NorthLand, NZ

Several updates from the road of Northern New Zealand...

Our Job (you win some, you lose some)

We were really looking forward to getting our hands dirty, learning a thing or two about farming, and sleeping, eating and experiencing life with a real NZ family. Unfortunatly, our first job was not at all what we had expected. After driving 5 hours to our destination farm to prepare for the next days farmer's market, we were surprised to find that there was not a farm in sight. Not even a small garden. There was a small lodge, and three large junkyards. Rather than harvesting, we were given very unusual tasks including:

• Cleaning old torn up pieces of bubble wrap to wrap linens in
• Taking laces out of old childrens shoes
• Testing hot-water pots
• Moving boxes of garbage from one storage shed to another storage shed 5 feet away
• Babysitting at all times (until we literally got in our beds)
• Maintaining the lodge, including scrubbing toilets, all linen and towel laundry (6+ hours a day), vacuum and mopping the lodge, killing spiders and removing bird poop
• Preparing for the market (where the owners sold used childrens clothing)

Instead of our anticipated payment of a lodge, bathroom, and 3 meals a day, we got an old air mattress in an empty house up the street, 1 meal every other day (and we were to cook and clean for the family the other nights). Had we been getting paid, we might have stuck it out. Since we weren't, and the idea of any day trips was thrown out the window, we let them know it wasn't what we expected and moved on.

The silver lining is that we met another wwoofer couple (Shawn and Anna) who had been doing different jobs for several months. They confirmed that this experience was far from ordinary, and they felt they were scammed too. They reffered us to a farm they loved, and we are currently setting up the best time to start work. All's well that ends well!

NZ Camping

Never in a million years did I think I would be living out of a car and camping my way around the country. For us, it's the way to go. We're able to be very independent and save a lot of money on lodging and transportation between cities. We've named our car HOW-E (house on wheels - explorer) Our little car included everything we needed: all cooking supplies, lights, electric hook-ups, bedding, a shower, attachable tent, mosquito nets... it's incredible!

The campsites here also have everything you need and are cheaper than the hostels. Campers are from all over the world, and a standard site includes: full kitchens, free showers, tv rooms, ping-pong, pool tables, pools and hot-tubs, tour booking desks, playgrounds, trampolines, wifi, book exchanges, and our last one even had a free little herb garden. We are able to grocery shop just like we were at home.

NorthLand Activities

We've done several hikes, seen amazing waterfalls, historical villages, and lots and lots of sheep. My highlight of the NorthLand has been Bay of Islands. We went on an eco-encounter boat, with a captain and Ben, a dolphin expert. The boat works with the NZ Dept. of Conservation, and we were able to see 3 seperate pods of bottlenose dolphins, and learned a ton. The guide explained that they are much like people, and sometimes are playful but sometimes wanted to be alone. If we found a group of adult dolphins that was not feeding, we could enter the water with them if we chose.

The first pod was in an avoidant mood, so they would come check out the boat, then take a very deep dive. They did this three times, so Ben said it seemed they wanted to be left alone. The second pod had a new-born baby, only a couple hours old. It was so fascinating to see the mother interact with the tiny baby, she held it up to get air and all of the dolphin aunts swam behind her to keep her safe. This pod was feeling playful and was swimming right up next to the boat, leaping all the way out of the air, and doing flips. Since they had a baby present, we could not get in the water.

Luck was on our side when we found a third pod (after 3 hours of searching). The 3rd pod was all adults and they wanted to play. Ben told us to swim as fast as we could to them, and act silly and sing songs through our snorkel. 6 of us (including Mike and I) jumped in the ocean and tried to entertain the pod. It was really deep, cold, and the currant was moving faster than any of us could swim. It was actually a lot scarier than we imagined, the dolphins are big and you're in the middle of the ocean. We spent our time swimming as fast as we could, and had a blast chasing them. They seem like they are the happiest animals on earth. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that we'll never forget.

I hope everyone is getting in the holiday spirit at home, we miss you everyday! Love, Megan and Mike