Road-trip break: stuck in Napier (art-deco & apple town)

After leaving beautiful west coast, we took straight road to the opposite coast of the North Island. Unfortunately, we lost one of the road-trip members in Taranaki - Zeh - who found a job in New Plymouth and stayed there. So we now continue in 4. Well, not really continue, but let's take it step-by-step:

When leaving west coast, the look on our account balances suggested that it might be a good idea to make some more money even before boarding the ferry to South Island. After quick research we found two options on our planned route: sheep and dairy farms in the inland and apple orchards on the east coast.

Fielding - small town in the middle of nowhere with huge sheep and cow market-place in its centre. We were "lucky" that we got here on Friday, when all the farmers gather here for the auctions. Seeing the whole mess and handling with the animals (not that they tortured them or something, but just the way the people were grabbing and moving the animals) was enough for me to realize that this will not be my cup of tea... Anyway, it was really nice and funny experience to see the farmers to "fight" for the desired sheep or cow.

Next stop - Napier. We had some info from our friend who was staying here that it should be quite easy to find a job in apple orchards at this time... And so it was. Right after arrival to the backpackers where we were told to go, we figured out a good deal for staying (sleeping in the car/tent and using the facilities of the hostel) and the owner (nice guy Tony) promised us to find some job for us. Later the same day, Tony came with a job offer we couldn't refuse and so it was decided - we will stay couple of weeks in Napier.  

We even have a pool in the backpackers :) And our crazy twin friends stopped here for visit :)

Napier is very nice town, all built in art-deco style due to a very sad reason: the whole town was totally demolished by the strongest earthquake in NZ history in 1931 and so it needed to be completely rebuilt. And as art-deco was probably pretty big in the 30's, Napier got its specific look. 

Welcome to Miami... I mean Napier.. Palm trees are everywhere in Napier.

 Free-to-play piano in the town centre.

One of Napier town centre's street.

During the past weekend, there was an art-deco festival taking place in Napier, so there were a lot of old cars and people styled in 30's outfits cruising through the town.

There is a lot of parks and places to hang out during the free time in Napier

I saw crickett game for the first time in my life in Napier - we went to see the match of our kiwi colleague. By far the most boring game I've ever seen (and I've been to baseball match once as well).

During the weekend I finally got to surf after two weeks... Even though Napier is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, usually the surf conditions are not really good here due to the location in the Bay and the stupid small stone beaches. So we (me and a visiting friend Sammi) drove a bit to the south to catch few waves on the beautiful Ocean beach.

And the work - the work we got is really OK. We have a great supervisor, easy work (as we are using the tractor to drag the sheets out) and a lot of fun.

And this is how it looks after we are done: we are putting the sheets that reflect the sun under the trees in order to make the apples beautifully red from every side :)   

Currently we have done one week, we are thinking about staying 2 more and then get back on the roads to the south...