Getting Around in New Zealand

Since arriving in New Zealand, we’ve experienced most forms of transportation (other than helicopters, which are remarkably popular). Public transit (busses, trains and ferries) is readily available in Auckland and busses in both Christchurch and Auckland serve riders well outside of each city’s core. We have used all of these, however our best adventures have mostly occurred in passenger vehicles.

1. Connie (a friend who lives in Auckland) picked us up at the airport. Connie is a confident driver who learned to drive in Bogotá, Colombia. Translation - ASSERTIVE. Since Kiwi’s drive on the left, every turn had our hearts in our throats (and pressing the imaginary brake pedal). Paul is grateful that Gayle sat in the front. We are both grateful for Connie’s willingness to drive us so much!

2. Debbie (our first wwoof host) picked us up at the bus stop near her home. It was a very hot day and Debbie was running behind schedule so we were hoping for some AC. Debbie pulled up in a tired Kai Sportage with two very excited (eg. slobbering) dogs in the back seat. Since our two large back packs filled the back of the vehicle, Gayle is grateful that Paul sat in the back seat with the dogs, booster cables, jack and so much other “stuff” that we couldn’t see the floor. Yes, the windows were down.

3. Nick (our third wwoof host) ask Paul if he could drive a trailer because some wood needed to be picked up in town. The answer was “yes”, so we loaded the trailer onto Angela’s Rav 4 and off we went. On the way we realized that the Rav 4 was brand new and that the 100 km/h speed limit was way too fast for the trailer and the nervous driver. Of course, the first lumber store did not have all the wood required, so we had to drive, trailer loaded, through town. Certainly there were a few very frustrated drivers behind the slowly moving load that day. 

4. Flynn (the teen at our third wwoof) went flying out of the house one morning with his back pack. His sister said, “he’s four minutes late.” Moments later, his mom, who had been at the gym, flew through the front door shouting “Flynn”. “Have you seen Flynn?”, she asked. We said that he had just left and couldn’t understand how she’d not seen him. We then heard the roar of dirt bike. Turns out that Angela had not seen Flynn because he went to the shed and got his dirt bike to ride to the end of the long driveway. He ditched the bike in some bushes and Angela asked us to go get it. Paul was very excited to get a chance to ride it back. We walked out and quickly realized that Flynn had the key. It was not nearly as much fun pushing it.

5. When driving, we are very careful to cue each other to remember to stay on the left and we have good laugh when one of us turns on the wipers instead of the signal. Because there are so many drivers from outside of New Zealand, there are often signs at tourist stops reminding drivers to stay left. Earlier this week, when driving into Omarama, we had a left turn. Super easy - except that a car was entering the intersection in the wrong lane! Paul swerved around and took a deep breath and is grateful that Gayle quickly confirmed that it wasn’t his fault.

6. Wednesday was a cold and rainy day and we had a scheduled arrival at our next wwoof at noon. We had lots of time to spare and went of course to visit a couple of thrift stores to replace a broken glass. Unsuccessful in our mission, we Google mapped our way back on track. A couple of roundabouts later we started up an overpass. The large truck in front of us suddenly stopped. The driver got the vehicle moving a little, but stopped again. This pattern repeated a few times. Each time, we increased the space to the truck, fearful that it would start rolling backward since there was a median high enough that our camper van would not be able to go over it. Traffic continued to back up behind us. 

After a significant pause the truck rolled back a little. Paul’s slightly sweaty hand was firmly on the gear shift ready to reverse, however the car behind left no space for escape. The level of concern increased with each of the next TWO roll backs. There really was no way out and we debated the consequences of driving over the median verses getting hit by the truck. 

Thankfully, after a long pause, the truckie found a gear and moved ahead just enough for us to squeeze beside. 

Grateful we were not delayed by a crash or damage, we stopped for a pie then headed off to our next stop.

Weather Changes in New Zealand

During our travels in New Zealand, there has been a constant message given to us by virtually everyone: "Check the weather before you go” and “be prepared, because the weather changes quickly”. This is in stark contrast to our time in Trinidad when no one focused on the weather because it was ALWAYS 32-34C, humid, with a chance of rain. 

Based on the last 2 days, we now know why Kiwi’s advice has been so important.

Two days ago we were out hiking around Lake Tekapo in shorts and t-shirts, basking in the sun, and enjoying 21 C temperatures. We then drove an hour north, pulled into the Winchester Motor Camp, and were promptly told by Jack, the resident Welcome Wagon “host”, that snow was coming the next day.  SNOW! Come on Jack. Get real.

After a warm night's sleep in Jucy, we awoke to cooler temperatures and drizzle. The drizzle turned to rain, and the temperature dropped - 10C, 8C, 6C, 5C as we drove to Terrie and Alan's, our new wwoofing home. We managed to get outside and despite rain, cleaned out veggie and rose gardens. Temperature check at 6pm: 2C. Terrie then proceeded to show us a picture of Lake Tekapo with about 2 cm of SNOW on the ground. Jack was right.

Note: I'm writing this from Terrie and Alan's kitchen table. The rain looks to be clearing, and the temperature is 6C, and feels like 2C. It's 8C in Belleville. 

Update - 4 pm - It’s still raining and miserable. We are standing on the porch waiting for it to stop so we can get back into the garden!

Perspective Matters

Since switching modes to “Van Life”, we been getting “out and about” a lot more - mostly finding hikes to complete. There are hundreds to chose from.

On Friday we drove to Wanaka and decided to take the afternoon to complete a 3 hour hike to Diamond Lake and Rocky Mountian. This was a good walk, with a few others on the trail. There were 200 steps up near the start, then a steady climb to the summit. On the way we saw ducks in diamond lake, walked on some precarious cliff edges and passed a women doing it with crutches! On the way there was forest and some open areas leading a lookout which gave us this view:

At the top, here’s what we saw:

A little wider view, but not much change, but it was a tough ascent to the peak. We were very happy to see have reached it.

Saturday, we hiked Roy’s Peak.  This was a very different experience. We arrived to complete the 6-8 hour hike “early” to find that the parking lot was well over half full. The trail was fully exposed from the bottom to the top with a series of switch backs. We traversed past skiddish sheep and cows that didn’t care about us at all.  The lower 75% was a loose gravel road, the top was more of a well worn path. It was a vertical grind for about 90 minutes straight!  Reaching the busy  “view point”, we took at look over to the Rocky Mountain hike. We had already dwarfed that. 

From the top it was this. 

Yes, those are clouds that we are looking through.

Sunday we hiked the “Pyramid”. It was a 5 km hike with about the first 3 k gradual incline through pasture and pine forest that was so rife with different fungi that Gayle dubbed it the secret mushroom village. We paused many times to reflect on the beauty of it (and once to play with a curious fantail). The last 2 k were hard up and some up and down. The trail was solely ours - except for the sheep and cows, of course. We were very happy to be done and felt very proud of ourselves. The view over Twizel was incredible.

The next day we drove about 5 minutes to a lookout to see Mount Cook. We looked back and noted how insignificant the Pyramid actually was!

There are always two parts to a hike - first “the journey” and second “the goal”. One is not more important than the other, but sometimes, one “wins out” as the best part. 

However, you can see that perspective is relative. Sometimes, it’s not until we move away or look at the photos that we realize there might be a different way to look at things.

Van Lifers!

Campervans are a VERY popular way to travel in New Zealand. After 8 nights in our Jucy, we feel like true "van-lifers". Ok, so that is no where close to true, but we do feel a post about living and traveling in Patty-Wagon is needed. So here goes our best pros and cons.

PROS

• We feel like a turtle 🐢. Our home is literally on our back.
• We have everything with us! This is a good thing with respect to food and water, but not so good when it comes to stinky clothes and shoes (no finger pointing, but I think you can guess who has stinkier shoes).
• You have to name your van - we went with Patty-Wagon, as it seems like a gender neutral kinda van. At times when encouragement is needed, we also refer to our rig as "Juice Monster"
• We have a cute little sink, single burner stove, and fridge.
• The passenger seating area converts to a cozy bed for two, and comes complete with privacy curtains.
• Converting from day-time driving to night-time sleeping mode is fast once you have a system.😉
• There is a Jucy community, and you wave when you meet another van.🖐
• Rainy or windy? Just jump inside.
• You don't have to sleep in a tent. Nuff said.

CONS

• After several days of hiking, the van smells a little.
• It can get a little chilly. Two degrees Celcius was pretty cold to wake up to.
• You have to find places to camp, which may alter your path slightly.
• Mornings are damp inside. Like I mean condensation haven.
• Flat is a must. Flat ground that is, otherwise the game steamroller is played, and not by choice.

Needless to say, we've enjoyed the short term van-life experience. Will we sell the house and buy a van...maybe after we do some laundry.

Hidden Gems From our South Island Tour

Sometimes the best plan is to not have a plan!

We picked up our JUCY van on Monday and began to drive south from Christchurch. We did have some loose plans to drive to Milford Sound and to do a couple of hikes that were recommended. However, everyone has warned us to watch the weather and be flexible. 

Rain was predicted for the early part of the week. Keeping this in mind we headed to Oamaru to see the Little Blue Penguins - who apparently don’t seem to care about rain! We’d booked an observation sitting, and arrived early. 

Hidden Gem #1 - We noticed that there was an off chance that we could see Yellow Eyed penguins about 5 minutes away, so off we went. We arrived to find a volunteer field naturalist who had spied a penguin! A few minutes more and Paul spotted another coming out of the surf. Exciting! We also had 2 Little Blue’s cross the street right in front of us.

Hidden Gem # 2: When we awoke in the morning the rain was pouring down rain and it was just 8 degrees. We decided to head back north and inland a bit of a driving tour to find some geological features called the “Elephant Rocks”. We also found a whale fossil site that was used in the “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” movie (of course, the tents are long gone!). 

After a little thrifting to get some warmer clothes, we headed south toward Dunedin where the weather continued to be less than favourable.

Hidden Gem #3: We decided to continue on from Dunedin and landed at the Gore Motor Camp. The reviews weren’t great, so we were pleasantly surprised to find clean showers, good cooking facilities and wifi for just $10! 

Hidden Gem #4: The weather was clearing in Milford Sound for Thursday, so we headed west. On the way we found a very nice hike at Dolamore park. The trees were moss covered and very pretty. The hike ended in a very nice view over the valley.

Hidden Gem #5: The night before our boat tour at Milford Sound put us in a campground at Cascade Creek. We noticed a hike on the map and were pleasantly surprised to find an interpretive trail with some huge 350 year old Red Beech trees and beautiful sounding birds.

 

Hidden Gem #6: Black Berries! They are ripening and we’ve found two places to forage so far!

Just saying...

During our time here in New Zealand, we've been introduced to a lot of great Kiwi culture, most recently around the dinner table with our woof family. We give a huge shout out to Flynn and Matilda for teaching us "kiwi" style.  Here is what we've learned do far.

New Zealand Vocabulary 

Kiwi: the fruit, the National bird, a New Zealander (in no particular order)

How ya going? A regular greeting, much like "how are you doing?"

Mate: friend

Cabinet food: food like donuts, sandwiches, pies behind glass in cafés, variety stores (delicious, but not so nutritionius)

All over the shop: scattered

Pies: yummy pastry pie filled with meat (beef, chicken, lamb)

Mince: ground beef

Toasties: Grilled cheese

Bitumen: a paved roads

Maccas: McDonald's 

Quad bike: four-wheeler

Ute: pickup truck

Lorry: truck the size of a dump truck

Petrol: gasoline

Toilet or loo: washroom 

Bach: cottage

Lolly: candy

Slices: dessert squares 

Tradies: trades people

Truckies: truck drivers

Sparkies: electricians

Domain: main city park 

Reserve: conservation area or park

Tramp: hike

Track: walking path

Carpark: parking lot

Observations

• There are no screens on windows

• There are way fewer types of cereal

• Milk is not labeled by % fat, but rather thin, lite, regular

• You can ride bicycles on freeways (but we never saw anyone doing this as it would be extremely dangerous)

• There is a rail system, but it doesn't seem widely used (we've seen 2 trains, each with a whopping 3 cars)

• Most transport trucks have two smaller trailers, rather than 1, and few have sleeping units

• Gasoline costs about $2.40/L ($2.10/L Canadian)

• Most food is more expensive in NZ ($9 for a L of ketchup, $20 for 1 kg block of cheese)

• There is a shortage of eggs because farmers were pressured to do away with certain sized cages

• There is a shortage of bananas because of poor weather in the Philippines and Equador

• There are SO MANY cows and sheep

• And about every 5th transport truck on the road is hauling animals - go figure

• Most small towns have at least 1 tractor dealership (most often Case IH for our farm mates)

• Virtually all towns have free public toilets

• When you see a sign for Fish & Chips, they are a Chinese food restaurant in disguise

The Accent

With all of this new, we like to think we're blending in like locals. That is, until we speak, or until someone talks about bears, or beers! You see, Kiwi's have a very distinctive way of pronouncing 'ea'. We first experienced this at our second woofa site, when we were asked if we'd like a couple of bears with supper. I'm sure we both had dazed looks on our faces that said, "what the heck are bears?, or "why would we want bears with supper?" We soon figured out Donna was asking if we'd like a couple of beers. Of course that's what she was asking! We both promised ourselves that we'd be vigilant, and listen closely for this vowel combo. Well, you know where this is going now don't you.

Tonight, after 34 days in NZ, we were cooking dinner in a communal kitchen at the Gore Motor Camp, and Gayle started chatting with a young Kiwi guy. He asked where we were from, and upon finding out our Canadian status, he asked what Gayle thought was "Have you seen many beers?" Strange, but whatever. A lot of people like to talk about beer these days, right? So I launched into a spiel about the popularity of micro breweries at home, until Paul kindly let me know he was asking if we'd seen many BEARS. Oops. Next time I'll catch the accent!

Speed Limits-

On open roads the speed limit is typically 100 km/h. This, however, is often extremely unsafe. Here’s a speed limit sign about 20 metres from a stop sign.

Sail GP - Sometimes things just work out!

I am not a huge fan of watching sports and will rarely watch more than a highlight reel. However, I really like to watch Sail GP. These boats are huge catamaran foilers that spend most of their time flying above the water. The races are usually just 12 minutes long and with only 9 boats in a race and a flying start they are super fun to watch on YouTube. A weekend of racing involves 6 races over 2 days.  

The Sail GP season began in May 2022 and included stops around the world (Chicago, Spain, Dubai, etc). Trip preparation and life in general kept me from paying too much attention to races in the winter. In  mid-February I noticed a video in my feed for races in Sydney, Australia. While watching Saturday races, I learned that Sail GP would be in Christchurch March 18 and 19. I checked our travel calendar and sure enough, we would be in Christchurch on the 19th! It took about 20 seconds to learn that tickets were long  sold-out. Disappointed, yet undeterred, I started to put together a plan that would lead to us watching live racing.

Here are the challenges we needed to overcome:

1. Would the racing happen?

This was entirely out of our control. A major wind storm caused some serious damage to a few boats while they were being removed from the water in February 18 in Sydney.  The Canadian boat was the hardest hit and it wasn’t until March 16 that racing in Christchurch was confirmed.  

2. Get to the race venue

We had originally planned to take the Intercity bus (like Greyhound) but we’d arrive too late. Our adjusted plan meant we could take the Christchurch city bus, however we’d need to get a ride (about 25 mins) to Rangiora. We asked our host, Angela, about this and she responded, “Oh, no worries, I will take you to Christchurch because I am going to visit my parents”. Too easy! Angela would drop us at the AirBnB and we’d could take a single city bus direct to the race site from there.

3.Two large backpacks

We are travelling for 5 months and have a lot of stuff in 2 - 70 litre backpacks. We didn’t what to have to lug those to the race site. There were two options - one was to check them at the bus station for about $20; the other was to try to drop them off early at our AirBnB. We contacted Sharon, the AirBnB host and she agreed to let us leave our bags.

4. A place to watch from

The harbour where the racing was held in Lyttleton is surrounded by hills. Google maps showed a lookout point about a 15 minute walk up the hill that was directly beside the race “Near Gate” so we planned to watch from there.

In the end, the plan worked almost perfectly. There was a Cruise Ship in the harbour and some port container cranes that obstructed our view. We were able to hike a little further up the hill to find a better view with about 150 locals. 

The weather was perfect. The wind was up so the sailing was fast. AND, CANADA WON!

You can imagine the two Canadians clapping at the top of the hill with the rest of the crowd silent until the the New Zealand team crossed the finish line in second place, just a few moments later. “Are you Canadian?”, they asked. Proudly we said “yes”. As true Canadians, though, we qualified our excitement with, “The driver of the Canadian boat is a Kiwi.”

Paul’s Sunglasses … so far, anyway

So much has happened on this trip involving only “my” sunglasses that they are now a story on their own. 

Let’s start in Belleville some time during the initial preparations of our gear in January. While collecting our small stash of American money from the (insert secret hiding spot here) I found a pair of brand new sunglasses!  Sweet. These, long forgotten, had been part of a 2 for $20 deal from Rexall some time prior to Covid. Shiny and new, they found themselves in the “packing pile” where they stayed until our departure on February 9.

These were polarized and proved to be valuable in sunny Hawaii and on our coast-to-coast walk in Auckland. You’ve already figured out that they didn’t last too long into our journey. On the 22nd of February, I had finished building enough of the tractor shelter at Debbie’s farm, that I needed to test the floor and ramp. I drove the tractor down the lane, fit it in and drove it back.  On my return walk, I noticed a random lens on the ground.  “That’s weird” I said to myself.  Seconds later I focused on the other lens and frames-  all separated.  Dammit. My sunglasses - which were also serving nicely as safety glasses, had fallen off my hat and were no more.

It was only a day or two until we left, so I planned to make a purchase somewhere on they way back to Auckland. That did not work out so, in the tourist town of Paihia, where there are multiple, way over-priced options, I settled for a $10 pair at a discount store. (Feb. 25th).  We had a boat trip planned that day and sunnies wound be imperative.

Fast forward only a few days to the Corner Stone Cafe wwoof.  You may remember that I was very excited to use the wood chipper (Mar 1).  After a couple of minutes, Gayle shouted to me that I should get ear protection.  Since I mostly had to lip read her, I agreed and found some ear muffs.  I put them on over my “new” glasses and snap - the spring was too much and the frames broke.  Number 2 down.

We attempted to find a replacement pair in Rotorua (between the Forest hike and the shoreline walk) but could not find what I wanted.  Shadeless for a day or two more, we found ourselves on a rainy day self-guides walking tour of Christchurch (Mar. 5).  The Two-Dollar store, which sells everything for 2.50 was happy to decorate my face with something serviceable - not well-fitting or good looking or even safe.  They would do in a pinch and made appearances in the gardens of the Food Farm a few times. They are not broken, however they were replaced.

During a clean-up of the workshop at the Food Farm, in the bottom of a box of random stuff, I found a pair of safety shades that fit well. They had been well used and had some scratches, but they were better than the 2.50 pair for sure.  Well, that is, until today (Mar. 14), when I couldn’t find them.

At 8:30 we were loading into Nicks Ute (pickup truck) and getting dropped off at a trail head for a 13km hike on a cloudless day near the ocean and I couldn’t find the scratched safety glasses, so I opted to go without.

During the late morning assent from the beach, I saw something shiny, beneath the overgrown edge of the trail.  Expecting to find a rare piece of litter that needed to be re-homed, I shifted the blades with my foot and reached down to find - you guessed it-  sunglasses! They weren’t anything special, new or scratchless, but a step up from “none”!

So, to be clear, for at least 3 years I used only 1 pair of sunglasses. In the last 5 weeks, I’ve needed 5 pairs. I am absolutely confident that there will be a “part two” of this story some time in the near future.

We Went on A Mushroom Hunt

Most of you probably don't know this about me, but finding mushrooms in the wild and eating them (without dying) is on my bucket list. I mean, it’s not number one on my list, but it is on there. So when Angela (our wwoofing host) suggested that we could go on a mushroom hunt with real live experts, I said, “yes” enthusiastically. 

Since landing at The Food Farm, we've been introduced to porcini mushrooms, or for those of you that don't speak Italy, but speak England - Penny Buns. These fungi are so rare and sought after that they run about $60 a pound here in NZ, which my friend Google tells me is comparable to the price of the most expensive cheeses on the south island. Not surprising that Angela has been pretty hush hush about the secret locations of these shrooms.

Last night after supper, Angela invited us to go on a mushrooms hunt, so long as location identification was turned off on our phones and we swore that we wouldn't reveal porcini locations to ANYONE. So we signed the waiver, handed over rights to the first born (sorry Abigail), and excitedly agreed to the 7am departure time.

This experience did NOT disappoint. After leaving The Food Farm and picking up Angela's chef friend Kate, we drove an undisclosed distance, in a random direction, spun around 3 times and stopped in an oak forest somewhere on the south island. You are probably asking yourself why an oak forest (and if you weren't, bet you are now!) As the archives reveal, British settlers brought oak trees to New Zealand in the 1800's, and low and behold some porcini spores were along for the ride. So that's why in some places (sorry we cannot be more specific), when you have a stand of oak trees, you maybe lucky enough to find porcini mushrooms.

Enough history and sciency talk, let's get back to the story.  Out of the car we jumped, and literally in about 3 minutes into our foraging walk, Paul located the first golden brown gem. Not a dog turd, a porcini mushroom, silly!

With knives in hand, the four mighty mushroom hunters spread out and scoured the area. It was tough going. Porcini are evasive - with their brown tops they blend into their surroundings. But after about 45 minutes we were honing in on some signs - maybe grass, maybe leaf litter, a bit of sun, maybe damp soil, perhaps other mushrooms in the vicinity. As you can see we had narrowed this down to a real science!

We also found many other cool-looking mushrooms

 

You'll be happy to hear that after a peaceful two hour walk in the woods, we reconvened and counted our collection. We'd hauled in about 25 porcini mushrooms!!! Guess we can know add "Porcini Forager" to our resumes.

 

On the way home, we stopped at a few other locations to pickup seaweed for the compost, a few blackberries and some wild kawakawa fruits (that taste like pepper!)

Angela and Kate were generous and patient as they taught us so much about foraging for food.

What Happens When the Water Stops running?

As Canadian city dwellers, we take our running water for granted. Even when the power is out, which it rarely is, the water still runs. Those of you who live the “country” lifestyle will have a different take on this for sure.

Today, on The Food Farm, the water stopped running.

Gayle was doing some breakfast dishes and the tap slowed to a stop. We raised this to our hosts, Angela and Nick immediately. 

Nick, who was about to leave for work, moved quickly and efficiently established that it was a breaker panel issue that caused the pump to stop. There was lots of water in the tank, just no pump. Nick and I tried to troubleshoot the issue further, to no avail. The pump is wired in the garage on the same circuits as outlets in the bedrooms. 

We had no water, no Internet and the teenagers’ rooms were without power for their devices and gaming equipment. (Since we have some insight into teens, this cause us to laugh a little on the inside.)

Nick called the electrician and on the way out the door gave me the quick go ahead to work with the “sparky” when he came after 1 pm. Angela was heading out for a meeting so I was happy to be entrusted with this. I ran some extension cords and got the water and the Internet running and we went about our day working outside.

When Daniel, the sparky, arrived, his accent was so thick, I could hardly understand him. His company is called “A Sparky for U”. He quickly diagnosed a faulty breaker switch and set out to make a quick job of fixing it. Before he left, I did a quick check to see that everything was working. All seemed good to me.

When Flynn (grade 10) arrived home from his day at school, he found that none of the equipment in his room was working. Matilda (grade 11) confirmed the same for her room.

With the sparky long gone, I put on my electrician hat. (It’s more of a visor with half a brim than a full hat.) I flipped a lot of switches and wiggled some wires. Nothing I did helped in the bedrooms and the water was still working just fine! 

How could this be? There had to be another issue.

Frustrated, I knocked on Flynn’s door and asked him what wasn’t working. He pointed to his power bar with plugs leading to multiple devices. I traced the cord to the wall with my eyes. It was not plugged in! Things quickly came back to life when Flynn made the connection. The same proved true in Matilda’s room. During his hurried troubleshooting, Nick had unplugged them.

I know better. To solve a problem, I need first to understand the problem by asking more and better questions. Next time, I guess.

The Food Farm: A Model Permaculture

Last August when we were busily planning our time in New Zealand, we stumbled upon The Food Farm on the NZ wwoof site. Both of us were intrigued by Angela and Nick's post, and fell in love with idea of learning more about "permaculture". So we sent off an email to see if we could spend two weeks as wwoofas on The Food Farm, and here we are!

Our hosts, Angela and Nick, along with their teenage kids Ruby, Matilda, and Flynn, are bringing the concepts of permaculture to life for us. More than sustainable living, permaculture is a way of thinking and living. Everything from growing vegetables, fruits, and rearing animals is done intentionally with an attempt to use everything, waste included, purposefully. 

Here are some of the things we've noticed about The Food Farm setup:

• The veggie garden is located right outside the front door of the house, and the veggies are woven between flowers to promote pollination. How smart!
• The chooks (chickens) eat the house and garden compost.
• The pigs are fed apples that have fallen from the trees, along with anything not suitable for the chooks
• A LOT of fruits and veggies are canned or bottled 
• Some of the home grown pigs and chickens, and grass fed sheep and cows end up on the dinner table

We are thrilled to be a small part of this big process. Check out this permaculture poster to learn more:

Here are a few images of “everybody” at The Food Farm.

Two Different Kinds of Wet

On Saturday we had an early morning drive to see the Glow Worms in the Waitomo caves. It was two hours from the Cafe and we had had a late farewell dinner with Phillippa and her family and we didn’t end up packing our gear until after 10 pm.

On the advice of many, we booked a “Black Water Rafting” cave tour. The only slot available was 8:30 am so we were on the road by 6. It was a classic “sleep fast” situation. We were very excited, especially since we knew little about the caves - only that we’d be floating on a tube and have the chance to see Glow Worms. 

We donned our wetsuits, miner’s helmets, white rubber boots, picked a tube and began crawling in a cave. You’ll have to use your imagination, because photos are not allowed. Before too long we were good and wet, had jumped over two small water falls and were staring upwards at the amazing glow worms. These little critters phosphoresce so much that we could see our white boots in the cave. Amazingly, they looked like stars in the sky!

Cold and wet, but absolutely incredible.

The remainder of the day was dedicated to getting to Christchurch (with clean clothes). So we broke up the 2-hour drive to the airport with a short laundry stop, dropped the rental car and found a spot in the airport to catch our breath.

The Air New Zealand flight left on time, arrived early and we had our luggage within 10 minutes! We boarded the city bus at 7:55 and the helpful driver got us to our transfer point just as the rain started. By the time we got off the second bus and walked nearly a kilometre to to our Air BNB it was raining full on.

Gayle’s check of the forecast for Christchurch showed a rainy day in store for Sunday. We knew that we would have some time to kill between checking out and boarding the bus to our third Wwoof, so we opted to visit the free museum near the botanical gardens. We headed for the bus stop in the rain.

On arrival at the station, we checked our back packs and walked about a kilometre to the Museum in the pouring rain. We arrived fully drenched to find the museum closed.

Cold and wet, again. Not the Adventure we had planned, so we made up a new one.

How to avoid tourist traps

After 3 solid days of wwoofing at the Corner Stone Cafe, our host Phillippa said we'd earned ourselves a day off. Giddyup. It was time to activate operation 'Explore Rotorua'!

Our research told us Rotorua was about a two hour drive south, and home to many adventure activities and geothermal features like hot springs, mud pools, and geysers. Upon further investigation we learned that  Rotorua is a popular tourist destination and that that these things come with a hefty price tag: mud pool visit at Hell's Gate - $85, whitewater rafting for 50 minutes - $115, a single Zorb run - $75. Being the seasoned budget travelers we are, (some may say frugal, others may say cheap)  we fired up Google and searched for "top free things to do in Rotorua". Boom! Here are the four things we decided on and thoroughly enjoyed today.

1) Hike to Wairere Waterfall Lookout. This is the tallest waterfall on the north island. The hike up and the view did NOT disappoint. The stairs at the top would be a great Quinte Blades workout for calves and glutes!

2) Swim in Opal Springs hot pools. Now full disclosure, this did cost us $8 each, but we had access to 3 pools at different temperatures AND an old-school metal waterside. (This would not pass any inspections in Canada).

3) Visit Kuirau Park. This free geothermal marvel is located in the city centre of Rotorua. It has many diversely coloured hot pools, a handful of bubbling mudpools, and lovely gardens to stroll through. We could even soak our feet in the hot water. The smell of sulphur is everywhere!  At one point we both expected to see dinosaurs emerging from the mist.

4) Trek through the gorgeous towering Redwood Forest of Rotorua. With several different tracks (that's what Kiwis call hiking paths) to explore, this stop provided incredible prehistoric-like sites of trees, ferns, and the odd vista.

As you can see we avoided the tourist traps and had a fantastic day doing it! So, don’t forget to search for the “free things to do in …” before you go. You might find some hidden gems and save a little cash on the way.