Two drifters off to see the world. . .

Hi Everyone, I am sure most of you have heard the news by now, if you haven’t I am sorry you are finding out here. Eero had a little accident on Christmas Eve when he got hit by a Toyota Corolla going about 100km/h while we tried to cross the road. Miraculously he is alive, doesn’t have too many injuries considering and is recovering well. As Eero says: Eero=1, Car=0 since the car is pretty much a write-off. His main injuries are a broken humerus (that’s the upper arm bone for anyone who doesn’t know) right near his shoulder which I think is what is causing him the most of his pain, he also has a fat lip with stitches, stitches in his forehead, he had a concussion, he has one missing tooth and several broken ones (all of which we will get fixed here thanks to the NZ Accident Compensation Corporation), a broken bone in his foot and nose, and some other small bumps and cuts. All of that seems minor considering what could have happened to him, he is one lucky guy! He is up walking around and still has a good sense of humour. Thank you as well to everyone who has sent get well wishes, we both really appreciate all the support from family and friends who are so far away.

Since he is still in the Nelson hospital, I am staying next door at Altrusa House which is meant for patients and their families, it is a great place. The doctors have decided to do surgery on Eero’s arm to put a plate in it to help it heal properly. He is supposed to have the surgery tomorrow or Wednesday (the 1st or 2nd) and then hopefully will get out of the hospital a few days after that.

We aren’t sure what our plans are once he is discharged from hospital since we are talking it one day at a time. I think we will head back to the North Island to stay with Jenn and Mark in Masterton for Eero to recover a bit and to get his teeth fixed up. From there it will all depend on how he feels and how long it takes to get his teeth sorted out.

Not much else is new since the past week has been spent in and around the hospital. Not exactly the way we intended to spend the holidays but at least we are lucky that will have next year to celebrate better.

Hope you all had a good Christmas…Happy New Year’s!

Sarah

Well we found some seasonal work picking raspberries (mmm yummy) for $1.20NZD per kilogram. Today was our first day on the job and we only picked for 3 hours making a whopping $31 between us. Minus out the $8 total for accommodation and we made $23 total in 6 hours of combined work…not too bad eh?? Ya not the  best job but hopefully if the sun comes out again there will be more berries to pick, if not then we are outta there to find a more fruitful (haha) job. It was also the first day of the season, so it should pick up in the next couple of weeks, or so we’re told. It’s quite the place too, there is one toilet and shower, in an outdoor shed, very luxurious. There are only 4 of us now living there but they apparently have up to 30 people in the swing of the season so that one toilet and shower are going to be busy!

The picking is taking place in the town of Korere, which is a hilly and twisty drive about an hour west of Nelson. It also has no real cell phone reception, so if you’re trying to get a hold of us leave a message or send a text, as we occasionally have enough reception to receive those. We’re off for Chirstmas and Boxing Day, unless the weather starts cooperating, so we may be in and around town if anyone wants to call us and leave us some holiday wishes.

Happy Holidays! (Eero says Berry Christmas to everyone!)

After the rain and the west coast, we drove up through Richmond and up towards the Golden Bay area. During the drive inland towards Richmond it dried up a bit. The drive up to Golden Bay was really scenic and the sun was finally out until ... [Continue reading this entry]

Okay so we've been quite busy recently. We finished our time in Queenstown by visiting an old family friend of Sarah's and having quite a pleasant BBQ at Mark Shearer's place with his girlfriend Julia, and a couple of their friends. It ... [Continue reading this entry]

Since the last post we have done alot! We drove down to Christchurch to meet Andrea, my friend from work in Halifax, and her boyfriend Paul who flew in a few days earlier from Northwest Territories. Along the way we ... [Continue reading this entry]

... is a van down by the river! We picked up a 1988 Toyota Hiace van, with only 601,000km on it in Cambridge, NZ which is right next to Hamilton. It was a deal, and looks like its only seen 300k ... [Continue reading this entry]