mrsjono

The next four months in Christchurch we were preoccupied with juggling multiple part time jobs and coping on our own when we lived apart for a month.

I got a job as a sales assistant in Northlands mall which was super handy just 5 mins walk from where I stayed. I applied for the opening on Seek and was called up to try out for a few hours (paid work in cash) at the kiosk. Lily is from China she buys her goods in bulk over there, they are mostly animal hats, scarves, accessories and gifts. I run the kiosk alone for 8-9 hours a day 6 days a week. Sometimes I don't even get a day off when Lily is short-handed it got to a point I couldn't even rest when I was sick and had to be firm and say no to her last minute requests.


Coincidentally he got a job at The Palms (Lily has a shop there too and sometimes I am asked to work there) and he was working just diagonally opposite me! He would bring me free food and drinks from time to time and visit me at my shop during his break. He even sold a big flower cushion which was one of the more expensive items in the shop! This job was a huge boost to my travel fund but the most boring ever it drove me bonkers. It's not a busy business and Lily forbids her staff to read or use their phone even when there is really nothing to do. My only friend at work was the mannequin I change her into a different colour poncho every morning lol. 


I had a short stint with Thai Po Thong for about 4-5 weeks as a wait staff. It was again just 5 mins walk from Proctor St (damn lucky me) and I get 2-3 shifts a week, each shift about 2.5-4 hours. I'm allowed to have a free meal there which is awesome because I don't have to cook my own meals in the small kitchen shared with 6-7 other people. This was my first time waiting tables and I dreaded it in the beginning because I was paired with an unhelpful waiter. Chub doesn't communicate with me and I can't understand his poor English at times. It's frustrating to work with someone who has more experience and puts you down in front of the boss. I was so relieved when Chub left and I got to work with Bank and Laura both students 18-19 years old. They had way more waiting experience than me despite their age. I didn't break anything (I keep telling myself I must hold onto the plates no matter how hot they are) and only spilled a glass of white wine so overall I feel I didn't do too badly considering my limited experience haha.


Shortly after I started at TPT, I was selected to participate in a research study by IRD and INZ. I had applied for this on backpackboard.co.nz. It was just a one-off interview session; the purpose is to find out and understand the experiences of new migrants in NZ. I was asked about how I set up myself in NZ, how did I find the process of applying for a visa, IRD number, bank account, phone number, etc. The session brought back memories of the anxiety and stress when I first came, everything was foreign and new. I shared about my journey, frustrations calling IRD, thoughts about the improvements/suggestions they are working on and what others had been through. I received a $75 gift card at the end of 1hr10mins of talking. It's a visa card loaded with money!


RS went back to Singapore to serve his notice period and I replaced his position at Gloria Jeans working as a cafe assistant. The job involves taking orders, serving food and drinks, making cold drinks, washing dishes, clearing tables, opening and closing the shop. I would make myself a cup of creamy hot chocolate and a grilled cheese toast before the start of the day. Towards the end, Arthur taught me how to make coffee and latte art. That was both challenging and fun. I never drink any coffee because I found it bitter but after understanding how coffee is made, I realised it is possible to customise the drink to one's taste and discovered my love for coffee ever since.


I doubt I will ever work in retail again unless I have no choice - very long hours and only one off day no time and energy left for play~! 

Arrived in Christchurch jobless again and with three live lobsters. They seem to have fallen asleep on the bus here lol. Since the immigration office doesn't open until Monday, we checked out the farmers market in Riccarton on Saturday and the Canterbury Museum on Sunday. We had applied to work in the ski resorts while in Motueka and were contacted for further information but the chances were looking slim as they prefer candidates who could commit the entire season till mid October. At that point in time our visas were only till August and we haven't secured another three months extension yet. So our primary purpose for coming to CHCH was to extend our stay and if we could find a job here we'll stay and see how. The paperwork was simple but the experience was terrible!

It took us about an hour to get to Addington from where we stayed. The nearest bus stop was quite far away at least 20 mins walk.


Make copies of every payslip beforehand for your own record just in case. Get ready your credit card details; cash and eftpos are not accepted.


No point printing forms too early prior to applying; INZ updates their forms every now and then be sure to use the correct form and the most recent one.

We applied for a working holiday extension visa on 10 June 2013 in Christchurch. It was Monday around 11am and there was a rather long queue. The middle aged woman with glasses at the counter was bloody lazy and was not listening to what we were saying. I requested her to make copies of our payslips but she did not copy all of them properly. I have never seen someone who is so lazy to remove the staple and despite showing my concern and explaining how important it is for every payslip to be submitted, she disregarded everything I said and can't wait to put away all my documents into the brown envelope. I should have insisted she make a proper photocopy argh!!! I was completely disgusted with her poor attitude. This job is not about brushing people off and chucking away envelopes. As the face of INZ, I expected better service and be treated with more respect. The average processing time for such application is about 24 days. I bet it was gonna drag to my surprise INZ sent out our passports on 20 June and we received them on 23 June so it took about 10-13 days. By the time we got the extension all the ski positions had been filled. What do we do now in CHCH?

Half day to spare before our bus at 4pm: whale watching or fishing? I just could not pay $170 pp to see tails so we decided to go for a two hour fishing trip ($80 pp) with Kaikoura Fishing Tour. We weren't prepared for the rough sea and spent more time throwing up than fishing lol. Oh well at least we caught something lah!

Tomo getting the boat ready just for the two of us


First stop was to retrieve Tomo's crayfish pot from the sea


I was expecting the lobsters to scurry and fidget like mad but they were surprisingly calm.


I was feeling too seasick to even stand up properly but I did force myself to pick one up eventually.


Undersized or pregnant ones are returned to the water to protect the sustainability of crayfish. Tomo tossed them back into the sea like throwing a rock.


Putting a new bait back into the pot


By this time we were so sick we even unabashedly asked if we could turn back and get a partial refund of course the answer was no and so we pressed on. As we slowly got the hang of it, we seemed to be less bothered by the seasickness. More fishes ate my bait than I could catch them lol. Naturally we were excited when he reeled in the first catch of the day.


虎视眈眈


This could well be the first and last time we'll ever go fishing again so we gathered our last bits of strength for this photo even though we were feeling like dead fish inside.


Tomo filleted the fish we caught and flicked the remains to the waiting albatrosses.


Albatross fight


Our total catch was just six sea perches and three crayfish courtesy of Tomo. So glad we were finally back on shore.


There was still plenty of time left so we went up the Dempsey's Track. We could see the whale watching boats from atop and stared at the sea for any suspicious movements of orcas haha.


Mist over farm land


Panoramic view of Kaikoura Seaward Range


好好拍一张啦


Freedom that we wish will never end

Spent two nights in Kaikoura before moving on to Christchurch. The Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway is a great way to watch the abundance of marine life and take in the coastal views. I don't remember the exact route we took but I know we must have walked a long way because we passed the Fyffe House towards the end. The walkway is well sign-posted and there are informative signboards at key locations.

Parts of the walkway cross private land. We hit a very muddy stretch at the beginning but soon forgot about our wet feet.


牛西兰


Limestone Bay


Black-billed gulls are found only in NZ and are the most threatened gull species in the world.


Fishing in a canoe - one of the three pouwhenua (wooden post) at South Bay


The rainbow we saw earlier appeared again at the intersection of Scarborough St and South Bay track


It was still visible in the far distance when we stopped for a bite at South Bay viewpoint


Free as a bird~


No idea how did we veer off the main track we went ahead anyway and it led us to a colony of wild seals.


Aper?


Seals spend most of their time resting on the rocky shores in the winter.


They weren't moving or making noise it was best to keep a distance and leave them alone.


Army of seals


We had enough of seals for the day and decided it was time to head back but didn't know how. There were no signs so we just continued walking until we saw this track up a hill.


This was way more difficult than I thought. It was a very sharp ascent and turned out to be a spiderman climb on all fours.


I was struggling because my beanie kept slipping over my eyes, I couldn't see what's ahead and couldn't look down either. I couldn't hold my beanie in my hand because my hands were grabbing the grass at the sides. Ended up stuffing the beanie in my coat even though I was already so hot and sweating inside. I was a clumsy spiderman in the wrong attire!


It was only after I made it to the top that I realised how freaking long and steep the cliff was. (Jaw drop)


Kaikoura means eat crayfish in Maori. We were quite looking forward to this especially after walking 5 hours. It was quite expensive so we shared a half lobster meal that comes with bread, rice, fish fillet and salad.


In Kaikoura, hostels are named after marine life. There's Dolphin Lodge, Fish Tank, Bad Jelly, Lazy Shag (a bird). We chose Albatross because it was the highest rated BBH hostel in Kaikoura at that time. They had many woofers even during winter but they don’t seem to change bedsheets…?

To celebrate the end of the apple season, Inwood treated the crew to a farewell lunch at Chokdee (means good luck in Thai). This was the same place where we had our first meal in Motueka, sharing a stingy portion of tom yum soup. If not for this treat, we would not patronise again because the portion size was rather small even for one person. Oh well not complaining further considering we didn't have enough food at the previous end of season party in Martinborough. The crew was already closely bonded when we joined; it was more difficult for them to say goodbye to each other. We managed to stay till the end for a photo with the owners as we were really grateful they gave us a job at such short notice. I was happy that the end of this job completes three months of horticulture work (yay no more) and the next thing to do was to head to the nearest immigration branch to apply for a visa extension. But wait we can't leave Motueka as yet cos our landlord refused to pro-rate the weekly rent so we were stuck with her for another three nights. Took off early in the morning without saying a word. Good riddance!!