------

Other TidBits.

No I didn't say TimBits. Thank Gawd there is no Tim Hortons here.

OK the latest......

We finished apples picking last week. Boohoo. The last couple of weeks were great. We picked tonnes of apples, made some money and bonded like a real family. As I mentioned it is Autumn here and all the apple trees leaves have started to turn yellow. the mornings were getting cold but that was part of the fun. All the orchards in the area will be finished with apples this week for sure.

About 2 weeks ago I started working part time night shift at a local (apple) Pack House. Yes I am a sucker for punishment. After picking the darn things all day I would go and pack them. But one cool thing is I have packed the apples from our orchards! Anyway, now that picking is done I am working full time at the Pack House (as are the 2 Scots). The pack house is ok, much less beautiful than picking, and is work for now. A packer stands on a line, a machine shoots out apples on to a tray, the packer checks for bad apples, sorts them onto the tray then loads them into boxes. Oh exciting stuff! It is pretty ful on, sometimes absolutely insane. I have never worked a conveyor belt job b4, can't say I never will again. It's good. A whole new group of people to meet, another aspect of the NZ apple economy and one more adventure. I am coming home with some growers numbers to see if I can trace any NZ fruit from Motueka to Vancouver thas for darn sure.

As mentioned Apple season is almost over here in the Motueka Valley. Kiwi Fruit is just being picked and will be packed and soon exported around the world. So hold tight follks the apples and kiwis are on there way!!!!!

Oh ya.

I love being Canadian because people know we are a hockey nation.

There are quite a few people from the Czech Republic working at the pack house. One fellow in particualr chatted to me lots about NHL hockey, players and teams. Just today I had a Czech woman ask me if I follow hockey. We got chatting about the World Hockey Championships!!!!!! In case you don't know they are being hosted in the Czech Republic, & they (Czechs) sadly lost to the USA. So as you can see hockey is a wonderous thing.

More...

I am only here on the SOuth Island for another 2.5 weeks. Then I set off for the North Island. I will hang in Wellington for a week or so. Soaking up the city fun and family for awhile. Then at long last I will be off on my bike, touring the East Cape, making my way north. I may need to do a "Farewell South Island" post to the blog. We'll see.

Oh ya here are the hot topics in the news. Mainstream that is.
-a hikoi (maori protest) marched the whole of the North Island, down to Wellington to demonstrate against government legislation on the Foreshore and Seabed. 15,000 people converged on Parliament today.
- a sheep evaded shearers for the last 6 years. Shrek - the sheep- had a fleece that weighed 24kgs(or around there). One of the olddest and heaviest fleeces around. Shrek is a whielly old thing, a real hermet sheep as they say, avoiding being shorn for so long. The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, met with Shrek and its owner. (But she wouldn't meet the hikoi). Funny that.

-----------------------------

hope you are all GRAND!!!!!!!
love your posts.

nitey nite
c.

Posted by cara at May 6, 2004 01:17 AM