We have been here in Opotoki for a total of 4 weeks now, and have been working on the kiwi orchards. Jobs included squeezing the vine buds, pulling down fruitless shoots, trunk girdling, setting up the sprinklers, picking flowers, and cutting away vines affected with Psa (a bacterial kiwifruit disease). We are thankful that we had this work available to us, but we are more than ready now to continue our exploration in the North Island. This was an experience that we will never forget, and who knows...maybe we will return to pick the kiwi fruit later on (I hope not). We now have a different appreciation for the amount of work that goes into orchards, but we have a greater appreciation for our degrees and jobs at home.
We are also grateful that our new friends, Ian and Malayna, let us stay with them for the month while we were working. We also had the opportunity to meet some of their friends and family, and try some new foods from the sea that they gathered. The treasured abalone or paua was amazing and the sea urchin or kina was amazingly disgusting. Even though the work was miserable at times, it was a great experience visiting Opotiki, the heartland of the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Our plans now are to continue exploring the North Island for a couple of weeks and then ferry down to the South Island and anxiously wait for the arrival of our friend Bob on New Years' Eve. We don't really have any definitive plans on where we are going or what we are doing. All we can tell you is that we will be fishing, hiking, swimming, and driving. We can't wait!
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