An American Abroad: Running the Show

We have settled in nicely to our first week running the chalets, slowly ticking things off the long list of jobs. We have weeded around the property, sprayed the weeds so they don't come back, sawed down some little trees, and today we lined the garden near the pool with stones so it has a nice finished look to it. We generally wake up and enjoy breakfast in the kitchen warmed by the sun. Then we work until about 11 and stop to have a cup of coffee out on the deck soaking in some sun. We head back to work until around 1'clock when we stop for some yummy lunch which we usually also eat outside on the deck. We finally do one more stint of work before stopping for the day around 2:30. We have our first guests to deal with on Saturday so we will have a chance to actually do the job of running the chalet! Hopefully we don't scare anyone off!

Since we have a few hours of sunlight left once we finish work we have been trying to enjoy the warmth while it's here. A couple of days ago we walked a 2 hour 9km track that starts from the chalets and goes along the beach and back to the chalets from the other direction. Andy, our host, even drew us a map to follow so that we wouldn't get lost. Of course, we got lost anyway. There was one turn that we just could not find. We back-tracked and tried to find it, we went even further down the road to try and find it - it was no where to be found. Finally we took a risk and went down another road when suddenly we saw the turn we were meant to make, it just wasn't on the road we were on. That was NOT on the map! Regardless of that, it was a beautiful walk through apple orchards, vineyards, and then along the beach. New Zealand continues to amaze.