Meet the flatmates

Photos - left to right, Nancy, Ariel and me outside Riverstone restaurant
Below - Nancy, Lisa (did a week at the restaurant), Ariel and Me in Omaru

So that last post I wrote a week or so ago, but somehow it didn't get posted up....so next here's the next, short, installment.
My Taiwanese flatmates and I have just finished working the bank holiday week - a grueling 65 hour week which has left me feeling exhausted. Don't think that much work is good for you really! But I have a couple of days off this week, this being one of them, and I've just walked an hour up the beach to get to the computer. It's a fine day! I took myself off to Omaru with the girls yesterday and we went out for a lovely lunch at the other good restaurant in the area. 'Ladies wot lunch' day it was, very nice to drink Riesling in the sun, but almost fell asleep while eating.... I took myself to the handsomest doctor in town, who gave me a clean bill of health so I have now finished off my visa extension and expect to be able to stay here til March time.
In some ways the manic weekend was good to see as I still enjoyed working it, and the challenge of having all my prep done in time for a busy service. I showed myself that I could do it and enjoy it, so I'm looking forward to a busy summer, so long as the hours aren't too long. No one functions well overtired. I'm feeling a wee bit emotional and lonely for friends and family too, and being too tired just exacerbates that. I had been thinking about going to Oz to work for another year or two after here, but i realise that there's no way I can go that long without seeing people I care about soon. So I'll be home by May! Until then I'm going make the most out of Magical Moeraki. Love to you all xx

ps - I just planted out my tomato plants. The girls are taking seriously my suggestion that they name and talk to one plant - Nancy's orange cherry tomato is called Nancy Tomato. Ariels white cherry is called Pepe!

The walk to work

So here we have Fleur's Place, the blackboard tells us that today, fresh off the boat from Fisherman Joe we have - Brill, Flounder, and.....drum roll, Mike Hood Music! (I think Mike walked to work actually! He plays his little ditties every day in the bar, lovely chap too). The boats come in just to the left there where there's a Jetty where a Seal lion called Over sized Billy hangs out. Fisherman Joe guts and fillets the fish on that table you can see to the left by the blue barrel...see it?

Here we have the approach to work from the coastal footpath I walk along. Takes about 20 minutes from home sweet home, 5 minutes of beach walking included.
And here you can see Fleurs Place in the distance there, where the boats are moored. This is just before I turn off the road onto the footpath from my house.

And here we have my basket. A key part of my job takes place on the way to work. I wouldn't say its the best bit, as I love it all so far, but its a great bit that's for sure. I collect wild flowers and leaves as dessert decor! Here you can see wild Banana Passion fruit flowers (they grow everywhere!).

So job is great. I survived the first two weeks and I love all of it. I love being so busy during service and the fact I can make whatever desserts I want to using what we have and whats in season. I make all the ice creams and sorbets too. Which leads me onto my very important QUESTION OF THE WEEK!

If you could choose one flavour of ice cream what would it be?

Please send me some ideas for great ice cream flavours and I'll choose some out of them to make. Email them to my address, or comment. If I make your suggestion you win a special prize (a free ice cream selection, my shout, when you visit me in Moeraki) Good eh!

PARADISE, the tour begins.

Me and the Boulders


Hello! This is the afternoon news with miss Jonesy.
The job is.....

AMAZING!! I am actually in PARADISE. Quiet literally, it is paradise here. A wonderful beach community surviving on fishing mostly and then there's this award winning inspirational restaurant there where I am now the Dessert and Entree Chef de Partie (or at least that's what I'm calling myself in my head!!) I totally LOVE the job, I LOVE the place, I LOVE my house up there with the sea view, my head Chef is REALLY AMAZING, my boss is GREAT. So you get the general idea.

A bit more depth now. I'm staying here until end of January time, living with the Taiwanese girls, Ariel and Nancy. The job is going to be challenging I think, long days 10am-10pm and very very busy. But I haven't panicked, although I was really nervous about doing Short Order work Chef has got me on the dessert and entree section so its not that scary, more fun that scary. Just requires me to stay calm when there's loads of orders on at once as there's a TINY space to work in and lots to do. I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying it actually and am really looking forward to a summer of learning and concentrating on the job. I don't mind the hard work and long hours at all if I'm working with people who love their job and are passionate about good food. I can learn lots from that and will be a much better chef by the end of it. So that's great. The restaurant has most of the qualities I would look for in an 'ideal' work place for me. Its right on the sea, lots of the menu comes from here, Moeraki, as fish is the speciality. Veges, herbs, eggs and other things are given/sold from neighbours and I'm encouraged every morning on my walk to work to pick garnishes (flowers, herbs, leaves) for my plates. My walk to work is the coastal footpath, 20 minutes of loveliness.
So I'm living right on the beach, working in a relaxed but manically busy kitchen (don't know how that works! Personality I think) and I think I have landed on my feet here. Very happy.

So I though seen as I'm going to be here a while I'd take you on a small journey each week to a different place in Moeraki. Like a guided tour. Today its my walk here, to Hampden, the next village up, an hours walk up the beach past the Moeraki boulders.
Here they are, a natural phenomena, the reason most people stop here actually, just to look at the big round rocks. They are concretions I think, made by a pebble rolling around accruing size in sand layers as it goes until its like this.....that's my explanation anyway. They're pretty cool. See the size of them up the top with me as a guide! Massive and perfectly round.
Then on my way here I walked past this ocean swing, a perfect place to swing swing around. I'm going back there now!

NEW JOB!!

I GOT A NEW JOB!!!

VERY excited. But also very scared...well not very Just a bit, like the kitchens really small and what if i get in the way more than help...but the head chef is Lovely. He says its a relaxed affair - just very popular and very very busy.

Its here http://www.fleursplace.com/
Its an amazing restaurant that perches on the edge of the sea in Moeraki, it serves fish from the fishing boats that come in like, 5 metres away!!! Lots of wild food on the menu, Head chef and owner both actually love food and have a passion for good natural food! how refreshing.

And I came across it by accident, on Saturday.

I have been feeling not so good and a bit useless and like I just needed a home and a job and a freind or two then... Saturday I'm driving from Dunedin to Christchurch, see a boat in a field and turn into this tiny village called Moeraki....I get out my car, a little nervous as there's lots of fishermen lolling around looking at boats, I walk, I see this building 'Fleurs Place', I go in.

WOW theres a man just there playing folk music, Its busy (where have all these people come from??) I order a Pinot Gris, sit at the bar, start chatting to some Taiwanese girls clearing dishes, the inside looks like an old quirky ship, its beautiful. Then I start to read Fleurs new cookery book and discover she has very similar food ethics to me, only shes owned restaurants for 20 years or so, shes just been on tele and Rick Stein came here last year. Then Fleur comes over says hello, I say I'm looking for work, she says Stay the night, theres a room free in the house up the road, gets Head Chef, we talk, I have JOB!! and FLAT with the Taiwanese girls that has a balancy overlooking the sea! Look at my view! (FROM MY BALCONY!!)

Theres PENGUINS here,and its so beautiful and the people ( I met a few locals yesterday) are really nice. I'm excited!! We're just taking it on a casual basis, weekly pay etc until we see how I fit in etc. Now I have to buy Chef Knives etc......

Dunedin

Dunedin Farmers Market, Arts Festival Performance

Scottish born Dunedin town. Here am I. In the public library trying to find a medical centre that will happily do my immigration medical stuff. I like this city! So far so good. Last night I took myself for a stroll around the Octagon (central city hub) and got myself a nice pint of Kilkenny and sat and people watched for ages. You can do that in cities, just sit and people watch. Fascinating and often hilarious. I was outside watching the steady flow of couples and groups pausing to inspect the menu then float on to the next bar/restaurant to do the same when I spotted this girl with a clipboard. She was like a little sparrow, flitting from place to place in search of crumbs. But the crumbs were words to be written on her little clipboard and at one stage she was staring towards to bar noting something down furiously, leaning on this bollard when WHAM, bollard falls over. SPLAT. She picks herself up, looks around to see if anyone saw (no one else was watching though) and then giggled into her hand. A moment!

Then JANIE rang! From Hokianga (you know, where i was wwoofing way back in January with her) and shes returned from the States to come and live here with Cowboy Clint! How great is that. So we have vowed to chat regularly. It was really really lovely to catch up with a friend. And the prediction of "oh my god you are going to go to New Zealand, find a nice man and never leave" might actually be true for her. Wow.

So yesterday I actually drove straight across from West Coast to East in one day, stopping only to take my reluctant body for some exercise up giant hills and through mud and woodland. Sometimes my body is like a petulant child who simply does NOT want to go on a walk today and incessantly moans at me to turn around and get back into the car. It was particularly annoying when I misread a sign pointing up to Arthur's Viewpoint 10 mins return, a perfect spot for lunch I thought and began the 5 minute climb. 20 mins later, still climbing, body annoyed, but it must just be around the next corner? When i returned I reread the sign which said 40 min return, so wishful thinking on the 10 mins. It was worth the view anyhow.

I was all set to stop at the fire station for the night but fate had other plans. As I pulled into GORE, I took a sip of water from my big squeezy bottle and made bad bad mistake. Never squeeze a squeezy bottle in the middle whilst driving. It looked distinctly like I had peed myself! So laughing, I decided this was a sign to continue driving til it had dried.

Here I am. I'm staying to visit the farmers market tomorrow (I LOVE FARMERS MARKETS), then I'll be going upwards towards Christchurch for medical stuff. Yippeee.

Little White in the Snow

Little White in the Snow (Note how bumper is held on by cable ties and lights held in by seletape!! So proud I am)
Fiordland - Milford Sound

I have had a request! Dad says he doesn't want to see all these pictures of wilderness, he wants to see Little White! So I took a picture of her in the snow of the Fiordlands yesterday and would upload it HOWEVER the camera is in the car. The car is in the garage!! Uh oh I hear you cry. But NO it's not that bad. I will tell you why....

I think that high expectations of a place, an experience, of anything sometimes end in a less-than-satisfying result, and that was the case yesterday. It all started the evening before when I found myself in Rosie's Hostel, Te Anau. An award winning home stay hostel that was full with 9 of us there. I played guitar, I put my feet up, I enjoyed her lovely kitchen and a piece of Rosie's cake (better than mine I tell you!!). Then I met a sick Canadian couple who's relentless coughing led me to making them a special Hana-brew (Whisky, honey, lemon, ginger, echinacea, liquorice root all boiled up in a pan - a secret recipe of mine). As they drank it they were questioning me on why I was alone as if that was the strangest thing in the world. I happily explained the benefits of lone travel, and how it really strengthens you, how I never actually feel alone anyhow even if I am physically on my ownsome. They found it really strange and started rattling on about safety issues etc. Oh dear oh dear, I have to say I started to find them a tiresome, then downright annoying. Who are these people putting their own fears on me? But the result was that I looked around the hostel and I saw:

• A group of three Koreans. Having these quirks - travelling with an electric Rice Maker!!!???, watching Korean game shows in our 4 bed dorm til late, and last but definitely not least putting the heating on so poor me wakes at midnight to find myself sweating in a 35degree room temp! It really was that hot. I unplugged the offending heater. They had a session of heated (!) Korean exclamations about it in the morning and plugged it back in!!
• A group of three American men, who didn't really talk outside the group.
• A happy Canadian couple sipping delicious Hot toddy.
• Rosie and family.
• Me. Started feeling a little bit sorry for little old me and momentarily forgot that it was my choice.

So yesterday on this amazing drive to the edge of the world my oil ran out. I had brought a litre of engine oil but when the light came on the oil didn't touch the engine. It wasn't enough. In normal circumstances I don't think this would have phased me much but I was feeling a little wobbly and would have liked to have someone else to lean on a bit. A found a friendly bus driver and he gave me some spare oil, but the commercial type, so I spent a large part of the 220km drive thinking Little White was going to explode. She didn't. I had some nice walks but mostly had a case of the worries. Dear oh dear.

All is looking up today. Little White is just having a service for my peace of mind. I don't mind the cost for a bit of peace eh! And I'm driving EAST. No idea where I will end up today but this lovely retired Welsh/Irish couple I met the other day told me to go stay in this old converted FireStation in a place called GORE! Shall I go for comedy value?? Yes, maybe, we will see.

So the moral of the story is not to pay attention when smug Canadian couples treat you like an idiot for choosing to travel alone instead of in a smug couple. Me and Little White. Onwards.