A stop at Whakatane

On our 4^th day here in NZ (Wednesday, March 23, 2011) we moved from Auckland to a small town in Bay of Plenty – Whakatane. Reason being is to hunt for jobs. As now is the harvest season, we were hoping we can get a job in the packing houses or even the orchard work like picking.

Upon researching, it seems that there are lots of kiwi orchards in the Bay of Plenty. So finger cross that we will land ourselves a job pretty soon. I know it will be tough to work on the orchard as fruit picker, but I have never tried it before. To be honest, I was hoping I can have this experience. I know it will be tough and I’ll probably cry at the end of the day, but I still wish I will be able to do it, even if just for a short temporary time. Even a day will do.

I just want the experience of it. Whereas, working in the packing houses would be much much more easier as you are based in a factory, sheltered from the wind, sun and rain. I was told it’s very monotonous though. But still, it’s the money that I’m after. I don’t care how, but I just want the end results (or rewards) hehehehehe^^

The very next day, we woke up early and drove all the way to Te Puke and Edgecumbe hunting for all listed pack houses that we can get our hands on. We spent the whole day going from one packhouse to another and enquiring about seasonal job opportunity and dropping our applications. Forms after forms were filled and we wrote our names on the waiting list.

Most of the answers we get were pretty negative actually. Either we are told it’s full or there’s no opening at the moment. Most of the packhouses has not started operation yet due to the fruits are not ripe yet. We were told that the summer was unexpectedly warm so the fruits were affected. Some says the weather of late is the worst that they have experience for the past 10 years!

Imagine that! They say this year is the slowest for the packhouse. Usually, the operation would have been up and running by mid of March. And now’s end of March. If we are selected, they will ring us up. So we are waiting for calls everyday…

From the guide books, it is stated that Whakatane is the sunniest town in NZ. I gotta agree, it’s balmy here. However, as it’s somewhat down south compared to Auckland, hence the wind here is so much more chilly. At night, the temperature is quite cold and the wind. The wind is really a force to reckon with. The wind is cold!

Whakatane town is quite self contained as it is. It has 3 major fastfood chain, namely Burger King, McDonald and KFC. Oh and we did our grocery shoppings at Pak&Save. It’s so near to our backpacker house (Karibu), like only 5 mins walk.

The Manager of Karibu, Chief, is a big burly guy. He’s a nice quy really. Before we left Auckland, Uncle Tan C gave us some local fruits – feijoas. It’s sized like a lime, but less sour. It’s under the umbrella of pomelo I think. Sorry, didn’t bother to check out the facts.

You eat feijoas with a small spoon. Cut it into half and dig out the “flesh and seeds” with the spoon. Kinda like another fruit I know but I don’t know the name of it. In Chinese it’s called “bai xiang guo” I think. Not really sure. Don’t quote me!