Anyway, the lady they trained up would NOT be learning everything I was taught. I was doing the jobs without anyone telling me that they had an issue with me, until this happened to me. I know for sure that I was dropped for another reason that wasn't anything to do with me. I actually suspect they dropped me because maybe the fee they were paying my temping agency rose once I hit my second year working with them. I have no evidence, but it lines up almost perfectly. Remember I only had 4 more weeks to work with them, and my replacement is working less than I did.
Anyway, on my last day I officially complained about my whole team to HR. I have no future trust with my old manager and refuse to use her as a reference. I wasnt going to but Laurel and Erica told me I should, because they are both fed up of working conditions and complained to HR too. In fact Laurel left because of the bad co-worker who my old manager cannot handle. I'm using her as a reference instead now.
In other news we had guests staying in our AirBnB for a weekend which worked out nicely. The weekend after that we had a house warming party, which felt more like a leaving party.
I made in instructional video which I uploaded to YouTube for the future owners of the house to watch. Its mainly about how to use the coal boiler.
Since then we have sold a few bits and pieces from around the house that we wont be shipping abroad. Talking of which its looking likely to be Belgium.
On the evening of the 21st October we went to see the Little Blue Penguins come in from the sea at Taiaroa Head. We saw 102 of the little guys come in just after the sun set. They arrived in groups of about 10 at a time, and some stayed around and waited for their mates to arrive before heading to their nests together. On the way back up the hill we could hear them all squawking to each other. It was a much better experience than how it was in 2009 when I saw them with my parents. The weather was perfect too. We decided to go on the spur of the moment after watching an advert on Facebook that morning; that had a video of what to expect, so it seemed like a good idea, and it was!
From the 26th - 28th Sabine and I visited Stuart Island.
26 Fri-
We woke up at 3.30am and left at 5am. We drove south to Bluff, narrowly avoiding entering Invercargill along the way. We parked the car at the ferry terminal and checked in. The lady recommended us the 'Lighthouse Cafe' just across the road, so we walked there and had a nice breakfast. The start of state highway 1 was a mile down the road, so we didn't bother because the car was already parked, but I did see the famous yellow AA signpost from the ferry boat a little later. The boat was an hour to Oban, Stuart Island.
Oban was more or less like the normal mainland, complete with cars and a Four Square newsagents. I guess I imagined it more like Miyajima Island (Japan) with even less going on. But it's full of houses and places to stay, which somehow surprised me. We were driven up to our lodge by a nice lady, and once here the housekeeper showed us around. Soon enough we were out to explore. I was just glad to breathe some fresh air and get rid of my seasickness. We walked south, up the hill and through the bush to Golden Bay. The bird life isn't so fantastic, unless you like Tui's because they are everywhere. Kaka are about too. We booked the water taxi to the bird island called Ulva Island for tomorrow. The roads here seem like from one side of town to the other would take only 5mins max. The gift shop was good. This evening we tried the pub for dinner. Thing is we checked online and its menu was different from what it was when we arrived. Oh well. I don't want to go there again tomorrow. Problem is though the lack of choice. Highlights of today were seeing a mumma ducky with 11 chicks, waddling around the road of our lodge. There were also Shell ducks with 7 chicks at the seafront. After dark we tried to find a kiwi by waiting in a forested area in the dark for sometime, but alas with no luck. Other tourists were attempting the same.
27 Sat-
I Woke up to a dawn chorus of birds.
The breakfast that is provided by the lodge is nice. They have really nice plumbs.
Today we went to the bird island at around 9:30. We were taken there by a 9 seater speed boat. Once there it became apparent that the New Zealand Robins were abundant. We spent many hours on the island, walking around. Among the more interesting birds, we saw red crested parakeets, a Saddleback, Yellow Heads, and two Weka on the beach, who were eyeing up Sabines blue bag. One cheeky Robin ate a bit of chicken that fell out of Sabines sandwich when we stopped for lunch!
We called the boat guy to ask if could be picked up earlier, around 2pm instead of 5pm. We got a few things for dinner from the Four Square. I had a ready meal Thai Green Curry.
At 7pm we went on a Kiwi tour that took us by boat to a beach far away somewhere south. Along the way, whilst waiting for the skies to get dark, the boat toured around to a Yellow Eyed Penguin colony, a salmon farm, where this hut was in the middle of a bay where this guy was waving at us. Apparently he works on weekly shifts, alone and isolated for a week at a time.
The Kiwi beach was, somewhere. I actually took a screenshot of the map on my phone using the GPS, so that can tell you where we were. But the walk was for about 2 hours walking in a forest just to get to this beach that supposedly has kiwi in the wild. We saw 2, maybe 3 kiwi, but only very briefly, from a distance, with a red light shining on them, and they were in tall grass. I guess this experience is good for those that have never seen a kiwi. I'm not one of them. Ive seen them up close and personal, even touched one.
All in all, about a few minutes total viewing time of partial Kiwi sightings. It was very late coming home.
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| Ulva Island |
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| Kiwi beach |
28 Sun-
After checking out we went to drop our bags off at the ferry terminal. Sabine didn't want to go for a walk, so we flitted around town, fell asleep in the pub, and eventually it got round to 3:30pm when the ferry left. Its a shame the only outgoing times are either 8am or 3:30pm. Shared the driving back to Dunedin.
On the 30th we had the real estate agent come over with a photographer. I was cleaning the house from 6am until they arrived around 12pm. I cleaned the windows from the outside, took out the cat room, cleaning everything as I went, moved the cat cage to the garage and put the cats in there, cleaned the bathroom completely, including the shower. Every single room had to be cleaned and prepared for the house sale photography. Kirsty from Nidd came over with the photographer at 12pm. I even managed to wash the floors in time, just. Kirsty was impressed with my work. She set up the cat room as a fourth bedroom. Oh, I forget to mention I also had to put the curtains back up in the cat room. They were both here for an hour and twenty minutes. After they left, I then proceeded to put everything back to how it was. Curtains back up in the cat room, carpets back, things out of draws. Unfortunately it was raining at the time, but the guy said he will come back with his gear on Thursday for the outside shot of the house and the vista from the balcony. weather permitting!
