Hello old friend..

It's been a while since I've used this platform...do people still blog? But I can upload images without resizing them first here so it's easy..

I had a lovely time in Niue, but as you may have heard I wasn't allowed to complete the diving course because I had ticked I had asthma on the form. To clarify, I sent this form off a month before I arrived on the island, I wanted to be safe than sorry, so there was plenty of time for the dive centre to inform me I needed a Dr. to sign off. They didn't. Well, not until we arrived at the dive center where they mentioned there is no Dr. on the island that can sign me off. Never mind.

The weather was wild and raining for the first few days, though it was still 26 degrees all day and most of the night. There were amazing snorkeling spots around the island, and I spent my birthday with my travel companion Phil and some other travelers walking through the rain forest to explore some crystal clear pools. Sea snakes ( a lot), starfish, and hundreds of brightly coloured fish.
These are not my underwater photos, I found these on google, but just a very small snippet of what we saw.

The sea snakes are very poisonous but cannot bite through human skin, (usually). I kept clear though. Apparently they will lick you but I didn't want to take the chance. 

Our Accommodation for the week.

Niue has a lot of stray dogs, this one ate the left overs. We ate dinner with about 4 dogs surrounding us our first night.  

Our Private Balcony

We had dinner at the resort down the road a few times. 

....And a few cocktails

Our hosts provided us with fresh Papaya and Passionfruit from the backyard most mornings (if we didn't pick them ourselves)

Limu Pools where I spent my birthday exploring

Avatele Beach (one of the only beaches with sand)

Phil and a stray dog. 

Phil dropped his Iphone into this death trap, we decided the phone wasn't worth our lives. 

I had one night back at home in Christchurch before driving up to Picton the following day. I stayed one night in Picton and caught the early ferry across to Wellington.

Very Foggy morning to start.

Cleared to a nice calm day. 

Driving the Desert Road. 

Friday night the day after arrival it was Tonkin + Taylors 60th Anniversary. I met some of my colleagues and had a delicious dinner. All paid for, even the taxi home. 

My Room, glad to have a desk, bed and large wardrobe. 

The outdoor area

Flat kitchen

New Office and my desk. Only about 8 of us in the Geotechnics office.  

Friday night walk at the end of my road.  

Exploring Mt Monganui (about 15 minute drive) with my flatemate Ginko. 

Owners cat Shazza enjoying the fireplace. 

Papamoa Beach

First week of the job has been good. Steep learning curve and still lots to learn, colleagues are really nice and down to earth, thankfully it's pretty casual in the office.
I live with 2 people in the flat, Dave who works for a bank and owns the house, and Gingko who is from China and a Preschool teacher (though shes moving to Wellington soon). It's a bit warmer than Chch which is a nice change, looking forward to exploring the surrounding towns as well.

Hope all is well,

lots of love

Alex

On to the Umbrian Hills...

Old post May/June

It was nice having a relaxed morning on the day I left Rome, my train wasn't till 1pm; unlike many other days where it's a 6am start to make sure you arrive at your next destination at a decent hour. I stepped off the train 2 hours later in the afternoon sun and was greeted by Paddy on the platform and a little puppy clutched under his arm; Jack.

We sped round the hills in his tiny old-school run about, through small villages and fields till finally arriving at a hillside property that looked over the valley. The property is made up of 3 houses close together which originally would have been a few families living and working together on the land. (I can't remember the term for these kinds of properties).

I was only staying here for a few days before moving to Bruce and Jan's place, as they were still returning from their trip to Spain and had put me in contact with Paddy.
Pictures: The car, my bedroom (the helpers had there own house to share!), Jack the jack russell, the courtyard, one of the old houses, peacock, the living room

The night I arrived - Family dinner; Phyllis & Neaghn, Chris, and our hosts Paddy and his wife Tita

I spent the 4 days painting the side of the house, watering, and helping prepare some pot plants, and then I was given the day off, pretty easy! Paddy is an Englishman and moved to Italy many years ago where he met Tita. After creating his own beer and building a brewery he sold it on and now does the odd plumbing job in the area. 

One of the evenings Jovan (A helper from Serbia) took us up the hill to watch the sunset and taught us about a practice he believed in called Sun gazing or 'Solar Yoga', which just means staring at the sun. It's believed to increase energy levels, help eyesight, and  if you're committed enough; the sun will decrease you're appetite and you'll be able to feed off the sun alone. (Not for me though, I'm too fond of my tuna pasta). Don't Wiki it, as it's a bit scientifically bias. A beautiful sunset none the less.

Jovan, Phyllis and Neaghn 

Phyllis and her daughter Neaghn were fantastic people to be around. They jumped the ditch from Canada to farm hop in Italy for 3 months. They cooked delicious healthy meals, shared recipes with me (written on their own recycled paper!) and had an amazing outlook on life. We made wild fennel tea and ate wild rose hip that grew everywhere. All of us had a similar idea on food and enjoyed an abundance of fruit and vegetables for breakfast lunch and dinner (Kirsty, you would have loved discussing food with these guys). All very conscious about nature, growing organic, eating healthy and living sustainably. It would have been great if I could have stayed longer and learn't some more, but the team would be splitting up in a few days anyway, so I just appreciated the time I did have there. I hope to learn some more about edible wild plants, something very exciting being able to identify edible plants as you walk down the road; or the plants you would usually pull from your vegie garden. 

Monday bought farewells at Paddy's followed by a long tractor ride where I was crunched up behind the drivers seat bracing myself against the cabin and trying to not let me feet hit the gear stick. 

Soon I had arrived at the Help-x I would spend a month at, Jan and Bruces. Bruce is a landscape Gardner for many properties in the area, so our job was to help him maintain the gardens and fields. (Many of which were owned by very wealthy people who spent only few days/weeks a year at these properties in summer).

The house, bottom floor was for the helpers

Hours and hours spent strimming banks in scorching heats wrapped up in my overalls..I'm a pro now, but never again will I touch a strimmer.

The first couple of days I developed a cold, and unfortunately it was also going to the busiest part of my whole stay. Bruce and Jan were leaving for England at the end of the week so we had only a few days to plant 150 Olive trees. Two 8hour days really took it out of me, but had a few days to relax as I house sat while they were away. 

Whilst busy mowing the long grass, Rory accidentally chopped the head off a snake (He didn't tell me at the time). Later that afternoon when rummaging in my bag for the apartment keys to let us both in, I see a silky, scaly rubbery like tube thing coiled up in the front pocket. As I slowly begin removing it, I realise what is it, and before anything can hit the ground I'm already turning and heading for hills. I never did manage to get Rory back for that, I just helped him skin the animal so he could somehow incorporate it onto his guitar.

Pictures: Rory, another helper from Aussie who stayed for a few days before going to Paddys (where I'd just been) Poppy flower, a small hilltop village nearby called Montone, having Pizza and wine in Umbertide.

I was by myself for almost 2 weeks between helpers, in that time I attended many dinner invitations with Bruce. One of which was at Montone village where an American couple lived in an amazing 3 storied apartment right off the main Piazza. It had an amazing view over the valley and looked back across over the town. They offer private cooking classes in the summer in Italy, spend the winter in their downtown New York apartment, and also have a house in the mountains near Salt lake. We had a wonderful dinner; a leek and mushroom pasta, (the mushrooms were a special kind that have a very short season in the region called Prugnoli) followed by glazed quail, salad and vegetables, washed down with Prosecco and red wine from the vineyard down the road. For dessert we wandered into the piazza and had a big glass of grappa (a spirit made from grape skins/leftovers).

Umbertide

Me with the wall I painted and a glass of bubbles

Paddy held a big party to celebrate the the Help-xers, (Even though all his had left) I was the last original remaining so I got to enjoy the festivities.

Me and Laura

One of the perks; when the owners have gone back to work, we can use their pool!! B2 and I

Folk Dancing In The Pyrenees...

It's been a quiet month.......for all you readers that is. Fast travelling, crazy festivals and tight timetables, have filled that past few weeks for me, but now I'm at my new Helpx in the foothills of the Pyrenees in France. (The mountains that divide Spain and France). If you want to map me, search for La Serpent, France, I'm just round the corner of that village on a 150 acre piece of land on the hillside.

A bit of a mission to get from my not-so-central-hostel in Barcelona to the bus station where I traveled to Narbonne, followed the by a train, another train, then another bus, and finally I was in the right village. Bit of a concern when I realised my phone was out of credit when I had to phone Jo to come pick me up. Thankfully the Couiza Tourist information office was still open at 6pm, what are the odds in this tiny place.

On the train in heavy thunderstorms

As I got higher, the air cooled considerably, leaving 30 degrees in Barcelona in a t-shirt, shorts and jandles, I was now pulling on jumpers and pants while sitting on the train platform in wind and rain.

My host is Jo, a man from Belgium who has some holidays houses on his property, so our main job is to keep the areas tidy and do general maintenance. Above is the other helpers, Rebecca and Ludvig from Sweden who are a load of fun and make the working hours fly by.

 I have a very basic room but a beautiful view from my balcony, Rebecca, Ludvig and I open the big doors and put sleeping bags and blankets out on the balcony after a hard days work and take naps, browse the internet and munch on chocolate (and maybe some Nutella with Fromage Blanc).

Me planting in the vege garden

Driving through the mountains

I arrived on Thursday evening and did 1 days work on Friday before the weekend which we all have free. That evening Alison (another helper) Rebecca and I were invited by some locals to a folk music evening in a small mountain top town; very small, population: 30 

It was a potluck dinner also, good homemade food, and check those various kinds of goats cheese that's made in the village!

Me

The converted work shed. I think the whole town was there!

Rebecca dancing

 It was very embarrassing dancing when everyone else seems to know the moves but you. A fantastic night though, lots of interesting people (though most only spoke french!) Good food, good company, this is why I Helpx, how many tourists get to go dancing in the mountains?!

Saturday was dedicated to writing out blogs and hitchhiking to the supermarket to buy snacks, however after only getting a couple of short rides, a quick trip took 3 hours of walking in the glaring sun; little energy was left for blogging. Napping on the balcony was a much better use of time

La Serpent Village

La Serpent and it's Sunflower fields, such a beautiful sight!!! 

The typical french roads, Napolean planted these trees to provide shade for his troops.

 Sunday brought a trip with Alison to Renne-le-chateau which is very popular as it has many conspiracy theories surrounding it; I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in The Da Vinci Code

Having a delicious picnic from groceries we picked up from the Sunday markets in the morning

Rebecca, Alison and Ludvig

The Orangery

The bridge to the vege gardens

That evening we went for dinner at Diago and Marie-Neg's house. Diago was a previous helper at Jo's and now resides in a small town nearby with his girlfriend. The town has a beautiful piece of land across the road, where each house their own plot for growing veges.

 Fantastic start to my new Helpx. Will be here for 1 month so plenty of time to catch you all up on the last few weeks of travel. I booked a flight to Berlin today for the 8th of August out of Toulouse; so sorry Switzerland, maybe another trip, but for now you're too expensive.

Looking after the Donkeys