Drowning in Cherries

Hello! So, to skip through the last couple months in a, er, rather abbreviated fashion:
Worked for two weeks in Te Puke doing kiwifruit work.
Moved up to Katikati and stayed with some family friends for a couple of days.
Headed north along the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.
Went to Hot-Water Beach, Cathedral Cove.
Went up and to the West, over to Coromandel town.
After being rained on ( and having some "Maori kai" with a middle-aged rugby team who were also occupying the holiday park--some guys who apparrently grew up with a Minnesota Viking called Dave Dixon or something), (wow, that was a fairly lengthy and nonsensial parenthetical comment!), I took a ferry over to Auckland in order to avoid the horribleness that is the MOTORWAY.
Stayed in Auckland for a week or so with my cousin Kathryn.
On way out of town find that my pedals have basically self-destructed.
During search for a pair of pedals under $80 (eventually found great $20 pair) met a very cool cycle mechanic called Gus who offers me a place to stay for the night.
---Okay, I'm going into more detail than I intended---
Up the west coast of Northland, through Dargaville, Matakohe, up to Kaitaia.
From Kaitaia took bus tour up to Cape Reinga for the day. Here I experienced sand-toboganning for the first time (see pictures on flickr account)
Headed south along East coast, stopping in some fantastic beaches along the way.
Back through Auckland, took train through main metropolis part, out the other side.
Stayed at Normandy Farm, with some people that I have an extremely confusing connection with--involves co-ops, geologists, spouse, french people, and a farm--and had a very good time poking around there.
headed along towards Rotorua, along Hauraki Plains (think that's the name). Along the way I Find 5x 1 Liter bottles of Pink Grapefruit juice with seals intact (must have come off a truck!), drink nothing else for 3 days. Slowly becomes more and more fermented. But still slightly yummy.
Met Mum in Rotorua...Sat in cabin listening to Prarie Home Companion--had to check we were actually oin New Zealand still, and not in MN.
Did Tongariro Crossing with mum.
Drove to Havelock North for christmas with the Corner family. Interesting. Crazy. VERY crazy. And more food than I've ever seen. We had both an x-mas turkey, AND an x-mas ham (which was sooo big it didn't even fit in the oven!). Along with one or two other dishes, maybe closer to twenty.
headed down to Wellington, stayed with Auntie Susan for the night, took ferry over to South island next evening.
Drove for several hours until about midnight, where me and mum both slept in my 1.5 man tent, about 15km from Kaikoura.
Headed down to CHristchurch, Timaru, Oamaru, Warrington, stayed with Chuck (friend of my mother's).
Spent New Year with the Hessons in a tiny place called Cluedon. Found a hedgehog about 30 minutes before midnight! Awesome!
Cycled down to Alexandra, where I've been working in a cherry packhouse ever since. Very cold inside.Just finished work forever (at this packhouse). Now will head towards Dunedin (where I was born).
Hope you're doing well!
-Ben