Apologies

Sorry its been silent for a fair few weeks! Its been a little crazy!

After hunting online I found a veterinary practice advertising for a veterinary nurse to work part time. I emailed my CV and immediately received a response asking me to come in for an interview. There followed a very interesting interview experience! First off the interviewers were 20minutes late to the interview, which was to be held at the emergency vet hospital. When they finally arrived they hustled me inside and guided me through to the 'meeting room'; a narrow room with a bed in it – where I was instructed to leave my bag and jacket – and a lot of junk which they shuffled around to produce three chairs placed in a row, facing the bed and the wall. I was told to sit in the centre chair so I spent the interview swivelling left to right to speak to both of them – not ideal! During the interview amongst the many gems were the following two comments from one of the interviewers. When we were discussing the veterinary charity Mission Rabies, that I had raised money for earlier in the year I told them that currently one child dies every hour of rabies in India. Their response? 'Goodness, is that so.... Although given the current population explosion in India that's probably not a bad thing!'. I was a little stunned to say the least! They then explained to me that, 'a lot of people get worried, upset, hysterical even, at emergency work as you don't know what may come through the door, but this is merely a symptom of the feminisation of the veterinary industry'. It was at this moment I decided I definitely didn't want to work at this practice.

Luckily a few days later I successfully applied to work at a local vets as part-time maternity cover. The job has worked out perfectly – the people are really great and I'm earning a few dollars each week to keep me going! The only downside at present is that the practice is not just small animal but large animal – cue multiple incidents of farmers coming in, asking for things, and getting a blank smile from me in return!

On one of my days off I decided to take a road trip west. I first headed south to Waitomo, and then followed the road all the way to the coast. About forty minutes west of Waitomo, you come to Mangapohue natural bridge. You walk through a limestone gorge to reach the very impressive 17m high limestone arch with stalactite formations hanging from the roof. I then followed the loop track back to the car-park past 25million year old oyster fossils; not much to look at but their age is pretty mind-boggling!

 Further west I stopped at the PiriPiri caves. I bravely descended into the darkness with my borrowed head torch and saw lots of glimmering glow-worms covering the walls – I was the only visitor and it made for a pretty special experience. The next stop on the road was a short walk to the Marokopa Falls; although not particularly high they are rather pretty and the walk offered an opportunity to stretch the legs. 

 

I then continued west for many miles, following the bending road, before leaving the tarmac behind and heading onto the unsealed tracks (I managed a bit of accidental drifting here by driving a little too fast!). For part of the drive I was stuck behind a car towing a boat. Nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the fact every few miles it would slam on its brakes and come to a dead-stop. Then the passenger would climb out, pick up some road-kill (possums were particularly prevalent), sling the dearly departed into the boat with a loud “THUD”, and then get back in the car to resume the journey. The only possible reason for this behaviour I could come up with was that they use the road-kill for bait – but why so many possums!? They must have been preparing to empty the Tasman! After watching this for a fair few miles, I seized the first opportunity to overtake and leave the road-kill collectors far behind. 

 

After an hour or so I finally, and very literally reached the end of the road - there was an actual sign stating this in case of confusion. I had reached the west coast of the North Island at a pretty cool location. I climbed out of the car and walked through a small dark tunnel, about 150m in length. The tunnel is carved though the rock, and as you walk through you are buffeted by strong wind, and deafened by the sound of roaring waves coming from the bright end of the tunnel ahead. When you finally reach the end of the tunnel you come out onto a wild, deserted beach, with the waves pounding the shore. It was a truly dramatic end to a beautiful day!