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Writer's pictureJanine

Honey in the head

Updated: May 13

Report from 9 to 27 March 2024

From: New Zealand

  • volunteering

  • Bees and an incredible excursion



Foreword

I prefer to write about the good times, the beautiful moments, because they are beautiful. It's simple. It's easy to understand why it's nice to travel. At least I think it's easy to understand why it's nice to travel. Advertising and Instagram and so on do the rest.

I don't always want to just talk about the good moments, but rather shed light on both sides. I just find it much harder to write about these phases. I don't know exactly why. Maybe because I feel like I have to justify them better, explain why I'm not feeling well. Maybe because I feel like it makes me vulnerable. Whatever the case may be. I also want to talk about the difficult phases. I want to give you an authentic insight into our travels. And that also includes the bad phases. I believe they are part of travelling, just as they are part of life.



Routines, job, exhausted

I haven't been feeling very well for the last few weeks. Actually, not much has changed in my inner life since the post in Wellington. I am very unhappy and sad. I try a lot to find out why I am unhappy and sad. I can't find a simple or clear answer. But we have come to the conclusion that a little rest wouldn't hurt. A break from travelling. To have a daily routine again. To have routines again. That the simple questions of everyday life are already answered every day. Where I wake up, where I do my shopping, where I have WiFi and electricity. But also where I shower, where I go to the toilet. Having to answer these questions every day takes an incredible amount of energy. I want a bit of simplicity in my everyday life. A little uniformity. And I also miss working. Somehow you participate in society. It makes you part of society.


In Aukland we met an Englishman who has been travelling for... I think it was 15 years travelling. But he also said that this is only possible because he always settles down in one place in between and enjoys his time there. In other words, he takes breaks from travelling during the trip. Finding a job and a flat.


That's why Karli and I have talked a lot in the last few weeks about what we're going to do now. What we're going to do now. It makes sense to look for a job and work first. But of course we could also do some travelling first and then work. It's still summer in New Zealand but not for long, it's March and autumn is about to start (a little reminder that the seasons in New Zealand are the opposite of those in Germany). So it would actually be nice to travel now and then work somewhere in winter. If we work now and then travel again, we would be travelling in winter, which I don't really fancy. However, I'm longing for a daily routine again. Somehow we felt very overwhelmed by this simple question. We went back and forth over the arguments for a long time.


Waiting in a restaurant

When I arrived on the South Island, I got a job offer online at a restaurant. It's a volunteer job, which means I get a free bed, a beer and a meal a day for three hours' work. I take the job.


Of course, I would much rather have a paid job. However, I know from talking to other travellers that there are a lot of people looking for work at the moment and that it's very difficult to find something. That's why I decided to take the chance here and hope that it will lead to more. Damain, the owner of the restaurant, also runs an employment agency and is also trying to find me a paid job. I'm also looking for a paid job. Every day I check the adverts online, I go to an employment agency, talk to other local travellers, create my English CV and do business and distribute it. And and and


The restaurant, where I help for three hours every evening for free, is great. It has very tasty Japanese cuisine. The beer comes from the restaurant's own brewery and the wine from neighbouring vineyards. The kitchen staff are all Japanese. I'm delighted because I've been trying to learn a few words of Japanese for a few months now. In the kitchen, I burst inside when I understand three four words: "water", "rice" and "delicious".


And then there are the other moments. Like now, for example. I'm sitting here now. On the floor of the car park of the restaurant where I'm currently waiting for free. I have the feeling that I was just as far gone 10 years ago. I waited tables while I was doing my A-levels and studying. But at least I got paid for waiting tables. Anyway, I don't really feel at home here. Somehow isolated from other people. And the house is right next to a main road, which is a motorway in terms of its function. That means the lorries thunder past here. Not even 5 metres away from the house. It's so bad that my bed shakes every night.


I've been here for a week now and I still feel exhausted. I don't feel like I can relax. Nothing has happened at work yet either. My thoughts keep going round and round.


I am sad. We did so many crazy, breathtaking, incredible things in Asia. I had the feeling that I could move mountains and that nothing would stop me: hiring a crew on a sailing boat, jumping on a tractor, hitchhiking in a country where I couldn't read a single sign, driving a tuk-tuk, becoming friends with incredibly amazing people.

Some of it was accidental, practically fell into our laps. Others we set our minds to and searched for a path until we found one. And we didn't let obstacles stop us.

When I arrived in New Zealand, everything was suddenly different. Back to a country where "there are more rules", where everything is more expensive. And somehow I lost faith in myself.


I have a current comment.

Now in May, two months later than the content, I'm about to publish the post. Another thought has occurred to me; I believe that many of the thoughts that plagued me in the early months of New Zealand are due to culture shock. New Zealand is a western country and the culture is nothing like Asia.


I'm getting restless again

I stay in the restaurant for a week before I lose my appetite. I stay a few days with Brendan, a Kiwi I met through Couchsurfing. I've never heard anyone swear as much as Brendan. I'm still looking for jobs. I'm also trying to think a lot about what I want, what could make me happier again.

At some point, I don't feel like it anymore. I don't want to keep looking for jobs or pondering. Friends of ours, Jan and Lea, with whom we were travelling for a few days on the North Island, are in the city. We meet Karli in the library and get stuck on a puzzle. We can't stop until the four of us have finally completed the puzzle after 2.5 days. The sailing trip with Finn and the pizza evening with Finn also took place during this time. Karli already wrote about this in the last post, so I don't need to repeat it here. Even if I have the feeling that this makes the post seem a little duller because the nice moments don't appear again. But you are welcome to read it again here https://www.einfach-so.com/post/von-der-k%C3%BCche-bis-zur-regatta ).


After 1.5 weeks in Blenheim, I still don't have a job. You could say I simply haven't found a job. That there are no jobs at the moment. But that's only part of the truth. I've realised that I don't feel like waitressing because I did it 10 years ago. And that I also have no motivation to work 12-hour night shifts on an assembly line or do any other dull work. I think Janine, I have too high expectations. Well. And now? Before I get an answer to this question, my restlessness takes hold of me again and I look for the next volunteer job.


I would like to experience more about "real" New Zealander life. I found a place to stay online with a Kiwi family near the village of Takaka. They have two sheep and 6 cattle on their huge property. They live far from the beaten track. It's a 20-minute drive to the nearest village. But they simply live on a mountain with a view as far as the horizon. Lisa is always happy to have female support from three other men in the house: her husband and two grown-up sons.


I tidy up the garage with Lisa, repair the fences, chop wood, sand down a table and paint it. Nothing complicated, but I like the work. I feel more comfortable here. Like the routine. I can recharge my batteries a bit.


On Sunday we go to the market. The market sells clothes, soap and whatever else you can sell (to tourists). But above all, lots of delicious food. The residents of Takaka meet on Sundays to chat and exchange ideas. Takaka is a bit alternative, hippie-like - I like the flair.


One day, Flo, a former fellow student, writes to me. He's on holiday with his family in New Zealand. They have made an unscheduled stopover in Nelson and are therefore only a stone's throw (approx. 1.5 hours) away from me. We haven't seen each other for a few years and so I ask Lisa if I can have the next day "off".



The only question that remains is how to get to Nelson. Because Karli has our shared car. And there is hardly any public transport in New Zealand. Neither train nor bus. That's why I'm currently travelling by hitchhiking again. I've already hitchhiked from Blenheim to my current Voluntering, about 200 kilometres. And this time I even remembered to take a few photos or videos of myself! I really enjoy hitchhiking. It's the challenge that tickles me, but also the fact that you get to meet lots of people with very different lifestyles.


TRamping is pretty easy in New Zealand. Maybe because it doesn't have that many cities. Maybe because the country is more like a string of pearls and less like a network, so "everyone" is travelling in the same direction. For whatever reason, you are quickly picked up. I am always amazed at how well hitchhiking works here in New Zealand. So I get to Nelson quickly that day too, where Flo is waiting for me. We chat a lot about old times, the moment and the future. It's nice to see him. I'm really looking forward to it.


A new question: New Zealand or home?

And then there's always this nagging question at the back of my mind: what will I do in the long term? If I can't find a job here and thus fulfil my need for a daily routine - what will I do then? Is that the point where you go home after all?

I'm not sure whether I want that. I feel deeply divided inside. I want to keep travelling, there are still so many ideas in my head. So many adventures I want to experience: bikepacking, a multi-week hike, sailing to Fiji, working in Australia. I don't feel like I've finished travelling. On the other hand, I realise that I need a daily routine again. And money.


Either way, I want to enjoy my time with Karli in New Zealand again, so we finish our time together earlier than expected and I hitchhike to Karli.



A jar of honey

We spent three days on a small farm in the Philippines (https://www.einfach-so.com/post/bohol) and had an exciting time there. Joma runs the farm with his family. He has an extraordinary knowledge of plants, animals and agriculture. For breakfast, for example, we had "tsokolate" a hot chocolate, the cocoa beans come from the neighbour's garden. He and his family have made sure that we want for nothing. I digress.When we were with Joma, he proudly offered us some New Zealand honey that a guest had given him. So, now we are in New Zealand and thought how funny it would be to visit this New Zealand beekeeper. No sooner said than done. So we drove to the address that was written on the honey jar - or tried to. Google didn't know the way to the address - the property is in the middle of the forest. So we drive along a gravel track without knowing whether we are in the right place. There are signs everywhere saying "private property" or "private road - no trespassing". I wonder if we are really welcome. I feel uncomfortable and would love to turn round. BUT nothing ventured, nothing gained. We get lost a few more times, but eventually we drive up a driveway. A man comes towards us. We ask him if he knows "Norbert Klose". He replies in English "Yes, that's me!" He looks at us with interest and asks how he can help us. We tell him that we want to bring him greetings from Joma in the Philippines. He invites us onto his terrace. A cheerful conversation quickly develops and we tell each other about our travels. Contrary to our expectations, Norbert is not a Kiwi but left Germany 30 years ago when he was about 30. What he tells us about his journey is amazing. For example, he hikes for a few weeks or months through the wilderness of Indonesia with his self-made rucksack. After 7 years of travelling, he settles in New Zealand.


He invites us to accompany him to a few of his beehives two days later. We don't want to miss out on that! It's incredibly exciting and Norb answers our thousands of questions. That alone was already incredibly cool, but it gets even better when he shows us his favourite places afterwards. We drive to the sea and Norb sets off. We follow behind without knowing what to expect. We walk over hill and dale along the sea. It is low tide. Norb explains that you can't get there at high tide. We walk further and further out until we can go no further. We are on a headland. Around us are huge, impressive rock formations. The roaring sea at our feet. Norb points to a rock behind a small bay and says that it's particularly beautiful there. And that he would climb over there. I've never seen a 64-year-old climb so agilely and nimbly and I'm flabbergasted. This place is so mega impressive that I can't even put it into words. I am simply speechless.



In hindsight, Karli says: "In the past, we were advised on various tours that you need sturdy shoes and clothing suitable for hiking. I'm at that level now, I'll be fine with sandals and swimming trunks. But if Norb says I need sturdy shoes, then I really need them."



📷 Here are more great pictures:

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